Yuzu (Honey Citron) Chiffon Cake

Sorry for the disappearing act from this  space for such a long time. Mum went for an op and we were busy shuffling between hospital, work and home, and that certainly made me too worn out to blog.  Gonna slowly pick up my pace and make a return here.

A tub of yuzu jam specially bought by my sister-in-law from Japan

Yummy!

A simple bake here with my new Rowenta oven and it was really good. Soft, pillowy and yummy chiffon cake with a subtle yuzu taste.

I love my new kitchen gadget! Looking forward to more baking adventures with it :)

Yuzu chiffon cake for tea, anyone? :D

Yuzu (Honey Citron) Chiffon Cake (20cm tube pan)

Egg white mixture

5 Egg whites 

80g Caster sugar 

1/4 cream of tartar

Egg yolk mixture

5 Egg yolks

20g Water 

55g Vegetable oil 

80g yuzu jam (honey citron)

90g Hong Kong Flour

20g Caster sugar

1. Beat the egg whites and cream of tartar in a clean large bowl until peak foam. Gradually add in sugar, in 3 additions And beat till stiff peak forms.

2. Mix all the egg yolks mixture except flour. When everything well combined then add in sifted Hong Kong flour. Mix everything till well combined. The mixture would be quite thick, smoothand lump-free.

3. Gently fold in 1/3 of the egg whites mixture into the egg yolks mixture. When everything is well combined, fold in 1/2 of the remaining egg white mixture. Lastly, fold in the remaining egg white mixture. 

5. Pour the mixture into a 20cm chiffon cake tin and bake at a 160-170'C preheated oven for 40 to 50 minutes or till done. Turn the baked cake upside down and allow it to cool before slicing.

Lotus Roots and Sweet Corn with Dark Red Kidney Beans

After a break from the blogsphere and a short vacation in Bangkok to celebrate my birthday, I am back again to this hot hot country.

To prevent hydration during this super hot and humid period, pls rem to have more fluid intake!!! Soups help to add on to your fluid intake so cook them :)

This is a healthy soup. With the addition of dark red kidney beans, it enriches the soup further.  Leaving you with the recipe :)

Lotus Roots & Sweet Corn with Dark Red Kidney Beans
Serves 3 to 4

1 segment of lotus root, cleaned and sliced

1 pc chicken breast 

1 sweet corn, de-skinned and cut into smaller pcs

100g of dark red kidney beans

8 to 10 red dates, pitted and rinsed 

3 dried figs, rinsed

2 honey dates

2 litre of water

salt to taste

1. Remove chicken breast skin and all excess fats and blood residues. Wash and drain.

2. Put 2l water to main pot and bring to boil.

3. Meanwhile, bring a separate small pot of water to boil, put in chicken breast and blanch it for another 1 minute to remove oil and scum. Briefly rinse blanched chicken breast meat under running water and place  it into the boiling main pot. Add in all other ingredients (except sweet corns if you want to eat them) into main pot and leave to boil on high heat for about 20 minutes. 

4. Bring down to low heat and let simmer for 2 hours. 

5. Just before serving, bring soup to boil, add in sweet corns and let cook for 5min or till done and then add in salt to taste. Serve.

Air Fried Shallots

Are you a fried shallot lover like me? I love having them in my noodles and congee, not just purely for garnishing but for the crispy feel. Fried shallots taste so so good.

While I love fried shallots, I never like making them on my own. Hate the peeling and slicing, and most of all the frying part, so usually Mum gives me a bottle when she makes them. Lately the supply from mama stopped and I am too ashamed to ask. I thought I could try making fried shallots with my air fryer!

And so I did. Did not know that shallots cost this much nowadays. A small pack cost me 2 bucks! Okay, move on. Did the needful - peeling, rinsing and slicing. Finally the air frying part. Made it. No sweat and I whatsapped a pic of the end product for Mum to see. Mum said she will pass me sliced shallots to air fry for her from now on! Hahahah! 

Air Fried Shallots

2 to 3 handful of shallots, peeled, rinsed and sliced

some oil for coating 

1. Preheat air fryer to 180deg C for 5min.

2. Dislodge air fryer net and pour in sliced shallots. Spread out shallots evenly in air fryer net.

3. Using a cooking brush, brush a layer of oil over shallots and put to air fry on 180deg C for 10min.

4. After 10min is up, stir shallots about to even them out as they will fly about in the net as they get lighter when fried. Put back to airfry again for 10min or till done.

5. Remove and let air fried shallots cooled before storing in airtight container.

6. Garnish your noodles or fried rice with these air fried shallots.

Beef Bulgogi

Another Korean meal for dinner, upon Hubby's request. Since I had a bottle of beef bulgogi sauce bought from Lotte Mart in Seoul from the last trip, I aceded to the Hubby's request.

Brought out the Makgeolli (Korean Rice Wine) and had it with the meat. Not quite a meat lover, but I thoroughly enjoyed that meal of meat and wraps, and drinks! Still can salivate at the thought of it. I wanna cook this soon again!

It would have been abit more work if I made the meat marinate from scratch for I would need pear puree, onion puree and many more ingredients for it. As usual, I took a short cut and used store bought beef bulgogi sauce! Easy peasy. No more lazy shortcuts when I finish up that little bottle.

We had bought more beef than we intended to cook and I marinated it all anyway, just store it in 2 tupperwares. You can freeze 1 portion of the marinated meat, and just bring out to thaw before cooking it. The other portion I merely refrigerated it and let the marinate does its job for like 20 hours before cooking it the next day.  Yummy!

And so with the remaining portion of frozen marinated beef, I cooked them and had it with rice. It was good!

Wrap style or with rice? Your choice :)

Beef bulgogi with a sunny side up.

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I am hungry as I write.

:P

Beef Bulgogi
Serves 2 to 3

370g fresh chuck tender beef (you can use sirloin beef too)
6 to 7 tbsp store bought beef bulgogi marinade
2 garlic, minced
1 tsp sesame oil
1 yellow onion (or 2 if you like onions), de-skin, halved and cut into 4 pcs for each half
dashes of ground black pepper
1/2 tsp garlic powder (optional but I just wanted to add it hehe)

Garnishing
White sesame

1. Wash beef and dap dry with a kitchen towel. You may choose to slice it when frozen so that you get thin pcs from easier slicing, or be like me just slice it after drying and at room temp. If you are letting the meat be marinated in fridge overnight for more than 6 hours, not slicing it too thinly is okay. Longer hours of marinating tenderizes the meat.
2. Place sliced beef into a container. Add in all sauce, and ingredients and mix well to coat meat evenly. Cover and place in fridge to marinate for at least 2 hours, or better still, overnight.

3. When ready to cook meat, heat 2 tbsp of oil in frying pan, place in marinated meat, break up meat and stir fry till cooked, which takes less than 5 min. Beef slices get cooked fast.

4. Serve immediately with some white sesame sprinkled over. Eat with lettuce and ssamjang plus other sides that you like or enjoy it with plain rice.

Mango Honey Yoghurt Popsicle

The unusually hot and humid weather is making me crave for anything cold to cool my body. Very unlike me, for I am one who is not into icy cold stuff. It is the same with my hubby! And so I thought it was about time I put my popsicle mould (I bought some 1 year back!) into good use.  Make some healthy fruit and yoghurt popsicle, will you?

I have got 2 ripened mangoes, a tub of yummy honey yoghurt, a blender and a popsicle mould, so let's do it :)

I got this from Japan Home.

We love this thick and creamy yoghurt.

A must have in our fridge.

This is a super fast and easy popsicle recipe. Seriously, it couldn't get any easier than this! Best of it all was that these are yummy and healthy sweet treats for yourself, and your littles ones :)

Fret not if you do not have a popsicle mould, you can do good even with paper cups, plastic cups or shot glasses for dainty icy treats. Spoon blended mixture into paper cups, cover with clingwrap and stick in centre of clingwrapped cup with a short straw or a snipped wooden chopstick for support of the popsicle.

Wooden chopstick would have been the better support option but I did not have them, so I used straws. It was quite okay too just that you would have to held it with more care :)

Mango Honey Yoghurt Popsicle

220g mango puree (I used 2 Thai Honey Mangoes)
170g Greek Honey Yoghurt

1. Slice and place mango pieces into blender. Blend!

2. Spoon in Honey Yoghurt into mango puree and blend again.

I filled the moulds with half of the mango yogghurt puree, then spoon in half a tbsp of honey yoghurt and finally topped it off with the remaining mango yoghurt puree. Use a chopstick and loosely stir the puree to create a swirl pattern.

3. Spoon puree into popsicle moulds or paper cups. Do not fill to brim of mould as popsicle will "pop up" slightly when frozen.
4. Place into freezer.

I had extra puree and so the remaining were poured into paper cups.

5. When removing, wrap mould with a hot dish cloth and carefully dislodge popsicles. Enjoy!

Pork, Chives & Mushroom Dumplings 猪肉韭菜香菇饺子

Was doing our weekly marketing at the supermarket when I saw chives at the vegetable section. It then came upon me that I have not made dumplings for a long long time! So let's do it!

I just wanted simple fillings for my dumplings. No prawns or shrimps. Save the shells peeling and chopping. I am lazy.

Used 3 simple mains for the dumpling. Pork and chives are the must have, and I added chinese mushrooms this time. Yummy!

Lazy me used store bought dumpling flour for the dumpling wrapper. Simply pour in water, mix, knead, rest and ready to use!

So how do you like your dumplings to be cooked?

I steam it.

And also boiling it.

Love lots of ginger and black vinegar with it.

You can also pan fry the dumplings and eat them as guo tie (pot stickers). 

Come, let's dig in! :)

Pork, Chives & Mushroom Dumplings

Wrapper
600g store bought dumpling flour
300g water

Filling
600g minced pork
300g chives, washed 3x, remove soggy and yellow parts, cut and remove stem parts
8 pcs dried chinese mushrooms, soaked till softened, remove stems and steam for 6 min on high heat till cooked, then cube into small cubes

Seasoning
1/2 tsp salt
1 tbsp sugar
4 tbsp light soy sauce
2 tsp sesame oil
1 tbsp oil
1 tbsp cornflour
dash of pepper

1. Mix dumpling flour and water to form a dough, knead well till dough does not stick to hands and is soft. Cover with a clean moist cloth and set aside to rest for 30 min. This allows the dough to become smooth and stretchy, ready for use.

2. Place minced pork, chopped chives and mushroom cubes into a mixing bowl.

Add in all seasonings and mix well with a pair of chopsticks till filling mixture turns into a sticky paste. Cover with clingwrap and set in fridge for 30 min.

3. Punch down dough cut out dough into small pieces for use. I weigh each pc to be 12g round and roll them flat. Place a teaspoon heap of filling on centre of dough wrapper and wrap up. Pinch a side of dough and press tight to seal opening. Repeat till use up fillings.

Place wrapped dumplings on a plate or tray, taking care not to let them be too close and stick together. When one plate or tray is fully filled with dumplings, cover with cling wrap and leave in freezer and let dumplings freeze before removing each frozen dumpling and storing in ziplock bags. Freeze dumplings.

4. No need to thaw dumplings when you want to eat it. Bring a pot of water to boil. Add enough jiaozi to cover the base of the pot about one and a half times, stirring to make sure no dumplings stick to the base of the pot. Cover.

When it comes to a boil, add 250ml water. Cover and repeat 2 more times. When the water comes to a boil for the third time, the dumplings are ready. Scoop dumplings onto a plate and serve immediately with vinegar and shredded young ginger.


NOTE: The theory behind adding cups of water is that if you stop it before the third boil, the meat will not be cooked through. Also, if you don’t add cold water each time, the jiaozi will fill up with air and explode.

For steaming, put steamer pot filled with water and let it come to boil on high heat, place frozen dumplings into bamboo steamer basket and set in steamer pot to steam for 15min, or till done. Serve immediately.

Coffee Cream Cake 咖啡奶油蛋糕

It was Mama's birthday last Friday. We had an early birthday celebration with Mum some 2 weeks back, done together with Mothers' Day celebration. No we are not saving on an extra meal. Mum has to go for an operation end of this month and we wanted her to steer clear from heaty food to prep for the operation, hence the combi of 1 dinner for 2 occasions.

Cake ready to be delivered to the birthday girl!

I made this cake to make up for Mum's missing dinner on her actual birthday. Made a coffee cream one because Mum loves coffee!

I love old-fashioned birthday cakes, you know, those kind of salty buttercream cakes sold during the 1970s to 1980s? You can only find these cakes in those traditional bakeries now.

Got the cake design idea from Nasi Lemak Lover. Family said the cake looked nice when it was presented to my Mum. Of course, my dearest Mother was all smiles. It was worth my every effort making this into the late night a night before.

I was happy to see the distinct layers when the cake was sliced after the usual birthday song singing and making of wish.

3 nice layers of soft chocolate sponge with coffee cream

I am a happy girl.

I am getting more confident in making buttercream cakes. Looking forward to making one for myself next month!

Coffee Cream Cake
makes a 6-inch cake

3 egg yolks
55g cake flour
1/4 tsp baking powder
40g caster sugar
30ml canola oil
35ml milk
a pinch of salt

3 egg whites
1/4 cream of tartar
5g cocoa powder

Chocolate rice (for deco on the side of cake)


Cake Method

1. Preheat oven to 150deg C.
2. Sift cake flour, baking powder and cocoa powder and leave aside.
3. Beat yolk and 1/2 tbsp sugar till sugar has dissolved and yolk mixture has turned pale.
4. Add salt and beat well before adding canola oil in 2 additions. Make sure yolk mixture is well beaten between each addition.
5. Add in milk in 2 additions and mix well before placing in sifted cocoa flour mixture. Use a spatula and mix well till batter turns thick and creamy. Set aside.
6. In a separate bowl, beat egg whites till frothy. Add in cream of tartar and continue to beat till soft peaks form, add in remaining caster sugar in 3 additions and beat till stiff peaks are formed.

7. Spoon half of white mixture into cocoa batter and fold in till well mixed. Repeat the process with remaining white mixture in 2 additions.
8. Pour folded in batter into 6-inch baking tin and drop it on a table top twice to remove excess air bubbles.
9. Place baking tin in oven to bake at 150deg for 60 min or till done.
10. Remove from oven and place it overturned on a cooling rack to cool. Prepare coffee buttercream frosting. (Refer to directions below.)
11. Slice a little of the uneven cake top if top is domed shape, then slice cake to get 3 even pieces for layering.  
12. Place a slice of the cake on a cake board and set it on a turntable, slap on some coffee buttercream and spread it evenly. Place the other cake on top of buttercream.
13. Crumb coat whole cake with a thin layer of buttercream to seal in cake crumbs so they will not get in the way during final coating, you may freeze crumb coated cake for about 15min before doing final thick coating.

14. Layer an even coat round sides of cake.  Spoon chocolate rice on to side of frosted cake.
15. Spoon remaining coffee buttercream into a piping bag with a star nozzle and pipe desired designs on the cake top. Refrigerate and enjoy.



Coffee Cream Frosting
150g butter
3g instant coffee
40g egg white
65g sugar
20g water

Place butter and instant coffee powder into mixing bowl, mix well and set aside.

Place egg white and 5g of sugar in another bowl and beat till frothy. In a pot, mix water and remaining sugar well and heat to let it thicken to slight yellow sugar water. Gradually pour in thickened sugar water into egg white mixture and continue beating till egg white turns stiff peak.

Spoon white mixture into coffee cream mixture and mix well with spatula. Coffee buttercream frosting is now ready for use.