CoCo's Roasted Rack of Lamb

This dish has to be my crowning glory! I love rack of lamb, so this Christmas Eve I thought we cook something special and hubby suggested rack of lamb. I have never cooked it before, but how hard could it be right?

Seriously this was another one those dishes that seemed difficult, but it's NOT! OK the ingredients were a little expensive, this rack of lamb, which the butcher had already prepared by cutting away all the meat from the top of the bones, cost around S$38.00. But I guess for a special occasion, why not?

So anyway, very simple. I learnt all of these from daily tutelage from chefs around the world, gathered inside my television set. :)

1. Make sure the meat is at room temperature, take it out of the fridge early. Preheat oven to 200°C. Trim off some excess fat surrounding the meat. (Keep the fat*) Wrap the bones with tin foil to prevent burning.
2. Just before roasting, season the meat with a pinch of chopped sage, thyme, freshly ground pepper, salt and extra virgin olive oil.
3. Sear the meat on a hot frying pan to give the meat a nice brown colour.
4. Place the meat into the oven and lower the temperature to 180°C. Roast for 25 minutes.
5. Up the temperature to 200°C and roast for another 10 minutes. Take out the meat and cover it up with aluminium foil for at least 10 minutes before slicing it.

Serve with brown sauce and salad.

Brown sauce:
-Pour away some of the fat from the baking tray.
-Place the baking tray (only if your tray is stove top friendly - if not, scrape everything onto a frying pan) on top of the stove and add 2 tablespoon of flour.
-When everything is lumped up, add in some soup stock or water until gravy is formed and keep stirring until smooth. Flavour if necessary.

*FAT*
Cut the fat into small cubes and cook in frying pan with some cooking oil in very low heat. Slowly, the animal fat would be rendered, leaving behind a super flavourful oil and crazy crispy and delicious crackling.



As the fat has been released, the crackling is not too oily and very delicious. Kind of like the chinese 猪油渣. The remaining oil can be used to make super yummy roast potatoes. Just add boiled potatoes onto the cooled oil and roast them in the oven at high heat, 200°C, for about 20 minutes, turning occasionally. The result is something you can match at Macdonald's! Serious!

Bistro Du Vin

Fancy a French dinner that's friendly on your wallet? Had dinner with some old friends at Bistro Du Vin and I'm so hooked. It's no wonder, how can a small little French Bistro serve such wonderful food? Apparently it's under the Le Amis Group, which is like one of the most famous fine dinning restaurants in Singapore.

I just HAD to bring my hubby, my trusty side kick in my never ending quest to enjoy good food. Surprise surprise! They were FULLY BOOKED when I turned up with no reservations on a Friday night, hopping for another kick ass dinner on my wedding anniversary. Maybe it's due to the holiday season? Maybe they were really that HOT? I don't know.

Anyways, the very next day we called during lunch time to make reservations for dinner. They misunderstood and thought that we need a table for 3, and told us they were already fully booked for the night. Thankfully we cleared the misunderstanding. We only need a small little table for 2 and a baby chair? Please...? Just kidding, we didn't beg... Anyway the manager there is super nice and we got our table. YEAH!

So to cut to the chase, what did we order? Duh we're in a French restaurant, so you have crusty, warm, fresh from the loaf french loaf, which is free. Then we ordered their French onion soup, which was absolutely delightful.

French Onion Soup - S$14.00


A must try, their buttery, beautiful foie gras - S$22.00


Hubby tried their Pork Knuckle,(S$30.00) which was unfortunately a little too salty for his taste.


I ordered the Braised Beef Cheek (S$33.00). Looks fairly ordinary, but take one bite and you'll be surprised at how wonderfully tender it is. It literally melts in your mouth! Also, the button mushrooms and the carrots were super yummy. The sauce was a little salty too that night, but overall, I love it.



The first time I was there with my girlfriends, we ordered the creme brulee, which was like heaven in a dish. The 2nd time round, I ordered the souffle. I assumed that it would be chocolate flavour, but it turned out to be this vanilla with a dash of liquor flavour. Hmm...OK next time should really ask 1st. Still very good, very light and fluffy, but liquor was just not my thing. -_-

Souffle - S$12.00


Overall, a very lovely evening in a cosy little place with good food. Good for any occasions. :)

Bistro Du Vin
1 Scotts Road
#02-12 Shaw Centre
Singapore 228208
Tel: 6733 7763

CoCo's Raisin Loaf Bread

350g high protein flour
50g whole wheat flour
6g instant yeast
18g caster sugar
7g salt
7g milk powder
230g warm water
18g butter
80g raisins

1. Soak raisins overnight and chop half of them into fine pulp.
2. Place yeast, sugar, salt and milk powder into warm water.
3. Using a blender, put on the dough hook and mix the flours with the liquid in step 2.
4. When the dough does not stick to the side of the bowl, add in the butter and the chopped raisins. Continue mixing until the dough has once again unstuck from the side of the mixing bowl. Add more flour if it doesn't.
5. Remove the dough onto the floured surface, flatten the dough a little and fold in the rest of the raisins. Do it gently or the raisins would burst.
6. Oil the mixing bowl and return the dough back into it. Cover with cling firm and let it rise in a warm place till it's double it's size, which takes about 40mins.
7. When it's ready, cut the dough into 2 equal portions, roll into 2 round balls and place them into the oiled bread tin. Let it rise to fill the tin, which takes about 60mins.
8. Place it in a preheated oven of 200°C for 60 minutes.
9. Slice to serve! :)

CoCo's Glutinous Rice

The recipe sort of belongs to my Mummy I guess. She just verbally told me the basic techniques and rest was up to me. This was my very 1st try and I was surprised that it turned out quite well! So I guess it's not as difficult as many think it is.

Glutinous Rice - Best thing is, supermarkets now sell them in small packets rather than in huge 5kg packs. Which was just enough to fill a Tupperware to the brim. Rinse through with water a few times before soaking them in water overnight.

Mushrooms - I like those dried mushrooms as their flavour is much richer. Depending on personal liking, soak a few in lukewarm water overnight as well.

Dried Shrimps - key essential flavour. Soak a small handful in water for a few minutes.

Meat - some like pork, others like chicken. Here I'm using chicken breast meat, but you don't need much as it is only a supporting actor in this blockbuster movie. Slice them thinly.

Garlic - Mince 1 clove very finely

On the day of cooking, drain away the water from the glutinous rice, leaving a little behind. Add in 2 tablespoons of dark soya sauce, a few shakes of sesame oil, 1 teaspoon of chicken powder and 1 tablespoon of cooking oil. Mix well, pour the rice onto a plate and steam it.

The shortcut way to making easy fluffy glutinous rice is by using a pressure cooker. If using pressure cooker, steam for 30mins. If using a regular steaming method, steam for 45min to 1 hour or until rice is just cooked, slightly translucent.

While the rice is steaming, heat up a little oil. Stir fry the chicken, dried shrimps, mushrooms and garlic with some oyster sauce, a teaspoon of chicken powder or salt, pepper and finally water or chicken stock to just cover all the ingredients. Remember that the rice is quite bland, so don't worry that it would be too salty.

When the rice is ready, just pour the rice into the mix and keep tossing until the rice has loosen and mixed well with all the ingredients. Taste to check the seasoning.

For an extra burst of flavour, you can make your own fried shallots and some shallot oil just before serving. To store, just make sure it's cooled before stuffing it into a Tupperware and keeping it in a fridge. The next morning, just scoop out, steam it for another 20mins and a sumptuous breakfast is ready!

CoCo's Chicken Country Pie

This dish was inspired by the famous Chicken Pie from The Coffee Club cafe, which I absolutely love! I made this once many years ago and wrote it down into my recipe notebook. I was reading my notebook, looking for inspirations for dinner when I came across this. So I improved on my previous recipe and am happy to say it is now more yummy and nutritious than before!

To make 2 giant pies,

Filling:
1 stalk of celery, chopped finely
1 onion, chopped finely
1 stick of carrots (half minced, half diced)
1 clove of garlic, either grated or chopped finely
1 de-boned chicken thigh, diced
chicken stock
1 small pinch of Thyme, Rosemary and 1 Bay leaf
a small knob of butter
2 tablespoons of flour

Pie covering on top:
Store bought mixed cheese
Potatoes, carrots and pumpkin

For the filling:

1. cook celery, onion, minced carrots and garlic in low heat with a small pinch of salt. The aim is to soften the vegetables, which would remove the yucky celery taste that many people hate, including me, and give the dish this lovely flavour.

2. Add in the chicken pieces, carrots, spices and cover the meat with chicken stock. Simmer for 5-10mins.

3. In a separate pan, melt butter and add flour onto melted butter. Stir till the mixture is dough-like. Add the watery juices from the chicken to make a thick gravy. (If too dry, add warm water) Mix into the chicken and vegetables, season to taste and you have your filling!

For the top:
The original was just instant mashed potatoes, but I wanted to make it more nutritious, so I boiled potatoes, carrots and pumpkin for 15-20mins, until it's soft. Then I mash them all up, added some butter, salt and pepper it's done!

To finish, dish the chicken gravy into oven proof dishes, spread the mashed vegetables on top, and just before serving, sprinkle cheese generously on top and bake the pies in a 200°C for 10mins, or until the cheese is golden brown and bubbly!



World best...

CoCo's 爱心菜心 (Love Love Stir Fry Caixin)

This was just a very simple stir fry vegetable dish. But I was just inspired to do a little "art and craft" and have fun with everyday cooking! I guess sometimes you don't need to take things too seriously!

1. Stir fry sliced shitake mushrooms, carrots and garlic with a little oil till fragrant.

2. Add in the caixin, season with chicken powder and a little water.

3. Stir in a little cornstarch water to thicken up the sauce and give the dish a nice shine.

CoCo's Stir Fry Leeks with Sweet Peas and Prawns

Hubby loves leeks, so this was not the 1st time cooking this. But it was the 1st time I added other vegetables into the dish. I just thought that adding sweet peas would add another dimension of texture to the dish and I loved it. The soft and fibrous leeks with the sweet and crunchy sweet peas. Delicious!

1. I stir fry the fresh shitake mushrooms with the prawns. I want the original sweetness of the prawns intact, so I didn't marinate it.

2. Add in the sliced leeks that has been sliced on the bias, which means to cut diagonally. I don't know why, but this is how my Mom taught me. I guess this gives the vegetable more surface area and cooks faster and more evenly, as leeks are like onions, with many layers.

3. Mix half a teaspoon of chicken powder, 1 tablespoon of oyster sauce, 1 teaspoon of sugar, a little hua tiao wine and a little water. Pour in the sauce and the sweet peas and let it simmer for only a minute or two before dishing it up.

Don't let it cook too long or risk losing the sweet crunchy lovely-ness of the peas! Enjoy~!

Food Republic TuTu Kuey

I have been a fan of tutu kuey since I was a child. I've been eating them since I could remember, I love them! But recently I found one a place that sells some really wicked tutu, and that's Food Republic Food Court.

I know that tutu can be found everywhere in Singapore. But the real closer of the tutu at Food Republic is the Gula Melaka coconut filling. Usually they just use normal red sugar to cook the coconut before using it as a filling. But at Food Republic, which boast to sell authentic traditional food fare, they use Gula Melaka, which makes it oh.. so.. good..!



OK it's more expensive than your regular tutu, but it's oh so worth the few extra dollars!

Raisin Butter Rolls

Hubby loved raisin bread and butter rolls, so I thought I combine 2 of his favourite type of bread together. Turns out ok, just wished it was more buttery.



High protein / Bread flour 300g
Instant yeast 6g
Caster sugar 30g
Salt 5g
Egg + Warm water 190g
Butter 35g
Raisins 50g (should have added more, like 100g)
Extra melted butter for finished rolls.


1. Mix warm water with egg. Mix yeast, sugar and salt into flour. Mix egg mixture into flour mixture by hand and transfer onto work table dusted with flour.

2. Knead dough until smooth and smear butter onto dough before kneading again. Add raisins before fneading dough till surface is smooth and not sticky.

3. Pinch dough into a ball and place into an oiled bowl. Cover with cling film and allow to rise about 40min till dough is double its size.

4. Cut dough into small equal portions. Flatten it slightly and return it into a ball shape again by pinching from top to bottom. Let it rest for 10mins.

5. Roll the dough as per diagram below and let it rest for 5 mins. After 5 minutes, flatten the dough by pulling on one side of the dough and roll in from the wide side in.



6. Place rolls onto baking tray and allow it to double in size, approximately 40mins.

7. Bake for 12mins at 180 degree celsius. Brush melted butter onto freshly baked rolls.

Orange Muffins

Hubby bought some oranges but complained that it was a little too dry for him, so I've got 5 oranges left in the fridge. What to do? So I found this recipe online and the muffins turned out delicious! The original recipe had some chopped walnuts in it, but I didn't have any at hand, so mine is just plain orange muffins. Also, I used salted butter, so I didn't add any extra salt.

2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup white sugar
1 tablespoon grated orange zest
2/3 orange juice
1/2 cup melted butter
2 eggs

Topping:
1 tablespoon melted butter
1/4 cup packed brown sugar (I use white sugar)
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon (not a fan of cinnamon, I only use a small pinch)

1. Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, white sugar and orange zest.
2. Mix the juice, melted butter and eggs and gently fold in the dry ingredients. Don't mix too hard or too long or the muffins would turn out hard.
3. Pour into muffin cups till 3/4 full.
4. Mix topping ingredients together and sprinkle on top of each muffin.
5. Bake in preheated oven (350F / 175C) for 20-25 minutes.

Enjoy!
For the full original recipe, click here.

Casuarina curry roti prata

If you love crispy, flaky, delicious roti prata as much as me, you should try the prata at Casuarina Curry. If you go on weekend mornings, be prepared to be greeted with a full house! I just love how they are consistently good. Each time the food comes pretty quick, within minutes of ordering, your warm, crispy prata would be served.

Of course, as the name suggest, they are famous for their curry too. So we never fail to order the mutton curry to go with the prata.



We always order the classic plain and those with the egg filling. But they have a very wide selection of flavours such as banana, chocolate, cheese, etc. YUMS~! Can't wait for the next time we're there!

Official website

Brotzeit sausages and roasted pork

Went there for lunch the other weekend and decided to try out something new other than their usual pork knuckle. They had this roasted pork special that day, so we gave it a try. The meat was moist and flavourful while the crispy pork skin was to die for! I love the patty that comes with it. I'm not sure what it is, I think it's potatoes, but it's delicious!



We ordered one of their smoked sausages too. It's a little salty for us, but I just love the crunch of the skin before our teeth sinks into the meat. Of course, we love the sauerkraut, which was soft and slightly sour, really whets your appetite and makes you want to eat more!



They were having the Oktoberfest special beer, so we ordered two. I gosh I really love beer! It's quite simple, but very smooth and light. Delicious. Another yummy lunch!

#01-149-151,
1 HarbourFront Centre Walk,
VivoCitySingapore 098585
Reservations : 62728815
Opening Hours
Sunday to Thursday: 12.00pm to 12.00am
Friday, Saturday & Eve of Public Holidays: 12.00pm to 1.00am

CoCo's Kick-Ass Kimchi Soup

My last attempt at making Kimchi soup was a disaster. But this is one of my favorite Korean dishes, so I lay down my pride, do my homework, bought the right ingredients and the result was a KICK-ASS, super delicious kimchi soup. I seriously could charge people for a bowl of this spicy goodness.

I believe the key to this unbelievable success was the tub of hot pepper paste I bought at the Korean specialty store.



Also, I have to give credit to this great new blog I discovered. I altered his recipe a little, it was great. :)

So anyway, here's what you need.

250g pork belly, sliced
1 medium onion, sliced
1 garlic, minced
1 small knob of ginger, minced
1 bowl of kimchi
1 bowl of cabbage
1/2 block of silken toufu
2 bowls of water
2 tablespoons of Korean hot pepper paste
2 teaspoons of soya sauce (I use fish soya sauce)
1 knob of butter
Spring onion, sliced for garnish

1. With a little sesame oil and regular cooking oil, fry the pork belly to get some of the oil out. Add in the onion, garlic and ginger and stir fry till fragrant.

2. Squeeze out some juice from the kimchi or get it from the jar. Add in the kimchi juice, the kimchi, the cabbage, water, hot pepper paste and soya sauce. Boil the soup for 15-20mins, add in the toufu at the last 5 mins.

3. Before serving, mix in the butter for a rich, flavour. Garnish with spring onions and serve with rice.

As I was typing this I realised that I forgot to add the shaoxing wine. But it delicious nonetheless! Next time I'll add it in. :)

CoCo's Pimped out ham and cheese toast

Made a delicious grilled ham and cheese bread the other morning and it was GOOD! All you need is:

leftover hotdog bread
chop up some ham
shredded cheese
cajun spice
Parsley



Just mix everything up and pop it in the oven toaster.



A quick and delicious breakfast!

CoCo's Teochew Steam Pomfret

NTUC Fairprice supermarket was selling some really beautiful, fat, silver pomfret the other day, how can I resist? I have never made this dish before, but have eaten plenty. So for this very first attempt, it's all based on what I remember and a little advise from my Mom. I must say, it was delicious!!!

My version of this classic dish is slightly different. Instead of salted vegetables, I use Sichuan pickled vegetables. Also, I didn't add tofu because I just don't want to buy a whole block of tofu. Lastly, because this was meant to be a one dish meal, I added some broccoli.

So here are the ingredients:

Sliver Pomfret
sliced mushrooms
sliced Sichuan vegetables (soak them for about 10mins)
tomatoes, quartered
Ginger, 4pcs thinly sliced
Lean pork, a few slices
Broccoli, cut into small pieces

So, so simple:
1. Made cuts on both sides of the fish. This makes the fish cook more thoroughly, and easier to serve.
2. In a small pot, boil the mushrooms, sichuan vegetables, ginger slices, pork in about 1/4 quarter cup of water. Add a pinch of MSG and half teaspoon of sugar and boil for just about 5 minutes.
3. Place the tomatoes on the fish and pour the soup stock and all the ingredients onto the fish.
4. Steam the fish. About 20 minutes for a 300g+ fish.
5. At the last 5 minutes, add in the broccoli.
6. Serve immediately!

CoCo's Sweet Barley Drink

Here's a super nutritious drink that only needs TWO simple steps. It would be a crime not to pamper your loved ones and yourself to this drink!

1. Boil a big handful of barley (I recommend Ayam brand) with 2 pandan leaves in 2 big soup bowls of water.

2. After 1 hour (30 minutes for pressure cookers), add rock sugar for taste. How much to add depends on personal taste.

I like to put the cooled drink in bottles and put it into the fridge. Nothing like a chilled barley drink on a hot day!

TIP: My Mom taught me this. Usually if you buy Pandan leaves, it comes in a HUGE bunch. Wash it, trim off the brown parts and tie it up in bundles. You can then freeze these bundles and they can last so much more longer! When you need them, just take them out of the freezer and into the pot! Brilliant!

CoCo's Lotus Root & Pork Rib Soup

Here's another delicious Cantonese style soup that's super easy to make. All you need is a few ingredients.

Lotus roots:
Choose a nice fat one, two sections would be enough for a pot of soup to serve 2-3 persons. The ones in the market is covered in mud, but supermarkets sell them nice and clean. I remove the skin, but it's optional. Just chop off the ends and slice them thinly.



Essential Flavours:
These are your very basic stuff you add into almost EVERY soup. Dried dates, wolfberries and some form of dried seafood. It can be dried octopus, dried mussels, or dried scallops. These would give your soup a nice flavour, or like the chinese say, 很鲜, so you don't need to add MSG.



Of course, it's a pork rib soup, so don't forget your pork rib! OK, now for the cooking process. Are you ready? Here's what you do...

Put everything into a pot with a teaspoon of salt, add water and boil in high heat. Once it's boiled, lower the heat and simmer for 2 hours. 1 hour for pressure cookers. :)



Measure your water according to how much soup you want to end up with. If you want to make 1 big soup bowl of soup, add one big bowl, plus about 1/3 more that would be boiled off during cooking.

CoCo's Wholemeal Cheese Bread

I always buy bread that's wholemeal. It just makes me feel like I'm making an effort to eat healthy, and thus feel less guilty when I slap on a thick layer of Nutella chocolate spread on my bread. :)

Funny thing was that I can't seem to find any wholemeal bread flour here in Singapore. Not even in Phoon Huat, my favourite to-go place to find all things related to baking. So naturally I was ecstatic to find wholemeal bread flour during one of my grocery shopping trips in JB.

I know 100% wholemeal bread is more dry and not very tasty, so I made my bread with only 1/3 wholemeal flour. That means, using the same recipe from my table rolls, I use 100g wholemeal flour and 200g of normal bread flour.

Also, from my Dad, I found out that using bottled mineral water when making bread actually makes the bread dough rise better. I don't know what is the exact science behind it, but I think it really works!

Oh, and as you can see, I just add some cheese and sugar on top of the bread before baking. I actually divided the dough into too big portions. They grew bigger during fermentation, and grew even bigger in the oven during baking! Oops... Next time, when I'm dividing the portions, if it looks a little too small, its probably just right. :)

Ritz Carlton Mooncake

Hubby and I tasted the whole exhibition hall of mooncakes at Taka before finally deciding on this year's choice of mooncakes for my parents. We are traditionalists, so we always buy white lotus paste and not all those fancy, strange, new flavours.

Not only must it be tasty, because it's a gift, the packaging was very important to me too! I think Ritz has the nicest box this year, perfect as a gift for my parents! :)

Bel Mondo - South Italian Cuisine (Tomahawk!)

We didn't dare try this the other time as it looked like something Fred Flintstone would have for dinner. Seriously, you would need to share it with someone, and I just wasn't interested. The last time we tried such a gigantic piece of meat, we were at Morton's The Steakhouse. The so called "famous" piece of steak was overcooked on the outside and undercooked on the inside. It was overpriced and don't taste good at all! But Hubby wanted to try, so I gave in and went for it.

Introducing, the Tomahawk special. According to my research, this is a new type of cut that is like a giant piece of ribeye that comes with a huge bone. At Bel Mondo, it's aged and cooked to perfection, medium rare, and sliced for easy consumption.



It was good! The meat was surprisingly tender! The steak was just simply cooked with salt, pepper and rosemary, but it was full of flavour. The portion was just nice for 3 persons, or 2 very hungry foodie. :) After you are done with the meat, the waitress would even bring your plate back into the kitchen and they would slice of all the meat of the "flintstone" bone for you. Of course, you can munch the meat straight off bone with your mouth too, but I was in a nice outfit, so, let them do the work!



If the steak was good, the meat off the bone was excellent!!! It's more charred, so it has even more flavour, like little gems! This could be a dish by itself. But honestly, we couldn't finish everything, just about 90%. It's also not cheap. This dish cost $98, but it worth every dollar. 一分钱，一分货 :)

Home's Favourite Durian Mooncake

Bought this at the Takashimaya annual Mooncake fair. At first I thought that the durian filling was ice cream, as it had a icy, creamy texture. The salesgirl explained that they just brought it out of the freezer, but it's actually pure D24 Durian!

I had never bought durian mooncake before but I was attracted by it's pretty packaging. It comes in individual styrofoam box to keep the mooncake cool.



When you eat it immediately after taking out of the freezer, it taste like durian ice cream seriously. But give it a few more minutes to thaw out and you get this beautiful, creamy, a little more fibrous texture.



Basically you get to enjoy eating durian but don't have to deal with the thorny husk, messy hands and seed. YUMS!

http://www.homesfavourite.com/

Morinaga Hotcakes

I Love Pancakes. I found this fantastic pancake mix that makes perfect fluffy pancakes every time! OK this is slightly different from your usual pancakes, which is more flat, like those sold at MacDonald's. These are hotcakes, which has a thicker batter and contains some sort of raising agent, making it thicker, fuller, like a cake!

It's so easy to make, and I love it that Morinaga packs the batter into 4 separate packs. I would make small little pancakes, which I find cuter and more appetising. You can even hold it up and eat it with your hands like a toast. :)

I love it plain with honey, but I would also add some smashed banana or berries into the batter to make banana pancakes. Somehow the cakes turn out more flat when I add fruits in. But careful... the natural sugars in the fruit makes it darker and hence burn more easily.



I recently bought some adorable pancake moulds from Daiso. A star shape and a heart shape. The 1st 2 failed in a way cause the pancake got stuck on the side of the mould. I dug them out - still edible, just a little jagged around the edges. The subsequent ones went very well! I just brush the internal walls with some melted butter, put it on the dry frying pan, pour a little batter inside, and it would rise in the heat and make cute little star shaped pancakes!



I know that 2 of them looked a little burnt. It's not! I just added some cocoa powder into the batter. It tasted like chocolate bread. Haha... That's what I love about pancakes. You can add anything! This morning I added chopped bananas to some caramel I made and it was perfect with the pancakes! Yum! Oh and you can just put any leftovers in a ziplock bag and throw it into the freezer. During teatime, just pop the frozen pancakes into the microwave for about 20-30 seconds and you have delicious hotcakes. A perfect snack!

Soon Heng Rojak

Mom recommended me this place one day when we were looking for a place for a late lunch. For people who don't know what is rojak, it's what we call an Asian salad! Haha... Apparently, this rojak stall had a reputation for it's long queue. But take a look around and you would know that everybody feels that it was worth the wait. Almost every table had a plate of the rojak on it!

The most obvious observation would be the generous amount of crushed peanut on the rojak. Yes... it's not freshly fried peanuts like some famous stalls do, but it still serves it's purpose of giving the dish a delicious nutty flavour.

My favourite is the crispy you char kuay, coated with peanuts and the prawn paste, which was a perfect blend of salty, sweet with a twinge of sourness.



We queued for 15-20mins, but polished off the whole plate within 5mins. Haha... it was worth every minute! Would definitely go back again for more! YUMS~!

480 Lor 6 Toa Payoh #B1-23,
Gourmet Paradise Food Court,
HDB Hub Toa Payoh, Singapore

CoCo's Spinach with Mushroom Gravy

I just to hate spinach, but I never really understand why. I think it was a childhood dislike for bitter vegetables. But now that I'm all grown up, I realised that spinach was not that bad, especially if you make it like they do in Chinese wedding dinners. So this dish is sort of inspired by that.

1. Poach the spinach leaves in boiling water.
2. Thicken sauce from braised mushroom and pork, prepared earlier. (For recipe, see herebraise chicken wings)
3. Add golden mushroom to sauce.
4. Pour onto Spinach leaves.

Serve!