Traditional Sponge Cake

Ingredients:

4 eggs

100g caster sugar

120g plain flour, sifted

3tbsp melted butter

1. Put the eggs into a mixing bowl.

2. Use high speed to whisk until frothy. Add in sugar slowly.

3. Whisk mixture until very light and fluffy, test by dripping mixture into a "O" shape. Continue to use slow speed to beat for another 3 - 5 minutes until mixture is very fine and smooth.

4. Divide flour into 3 portions and sift flour onto the egg mixture.

5. Fold flour lightly into egg mixture in ONE direction.

6. Lightly mix in the butter in ONE direction, do not over-mix.

7. Pour into a lined and greased baking tin and bake in a pre-heated oven at 180deg C for 30 - 35 minutes until cooked and golden brown.

8. Remove and leave to cool.

Basic Sponge cake using sponge cake mix

The success of making sponge cake largely depends on the amount of air whisked into the mixture. There is no fixed time for beating the sponge cake mix and eggs. It depends on the type of cake mixer used. If using small cake mixer, it is better to use cold eggs and cold water from the fridge for easy rising.

Oven: Preheat oven for 15 minutes before baking

The Recipe:

Ingredients:

250g sponge cake mix flour

4 eggs

4 tbsp water

4 tbsp melted butter/corn oil

Method

1. Put sponge cake mix flour and eggs into a mixing bowl.

2. Use low speed to mix into smooth batter.

3. Increase to high speed and beat batter until white and creamy.

4. Add water and continue to beat until light and fluffy.

5. To Test, use mixture to drip into a "O" shape and it can keep the shape for 10 seconds.

6. Use a plastic spatula and mix in the melted butter in ONE DIRECTION until well-combined.

DONT over-mix the mixture . If mixture starts to break up and turns watery, it means air bubbles have broken up and the cake texture will be coarse and hard.

7. Pour the mixture into a lined and greased baking tin, bake in a pre-heated oven at 180degC for 30 to35 minutes or until cooked and golden brown.

8. Remove and leave to cool.

Others:

Add 1 tbsp instant coffee dissolved in 1 tbsp boiling water for Mocha Sponge Cake.

Add 1 tbsp thick pandan juice for Pandan Sponge Cake.

Add 1 tbsp Orange juice and 1 tsp grated orange rind to make Orange Sponge Cake.

All the flavours are added in the last after butter.

Happy Baking!!

Simply Delicious!!

Thanks Sonia for sharing your Lemongrass, Pandan leaves Chicken recipe. Indeed it's super simple and yet delicious. I prepared the chicken and left it in the pre-heat oven and went jogging with hubby, and when we return in 45mins later, it was just cooked!!

I didn't put too much of lemon grass and pandan leaves because I wanted

to add a bottle of "essence of chicken" to enhance the taste.
I heat up the essence of chicken in the microwave oven and pour into the chopped chicken and serve while it's hot. It's really yummy!!

Fish head "mee hoon"

I'm so blessed that I do not have to cook during week ends. It's either we eat out, or hubby will prepare something simple but special for us!!

So here goes..... the supposed to be clay pot fish head "mee hoon" served in "Ming Room", Bangsa!!

Pasta

This is an extremely easy recipe. Best still, it's really healthy food! The recipe is from "The Marks & Spencer Essentials Collection". They have simple and delicious easy-to-make pasta sauce recipes.

The sauce I prepared here is raw tomato sauce with olive oil, garlic and basil with ham and prawn. Yummy yummy.

Ingredients for the sauce:

500gm large, ripe tomatoes, peeled, de-seeded and diced.
125ml extra-virgin olive oil
4 garlic cloves, chopped very finely
large handful fresh basil leaves, shredded
3 tbsp chopped fresh oregano or marjoram
salt and pepper
450gm dried conchiglie

Combine the tomatoes, olive oil, garlic, basil and oregano in a bowl that is large enough to eventually accommodate the cooked pasta.

Season generously with salt and pepper. Cover the bowl with Clingfilm and leave to stand at room temperature for at least 30 minutes.

Cook the pasta in boiling salted water until cooked. Drain thoroughly and immediately add to the tomatoes.

Toss well to mix, ready to serve!

As you can see from the pictures, the 1st picture is served with grilled chicken. The 2nd and 3rd pictures, served with prawns and ham.

Note: The skin of the tomatoes can be easily peeled by putting the tomatoes in a bowl of boiling water and leave to stand for about 5 to 10 minutes.

Vietnamese Spring Rolls

This is a very simple dish, which we will have this almost once a week for lunch!! It's Ade's favorite food and I'm glad that she is well trained to eat healthy food at her young age!

These were wrapped by her for me...

Teriyaki chicken on the electric grill.... The ingredients are: I will only use vegetables that Ade loves, they are as pictures shown below; basil leaves (must have alot!! these are fresh from our garden), shredded carrot, shredded cucumber & mee hoon.

lettuce, teriyaki chicken & bean sprouts.
Most import ingredient: rice wrappers... ( my nephew who travels to Vietnam often, will always remember getting these for me. Tks CG, hehe stock running low already!!)

Finally, instead of the normal sauce, we preferred our own version of chili sauce which we use Maggie Thai chili sos, add some lemon juice to dilute it then add some sugar.

Simple and healthy Spring Rolls!!

Savoury Dumplings/Chang

Savoury Dumplings, contains of glutinous rice wrapped in bamboo leaves to form a pyramid shape. we can find different fillings in the rice, example, pork, roast pork, chestnut, salted egg yolks, mushroom, abalone & etc...

For me, I normally prepare simple savoury dumplings with ingredients which my family members preferred. The ingredients are, pork belly w/o skin, dried mushrooms, dried chestnuts, salted egg yolks, and green peas w/o skin.

The wrapping up of the dumplings is interesting!!

They are then put into an oval shaped pressure cooker, which is able to cook about 22 dumplings of average size. (1 kg of glutinous rice)

When the safety (red) button arises, it's time to turn down the fire to low, and continue to boil for about 1 hour.

Turn off the fire after 1 hour, but DO NOT OPEN THE COVER!!! Just leave the cooker as it is until the red button goes down as shown below:

Here goes... yummy yummy savoury dumplings!!

"Dried" Bak Kut Teh

Bak Kut Teh, a unique combination of Chinese traditional herbs and spices, stew with any meat of your choice e.g pork, chicken, beef or mutton. Normally is prepared in soupy style.

I like "Eu Yan Sang" pre-packed Bak Kut Teh which comes in a box with 12 sachet.

This time, I cooked the "dried" BKT instead of the normal soupy style!

The ingredients i used:

pork ribs with lean meat (totally without skin and fat),

sea cucumber,

dried black mushroom,

button mushroom,

golden mushroom,

1 sachet BKT spices

and added extra chinese herbs not forgeting garlic ...

Put the meat, black mushroom, garlic, BKT spices, herbs, soya sauce, thick soya sauce & 1000ml water in a pressure cooker and cook for about 30minutes.

Pour into a Pyrex pot and add in button mushroom, sea cucumber continue to stew for another 20minutes with very low heat. Finally put in the golden mushroom, stir well, simmer for 10 minutes before serving

Seri Muka

As requested by Sonia, here is the recipe from Agnes Chang's Hawker's Delights. I followed the recipe for the bottom layer but modified the top layer with recipe as shown below.

Bottom layer:

300g glutinous rice, wash, soaked for about 4 hours & drained

1/2 coconut, squeezed 180ml coconut milk

1 tsp salt

2 pieces pandan leaves, knotted.

1 piece banana leaf, for pressing

1. Put all the ingredients into a 22cm steaming tray. Steam with high heat until cooked (about 45minutes) Discard pandan leaves, fluff up rice and press with banana leaf until very firm.

Top Layer:

4 eggs

150g sugar

1 coconut, squeezed 350ml coconut milk

3 tbsp plain flour

2 tbsp pandan juice (used 3 pieces pandan leaves)

a few drops green colouring

1. Stir eggs and sugar lightly until sugar dissolved.

2. Add coconut milk, flour, pandan juice, green colouring and mix well.

3. Strain over the bottom layer. Steam with low heat until set.

4. Remove and leave to cool before cutting into pieces.

I modified the top layer as:

Modified Top layer

1 packet Hoen Kwe Flour (80g) can get from Jaya Jusco

1 coconut squeezed into 3 cups (750ml) coconut milk add a pinch of salt

100gm caster sugar

1 table spoon custard powder

1 tbsp pandan juice from 3 pandan leaves

1. Put the HK flour, custard powder and sugar into a mixing bowl.

2. Add in the coconut milk and stir till sugar dissolved, add in the pandan juice.

3. Strain the mixture into saucepan, keep stiring with low fire until thick and smooth.

4. Pour the mixture to the bottom layer, steam for about 15 - 20 minutes until cooked.

5. Remove, cool before cutting.

Homemade Pandan Kaya

This is the 1st time i'm making Pandan Kaya and it turns out well, delicious and yummy!! Love the pandan smell!!

Elaine, I know you love this and maybe you should try.. but it took me 1 hour standing and stirring until it's cooked in a double boilder!!!

Recipe from: Kitchen Corner

Something simple for fellowship

Prepered these simple desert for CG meeting on Friday nite!!

Minced Pork "loh see fun"

Seeing Sonia's delicioius yummy minced pork rice reminds me that it's has been long time that we have not eaten home cooked mince pork "loh see fun".

Hence here it is, simple and quick to prepare lunch for Ade and me!!

I added some black mushroom and see chuan vege as these are Ade's favourite.. yes, it tasted yummy with sambal!! We finished the whole plate!!

Butter Chicken

I was extremely surprised by my sil who has a blog loaded with all the wonderful and delicious food that she prepared for her family!! hahaha I always think that she is a career lady and didnt know the other side of her!! Great work!!

I read about her Butter Chicken the other day and requested her to share the recipe and tried it out on Sunday and it came out real yummy!!

Since the butter chicken was a bit oilly, it goes real well with Steam Tau Fu with Siew Pak Choy!!

Meanwhile, just to share the delicious Steam Prawn "bee hoon" prepared by hubby on labour day.... It was yummy too!!