Salmon Fried Rice

Good solution for lazy winter evening, serve it with a bowl of warm meatball soup.

Ingredients:

2 bowl cold white rice

1 egg

1 bowl shredded cabbage

1 slice salmon, cooked and mashed

1 tbsp chopped onion

1 tsp chopped garlic

1 red chili, chopped

1 tbsp veg oil

1 tbsp soy sauce and fish sauce

salt, pepper, msg(optional)

- Heat oil in a wok, add onion and garlic, stir for few minutes until fragrant. Break in egg and stir quickly till it lightly scrambled, add salmon and cabbage, give it another stir. Turn the heat down then add rice, use wooden spoon to break it apart. When the rice is heated through, season with soy sauce, salt, pepper. Serve hot.

Orange Raisin Scone

Nah im back again after gone for so long. Congrate me that i finally found new(but old) apartment and has settled everything down and now i'm able to update my blog again.

This scone recipe is adapted from cinnamon raisin scone. I skipped cinnamon powder and adding 1 tablespoon grated orange rind instead. My tiny apartment is smell heavenly while the scone is baking in the oven.

Light Beef Consomme

Wow, its been really a long break for me. Been a little busy with facebook's game...hahaa seriously not! I've been looking for new apartment and unfortunately have not find one till now.

It seems like i've had same meal over and over and after a while, i feel really sick, only by passing infront of chinese take away and smell the "aroma" of my recent meals. Well, i hope this post will be the beginning of my comeback into the blogosphere.

Recipe for Light Beef Consomme

Ingredients:

200 g beef tenderloin, cut into 1 inch long

1 carrot, cubed

1 stick celery, cubed

2 king oyster mushroom, cubed

1 stalk spring garlic

2 clove garlic, crushed

Beef stock as required

salt and pepper to taste

- In a medium pan, boil beef stock, crushed garlic and spring garlic for 15 minutes, add the vegetables and simmer over low fire until tender. Lastly, add chopped beef and season with salt and pepper. Do not let the beef boil for too long as it will be overdone. Remove from heat and serve immediately.

Healthy Cranberries and Oatmeal Cookies

My cooking blue started again for past few weeks. It caused by facebook's application called happy farm, i'm so addicted to it recently. Happy farm is just small game where u can plant and harvest some kind of fruits. It is nothing compared to maple story and travian but i have so much fun playing that my friends called as a "boring game". I spent most of my evening infront of my laptop, planting, harvesting, take care my plants even stealing from my friend's farm.
Feeling so upset when i can't access my farm yesterday, so off i go, to my old favorite website, foodgawker and found this amazing and healthy cookies recipe. And why i call it healthy? because no butter in it, i even substitute canola oil with olive pomace oil, skipped chocolate chips and add more oatmeal and it still turned out great.
So, do you think that big amount of sugar is healthy as well? I would say yes, since it impossible to bake cookies without sugar ^_*

Melting Brownies

What can i say about this? well, this is the best brownies i've ever made so far. With melted chocolate in the center, my friends at work gave me two thumbs up. One of them said, she'll give me 5 thumbs up if only she have it.... From now on, i will stick to this recipe for brownies and maybe some modification with peanut butter and or cream cheese next time. To make it even more special, i also made a recipe card for this one.


Source: discussion at NCC yahoo groups and of course...with slight modification.

Wuxi Style Braised Spareribs

Wuxi is one of big city in China which is very famous with their silk and delicious dishes, one of them is this braised spareribs. More article about Wuxi can be found here. I was searching for this recipe and ended up in aunty Lily's blog. She wrote a lot of great chinese recipe and i should try them one by one. This finger lickin' sparerib is my favorite and i always ordered this dish everytime i dine out in chinese restaurant.

Mango Cheesecake

It is mango season here in Taiwan. Mango is always my favorite fruit. There is a dessert shop near my working place called Ice Monster and their 芒果芋头冰 , literally mean mango+yam mixed with shaved ice+condensed milk is really to die for. I have really really huge appetite lately with 5-7 meals a day!! hahaa...and i've been buy this mango ice for a week without break. In order to used up my half package of cream cheese, i made this cheesecake with... of course, mango topping!!

Recipe for mango cheesecake

Ingredients:
500 g cream cheese, room temperature
2 eggs
1/2 cup sugar
1/3 cup mango flavored yoghurt
Mango, extra yoghurt and oreo biscuits without cream, as required

- Beat cream cheese and sugar until fluffy, add egg one at time and beat until incorporated. Stir in yoghurt, mix well. Arrange oreo on the side of baking pan, pour the batter in and bake in preheated oven at 180 for 50-55 minutes, until the center of the cake has been set. Cool for up to 2 hours in fridge. For topping, mix cubed mango with yoghurt and pour over cooled cake.

Banana Chocolate Cake

I just stepped into the house when i smell something sweet from my kitchen. It was banana that i bought 4 days ago, before i left for long weekend in the mountain with some friends. For me, banana is the best fruit for baking and it always satisfying. I love combination of banana + chocolate. Wonder why no one sell chocolate with banana flavor out there.
Recipe from Stephanie Jaworski at joyofbaking.com

Caramel Flan

Hey... i'm back after 2 long weeks without update. I've been a little busy helping a friend to design her new online shop and also doing some label and banner design, haven't done with it up until now.
It is not summer yet but the weather is terribly hot here, the heatwave makes me feel exhausted, not wanting to do anything and all i want is water and something to cool down. I've been bookmarked this recipe since few weeks back, and only got the mood to do it today. The flan turned to be as smooth as it looks, with slightly sticky caramel syrup and it really cooled my evening off.

Orange Cheesecake

Browse through daring baker's blog, i found a lot of luscious and tempting cheesecake as their April's challenge is cheesecake. Their post really makes me drool and luckily i still have a pack of cream cheese and orange in my fridge.
Recipe tweaked from my previous Oreo cheesecake

Ingredients:
for base:
1 1/2 cups ritz cracker crumb
1/4 c melted butter

for cake:
500 g cream cheese, room temperature
2 eggs
1/2 cup orange juice
1/2 cup whole milk
1 orange rind, finely grated
1/2 cup powdered sugar

for topping (optional):
1 tbsp orange flavored jelly powder
1/3 cup water

- For base, mix cracker crumb with butter, press into baking pan and set aside. Beat cream cheese with sugar until smooth, add eggs 1 at time, beat until fully incorporated. Add in milk, orange juice and rind, stir well. Pour the batter into prepared base crust. Steam bake in preheated oven at 180 degrees celcius for 40-45 minutes. For topping, prepare jelly as directed and let it cool. Arrange sliced orange on top, pour jelly on top of cooled cake. Let it set in the fridge for about 3-4 hours.

Stir Fry Chicken With Hot Bean Sauce

Hot bean sauce (la dou ban jiang) is a very popular condiment and commonly used in Chinese cooking especially in Szechuan cuisines. It goes very well with any seafood, chicken, tofu and other vegetable like bamboo shot and eggplant. In this version, i use boneless-skinless chicken thigh, recipe adapted from easy Chinese stir fry by Angela Cheng

Recipe for braised chicken with hot bean sauce

Ingredients:

1 boneless chicken thigh
4 cloves garlic
1 stalk scallion
seasoning 1:
1 egg white
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp water
1/2 tbsp cornstarch
seasoning 2:
1/2 tbsp rice wine
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tsp sugar
1/2 tbsp white vinegar
1 tbsp hot bean sauce
2 tbsp water
1 tsp cornstarch

- Cut chicken into bite size, marinate with seasoning 1 for 20 minutes then deep fry till half done. Set aside. Heat another tbsp oil, saute garlic and scallion till fragrant add chicken, stir fry for few minutes. Add seasoning 2, mix well. Remove from heat and serve while it's hot.

Beef Rendang

Most people say, cooking rendang is kinda wasting time and that also my main reason for never making rendang on my own. I hate stay in my tiny kitchen for more than 20 minutes and i hate to leave my kitchen when my stove is on. I almost burn the whole apartment once, and it really remind me to be more careful when leaving kitchen with fire on.
In the end, i decide to use pressure cooker to make this rendang. It still tastes as good as the stewing version. It took 1 hour to be done, 45 minutes in pressure cooker plus 15 minutes simmering to dry off the gravy.
Recipe adapted from NCC and of course with little modification to suit my ingredient's availability

IFW - Braised Fish with Coconut Milk, Tomato and Basil

If you read my blog regularly, you will noticed that i never participate in blog events like everyone else does.
Well, this is my first submission for blog event, Indonesian Food Week hosted by Siany Nugroho one of NCC's member.
I love seafood so much(who don't?) and most of times i buy it outside since my cooking skill is terrible, especially in Indonesian food.


Indonesian name it Pencok Ikan. Ikan mean fish, but pencok???(anyone who can come up with explanation will be greatly appreciated). As you all know, Indonesia made up by more than 17.500 island, so can you imagine how many language we have?
One of the event's rule is to mention where the dish come from. So, i'll say this recipe is come from my mom(sorry about the exact place, i wish i or my mom know)

Recipe for mommy style pencok ikan(braised fish with coconut milk, tomato and fresh basil)

Ingredients:
500 g mackerel
1 cup coconut milk
1/2 tbsp coriander powder
1/2 cm lesser galangal
1 tsp salt
5 red chili
3 cloves garlic
2 candle nut
1 tsp shrimp paste
1 medium tomato, diced
salt and sugar to taste
handful fresh basil

- Rub fish with coriander powder and salt, let it stand for 15 minutes, fry till brown on both side, set aside. Blend all the ingredients except coconut milk, basil and tomato. Heat a tbsp oil in a medium pan, saute spices and keep stirring for 1-2 minutes. Pour in coconut milk, let it bubbling, add in fish and tomato. Simmer for 3-4 minutes until gravy almost dry, adjust the taste with salt and sugar. Sprinkle fresh basil just before remove from heat.

Rich Chocolate Cake

As Asian and a beginner cook, i often confused when reading recipe using American standard measurement. It's not a cup that make me headache but stick, ounces, pints, quarts, gallon etc really make me crazy. I'm totally idiot when it comes to maths and yeah, my brother called me as a "mathematics's idiot". I remember that i used to argue with my math teacher back when i was in high school. But still, i'm doing pretty good in physics. Strange right?


I was thinking about this cake, and have no problem at all when reading the recipe, i've made that cake before and it turned out great, so i decide to use that recipe again.
I was pretty sure that 1 stick butter is equal to 226 grams, how.....where that conversion come from??? Without checking converter, i started baking. Feel like something amiss when i fold in the flour. Butter amount seems too much compared to the other ingredients. And yes it is, i used 2 sticks butter instead of 1!!! Thinking about dumping my batter to the trash, but i can't afford to waste anymore food, so i go on bake my cake and it turned out to be rich, fudgy and soft(almost like melt in mouth, when it warm). This was my first failed cake that turned out to be so good.

Ohh...reminder, 1 stick butter is 113 grams :)

Creamy Vegetable in a Bread Bowl

I still have some bread dough left in my fridge and i want to used it up today. After flipping through my cooking books, finally i decide to make this cute bread bowl with vegetable filling(original recipe using sourdough bread and creamy mushroom filling). My bread dough is very soft and it resulted in flat bowl instead of tall and round one.

Recipe for creamy vegetable filling
Ingredients:
1 can sweet corn
1 cup diced ham
1 cup diced celery
1 1/2 cup whole milk
1/2 cup minced onion
1/2 stick butter
2 tbsp flour
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
salt and freshly ground black pepper

-Melt butter in a medium sauce pan over low fire, add onion and cook for 3-4 minutes until it turn translucent, add in flour and stir for another minute. Pour milk slowly, mix until smooth, add vegetable, simmer over low fire for about 15 minutes. Taste with salt and pepper, remove from heat, sprinkle with grated cheese.

Dried Longan Muffin

Longan is native fruit of southeast asia. In Chinese it called long yuan which is literally mean dragon's eye fruit. More information about longan can be found here. Dried longan muffin is another famous Taiwanese delicacy. It is easily available almost in every corner of bakery in Taiwan. However, every one of them has their special taste or texture. It usually topped with either chopped walnut or pine nut.

Recipe for Dried longan muffin

Ingredients:

150 g cake flour
110 g brown sugar
65 g dried longan soaked in 3/4 cup hot water, cooled, squeezed and juice reserved.
2 eggs
70 ml melted butter
1/2 cup longan juice
1/2 cup chopped walnut
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup pine nut for topping

-Sift cake flour, salt and baking powder, set aside. Beat egg and sugar till white and fluffy, add in longan juice, vanilla extract and melted butter , stir until well mixed. Fold in flour lightly. Add in chopped walnut and dried longan. Spoon the batter to the paper cup, top with pine nut. Bake at preheated oven at 180 for 30-35 minutes.

Artisan Bread

Am i the only one who had been dying to try this bread? This recipe is the easiest and simplest one compared to other bread and it has great review from around blogosphere. I never make a "real" bread before but i've been trying those buns several times, though it always ended up in the trash. You won't need heavy duty mixer or break your handmixer (like what i do...) to knead this bread. Recently i came across this site while searching for the artisan bread recipe and i thought basic recipe would be a great way to start with. I'm so surprised and satisfied with the result. It has crispy crust and chewy inside with amazing fragrant smell.

Most Authentic Taiwanese Stewed Ground Pork ( Lo Ba )

If you've ever come to Taiwan, you'll find this menu in every local Chinese restaurant, no matter it is high class or road side one. I've been trying so many recipe, but none of them meet the authentic taste of traditional Taiwanese lo ba which is usually served with steamed white rice, a piece of stewed deep fried tofu, yellow preserved radish and it served in a clay bowl, topped with freshly chopped cilantro. Yumm...my favorite lunch, cheap and delicious, hahaa..yeah i love anything with "cheap" word in it. Lo ba literally mean stewed meat in Taiwanese/Hokkien. Lo= stew ba=meat, while in Mandarin it called lu rou.
Couple days ago, i watched TV show hosted by mr.blablah, i dont even know his name, but my sister say he is one of the best chef in Taiwan. He said that the secret condiment that usually taken down from lo ba recipe is the cinnamon powder. Lo ba won't have its authentic taste without cinnamon powder. So, here i go again, doing experiment and come up with the most authentic taste of lo ba ( i don't celebrate April's fool day, so don't worry about being fooled by me)

Recipe for Taiwanese Stewed Ground Pork

Ingredients:
650 gr ground pork (preferably with lots of fat)
1/3 cup sliced shallot
2 tbsp minced garlic
1/3 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup chinese rice wine
6 cups water
1/4 cup cooking oil
2 tbsp sugar
2 star anise
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon powder (or more to suit your taste)

-Heat oil, saute chopped shallot and garlic until fragrant, add star anise and ground cinnamon, stir well, add in ground pork and stir quickly to break the meat into small bits. Add soy sauce, sugar and rice wine, once the meat has changed color. Pour six cups of water and cover the pan, let it simmer for 2,5-3 hours.

Black Glutinous Rice Cake

Like i said before, i'm not a big fan of steamed cake, but when it comes to leftover thingy, then i really have no choice.
I've been keep this leftover homemade black glutinous rice powder (from making this cookies) for about 4 months. Luckily it still fresh and fragrant, since it placed in the fridge. Never imagined before, that glutinous rice powder can be used for cake, until i found this recipe. I was quite sure that the cake will turned out hard and sticky. I'm so surprised when i opened my steamer, the cake rise beautifully, it has dark purpelish color and the combination of coconut milk - black glutinous rice powder smell heavenly.

Recipe for steamed black glutinous rice cake.
Source: NCC

Ingredients :
6 eggs
200 gr sugar
350 gr black glutinous rice powder
150 ml corn oil
200 ml coconut milk
1 tsp ovalette/cake emulsifier
¼ tsp salt

- Beat egg, sugar, salt and ovalette until white and fluffy, fold in black glutinous rice flour and stir lightly. Add corn oil and coconut milk, stir until well mixed. Pour the batter to 2 loaf pan and steam for 40 minutes( i halved the recipe and steam for 35 minutes)

Banana Oatmeal Quick Bread

I have 3 overripe bananas sit in my dinning table for two days, the sweet smell getting stronger and it will attract tiny fly's attention if i don't use it as soon as possible. Banana bread is the perfect way to used up overripe bananas. Easy, healthy and delicious and it bursting with flavor of bananas.

Ingredients:
3 large banana, mashed
1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted and cooled
2 eggs
1 1/4 cup all purpose flour
1 cup quick cooking oats
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup chocolate chips
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda

- Whisk banana and melted butter, stir in egg, sugar, salt and baking soda, mix well. Add in oats and chocolate chips, fold in flour, stir until well mixed. Bake at 175 for 50-60 minutes.

Indonesian Style Soy Sauced Milk Fish

It's been a month or two since my last time of cooking seafood. I hate cleaning oily and fishy stuffs and that become the main reason of my laziness. I was inspired by my last weekend dinner in Vinna's place, one of my good friend who is great in cooking but refused to join foodblog community with loads of reason, such as work, pregnancy and recently her new born cute baby. She made Indonesian soy sauced chicken and it tasted great, i ask her if i can replace chicken with seafood, and it really went well with fish.

Recipe for Indonesian Soy Sauced Fish, courtesy of Vinna.
Ingredients:

1 large milk fish
3 tbsp Indonesian sweet soy sauce
3 clove shallot
2 clove garlic
3 red chilli
1 cup water
1 tsp cornstarch, diluted in 1 tbsp water.
salt to taste
juice of 1 lemon

- Clean and chop fish, rub with lemon juice and let it stand for 30 minutes, fry till golden brown on both side. Saute sliced shallot and garlic in 1 tbsp oil till fragrant, stir in chili and pour a cup of water, add soy sauce/salt. Let it simmer for 5 minutes, add corn starch solution to thicken. Add in fish and remove from heat. Serve while its hot.

Flower Butter Cookies

I do enjoy making cookies so much, though i'm not a big fan cookies. Moulding and shaping cookies is kinda fun. My first interest in baking was chocolate chips cookies, around two years ago. I was shopping in nearby supermarket, turning round and round dunno what to buy, till my eyes caught a pack of hersheys chocolate chips. And unfortunately it has cookie recipe written on the package. So, thanks to hersheys chocolate chips for giving me inspiration in baking.

Basic taiwanese butter cookies recipe,
Ingredients:

120 g unsalted butter, room tempature
60 g icing sugar
200 g cake flour
50 g bread flour
1 whole egg
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
melted chocolate as required (i use banana flavoured chocolate)

- Beat butter and sugar until slightly pale (do not beat too long, otherwise the cookies won't hold its shape). Beat in egg and vanilla extract, mix well. Sift cake flour and bread flour together and add to the butter mixture.
Roll out the dough and cut with flower shaped cookie cutter. Bake at 175 for 15-18 minutes till golden brown. Decorate with melted chocolate once it cooled off. Store in air tight container.

Spaghetti With Homemade Meat Sauce

What would you do if you have a bag of tomatoes sitting beautifully in your fridge for a week?

I turned mine into this delicious meat sauce using this easy recipe.


And serve it over spaghetti, sprinkled with freshly grated parmigiano.


Yummy!!!

Coffee and Almond Cookies

Cookies or baked potato?? Hehee...these are cookies for a friend who just quit from coffee. To me, coffee is like something magic that giving me energy and power to do my daily activities. How can i wake up without morning coffee? I've tried to quit few times and all i got is headache and yawning for whole day. And guess what, i use my potato slicer to get that shape, smart eh... hahaa
Recipe adapted from DIY hand made cookies by Lucy Wu

Ingredients:

350 g cake flour
150 g unsalted butter
100 g lard/shortening
80 g icing sugar
1 egg
1/2 cup sliced almond
10 g coffee granules (dissolved in 1 tbsp hot water)

- Beat butter, shortening and sugar till fluffy, add egg and beat for another minute. Stir in coffee and mix well. Sift in cake flour and add almond. Mix well to form dough. Shape dough into log/rectangle and refrigerate for 1-2 hours till dough is hardened. Cut into any shape you like, bake at preheated oven at 180 for 12-15 minutes.

Steamed Smiling Cake (Bolu Kukus)

Few months ago, i joined this group and for this past few days, everyone was talking about this smiling steamed cake. I get hooked, curious and challenged by reading their post. In the end, i push myself to try to make this cake, though i'm not a big fan of steamed cake.
It took me 6 times to make the cake smile beautifully. Yeah, 6 TIMES, with 5 fails and 1 success. I wasted countless eggs, sugar, milk, flour and my precious energy and time. Everything went to the trash.
This cake is similar to chinese fa gau, only different in taste and texture, it has smoother and softer texture compared to fa gau which is made from rice flour. And this smiling cake also suitable for vegetarian.
So, here is the recipe, adapted from Vania modified by me.

Ingredients:
2 egg white
4 egg yolk
240 g caster sugar
250 g all purpose flour
175 ml fresh milk
Few drops of pandan essence/any food colouring

- Heat up steamer and muffin tin(lined with paper cup) for 10 minutes. Beat egg and sugar at high speed until white and fluffy, add milk stir well. Fold in flour and stir until well mixed. Reserve a cup of the batter and add pandan essence. Spoon the plain batter into lined muffin tin topped with 2 tsp green batter.
Steam at HIGH heat for 17-20 minutes. DO NOT open the steamer in first 10 minutes, otherwise it will not smile at all.

** From my(6 times) experience, cake emulsifier(ovalette) is not required as long as you can beat egg and sugar until thick and fluffy.

Rolled Pineapple Cookies

I still have some leftover pineapple jam in my freezer from making cheesy pineapple cookies in chinese new year, so instead of dumped it to the garbage bin, i decided to bake another batch of cookies to used it up. The jam still tastes great, same as the fresh made one, though i've been keep it for more than a month.
I use my previous recipe for the cookies (only substitute 30 g cheese powder with all purpose flour), roll it like the way how you make swiss roll, chill in the fridge, cut once it firm enough, bake and enjoy.

Fried Rice With XO Sauce

It is Sunday and i am lazy, hungry and crave for something nice yet easy. Digging my fridge, i found a jar of XO sauce, some seafood and leftover rice. Yay...something delicious ready in less than 10 minutes.

Ingredients:
2 bowl leftover rice
3 tbsp chopped onion
3 tbsp XO sauce
4 large prawn, chopped
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 tbsp soy sauce
2 red chili, chopped
bunch of chinese chives
salt to taste

- Heat few drops oil, scramble egg and set aside. Saute onion until fragrant, add chopped chili, prawn and rice. Stir for few minutes, add in scrambled egg, XO sauce and soy sauce. Keep stirring for another 3-4 minutes. Taste with salt and add chopped chives. Serve while it is hot.

* Use less oil is better since XO sauce is already oily.

Padang Style Chicken Rendang

If you wonder what Padang mean, it is capital city of West Sumatra, Indonesia, which is very famous with their delicious cuisine. Rendang is the most famous one. If u ever went to Jakarta, you'll find Padang Restaurant almost in every corner of street, with their glass window stacked up with food.
Rendang is basically meat cooked in thick, creamy coconut milk and spices. There are two kind of rendang, one is made from beef and the other from chicken. The spices used in both dishes also different, so beef and chicken rendang has a different flavor.

Ingredients:
600 g boneless chicken thigh, cubed
1 large potato, cubed
4 cups thick coconut milk
1 stalk lemon grass, bruised
2 bay leaves
2 lime leaves

Spice to grind:
8 red chili
5 cloves shallot
3 cloves garlic
4 candle nut
1/2 inch ginger
1 tsp galangal powder
1 tsp turmeric powder

-Heat 2 tbsp cooking oil in a wok, add all the ingredients except chicken, potato and coconut milk.
Stir for 2 minutes, add chicken and stir again till chicken no longer pink. Add potato and coconut milk and taste with salt. Simmer for 30 minutes until chicken tender. Serve over warm white rice.

Spaghetti With Mushroom and Sausage

Mushrooms are one of my favorite food. I love to buy any kind of mushroom when i saw the fresh one, though sometimes i really don't know what to do with it.
Few days ago, a friend take me to Italian restaurant and their fettucine alfredo was soooo good!! I notice that i never try to make alfredo sauce by myself, so today i attempted to try it. And in order not to waste my fresh shitake mushroom that already sitting in my fridge for almost 2 weeks, i add it to the sauce along with chicken sausage and it tasted yummy(not as good as the restaurant's one for sure hehee)

Sauce Ingredients:

110 g cream cheese
50 g butter
1/3 cup heavy cream
1 tsp garlic granules
1 tsp parsley flake
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
4 fresh shitake mushroom, slice
1 chicken sausage, slice

-Melt butter in a sauce pan, add sliced mushroom and sausage. Pour cream, add garlic granules and simmer for 3 minutes.
Remove from heat, add cheese and stir quickly. Pour sauce over cooked spaghetti and sprinkle with parsley flakes.

Strawberry Cheese Tart

This tart is modification from my previous cheese fruit tart, only substitute mixed fruit with strawberry and everything is done.
The combination of cream cheese and heavy cream was so smooth, went perfectly with sweet and juicy strawberry. I still have a lot of strawberries in my fridge, so maybe i'll post
more strawberry recipe in few days ahead.

Strawberry Swiss Rolls

Strawberry now is in season. I bought a box of fresh and beautiful tiny strawberry from night market last night and it only cost half of the usual price. Beautiful and delicious dessert, that's the first thing come to my mind when i saw strawberries.
Too bad, the berries season only lasts for only 3-4 weeks here. Click here for the swiss roll recipe.

Lapis Surabaya

Wow...it's been 3 long weeks since my last post. I was in blue mood for entering my kitchen after big long feast of Chinese new year. And today, i bake this cake for the sake of new post. Lapis literally mean layer and Surabaya is one of the big city in Indonesia and it is my hometown. So, lapis surabaya will be layered Surabayanese cake in English :)
The chocolate layer turned to be dense caused by over mixing. However, it tasted great and my kitchen smell heavenly while it baking in the oven.
Recipe adapted from aunty Yochana

Cheesy Nastar

Finally, my lazy days has come to an end. I managed to make pineapple jam 2 days ago and baked these cookies yesterday. I use my mom's recipe and do slight modification by adding edam cheese powder and it turn out great.

Ingredients:
275 g butter, soften to room temperature
370 g all purpose flour
30 g edam cheese powder
4 egg yolk
45 g caster sugar

- Mix all purpose flour and cheese powder together. Beat butter and sugar till light(but not very light) and egg yolk one by one, beat well. Fold in flour mixture and knead lightly. Chill the dough for 30 minutes. Wrap with pineapple jam and bake at 180 degrees celsius for 25 minutes.

Kuo Yuan Ye Museum of Cake and Pastry

I'm getting lazier to write and post anything recently. Beside i have nothing to write about also i haven't cook anything unusual or fancy. It caused by the weather.... it's so cold in past few days. I'd rather cover myself up on the bed, than doing cleaning and washing around my kitchen.
Last night, a friend called me and asked if i'm interested in a tour to Kuo Yuan Ye Museum of Cake and Pastry. Woww....i jumped up from the bed, yess...here i come.
Kuo Yuan Ye founded and started their bussiness in 1867. Their first museum established in 2001 located in Yangmei - Taoyuan county and the second is in Shilin - Taipei county. Now, they are considered as one of the best pastry maker in Taiwan. We learn how to make Taiwanese pineapple shortcake (fong li shu), with the main ingredients flour, butter, sugar, coconut milk for pastry dough and pineapple, wintermelon, sugar for pastry filling.
This is the first time i tasted their pineapple shortcake, the pastry has crunchy texture and buttery smell, far different with other pineapple shortcake which usually too soft or very hard. Beside pineapple, they also made strawberry, blueberry, mango, orange shortcake and many more. So, if you happen to be in Taiwan, don't miss it!!!
Here are my shortcakes with koala, bear and owl shape. It cracks everywhere....i still need more practice. As usual, i forgotten my camera so i use my cellphone for taking the pictures.


Kuo Yuan Ye Museum of Cake and Pastry
Wen Lin Rd No.546 Shilin
Taipei County (only few steps away from Shilin MRT Station)

Raisin Oatmeal Cookies

Lately, i got probs with my cheap Sony DSC-W55. Every object looks so yellow and blur although i took the pictures in the bright place. I've adjusted all the setting and it become more yellow. Guess, i need a better camera.... *sigh

I never been a big fan of cookies, but all of sudden i crave for something sweet so i bake a batch of this super easy and awesome cookies. I don't even need taking my mixer out, just stir, bake and enjoy! I'll bake more for Chinese new year giveaway.

Ingredients:

120 g butter, soften to room temperature
180 g all purpose flour
1 egg
100 g caster sugar
40 g light brown sugar
60 g oatmeal
60 g chopped pecan
50 g raisin
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt

- Sift flour, baking soda and salt. Mix butter and sugar till well mixed, whisked in egg and stir till smooth. Fold in flour and the rest ingredients. Drop a tablespoon of dough to lined baking tray and bake in preheated oven at 180 degrees celsius for 15-18 minutes till golden brown.

Chinese Style Fried Rice

I learn this fried rice from a chinese takeaway restaurant nearby. They used chinese dried sausage (臘腸 / la chang) too cook this fried rice. It is real simple yet awfully delicious, perfect solution for lazy winter days.

Ingredients:
2 bowl white rice (leftover is great)
2 egg, lightly beaten
2 dried sausage, minced
2 red chili, minced
3 tbsp chopped onion
1 scallion
2 tbsp soy sauce
salt and pepper

- Heat a tbsp oil, saute onion until fragrant. Add chili and sausage stir for few minutes, pour in beaten egg and stir quickly. Add in rice, taste with soy sauce, salt and pepper. Turn off heat and sprinkle with chopped scallion.

Happy New Year 2009

Wishing all of dear friends and visitor happy new year 2009, another year has passed by. Best wishes and may God bless you in the years to come.
Good bye 2008, i'm a year older.... *sobbing*