Mushroom Bruschetta

Wow, I never knew that sauteed fresh shitake mushrooms could go well with baguette. I got this mushroom bruschetta recipe from the Flavours Mag and I knew that I had to try it out and it turned out to be fantastically good. The wonderful aroma from the sautéed shitake mushroom and the melded flavors of the garlic and dried Italian parsley did wonders to my salivary glands :))

Piggy gal and I had mushroom bruschetta for dinner , and you know what... we both finished the whole lot. The bruschetta was light, intriguing and delightful . The recipe actually calls for fresh button mushrooms but since I had a packet of fresh shitake , I gave it a twist and used shitake instead and voila....it was delicious !

Mushroom Bruschetta

Ingredients:

3 tbsp of olive oil
250 gm fresh button mushrooms, quartered
4 cloves garlic, chopped
1 tbsp chopped Italian parsley
Salt and freshly-ground pepper
to taste
Thick slices of baguette ( toasted with olive oil and parsley)

Preparation:

Heat the olive oil in a frying pan over high heat. sauteed the garlic and cook until aromatic, add the mushrooms until they start to color . Add parsley and seasoning to taste. Remove when the mushrooms are lightly browned, Served on toasted baguette.

Tip: Get the cooking done quickly before the mushrooms start to release water and lose their plumpness.

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Homemade Pau With Savory Turnip Fillings

Homemade pau with savoury turnip fillings are delicious and they are not difficult to make. Much easier than anticipated. Good for breakfast , afternoon tea snacks or supper. I made one load of pau dough from Amy Beh's recipe and the Piggies had them for breakfast and supper :))) I still haven't been successful in making the pau smile coz I didn't want to use ammonia bicarbonate on the pau. It will definitely smile if I had used them :))

Appearance wise they may not look attractive

but definitely tasty and yummilicious!

The pau skin is soft and fluffy

the recipe is a keeper for sure

testing my cam skill :P

mouthwatering ?

haha Piggy gal said I put in too much

fillings so can't get to eat the pau skin :))

Pau dough recipe by Amy Beh 

Fillings Ingredients:

2 turnips - julienned

1 carrot - julienned

8 dried chinese mushroom - soaked and julienned

1 dried cuttlefish - soaked and cut into strips

3 pips of garlic - chopped finely

2 tbsp of cooking oil

Seasoning:

2 tbsp of oyster sauce

1 tsp of chicken powder seasoning

a dash of pepper

salt to taste

1/2 tbsp of thick soy sauce * optional

1 cup of water

1 tbsp of cooking wine* optional

thickening:

1/2 tbsp of tapioca flour

3 tbsp of water

Method:

Heat up the wok with 2 tbsp of cooking oil , sauteed the garlic till fragrant, add in cut cuttlefish and stir fry till fragrant. Add in the cut mushroom and the julienned veggies and sir fry till well mixed for ten minutes. Add in the water and simmered till almost the turnips are soft. Add in all the seasonings ingredients. Add in the thickening last. Dish up and when cooled , put in the fridge till required. Best overnight.

Enjoy!

Fun, Cute & Cool Kitchen Accessories

The other day I went in to a shop which sells lots of fun and cool stuffs for the kitchen. Fun, cute and cool kitchen accessories are sold at a flat price of RM4.90 each except Japanese food items. Yes, it is the 100¥ shop opposite the back portion of Ipoh Parade ( Parkson Grand) .Stuffs are mostly from Japan !

I wished I could have carted back all the stuffs and filled my kitchen with those cute little kitchen accessories but for want of space I decided otherwise and instead just bought these cute and cool hardboiled egg press and a set of cute piggy kitchen clips…haha I have seen some bento food bloggers showing off the hardboiled egg creation of different designs and I couldn’t wait to try out on my new egg press. Darn cool , these egg press of different designs!!! I cooked one hardboiled egg just to try out and it was worth my effort to see their bewilded expressions when I showed them how the hardboiled egg had turned into a fish :)))

I bought a set of egg press , one fish and one little car

cute ? yes ? :)))

Cute piggy kitchen clips....:)))

reminds me of my Piggies :O

Piggy one, two, three and four ^ *

** I can never resist buying stuffs like that.....

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Soybean Milk Jelly

Soybean Milk Jelly is the easiest to whip up dessert ever. It took me juz ½ hour to prepare this melt in the mouth jelly…of course I meant if you have the ready made unsweetened soybean milk from the market. I usually buy them from the wet market in town centre. Fresh and cheap too. Of course I would rather blend my own soybean but that takes time and on days that I am busy, I will normally buy them at the tofu stall from the wet market. I will buy more and keep for making tofu the next day so save a trip to the wet market! I love to stay in Ipoh becoz of these conveniences …name it and you get it from the wet market….fresh and cheap compared to supermart prices :P

it took 1/2 hour just to get this wobbly goodness done!

This soybean jelly is so deliciously good that you would want a second. You are advise to eat it , straight from the ramekin to the mouth becoz the texture is wobbly soft like the soft tofu. Mmmmm one word…..heavenly :)))

I unmould it from the ramekin but it sagged after a few minutes…but I managed to take a shot of it before it totally collapsed so for this wobbly texture you need to scoop out with a dessert spoon! I added some left-overs tin peaches from the fridge to the soybean jelly and it tasted good . A very refreshing dessert indeed.

Soybean Milk Jelly

Ingredients:

(A)
2000ml unsweetened soybean milk
¾ cup of castor sugar
3 screwpine leaves – tie into a knot

(B)
2 tsp of agar-agar powder

* optional tin peaches - diced

Preparation:

Boil the above (A) together in a pot under low heat till the sugar has dissolved and the aroma of screwpines leaves filled the air. Add in the agar-agar powder and stir till it has dissolved into the soybean milk. Off the fire and pour into ramekins, add in diced peaches and leave it to cool.

Leave it in the fridge till it has totally set, it will normally take 3 - 4 hours to set. Tilt the ramekin , if no runny liquid seeps out ,then it has set though it has a wobbly texture.

Enjoy!

Baguette With "LeftOvers Goodness" Topping

I have some left over bits and pieces of veggies and some tin salmon in the fridge. Not wanting to waste food, I chopped and mixed them up with a little mayo and use them as topping on freshly bought baguette from Tesco . It turned out yummy and I had them as snacks while watching the idiot box. Am following the HK drama “ Last One Standing ” starring Roger Kwok and Kelvin Cheng :)))

Took these indeliable pixs for my Piggies to drool

(they are back in college at the moment)

^____*

Piggy gal will definitely love these :)))

Mmmm..... finger-licking good :))

Baguette With " LeftOvers Goodness " Topping

Ingredients:
1 loaf of baguette- cut ½ inch thick slices (slanting)

Left-overs from fridge ingredients:

½ zucchini – diced fine
½ tomato – diced fine
½ yellow onion – diced fine
a few pieces of tin salmon - meshed
2 bird's eye chilli - chopped finely * optional

1 tbsp of mayonaise
salt to taste

1 leaf of lettuce –washed and drained dry
mild american mustard for garnishing

Preparation:

Mixed all the left-overs ingredients together with the mayo and salt to taste in a bowl. Set aside in the fridge till required.

Cut slanting the baguette into ½ thick slices. Lay a piece of lettuce at the base and scoop the prepared toppings on top of the lettuce. Garnish with some mustard on top and it is ready for consumption.

Easy to fix and finger-licking good snacks!

Enjoy this snack while watching your favourite movie!!

^_______*

Salted Fish Vegetables Curry

I love weekends :)) I realized I have been saying this many times on my blog ! I guess it is becoz it is a time when I can bake and cook to my heart’s content without having to think of anything else except F O O D…haha my blog is aptly named … ‘ Piggies luv eating’ . Nay , not only that, it is the only two days my mind is set free from office work and I can spend time enjoying cooking and doing some gardening and reading food magazine and bookmarking my next food project ! Haha..it is getting longer and longer now, the list I mean :)

This pot of aromatic hot Salted Fish Vegetables Curry really woos…my Piggies’ heart . They dipped the bread on the curry and eat juz like that… the salted fish gave the curry the extra ooomph. It can be served with rice, bread or rice noodles. A very versatile curry indeed.

Salted Fish Vegetables Curry

Ingredients:
(Pound together in a mortar pestle)
15 shallots
3 pips garlic

2 stalk lemongrass – crushed

A pkt of fresh ground curry paste ( from the wet market )
or 4 tbsp of Fish Curry Powder + some water into a paste

1 piece of salted fish

2500ml of thin coconut milk
200 ml of thick coconut milk

500 gm of shrimps – deveined , leave the head & shell intact

3 long aubergine – cut into 1.5 inch strips
300 gm long beans – cut into 1.5 inch strips
½ cabbage – cut into pieces

10 pieces of beancurd ( tofu pok )
- cut into halves
1 tbsp of anchovies seasoning powder

salt to taste
2 tbsp of cooking oil

Method:-

Heat up the oil in a pot and sauteed the salted fish , curry paste , crushed lemongrass , the pounded ingredients till fragrant and till you see the oil floats on the surface of the paste. Add in all the cut vegetables and continue to stir while cooking for another 10 minutes. Add in the thin coconut milk and covered with a lid under low heat till the vegetables are soft.

Add in the anchovies seasoning powder and salt to taste and the shrimps. Keep stirring to prevent the vegetable at the bottom from burnt. Add in the thick coconut milk last. When it boils, off the fire. Serve hot with rice, bread or rice noodles.

Enjoy !