Fridays are nomally a veg or fish day. Fish won, so we had fish and chips!


Ingredients:
650g (approx) skinless haddock , hake or cod fillet, cut into 4 equal-size pieces
50g self-raising flour , plus 1 tbsp
50g cornflour
1 egg white
125ml ice-cold sparkling water (tonic water or 7up)
1 lemon , cut into wedges
600ml sunflower oil , for frying

Method:
1. Pat the fillets dry with paper towels.
2. Put the 1 tbsp of flour on a plate and use to coat each fillet, patting off the excess.
3. Pour the oil for frying into a heavy, medium non-stick wok. Heat till hot.
4. Mix 50g flour, cornflour, a pinch of salt and some pepper.
5. Lightly whisk the egg white with a balloon whisk until frothy and bubbly, but not too stiff. Pour the sparkling water or tonic water into the flour mix, gently and briefly whisking as you go. The batter shouldn't be completely smooth.
6. Add the egg white, then lightly whisk in just to mix. Try and keep as many bubbles as you can so the batter stays light.
7. Dip the fish in the batter to coat, let some of it drip off, then lower into the hot oil. Fry for 5-6 mins, and turning the fish over halfway through so it is golden all over. Lift out and drain on kitchen paper. Repeat with remaining fish.

Fried Sweet Potato Noodles.

Saw this at the Chinese supermarket and cooked this like fried tang hoon. It is more chewy though but tastes good!

It's official! Winter is here. Our clocks turned back last Sunday, so we are now 8 hours time difference with Singapore as opposed to 7 hours from March to October.

Autumn was pretty mild - temperature averaging around 15 deg C, then wham, on Monday, it dropped to around 9 deg C. Last night when I left the office at 6.30, it started to hail, but when I reach home, it was sleeting! Then sometime in the middle of the night, it started snowing (goodness gracious - it's only end October!) not much at our place but just 1/2 from us at the foot hills - it snowed quite heavily as the motorway there had to be shut because the roads were not gritted which caused some accidents!

Let me tell you about my drama this morning - walked to my car and when I tried to open it, I found it was frozen shut. Called out to Pat and he asked if I had tried the other doors, which I promptly did, but to no avail. So he came out and ran his nails along the rubber of the door and managed to pry it open. Then I tried to scrape off the ice off the windows but as it was frozen, couldn't. So had to get Pat to get me a kettle of water to pour on the windows. That done, I was on my way.

As I was driving along, a sign flashed on my dashboard - "passenger door open" - remember earlier I tried opening all the doors? Well, because they had defrosted, the door was quite loose and I could hear the traffic outside, so no choice but to stop the car and close the door. So on my way again I went. As I was nearing the station, I thought I saw another sign flash up - this time it said my rear door was open! Horrors! - but as I was already quite near the station, just continued on my way . Reached the station and made sure this time all the doors were properly closed before going to work!

So my friends, that was my little drama for today!

Grilled Oyster sauce chicken
Another easy dish to do when you are in a hurry. Just marinade the chicken with oyster sauce, dark soy sauce, honey, pepper and a dash of sesame oil. You can marinade the chicken for as little as 15 mins or overnight. When you are ready to cook, just pop into the oven at 200 deg C for about half hour and turn twice or so.

Stir Fried Beef with Celery

Babi Assam Garam

Edited to break up the posts into separate posts. Apologies if the comments don't make sense here!

Babi Assam Garam
This is another peranakan dish that you do not get in restaurants - or rather I have not seen in the restaurants. This is belly pork marinated in assam water and sugar, then boiled for about 15 mins till the pork is cooked. Cooked pork can then be kept for up to a week in the fridge.

Ingredients:
500 gm belly pork - in strips
80 - 100 gm tamarind mixed with 1 cup water
pinch of salt
3 - 4 tbsp sugar

Method:
1. Put belly pork and assam water into saucepan. Add enough water to cover pork but not till the assam water gets too thin. You want a thickish sauce.
2. Bring to boil and add sugar. Once pork is cooked, you can taste to see if you need more sugar. Taste of this dish is tangy, so dont add too much sugar.
3. Boil for about 20 mins and turn off the fire. You can either keep in the fridge for the flavours to intensify or you can cook it straight away.
4. To cook, slice the strips into thin slices and fry till pork caramalises.
Serve hot with rice. Yum!

Hokkaido Milky Bread

Hokkaido Milky Loaf
Did not get to the supermarket today as it was raining the whole day, so didn't feel like going out. Had all the ingredients in my pantry so decided to try this recipe that some of my online friends had done ages ago. Bought a pullman tin from Phoon Huat last year, so used that and boy, am I so happy - looks like a proper sandwich loaf.


This is how is looks sliced. Verdict - good. Will see how long it keeps.

Coffee Walnut Cake

My weekly bake for Pat.


This recipe is taken from BBC Good Food Magazine.

Ingredients:
200 gm butter, softened
200 gm caster sugar
4 eggs, beaten
200 gm self raising flour
50 gm chopped walnuts
1 tbsp coffee essence
For the filling:
200 gm icing sugar
85 gm butter, softened
2 tsp coffee essence
1 tsp single cream
For the icing:
300 gm icing sugar
1 tsp coffee essence
9 walnut halves

Method:
1. Preheat the oven to 180 deg C/Gas or 160 deg C/fn. Grease 2 deep 20cm sandwich cake tins. Line the base of each with greaseproof paper.
2. Put the butter and sugar in a bowl and cream together until light and fluffy. Add the eggs a bit at a time, sprnkling in a bit of the flour to stop the mixture curdling. Sift and fold in the remaining flour, then fold in the walnuts. Mix the coffee essence with 1 teaspoon water and fold this in, then divide the mixture equally between the prepared cake tins and level the tops. Bake for 20-25 mins or until the cakes spring back when lightly spraed in the centre with your finger. Leave the cakes in the tins for 5 mins, then turn out onto a wire rack and leave until cold.
3. Make the filling. Put all the ingrediens into a bowl and beat with an elecric mixer until smooth and fluffy, then use to sandwich the two cakes together.
4. Make the icing. Sift the icing sugar into a bowl, then mix in the coffee essence and 2-3 tbsps cold water to make a smooth icing. Pour the icing onto the top of the cake and quickly spread it over the top and sides, then arrange 8 walnut halves around the outside and one in the middle. Leave the icing to set before serving.

Tau Huay
Was craving to eat tau huay, so soaked some soy beans overnight and today made my tau huay.

Chicken Liver with Chives and Tofu


Vegetable Tempura


Claypot Chicken Rice