Wednesday, December 31, 2008

Happy New Year 2009


A very Happy and Healthy New Year 
to all my blogger friends and all my blog readers!!!


Time flies and today is the first day of year 2009 . Every year I will be making a list of new year resolutions but I have to admit here that I can NEVER keep to them :p but this year I have added two new items....one - to continue to bake and improve my baking techniques and two - to continue to blog and improve my photography.  Hopefully , I will be able to keep these two and fulfill them 100% :))))).

I would like to take this opportunity to thank each and everyone of you who has been continuously encouraging me and supporting me through out this one year of my blogging. Another twenty days from now is Elinluv's Tidbits Corner  1st year anniversary. I have truly enjoyed my this one year of blogging and hope to blog on . Sharing out tested recipes is indeed a joy and nothing gives me more pleasure than this.  :0 :0 :)))

Have a good day and have fun today..the beginning of a new year!!!!



********

Monday, December 29, 2008

Daddy's Special Pot Roast



Happy Holidays to all my friends , my blogger friends and my blog readers..hmmm sounded long winded a bit though but I know for sure I am having a wonderful year end long holidays with my Piggies ^ *
I did not cook much during this holiday season coz most of the time we ate out or we were invited to eat together with friends….a get together sort of parties :)
I have to post up Daddy’s special dish for us on Christmas Eve dinner…long overdue though ^ * This dish is specially prepared for us…heehee he loves to cook western for us. Adapted from the Pot Roast recipe. He used lamb shoulders instead of beef chucks. While it was cooking in the pot, the aromatic smell from the mixed herbs infused into the pieces of lamb shoulder was really mouthwatering. He stewed it till the lamb shoulders was tender and the gravy absorbed into the carrots and big onions. It was a dish that my Piggies looked forward to. Haha, I wish there were many Christmases in a year (“,)
Thumbs up for this wonderful dish that Daddy took the time to show off his skills in cooking for his Piggies. When we were courting , how come he never cook this dish for me :( ….juz kidding. Thanks Daddy for such a wonderful dish! New Year Eve’s dinner …..what are you cooking for us???



********

Thursday, December 25, 2008

Christmas Greetings To All ^ ^



Wishing all My Friends and Readers 
"  Merry Christmas n  A Happy New Year  "


I had a wonderful Christmas Eve dinner prepared by Daddy and I heart his cooking . Really, even our Piggies say he cooks better than me ....* Daddy, you can take over my role in the kitchen starting 1st January 2009.  I officially hand in my resignation as from today.....** LOL

Seriously, he can cook and for most festive dinners he will want to showoff and cook something delicious for us all and we love festive seasons coz we get to discover his talent each time he takes to the kitchen. Will post up the photo of the dish when I have uploaded it...stay tuned!


*******

Monday, December 22, 2008

Colorful Glutinous Rice Balls



Yesterday was the day the Chinese celebrated the winter solstice . In ancient times, the Chinese people celebrated the Winter Solstice Festival (Dong Zhi) by visiting relatives and friends, in much the same way as the Chinese Lunar New Year. There is customary feasting, and businesses will close up for the day. Glutinous floor balls known as "tang yuan" are consumed as a symbol of family unity and harmony on this day .


I took the opportunity to teach my two Piggies how to make these colorful glutinous rice balls aka ‘ tong yuen ’ in Cantonese. We love to eat these colorful balls ( the authentic one is the one without any fillings ). Now they have come out with peanut and red bean paste fillings. People are more adventurous and creative nowadays :) Next time I will try durians fillings :))))

I taught them the plain one or rather the authentic one which my mom taught me when I was young. And here are the colorful balls they managed to produce after they pinch my selection of food colors from my pantry meant for making sugar icing :)

Now, my Piggies are good at making them…and had lots of fun making them , reading from their expressions , I suppose it reminded them of their younger days during playtime…similar to PLAYDOH :p Guess what ? And all the colors are Barney colors !!! ^ *



*****

Saturday, December 20, 2008

Tofu Pizza














I have to thank Robert Gilles for sharing this wonderful tofu pizza recipe with me . Simply delish! A healthy food indeed.

This is the comment Robert wrote sharing the tofu pizza recipe at the same time :p

Dear Elin!
Greetings!
You are becoming Japanese!
One simple recipe for tofu:
Put one slab on a a piece of baking paper on the oven plate. Cover it with hot tomato/ketchup sauce, some very finely cut vegetables and covr the lot with shredded cheese:
Tofu pizza for vegetarians!
Cheers,
Robert-Gilles



These are the ingredients I used for my Tofu Pizza

Ingredients:

1 slab of silky tofu
salt to taste
tomato paste,
1 tablespoon olive oil

My choice of vegetables

1/2 capsicum- cut finely
1/2 aubergine - cut finely
a few oyster mushrooms - cut finely
crabstick filament - shredded
a few cherry honey tomato - cut into slices

lots of shredded cheese ( I use mozzarella )

dry oregano * optional


Enjoy!
Have a nice weekend :)

*** I am most happy when my Piggies are back for the weekend***


Friday, December 12, 2008

Cheese And Smoked Streaky Bacon Twists


At last, I am back to baking again and this time round, I tried out this recipe from dailydelicious , Cheese & Salami Twists. I have no salami available in the fridge so I substituted it with smoked streaky bacon, chopped them up and lightly fry them in a non-stick pan to get the aroma of fried bacon..hmmm really mouth watering while frying this chopped bacon. 


As usual, her Cheese & Salami Twists is another award winning recipe :) really , it turned out really soft and light and the aroma of smoked bacon really can get me intoxicated. Especially while it was being baked in the oven. A keeper for sure and I will definitely bake this again. Haha, please do not compare mine with hers...my handiwork is truly horrible..I can't even get a good twist...I guess the saying goes again for this...practice makes perfect. I must confess, my skill in twisting it, despite following her step by step demo , was simply horrendous...but I promise you I will practice till I have mastered the art  in  twisting it to perfection :)))) Meanwhile, just drool as if you are looking at a master piece.  Okay, I know, I am not doing justice to dailydelicious. Hers was simply marvelous..she can turn a piece of dough into something marvelous and delicious!!!

The texture of the bun is soft and light...the smoked streaky bacon and mozzarella cheese blends well and the end result, a bun you will not forget and you will hunger for more after taking the first bite.


Thanks, Pook for sharing yet another wonderful bun recipe. I love it and I am sure my Piggies will love it too. At the time of baking this wonderful bun, my Piggies  were away in college but I will make again for them when they come back for their Christmas Holidays!



Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Hot Sweet Sour Crabs


Lately , we have been consuming in too much seafood :( not good for health especially for Daddy and myself….what to do , we are Piggies all right (“,) But one consoling factor is , whatever we eat, we eat in moderation ^ * .


I prefer mud crabs to blue flower crabs…their meat are sweeter and tastier though their shells are harder compared to blue flower crabs. I don’t mind how they are being cooked, they taste good in anyway. At times, I just steamed them and eat with dipping sauce , pounded garlic with fresh red chilli , light soy sauce and some lime juice would make a perfect dipping sauce for the steamed crabs. At times , I will cook them in hot sweet sour sauce …Piggy gal’s favourite dish :)



Today, I am going to share with you , my family’s favourite crab dish…hot sweet sour crab. Hope you will like this dish too :)

Ingredients:

1 kg mud crabs – cleaned and cut into halves

(A)
1 tbsp ground dry chilli paste
3 tbsp sweet sour plum sauce
1.5 tbsp fermented soybean / *tau cheong*
5 pips of garlic – chopped finely
2 tbsp of cooking oil

1 egg
2 tbsp of cut spring onions
Salt to taste
a pinch of fine sugar * optional

Method:

Heat up the oil in a wok, add in the ingredients A and stir fry till fragrant. Add in the crabs and stir fry till the crabs are coated with the ingredients A. Add in a cup of water and cover with the wok cover and cooked under big flame and when the crabs has turned red and cooked thru, lower the flame ,add salt to taste add in the egg and off the fire. Do not overcook the egg or the egg will curdles . Add in the cut spring onions and dish up. Serve hot.


* Note: the egg is for thickening the gravy and add oomph to the gravy.

Enjoy!


*******

Monday, December 8, 2008

Dry Curry Shrimps


I have not been blogging for the past one week due to attending some family matters and now I am back again to post up some of my lastest cooking and baking adventures :)
Recently , I learned to cook this dry curry shrimps from a friend. She gave pointers which were valuable in cooking this curry dish. :) It was one fantastic dish and I managed to cook it to the right consistency and the taste was extremely delicious… the combination of the curry paste with added curry leaves, lemongrass , pounded shallots and last but not least the most important ingredient, the coconut milk, has given the curry a uniqueness only the tongue can describe.


Dry Curry Shrimps

Ingredients:

½ kg medium sized shrimps – cleaned it and leave the shell on
½ cup of fresh curry paste – from the wet market
½ cup of pounded shallots
a few sprigs of curry leaves
2 stalks of lemongrass – lightly crushed
1 cup coconut milk
¼ cup oil

Method:

Heat up oil in a wok, add in all the ingredients above except the coconut milk and the shrimps. Continue to stir fry the ingredients under small flame till the oil separates and surfaces. Slowly add in the coconut milk and keep stirring and cook till the fragrance of the curry paste has been released. Add in the shrimps and cook till the gravy has thickened and the shrimps is coated with the curry paste. Dish up and serve hot with rice.
Note: This dry curry shrimps goes well with yellow glutinous rice too.

Enjoy!


Friday, November 28, 2008

Crunchy Fermented Soybean Cake aka Tempeh

Tempeh is actually fermented soybean. Comes in a block of 150mm X 100mm with a thickness of 20mm :) Imported from Indonesia . After my father-in-law’s indonesian maid , Utami , taught me how to eat it the fried way , I learned to love it. As a snack, while watching a drama, dipped in Thai Chili Sauce…mmmmm YUMMZ is the word. Crunchy only if it is sliced thinly and fried in hot oil. Once you started munching on it you won’t want to stop till it is all finished ;p

I sliced it as thin as possible so that it will be crunchy and I make sure the oil is hot before dropping them into the wok and fry them till golden brown. Drain on a paper towel before serving . You can eat it with any dippings of spicy nature. I dipped it with Thai Chili Sauce. The tempeh has a slight nutty flavor...I thought it has a stinky fragrant but nope it has a pleasant taste ,infact, the more you eat the more addicted you become!




Crunchy Fermented Soybean Cake aka Tempeh


Ingredients:

1 block of tempeh – sliced thinly
salt
oil for deep frying

Dipping sauce
Thai Chili Sauce

Method:

Slice the tempeh as thin as possible. Sprinkle salt on the tempeh. Heat oil and when ready ,deep fry the tempeh till golden brown. Drain it on paper towel.
Served it with dipping sauce of any spicy nature but best dipped with thai chili sauce. Sweet and hot...yummz ^ *

Happy Thanksgiving , everyone !


Be thankful for what we are and what we have ^^



********

Wednesday, November 26, 2008

Steamed Soft Tofu With Shrimp Paste Toppings



Tofu is one of my favourite food item but not Daddy’s…but , surprisingly, both my Piggies love it ! Whenever we eat out and if it is Chinese food, sizzling tofu will be their first choice :) As long as it is tofu, they don’t mind how it is being prepared.

I have some shrimps in the freezer and I thought I will rustle up something as topping for my tofu using the shrimps. I chopped up the shrimps, added in some chopped scallions and chopped chili . I added sesame oil, white pepper , salt and some cornstarch and stirred all the ingredients together till well mixed. Had the toppings done in a few minutes :))

I love scallions, so I added more of the scallions and I wanted it a bit hot so I also added more of the chopped chili ;))



After steaming the tofu for 15 - 20 minutes in hot boiling steamer, take out the tofu and make a gravy sauce and pour over the hot tofu.

Ingredients:

1 slab of soft tofu


Topping:

10 medium sized shrimps - chopped
some chopped scallions,
some chopped chili
½ tsp corn starch,
½ tsp sesame oil
a dash of white pepper


Mixed the above ingredients together till well incorporated. Lay the topping on the surface of the soft tofu. Steamed for 15 - 20 minutes in hot boiling steamer. Prepare the gravy sauce while waiting for the tofu to be ready.


Gravy sauce for the tofu

1 pip of garlic –chopped finely
1 tbsp oyster sauce
a drop of dark soy sauce
a dash of white pepper
½ cup of water mixed with ½ tsp of cornstarch
½ tbsp of cooking wine

Heat up the kuali with ½ tsp of oil, sauté the garlic for a second,
add in the oyster sauce , dark soy sauce, dash of pepper and stir for a minute .
Then add in the water and cornstarch mixture and the cooking wine.
Pour the liquid from the steamed tofu into the gravy sauce before dishing up the sauce. Pour over the hot steamed tofu and served immediately.



I had the steamed tofu all to myself mmmmm ... it was yummy with the tasty thick gravy infused into the shrimps toppings. It was so easy to prepare and delicious that I will definitely make this again but the next time I will add some minced meat to the shrimp paste . I have a feeling it will taste even better with the added minced meat.

********

Monday, November 24, 2008

Banana Shrimp Cake


I have a finger food cookbook by Australian Woman’s Weekly on my book shelf and I have been drooling at the food photos for the umpteenth times and yet I have not tried anything from the book :p, drooling at food photos, people called it the food porn nowadays (“,) can be sinful at times for a food lover like me ! Hee hee I am crapping about finger food and the discovery of how banana can be used to make finger food , besides , cakes and muffins and bread in today's post :)

Ever since I joined foodbuzz, I get to know a lot of foodie friends and visited their excellent blogs. And learning so much from them too . I really have to thank Gertrude for introducing me to Foodbuzz :) * thanks Gertrude . I visited Suanne & Ben's Food and Travel Adventure , whom I have just added as friend , and stumbled upon this Banana Shrimp Cake which they posted up on their blog , boy , can I resist it ?? Nope, I simply can’t RESIST…coz I just have to know how the taste would be like…shrimp on bananas!!!! Common, I am the adventurous type…why wait , thus the appearance of it on my blog today :)))))



I thought its kinda messy but no..it is in fact easy after a few tries. The trick is to coat a few pieces at a time then immediately fry it instead of waiting to coat all the pieces then only fry them , to avoid the bread crumb becoming soggy .



Wow…can I resist these golden brown banana shrimp cake that looks like little gold nuggets ? Of course, have to wait for it to cool down before I can get to take my first bite into this little gold nugget :)


This wonderful little piece cut open for your eyes only.... tempting enough to make you want to try it out yourself ? Crunchy on the outside, sweet taste from the banana then comes the savouriness of the shrimp...mmmmmm needless to say a yummilicious finger food. Good for bringing to potlucks and parties as they have stated in their blog. It goes well with any kind of sauce dips. Haha...my first thought..can shrimp and banana go together??? the end result.. YES ,it can in this case :)





*******




Tuesday, November 18, 2008

Daddy's Beef Steak Special ^ *



After tucking in so much of health hazard artery clogging food lately, I really really need to pump into the body gallons of GREEN TEA and lotz lotz of brisk walking…..^ *

I digress here a bit :p I read an article that state the sunflower seeds contain substantial quantity of linoleic acid which is the fat helpful in reducing cholesterol deposit on the walls of arteries. Substituting sunflower seeds for some of the solid fats like butter and cream will, therefore, lead to great improvement in health. So, snacking on sunflower seeds is good ^ *

This is what I am crapping about..the artery clogging beef steaks daddy cooked for us. The birthday steak…:)) that Piggy Boy loves so much and has requested again when he next returns…well , frankly speaking , it was yummz coz it was done with so much love…have you heard this…when the cook is in good mood ,the food comes out good and what more with love some more..sure GOOD ( ^* )” LOL .

"Happy and successful cooking doesn't rely only on know-how;
it comes from the heart, makes great demands on the palate
and needs enthusiasm and
a deep love of food to bring it to life."
~ Georges Blanc, from 'Ma Cuisine des Saisons'

Bottled steak sauce, added black pepper and cooking wine
for the marinade

marinade the steak for at least 4 hours
for the sauce to get intimate with the beef ;p
medium rare...simple and but amazingly delicious..
yummz and the flavor was
f a n t a s t i c

salmon steak...anyone???
of course, Piggy Gal requested for this
My next order would be this too...daddy :)))


"If the divine creator has taken pains to give us
delicious and exquisite things to eat,
the least we can do is prepare them well
and serve them with ceremony."
~ Fernand Point


*** A special thank you to Daddy for taking the time to prepare this birthday dinner for us, sweating in the hot kitchen, and the smells emanating from the kitchen will be imprinted in our minds and esp Piggy Boy's :)))

*******


Monday, November 17, 2008

Happy 18th Birthday Piggy Boy (^*)



JOSH 18th BIRTHDAY

A birthday is just the first day of another 365-day journey
around the sun. Enjoy the trip!
Here is Momsie wishin u a day full of fun,
100s of gifts frm every1,
sweet as honey & full of money,
may all ur dreams come tru, happy birthday 2 u!



A simple celebration,with the rest of the piggies,
Momsie wish u great happiness, a joy that never ends!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Kick off ur shoes, take a break, Crank the tunes, Dance & Shake,
light the candles, cut the cake. Make it a day, that's simply Great!!!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY JOSH


We celebrated Josh 18th birthday last Saturday. We took the opportunity to celebrate with him earlier since he was back last Friday for the weekend. Momsie , as usual ,will take the opportunity to bake a birthday cake for him and try her utmost best to ice the cake for him but alas the icing skill was horrible…heehee that’s why you dun get to see the whole cake (“,) you wait till she attends classes then you will see a better iced cake !!! But the cake was yummz ..moist chocolate cake with banana fillings and top with rich chocolate. He is a chocoholic so she knows he will surely loves it. He loves the cake, there is no doubt about it :))))) he told Momsie the cake was good so does that make her day...YESSSS....

Anyway, we had a wonderful time together and we had home cooked beef steak for the birthday dinner. The beef steak was prepared by none other than the great to-be chef…Daddy. I have to give him credit for those delicious beef steaks…shhh if not we won’t get to eat it next time. Will post up those pixs later. Meanwhile, Piggy boy told me that he had the best beef steak and asked me whether dad can cook it again on his next trip back…well….PUJI ( praise ) him more than you get to eat again (“,) We just discovered he can cook... ^_____*


*******


Coconut Milk Rice With Anchovies Sambal


I cooked this coconut milk rice aka Nasi Lemak ( a local name ) for dinner. It is white rice cooked with coconut milk and screwpine leaves. Eaten with a spicy anchovies sambal and garnish with cucumber and boiled egg . We, Malaysians ,normally have it for breakfast and it is a savoury and flavorsome breakfast item. But for me and my family we love to have it for either lunch or dinner as it is a too heavy item for breakfast :)


The screwpines leaves (pandan leaves) gave the rice a nice fragrant and the coconut milk gives the rice a more creamy ( lemak ) texture. I added a few shreds of ginger for extra flavor.


I gave the sambal a twist and added stinky beans aka as petai ( local name) to it as my family love this stinky beans…the strong aroma of this beans added oomph to the sambal. Explode with flavor in every bite…hmmm...delicious :))))
We had a wonderful and satisfying dinner ^ * . Needless to say , my Piggies were back for the weekend. The main attraction for this rice dish is the sambal which is made from these ingredients namely, ground dry chillies , lemongrass ( serai ), shrimp paste ( belacan) and red onions , tamarind paste ( asam jawa) , anchovies ( ikan bilis ) and big onions. Simple and yet when you combined them together and sauté them in hot oil , the heady aroma from these ingredients plus the rich spiciness has made this item a signature breakfast item of Malaysia. Every Malaysian loves it.


As I watched my Piggies devouring the rice and the sambal and with the oohs and the aahs , I knew it must be good..the sambal with the stinky beans was a hit and I was the happiest Momsie for that hour (",) I enjoy watching them eat their food heartily....especially when I took the trouble to cook them nice yummy food!

Ingredients for the Coconut Milk Rice
150 ml thick coconut milk - added to 500 ml water or more depends
A few screwpines leaves tie into a knot
A few slices of ginger
A pinch of salt
2 cups of white grain rice – washed and drained dry

Method:
Add all the ingredients above together in a rice cooker and cook like you normally cook the plain rice. Watch out for the amount of liquid to be added to the grains. The above is for 4 persons. Too much liquid will make the rice soft and lumpy.
Ingredients for the Anchovies Sambal

12 shallots
10 dry chillies or more if you want it more spicy & hot
1 thumb sized shrimp paste ( belacan )
1 stalk of lemongrass (serai)

* ground the above ingredients into a paste

1 tbsp of tamarind paste (asam jawa) - mixed with a cup of water
2 tsp of brown sugar

Anchovies ( ikan bilis) – I prefer to deep fry it lightly so as it does not smell so fishy
250 gm stinky beans (petai)
Big onions- cut into rings

Ganishing:
Sliced cucumbers
Hard boiled eggs
Method:

Heat up 3 tbsp of oil and saute the above ground ingredients until fragrant and the oil has surfaced . Add in the stinky beans and big obnions and stir fry till half cooked, add in the fried anchovies and stir fry it a while . Add in the brown sugar and add in the one cup of tamarind juice. I prefer the sambal to be thick. But if you want to have more gravy then add in a bit more water .


Enjoy!

******

Saturday, November 15, 2008

Crispy Calamari Rings With Millets



Calamari can be prepared in many ways and my family loves it fried crisp and crunchy so I deep fried them coated with millets. Other than using millets in cakes, I discovered that it could be used as coating for deep frying. It came out crispy and crunchy at the same time. A delicious finger food with thai chili sauce as dipping and it goes well with wasabi too..heehee I love anything with wasabi yum yum yumz :) ;)

Crispy Calamari Rings With Millets

Ingredients:

1 kg thick flesh calamari – cleaned and cut into rings
-drained dry
2 egg whites – beat up

(A- spicy flour)½ cup corn flour
1/3 cup plain flour,
1 tbsp of curry powder,
1 tsp salt

millets for coating

Method:

Cleaned and cut the calamari into rings and drained dry. Beat up the egg whites. Meanwhile, mixed ingredients (A) together.

Heat up a wok with oil enough for deep frying , lower the fire when the oil is heated up. Coat the calamari with the spicy flour (A) and dip it in egg whites and coat again with the millets. Drop them into the hot oil and fry till it turned light brown. Take out and serve while still warm , crispy and crunchy. Served with thai chili sauce and wasabi as dippings.


******


Friday, November 14, 2008

Pork Belly Sandwiched With Yam Slices



This was my mom’s favourite dish. The Chinese named this dish ‘Gow Yoke ’ . It is a dish whereby slices of pork belly sandwiched between slices of yam marinated with ‘ nam yee ‘ aka fermented red beancurd . Most chinese families love this dish.


I finally managed to cook this dish as close to my mom’s cooking, taste wise it was deliciously yummy. A lot of work though, but the end result was a dish that I will make again this weekend coz it was good and I know for sure Piggy gal will loves it :))




Pork Belly Sandwiched With Yam Slices

Ingredients:

1 whole yam –peeled and cut into 1.5 in square sizes
-fry the cut yam in hot oil for 5 minutes and drained off oil
A strip of ½ kg lean pork belly with the skin on
1 tbsp of thick black sauce
Dash of white pepper

Marinade sauce:

4 pieces of fermented red beancurd aka ‘nam yee’
5 pips of garlic – chopped finely
2 tbsp of chinese cooking wine
1 tbsp of sugar
1 tbsp of fermented soybean aka ‘tow cheong’
1 cup of water

Method:

Mixed the above marinade ingredients together and leave it aside for twenty minutes .

Meanwhile, clean the pork belly and put in hot boiling water till half cook. Take it out and seasoned with thick black sauce and white pepper. Use a fork and poke on the surface of the pork belly to let the sauce infiltered into the meat.

Heat up wok, add a tbsp of oil and lightly fry the strip of meat till cook. Take it out and sliced into 1.5 in square sizes to fit the yam slices. Sandwiched a slice of pork belly with two slices of yam. Do the same to the rest of the meat till all the meat are used up. Arrange them neatly in a bowl. Pour the prepared marinade sauce onto the pork belly yam sandwiches . Cover the bowl with aluminium foil and steamed it for 60 minutes on high flame. Serve it hot with rice.

Enjoy!


*****

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Bear Sure Knows How To Enjoy Life!

Do you read me, even dog knows how to enjoy life :) When we were all asleep, she jumped onto our sofa and slept there the whole night. Bear Bear is our pet dog and she sure is one lucky girlie (“,)

I caught her sleeping so nicely and comfortably on the sofa one morning and I just couldn’t resist taking a shot of her…so contented and blissful…enjoying the softness of the cushion seat and had a nice rest …I guess, since she had that contented look :))))



Hmmm ...Bear ,you sure know how to enjoy life !


******



Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...