Lemon Curd Tart

 

Decided to bake some Lemon Curd Tarts as gifts, using a simple short crust pastry recipe. With my thermomix, I jus simply add all the ingredients for my Lemon curd and I am almost ready to go!

I saw this idea of someone using the extrerior of the tart shell to make the flowery pattern and decided to have a go. And I realised mine was too narrow and not detailed enough so cant see the petal details. 🤦🏼‍♀️ (PS: Time to go shopping again)

Loved all my baking boxes and cases as it helps to make the tarts more beautiful! The tarts inside the cupcake cases reminds me of little snowball! So so cute!!

Taste so tangy and so good! 🤤🤤

 Short Crust Pastry (From cookidoo)

100g icing sugar

200g unsalted butter, cut into cubes

370g plain flour

1 egg

1tsp vanilla extract

Pinch of salt

1) Using rub-in method, rub icing sugar and butter til it resemblemce breadcrumbs

2) Add in egg, salt & vanilla to knead into a dough, working fast so butter do not melt

3) Shape into a disc and cling wrap for 1 hour before using

4) Roll out to desired thickness and cut out preferred portion to make tart shells 

5) Bake 180deg x 15mins

6) Cool before removing them from tart shell

7) Use with desired filling 

(I am using Lemon Curd from cookidoo recipe) 

Honey Soy Grill Chicken

Trying to use chinese-style recipes to do a chinese dinner for Christmas! 

Today tried making Honey Soy chicken and I believe this will be a good main course for kids and serving them on skewers makes it easier for them to eat! 😋😋

Made some Sambal Petai with my hub too! I believe he will be happy to have this with a bowl of rice as compared to all the roast turkey and ham! 🙊

Honey Soy Grill Chicken

300g chicken thigh, big pieces

2Tbsp honey

1Tbsp dark soy

1tsp Mirin

Pinch of black pepper

1) Marinate chicken thigh pieces with above marinate for 2-3hours

2) Put on grill x10mins, flip and grill 5mins

3) Use marinade sauce and add cornnstarch mixture to thicken it. Serve grill chicken with sauce on the sides

Creamcheese Ravioli

Had some leftover ribs and beef and decided to finish them for next day lunch. Thinking what carbs to go with it and decided to make some creamcheese ravioli! 

This is my first time making so the night before I was trying to decide what sauce, and what filling should I use. Finally decided on creamcheese filing and pair with the leftover stew!

 Had a short video of how easy it is too wrap n make them at home! 

I even did a quick tom yum soup for my portion!!  So spicy n tangy with the creamcheese!! 

A dear friend shared a baked version ravioli to me! So i wrapped some with prawns to have it like an appetizer!! So yummy!!

This recipe is so easy to work with! I think we can have fresh pasta as and when we want. With or without filling and it will be so fun for the kids to try making them in the own special shapes too! ❤️

Hope you will enjoy this recipe as much as I do! Uncooked ravioli can be freeze for up to 2 weeks too! 

 

Pasta Dough (recipe from cookidoo)

• 200 g plain flour, plus extra for dusting
• 2 eggs (53-63 g each)
• 1tsp pumpkin powder
• 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil 
• Filling: 
• 100g creamcheese mixed with basil flakes, pinch of truffle salt, soften
• 6 prawns

1) Knead above with a mixer til it forms a dough and rest for 15mins (dough will be slightly crumbly)

2) Roll dough out and cut into rectangular strips then spoon 1 tsp of filling and put at 1 side of the pasta strips

3) Use fork to press down and form a square ravioli, repeat til all is finished

4) Boil in hot water + pinch of salt til ravioli is cooked (approx 3-5mins depending on size), drain and set aside

5) Put on serving plate and serve warm 

Truffle Prawn Risotto

Thinking of doing a main carbs for Christmas to serve along with the meats or seafood. Thinking that rice is more filling than serving with mash, I decided to try out this Prawn Risotto from Martha Stewart. The recipe looks so simple and straightforward and I have all the ingredients at home!

You can always prepare this the last dish after finishing off the proteins as all it takes is a short 15mins or less. So yummy even serving it as a main on its own! 

Prawn Risotto (adapted with slight modifications from Martha Stewart)

4Tbsp butter

1/2 Onions, chopped

2 garlic cloves, chopped

11/2 cup arborio rice

41/2cup chicken stock 

300g prawns, deshelled

3oz parmesan, grated and more for garnish

1tsp Truffle salt

Basil leaves

Black pepper

1) Put on saute mode, med hi and add in 2Tbsp butter

2) Add in onions and garlic and fry til you can smell the fragrance, around 3-4mins

3) Add in rice and cook while stirring it for around 1 min

4) Add in 3 cups of chicken stock and season lightly with salt and pepper

5) Pressure cook on high for 9mins and quick release

6) Add in remaining 11/2cup of stock and prawns and bring to a boil, while stirring til prawns are cooked

7) Add in parmesan, 2Tbsp butter, truffle salt and stir well

8) Serve warm with grated parmesan and basil to garnish

Beef Stew

 Previously I cooked this recipe using my thermomix and it was so well received by the family. Today I decided to share this recipe and use the pressure cook method to help speed up the time used to cook this dish! It can be prepare ahead for parties or gatherings and warm up later or kept warm in a thermal pot.

Very simple ingredients to put together. I am using briskets today. 

I love the slight tangy and thick sauce that it is cooked in. The beef is so tender and juicy that we kept dipping in breads to soaked up the flavourful sauce. This would go so well with baguette if you prefer too. I am using it as a pasta toppings today for the kids.

I baked some homemade croutons and pair with the beef stew. So shall we serve as a main, as a starter or? 

Beef Stew (adapted with slight modifications from Cookidoo)

2 brown onions, chopped

4 garlic cloves, chopped

30 g olive oil 

800 g beef brisket, cut into pieces (3 cm)

500 g chicken stock

2 tbsp Vegetable stock paste or Meat stock paste (see Tips)

350 g carrots, cut into rounds (1 cm)

100g cherry tomatoes

4 sprigs fresh thyme, leaves only (i omit as i ran out of them 🙈 )

3 dried bay leaves 

1Tbsp dark soy for col

sea salt, to taste

cornstarch to thicken 

1) Place onion, garlic and olive oil Saute Low-Med

2) Add beef and cook til it brown nicely on the outside on Saute Hi

3) Add all remaining ingredients and bring to a boil

4) Pressure cook on Hi x 30mins and natural release 

5) Add salt to taste, dark soy sauce for some colour and thicken it 

6) Serve with choice of carbs

Grilled Ribs

Wanted to do a simple ribs for christmas as it is always a favourite on our meat platter! Love to have it soft and tender that it can come off the bones easily! Great for adults and kids to eat without ‘fighting’ with the bone. 😅

Thinking I have some thyme at home, decided to do a simple marinade. Finish off with grilling the pressure-cooked ribs and thickening the marinade as a sauce to serve it with 😋

Loving how the subtle honey taste goes with the thyme. Meat is soft and comes off easily like how we want it to be. Serving with some greens on the sides to balance out the grilled meat. Definitely a keeper to redo on christmas itself! Try it and let me knw!

Was playing with plating earlier on. Which do you prefer?

Grilled Ribs

1 baby ribs rack

1sprig thyme, leaves only

2 clove garlic, chopped

1 sliced ginger, chopped

2Tbsp honey

2Tbsp garlic powder

1) Put seasoning in blender and do a quick blend and rub over ribs. Best overnight if not 2-3hrs

2) Pressure cook with a bowl of water on Hi x 30mins and let it natural release. Poke with chopsticks to check softness preferred

3) Grill x 10mins and baste with marinade liquid and flip and grill another 5mins

4) Serve with choice of greens

Mala Flavoured Lok Lok Sticks

Decided to share some chill out ideas on Christmas with my favourite lok lok sticks! Made the mala sauce myself with a few simple ingredients and its ready to go! 

Made some teriyaki-flavoured sticks for the kiddos too, with the homemade teriyaki sauce too! Nice finger food for the kids and adults during gatherings or meetups! 

Simple grill and serve along with your choice of booze! A great way to chill the night off on Christmas eve, counting down together to open all the presents pass midnights!  

Mala Flavoured Lok Lok Sticks

Chicken leg, cube (dun cut too small so easier to poke thru)

Some other ingrdients of your choice

I used:

Taiwan sausage

Small franks

Small ngor hiang

Mala sauce (from Cookidoo)

50g oil

5 garlic cloves

2-3pcs ginger slice

100g Spicy bean paste (辣豆瓣酱) *I added more

1 cinnamon stick

1 star anise

3/4 dried chilli

1tsp sichuan Peppercorn, optional (i omit cos i dun like the numbing)

1) Heat up oil

2) Add all ingredients and fry til fragrant

3) Cool it before using it as marinade for the skewers

4) Grill on 8mins, baste with marinade and grill another 5mins. Remove sausages and ngor hiang then continue to grill chicken another 5-8mins til its cooked

5) Serve with rice and some cucumber on the sides

Choux Pastries Christmas Theme

Wanna make something christmassy and decided to make some meringue christmas tree as topper for my choux. Been a while I had some choux and since my thermomix can help me with it, so why not?

It very easy to fix up the choux pastry with my thermomix and I am so glad that my choux puff up nicely in my ninjafoodi. 🤞🏻🤞🏻 Well done to my 🥷

So nicely puff up right!!! Love it. I rem doing stove top training my arm muscles and it is not 100% success rate! Woohoooo! So excited!

If you are lazy, whipped cream and sprinkles does the job too! I tried piping a christmas hat, christmas tree and a round wreath. Doesnt seems that alike but the whole deco makes the choux so pretty! 

All packed and ready to share fats with my neighbours! A nice gifts for your frens too.!!

Choux pastry (recipe from cookidoo)

*Pipe into bigger base and cut into halves

• 
  
• 150 g water 
• 80 g butter, unsalted, cut in pieces
• 1 pinch salt 
• 2 tsp sugar (10 g)
• 120 g plain flour 
• 3 medium eggs
• 
  
• Place water, butter, salt and sugar in mixing bowl and bring to a boil.
• Add flour and mix into a thick consistency.  Remove and set aside to cool for 10 minutes.
• Preheat oven to 200°C. Line a baking tray with baking paper and set aside.
• Once mixture is cooled, add eggs one at a time and ensure it it nicely mixed in
• Transfer pastry mixture to a piping bag and pipe into balls leaving 5 cm space between each. 
• Bake for 15 minutes (180 deg) or until golden brown. 
• Once all batches are done, i put back to the hot ninjafoodi to cool and dry while leaving the lid ajar
• Remove tray from oven and allow choux pastries to cool completely before serving or filling as desired

**note: I am using ninjafoodi similar to airfryer so i cut baking time and temp

**For oven pls bake at 200deg x20-25mins and let it cool with door ajar for 10mins

• Swiss meringue (recipe from cookidoo)

*omit vanilla and uses pandan gel instead

• 100 g icing sugar 
• 2 egg whites 
• 1 tsp lemon juice 
• 1 pinch salt 
• 1 tsp pandan gel
• pure icing sugar, for dusting
• 
  
• Double boil egg whites, lemon juice and salt into mixing bowl and whip til soft peaks
• Then remove and continue to whip while lowly adding sugar 
• Add pandan gel and mix until colour is mixed through evenly. 
• Transfer into a piping bag fitted with a star nozzle (10 mm).
• To assemble, cut cooled choux puffs into halves horizontally. Pipe Swiss meringue generously over bases, top with a meringue christmas tree and dust with icing sugar before serving immediately.

Korean Style Chicken Chop

 

Decided to do a korean style chicken chop serving it with salad for us. Trying to go carb-less as much to diet for upcoming CNY 🙊

I added grill vegetables on the sides while baking my chicken chop. Brush them all with the marinade liquid before i start baking. Halfway thru just remember to remove your chicken so that they wont be overly charred. 

Burger or salad? This is for grandma, she still need to be fed full full hor! 🙊🙊 Love the marinade and goes so well with the salad on the sides! 

Try and tell me which u prefer. Serve with salad or burger bun?

Korean Style Chicken Chop (adapted from cookidoo)

• Marinade (enough for 4 boneless leg)
• 2 garlic cloves,chopped 
• 30 - 40 g Korean chilli paste (gochujang), to taste
• 1 ½ Tbsp caster sugar 
• 1 ½ Tbsp sesame oil 
• 1 Tbsp sesame seeds 
• 1 Tbsp soy sauce 
• 1 Tbsp water 
• ½ Tbsp white wine vinegar
• 2 Boneless chicken leg
• 
  
• Mixed veg of your choice
• 
  
• 1) Marinate chicken leg with above seasonings for at least 2-3hours
• 2) Add chicken leg and mixed vegetables of your choice into Ninjafoodi. Bake 180 deg x15 mins skinside up, then flip and bake another 8mins. Flip and aircrips another 3mins to crisp up skin.
• 3) Serve with choice of sides and enjoy

Teriyaki Salmon Burger

 

Decided to serve burgers for lunch! Made some homemade teriyaki sauce to seasoned my salmon patties! Yums! Homemade sauces always taste best. 

Can use salmon fillet if you do not want to use patties, or use on any other meats too! Just lightly brushed them and send in to bake! Ta-daaa~~~ A yummy Teriyaki salmon burger is ready! 😋

Salmon Burger

2Tbsp homemade teriyaki sauce (recipe below)

2 Salmon patty (or u can use 2 salmon fillet)

Pinch of black pepper

1) Brush sauce and sprinkle black pepper on salmon patty

2) Put to grill x 8mins, flip and grill another 8mins

3) Assemble with burger cheese, lettuce, drizzle some mayonaise, chilli flakes (optional) and burger bun

Serve warm with choice of sides

Teriyaki Sauce (modified from Cookidoo)

• 15 g fresh ginger, peeled and cut into thin slices
• 1 garlic clove 
• 50 g mirin 
• 200 g water
• 100 g soy sauce 
• 150 g brown sugar 
• 3 tsp cornflour

1) Chop garlic and ginger into paste-like

2) Add all ingredients into a sauce pot and cook over low heat, stirring them til it reaches a thick consistency

3) Strain and cool before storing in an airtight container

Sweet Potato Truffle Fries

 

Love the baked potato fries and decided to try and play with Jap sweet potato! This time round I toss them with truffle salt so that it will be nicely seasoned after baking them ❤️

Very easy peasy, freshly baked and crisp well. It is slightly drier as compared to normal potatoes. Feels like roasted sweet potatoes, tad drier. Overall the truffle salt seasoned it nicely! 

Sweet Potato Truffle Fries

3 Jap Sweet Potatoes, cut in strips

2Tbsp extra virgin olive oil

1tsp truffle salt

1tsp parsley flakes

1) Bake 180deg x 15mins

2) Toss and aircrisp 160deg x 3mins 

Serve with mains

Confetti Meringue

 

Made some meringues for the kids to snack on! And i wanna share a hack!! 

Rem hw ppl were saying baking paper keep flying? Light food tt u bake will fly? When my first batch of meringue flew, suddenly i realised i can use the metal rack to sit on my baking paper! YAY! no more flying! 

Jus leave it in my ninjafoodi to slowly cool down after baking. Prop over a cooling rack so it kept ajar. Kids had it with some fruits for snack! Sugar rush!

Confetti Meringue (recipe from cookidoo)

3 whites

114g sugar

1-2drops pandan extract

1. Whip whites til bubbles form

2. Continue whipping whites and add sugar bit by bit until its finished

3. Add a few drops of pandan extract and mix another 30seconds.

4. Pipe on baking paper, sprinkle with some colourful sprinkles and bake at 120deg x 60-75mins, depending on size of meringue

5. Leave it to cool with door ajar once done baking

**All steps remain same except that I used pandan extract instead of colourings

Yam Rice (Ninjafoodi)

Since I have some leftover yam, I decided to make some Yam rice for grandma as she requested. Decided to try out my own style of making it, abit similar to cooking claypot rice style previously.  

Very simple ingredients and sauces, yet so flavourful. Best is another Grandma-approved dish cos she ‘ordered’ this with the leftover yam from making Yam cake the other day! ❤️

Try it! Took less than 30mins to get this fast meal done! Plating or no plating also looks so flavourful! 😋 

Yam Rice

2cups rice

2cups water

handful of dried shrimps (soaked)

200-250g yam, cubes

200g minced meat

red onions, chopped

2Tbsp oyster sauce

3-4Tbsp dark soy sauce 

1tsp five spice powder

Pinch of pepper

2Tbsp cooking oil

1. Saute mode med-hi: Put in oil, dried shrimps and onions and stir fry til fragrant.

2. Add minced meat and yam and fry til meat changes colour

3. Add in water, seasoning and rice then give a quick stir.

4. Close lid, set to seal, pressure cook on hi x 5mins and let it sit for 10mins before quick release

Serve warm

Taiwan Braised Pork Belly Rice (Thermomix)

 

Today we had a simple lunch cos mummy was waiting for the PSLE news from my oldest and hubby who went to collect the results together. 

Cant think of anything complicated, just want something easy and simple to prepare so that I don't mess up lunch. Luckily we decided on a Steamboat & BBQ dinner to celebrate for oldest regardless what her results may be, so less meal prep for today!

I amended slightly as I don't have some of the seasonings like sake, and I used red onions too. Using the simple recipe from Cookidoo and modify, using my Japanese rice grains for this yummy rice bowl.

Love the sweet gravy and how the pork belly turns out to be. I substitute the minced eat for pork belly, carefully slicing them into thin pieces so that it will cook better and faster. Adjusted the cooking time as well. 

I love my rice bowls!!!

Taiwan Braised Pork Belly Rice (adapted and modified from Cookidoo)

Rice and Eggs

1200 g water 

300 g rice (I measured 2.5 cups of jap rice)

6 medium eggs (recipes uses 4)

Pork Sauce

120 g red onions, quartered (recipe uses onion)

20 g sesame oil 

400 g pork belly, thin slices (recipe uses minced meat)

40 g soy sauce 

40 g mirin

**After step3, I cook another 10mins, varoma, spoon speed.

Live Cooking - Yam Cake & Quinoa Salmon Salad (Thermomix)

Did a simple lunch theme today, having a light lunch out of the norm from rice and noodles. We did a Yam cake, with a slight modifications and a Quinoa salad to my family preference. Let me share what I did today for them, link to my Facebook replay is here.

I served the steam yam cake with sweet sauce and the nasi lemak chilli I made previously. Totally loving the combination and best is, Grandma approved! She love anything Yam but of cos minus those sweet dessert but the traditional kind is her fav. I was surprised she went for 2nd helping after the first and her bowl of Quinoa. You wouldn't know how happy I was inside SECRETLY. LOL.

Next, I did a show of layer cooking possible with 2 types of cuisine. I did a Quinoa salmon salad. The original recipe uses steam chicken but I prefer salmon over chicken and added some of the family favourite in a salad to make it that suits our family tastebuds.

The sauce was well-recieved by me and the kids plus grandma, but not so much for my hub. I felt its the parsley that is quite overpowering so maybe if you do give it a try, do try going lesser for the parsley dressing or you can omit it too. 

Added baked potatoes and salmon cubes, along with my favourite mushrooms. Thankful for my wonderful kitchen gadgets that makes my life so much easier and hub feels the same way as I do. Love the colour of my salad today, what about you?

I have included a manual steps for those who don't own a thermomix yet. For baking, I am using my ninjafoodi. You can replace with air fryer or oven, but adjust accordingly. Enjoy!

Yam Cake (recipe adapted from Cookidoo, adjusted to my preference)

60g Rice flour

12g Cornflour

120g Water

50g dried shrimp, soaked

2 sausage, diced

400g yam, cubed

50g water

1/2 tsp sugar

1/2tsp 5 spice powder

Pinch of pepper

Manual Steps: (follow cookidoo with the reduction in ingredients as per above)

Add dried shrimps and sausage and blend it coarsely.

Saute for 5mins. 

Meanwhile mix rice flour, corn flour and 120g water in a bowl and set aside.

Add yam cubes and seasoning with 50g water to the dried shrimps and sausage and stirfry them for 10mins.

Add in rice flour mixture and and mix well.

Pour out onto prepared tin and steam for 20-30mins. Serve warm or can panfry for a crusty exterior.

Quinoa & Salmon Salad (adapted from Cookidoo with modifications)

100g Quinoa

300g Trout, cube (you can replace with any meat or seafood of your choice)

Mushrooms

3 Potatoes, cubes

Steamed vegetables (I used corn kernels, broccoli, crab sticks)

Dressing (Parsley oil)

1 clove garlic

3-4sprig Parsley

40g extra virgin olive oil

1/2 tsp salt

2-3 Lemon, zest only (I omit)

Mustard dressing

1tsp Djorn mustatd

1tsp honey

2tsp apple cider vinegar

10g water

30g extra virgin olive oil

Manual Steps: (follow cookidoo with the reduction in ingredients as per above)

Do dressing for parsley and blend it well. Set aside

Repeat for mustard dressing and set aside.

Bake potato cubes, spray some oil at 160deg x 15mins. Toss and bake another 15mins 

Once ready, remove and set aside.

Add in salmon cube, mushrooms and bake for 10mins, sprinkle some salt and basil flakes.

Once ready set aside.

Cook quinoa as per package instructions and steam above vegetable of your choice.

Assemble ingredients above and serve with dressing either warm or chilled

 

Fusion Live Cooking Nov 19 (Thermomix)

Today’s live cooking was a mixed of fusion as I plan to prepare tea ahead too! Lately weather has made me very tired and lazy to cook. Thankfully for my thermomix, I can always delegate to my kids in a way 🙈

We started off with Mac & Cheese and it was a hit! It was nicer than the previous recipe I tried with cookidoo! The portion was quite big and I reduce the portion. Yet I still have 2 single portion in my chiller, probably gonna eat it up for dinner ❤️

Next up we had a quick cook! Took us about slightly less than 30mins to cook this dessert for tea later! Our favourite mung bean soup! I always love it thick thick with the grainy mung beans without being too mushy. Managed to grab some youtiao to send in time for tea!

 

Yummy and I love the grainy beans. Gonna share what amendments I made to both the recipes to suits my family tastebuds. Feel free to try and adjust accordingly to your family preference as well. 

Mac & Cheese (modified slightly from Cookidoo)

• 12oz elbow macaroni 
• 8oz cheddar cheese, cubed (1 in.)
• 2 oz Parmesan cheese, cubed (1 in.), divided
• 8 oz Emmental cheese, cubed (1 in.)
• 13oz whole milk, added another 100-200ml to thin to my preference
• 2tbsp all-purpose flour  
• 1½ oz unsalted butter, in pieces, divided

Method:

I follow exactly as per recipe, but i omit step 5

Mung Bean Dessert Soup (modified slightly from Cookidoo)

Ingredients (remains same)

#1 Added more cornstarch to thicken

#2 Added knotted pandan leaves

#3 Step1, only varoma for 10mins with knotted pandan leaves