Weekend Projects

Doing other stuffs apart from drafting my review paper is, sadly fun and therapeutic. It is easier to get lost in time making something good in the kitchen rather than sitting in front of my laptop for hours until my eyes go all dry. Is it just me or have I broken the first rule of being a research student?

Anyhow, this weekends I certainly cannot pass myself not to make/bake/cook something that I have already pinned in my Pinterest or Pocket. So I started off going all crazy in making the tau fu fa which I had been craving since last year. Little did I know, the shortcut version of making the tau fu fa is actually shortcut enough and cannot get any simpler than stirring in 1 tsp of gelatine for every 300mL of soy milk. Or if you are using agar-agar powder, try mixing 1/4 tsp of the agar-agar powder for every 300mL of the soy milk. "Easy, peasy, Japanese-y" right? - as according to Iris. 

So yeah, go on try it! Oh and if possible try using homemade soy milk or if you are like so beyond the valley of laziness, you can use the store-bought ones instead (I tried mine using the organic soy milk). All in all, I am so happy with the outcome of my tau fu fa and had been making it like more than 4 times within the span of 48 hours. Crazy, isn't it?

 

 

 

Oh, oh, and I also baked banana and zucchini muffin for my lunch just now. Result: super good, moist, not to sweet and the rest is just LOVE, LOVE, LOVE! Will definitely make it again with more zucchini bits in it. Till then, take care xx

[Recipe] Coffee-Rubbed Porterhouse Steak with "Yehaa" Raspberry Sauce and Sweet Potato Salad

We always get so clueless on what to eat and cook for dinner. It can be really stressful most of the times because at the end of the day, we always come back to almost the same stuffs every (day or) week. Well the case for this dinner was that, it is all started couple of days ago when we had this really good sandwich of coffee rubbed chicken at Industry Beans and OMG! It was really good and we said to ourselves that we have to make something like this at home because no surprise here that: 

1. We really love good coffee.

2. We really love good steaks.

3. We really love good berries sauce. 

So as a result, we thought "Hey, why not marry all them together" with good seasonings - smoked paprika, freshly cracked black pepper, ground cinnamon and the finest sea salt flakes; and boy oh boy! It was just, MAGICAL. The coffee crusted steaks really worked well with the "yehaa" raspberry sauce (due to the existence of "a bit of heat" in the sauce) and the sweetness from the sweet potato salad just complement and balance the overall components in this dish. I am not going to say anything anymore, so here goes the recipe:

Coffee-Rubbed Grilled Porterhouse Steak

Serving: 2

500 g Porterhouse steaks

1 1/2 tbsp coffee grounds (we use Sensory Lab Steadfast Espresso Blend)

1 tsp smoked paprika

sea salt flakes

olive oil

"Yehaa" Raspberry Sauce

1 cup fresh/frozen raspberry

1/2 tsp cinnamon ground

1/2 tsp cayenne pepper

1 tsp white balsamic vinegar

sea salt flakes

sugar (optional)

Instruction:

1. Mix coffee ground and smoked paprika.

2. Pat dry steaks with kitchen towel and season with sea salt.

3. Pat the coffee ground mixture onto the steak.

4. Heat heavy bottomed skillet over medium heat and add olive oil.

5. Cook steaks for 5-6 minutes on each side.

6. Let it rest on a plate covered with foil for 5-10 minutes before serving. 

7. In a small saucepan add raspberry, cinnamon ground, cayenne pepper, white balsamic vinegar and a pinch of sea salt.

8. Let it simmer and reduce for 1-2 minutes before serving.

Sweet Potatoes Salad

1 sweet potato

1 avocado

2 tomatoes

mint

toasted pine nuts

olive oil dressing 

Instruction:

1. Boil sweet potato until tender, drain and put aside.

2. Mix everything in a bowl.

3. Prepare your preferred salad dressing. 

4. Pour in salad and mix well before serving.

Vegan Thursday

Not a big fan of vegetables before...but people change over time! Hahaha.

Who would've thought I'll be having #veganthursday from now on. Not me, definitely! Inspired by the menu that we always have at Mina-no-ie, I try to make something close to it - raw vegan salad with radish, fresh cucumber, baby spinach, broad beans, carrot and glass noodles and lime, reduced salt soy sauce, honey and olive oil dressing ; braised tofu with mushrooms in soy sauce (I marinate the tofu beforehand with garlic, ginger, red onion, chilli, oyster sauce, reduced salt soy sauce, black pepper and honey); and brown rice mixed with quinoa. Verdict: positively good! Shall try more recipes very soon. 

I'm loving the veges from now on!

Desserts Overload

Monday, my favourite day of the week. Okay, I lied. Any day is good for me. 

Yesterday I got carried away in the baking department. Instead of  baking or making one dessert for me and husband, I made three instead. THREE! That's a record! And no, I'm not making it for any makan-makan session with friends here. Just me and husband. Should I say sigh? Having said that, here are my three desserts:

Eton Mess. A classic and traditional English dessert originated from the 19th Century. It's a pure pleasure and super easy dessert that you can make in the speed of light which you only need berries (it could be any), crushed meringue (I used the one I made before), mixed berries sauce and good ol' freshly whipped cream. And best of all you will, after all, voluntarily wanna make everything from scratch, from the mini meringue to the whipped cream. So if you wanna do it on your own, please refer to Baked Bree's Eton Mess recipe. It's bloody easy! :)

Second dessert I made last night is Honey and Lavender Cupcake with Mixed Berries Coulis and Freshly Whipped Cream. I got the recipe for the Honey and Lavender Cupcake from Better Homes and Gardens website. Do give it a go as the recipe yield a very good lavender cupcake. But one thing that I tweaked from the recipe is that I infused the lavender seeds/edible lavender flowers in the milk for half an hour to 'soften' the flavour of the lavender in the cupcake. Trust me, it works! As for the mixed berry coulis, I just use frozen berries (not in season at the moment) and couple of tablespoons of sugar and let it simmer on medium heat for a minute or two.

And last but not least, Honey and Lavender Cupcakes with Vanilla Bean Frosting. This is easy stuff as I used the same cupcakes from the second dessert but I whipped a really good and not to sweet vanilla bean frosting. With that you gotta applaud my ultimate star for last night, which is the lavender flowers I got from Gewurzhaus. Check out their website if you wanna get good, premium herbs and spices for your cooking and baking. And no, I don't get any endorsement for promoting them. Haha. Cheerio!

Recipe: Best Ever Cupcake Using Thickened Cream

I've always curious what is it like to bake a cupcake with thickened cream in it. I mean most of the recipes use buttermilk, Greek yogurt, sour cream, fresh milk, no milk, coconut milk and etc. But I rarely found one using thickened cream. So when I did a bit of research to it, I've found a recipe that is fuss-free and uses no butter in it. As much as my love for butter is unconditional, thanks to me dad of course, I've always ran out one every time my baking mojo kicked in. 

Alrighty, let's talk about the cupcake recipe. This is definitely one of the most easiest cupcake recipes that yield the most fluffiest texture. And because the recipe had 5 star rating with 162 reviews on it, I had no reason for not baking it! So here goes the recipe:

Best Ever Cupcakes (That's the name, I kid you not)

Recipe obtained from Best Recipes

Ingredients:

2 eggs

Thickened cream

1 tsp of vanilla extract (I used 1 vanilla bean)

3/4 cup of caster sugar

1 cup of self-raising flour, sifted

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 180C.

2. Crack eggs into a 250 ml measuring cup (1 cup) then fill the top with thickened cream, pour into mixing bowl.

3. Beat with electric mixer for 1 minute.

4. Add vanilla extract and sugar, beat for 3 minutes.

5. Fold flour into mixture until well blended.

6. Place mixture into 12 muffin tins lined with paper cases.

7. Bake until light golden, approximately 15-20 minutes.

Note:

I baked the cupcake for 18 minutes and it yield beautiful light golden top. But to be honest once I took the cupcake out from the oven it got a bit wobbly at first, probably because of the non-existent butter in it. But as soon as it's cooled, turned out great and I just loved it!

More recipes, Couscous and Fish Cakes

More recipes! I know. Hahaha. I'm skipping Tuesday Things this week as I've posted more blog posts than I should. What? Haha. Let me tell you one thing, I used to have big and unrealistic dreams before I got married. Hardcore career and etc. Never see myself as a stay-at-home-wife. Probably because all I want in life at that time is fun and pleasure, of being alone, of being an unmarried girl in a "semi-conventional" family. But when I met my husband, my perception shifted a bit. In a positive direction I must say. And I literally swarmed to the idea of marriage, a good marriage in particular. So I got married. The best decision in my life! So far...me being realistic. Haha. :)

But boy, marriage is complex! It's a mixture of everything and my marriage, like you guys, is far from perfect. I think there's no such thing as perfect marriage. And we too have our ups and downs, few hiccups along the way, few annoying habits to tolerate with. But I love my husband to bits and for now, he's the only man that I have in my life and he's the only male model that we have in our little family which comprise of my mum, my two sisters and mother-in-law. I'm not sure if I should pity my husband or admire him for being able to survive in a female-dominant-world. Hahaha. Enough poking fun of husband I reckon? 

Anyway as I've mentioned before, here are the two recipes for you guys to try at home. Have fun and Ramadhan Kareem guys!

Baked Couscous Amaze-balls

Recipe adapted by Cupcake Project

Ingredients:

Leftover couscous

Combination of 3 different cheese (mozzarella, cheddar and parmesan)

Panko breadcrumbs

Pepper and salt

Spices or herbs (cayenne pepper, Italian herb mix, etc.)

1 egg

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 180C.

2. Dump everything in a bowl and mix until combined.

3. Roll the couscous mixture into balls.

4. If you prefer you can coat the couscous ball with another layer of panko breadcrumbs.

5. Bake for 20-25 minutes until lightly brown.

Jamie Oliver Inspired Smoked Whiting & Pollock Fish Cakes

Recipe adapted from Jamie Oliver's & Angela Nilsen

Ingredients:

250 g of smoked whiting

250 g of pollock

2 bay leaves

150 ml milk

2 potatoes

1/2 tsp of finely grated lemon zest

chopped parsley

snipped chives

1 egg

flour

Panko breadcrumbs

Cheddar cheese (optional)

Handful of spinach (optional)

Directions:

1. Lay the fish and bay leaves in a frying pan.

2. Pour over milk and 150 ml of water. Cover and let it simmer for 4 minutes.

3. Put aside, covered and let the heat gently cook the fish for another 10 minutes.

4. Peel and boil potatoes in another saucepan. Add a pinch of salt and let the potatoes boil until tender.

5. Take the fish out and drain the potatoes. Mash the potatoes until light and fluffy.

6.  Combine the fish, chopped parsley, snipped chives, lemon zest, spinach and cheese into the mashed potatoes.

7. Season well with salt and pepper.

8. Beat the egg on a large plate. Divide the fish mixture into four.

9. On the floured board and with floured hands, carefully shape into four cakes, about 2.5 cm thick.

10. Sit each cake in the egg and brush over the top and sides so it is completely coated.

11. Sit the cakes on the crumbs and make sure they are lightly covered.

12. Preheat oven to 220C and bake for 15-25 minutes until lightly browned.

Recipe: Pakistani Biryani

The night of husband's birthday celebration at home I made him Pakistani biryani, simply because it looks interesting, perfect for a fiesta food and the fact that we haven't found any decent biryani here in Melbourne. Haha. I particularly got the recipe for the Pakistani biryani from Azie's blog but I kinda follow the recipe and tweaked a bit according to my preference. So here's my version of Azie's Pakistani biryani:

Pakistani Biryani

Serving for 2

Ingredients:

3 cups of basmathi rice

4 pcs of chicken drumstick

4 pcs of star anise

2 pcs of cinnamon stick

6 pcs of cardamon pods

6 of cloves

1 tbsp of ground coriander

1 tbsp of ground caraway seed

1 tbsp of ground cumin

1 tsp of turmeric powder

2 red onions

4 tomatoes

3 potatoes

3 pandan leaves

2 tbsp of minced garlic

1 tbsp of minced ginger

2 cups of Greek yogurt

3 pcs of bay leaves

chicken stock

4 pcs of hard-boiled eggs

1/4 cup of fresh milk

oil

saffron and red food coloring

Optional:

Crispy fried shallots

Coriander

Green chili

Sultanas

Cashew nuts

Directions to make biryani:

1. Marinate the chicken with a bit of salt, half of the garlic and ginger, ground coriander, ground caraway seed and ground cumin for an hour or more.

2. Heat oil and saute the remaining ingredients like the garlic, ginger, cinnamon sticks, cloves, star anise, cardamom pods, pandan leaves and diced onions until fully browned.

3. Insert the marinated chicken and stir gently. Pour in chicken stock and let it simmer.

4. Combine diced tomato and yogurt and pour into the chicken. Stir thorough and let the sauce reduce a bit.

5. Season with salt and sugar according to your preference and put aside once cooked.

Directions to cook basmathi rice:

1. Soak the rice for 20 minutes before drain. In a pan, insert a bit of oil, water, 2 pcs of cardamom pods, 2 bay leaves and a bit of salt.

2. Let the water boil before putting in the rice.

3. Cook the rice until 98% cooked, mine's around 10 minutes.

4. Drain the rice completely and put aside.

Directions to assemble the biryani:

1. In a rice cooker pot, layer the basmathi rice as a first layer. Pour in few tablespoons of milk, saffron and red colored food coloring.

2. Put in the slashed hard-boiled eggs, a bit of coriander and crispy fried shallots on top of the rice.

3. Layer the cooked chicken with a bit of sauce until the rice is fully covered.

4. Layer the basmathi rice until the cooked chicken is fully covered. Put in a bit of coriander, saffron and red food coloring onto the rice.

5. Repeat with the cooked chicken.

6. Finish off with green chili, coriander, cashew nuts, sultanas and crispy fried shallots. Let the biryani cook in  rice cooker for a while before serve. 

Enjoy guys because at one point of your life, you really need to try the Pakistani biryani! :)

Recipe: Laksa Johor and Churros

I'm back! Alhamdulillah I'm done with my second semester. So now I'm pretty much free but I got heaps of things in my sleeve like cooking project, sewing project, reading books, cafe hopping and etc. Phew! Anyway I finally got my mojo back for cooking and thank goodness I started it with Laksa Johor for dinner last night. It was really easy and tasted far more better than those I had previously back in Malaysia, even though I lacked few ingredients like sambal belacan and all those ulams. And best of all, husband loved it so damn much and he's not even a laksa fan!

So here's the recipe which I tweaked a bit from Himpunan Resepi Bonda's blog in order to accommodate my preference and the ingredients I have at home. 

Laksa Johor

Ingredients:

A pack of spaghetti

600g of canned mackerel flakes

200ml of coconut cream/coconut milk

2 red onions**

3 cloves of garlic**

an inch of ginger**

3 pcs of lemongrass**

3 tbsp of blended chili**

1/2 cup of dried shrimp**

3 tbsp of curry powder (for fish)

Vietnamese mint (daun kesum)

Directions:

1. Blend all the ingredients marked "**".

2. Heat oil and saute the blended ingredients.

3. Put Vietnamese mint in pan

4. Mix curry powder with water a bit and pour it in the pan. 

5. Keep on stirring until the sambal cooked thoroughly.

6. Add in fish flakes and pour coconut cream into the pan.

7. Season with salt accordingly.

8. Boil spaghetti as per packet's instruction and serve your laksa with onion, Vietnamese mint, taugeh, sambal belacan and etc. 

As for quick sweet treat after our dinner, I managed to make a very simple churros to complement my delicious Laksa Johor. But apparently I ran out of icing sugar and had to have it with chocolate sauce. Sigh...

Simple Basic Churros

Ingredients:

1 cup of water

1 tbsp of white sugar

1/2 tsp of salt

1 tbsp of vegetable oil

1 cup of all-purpose flour

oil for frying

Directions:

1. In a small saucepan over medium heat, combine water, sugar, salt and vegetable oil.

2. Bring to boil and remove from heat.

3. Stir in flour until mixture forms a ball.

4. Heat oil for frying in deep-fryer to 190 degrees C.

5. Pipe strips of dough into hot oil using a churros maker.

6. Fry until golden. 

And now what I wanna plan to cook for tomorrow and the day after?

Recipe: Guilt-Free Chocolate Cupcake

Back in Malaysia I was kinda opposed to the idea of 'healthy' baking. Probably because of the lacking of flavor and the right texture or simply because the price of the ingredients to make such 'healthy' baked goodies are just ridiculously expensive. Anyway I'm slowly integrating my baking to a more healthier version and husband seems to enjoy it. So I guess it's a definite green light from him, no?

So for today, I whipped this beautiful but simple chocolate cupcake in less than 10 minutes to end our good nasi kandar journey (cooked ayam masak kicap berempah, nasi kandar style last night) since last night. And boy, I'm glad I did that. It was perfect!

Teresa Cutter's Healty Chocolate Cupcake

Source: here

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups (150 g) almond meal

1/4 cup (21 g) unsweetened good quality cocoa powder 

1 tsp of baking powder

2 free range/organic eggs

1 tsp of vanilla extract

60 ml (1/4 cup) of light olive oil

60 ml (1/4 cup) almond milk

2 tbsp of pure honey

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 180C

2. Combine sieved almond meal, cocoa powder and baking powder

3. Add the eggs, oil, milk and pure honey, mix well

4. Combine the wet and dry ingredients together and mix well until form a smooth batter

5. Spoon the batter into cupcake tin/liner

6. Bake for 25 minutes until puffed and cooked through

Verdict:

Love, love, love! This is definitely my go-to cupcake from now on, at least!

Match made in heaven

Homemade marshmallows in hot chocolate. The best! Recipe adapted from Cooking For Engineers. And fyi since I don't have any corn syrup at home, I've substituted it for honey instead. 

Recipe: Yorkshire Pudding and Smoked Trout

 

I made this for our breakfast this morning, Jamie Oliver's Yorkshire pudding with whipped feta, smashed avocado and smoked trout. Husband just loved it! :)

Jamie Oliver's Yorkshire Pudding

Ingredients:

Vegetable oil

100g of plain flour

100ml of milk

2 large eggs

Salt 

Pepper

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 240C.

2. Pour a bit of vegetable oil in muffin tin and put it in the oven for a good 10-15 minutes.

3. Dump everything together in a bowl and mix well. Pour the mixture in a jug.

4.  Once the muffin tin has been heated for a good 10-15 minutes, get it out and pour the mixture into the muffin tin.

5. Bake for another 10-12 minutes until it's puffy and golden. 

Whipped Feta

Ingredients:

Feta cheese

Greek yogurt

Olive oil

Chives

Lemon juice

Pepper

Directions:

1. Dump everything in your food processor.

2. Blitz until smooth.

3. Season according to your taste.

Recipe: Healthy Chocolate and Walnut Brownies

I think it's time for both of us to eat more healthy food than we used to before. Living in Melbourne where majority of the people are very conscious of what they put in their mouth, making healthy and organic food really cheap here and it's a really good advantage to us. So I say today, is the day!

So I made a very healthy chocolate and walnut brownies just now. And the very best part of it was, I used olive oil and Greek yogurt in the brownies mixture to replaced butter and milk. Sounds Mediterranean 'nuff for ya? Lol. And nutritionally speaking a piece of this brownies is just equivalent to 150 cal only (source: www.olivetomato.com)! Oh yeah! Well anyway I've simplified the method to make it from the original recipe but nonetheless the brownies still yield that perfect moist, chocolaty and yummy brownies. So here goes the recipe: 

Super Healthy Chocolate and Walnut Brownies

Source: here

Ingredients:

1/4 cup of olive oil

1/4 cup of low-fat Greek yogurt

3/4 cup of sugar

1 tsp of vanilla extract

2 eggs

1/2 cup of flour

1/3 cup of cocoa powder (you can add 1-2 tbsp more)

1/4 tsp of baking powder

1/4 tsp of salt

1/3 cup of chopped walnuts

Instructions:

1. Preheat the oven at 180C and line your baking tin with baking paper.

2. Dump everything in a bowl and mix it well with a mixer.

3. Pour the mixture in the baking tin and smooth the top layer of the mixture with spatula.

4. Bake for 25 minutes.

Recipe: Super Easy Pavlova

I love easy recipe. The one that I can just whip in few minutes and it will be ready in less than an hour...or preferably less. So since I...er Husband just got me a bench mixer so my expectation for my preparation time should be 50% less than how I used to spend my time perhaps? Lol. So here goes the recipe:

Super Easy Pavlova

Source: Best Recipes

Ingredients:

2 egg whites

1 1/2 cups of sugar

1/2 tsp of vanilla

1 tsp of cornflour

1 tsp of vinegar

4 tbsp of boiling water

Instructions:

1. Place all ingredients in a small bowl or mixing bowl.

2. Mix everything using your mixer at high speed for a good 15 minutes.

3. Prepare pavlova tray with non-stick baking paper

4. Spread mixture onto prepared tray in a 20 cm diameter circle.

5. Bake at 180C for 10 minutes and reduce heat to 150C, and bake for a further 45 minutes.

6. Serve with fresh whipped cream and berries.

Verdict:

Great and super easy pavlova recipe that uses only 2 eggs! And yield perfect and crispy outer texture of the meringue with soft marshmallowy texture in the inside. Love, love, love!

Food, food, food!

"One cannot think well, love well, sleep well, if one has not dined well."  

- Virginia Woolf, A Room of One's Own

Nasi minyak, with chicken curry and acar sayur

Chicken sausage wrap with Aioli sauce

Lamb Rogan Josh

Paruppu vada or dal vada

Grilled lamb with husband's homemade black pepper sauce, rosemary sauteed vegetables and my homemade potato gratin

Recipe: Potato Gratin

Ingredients:

4 potato

2 cloves of garlic

a knob of butter

thickened cream

cheese

salt

pepper 

Directions:

1. Rub your baking dish with garlic and butter and put aside.

2. Peel and slice the potato as thinly as possible. But if you have food processor then it will be easier.

3. Layer the potatoes in the dish, adding a little salt and pepper between layers.

4. Once you get your desired layer of potatoes, pour in thickened cream and sprinkle generous amount of cheese on top of it.

5. Cook in the microwave for about 20 minutes. 

6. If your microwave has a grill function, finish the gratin under the grill for another 5-10 minutes.

*For traditional way of baking potato gratin: Cook it in oven for about 1.5 hours at 160C

Recipe: Butter-less Pandan Cake

My craving for Pandan cake can best be described...like a volcano that is about to erupt! Haha. So I woke up this morning with a great feeling that today is the day that I'm gonna bake the cake but only to find that I did not have any butter at home! Why oh why. :(

So because of that I quickly googled recipe for a basic pound cake that uses no butter. I know there are lotsa 'em but I want something that is quick and easy to make and requires basic or less ingredients, without compromising the taste and moist-ness of the cake. So I found one, a recipe from Mayuri's blog and I tweaked a bit to my preference. :)

Butter-less Pandan Cake

Ingredients: 

2 eggs

3/4 cup of sugar

1/2 cup of vegetable oil

1/2 cup of milk

1 1/4 cups of all-purpose flour

1/2 tbsp of baking powder

1/2 tbsp of Pandan paste

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 180C.

2. Beat eggs well in a bowl. Add sugar and beat well.

3.. Add oil and milk and beat well.

4. Sieve flour and baking powder into the mixture and fold it.

5. Add pandan paste and fold the mixture. 

6. Grease your baking tin (I used 8 inch round tin) and pour the mixture into it.

7. Once done, drop the cake pan a couple of inches onto the counter the knock out all the bubbles. 

8. Bake it for 50-55 minutes or until the toothpick comes out clean.

Recipe: Pasta with Naked Tomato Sauce and Homemade Meatballs with Creamy Sauce and Raspberry Jam

I've been missing IKEA meatballs and few of its menus couple of days ago because the one we got here is a no-no as the meatballs are mixed together with minced pork. So in order to feed my craving, I thought I might as well just recreate my favorite menus from IKEA. Pasta with tomato sauce and meatballs with creamy sauce and lingonberry jam. But...apparently I am lacking of breadcrumbs and lingonberry jam at home. No biggie at all, as I can just replace it with raspberry jam and make no breadcrumb meatballs instead. Lol. *pat self on back*

So here goes my version of my favorite menus from IKEA.

Naked Tomato Sauce

Ingredients:

1/2 big onion

3 cloves of garlic

1 can of diced tomato

2 tbsp of mixed herbs

1 cube of beef stock

salt

black pepper

sugar

olive oil

Instructions:

1. Pour oil in pan and saute onion and garlic until brown.

2. Add diced tomato and all the tomato liquid into the pan.

3. Add beef stock into the sauce.

4. Add mixed herbs, salt, pepper and sugar.

5. Let it simmer and put aside.

Meatballs (With no breadcrumbs)

Ingredients:

700g of minced beef

1 onion

4 cloves of garlic

1 tbsp of cayenne pepper

1/2 cup of parmesan cheese

1 egg

salt

olive oil

Instructions:

1. Mix everything together in a bowl.

2. Using your hand, shape the beef into the forms of meatball.

3. Pour oil in pan and fry the meatballs until it perfectly cooked.

Creamy Sauce

Ingredients:

100ml of cream

200 ml of beef stock

Chinese soy sauce (1 tsp of light soy sauce + 1 tsp of dark soy sauce)

1 tbsp of plain flour

salt

white pepper

Instructions:

1. Cook the beef stock over medium heat.

2. Add cream, soy sauce and thicken with flour if preferred. Season well with salt and pepper.

Recipe: Tomato Rice with Ayam Masak Merah

Made tomato rice and ayam masak merah couple of days ago and...ahhhh it was really good. *pat self on back* So here goes the recipe: 

Tomato Rice

Ingredients: 

1/2 medium-sized onion, diced

2 cloves of garlic

100g of butter/ghee

1 cinnamon stick

2 star anises

2 cardamom pods

3tbsp of tomato sauce

1 cube of chicken stock/250ml of liquid chicken stock

milk

3 small pots of long grain rice/basmathi

*I used long grain rice as I don't have basmathi rice at home, so the measurement of water is 2 1/4 small pots of chicken stock + 1 small pot of milk/evaporated milk

**If you're using basmathi rice, let the rice soak in water before starts cooking, for about 20 minutes. And for every 1 small pot of basmathi rice = 1 1/4 of water

Instructions:

1. Melt butter in pan and saute onion and garlic until brown. Add cinnamon stick, star anises and cardamom pods.

2. Add pre-washed rice into the pan and stir thoroughly until all the rice is well-coated with butter. Then add tomato sauce and stir gently.

3. Remove the pan from heat and pour everything in rice cooker. Add chicken stock and milk in it. Stir for one more time and cook rice as usual.

Ayam Masak Merah

Ingredients:

4 Chicken Drumsticks

1 big onion

2 cloves of garlic

2 tbsp of blended chili

1 lemon grass

1 cinnamon stick

1/2 cup of tomato sauce

3 tbsp of chili sauce

3 tbsp of oyster sauce

1 cube of chicken stock/250 ml of liquid chicken stock

1 tomato

1 tbsp of flour

turmeric powder

salt

sugar

Instructions:

1. Clean chicken and pat dry. Marinate chicken with flour, turmeric powder and salt. 

2. Fry chicken until half-cooked. Put aside.

3. Saute half of onion and garlic until browned. Add blended chili, cinnamon stick and lemon grass.

4. Add tomato sauce, chili sauce, oyster sauce and chicken stock into the pan. Let it simmer.

5. Add the chicken, tomato and another half of the onion.

6. Season with salt and sugar according to taste.

Recipe: Super Moist, Super Easy Orange Cake

I love cooking and baking but I don't like to spend too much time in the kitchen. I think probably if I have my ultimate dream kitchen, this habit will change perhaps? I don't know. Well anyway orange cake is very significant to me late dad. I remembered when I was a kid me mum always made orange cake for me dad and the entire house will just filled with the beautiful scent of orange. And if me mum rajin enough, she'll make orange juice for the whole family after that. Ahhh love, love, love.

In fact I just remembered that the last cake I made to me dad was orange cake as well. He loved it. The cake was perfect for him, it was not too sweet, perfect for diabetic patient. But the only drawback was that, it has more steps to get that perfect moist texture of that cake. Not my cup of tea when I always not that rajin. But I'm so glad I was rajin enough to bake that very last orange cake for me dad. :')

But this one, today's cake is definitely a winner! The original recipe calls for "dump everything in the bowl and mix well." It's great! And the result of it is a fail proof and super moist cake with absolutely minimal bowl to wash after that. And say if you're even more lazier than I am, you can just dump everything in the food processor, pulse it, pour it in the baking tin and then straight away bake it. 

Super Moist, Super Easy Orange Cake

Ingredients: 

125g of butter, softened

1/4 cup of milk

1/4 cup of orange juice

2 eggs

3/4 cup of sugar

1 1/2 cups of sifted self-raising flour

1 tbsp of finely grated orange zest

Directions:

1. Combine all cake ingredients and beat thoroughly for 3 minutes.

2. Pour mixture into a greased baking tin.

3. Bake in center of 180C oven for 30-40 minutes.

Anyway the cake was so good on its own that it do not need any icing or icing sugar because you can really taste the beautiful flavour of orange, and the outer layer of the cake is just too "perfect"! But say if you want to ice the cake, here's the recipe for a good orange icing.

Ingredients:

1/3 cup of butter, softened

1 1/2 cups of sifted icing sugar

2 tbsp of orange juice

1/2 tsp of fine grated orange zest

If you want to print the recipe, feel free to click here. Have weekends guys! :)

Bake with Love: Cappuccino Cupcake with Peanut Butter Frosting

Made these cute mini cuppies yesterday, cappuccino cupcake and peanut butter frosting with or without dessicated coconut using the egg-less, butter-less and milk-less recipe (here). :)