Sundried tomato foccacia Monday, Feb 21 2011 

Requires Oven , p.sawyer 9:52 pm

I love all sorts of bread… which is kinda a bad thing cos it’s carbs and carbs make me fat. Anyway, I couldn’t resist baking a loaf of fresh bread!

Ingredients:

  • 250ml (1 cup) water
  • 1 cup plain flour
  • 2 cups bread flour
  • 2 tbsp powdered milk (or 3 tbsp fresh milk – reduce water accordingly)
  • 3 1/2 tbsp white sugar
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 3 tbsp butter
  • 3/4 cup chopped sundried tomatoes
  • 2 tsp yeast

Method:

  1. Place ingredients in bread machine, according to maker’s instructions.
  2. After dough cycle has completed, remove from machine and continue to knead for 1-2 minutes, adding a bit of flour as you go along, if it’s too sticky to handle. Dough will slowly come together and be easier to handle.
  3. Let rest for 15 minutes in an oiled bowl. Cover with cling wrap.
  4. Spread onto baking tray and let rise for 30 minutes. Continue to cover with cling wrap.

    I had put too much oil in the tray, thus the pool of oil at the sides. I later used kitchen towels to soak up the excess before baking

  5. Sprinkle 1 tsp sea salt and dimple the dough with your fingertips.
  6. Bake at 205 C for 20 minutes or until surface is brown.

*Optional: I mixed 3 pinches of dried rosemary leaves, 2 1/2 tsp minced garlic & 1 tbsp olive oil. Warm slightly in microwave for 30 secs to make infused oil. I then used the oil at Step 3, and sprinkled the garlic on top of dough at Step 5.

Footnotes:

  1. You can use 3 cups bread flour if you wish but I prefer a softer yielding bread over chewy bread.
  2. Reduce the amount of water used if you plan to use a bit of sundried tomato oil. Too much liquid will make the dough very soft.
  3. You can add 1/2 cup chopped olives during Step 1 if you wish.

 

Resuming my baking love Sunday, Feb 20 2011 

Recipes p.sawyer 11:37 pm

After reading B&E’s blog, I’m kinda inspired to bake again. I admire her courage to leave the corporate world to pursue her baking dream. Though Mom is supportive of me, and is willing to sponsor my baking/patisserie course, I’m hesitant. I know I won’t make it big here because we will not have the funds to open our own shop, but will I have the courage to drop everything and pursue my dream in Australia where there is a chance of making it?

Until I have the courage to do that (or when I get sick of corporate boot-licking), I will resume baking. Hopefully I’ll be able to do something every 2 weeks as my domestic helper likes to bake too, and she often bakes ALOT when she does. It’s crazy I tell you. It’s like a competition to see who will get to bake first every weekend!

 

Recipe: Pork congee Sunday, Oct 24 2010 

One-dish meals and Requires Stove p.sawyer 6:02 pm

This has got to be my favourite recipe for congee… it evokes memories of my childhood and what a good cook my granny was (she hardly cooks now because we now have a domestic helper who does all the cooking, washing and housework).

The congee is extremely easy – the secret is a slow cooker. You just have to dump ingredients of your choice into the slow cooker, add rice and water and turn it on. Few hours later, voila! Mushy, yummy congee.

Ingredients (serves 6):

  • 1 1/2 cups uncooked rice
  • 1/2 cup sliced lean pork
  • 1 carrot, chopped into 1 inch pieces
  • 3 tbsp oyster sauce
  • 1 tbsp light soy sauce
  • 1/2 tbsp sesame oil
  • few pieces dried scallops (optional)

Method:

  1. Marinate pork slices in oyster sauce, soy sauce and sesame oil.
  2. Wash rice and place at the bottom of slow cooker. Add 2x the amount of water.
  3. Add in marinated pork and carrots and scallops, if using.
  4. Turn on the slow cooker and stir occasionally to prevent lumps at bottom of pot.
  5. Congee is ready after 3-4 hours. It should be a sticky consistency, with no visible rice grains.
  6. Serve with white pepper and additional light soy sauce and sesame oil to taste.

PS: Plain rice congee can also be made using the slow cooker. I usually like to start cooking it at night before I go to bed so that the congee will be ready for breakfast the next morning. Put the slow cooker on auto mode so it will know when to cut off power and not overheat.

 

Glutinous Rice Chicken Sunday, Aug 1 2010 

One-dish meals and Requires Stove p.sawyer 10:13 am

I actually prefer savoury snacks to sweet. I don’t have much of a sweet tooth, except on those ‘special days’. But I always end up making sweet stuff like cupcakes and desserts because I don’t dare to touch raw meat. Yeah… the 2 years in Australia has not trained me because K the glutton was there to help us!

So anyway, I found this recipe for Glutinous Rice Chicken, or 糯米鸡 and it’s dead simple!!

Ingredients (Serves 2):

  • 1-1/2 cups glutinous rice, soaked overnight and drained
  • 2 pcs chicken, diced or sliced
  • 3 pcs chinese mushroom, soaked and cut into cubes or slices
  • 5 tbsp oil (shallot oil or onion oil would be more fragrant)
  • 4 tbsp oyster sauce
  • 2 tsp sugar
  • 2 tbsp sesame oil
  • 220ml water

Method:

  1. Heat shallot oil and fry chinese mushroom.
  2. Add in chicken and seasonings to fry over high heat for 1 min.
  3. Remove chicken and mushroom (it’s ok if chicken is not cooked thoroughly yet – you’ll steam it again later). Leave sauce behind in frying pan.
  4. Add water & rice and fry until sauce is absorbed into rice.
  5. Arrange chicken and mushroom in bottom of bowl(s), top up with rice.
  6. Steam over high heat for 25 minutes. *You can also do this step in the microwave for 10 minutes, just increase water to 240ml as microwaving will make the dish drier.

 

IKO Oats biscuit Friday, Jul 23 2010 

Food p.sawyer 7:00 pm

Recently, I developed a strong craving for all things oats-related. Like I added blended oatmeal to my muffins batter, and ate oatmeal on a hungry night. And today I bought oats biscuits.So yummy and wholesome! Makes me feel healthy…

IKO biscuits

There’s an offer for the multi-flavour biscuit packs – 2 for $10 and get another small box of pumpkin seed biscuits free. Of course I took up that offer, bought 4 packs in total!

 

Banana Oatmeal muffins Sunday, Jul 18 2010 

Cakes & Bakes and Requires Oven p.sawyer 11:11 am

If you love a healthy snack, you gotta try this.

Ingredients (makes 12 muffins):

  • 1 cup oatmeal, processed to a fine flour
  • 1/4 cup wholemeal flour
  • 1/2 cup plain flour
  • 1/2 cup brown sugar (can be increased to 2/3 cup if you like your food sweeter)
  • 2 tsp baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp baking soda
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • dash of cinnamon powder
  • 1/2 cup chopped walnuts
  • 2 eggs
  • 1/4 cup olive oil
  • 1 cup mashed bananas

Method:

  1. Preheat oven to 180degrees C.
  2. Mix dry ingredients and walnuts together (brown sugar, oat flour, wholemeal flour, plain flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon powder).
  3. In another bowl, mix eggs, oil and bananas together.
  4. Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients and gently stir together. If mixture is a little dry, add a dash of milk to moisten it. Do NOT overmix, mixture will be lumpy.
  5. Spoon into muffin pan or liners and bake 20 minutes.

 

Smoked Salmon Muffins Sunday, Jul 18 2010 

Cakes & Bakes and Requires Oven p.sawyer 11:03 am

I’ve always prefered muffins to cupcakes because I’m not a big fan of icing and decorations, and also because I’m lazy. Heh. Muffins are easy to make and yummy. Just have 2 bowls of ingredients (wet in one bowl, dry in the other bowl), mix them up gently and you’re ready to bake!

I had some leftover smoked salmon in the chiller that I needed to use up quickly, so I flipped my 500 cupcakes recipe book, and saw that there is indeed a smoked salmon muffin recipe! What luck! The recipe was a little bland, so I’ve tweaked it a little to make it more appetizing and less fishy.

Ingredients (makes 5 muffins):

  • 110g plain flour
  • 1/2 tbsp baking powder
  • pinch of salt
  • 110ml milk
  • 1 egg, lightly beaten
  • 1-1/2 tbsp butter, melted
  • 50g chopped smoked salmon
  • freshly ground black pepper
  • zest of 1/2 lemon
  • juice of 1/2 lemon
  • dash of dill (or other herbs you like)

Method:

  1. Preheat oven to 170degrees C.
  2. Mix wet ingredients together (milk, eggs, melted butter and lemon juice). Add smoked salmon, black pepper, herbs and lemon zest.
  3. Gently fold in dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, salt) to wet ingredients until just combined. Do not overmix or you’ll end up having bricks as muffins.
  4. Fill muffin pan or liners and bake for 20minutes.
  5. Remove from oven and let cool on rack.

 

American Cheesecake Saturday, Jul 17 2010 

Cakes & Bakes and Requires Oven p.sawyer 6:29 pm

I attended a cheesecake baking workshop earlier this week and the teacher taught us 3 types of cheesecake: no-bake cheesecake, american cheesecake and Japanese cotton soft cheesecake. I have my own Japanese cotton soft cheesecake recipe here which I think is better than the one taught in class.

Today, I made American cheesecake with an oatmeal crust (cos I really like the marble cheesecake from Secret Recipe. It has an oatmeal base which I LOVE!)

Crust Ingredients (makes 1 8.5″ round):

  • 3/4 cup oatmeal
  • 1/2 cup plain flour
  • 1/4 cup brown sugar
  • 1/4 tsp baking soda
  • 1/2 cup melted butter
  • 1/4 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

Method:

  1. Preheat oven to 180degrees C.
  2. Mix dry ingredients and walnuts together, before adding melted butter.
  3. Mix ingredients thoroughly and press evenly into lined pan.
  4. Bake for 15 minutes. Let cool before use.

*You may wish to increase the ingredients by 50% if you prefer a thicker crust. Recipe here makes about 2mm crust, on the thin side.

Filling Ingredients (makes 1 8.5″ round):

  • 500g cream cheese
  • 140g sugar
  • 50g cornflour
  • 5g milk powder
  • 2 eggs
  • zest and juice of half an orange or lemon (about 2 tsp of juice)
  • 1 tsp vanilla essence
  • 25g softened butter
  • 125g dairy cream or yogurt

Method:

  1. Prepare baking tin with parchment paper on the bottom – 8.5″ round tin, if not using a crust as base. Preheat oven to 160degrees C.
  2. Soften cream cheese in a mixing bowl. Beat till soft.
  3. Add in sugar, cornflour, juice and zest, half the cream/yogurt. Mix thoroughly.
  4. Add in eggs, one at a time. Mix thoroughly on low speed.
  5. Add in remaining cream/yogurt, milk powder, vanilla essence and butter. Mix on low speed.
  6. Pour gently into prepared crust or pan. Place a tray of water on bottom rack to prevent cake from cracking during baking process.
  7. Bake at 170degrees C for 15 minutes before lowering temperature to 160degrees C and continue baking for 1 hour.

 

Butter cake Sunday, Jul 11 2010 

Cakes & Bakes and Requires Oven p.sawyer 5:03 pm

I think butter cake gives people a warm feeling… there may be many elaborate recipes out there, like triple chocolate layered cake, creme brulee etc, but butter cake is always welcomed by people of all ages. Hahaha… what am I talking about now?

I found an easy recipe by Rasa Malaysia and made it this afternoon. I first made the mistake of using my breadmaker to mix the batter cos I thought it will be easier and less hassle to clean up, but I was wrong. The mixer couldn’t get the batter smooth and the cold milk hardened the already softened butter. Argh.

A word of caution would be remember to grease your pan! My cake fell apart when I was turning it out as the base of the cake stuck to the bottom of the pan. Boo hoo hoo! But the end result was a soft, moist buttery cake that is yummy! I’m going to make it again, but cupcake style!

 

Fruit cobbler (or clafouti) Saturday, Jul 3 2010 

Recipes and Requires Oven p.sawyer 7:20 pm

I was bored at work one day, and decided to visit one of my all-time favourite floggers (Pioneerwoman FTW!!!). It’s 4th of July tomorrow, and so many US floggers are preparing for this day. Of course the day has no significance to me but the food is always welcomed! PW shared some of her favourite recipes and one of them is this very very very simple and easy recipe. I got the thing in the oven in 10 minutes and waited patiently for it to be ready.  Warm vanilla scents were wafting through the air around the 40min mark.

PW calls it cobbler, but I think it might have been a clafouti more than a cobbler after researching. Anyhoo, it was yummy! Click here for recipe.

 

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