Busy in the Kitchen.....Cakes, Desserts, Noodles, Rice and everything nice...

I have not been blogging for a while as I have just started a new job and am trying to familiarize myself with my new position. Since today is my off day, I decided to blog a little.

Pongteh is a peranakan dish and when someone mentions pongteh, people who knows this dish will directly have an image of a non-spicy dish with pork, pig trotters cooked with preserved fermented soya bean paste.  However, as I had lots of chicken meat in my freezer, I decided to whipped up another version - Chicken Pongteh. Furthermore, my 2 kiddos love hard boiled eggs and I made sure I included that inside the dish.  I often add in stuff which are not suppose to be added in.  However, for a busy Mom like myself, as long as everyone in the family is happy and is eating well, adding or taking out an ingredient is not a big deal for me.  Here's a photo of my version of Chicken Pongteh.

A friend of mine just loves pandan chiffon cakes and she is willing to travel miles just to buy a couple.  As I had some pandan leaves and coconut in my cabinet, I decided to make a pandan chiffon cake for her. Pandan is actually known as Pandanus Amaryllifolius Leaves and chiffon cake is a light airy cake made from oil, eggs, sugar, flour, baking powder and flavourings ( in my case, its pandan).  I was quite fearful at first as I did not have a chiffon cake mold and I was using my silicon bundt mold but thankfully, it came out pretty OK.  Here's a photo of my pandan chiffon cake.

Noodles...that's like a staple food in my family.  My 2 kiddos just love noodles..just like their Mommy and Daddy.  So, what did I make recently?  A simple version of Wat Tarn Hor (Flat Rice Noodles in Egg Starchy Gravy).  This is a hit with my kids and I suppose its a much loved dish for a lot of kids.  Most of the time, I will just ask my kids what they want for lunch / dinner and then go searching for the ingredients in my fridge.  So, if I run out of one ingredient, I will substitute with another...haha!  Here's a photo of my simple version of Wat Tarn Hor.

I had a friend from USA visiting us recently and we were talking about General Tso's Chicken which is a famous chinese take-away dish in USA and we decided to make it at home.  I did some research and I found out that this dish is not originated from China but from New York, USA.  So, here's our version of General Tso's Chicken and its really yummy with white rice.  My friend gave me 2 thumbs up... :)

Moving on.... I had to do some cupcakes for a function.  They wanted chocolate cupcakes and it must be a little fancy too.  So, I decided to make chocolate cupcakes with a dallop of ganache inside of it and I pipe roses on top of it.  Thank goodness everyone loved it.  Here's a photo of my chocolate cupcakes.

My other half wanted some lor mai kai which is a popular item in a dim sum menu during yum cha hours.  Since I still  have 1/2 packet of glutinous rice left, I decided to make him some since dim sum also mean touch your heart. So, gonna make some lor mai kai to touch my other half heart...haha!!!  Here's a photo of my lor mai kai.

I also made some macarons for a friend of mine who is gluten free.  She just loves macarons and what better way to spoil her than make her a batch of her favourite cookies.  Here's a photo of my macarons.

Had some over-riped bananas in the kitchen the other day and I decided to do some Cokodok (Banana Fritters) which is a traditional Malaysian snack made of flour and bananas and its deep fried.  This snack is delicious when its hot or cold.  Here's a photo of my Cokodok.

And since I am on the topic of snack, here's another delicious snack which I often make when I want something Malaysian.  This is my version of cucur badak (lazy version) and here's my photo of it.

Lastly, I made cupcake bouquet for my lady boss. It's her birthday and I decided to make something so that she can share with her family when they celebrate her birthday with her.  Here's a photo of my cupcake bouquet.

These are some of the things which I made for my family and friends last month.  Most of the time, I just totally forgot to take photos of the things I made as I am always rushing, rushing, rushing...haha!!!  Will update soon.  In the meantime, have fun in the kitchen and see ya!!!

June, June...busy busy month of June

It has been a while since I last wrote. Lots of things are happening in June....birthdays and I mean lots of birthdays and school holidays.  I have been so busy making cakes, cooking for friends and relatives and making plans for the school holidays.

Here's some of the things which I managed to take some photos of....busy, busy, busy...

Deep Fried Fish Soup with Rice

Cream Cakes for the June Birthday Boys and Girls

Winnie the Pooh Cupcakes and 2D Cake for my little Princess.  She turned 5...a big girl now.

Japanese Curry Chicken Rice

Prawn Noodles (Hae Mee)

Cream Sponge Cake for a Customer

Right now, I am busy baking cupcakes and a mudcake for my little Prince's 7th Birthday.  He wants me to create a Minecraft Theme and he wants to celebrate it in school...wish me luck!!!

Bak Kut Teh (Meat Bone Tea)

We love bak kut teh...its an awesome dish.  My Grandma often make BKT and there were always stories that came with each dish.  I remember her telling us that the kuli (asian slave) were the first people who ate BKT as it was a herbal tonic to "pu" their bodies. My Grandma has 2 versions of BKT - light colour broth which is peppery and dark broth with medicinal herbs.  When I was a teenager, my Grandma surprised us with another version - Chic Kut Teh (instead of pork, chicken is used).  We normally eat BKT with yau char kway (deep fried dough stick) and perserved vegetables.

The weather is turning cold and soup is the way to go right now.  So, we decided to whip-up this delicious BKT for the whole family.  I have no time to make the yau char kway and my other half said not to bother as we don't really eat it anyway.  The most important thing is the BKT and the preserved vegetables.  Here's a photo of our BKT.

Till next time....lets do the BKT dance!!!

A Family Gathering...

It has been an exciting week in this household...firstly, my other half secretly baked a cake with our 2 kids and decorated it for my birthday.  I was so impressed and so proud of them...its one of my best birthday ever.  Secondly, we had a family gathering where our love ones came all the way from the city to visit us. We decided to cook some chinese food to tickle their taste buds. My little prince and little princess were so excited to welcome them.

Here's a photo of my birthday cake. My 2 kids were so proud to tell me all about how the baked the cake and decorated it with Dad.  I am so VERY proud of my other half and my two precious....*tears of joy*

Here's some photos of our family gathering.  This is a photo of the prawn crackers (keropok).  Keropok is a deep fried cracker made from prawns and flour. My little prince always call it "chinese magic" and he loves deep frying the keropok with me.

Here's a photo of the fried rice which we made. Fried rice is a very popular dish in SEA. We used plain white rice and stir-fry it in the wok, adding in eggs, peas, ham, onions and garlic.

Here's a photo of our finger food...sotong balls with sweet chilli sauce. This little babies are delicious. Once you take the first bite, you will want more...haha! Sotong balls are like meat balls, but instead of meat, its made with sotong (squid).

We also made sweet and sour chicken and mongolian beef.  Sweet and sour chicken or pork is a very popular Cantonese dish. This is a dish which is loved my adults and children alike. We have to deep fry the meat first. Then, we have to make the sweet and sour sauce. Once the sauce is prepared, we will add in the deep fried meat into the sauce, add in the green pepper, pineapple, etc. Here's a photo of our sweet and sour chicken.

Next the mongolian beef dish. This is a very popular dish in America and over here too. This dish consists of sliced beef and its stir-fried with veggies and a spicy sauce.  Here's a photo of our mongolian beef.

We had roll cake for dessert with tea.  When we finished our dessert, all of us couldn't move...haha!!!....too full...haha!!!  We also 'ta-pau' some so that they can bring it home for dinner...

It was an awesome week.... :)

Longan & Lor Hong Kor Drink (Asian Cooling Drink)

When I was a little girl, my Grandma will brew this delicious drink to cool our bodies down during the hot summer season. When one of us gets a sore throat or cough out yellowish phlegm, she will say that we need to cool down our bodies. So, off she will go into the kitchen and brew this delicious drink.

So, what is lor hong kor? The scientific name is siraitia grosvenori and its grown in China and it has been used by Asians centuries ago as it has medicinal properties as it helps with colds, sore throats, cough, etc. As  for longans, its quite a common fruit found in Asian markets. Its scientific name is dimocarpus longan. In SEA, longan is also known as "mata kucing".  Another ingredient which my Grandma will use in this drink is "pong tai hai" fruit. This is a magical fruit as once its soaked in water, it will expand and you will just use the flesh. This little fruit cools down the body too. To sweeten the drink, we use rock sugar. However, I have heard of others who use brown or palm sugar.

The season is changing and my precious family are all falling sick, from the oldest to the youngest. So, since western medicine is not working much, I decided to whip up this simple cooling drink. Thank goodness we always stock-up these ingredients for the "just in-case".

Here's a photo of the ingredients which I used to make the logan & lor hong kor drink.

Check out the pong tai hai....the 1st photo are the fruits. Its like dried buah kana (dried carissa carandas)

After soaking the pong tai hai in water, it expanded and the inside of the fruit is jelly-like. You only eat the inside.

Here's my cup of longan & lor hong kor drink. I prefer to have mine with ice.

Till next time....kam peh (cheers!!!)

Chee Cheong Fun (Rice Noodle Rolls)

We have been yearning for some chee cheong fun and I was searching for a way to make it as quick as possible and opted for the MV version.  I didn't have any wheat / tapioca flour...so, I used cornflour instead.  After mixing the ingredients (rice flour, cornflour, sesame oil, canola oil and salt) together, I spooned it into a MV plastic container and MV for 2 mins. I am not too sure what I did wrong but I find that the sides crust a little ( a little hard). However, beggars can't be choosers. Will it was still hot, we makan kau-kau. As for the sauce, we just used rojak paste, soya sauce, sweet sauce and sugar. Here's a photo of our MV chee cheong fun.

The MV chee cheong fun must be eaten ASAP.  If you let it sit, it will become hard.  Will try the steam version next time....

Not Forgotten...

It has been awhile since I last wrote in this blog. We had to move due to job commitments....and from there, it was busy, busy, busy, hunting, searching, looking, deciding, etc.. Now that we are more settled, I finally have time to blog again.

Its spring now but we still have a little winter now and then. Just this morning, the temperature dropped to 9 degrees C...good golly. To make matters worst, my other half has fallen sick. My 2 kiddos have been under the weather for a week now and now that they have recovered, its my poor other half who is sick..sigh!!!  So, what can I do? what can I do?  One thing that came into my mind - asian porridge. Too bad I don't have any salted eggs, preserved veggies (kiam chye) and other stuff which we could easily hunt in chinatown. However, now that we have moved, it will take us more than several hours to drive down to chinatown. So, I will just have to make do with what I have.

Here's a photo of my asian porridge.  When my other half is ready to have his lunch, I will heat-up the porridge and knock an egg in it.  I managed to find some preserved vegetables...wohoo!!!

I think its time for me to make my own "homemade salted eggs" for emergencies such as this.  I really wish I can find some duck eggs but alas, I am not able to find it here.  So, I will have to use chicken eggs instead.  I have never ever done this before though...will give you guys some feedback after 30 days. Here's what I did with my homemade salted eggs:

An empty clean glass bottle
Duck Eggs or Chicken Eggs
Salt
Water
Sichuan Peppercorns
Star Anise
Warm Water
A dash of chinese cooking wine

Here's a photo of my homemade salted eggs in progress.

I also made hou yau kai (oyster sauce chicken) for my kiddos. Here's a photo of one of our main dishes for dinner tonite.

I will post an update after 30 days for my homemade salted eggs. Fingers crossed...hopefully it will be a success.

Long Time No See...

It has been ages since I last wrote on this blog. I have been so busy...completing my last semester, working oh the days which I do not attend classes, trying to spend time with my kids, etc, etc, etc...golly! Its pretty hard work...no I understand why some people say that 24 hours is just ain't enough. I totally get it even though lots of my friends said that if I have better time management, I will not be like so.  However, with 2 kids who need your attention when you get home throw all your "time management" skills out of the window...that's how I feel as I want to catch-up with my kids, watch them grow, the milestones, etc, etc, etc.

I have not been doing much cake decorating lately....I wish I had more time but I will surely do one for my lovely princess on her birthday which is next month.  She requested for Strawberry Short Cake...hmm. That will be a challenge to me. Fingers cross!!!

Here's some of the photos which I took when I was working during the long school holidays in December 2011. I really enjoyed myself as I made so many different types of desserts for the dessert buffet counter.  Had an awesome time there!

We had a small family reunion dinner during Chinese New Year and then rushed to the temple for prayers and blessings. My 2 precious wanted to watch the lion dance and fire crackers.  Here's some photos of our simple reunion dinner.

I finally made frittata for my DH and he loved it ever since...ha!ha! Frittata is just an egg-based dish. I have been asking my Chef where frittata comes from and he said its from Italy and the meaning is "to fry". However, we do not fry frittata...not the version which I am using though, I bake it in the oven.  I enrich the frittata with mushrooms, bacon, sausages, veggies, potatoes and whatever I can find in the fridge.  Here's one of the frittata photos which I took.

In February, one of my friends asked if I could do a cake for her. She wanted to surprise her darling BF. I am so glad to hear that both of them loved it. Here's a photo I took before I delivered it to her house.

Lastly, here's a photo of one of the items which I made at my current workplace. My Chef is just awesome as he wants me to better myself and sharpen my skills. Eclairs is made from choux pastry filled with cream and decorated with chocolate and icing sugar. According to my Chef, eclairs originated from France.

Last but not least, we went to the temple to celebrate Lord Buddha's birthday. This is the day where we can bathe the little baby Buddha.  We will bathe him 3 times to improve harmony and inner balance in our lives.

That's the end of this post. Made baked pasta for tomorrow's potluck.  Can't wait to savour my friends' dishes...yummy-yum-yum.