Pizza With Beefballs And Streaky Bacon

Light and easy meal is often welcomed by the husband...Pizza preferably, like the one above. The pizza base is easy to make and no fuss at all. Toppings can be of one's choice from minced beef to chicken or fully vegan. But knowing the husband, meat is a must have topping. I made Beef Balls for him with tomato and Italian herb sauce and plenty of some cheese and he is a happy human LOL! A light and easy pizza, where we can eat and watch TV at the same time.

I added fried bacon for the topping too

hubby loves the thick base

the more cheesy it is, the more delicious it is

baking time is just 30mins

one recipe of pizza dough

can make 2 pizza base 

beefballs with tomato 

Italian herbs sauce

Dough Recipe for Pizza Crust Base  

1.5 cups plain flour

1 cup bread flour

4gm instant yeast

2tbsp olive oil

1tsp salt

1tsp sugar

1 cup water

Mix all the ingredients together and knead till smooth (abt 6 mins) Leave to rest for 30 mins. Divide dough into 2 portions. One portion of dough can fit a 8 inch dia. round pizza tray.

Toppings of your choice.

Enjoy!

Preserved Dried Tomato in Rosemary Infused Olive Oil

My lovely cousin sister brought back gifts from Sicily Italy for me  .Dried tomatoes were one of the many gifts I received from her. What a wonderful cousin, having thoughts of me even while holidaying in Sicily. With the dried tomatoes, I preserved them in Rosemary infused olive oil. It will further enhanced the flavour of the tomatoes and helps keep them for longer period of them. Stored them in glass jar and keep in the fridge for future cooking.  Great for pizza, bread, pasta and in Italian stew. I can't wait to use them in my cooking. A great thank you to my lovely cousin. The steps in preserving the dried tomatoes are easy. For a jam jar size, I lightly heat up the olive oil. Once it is warm, add in dried rosemary herb and let the rosemary herb flavour infused into the oil. Pour the infused olive oil into the jar. Add in the dried tomatoes. Make sure the tomatoes are totally submerged in the oil. Once the oil has cooled down. Keep in the fridge till needed. It can keep for at least 6 months or more.

make sure the glass is sterilised properly before using. 

make sure olive oil is warm up so that the flavour of rosemary herb can easily infused into the olive oil, making it more fragrant

these dried tomatoes are from Sicily

Read up more on it before

 starting on your home preserving journey .

Enjoy! 

Chilli Sauce For Hainanese Chicken Rice

When having Hainanese Chicken Rice, a must have is a good chilli sauce. I was introduced to this beautifully blended chilli sauce by my daughter. Everyday we have long telephone conversations . Topic ranges from food, furkids to bible verses. My daughter who is also my best friend stays in Australia, so it's a long distance relationship but fortunately technology has brought us nearer. We can WhatsApp call or zoom to see each other. Sorry for the short digress, back to our recent conversation on food we cooked, she recommended this chilli sauce that she makes everytime she has chicken rice.  I tried it out and guess what? It is a must have chilli sauce and today I made a big batch for keeping in the fridge. It is a tangy, sweetish and flavour packed sauce for chicken rice . Once I had it , I became addictive to it. A must have chilli sauce when having poached chicken . It is easy to whip up too. It is made up of fresh red chillies, bird's eye chilli for extra heat, garlic ,ginger, sugar ,salt and vinegar . 

 Sometimes I add a tablespoon of oil from the soup after poaching the chicken , it gives the chilli sauce the extra oomph

Chilli Sauce 

Ingredients:

12 pieces of fresh red chillies

3-4 pieces of bird's eye chillies

5-6 cloves of garlic

4cm piece of young ginger

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tbsp of sugar

1 tbsp of vinegar or fresh Calamansi Juice

2tbsp of chicken fat from the steamed chicken.

Method:

1. Blend the first 7 ingredients in an electric blender till fine. Take out the chilli mixture and adjust seasoning to your taste .

2. Stir in the chicken fat into the chilli sauce when serving.

Note:

If storing in the fridge for long keeping ,do not add chicken fat. Add only during serving time. 

Stuffed Vegetable / Yong Liew

Stuffed Vegetables with minced meat fillings, pan fried in little oil till cooked and then cooked in fermented soybean paste  is one of our favourite dish to have for dinner. It is known as ' Yong Liew' in Cantonese language. The meat filling is made up of minced dried shrimps, minced pork, finely chopped garlic , with pepper and soy sauce seasoning. It makes a very tasty meat fillings for  vegetables like, Bittergourd, Egg plants, fresh Red Chillies, Long Beans, Red and Green Peppers. Can be served as a stand alone dish or added as extra ingredients for noodle soup. It involves a bit of work but worth making as it is a very versatile dish and tasty.

It is a very delicious dish served 

with fermented soybean paste gravy, adding a tsp of preserved  black beans to the gravy gives it the extra oomph and brings the dish to the next level

this dish involves a bit of work but worth it. Delicious and full of flavours 

Pan fry the stuffed vegetable first to brings out the umami taste of the dried shrimps that has been added to the meat fillings . And the slightly fried meat fillings gives the dish the extra fragrance

Fillings ingredients 

350 gm Minced pork with a little fat

2 tbsp of chopped dried shrimps

1 tbsp of light soysauce

1/8 tsp of white pepper

Vegetables of your choice

Red pepper/ Green Pepper, Bittergourd, Egg Plants, Okra, Red Chillies, Long Beans.  

Ingredients for Fermented Soybean and Preserved Black beans ( Tou Zi) Gravy 

1 heaped tablespoon of fermented soybeans ( taucheong )

1 tsp of preserved black beans ( tou Zi )

1 red bird's eye chilli - chopped

2tsp of sugar

1 tsp of dark soy sauce for colouring

1cup or more of chicken broth or water

1 tsp of minced garlic

2tbsp of cooking oil

Method:

Saute minced garlic in oil till fragrant, add in fermented soybean paste, chopped chillies , and preserved black beans and continue to stir fry for a few seconds till fragrant ,add in chicken broth or water and dark soy sauce and simmer till slow boil. Add in the pan fried stuffed vegetables and continues to simmer till the gravy boils. Dish up .

Enjoy!

Matcha Green Tea Ice Cream

Weather is hot and humid with scatter showers now and then. And I have been hooked on ' The Good Doctor ' for the past few weeks thus had shelved the idea of  making this delicious Matcha Ice Cream. Yesterday was craving for ice cream so had to take a rest from watching the Netflix  drama for a while to make the ice cream I  have been wanting to make. Bought this brand of matcha powder ( NikoNeko ) from their official store from Lazada, after a friend introduced to me. No regrets, it is fragrant and the vibrant colour reflects a good quality grade. 

There are many grades of matcha powder. Once opened it must be consumed within 2 to 3 weeks as matcha powder oxidised fast. That's why buy in small quantity unless one is operating a cafe or bakery whereby consumption is fast flowing. 

I used RICH's Korean Double Heavy Cream and Niko Neko Matcha Powder for this ice cream

and the texture is smooth and this is the matcha powder I have been looking for.

Niko Neko Matcha Powder, great for ice cream and in your latte drinks

Recipe link : Click here 

Have a good day!

 

Sweet Sour Pork With Pickled Cucumber

Sweet Sour Pork with Pickled Cucumber is a very refreshing dish. It has a sweetish sourish gravy that coats the fried  crispy pork. I used minced pork, shaped them into tiny rolls, coat them with potato starch and deep fried in hot oil. Make a savoury sauce of sweet Thai chilli sauce and tomato sauce and add in the fried pork , gives it a toss so that the pork is coated with the savoury sauce. It is an easy to prepare  dish and it is one of our favourite dish. Before the Covid pandemic, this is dish we will always order from the restaurant. Spare ribs can be used to replace minced pork. Of course, tomato and pickled cucumber and red onions are added to the dish too.

Add in tomato, pickled cucumber and onions to the gravy last. 

when oil is hot, put in the pork roll and fried till golden brown.

Seasoned the minced pork with black pepper and light soy sauce, shaped into tiny rolls, then coat with potato starch

before putting them into hot oil

Ingredients

(A)150 gm minced pork

1 tsp light soy sauce 

1/8 tsp of ground black pepper

(B)Sweet Sour Sauce ingredients 

2 tbsp Sweet Thai chilli sauce

2tbsp tomato sauce

1 tsp of chopped garlic

1tbsp olive oil

3/4 cup water or more

salt to taste

1pickled mini cucumber - diced

1 large tomato - diced

1 small red onions - diced 

Method

1. Seasoned the minced pork with black pepper and light soy sauce, shaped into tiny rolls, then coat with potato starch

before putting them into hot oil. Fried till mini pork rolls turned golden brown and cooked. Dish up and drained off excess oil.

2. In a frying pan, add 1/2 tbsp oil ,saute chopped garlic till fragrant. Add in all the sweet Thai chilli sauce and tomato sauce , a few seconds later add in water and boil till gravy simmers, add in pickled cucumber, tomato and onion. Add salt to taste. Once the gravy boils, add in the crispy fried pork rolls and keep stirring till all the pork rolls are coated with the sweet sour sauce. Off heat and dish up. Serve hot with rice.

Enjoy!