Sweet & Sour Fish

I was inspired by Jadepearl's Thai Sweet & Sour Fish recipe at Nurkochen. In the beginning, I set out to replicate the same dish, but then lazy side of me took over. Instead of following strictly to the measurements of all the ingredients, I just followed my feel, easier this way because no need to measure accordingly, which I thought was quite troublesome. Another thing, Jadepearl's recipe doesn't have sweet chilli sauce, but the stubborn Tazz always likes to add sweet chilli sauce to any sweet and sour dishes, hence I can't call this Thai Sweet & Sour Fish anymore, so I think Sweet & Sour Fish is a more appropriate name for my recipe here.

Yum.... The three gluttons at home gave the thumbs up.



Sweet & Sour Fish

Ingredients:
2 large pieces of Dory Fillet (halve)

Marinade for fish (mixed together):
2 tablespoons rice wine
2 tablespoons light soy sauce
2 tablespoons wheat flour
2 tablespoons rice flour

Sauce Ingredients:
1 onion, cut into pieces
1 green pepper, cut into pieces
sugar
Maggi tomato ketchup
Maggi sweet chilli sauce
rice vinegar
rice wine
some water
some pineapple cutes


Method:

Dredge the fish in the marinade, and leave to stand for about an hour so that the fish is infused with the flavor. Heat oil to deep-fry the fish on both sides. Put on a serving plate.

In a small pan sauté the onion and green pepper, add the remaining ingredients, except the pineapple, and simmer until water is slightly reduced, then add the pineapple and heat through.

Dish up sauce onto the fried fish. Serve.

Steamed Moist Chocolate Cake

Made this yesterday. I was a little worried because it was the first time I had to do frosting. Eventhough I am not a Christian, I said a prayer before I started to do the frosting. I said, "Oh lord, please let my frosting go on smoothly." Thank lord, haha... smoothly it went and the final result was a smooth Chocolate frosting that made my cake look like a mirror.

Back to Steamed Moist Chocolate Cake. Forummer who shared this wonderful recipe was Dralion from KC. The cake was really moist. I did half the recipe and yet it yielded such a big cake. For the benefits of those non-members, I shall type the recipe here, but please bear in mind that this is the recipe for what you see in the photo.





Steamed Moist Chocolate Cake

Ingredients:
187.5g butter
1 cup castor sugar
1/2 can evaporated milk
2 eggs, lightly beaten with a fork
1 cup of plain flour
1/2 cup of cocoa powder
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp vanilla extract or 3/4 tsp vanilla essence


Method:

Combine castor sugar, evaporated milk, vanilla extract or essence and butter in a saucepan. Stir over low heat until sugar is dissolved and butter is melted, off fire.

Add the beaten egg into the slightly cooled evaporated milk mixture and stir till well mixed.

Pour eggs mixture over the flour and stir till well mixed (cake batter should be runny).

Heat up the steamer.

Line and grease baking pan.

Pour the batter into prepared pan, place the pan into the steamer and cover the top of the pan loosely with a piece of aluminum foil.

Steam over medium heat for 45 minutes.

Cool the cake in the pan before turning out for further decoration.


Chocolate Topping:

1/2 can condense milk
1/2 tsp vanilla extractor or 3/4 tsp vanilla essence
1/4 cup corn oil
20g cocoa powder, sifted
a pinch of salt


Method:

Combine the sifted cocoa powder, condense milk and oil.

Stir over low heat till thicken, stirring all the time. (I used the double boil method)

Add in salt and vanilla extract or essence.

Cool the chocolate topping a little before spreading on the cooled cake.

Note: Can use 8-1/2" or 9" cake pan.

Dory Fish with Chng Kee's Sambal Oelek

This recipe is from my Sister. Very appetizing dish. I cooked this today but since the photo isn't nice, I have to use this, which has been posted in Nurkochen before.



Dory Fish with Chng Kee's Sambal Oelek

Ingredients:
2 large pieces of Dory Fillet, cut into slices
2 packets of golden mushrooms
pepper
Fish sauce or light soy sauce
2 Chinese spoonful of Chng Kee's Sambal Oelek (more if desired)
Some water
Oil
spring onion, chopped (for garnishing)


Methods:

Marinate Dory Fillet with pepper and fish sauce or light soy sauce.

Put oil in the cooking pan. Pan fry two sides of Dory Fillet till cooked. Set aside.

Put oil and stir fry golden mushrooms, add Sambal Oelek and some water. Bring to boil.

Pour the cooked dory fillet into the pan and mix well.

Garnish with spring onion. Serve hot.

Honeydew Sago Dessert

This is a modified recipe which I came out with, after studying the one from Kuali and another recipe from M4M forum. Very yummy! Even my health conscious hubby couldn't resist, he had second helping. Thanks to the originator who invented such a wonderful dessert, though I don't know who, because there are so many Honeydew Sago Dessert recipes around.



Honeydew Sago Dessert

Serves 6

Ingredients:
Honeydew melon ( approx 1kg)
120g sago
100ml coconut milk

Syrup Ingredients:
3-4 pandan leaves
150g gula melaka
150ml water


Method:

Remove the skin from the honeydew melon, halve then scoop out the seeds. Shape the honeydew melon into small round balls using a metal scoop. Puree the remaining honeydew melon. Chill in the fridge.

To prepare syrup, put water, gula melaka and pandan leaves in a saucepan. Boil until gula melaka dissolves. Strain and cool thoroughly.

Boil water in a pot. Add sago pearls to boil until transparent. Pour the cooked sago into a sieve then place under running tap water. Drain well.

Combine sago, chilled honeydew melon balls, puree and coconut milk in individual bowls. Add syrup to taste.

Eggs with Minced Meat In Hot Sauce

Tried this new recipe from an old cookbook. I think the dish would be better if eggs were replaced with tofu.



Eggs with Minced Meat In Hot Sauce

Ingredients:
10 quail eggs, hard boiled and shelled
200g minced pork (not too lean)
oil for cooking
2 red chilli, seeded and chopped
2-1/2 tsp brown soy bean paste
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 tsp minced ginger
1 tsp chopped onion
240ml water
1 tsp cornstarch blended with 1 tbsp water
Parsley (for garnishing)

Seasoning Ingredients:
2 tsp light soy sauce
2 tsp sugar
2 tsp cooking wine
1 dash of pepper


Method:

Heat 3 tbsp oil in pan. Saute red chilli and soy bean paste till fragrant.

Add garlic, ginger and onion. Stir-fry till fragrant.

Add pork and fry till colour of meat changes.

Put in eggs and water and bring to the boil.

Stir in the rest of the seasoning ingredients. Simmer for 5 to 10 minutes.

Thicken sauce with cornstarch mixture. Dish up, garnish with parsley and serve.

Note: Adjust the seasoning as desired.

What kind of food are you?

Went to Mike's blog and saw this. So I followed the link and this is my result:

You Are Thai Food

Trendy yet complex. People seek you out - though they're not sure why.

What Kind of Food Are You?

Trendy??!! *puzzled* Complex??!! Yes, to a certain extend. Some who know me in real life say I have a very deceiving look. Well, have to be a little complex sometimes, when dealing with certain perople with hidden agenda. Right?

People seek me out? Yes, in real life, some sought me out all the time, in the past. They didn't know why? I knew and I had wised up, but too late! *lol*

Chilled Marshmallow Cheesecake

This is the first year that I have started to make cakes for birthdays. My first birthday cake was Strawberry & Mango Marshmallow Cake for Ni, in August. This time round, I chose yet another non-bake cake – Chilled Marshmallow Cheesecake, for hubby’s birthday. (*whisper* I still can’t bake cake yet! *lol*)

Found this Marshmallow Cake recipe from Allrecipe. I substituted diary whipping cream for the heavy cream. I think the important point in this recipe is to make sure that the melted marshmallow mixture is cooled before stirring into the cream cheese.

P.S. The Strawberry & Mango Marshmallow Cake photo can be viewed in my Flickr badge at the sidebar.





Marshmallow Cheesecake

(8” cake pan)

Ingredients for Base:
200g digestive biscuits crumbs
80g melted butter

Ingredients for filling:
150g marshmallows
1/2 cup milk
226g cream cheese, softened (I used Philadelphia brand)
1 egg yolk
1/2 lemon, juiced
1 cup diary whipping cream


Method:

Mix the digestive biscuits crumbs with melted butter, and press firmly to the base of the cake pan. Chill for later use.

In a saucepan on low heat, combine marshmallows and milk. Cook until marshmallows are melted, and mixture starts to boil. Remove from heat.

Whip whipping cream till mousse state, keep chilled.

In a large bowl, beat cream cheese until smooth. Stir in egg yolk.

Make sure marshmallow mixture is cold, stir 1/3 of the melted marshmallow mixture into the cream cheese, then quickly stir in the rest of the marshmallow mixture. Mix well.

Stir in lemon juice. Mix well.

Blend the whipped cream into the cream cheese mixture.

Pour the combined mixture onto the cake base.

Chill in the fridge for three hours.

Fried Dry Mee Siam

I have always wanted to cook Fried Dry Mee Siam. Finally found this recipe shared by Jingle26 in Nurkochen. Very easy to cook. I used Woh Hup Instant Mee Siam Paste. I did minor adjustment to the ingredients for the portion that I was cooking, and followed the exact method in her recipe.



Fried Dry Mee Siam

Serves 4

Ingredients:
1/2 a bottle of Woh Hup instant Mee Siam Paste

50g chives
2 pcs taukwa, cut into cubes (I used normal type instead of the brownish kind stated in her recipe)
375ml of water (mixed with asam paste* and chilli powder*)
1-1/2 tbsp of asam paste*
10ml chilli powder* (my additional ingredient)
1-1/2 tbsp of sugar
some cooking oil

abt 150g bean sprouts
250g Vermicelli (Beehoon)

Garnishing:
2 small limes, cut into halves
2 hard boiled eggs


Method:

Preparation for Beehoon: soak in tap water for 1 minute then drain dry. Do not soak the beehoon for too long because water will be absorbed into the beehoon.

Heat oil, fry bean sprouts for 1 minute, set aside.

Heat oil, lower the heat, put the mee siam paste and fry for a while.

Add 375ml of water, sugar, add beehoon to cook in the wok, let beehoon absorb most of the mee siam paste.

Add bean sprouts, taukwa and chives.

While frying if beehoon is too stiff, try using chopsticks to go along, add oil if necessary.

Once the beehoon smell a bit fragrant, try to see if the beehoon is soft.

Serve with eggs and limes.

Note: Prawns are optional ingredient in her recipe, which I had omitted.

Curry Chicken

Cooked Curry Chicken for dinner. I got the recipe from Lifestyle magazine, and changed it from Spareribs Curry to Curry Chicken by using chicken drumsticks and Earthen Pot Indian Curry Chicken Powder. Many of the ingredients like lemon grass, chillies, curry leaves and sugar were additional ingredients that I had added to the recipe. Another thing is, the original recipe called for ingredients like shallots and garlics to be sliced thinly instead of grinding. Haha.. enough said, otherwise you doze off while reading this!



Curry Chicken

Ingredients:
6 chicken drumsticks (abt 575g)
50g curry powder for chicken
2cm piece of ginger, cut into fine strips
4 medium sized potatoes, (cooked and halved)
1 cup of coconut milk or evaporated milk
3 cups of water
Oil for frying
2 lemon grass, crushed (top part only)
2 stems of curry leaves
salt to taste
sugar to taste

Grinded ingredients:
10 shallots
6 garlics
5 fresh chilies


Method:

Mix chicken with 3 tbsp of curry powder and marinate for 1 hour.

Blend remaining curry powder with enough water to form a paste.

Heat oil and fry the grinded ingredients and ginger till fragrant. Add the curry paste and stir fry till fragrant. Add chicken and curry leaves, stir-fry for 2 to 3 minutes before adding water, lemon grass and salt to taste.

Bring to boil, and simmer the chicken gently for 30 minutes. Add the coconut milk and potatoes and simmer till chicken are tender and the gravy is thick. Add sugar to taste.

Mango Cream Agar-agar

Made Mango Cream Agar-agar this morning. Recipe is from Leisure Cat. I could not get strawberries this morning, so had to make do with mangoes instead. I should have added a drop of colouring for the top layer to make it look nicer. Alas! I only realised my mistake after it was fully set in the fridge. Haha.. had a hard time arranging the slices of Agar-agar to make it more presentable in my photos. In the end, my nicely set Agar-agar layers went their separate ways because I was so careless in handling them when moving them from plate to plate for the photo session.





Mango Cream Agar-agar

Ingredients:
2 mangoes (cut into thin slices)
1 tbsp gelatin
10g agar-agar strips
100g castor sugar
2 tbsp lemon juice (more if desired)
100ml milk
200ml whipping cream


Method:

Soften the agar-agar strips by soaking in water, cut into short strips.

Add 1/4 cup of water to gelatin in a bowl. Dissolve by double-boiling in low heat.

Bring 500ml of water to boil. Dissolve the agar-agar strips in the pot of water. Add in the sugar and cook till sugar has dissolved, then stir in the dissolved gelatin. Pour one cup of the agar-agar mixture and set aside for later use.

Add milk and whipping cream to the remainding agar-agar mixture in the pot, stir to mix well. Remove from heat, sift to remove undissolved agar-agar strips. Pour the agar-agar mixture into the mould. Chill in the fridge. Before it is fully set, arrange the mangoes on top (else you get separated layers of Agar-agar at the end).

For the cup of agar-agar mixture that is set aside, stir in the lemon juice. Pour the agar-agar mixture on the mangoes. Chill to set.

Note: For the cup of agar-agar mixture that is set aside, put the vessel in warm water and keep stirring, prevent it from setting before the first layer is ready.

In my opinion, the Agar-agar will be better if slightly more water (maybe in the form of 1 tbsp lemon juice and 1 or 2 tbsp of water) is added to the agar-agar mixture for the top layer.