29 April 2011

Daikon Cake 萝蔔糕


Daikon 大根 is a Japanese word for white radish. It shapes like a giant carrot but in white colour :) The leaf of Daikon is frequently eaten as green vegetables, but I have not try it before. Stir-frying or cook it in soup are the common way of how I eat daikon.

Few days ago came across Sharp's recipe on Microwave Cuisine, the steps seem very easy but I decided to use my steamer instead of the microwave. I'm glad that I try this recipe because the daikon cake turned out very soft and creamy.  


Recipe adapted from Sharp Microwave Cuisine with changes
(Method: Steam)
Ingredients:
250g daikon, grate into shreds
250g rice flour
4 black mushrooms, sliced (used fresh one)
20g dried shrimps, chopped
500ml water
few coriander, chopped
1/2 tsp salt
1 tbsp oil
1 chili, finely chopped

Seasonings:
1 tsp salt
3 tbsp oil
pinch pepper

Steps:
1. Cook shreds daikon with water in pot on high heat for 15 mins or until daikon soften.
2. Pour the daikon together with hot water into grease steaming plate, add rice flour, 1/2 tsp salt and 1 tbsp oil, stir and mix well. Set aside
3. Heat  a wok, add oil, sliced mushrooms, dried shrimps, stir fry for 2 mins, add seasonings. Stir fry for another 2 mins, add chili and coriander. Garnish the mixture on top of the steaming plate which contains daikon mixture.
4. Steam for 30 mins. or until the cake is firm. Serve warm. 




27 April 2011

Cucumber Mango Salad


Salad is always a good choice for me when I lost my appetite. Today is another day of nausea attacks, and I make myself this spicy savoury cucumber mango salad just to fill my rumbling tummy.

25 April 2011

Chocolate-Bottom Banana Squares


Saw it on Cook.Bake.Love's website then 鲸鱼's website. If you love the combination of chocolate and bananas, this recipe is a sure keeper. Thanks Angel for sharing this beautiful recipe. When I grabbed one piece of the cake, the chocolate chips on top melted and sticked on my fingers ... it was fingers licking good :D My cake sat in the oven for 45 mins. the surface still doesn't browning, then I gave up, that's with a yellowish surface.




Recipe adapted from Cook.Bake.Love and 鲸鱼
Ingredients:
(A)

60g castor sugar
1 large egg, lightly beaten
(B)
80g vegetable oil
220g bananas, mashed with a fork
35g milk
1 tsp rum (replaced with banana essence)
(C)
125g plain flour
½ tsp baking powder
½ tsp baking soda(omitted)
(D)
2 tbsp cocoa powder
(E)
Some chocolate chips (about 1 cup)


Steps:
1) Beat (A) till light and creamy.
2) Add (B) and combine.
3) Sieve in (C), mix till just incorporated. Stop once there is no traces of flour remain.
4) Divide the batter into half. Sieve in cocoa powder to one portion of the batter and mix well. Add the cocoa batter to a greased and lined square pan (I used 6” round pan)
5) Add the remaining plain batter on top of the cocoa batter. Sprinkle top with chocolate chips (be generous).
6) Bake in preheated oven at 180C for about 30 mins (45 mins) or until a skewer inserted in the centre and come out clean. Cool and cut into squares to serve.

24 April 2011

5 Recipes to Celebrate Easter

Received an invitation from Lena of Frozen Wings this evening to join in an Easter Party. It is a bit rush for me to prepare but I'm delight to join in the party :) There are rules of the game..suggest 5-10 recipes and upload the photos with their respective links and later tag another 10 friends to do the same. These are what i'm going to bring for the virtual party:










I would like to extend my invitation to the following bloggers. Is a bit rush, try to join if you can. If you cant, no worries, we 'll party some other time! Love you and have a great Easter!



1. Joelyn from Joelyn幸福の起点
2. Edith from Precious Moments
3. Joyce from Kitchen Flavours
4. Lizzy from That Skinny Chick Can Bake!!!
5. Min from Min's Blog
6. Gert from My Kitchen Snippets
7. Angel from Cook.Bake.Love
8. Vivian from Vivian Pang Kitchen
9. Sonia from Nasi Lemak Lover
10. Kristy from My Little Space

20 April 2011

Chocolate Cream Cheese Muffin


Saw 鲸鱼 baked these beautiful chocolate cream cheese muffins, since I have all the ingredients ready in my kitchen, I decided to give the recipe a try. The taste of chocolate and cream cheese in this recipe can be consider...perfect! It makes me happy!

I'm submitting this post to “Aspiring Bakers #6: Say Cheese! (April 2011)", hosted by Jean from Noms I Must


Recipe adapted from 鲸鱼,original recipe from CHING, with minor changes

Ingredients:
80g Butter (used 100g)
50g Brown sugar
2 eggs (used 3 eggs)
60g milk
140g top flour
2 tbsp cocoa powder (used 4 tbsp)
2 tsp baking powder

Filling:
80g cream cheese (used 120g)
2 tbsp icing sugar

Steps:
1. Preheat oven to 150C (my oven 170C)
2. Sieve flour, cocoa powder and bakign powder.
3. Mix well the filling ingredients with spoon.
4. Cream butter, sugar till light and fluffy.

5. Add eggs in batches, mix well.
6. Add half of the flour, mix well.
7. Add milk and remaining flour, use spatula to stir until the batter is smooth.
8. Scoop 1 tbsp batter into baking cup, add 1 tsp filling and add batter on top.
9. Bake for 20-25 mins.




Happy Baking!

15 April 2011

Hokkaido Milky Loaf (Gelatinized Dough Method)


I made bread again just to get rid of the left over gelatinized dough from my previous baking. Please see here for the recipe or hop over to Angie's Recipes or Vivian Pang Kitchen for the recipe or steps.


Rainy day in the evening, not a good timing for me to take photos since I always depend on the natural lighting.

13 April 2011

Cinnamon Walnut Bread: Hokkaido Milky Loaf's Recipe (Gelatinized Dough Method)


I was getting lazier to write the post, baked lot of breads and cakes but kept all in my hard drive. Emotionally is very down, all the thing changes because of one person, the motivation and the self value...where are they? How come someone can be so selfish to distroy the harmony that I'm trying to build... If this is his intention, then I should be strong to fight the devil in him. There is no love in jelousy, dear. You shouldn't jelous on what I'm doing and enjoy. You should be proud of me and share the joy. Please, open your heart and ask God to strengthen us. 
 
This is not the right timing to introduce this beautiful bread but I sincerely wanted to give thanks to Angie from Angie's Recipes and Vivian from Vivian Pang Kitchen for sharing this beautiful Hokkaido Milky Loaf's recipe, I turned them into cinnamon walnut bread.

This was a very sticky dough because of the whipping cream used. I added some olive oil to make it more workable. Eventually was able to knead it into a elastic film dough.

Recipe adapted from Angie's Recipes and Vivian Pang Kitchen
Ingredients:
50g whipping cream
1 egg
pinch of salt
55g sugar
30g milk powder
300g bread flour
50g rye flour
7g dry instant yeast
30ml milk
30g unsalted butter
20ml olive oil 



Ingredients for filling: brown sugar, walnuts, cinnamon


Bake at 180C for 40 mins.



12 April 2011

Vietnamese Spicy Lemongrass Chicken 越式香茅鸡


I can't take really spicy food, but love the food with lot of herbs, if the food with the herbs I love then I'll brave myself to try it even it is spicy, haha, really complicated, ya! First saw this dish at Sonia, Nasi Lemak Lover site and then Ann, Anncoo Journal, I love lemongrass because of the good memories of the dishes made by my mother. Yes, this recipe is a sure keeper! I made a version with some gravy, it is delicious to go with white rice!

For your information, after taken the food, my husband and I felt our tongue went a bit numb, could it due to the lemongrass and turmeric used? 

11 April 2011

Banana Wholemeal Chiffon Cake: Revisit


This is my 2nd attempt on Carol's Banana Wholemeal Chiffon the first attempt was a nightmare with the cake texture looked underbaked. This round I still added double portion of bananas because now I have confidence on adding more bananas wouldn't harm the cake texture. I followed closely on others ingredients except omitted the cranberries from it. The end result is a nice chiffon texture, not counting a bit of cake stuck on the baking mould when I dislodged it. I was in a hurry when I took the photos, sorry for the blur images.

Lesson Leart from this baking:
1. Must not add too much olive oil.
2. Meringue has to beat to stiff peak form. 
3. Mix well all ingredients. Especially the meringue mixture.
4. 180C for my oven bake for 50 mins.





07 April 2011

Cream Cheese Stick with Dried Nuts


When I see this cheesecake recipe in Carol's book, I was very impressed by its presentation, it is so beautiful! However, it didn't cross my mind to bake one due to the substantial quantity of cream cheese needed. Yes, I'm not fat but need to slim down a bit more :) That day saw 茄子 from 袅袅烘培香 baked this wonderful recipe, I really couldn't resist her beautiful creation! So, cream cheese here I come :D

I'm using Carol's recipe with an addition step of mine. This recipe is using hand whisk and I sifted the cheesecake mixture twice before pouring it into the baking mould, the end result is a fine creamy texture that 100% well mixed.

05 April 2011

Jicama Bun 沙葛包 (Bang Kuan Bao)


Recently quite lazy in update my posting, just concentrate doing my kitchen play. WT are back from overseas posting, I no longer able to sit in front of my computer for the whole night... I think he should be happy to see this remark. 

Let me present to you my successful Jicama Bun. Jicama or Pachyrhizus erosus or commonly referred to as "yam bean" or well known as "Bang Kuan" to the ethnic Chinese in Southeast Asia is a kind of crispy , sweet, edible root. It should be peeled to reveal the white inside.  It is excellent raw for salads, but I prefer it to be cooked. Usually in Asia, we used it in "popiah" or spring roll.

The making of this bao is inspired by Vivian from Vivian Pang Kitchen after seeing her using Sponge Dough Method for the bao. This is my first time trying out Sponge Dough Method and yes, I love the result! I'm using Vivian's bao recipe and steps for the bao and as for the filling is from Ah Tze's kitchen play :)