Home-made Dumplings

Yawns...been ignoring my blog for a while now because of all the sitcoms i have to watch. Been watching The Office like crazy every night and every weekend. Would you believe i only started to watch The Office less than a month ago and i have already finished Season 1 up till Season 5 and now watching Season 6 now? lol. Anyhoo, i made dumplings aka pot-stickers aka woh-tieh aka gua tieh last Sunday :D

Baked Whole Chicken Leg

I try to make it a point to cook a "special dish" on Sundays. "Special" as in something that will take me longer than 45 minutes to prepare...lol. So i got the idea to bake one whole chicken leg for each of us last Sunday and this is how it turned out to be

Homemade Quarter Pounder

I have been thinking of making my own burger patty for a long time. So finally got round to do it when i m having the flu and when my taste buds don't even work.

so i don't even know whether it has enough taste....all i can taste is the beefy goodness :)
yumm...look at the thick patty

Penang Food Part I

Two weeks in Penang, i must say drinks in coffee shop is definitely cheaper than Kuching. e.g. Teh c peng only rm1.20...cheap or not??

As for food, some are considered cheaper compared to kuching but some note really la

Loh mee


My first ever nasi kandar :P i love it!...but its fattening T_T must control!!!!



ini sai pau...look like sai betul tak???



but got glutinous rice n meat inside...forgot wats the chinese name already (pls enlighten me those who know)



for now, lets call it lor ma kai pau...lol....nice!

kueh tiaw tng...thats me trying to diet ordering soup base dishes :D



nice also, i like the bak yi (meat balls)

maggie mee goreng (rm3.50 only!)



nice also!..lol

ini unrelated....roadside burger for supper 'x'

oh ini juga unrelated...posting this up bcos i just broke my 3 months fast on kfc!!!!!

oh the tender juicy chicken 'x'
after breaking fast, i had kfc again the day after 'x'

foo kooi mee recommended by vampirem...lol

and duck egg ckt!!! yummyyy

been talking about trying duck egg ckt since the day chen blogged about it ages ago...LOL

hokkien char (rm3.50)

sekian sahaja untuk sekarang

Home Cook Part I

Ok...i've been cooking dinners for the past 2 weeks or so and almost sliced off my finger by doing so LOL

let's see what i've been cooking...nothing complicated lar...just some thing to fill our tummies
ok this is today's dinner, spinach with abalone mushroom and belacan

and golden fried rice with sausage,minced meat and mixed veggies

not so golden hoh?golden bcos i mixed the rice with egg first b4 frying lo

and this was dono when's dinner...nasi briyani cooked straight from the rice cooker

using packet punya lah :P

ahh itu siew nyuk...imported from kuching...lol...heated with the rice cooker nya

brinjal in sweet soya sauce

cold tauhu with minced meat and chinese mushroom gravy on top

not bad rite??? 'x'

i have to figure out what to cook everyday...give me some ideas...quick...
i want something that can be done in 20 mins! :P

An Unfortunate Incident

As some of you might have known...i have been cooking dinner for the past 2 weeks...
quite fun and yet frustrating at times to cook....fun bcos i can experiment n cook only stuff i can eat...wahaha...frustrating bcos, i hv to think of what to cook everyday =_="

But last thursday, i was cutting up meat to marinade in the fridge for next day's dinner...i was washing the chopper and somehow i managed to slice my finger!!! ARGHHHHOWEEUEUEUEEUEEUEUOOOOOOOO

i can just feel the sharp sharp blade slicing my finger but my reflex is not fast enough to pull the blade away! silly right? but i think i can be such a klutz being a left handed handling all the sharp stuff and cooking...

alot of blood ooooooo...this one already wipe a FEW times but after i took this pic it continued to bleed :( to a point where i wondered whether anyone ever succumbed from a sliced finger 'x'

someone had to rush out to the nearest 7-11 to buy plaster for me....hehe...yes i managed to bring one whole carton of pill chi kit tek aun but forgot to buy plaster...for that, i m grateful to him!

heh...who wants chicken marinaded with my blood for dinner???

Buah Sukun aka Bread Fruit

Someone gave us sukun (bread fruit) last week. Sukun is one of my favouritest food! =) And i m always overjoyed to see buah sukun in the house :P

I love to eat it fried...

First, it is sliced thinly...

then deep fried to perfection!

it has a certain unique starchy taste which i absolutely love! do you like sukun?

Valentine's Day 2009

Helloooooo...

how did you celebrate your Valentine's Day? :)
Valentine's day never seem to be a biggie biggie occassion for me cos we eat out almost everyday...and what with Christmas and CNY just over...i think its high time for me to cut down on FOOOD!!!...

gosh...im putting on weight :(

anyhoo...i made some cupcakes!!! =)

valentine cupcakes that is!

nice or not? i really love it pink pink...

its actually normal vanilla cupcakes topped with melted strawberry chocolate and sprinkled with heart shaped candy :)

so proud of em!

New Year Gathering

I had some sort of a potluck gathering with a few of my colleagues during the New Year hols...its a very interesting gathering where each person bring 2 dishes/baked products which MUST be homemade...

I made my sausage buns :)

This is the 3rd time im making em...and i must say this batch is the best among all 3...soft fluffy bread!!! yay...i m soooooo proud =)

made these with some left over dough...

but the whole tray went into the bin cos a whole colony of ants got to them before us :(

ta daaa...everyone's hardwork put together...

pretty impressive lunch spread from just 5 of us rite ;)

we had...

shepard's pie..

cinnamon rolls...

drunken prawns...

sinfully rich choco brownies =)

and some more which i do not have photos of...


it was fun...we should do bring-your-own-homemade-goodies gatherings more often!

Another Christmas Post...

Ok here's another Christmas post from me...

ta daa....

MERRY CHRISTMAS 2008! =)

My First Attempt in making Rolled Fondant

Another baking-related post :P

Just now i experimented with fondant making. If you dont know what is fondant, here's the definition : An icing made of sugar syrup and glucose, which is cooked to a specific temperature and then kneaded to a smooth, soft paste. This paste can then be colored or flavored and used as an icing for cakes and petit fours.


If you ever see smooth surfaced cakes like this ...

Or cupcakes like this one here :

Photo credit to www.cakejournal.com

These are all covered with fondant

You can actually color the fondant any color u like...it is originally white

hehe on a different note...lookie at my Christmas tree cookie cutter...

I m going to use it make come Christmas themed goodies...

Ok...so here's my fondant...not yet rolled flat...

and rolled fondant...

I like the surface...smooth and white =)
fondant uses lots n lots n lots of icing sugar...i used up almost half a pack

here's the recipe i used just in case anyone's interested:

Ingredients:
8 tablespoon unsalted butter
3/4 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 tsp salt
2/3 cup condensed milk
5 cups of sifted confectioner's sugar (icing sugar)

Method:

1. Beat butter,vanilla and salt till soft
2. Add milk slowly and beat till mixture is very light
3. Add sugar cup by cup
4. Dust work surface with extra cup of sugar (you can actually use cornflour if you dont want the fondant to be too sweet)
5.Turn fondant mixture out on the surface and work sugar in till it becomes pliable like PlayDoh

I am keeping my fondant in the fridge until future use...dont know how long it will last like that 'x' will keep u updated in my fondant adventure :P

Plan to use the fondant to cover some cupcakes...dont wanto be too adventurous on my first try with fondant...

Egg Tarts & Cream Puffs

I successfully made a batch of egg tarts 2 weeks ago! yay!! successfully as in EDIBLE and 'can see the light' egg tarts 'x'

It took me two times to get the the right egg tart with 3 recipes =_=

At the end, the egg tart recipe at kuali.com is what got me thru =)

and last week, i made cream puffs

initially wanted to make durian cream puffs but dono why sudnly cannot find durian by the roadside anymore....

so just made cream puffs loh...

not trying to blow my own trumpet or wat, but cream puffs are surprisingly, relatively easy to make

i made the puff twice on saturday and sunday and the 2nd time round, it only took me 1 hour to prepare the batter and pop it in the oven

ok nxt time can make this for housewarming party...lol

Here are the recipes if you are interested (obtained from Kuali.com)

Egg Tarts (http://kuali.com/recipes/viewrecipe.asp?r=2578)

Ingredients

Pastry
210g plain flour
1 tsp milk powder
30g icing sugar
1/2 egg yolk
130g cold butter, cubed

Filling
120g castor sugar
250ml hot water
1¾ tbsp milk powder
1/8 tsp salt
1 tsp vinegar
1/2 tsp vanilla essence
3 eggs

Method
Beat butter, icing sugar and egg yolk until creamy. Sift in flour and milk powder to mix into a pliable dough. Cover with a piece of tea towel and leave aside for 20–30 minutes.

Roll out pastry in between two sheets of plastic. Stamp out 9–10cm circles of pastry with a pastry cutter. Line egg tart patty tins with pastry circles (note: i have omitted this step, instead i mix the pastry with more flour so that it is firmer and then just press the pastry flat into the egg tart mould).

Trim off excess pastry dough and prick the base with a fork. Bake in a preheated oven at 160°C for 10–12 minutes. Remove and cool slightly.

To prepare filling, dissolve sugar in hot water and stir in milk powder and salt. Leave aside to cool, then add vanilla essence. Break eggs into a clean bowl. Stir lightly with a fork, but do not beat. Pour the cooled milk mixture into the eggs. Stir to mix, then strain into a measuring cup. Leave aside.Pour custard mixture till almost full into pre-baked pastry cases and bake at 180°C for about 15–20 minutes or until filling is set.

Cream Puffs

For the puff (http://kuali.com/recipes/viewrecipe.asp?r=1265):

Ingredients
125ml water
60g butter
2 eggsCombine:
75g flour
Pinch of salt

Method

Line a baking sheet with non-stick parchment paper. Preheat oven to 200 ºC.Place water and butter in a deep saucepan. Heat gently until butter melts. (Butter must melt before the water boils.) When butter has melted, increase the heat and bring water to a boil.

Remove saucepan from heat and add all the flour and salt. Return to the heat and stir vigorously with a wooden spoon until mixture forms a smooth, sticky mass.Remove from heat and leave to cool for about four to five minutes.

Mix in eggs one at a time and beat with a wooden spoon until dough is mooth. (Avoid overmixing, and stop mixing as soon as the pastry is smooth.)To make choux puffs, drop teaspoonfuls of the mixture on the baking parchment. To make eclairs, pipe mixture out in long shapes.Bake immediately in the preheated oven for 10 minutes. Reduce heat to 180 ºC and continue to bake for 15 to 20 minutes. Turn off oven heat and leave choux puffs to dry in the oven for 45 to 50 minutes.

For the Cream:

Ingredients
250ml milk
1/2 tsp vanilla essence
2 egg yolks
50g sugar
25g corn flour

Method
Bring milk to a low boil in a deep, heavy saucepan. Add vanilla essence after it has boiled.

Combine egg yolks and sugar in a mixing bowl and whisk thoroughly for three to four minutes. Add in corn flour and blend well.Pour hot milk gradually into the egg mixture and beat well with a hand whisk. Bring the mixture over a medium low heat and cook, stirring constantly, until it turns into a thick consistency.

Remove custard away from the heat and whisk for a few seconds until it is smooth. Leave aside to cool, then cover with cling film wrap and refrigerate.

My First Bento Set

Made these this morning...

can see clearly or not???

nah close up...

this is supposed to be a bear shaped egg but the egg i used were too small, so no ears for mr bear here...kekeke

and my cute little no-ear rabbit :)

love the rabbit the best!

and i made tulip shaped sausages too

and my first bento set in a not-s0-bento container :(

pretty easy to make with the egg molds and weiner cutter taht i bought few weeks ago

the first time i tried to shape the eggs and sausages i werent successful bcos the trick is to put the egg upright in the mould before you close it and for the sausage, the thing is to shape it with the cutter B4 you cook/fry it...i did the other way round the first time =_=

bought these bento accessories from Little Bazaar , nice seller and efficient service...recommended! :)

these cute little bento sets are nice to make and a pleasure to eat...for those newly weds, wifies ah, can make these cute bento for your hubbies to bring to work since everythign is so expensive nowaday...hahahaha

and taking this opportunity to wish Yientau and Stef a happy happy wedding...and the beginning of a wonderful life together!

sekian! :)