August 25, 2009

Bread

IMG_2938

The ingredients:

700gm of flour

1 packet of instant yeast

100gm of sugar ( i use brown sugar)

1 teaspooon of salt

1 egg

400 ml water

70gm butter / shortening

50 ml milk

150 gm of mix fruits

Step 1: Sieve flour and mix well with the yeast and add in the water.  It’s going to be messy and wet and after mixing/kneading it let it rest for about 10 minutes.

Step 2: Add in sugar, salt, egg,  butter and milk. Mix them well and let it rest for another 20 minutes.

Step 3: Add in the mix fruits, and by now it should have risen up nicely. Feel free to apply the punch technique.

IMG_2930

IMG_2937

 

You can weigh about 50gm and set em on the baking tray, otherwise I just freehand-rustically throw in unevenly on a greased tray.

Let it rest another 15-20 minutes, milk glaze it then bake for 170’c 45 minutes. If the top starts to turn too brown, cover loosely with aluminium foil.

Happy breading

IMG_2950

IMG_2948

IMG_2943

August 9, 2009

I’m pretending it’s summer

Yeah with the strawberries I got from the flea market @ the curve, and few tips from Bernie, here it goes.

- puff pastry

- mascarpone cheese

- heavy cream

- sugar

- lemon zest

- vanilla essence

A 3 simple step:

Step 1: Roll the puff pastry thinly and lay e’m on a baking tray. Poke randomly with a fork. Pop it into a pre-heated oven on 210’c for about 20 minutes or till golden crisp. Let it rest on the cooling rack.

Step 2: Whip the heavy cream with sugar still it’s whipped up and fold in the mascarpone cheese, add in zest from a lemon and vanilla essence. Spread  the cream onto the pastry once it has cool down.

Step 3: Lay those strawberries and some icing sugar. And EAT.IMG_2865

IMG_2871

IMG_2875

IMG_2868

August 5, 2009

I’ve been cooking despite being busy

Haven’t been updating recently, but that doesn’t mean the kitchen ain’t smokin’.

It’s always smokin hot.  Always!!!

In the midst of balancing my corporate side of life, I still made time to tend my lil-balcony garden, rearranging furniture, sing and of course cook.

Over the past few weeks I’ve made:

page1Spicy grilled fish. With ladies finger and a squeeze of lime.

Ooomphy.page2Assam Pedas fish, (My mom’s version)

By now most of you would know by now I’m a big fan of assam pedas ( i cook this dish so often)  and I’m lucky to have different people sharing with me their different recipes. Keep em coming!page3Being adventurous on one of the weekends, I decided to make Penang Assam Laksa. And making this dish means, I have to cook a huge portion out of it. I spent the next hour calling, sms-ing, e-mailing, facebook-ing people to come eat. I just can’t finish it on my own and I’ve love to share my food. :) And I love tiffins too!

page4Minced meat porridge with salted eggs and century eggs. Using anchovies stock, it gives the porridge the seafood tinge and I flourish the usual blandness of watery porridge using this beautiful taste of salty ‘taucu’ generously.

A good blend of Cantonese style porridge with the Teocheow ‘s taucu sauce.

This is for one of those rainy days, and I want something warm and fuzzy. page5Blanched baby potatoes, carrots and asparagus. Some rosemary, a dash of olive oil, salt, pepper, Worcestershire sauce,  and 4 pieces of medium browned steak (marinated with wine, chopped rosemary, oregano, paprika, salt, pepper) all popped into the oven for the next 20 mins @ 180’c.

Steak is tender, vegetables are crunchy and caramel-ly. page6Throw in some apricot kernels for the crunch and some easy stacking just to complete the presentation.

So yeah, I’ve been cooking.