Peanut Cookies - 花生酥

After resting for a week or so, I have some discussion going on with my colleague R regarding on what to bake for Chinese New Year. She was telling me that she had a few packets of chopped peanut being left over from the instant "Tangyuan - 汤圆" that she bought during December 2009 "Dong Zhi - 冬至".

Since I have not make any "Peanut Cookies -花生酥" before, I decided to do a google search for some suitable recipes, but some of it don't really look appetising from the photos. So after some mix and match on the recipes that I settle on one that I feel is easier to prepared and will yield good results based on the comments given.

From some of the recipes that I google it didn't really mention which type of peanut to be used for the recipe. So in order to save time for the trial baking, I bought the pre-packed ground peanut powder which most people used it for dessert purpose. The peanuts are finely grind into powder like texture and mixture of caster sugar based on the packet ingredients stated. So in this case, I have to cut down the amount of sugar used so that it is not too sweet due to the extra sugar in the ground peanut mixture.

Ingredients: (makes 36 marble sizes)
100g Ground Peanut Powder
100g Top Flour/Plain Flour
1/4 Teaspoon Baking Powder
50g Icing Sugar
60g Roasted Salted Peanut, finely chopped
70ml Peanut Oil/Corn Oil

Egg Wash:
1 Egg Yolk + 1 Teaspoon White, beat well

Method:
1. Mix flour, baking powder, ground peanut and icing sugar(sieved) together in a mixing bowl.
2. Next toss in the chopped peanuts and mix well.
3. Slowly add in peanut oil (you might required slightly 10 - 15ml more) to mix the flour mixture into a dough. (after stir in the oil with the spoon, use hand to knead and mix the dough will be much easier)
4. When the dough bind together, shape the dough accordingly to your preference size and shapes, brush with egg wash.
5. Bake in preheat 170 degree oven for about 15 - 20 minutes(depend on the sizes) till golden brown.
6. Set it aside on cooling rack to cool completely before storing it in air-tight container.


This is one of the most easier to prepare Chinese New Year cookies based on the short-cut that I have taken for the ingredients use :p But if you have the time for doing the preparation, I encourage that you might want to spend some time to roast the peanut till fragrant then grind it so that it will produce a even more fragrant and melt-in-mouth effect.

But no matter which type of methods/recipes your prefer, below are some interesting links that you might want to read about on their recipes/tips on making peanut cookies which I personally think is very useful:-

1. Malaysian Best - Peanut Cookies
2. Happy Home Baking - Cookie Galore
3. Do What I like - Chinese Peanut Cookies

Pork Rib Soup - 得运肉骨茶

Trying out this Pork Rib Soup - 肉骨茶 stall that is located at Block 417 of Jin San Leng Coffee Shop at Yishun Ave 11 was never list even though we used to patronise that coffee shop after our usual Sunday church service. But after watching one of the episode from "New City Beat - 城人新杂志" whereby they feature all the yummy food that is available at this stall, we decided to join the crowd for a try.

We reach the coffee shop around 5.45pm but there was already a large crowds of customers waiting for their food to be served. So while ordering, the person who takes the ordered alert me that we might have to wait for around 20 - 30 minutes for the food to be ready.

We ordered their famous Prime Rib(排骨) Soup whereby the the meat will be soft and of good quality. The taste of the soup is great which is not heavy infused by the spices or herbs, but I think it can be better if it is slight less salty. (you can also ask for re-filled of the soup if you wish to have a 2nd helping)

Braised Pork Trotter is always one of my favourite childhood food which my dad always cooked it for us at least once a month. Honestly, I think a bowl of good and flavour braised pork trotter lies on the spices and the texture of the trotter. And the braised trotter at this stall is just nice, the layer of "fat" is so soft and yummy when you put into your mouth and the meat itself is also tender to bite.

Other than pork ribs soup and braised trotter, this stall also have other signature dishes like pork liver or kidney soup, steam fish, fishcake and etc. So if you happen to drop by Yishun area, perhaps you might want to give this stall a try.

White Bee Hoon @ You Huak Restaurant

Wondering whether you still remember a few week ago, I have shared with you some tasty BBQ Chicken Wing from a coffee shop stall opposite Sembawang Shopping Centre? Today, we will be exploring another coffee shop around the same area which is called "White Bee Hoon - 白米粉".

You Huak Restaurant is located at a corner of the road junction with 3 huge yellow square signboard written with the word "白米粉" which you can see it from far away. In this coffee shop there is only one "Zhi Cha stall - 煮炒摊" that is always packed with waiting customers who comes to patronise their signature dish which is the "Teochew Style White Bee Boon".

For today's dinner, we ordered 3 side dishes plus their signature "White Bee Hoon". Since it is around dinner time, the area is packed with a lot of waiting customers and we waited for about 20 minutes or more before the dishes arrived. First to be served is our favourite "Sweet & Sour Pork - 咕嚕肉" dish which cooked with a mixture of pineapple, assorted bell pepper and etc. Although the appearance of the dish look great and the sauce is appetising, but we find that the pork is rather a bit too tough. Maybe it had being over deep-fried or the type of meat use is rather not suitable. So in this case, we only rate it as 5.5/10.

Next to be on the table is their "Teochew Seafood White Bee Hoon", although this might look rather plain or simple but the taste is indeed good. From a glance around the coffee shop, you can see almost each and every table has a plate of this White Bee Hoon with different ingredient such as seafood, fish, or normal.

This seems to be a cross between zhi cha Fried Bee Hoon and "Hokkien Fried Prawn Noodle - 福建面". Both are fried with prawn or other ingredients then braised with some gravy and egg sauce then served with small lime for that extra fragrant. This dish also come with their special homemade belacan chilli which makes the bee hoon even more tastier.

We also ordered our all-time favourite which is this "Xia Zao - 虾枣". There are a few version of this tradition dish, some of it consists of ingredients such as "prawn, yam cubes, five spice powder and etc". The one that we had from this stall look great on the serving prawn, but the inner filling is too dry and it also taste salty compare to some of the best one that we have tried before. So this is not a recommending dish unless you prefer this kind of texture/taste.

We love this... I think this taste even better than the "Xia Zao". The bitter gourd is cut into slices (which in this case, they cut it slightly thicker than the usual one that we cooked at home). The egg and the bitter gourd is nicely fried and the aroma is so fragrant that you will want to keep on eating it. According to the waitress, they have two different version of fried bitter gourd egg, one is dry which is the one you saw on the above photo while the other is the wet version which consists of gravy and egg sauce.

Other than these 4 simple dishes, they also have a lot of signature dishes that you might be interested to explore with. I saw people having crabs, flower clams(la-la), crayfish and etc... all are worth trying.....

Pizza Hut @ Causeway Point

Today we are having our dinner at Pizza Hut as Rey suggests that he would like to have pizza tonight. As usual, we arrived at the nearest Pizza Hut outlet near our area which is location at level 1 of Causeway Point Shopping Mall, just beside John Little Department Store.

While looking at the menu, we are caught up by this great promotion which cost S$11.90 for a 5 course delights which included starter, soup of the day, choice of your main course(pizza, pasta or bake rice), beverage of your choice and dessert of the day..... So without further delay we start off with our order......

The Soup of the Day is one of my favourite which is "Cream of Mushroom". At least this does not taste like those "Instant" soup or so, you still can see generous slices of Mushroom in it. Overall we are still satisfy with the taste of the soup, but if they comes with a slice or two of garlic bread for dipping it will be even better :)

We ordered two sets of the 5 course deal and one of the main course is this Chicken Pomodoro. I have heard and read a lot of good review of their new pasta range, so we decided to get something new from the menu. Chicken Pomodoro is made up with Olive, freshly made tomato sauce/diced tomato with Italian herb like Basil. Overall this is a very refreshing dish and we love their pasta sauce which taste just nice for us.

From the menu, they suppose to give us the CrissCross Fries but according to the staff who takes our order, she told us that it had being replace by the Starry Munchies which is the star-shaped hash browns fried to golden perfection. Rey loves this, as it comes with a crispy outer skin and he ate one portion of the two servings.

Other than the Chicken Pomodoro Pasta, we also ordered one of our all-time favourite which is the "Hawaiian Pizza" that spread with succulent chicken ham and juicy pineapple chunks. Although the flavour it still the same as before, but I think we didn't specify that we prefer a thin crust base so in the end the pizza that served to us was those soft and fluffy texture which we don't really fancy.

After an hour of so of waiting and eating, we finally finished our dinner and now it's time for our dessert. I guess that day was pretty crowded in the restaurant and we waited roughly about 20 minutes for our "Ice cream". In the end I still have to approach 3 different waitress before the dessert is finally being served to us.

Birthday Treat @ Sakae Sushi Part II

Today's lunch was a very special treat because Rey had being looking forward for it for a long long time. He has being talking about having SAKAE sushi with his best Facebook playmate.... "Ah Pooh" since the 1st day she return to Singapore. Joyce is a very good friend, sister and listener of mine thru MSN and facebook for the past two years while she was away in Australia :) And with similar tastebuds as us, she is also one of the Sakae sushi fan.....and she loves the raw Salmon slices ...just the way I do.....

But today's lunch treat, we have special mission.... Joyce was curious on how I take my photo shots before the meal and what are the angles that I will snap and etc... So this lunch was actually a very interesting and meaningful treat. Secondly it also meant for us to have an early celebration for my coming birthday in Mid January.... :p

Other than taking the usual items that we like, we also ordered 3 special items that we are going to try and share with the readers. First to arrive on the table is the"Beancurd Roll" shown on the first photo on top, but we are kind of shock with the dish. Because it seems rather different from what we saw from the menu which is something shown on the sakae photo above. As you can see from the Sakae photo, the white portion(seems like the doufu) is thicker and it clean and crispy on the outlook rather than the black sauce that drizzle on our serving....... Although the sauce taste quite nice, but it is sort of contradict to the photo shown on the menu which might be a bit misleading....

While flipping through the ordering menu, J & I decided to ordered this "Tempura With Yuzu Soba" which we find it worth the price of S$13.99 which consists generous amount of cold Yuzu Soba, a plate of assorted Tempura Moriawase. When we are busying taking photo shots of this dish, we are kind of caught off with what is the purpose of that little quail egg. Since we have not come across using this egg in any soba dish that we have tried before, we decided to approached the store manager for help. And she was very kind enough to explain to us that the egg is to be crack into the soba dipping sauce and eat together with the noodles. So at least in the end we knew that it is the same as what we thought it is used for :)

The Yuzu Soba taste great with it's QQ texture and a light "Yuzu" fragrant when you chew in your mouth. And this sure goes well with the deep-fry Tempura Moriawase.

Cabbage Roll is another dish that we ordered from the Veggie Delights section. Em... seems like today most of the items are from the Veggie section :p From what I remember, this used to be a similar Chinese dish where they wrapped the meat mixture (minced meat & prawn with some chopped carrot, water chestnuts and etc) with blanched Cabbage, steam it over medium heat till the meat is done, then drizzle some oyster sauce gravy on top of it.

The one that we have today is quite similar to the type I mention above, but the different is the one that served at Sakae is more of mixed vegetables filling such as Shittake Mushroom, Carrot and Enokitake Mushroom.

As for dessert, Joyce prefer something cold and sweet so she decided to go for the Peach Mochi Ice Cream. Em.... so far I have tried all flavour of Mochi Ice Cream except this peach flavour but personally I still prefer the Lychee flavour which is more fragrant.... em... wonder will Sakae bring in some DURIAN flavour... :p

A Glimpse @ Marina Bay Sands

Today we take our 2nd visit to the Marina Barrage from our way back from lunch in town. Since Grandma has not being to the Barrage before, we decided to make a trip over there so that she can take a look as the place as well as enjoying the beautiful scenery there. During our 1st visit last year, we didn't managed to get to this Water Park area where the kids and adults will be enjoying themselves with the cooling water......

Today's weather is much more better than the our revious trip. Although sun was shining bright and scotching, but thank God it is still a very windy day where you can see a lot of people flying all sort of kites at the roof top area. One that caught our attention is a "BIG BLUE SHARK"....but too big even though I zoom in to take the shot still can't take a close look of it....

From the roof top of the Barrage viewing deck area, you can take a better look at the almost completed "Marina Bay Sands - 滨海湾金沙综合娱乐城". This three cascading 55 storey hotel towers topped by an extraordinary sky park, ‘floating’ crystal pavilions, a lotus-inspired Museum, retail stores featuring cutting-edge labels and international luxury brands, trendy Celebrity Chef restaurants, endless of entertainment at the theaters and a Las Vegas-style casino is located along the Marina Bay waterfront. The expected completion date is roughly in the 2nd Quarter of 2010.

Steam Salmon Fillet With Herbs

Here is another Chinese New Year auspicious dish from Cuisine Paradise Kitchen. Despite of the Cod Fish that I always used, Salmon is another type of fish that is always on my shopping list. And since now is near to the Chinese New Year festive season, I think having something which is "BRIGHT" and "RED" will be a great presentation to impress our guests during Chinese New Year gathering...... So let me share with you my 2nd Chinese New Year "Fish" dish which I called it "鸿运当头" due to the colour of the salmon slices and herbs like red dates and wolfberries.

The idea of steaming salmon with Chinese Herbs came into my mind because I wanted to prepare something different using the salmon fillet that I bought. Instead of the usual pan-fry, bake with herbs or poaching.... I think maybe I can in-cooperate some Chinese Herbs to it and turn the Salmon into a Auspicious Chinese New Year dish.......... There are a few types of Salmon available in the supermarket or Japanese seafood stall, but usually those that we get from the local supermarket are the Norwegian Salmon which is sold in pre-packed of different parts of the salmon fillet from head to tail. No matter how you like to consume your salmon in a way from RAW to grill or poach, I am sure every different methods will brings up another level of taste in the salmon.

Ingredients: (serves 2)
1 Pieces of Boneless Salmon Fillet, abt 400g
10g Shredded Ginger
1 Stall of Spring Onion, cut into long section
4 Red Dates, soften and cut into halves
1/2 Teaspoon of Wolfberries
2 Slices of Dang Gui, break into smaller portion
Drizzle of Sesame Oil, optional

Method:
1. Rinse the Salmon fillet, pat dry and cut into slices and set aside.
2. Place some spring onion on a steaming plate, top with some Dang Gui slices and arrange the salmon slices on top of it.
3. Scatter the red dates and wolfberries evenly on the salmon slices then get ready a pot of boiling water for steaming.
4. While waiting for the water to boil, pre-heat a small frying pan with about 1 tablespoon of oil, sauté the shredded ginger till fragrant and golden brown, removed and set aside for garnish.
5. When the pot of water boils, place some saute ginger on top of the salmon slices, drizzle some ginger oil and scatter some extra chopped spring onion and steam it over medium heat for about 5 to 7 minutes depend on the thickness of the salmon slices.
6. Before severing, top with the remaining saute ginger and oil and try to scoop a few teaspoons of the fish gravy(after steaming the fish, there will be some water/sauce appears below the fish) over the fish in order to make it look more glossy and presentable.

Note:-
~ This dish is best to serve warm, just right after steaming or else the texture of the salmon slices will be tough and not smooth.

Finally, this is the end product of my "Steam Salmon Fillet with Herbs - 鸿运当头" which I hope those who consume this will have great Prosperity and luck in the coming year. If you are going to try out this dish, do let me know your feedback irregardless of good/bad :) Till then I will leave you with the two Chinese New Year Fish Dish that I have shared with you..... Will update more if I have any new ideas to share......

Assorted Pineapple Tarts

Time when by so fast as it's another starting of the year again. In about a month's time, everyone will be celebrating Chinese New Year and now it is the time to prepare and take note of those festive bakes/dishes. In my family, without failed for the past 8 years, even during my end of confinement period, I still make the effort to prepare and bake our family all times favourite - Pineapple Tarts. And this is also a time whereby my dear son is looking forward to..... as he has being helping me with the rolling of jam, and mould the tarts for the past 4 years.... :)

Pineapple tarts are usually consumed during the Chinese New Year season and it's typical shapes include flat, open tart topped with pineapple jam under a lattice of pastry or rolls filled with jam that are open at the ends and jam-filled spheres. The pineapple jam is usually cooked under low heat in order to caramelize the grated fresh pineapple that has been mixed with sugar and spices like cinnamon, star anise and cloves. From the photo, you can see the metal star shape plunger which they used to cut-out a tiny star from the pastry to top on top of the open tart. But too bad, I have misplaced mine and had only managed to find it after I have finished making these tarts :(

According to the Chinese Lunar Calender, there are 12 different animals signs which is rotating each year. And in 2010, it happens to be the year of the "TIGER". And since it is a Tiger year, I decided to make something different and special. So without much hesitate, I look-up for my baking mould and come out with this "Tigger" head print to represent the Tiger year goodies...... My dear son was very excited about this new design of our family Pineapple Tart and he actually forbidden anyone to eat it.

This set of kiddy pineapple tarts is totally belong to my dear son. He did all the rolling, mould and coating himself before I put it in the oven for him. I guess, no matter what is your age group like, you won't want to reject these cute Hello Kitty, Pooh and Tomica tarts :)

With Chinese New Year around the corner, me and my family wish everyone of you a HAPPY CHINESE NEW YEAR and may this year brings prosper, health and good career to everyone of you. If you are interested in the "Melt In Your Mouth Pineapple Tart" recipe, you can click HERE for more detail.

Double-Boil Luo Han Guo With Pork Muscle Soup

Saw another version of this soup ..... 罗汉果瘦肉汤 on Channel 8, Wednesday TV variety show known as "3-Plus-1 II - 3菜1汤II". I think it's about 2 months ago, I saw one of the participating term preparing a soup using "Luo Han Guo - 罗汉果" and lean pork. I remember vividly that I had prepared a soup using Luo han Guo as one of the ingredients in a few years back.

"Luo Han Guo - 罗汉果" is a dried fruits that are ellipse or round, with a yellow-brownish or green-brownish colour, and is covered by fine hairs. The fruit has a hard but thin shell. When breaks open, you can see partially dried, soft substance which contains the juice and large quantity of seeds. It has been used in traditional Chinese medicine for colds, coughs, sore throats, gastrointestinal disorder, as well as a blood purifier. And in Asian country, this fruit is usually used to boil herbal tea or soup.

Before making this soup, I am actually kind of worry about its' taste as Luo Han Guo is mostly sweet is natural when used to boil herbal tea. But I was surprised with the result of the soup when it is ready to be consume......... I guess the key ingredient lays on the "Dried Tangerine Peel" which makes the soup taste great rather than "sweet".

Ingredients: (serves 4)
500g Pork Muscle
1 Large Luo Han Guo
1 Piece of Dried Tangerine Peel, 6 x 6 cm
6 Red Dates
1/2 Tablespoon Wolfberries
1 Litre of Water

Method:
1. Wash and trim the pork muscle, blanched it boiling water for about 3 minutes, removed and rinse well.
2. Soaked the dried tangerine peel in water for about 1 minute till soften, use a small teaspoon to scrape off the white pith on the inner skins as that will cause bitterness to the soup.
3. Break the Luo Han Guo into half, rinse and set aside.
4. Bring the pot of 1 litre of water to boil, add in all the ingredients except the wolfberries, bring to boil again and simmer on low heat for 5 minutes.
5. Transfer the soup mixture to a slow cooker and cook on AUTO heat for about 2 hours or so, add in the wolfberries in the last 20 minutes of cooking time.
6. Serve warm with rice or you can drink before meal.

Note:
~ You can cook the soup over low heat for about 45 minutes on the stove if you don't have any slow cooker.


This is indeed a great soup for the warm weather recently as well as a keeper for coming Chinese New Year where the kids and adults will be busying munching their favourite goodies. This soup will helps to smooth their throat and prevent cough too..... So why not give this a try if you are comfortable with the taste of Luo Han Guo herbal tea.