Chocolate Cornflake Treats

Corn flake is a crisp, flaky, commercially prepared cold cereal made from coarse cornmeal. If you or your kids are going to eat sweets and treats sometimes, (sure you are!) try to make sure at least some are of nutritional value.

For this simple treats, you only required 2 main ingredients which is the corn flakes and dark chocolate. And you can decorate it with some almond flakes, or colourful sprinkler.

Eating more Dark Chocolate can help lower blood pressure -- if you've reached a certain age and have mild high blood pressure, say the researchers. But you have to balance the extra calories by eating less of other things. Dark chocolate may have better anti-oxidant properties than milk chocolate. So a little bits of this sinful treat once in a while is exceptional for all family members.

Ingredients:
100g Plain Corn Flakes
120g Dark Chocolate
10g Toasted Almond Flake/Colourful Chocolate Bits

Methods:
1. Put corn flake in a zip lock bag and use a rolling-pin to lightly crash it.(do not crush the corn flake till too mashy)
2. Double-boil the dark chocolate over a pot of simmering hot until melted or you can put in the microwave on high for 30 second stir and repeat the process until the chocolate is fully melted.
3. Add the corn flake into the melted chocolate and stir well using a spatula.
4. Spoon the coated corn flake into paper cups or ring mould then flatten the top with a spoon.
5. Decorate it with some almond fake or colourful chocolate bits, refridge for at last 20 minutes to harden before removing them from mould and serve.

Cottage Cheesecakelets

I believed most of us loves to eat Pancake, Waffle or Crepe. But had you heard Cheesecakelets before? I doubt you do....Right? Cheesecakelets is actually is a cake batter with cheese content that fried in a pan or on a griddle with oil or butter. It can be eaten hot or cold, and are generally filled or topped with a sweet or savoury sauce.

Cottage cheese is a cheese curd product with a mild flavor. It is drained, but not pressed so some whey remains. The curd is usually washed to remove acidity giving sweet curd cheese. It is not aged or colored. Different styles of cottage cheese are made from milks with different fat levels and in small curd or large curd preparations. Cottage cheese is low in fat and carbohydrates while high in protein.

Most types of pancakes are cooked one side at a time and flipped by the cook halfway through. The process of tossing or flipping them is part of the essence of the pancake, and one of the skills that separates the experienced cook from the beginner. Guess from the picture above you can see that I am a beginner for pancake......lolz.. because all the colour are so unevenly done......

Ingredients: (make about 8 -10)
3 Egg Yolks
3 Egg Whites
1 Cup Cottage Cheese(about 200g)
1/3 Cup Plain Flour(about 80g)
1 Teaspoon Vanilla Essence
2 Tablespoons Fine Sugar

Methods:
1. Mix egg yolks with fine sugar and beat till well combine.
2. Next beat in the cottage cheese and vanilla essence then fold in the sifted flour and stir till well combined.
3. Then in another bowl, whisk the egg whites until frothy(with a hand whisk) and fold it into the cottage cheese mixture.
4. Heat a smooth non-stick pan and drop a tablespoon or curd-thick batter on to it to make cakelets for about 3.5" in diameter.(you can use egg ring for different shapes)
5. When it firms up underneath, flip it and cook the other side.
6. Repeat until all the batter had being used up.
7. Serve with fresh fruit, whipped cream, lemon curd or jam.

Pork Ribs Curry With Egg Wrap Rice

Curry... all sort of different types of curry in Singapore... You have Indian Curry, Malay Curry, Nonya Curry, Japanese Curry, Thai Curry and etc.... Each of these curry had their own special and unique taste and fragrant. Since my dear son is in curry mood.... I decided to whip up a special curry dish for him.

We used Pork Ribs instead of Chicken, Mutton or Fish for the usual curry. Since it's a kid's meal, I decided to add in Cherry Tomato, Baby Potato and some Carrot to tone down the hot and spicy curry taste.

To make this dish more kid's friendly, I also wrap the cooked white rice with egg wrapper to make it just like those Japanese Egg Wrap Rice with curry.... and our dear friend here, is enjoying himself with his mini portion of curry rice.

Ingredients:(serves 2)
300 - 350g Of Pork Ribs
1/2 Brown Onion, roughly chopped
8-10 Baby Potato, peel the skin
6 Cherry Tomato, cut into halves
1 Medium Carrot, peel and cut into bitesize

Curry Sauce:
1 Packet Asian Home Gourmet Singapore Chicken Curry SpicePaste
100ml Coconut Milk
200ml - 250ml Water
1/4 Teaspoon Salt
1/4 Teaspoon Balchan Chilli(optional)

Methods:
1. Wash the pork ribs, and blanch in boiling water, rinse well and set aside.
2. Mix the 100ml of coconut milk with 100ml of water and 1/4 teaspoon of salt together and stir well, then set aside.
3. Preheat the pan with about 1.5 Tablespoons of oil and saute the onion until fragrant and soft, then add in the curry paste and stir till fragrant.
4. Add in the pork ribs and stir until well coated with curry paste, then add in the potato, carrot and half of the tomato.
5. Slowly stir till well mix then pour in half of the coconut milk mixture and and remaining 100ml of water.
6. Stir well then simmer on medium heat until the mixture come to boil then low the heat and add in the other half of the coconut milk and let it simmer for about 20-30 minutes until the pork is tender.
7. Add in the remaining half of the tomato 5 minutes before switch the heat off.

Notes: You can experiment with different type of curry paste to suit your own taste. Or you can mix up this curry paste mixture:

Curry Mixture:
3 Tablespoons Meat Curry Powder
1 Tablespoon Cooking Wine
1 Tablespoon Soy Sauce
1/2 Teaspoon Salt
1 Tablespoon Sugar
3 Cups Water

Methods:
1. Preheat the pan with 2 tablespoons of oil and saute the onion tillfragrantt and soft then add in curry powder and stir till well combine.
2. Next add in the pork ribs, vegetables and other sauce ingredients and simmer on low heat until ribs are tender and sauce had thicken.

Egg Wrap Rice:
3 Eggs
1/4 Teaspoon Salt
Some Pepper
30ml Water
2 Bowls of Cooked White Rice

Methods:
1. Break the egg in a bowl, add in salt, pepper and water then beat well.
2. Preheat the pan with some oil then pour it half of the egg mixture and swirl the mixture around the pan to form a round circle.
3. Cook over medium low heat until both side is slightly golden brown then remove from pan and wrap 1 bowl of rice with the egg sheet.
4. Repeat cooking the other half of the egg and wrap the rice then serve with pork ribs curry.

Guo Tie - 锅贴

Guo Tie or Gyoza which is originally a Chinese dish, which has become very popular across Japan. In this recipe of mine, I will share with you how to make a simple guo tie dough. To make the Spinach Juice, just wash and soaked 3 bunches of spinach leave in water. Then remove the leaves only and add about 1/2 cup of water in a blender together with the leaves to blend until smooth. Strain and obtain only the juice, you should get about 3/4 cups or more.


In this little experiment of mine, I am making two kind of doughs(one is the plain type while the other is using spinach juice to make spinach dough). Spinach is an important leaf vegetable, now grown throughout the temperate regions of the world. Spinach is a rich source of iron. In reality, a 60g serving of boiled spinach contains around 1.9 mg of iron.

Ingredients For Pork Mince Fillings:
200g Pork Mince
1 Tablespoon Chinese Celery(芹菜叶), finely chopped
1 Teaspoon Ginger Juice
1 Teaspoon Light Soy Sauce
1 Tablespoon Sesame Oil
1/4 Teaspoon Pepper
1/4 Teaspoon Cornstarch

Methods:
1. Combine all the ingredients together and set aside to marinate in the fridge for at least 30 minutes or more.

Notes: You can replace the Chinese celery to Chives(韭菜).

The time consuming and difficult part of making of the dough can be skipped by buying pre-made dough pieces, which are available at some Japanese and Chinese grocery stores. But if you had time, it's a fun activities to share with family members as each can play a different role in making the dough.

After trying a few failure wrapper on wrapping a traditional Guo Tie, I finally gave up the idea and trying making this simple wrapping. I really hope to master the skill for pleating the traditional guo tie, so I am sure to challenge this recipe again.....

My final product of Guo Tie from Cuisine Paradise...... Although the shape is not up to standard but the taste is there... It's very yummy to go with the black vinegar and ginger dipping sauce......

Ingredients For Dough: (make about 10-15)
125g Plain Flour
35ml Water
35ml Cold Water
Pinch Of Salt

Methods:
1. Sift Plain Flour into a mixing bowl, then slowly pour in the water and stir using a chopstick until combined.
2. Use hand to knead the dough while adding in the cold water.(you can add abit more if it is too dry).
3. Add pinch of salt in it and continue to knead until it form a soft dough.
4. Remove and place it on a lightly flour table top and continue to knead until it's smooth and elastic(10 to 15 minutes) then rest it for at least 30 minutes then cut it into half.
5. Roll it into an oblong shape and cut it into about 20g dough then flatten it on the cut side and roll into a 8-9cm circle.
6. Wrap it with the pork mince filling and pleat it into a Guo Tie shape.(sorry can't find any picture of showing how to pleat the guo tie)
7. Preheat a non-stick pan till hot add 1 tablespoon vegetable oil, tilting pan to spread evenly.
8. Arrange dumpling in the pan, being careful not to overcrowd and fry until the base is slight golden brown, add 150ml water/chicken stock, cover, and cook over high heat for approximately 2 minutes to sear bottoms.
9. Then simmer on low heat until all the water has evaporated, gently loosen dumpling with a spatula to check whether the bottoms are golden brown.
10. If not, pan-fry, uncovered, until bottoms are crisp and browned. Transfer to a platter, and serve immediately with black vinegar and shredded young ginger.

Note: To make the spinach dough, replace the wonder to spinach juice.