Thai Olive Fried Rice

I had attempted a Thai Olive Fried Rice before but this one is cooked using organic brown rice. I dont usually include brown rice in my diet but since I had a packet of organic brown rice sitting in the kitchen, I took it one day to try...

Here's the stuff required for a simple and good yummy meal. I have not indicated the quantity as it was only for one person's serving. However it can be largey based on guesstimation:

Dried shrimps - chopped (around 2 tbsp)
Mince chicken
Olive (Chinese olives from the supermarkets)
Egg (1)
Shrimps - about 4-5 small to medium size
Organic brown rice (about 1 cup for 1-2 persons to share) - cooked and set aside
Chopped garlic
Fish sauce and pepper

Boil shrimps till they turn red. Drain when cooked and put in cold water, then drain again
Fry the garlic and dried shrimps in olive oil
Add in the mince chicken and fry till thoroughly cooked. Set aside in the wok
Fry egg till thoroughly broken/cooked
Fry the dried shrimps, rice and boiled shrimps. Add in the bottled olive (pitted)
Add in (about 1 - 1.5 tbsp) fish sauce and pepper. Mix and fry thoroughly
Drizzle with pork floss if desired



enjoy.

I like Aglio Olio spaghetti but my version is somewhat quite substandard :)

One fine Saturday morning, I had the craving for Aglio Olio. I made a trip to the supermarket and got myself Dory Fish, chicken sausages and some mushrooms. To me, cooking spaghetti is relatively easy (in my own standards of course).

Boil the spaghetti first, with a pinch of salt in the pot. Boil it for more than 5min to get the real al dente texture, from my experience. Leave it a little longer to get it a bit softer, but not too overcooked. Once boiled and cooked, drain it out with a sieve and leave aside with olive oil so they do not clump together.

Then I simply season the fish with salt and some herbs and seasoning before frying. Then, I fried the sausages till thoroughly cooked/brown with olive oil.

Set aside these and start frying the garlic and mushrooms. Add in the sausages and pasta and toss it with olive oil. Turn off the fire and toss in the dory fish with some chilli flakes and shredded parsley.






Not well taken but the taste was surprisingly good!

Beancurd Barley with Ginko Nut Dessert

I have always liked to take Chinese dessert as they are often easier to prepare compared to Western ones. They require lesser ingredients and the ingredients used are often easier to find. It only takes about 30 min to an hr to prepare one simple yet delicious dessert.

This Beancurd Barley with Ginko Nut dessert is sweet and healthy!

All you need:

5-6 cups of water
1/2 cup barley seeds (approximate)
1 beancurd sheet (soaked in water till soft - about A4 size)
3 1/2 tbsp rock sugar (depending on how sweet you want)
1 egg white

1. Boil barley in water till soft.
2. Add in gingko nuts and boil for another 20min.
3. Add in beancurd sheet and let it break while cooking. Continue stirring.
4. Add in sugar. Stir well.
5. Heat over slow fire for about 20-30min.
6. Add egg white and stir evenly.
7. Ready to serve.

Coffee Cake

This is one of my favourite cake. It is easy to bake and the aroma of the coffee just brings you to a totally different realm! I am a non-coffee drinker, but this coffee cake is simply too delicious to be missed. It has a rich butter flavour but the coffee aroma is of the right amount that is not too overpowering nor bland. You should try it. Good with a cup of tea in the afternoon....

195g softened butter
125g soft brown sugar
2 eggs
1 tbsp coffee (I use 3 in 1 instant coffee powder)
155g self raising flour, sifted
100ml milk

Optional
To Make Coffee Topping: 125g icing sugar

Steps
Pre heat oven to 150deg C
Beat 185g of butter and brown sugar with electric beater till light and creamy
Add eggs a little at a time and mix well
Add in 4 tsp of coffee
Fold in flour and salt, alternating with milk into creamed mixture
Spoon evenly into trays and bake for 30min

Optional:

To make coffee topping, combine the remaining butter and coffee, with the icing sugar and 1 1.5 tbsp boiling water in a small bowl
Spread a little icing over until evenly covered

As you can see, I opted for sprinkling of cocoa powder and a little icing sugar instead :)

Adapted from Cakes & Slices

Light Fruit Cake

Fruit Cakes, unlike any other typical cakes, require abit more time, effort and patience. With the careful attention, you can be assured of the special feeling of fulfilment when lifting a freshly baked fruit cake out of the oven. Especially when Christmas is round the corner.

In preparing a fruit cake, make sure you do the extra step of lining the tin in double layers as well as wrapping layers of newspaper around the outside of the tin due to the long cooking time. Lastly sit the tin on layers of newspaper in the oven.

I had a request for a fruit cake from a colleague of mine for her mother as her mother loves fruit cake. I promised her I will do it one day for tasting when I have abit more time and when the baking mood is back. I managed to get it done one day and here's the recipe I wish to share that differs from the one I used to make. However the appearance of my cake differs greatly from the picture in my cook book (Baking: A commonsense Guide). I wish I could reach that standard one day : ( My cake turned out very crumbly.. and broke into pieces once I cut it.

Preparation time: 40 min
Total cooking time: 3 hrs

185g unsalted butter, softened
115g caster sugar
3 eggs
160g sultanas
100g currants
60g chopped glace apricots
45g chopped glace figs
250g chopped glace cherries
80g macadamia nuts, coarsely chopped
185g plain flour
60g self raising flour
125ml milk
1tbsp sweet sherry

For all the dried fruits, I simply bought a packet of mixed fruits from the supermarket to ease the hassle of buying individual packs and weighing them all.
That comes to about 605g in total. And as I couldn't find sherry nor rum, I replaced it with orange juice and I also replaced macadamia nuts to walnuts and almonds both chopped.

1. Preheat oven to 160 deg C and grease and line a deep 20cm round or 18cm square cake tin.

2. Cream butter and sugar together until well combined. Add the eggs one at a time and beat well after each addition.

3. Stir in the fruits and nuts.

4. Sift in half the flours and half the milk, stir to combine then continue with the rest of the flour and milk followed by sherry (my juice)

5. Spoon the mixture onto the tin and tap the tin to remove any air bubbles.

6. Wrap the outside of the tin and layer the rack with newspapers. Bake for 1 3/4 hours. Remove from oven and wrap tin in a tea towel until cool. Store in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks.

(note: top of the tin may need to be covered during baking if it colours too much)

Pls spread the word for the festive season and visit my fellow blogger's blog :)

www.passionbaker.blogspot.com/2010/11/aspiring-bakers-2-christmas-dec-2010.html

MERRY XMAS EVERYONE!

Hakka Abacus

Also known as yam coins, abacus is typically a Hakka dish (a dialect in Singapore for those foreign friends reading this blog). It is a dish of yam fried with minced pork, Chinese mushrooms and dried shrimps. The yam is boiled till soft and mashed before rolled into small round shapes that look like coins. The Hakkas believe that eating abacus siginifies more wealth and prosperity.

A plate of delicious Abacus

My mom is a Hakka and she grew up with this dish since young. As I like the abacus she cooks at home, I want to try to master this cuisine so it doesn't get lost in my next generation.

After much nudging and chasing, I finally managed to get hands on with it today. My domestic helper has mastered this dish so well that I'm now learning from her, not my mom! I stood by her in the kitchen for an hour or so and finally managed to get my hands on it. As recipes at home are mostly trial and errors, the quantity and weight of items are purely based on guestimations. But I try to be accurate as far as possible. However, individual taste buds and preferences vary so feel free to add or alter any portions.

Abacus is a dish that is savoury and rich in flavour due to the dried shrimps and mushrooms. It takes time and much dedication to get the texture, taste and colours right. And the proportion of yam to tapioca starch is important so it doesn't taste like it has too much flour. That's the difference of home made abacus.

Total time of preparation: about 45min

Total cooking time: about 30-45min in total

(A) Yam

150g yam (cut into small cubes)

Tapioca starch 50g

Water approx 1 1/2 cup
Dash of salt

Pepper

1 pot of water

1 bowl of tap water

1. Pour water (1 1/2 cup) and yam into a pot and bring it to boil till all water is dried (water must be enough to just cover all the cubes but not too much water that it gets too soggy)

2. Stir yam while boiling to ensure water is thoroughly absorbed.

3. When all the water is absorbed, mash the yam and add some salt and dash of pepper.

4. Add in tapioca starch to bind the yam together.

5. Using hands, knead the dough finely to ensure all mixture is incorporated together nicely.

6. Prepare dough in long thin strips then pinch off the end to roll into a small ball.

7. Roll each ball then indent the centre with your thumb to resemble an abacus.

8. Bring the pot of water to boil. When boiling, put all the yam inside and cover.

9. When the yam balls are cooked, they float. Transfer the yam balls to the bowl of tap water so they do not stick.

10. After couple of minutes, sieve them out to prepare for next stage.

Top: Mashed yam

Below: Well kneaded yam with tapioca starch

Neatly rolled yam balls

(B) Minced Pork
Dried shrimps approx 1 tbsp (washed and soaked in water)
Small onions (chopped)
Chinese mushrooms about 10-15 pcs, approx 15g (washed and soaked in water till soft. Cut into strips and keep the water aside)
Some carrots also cut into strips
Minced pork 50g

Top: Soaking dried shrimps in water
Below: Soaking Chinese mushrooms in water

Top: Carrots and mushrooms in strips
Below: Chopped onions

Seasoning

Corn starch 1/2 tbsp

Pepper

Oyster sauce 1/2 tbsp

Sesame oil 1/2 tbsp

Some oil for frying

1. Mix minced pork with the above seasoning.
2. Fry onions till brown and fragrant.
3. Add in shrimps and continue frying for few minutes.
4. Add in minced pork and stir followed by carrots and mushrooms.
5. Add in the water used to soak the mushrooms to give extra flavour.
6. Add in another 1/2 tbsp of oyster sauce.
7. Cover pan and let it simmer.
8. Finally add in the cooled and drained abacus and continue frying for another few minutes till well mixed. Add pepper if desired.

Serve and garnish with some coriander.

caution: you can't stop at one

Orange Cake - to chase away your blues..

My entries are usually fuss free and express. I don't have the luxury of time to bake cakes that require hours in the kitchen and spending every minute to decorate and dress it nicely anymore. As I hold a full time job my weekends are very precious to me along with other commitments, I can only afford to do fuss free cakes. Here's another one from me.

A cake that you can bake on a weekday night and it takes only 20min to prepare. Baking time is about 30min and before you know it, you have freshly baked orange sponge cake right in your kitchen.. Something sweet to help you chase away your Monday blues...




Plain Flour - 110g (sifted)
Melted butter - 70g
Eggs - 4
Vanilla Essence - 1 tsp
Caster sugar - 100g
Some orange zest
Orange juice - 1/2 tsp


1. Whisk eggs, sugar and vanilla essence till pale and creamy (approx 4 min on medium speed)
2. Pour in orange zest and juice and mix
3. Fold in flour and incorporate well
4. Pour in melted butter and mix well
5. Bake in a 20cm pan at 180deg C for 30 min

Can you smell it?