Recipe: Sesame Seeds Sweet Buns

Preparation Time: 90 minutes
Baking Time: 20 minutes

Finally, I make it... ;) All together 15 breads.

Though is a bit dark, hehe... (9 here)

Need to fit into other 2 small baking trays... (3 here)

Ops! Change shapes, may be it is too packed (3 more here)

Soft inside. [ding dong ding dong, successful v(==)v ].

Let me slice it...


Into 6 pieces...

Really soft (better consume within 2 days)

Ingredients:

1. 600g High Protein Bread Flour
   
2. 1 1/2 tsp of Instant Yeast
   
3. 1 tsp of Bread Improver
4. 1 1/4 tsp of Salt
5. 100g Brown Sugar
   
6. 3 Tbsp of Milk Powder
   
7. 1 Egg
8. 300 - 350ml Water
   
9. 50g Butter (room temparture)
10. Some White Sesame Seeds
11. Melted Butter (for brushing)
    

Steps:

1. Mix ingredients 1-8 and knead till it can stretch into thin sheet (about 10 minutes).
   
2. Add in butter and knead till smooth. Cover dough and leave it to prove till double in bulk.
   
3. Knead again till smooth (about 10 minutes). Cover and rest for 15 minutes.
4. Divide dough into 15 portions and shape each into a ball.
5. Arrange onto a baking tray. Leave to prove till double in bulk.
6. Spray little water onto the dough and sprinkle some sesame seeds on top of it.
   
7. Bake in a preheat oven at 200ºc for 20 minutes.
8. brush with melted butter.
   

Tips:

1. In step 1, mixual of ingredients will turns separated doughs to a sticky dough. The longer time you knead it, the less stickiness of the dough. (somehow, there is few that sticks on your fingers)
   
2. In step 2, adding butter into the dough will first cause the dough to separate apart. Don't worry, as you knead it longer, a whole dough will be formed slowly.
3. In step 5, as the dough will raise into a double size, so leave some space between them.
   
4. You can cover the dough with cling wrap or clean cloth.

Recipe: Banana Cake

Preparation Time: 10 minutes
Baking Time: 40-50 minutes

In the baking process...

Start rising...

In 175ºc, hot...

Turning color...

Few cuts to test whether the internal is cooked. (Initially, I bake for 40 minutes - follow the original recipe - but, it is not fully cooked)

Emm, it doesn't looks nice externally (maybe the color of banana slices is too dark).

However, it really tastes good. Must try.

Ingredients:

1. 250g All-purpose Flour
   
2. 1 tsp of Baking Powder
3. 1/4 tsp of Bicarbonate Soda
4. 250g Butter (room temparture)
5. 200g Brown Sugar
6. 1/4 tsp of Salt
7. 5 Eggs
8. 1 tsp of Vanilla Essence (optional)
   
9. 250g Mashed Bananas
   

Steps:

1. Shift all-purpose flour, baking powder and bicarbonate soda.
   
2. In another medium bowl, beat butter, brown sugar and salt until well-blended. Add in eggs one by one and vanilla essence and beat well.
   
3. Fold in the flour mixture into (2) until well-combined.
   
4. Fold in mashed bananas into the batter.
   
5. Place a piece of baking paper on the cake tray and pour the batter on it.
   
6. Cut and place banana slices on top of the cake batter.
   
7. Bake in a preheat oven at 175ºc for 40-50 minutes (until golden brown).

Tips:

1. You can use white sugar to substitute brown sugar (but brown sugar is more healthier). If the bananas that you bought is not sweet enough, you can add more sugar.
   
2. You can use a fork to mash bananas.
3. You can choose not to place banana slices on top of the cake batter (if you think it doesn't looks good).

Recipe: Chocolate Chips & Almonds Cookies

Preparation Time: 10 minutes
Baking Time: 10 minutes

My end products. Let's take a picture: Pose 1.

How about Pose 2?

My cookies look bigger (I use table spoon and scope too much, hehe ;)).

A clearer view. Do these look delicious?

I got 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, etc, about 12 big cookies.

Actually more than that.

Testing time. Now, you see it.

Now, you don't. Enjoy!

Ingredients:

1. 125g All-purpose Flour (1 cup)
   
2. 1/2 tsp of Baking Soda
3. 1/4 tsp of Salt
4. 115g Butter (room temparture) (1/2 cup)
5. 100g Brown Sugar (1/2 cup)
6. 50g Sugar (1/4 cup)
7. 1 Egg
8. 1 tsp of Vanilla Essence
9. 80g Chocolate Chips
10. 80g Almonds

Steps:

1. Shift both all-purpose flour and baking soda. Mix them well with salt.
   
2. In another medium bowl, beat butter, brown sugar and sugar until well-blended. Add in egg and vanilla essence and beat well.
   
3. Fold in the flour mixture into (2) until well-combined.
   
4. Fold in 60g chocolate chips and all almonds into the batter.
   
5. Place a piece of baking paper on the tray and scope the batter using a tea spoon on it. Make sure there are some spaces (about 2 inches apart) between 2 cookies.
   
6. Bake in a preheat oven at 175ºc for 10 minutes.
7. In minute 6th, put the remainder chocolate chips on top of the cookies.
   

Tips:

1. You can replace almonds with other nuts of your choice.
2. Why I use teaspoon to scope? Actually, I use a tablespoon to scope the cookies that I bake (shown in picture), so you can see some are really big. Of course you can decide the size.
   
3. Do not flatten the battle that you scope on the baking tray as it will be shaped during the baking process.
4. Why I separate the chocolate chips? So that the cookies look nicer whereby some chips are seen on the top. (Hehe, I forget to add chips on top this time, may be next time).
   

Recipe: Quiche

Preparation Time: 15 minutes
Cooking Time: 8 minutes
Baking Time: 30 minutes

Preparing ingredients...

Garlic, shallots, onions...

Fried bacon makes the Quiche much more delicious (remember to discard excessive fat, if possible).

Making pastry on pie dish using hands (remember to use a fork to press some holes on the pastry).

Ready to bake.

Those dark brown color things is not burn, it is Parmesan cheese.

This time I put bacon, mushrooms & garlic, shallots & onions.

Yummy yummy... ;)

Ingredients (Pastry):

1. 120g Shortening
2. 200g Plain Flour
3. Pinch of Salt
4. 1 Egg
5. 2 Tbsp of Fresh Milk
   

Ingredients (Filling):

1. 200ml Fresh Milk
2. 500ml Whipping Cream
3. 50g Plain Flour
4. Parmesan Cheese
5. 3 cloves of Onions (ring)
   
6. 5 cloves of Shallots (minced by food processor)
   
7. 5 pips of Garlics (minced by food processor)
8. 1 can of Luncheon Meat (pieces) or bacon (pieces)
   
9. 2 Tbsp of Oil
10. Salt and Pepper for season
    

Optional Ingredient:

1. Different veges (corns, carrots, beans, sweet basils, celery, etc).
2. Mushrooms
   

Steps:

1. Mix all pastry ingredients to form a dough. Flatten the dough and shape it into a pie dish.
   
2. In a medium heat pan, add some oil to stir fry onions, shallots and garlics till fragrant.
3. Add luncheon meat into (2) and cook for about 2-3 minutes.
   
4. Season with salt and pepper.
   
5. Spread filling into the pie dish evenly.
6. In a seperate bowl, mix fresh milk, whipping cream and flour well. Pour the mixture into the pie dish and spread some parmesan cheese on the top.
   
7. Bake in a preheat oven at 200ºc for 30 minutes.

Tips:

1. Do not knead the dough too hard to prevent toughened pastry.
2. Luncheon meat can be replaced with ham or bacon if you don't like can food or with optional ingredients if you prefer veges.
   
3. Best to serve while quiche is warm.
   

Recipe: Organic Oat + Omlette + Seaweed

Preparation Time: 2 minutes
CookingTime: 10 minutes

Who say oat is tasteless? It can be varied to add flavour and suit your taste too.

Ingredients:

1. 5 Tbsp Organic Oat
2. 250ml Hot Water
3. Japanese Instant Seaweed
4. 1 Egg

Optional Ingredient:

1. Veges for omlette (Spring Onion, Carrot, Bean).
   

Steps:

1. Mix oat and hot water in a pot. Turn to medium heat and cook for 10 minutes (you may add in seaweed in between the cooking).
   
2. Meanwhile, in a seperate pan, add a bit olive oil and fry the veges (about 1 minute).
3. Add in beated egg into the veges and stir-fry the omlette.
4. Both oat and omlettle are ready to serve.
   

Tips:

1. The cooking time of the oat depends on your preference. Longer cooking and more water will produce soft texture (like porridge).
2. If you are new to oat products, you may find uneasy to consume it in 'hard' texture. So, you may want to cook the oat a bit longer.
   

Recipe: French Baguettes

Preparation Time: 100 minutes (actually most of the time is waiting time)
Baking Time: 25 minutes

Ingredients:

1. 90g Plain Flour
2. 360g Bread Flour
3. 1 1/2 tsp Salt
4. 1 tsp Sugar
5. 3 tsp Instant Yeast
6. 250ml Water
7. 10g Shortening
   

Optional Ingredient:

1. Different flavour (crushed garlic, grated lemon zest, sunflower seeds, chocolate chips, crushed almond, etc).

Steps:

1. Mix plain flour, bread flour, salt, sugar and instant yeast.
   
2. Add in water and knead to form a dough.
3. Add shorrtening and knead to form a smooth and elastic dough. Leave it to rise for 45 minutes.
   
4. Divide the dough into 3 portions and mould each of them into balls. Let them rest for 10 minutes.
5. Flatten the dough and roll them into stick shapes (about 30cm long). Leave them to prove for 30 minutes.
   
6. In a baking tray, place all the 3 rolls of dough onto it.
   
7. Brush them with water and slash the tops with a sharp knife 3 or 4 times.
   
8. Bake in a preheat oven at 220ºc for 25 minutes.

Tips:

1. In the baking tray, place a piece of baking paper and put some flour to avoid stickiness.
2. You can add flovour to the baguettes according to your preferences by mixing the chosen ingredients in step 5.
3. Consume as early as possible to taste the fresh baguettes.
   

Recipe: "Lo Mai Gai"

Preparation Time: 50 minutes
Cooking + SteamTime: (10 + 40) minutes

Ingredients (top - chicken; bottom (clock-wise) - garlic, onion, chinese mushroom, dried shrimps, chili). This can be prepared within few minutes; using food processor; haha.

Taste: Dried shrimps and other ingredients add fragrance and make the dish more delicious.
Best for: dim sum.

Ingredient 1:

1. 2 cups grutinous rice (soaked overnight and drained)
   

Ingredient 2:

1. 200g chicken (sliced) + 2 Tbsp soy sauce + 1 tsp dark soy sauce + 1 tsp 5-spices powder + 1 tsp sugar (soak for 15 minutes)
   

Ingredient 3:

1. 3 cloves of garlics (finely chopped)
2. 2 cloves of onions (finely chopped)
3. 2 Tbsp dried shrimps (soaked, drained and finely chopped)
4. 5 dried mushrooms (soaked, drained and finely chopped)
   

Other Ingredients:

1. 1 1/2 cups water
2. Salt and pepper
   

Optional Ingredient:

1. Chili (finely chopped)
2. Scallions (finely chopped)
3. Coriander (finely chopped)
   

Steps:

1. Heat the pan with olive oil.
2. Add in garlic and onion. Cook till garlic and onion almost turns golden color (medium heat).
   
3. Add in dried shrimps and mushroom (cook for about 1 minute).
   
4. Add in chicken (the chicken will turn into white once it is cooked). Raise it.
   
5. In another pan/ wok (medium heat), cook glutinous rice and water. Cook till all the water dissolves into the rice. [You have to keep on turning the rice to make sure it is evenly cooked]
   
6. Mix all ingredients and season with salt and pepper. Turn off the fire.
7. Steam at a high heat steamer for 40 minutes.
8. Once it is cooked, sprinkle with spring onion, chili and corriander.
   

Tips:

1. You can add more dark soy sauce if the color is not enough dark.
2. Basically 1 cup of glutinous rice requires 3/4 cups of water. Too much water will cause the rice overcooked and it tastes too smooth.
   

Recipe: Baked Omlette

Preparation Time: 5 minutes
Cooking + Baking Time: (5 + 10) minutes

Taste: Cripspy potatoes on top and moisture inside
(fill with veges, eggs & milk mixtures).
Best for: Spaghetti or potluck.

This one is with Cheddar Cheese (for those who loves cheese)

Ingredients:

1. 3 potatoes (sliced)
2. 1 clove of onion (sliced)
3. 3 large eggs (beat well)

Optional Ingredient:

1. Other vegetables (corn, celery, asparagus, chili, long bean, etc) can be added based on personal preference.

Steps:

1. Heat the pan with olive oil.
2. Cook potatoes until soft (about 2 minutes).
3. Add in onion (and optional ingredient, if there is any) and season with salt and pepper. Cook till onion turns soft. Turn off the fire.
   
4. In a baking tray, put a thin layer of olive oil to avoid stickiness.
   
5. Pour the cooked vegetables into the baking tray. (You may place the potatoes on top as to make it crispy during baking).
   
6. Add in eggs mixsture.
7. Bake in a preheat oven at 220ºc for 10 minutes.

Tips:

1. In the baking tray, all veges should be covered with eggs. If not, add egg mixsture.
2. You can substitute 3 large eggs with 2 medium eggs +180ml of milk. Mixture of eggs and milk will produce moisture and soft omlette compared to eggs mixture alone.
   

Recipe: "Boogogee" (Korean Beef Strips)

Ingredients:

1. 200g beef strips
2. 1 yellow onion (sliced)
3. 1 clove of garlic (finely chopped)
4. 1 can of coke
5. 2 Tbsp olive oil
6. 1 Tbsp soya sauce
7. pepper (enough for seasoning)

Optional Ingredient:

1. 1 stalk corriander (coarsely chopped)
   

Steps:

1. Soak beef strips in coke for 5 minutes and well-drained.
   
2. Heat the pan with olive oil.
3. Stir fry garlic and onion in medium heat until soft (about 2 - 3 minutes).
4. Add in beef strips and season with pepper. Cook for 4 - 5 minutes.
5. Discard the excessive sauce from the beef strips.
   
6. In a separate pan, shimmer soya sauce and 1/4 of coke.
   
7. Add back beef strips and corriander. Cook for 2 minutes.

Tips:

1. When you cook the beef strips in step 4, you will see some bloods from the beef. It is normal. Therefore, you must discard these in step 5, else, it looks unpleasant to eat.
2. If you are health conscious and dislike coke, it can be replaced with terriyaki sauce and season with substantial amount of sugar to balance the taste.
   

Recipe: Kim Chi Soup

Ingredients:

1. 1 small bowl of kim chi (with gravy)
2. 1 carrot (thick julienne cut)
3. 1 potato (thick julienne cut)
4. 1 clove of garlic (finely chopped)
5. 1 Tbsp olive oil
6. 2 1/2 small bowls of water

Optional ingredients (pick your own preference):

1. Veges: oyster mushroom, golden needle mushroom, califlower
2. Meat: 1/2 can of tuna in salt water (drained and flaked), sausage, beef strips, ham
   

Steps:

1. Heat the pot with olive oil.
2. Stir fry garlic, carrot and potato until mildly cooked (about 1 - 2 minutes).
3. Add in kim chi (with gravy) and water.
4. Shimmer for 10 minutes.
5. Add in optional ingredients.
   
6. Season with salt when the optional ingredients are fully cooked.

Tips:

1. You can substitute salt and tuna with 1/4 chicken cube if you don't like the fishy taste.
2. The taste of the kim chi soup might vary (depends on the kim chi used). So, better buy it from some Korean mart.
   

A Warm Birthday Dinner

Was thinking to have a dinner at my place for birthday celebration. But, I'm afraid it is too rush for preparation as I will only be back on the night before. Besides, I also worry that nobody will entertain me as that day is a week day and many of my friends are busy working. Somehow, I sent the invitation to them for a try (I think I miss out some... Sorry ya...), Surprisely, almost all of them turn up. As an appreciation, Hubby and I tried our best to prepare a healthy dinner consisiting kim chi steamboat, 'boogoogee' (cola beef), crabs and fruit juice.


My Lovely Birthday Cake


Time for a Wish


Like the Presents (pleasant smell of fragrance and lovely T)


Pretty Friends... ;)

"I had a wonderful dinner and a great time together with you all on my birthday. Thanks for coming, thanks all your greetings and presents as well... ;)"

Do I Look Like a Pregnant Lady?

Went to the super market yesterday to get some veges and other stuff. At the fruits session, the durian store had attracted me as it smells really great. I felt a strong craving for buying it. But, was thinking of eating too much will cause in weight gain. While I was standing beside the store with my hubby and was struggling to make a decision between 'yes, just buy it' and 'no, just forget it', a 'makcik' (a shopper) just said something to me. "Moi, belilah, belilah! Kalau pregnant mesti mau makan sesuatu punya." "Makcik, I tak ada pregnant lah!!!" Exclaimed me.

'Gosh! do I look like a pregnant lady???' This is the first question I thought of. I better behave and control my diet. Sob sob sob :( :(

However, we bought the durian also (he was the one to seduce me to buy... actually he wanted to eat too ler...). Hehe...

Movie: All About Women

Went for a movie on Tuesday, tittled "All About Women". Before watching the movie, I have quite a high expectation on it as it was directed by Xu Hak, a popular director in the Chinese movie industry. However, when I was in the cinema watching the movie... Question turned up: "OMG! Is this movie really by him? " "Huh? like that also can? Sigh!!!"

The movie (for me) is very bad ler... It is like a combination of several genres (kung fu? love story? animation? music? comedy?). But, it did not meet any categories (kung fu scene is not outstanding enough, love story is not touching enough, animation is not lively enough, music is not attractive enough, comedy is not humorous enough). May be you try to fit it into a category and tell me. Yeah, not to forget, the main story is about phernomone... phernomone... and phernomone... The story line is terrible too (may be I am not that "high level" enough to understand and appraise the story).

So, when I walked out from the cinema, I really have no idea about what have I watched. My mind was totally blank and confused about the story. My suggestion to those who wanted to watch the movie, please not to expect much. Or, a better suggestion, not to watch the movie if you have option.

Perhaps my comments are not too harsh... ;)