Brownie Chocolate Cake

First time I tasted this brownie was during last year’s Eid. I immediately fell in love with it …. and thanks to my sister-in-law I can now bake this brownie anytime I want

hot from the oven … Brownie Chocolate Cake

Ingredients :

175 g melted butter
175 g castor sugar
175 g brown sugar
150 g pecan or walnut (chopped)
140 g plain flour – sieve
60 g cocoa powder – sieve
1 tsp baking powder
5 eggs
1 can of nestle cream
1 tsp of vanilla essence
1 tsp chocolate flavour essence
1/2 tsp salt

Method :

1) Beat eggs and castor sugar for a while and then add in the brown sugar and beat again until fluffy.

2) Add in the melted butter, nestle cream and beat again before adding in the flour, baking powder and cocoa powder.

3) Add in the vanilla essence, salt and chocolate flavour essence.  Mix thoroughly.

4) Pour the mixture into a cake tin of 9 x 9 x 3 inch size.  Be sure to line the cake tin with baking paper and grease it with a bit of butter before pouring the mixture.

5) Lastly scatter/sprinkle the walnuts on top of the cake and bake it in the oven at 150 degree C. for about 1 hour.

Yee Mee Tom Yum

Today, I truly had no idea what to cook but somehow upon reaching my house after work just now, I suddenly had a craving to eat tom yum noodle.  Now, the only noodle I have at home is the Yee Mee that my husband’s cousin had given to us a few weeks ago.  So I thought why not!

This is the final product.  Simply satisfying and delicious! 

Yee Mee Tom Yum

 

 the Yee Mee

How to cook this? Oh! very simple and very fast.  You just need :

a few tablespoons of instant Tom Yum paste (it all depends on how spicy you want it to be)
1 onion – sliced
4-5 birds eye chillies – chopped
2-3 kaffir lime leaves
a few fishballs or hotdogs
half a carrot – sliced
brocoli – cut into small pieces
half-cup of frozen mixed vegetables
1 tomato – sliced

You just need to boiled everything and once boiled finally add the Yee Mee and tomatoes, and its ready to be eaten.

Chicken in black sauce

Just came back from Kuala Lumpur and I got a very useful and delicious souvenir …. complimentary from my husband’s cousin, recipe of a simple chicken dish, called “Ayam kicap” (Chicken in black sauce).

This recipe was given to her by her mother-in-law, which is my husband’s aunt. It is a simple and delicious as well as easy to cook dish. I simply LOVE IT!

Note : This recipe do not come with proper measurement, have to estimate because that’s how she taught me.

“Ayam kicap”

Ingredients :

1 whole chicken – can either chopped to small sizes or cut into 4
Salty black soya sauce – pour enough to marinate the chicken pieces
Oyster sauce – abt 1 tbsp
Black pepper powder – best to ground fresh black peppers
Butter or margarine – abt 2-3 tbsp
Caramel sauce (for cooking) – abt 1 tbsp
A dash of sesame oil

Method :

1) Marinade the chickens with the salty black soya sauce and black pepper powder for about 45 mins or more.

2) Then add in oyster sauce, caramel sauce and sesame oil – mix thoroughly

3) Finally add the butter or margarine on top of the chicken and put it inside the microwave (closed the pot with cover) and cook for about 15 mins or more depending on the size of the chicken.

4) Serve with rice and salad.

Braised tomato chicken beriani style

Ok this recipe is supposed to be kind of dry, but I like mine with a bit of gravy so I adjusted it to suit my taste
Afterall cooking is all about creativity right!

Braised tomato chicken beriani style

Ingredients :

1 whole chicken, deskinned and cut into 12 pieces
3 garlic, 5 cm ginger, 2.5 cm fresh tumeric, a little salt – ground them finely, rub into chicken pieces, marinade for about half an hour and then lightly fry the chickens. Keep aside.

Ground ingredients :

3 large onions
6 garlics
10 cm ginger
2 stalks of lemongrass (use the white part only)
5 cm galangal
8 dried chillies

Other ingredients :

2 tbsp beriani powder
140 g tomato puree
4 whole tomatoes, cut into 8 wedges
150 g cashew nuts, roasted and ground finely.
1/2 tin evaporated milk
1/2 cup coriander leaves, chopped
2 pcs screwpine leaves
salt and sugar to taste
A little oil for sauteing

Saute ingredients :

2 large onions – sliced thinly
2 pcs anise star
5 cm stick cinnamon
5 pods cardamons
2 cloves

Garnish :

Fried onion flakes, chopped coriander leaves, green peas, sliced tomatoes and roasted cashew nuts – all these optional.

Method :

1. Combine the ground ingredients with tomato puree and beriani powder in a bowl. Keep aside.

2. Heat enough oil in a pot, saute the screwpine leaves till fragrant.

3. Next add in the saute ingredients, and fry till fragrant.

4. Add in the blended tomato puree mixture and saute until oil seeps through.

5. If spice paste is thick, add in 1 cup of water to dilute.

6. Add in salt and sugar to taste.

7. Subsequently add in the evaporated milk and ground fried cashew nuts.  Stir thorougly. Should mixture still thick in texture, add some more water to dilute it further.

8. Add in the chickens and leave it to simmer for a while. Let it boil and then add in chopped coriander leaves.

9. Check seasoning and cook till gravy thickens slightly. Turn off heat.

Note : Since I like mine with a bit more gravy, I dilute it to suit my taste and even added some tomato sauce to it for further seasoning.

Vegetable Rice

Its Eid Adha today, in Singapore we call it Hari Raya Haji or Hari Raya Korban.  As usual during this festive time, I would usually cook rice and a few dishes.  This year I decided to try cooking vegetable rice (nasi sayur) with braised tomato chicken beriani style and cucumber pickle.

Alhamdulillah … they all turn out well

Vegetable rice with cucumber pickle (Malay style – acar timun) and Braised tomato chicken beriani style

Here’s the recipe for the rice :

Ingredients :

1 kg basmati rice
Water – measure according to the quantity of rice
1 cup vegetable oil
1 tin evaporated milk
250 g mixed frozen vegetables
3 tbsp rose water (air mawar)
Juice from 1 key lime (limau nipis)
Salt to taste

Ground ingredients :

6 cm ginger
3 large onions
8 cloves garlic

Saute Ingredients :

3 large onions – sliced thinly
4 pcs of screwpine leaves (pandan leaves)

Garnish :

1 cup fried cashew nuts – (I roasted them instead)
1 cup fried onion flakes

Methods :

1) Wash rice clean and soak for about 10 mins. Drain. Keep aside.

2) Heat a little oil in the rice cooker pot, saute sliced onions and the screwpine leaves till fragrant.

3) Add in the grounded ingredients and saute further for about 5-7 mins.

4) Then add in water, evaporated milk, mixed vegetables, rose water, key lime juice and salt to taste.  Stir and allow to boil.

5) Once boiling, add in the drained rice, stir well.

6) Cover pot and cook till rice is cooked.

Note : Before serving, garnish with fried/roasted cashew nuts and fried onion flakes.

Steam Chocolate Muffin

Ahh the beauty of not working, I am able to try the recipes in my collections

This time, I made Steam Chocolate Muffin and it turns out very nice …. very soft … very delicious.  The kids simply love them and within half an hour the muffins are all gone …. hehehe

You will need to have a steamer for this.

Ingredients :

250 gm of cake flour
75 gm of cocoa powder
220 gm of sugar
250 gm butter
1 tsp bicarbonate soda
3 eggs
1 cup of hot water

Method :

1) Sieve flour (add in bicarbonate soda in it after that) into a bowl.

2) Sieve cocoa powder in a bowl.

3) Cream butter and sugar.

4) Add eggs one by one. 

5) Alternating between these 3 items, flour, cocoa and hot water, add them bit by bit.

6) MIx thoroughly and then pour the mixture into muffin paper containers.

7) Steam them for about 10-12 mins.

 

Note : Before beginning with the creaming it is best to heat the steamer beforehand.  Also once you put the muffins into the steamer, make sure the fire is turn to a medium fire.

Bubur Pulut Hitam

Yesterday since I’m not working, I made this dessert which is a traditional Malay dessert.  It is called Bubur Pulut Hitam.  This dessert uses black glutinous rice and very easy to cook … yummylicious too!  I even add few pieces of durians into it

When I cooked this, I don’t use a proper measurement, I simply estimate so sorry folks, if you wish to try it you just have to take some risk and estimate like me … BUT no worry because its not difficult.

Ok the ingredients are :

500 g black glutinous rice – washed and soak for 3 hours
A few strands of screwpine leaves – wash and fold into a knot
About 1 tsp of salt
2 small pkt of coconut milk
Enough brown sugar plus white sugar – add them until it taste sweet to your tastebud base on your preference.
A few pieces of durians – optional

Method :

1) Boiled the black glutinous rice together with the screwpine leaves.  Make sure the water use to boil is about 2 inch above the glutinous rice.

2) Once the glutinous rice is soft, add salt and sugar.  Stir.

3) Then add the coconut milk and leave it to boil for about 10 mins with frequent stirring in between.

4) If you’re adding the durians, then do it right after adding the coconut milk.

5) Serve either hot or cold.

Chicken Kalio

Ingredients :

60 ml cooking oil
200 ml coconut milk
1 whole chicken – cut into 4
4 pcs of dried tamarind skin
sugar to taste
1/2 ripe pineapple – cut into slices
4 tbsp of laksa leaves

Blended ingredients :

10 red chillies
8 bird eyes chillies
6 candlenuts
3 lemongrass
2 cm galangal
2 pcs kaffir lime leaves
3 stalks of coriander leaves

Method :

1) Heat oil and fry the blended ingredients till fragrant over a medium fire.

2) Add in the coconut milk and chicken together with dried tamarind skin.

3) Add salt and sugar, leave it to boil for about 1/2 an hour till the chickens are well cook.

4) Add in the pineapples and laksa leaves and coriander leaves.

5) Cook for a further 15 mins till the gravy thickens.

Hoddeok – Sweet Korean Pancakes

I love watching Korean dramas so looking for korean recipes which are simple but tasty has become a hobby for me recently

Thanks to Mykoreankitchen.com I got to try this simple yet tasty pancakes korean version

Hoddeok

 

Ingredients :

All purpose white flour – 1¼ cups
Salt – 1/4 tsp
Milk – 90 ml (6 tbsp)

Fermented yeast water (mix these well in bowl 1)

Warm water (40℃) – 45 ml (3 tbsp)
White sugar – 1/4 tsp
Dry yeast- 1/4 tsp

Stuffing (mix these well in bowl 2)

Cinnamon powder – 1/4 tsp
Crushed walnuts or peanuts – 2 tbsp 
Dark brown sugar – 90 ml (6 tbsp)

Methods  :

1. Leave the mix of fermented yeast water in a warm place (30-40 ℃) for 10 minutes.

2. After 10 minutes, sieve the flour then add the salt, milk, and yeast water.

3. Mix them well and cover the bowl with wrap. Ferment it in a warm place for 3 hours.

4. When the dough is ready, put some oil on your hands (anti stick purpose) and separate an adequate amount of the dough (to allow 6 to be made), then put it on your hand.

5. Widen the dough with your hands and put a spoonful of stuffing on it. Seal the dough. Repeat it for the rest of the dough.

6. Pre heat the frying pan for 20 seconds and add some oil.

7. Put 2-3 sealed dough balls onto the pan and turn them over when the bottom part is cooked. (Cook them on medium to low heat)

8. Press the dough with a spatula and when both sides are golden brown you can serve them on a plate.

Curry Laksa Bibik Neo

 

Ingredients for the gravy :

180 ml of cooking oil
400 ml of coconut milk
10 pieces of dried beancurd (tau pok) – cut into 4 pcs each
20 pieces of fishballs
1/2 kg of fresh prawns – chopped roughly
salt and sugar to taste

Blended ingredients :

6 stalks of lemongrass
10 stalks of red chillies
3 tbsp ground chillies (cili boh)
1/2 cup of dried prawns
2 cm of galangal (lengkuas)
15 pcs of candlenuts (buah keras)
3 cm of fresh tumeric (kunyit hidup)
2 pcs of kaffir lime leaves (daun limau purut)
1 tbsp of laksa leaves (daun kesum) (vietnamese coriander leaves)
1 tbsp of coriander powder

Ingredients for the laksa :

1 pc of fish cake
300 g of fresh cockles
200 g beansprouts
10 limes
1 tbsp laksa leaves
15 pcs of fresh prawns – boil and peel the skin for garnishing.
300 g laksa noodle – boil for a minute or two and drained

Method :

1) Heat oil and fry the blended ingredients till fragrant over a small fire.

2) Add the coconut milk and a bit of water, let it boil.

3) Next add in the dried beancurd, fishball, fresh prawn, salt and sugar.  Stir occasionally and let it boil till the gravy thickens.

4) To serve, add the ingredients for the laksa in a bowl and pour the gravy.  Garnish as you desired.