Spicy stir-fried pork/beef

Spicy stir-fried pork / beef

Made the pork version a couple of times and last night made it with beef as I wanted my Muslim friends to be able to try out this recipe too! This is so easy to make and to top it off - this is a one pot dish!

Ingredients:
500 gms of pork belly cut into 1/4 inch thick slices
1 onion - sliced
3 spring onions - cut diagonally
2 cloves of garlic - minced
1 inch ginger - minced
1 green chili or bell pepper - diced
2 leeks - cut on the diagonal
1 tbsp or more Gochujang Korean chilli paste)- depending on how spicy you like it to be
2 tbsp hot pepper flakes (optional)
2 tbs dark brown sugar
1 tbsp soy sauce
½ tsp black ground pepper
2 tsp of sesame oil

Method:
1. Heat up the pan over high heat. No need to add oil.
2. Add in pork slices and the rest of the ingredients. Mix and stir all ingredients, until the pork is cooked thoroughly. This will take about 10 minutes vegetables will all be soft.
3. Transfer it to a serving plate and serve with rice.

Korean chilli paste

Spicy stir fried pork

Kenwood slicer

Used to slicer to slice my beef thinly

Final product

Pat's birthday cake

Pat's birthday

Baked a coffee walnut cake for Pat for his birthday!
And little James was there to share the cake!

Miso Chicken

Miso chicken

2 boneless chicken thighs
1 Tbsp white miso
1 Tbsp sake or sweet sherry (can omit)
1/3 to 1/2 tsp brown sugar



You can use skinned or unskinned chicken. I like unskinned as I like the crispy skin. If you are marinating it overnight, use a zip lock bag and mix the marinating ingredients and spread over the meat. let marinate in If you don’t have time for this, let it marinate at least 10-15 minutes.

Pre-heat the oven to 200 deg C and place the marinated chicken on a baking tray covered with foil (makes it easier to wash later) for 15 mins on 1 side. Then bake for 15 mins on the other side and it's done!

Tofu Fa

Tofu Fa

Years ago, before the hype of homemade tofu fa came about, I used to make my own soya bean milk and from there using gypsum made tofu fa.

But these last couple of years just sort of got lazy and when I did want to have tofu fa, I would buy the "house brand instant" tofu fa.

Then when the hype picked up, I tried doing it again but this time using store bought soya milk and gypsum, but somehow the tofu did not want to set. Thinking that there was some additive to the soya milk, I made my own soya milk and added gypsum. Still did not set, so gave up making.

Then found this recipe on HK's blog..

Before making it, I was a bit skeptical as to the texture of the tofu fa. I thought it would be like jelly seeing that the recipe called for the use of agar2 powder. But after an hour in the fridge, boy was I smiling away - it really is soft and silky - just like the real tofu fa and so much more easier to make! Thanks a million HK!


Ingredients:
1/2 tsp agar-agar powder (Picture below)
600ml unsweetened soya bean milk at room temperature

(Syrup)
50ml water
100g dark brown sugar
thumb-size ginger (smashed)


Method:
1/ Pour 300ml of soya bean milk into a pot and heat it up over gentle fire on the stove.
2/ Mix the agar-agar powder into the other 300ml of soya bean milk, then add this mixture to the pot.
3/ Stir the contents in the pot, and once soya bean milk boils, remove it from fire and remove any froth that appears on the surface.
4/ Sieve into a container and let it set in the fridge till firm before serving with syrup.
5/ As for the syrup, bring water, brown sugar and ginger to a boil in a pot till sugar dissolves and it is ready to be used.

Pandan Chiffon cake

Pandan Chiffon Cake

On a facebook group that I am with, there has been a flurry of Pandan chiffon cake making and I too joined in the fun. I have not made a Pandan cake in ages and I did not want to use the recipe that the ladies have been using as it was using 7 eggs. So got this recipe from Leelee's blog.. Thank you Leelee.


This cake turned out wonderful soft and fluffy!


Ingredients:
75 gm plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
75 ml coconut cream/milk
4 egg yolks
5 egg white
100 castor sugar
1.5 tbsp corn oil
1/2 tsp vanilla essence
a pinch of salt
1/2 tsp cream of tartar
1 tsp pandan paste **


Method:
1. Cream egg yolks, 70 gm of sugar until it is creamy and thick.
2. Add in sifted flour and baking powder, vanilla essence, coconut cream/milk, corn oil, pandan paste into the egg yolk mixture. Use machine to mix it well.
3. In a clean dry bowl, beat eggwhite, remainder 30 gm of sugar, cream of tartar and a pinch of salt until stiff.
4. Mix the eggwhite into the flour mixture and mix it thoroughly using a spatula. Pour into the chiffon pan and bake in a preheated oven at 175C for 45 mins. (My oven doesn't have 175C so I baked it at 170C.)
5. When cake is baked, invert it immediately to cool down for about 10 mins. After 10 mins, use a sharp knife to loosen the side and then the bottom to release the cake. Leave it on a wire rack to cool down further.

Kuih tutu revisited

Putu piring aka kuih tutu (Revisited with step by step photos)

Made this some time ago and then recently promised R that I would make some to pass to her and also at the same time S asked me for step by step photos of how to make this, so it was like killing 2 birds with one stone!

As I mentioned in my previoys post, do not press the flour firmly otherwise it will become hard the following day. Just softly pressing the flour into the mold makes the flour soft even on the following day!

Ingredients
1 cup rice flour
60ml ( adjustable ) water dissolved with a generous pinch of fine salt
a couple of pandan leaves cut into 2 inch pieces
Filling:
80gm gula melaka chopped and mixed with a tsp of caster sugar

Method：
1. Place the rice flour on a piece of kitchen paper on a plate. Mix it up with the pandan leaves and microwave on high for a minute and a half. Discard leaves and cool the flour.

2. Drizzle water evenly over the roasted flour, stirring with a fork. The flour should just be moistened and not soggy, forming big crumbs. Press the crumbs through a sieve, with the back of a ladle. It should yield a fine crumb texture. For ease , do in very small batches.

3. Spoon rice crumble into the mould. Add 1 tsp of gula melaka-sugar mix. Do not allow the gula to touch the base of the mould.

4. Top with another spoon of rice crumbs. Press gently with spoon for a smooth finish.

5. Steam for about 15 mins.

Cover with cloth to prevent water dripping onto the kuih

This is what I meant when I said to make sure that the sugar does not touch the flour, otherwise it will make a hole!