Friday, 21 July 2006

Chocolate Lava Cake

First of all, I must thanks Suyin(one of my blogger's pal) who generously shared her "Secret Recipe"(click link for more details) for this chocolate cupcake batter. The ingredients are very straight forward and the method is so easy that even my son can do some help up. This is a very wonderful after dinner dessert that suits those chocolate lover like us.

The aroma of the cake is so wonderful as it fills up the whole kitchen while baking. But the actual excitement begins when you see those melted chocolate floating out from the middle of these little sweetie. For my case, I used "Dark Chocolate" for the filling as to compromise the sweetness of the cake so that it will taste a bit sweet and bitter. Or you can use "White Chocolate" for a better colour effect.

Ingredients: (make 4 - 5 medium muffins size)
60g Butter
60g Dark Chocolate(Cadbury Old Gold)
1 Large Egg or 1 1/2 Medium Size Egg
25g Caster Sugar
25g Plain Flour
1 Tablespoon Cocoa Powder
50g Of Extra Chocolate Pieces, abit soften

Methods:
1. Preheat oven to 200 degree, line the muffin tray with paper cups.
2. Melt the chocolate and butter together in a microwave safe bowl for about 30 sec high, stir and another 20 sec high and stir till well combine.(this steps will depend on the wattage of your microwave, the timing might be more or less)
3. Sift the plain flour and cocoa powder together in a bowl and set aside.
4. Beat egg and sugar in a separate bowl till pale and fluffy.
5. Stir in the chocolate mixture till combine, then fold in the sifted flour mixtures.
6. Stir mixture till well combine, but becareful not to over stir it.
7. Spoon mixture to prepared muffin tin about slight more than 1/2 fill, then stuffed 1 1/2 pieces of the Chocolate into the centre as fillings.
8. Bake in the preheat oven for 15 - 20 minutes, the cake will look puffed up and set on the surface, but the center should still be moist.

Notes:
I used TOBLERONE(Dark Chocolate with Honey & Almond Nougat) for the filling, you can used any type of chocolate that you prefer.
You had to eat this while still hot or warm or else the chocolate filling inside will dried up instead. Posted by Picasa


Oatmeal Cookies With Black & White Choco Chips

This is another bake proof recipes from Evan's Kitchen. Although the ingredients are quite similar to the previous Chocolate Chips Oatmeal Cookies. But they do have different in texture and favour. Do give it a try if you are a cookies manic.... You can find the recipe from this link stated : Choco Chip Oatmeal Cookies Posted by Picasa

Tuesday, 18 July 2006

Caesar Salad With Breaded Chicken

Caesar Salad is a traditional salad often prepared tableside. It is sometimes termed the "King" of salads. I had being looking for the ready-made Caesar Dressing for quite sometime. Because in the local supermarket, what you can find is usually those common salad dressing. So happen, I managed to grab hold of this "Hellmann's-Caesar Dressing" from Carrefour.

To serve my Homemade Caesar Salad for lunch, I also add in some Breaded Chicken which will make it more filling. Overall this is a very great and healthy lunch, which consists of vegetables, meat and fruits.


Ingredients For Salad:
1 Baby Romania Lettuce
1 Avocado, cut into slices
1 Red Apple, cut into cubes
1 Green Apple, cut into cubes
1 Pear, cut into cubes
6-8 Cherry Tomatoes
4-6 Pieces Basil Leaves, shredded
1 Tablespoon Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Pinch of Salt
Some Black Pepper

Methods:
1. Trim, and wash the baby Romania lettuce, drained well and set aside.
2. Place the drained lettuce in a big mixing bowl together with the apples, pear, tomatoes, basil leaves then drizzle the olive oil, pepper and salt and mix well using your clean hand.
3. Wrap it with clingwrap then set aside in the fridge while preparing the breaded chicken.

Notes: Do not cut or add in the avocado, cut it only before serving so that the flesh won't turn black in colour.

Ingredients For Breaded Chicken
1 Chicken Breast Fillet, cut into thin slices
1/2 - 3/4 Cup Breadcrumbs
1 Egg, lightly beaten

Seasoning:
1 Tablespoon Light Soy Sauce
1 Teaspoon Black Pepper
1/2 Tablespoon Cooking Wine
1/2 Tablespoon Cornstarch

Methods:
1. Wash, trim the chicken then marinate it with seasoning for at least 30 minutes.
2. Dip the all the marinated chicken pieces in beaten egg then coat with breadcrumbs and set aside for 1 minute.
3. Deep-fry a few pieces at a time in hot oil until golden brown, drained and set aside. Repeat the process until all chicken pieces are cooked.

To Assemble:
1. Remove the salad from the fridge, then arrange some of it on the plate then top with some pieces of breaded chicken.(cut the chicken into smaller bite size pieces)
2. Next add another layer of the vegetables salad, some cut avocado slices and extra breaded chicken.
3. Finished it off with by drizzling about 1 - 2 tablespoons of Caesar dressing around it and serve warm. Posted by Picasa

Monday, 17 July 2006

Baked Rosemary Chicken With Jam Apple

Saw this interesting modify French Cuisine from one of the Taiwan cookbook that I loan from the library. So I decided to use it for the Wedding Anniversary Dinner.... Although it might not be up to standard like those French Restaurant but it do taste good as a home-cooked dish and most important this is a one dish meal which is easy to prepare.


The original recipe only had baked apple and chicken but for ours, I added in baked baby potato, button mushroom and avocado salad. The taste of the chicken is very unique, tender and juice. While the baked apple with jam is a bit sweet towards dessert type where the melted assorted jam soaked into the apple... So yummy.....

Ingredients: (serves 2)
2 - 4 Apples(1 used 2 small green & 2 Gala red apples)
2 Chicken Maryland(drumstick with another portion of meat)
4 - 6 Tablespoons Assorted Jam(I use strawberry & blueberry jam)
30g Butter, soften or melted
8-10 Baby Potatoes, wash and peel of skin
6-8 Button Mushrooms, wash and peel of skin
1 Avocado, peel and cut into cubes
2 Tablespoons Yogurt
4-6 Cherry Tomatoes

Methods:
1. Wash, peel and lightly coated the baby potatoes with 1 Tablespoon Olive Oil and 1/2 Teaspoon dried Mixed Herbs and toss well. Set aside.
2. Wash, peel and core the apples then stuffed about 2 Tablespoons of jam into each apple and place on a baking dish.
3. Next brush the melted butter all around the apple and bake in a preheat 180 degree oven for 10 minutes together with the seasoned baby potatoes in another baking dish(for the baby use a larger baking dish and place the potatoes in one corner while leave some extra space for baking the chicken).
3. While baking the apples and potatoes, preheat a non-stick pan with some butter and olive oil, saute both side of the button mushrooms until fragrant.(around 30 sec on each side, you can brush extra melted butter on the mushroom when frying)
4. Remove the mushroom, add another 1/2 Tablespoons of olive oil, saute the chicken skin side down for 1 minutes, turn and saute the other side.(you can add in the garlic and rosemary from the seasoning to saute as well, as it will bring out more fragrant on the seasoning)
5. Next remove the chicken from the pan, arrange it on the same baking dish as the potatoes together with the button mushroom.
6. Brush drizzle the remaining marinade seasoning on the chicken then brush with some extra butter on the chicken, potatoes, mushroom and apples then continue to bake for another 15-20 minutes, until chicken is crispy on skin and potatoes are tender.

Seasoning:
3 Cloves Garlic, cut into slices
1 Tablespoon Light Soy Sauce
1 Tablespoon Brown Sugar
1 Teaspoon White Pepper
1 Teaspoon Five Spice Powder
1 Spig Of Rosemary

Methods:
1. Wash and trim the chicken, pat dry and marinate it with the above seasoning for about 2 hours or overnight in the fridge for better taste.(retain the seasoning sauce for baking the chicken later)

To Assemble:
1. Mix the avocado cubes with the yogurt(you can use plain or flavour yogurt) then set a portion on the place.
2. Removed the baked items from the oven, arrange them on the plate accordingly then top with some cherry tomatoes and serve.

Notes: You can use whole potato instead of baby potato or you can serve it with vegetables salad instead of baked apples. Posted by Picasa

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