Pumpkin Ondeh Ondeh

Ondeh Ondeh/Onde Onde is one of the popular and delicious tea-time snacks in Singapore. Usually they come in green colour (pandan flavour) glutinous rice balls that are sprinkled with grated coconut on the outside and filled with Gula Melaka as the inner fillings. So when you give this Ondeh Ondeh a bite it would burst in your mouth with the melted Gula Melaka oozing out from the rice ball. I love those bite-size and chewy versions with a good grade of fragrant Gula Melaka that makes you keep popping them into your mouth.

There are two different common methods on making this snack; one is made totally using glutinous rice flour while the second method is a mixture of sweet potatoes and glutinous rice flour. But now there are a lot of different varieties available in the stores such as using Yam, Chocolate, Purple Sweet Potato and etc to attract more customers.

Here are the ingredients to make the pumpkin ondeh ondeh so let's get ready on these such as:-

Ingredients: (makes 20 - 24)
150g Grated Coconut
1/4 Teaspoon Fine Salt
4 - 5 Pandan leaves, tied to a knot
15g Tapioca Flour
100ml Water
200g Steamed Mashed Pumpkin
180g Glutinous Rice Flour
1/2 Teaspoon Salt
100g Gula Melaka(Palm Sugar), roughly chopped


These are the photo on the steps on how to make the ondeh ondeh:-

Method:
1. Cut off the skin of the pumpkin, weight about 200g and cut it into small cubes and steam them for about 15 minutes or until soften.
2. Remove it from the steamer rack and let it cool while preparing other ingredients.
3. Mix 1/4 teaspoon salt with the grated coconut and steam for 5 minutes together with the pandan leave. When done, set aside and let it cool.
4. Mix tapioca flour and water together then cook over medium heat until it forms a thick paste.
5. Remove it from heat and let it cool in a mixing bowl.
6. Next add in mashed pumpkin, glutinous rice flour and 1/2 teaspoon salt and knead to form a soft dough.
7. Pinch a bit of the dough and roll each ball into a size of a "fishball(about 15g)".
8. Bring a pot of water to boil while stuffing the filling of the ondeh ondeh.
9. Flatten a dough ball and put a bit(1/4 teaspoon) of Gula Melaka in the centre, pinch to seal the opening and roll again into round shape. Repeat this with the other balls.
10. Drop about 5 - 6 balls into the boiling water while continue making the rest. Cook the balls in boiling water until they float to the surface which takes about 2 minutes.
11. Use a slotted spoon to remove the balls from the water when they floated up and place them on the grated coconut.
12. Roll each ball in the coconut and serve warm or when cooled.

Note:
~ I also coated some of these pumpkin ondeh ondeh with some ground peanut instead of the traditional grated coconut. And it taste taste great with the pumpkin and peanut combination.


After some steaming, kneading, rolling, cooking and rolling, these are our Pumpkin Ondeh Ondeh with dual coating. I guess it would depend on individual liking on whether to pick a grated coconut coating or ground peanut or maybe "both".

These are some of the ready packed Pumpkin Ondeh Ondeh that we bought to our weekly cell group for the after session food time. Does this packing resemble to those "store bought" ondeh ondeh?

Seattle's Best Coffee @ Burger King

Recently Burger King has introduced the branded Seattle’s Best Coffee into their menu permanently. These coffee featuring an Uncommonly Smooth™ taste from their Seattle’s Best Coffee® which is freshly-brewed with great taste that result from the smooth roasting 100-percent Arabica Coffee Beansand. Each cup of coffee costs from S$3.40(prices varies at selected restaurants) onwards depending on your selection.

Thanks to Marcus from Word Of Mouth Communications and Burger King for the complimentary coffee vouchers that has being courier to me together with the press release kit. It was really very innovative for them to send two cups of ¼ filled roasted coffee beans to create an aromatic senses of these branded Seattle’s Best Coffee even before I get to try them out.

Seattle’s Best Coffee is one of the most recognized specialty coffee brands in the United States and it has recently set its foot at Burger King outlets in Singapore. Their coffee is bold and full-flavoured with a distinguished taste that is mellow and uncommonly smooth. You can get to try any of their eight new coffees that brew to tantalize your taste buds anytime of the day at the nearest Burger King outlets(check outlets HERE) in your area.

For hot range you can choose either one of these four to perk you up during sleepy morning or cold days:-
- Americano
- Cappuccino
- Latte
- Mocha

Above is my order of Hot Latte that served together with my favourite Onion Rings for afternoon snack.


But if you prefer something more icy and refreshing perhaps one of these might be your choice:-
- Iced Americano
- Iced Latte
- Iced Mocha
- Iced Caramel Latte

So for us we decided to pick a cup of this Iced Mocha from the cold beverages list. From the 1st sip we agreed that it taste great and smoothing with a just nice sweetness which refreshing for quench the hot afternoon heat.

And in conjunction with the introduction of Seattle’s Beat Coffee in Burger King they also launched a “BK Coffee Smootherizer” application (www.burgerking.com.sg/coffee) that is created to encourage BK fans and new customers to try out BK’s new premium coffee offering - Seattle’s Best Coffee! Visitors are encouraged to upload a photo of their “bad” coffee in the BK Coffee Smootherizer application (www.burgerking.com.sg/coffee) and rate it for before it will be transformed into a 50% discount E coupon for redemption on your next purchase of freshly Seattle’s Best Coffee at any Burger King restaurants(except BK Escape Theme Park).

Other than the Seattle's Best Coffe, I would also like to share with you that currently Burger King is having the “You can expect EXTRA” promotion where customers would received a cup of FREE Sandae whenever they order one of the promotional set meal. Here we choose the “WHOPPER with Turkey Bacon and Cheese” set that comes with a regular drink and fries. I love the taste of the crispy bacon that is being sandwich together with their tender beef patty, cheese and lot of fresh crunchy lettuce.

Chong Pang Nasi Lemak

Chong Pang Nasi Lemak starts from a stall in the former rustic Chong Pang Village Hawker Centre way back in 1973. Growing as a Kampong Kid around Sembawang area, I still remember clearly that my dad used to bring us to that old Chong Pang Hawker Centre every weekend to eat our favourite hawker dishes as well as replenished our groceries at the same time.

Today Chong Pang Nasi Lemak has relocated at a coffee shop along Sembawang Road that is next to the Chong Pang Camp. And to be honest even though the stall is just about 5 minutes away from my place I don’t really patronize it that often.

During the previous two occasions where we dine-in at the stall around 6pm in the evening (despite of whether weekdays or weekends) there were already crowds queuing up to get their dinner from their wide range of homecook dishes and signature “coconut rice”. You would also notice from the take-away orders or those customers eating around at the tables, everyone is almost having almost the same items such as Otah, Fried Egg and the "Deep-fried Chicken" which is marinated with specially spices that is so crispy and fragrant to taste. And most importantly I am sure everyone loves their signature sweet and spicy "Chilli Sauce" that makes you return for more.

Apart from the common fried chicken wings, egg and otah, this stall also offers a wide variety of homecook dishes to go with the nasi lemak such as Sambal Sotong, Spicy Long Bean, Sweet and Sour Pork, Ngoh Hiang, Fish & Prawn Platter and etc. But personally I think the dishes are too pricey for example; the two plates of Nasi Lemak shown above that consists of 2 veggies and 2 meats cost a total of S$9.80. And compared to a few years back, we find that the taste of their “coconut rice” seems to be different from what it used to be perhaps due to the cut down of coconut milk for health conscious.

Although for many people this might not be the best "Nasi Lemak" in Singapore, but if you are staying around North area I am sure it is still worth trying some of their signature items. To avoid the crowds of parking diffiuclty you have to be there either before or after dinner crowds in order to find seats and parking spaces.

Chong Pang Nasi Lemak
447 Sembawang Road
Singapore 758404
Telephone: 6756 0048 / 9655 1868
Website: http://www.chongpangnasilemak.com/

Opening Hours:
~ 5.00pm until 7.00am on the next day.

Uncle Sun Bak Kut Teh Spices

In Singapore you can easily get a decent bowl of Bak Kut Teh(herbal pork ribs soup) anywhere near your neighbourhood coffee shop or food centre. And there are also a lot of different types of pre-packed Bak Kut Teh spices available in the market for you to prepare this local dish at home. For me I love these quick and easy pre-packed spices, which could easily provides a bowl of hearty homecook soup to fill our dinner menu by the end of our hectic working day.

Here are the ingredients and steps on cooking this Bak Kut Teh:-

Ingredients: (serves 4)
1 Packet of "Uncle Sun" Sup Herba Oriental(bak kut teh)
1kg of Prime Pork Ribs
2 Litre Water
1 - 2 Bulb of Garlic, depend on the size
1/2 Tablespoon of Black Peppercorn, lightly crushed
4 Red Dates, optional

Method:
1. Trim, rinse and blanched the pork ribs in boiling water for 5 minutes, removed and rinse well. Set aside.
2. Bring 2 litres of water to boil in a soup pot, remove the herbs from the herbal pack and rinse them once before adding them into the boiling water together with the soup spice pack(power pack), garlic bulb, black pepercorns(if you prefer, you can put the crashed peppercorns in a soup bag) and red dates.
3. When the mixture comes to boil, lower the heat and let it simmer for about 5 minutes before adding in the pork ribs.
4. Simmer the soup on medium low heat for about 2 hours until the meat is tender. OR
5. You can transfer the boiling soup after adding pork ribs to a slow cooker and cook it on AUTO mode for about 2.5 hours or more depending on your preference.
6. Serve it with steam rice and cut chilli with dark soy sauce.


You can purchased "Uncle Sun" range of soup spices such as Bak Kut Teh, Ginseng Cordyseps Chicken, Ginseng Chicken and Abalone with Chicken at either Giant, Sheng Siong or Carrefour supermarket. The price is range from S$4.50 - S$5.50 depending on the product that you purchase.

This "Uncle Sun" brand of Bak Kut Teh taste rather different from the usual "Seah's Singapore Bak Kuet Teh Spices" that I have always cook. For this soup the colour is slight darker and you can taste a mild combination of Angelica (Dang gui), Star Anise and Cinnamon flavour that is infused in the soup. So for those who prefer a strong soup broth maybe you can consider to get a pack and try it out if you happen to see it in the supermarket.

Don't worry if you cannot finish the pot of soup as you could always keep the remaining in the fridge and reheat it in microwave on the next day. Or instead of serving it with steam rice, you could also add in some Mee Suah (面线 ) to make a noodle dish for lunch treat too.

Thai Green Curry Chicken

Our family prefers Thai Green Curry when compared to their Red Curry even though sometime it might tends to be slightly spicy and it has that hint of sweetness that is not usually associated with red curries. Plus by adding some fresh Thai basil and kaffir lime leaves together with extra dose of coconut milk it actually lifts up the aroma and taste of this dish too.

Cream Of Mushroom Soup

Out of all the western soups available, “Cream of Mushroom” is always my priority choice when making orders. To be honest, this is my first time making mushroom soup from raw ingredients rather than the all time favourite Campbell can soup.

Since I cannot find any decent button mushroom or suitable replacement from the supermarkets, I decided to replace it with Swiss browns that have a deeper and earthier flavour than white mushrooms. These mushrooms have a firm flesh that hold their shape well when cooked and they are great to be used for risotto, casseroles or even pasta sauce.

These are the ingredients and steps for making the mushroom soup:-

Ingredients: (serves 2)
1 Tablespoon Olive Oil
10g Unsalted Butter
1/2 Stalk of Leek, thinly sliced
1 Cloves Garlic, roughly minced
200g Swiss Brown Mushroom, cut into quarters
1 Cup Chicken Stock + 1/2 Cup Water
50ml Thickened Cream
Dash of freshly ground pepper
Garlic Toast, to serve

Note:

~ You can replace Leek with 1 medium Brown onion, thinly sliced.

~ You can experiment with different type of mushroom like a mixture of white button mushroom with Swiss brown, shittake mushroom or etc to achieve different flavour.

Method:
1. Give the mushrooms a quick rinse, remove the stalks and cut each mushroom each quarters then set aside.
2. Heat oil and butter in a large saucepan over medium low heat, add leek and garlic and saute for about 3 - 5 minutes till the leek is tender.
3. Add mushrooms to the leek mixture and continue to stir and cook for about 5 - 8 minutes till they are soften.
4. Next add in chicken stock and water to the mushroom mixture and simmer for another 15 minutes.
5. Remove from heat and set aside to cool before processing the soup till well combined.
6. Return the soup mixture back into the saucepan, add in 50ml of cream and stir without boiling over low heat until warmed through.
7. Ladle soup into serving bowls, swirl with some extra cream and season with pepper.
8. Serve with some homemade garlic bread.


Garlic Bread is a very tasty sides for soups or pasta dishes especially for those garlic lovers. For me I would always look forward to it to go with my favourite cream of mushroom soup. There are a lot of methods and ways for making garlic bread and below is one of my simplest way of spreading butter garlic mixture on the bread and toast it till golden brown.

Homemade garlic bread is one of the quick and easy snacks to prepare at home without much hassle. All you required is minimum amount of ingredients such as baguette, butter, garlic and some herbs.

Ingredients: (serves 2)
1 Small Baguette, cut into thick slices
50g Butter, soften
4 Cloves Garlic, minced
Dried Parsley/Italian Herbs, optional

Methods:
1. Mix the minced garlic together with soft butter and some dried herbs till well combined.
2. Cut the baguette into thick slices(about 5 equal slices), put them into the oven toaster(this is what i use, photo) and toast about 1 minute on each side.
3. Remove and let it cool off a bit before spreading it with a layer of garlic butter.
4. Return the bread back to the toaster and toast for another 3 - 5 minutes till it turns golden brown and crispy.
5. Serve it with your desire soup or even as a breakfast treat with coffee/tea.


Note:
~ The reason why I pre-toast the bread is to prevent the surface from being soggy after toasting it with the garlic butter spread. But if you are in a hurry you can omit this extra step.
~ You can prepared them ahead, stored in the freezer and toast it as when you like for breakfast treat or tea snacks too.

It is always a good way to take comfort with some piping hot homecook soup during year-end cold and rainy weather. And I am sure anyone or even your guests would be delighted for being served with a bowl of this homemade cream of mushroom soup together with a few slices of garlic bread to accompany it.

Sakae Sushi ~ New Menu Launched

Last week, 08 November 2010 Sakae Sushi has launched a brand new menu with over 40 new & exciting items including "Sakae Candle" in all its outlets islandwide. And for those customers who dine-in at Sakae Sushi you could also join in their November special photo contest in conjunction with their new menu. Here I would like to share with you some of their “NEW” dishes that I have tried.

Look at these gorgeous colour tones of the salmon slices on this “Salmon Blossom” dish. The touch of the burnt edge, salmon roe topping and codfish roe base makes this a perfect combination from the freshness of the sea lingering in your mouth. Love the taste of the different layers of texture for this dish.
Price: S$6.99 per plate (3 pieces)

I was attracted to the photo of this dish at Sakae Sushi Facebook (HERE) which draws my attention to drop by Sakae to try this out. But as usual when the dish served it was only about 80% similar to the photo illustration and the waitress was trying all her best to light up the "candle" which doesn't seems to light up. So in the end I was kind of disappointed with the "Sakae Candle" which has no flame. Guess I would have to try my luck on this dish again at another branch to see whether the "candle" does lights up. Despite of the "flame" issue, this dish is indeed another innovative idea from Sakae that captures both sight and taste of the patrons especially during coming Christmas season which added much atmosphere to it.
Price: S$6.99 per plate (2 pieces)

This new deep-fried tofu dish is supposed to be with Kimuchi sauce and not Kimuchi Soup like what shown in the photo. But despite of the appearance, this "Mushroom Kimuchi Tofu" is very appetizing due to its hot and sour taste from kimchi, great side dish to accompany with rice.
Price: S$5.99 per plate

Although this dish is marked with “New” but the content is quite similar to the previous Lobster Tofu dish in the old menu. Perhaps the only different is this new “Lobster Salad Tofu” is divided into smaller serving sizes compared to the big portion previously. The cold beancurd is sandwich with some lobster salad and topped with shrimp roe and mango cubes and served together with goma dressing.
Price: S$7.99 per plate

Lovely fresh Scallop resting on top of the sushi cubes which are coated with rice crackers. The moment when we bite it, we are all surprised by the hint of the spice taste that is quite similar to curry aroma. Each "Hotate Arare Maki" consists a thick layer of fresh scallop and a good spread of codfish roe that makes this a scrumptious maki dish. If you like adventure taste, try this!
Price: S$8.99 per plate

There are three types of "Carpaccio(raw fish)" dishes available in their new menu which are Hamachi(Yellow tail fish), Maguro(Tuna Fish) and Salmon. Since mum has not tried yellow tail sashimi before, I choose this “Hamachi Carpaccio” which comes with thinly sliced yellow tail resting on top of some shredded white onion and lettuce then drizzle with their special sauce. Love the fresh and sweet taste of the yellow tail would definitely order again during my next visit.
Price: S$8.99 per plate

For vegetable lovers or those who are looking for more healthier bites, Sakae Sushi has a new range of healthy veggie delights specially prepared for you too. You can try their new deep-fried "Vegetarian Mock Prawn", light and refreshing "Rice Paper Maki" or start off with some "Kinoko Salad" if you are mushroom lovers like us. Here we ordered two items from this veggie category such as "Vegetarian Mock Prawns" which is made with beancurd skin and other ingredients, deep-fried till golden brown then served with some vegetables and mayonnaise sauce on the side.
Price: S$4.99 per plate (3 pieces)

When I spotted this "Rice Paper Maki" on the menu, the first thing that flash across my mind is would this taste similar to the "Vietnamese Spring Roll"? I love the light and refreshing taste of Vietnamese spring roll that comes with their special chilli dipping sauce. But this Rice Paper Maki served at Sakae does not come with any dipping sauce which makes it taste rather a bit blend and dry. Perhaps a little dipping sauce to go with this would make it a perfect cooling snacks.
Price: S$6.99 per plate

For more photos of these "new" dishes that we tried, you can take a look at our Facebook page HERE.

In conjunction with the launched of the New Menu, there are five sets of S$30.00 Sakae Sushi Vouchers up for grabs in the month of November! To qualify for the "Foo-de-li-cious" Photo Contest, simply order any NEW item from Sakae Sushi New Menu and snap a photo of you, your family and/or friends enjoying the food to WIN!

To participate, please follow the steps below:
~ Step 1: Join us as Fan on Sakae Sushi Facebook

~ Step 2: Attach your photo(s) on our Facebook’s Wall (on top of the page)

~ Step 3: Add your own captions and include your name, contact no. and email address.

Good Luck~!

Neo Garden Deluxe - Mini Buffet

A few weeks ago, my brother celebrates his Birthday together with their house warming in his apartment at Pinnacle@Duxton. Everyone enjoys the tasty food as well as panorama view of the city from his apartment at level 45 and also the rooftop view at level 50 of the building. As for the food, we have decided to try out the "Neo's Deluxe" package which is recommended by one of our relative who is a regular customer of Neo Garden Group.

This mini buffet cost S$14.99 per person for 6 Main courses, 2 desserts and 1 beverage. There are a lot of delicious local and Asian food to be selected from their menu range and here are some of the items that we had:- Thai Pineapple Rice, Fried Hong Kong Mee, Sotong Yu Tiao & Breaded Scallop, Mushroom Broccoli, Curry Chicken and etc.

These are lovely golden deep-fried "Sweet and Sour" fish slices that goes well with their special dipping sauce.

After much discussion we settle for this "Butter Prawn" instead of Sze Chuan/Thai-style prawn which is well received by most of the guests. Everyone comments that the prawns are very fresh and crunch when bite and they are lightly infused with a layer of golden crust and buttery fragrant.

After scanning through the buffet line, these are the items that I took. The "Thai Pineapple Rice" is gorgeously served with mixed frozen vegetables, raisins and chicken floss that is fried with spices which enhance its overall sight and taste. Surprisingly the Curry Chicken taste good with it fragrance and spicy gravy but the portion was kind of little for 30 pax as by the end of 1st round there already not many potatoes and chicken left in the pot.

For desserts we choose the "Mini Custard Puff" which is one of the popular choices as it is smaller in size and great to go with either tea/coffee. And for those who wants something cold and sweet, the "Ice Jelly with Cocktail" would be a great choice to be served after meal.

Recently Neo Garden Catering has also started their festive season promotions for coming Christmas and New Year. For more details and enquires you could check out from their website HERE for more information.

Neo Group Pte Ltd
No. 6A Wan Lee Road
Singapore 627938
Telephone: 6896 7757
Fax: 6515 0421
Website: http://www.neogarden.com.sg
Email: enquiry@neogarden.com.sg

Stir-Fried Pork With Basil Leave

Stir-fried Pork with Basil Leave (Pad Gra Prao) is one of the most common street/household food in Thailand. It’s usually served as a quick one-dish meal eaten with white rice and usually topped with an extra fried egg. And since I have some Thai Sweet Basil left over from preparing the Thai Green Curry (recipe HERE), I decided use them for this stir-fried pork with basil leave to go with the curry.

Thai Express @ North Point

Thai Express is a chain of restaurants serving Thai cuisine in Singapore and its' first restaurant was opened in Holland Village, Singapore in May 2002. Now they have outlets spreading out in different parts of Singapore as well as Australia, Indonesia, Malaysia and etc. And sometime back during one of the lunchtime, we decided to try out their "Sa-nook" which is also known as "fun" set that comes in either Tom Yum Soup, Thai Green Curry or Pineapple Fried Rice together with 1 side dish and a dessert.

Out of the 3 choices, we settle for their "Sa-nook Seafood Pineapple Fried Rice" set that comes with a plate of seafood pineapple fried rice, deep-fried tofu square as appetiser and steamed tapioca with coconut cream as dessert. Overall for the price that we are paying this is still a very economic lunch set that is among the patrons. Worth trying one of these set for lunch if you are craving for some Thai food.
Price: S$8.90 per set (including 1 main, 1 appetiser and 1 dessert)

Other than the Sa-nook set, we also ordered a bowl of their "must try" Thai Laksa with Crayfish in Jade-green Gravy. Personally we find there isn't much ingredients in the bowl except for 1 Crayfish that is spilt into half length wise and a few pieces of Thai eggplant and pineapple. Nothing too fancy about this Laksa dish perhaps should go for the Seafood Laksa or Thai Green Curry instead.
Price: S$13.90 per plate

Here I was attracted to their irresistibly Thai Chendol with slices of Jackfruit, colourful strains of chendol and red rubies in a sea of rich coconut milk served together with generous drizzle of Thai palm sugar. The aroma of the jackfruit and palm sugar gives extra flavour to this drink and I love the fresh and crunchy red rubies that makes you keep popping some into your mouth.
Price: S$5.90 per cup

There are about 20 outlets spreading all around Singapore and you can find the locations and contacts HERE. I am sure with an outlet that is near to your area, trying one of their dishes is just a matter of time. So do share with us what is your opinion about their food and if you like their dishes, do recommend us your choices too.

Thai Express
930 Yishun Avenue 2
#02-55/56/57
Northpoint Shopping Centre
Singapore 769098
Telephone: (65)6555 9112
Website: http://www.thaiexpress.com.sg/

Operating Hour:
Daily: 11.30am to 10.30pm; (Last Order at 10pm)

Purple Sweet Potato Chiffon Cake

It's tea time again! These few days I saw quite a number of blogger friends posting similar chiffon cake recipes range from Purple Sweet Potato, Green Tea with Azuki Bean, Spinach Chiffon, Pistachio & Raspberry and etc. And since I have some purple sweet potato paste leftover in the fridge after making our favourite Mantou(馒头), I decided to use the it to make a chiffon cake.