Orange Almond Cake

I made this cake when we have guest over for dinner the other day. This is a super very rich, moist and dense cake. The orange flavor is intense and if you love citrus this cake is for you. It kept really well and the almonds help to keep the cake rich and moist, and it has served well as mid-morning snacks throughout the week.

Ingredients:

226 grm butter
180 grm sugar
180 grm ground almond
150 grm flour
½ tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
4 eggs
Zest and juice of 2 oranges

1. Pre-heat the oven to 325 degree F. Greased and line a baking pan with parchment paper. Sieve the flour, baking powder and salt together. Mix in the ground almond and set it aside.
2. Using a stand mixer with a paddle attachment, beat the butter and sugar on high speed until smooth and creamy. Add in the eggs, one at the time and beat well until well combined.
3. Reduce speed to low and add in the dry ingredients in 3 badges alternating with the orange juice and zest. Mix until just incorporated.
4. Pour the batter into the prepared cake pan and smooth the surface with a spatula. Bake for 50 minutes or until the cake is golden and pulls away from the sides of the pan. Transfer pan to a wire rack and let cool.

Note: I will be going back to Kuala Lumpur early February. I hope I am able to meet up with some of you when I am home. So if you are interested maybe you can email me. My email address is at my profile. Thanks.

Thai-Style Stir-fry Shrimps

Kaffir lime leaves and lemongrass plays a great role in this dish. This is one delicious way to cook shrimps with rich fragrant flavor of kaffir lime leaves. This dish can be served with warm rice or noodles

Ingredients:

10 large shrimps – cut away all the legs and leave the shell and head intact
3 cloves garlic – finely chopped
4 bird eyes chili – finely chopped
1 lemongrass – finely chopped
½ tsp of turmeric powder
4 kaffir lime leaves
1 tsp brown sugar
Salt to taste

1. Heat about 2 tbsp of oil in a pan. Stir in garlic, lemon grass and chilies. Stir-fry until fragrant. Add in kaffir lime leaves, turmeric powder, sugar and salt. Stir well.
2. Add in the shrimp, tossing them around in the pan to make sure they are coated in the sauce.
3. Arrange the shrimp against the base and side of the pan to fry on both sides until lightly brown and the shrimp cooked.
4. Dish out and serve warm.

Note: Do not add any water as the shrimps will discharge some liquid.

Lemon Yogurt Cakelets

I am crazy over mini cake pans. When I saw this beautiful Nordic Sea Shell Baking Pan I just have to get it. I think among all my baking pans this is the most expensive one. So to in order to justify the money I spent on it I better utilized it to the maximum ;) I bake these cute little cakelets with it. Aren’t they beautiful? I just love the look of it. These cakelets are crispy on the outside and really moist on the inside. It is pretty addictive and I don't think you can stop at eating one or two.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup plain whole-milk yogurt
3/4 cup sugar
3 large eggs
2 tsp grated lemon zest
1/3 cup vegetable oil

Glaze:

1/3 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
1/4 of sugar

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour the mini cake pan or mini muffin pan.
2. Sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt into 1 bow and set it aside.
3. In another bowl, whisk together the yogurt, sugar, the eggs and lemon zest. Until light. This will take about 3 minutes. Slowly whisk the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients. With a rubber spatula, fold the vegetable oil into the batter until well incorporated.
4. With a spoon fill the cake pan with the cake batter. Do not over fill it. Bake in the oven fort 20 minutes, or until a cake tester comes out clean and cake is lightly brown.
5. Meanwhile for the glaze, cook the lemon juice and sugar in a small pan until the sugar dissolves and the mixture is clear. Set aside.
6. When the cakelets are done, allow them to cool in the pan for 10 minutes. While it is still warm carefully drizzle the glaze all over the cakelets. Remove from cake pan once it is completely cool


Note: If you don’t have the mini cake pan you can always make this in Madeleines pan, mini muffin pan or even Kuih Bahulu Mould .

Abacus Beads/Suin Poon Tzi

I remember eating this dish many years ago in Malaysia. There is a small café at PJ Old Town that served this dish and I remember ordering it each time I visit that them. ‘Suin Poon Tzi’ (算盘子) or Abacus Beads is a popular Chinese Hakka dish. Even though I am a Hokkien but I just love Hakka dishes like Yong Tau Foo, Kau Yoke and Char Yoke. Abacus Beads is very similar to the making of Italian gnocchi but instead of potato we use yam or taro. The yam or taro is steamed, mashed and mixed with tapioca flour to form into dough. It is shape to resemble beads on an abacus. They are boiled in water until it floats. Once boiled these beads has a soft on the outside with a nice fragrance of taro and chewy on the inside texture from the tapioca flour. The beads can be stir-fried with vegetables, meat or anything your like.

Ingredients for dough:

450 gram taro/yam, cleaned, peeled and thinly sliced
170 gram tapioca starch
½ tsp salt

1. Steam taro until soft and mashed while it is hot.
2. Add the tapioca starch and salt in a bowl and add the hot taro paste to it. Stir well and when it cools down a bit knead it to form into smooth dough. (If the dough is too dry add a bit of water and if the dough is too soft add a bit more tapioca starch)
3. Pinch a piece of the dough (size of a marble) and roll into a ball and gently press in the centre with your thumb to make a deep dimple. Do the same to the rest of the dough.
4. Bring a pot of water to boil. Drop in the beads and once it floats, let it boil for another 30 seconds. Remove the beads with a slotted spoon. Set it aside for further use.


Ingredients for stir-fry:

2 shallots – thinly sliced
2 cloves garlic – chopped
1 chicken breast – cut into small cubes
1 small carrot - peel and cut into small cubes
4 Chinese mushroom – soaked till soft and sliced
2 pieces of dried wood ears or black fungus, soaked and thinly sliced
Some spring onions – cut small for garnish
1 tbsp of oyster sauce
3 tbsp of soy sauce
1 tsp dark soy sauce
¼ cup chicken stock or water
½ tsp sugar
Salt and pepper to taste

1. Heat up a frying pan. Add about 2 tbsp of oil and stir-fry shallots and garlic until fragrant and lightly brown.
2. Add in meat, carrots, mushroom and black fungus. Stir-fry for a minutes until the meat changes color and cooked.
3. Add in the abacus beads, all the seasonings and chicken stock. Stir-fry for a minute until well mixed. Check seasoning.
4. Dish out and sprinkle with spring onions. Served warm.