Braised Duck

Finally had chance to braise duck. Bought a duck and had it slaughtered half so I can try braising them. Grandma’s fav and also mine, Hub will only eat if its what he likes so its a real challenge to try it on my own. 

I braised it like how I usually did for my pork trotters but added cinnamon sticks and star anise. Today’s version seems ok, but lack a bit of ‘kiam-ness’ and the meat was tender and shiok. Totally almost nail it except to have to increase the dark soy sauce amount. Added some hard boiled eggs and chicken feet to braised too! Yums and I toss the chicken feet with some mala sauce for that Ommph! 

Anyone else love chicken feets like I do? ❤️❤️

Braised duck
1/2 duck, cut into 2
15 chicken feets
3 hard boiled eggs
1 garlic
1 slab ginger
2Tbsp Sesame oil
4Tbsp Dark Soy Sauce
2Tbsp Light Soy Sauce
2Tbsp Oyster Sauce
2 Cinnamon sticks
2 Star anise
Pepper
1tsp 5-spice powder

1) Blanch chicken feet, duck and wash it clean
2) Fill pot with above marinates and ingredients then place duck and chicken feet in the pot.
3) Put on stove and add enough water to briefly touch the top of all the ingredients
4) Once bring to boil, simmer it and stirring it occassionally
5) Duck is ready once u can easily poke the chopsticks in
6) Chop duck and serve warm with the braised sauce

Hokkien Mee

Been wanting to cook Hokkien Mee to go with my homemade sambal belacan. Finally I got all the ingredients needed and get my butt moving!! 

Using this clam juice as my broth, I really love how mild and yet flavourful enough for my Hokkien Mee! Yums! With a drizzle of fish sauce, pepper along with my sambal belacan. Gosh!! Its really YUMMY!!!

I love my hokkien mee with gravy still! Can you see the lovely colour combination!!!

Hokkien Mee 

1 pack hokkien mee (round), blanced

1/2 pack bee hoon, soak to soft and blanched

400g prawns, deshelled

1 sotong, slice

1 thin strip pork belly, thinly cut

1 pack chye sim, cut

3 eggs

700ml clam juice

1) Sautee garlic and stir fry prawns n sotong. Throw in veg when prawns 90% cooked and stir well. Scoop and keep aside to use later

2) Sautee garlic and add in beaten eggs. Stir them til good n a bit charred.

3) Throw in noodles and beehoon then pour in clam juice. Stir well

4) Drizzle some fish sauce n pepper for extra taste and bring to boil

5) Add in the ingredients that is cooked earlier and do a quick toss

6) Serve along with belacan & lime!

Oreo Swissroll

Forgot a pic before I ‘box’ it so had to make do with this! An impromptu request from a lovely friend who always order once a week for her kids’ tea break! This time she wanna try something different so I recommend her to try Longan crumble muffins which I did before and also swissrolls. She wanna pair Oreo with Vanilla swissrolls so here it is!

I packed a small portion of the Oreo swissroll and also a Longan swissroll made frm leftover longans from making the muffins! I just simply cut them into small bits and put on the buttercream before rolling them up! The piped cream + icing sugar makes the swissroll looks nicer and dreamy! Hahaha! 

Here’s a closeup! Only shortfall is the swissroll skin still tears slightly when I peel the baking paper off. I wonder how many times I have to do to perfect it! Lets see!!

Feedback was Oreo was yummy! I tasted the ends of both swissrolls. The cake itself so soft and yummy!! Do try it!

Vanilla Swissroll - Makes 2 (adapted from JeannieTay)

(A) 

4 yolks

40ml oil

60ml milk 

1tsp Vanilla bean paste

20g sugar

70g cake flour

(B)

4 whites

50g sugar

Buttercream : Recipe from here)

Oreo : wrapped with crushed oreo cookies + smbc, deco with smbc and mini oreos

Longan : wrapped with longan bite + smbc, deco with smbc n icing sugar

1) Mix all ingredients in (A) well except flour. Then slowly stir in flour and mix well.

2) Beat (B) til soft peaks and fold in 3 additions

3) Bake for 25-30mins at 180deg til top is nicely brown

4) Remove and peel baking paper off and roll up to cool

5) Prepare buttercream and put in piping bag. Wrap when swissroll is cooled and keep chill before serving

Sweet and Sour Fish

My fav dish and also the kids for now as they like how the crispy fish slices blend with the sweet sour sauce. I usually serve the fishes with the sauce just before eating so that it will still be crispy. 

I mix up the sauce on my own using a mix of few sauces. Adding in cucumber, tomato, onions and if I do remember, I will add my gal’s fav pineapple too! As the kids wants to eat and cant take spicy, I omit the use of chilli sauce for the sauce. Yums! 

This is how the fishes are after frying. Jus marinate the fish slice and coat with tapioca flour before frying them! Its as good as it is on its own! 

Sweet Sour Fish

1 pack of Hoki Fish, sliced

1 tomato, big cube

1 cucumber, small rounds

1 onion, cubed

Sauce:

3Tbsp tomato sauce

2Tbsp plum sauce

1Tbsp oyster sauce

1Tbsp sugar

1/4 bowl water

Tapioca starch to coat fish

1) Coat fish with tapioca starch thinly and fry til both sides nicely browned

2) Sautee onions with oil til fragrant then add in tomato and cucumber and stir lightly

3) Pour in sauce and bring to a small boil. Drizzle over fish before serving.

Battered prawns & fish

Been wanting to make battered prawns for the kids as I myself also love this dish so much! Chanced upon someone sharing this in a facebook group - Singapore Home Cooks and bookmarked it.

I followed the recipe and mix the batter up. It was too dry so i slowly added water and measure the right amount of water to be added. Original poster also added more water to the batter to the right consistency. 

I shallow fry them and waited til the bottom is browned before flipping. If you flip too early the batter will stick to the pot and comes off. 

Totally loved these prawns and I added some mixed herbs to the batter too. Only downside was the salt I added too little. Now I have tried, I will write up the actual amount used so I can always refer back! 

Battered Prawns & Fish

10 medium sized prawns, tail on

8-9 medium sized hoki fish slice

85g plain flour

15g corn flour

3g baking powder

1tsp salt

2tsp mixed herbs

pepper

30ml oil

100-120ml water, to be added bit by bit til the right thick runny consistency

1) Heat oil in pan

2) Dip prawns n cover with batter and gently put in pan to be fried

3) Flip only when the bottom part (in the oil) is browned and continue for the other side

4) Flip a few times til prawn or fish is nicely brown. Served warm! 

Meringue Cookies II

Need to use up the egg whites from some cookies order so decided to weigh the whites and see how much I have. Googled and see whats the ratio for whites:sugar and saw that it says 1:2 is good enough. Decided to take the plunge and try to go with the above ratio! 🤞🏻🤞🏻

Tried to learn to do swirls of colours, seems like it require some technique. First i put too much colouring gel, had throw away some of the pink ones frm the front. Then I realised I forgot my piping tips! Gosh, so i had to make do with what I had and pipe into round disc and little monsters! Using the eye toppings I bought previously and drop onto each little monster. 

I think may need to bake longer next round as 1hr doesnt seems enough. Maybe the monsters are too thick so the texture is crispy and slight chewy! Sweet, definitely it is! LoL!

Packed them into individual packs for the big kids to share with their friends at school!  Gonna try again!! 

Meringue cookies
150g Whites
300g Sugar
1tsp Vanilla paste

1) Beat whites til frothy and slowly add sugar bit by bit.
2) Beat til white is glossy and thick.
3) Colour as desired and pipe into preferred shape.
4) Bake at 120deg for 60mins or more til meringue cookies are dry. Leave to cool in oven with door ajar. Store in airtight once cooled.

Soft Honey Bread Loaf

Saw Zoe from BakeForHappyKids shared this recipe and was so wow-ed by the texture! And that it uses honey instead of sugar even gets me more keen to try them! 

I halve the recipe for a loaf as my hub prefers wholemeal. So i bake them for the kids going to school for breakfast and make a mini loaf for their slider sandwich for school recess! (Oh I wonder when they will get sick of home lunchboxes as they have been bringing it for the past 3yrs and more) 

Back to the bread, I uses egg wash for a nicer hue! Indeed it is, so nicely browned. The texture is soft with a slight crusty exterior for mine. Maybe cos I bake it slightly longer. I tried a small pc from the mini loaf and love that chewy bread texture! Super super love. And all it needs was jus using the Breadmaker to knead for 30mins! The only downside was the dough was a bit sticky to handle and I had to call for help to get some breadflour to flour my working place! 

It goes very well with curry for my dinner. So soft and yummy! Another reason why I baked them today too as my house usually buys wholemeal bread. But its weird how wholemeal bread doesnt goes well with curry. Or is it me? hahaha 😂

The mini loaf went with the slider and cheese for my kids to bring to school. isn't the size perfect? I think overall, its a great recipe! I am planning to use it tml as a raisin loaf! Yums!! 

Soft Honey Bread Loaf (Adapted from BakeForHappyKids)

*halve the recipe for 1 loaf

230g Water

22.5g Honey

325g Bread flour

22.5g Milk powder

2g Salt

25g Butter

1tsp Yeast

1) Put the ingredients as per above sequence and run the BM to knead for 30mins

2) Proof for an hour then divide into 3 portions

3) Roll out flat then roll up  swissroll, then repeat once more before placing in a grease bread tin

4)) Proof for 1 hour, eggwash then bake for 180deg for 30mins or when top is nicely browned and bread is cooked

Double Chocolate Chips Muffins

A neighbour friend baked them for me to try and immediately fell in love with it. Quickly ask for recipe and waited til today then have time to bake them! Decided to bring along for a simple gathering with a group of friends whom i made recently this year! 

I used the ikea cup liners and baked them in the ikea silicon cups. Couldnt find the old tall muffin trays there anymore. So sad! I saw something similar selling over $30 in ezbuy. Shall wait for my nxt overseas trip to see if I can chance upon anything cheaper. 

Oh the smell of baking them is super therapeutic! Smells like heaven with the rich chocolate aroma! Totally enjoying them! Wonderful! 

Packed them up for my gathering tml with cling wrap as to prevent them from drying up. And also was worried about ants too! Hopefully my friends n their kids will enjoy this rich chocolate muffins!  Definitely worth burning some calories for them! Rich, moist and soft! A go to for my choc fix! Try it. 

Double Chocolate Chips Muffins (makes 18 medium size)

115g Butter

150g Sugar (original recipe calls for 175g)

2 eggs

180g Melted chocolate
250ml Buttermilk (I use 250ml + 1tsp lemon juice and sit 1min)

Dry ingredients:
250g Plain flour
1tsp Baking powder
1/3tsp Baking soda
1/4tsp salt

Topping:
Handful of dark & milk chocolate chips

1) Melt chocolate and set aside
2) Cream butter and sugar til light pale yellow
3) Add in eggs and mix well
4) Add in melted chocolate
5) Alternate butter milk and dry ingredients, starting and ending with dry in 3 additions
6) Fold in chocolate chips
7) Scoop just slightly to the brim of cupcake liners
8) Bake at 180def for 30mins

Simple Sponge Cake - Revisit

Make them today to clear my optima sponge mix. Made a simple pandan flavour for everyone and some friends. Love the mild pandan fragrance and yet not overly sweet. 

I replaced coconut milk & pandan juice with milk. Rewriting this post so I can reference whenever I am baking a simple sponge with this premix. Light and fragrance. 

Simple Sponge Cake

250g Sponge Mix

4 Eggs

3Tbsp Milk

3Tbsp Milk + 1.5Tbsp Milk + 1tsp Pandan paste (mix well)

1) Beat Eggs n Sponge mix to balloon stage. It should be a thick consistency

2) Add in 3Tbsp milk while continue to beat at low speed

3) Pour in milk mixture at the side and fold in gently

4) Bake at 170deg for 30-45mins

Tako Balls

Been wanting to do this again after i gotten the non-stick tako ball pan. A nice neighbour turn friend got me a pack of the flour for me to reattempt after my first try failed. 😂😂

Using the tako ball mix from Don Don Donki. As the instructions was partially covered by the english label (for the ingredients), I made a rough estimation on what I could managed to see and mix the batter up. Phew! I think it seems alright! 

First i heat up and took up pan. Pour batter with a ladle, put in ingredients then let it set a bit. Using the sticks to flip them up a bit, i scoop more batter to cover them. And repeat a few times til i successfully make them into balls! 

Once it turns into a ball, doesnt have to be a perfect ball shape, i let then cook til nicely browned before taking them out. I topped them with the tako ball brown sauce (got from don don donki) , mayo and bonito flakes (got this from daiso). 

This is how it looks like inside after I took a bite. I think it is good for a first attempt! Yums!! Need practise more!!

Tako Balls (makes 36)

Toppings:

4 slices Ham, small cubes

Frozen corn

4 slices Cheese, small squares

Batter:

250ml Tako ball mix

400ml water

1 egg

Stir and mix well with a whisk. Follow above steps.

Beef Stew

I have been wanting to try making beef stew but then a bit worried the kids not used to such stews. The other day i saw someone using tomato paste and fresh tomato to make the stew. It intrigues me to use them to make for the kids since they love tomatoes! 

As I uses n season them, i added some oyster sauce too. I am using the Marks & Spencer Tomato & Basil Bruschetta topping (photo from web) as well as fresh tomatoes! Adding in carrots and potatoes, the whole stew taste wonderful! Both hub and kids love it!

Beef Stew (serves 4 pax)

480-500g beef cubes

3 tomato, wedge

2 potato, quarters

1 carrot, big cubes

Some baby corn

Seasoning:

1 jar Tomato & Basil Bruschetta topping

3Tbsp Oyster Sauce

Water, adjust accordingly to your taste

Dash of pepper

Grounded basil leaves

1) Sautee beef cubes til browned on outside

2) Add in potato, tomato wedges, carrots and mix the well

3) Add in seasoning and enough water to cover the beef, simmer for 30-45mins

4) Throw in baby corn, pepper, grounded basil n stir well. Serve warm with rice

Chinese Orh Kueh (Yam cake)

Was inspired to make these when a fren passed me her mum’s homemade orh kueh! I super love it that I immediately googled and try to find some recipes to follow. I mixed and match some of the recipes I saw and came up with this 2 attempts. 

Attempt #1: This version I was too kancheong and uses the wrong yam. Resulting in a weird texture for the yam. And the flour batter uses only rice flour which i find it a bit too soft. Seasoning wise I think it tastes ok so I told myself to attempt again with the correct yam and adjust the flour batter!

Attempt #2: I adjusted the flour batter and honestly I think it is slightly too firm? Perhaps I can lower the tapioca starch and use more rice flour. The correct yam definitely brings a whole new level to the whole texture. But then as the ‘kueh’ is slightly too firm, i find it a bit dry after panfrying. Taste wise still ok. 

You can review my both attempts and maybe adjust slightly for your own preference! I am so going for attempt #3 and will update here again for my own reference! Yums!!

Chinese Orh Kueh - Version #1 (with the wrong yam)
500g China baby yam, peeled, wash n cube
1 handful dried shrimps, soaked and chopped slightly
2 Lup cheong (美珍香), deskin and chopped

Flour batter:
150g rice flour
600g water
1/3 chicken stock cube (msg free)
1tsp fish sauce
Dash of pepper
Dash of salt

Seasoning:
2tsp Light soya sauce
Dash of pepper

Garnish:
Shallot, fried til browned

Chinese Orh Kueh - Version #2 (with the correct yam)
500g yam, peeled, wash n cube
1 handful dried shrimps, soaked and chopped slightly
2 Lup cheong, deskin and chopped

Flour batter:
130g rice flour
70g Tapioca starch
600g water
1/3 chicken stock cube (msg free)
1tsp fish sauce
Dash of pepper
Dash of salt

Seasoning:
2tsp Light soya sauce
Dash of pepper

Garnish:
Shallot, fried til browned


1) Prepare all ingredients one side and fry shallots til crispy and browned
2) Using shallot oil, stir fry dried shrimps til fragrant and add in lupcheong and gently stir them well
3) Put in yam cubes and add seasoning. Mix well and fry for 3-5mins and take out.
4) Using the same wok, add in flour batter and stir well before adding in the ingredients that was fry earlier. Keep stirring over med heat.
5) Once the batter turns stickier, turn to lowest heat n keep stirring til it becomes thick and sticky.
6) Pour onto a greased pan and steam for 45mins - 1hr until it is firm. Cool it completely before slicing

Spicy Bulgogi Pork Strips

I love korean food, especially kimchi, their bulgogi marinates too! I normally use my bulgogi for grilling meat slices when I am having steamboat! The meat is so yummy on its own after grilling! 

This is the marinate I am using. I have both spicy and non-spicy version. Usually I use a spoon of the marinates, add some sesame oil and chinese wine. Just like that will be so flavourful already! 

I am using this part of the pork called - 不见天 which is from the armpit. Yes sounds weird but ever since I first started eating this part of the meat, I never buy other parts for stirfry already! Therefore today trying to deepfry and see if its still soft and juicy! Indeed it is! Penning down my recipe so i can always refer back!

Spicy Bulgogi Pork Strips

400g Pork (am using pork armpit aka 不见天), cut into thin strips

2Tbsp Spicy Bulgogi sauce

1Tbsp Sesame oil

1Tbsp Chinese wine

1) Add the above seasoning to the pork strips and marinate overnight

2) Coat strips with cornflour and deepfry for about 3mins each side. Do not overcook! Serve warm!

Hoki Fish Nuggets

Recently I tried this Hoki fish from a local supplier - Hai Sia Seafood. Apparently this fish is used for Fillet-O-Fish and Fish & chips. Therefore I buy them to try at home! 

Today i cut into thin slices and marinate them overnight. Coated them and deepfry to make our own fish nuggets! Only flaw was I didnt fry them over high heat, so the crisp cannot stay long. But for a homemade version, I would say its good enough for the kids to snack on. And did I mention, I forget to add some salt. So my nuggets were not saltish but only tasted of the original fish! 

Texture is firm. Not too oily and its real fish! Try them! Perhaps I would try again over high heat to check on the crisp. Haha!

Hoki Fish Nuggets

300g Hoki, cut into thin slices

1Tbsp sesame oil

1Tbsp chinese wine

1tsp onion powder

1tsp ginger powder

Dash of pepper

Coat:

Cornflour, egg, panko crumbs

1) Prepare the fish as above, marinate overnight

2) Heat up oil, coat fillet with cornflour, then egg, then panko and deepfry

Only flip when u see corner of the fish start to brown

3) Fish is ready when both side is nicely brown. Serve warm to maintain cripsy

Creamcheese Chiffon Cupcake

Need to use up some balance creamcheese so decided to bake creamcheese chiffon cupcakes for snacks. It smells so yummy!! Love them! 

Its so soft but the top i think can bake slightly more brown to be drier! Esp in this weather, it will be more lasting in room temp if its drier. Love the mild chese taste in each cupcakes!! 

I filled them jus below the brim slightly and they rise so beautifully in the oven, no overflow. And when they cool, jus sink at the brim of the cupcakes! Lovely!! Pls try this recipe out! Super love the taste n texture! 

Creamcheese Chiffon Cakes (adapted from BlessedHomeMaker)

(A) 

60ml Milk

40g Creamchseese

25g Butter

4 yolks

65g Cake flour

(B) 

4 Whites

70g Sugar

1tsp Lemon juice

1) Melt (A) over double-boiled method and stir til creamy.

2) Add in yolks and mix well

3) Fold in flour til no lumps

4) Beat (B) til soft n glossy peaks

5) Fold in whites in 2-3 addition, pouring the mixture into whites for the last addition

6) Scoop and fill cupcake liners. Bake at 180-200deg for 30-45mins til top browned nicely

Blueberry Muffin

Lately a fren baked this blueberries muffins for us. I seldom eat cakes actually, only tasting some of my own bakes at time. But after I tried this muffin, I am blown away! My 3 kids also love them so much! And the fact that I was never a fruits person, I even ate the blueberries!! Such a wonderful way to ‘bluff’ myself into having berries! 

Immediately asked for the recipe, and was instructed by my gal to add choc chips. So my mission to bake them at home starts! I replace the plain flour with self raising flour and being kiasu, i added 1/2 tsp of baking powder as the original recipe calls for 2tsp of baking powder.

I think I could have fill a little too much batter so most of then exploded! So not pretty!! Kept 5 for myself and 6 to my neighbours. They said it was yummy after trying! I was curious how it would be, especially the texture!!!

I actually mixed up the steps from original recipes and was quite worried it will not come out well! My neighbour assurance gives me some confidence as they always give me honest comments! So now i can stop worrying and try 1 later! 

Immediately cut up 1 to try after dinner! I need to taste the texture and taste too! Hurray! Its soft, fluffy and not too sweet! Overall the tangy blueberries goes very well! I added choc chips as per my gal’s request. We both agree blueberries and choc chips doesnt gel that well! Thank god for the good texture and taste so it is still yummy to eat! Perhaps next round we should try choc chips or blueberries on its own. Yums!! Packed 1 each for them to bring to school for snack. Going to bake them again tml!

This serve to remind me that I have filled it up too full. Some of them exploded and become not pretty anymore! Haha~ Initial recipe makes 12 muffins, and I had 11! So I need to make a mental note that I need to divide them among 12! Try them!! 

Blueberries Muffins (adapted from OnceUponAChef)

115g Butter, room temp

180g Sugar

240g Self raising flour 

1/2tsp Baking powder

3/4tsp Salt

2 Eggs

120ml Milk

1tsp Vanilla paste

1.5punnet Blueberries

1) Cream butter and sugar til creamy

2) Put dry ingredients into 1 bowl, wet ingredients into another

3) Add dry then wet, alternating them in 3 additions, ending with dry ingredients.

*Do not overmix*

4) Fold in blueberries lightly

5) Sprinkle brown sugar on top

6)  Fill up 12 muffins cup and bake 180deg for 30-40mins til skewer comes out clean

7) Cool before storing

Copycat Jenny Butter Cookies w/Vanilla

Have sat on this recipe for quite a while. Partly cos I am lazy to get a pack of icing sugar just to bake them. Fortunately, a nice neighbour passed me just enough of them so I can finally try baking them! 

My first time after so long piping cookies! Awwww, my hands or rather my whole palm was aching as I was halfway thru the first tray! Took a while to really managed to get that rosette shape out. But the sizes were all still hard to guage! 🙊🙊 But it was fun seeing them so beautifully piped! 

The problem that some bakers make, I said some as most are experts in getting beautifully browned butter cookies, is that a split moment will get the cookies more browned or less browned. And this was what happen when I lost focus for a while during the last few minutes! Hahahahahaa! But luckily enough, it didnt affect the taste at all. Its only the shade of the brown-ness! 

I added vanilla pods to my batter as I love seeing those vanilla specks in the bake. And so happen that I recently bought some. I decided to use 1 for the cookies! Oh so fragrant in my sense. The cookies were melty, which I would prefer more crunch, perhaps omit the cornflour nxt bake. The sweetness was just nice and not overly sweet! Yums! Love them!! 

Can you see them?? 

Copycat Jenny cookies w/Vanilla (adapted from GingyBite)

147g Plain Flour (I am using leather jacket)

3g Cornflour

150g Butter (I am using lescure)

23g Icing sugar

1 vanilla pod, scraps the seeds into batter

1) I put all ingredients in a mixing bowl and using handwhisk to slowly whisk them up to creamy

2) Put in piping bag and pipe onto baking tray

3) Bake at 180deg for 15-20mins til cookies are nicely browned

4) Cool them before storing in airtight container!