Miss CoCo Eats

Mother-in-law's pa-mee (打面)

2011-09-29T22:42:00.000+08:00

Everyday you learn something new...

My mother-in-law is heng hua dialect, so one night when we were over at her place for dinner, she cooked a huge pot of what they called, pa-mee (打面). I'm not sure how authentic is it, but it's delicious!

She bought this noodles from the market near her place, and I loved it as it doesn't have the alkaline taste like in those "yellow noodles".

So she gave me a packet and I tried to make a pot one evening. I'm not sure how, but I guess the main things would be the soup base, ingredients and the noodles.

Soup Base
Chicken breast, with bones
Ginger, one thumb size nob, smacked with a knife
Salt
Chicken powder

Boil for an hour, skimming off any excess oil or scum. Remove chicken and ginger.

Ingredients
Shitake mushrooms
Pork shoulder, sliced
Cai xing
Toufu fish cakes, sliced

Put everything into the soup base and boil until pork slices are cooked. Adjust flavour accordingly, it should be slightly more salty than usual to balance out the bland noodles.

Noodles
Put raw noodles in a big bowl, pour boiling water into it and swish it around for a few seconds before pouring away the water. Run under cold water for a few seconds and set aside.

When the soup is ready, add in the noodles and boil for not longer then a minute. Serve!

It's delicious, easy to make, and everybody in the family loved it. Definitely a recipe to keep!

Miss CoCo's Virgin Mooncake

2011-09-28T22:02:00.000+08:00

Took a leap of faith and made my very first batch of mooncakes. Well, the first batch was made from a recipe I read on the newspaper, by some chef at Capella hotel. No offence, but it turned out like crap. Looks like I still have lots to learn, I'll summarize all my learning points at the end of the blog.

Since I've already bought a whole kilo of white lotus paste, might as well try again, so I searched the web for a recipe for traditional mooncakes, (only from trustworthy bloggers this time) and found this recipe from Anhsfoodblog. Turns out quite ok, but I did make some slight adjustments.

Here's what we need:

Skin:
120g golden syrup
40g cooking oil
160g plain flour
~~½ tsp Alkaline water (or lye water)~~ (I don't like)
¼ tsp baking soda

Filling:
~~6 no. salted egg yolk, steamed~~ (didn't bother to buy them)
white lotus paste

Eggwash:
1 egg beaten with a little milk

Preparing the skin - Combine the golden syrup, cooking oil together. Mix in the plain flour and stir until you have a smooth paste. Cover, leaving the dough to rest for a few hours.
Filling portion - Big mooncake - wrap 50g : filling 130g Small mooncakes wrap 25g : filling 35g
Wrapping – this steps requite a bit of practice. Make sure when you wrap the filling, no additional flour is around. Start by flatten dough slightly with your hand, then put the filling ball in the middle. Gently wrap the dough all around the filling with smoothing and rounding motion. Be gentle not to break the skin.
Shaping – Gently dust the mould with flour, the tap off any excess. Very lightly, dust the ball with a little flour. Press the mooncake ball into the mould. Knock the mould to release the mooncake. Repeat with the rest.
Baking - Place the mooncakes onto the baking tray, lined with baking paper. Bake them in a preheated 200C oven for 7-10 minutes.
Take the tray out, and wait until the cakes cool down for 30 minutes. Use a pastry brush, brush a light coat of eggwash onto the mooncake (just the top, don’t brush on the side of the cake). Return the tray to the oven, and bake for further 10-12 minutes or until golden brown.
MOST IMPORTANT - Let the mooncake rest for at least 3 days before consumption. In Cantonese, we called it 出油, where the oil from the lotus paste and yolk would slowly seep into the mooncake skin, making it shiny and soft.

So with that in mind, next year when you are buying mooncakes, please don't ask the vendor if it's fresh, because there's no such thing as a "fresh" mooncake. Freshly baked mooncakes are hard and dry and terrible in taste!

So with that in mind, here are my notes for making home-made mooncakes:

Prepare early, minimum 1.5 months! As mentioned earlier, you need to keep freshly baked mooncakes for at least 3 days. Also, traditional mooncakes need a special sugar syrup that's made at least a few days to a few months in advance. The sugar syrup would darken over time and the brown syrup would contribute to the rich brown colour of the skin. My dad used to own a bakery and they would make the syrup at least 6 months in advance! Seriously!
Add salted egg yolk. It doesn't matter if you like yoke or not, you should add it anyway. The oil from the yolk would slowly seep into the skin, adding flavour and improving texture.
Use good quality paste. On top of flavour, good quality paste also have higher oil content, so again, contributing to the oiling of your mooncake skin.
Dough should be wet. If your dough is wet and damn difficult to wrap the paste, you probably got it right. They never said it was easy!
Eggwash - Go easy! If you brush on too much, the delicate pattern on the mooncake would be distorted.

I guess that's it. I've definitely underestimated the complexity of making a traditional baked mooncake. It's so simple yet difficult all at the same time! I would learn from this and make even better ones next year. But seriously, if you aren't a baking enthusiast, it's not worth the effort. Go buy a box and enjoy! Leave all these craziness to the crazy ones. :)

By the way, I'm submitting this very special post to Aspiring Bakers #11: Mid-Autumn Treats (September 2011). Hope all readers enjoy my little post!

CoCo's Sausage and mushroom thin crust pizza

2011-09-22T23:02:00.000+08:00

Was at my wit's end as usual, wondering what to cook for lunch when I remembered that I bought a packet of wholemeal wraps a few days ago.

So I decided to make a little home made thin crust pizza.

It's basically a pizza even people who can't cook can make.

For the tomato sauce base, I spread on some pasta sauce from a jar.
Next I sprinkled on a generous heap of shredded cheese. Yumz~!
Lastly, put on whatever ingredients you like, which was some sausages and mushrooms.
Bake the pizza in an oven at 200 degrees celcius for just 10-15mins, which is just enough to melt the cheese and make the crust crispy. Cut and serve!

Unfortunately, my 2 year old wasn't very enthusiastic with the pizza, but I really liked it! It really tasted like those restaurant style thin-crust pizza. I polished off the whole thing myself! Sigh, now I have to go make something else for the little princess... -_-

Holland Village XO Fish Head Bee Hoon

2011-09-17T22:40:00.000+08:00

Hubby and I would often dine here back when I was working around Clementi. Back then, it was located near Holland Village, hence the name. We haven't eaten there since they've moved, which was also around the same time I left that job to become a stay-at-home mom. One Saturday, we had a craving for some of it's soupy goodness, so we found out it's new location and headed there for dinner.

Obviously their signature dish is their XO fish head bee hoon, but they also have one of the best 虾酱鸡 (prawn paste fried chicken) in Singapore. So that definitely is a MUST-TRY dish.

The prawn paste flavour wasn't too heavy and salty like in most ze char stores, and it's served pipping hot to your table, so when you squeeze the lime juice all over the chicken, it makes a slight "sssssss" sound. It's yummy on it's own, but dip it in their special chilli sauce just for this dish, and it would be close to heaven. The chicken is crispy on the outside, and yet oozing with juices when you take a bite. Shiok!!!

By the time you are halfway through your chicken, your XO bee hoon would have arrived. As you would have guessed, they are famous for putting a generous amount of XO liquor into the soup. I'm not into hard liquor, but I love the soup. It's incredibly sweet from all the fish meat and bone and all, plus there's a nice fragrance from the XO that seemed to enhance the fish flavour of the soup. I'm not a fish head person, so we always order the fish meat bee hoon.

As you can see, they are very generous with the fish. Each piece is a huge chunk of sweet meat that isn't dry on the inside. Also, I love that they put loads of vegetables in the soup (it's at the bottom of the bowl). Healthy! :) Their thick bee hoon isn't your average hawker centre type that's semi-translucent and super slippery. It's actually white in colour and slightly rough. My dad once told me that these are actually how bee hoon and kway teow use to be like in the past. Using a higher percentage of rice flour, thus, more flavour and texture.

So the combination of good quality bee hoon, chunky sweet meat, fresh vegetables and a crazy sweet soup base, what's not to love about this dish??

Dover Coffee Hub
Blk 19A, Dover Crescent
#01-05, Singapore 131019

Mooncakes 2011

2011-09-10T22:15:00.000+08:00

Mooncake festival is here again! This year we bought our mooncake from Vivo City, rather than the usual fair at Takashimaya. As usual, we tried out most of the mooncakes at the fair and finally decided on two brands. For my parents, Cobby bought from Huating, Orchard Hotel. This year, I bought a box from Mandarin for my mother-in-law. She doesn't like mooncakes, so I've never bought her a box before. But I just wanted to buy something for her. What the heck, we can all eat it after the dinner right?

Anyway, other than the taste, I think that the packaging makes a whole lot of difference when it comes to mooncake shopping. Afterall, the best mooncakes taste very similar. If, as a reputable hotel's restaurant, your mooncake does taste like crap, I think you can just jump off from the hotel itself. So, the deciding factor, after the taste, would be how pretty your packaging is. Afterall, everybody buys mooncakes for SOMEONE else, looks matters.

Orchard Hotel, Huating
Baked mooncake with macadamia nuts and white lotus paste S$42.00

My sister bought a box for my parents from Peninsula Hotel, baked mooncakes with red lotus paste.

There was quite a debate over who's mooncake tasted better, but as my dad had a sweeter tooth, he claimed that the red lotus paste tasted better. He said that their lotus paste is more oily, making it more smooth.

He claims the one on the left is more shiny... can you tell?

Hubby stuck with my choice and said that mine tasted better. As for my brother, well, it all tasted the same to him. -_- Me? I think both tasted great, but different. Hey, different type of lotus paste! Anyway, next year I'm buying red lotus paste mooncake for dad. -_-

For my mother in law, I bought this:
Mandarin Orchard
Baked mooncake with macadamia nut and low sugar white lotus paste, S$50.00

Like I said, I've never bought her mooncakes before, but turned out to be a good decision as the mooncake was delicious! We were blown away by the giant macadamia nuts inside the mooncake.

Usually they would chop it up into small bits, but Mandarin left it in quite big chunks. And it was toasted, so it was very fragrant! It was perfect with the mooncakes, in fact, it tasted like a nutty candy bar. Very different from a regular mooncake, so I really liked it.

All in all, a very satisfying mooncake festival. :)

Uno Beef House

2011-09-08T23:45:00.000+08:00

One day, while heading to our favourite bak chor mee store at Toa Payoh, I just wasn't in the mood for noodles, but my hubby was. It's been a long time since I've had a decent coffee-shop western food, so I gave the western food store next door a shot. The store seemed quite confident of itself, taking up almost half of the whole coffee-shop space. As I stood there, looking at the menu for their steaks, I was shocked to find out that the cheapest cut, which was a sirloin, was a whopping S$11.00.

What?? Has it been that long since I ate western at a coffee-shop? Am I that suaku? Is it inflation? Or has the stall owner gone mad? I wanted walk away, but then I thought, maybe, they are so good, that they are confident enough to charge that ridiculous price at a neighborhood coffee-shop? I was intrigued. So I ordered the beef sirloin and waited.

As I waited at my table, the staff gave me my cutlery. Haha, so nostalgic!

When my dish arrived a few minutes later, another wave of nostalgic hit me. The hot plate cow! It's been so long since I've had a steak served in a hot plate cow! Haha... But after the initial "awww...", a delicious looking steak appeared. Looks promising!

When I ordered, I noticed that they don't serve fries, which kind of bugged me. I love my fries with my steak! But then I noticed this little ball on the plate. When I cut it open, it turned out to be mash potatoes, rolled into a ball, and fried! And it was YUMMY! Ooo... I could eat a few of those!

Next comes the ultimate test, how was the meat? I ordered medium, but was skeptical that a neighbourhood stall cook could achieve that. When I cut the meat right in the middle, my skepticism was confirm. It was almost rare! A little disappointed, but I didn't expect much, so I just carried on eating from the side of the steak. But I was super impressed a few minutes later. As I was eating, the hot plate continued to cook the meat, soon, the meat became PERFECTLY cooked.

Genius! They intentionally under-cook the steak! Oh by the way the meat was quite tender, the pepper sauce was tasty, not too spicy, so it didn't overpower the beef. Other than the beans (which I didn't like), it was a very satisfying meal. Definitely worth going back again. Next time, I'll even try their more expensive steaks!

Uno Beef House
Block 51, Lorong 5 Toa Payoh,
#01-60 Singapore
Opens Daily: 11.30am – 10.30pm

Almond and vanilla biscotti

2011-08-31T08:53:00.000+08:00

Teacher's day is here! To celebrate my daughter's very 1st Teacher's Day celebration, I made some Almond Biscotti for her two teachers. To thank them for taking such good care of my baby girl!

I found a recipe from one of my cookbooks, Donna Hay - Modern Classics Book 2

We'll need :
2 cups plain flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup blanched almonds
3 eggs
2 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 160C.
Place flour, baking powder, sugar and almonds in a bowl and mix together. Add eggs and vanilla and mix well to form a dough. Divide the dough into two.
Place dough on a lightly floured surface. The dough would be quite wet and sticky, so dust your hands with flour and shape into two logs and flatten it slightly.
Place logs on a baking tray lined with non-stick baking paper and bake for 35minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool completely.

Using a sharp knife, cut the logs into thin slices and placed on a baking tray lined with non-stick baking paper.

Bake for another 10-15 minutes or until the biscotti are crisp.
Store in an airtight container and serve dunked into espresso coffee or liqueur. Makes 40.

Since it was a present, I placed them into airtight ziplock bags and wrapped them in pink tissue paper. There enough for the both of them, plus some for our own enjoyment! Yums!

Happy Teacher's Day! Hope they enjoyed it as much as we did.

Pancakes with banana and pecan caramel sauce

2011-08-31T08:48:00.000+08:00

As you know I LOOOVE pancakes, so I'm constantly trying new things to either put inside the pancake. Then I wondered, how about making something to go ON TOP of the pancake for a change? So I decided to make a simple caramel sauce. (Slowly cook sugar and water together until golden brown - don't stir, swirl the pot if necessary, and add a whole chunk of cold butter)

I remembered this caramelized banana thingy that Gordon Ramsey once made for an ice cream topping, so I added some ripe bananas into it. Then I remembered that I had some pecan nuts in the fridge, so I poured it into the caramel sauce.

Hmmm looks good...

Next, the pancakes! Check out this ultra cute starship trooper pancake spatular that my sis bought for me from New York. CUTE OR WHAT?!?! It's all these adorable kitchenware that makes cooking even more fun!

Well, turns out that the nuts weren't very nice. I think next time I wouldn't buy from Phoon Huat. It doesn't taste very fresh, so it affected the flavour of my sauce. But minus the nuts, it was delicious! Will try again next time with better quality ingredients. :)

Peramakan

2011-08-27T23:35:00.000+08:00

We were at Vivo City the other day, so we headed to the Peramakan Restaurant at the Keppel Club near the area. Of course, that is if you are driving.

If you are craving for some authentic, spicy, rich, Peranakan cuisine, this place is one of the best place to go.

Ikan Garam Assam $16.00. Red snapper fillets cooked in a spicy garam assam gravy with brinjals and ladyfingers.

Spicy and sour, this dish is great with rice. Makes me salivate just thinking about it. I love to mix the gravy with their rice and gobble down with the fresh, fleshy fish. Not a great fan of lady fingers, but I love the brinjals. I do wish they would put more vegetables in the dish. My mom would put loads of other vege like onions and tomatoes. :)

Beef Rendang $14.00. Shin beef braised till tender in spicy coconut gravy. Served with serondeng (toasted spiced coconut).

OMG this is one of my utmost favourite dish, a MUST-ORDER whenever I go there. Usually, people would use a more lean meat when cooking beef rendang, but Peramakan decided to be brilliant and used the shin instead. The result? The meat would practically MELT in your mouth as the tendons in between the tender meat is cooked till jelly-like.

*quivers....*
But like all Peranakan dishes, it is very 'jelak', which means very rich and heavy. Due to all the coconut milk, oil and spices used during cooking, don't be surprised at how full you feel after the meal even though you didn't eat much.

Sambal Kangkong $10.00. Water convulus stir-fried with dry prawn sambal (Sambal Udang Kering).

Of course, we should always have a balanced meal by eating loads of vegetables! :) Since my baby girl isn't with us, we went all out and ordered a spicy vege dish too. Nothing new, but I just love the taste.

Chendol $5.00. Home-made chendol with tender kidney beans, topped with shaved ice, gula melaka and coconut milk.

Bubor Pulot Hitam $4.00. Black glutinuous rice is cooked till tender and served with gula melaka and coconut cream.

Interestingly, even though peranakan desserts are one of the most awesome, next to Thai ones, Peramakan's desserts were only so-so. The Chendol wasn't that fantastic, and so was the bubor pulot hitam that I ordered.

Peramakan
Level 3, Keppel Club
10 Bukit Chermin Road
Singapore 109918

Tel: 65 63772829
Fax: 65 62727585

Open everyday, including Sundays and public holidays for lunch and dinner.

Lunch: 11:30 am to 3:00 pm (last order: 2:30 pm)
Dinner: 6:00 pm to 10:00 pm (last order: 9:30 pm)
http://www.peramakan.com

Pandan Chiffon Cake

2011-08-24T08:42:00.000+08:00

Dad decided to come over to my place one day to make some Pandan Cakes. I guess that's our way to bond, we love to bake stuff! :) The problem was that he was a professional baker, well, he used to own a bakery, self taught, so his style of baking is more, free style. Me, being the anal one, likes everything to be perfect. So it was... challenging. Haha...

So anyway, I got this recipe from someone else, but it was altered, so I'll just called it mine. :)

PART A:
3 egg yolks
50g caster sugar
60g oil
70g coconut milk
1 teaspoon baking powder
pinch of salt
1 tablespoon pandan juice
1/2 teaspoon pandan essence
100g cake flour

PART B:
5 egg whites
50g caster sugar
1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar

Yields 4 small cakes

Preheat oven 180C.
Mix everything in PART A together, except for the cake flour. Sift flour into batter until combine.
Whisk everything in PART B until stiff and glossy.
Add 1/3 of the whisked egg whites into the pandan batter to get a light green batter. Gently fold rest of the egg whites into the pandan batter.
Pour the batter into the cake tins. Give the tins a few sharp bangs on the table to release the trapped air bubbles.
Place the tins into the oven at the lowest rack for about 45 minutes , or until the crust is golden brown.
When the baking is done, overturn the tins and let it cool.
To remove the cake, use a sharp knife and with one movement, separate the sides of the cake from the tins.

Little Carrot Bears

2011-08-23T08:39:00.000+08:00

I saw this recipe on the show, James Martin Digs Deep. The chef, James Martin, started out his own garden and makes a carrot cake using the carrots he grew himself. How amazing! Anyway, I was never a carrot cake fan, but the recipe was so simple, and I thought that a carrot cake would be a delicious yet healthy snack for Jolie! Besides, I recently bought a teddy bear mould and this would be perfect for it! Yeah!

Super cute right.... Yeah, the features of the bear wasn't very clear, but it was obvious enough that it's a bear. And Jolie loved it, so does her classmates!

So we need:

2 large sized carrots, sliced (those big fat ones sold in the market)
1 orange, juice only
63 ml corn oil
187 g caster sugar
2 eggs, separated
175 g plain flour
7 g baking powder

Method

Preheat the oven to 180C
Place the carrots in a pan, just cover with water and add the orange juice and drop the orange skin into the pan as well. Bring to the boil and cook until tender. Drain and discard the orange peel, but do not cool.
Put the carrots, corn oil, sugar and egg yolks in to blender or food processor and blend to a purée. Leave to cool.
Whisk the egg whites until stiff and set aside.
Place the carrot purée in a mixing bowl and gently fold in the flour and baking powder and mix well together. Gently fold in the egg whites. Pour the mixture into the prepared tin and bake for 10-15 minutes until golden and cooked. Remove from the oven and leave to cool on a wire rack.

The original recipe was double the amount and uses a cake pan, but I was using a mini mould, so I halfed the quantity and baked only until it's golden brown, which was about 10-15mins. It tasted great, but I think I over worked the cake mixture, making the texture more like a "kueh" then a fluffly cake, so remember not to mix it too much!

But everybody loved it so much, (including me) that would definitely make it again. But the mould was really difficult to work with, so next time I'll probably grease it with butter. Enjoy!

db Bistro Moderne

2011-08-11T21:18:00.009+08:00

Today we celebrated our 4th traditional wedding anniversary! Four year ago, we had our traditional wedding ceremony and had celebrated our union with our wedding dinner. :)

This year, we had decided to try out one of the many celebrity restaurants at Marina Bay Sands. I've been itching to try them as I watched the chefs on TV all the time, but they aren't exactly cheap, so we had to wait for a special occasion first! After some consideration, we chose Daniel Boulud's bistro,(pronounce:dan-YELL boo-LOO) db Bistro Moderne

They have a set lunch menu, but we wanted to choose our own dishes, so we ordered ala carte instead. For starters, we ordered FOIE GRAS POELE and ASSIETTE LYONNAISE.

FOIE GRAS POELE
2 slices of pan fried foie gras with figs S$38.00

OMG have I told you how much I adored pan fried foie gras? I know it's cruel to the goose, but, have you tasted anything so divine? I thank the poor goose for this sex on a plate. :) The crust is nicely pan fried, so there's a thin layer of caramelised crust. Inside, it was nutty and melts in your mouth like the finest butter ever. Each bite would render us speechless, so we could only give each other the "Oooo...it's so gooood!" look on our face.

ASSIETTE LYONNAISE
Selection of House Made Terrines & Cured Meat with Pain de Campagne Toast S$26.00

My starter wasn't as exciting, but it was really good anyway! I love the various types of cured meat and sausages. Even though some were a little salty, it was great with the grainy mustard and the toast.

For the main, I ordered the lamb while hubby ordered Daniel Boulud's famous burgers.

LAMB DUO
2 pieces of grilled lamb served with mint sauce, couscous and grilled kebab S$44.00

This was one of the best lamb chop that I have ever had. The meat was juuuuust cooked, but not raw, so it was super tender. But the little meat stick at the side was a little too salty. Also, I discovered that I don't know how to appreciate couscous. I always see it on tv, and it looks delicious, but, I don't know how to describe it, I just don't like it.

You know, the annoying thing about fancy restaurants is their nosy captains. I know they needed feedback on their food, but I really felt kind of pressured when they asked me how was the food. Well, when it's good, like the foie gras, I would be gushing my praises, but when I didn't finish my couscous, he would asked me (in a very polite way) if there was anything wrong with it. It kind of made me feel embarrassed and guilty, like a child having to explain why didn't she eat her greens. :P

I JUST DON'T LIKE IT, IT'S ME, NOT YOU...

Anyway, moving on...

THE FRENCHIE BURGER
Beef Patty Topped with Confit Pork Belly, Caramelized Onions, Morbier Cheese, Arugula, Cornichons served on a Black Pepper Bun S$26.00

The burger was delicious! The patty was meaty, nice char-grilled flavour on the outside, moist and tender on the inside. And the buns was so nice! But it was huge, felt kind of embarrassed to open my mouth SO BIG in order to give it a try. But it was yummilicious!

After the foie gras and the huge burger, hubby had to throw in the white towel and skipped dessert. But I don't have to! Yeah! Everything on the menu sounded so good! So in the end I ordered the profiteroles, which is a very frenchy term for cream puffs.

PROFITEROLES
Profiteroles with vanilla ice cream, pecan nuts, white chocolate with warm caramel sauce S$15.00

The waiter placed the dish on my table and poured warm caramel sauce on the white chocolate disc on top of the profiteroles. I didn't expect much, but when I took a bite, I wanted to cry!

IT WAS MUTHERF**KING GOOD!!!!!

I don't understand, it was such a simple dish, with such simple ingredients. Why is it so good? I pondered as I scooped, spoon after spoon of goodness. Then I realised. It's the proportions and the compatibility of all the ingredients! The puff was firm enough not to get soggy in the ice cream and they tasted great together. The ice cream was rich, creamy and delicious, and it tasted great with the pecan nuts. The melted white chocolate and the caramel was not too sweet but rich enough to compliment the ice cream and the puff. It was simply, a perfect dessert. So happy!!!

So that ends another very delightful meal. Of course, the bill was not so delightful, after adding taxes and stuff, it was about S$200 plus. And we didn't even order wine!(Hubby under medication) But it was worth EVERY cent as it was such an enjoyable experience. The bistro was beautiful but casual, so it was nice and comfortable, the service was great and most importantly, the food was excellent.

Thank you db Bistro Moderne, and happy anniversary my dear!

National Day Cake 2011

2011-08-08T23:48:00.007+08:00

Happy National Day! My daughter, Jolie, was having a little celebratory party in her playgroup, so I thought I make a National Day cake!

Nothing new, I just used back the recipe from her birthday. But instead of chocolate buttercream, I made vanilla buttercream by opting out the cocoa powder and added 1 tablespoon of vanilla extract. I wanted to make a flag design, so I needed a white background.

I have this design in my head, but I didn't realise how difficult it was to make the stars and crescent moon until I actually started doing it. The stars were very small, so it was really hard to make the pointed ends of the stars. So I used a little buttercream to make an outline of the stars and crescent moon 1st before filling up the top of the flag with piping jelly mixed with a few drops of red food colouring.

It's not pretty, give me a break, it's my 1st time ever...

I tell you, I have a new found respect for bakers and their piping skills. Phew! I'm not a fan of food colouring, so if I wanted a really red background, either I have to put LOTS of colouring into the white cream (eww...) or just 2-3 drops into the piping jelly. I bought this piping jelly - neutral, from phoon huat. It's clear, so you have put any colour you want in it. It has a slight sourish flavour to it, but other than that, it's pretty alright.

If you look closer, I also bought little pink heart shaped sprinkles and added it to the sides. They looked so sweet! My cake is literally full of 'love'! Haha... *^,^*

I made a little mistake. I put the buttercream into the fridge after I made them (I don't know why) instead of using them immediately, so it turned a little stiff and I had a hard time spreading them onto the cake. I must have pressed the cake a little too much and it squished the cake a little. Also, I think I was a little heavy handed on the cream, so I felt that it may have turned off some of my "customers" at the party. But overall, I was very happy watching others enjoy my humble creation. All the hard work paid off. Promise that next year it would be even better!

Wanna read about the party? Click here!

Miss CoCo's Home Made Waffles

2011-08-06T23:47:00.003+08:00

I've got a new toy! My sister stays in Hong Kong, and near her place is a street named 上海街 (shanghai street) that sells ALL sorts of amazing wholesale stuff such as kitchen appliances and ANYTHING you need in a kitchen. So when my parents were visiting, I kindly asked them to help me buy a waffle maker! So here is my new toy!

By the way, this brand, Aunt Jemima, makes awesome pancakes. I used to buy their frozen mini pancakes, but their pancake mix is just as good.

Anyway, you can use their mix to make waffles too, so I did that and made my very first batch of home-made waffles.

Honestly, I was a little disappointed as I like my waffle like those at Geláre, crispy on the outside, light and fluffy on the inside.

Mine wasn't as crispy, in fact, it was like pancakes in the shape of waffles. -_- The second time I did it, I made sure that the waffle iron was nice and hot, quickly poured the batter in and closed the cover. True enough, the crust was more brown and more crispy than the 1st time. Still it wasn't good enough. I will try another recipe next time, probably something made from scratch. Will keep you updated!

Miss CoCo's Tapei Trip 2011

2011-07-29T12:30:00.003+08:00

Had been busy updating my personal blog about my trip to Taipei.
Check it out!

Day 1
Day 2
Day 3
Day 4

Miss CoCo's Cornflake Clusters

2011-07-22T17:45:00.004+08:00

Jolie's playgroup was having a little party to celebrate Racial Harmony Day, so I thought I make something. The teacher wanted us to bring some traditional treats, but because I found out a little too late, I didn't have the time to prepare anything elaborate. If I knew earlier, I would have made some of my delicious pineapple tarts!

Anyway, no time, so I decided to make a modern CNY treat, cornflake clusters.

I've never made them before, so I did a little homework on the internet and improvised this recipe myself. Turned out a little too sweet, even for me! So I came out with this revised recipe.

60g Unsalted Butter
30g Caster sugar
60g Honey
220g Unsweetened Cereal
24g Raisins

Bring the honey and butter to a boil over small fire. Let it boil for 3 -4 minutes while you prepare the rest.
Pour the honey mixture into the cornflakes and raisins and mix well.
Scoop into prepared mini cupcake cases. It's easier if you put the cases into the cupcake tins 1st, so that it will hold it's shape no matter how you shove the cornflakes in.
Chill for several hours.

My original recipe was:

60g Unsalted Butter
60g Caster sugar
60g Honey
110g Banana Nut Crunch
24g Raisins

But like I said, it was way too sweet. Some pointers:

Banana Nut Crunch has a great mix of wholewheat cereal, granola, walnuts and dried banana, making it very nutritious. But it alone was already sweet, so it's not suitable for this recipe. Try something unsweetened to balance it out.
There was too much honey-sugar mixture versus the cereal. So the sugar coating was too thick, making it quite hard, like a candy. Adding more cornflakes would retain the crispy-ness of the cornflakes, held together by a little sweet syrup.

Other than that, it's a great party finger food, sweet and crispy. Perfect for kids party!

Purple Sweet Potato Bread

2011-06-24T20:25:00.007+08:00

I came this book at the library and I know that I must have the book! So off I went to buy the book at Page One. The author is a Hong Kong lady and the book specialize in baking bread using a technique called 17 hour low temperature pre-fermented dough. The result is a more moist and chewy texture and a yeasty fragrance. It also last longer then your average home made bread!

天然面包香 by 獨角仙@藍色大門 (Natural Bread Made Easy by Kin @ Blue Gate)

Hubby asked me to make pandan raisin bread, but I really wanted to make this one instead. Look how pretty it is!!!

I have never eaten purple sweet potatoes before, I think the original was from Japan. I found a cheaper version at Cold Storage, which was from Vietnam, and only a few cents more then your average sweet potatoes.

Did you know that it is also a SUPER nutritious food? Check it out!

Anyway, on with the recipe. Another thing that I LOVE about the book, every recipe has a BAKER'S PERCENTAGE, which allows you to adjust the portion according to your liking. Awesome... So this recipe is adjusted to about half of the original portion.

Pre-Fermented Dough
Bread flour 210g
Warm water 120g
Instant yeast 6g
Salt 3g
Skim milk powder 6g

Dissolve yeast in water.
Add flour, salt, skim milk powder and knead until soft.
Cover the dough in cling wrap. Refrigerate to let it prove for 17 hours.

Dough
Bread flour 90g
Skim milk powder 9g
Salt 3g
Sugar 36g
Warm water 75g
Instant yeast 3g
Unsalted butter 24g
Sweet potatoes 150g

Cut the pre-fermented dough into small pieces.
Steam the purple sweet potato with the skin on. Peel and mash it. Save some for filling.
Knead all ingredients of dough together (except the butter). Add pre-fermented dough piece by piece. Knead after each addition until soft and smooth. Add butter. Knead until stretchable consistency.
Put the dough into a big bowl. Cover with a cling wrap. Let it prove for about 25-30minutes.
Divide the dough into eight small portions and round them. Set aside to rest for about 20mins.

Flatten each piece of dough with your hands to drive the air out. Round them again. Press flat. Stuff them with mashed sweet potato. Round again. Place dough into greased chiffon mould. Cover with cling wrap.
Let it prove for about 45mins or until the dough has risen to about 80 percent of the depth of the mould. Brush egg wash on top.

Bake in preheated oven at 180 degree Celsius for about 30-35mins.

太好吃了!!! It's moist, chewy and oh so delicious! Definitely my BEST bread yet.

Will bring some to parents tomorrow, I'm sure they would be super impressed! Oh, I will also be submitting this post to Aspiring Bakers #8 - Bread Seduction. It's my very first submission, as I just missed last month's theme, which was CHOCOLATE. DUH right, I've got so many chocolate creations! Anyway, I'm quite pleased with this latest bread creation, so it's perfect! :)

内在美 Chocolate Mud Cupcakes

2011-06-03T16:53:00.006+08:00

I made this for a friend's birthday. Kind of lazy to bake a cake, so I thought it would be better to bring chocolate cupcakes instead. This recipe was adapted from Baking Library. The original wasn't supposed to look so... ugly. I think either my oven was too hot or the cups were filled too full.

Anyway, it was the flavour that matters, thus the name, 内在美, which means "inner beauty". Haha... It's either that or my second choice, which was PMS chocolate mud cupcakes, because they were the perfect for dark and gloomy days when you have PMS...

Anyways, here are the ingredients:
30g cocoa powder
120ml boiling hot water
110g dark chocolate, melted and cooled (I used 63%)
110g unsalted butter, melted and cooled
165g brown sugar
100g ground almond
80g egg yolks (thats about 4-5 eggs, depending on size)
120g egg whites

Line muffin tin with cupcake liners and preheat the oven at 175 degrees C.
In a large mixing bowl, combine the hot water and the cocoa powder. Stir well to remove the lumps and ensure cocoa is well dissolved. Next, add in melted chocolate, melted butter, brown sugar and ground almonds. Stir to obtain an evenly mixed mixture.
Beat in egg yolks on medium low speed, one at a time, ensuring each egg yolk is well combined before adding the next.
In a separate clean metal bowl, beat egg whites on low speed until it turns foamy. Gradually increase the speed to medium high when the volume increases. Continue to beat the egg whites until they form medium-firm peaks. This is when the beaters are lifted from the egg whites, snowy egg white peaks are formed and they are slightly wobbly when the bowl is shaken.
Fold one third of beaten egg whites gently into egg-yolk batter to lighten. Incorporate the remaining egg whites and fold gently to obtain a smooth, watery-foamy batter. Scrape sides and bottom of bowl to ensure even mixing.
Spoon batter into cupcake liners until they are nearly filled. The batter will not rise much. Bake cupcakes at 175 degrees C for about 30 minutes or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean. Cupcakes will sink noticeably in the middle when cooled.

Since they were for a birthday, I made it more pretty by dusting some icing sugar on top.

Then I piled it up and made it a cupcake tower!

My friends loved it! It was awesome, and it was clean and easy to eat. Happy Birthday PL!

Self-Saucing Baked Chocolate Pudding

2011-05-31T08:51:00.002+08:00

Hubby saw this recipe on the Sunday newspaper and asked me of I can make it. That's a pretty rare situation because, as ironic as it sounds, my Hubby does not have a sweet tooth. Yup, all my friends and family would be so excited to taste my creations, but not him. Since it's such a rarity, of course I jumped into the opportunity. Besides, dinner was sort of a failure as the steamed fish was screwed up. I needed to do something to repair my ego!

Thankfully, I just happened to have everything I needed. Fate has meant for me to make this pudding tonight!

(Serves 4-6)
100g Butter
100g Dark cooking chocolate
1 egg
200g Plain flour
1 1/2 tsp Baking powder
100g Caster sugar
1/2 tsp salt
100ml Milk

Sauce
100g white or brown sugar
2 Tbsp Cocoa powder
350ml Cold water

Preheat oven to 170 degrees Celsius.
Melt the butter and chocolate on a heat proof bowl over a pot of boiling water. Set it aside.
Beat the egg in a small bowl and set aside.
Sift together the flour, baking powder, sugar and salt into a large bowl. Add in the milk, the chocolate and butter mixture and the beaten egg, then mix together. The mixture should be thick and creamy.
Lightly grease a deep oven dish and pour the mixture into it. I used a non-stick loaf tin, so I skipped the greasing.
Mix the sugar and cocoa powder together and sprinkle over the mixture.
Pour cold water over the top. It may look disastrous, but don't worry, it will sort itself out while it bakes.
Bake in oven for about 40minutes. Because my black loaf tin heats up faster and retain heat more effectively, I cut the baking time by 8minutes.

The pudding was delicious! So moist and chocolaty, such a great comfort food for a Monday night. I think it would be even better served with a dollop of cream or ice cream, but I was just a little lazy and guilty. Besides, the pudding is self-saucing!

New Ubin Seafood Restaurant

2011-04-24T22:05:00.001+08:00

Hubby found this great eatery lunching out with his friends, he loved it so much, we brought our parents there for dinner one weekend.

Well, it's a seafood restaurant, so of course we have to order their crab! Chilli crab at S$32.00, the kick ass chilli sauce was sweet and spicy and perfect with their fried mantou at a S$1 each. YUMZ!

Another one of their signature dish is their battered fried oyster tossed with salted egg yolk. Sounds gross, but it was surprisingly delicious! The oyster is cooked thru, but still moist. When tossed with a thin layer of salted egg yolk, it's slightly salty, crunchy on the outside, soft and sweet on the inside. Such contrasting textures and flavours!

Salted Egg Oysters S$12.00

Next is smoked duck with baby kailan. I'm not really into the smoked duck, but everyone else seemed to like it, so I guess it's just me.

Baby kailan S$12.00

Perhaps their most popular house special must be their Rib eye steak. They would char grill it, diced it up before serving with caramelized onions and potatoes. The portions were so big, the whole family could share it! The meat was moist and smoky, and the onions were sweet and great with the red meat.

Rib Eye Steak S$51.00

Aha! There's a part 2 to the steak dish! They would use the juices and the fatty bits of the steak to make this awesome beef fried rice. It was super tasty and very rich in flavours, but I think that night, the chef may be a little heavy handed on the salt. A little too salty to eat much!

There was also Orh nee, or Yam Paste, which was my favourite. I must have been too excited until I forgot to take photos. In fact, I love it so much, I'm glad my daughter wasn't interested in it. I get to eat double the portions! Haha...

Overall an enjoyable dining experience. The location was a little ulu, but I think it's a great and affordable place to bring the whole family out for dinner.

Block 27 Sing Ming Road
Call 1st for reservations! 6466 9558
Click here for website

Pasta with Cheese and Sweetcorn

2011-04-23T10:04:00.004+08:00

As a stay home mom, I'm starting to go crazy just thinking of what to cook for the next meal! So one day I thought I sought some inspiration from the library, and found this recipe.

Interestingly, the Caucasian idea of a meal is a little different from what I was taught as an Asian Mom. Nothing wrong, I guess it is just quite enlightening. Maybe we Asian moms need to lightened up when it comes to meal times. Does bread only can to be eaten at breakfast? Does rice always need to be our staple at every meal?

I grew up in a family where a "proper" meal equates to a hot meal consisting of rice, soup, vegetables and meat. But in this day and age, I think as long as the child is receiving all the necessary nutrients and eating healthy, it doesn't really matter what constitutes as a proper meal. Right?

So I broke away from tradition and tried instead of what my baby likes, and this recipe seemed perfect. More importantly, it is easy and quick to make, which I think is vital to all mothers out there.

Cook pasta according to packet’s instructions.
Stir in the sweetcorn a few minutes before the end of the cooking time and cook until both are cooked.
Drain and return to pan. Add cheddar cheese, ham, parsley(optional) and butter and stir everything together.

As expected, my 2 year old daughter loved it, even I was savoring every bite! I tried a few more recipes from the book, but I think this one is a keeper.

Braised cucumbers with shrimp and mushrooms

2011-04-22T10:03:00.003+08:00

This is another one of those typical home cooked dishes that I would whip up on an average day. I know that some of my friends who are reading this blog are newly weds who would cook for their family, so this is a good and simple dish to try to go with rice.

Slice cucumber length-wise into quarters and slice off the seeds. Slice into smaller pieces. Slice up brown mushrooms. De-shell prawns and make a slit on the back to remove the "poop-vein". Chop a small clove of garlic finely.
In a medium-hot frying pan, fry up the mushrooms and cucumbers with the garlic. Add water until just barely covering the ingredients. Add 1 tablespoon of oyster sauce and 1/2 tablespoon of sugar and let it braise in low heat until the cucumber is soft. (about 5-10mins)
Add prawns into the cucumbers and stir fry until the prawns are cooked.
Stir in 1 tablespoon of Chinese cooking wine (optional) and add in cornstarch water* to thicken the sauce.
Serve!

* Cornstarch water, or 勾芡 (gou qian), is to mix a small teaspoon of cornstarch with a little COLD/COOL water. This cornstarch water is added to a dish just before it's done to thicken the sauce and give the dish a shiny, glossy finish. It's heat that activates the thickening agent, so it's important that you use cool tap water to make the cornstarch water. Also, continue stirring the food while you add it into the frying pan, or you'll get a lump of jelly in your food. :)

Cheng's Seafood Village

2011-03-19T15:03:00.002+08:00

Have you been to Farm Mart? If you have, then you will know which store I'm talking about. Near Choa Chu Kang, Hubby would regularly visit the place during lunch to buy some fishes for his mini aquarium. So one evening, he suggested that place for dinner.

There were several food stores there, including this tze char store. So 1st up, rojak!

Looks good, but if you want to compare with the Soon Heng rojak store at Toa Payoh, this plate of stuff was total crap. The yu char kuey was soggy, the sauce was too watery, and it was just not very good!

The next dish was the main reason we were there. I was craving for some good, chinese style mee goreng! (S$4.50)

It was quite good, there was plenty of fish, prawns and sotong in it. The sauce was not very spicy, but it's ok. Overall, a pretty hearty dish. Luckily we ordered only one plate in "small". Together with the other dishes, we can hardly finish this plate! So one "small" portion can be shared with 2 persons lah.

The lady suggested la-la, and it's been so long since I had some, so why not? Turns out to be a super yummy dish! It's got this beautiful curry leaves flavour to it, the la-la was very fresh, very good! (S$10.00)

Hubby was in a mood for frogs, so we ordered some King Pao frogs. Another super yummy dish! The kung pao sauce was so fragrant, and the frog was very tender. Good! (S$14.00)

Other than the yummy, affordable food, I really liked the surroundings. It's surrounded by all those plant nurseries, fish farms, etc, so the surroundings was very peaceful, quiet, and cooling! Great place to bring the whole family for dinner when the weather is fine.

Cheng's Seafood Village
67, Sungei Tengah Road, Unit 43
Singapore 699008
Tel: 6892 5590

Sole Pomodoro Pizzeria

2011-03-05T10:11:00.002+08:00

Saw this recommended by ieatishootipost, and Cobby and I were such pizza lovers ever since our honeymoon trip to Rome, so how can we resist? So one saturday we headed down to the restaurant to check it out.

The place was located just opposite the REX cinema near Little India, so it was quite easy to locate. Just as described, they really use a wood fire oven for their pizza!

I like it that the atmosphere was very nice and casual. The restaurant is open air, and the kitchen staff were all dressed in bermudas and crocs. Even the head chef, which I guess is Italian? But with the long apron, they look as if they were wearing sarongs. :D

We weren't sure what to order, but they were famous for their imported buffalo cheese. But when we saw the cured beef with rocket and parmesean cheese, we couldn't resist ordering. It's my favourite!

There were so many choices of pizza, so we ended up ordering a spicy italian sausage pizza to share. We were quite surprised to see that they added chilli to the pizza.

The pizza was delicious! The crust was crispy on the outer skirts, chewy on the inside. The middle part was nice and cheesy, and the sausages were delicious. We weren't very enthusiastic about the chilli at 1st, but we found out that it actually taste quite good with the pizza. It's not chilli padi, but the bigger ones that was not too spicy, so it's like a spicy vegetable taste to complement the pizza. Not bad!

I wanted to order two pizza, but Hubby suggested otherwise. Thankfully, because we were quite full after that. Nonetheless, we had ordered dessert. Afterall, desserts belong to a whole different part of the stomach. :)

Hubby ordered Tiramisu, which I wasn't really into, so I can't judge whether it was good or bad. But Hubby said it was quite good, so there.

I ordered a warm chocolate cake, which was a little runny in the middle. But it was a little light for my taste. I like my warm chocolate cake rich and chocolatey! But it wasn't bad, just not up to my standards. :)

Overall a pretty good dining experience. The staff was nice and friendly, the price was not too expensive. Will definitely go back again!

Sole Pomodoro Pizzeria
12/21 Mackenzie Road #01-01
(Opp Rex Cinema)
Singapore 228678
68843671
Opens 12pm till 11pm (Closed Mondays)
www.solepomodoro.com

Herb Butter Chicken

2011-02-18T23:27:00.001+08:00

A roast chicken recipe with a difference! I saw this recipe on Jamie Oliver's show, so this is based on what I vaguely remember. All you need is the usual stuff like...

A whole chicken
Your choice of vegetables to be roasted together with the chicken.
Herb butter!

Herb butter is very easy to make. Using soften unsalted butter, (not melted, softened) add in herbs like thyme, rosemary and parsley. Add in salt and pepper, mix well, and you're ready to use it!

Use a spoon to create space between the skin and the flesh of the chicken before you stuff as much of the butter inside.

Rub the remaining butter onto the vegetables and put them under the chicken. This way, the juices would flow from the chicken onto the veges while it roast!

Roast the chicken in a preheated oven at 200 degrees C for 45mins. The skin would be crispy, the meat juicy and delicious, you will love me, you are welcome! :)

Mandarin Orange Chiffon Cake

2011-02-14T23:11:00.001+08:00

My daughter loves Pandan Chiffon Cakes, but since the Chinese New Year was coming to a close, I was inspired to find a way to get rid of some of my Mandarin Oranges. I found this recipe on My Kitchen Snippets, and it turned out beautifully!. As usual, I halved the ingredients and made a smaller version of the actual recipe. Below are the ingredients for the full sized 10" pan.

(A)
1 3/4cup Self Rising Flour
1/8 tsp of salt

(B)
6 egg yolks
1/2 cup of sugar
3/4 cup Mandarin orange juice
zest of 1 orange
1/4 cup of vegetable oil

(C)
3/4 cup of sugar
6 egg white
1 tsp of cream of tartar

Pre-heat oven to 160°C. Sieve all the (A) ingredients in a mixing bowl until well combined.
Mix ingredient (B) until well blended and then add in ingredient (A) and mix until smooth. Set it aside.
Under ingredient (C), beat the egg whites till they are fluffy. Add in the sugar and cream of tartar high speed until stiff peaks are formed. It should not fall out when you turn the mixing bowl over. Fold 1/3 of the egg whites into the egg yolks mixture and continue to do so until egg whites is finish. Remember to fold in gently until well mixed.
Pour batter into ungreased 10" tube pan (about 3/4 full) and bake for an hour or used a bamboo skewer to test the cake. Just insert the skewer into the center of the cake and it should comes out clean.
Invert cake and let it cool complete in the pan. When it is cooled, loosen the edge of the pan and remove cake.

Like I said, I halved the ingredients so for my smaller version, so I used a 5" tube pan and baked for only 40mins. The end result is a slightly moist cake. If you like it more dry, bake longer. I think my cake pan was too full, so I ended up with a mushroom-like chiffon cake. Nothing wrong, just that it makes it more difficult to remove from the pan.

There was even leftover cake batter, so I poured the rest into muffin cases and baked for only 20 mins.

Turns out quite nice actually! Little chiffon cakes, no need to cut, great for tea breaks, perfect for little hands. :)

Dozo Japanese Restaurant

2011-02-13T23:25:00.004+08:00

Happy Valentine's Day! Well, it's actually a day before valentine's day, but it's the thought that counts! This year, my hubby got a recommendation from a buddy of a Japanese fusion restaurant, on top of that, it's got pretty good reviews online. So he chose DOZO Japanese restaurant for dinner.

The restaurant is located in a quiet little shopping centre, so I wasn't too impressed. Besides, when we got inside the restaurant, there seemed to be a musky smell in the air! But then, as long as the food is good, everything else shouldn't matter right? So on with the food!

Upon settling down, we were presented with a bouquet of 'sticks'. Only after we tried nibbling it did we realise that they were cheese sticks!

It's pretty yummy, and no waiters ran out screaming at us on why we ate the table ornaments, so we're good. The menu is a fixed 7 course meal, where you can choose your own 7 dishes. The 1st dish is a chef's recommendation, appetizer.

The waiter asked us to eat from the lightest to the most flavor one. The scallop, the salmon, followed by the foie gras.

I looooove the foir gras, but the scallop was a little too raw inside. Still edible, but too raw I think. For the 1st course, the cold dish, I ordered the sashimi platter. I love the roe!!! I hoped the sashimi to be more cool instead of room temperature, but they were still very sweet and delicious.

Hubby had the King Crab claw with mango. The meat was very moist and sweet and it goes very well with the chopped mango. YUMS!

For the side dish, I had the gratinated escargots with yuzu butter. I don't know what gratinated means or what is yuzu butter, but I know it was delicious! The cheese and butter was gorgeous, the escargot wasn't too chewy or salty, it was perfect!

Hubby's foie gras chawanmushi was, to me, quite ordinary actually. I think when you put the 2 together, each of their magic is lost. I'd rather have a normal chawanmushi with a slice of perfectly seared foie gras please.

So far my choices were pretty good, but my crap bisque turned out to be TOO MUCH! It's just TOO crab-by, the seafood smell was TOO strong!

On the opposite end of the scale, Hubby's double boiled beef consumme was very light and yet sweet. Very good!

Finally it's main course time! Mine was beef tenderloin on pu-ye and granite hotstone. The meat is served rare, so you can let it 'cook' a little longer if you want. But any way you cook it, it was deliciously tender. I thought the accompanying sauce was pepper sauce, but it was actually grainy mustard. It was a little sweet and tangy, and it was GREAT with the steak. YUMS~!

Cobby ordered the sushi platter as he wanted some rice in his meal. Looked so pretty!

Next up was my favourite, dessert! Mine was a warm chocolate cake with a liquid centre. Delicious and perfect with vanilla ice cream!

Cobby's dessert was a little sad. It's so sad, it's funny really. Look at the size of his plate versus the size of his miserable little slice of cheese cake! Whahaha!

I was worried that he would be hungry still, but surprisingly, we were both quite full! The meal has wasn't perfect, there were good dishes and not so good ones, but overall, we had a good time eating and talking and laughing. The service was pretty OK and the place was quite casual and comfortable.

Dozo Restaurant
491 River Valley Road
Singapore 248371
Tel: 6838 6966
www.dozo.com.sg

Miss CoCo's Chocolate Buttercream Birthday Cake

2011-01-29T23:42:00.000+08:00

I got this fabulous chocolate buttercream sponge cake from Baking Library and it was GREAT! Definitely a must-try for anyone who loves a good chocolate cake with rich chocolate frosting and yet, not too sweet or heavy.

As it was my very 1st attempt in making an actual birthday cake, and it was for my darling baby girl's birthday party, I wanted to give the recipe a try 1st. So I made one earlier half the size.

I even tried doing some simple piping with the extra buttercream. Haha...

I noticed that if it's too small, the sponge cake have trouble holding up at the sides while cooling. But I just wanted to try out the taste, and it was definitely a PASS for me!

So this is the full size portion...

Chocolate Sponge Cake :
70g egg yolks, room temperature
50g caster sugar
4 tbs vegetable oil
4 tbs water
80g cake flour
15g cocoa powder
1/2 tsp baking powder
145g egg whites, room temperature
50g caster sugar

Swiss Meringue Chocolate Buttercream: (about 840g)
195g egg whites
220g caster sugar
385g unsalted butter, softened but still cold
100g cocoa powder (I used Hershey's)

Making the Chocolate Sponge Cake:

Preheat oven to 160 degrees C.
Whisk sifted flour, sifted cocoa powder and sifted baking powder in a large bowl to combine.
Place egg yolks, 50g caster sugar, oil and water in a large bowl. Mix well with a wire whisk untill the mixture is evenly mixed. Add the flour mixture in and whisk to obtain a smooth and thick chocolatey batter.
Next, whisk egg whites on low speed. Increase speed slowly to medium-high and beat untill egg whites are at soft peaks. Add 50g of sugar gradually and beat untill egg whites are just stiff and still moist. This is when the beaters are lifted, the egg whites will form peaks that are upright and not drooping slightly. Egg whites will resemble whipped cream.The entire bowl of whites will not drop out when the bowl is overturned. Do not beat until the egg whites are dry and clumpy.
Fold one third of beaten egg whites into egg yolk batter gently to lighten and combine. Fold in the rest of the beaten whites to combine. Final batter should be foamy and uniform in colour with no streaks of egg white present.
Pour batter into 2 greased and lined 8 x 3 inch round pans and bake at 160 degrees C for 25 -35 minutes. Test doneness using a skewer or toothpick. The highest part of the cake should rise up to 4/5 or nearly the full height of the tin. When the cake is done, the inserted skewer will come out clean.
Leave the cake to cool in the tin for a short while. Cake will shrink from edges on cooling. (happens everything, it is normal) When the cake is no longer shrinking, unmould from pan, remove parchment/baking paper and turn the cake out to cool.

Preparing the Swiss Meringue Chocolate Buttercream:

Place 195 egg whites and 220g granulated sugar in a heatproof bowl. Sit the heatproof bowl on a saucepan filled with water. The base of the bowl should not be in contact with the water. This is known as a double boiler. Bring the water in the saucepan to a slight simmer. Use a balloon whisk and stir the egg whites and sugar constantly until the sugar has fully dissolved and the mixture is warm to the touch (test by inserting your finger).
Remove the heatproof bowl and beat the warm egg white mixture on medium high speed to obtain stiff peaks using an electric beater. (It takes a longer time when sugar is added.) At stiff peaks, the beaten egg whites will not budge when bowl is overturned. When the beaters are lifted from the beaten egg whites, the surface of the egg whites should form stiff upright peaks (not drooping peaks). The beaten egg whites should be cool to the touch (room temperature), not warm like when it was removed from the saucepan.
Beat in 385g butter into the beaten egg whites in 3 batches, ensuring each batch is incorporated before adding the next. The egg whites will deflate furiously when butter is added. Continue beating until the mixture is creamy and fluffy (Initially when the butter is added, the mixture may become watery. As more butter is added, the buttercream thickens up).
Lastly, sift in 100g cocoa powder and continue beating to obtain a smooth chocolate buttercream.

Assembly:

I just sandwich some buttercream between the 2 sponge cakes and frost the whole cake with buttercream.
My hubby suggested adding some nuts to the cake, so I added some crushed hazelnuts to the side. The nuts really complement the chocolate very well!
I wanted to add some colour to the cake, so I topped it with some sweet Korean strawberries.
I wanted it to be more kiddy, so the train candle holder I found at Phoon Huat was perfect. :)

I was so busy bringing out the cake that I forgot to take a good photo of my greatest creation! Too bad, I just too 2 pictures hastily and did some cropping from the group photos. :P

So happy and proud... :))

Miss CoCo's Closed Pineapple Tarts

2011-01-24T16:34:00.004+08:00

After a two year rest, I've decided to rise to the occasion once again to make pineapple tarts. The last time I did it, I was heavily pregnant and it really tire me out! This year, after some research, I decided to do something different. I wanted to make closed ones!

Yes, as you can see, I've stuck to my Bunny theme... Haha...

This recipe is from A Baker's Videoblog, which is very specialize in pineapple tarts. She even teaches them in classes! For more details, videos and useful tips, check out her site. :)

She used her recipe for the typical "open" tarts, but I used it for the closed version. Turned out that the closed version is actually easier to make! Here are the ingredients:

450g of pineapple filling (commercially-bought or homemade)
360g plain flour plus extra for dusting (3 cups minus 2 tbsp)
2 tablespoons caster sugar
280g cold unsalted butter (2 sticks plus 1 tbsp)
2 egg yolks
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
Egg glaze: 1 egg yolk mixed with a few drops of water (to thin it)

Sift flour and sugar. Mix well.
Cut butter into small cubes and add to flour mixture.
Use fingertips to rub the butter into the flour.
Lightly beat egg yolks and vanilla essence and add to butter mixture. Combine and knead lightly to form a dough.
Wrap the dough in clingwrap and chill it for an hour to firm it up. Chilling the dough makes it easy to handle.
Roll doughs and pineapple filling into small balls. To make sure that each tart is evenly sized, measure each piece of dough and filling using measuring spoons. For the dough, use a half tablespoon and a teaspoon for the filling.
Flatten the dough slightly using the heel of your palm, wrap the filling up and roll it to round it up. See here for video instructions.
To make the bunny design, I just add the bunny ears and poke 2 eyes. :)
Preheat the oven at 190°C (375°F) for 10 minutes. Bake them for 7 minutes, then remove them from the oven, brush the egg glaze, then pop them back to be baked for a further 7 minutes.
Using a flat spatula, transfer the tarts to a wire rack. Allow tarts to cool completely before storing in an airtight container.

NOTE:

Careful not to add to much water to the egg glaze. I added too much water, making it too watery.
I brushed on too much glaze onto the tart, so my tart sort of 'melted' a little in the oven during baking. Just a thin glaze will do.

I love this recipe. It's very light, buttery and melts in your mouth. Hope everybody have a good time making it, and I really look forward to seeing the children enjoy the little bunny tarts too! Here's wishing all a early Happy Lunar New Year! 新年快乐!

Fresh Corn Sandwich Toast

2011-01-14T23:32:00.001+08:00

Got this recipe from a new cooking book I bought a few weeks ago. My daughter and husband loves corn, so this would be a great recipe for the family. High in fibre, vitamins and natural sweetness, this is a great way to sneak in some vegetables into their daily diet!

My blender was too powerful, so my corn turned out more like a corn puree. The corn mixture was so fine that they can hardly tell there's fresh corn in the bread. Hubby suggested that I make the corn more chunky, good idea, will do that next time. :)

SET A:
50ml Warm water
40g Sugar
3g Salt
4g Instant dry yeast
150g Fresh sweet corn kernel, blended with 50ml of water

350g High protein flour
50g Unsalted butter

Grease loaf tin (8"X5"X5")
Mix Set A ingredients together and set aside.
In a mixer fitted with a dough hook, combine all ingredients (except butter) and mix into a dough.
Add in butter and knead for another 7 minutes or so, until the dough is smooth and elastic and does not stick to the sides of the bowl.
Remove the dough, oil the bowl and put dough back inside the bowl. Cover the bowl with cling wrap and let it rest until it double's in size, about 2 hours.
Divide the dough into 2 equal portions, round up and set it aside to rest for 5 minutes.
Roll out the dough, roll it up neatly. Roll it out in the opposite direction, roll it up again, and place it into the loaf tin.
Cover loaf tin with cling wrap and let it rise until it fills about 80% of the tin.
Cover tin with lid and bake in preheated oven at 200°C for 40-45 minutes.
Remove and unmould the loaf onto wire rack to cool. Slice and serve.

Deep Fried Stuffed Tau Pok

2011-01-10T16:19:00.002+08:00

Got this recipe from an old cookbook. In the original recipe, in the fish paste, they add:

chopped water chestnuts
diced spring onions
chicken stock granules
dash of sugar, sesame oil and pepper

Thankfully, I found some raw fish paste at a local supermarket that was already seasoned. Besides, I didn't want to buy a whole bag of water chestnuts, so I didn't add that either.

So, very simple. Just cut a tau pok into half and flip it inside out.

Using a teaspoon, stuff in the fillings.

Heat up oil for deep-frying, put in stuffed tau pok and deep-fry till until golden brown and crispy. Dish and drain, serve hot with chilli sauce. YUM YUM!

88 Authentic Thai Seafood

2011-01-02T09:16:00.005+08:00

Got to know about this place from reading the chinese newspaper. Decided to give it a go since Hubby was on leave. It's pretty near the popular Bedok hawker centre, and it was Saturday evening, so finding parking was quite difficult. We had to park at the housing blocks across the road, but it wasn't far.

The coffee shop was facing the road, but the 1st thing we saw was posters and banner of a tze char store selling crabs. At first I thought that the Thai Seafood store had moved away. But walk further in and we found the right store.

Hungry! We quickly ordered their recommended dishes, and was pleasantly surprised!

Come to a Thai eatery and this is a must try. Their rice was fluffy and just slightly sweet from the pineapple. Good.

I like their Thai style fried toufu too. The toufu they use was much softer than the typical fried toufu. The sauce was slightly more spicy than those you have at a typical Thai restaurant, so it was quite surprising.

Another typical dish. This Tom Yam Seafood soup got kick! The lemon grass fragrance in the soup was quite prominent, and the soup was a good balance of sour and spicy. The ingredients was very generous too!

This was my favorite! It's called butter sotong, but it's more like calamari! It's crispy, slightly buttery, and there's a wonderful garlic-ky fragrance to it. YUMS!

This is another one of their signature dish, garlic fish. But we don't really fancy it. The fish was fried to perfection, crispy on the outside, soft and fluffy on the inside. But the crispy garlic and some unidentifiable crispy things on top, and the sauce, was just not that spectacular.

All and all, a very good dining experience. Definitely will go back again!

88 Authentic Thai Seafood
Block 88, Bedok North Street 4
#01-125

CoCo's Roasted Rack of Lamb

2010-12-24T23:06:00.000+08:00

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

2010-12-18T23:35:00.002+08:00

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

2010-12-18T13:50:00.002+08:00

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

2010-12-11T13:46:00.000+08:00

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

2010-12-09T00:28:00.001+08:00

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)

2010-12-07T00:20:00.000+08:00

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

2010-12-01T00:07:00.002+08:00

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

2010-11-14T15:58:00.001+08:00

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

2010-11-02T15:37:00.003+08:00

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

2010-10-27T13:41:00.003+08:00

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

2010-10-24T15:24:00.000+08:00

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

2010-10-16T13:44:00.000+08:00

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

2010-10-07T14:12:00.003+08:00

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

2010-10-02T14:06:00.002+08:00

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

2010-09-30T20:51:00.003+08:00

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

2010-09-27T15:02:00.003+08:00

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

2010-09-27T15:00:00.002+08:00

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

2010-09-27T14:58:00.001+08:00

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

2010-09-23T18:05:00.002+08:00

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!)

2010-09-18T14:52:00.002+08:00

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

2010-09-14T21:05:00.004+08:00

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

2010-09-14T20:39:00.007+08:00

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

2010-08-30T16:43:00.003+08:00

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

2010-08-25T10:19:00.001+08:00

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!

CoCo's Homemade Kimchi Soup

2010-08-16T10:18:00.001+08:00

We really eating Kimchi soup at restaurants, so one day I attempted to make Kimchi soup at home. I boiled some packaged kimchi with cabbage, leeks, tofu, vermicelli and pork with soup stock. Well, it looks good, but unfortunately was a little bland. Next time I'll up the flavour by adding more Kimchi and making the soup more spicy. :)

Arashi Shabu Shabu - 岚日式火鍋

2010-08-14T10:16:00.002+08:00

After some grocery shopping JB's TESCO, we walked across to AEON Tebrau City Shopping Centre for some sustenance. We came across this restaurant that looked a little too posh for a simple Saturday lunch, but at closer inspection, it's actually a Japanese mini steamboat restaurant with reasonable pricing.

Hubby and I both ordered the same NZ rib eye shabu set, but I had the tom yam soup base while he took the Japanese broth soup base. The serving was so pretty!

NZ Beef Rib Eye Shabu Set - Tom Yam Soup - RM35.90

You can order from their ala carte menu too, but we were just so hungry and the NZ beef set seemed quite sufficient and valuable. Overall it was a very satisfying and comforting meal, very different from it's deco.

Let's just say we'll be back for more! :)

Arashi Shabu Shabu - 岚日式火鍋
AEON Tebrau City Shopping Centre
Lot G23, Ground Floor
Tel: 07 3582080

Bei Sheng Seafood Restaurant 北腾泰国小食

2010-08-08T17:06:00.005+08:00

This Thai food restaurant used to be located at the basement of Sembawang Shopping Centre. But has moved away after the renovations. I think there's one in the Yishun industrial estates, but this one is nearer to where I usually do my grocery shopping, so naturally we ate there.

It's not exactly an authentic Thai food restaurant, but it's a great place for a cosy dinner with the family. There is usually a short waiting time for a table, especially during the weekends, but the friendly staff would take your orders while waiting, so the food would arrive within minutes after you get your table.

The place is no fancy restaurant, but the food is simple, unpretentious and delicious. Our favourite was the 三味鱼 (S$12.00), which is deep fried fish with their special dipping sauce. The fish is fried till it's crispy on the outside and yet still fluffy on the inside. It's so crispy, we practically ate the whole fish, together with most of the fins and bones! Cobby always said that this would be a great dish to enjoy while watching TV, just munching on the crispy fish. Haha...

The 虾酱鸡 (S$6.00), the prawn paste fried chicken. Same as the fish, it's crispy on the outside and yet juicy on the inside. Best thing is that it's not too salty, so it's really good.

The fried kang kong (S$4.00) was unfortunately just so-so. I think it's because there's just too much sambal sauce, so it made the vegetable a little soggy.

MY favorite would be their Tom Yum Soup (S$3.00). Just give me a bowl of the soup with a bowl rice and I can call it a meal. :) The soup is nice and spicy, just the way I like it, but the spiciness does not overpower the sweet seafood stock. They are very generous with the seafood in the soup too! Squid, prawns, fish and different types of mushrooms. YUM!

They also do take outs, so if you don't want to wait, you can call them in advanced to place your order. When you arrive, just pick up the food, pay up and go. Convenient!

Bei Sheng Seafood Restaurant 北腾泰国小食
Block 701A #01-01
Yishun Avenue 5
(Opposite Chong Pang Market POSB Branch)
Telephone : 6756 4883

Bel Mondo - South Italian Cuisine

2010-06-26T15:59:00.000+08:00

Accidentaly came across this Italian restaurant at Millenia Walk on the way to the PC show a few weeks ago and was pleasantly surprised! So we went back again with an appetite.

We started out with Italian beer. Interesting, we have never had Italian beer before, and it was quite nice! Very fruity, nice.

We ordered a bruschetta, which was absolutely delicious!

The bread was warm and crusty, the tomato topping was great. Even the little accompanying salad was filled with good stuff! It's got lettuce, rocket(my fav), parmesan cheese, little picked onions and sweet cheery tomatoes.

We wanted to test how authentic is this Italian restaurant, so we ordered Pomodoro pasta. We wondered how it would fair against the ones we had in Rome. :)

Unfortunately it didn't really make the mark. Well, it's unfair to compare with the unbelievably delicious pasta we had in Rome, but it's really not that bad. The sauce was a little too runny though...

OK, starters aside, here comes the main dishes. I ordered the rack of lamb.

It's quite good, the meat is nice and browned, so it's very flavourful. It's cooked to a nice medium done-ness, so it's still quite tender and moist. Love the salad and the potatoes too, I cleared my plate except for a few slices of pickles and some bitter purple lettuce. :P

Cobby ordered the pork belly, which was like a giant piece of 烧肉. The skin was delightfully crispy and the meat was quite tender!

By then we were really stuffed! But a hot cup of cuppacino really help to wrap up the while meal. :) We'll be back! And next time I'll try their pizza, which looked really good too... YUMS...

Millenia Walk, 9 Raffles Boulevard, #01-09/10, S(039596)

CoCo Mama's Braised Fish

2010-06-23T15:38:00.000+08:00

This is another dish that I grew up eating. I love eating the plain fried pomfret with cut chilli padi and soya sauce, but once in a while, this is a nice dish to go with rice too!

Very simple to do. You just need:
- fish (I like pomfret)
- 1 medium onion, sliced
- 1 garlic, chopped
- Chilli padi, cut (optional)
- dark soya sauce
- Sugar, 2 table spoons
- Water
- Fish Soya Sauce, 1 table spoon

This is not a product placement, but this is really a great sauce, highly recommended for fish lovers! This fragrant soya sauce is perfect for steamed fish or just a good soya sauce to add to freshly cut chilli padi to dip food in.

Anyway, just make cuts on the fish, maybe 2 cuts, pad the fish dry, and shallow fry the fish.

Remove the fish from the frying pan and pour away the access oil. Fry up the onions, garlic (and chilli). Lower the fire and add in the fish sauce and sugar (if still salty, add a little more sugar. The fish sauce can be quite salty) . Add a little water. add a little dark sauce for colour and flavour. Pour sauce over the fish and serve. :)

CoCo Mama's Steamed Eggs with meat

2010-06-22T22:22:00.002+08:00

A simple home cooked dish that I grew up eating. We would mix the eggs with the rice and woof it all down!

For a small, serving for 2, you will need:

Minced meat (chop yourself for more texture, or buy ready made from supermarket for convenience)
Seasoning - soya sauce, sesame oil, chicken powder, pinch of salt (or fish sauce if available)
1 large egg
2 egg's worth of water (this is the golden ratio! 1 egg - 2 water. Use shell to measure water)
oil

1. Beat eggs with water
2. Mix meat with seasonings
3. Mix egg mixture with minced meat
4. Add a few drops of oil onto the egg mixture just before steaming.
5. Steam for 10-15mins in low heat until egg is firm around the edge but still slightly wobbly in the middle when you gently shake the plate.

NOTE! Don't cover the wok completely when egg is steaming. In fact, you can even open up to check occasionally.

CoCo's Table Rolls

2010-04-23T22:57:00.003+08:00

Here's another successful attempt of me making bread! I'm starting to think that perhaps it's not so difficult to make bread afterall! This time I'm making table rolls, which is softer and sweeter than French loaf.

This recipe is from a very old book, from the 70s I think. It's written in Chinese, the cakes decorations are very old fashioned and the pictures of the chefs are super funny looking (very 70s). I had a really hard time translating the instructions, but the recipes work and there were alot of pictures to guide me through. Fantastic book, but instructions was a little TOO meticulous for me. I've simplified the steps a little.

Bread Flour - 300g
Yeast - 6g
Caster Sugar - 15g
Salt - 5g
Egg - 45g
Water - 150g
Butter - 9g
Egg (to brush on dough before baking)

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. Knead 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.

5. Place on baking tray with baking paper. Wet knife to make incisions on dough and allow to rise again.

6. Brush egg on dough before baking 20mins at 180 degree celsius, or until slightly brown.

7. Cool before storing.

Enjoy fluffy rolls for breakfast! :)

Honjin Kushiyaki Restaurant

2010-04-17T22:56:00.005+08:00

Hubby always drive by Adam Road and saw this NUSS Guild House with a Japanese restaurant inside. Well he's a NUS alumni, so he suggest that we go check it out on a weekend.

It was already 12noon when we arrived, but it seems quite quiet. Maybe it's due to their remote location. The staff was very friendly as they seated us and gave us a window seat. The menu looked very impressive and authentic, but it turned out to be a little more expensive than we expected. They don't have the items you see in every typical Japanese restaurant, so we took a little more time than usual to look through the menu to decide.

My friendly waitress informed us of the lunch special, which was an ebi lunch set.

Daily Special Lunch Set - $18.00
2 fried prawns, 2 fried scallops, 1 giant fried oyster - which was very sweet and tasty
Potato salad - I love the onion bits inside. Very good
Salmon and Tuna Sashimi - Super Love! I Loved it that they served it in chunks rather than in slices. The fish was really sweet and fresh with freshly grated wasabi.
Miso Soup - seemingly boring soup was jazzed up with Enoki mushrooms rather than the usual tofu cubes. Delicious!
Fruits - Watermelon and honeydew

Hubby chose the Honjin Bento from the menu.

Honjin Bento - $48.00
5 pieces of sushi
Sashimi
braised fish
tempura
braised vegetable
braised winter melon
Miso soup
Pickles
Ice cream (green tea)

Hubby was so stuffed he couldn't even finish it! They were very generous with their fish. The waitress also recommended their Grilled Saba. Sounds nice, so we ordered without asking how much was it. Turns out that the HALF a fish cost us $33.00!

Saba Shioyaki - $33.00

Wah, very expensive man... Yes yes, it was grilled perfectly. Crispy on the outside, soft and juicy on the inside. But still, $33!

I was watching Hubby enjoy his after meal ice cream and I kindly declined his offer to share (I don't like green tea ice cream). But it was such a hot day, so I thought I try one of their Sakura Ice Cream - $6.00.

Such a sweet lovely colour! I never had sakura flavoured ice cream before, so it tasted like a very light strawberry milk ice cream. The ice cream was very light, but not bland, almost chewy! And they serve it on a frozen dish so that it wouldn't melt too quickly. Smart!

The ice cream was a good way to end the meal. Yes, turned out to be a pretty expensive meal, but it was enjoyable nonetheless. Turns out that the restaurant do have some special promotion for NUS Alumni, but it was for dinner, so too bad for us! Check here for more details. Probably would return, but given it's pricing, maybe on special occasions only! :)

No.7 Adam Park, Adam Road
Singapore 289926
Tel: 64634528

Ah Orh Seafood Restaurant

2010-03-29T15:28:00.005+08:00

Located at the mature estate of Bukit Merah, Ah Orh is a tze char restaurant serving authentic Teochew cuisines. It's my first time there, recommended by my Hubby, and I must say, it's been awhile since I've had such a delicious, satisfying dinner!

We ordered dishes such as stir fry spinach, Thai style pork ribs, and of course, their signature Teochew dishes such as Hey Zhor (deep fried prawn rolls), steamed promfret and my favourite dessert, Orh Nee (Yam Paste).

Even a simple dish such as stir fry spinach was made extraordinary when they add in crispy, fragrant dried fish. Their Thai style pork ribs was delicious too! Deep fried bite sized pork ribs is stir fried with thai style sweet and spicy sauce. Top with pickled cucumbers, onions and chilli. Love the crunchy, sour, pickled cucumbers! Very 开胃~ Can't stop!

Their Hey Zhor is a must-try. For those who don't know what's that, its a mixture of prawns, meat, yam, spices, water chestnuts, etc, all minced and rolled up with beancurd sheet. Then it's steamed, cut into bite size pieces and fried till it's crispy on the outside, soft and savory on the inside. Dip into some sweet sauce before you pop them into your mouth and soon, the whole plate would be gone!

Ah... who can resist this... Orh Nee!

Just by looking at the greyish colour you know that they made it from real yam, from scratch. Orh Nee is very tedious to make, so many establishments use instant mix, or fake yam. So it usually turns out a pretty purple colour. Bleah! But not for Ah Orh. Their Orh Nee was not too sweet and tasted a wonderful fragrance of yam. If you savour it slowly, you can even feel some tiny lumps of yam! haha...

One thing that surprised me was the lack of fried onion oil. Many Teochew restaurant liked to add alot of fried onion oil into the orh nee, which I don't really like as it masked the yam taste. Ah Orh didn't add the oil, or maybe it's so minimum that I can't taste any. They did add the usual ginkgo nuts and dates though, but I'm not a fan, so I gave them to my hubby. :)

My Sis-in-law paid for the dinner, so Im not sure how much it cost. But I don't believe it would be expensive as it's not a high end restaurant anyway. We'll definitely go back again, and I suggest you do so too! :)

Ah Orh Seafood Restaurant

Tel: 62757575 / 62753535 (Making reservations strongly advised!)
Blk 115 Jalan Bukit Merah
#01-1627
Singapore 160115

Operating Hours:
11am - 2pm, 5.30pm - 9pm Daily

CoCo's No Knead Bread

2010-03-25T15:08:00.007+08:00

No Knead Bread
By: Michael Smith

Ingredients:

3 cups all-purpose or bread flour
1/4 teaspoon of dry yeast
1 1/4 teaspoons of salt
1 5/8 cups of warm water

Method:
Whisk the dry ingredients together thoroughly.

Add the water and stir until a wet dough forms. Continue stirring until the dough incorporates all the loose flour in the bowl, about 60 seconds in total.

Cover the bowl with a towel (I use cling wrap) and rest in a warm place for 12 to 18 hours.

It will double in size, bubble and long gluten strands will form.

Lightly flour your hands and the work surface then remove the dough from the bowl. Quickly form it into a ball. (Be warned - it's super sticky, wet and difficult to handle)

Thoroughly flour a cotton towel and rest the dough on it. Cover it with another floured cotton towel. You may also rest the dough on a non-stick ‘Silpat’ mat and cover it with just one towel. (I placed it on a non-stick baking tray) Rest the dough a second time. In 2 to 3 hours it will rise again and double in size once more.

I didn't read the instructions properly and didn't put the dough on a towel. So I had a little sticky situation when trying to get it out of the pan and into the pot. :P

A half an hour or so before the dough is ready preheat your oven to 230°C with a heavy covered pot in it. You may use cast-iron, steel, enamel or ceramic.

When the dough has fully risen slide your hand under the towel and quickly invert the delicate dough into the hot pot. Shake the pot a bit to settle it then place the lid on the pot and start baking.

Bake for 30 minutes with the lid then remove it and bake for 15 minutes more and... Presto! Home made bread...

It won't stick to the pot, so just pop it out.

Perfect with butter...

Check out the original recipe for a bigger portion and a healthier version!

Update - I'm submitting this post to Aspiring Bakers #8 - Bread Seduction. I guess this creation holds some sentimental value for me as it was my VERY 1st bread creation. Besides, this is a very unique recipe!

CoCo's Butter Cake

2010-03-24T17:38:00.003+08:00

My baking mood was on, so I dug out an old cookbook and made a butter cake!

Baby was napping, so I didn't even use the electric mixer! Arms ended up all sore and tired, but biting into the warm buttery cake during teatime was worth all the effort!

The stupid recipe book indicated only 25 minutes of baking, but it ended up with raw batter in the middle! Argh! So here I indicated a longer baking time.

300g butter
300g icing sugar
1/2 teaspoon of baking powder
5 eggs (I only had 4 - still ok :D)
280g flour

1. Glaze oil and line baking tin with baking paper. Preheat oven at 180 degree Celsius.

2. Sieve flour and baking powder.

3. Beat half of the icing sugar and butter till light and fluffy.

4. Separate egg yolk and white. Beat egg white and other half of icing sugar till fluffy then add in egg yolks. Continue beating until creamy.

5. Using hand, blend butter mixture and egg mixture evenly, add in flour and mix well. Pour mixture into baking tin and bake for about 45 minutes.

6. Cool cake in pan for 5 mins before inverting it onto a wire mesh to be further cooled.

Serve with a cup of hot tea or coffee! YUMZ~!

CoCo's Hotplate Tofu without the hotplate

2010-02-23T13:37:00.000+08:00

Haha... as you can guess, this dish is inspired by one of my favourite tze char dish, hotplate tofu. Of course, I don't have a hotplate at home, so explains the name too. Haha... Very simple and delicious to make!

prawns, butterflied
1 stick of egg tofu, sliced
1 egg, beaten
4 mushrooms, diced
2 spring onions, cut
1 medium onion, quartered

Seasoning:
1 tablespoon oyster sauce
1 teaspoon sambal belacan (optional)
1 teaspoon of sugar
6 tablespoons of stock or water

Stir fry mushrooms with a pinch of salt till the mushrooms soften.
Add in seasoning, onions, spring onion and prawns and fry till just cooked.
Add in tofu. Mix carefully till everything is coated with seasoning.
Make sure your tofu and prawns are evenly distributed around the frying pan.
Pour in beaten egg around the frying pan, move the pan around to distribute egg all over pan.
Lower heat and cover the pan for a minute.
Serve!

Sapphire

2010-02-20T23:18:00.008+08:00

When to the Sapphire on Saturday for dinner. Surprisingly, the open air restaurant was quite empty even at 6.30pm. Were we too early?

We started with their French Onion Soup - $10.80. Very rich in flavour, but wished there were more cheese on the toast. And why were there spring onion on French onion soup, I would never know.

I ordered their Chicken Pasta - $24.80, which they indicated was their specialty. It was basically chicken meat aglio oli pasta with olives, sun-dried tomato and some herbs I think. But they put SO MUCH olives into the pasta, it turned out a little too salty. All the black stuff you see in the photo, yah, it's olives. But overall, it tasted quite ok, just a little too salty.

Hubby ordered this Moroccan spiced chicken - $32.80. It's quite delicious really! It tasted like those smoky Indonesian BBQ chicken. A little charred on the outside, but juicy on the inside. Interestingly, their vegetables included xiao bai cai. Fusion cooking? Haha...

Dessert was what they called Jewel Peak - $15.80. It's actually ice cream, but it was quite disappointing to me because I find the ice cream not rich enough. The chocolate ice cream is just not chocolate-ty enough! Obviously they used cheapo brand of ice cream to make this "peak". Sigh~

Overall, it was an average tasting meal. If you want something better, I can easily name a few. So why do we still go there? For the ambiance of course. Located at the highest point in Singapore, there's no sound of the busy traffic or shopping crowds. Just birds chirping, insects humming and the soft music playing in the background. Of course, everything taste better with a fantastic view of the city and it's sunset.

Sapphire @ The Jewel Box
Mount Faber

Ah Hui Big Prawn Noodles

2010-02-20T22:55:00.002+08:00

Hubby recommended me to this prawn noodles stall at Longhouse Food Court at Upper Thomson Road. I think this is already quite a popular stall as most of the people go there for their prawn noodles.

The food came quite quick, which I love, and another thing I love? You can never go wrong with fragrant home made deep fried pork lard and fried shallots. Not those factory made, dried up, flavorless, pathetic excuse of a fried shallot many food stores buy.

Anyway, the soup have pretty good flavour, the jumbo prawns (I got 3 pieces) was very sweet and scrunchy, and again, I love the pork lard and fried shallots. Of course, this pales in comparison to the Wah Kee Prawn Noodles, but it was good nonetheless.

The noodles comes with a side of the usual chilli padi and their ultra hot chilli powder. Word of caution, it is hot! I only added a small pinch and it was enough to make me sweat with a runny nose. Though there was this guy at the next table who poured the whole thing in plus more into his soup. Siao~! Haha, everybody's taste is different!

Ah Hui Big Prawn Noodles
Longhouse Food Court
183 Upper Thomson Road
Big prawn noodles - $6.00
Regular - $3.00

Honey Lemon Drink

2010-02-20T22:46:00.003+08:00

I make this drink everytime somebody in the family has sore throat or the flu. It's packed with vitamin C and very soothing on the throat. Besides, it taste great! Don't have to be sick to enjoy it! :)

I make about 1.5 litre each time, which is about 3 full glasses. For that, I need:
3 full tablespoons of good honey
1 lemon

Mix honey with lukewarm or cold water (DO NOT USE HOT WATER FOR HONEY - I heard that it destroys the good enzymes in it)
When honey is properly mixed, squeeze in juice of half a lemon.
The other half of the lemon can be sliced and just throw it into the drink for more flavour.

Best served chilled - refreshing and delicious!

CoCo's Butter Sambal Prawns

2010-02-19T14:20:00.001+08:00

Managed to buy some fresh prawns from the supermarket the other day, so decided to grill it. Wanted to try something different, so instead of the usual sambal sauce, I wanted to up the flavour by melting about 2 tablespoons of salted butter on the frying pan and fry some curry leaves in the melted butter.

I then pour the flavoured hot butter into the sambal sauce and spread it onto the prawns that has been cut open.

I then pop the prawns into a preheated oven of 200 degress celsuis for just 8 to 10 minutes. The smell when it's baking is heavenly! The taste is even better! A simple must try to impress anybody!

Chikuyotei Dining - Niku Udon

2010-02-17T14:07:00.001+08:00

Hubby had the craving for the Wagyu Beef Sukiyaki I had the other time at Chikuyotei, so we drove all the way to Orchard just for dinner.

Me, I wanted to try something different, so I ordered their Wagyu Niku (Beef) Udon.

The serving wasn't very big, but the starchy udon can be quite filling, so that little bowl was enough for me. The Wagyu beef was, of course, very tender. Unlike the usual beef that clump up when you chew too big a piece, it melts in your mouth within a few bites. The soup was very light but tasty. Overall it was a very simple dish, just beef, leek and udon. Add a dash of Japanese mixed spiced pepper and you have a hearty meal! YUMS!

Pan Fried Nian Gao

2010-02-17T11:48:00.004+08:00

This is another traditional dish that is served during Chinese New Year. You can check out the meaning and other details here, Nian Gao!

For me, this is a dish that makes chinese new year morning special. Mum would make these for breakfast and we'll eat the sticky, delicious, sweet cakes while watching tv.

I've been eating these for years, but this is the very first time I'm making them myself. Thankfully, with my Mum's instructions, they tasted very close to how my Mum makes them.

It's really simple to make, the only problem was cutting the sticky, gooey, 'gao'. I guess you can try dipping your knife in oil, or hot water, or freeze the nian gao 1st.

When you have cut them into squares, make the batter. It's quite like making tempura batter. It's best to use self raising flour, but if you don't have it, mix plain flour with a little baking powder.

So, just mix flour, egg with a little cold water to get a thick batter. Coat the nian gao and pan fry it with a little oil in medium heat. Before turning over, put a little batter on top to get an even coat on both sides. When the gao is nice and golden brown, it's ready!

Chikuyotei Dining

2010-01-10T23:01:00.002+08:00

It's Boxing Day. There are several Japanese restaurant at level 4 of Ngee Ann City, but we noticed that this Chikuyotei Dining was the only one without a queue. It looks cosy inside and the menu looks really good, so we gave it a try!

Turns out that their specialty was eel but they were promoting Wagyu Beef and their Hokkaido seafood specials that month, so I ordered a Wagyu Beef Sukiyaki while Cobby ordered the King Crab set meal. Both set cost $48.00. SO LUXURIOUS~! But it's Christmas! Let's enjoy!

Cobby's King Crab set, with King Crab rolls, king crab chawanmushi, king crab salad, fried king crab and steamed king crab! There's also a miso soup that tasted GREAT!

Pretty awesome, but what's even more awesome was my WAGYU BEEF Sukiyaki~!

Oh My God that must have been the BESTEST sukiyaki I've ever had. Hands down! Look at the marbling of the meat, it was pure heaven. Each slice was about the size of my face! When I put the whole slice into my mouth, I can't talk. But then again, it was SO GOOD, I really CANNOT talk. Besides, when it comes to Wagyu, the flavour would just keep on coming with every chew. So, don't gobble mindlessly! Chew slowly and enjoy~

I ate every single thing. (except the cutlery) :)

The meal definitely worth every single penny. A must try for all beef lovers!

Orchard Rd
#04-28, Ngee Ann City
S(238872)
Tel: 67388954
Fax: 67389074
Opening hours: Mon - Sun 11.45am - 2.15pm, 5.30pm - 9.45pm

CoCo's Best Brownies

2009-12-12T12:18:00.003+08:00

OK I've been having crazy cravings for brownies for months! But it's never easy to bake when you have a clingy 10 month old baby that always demand your attention. So I found a recipe at HERSHEY'S, took another week to gather my ingredients, and finally got down to do it!

Brownies are actually quite easy and quick to prepare, but it was a stressful 30mins with baby screaming at my background. The results? ABSOLUTELY 100% WORTH IT! Definitely a MUST TRY!

Basically I followed HERSHEY'S recipe, but they really like it SUPER SWEET, so I reduced the sugar by 1/4 cup. Trust me, it's sweet enough.

• 1 cup (2 sticks) butter or margarine (about 226 grams)
• 1 and 3/4 cups sugar
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 4 eggs
• 3/4 cup HERSHEY'S Cocoa or HERSHEY'S SPECIAL DARK Cocoa
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt (I use salted butter, so I didn't add salt)
• 1 cup chopped nuts(I added walnuts, pecan or other 'soft' nuts will be fine)

Directions:
1. Heat oven to 350°F / 176°C Grease 13x9x2-inch baking pan.

(I laid 2 pieces of aluminium foil in a criss cross way on the pan, so when it's cooled, I just lift the whole thing up, place it on the chopping board and cut it. Easy and clean.)

2. Place butter in large microwave-safe bowl. Microwave at MEDIUM (50%) 2 to 2-1/2 minutes or until melted. Stir in sugar and vanilla. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well with spoon after each addition. Add cocoa; beat until well blended. Add flour, baking powder and salt; beat well. Stir in nuts, if desired. Pour batter into prepared pan.

3. Bake 30 to 35 minutes or until brownies begin to pull away from sides of pan. Cool completely in pan on wire rack. Frost if desired. Cut into bars. About 36 brownies.
(Duh~ how tiny is their brownie slices? I only got 12 cause I cut them pretty big. Haha~)

Really very good. No joke! You can store them in the fridge. When you need a little brownie therapy, pop one into the microwave for about 40 seconds and serve with a big scoop of ice cream! Instant happiness!

Stir fry long beans with beef and mushrooms

2009-12-09T12:08:00.003+08:00

Beef - sliced
Long beans - cut
Brown mushrooms - cut
Minced garlic
Minced ginger
Oyster sauce
Sugar

Combo A:
Oyster sauce
Corn flour
Sesame oil
Pepper

For my beef, I bought a piece of steak and put it in a clean plastic bag. Then I smack the meat till it's flat! That would tenderise it and get rid of all that stress! Haha...

Slice the beef and marinate it with combo A, the longer the better!

Stir fry the mushrooms in hot oil till it's little soft, add in the ginger and garlic.

Add in the marinated meat - add in more oil if needed. (mushrooms usually soaks up all the oil!)

Add a little water, another teaspoon of oyster sauce, 2 teaspoons of sugar and long beans.

Mix well and cover up to let the long bean cook.

After about 2 minutes, thicken the sauce with a splash of corn flour mix with water.

Turn of the fire and serve! :)

Super Quick Spicy Long Beans

2009-12-04T09:30:00.003+08:00

Experimented this dish for my own lunch yesterday (that's why the portion is so small) and it turned out delicious! Best thing is that it's SO SIMPLE. Must try!

3 Long Beans
1 teaspoon of bean paste
1 chilli padi
1 garlic, minced
1/4 bowl of water
2 teaspoon of water

Stir fry everything with a little oil for a minute, cover the pan for another minute, SERVE!

Great with a bowl of rice. YUMS~!

Pumpkin Soup

2009-12-04T09:28:00.002+08:00

Half a pumpkin, skinned, seeded and chopped into big chuncks
1 stick of carrot
1 potato
1 big onion
1 clove of garlic
1 bowl of chicken stock
1 tsp of Oregano
Salt and Pepper

Dice onion finely and mince garlic
Fry them in oil with a pinch of salt till onion becomes soft
Add the rest of the vegetables, oregano and chicken stock
Boil in pressure cooker for 10 minutes (or about 30mins for a regular pot) till all vegetables turn soft.
Blend into a smooth and creamy soup.

For babies, serve with baby biscuits.
For adults, season with salt and pepper and serve with toasted bread.

Pumpkin Soup

2009-12-04T09:28:00.000+08:00

Fruit Paradise - Fruit Tart Shop

2009-11-08T21:52:00.003+08:00

Located at Orchard Central, this shop sells, well, Fruit Tarts! We accidentally came across the shop while shopping and we were captivated by how pretty the tarts look in the fridge! It looked SO pretty, we wondered if they were even real! After staring at them for awhile, we were amazed that they are REAL... So we went in and tried them out!

I tell you, it was almost impossible to choose which one to order! Even after ordering, I was tempted to pull the waitress back to change my mind. But I stuck to my decision and got the Banana Caramel Tart.

It's a custard cream base tart with bananas and almond flakes, drizzled with caramel sauce.

My Hubby got the Blueberry Tart, which is the fresh cream base tart with blueberries and blueberry jelly cubes.

They look very rich, creamy and deadly. But surprisingly, they taste quite light. Personally, I would prefer it to be sweeter, but I guess many people are health conscious. Overall, it was a nice tea break. The tart was nice, the tea was a perfect complement to the tarts, the service was excellent and the prices was reasonable. My only complaint was that my tea was not hot enough. What a kill joy... -_-

Check them out

A1 Bak Ku Teh

2009-11-06T16:17:00.004+08:00

Bought a packet of A1 Bak Ku Teh Spice to make Bak Ku Teh for dinner the other day. That was my first time trying this brand and I must say... IT'S DELICIOUS LOH~!!! One packet comes with 2 spice sachets, and according to the packaging, 1 sachet for about 500g of meat, so I only used 1 sachet.

So VERY SIMPLE, just follow the instructions on the packaging. (but no need to be so strict)
500g of meat (I used 2 packets of prime rib - BEST)
6 cloves of garlic (whole with skin on)
1 tablespoon of dark soya sauce
1 tablespoon of light soya sauce
1 tablespoon of oyster sauce
a pinch of msg
pepper (I use freshly grounded white pepper - you can use regular pepper)
1 big bowl of water

**For water, my Mom taught me to use your choice of serving bowl, plus another 1/2bowl. For example, the portion that I want to cook was about 1 big soup bowl, so I pour 1 bowl plus another 1/2 bowl, as the half would be evaporated during boiling.**

The instruction say add the seasoning AFTER the meat has been cooked. But I think the meat would be more flavourful if you boil it together with the seasoning. So I just pop EVERYTHING into the pot, and let it cook.

I used a pressure cooker to cook for about an hour, which is divine as the meat would be sooo tender, even the soft bone turns translucent and delicious and well, soft! For a regular pot, an hour would also be fine, just that you would have to keep an eye on your soup and make sure it doesn't dry up.

Serve with some simple blanched vegetables, steaming hot rice and most importantly, freshly cut chilli padi in dark soya sauce.

YUMS~!

Cheese Burger Pasta

2009-10-24T12:11:00.003+08:00

The original recipe was from the Rachel Ray's Show, but I used the twisted pasta (I don't know what's the name) instead of macaroni and those Kraft sandwich cheese instead of Cheddar and Parmesan cheese. Well, basically I just used what I have, and that's the beauty of home cooking isn't it? But more importantly, it's that it really tasted like cheese burger and it's yummy! Definitely will do it again. :)

Let some minced beef and chopped onion brown in a frying pan while you boil some pasta according to the instruction on the packaging.

Hint: I always use a bowl to measure how much pasta to cook. For one serving, it's about one rice bowl of pasta.

When the meat is browned, add one tablespoon of ketchup, one teaspoon of mustard, about half a cup of chicken stock and stir fry it for awhile. When the pasta is cooked, add it onto the meat sauce and stir till incorporated.

Pour it into an oven proof dish, cover it with cheese and pop it into a preheated oven at 180 degrees for 10 mins, or till the cheese has melted and browned.

Serve with a nice crisp salad. Enjoy! :D

Steak Pasta

2009-10-24T11:54:00.002+08:00

Cobby (My Hubby) made this dish, he was inspired by Jamie Oliver when he made those delicious looking steak sandwiches. But instead of sandwich, he used pasta, cause it's more filling for our dinner.

We used ribeye steak, added some salt, pepper and oil and pounded it flat. By pounding it, it cooks faster and it also tenderised it. Grill the steak on a VERY HOT grill, or frying pan. There's no need to add oil onto the pan as there's oil on your meat. Let it grill for about 1 and a half minutes on each side (for medium), remove from pan and let it rest.

Meanwhile, the pasta is boiling in the pot, cooking according to the packaging instructions.

While it's boiling, stir fry some anchovies with chopped onion till the onion is soft and brown. THEN you add the garlic, cause if you add too early, the garlic would be overcooked, turns brown and bitter!

Add in the cooked pasta and a little bit of the pasta water into your onion mix and add in a little chicken stock. Stir fry for awhile till there's a little bit of sauce left. (the pasta will continue to absorb in the liquid even after you dish it up)

Slice your rested steak and place it on top of the pasta, serve with a freah green salad on the side. Presto, perfect steak pasta. Enjoy.

Braised Chicken Wings

2009-09-24T11:19:00.002+08:00

This is my Mummy's recipe and it's easy and delicious!

1. Marinate the chicken wings with a pinch of salt
2. Slice up some ginger and smack about 2 cloves of garlic
3. Stir fry the ginger and garlic with sesame seed oil and a splash of regular cooking oil
4. When the ginger is slightly brown, add in the chicken wings and stir fry it for a minute.
5. Add water till it almost cover the meat.
6. Pour in about 2-3 tablespoons of dark soya sauce and a tablespoon of sugar
7. Let it simmer in high heat for a few minutes before turning down the heat and let it braise slowly.
8. When the sauce has been reduced to about 1/3, check the flavour and add salt if necessary.

Done!

Variations:
1. Add mushrooms for added flavour
2. Use pork belly if you like!

For Braised Pork Belly...
Ginger - cut into bigger slices instead of sticks
At step 4,
-Add a stick of cinnamon (optional)
-Add hard boil eggs

Enjoy! :)

Hokkaido Fair 2009

2009-07-06T20:41:00.005+08:00

We headed to Tampines Mall on Friday (3 July) to check out the Hokkaido Fair organised by Isetan.

We started our lunch with a bowl of Toro Toro Char Siew Ramen (Rich Pork Soup)$15.00. Its supposed to be some 2005 Ramen Winner, so we want to check it out.

Interestingly the ramen is quite thick, like hokkien mee, but it doesn't have the alkaline taste. The soup is very tasty and the char siew is very tender. Yummy!

Next we tried the Mori No Ikameshi(Seasoned squid with glutinous rice) $6.80. I saw this on a TV show so I wanted to try it for myself. The squid is very tender but the flavour is quite strong, so I don't really fancy it.

Next Cobby bought a box of Hotate yaki balls (scallop) $7.50. Honestly I didn't taste the scallop at all, maybe it was too small? Perhaps the octopus would taste better since it's texture is more firm.

By now we were a little full, but I wanted to try some desserts, so queued up to try out another recommended item, the Full Moon. $6.60 per piece!

Well it's expensive but so worth it! The pudding consist of three layers. The top is a layer of mashed Japanese sweet potato, the middle is pudding and the bottom is a thin layer of caramel cream. When I try to scoop the pudding with my spoon, I was surprised to find out that it's hard! I think it's because the staff put it in the fridge, so the layers had become firm, like ice cream! I wonder if it was supposed to be like this? Or was it suppose to be eaten warm? Anyway~ It was delicious! Money well spent!

Lastly was to stop by the Dango Stick stall. There were so many varieties! I love Japanese red bean paste, so I asked the auntie behind the counter to recommend!

Even though both have red bean filling, the auntie said both are very different. And it's true! The one on the left is has a jelly like texture while the one on the right is more chewy. But both are nice!

There were so many more food stalls but by then we were already quite full. I guess next time we can actually go to Hokkaido to try out the food! Hee hee...

Trattoria Lafiandra al Museo

2009-07-01T11:37:00.004+08:00

Found a nice Italian restaurant next to the Singapore Arts Museum.

Here's the blog entry.

Trattoria Lafiandra Al Museo
171 Bras Basah Road
Singapore Art Museum
Tel: 68844035

Shanghainese Rice Cake

2009-05-07T17:07:00.006+08:00

Also known as Shanhainese Nien Gou, this dish is very close to my heart as my mom would make this on the mornings of chinese new year. So it represents the best years of my childhood and my family. Interestingly, many only know this rice cake for stir-fry or pan-fried. For me, the best way and the only way is to cook it with soup.

1. Soak the nien gou and dried mushroom overnight
2. To make the soup, boil a chicken breast with 2 slices of ginger and mushrooms for 30mins
3. Add chicken wings and chinese cabbage and boil till cooked. Add some salt for seasoning.

4. Cook the nien gou in a seperate pot of water. When the nien gou float to the surface, it's cooked. Careful not to overcook, or it would become mushy!

5. Scoop out the nien gou and ladle the soup and ingredients over it.
6. Serve with a dash of pepper!

Hog's Breath Cafe

2009-01-30T14:49:00.004+08:00

Natural Prime Rib ($34.00) My Favourite...

Other than the steak from West End, our 2nd favourite steak house has to be Hog's Breath Cafe at CHIJMES. Well, it used to be 2nd best, but now, Cobby and I are seriously considering to promote them to become our top favourite steak! Why??

Hog's Breath's Prime Rib main boast was it's juicy and tender meat, but it always lack that wonderful aromatic smoky char-grilled flavour that West End's Tenderlion Steak have.

But in the recent months, we noticed a change in Hog's Breath's steak. Not only is the meat as juicy and tender as ever, but now the steak has an enhanced char-grill flavour to it. (we suspect a change in chefs? :D) Also, even the sauce tasted different, better - so good, you don't need any ketchup or chilli sauce!

Of course, the side dishes are just as important. We always order our steak with their famous Hog's tail fries and salad. The fries are irresistably crispy and the salad is not your average boring iceberg lettuce. Perfect complements to the steak!

So you see lah, with the enhanced version of the steak and it's sauce, the unbeatable crispy curly fries and the refreshing salad, how can we not promote Hog's Breath Natural Prime Rib to be our favourite steak!?

HOG’S BREATH CAFE CHIJMES
Chijmes,
30 Victoria Street,
Block A, #01-26/27,
Singapore 187996
Tel: (65) 6338 1387
Fax: (65) 6338 6216
Email: hbchijmes@hogsbreath.com.sg
Open Daily 11.30am - Midnight (last order 10.30pm)
Bar Snacks and appetisers available till closing time

Dinner at Tung Lok Signatures

2009-01-28T21:20:00.002+08:00

This year, we had our Chinese New Year Reunion Dinner at Tung Lok Signatures restaurant and it was absolutely divine!

Click here to see the full post...

Tung Lok Signatures @ The Central
6 Eu Tong Sen Street
#02-88 The Central
Singapore 059817

Tel : +65 6336 6022
Fax : +65 6339 6483

Jam Drops

2009-01-20T17:08:00.005+08:00

I got this recipe from Donna Hay - Modern Classics Book 2. I was a little bored one evening, so I wanted to do something simple, fuss free. This is a sweet, buttery and crumbly cookie with jam in the middle. Very easy to do, and a nice snack to nibble on. :)

180g butter, softened
1 cup caster (superfine) sugar
1 egg
2 cups plain flour, sifted
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
Jam of your choice (I use rasberry)

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C.

2. Beat butter and sugar with electric mixer till its light and creamy.

3. Add egg and mix well.

4. Stir through the flour and baking powder and mix into a dough.

5. Roll into small balls with about 3cm in diameter. Place onto baking tray with non-stick baking paper, allowing room for the biscuits to spread a little during baking.

6. Flatten the dough slightly and make a little indent in the middle of the dough. Fill the hole with jam.

7. Bake for 10minutes or until golden brown.

8. Cool on wire racks.

Dad’s Pineapple Tarts

2009-01-07T18:27:00.004+08:00

There’s 2 ways to make pineapple tarts. One way was to blend everything up using the mixer, and the other is the rubbing in method. Dad gave me this rubbing in method recipe for a more fluffy tart; basically you rub flour and chilled butter with your fingers to get a breadcrumb-like texture.

But if you have warm hands like me, you would probably end up with a overly wet dough due to the butter melting from the warmth of your hands. If that’s the case, you can use a pastry blender to cut the chilled butter into the flour. Works for me!

Warning! This dough is much more difficult to work with as it is SO SOFT!
Key points to remember:
1. Minimum hand contact – work quickly! The more you handle the dough, the softer it gets!
2. Dust! – Make sure your table, rolling pin and cookie cutter is well dusted with flour.
3. Plastic sheet – Cut out a clean plastic bag into a sheet and put it over your dough when you roll it, this would prevent the dough from sticking onto your rolling pin.

Tart pastry:
300g cake flour (sifted)
220g butter (cubed and chilled)
100g sugar
15g custard powder
1 egg yolk
Ice water

Method:
1. Roll pineapple jams into little balls and set aside.

2. Preheat oven at 180°C.

3. Mix the flour, sugar and custard powder together.

4. Using a pastry cutter, cut the chilled butter into the flour till it resembles breadcrumbs.

5. Mix in the egg yolk and gradually add in the iced water till the mixture forms a soft dough.

6. Cover up the dough and chill in the fridge for about 2 hours.

7. Dust the work area with flour before rolling out the dough till it's about 0.7 cm thick.

8. Dust the pineapple tart mould with flour and cut flour into shapes.

9. Brush sides of tarts with egg wash.

10. Bake in a greased, lined baking tin for 10 minutes.

11. Remove tarts from the oven. Fill centre of tarts with the pineapple jam balls.

12. Return tarts to oven to bake for a further 5 minutes, or until golden brown.

13. Cool the tarts on wire rack.

Pineapple Tarts

2009-01-05T17:37:00.004+08:00

With the Chinese New Year coming, pineapple tarts are a MUST-HAVEs in every Chinese family. Being my favourite festive goodie ever, I never fail to buy some every year. This year, I've decided to take on the challange and learn how to make my favourite pineapple tart!

I got this recipe from Jo's Deli & Bakery, but I’ve reduced the quantity by half. As this is my virgin attempt in making pineapple tarts, I’ve decided to go easy on myself and use store bought pineapple jam for my tarts. :) (I bought from Phoon Huat)

Tart pastry:
150g butter
65g margarine
50g icing sugar
40g milk powder
½ egg
300g cake flour
15g custard powder

Method:
1. Roll pineapple jams into little balls and set aside.

2. Preheat oven at 180°C.

3. Cream butter and margarine in a large mixing bowl until light and fluffy.

4. Add egg and beat well.

5. Sift icing sugar, milk powder, flour and custard powder into the mixture. Fold to incorporate all ingredients to form a smooth pastry dough.

6. To make it easier to handle, wrap up the dough with cling wrap and let it chill in the fridge for a few hours.

7. Dust the work area with flour before rolling out the dough till it's about 0.7 cm thick.

8. Dust the pineapple tart mould with flour and cut flour into shapes.

9. Brush sides of tarts with egg wash.

10. Bake in a greased, lined baking tin for 10 minutes.

11. Remove tarts from the oven. Fill centre of tarts with the pineapple jam balls.

12. Return tarts to oven to bake for a further 10 minutes, or until golden brown.

13. Cool the tarts on wire rack.

Takes abit of effort, but it makes a great gift!

Mama’s Radish Cake (萝卜糕)

2008-12-29T12:14:00.006+08:00

I always believe that following the recipe book to the dot does not guarantee success. A perfect example is my Mom's 萝卜糕. The original recipe is from a cook book she read many years ago, (Delightful snacks and dim sum by Agnes Chang) but she only succeeded in making it super delicious after MANY failed attempts and MANY adjustments to the recipe.

Recently I've documented down her own revised version and now I'm sharing it with everybody, so we don't have to go through the painful trial and error process. Heehee...Thanks Mummy!

600g White Radish
300g Rice Flour
75g Tapioca Flour
2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
4 cups of cool water
1 cup of warm water
Salt and Pepper

Optional Items
Chinese waxed sausages
Dried Shrimps
Mushrooms

Preparation!

Radish
Grate the radish coarsely and set aside.

Rice Flour Batter
Mix rice four, tapioca flour, ½ a teaspoon of salt and pepper with 4 cups of cool water. Mix well and set aside.

Optional Items
- Chinese waxed sausages: Soak sausages in boiling hot water for 5mins. Drain and chop into small pieces.
- Dried Shrimps: Soak in water for a few minutes, drain and set aside.
- Mushrooms: Chop into small pieces.

1. With a little oil, stir-fry the garlic with the grated radish

2. Add 1½ teaspoons of sugar into radish mix and stir fry in high heat till radish becomes slightly soften.

3. Add 1 cup of warm water.

4. Add in optional items, cover up the frying pan and cook in low heat until radish becomes soft and slightly yellowish.

5. Mix the rice flour batter well and pour into radish mix through a sieve.

6. Add salt, pepper and a little msg before stirring the mixture.

7. Continuously stir the mixture in one direction until it forms into a thick ball of dough.

8. Scoop into an oiled tin and smoothen it out.

9. Steam for 35 to 40 minutes or until chopstick inserted in center comes out clean.

There's so many ways to enjoy this dish!
1. Steamed: Slice it up and serve it with a little soya sauce or chilli
2. Pan-Fried: After it's cooled, slice it into small pieces and pan-fry it till it's a little golden brown.
3. Stir-Fried: Chop it up into small pieces and stir-fry it up with dark soya sauce, chilli and garlic. Hawker style!

The cake can be kept in the fridge after it is cooled. Try not to keep for more than 1 week.

Wah Kee Prawn Noodles

2008-12-14T13:23:00.003+08:00

Hands down, this has got to be the BEST PRAWN NOODLES I have ever had. This is actually the 2nd time I went there, because on the first attempt, the noodles was completely sold out even before the lunch crowd has dispersed.

This prawn noodles is not exactly your typical prawn noodles. On the store front, you may be shocked to see that the prices may range up to $10.00! Well, since the reputation is SO GOOD, might as well go all the way and order the best they can offer!

We waited for about 45mins, (I think it's due to the inefficient aunties and uncles working at the store) but it was sure worth the wait I tell you! Where do I start..?

The THREE, sweet, succulent, super fresh, JUMBO prawns?
The unbelievably sweet, or in chinese, very 鮮, seafood flavour of the soup that reminds me of lobster bisque??
The wonderful noodles, cooked to perfection with that amazing chilli sauce and generous sprinkle of fried pork lard???

Like I said, it's not the typical prawn noodles taste, which is more salty. Honestly I CANNOT find any fault in that wonderful bowl of goodness. I actually felt a little lost because everything was so good that I seriously could not decide which to devour next. A big bite into the prawns? A mouthful of noodles? Or should I only drink the sweet sweet soup? Dilemma...

My poor hubby was allergic to prawns, so I felt a little sorry for him, who had to watch me munch down the food greedily. (do I detect some drool at the corner of his mouth?) So I promised him that next time we'll both have the prawn noodles, and we'll go home immediately after that so that he can have his allergy breakout at home. Somehow I think he would find it all worth while!

*TIP* MUST go early to avoid disappointments! I went around 11.30am...

Wah Kee Prawn Noodles
Blk 41A Cambridge Road Hawker Centre (Pek Kio)
#01-15
96883633
7.30am to 2pm
Closed on Mondays

Tiong Bahru Hua Yuen Porridge

2008-12-14T13:20:00.000+08:00

If I have to choose what is my favourite dining out breakfast, this is it. A hot and piping bowl of fried big intestine porridge (炸大腸粥）from Tiong Bahru Hua Yuen Porridge. Located at the Tiong Bahru food centre, the store has been around since before the renovation and it serves good, authentic Cantonese porridge.

So far I have not come across another store that sells fried intestine porridge. Maybe it's because it's a lost art really. Many people just don't bother to sell fried intestine dishes anymore because it is such back breaking work! You have to wash it VERY thoroughly or else it would smell (yah gross right), and the folks at Hua Yuen sure knows how to make good intestines!

I love the contrast of the crispy and crunchy intestines with the smooth and silky porridge. It is the ultimate comfort food for me, especially on a cool morning.

Of course, if you are having breakfast at Tiong Bahru Food Centre, it would be a real shame if you went all the way just to enjoy ONE dish. In fact, it would be a down right sin!

So before we even start on the porridge, we would always have at least 4 pieces of the famous zhui kueh. The pickled turnip topping is SO good, Cobby would even mix a little into the porridge.

Of course, how can you have porridge without some freshly fried you tiao (油條)? Imagine dipping the hot and crispy fried dough stick into the porridge before sinking your teeth into them.... yummm... heaven...

I love you tiao...

Perfect combination...

Of course, if you're not a fan of fried intestines, they also have the usual pork, chicken or fish porridge, which is just as good!

Tiong Bahru Hua Yuen Porridge
#02-59
30 Seng Poh Road
Tiong Bahru Market and Hawker Centre

Loong Fatt Tau Sar Piah

2008-12-10T16:00:00.002+08:00

We were around the area this afternoon, so we stopped by the store at Balestier and bought some yummy tau sar piah, or bean pastries.

Balestier road is well known for the several tau sar piah stores. The story that I heard was that it started with just one store, opened by the master yoda of tau sar piahs. Then, the apprentices learnt how to make the beautiful pastries from the master and left the nest to open their own stores all over Balestier! Ingrates...

Anyway, it's super easy to spot the original master store. Located right at the end of Balestier Road, the very first store, is the store that looked like time stood still. The store looks quiet and sleepy from the outside, but walk into the store and you'll find a whole army of aunties, rolling trays and trays of dough and wrapping bean paste into them.

You can even enjoy the pastries, fresh out of the oven, with a nice cup of coffee at the store, which is super vintage with the marble table tops and wooden chairs.

The tau sar piahs come in either sweet or salty versions. 60 cents each... Super fluffy! I also like it that they do not wrap too much dough around the bean paste. Very light and great for tea break! :D

Loong Fatt Eating House & Confectionary
639 Balestier Road
Tel: 6253 4584

Opens:
Mon-Sat & PH: 8am - 4.30pm(Closed on Sundays)

Mellben Seafood

2008-12-01T18:36:00.005+08:00

If you are looking for a good quality crab but not wanting to travel all the way to East Coast for your seafood, you can drop by Toa Payoh for your fix!

Mellben Seafood is more popular for their crab beehoon and their more unique crab dishes like their Golden Sand Crabs, but Cobby and I aren't really fans of crab beehoon. So we went for the classic Chilli Crab for our dinner that night.

They have a interesting system at Mellben. You actually have to order your food before they prepare a table for you. I guess in this way, you get your order faster as the restaurant is crowded almost everyday at Mellben.

The wait is definitely worth it! Even though we ordered 2 small crabs, it was heavenly! The crab was so meaty with nice, firm flesh! The sauce was not very spicy, but the flavour was just nice to dip the delicious fried man-tous in. Perfect complement to the crabs!

This was what we ordered that night:

2 small crabs $49.40 (1kg+ per crab)
crispy baby squids $12.00
stir fry baby kailan $8.00

Mellben Seafood
Block 211, Lor 8 Toa Payoh
#01-11-15
63533120

Salmon Spaghetti Aglio Olio

2008-11-26T17:07:00.004+08:00

This was one of my first few recipe entries at my original blog. Back then, my Salmon aglio olio pasta was very simple, but abit bland. Later I learnt from Jamie Oliver that the key ingredient in aglio olio was actually something smoky. Which is either bacon, anchovies, or both.

I've also been more adventurous in adding herbs and spices instead of just garlic and chilli padi, and I found that a little parsley and dried chilli flakes makes it even better! I used to add tomatoes and capsicum in it, but one day we just stopped adding and found out that it taste just as good anyway. So this is a bah-getarian dish. :D

You will need:
1 tbsp chopped garlic
3 pcs of chilli padi chopped
1 large onion chopped
2 tsp dried chilli flakes
1 tsp Parsley
Pasta
4 pcs of bacon chopped
2 Salmon fillets
Canned chicken stock

Boil spaghetti with a pinch of salt

Pre-Heat the oven (200°C Roast option for 10minutes)

Pat the fillet dry with some paper towels and salt the skin of the fillets

Using a non-stick frying pan, without oiling the pan, sear the skin side of the fish for a minute before searing the other side for another minute before popping them into the oven for about 5 mins. (Tip: Line your baking tray with aluminium foil to save on cleaning up!)

While your fish is roasting, fry your chopped bacons till brown and crisp and remove them from the pan.

Fry onions till soft, add chilli padi and garlic.

Add in your pasta and stir fry them in high heat. (Tip: Be generous with the oil or else the pasta would be very dry)

Add in your chilli flakes, parsley and some stock and continue frying. Pour you bacon back in last, so that it remains crispy. Add salt to taste.

Serve the pasta into two plates. Place your salmon fillet on top of your pasta.

Bon Appetite!

Chocolate Madness Muffins

2008-11-18T11:48:00.003+08:00

I remembered ever making a mean batch of double chocolate muffins but I can't seem to find it in this blog! After searching around my other blog, I found it! The original recipe comes from my favourite cook book, Donna Hay, Simple Essentials: Chocolate.

The original name was Milk Chocolate Chunk Muffins, and uses 1 cup of chopped milk chocolate. But I've only got chocolate chips in my fridge, so I added 1 whole cup of chocolate chips into the muffin mix! Haha... A little overkill, but my friends absolutely loved how chocolatety the muffins turned out!

2 cups self raising flour, sifted
1/3 cup cocoa powder, sifted
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup caster sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2/3 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup milk
1 cup unsweetened chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees celcius
2. Mix flour, cocoa powder, baking powder & sugar
3. In seperate bowl; mix eggs, vanilla, oil & milk
4. Mix wet mixture to the dry mixture
5. Fold the chocolate chips into the mixture
6. Spoon mixtures into muffin tins lined with paper cups
7. Bake for 20mins or until cooked when tested with a skewer

Serve with a hot cup of coffee!