Pooh Apple Tea-Cake

This is our Sunday afternoon Tea-Break which I specially made for Reyon using the Mini Pooh Silicon Mould that one of our friend bought for us from Japan. Since I have a few apples sitting in the fridge for some time, I decided to use ti to make this sweet and soft Pooh Apple Tea-Cake.


From the two pictures, which set of pooh do you prefer? The one with chocolate outline or the one without? As for me, I find that the colour of the end products are rather too pale compare to what it suppose to be. So I was joking with Reyon that these Mini Pooh is rather too fair and they need to go for some sun tanning........ :p

This Apple Tea-Cake is rather easy to make and it is sort of using the similar concept as the Mango Jam Cake where you put the filling in between the cake batter and bake. But before you start off with the cake batter you have to prepare the Candied Apple first. For my candied apple, I add in extra golden raisin and RUM to enhance the favour.

Ingredient For Candied Apple:
3 Green Apple, peel and cored
60g Sugar
2 Tablespoon of Golden Raisin
4 Tablespoons RUM(optional)
2 Tablespoon Water

Methods:
1. Wash, peel and cored the apple, then cut into small cubes and place all the ingredients into a small heavy-based saucepan and cooked over medium low heat for about 15 - 20 minutes.
2. Stir occasionally and cooked till the apples cubes are almost transparent (like picture 3 on row 2 shown above) .
3. Remove from the pan and set aside to cool.

Ingredients For Cake Batter:
260g Cake Flour
1 Teaspoon Baking Powder
180g Butter, soften
140g Sugar
2 Medium Size Egg
2 Green Apple, peel and grated
1 Tablespoon Lemon Juice

Methods:
1. Sift the flour and baking powder together and set aside.
2. Cream the butter and sugar together until pale and white. (after 5 minutes on medium speed)
3. Slowly fold in half of the flour mixture and give it a few stir till combined, then grate in 1 apple and lemon juice.
4. Give the mixture a few stir and then add in the second half of the flour and grate in the remaining apple and stir the mixture till well combine.
5. Next pipe or scold 1/4 of the batter into the muffin cup or mould then top with 1/2 Tablespoon of the candied apple and fill the batter to about 3/4 cup fill.
6. Bake in the preheat 180 degree oven for about 15 - 18 minutes, test it with a skewer around 15 minutes.

Notes:
a) This quantity fills about 12 medium size muffin cups
b) If you do not have any RUM, you can replace it with 80ml of Apple Juice

Cream Of Salmon & Mushroom Soup

Cooking western style of soup is never to be on my soup making list because I always have a concept that it will be a hard time to prepare western soup due to their list ingredients and cooking process. But today, I finally have the courage to try out this simple and easy Cream of Salmon & Mushroom Soup which require the most simplest list of ingredients in most pantry and fridge.


This soup come in just warm and nice for this rainy Sunday afternoon. It's so simple to prepare and yet it's full of nutrition with the combination of seafood and vegetables. This is also a healthy version without using Cream to thicken the soup base. In order to make this lunch more fulfilling, I served it with a few slices of butter toast.

Ingredients: (serves 2)
1 Small Piece of Salmon Fillet, around 150g
6 - 8 Small Button Mushroom, halves
1/2 Medium Onion, diced
6 Small Broccoli Floret

Seasoning & Sauce:
Some Olive Oil & Salt
10g Butter
1/2 Tablespoon Plain Flour
350ml - 400ml Fresh Milk

Methods:
1. Removed the skin from the salmon fillet, and cut it into equal cubes sizes around 1.5".
2. Rinse and peel off the skin from the button mushroom, halves it and diced the onion.
3. Blanch the broccoli florets in light salted water for about 30 seconds, removed and rinse with cold water.
4. Pre-heat a pan with about 1/2 tablespoon of olive oil, and pan-fry the salmon cubes for a about 1 minute on each side until cook through, season with pinch of salt during the process. Remove and set side.
5. Next add in another 1/2 tablespoons of olive oil, saute the diced onion until almost soft then add in the mushroom and stir-fry for a about 20 seconds and remove.
6. Use the kitchen paper towel to clean up the pan then add in the butter and saute on low heat until it melt completely then stir in the flour slowly and fry for a few seconds before gradually add in the milk and continue to stir till it thicken.(if the milk starts to turn into lumps don't worry, you can use a whisk to stir in or add in a little bit more milk to thin it)
7. When the salt is done, season it with some salt or stock cubes(if you prefer a stronger taste), then add in the broccoli, onion and mushrooms then give it a quick stir then return it to the heat for a few seconds.
8. Quickly at in the salmon and stir gently so as not to break up the cubes.
9. Remove from heat and served it with either butter or garlic toasts.

Notes:
a) If you don't like salmon, you can replace it with cubes chicken thigh/fillet.
b) You can either served it with toast or cooked pasta or spaghetti

Double-Boiled Snow Frog Jelly

Snow Jelly is an extract taken from the female of a frog species, which live in the forest of Jiang Baishan mountainous region in Northeast China. Known originally as "Hashima" a Korean name, it is now widely known in English as Snow Jelly. The product has been tested and found to contain high levels of protein (amino acids), minerals such as iron, phosphorus, magnesium and potassium as well as vitamins B1 and B2. Best of all, its cholesterol-free! The benefits of consuming Snow Jelly is to strengthen the internal organs especially the lungs and also for a healthier skin complexion. The benefits derived are similar to consuming bird's nest except that Snow Jelly is available at a fraction of the cost.

So for our Today's Special on Dessert, we will be having Double-boiled Snow Frog Jelly with soy milk and gingko nuts. Soy milk (also called soya milk, soybean milk, or soy juice) and sometimes referred to as soy drink/beverage is a beverage made from soy beans. Soy milk contains about the same proportion of protein as cow's milk. It has little saturated fat and no cholesterol, which is a benefit.

Ingredients: (serves 2 - 3)
3 Cups of Unsweetened Soy Milk(豆浆)
5g Snow Frog Jelly(雪蛤), soak till expand
15 - 20g Ginkgo Nuts(白果)
Rock Sugar to taste

Methods:
1. Rinse and soak the snow frog jelly according to the package instruction and remove any dirt accordingly. Drain and set aside.
2. Rinse and marinate the ginkgo nuts with about 2 teaspoons of sugar for about 15 minutes.
3. Bring the soy milk to boil then add in the ginkgo nuts and let it return to boil again.
4. Transfer the soy milk mixture into a double-boiled and double-boiled for about 30 minutes then add in the snow frog jelly(the soak and expand jelly) and rock sugar and continue to stew for another 20 - 30 minutes.
5. You can serve it either cold or warm.

Note:
a) Usually I bought the Snow frog jelly from "Hockhua Tonic(福华) " which they called it the Crystal Haishma (水晶雪蛤).
b) I used those pre-pack Ginkgo Nuts which can get from most supermarket in the vegetable chiller section.

Kiddy Picnic & Dinner Bento

Recently due to my busy working schedule and cloudy weather which is often rains in the early morning, Reyon and I have not being to our favourite Picnic for quiet sometime and that actually upset our little friend. He really missed the beach, the water and especially the shell picking......... So today, early in the morning, since the weather is pretty good..... we quickly get ready our Picnic Snack Bento and set off for the picnic(you can read more Here).


In this snack lunchbox, I include the some ready-bought pastries which I cut it into bite-size then for the bottom layout Reyon add in all his favourite snack items and tata...... we have our snack bento box ready in no time.

On Sunday afternoon, before we went out for a short shopping trip with Grandma, I also prepared a mini Dinner Bento upon Reyon's request. He wanted to have some assorted Mini Onigiri on the top layer then in the bottom layer, I gave him some extra Fish floss to go with the Onigiri, Chocolate and Crackers for Dessert. He loves this way of presenting his dinner and to our surprised he finished everything up within less than 15 minutes.