Monday, December 29, 2014

Fruity Butter Cake


I booked marked this recipe from Ann’s blog a long time ago and finally try them out during summer when there were plenty of berries in my fridge. I baked them into cupcakes and gave them to two of my ex-colleagues. They like it a lot and told me that their family ate them all in no time. I am glad that they like it and thanks Ann for sharing the recipe.

Wednesday, December 24, 2014

Salmon Fish Curry


I have 2 pieces of salmon fish in the freezer for quite some time and I don’t think fresh enough to grill it so I decided to used it to cook curry with whatever vegetable I had in my fridge. So for this curry dish I added some cabbage, carrots, brussels sprouts and potato. This is a very simple version of fish curry like how my mom used to make.

Sunday, December 14, 2014

Soft Garlic Parsley Dinner Rolls


I baked these for our Thanksgiving meal. It was a last minute decision to bake these as I totally forgot to get a loaf of bread for our meal. Well, since I am not roasting a turkey but chicken I have plenty of time to make the rolls. It is not that difficult to make and with very few simple ingredients you some fresh rolls to go with your meal.


Monday, December 08, 2014

Pumpkin Tartlets


Is autumn and there are pumpkins everywhere so it is time to make some dessert out of it. I made these cute little tartlets for our Zumba Halloween Party in October. Yes we do eat dessert but in moderation ha ha… After a year of exercising 5 days a week I notice some changes in my eating habits and also my clothing. I don’t over indulge and eat everything in moderation. I do reward myself with some dessert every now and then. I didn’t lose a lot of weight but in some inches all over my body. I intend to keep it that way. I work too hard and make sure I don’t go back to my old habits… oh one more thing; I cut down on eating out. Outside food do have a lot of oil, sodium and also sugar. I guess that helps too.


Now back to these tartlets. Aren’t they cute? I made it into little bit size pieces so that everyone can have 1 or 2 pieces of it rather than having a big slice. But if you want, you can make it into a pie. I know some of you are not a fan of pumpkin but do give this a try. You might like it.

Monday, December 01, 2014

Steamed Savory Yam (Taro) Cake/Orr Kueh


I am a big fan of yam but I don’t buy it too often it can be quite costly at time. Usually it is around $1.79 - $1.99 a pound and if you buy the vacuum pack peel kind it is about $3.59 a pound. It happen it went on sale a few weeks ago and it was selling at $0.99 a pound so a bought a huge tuber. I used some to cook bubur cha cha and Taro Puffs (recipe coming soon) the rest for this yam kueh. The yams sold here are all good as I have yet to find a bad one. It has a powdery texture and it is really good to make yam kueh. I like a lot of yam in it so I added a bit more to it. Please be cautious when handling yam. I would advise you to wear gloves as it might cause some skin irritation.

Sunday, November 23, 2014

Get Together and Nini’s Kitchen

This is not a sponsor post

I have not talk or show you any pictures of our Malaysian gatherings since moving to the West Coast. I knew a few Malaysian and Singaporean here and we do meet up once awhile. My friend Semara introduces me to another Malaysian lady name Nini who live about 10 minutes away last month and we just click right away. I’ve been to her house a few times and as usual when we Malaysian meet up what do we do? We cook and eat. Very typical of us Malaysian ha ha... Here are some pictures of the food we had that day.

Nasi Kerabu prepared by Nini's




Yam Kueh/Orr Kueh prepared by Nini's

Here is a little introduction about "Nini’s Kitchen . Nini was born and raised in Penang, Malaysia. As you know Penang is well known for its excellent dishes so she's been around exceptional food all her life. She moved to the San Francisco Bay Area 5 years ago and has since enjoyed the food culture here as well. She loves to cook and experiments with different types of cuisine in her kitchen. She specializes in South East Asian Cuisine and tries to cook all her dishes as authentic as possible, provided she can find all the necessary ingredients here in America. Her backyard is full of chili plants; lemon grass, curry plants, kaffir lime plants, lemons, fresh herbs and etc. This shows how serious she is about her cooking. Pictures below are all the food prepared by her from her kitchen.


She runs a small catering business and can cater for smaller events. She has been hosting private paid events for over two years and the responses were really good evidently by the large number of repeat customers and all the positive reviews they wrote about her food.



Besides that she also sells all kinds of Malaysian delicacies such as snacks, desserts and cookies. So if you need someone to cook or cater for your parties do contact her at her Nini's Kitchen Facebook page . While you are there do check out all the photos of her cooking and also past events. I bet you will drool at all her pictures



Monday, November 17, 2014

English Muffin Loaf


Carlos love having English muffin for breakfast. He enjoyed his toasted, slathered with butter and has it with a banana. I always wanted to make some but never get to do it. So happen I saw American Test Kitchen on TV making it into a loaf and I quickly took down the recipe. There were no kneading involve. All you have to do is just mixing all the ingredients together, cover it and let the yeast do the job. Not more than an hour. Simple!


This bread is unbelievably easy to make and the result is a loaf of bread that’s very reminiscent of English Muffins with its signature holey, airy, honeycomb kind of texture. In fact this is the second time I bake this. The first time I halve the original recipe but the dough didn’t fill up the loaf pan and they don’t look very good. So this time I alter the recipe a little bit in order to fit nicely into the loaf pan. I think this bread will be a good try for anyone who wanted to start making bread because of its simplicity.

Monday, November 10, 2014

Simple Apple Cake


Autumn is here and apples are on sale everywhere. It gets as low as $0.59 a pound and as usual I will load them up. I am not a huge fan of eating them as it is so I usually add it into my juice or bake with it. I will make tarts , add it into banana bread and make cake out of it. This is just a simple butter cake with the addition of apples in it. Great for afternoon tea or have it with or morning coffee.


Monday, November 03, 2014

Roasted Cauliflower Soup


Carlos is not a fan of cauliflower and I hardly buy any of it but when I saw them on sale for $0.99 each, I just have to buy a couple of it. I roasted some and used the rest to make this soup. The weather here is getting much cooler so it is always nice to have some warm soup with crusty sour dough bread in the evening. I like my soup to be light and not too creamy so I make a slightly healthier version with more chicken stock and less dairy. Well, is not completely healthy as I add some bacon for the topping :)


Monday, October 27, 2014

Crispy Tofu with Shrimp Squares


I like this dish a lot. In fact I made a bit more and freeze some of it up so the next time I wanted to eat this all I have to do and take it out of the freezer and fry them up. You must be thinking why I like to freezer most of my food rather than eating them fresh. Well, I don’t cook everyday especially our Asian type of food and when I do I usually cook a bit more and freeze them up so I can have it anytime I want. It is usually dishes that freeze well like rendang, curries, stew, soup, curry puffs and etc. So now you know why I need two fridges when there are just two of us ha ha..


Anyway, back to this dish. My mom used to make this dish for us. When I called her last week on her birthday I asked her how to make this dish and she told me roughly what she put in it. I gather all the ingredients and made this the following day. The squares turn out really well. They were crispy on the outside, nice and moist on the inside.



Monday, October 20, 2014

Stuffed Mini Sweet Peppers


I just love these cute mini sweet peppers. They were so colorful and I just can’t resist buying it. Carlos has been putting them in his salad but I am not a fan of eating them raw as I can’t digest it too well. I will be repeating it the whole day. So I decided to stuff them with some ground beef and baked them with some marinara sauce.

You can serve this as an appetizer, a side dish or like us we have it with some toasted bread for our dinner. They were so good as the pepper turns out so sweet after roasting in the oven and the meat on inside stays moist. In fact Carlos asked me to make more the next time so he can have the leftovers the next day…. Enjoy!


Monday, October 13, 2014

Singapore Hokkien Mee


Even though I’ve been to Singapore so many times but I don’t think I ever tried this noodle dish before. They are very different from our KL style Hokkien mee. KL hokkien mee uses thick yellow noodles braised in thick dark soy sauce. As for the Singapore Hokkien Mee it is white in color with yellow noodles and rice vermicelli/ bee hoon and it’s braised in flavorful stock and serve with sambal chili and lime, giving it that extra zing and tanginess.


I made this dish hoping to submit it for AFF – Singapore month but I didn’t make it. I am just too lazy to blog nowadays. I guess after blogging for nearly 8 years, I am slowly growing out of it. I used to put out 3 post a week now it is just once a week. I still cook and bake but mostly  repeat and easy dishes. Anyway, I hope I am able to find my mojo to blog regularly soon.

Monday, October 06, 2014

Baked Pasta in Creamy Pumpkin Sauce


Is fall season and there were all kinds of pumpkins around and they were really cheap too. There are only two kinds of pumpkins that I like. One of it is Kabocha and the other one is butternut squash. I don’t buy them too often as Carlos is not a fan of it so if I cook it I will be the only one eating it. Pumpkin is not only good for pies or dessert but they can be used for savory dishes too.


 I am a bit under the weather because of the intense heat here in Northern CA and I am craving for some creamy and comforting food like pasta but not too keen of adding too much cream or tons of fat in it. So pumpkin comes to the rescue. Pumpkin puree make great base for pasta sauce as it’s naturally creamy so it gives you an alfredo like texture without any heavy cream in it. I like penne pasta so I used it in this dish but you can use any type of pasta of your choice. As for the pumpkin try to use fresh pumpkin instead of the one from the can as I think fresh one taste so much better.


Tuesday, September 30, 2014

Coconut Buns/Cocktail Buns


This is by far my most favorite soft buns to buy from the Chinese Bakery. I will always get a few to last me for a week. I am a fan of coconut and anything with coconut in it I will eat it. The coconut bun or cocktail buns (gai mei pau) is very popular in Hong Kong. It is a soft sweet bun and with rich buttery coconut filling in it. You can read the history of the cocktail bun here .


I did it slightly different. Instead of having the coconut filling on the inside I like the filling to be exposed on the outside. I just love the look of the tiny sparkles of coconut after baking it. They look so pretty. As for the dough it is just regular sweet bread dough and it is not as soft the next day like the tangzhong method dough but you can just warm it up in the microwave for 15 seconds and they will be soft again and taste just like freshly baked right out of the oven.

Tuesday, September 23, 2014

Baked Buffalo Wings with Blue Cheese Dipping Sauce


These easy to make hot wings are crispy without being fried. With the sports season around now they are great for snacking while watching the game. All it takes is just 10 minutes to prepare, an hour to marinate and then stick it in the oven for an hour and it is done. I like it spicier so I added a bit more hot sauce to it but you can adjust the amount to your liking.

Ingredients:

10 chicken wings
Some celery sticks


Friday, September 19, 2014

Fresh Fig Yogurt Cake


This season my fig tree didn’t produce too many fruits and the squirrels got some of it too but it is still enough for me to eat it fresh and reserved some to make this cake. This moist cake is studded with fresh figs. The flavor and texture is similar to a pound cake: buttery, vanilla scented, and just a little dense. The plain yogurt adds a subtle tang to it and it is great to have it with a cup of strong coffee.

Monday, September 15, 2014

Sweet Blueberry Focaccia


When I was in Vancouver I tried out blueberry focaccia from one of the famous bakery and they were really good. They made it into small individual serving size but they were not cheap though. A piece with tax cost around $4.00. This bakery is also famous for their grape focaccia. Since it is summer and there are plenty of blueberries around I thought tried to replica this at home. Can you imagine the smell in the house when I was baking this?


Man, it turns out so good if I should say so myself. The focaccia was soft on the inside and with the crunchy sweet sugary topping, I was hooked. I gave a few away and my friends love it too. I am planning to bake this again but it will be with grapes. I think this would be perfect to serve for brunch, cocktail party with some cheese and wine or like me enjoyed it for breakfast with my morning coffee.

Wednesday, September 10, 2014

Spaghetti and Meatball Sauce


I made this a couple of month ago. I don’t prepare dish like this often but if I do I will usually make a large batch of it and freeze some of it up. This way I can just warm it up and have it with spaghetti or make it into meatball sub. Instead of just ground beef I added some ground turkey to it too. It turns out really nice. Mmmm feeling like having this today. Maybe I should thaw out some and have it for dinner tonight.