Cookies cakes and etc

Those closer to me would notice that I've taken up baking a lil more seriously as of late. Attempted and experimented with few new cakes. Have also started small scale business for cookies/cakes (my customers being my colleagues. Hehe). It's a great boost to confidence as well as to experience and skills now that I've been baking far more often than I used to. Starting a proper business may not be too difficult and too far off afterall (I hope). Baby steps. At least I've started walking.

On another topic, have also recently secured a job in Melaka. In other words, I'm finally going back and QJ couldn't be happier. It also means it's back to me cooking and you on the dishes allrite dear? Kekekekeke /ebil. Huge change, hope everything works out allright.

Now if only the jam would ease and I can get home sooner. I'm freezing and starving in the bus and I've got a tonne of baking to be done by tmr, in time for colleagues celebrating Deepavali! XD

Some of the things I'll be working on tonite:

Jam tarts

Moist chocolate

Swedish Meatballs and Spaghetti

Flavours magazine (by The Star) tend to have very interesting recipes come festive season. Big sis buys them regularly so I get to browse thru them (and steal recipes from her) while I'm at her place.Since I'm working now (and feeling a lil splurgy since I haven't bought any recipe books for awhile now *hint hint* ), I decided to buy this festive month's edition.

Microwave maggi

I was never a fan of maggi noodles cooked using microwave oven. Sis and I were pretty 'perak' la last time when we first bought a microwave oven for the house. We made maggi tomyam using the microwave..and it sucked big time. We never went back after dat day.

Year later, I saw my colleague cooking maggi curry noodles using microwave. Surprised, I asked her if it was nice, cuz my previous attempt had failed miserably (and we got icky noodles). She said it tasted the same as if cooked on fire. Curious, I asked her how she did it. She said to make sure to use hot water for the noodles (I had used tap water I think :P ) to be cooked in the microwave.

I tried that several days later and to my surprise, the exact same noodle, didn't taste as bad as it did years ago. In fact, it was actually quite good! So yeah, hot water for noodles if you want to microwave them. Crack in an egg if you want.


p/s: some of you might just go "Well DUH!" ...hahaha. Well what can I say. I still prefer my noodles cooked on the pot when I can help it.

Change of menu(s) - Chicken porridge

Wanted to cook fried breaded chicken fillets for lunch today...but decided to make Cajun Chicken out of them instead...since I figured QJ would very much prefer that one since its been awhile since I made them....so we had cajun chicken with fried egg, boiled potatoes, and grilled tomatoes, capsicum and onions (they were delicious!)....and immediately felt sleepy right after brunch :P

Planned to go Pasar Malam and stock up on tomatoes and some greens, as well as get dinner and some snacks...but since Razz already had his dinner before we came back from class...decided to eat in for dinner as well...so I made chicken porridge. Dun think I've ever made a proper chicken porridge during my time here yet (I've made all sorts of weird porridge, even the plain white porridge...but never made chicken porridge before...so...weird :P )...turned out so much easier to make and so much nicer than I expected. We ran out of gas but thankfully dinner's done by then...so its chicken porridge for dinner and supper (and maybe still leftover for breakfast...:P )

Mmmm...Now I'm craving for some fish porridge. Time to go get some dory and beer from Jusco...since I wanted to make Fish and Chips with beer batter anyway :P


Been in shitty mood today...but cooking kinda makes it feel better. Kinda. I wish I have a kitty... :S

Chicken porridge

1 cup rice, rinsed and soaked in 1tbsp cooking oil and 1 tsp sesame oil for 15-30 mins (it kinda makes the porridge smooth and extra nice)
A lot of water (depends on how watery you want your porridge to be...maybe a ratio of 1:6 or more?)
1/2 chicken breast (whole)
About 1 tbsp worth of sliced ginger.

1. Put everything together in a pot and boil with slow fire. Check it out after 1/2 hour to see if the rice is soft enough.
2. Turn off the fire when the rice is all softened and the porridge has a good texture.
3. Take out the piece of chicken breast and leave to cool. Tear the meat to 'strings' and return to pot. Stir evenly.
4. Serve with chinese chives or deep fried shallots or deep fried garlic with oil.

Serves 2

Egg Tarts

Been wanting to try these forever...ever since my sister tempted me with photos of her making them with her friends....dah la I have a soft spot for egg tarts :D

Finally had a chance to go buy yellow coloring that day (I think can go without it actually...lol!) so took the chance to make these tarts since I was kinda free. Plus...some of the DND guys were here too so I had some 'guinea pigs'... :P

Before baking

I didn't have the proper tart mould...so I used cupcake mould instead. Works too (but I think the other would would be easier to handle). The crust turned out a bit wetter than I expected and I ran out of flour to fix that....so I had a bit of trouble getting them into the mould at first.

Recipe below is given by my sister...I don't know where she got it from :P

Egg Tarts

Tart crust
250g flour
15g milk powder
60g caster sugar
170g butter
40g beaten egg (I used 1 egg...but the crust turned out kinda 'wet' :P )
1/2 tsp vanilla essence

1. to make crust, combine flour, milk powder and caster sugar. Rub in butter until mixture resemble bread crumbs (I used a blender...similar like how I mix the pie crust in my other recipe). Add in beaten eggs, knead to form dough.
2. wrap the dough in plastic wrap, refrigerate for half an hour until ready to use.
3. roll out enough of dough, place into mould. (I used the end of my 'small roller'...wrapped with cling wrap, to press the dough onto the mould)
4. Touch some flour on both thumbs. Press the dough, trim off edge.

Custard filling
340ml water (I think the custard's a little watery...might wanna reduce amount of water a bit)
120g caster sugar
4 eggs
50ml evaporated milk
1/2 tsp vanilla essence
few drops yellow colouring

1. Bring water and sugar to boil, remove and leave to cool.
2. whisks eggs, combine with cooled syrup and the rest of the ingredients. Lastly to adjust with yellow colouring.
3. bring filling through sieve, then pour into tart cases. bake in pre-heated oven at 180C for 18-22 mins.

Makes about 20-30...depending on size of the mould.

Happy Baking!

Sugar, spice, and everything nice!

So I was thinking of making some pancakes for some of my meals...since QJ wun be around and I'm too lazy to go out and eat alone (and I'm out of rice to cook any chinese meals and we just finished our last piece of ramli burger patty the other day)...and thought of having it with bananas...so I walked to pasar malam after class....bought my stuffs...then head home...practically made one whole HUGE round from CLC to Wednesday pasar malam, cross over to 'vegetarian shop' there...and then head back home....only to realise... /facepalm. I forgot to buy the bananas. Aih!

So its just gonna be pancakes with honey...or with scrambled egg...or plain :( ....or with apples! (no I dun think those pickled radishes will go well with pancakes :P ....awesome with porridge tho X3333


So I sliced 2 red apples and prepared them as I would have for my Apple Pie, brown sugar, white sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, lemon and pinch of salt. We'll see how it turns out tmr! :D


p/s: Northern side punya chee cheung fun is the best! ....umm Teluk Intan ones are not bad too :D
pp/s: Egg tarts are DELISH!

Cinnamon Toast

What do you do when you suddenly crave Cinnamon Rolls, too lazy to walk out to buy (and prolly too broke to spend so much on cravings that would serve as dessert...tea...whatever)...and the thought of making Cinnamon Rolls yourself make you groan at the length of the ingredients required....

And what would you do with the leftover bread in the fridge when you dun have jam/kaya/eggs to go with it...out of burger meat to make burger....and not enuff ingredients to make Bread Pudding?

You toast them, butter them up, and sprinkle brown sugar and cinnamon powder over it! :9 ...Delish!!! Should think it would be better with wholemeal bread or other non-plain bread but hey...if it helps me finish my bread before they go all moldy...why not?

1. Toast bread until golden brownish.

2. Spread butter over it

3. Sprinkle pre-mixed brown sugar+cinnamon powder (adjust the ratio to your liking) evenly

4. Eat immediately!

What I did was toast it awhile after I sprinkle the mixture of brown sugar and cinnamon powder but it will do fine either way. The bread crusts are the best!

Recipe taken from here!

Pancakes

Fancy having soft fluffy pancakes for breakfast but don't want to spend money on Pillsbury pre-mixes? Try this recipe :D

1 cup all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons granulated white sugar

1 large egg, lightly beaten

1 cup (240 ml) milk

2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted + extra for greasing the pan

1. Mix together the flour, baking powder, salt and sugar.

2. In a separate bowl, whisk together the egg, milk, and melted butter.

3. Add the egg mixture to the flour mixture, all at once, and stir or whisk just until combined.

**The batter should have some small lumps. Do not over mix the batter or the pancakes will be tough.

Serve with fruits, jams, chocolate, ice cream (ooooo!) for sweet version, or with fried sausages, burger, ham, egg etc for savoury version

Serving: 3-4 person, (I kept unfinished batter in the fridge...should be fine...I think :P )

Taken from: http://www.joyofbaking.com/breakfast/Pancakes.html

Chocolate Cake and Chicken Wellington

This post is *counts* 2 months late...hahahaha...

Made these to celebrate 3 years of QJ and I being together.

Khurshid, if you're hungry, now's a good time to close the browser and go eat something first... XP

Homemade 'Katsudon'

I didn't have MOST of the ingredients of a proper katsudon...but I cincai cincai agak agak made what resembled a Katsudon...with breaded chicken patty, and sauce made out of....chicken stock, dark soya sauce, maltose, sugar with egg, capsicum and onions. Results: tasty but a bit too....watery... :P ...not as bad as I thought it would be...and the chicken actually tasted really good, despite the little marinate it had.

Piccies piccies...

Lemon herb chicken sandwich with grilled veges

Bought quite a bit of fresh veges from Jusco the other day...and since we were running low on rice, we decided to go on some sandwich meals.

Whipped up this dish based on the lemon basil chicken my sister made for me during ITP last year...modified here and there based on what I'd think would be delish...and turned out it was :P ..would have been better if I had baguette or maybe even croissant...

Here's the rough recipe of it. No picture cuz we were too hungry.

Lemon and Herb Chicken Sandwich with Grilled Vegetables

Bread

The meaties

1 chicken keel, sliced

1/2 lemon juice and rind

herbs (I used dried basil and thyme)

salt and black pepper

1 small yellow onion, chopped finely

3 cloves garlic, crushed and pre-grilled with the veges (optional)

The veges, sliced thinly

1/2 green capsicum

1 tomato

1/2 brinjal

butter

herbs (used dried italian herbs)

black pepper

1. Marinade chicken with all the 'meaties' ingredient except garlic and onion.

2. Grill/bake the veges for about 20 mins. You may like to grill the crushed garlic too before using them for the meaty part.

3. Fry pre-grilled garlic and chopped onions with oil/butter until soft. Add in chicken and fry until onion gets brown-ish and sticks to the pan. Add a bit of water to caramelize the onion. Remove from pan

4. Toast/grill bread (with garlic butter if you like). Assemble sandwich.

p/s: I managed to get QJ to eat brinjals! Yey!!

Roasting chickens on sunday

OK la it's chicken without the (s)...not plural....QJ would have wished it was a plural tho :P

Decided to roast chicken last sunday...been forever since I wanted to try doing that...since last time Amran said he wanted to try but never got about doing it (we ended up having pizza he made instead... :9 ) ...

So I pulled out one of my many 'chicken recipe books'...and pulled one one of the recipies which looks (and sounds good on the ingredients)...as well as cheaply and easily obtainable ingredients...decided to make roast chicken with fresh herbs....although...I ended up using dried thyme and fresh tarragon (instaed of fresh sage) cuz stupid tesco takde....ah well...result was still satisfying...loved the taste...would definately wanna try roasting again sometime soon!

One of my lunch guest...hee!

Salad with boiled egg and dressing

Main course: roasted chicken with herbs

Mashed potatoes...mixed with gravy from the roast chicken...absolutely delicious done that way!

Next on the list...hmmmm...Chicken Wellington? For that very special day :3

Maggi Goreng Kari

Siew gave me a really nice recipe of maggi goreng kari. Tasted really nice so I'm gonna share it here. Recipe's from him of course.

2 packets Maggi mee curry flavour (the soup one)

1 sachet of maggi mee curry (inside the instant noodle packaging of course) ** if you're only using 1 packet of noodle, then use only 1/2 packet of curry sachet.

1 tbsp margerine/butter

1 tbsp sesame oil

Boil noodle. Strain the water after its cooked. Mix the noodles with the other ingredients. Add into pan and stir fry it for awhile (if you're lazy, can just eat it w/o frying). Goes well with fried egg/sausages.

Another recipe for maggi curry noodle (soup) is given by my friend. 

Boil the soup for the maggi curry noodle before adding in the noodle. Add in wedges of tomato and boil till its soft. Add in 1 tbsp lemon/lime. Add in noodle when tomato is soft. Serve with fried sausages (usually I cut them up into pieces and fry with salt) and fried egg.

Shepherd's Pie

Made chicken shepherd's pie the other day when QJ was back home in Puchong...first attempt at it. Didn't really like the fact that I didn't have my regular Chang Tung chicken gravy mix...that usually makes the pie sauce tasty effortlessly...but oh well...gotta improvise on what I've got and it ended up not too bad at all...and I ended up using the big Ikea casserole tray rather than the smaller one that came with this set....made too much mashed potatoes >.<

p/s: shitty noisy pics taken with my Nokia 6300 2MP cameraphone with bad lighting...ugh

Cajun Chicken with Mashed Potato and Cheese

Have been cooking a lot this week....and decided that we've had enough of chinese food for the week so its western for lunch yesterday.

Cajun Chicken topped with mash potatoes and cheese...

Best part is....it only cost less that RM5 per plate... :D

Hard Boiled Egg Sandwich

Sis made me some egg sandwiches the other day...and I simply loved it. It's one of those egg sandwiches you'll always see packed up nicely and sold in those convenient stores or cafes...always been wanting to know how to make them but never quite remember to find the recipes online or ask anyone :P Here's a rough recipe of those yummy sandwiches:

Hard Boiled Egg Sandwich

2 hardboiled egg
1 tbsp mayonnaise (can put more if you want but it made mine kinda a bit too sweet)
a dash of pepper
cucumber (those dark green types are good)
bread

1. Boil the eggs. 5 minutes should do the trick.
2. Mash and mix the eggs, mayonnaise and pepper in a bowl/container.
3. Spread butter onto bread, add cucumber slices and spread the egg mixture.

* You may serve the sandwich with tomato and cheese if you want.

Coke+Chicken

QJ bought me a recipe book (mainly cuz I bugged him :P ) last Saturday...

One of the recipe that I really wanna try is this: 'Chicken in Coke'

...wait wait...did I say coke? ...oh yeah :P

Coke...as in the drink with lotsa sugar and lotsa Co2 and is black in color..well..sorta...brown?

1 chicken 1 tsp salt 1 tbsp ginger wine 1 can coke 1/2 cup dark soy sauce 400ml water 4 slices ginger ...bla bla bla..

I'll try next tues...I think...hee hee...

Running out...

Cooked quite a mini-feast today...for dinner that is....end up:

- Almost finished the bottle of Maggi Chicken Stock that Quj just bought for me 2 days ago, tho, it was just the small bottle.
- Finished my packet of salt (...or prolly lost it...lol)
- Finished the bottle of soy sauce
- Almost finished my bottle of lemon sauce

....it wasn't as if I cooked THAT much...but its the first time I cooked that much by myself, I guess...and things were all finishing already so...hehe....lucky it was still sufficient for me to use.

Oh yeah, I ran out of gas while making claypot tofu last Sunday. Sweet. ...hehe...

p/s: ...There's a pimple on my back....UGH...annoying...

pp/s: Love you dear...thank you for your company today...was very very nice X3

Ambitious

Pretty much a boring hols...if I don't find anything to do...hehe...

Wants to try making:

1. Lemon Merengue Cake/Pie
2. Cream Puff Pastry

Wants to improve
1. Pie (trying to make flaky pastry...sigh)
2. Egg Tart
3. ..err...KFC-type chicken? :P
4. Add more recipes into my 'cooking book' X3

...and

1. CNY Wardrobe Shopping /grins at mum
2. CNY-stuff shopping (deco and watnot)
3. CNY cookies - there was one time when me and my friend Ann kept SMSing each other 'coincidently' when I'm making cookies...and my Motorola T191 keypad has flour in it cuz I was making kueh bankek...hehe...she calls my cookies 'kiam kiam' cookies (salty cookies...cuz of possible dirt from hand and cellphone...which is not true...biiikkkk :P )
4. Watch and burn out a few animes, HDD needs a bit dusting..hehe ^^;


....but for now........i need a bath /runs off :P


dearie always sleep wan..... /pecks dearie .... ...pinchbutts!