NEW YEAR 2011

Wishing All Happy New Year and may 2011 brings you health and happiness.

X'MAS DINNER

A small celebration with family during festive season!

X'MAS 2010

Merry Christmas !

SOYA SAUCE CHICKEN

Solstice is regarded by Chinese as the most important festive than Chinese New Year.  It signifies bountiful harvest and a good year ahead and thus it is celebrated lavishly. 

Soya sauce chicken is the main dish for the festive besides other side dishes and soup.  The chicken is soaked in diluted dark soya sauce mixed with cloves, star aniseed, cinnamon sticks, sesame oil and seasoning for half a day.  Boil the sauce and put in the chicken to continue cooking till tender.

HOME BURGER

Make burger for lunch instead of eating at fast food joint which is unhealthy and non-nutritious.

I never like to take my children to MacDonald or Burger King when they were young and they grew up of not having the habit of patronizing fast food joint whenever they crave for food.
 

Marinate shabu shabu pork with Yakitori sauce and grill over high heat for 5 mins.
Fry omelette with half-cook egg yolk & bacon till crispy and set aside.

Saute onions till soft and add in fresh mushrooms.  Season with sugar and a pinch of salt.  Add in bacon and dish aside. 

Toast bun and spread with mayonnaise.  Top with shabu shabu pork.

Pile mushroom fillings on the pork

Top with an egg

Top another layer of shabu shabu pork if you are a meat-eater.  Garnish with tomotoes.

Wholesome burger

A satisfying meal

18TH

Another birthday celebration.

To cut down on the fat and sweetness, I bake the cake.  Moreover reduces cost, especially around festive season.

Linz Cherry Sponge

250g butter, 150g caster sugar, 30g dark brown sugar, 5 eggs, 200g plain flour, 1 tsp baking powder, 1 tsp ground cinnamon, 150g ground almonds, 1 punnet fresh cherry, rum or burbon.

Caramel : 21g butter (melted), 60g Morello cherry syrup, 100g sugar. 

Pit cherries and cut into half.  Arrange cherries in baking tin in circle.    Melt butter in syrup over low heat.  Add sugar and continue stirring till melted.  Do not stir and let syrup boil till brown in colour. Pour caramel over cherries.  Set aside.

Cream butter then add vanilla essence (1 tsp), sugar, eggs, cinnamon.  Sift flour and baking powder into the mixture, add the ground almonds.  Pour two-thirds of this mixture into the caramel cherries.  Smooth out evenly.  Drain Morella cherries and arrange them over the mixture, pressing them down gently.  Place spoonfuls of the remaining mixture over the cherries.  Bake at 180-200C for about 1 hour. Turn over cake and sprinkle rum or bourbon liberally over cake.

SIMPLE & EASY

A simple and easy dish to whip up.  Use left-over steam pumpkin and cook with silken tofu and egg. Add in a tablespoon of miso and seasoning.

LEMONY

Lemon is a sour fruit but the distinctive sour taste makes it a key ingredient.  Its juices is used as prevention on oxidation of food.  The fragrant zest enhances baked goods and it tanginess is suitable for stew.  I love lemon tarts, a mingle flavor of tanginess and sweetness.

Sweet pastry fill with luscious lemon curd.

Soak 3 gelatine leaves in 60ml water and set aside.  Heat 500 ml milk over low heat and keep stirring till hot.  Whisk 4 yolks and 125g sugar followed by 30g cornflour.  Whisk well.  Slowly add in warm milk.  Heat mixture over medium heat and stir till thicken, add in gelatine, 1 tablespoon zest and 3 tablespoon lemon juice.  Pour filling into pie and refrigerate when cold.

Irresistible 

Can't wait to eat

Glowing

Smooth and creamy

Leftover pastry dough turn into tartlets

Fill to the rim

SPARE RIBS STEW

To cut down on cooking due to flu, stewed a pot of spare ribs.  The stew tastes better the following day.  

Marinate the ribs with 2 cubes of preserved beancurd, 2 tablespoons teriyaki sauce, 1 tablespoon ginger barbecue sauce, 1 tablespoon mirin, 2 big tablespoons tau cheo sauce, 1 teaspoon salt, 5 garlics mashed, 2 big slices of mashed ginger and half cup rice wine.  Let the ribs stand for 1 hour before cooking.

Fry 2 big onions in oil till soft and add in spare ribs.  Cook over high heat and stir frequently to avoid sticking to the pan. Lower heat to simmer.  Add in Japanese mushroom and carrots when ribs are fully cooked.  Continue simmer till the vegetables are soft.  Half an hour before serving add in celery to simmer.

DANG SHEN AND DU ZHONG CHICKEN CONGEE（党 參 杜 仲 雞 粥）

Has been feeling unwell for the past week with bloated stomach and flu, loss of appetite is unavoidable.  Simple food such as porridge with some Chinese herbs to cleanse the body, with heavy seasoning to counteract the blandness of the palate.

Mix long-grain and glutinous rice grain to cook porridge.  Glutinous rice contains more protein and fibre that helps to promote the peristalsis along the alimentary canal while clearing the wastes and toxins in the body.

Boil the grains in water till boiling and add in a piece of du zhong and 4 sticks of dang shen (cut into smaller sticks) and chicken fillets.  Cook porridge till soft.  Add seasoning.

THREAD FIN

Fish are so expensive, a small piece of above thread fin costs me $12 from the market.  With such a fresh fish is best to steam it and consume on the same day.

Marinate the fish with salt and sugar.  Mix fish sauce, sour plum and juice, bashed lemon grass, fresh chillies, garlic and ginger together.  Pour over fish and steam in the rice cooker over steamed rice (rice must be three-quarter dry).  When the rice is ready, the fish is nicely cooked.

LOTUS ROOT MUSHROOM SALAD

The lotus root was used in a salad dish after being boiled for soup.  Fresh abalone mushroom was stir fried with garlic and mixed together with the lotus roots seasoned with mirin and soya sauce.  A sweet and light dish to go with other heavily seasoned food.

POTATO WITH CAPSICUM

When there are not enough food in the fridge to cook, the only way is to cook what is available in the fridge.  With a few potatoes and 1 of each red and green capsicums, I meshed up 2 tablespoons of preserved black beans and minced garlics, fry up the diced potatoes (boiled soft) and sliced capsicums in high heat till smoky, and seasoned with some sugar or mirin sauce.

WESTERN BREAKFAST

My DH is typical China man as he always request for Asian food.  Only once a while that he  indulges in international cuisine, on our firm request (5 against 1, hehe).  During weekends we usually take brunch but likely ended up eating noodles, rice or dim sum, which is his favorite.

There is no lack of good food since we reside in the east, be it in coffee shops, cafes or restaurants.  Royal cafe is the place we frequent often and they food we enjoy which I had blogged about at http://makan-mania.blogspot.com/2009/08/royals-cafe.html.

Below were one of the brunches that I had forgotten about after going through the photos.   

Each course came with 2 slices of wheat bread, slightly toasted, with butter and jam

Mushroom omelette with harsh brown.  A substantial amount.

Omelette with ham and french toast. 

Club sandwiches with coleslaw and potato chips.  The fillings are egg with creamy mayonnaise and ham with tomatoes and lettuce. 

A good glass of ginger mint tea to aid digestion

EASTCOAST CRYSTAL JADE

Crystal Jade extends another arm at Laguna Park Seafood Place.  To promote its new setup the restaurant is giving free offer of half a roast duck for dining in.  When you spend more than $100 a voucher of free whole duck or 500g free for every order of 1 kilo crabs.

Juicy crispy duck with sweet bean and plum sauce

Oats prawns, fresh and tender

Crispy oats make good snack

Mix mushrooms pot

Full of smoky flavor

Belachan shrimp fried rice mix with crispy rice

Deep fried crabs with crispy garlic and black beans

Chillie crabs - a fail dish.  Not spicy enough and no kick