Orange Cupcakes

I baked these wonderful Orange Cupcakes for my colleagues on my last day of work. Everyone has been so sweet to me and many of them bought me lunch, which some I never really expected. So, in appreciation of their kind gestures, I ordered my FAVOURITE yummy Chocolate Raspberry Early Grey Cake from Marriott Hotel and baked my own muffins. Nothing beats sharing freshly home baked muffins. I liked them myself!


And what I like about this muffin is it is light, sweet with the fragrance of orange, it is fruity, zesty and delicious. It's a simple recipe that only took me 20min to prepare/bake with the help of my dutiful Yani, my domestic helper.

All you need are :

120g softened unsalted butter
135g caster sugar
185g self raising flour (I always sift them)
125ml orange juice
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 eggs

3 tbsp grated orange zest
shredded orange zest to decorate

Preheat oven to 180deg C
Put all ingredients except orange zest in a bowl with electric mxier on low speed for 2 min.
Then increaase speed for another 2 min until smooth and pale.
Add orange zest. Stir briefly.
Divide mixture into muffin cups and bake for 20 min or till golden brown.
Transfer to wire rack and cool completely.



To make icing, simply beat 60g of softened butter using electric beater till pale. Then add in 60g of icing sugar and 1 tbsp orange juice.

Spread over the muffin when muffins are cooled, and decorate with more zest on top if desired.

I reduced the sugar intake from the original recipe as it was a bit too sweet for me.

(Adapted from Baking: a commonsense guide)

Wonderful Memories of Thailand (27 Oct) 09

Since this is my dedicated blog on food and only food (including drinks) I shall reserve my earnest desire to input any other things from my recent trip to Thailand here. All other comments on my trip can be found here. Ko Samet is a small island off Rayong province, 3 hrs from BKK. It has 14 beaches on the island and the sand is real fine and powdery. If you like the sun sand and sea, this is the place. But be prepared to travel a bit and get dirty on the roads as this island is still relatively undeveloped.

This is my 2nd trip to Thailand this year, in the same month! I'm embarking on a new career and hope to go for a short getaway before I start. I was off to Ko Samet Island in Thailand under a friend's recommendation, followed by a short BKK trip for 2 days and here's a preview of all the good food I enjoyed.

Day 1 on Samet Island: Dinner comprising Chicken with Basil leaves, pineapple fried rice, vegetables with pork

From top: Chicken with basil, pineapple rice and fried veg with pork and rice

It wasn't very fantastic but decent enough as there were many other patrons at this place. Other restaurants were either empty, or small and dark. They looked very dodgy so it was a no no for me.

From left: Mojito & Tequila Sunrise

Day 2: Breakfast was good at Samed Club. They have scrambled eggs, fried eggs, french toast, salad, fruits, cereals, juices, congee/fried noodles, ham, bacon, sausage, and different kinds of breads with a toaster. I didn't expect this good variety so I truly enjoyed it, esp dining by the beach front.

Dinner was good! Dining by the beach at night, on tatamis on the beach with mats. This is something I've never done before and it was a refreshing experience. To my surprise, this place is filled with Caucasian tourists and some Korean tourists as well. It looked quiet outside but once you step into this place, you see everyone packed at the beach house/restaurants smoking Shisha pipe, eating, drinking and dancing. Seafood was good and fresh, reasonably priced. One meal for 2 would hover around 600 baht (about 25 bucks). I particularly enjoyed the dinner on sand with Fireman show and live band with the waves hitting the shoreline and a cool breeze at night.

Above: Wide variety of seafood with shell fish, fish, tiger prawns, pork ribs, chicken and fish & chips

I got a good tan at Ao Wong Duen the next day with a nice orange shake by the beach. I had fried noodles for lunch. It was yummy. A typical shake would only cost you 50 baht. When you are melting under the sun bathed in suntan lotion, all you need is a can of ice cold coke or an orange shake.

Above: fried noodles with chicken at Sai Kaew Beach

From above: watermelon shake, pad thai and chicken cheeseburger with fries at a cafe near the pier

After we arrived in BKK, we headed to Chinatown for some good local 'zi char'. We ordered prawns. steam fish, crab meat omelette, crabmeat fried rice and a coconut drink. That only only cost $31 for 2. Next was dessert. Who could possibly miss the bird nest at Chinatown/Thailand? Although it can't be the real birds nest, it's still a nice dessert to have after a heavy meal.

From above: steam fish, fried rice, omelette and prawns in Chinatown




Above: Bird's Nest among other desserts in Chinatown

Above: spicy chicken noodle in Nam Tok style

From above: Pad Thai in Khao San

Of course there was shopping and more massages in BKK :)

Sweet Potato and Longan Soup

This is one of my favourite Chinese dessert that's so easy to prepare within minutes. Whenever I crave for something sweet, light, guilt-free and hassle-free, this is it. It is simply a concoction of sweet potatoes and dried longans, sweetened with rock sugar and red dates. I add some sliced ginger to give the zing, which helps 'spice' up the dessert.

Sweet potato is a wonderfully versatile root vegetable fruit that can be prepared and consumed in many ways. It can be eaten steamed, baked as a cake, eaten french fried, a dessert in either Chinese or Western styles. It is a good source Vitamin C, potassium, beta carotene and folic acid among others.

Longan, (Dragon Eyeball known for its resemblance to the eye), is another common fruit in Asia grown in temperatures no less than 4.5 deg C. Driged longan is used in making Chinese desserts. They are dried and dark brown and expands when boiled in water. It is sweet and is known to have an effect on relaxation.

For a simple dose of Sweet Potato and Longan Soup, all you need to prepare are:

A:
1 to 1.5 l water
1/2 cup red dates

B:
Sliced ginger
2/3 cup dried longans (washed and soaked)
1 cup diced sweet potato
Some cut fungus (washed, soaked and expanded)

C:
1-2 tbs rock sugar

1. Bring 1 to boil.
2. Add in B and let it boil over small fire for 20min.
3. Add in C and stir thoroughly for another 20min.
4. Serve hot.

Optional: You may wish to add in 1/2 tbs of apricot seeds to the soup in Step 1 if desired.

Curry Cauliflower with Garlic Crumbs

This is an interesting and relatively easy recipe I came across in this book Three & Four Ingredients. Every recipe in this book aims to only use 3-4 ingredients, which makes cooking easy and hassle free! This 400 over recipe book is big and heavy. After flipping over the book the entire morning, I came across this recipe which I think I might succeed. A little adaptation was done with the addition of curry powder to spice things up and add some interesting twist to the flavour! Now this can be a good way to get your kids to eat their greens.

This dish makes a great accompaniment to any meat or fish dish.

All you need:

1 large cauliflower, cut into bitesize florets
130g breadcrumbs (crushed biscuits)
1 tbsp chopped garlic (or cloves)
90-120ml olive or vegetable oil
Salt and ground black pepper (I use normal white pepper)
2 - 3 tbsp curry powder (optional)

1. Steam or boil the cauliflower till soft. Drain and leave to cool
2. Heat 60-75ml of oil in a pan and add breadcrumbs and cook over medium heat. Toss and stir constantly till browned. Add garlic and curry powder (if desired) and continue frying. Remove from heat and set aside.
3. Heat remaining oil in pan and fry the cauliflower till lightly browned
4. Add garlic breadcrumbs to the pan and stir till well combined with the cauliflower.
5. Season with some salt and pepper and serve.



Alternative: if you wish you may also fry with chopped chili padi to really spice it up!

Flourless Chocolate Souffles

Light as air, melt-in-the-mouth souffles are always impressive and sought after. And they never fail to tempt chocolate and non chocolate lovers. They are often based on the simplest store-cupboard ingredients for every baker and this recipe doesn't call for flour. For extra indulgence, serve with an ice cream or whipped cream with dark rum and grated orange rind. You can also top it up with a strawberry.

All you need: (for 6)

50g unsweetened cocoa powder
65g caster sugar
30ml dark rum
6 egg whites

1 Preheat oven to 190deg C. Place baking sheet in the oven to heat it up.
2 Mix 15ml of cocoa with 15ml of sugar in a bowl. Grease ramekins. Pour cocoa and sugar mixture into each dish in turn, rotating them so that they are evenly coated.

3 Mix the remaining cocoa powder with the dark rum.
4 Whisk egg whites in a clean, grease-free bowl until they form stiff peaks. Whisk in the remaining sugar. Stir a generous spoonful of the whites into the cocoa mixture to lighten it, then fold in the remaining whites.
5 Divide the mixture among the dishes. Place on the hot baking sheet and bake for 13-15 mins or until well risen
6 Dust with icing sugar when cooled.

In my version I didn't have rum so I replaced it with orange juice. I'm not sure if that's the cause of the bitterness in my souffle, or that I have folded in the egg whites too much. Anyhow that was my first attempt and it was something sweet and enjoyable :)

Adapted from: Three & Four Ingredients

Penang, Malaysia 9-11 Aug 09

I was on a trip to Malaysia yet again for the 2nd time this year. For my air ticket to Penang, it was merely $85 per pax incl of taxes! It's too good to be missed. I was gone over the National Day weekend.

Preparing for another gastronomical journey, I prepped myself with an empty stomach ready to conquer the streets of Gurney Drive and Georgetown loadful of famous Penang Fried Kuay Teow, Penang Laksa and Wan Tan Mee.

Not to be missed is the Teochew Chendol that's filled with lotsa coconut milk and gula melaka. I prefer the one at Malacca though.

In Penang, it's mainly food hunting and some night market shopping along Batu Ferringhi. On our way to Batu Ferringhi, we stopped by Gurney Drive where it has a HUGE open air market full of hawker stalls. They have Wan Tan Mee, Penang Laksa, Rojak, BBQ cuttelfish, Penang Fried Kuay Teow and lots more! You can't stomach everything in one night. Needless to say, everything is so cheap and affordable - at least when compared to Singapore. And it's very delicious. You probably won't be able to resist the whiff of the freshly fried foods as you walk along those stalls..

From above: Fried Oyster, Assam Laksa, Penang Fried Kuay Teow and Rojak

A must visit is the Kheng Pin coffeeshop along Penang Avenue in Georgetown. It is usually packed! I must say the Wan Tan Mee is ....SUPERB! It only cost me about 3RM (less than $1.50 in Singapore dollars) and it came with chicken, wan tans, char siew and mushrooms! How amazing. I'm very sure you don't get these in Singapore. The portion was considered small compared to Sg's serving, but good enough for me to have the capacity to try other stuff. The Prawn Mee wasn't too bad, just a tad too oily. They have other yummy stuff like Fried Wu Xiang where you can choose what you wanna eat. Like Sotong, Ngoh Hiang or Spring roll etc and fried on the spot. Forget what oil and fats are.








I also got myself Penang white coffee nearby though it was a little steep: $10 for a pack of 15 sachets.

Tip for travelling to Penang: go in a group and share as much variety of food as you can! It's eat eat and eat. Till you drop.

Chinese Pear with White Fungus Dessert

People around me have been sniffing, coughing and sneezing. With the crazy weather and climate going on, it's good to have Chinese dessert once in a while to 'cool' your body heat. I have never understood the terms 'heaty' or 'cooling' in Chinese medicine but I think the symtoms really show when you are feeling 'heaty'. You'll get ulcers, constipation, sore throat, fever etc. So things that are really heaty are longans, mango, durians and fried foods..


I came across this interesting recipe in the Sunday Lifestyle food section. I never miss a day of this as it contains full of food reviews on places to pig out, what to cook, how to cook and tips on cooking disasters. The original recipe calls for Osmanthus flower (gui hua) but I couldn't get it at 2 of the medical shops in my area. I proceeded with what I could find and got myself a pot of cooling and refreshing Chinese Pear with White Fungus dessert. I'm a bit lazy to follow the recipe provided, so here's my very own version. It can be served hot, whilst some might like it chilled.

Ingredients (for 4-6 servings)

800ml water
20g apricot seeds
60g red dates
75g yellow rock sugar
1 Chinese pear. cut into wedges with core removed
Half of a fungus, soaked in hot water and cut into pieces when expanded

1. Boil the water with apricot seeds and red dates
2. When water has boiled, add in fungus and pear and leave to boil
3. Add in rock sugar and stir
4. Leave to simmer for about 1 -1.5 hr till pear has softned and the soup has a sweet taste
5. Add more water if desired

Ready to serve!