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 ^^

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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.

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Mango Swiss Roll

Though swiss roll/sponge cake is the easiest to make compared to other types of cakes , it is not easy to achieve the soft and fluffy texture. The whipping of egg whites with the sugar plays a very important role in getting a soft and light swiss roll or sponge cake . It took me many tries to get to this stage whereby the sponge cake came out soft and light. I remembered the early times I did it, the cake was compact. I even went for classes, came back , tried it many times, still it didn’t come out soft and light like this one. The truth lies with the whipping of the egg whites with the cream of tartar and sugar and the folding in of the two mixture is also very important :)

I am very happy with this lastest try in making this swiss roll..haha practice makes perfect I guess, to achieve this texture and that the swiss roll did not break in the center . A few fine crack lines can be seen on the roll though ;p Overall, I was happy and satisfied with the result and thus you see my first successful swiss roll, of course please don’t compare me with the pros (“,)

My Piggies love mango, so since I was free last weekend, I tried my hand at making this mango swissroll….hip hip hooray…I got it right this time, Daddy agreed that it was good too….* grinning like a Cheshire cat now ^ *

I realized that I have to roll the sponge cake when it is still warm till it cooled down and then unrolled the sponge cake so that it is easier to roll it again when the fillings are there and I think, done this way, the sponge cake will not break so easily. This mango filling goes well with the swiss roll as it was not overly sweet. I took the recipe from Suanne & Ben Food & Travel Adventures ^ *

Good news for My Piggies … now you can have swiss roll with any fillings…durians anyone ?? ^____^

Click here for the recipe

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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 :)

Click here for the recipe

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HHB's Garlic Bun Again ^ *

"The smell of good bread baking, like the sound of lightly flowing water, is indescribable in its evocation of innocence and delight... Breadmaking is one of those almost hypnotic businesses, like a dance from some ancient ceremony. It leaves you filled with one of the world's sweetest smells... there is no chiropractic treatment, no Yoga exercise, no hour of meditation in a music-throbbing chapel, that will leave you emptier of bad thoughts than this homely ceremony of making bread." by MFK Fisher.

Haha..I am happy when I am baking buns….look how soft and fluffy the buns were..straight from the oven and I can’t help but busy taking shots of them. As usual I get intoxicated with the aroma of freshly baked buns..a mixture of fresh italian parsley and garlicky butter…mmmMmm even Piggy gal said it was nice. She took one and added a slice of cheese and it goes like this “ wa..nice ....very good..yummy ” :)) I don’t nicknamed my kids ,my Piggies ,for nothing…they love to eat and I love to bake..so we make the best team :p

I guess I have improved a lot compared to the earlier ones I baked few months back , now they are more nicely shaped and the texture is now softer and fluffier too :) I always believe in the “practice makes perfect” principle.

I have to thank HHB for this wonderful garlic bun recipe ^ * and this bun looks tantalizing enough for the Piggies :p It has become the family bun now :) :p I make 1 1/2 loads each time ( makes 9 big buns ) Piggy gal took back all to KL the next day and she thanked me for the buns * the heart goes dub dup dub dup twice faster than the normal beat * LOL .

Click here for the recipe

Elinluv's Tidbits Corner hit her first 10,000 today :)

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Apple Crisps

Luckily I still have 2 apples left in the fridge , coz I needed to try out this apple crisps which I have dying to try out since I read it from the net some time back…haha I won’t rest well if I don’t know how the taste is like. I can only imagine it ;p .

It took me just ½ hour to get it into the oven…fast worker I should say and it turned out exactly how I imagined it to be…. Sweet ,crunchy and crispy toppings and juicy sourish bottom…I used granny smith so it was a bit sourish but it complements well with the sweet toppings.

A very healthy dessert for all. I love the whole combinations. I will reduce the sugar when I next bake this. I forgot about the golden syrup so the topping was a bit sweet for me but the fantastic fragrant from the oats and almonds and the chocolate chips and golden syrup was juz great. Served this with homemade ice cream ..mmm it is heavenly. Good idea to serve this as dessert when entertaining guests.

Apple Crisps

Ingredients:

3 Fiji apples – *I used 2 granny smith – peeled, cored and sliced
4-5 tbsp of butter – * I used 3 tbsp
1 cup brown sugar – * I used 3 tbsp
1 cup flour - * I used ½ cup
1 cup oatmeals (instant) – * I used ½ cup
1 cup almond nuts ( or other nuts if you prefer) – * I used ½ cup – chopped
2 tbsp of golden syrup - for dribble on top – * I used 1 tbsp1 cup chocolate chips – * I used 2 tbsp
Method:
Prepare heat the oven to 180ºC .
Arrange apple slices on bottom of baking pan – I used foil cups
Place butter and sugar in a bowl and cream it till fluffy.
Add the flour till well combined with the butter and sugar.
Add in the oats and leave some for tops.
Add in the chocolate chips and chopped almonds.
Pressed the crumbly dough on the apple slices.
Sprinkle the remaining oats on top.
Dribble the golden syrup on top .
Bake for 40 minutes . If it gets too burn , cover the top with aluminum foil.
And you get your delicious apple crisp with tender-soft baked apples with crunchy, crumbly top.
You can served it with ice cream.

Enjoy!!

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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 :)))

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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... ^_____*

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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!

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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.

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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!

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Apple Pie With Almond Flakes Topping

Now, with just the two of us eating in, cooking in small portion is actually very difficult at times and normally I will cook a one -dish meal..like fried rice or make a lamb stew with rice, noodles with rice wine soup if I am hooked on a drama (“,) I am happy when the Piggies are back, then there will five of us having meals together..and making cooking lotz easier. I will then be able to cook 3 dishes and one dessert…haha that will satisfy the desire in the adventurous me , to try out new dishes and I love to make desserts especially involving making pie dough. And the best thing is ...the Piggies are back to be my taster ;)))

Lately, I made some extra pie dough for keeping. Pastry can keep for a week in the chiller and it will turned out as good as just made. Thaw it for 15 - 20 mins and it will be ready for use, so it serve a good purpose for me as I can then make just 4 apple pies for Daddy and myself as tea snack or as after dinner dessert with a scoop of ice cream of any flavor :)

I made some apple pies with almond flakes as fillings and toppings and it turned out yummilicious!

I used dailydelicious’s good for everything pie dough for this apple pie, I added in some toasted almond flakes to let it have some crunch feel when biting into the pie and the nutty fragrance gave extra oomph to the apple pie. I brushed the top with egg wash, then throw some almond flakes on the top of the pie and bake for 20-25 minutes or till golden brown.

Ingredients for the fillings:

1 green apple - diced into small cubes

1 red apple - diced into small cubes

some lemon/lime juice

2 tbsp brown castor sugar

1 tsp corn starch

1/2 tsp cinnamon powder

1/2 tsp nutmeg powder

2 tbsp raisins

some toasted almond flakes -

Mixed the above ingredients together except the almond flakes. Cook it for a few minutes if you want the apples to be soft. Add in some toasted almond flakes last.

Enjoy!

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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 !

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