Saucing Around, Jo's Deli

Shark Fin Melon Soup

2009-02-10T17:11:00.006+08:00

If I say the art of boiling soup plays a big role in the Cantonese food heritage, I don't think you will have any objection on this. Recall the very motherly roles in Hong Kong series, they are good in boiling soup.

Being a Cantonese who got married to another Cantonese, don't think our home will ever lack of soups. I make it a point to have at least two simmered soups (煲湯, 'bao tang') and two quick boiled soups (滾湯, 'gun tang') every week. I have heard from mothers that it is difficult to make their kids drink soup but thank God, I don't have this problem with Jeriel. Probably he is so used to having soups since he started taking solids.

Today's recipe is a real simple one. I am not sure how difficult it is for you who are staying in overseas to get hold of shark fin melon （鱼翅瓜）but you can always replace it with winter melon （冬瓜）.

Shark Fin Melon Soup

Serves 6

Ingredients:

500g pork ribs or bones

900g shark fin melon (鱼翅瓜), skinned, seeded and cut into 1 inch pieces

50g red dates

10g dried squids

100g salted vegetable (大头菜）

2.5L water

Salt to taste

Method:

1. Clean pork bones/ribs. In a pot, add water enough to cover the pork bones or ribs; bring water and bones/ribs to a boil. Continue to boil for 2-3 minutes to get rid of impurities and blood stains. Wash bones again under running water.

2. In another pot, combine all ingredients except salt, including the cleaned pork bones/ribs. Bring to a boil, lower heat and continue to boil for 2 hours.

3. Season with salt, if necessary.

Love,

Passion Fruit & Almond Cupcakes with Passion Fruit Icing

2009-02-05T22:02:00.014+08:00

Still in time to wish everyone who visits Jo's Deli & Bakery and this blog, a very Happy Chinese New Year!

The past 3 months have been really fruitful. Though busy preparing for the festives, classes and orders, I managed to bury myself in my little library, read as many books as I could on baking science and recipes. Got to tried out recipes which I couldn't find time doing so before this too. Being able to spend more time with my fellow decorators on MCDC is another great pleasure.

Let me share with you a recipe from my baking experiemental sessions. You could substitute passion fruit puree with store bought one but there is nothing like the satisfaction and aroma you could get from digging the pulp of the fruit and turn it into your very own homemade puree. Try it.

For more pictures on how to prepare these cupcakes, please visit this post at the club.

Passion Fruit & Almond Cupcakes with Passion Fruit Icing
Makes 18-20 small cupcakes

Passion fruit puree:
120g passion fruit pulp and seeds (from approx. 3 fruits)
2 tbsp castor sugar
6 tbsp water

Batter:
60g butter, melted
80g castor sugar
3 large eggs
130g passion fruit puree
50g cake flour
1 tsp baking powder
120g ground almond

Passion fruit icing:
100-125g icing sugar, sifted
60g passion fruit pulp and seeds

Method:

To prepare passion fruit puree:

Combine passion fruit pulp, seeds, sugar and water in a saucepan. Heat up till all sugar is melted. Let the mixture cool down a little before puree in a food processor. Sieve puree through a fine sieve to get rid of the seeds. Weigh the puree again. You should have about 130g. Add water to top up if necessary.

To prepare cupcakes:

1. Preheat oven at 175 degC. Line cupcake moulds with liners.
2. Sift cake flour and baking powder into a mixing bowl. Add in ground almond and use a hand whisk to mix well. Ground almond can be lumpy sometimes so make sure you mix well to break the lumps.
3. Using paddle attachment of mixer, beat sugar and eggs at high speed till light and pale. Add in passion fruit puree and melted butter.
4. Make a well in the centre of dry ingredients in (1). Pour (2) in and stir with a spatula. The batter is watery.
5. Fill liners to 80% (for 3.25 oz souffle cups and larger ) - 90% full (for small cupcakes) (Note 1). These cupcakes doesn't rise much.
6. Bake cupcakes for 22 mins (small)-25 mins(large). Let cupcakes stand in mould for 5 minutes before transferring to wire rack.
7. This recipe is actually pretty nice when consumed warm. Otherwise, let cool completely before icing.
8. Optional: To dress up cupcakes, let passion fruit icing (recipe below) stand for 10-15 minutes to thicken a little. Pour one tsp of passion fruit icing on cupcakes.

To prepare passion fruit icing:
Combine passion fruit pulp, seeds and sifted icing sugar in a bowl. Stir using a hand whisk over a pot of simmering water (i.e. double boiling) till icing is of pouring consistency. Do not overheat icing as you will melt too much of icing sugar which results in a non-crusting icing when poured on cupcakes later.

Notes:

1. Fill small size cupcakes to 90% as batter get baked faster in small cups, doesn't allow it to rise much. Batter in larger size cups need longer to get thoroughly cooked hence it has more time to rise in the oven, i.e. 80-85% is sufficient. Result may vary with types and brands of oven though.

Love,

Counting Down Christmas with .... (6) Another go of Gingerbread House

2008-12-24T17:16:00.004+08:00

Wishing all readers of Jo's Deli a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. Have a blessed Christmas.

Love,

You may also like to read:
1. Counting Down Christmas with ....... (1) The Preparation
2. Counting Down Christmas with ........(2) The Gingerbread House
3. Counting Down Christmas with ....... (3) The Christmas Cupcakes
4. Counting Down Christmas with ....... (4) The Cookie Tree, Cookie Bouquet & Rice Cripie Treats

5. Counting Down Christmas with ....... (5) The Christmas Cookies

Counting Down Christmas with ........(5) The Christmas Cookies

2008-12-01T22:11:00.005+08:00

Christmas Wreath,

piped with royal icing then decorated with sprinkles and fondant ribbon

I thought I was not going to make anymore Christmas cookies after baking and decorating 1000 pcs before I left my ex-company. Although fun, baking and decorating cookies in bulk can easily burn oneself out. Baking is fast but the decorating could be time consuming.

Got a call from a close student of mine, M. I was asked if I could do some Christmas cookies for a school, design entirely up to me. That was fun, wasn't it? I immediately said YES, thinking that the required number of cookies could be completed pretty fast.

Candy Stick, decorated mainly with fondant

I could have taken down the step-by-step photographs and share with you on the forum how these cookies were done. Last weekend was a busy one with all the family and church activities. I dragged the making of them till the last minute so was chasing time to get them out of the door. So.... sorry guys, will find a time to do a nice tutorial for you.

Christmas Tree

I have had so much fun decorating this batch of cookies despite the rush. Thanks M for referring this order to me.

All time favourite Christmas icon, the Christmas Stocking

And this is an easy one; the Holly Leave with berries, all made of fondant. Outline was done in royal icing to add some extra details to the design.

Oh no, Santa left his Mitten behind while dropping presents down our chimney!

Snowman

Chinese New Year + Cupcakes = Something not quite ordinary

2008-11-28T19:38:00.006+08:00

Cherry Blossoms (inspired by Chinese calligraphic painting)

Chinese New Year, or the Lunar New Year is the most important of all the Chinese holidays. We have been having traditional snacks like prawn crackers, love letters, pineapples tarts and kuih ros for this festive. Chinese New Year and Cupcakes ......... not quite a good combination all these while until the last couple of years.

I will be conducting the Chinese New Year Cupcakes class. It will be a fully hands-on class with all the cupcakes and decorating material included. For more information about this class, kindly send your inquiry with the subject 'Chinese New Year Cupcake Class' via e-mail to joanneloo(at)time(dot)net(dot)my.

Koi or any fish, symbolises abundance

"Xin Chun" Chinese calligraphy, which means Spring

Golden nugget and Mandarin oranges, the must-haves for Chinese New Year

And last but not least, how can we forget the zodiac which is going to rule the Year of 2009.

Year of 2009, Year of Ox

Love,

Vanilla Chiffon Cake with Fresh Fruit Toppings

2008-11-24T15:50:00.011+08:00

Coming to a month since I stopped working, I would say I have been enjoying it.

Normal house chores and mommy's duties occupy most of my time. Apart from the norms, we finally decided to get a new set of bookshelves to get my ever-growing numbers of books and magazines sorted and organised. No more scattering around the house that I had difficulty finding the books myself. As I will be spending more time in the kitchen from now on, additional kitchen cabinet will be done up to accomodate my new Fagor oven and to provide more spacious counter top for baking and sugar work. Can't stop thinking how I want to organise my new workstation though the cabinet will only be installed next week.

It was mother-in-law's birthday last weekend. Decided to make a simple Fresh Fruit Cake (the Asian style) for her. Hubby's family is bakery cake supporter. No high ratio cake with fancy sugar decorations. For the base, I had used the vanilla chiffon cake recip e which I have been sticking to. Cake was layered and filled with whipped cream and cocktail fruits. Frosted with whipped cream and decorated with fresh fruits. A very typical Asian bakery cake ;)

For a ste-by-step tutorial on how to decorate this cake, kindly visit this post at MCDC.

Love,

Adjusting to a new lifestyle.......

2008-11-07T10:28:00.011+08:00

A few of my closer chat buddies and forum members who are also my students might be aware by now that I have recently quit my full time job. Although I will still be conducting classes on part time basis, life without a full time job will be different. I will be able to spend more time with Jeriel, which seemed to be a luxury before this. I will also be able to spend all the time I wish in my small little kitchen to stir up more scrumptious meals for my family and also not forgeting all the wonderful baking sessions I could have. Perfect it may sound, if only these ideal cases will always apply......... How about being drawn crazy by my own kid, start mumbling too much to hubby and son, and begin to be picky on small little things and draw the maid mad? Let's see.

Too lazy to make something complicated (just my usual self), I made this simple Marble Butter Cake for our today's breakfast. Please make sure you will only use good quality 100% pure cocoa powder for the marbelised batter. It makes a huge difference.

Marble Butter Cake

Makes 1 loaf of approx. 12 x 22 cm

Ingredients:

175g butter
160g castor sugar
3 eggs, lightly beaten
150g cake flour
1 tsp baking powder
100ml milk
25g cocoa powder, sifted
½ tsp chocolate emulco, optional

Method:

1. Preheat oven at 180 degC. Line a loaf cake tin with greaseproof paper
2. Sift flour and baking powder into a mixing bowl. Set aside.
3. Combine butter and castor sugar in a mixing bowl. Using paddle of your mixer, cream until light and fluffy. Scrape the bowl periodically for well mixing.
4. Add eggs gradually, beating well after each addition.
5. Pour in milk. Mix well. Fold in flour mixture in (2) and mix until batter is smooth.
6. Divide the mixture into 2. Add cocoa powder and chocolate emulco to one of the portions. (Note 4)
7. Drop large spoonfuls of each of the mixtures alternately into the prepared cake tin. Drag a skewer through the mixture to create a marbled efect.
8. Bake at 180 degC for 40 minutes or until skewer inserted into the centre of cake comes out clean.

Notes:

1. Make sure butter and eggs are at room temperature.
2. Scrape bowl periodically to ensure all ingredients are well mixed.
3. To prevent curdling, mixer must be at low speed when eggs are added.

4. Add 2 tbsp of milk to batter with cocoa powder if batter is dry and difficult to incorporate cocoa powder.

Love,

Counting Down Christmas with ........(4) The Cookie Tree, Cookie Bouquet & Rice Crispie Treats

2008-10-28T21:11:00.010+08:00

How do you like this Cookie Tree? I do like it so much. I don't think anyone would want to dismantle it and eat it, piece by piece. It would be the cruelest thing to do on earth.

As mentioned earlier, the November/December 2008 issue of Flavours Magazine will be featuring my Christmas Cookie Tree, Sugar Cookie Treats (which can be assembled into a Cookie Bouquet) and Rice Crispie Treats; the recipes and ways of decorating them. Remember to grab a copy of it if you like these treats.

In fact, I am still in the midst of making thousands of cookies for an order, rushing to get them out of the door by end of this month. Brain is still pretty occupied by the smell and taste of cookies. I just hope my love for cookies will not die out because of this recent constant baking and decorating of cookies. With a blank mind, I will just leave you all with some of the photographs I took on the treats. Will sure hope to talk more about the treats after this.......

Love,

You may also like to read:
1. Counting Down Christmas with ....... (1) The Preparation
2. Counting Down Christmas with ........(2) The Gingerbread House
3. Counting Down Christmas with ....... (3) The Christmas Cupcakes

Peanut Butter Muffins

2008-10-15T21:09:00.008+08:00

I guess this will be the last post of this month. A couple of projects are lining up and will keep me busy until first week of November. Of course, I am hoping to be able to steal time out to share with you some of the recipes I tried recently. Let end today's short post with this simple muffin recipe which you could quickly whip up for a good breakfast.

Peanut Butter Muffins

Makes 7

Ingredients:

225g all purpose flour

100g castor sugar

2 tsp baking powder

1 egg

180g milk

70g melted butter

5 tbsp peanut butter (creamy type)

Method:

1. Preheat oven at 190 degC. Arrange muffin cups on baking tray.

2. Sift flours and baking powder into a mixing bowl. Add sugar into the flour mixture. Use a whisk to lightly blend the mixture.
3. In another microwavable bowl, combine egg, milk, melted butter and peanut butter. Warm the wet mixture in microwave to melt the peanut butter. Stir to aid the melting.
4. Make a well in the middle of dry ingredients. Add the wet ingredients and mix with a wooden spoon or large spatula just until all the flour is moistened. The batter should look lumpy. Do not overmix.
5. Divide batter into muffin cups. Bake muffins for 25-30 minutes or until well risen. Transfer to wire racks to let cool.

Notes:

1. Chewy texture is undesirable in the preparation of muffins. Therefore, only minimum mixing is required to produce tender products. There are two methods in the preparation of muffins, namely the muffin method and the creaming method.

a) The muffin method - Dry ingredients and wet ingredients are prepared separately in two mixing bowls. They are then mixed until the dry ingredients are just moistened by the wet ones. This method is easier and faster than the creaming method. However, there is a tendency of overmixing the batter which results in tough texture.

b) The creaming method - Fat, sugar and salt are creamed until light and fluffy. Eggs are than added, one at a time. Add liquids and finally fold in flour and baking powder. Mix until just smooth. Although this method is time consuming, possibility of overmixing is actually low.

Basic baker's percentage of muffins:

Flour 100%
Sugar 60%
Baking powder 6%
Salt 1.25%
Egg 20%
Milk 80%
Fat 30%

Love,

Steamed Moist Chocolate Cake

2008-10-11T21:40:00.001+08:00

I love chocolate cakes, especially the really moist, fudgy rich ones. They are simply irresistible. I have to thank Anita, or Lady Vanilla for sharing this recipe at Cuisine Asia. This recipe has been a hot discussion topic at the MCDC forum so I couldn't help but to start participating in the steaming too.

As expected for all steamed cake, texture of this cake was soft and moist. The softness basically lasts for 3 days although I doubt this cake can ever take that long to disappear from your dining area. The only modification I made to the original recipe was the amount of sugar which was reduced to 180g. I may cut another 10g in my future attempt.

Love,

Counting Down Christmas with ...... (3) The Christmas Cupcakes

2008-10-09T15:09:00.002+08:00

It's the time of the year again when mommies are busy planning for their baking; cookies, cakes, cupcakes and the big menu. Malaysia has been blessed with loads of food options and great eat outs that many families choose to eat out during the big festive days. But, a little of simple baking and decorating at home involving the kids, will somewhat keep the spirit alive. Don't you think so too? It's the involvement of the whole family in the same assingment that really counts.......

Here are two simple cupcake designs, yet elegant enough to put a smile on every face who receive them. They are projects fast enough to put up. If you are interested in learning how the above Christmas Tree is made, please head over to the MCDC forum for a detailed How-To Tutorial. I would like to see your comments too. Do let me know if you have any question, or how your love ones find about the cupcakes, if you happpened to get your hands on the decorating. Happy Baking & Decorating!

Love,

You may also like to read:
Counting Down Christmas with ....... (1) The Preparation
Counting Down Christmas with ........(2) The Gingerbread House

Counting Down Christmas with ...... (2) The Gingerbread House

2008-10-06T16:38:00.017+08:00

Don't you think time flies? It was just like yesterday when I was preparing for the series of last year's Christmas classes, and a couple of weeks ago, I was already preparing for this year's.

My mom was and still is a great cook, but baking is really not something she is after. We didn't grow up with gingerbread houses, gingerbread men and fancy Christmas cookies. So naturally, to us, gingerbread houses were something which only appeared on kids programs and story books.

I felt like I was a kid again when I was assembling this gingerbread house kit. How enjoyable it was to be able to put those gingerbread cookie pieces together an decorated as I wished with the icing and candies. It didn't matter if it was something really easy for an instructor to decorate, it was the Christmas spirit that counted.

The November 2008 issue of Flavours Magazine will be featuring my Christmas Gingerbread Tree, Sugar Cookie Treats and Rice Cripspie Treats; the recipes and ways of decorating them. So, remember to grab a copy when it is out by end of October. You could make use of my Gingerbread Cookie recipe featured in this issue to make your own gingerbread hourse, otherwise these pre-baked gingerbread house kits are not too bad of an option to consider.

Love,

You may also like to read:

Counting Down Christmas with ....... (1) The Preparation

Aubergines in Hot Bean Sauce (辣酱茄子）

2008-10-02T12:20:00.007+08:00

The meat and vegetable supplies were running low before the Hari Raya holiday but I couldn't drag myself to the fresh market or Carrefour (my usual grocery shopping place). I was simply lethargic. This happened to me pretty frequently indeed. I could get really lagging in shopping for food at times.

So, I was looking at the vegetable tray of the refrigerator for inspiration, or rather what ingredients could be put together for just another dish. There it was, the mini aubergines. I like aubergines but prefer to deep fry them to get rid of the 'green' smell. Sauces like yellow bean sauce, sambal or hot bean sauce are normally what I opt to go with the deep fried aubergines. Today's recipe is a typical way of how I like to cook aubergines.

Aubergines in Hot Bean Sauce (辣酱茄子）
Serves 2

Ingredients:
5 mini aubergines, cut lengthwise into 4
1-2 tsp salt for coating

2 tbsp dried shrimps, soaked till soft, chopped
3 shallots, chopped

Oil for deep frying

Seasoning:
2 tbsp hot bean sauce
3 tbsp water
1 tsp sugar or to taste

Method:

1. Put all aubergine slices into a large mixing bowl. Sprinkle salt, give them a rough mix to make sure all aubergine slices are coated with salt. Set aside for 10 minutes. Drain juice of aubergines. Pat dry with kitchen towels.
2. Heat oil in wok. Deep fry aubergines until soft and golden brown. Dish up and drain oil well.
3. Saute chopped shallots and chopped dried shrimps in 1 tbsp oil until fragrant. Add in bean sauce, water and taste with sugar. Bring it to a boil.
4. Add in aubergines. Give contents a quick stir to make sure all aubergines are coated with sauce. Dish up and serve hot.

Easy Sweet & Sour Chicken (简易糖醋鸡）

2008-09-27T15:01:00.003+08:00

The first time I came across chicken popcorns was at a dinner at my brother-in-law's place. My sister-in-law cooked them the simple way; just deep fried without having any sauce to go with them. First bite and I liked it straight away. There were not as meaty as chicken nuggets neither they were too battery with just flour.

I have always liked to pair these chicken popcorns with sweet and sour sauce. This dish has never failed to be the winner on our dining table. I hope it will the same case on yours too :)

Easy Sweet & Sour Chicken (简易糖醋鸡)

Ingredients:

1 packet (400g) chicken popcorns

Sauce:

2 medium size onions, cut into wedges

1 tomato, cut into wedges

3-4 tbsp cooking oil for stir frying

2-3 tbsp tomato sauce

100ml water

1/2 tsp rice vinegar (optional)

2 tsp sugar

Cornstarch + water, as thickener

Method:

1. Deep fry chicken popcorns according to direction on packaging.
2. Heat oil in a work/pan till smoky hot. Fry onion till fragrant, add in tomato wedges and continue to fry for about half a minute.
3. Add water, bring to a boil. Cook until tomato is soft. Taste with vinegar and sugar.
4. Add in cornstach solution to thicken the sauce. Return fried chicken popcorns to wok and give it a quick stir such that all chicken popcorns are coated with sauce.
5. Serve hot with white rice or fried noodles.

Notes:

1. To enhance flavour and color of sauce, add in canned pineapple slices, red and green capcicums instead of just tomatoes and onions.

Chicken popcorns

Dried Daylily & Black Fungus Fish Soup (金针木耳滚鱼汤）

2008-09-26T09:40:00.002+08:00

Let me tell you something about myself. I am obsessed with recipe books, but thank God my craving for recipe books is periodical rather than continuous. There was a particular period of time, I was into French pastries and dessert plating, which resulted an invoice of more than RM400 for 6 books at one shot. Recently I have been very much interested in Taiwanese publications. This had caused the importing of 8 cookbooks in one shipment.

Today's recipe was adapted from one of the recipe books I bought during my Hong Kong trip. This book is called '快捷滚烫COOK得起', bought during my obsession with soup recipes. 滚烫 (quick boiling) is a quick way of preparing soup compared to 煲汤 (slow boiling), which the whole boiling process can easily take up to 3 hours. A bowl of quick boiled soup doesn't mean its nutritional value is compromised. In fact, a short boiling process is good especially for food like vegetables to ensure not too much vitamins and nutrients are lost during the boiling process.

Daylily & Black Fungus Fish Soup (金针木耳滚鱼汤）
Adapted from '快捷滚烫COOK得起'

Ingredients:
20g dried daylilies (or golden needles金针), soaked till soft
20g black fungus (木耳), soaked till soft and shredded
2 tomatoes, cut into large wedges
1 medium size fish, cleaned
3 slices ginger
Oil for frying
2.5L water
Dash of ground black pepper
Salt to taste

Method:

1. Prepare all ingredients as directed.
2. Heat oil in a pan. Add in ginger slices and fry both sides of fish at medium heat till cooked. Drain as much oil as possible.
3. In a pot, start boiling water. Add in fried fish, dried daylilies, black fungus and tomatoes and bring water to a boil. Reduce water and boil for another 15 minutes.
4. Taste with salt and pepper.

Awards

2008-09-18T10:43:00.007+08:00

Thank you LCOM for awarding these two awards to me. The above 'Kick Ass Blogger' award is really an interesting one. Like what the criteria of this award says, I hope I have been a great blogger and an inspiration to other blogger friends.

Counting Down Christmas with ...... (1) The Preparation

2008-09-16T17:30:00.000+08:00

Due to my religion, Christmas means much more than just Santa Claus, Christmas trees, presents and parties. Instead, it is a season filled with fond childhood memories like helped putting up Christmas decorations in my home church, singing Christmas carols from home to home and the very peaceful and secured atmospehere which made me felt like I was there on the night Christ was born.

This year's Christmas is going to be an extraordinary one for me. The last time I had my Christmas with the whole family of mine was 5 years ago. I got married 2 days after the 2003 Christmas. Don't get me wrong, our family gathering is quite a frequent affair but this Christmas, everybody will be flying their way here to gather at my place. I will be the host. How can I not be well prepared? I've got to start planning for the menu now!

Happy Mid Autumn Festival

2008-09-11T18:58:00.007+08:00

This time of the year, shopping malls are flooded with mooncakes of all flavours. They are irrisistable, especially their packaging which certainly makes an impact when the mooncakes are given as gifts to someone.

I prefer making my own mooncakes if time allows. They just mean a lot more to hubby and Jeriel, and also relatives and friends who receive the mooncakes. This year's mooncake making was a last minute affair due to the recent frequent traveling. Besides, Jeriel has been having flu on and off lately which makes it difficult to get something tedious started.

Mooncake making is not as complicated as one would think of. They are just tedious. Much time is actually spent on cooling the syrup down and letting the dough stands. Although it's a little too late now but if you are interested in giving it a go, recipe of these Cantonese Style Mooncakes is available on my website here. I have edited it to incorporate some additional information. Other mooncake recipes are available at the Chinese Pastries section, under Mooncake Festival of the same website.

Happy Mid Autumn Festival............. Have lots of mooncakes.

Above: Individually packed mooncake. Got the packaging from Bake with Yen last year at RM 8.50 for 100's.

Above & Below: These are just a very small portions of the various packaging I have been collecting over the years.

Merdeka Open House 2008: Pan Mee

2008-08-28T20:03:00.014+08:00

I have to thank Babe for picking my idea, fixing the theme of this year's Merdeka Open House event as Mee and My Malaysia.

I am actually away from Kuala Lumpur, blogging all the way from my hometown, Sandakan. Yes, I am a proud East Malaysian, Sabahan to be specific, coming back home for the National Day long weekend break. I am not quite sure why but I am prone to raised-eyebrows whenever I mention that I originate from Sabah. Then, the conversation would proceed to questions like, 'Do people in Sabah still live on trees', 'Do you people travel in boats (luckily not sampan)?', 'So you are surrounded by refugees?', etc..... Oh my, I wonder how well school sujects like Geography and History actually help.

Despite the suggestion of submitting something that could be the comfort food of one's family, I've decided to do it a little differently. My submission for this annual event is actually a one-bowl noodle dish which I was not familiar with as a child and teenager. It was not until I left home for KL for my studies that this dish became one of my favourites.

Pan Mee, or literally means 'Sheet Noodles' owing to the flat, thin shape of the noodles, is believed to originate from the Hokkian province of China. As Sabah is basically dominated by the Cantonese and Hakka , it's not surprising that this dish is not popular in this part of the country. So, my ignorance as a child is excusable, I believe :). So, I brought back the idea, and made this noodle dish for my parents today. An aunthetic version, at least to my knowledge, and here it is.

Merdeka Open House 2008: Pan Mee
Serves 6

Ingredients:

(A) Noodles:
300g all purpose flour
200g high protein flour
1.5 tsp salt
3 eggs
8-10 tbsp water
2 tbsp corn oil
Tapioca flour for dusting

(B) Minced meat:
400g lean pork meat, minced
2 tbsp light soy sauce
1 tbsp cornstarch
Few drops of sesame oil
Dash of pepper
4 cloves garlic, chopped
Oil for frying

Seasoning:
1.5 tbsp oyster sauce
1-2 tbsp dark soy sauce
Salt & pepper to taste

(C)
30g black fungus, soaked till soft and shredded
5 chinese mushrooms, soaked till soft and sliced
50g ikan bilis (anchovies), deep fried till crispy
3L chicken broth
30g leaves of sayur manis
Fried shallots

Method:

1. To prepare handmade noodles, please refer to an old recipe of mine here.
2. Marinade minced pork in light soy sauce, cornstarch, sesame oil and pepper in (B) for at least 1 hour. Heat oil in a pan, fry chopped garlic till fragrant. Add minced meat and fry till half-cooked. Add in mushroom and continue to fry. Add a little water if too dry. Season with oyster sauce, dark soy sauce, salt and pepper.
3. Bring a pot of water to boil. Add 1 tsp salt and few drops of oil into water. Blanch noodles in boiling water until cooked. Remove and soak in cold water. Remove noodles from cold water and drain. Divide into bowls.
4. Bring chicken broth to boil. Add black fungus and sayur manis; continue to boil for a while but not to overcook vegetable.
5. Pour soup into bowls of noodles. Top with minced meat mixture, deep fried anchovies and garnish with deep fried shallots. Serve immediately.

Left: Raw pan mee from pasta mchine; Right: Boiling chicken broth

Deep frying sliced shallots

The Begining..........

2008-08-15T15:48:00.011+08:00

In the first chapter of the Bible, God said, 'Let the land produce living creatures according to their kinds; livestock, creatures that move along the ground, and wild animals each according to its kind.' ...... And God saw that it was good. Yes, indeed, everything was good in the begining until men sin.

So many times wishes were conveyed and prayers were answered, yet our sinful nature never stops us from having worries and doubts. We are unsure if decision was made correctly or was it the right way which God wants us to pursue. Let us just be thankful of what we have from God.

To all guests who visit my blog, may you be happy everyday............

Note: For a brief description on how this cake was done, please visit here.

Carrot & Raisin Cupcakes

2008-07-31T22:29:00.006+08:00

I will be off to Vietnam for a weekend getaway. Meanwhile, just wish to keep this blog of mine a little busy with this recipe which I shared on a newly launched forum of mine. Oh, in fact, not mine but all cake decorators and enthusiasts'.

Carrot & Raisin Cupcakes

Makes 12

Ingredients:

180g all purpose flour

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp cinnamon powder

180g butter

145g brown sugar

4 eggs

150g carrot, grated

100g raisins, soaked in 1 tbsp fresh lemon juice

Grated lemon rind from 1 lemon

Decorating suggestion:

Marzipan carrots (see how to make marzipan carrots here)

Method:

1. Prepare solo baking cups or line muffin pan with paper cups. Preheat oven to 170 degC.

2. Sift all purpose flour, baking powder, baking soda and cinnamon powder into a mixing bowl. Set aside.

3. Cream butter and brown sugar until light and fluffy on high speed. Reduce speed and beat in eggs one at a time, making sure it is incorporated before the next addition.

4. Add in grated carrot, raisins, lemon rind and sifter dry ingredients. Fold using just a wooden spoon carefully to not overmix the batter.

5. Fill prepared baking cups with mixture. This recipe doesn't raise much so you will need to fill to approx. 85% full if you need the cupcakes to reach the brim for decorating purpose.

6. Bake in preheat oven for 30 minutes until golden brown and skewer inserted into the centre of cupcake comes out clean.

7. Transfer to wire rack to cool completely before decorating.

8. For decorating idea, please refer here.

Cake Decorators Unite!

2008-07-27T14:59:00.006+08:00

The first ever community of its kind in this country, the Malaysian Cake Decorators' Club, is finally brought into existance. It has been my dream ever since I became part of the Malaysia's cake decorating industry to bring all cake decorators, either the amateur or the professional, into one community where we could constantly share our knowledge and updates of the ever-evolving art of cake decorating. If you are neither a Malaysian nor a cake decorator, do not be dishearted. You are very much welcomed to join us. All we need from you is a heart to share.

The forum is still undergoing trial run so please bear with us for the time being. Anyhow, we'll see you there!

Ham & Garlic Pinwheels

2008-07-20T09:26:00.014+08:00

Entertaining could be less hassle than we thought it should be. Dishes can be simple yet sensational. We can easily make use of store bought products, dress them up with our own fillings and call them our own. They are just as delicious and inviting to our guests. This was exactly what happened in Jeriel's birthday party recently. The dishes were really easy to prepare. They took the stress out especially you are the only one who takes care of the party from the planning, shopping till the preparation of every single dish to the desserts. I would like to share this idea with you and hope you will find entertaining less stressful too.

Ham & Garlic Pinwheels

Preheat oven at 200 degC. Roll out ready-to-use puff pastry to 3mm thick. Spread with garlic & herb spread (for garlic bread). Place ham and roll up tightly. Cut into 2cm pieces. Place cut side down on a greased baking sheet. Place in oven and bake for 15 minutes or until the pastry puffs up. Remove from oven and brush with beaten egg. Return to oven and bake until golden. Serve hot or cool on wire rack.

To make ahead of time, you could also pack the rolled up pastry in zipper bag and freeze. Before baking, remove from freezer and thaw for 5-10 minutes. Cut into pieces and bake as mentioned above.

Sardine Samosa

Bone and mash a can of sardine in tomato sauce. Take only a few tablespoon of the sauce and mix into the mashed sardine so that it will not be too dry. The filling should not be too runny either as the sauce may ooze out during frying or it will turn the spring roll skin soggy later. Season with salt and freshly ground black pepper. I would add in juice of a lime (limau kasturi) if my guests are not kids. Cut each spring roll sheet lengthwise into 3 long pieces. Place filling on a piece of skin, fold in triangular shape and seal with beaten egg at the end. LCOM did provide a really good tutorial here if you have not done this before. Deep fry samosa in medium-high heat until golden brown. Serve with tomato or chili sauce.

Minced Chicken & Mushroom Pasta in Bolognese Sauce

Think most of my visitors would know how to prepare this :)

The Birthday Cakes

2008-07-19T07:54:00.013+08:00

This is the cake long planned for. Jeriel actually picked this cake when he was flipping through my '50 Easy Party Cakes', er hm...... personally signed by the world renowned sugarpaste artist, Ms Debbie Brown. As I mentioned in an earlier post, Tractor themed birthday party was hard to plan. It was really not easy to find tractor related party stuff, hence the addition of another side theme, which is the Barnyard theme.

The cake was an 8 inch square Devil's Food Cake.The cake was cut into two equal portions. One part was used for the base of the tractor. The other half was cut into half again. Took a piece away for the trailer. The other piece was then trimmed in a slope and sandwiched with buttercream to the base of the tractor. All the cakes were crumb-coated with a thin layer of buttercream (recipe below). The rest was just about covering with fondant and some figure modeling with fondant as well.

Here are the animal figurines:

And here are the cupcakes with self-made barnyard animal picks. Let me share with you the buttercream I used for crumb-coating the tractor cake as well as for piping the grass on to the cupcakes.

Buttercream Icing

Ingredients:
600g icing sugar, sifted
640g Krimwell or Crisco or other shortening
250g butter
60g milk
Flavouring (e.g. lemon, strawberry, vanilla)

Method:
Combine shortening and butter in mixing bowl. Cream on medium-high speed untill there are no lumps of fat. Reduce speed to slow and add in icing sugar gradually. Increase speed to high and continue to beat until light and creamy. Add in milk and flavouring. Beat at medium speed to incorporate well into the icing.

Notes:

1. Consistency is medium in air-conditioned room. Icing will be soft at room temperature (hot climate or during summer). More suitable for frosting.
2. This icing is not advisable for piping flowers or decorations that need to stay firm and upright at all times. To stiffen icing, increase amount of icing sugar and reduce amount of milk.

Counting down Jeriel's 3rd Birthday

2008-07-14T16:33:00.006+08:00

This is going to be Jeriel's biggest birthday party ever, even that, it's not gonna be a real big one...

Jeriel will be having his 3rd birthday celebration in his day care centre. There will be 17 kids and 4 teachers if everybody turns up. The theme of the birthday party will be 'Barnyard & Tractor'. Well, a tractor cake was what requested by the little fella while 'Barnyard' was what I added in as barnyard party stuff, e.g. plates, stickers, door gifts for the kids, etc, are easier to find than tractor-related party supplies. This is my first time organising my own kid's party. As a matter of fact, I think I am more excited then Jeriel :P.

Here's how an excited mom plans for her kid's birthday party:

1. First party-related question thrown to the birthday boy: "What cake would you like for your birthday?' and the answer given by the kid was..... 'A Tractor Cake'.

2. Started searching on the internet the various ways and means of conducting a tractor theme party. The closest and easiest birthday theme was 'Barnyard' to tie to tractor. Hence, the 'Barnyard & Tractor' theme.

3. Informed teachers of the Centre about the intention of having a party.

4. Designing of birthday invitation: Looked for tractor and barnyard animal images to be given to my ever creative graphic designer, none other than my beloved SISTER, to come out with the draft of the card.

5. A trick question came back from sis - What color should the tractor be? Tractors of different colors were drawn and submitted to YRH to pick. Final color was GREEN.

6. Menu planning: No spicy food, no food with runny gravy, so it has to be dry and not so messy food. Shortlisted:

Food:

a) Egg mayo sandwiches
b) Sardine samosa
c) Chicken ham & cheese pinwheels
d) Probably macaroni cheese too

Drinks:
Orange drink with cocktail fruits

Desserts:
a) Cupcakes decorated with barnyard animal picks
b) Tractor Cake

7. Started shopping for party favour at Petaling Street. Managed to get some stationeries for the kids.

8. Shopped for party plates, napkins and cutleries. Managed to get animal party plates. Preliminary shopping for food and ingredients that are able to keep till the day like cocktail fruits in can, sardine, ham, puff pastry, popiah skin, macaroni, etc.

Will update you guys again nearer to the day :)

Heart & Floral Theme Mad Hatter Cake

2008-07-10T19:41:00.010+08:00

This was a last minute job. The initial idea was to make a contemporary floral theme wedding cake for a bridal magazine shoot tomorrow but decided I needed a relax and lengthy lunch with my girlfriends really desperately as we had not been having lunch together for a long long time. Didn't really have time for gumpaste flowers to dry if I were to do a floral wedding cake. So, this is the outcome, a Topsy Turvy Cake.

Sorry about the poor quality pictures, I am really bad in taking photographs under the artificial light. Will scan and publish the picture in the magazine when it is out later.

By the way, these were the food we had at Italiannies, Sunway Pyramid.

And the dessert.......

Jeriel's Snack Box: Wholemeal Bread with Cheddar Cheese Topping

2008-06-30T18:06:00.002+08:00

Another trick of a fishy mom sneaking nutritional elements into food. I actually made this bread more than a week ago for breakfast and for Jeriel to bring to his pre-school but it is not until today that the post finally makes its 'appearance' to the public. There are other more interesting recipes in the queue before this.

Despite the good intention, this fishy mom was trying to cut down the tedious bread making process by dumping everything into the breadmaker so that she could enjoy her tv series and net surfing. The result was satisfying, comparable with the ones I occasionally made with bread improver added. You could probably tell from the close-up below.

Off track a little, I don't quite like these two pictures. It was a result of rushing, rushing off to work as I could find no other time when I could shoot under the natural light.

Lagging today. Tired and need a good rest after conducting classes the whole weekend out of town. So guys, not posting the recipe unless requested ok?

Taiwanese Stewed Chicken, with a twist (三杯鸡）

2008-06-25T17:51:00.009+08:00

This week of mine started with a sprained shoulder. My back was not feeling right throughout the night which resulted in a really bad rest. When I woke up on Monday morning, the pain got worse and the neck was stiffer and stiffer until I could barely turn my head. I knew it came back again. This was not my first time spraining the same spot. Still feeling pain after 2 days but it is a lot better now.

Today's recipe is a Taiwanese dish which I think almost every Taiwanese family knows how to prepare. I have never tasted the authentic 三杯鸡 so this is my version after referring to a few recipe books. Accoridng to a Taiwanese friend whom I shared the same apartment with during the university days, there were many versions of 三杯鸡 but the traditional way of making 三杯鸡 was to cook the chicken in 1 cup of sesame oil, 1 cup of Chinese cooking wine and 1 cup of light soy sauce (hence 三杯 which means 3 cups) together with other ingredients like ginger, spring onions and basil leaves until the gravy thickened. Guess mine is a simplified version.

Taiwanese Stewed Chicken, with a twist (三杯鸡）
Serves 6

Ingredients:
1 kampung (free-range) chicken, chopped into pieces
2 chili, seeded and sliced
3 slices ginger
3 stalks spring onions, cut into 3-4 cm lengths
3 tbsp cooking oil
200ml water
20g Thai basil leaves

Marinade:
2 tbsp cornstarch
2 tbsp Kikkoman Soy Sauce (or other brands)

Seasoning:

1 tbsp Chinese cooking wine

1 tbsp black vinegar

Sesame oil to taste

1 tbsp sugar

1/2 tsp salt or to taste

Method:

In a bowl, marinade chicken with cornstarch and soy sauce for at least 1 hour.
Heat oil in a wok or pan until smoky hot. Fry chili, ginger and spring onions until fragrant.
Add in chicken and continue to fry. Add Chinese cooking wine.
Pour in water. Bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for 10-15 minutes or until meat is tender. Add water if required.
Add in black vinegar, sesame oil and taste with sugar and salt.
Add basil leaves and give the dish a quick stir. Dish out and serve hot with white rice.

Ham & Onion Soup

2008-06-22T23:06:00.001+08:00

Today's recipe is part of my freezer cleaning program which utilises my green peas and chicken ham. It is an ideal way of putting something simple and fast yet delicious on the dining table. It accompanies your lazy Sunday brunch or the soup alone is filling enough to start your Sunday off. Give it a try.

Ham & Onion Soup
Serves 5-6

Ingredients:
1 large onion, diced
50g frozen green peas
80g chicken ham, diced
2-3 tbsp cooking oil
2L chicken broth
Salt and freshly group pepper to taste
2 eggs, beaten
1 stalk spring onion, chopped (optional)

Method:

Heat oil in pot or wok. Saute diced onion until fragrant.
Pour in chicken broth. Add in ham and green peas.
Bring soup to a boil. Turn heat down and let simmer for 20 minutes.
Taste with salt and pepper. Turn to high heat and bring the soup to a boil again.
Pour beaten egg from above the soup in a slow steady stream to create egg drop.
Garnish with chopped spring onion if desired.

American Ginseng & Lotus Seed Soup (花旗蔘莲子瘦肉汤)

2008-06-19T17:39:00.016+08:00

I had a chance to visit my boss's family in Toronto last year. I managed to do some shopping although it was not really a long trip, as the idea was actually to meet her up at Toronto before flying together to Omaha, USA to attend the annual ICES exhibition.

I guess the first thing one could think of bringing back from Canada as souvenir is its maple syrup. So apart from bringing this, I did grab some newly discovered asian sauces, different varieties of BBQ sauces, nuts, dried berries, interesting kitchen gadgets, and not forgetting the famous American Ginseng. If you ever consider buying ginseng in bulk, you may want to bring it back in its original root form and store it air tightly in the freezer. Chopping it into thin slices encourages moisture loss. What I normally do when I need to use the ginseng is, take the amount of ginseng (still in its root form) enough for 2-3 times of soup making and get it chopped for RM5 at the herbal shop opposite of my office.

Today's recipe is a simple way of boiling tonic soup with American Ginseng. As a matter of fact, I am in the mid of clearing my pantry, especially the old 'stock'. You will see more recipes from me.

American Ginseng & Lotus Seed Soup (花旗蔘莲子瘦肉汤)
Serves 4

Ingredients:
15g American ginseng
40g lotus seeds
160g lean pork, sliced
2L water
Salt to taste

Method:

Clean ginseng and lotus seeds thoroughly. Soak them till soft.
Including the water for soaking ginseng and lotus seeds, except salt, combine all ingredients in a pot and bring it to a boil.
Reduce heat and keep simmering for 1 hour. Taste with salt. Serve hot.

Mom's Fishy Patties (Fish & Wheat Germ Patties)

2008-06-18T19:01:00.000+08:00

Mommies are 'fishy', we just have to be. We are constantly trying our best to sneak kids not-so-welcomed food into their diet, i.e. celery, spinach, wheat germ, wholemeal, greens, fish, etc. We are fishy, we are cunning.

Ever since my kid started on solids, I have never stopped thinking or more appropriate, having to plan his menu. This process can be really taxing but it is so rewarding seeing my little one growing up daily, healthily an happily.

So, today's recipe is about sneaking healthy food into a kid friendly dish. These Fish and Wheat Germ Patties are packed with calcium and omega fatty acids from the fishes, Beta-carotene and vitamin A from the carrots, vitamin B complex, vitamin E, minerals and enzymes from the wheat germs. These patties aren't difficult to make. The preparation is pretty fast. I would mix all the ingredients up, cling wrap it and send to the refrigerator for a night to firm up. To cut down the messiness in shaping, instead of shaping with your hands, I have suggested below that you use an ice-cream scoop to scoop the mixture into the frying pan and flatten with a wooden turner. Do try this out.

Tuna & Wheat Germ Patties

Makes approx. 10

Ingredients:

1 can sardine in brine, drained, boned and mashed

1 can tuna (preferably in water but tuna spread was what I had) (Note 1)

1 egg

1 tbsp mayonnaise

3 tbsp wheat germ

10 tbsp all purpose flour

3 tsp lemon juice

1/2 cup grated carrots

1/2 cup diced celery

1/2 tsp salt

Freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Olive oil or vegetable oil for frying

Method:

Combine all ingredients in a bowl. Season with salt and black pepper.
Chill overnight or at least 2 hours in refrigerator to firm up the mixture.
Heat oil over medium heat in a non-stick frying pan.
Using an ice-cream scoop (Note 2), scoop mixture into pan and flatten with a tuner to make round patties. Pan fry for 3-4 minutes on each side until golden brown.

Notes:

Cut down the amount of flour if you are using tuna in brine or oil. Drain well, bone and mash the tuna. The suggested flour amount is due to the wet condition of tuna spread.
In the absense of ice-cream scoop, dust your hands with flour and hand shape mixture into flat round patties.
Serve on hamburger buns or English muffins if desired.

Girl's Baby Shower Cake

2008-06-17T16:36:00.008+08:00

Baby shower cakes are made to celebrate both the mom and the future, or newly delivered, little life. A baby shower cake will help set the happy tone for you or your customer's baby shower. It does double duty as both table centerpiece and dessert!

I will be conducting this special project class at International Centre of Cake Artistry. Details of the class can be obtained from the website of ICCA's.

Happy Wedding, to a real nice couple

2008-06-17T15:50:00.006+08:00

It's not easy to maintain friendship over the unsecured cyberworld but I am glad that I've found a few good cyber friends whom I treasured so much. They are always there when I need advise or just ears to listen to my nagging like an old woman. Oppss, of ilit Kitchen, is one of them, who has been witnessing the waves of my website and now, blog. She is ever supportive though she may not seen commenting much on my posts.

I was so glad when I got to know that she would finally had her wedding ceremony back here in Malaysia. She and her husband were so kind to brought me books all the way from the US. As a token of appreciation, and a way to share their joy, this cake was a gift to this lovely couple. I was so glad that this cake survived the journey to Pangkor Laut in perfect shape. It also survived till the end of the ceremony despite the humid condition at beach side which I initially worried so much.

I have to clarify something. Oppss is a perfect slim pretty young lady. Although the bride figurine may not do this fact justice, as cartoon characters are meant to be exaggerated as always, the figurines did create lots of conversational topics. I am glad this cake managed to perform its role as a centrepiece.

I am terribly sorry

2008-06-16T13:51:00.005+08:00

Hiya, how have you guys been? So yes, I have been dissappearing from the blog and website for more than 2 months without leaving a trace where would I be, I am terribly sorry about this.

Life has been hectic and stressful with some past projects of my job which, I am glad they are finally over now. The pace is a little slower, but it won't be long when I will be traveling every weekend out of town to conduct demonstrations and courses.

I will be back soon with some new recipes which I've been gathering since my dissappearing. Till then, may your days be as fruitful as possible.

Friendship Award

2008-04-03T09:38:00.003+08:00

Thank you Little Corner of Mine for awarding me this meaningful award. Being a newbie in blogging, having received this award is sure an honour. Thank you very much, Ching.

The Art of Boiling Soup

2008-04-01T19:01:00.001+08:00

A lot of us claim that boiling soup is the easiest thing to do in the art of cooking. It looks like boiling soup is just a matter of combining all ingredients in to a pot, bring it to a boil, lower the heat and simmer or double boil for 2-3 hours. It is not difficult, really, but if we were to get hold of the little tricks in making soup, our soups will turn out to be better, in terms of taste and nutritional value.

Selection of ingredients - Meats and vegetables used for boiling soup have to be as fresh as possible. To cut down oiliness, pick only parts like lean meat, chicken breast, pork bones, ribs, chicken feet, chicken wings etc. In the case of using chicken carcasses, trim all fats. Point (2) below also helps in getting rid part of oiliness of meats.
Pre-treatment of raw ingredients - Clean all meats, bones, vegetables and herbs thoroughly. Ingredients like bones/ribs/carcasses and preferably also herbs have to be boiled and removed their fats and impurities. Follow Step 1 of below recipe for pre-treatment of meats and bones. Take note that water must not be brought to a boil before meats or bones are added. The temperature of the hot boiling water causes a sudden shrinkage at the outer layer of the meat, forming a 'skin' that prevents juices of meats from loosing into the water. This is not desired in soup boiling as what we want is the essence of meat in our soup.
Addition of ingredients - The addition of ingredients, including meats, vegetables, herbs and other dried ingredients into the soup has to be done when the water is still cold due to the same reason as mentioned in Point 2 above.
Boiling time - Boiling time defers according to the ingredients being used. Soup that contains pork bones has to be boiled longer while fish soup can be ready within 1 hour.
Impurities and oil - Despite the pre-treatment in Point 2, there will still be impurities and oil in the soup due to the long boiling process. Use a fine strainer to remove these.
Seasoning - Salt can only be added at the end of the boiling process, before serving. Addition of salt at the begining of the boiling will cause contraction in the meat protein, making it difficult for juices/essence of meat from penetrating into the soup. Soup that contains seafood is normally seasoned with ginger (shreds or juice) and group black pepper to rid the strong smell of most seafood.

Sweet Corn & Pork Bone Soup

Ingredients:
500g pork bones or ribs
2 sweet corns, halved
2 carrots, cut into sections
2 candied dates (金丝蜜枣）
2.5L water
Salt to taste (I needed only 1/2 tsp)

Method:

Clean pork bones/ribs. In a pot, add water enough to cover the pork bones or ribs; bring water and bones/ribs to a boil. Continue to boil for 2-3 minutes to get rid of impurities and blood stains. Wash bones again under running water.
In another pot, combine all ingredients, including the cleaned pork bones/ribs. Bring to a boil, lower heat and continue to boil for 2 hours.
Season with salt, if necessary.

Reference:

http://www.ytower.com/

Shanghai Red Bean Pancake

2008-03-27T22:55:00.004+08:00

For all who loves Shanghai Pancakes like I do, this is for you....

Shanghai Red Bean Pancakes
Makes 6

Ingredients:
180g all purpose/plain flour
375g water
2 eggs
220g red bean paste (optional: lotus or red date paste)
Oil for frying

Method:

Add flour into a mixing bowl. Make a well in the centre; add in water and eggs. Use a hand whisk to mix well.
Heat a non-stick pan. Pour approx. 1/2 tsp oil in to pan. Lower the heat and wait for approx. 30 sec for the temperature of the pan to reduce. (Note 1)
Pour in batter. Swirl the pan to form a thin pancake skin. Continue to cook on low heat on just one side of the pancake until just cooked/set.
Remove from pan. Be careful not to break the pancake skin when transferring it to a plate/chopping board. Let cool. You should have some batter left over after making 6 x 10 inch pancakes. Set aside for sealing later.
Spread red bean paste thinly on half of the pancake. Brush edges with left-over batter, fold into half to enclose paste. Seal tightly. Roughly prick pancakes with toothpick/skewer (Note 2).
Heat a little oil in non-stick frying pan. Fry both sides of pancakes until golden brown and crispy. Dish out, let cool for 5-10 minutes. Cut into desired shapes.

Notes:

Too hot a pan causes the batter to cook fast as soon as it is poured in. When the batter has set, it doesn't allow the extras to be swirled to the sides of the pan, often results in thicker skin. If this is your first time making Shanghai pancakes, try using the first few pancakes to find out the right heat control and the right amount of batter for your frying pan.
For air to escape during frying.

Haw & Du Zhong Tea (山楂杜仲茶)

2008-03-25T16:00:00.005+08:00

There is a Chinese saying that goes like this: '家有一老，如有一宝'. It means that it's like having a gold treasure having an elderly at home. Although my 老 (senior citizens), who are parents of both sides, are staying distance away from where we live, they never fail in giving us pointers and guidance in every aspect of our lives. Today's recipe Haw & Du Zhong Tea is just one of the many remedies mom has handed to me. This recipe was given to me after all the non-stop eating outs during the Chinese New Year. It's time to flush out the 'unnecessaries' from our organs :).

According to the Chinese Herb Dictionary by Complementary and Alternative Healing University, the medical usage of Du Zhong (杜仲) is mainly on the circulatory and immunity systems. It is also mentioned here by drinking Haw & Du Zhong Tea, in particular, on consistent basis helps in regulating blood pressure, sugar level and cholesterol in our body system.

Caution: Please consult reliable herbalist before consuming this tea if you have any concern due to your current health condition, e.g. pregnancy, gastric, indigestion problems, etc. There are different opinion regarding herbs for young children (below the age of 7). Please also consult your herbalist if this concerns you.

Haw & Du Zhong Tea (山楂杜仲茶）

Ingredients:

40g haw (山楂)

50g du zhong (杜仲)

6 cups water

Rock sugar (optional)

Method:

Clean the herbs. Combine all with water in a pot. Bring water to a boil; lower heat and boil for another 30 minutes. Sweeten with rock sugar if desired. Strain and serve.

(First posted on 21st Mar 08, revised with write-up and recipe on 25th Mar 08)

Shameless Self-Promotion: Recent Works in Magazines

2008-03-24T12:47:00.012+08:00

This cake was made last Oct or Nov (can't really recall) for a local bridal magazine, Females Brides. The magazine has been out in the market for quite some time but I couldn't convince myself to buy a magazine merely for a picture of a cake. I am no longer interested in wedding gowns, accessories, photography etc etc, you see :p. Finally decided to buy it anyway, after being asked a few times by a few of my students if this cake in the magazine was mine. Better make sure the cake was really mine before commenting :)

Bet you can't see the wordings by the side of the cake, so it says:

Contemporary Baby Blue

This simple yet stylish cake is unique with its brilliant blue hue and intricate details. Customise it to match your wedding theme.

The above are some other wedding cakes of mine on Wedding Trend, a new bridal magazine. The cute little cupcakes in silver foil and decorated with pink rose buds are a joint effort of my boss, Ms Rosalind Chan and I. The miniature wedding cakes decorated with golden daisies are the master pieces of Rosalind's too.

Award and Tag

2008-03-19T14:42:00.008+08:00

First of all, thank you Ling for presenting me this Award. I accept with pleasure and thanks giving.

Secondly, thank you Ching for giving me a chance to describe how I feel about her:

A) LIST OUT THE TOP 5 PRESENTS YOU WISH FOR:
1. A new kitchen equipped with pastry kitchen equipment
2. Happiness and health of everybody around me
3. Going back to United Kingdom to recall sweet memories of Daddy's and mine, but this time with a new addition, Jeriel
4. Be a full time mommy and only work as and when I like
5. Treat mom and dad an overseas trip

B) THE PERSON WHO TAGGED ME IS: Ching

C) YOUR 5 IMPRESSIONS OF HIM/HER:
1. A super cook and baker
2. Mom who loves her kids very much.
3. An ex-Malaysian staying in US, but non-stop thinking of Malaysian great food!
4. A very hard working blogger who has been blogging since Year 2005
5. A pretty mommy

D) MOST MEMORABLE THINGS HE/SHE HAS GIVE/DONE FOR YOU
Her continuous unfailing support for my website, forum and now blog. How touched I am......

E) THE MOST MEMORABLE WORDS HE/SHE SAID TO YOU
No, as all has been transformed into action in her support

F) IF HE/SHE BECOMES YOUR LOVER, YOU WILL
Be flooded with good food

G) IF HE/SHE BECOMES YOUR ENEMY, THE REASON WILL BE
Can't think of reason why we have to be enemies

H) PASS THE QUIZ TO 5 PEOPLE THAT YOU WISH TO KNOW HOW THEY FEEL ABOUT YOU
Will pass to only 2 persons:

1. ilit Kitchen
2. Precious Moments

Special Feature: Nutritious Tonic Soups I

2008-03-19T11:00:00.004+08:00

I know how hectic life can be for a full-time working mom, because I am one. We are constantly struggling in balancing our time between work and family. We want to excel in our career and at the same time trying to do our very best as a wife and a mother, to allocate time for our family. How many times you wanna cook a delicious and nutritious meal for your family, but ended up having to scrap the idea because you couldn't get back on time before dinner? Or, you simply do not have any idea where to start planning your menu?

Lately, I have been going through books and webpages to find out new recipes on soup. I have been boiling the same old soups all these years. It's time to have a revamp in my soup menu since Jeriel is fully on solid now. The first few years of life are extremely important to the growth and development of a kid. A child's diet in the first few years are of vital importance, as this is the crucial time when the foundations for future good health are laid. It matters for a lifetime.

This is going to be the first in this series of my soup recipes. I am going to first introduce the slightly time consuming 'simmered' soup (煲湯, 'bao tang') then it will be the 'boiled' soup (滾湯, 'gun tang') in my next feature. Since these soups are meant for busy working moms, even the so-called 'simmering', it shall not take more than 1 hour. I truly hope you will find these recipes useful. Have fun making soup!

Recipes coming soon.........

Apple Seaweed & Pork Rib Soup
Chicken & Mixed Vegetable Soup
Apple & White Fungus Soup

Yam Rice (Taro Rice 芋头饭)

2008-03-17T09:13:00.010+08:00

Taro, is more commonly referred as Yam by the Malaysian although scientifically, they are not considered the same thing. I try to use the term Taro as much as I can whenever I am sharing recipes on the internet, I still tend to feel more comfortable using Yam instead of Taro for goodies made from this root. Thanks to my truly Malaysian origin ;)

I had a chance trying Yam Rice at a real popular shop in Kluang, Johor recently. Hot boiling Bak Kut Teh (literally means meat & bone tea) served with yam rice, it was just so good. I have heard about yam rice some time ago but have never had any chance tasting it until this trip down to Kluang. This dish left me some yam so they were transformed into real tasty Yam Rice, served with a huge bowl of Bak Kut Teh, as our lazy Sunday dinner. Little Jeriel liked the rice very much but he ate it the strange way though, with tomato sauce

Yam Rice (Taro Rice芋头饭)

(Adapted from Kuali.com)

Serves 5-6

Ingredients:

2 rice cups(300g) of rice, washed and drained

4 shallots, sliced

20g dried shrimps, soaked and chopped

6 mushrooms, soaked and diced

300g yam, diced

4 tbsp oil for frying

Seasoning:

2 tbsp oyster sauce

2 tsp light soy sauce

Few drops of sesame oil

Dash of pepper

1 tsp sugar

1 tsp concentrated chicken stock

4 rice cups water

1.5 tsp dark soy sauce, for color when necessary

Garnishing:

Chopped spring onions

Method:

Prepare all the ingredients as directed above.
Heat oil in a wok. Fry shallots till golden brown.
Add dried shrimps and fry till fragrant. Add in yam and mushrooms. Continue to fry till half-cooked.
Add rice and seasoning. Stir-fry to incorporate well.
Dish out to rice cooker, add water and boil rice as usual.
Serve rice hot with chopped spring onions spinkled on top.

Stir-Fried Pork Shreds with Szechuan Pickle (榨菜炒肉丝)

2008-03-14T19:43:00.018+08:00

This is a traditional Szechuan dish. There is another version of this dish that involves much more ingredients than today's recipe. Apart from the main ingredients lean pork shreds and Szechuan pickle, it also contains shreds of chilies, capsicums, onions, and sometimes shredded carrots and even dried shrimps.

There are only pork shreds and Szechuan pickle in this recipe of mine. This dish has been served in my own family for as long as I could remember. My mom is very good at cooking this, easy to prepare and yet so appetising due to the salty sourish pickle. I could finish a bowl of rice by just having this dish alone. Any left over could just be popped on to a bowl of ramen (noodles), in soup or in soy sauce mixture, and you will have a bowl of yummilicious Szechuan Shredded Pork Noodles (榨菜肉丝面).

Stir-Fried Pork Shreds with Szechuan Pickle (榨菜炒肉丝)

Ingredients:
150g lean pork, cut into long thin shreds
1 packet Szechuan pickle (Note 1)
3 slices of ginger, cut into fine shreds
2 tbsp chopped garlic
Oil for stir-frying
1/2 cup water

Seasoning:
1.5 tsp Shaoxing cooking wine
1 tsp sugar (Note 2)
1 tsp light soy sauce (Note 2)

Marinade:
2 tsp cornstarch
1 tbsp light soy sauce
Dash of pepper

Method:

Marinade shredded pork with marinating ingredients for overnight in the refrigerator (for better taste), or at least for 1 hour at room temperature.
Remove Szechuan pickle from its packet in to a bowl. Soak for 15 minutes. Wash and drain well. Set aside.
Heat oil in a wok/pan until smoking stage. Add ginger and garlic, fry till fragrant.
Add marinated pork and fry for just a while until the outer part of pork is cooked.
Add wine from the sides of the wok and let the wine flows down to the dish. Heat of the wok will evaporate the wine to create nice aroma.
Add in pickle now and continue to fry until pork is 50-60% cooked. Pour in water. Lower the fire, cover with lid and let it simmer for about 1 minute. Add more water if required. Stir once in a short while.
Season with sugar and soy sauce (Note 2). Dish out and serve with white rice.

Notes:

I stick to this brand of Szechuan pickle as it is the least salty, need very little pre-treatment prior to cooking. Anyhow, it is suggested to still give it a quick soak to get rid of more of its saltiness.
The amount of sugar and light soy sauce is very much dependent on the type/brand of Szechuan pickle you are using. Please adjust these two ingredients accordingly.
Left over of this dish can be used to top noodles for a quick Sunday brunch or supper.

Does this sound attractive enough for you to pick the ingredients and start cooking now?

When time is not really on your side.......

2008-03-12T15:59:00.024+08:00

......... you can still come out with delicious yummy looking cupcakes.

Most of the Malaysian bakers, or rather, homebakers, dislike the idea of making cakes from cake mixes. The impression of cake mixes to us is that they are lack of flavour, too much of leavening agent, chemical added, etc etc. I used to have the same thought but began to like cake mixes ever since I got to taste some of the cake mixes available commercially to the bakeries, they were actually pretty tasty. Cake mixes are also life savers when I need to bake in bulk for class purpose. I am not 'ashame' of cake mixes anymore, in fact, started telling my students about the convenience of them.

Betty Crocker's cake mixes are pretty expensive in Malaysia. If I need only a few small cakes, I normally go for Pillsbury's, especially it's Devil's Food Cake. When baking in bulk is required, I will go for my regular cake mix supplies. This time round, I had a few packets of Betty Crocker's Super Moist Devil's Food Cake Mix, brought back all the way from Canada by my lady boss. They have been sitting inside the cabinet for months until they were rediscovered during my housekeeping.

Verdict:

Overall, this cake mix is average. The lack of aroma and the strong raising agent smell are the two set backs of this cake mix. The strong point of it is that it is not sweet, most suitable for the Asian palate. To increase the aroma, replace vegetable oil suggested in the direction with melted butter.

Dressed the cupcakes a little and they were our breakfast today.

Quick Chocolate Buttercream Icing

Ingredients:

80g Krimwell/Crisco shortening

80g butter

370-400g icing sugar, sifted (please adjust to your liking)
100ml milk

100g dark chocolate, melted
3 tbsp cocoa powder, sfited

Method:

In a mixing bowl, cream both fats with mixer to lighten them up.
Gradually add in sugar; beat well on medium speed. Scrape sides and bottom of bowl often.
Add milk; beat until light and fluffy.
Add in melted chocolate and cocoa powder. Mix until just blended.

Notes:

DO NOT ever beat your buttercream icing on high speed as this will incorporate too many air bubbles into the icing. Rough bubbly texture will make your decorating difficult, often results in jaggled decorations.

To decorate cupcakes:

Place a dollop of icing at the centre of cupcake. Using a spatula (I like to use angled), spread icing on cupcake, pushing towards the edges. For fluffy look (as shown in picture), lightly touch the icing with spatula and lift up to create short sharp peaks. Place some chocolate curls at the centre of cupcake. Sieve some icing sugar to give the cupcakes a final touch.

Braised Pork Rib & Taro in Claypot

2008-03-11T21:23:00.014+08:00

It may not look nice in the photo, but this dish is absolutely delicious! This dish has been in my must-try list for quite some time. During weekdays when I need to rush to work before 10am, meal must be cooked in 45 mins after sending Jeriel to school. Due to the slow braising process, I had to cancel the plan of cooking this dish several times. I am on leave today so had a little extra time to execute the plan. Do try this out, highly recommended.

Braised Pork Rib & Taro in Claypot
Serves 4

Ingredients:
500g pork ribs, chopped into 3 cm lengths
200g taro, cut into rectangular pieces
5 dried mushrooms, soaked till soft and cut into halves
2 stalks spring onions, cut into 5 cm lengths
3-4 tbsp oil for frying
Water

Marinade:
1 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
2 tsp cornstarch

Seasoning:
3 tbsp light soy sauce
1 tsp Shao Xing cooking rice wine Dash of pepper

Method:

Marinade pork ribs with marinade ingredients.
Heat oil in claypot. Fry spring onions until fragrant.
Add ribs and fry for approx. 1 min. Add wine and continue to fry.
Add taro and mushrooms. Fry till ribs are half cooked.
Add water enough to cover the content. Seasoning with seasoning, cover and cook on low heat for approx. 30 minutes or until ribs are tender and taro has turned mashy.
Serve hot with chopped spring onions and coriander sprinkled on top.

Dummy Wedding Cake, very not-Jo

2008-03-06T18:59:00.009+08:00

This was a dummy wedding cake created for a wedding planner. He actually had to carry this 3-tier wedding cake in three separate boxes on his flight to the East Coast. This cake would be used for a garden wedding of 600 guests. The wedding planner would be adding green grapes on the cake, artificial ones after my advise to him that real grapes would actually wet and melt the fondant.

If you have seen my wedding cakes, you will know that this is not quite my kind of design. Though I am happy of how this cake turned out to be, I am not particularly keen on this kind of classic design. When you are in business, customer's requirement and specification are always your first priority. Customers' satisfaction is also part of our professionalism. Guess that's life, there are always gives and takes.

'Beachy' Cupcakes

2008-03-06T18:53:00.027+08:00

This is an order from a regular customer of mine. She loves butter cakes, so she always insists on really buttery flavour whenever she orders cupcakes from me.

This was another order for this lady for her beloved son's party at his kindie. The theme was 'Beach' so I suggested her to have her usual butter cupcakes with beachy, summerish candy decoration instead of fondant pieces. Compared to fondant, candies always seems to be a better option in terms of taste. Wilton's Candy Melts® are compound chocolate or coating chocolate mainly made of vegetable oils, milk solids, sugar, etc. The taste of Candy Melts are not as great as couverture chocolate but the fact that these candies are available in various colours makes candy moulding absolutely fast and easy. These beachy figurines involved candy painting technique. For more information about candy melting, moulding and painting, please refer here and here.

As for the frosting, it was vanilla buttercream. It was not the usual Wilton buttercream I normally preached in my class. I cut down on the amount of icing sugar and have more milk than required in Wilton's recipe. I tried to make the candies as colourful as possible for the kids. Just got to know from the mommy that the kids loved the cupcakes! It was really a fun-filled order to make. Absolutely love these cupcakes myself!

Jeriel's Snack Box - Mini Tuna & Spinach Quiche

2008-03-04T23:18:00.020+08:00

I am back. After a month's break, I am back again. Not that I've not been doing anything since the Chinese New Year, but I am simply too lagging in my usual photographing, editing and writing. No mood.....

I had some shortcrust pastry left over from my last Jam Tarts bake out. It was used for making Egg Tarts (shown below) shortly after the CNY break and then today's recipe, Mini Tuna & Spinach Quiche. So our breakfast has been heavily dominated by tarts lately, but the old and young gentlemen absolutely loved them. No more tarts from me at least for some time, I have finished all the shortcrust pastry in my freezer.

March will be a pretty busy month for me; teaching, cake orders and traveling to other state to teach. Anyhow, will be back to share more goodies with you guys. Wish to try out new recipes on my ever-growing wish list. Yet to share cooking recipes on this blog as cooking is done in a rush most of the time. Will be back soon, promised.

Tuna & Spinach Quiche
Makes 12 x 8.75cm

Ingredients:

200g cold butter, but soft enough to leave a print when pressed
315g all purpose flour
15g icing sugar
1.5 eggs, lightly beaten

Filling:

2 (185g) cans tuna, drained and mashed
30g spinach, cleaned and cut into sections
1 onion, chopped
250ml milk
4 tbsp mayonnaise
2 eggs
1 tsp salt
Dash of black pepper

Method:

To prepare shortcrust pastry:

Sift flour and icing sugar into a mixing bowl.
Rub in butter with hand, or by using the paddle attachment of your mixer on low speed, until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs.
Add in the egg gradually. Observe the change in dough consistency. Do not be tempted to add in all the egg if not necessary. Mix just until the pastry begins to form large lumps.
Press together gently with your hand until the pastry forms a ball.
Chill pastry dough for about 30 minutes to 1 hour to relax the dough.
Grease tart moulds. I like to use non-stick spray.
Prepare filling while chilling dough.

To prepare filling:

Blend milk, mayonnaise, eggs, salt and pepper with a hand whisk until smooth. Add mashed tuna, spinach and chopped onion.
Divide chilled shortcrust pastry into 16 portions (approx. 50g each). Press pastry evenly into each tart mould. Trim the edges to remove excessive dough. Prick base of each tart with a fork to allow air to escape during baking.
Divide filling into shell.
Bake in preheated oven at 190 degC for 50 minutes or until brown.
Remove quiche from oven and let cool for 10 minutes on wire rack. Remove quiche from mould and serve. Otherwise, continue to let cool completely before storing.

Notes:

Traditionally, filling of quiche contains shredded cheddar cheese. For an even richer filling, cream can be used to replace part of the milk. I have omitted cheddar cheese and cream due to the calorie contents but added in mayonnaise for a little complication in taste.
I added all two cans of tuna (total 370g) because I hated left-over. The filling was on the more compact/substantial side, so reduce the amount of tuna to 330g if you could get smaller can at where you live.
Refer to Jo's Deli & Bakery's Pastries, Pies and Tarts sections for more ideas.

I have been Tagged!

2008-02-14T20:11:00.007+08:00

I have been tagged by Ling's Passion and Precious Moments to list 5 facts about myself. As I am very new to the blogging world, I was not too sure how to go about this game when Ling tagged me. Was thinking of 'escaping' but I was later tagged by Edith of Precious Moment. Guess I couldn't escape this time.

5 facts about Jo:

I can live without talking to others but I can't live without my laptop and the internet to communicate with the world.
I hate washing toilet, ironing cloths and washing car.
I don't go to the cosmetic and fragrance departments and rarely go to the clothing and shoe departments. I visit the kitchenware and grocery departments without fail.
I dream of having my own school one day, teaching the very art of pastry making and cake decorating. I want to conquer the world of dim sum and Asian cooking too. Guess I am not too greedy, am I?
I used to dream of seeing my own face in magazines and now I dream of seeing myself as a celebrity chef talking like Nigella Lawson on air.

Since I am just a baby in the food blogosphere, I am not going to tagged anybody this time round. Fellow food bloggers, please excuse me for breaking the rule ya :p

A Cake for Charity

2008-02-14T17:06:00.009+08:00

This was a cake for a group of less fortunate children. There are many out there who are suffering from physical or mentally illness, lost of their loved ones and insufficient food. We should thank God everyday for what we are given. Even the tiny little things in lives, we should never stop giving thanks for. Bless others because we are blessed.

This year's World Cancer Day was on 4th Feb 2008. The theme for this year's World Cancer Day is about giving a no-smoking environment to our children. To all parents and adults, love our children by avoiding smoking or allowing others to smoke in your home or car, even when your children are not there. Give our children a smoke-free world. Be a responsible person to not let the children suffer because of what you do.

Chinese New Year Series - Cornflake Cookies

2008-02-05T20:51:00.000+08:00

Still struggling with time to finish making the necessary preparation for Chinese New Year. It is not because I need to make lots of cookies to give away, but rather, I started the baking late. In fact, we will not be spending the first 6 days of the New Year at our Kuala Lumpur home. The first 2 days will be at Daddy's hometown and then we will be flying back to my hometown in East Malaysia. Those goodies are more for the in-laws. (My mom makes very good cookies so she doesn't want mine *sob sob*).

Cornflake Cookies are the must-haves at my house for Chinese New Year. Mom makes very good cornflake cookies. This is her recipe actually. I made some changes to this recipe of mine. Instead of using castor sugar, I have used icing sugar for finer texture. No mixed fruits but raisins and I rolled them rounds instead of scooping into paper cups. The raisins or if you prefer mixed fruits, will give your cookies a mixture in consistency - crunchy + chewy. If you prefer the crunchiness alone, please omit the fruits. Thanks Kirs for prompting me the question about chewiness in cornflake cookies.

May I take this opportunity to wish all a blessed Chinese New Year.

Chinese New Year Series - Chicken Floss Rolls & Seaweed Crisps

2008-02-03T20:58:00.000+08:00

The Chicken (or Pork) Floss Rolls and the Seaweed Crips are probably the easiest among all the Chinese New Year Snacks. I don't think I need to put down the recipes here because you really don't need any. They are so easy yet so delicious. If you prefer to make your own Chinese New Year snacks but don't really want to, or afford to spend time on them, these are good alternatives you could go for. Anyway, these recipes will be available on the mother webpage but it may take a while since I am rushing off my own Chinese New Year cooks and bakes. Feel free to leave me a note if you need some pointers to get you started before the recipes are put up on the webpage.

A Simple Cake........

2008-02-02T22:44:00.000+08:00

...for a wonderful birthday boy.

The mother of the birthday boy is a good church friend of mine. Knowing my busy schedule, she was so kind to pick a simple design, a 2-D character Pooh cake. Although I get to see the Pooh character pan day in and day out at my workplace, this was only my first time using it. It was a Chocolate Moist Cake frosted with vanilla buttercream. The buttercream was 50% butter 50% Krimwell based. I have no idea of the amount of icing sugar I beated in. Just kept on adding until the sweetness I think the crowd would likely be able to accept.

Sorry about the quality of the photo. Had to shoot in a rush under weak yellow lighting. No time to try out different settings for shooting under this kind of light condition. Didn't know the trick anyway. Food photography? Way to go.

Braised Yee Mee in Claypot

2008-01-31T11:40:00.000+08:00

I was on leave yesterday as I needed to bring Jeriel to the Orthoptist. Thank God everything was fine. Jeriel was free from serious visual disorder at the moment. (There is family history on Daddy's side). We just need to go back for check-up when Jeriel is 4.

So this was our lunch, Braised Yee Mee in Claypot.

Recipe to come later.

Copyright of Recipe?

2008-01-30T17:44:00.000+08:00

I received Newsletter every two months from this baking supply Centre. I am the member and a regular customer too. I picked up the Jan/Feb 2008 newsletter from my mailbox on my way back from work. Was studying the class schedule, the promotion and then here it came the Recipe section. Wasn't this recipe and one of the photographs very, absolutely, extremely familiar? Hey, it was my recipe and my photographs!

Not only the recipe is in the newsletter, it is also made available on their webpage here. Should I say I am honoured? My recipe was taken without any prior written consent. Here's the original recipe.

Jeriel's Snack Box - Jam Tarts

2008-01-29T15:38:00.002+08:00

I was and still am absolutely satisfied with this bake. It is not because of the difficulty level of these tarts but how much Jeriel and Daddy liked them. As a matter of fact, these tarts are easy to prepare. Jeriel brought one to his play school in the morning, and at night, he took another three while watching television. I know these tarts can be too sweet for a kid but seeing how much he liked the tarts, guess it was too cruel to stop him from taking them. Guess this is the kind of dilemma every mother has to deal with.

I started appreciating jam tarts when I was studying in the United Kingdom. As students living on limited budget, we liked going for shopping just before the supermarket closed. We often got very good deal on food and other perishable items, so jam tarts were one of the items we seldom missed as they could be unreasonably cheap at times. It started with price slashing, like 50p for half a dozen of jam tarts or buy one get one free kind of thing. The filling could be any jam, e.g. strawberry, raspberry, lemon, apricot, blueberry, etc. These tarts did bring back fond memories, of the time we saved so hard for the dream UK and Europe tour, and of the sleepless nights before the examinations. They did, indeed, bring back lots of memories....

Jam Tarts
Makes 10

Ingredients:
125g cold butter, but soft enough to leave a print when pressed
200g all purpose flour
10g icing sugar
1 medium egg, lightly beaten
200g jam of your choice (I used strawberry jam)

Method:

Sift flour and icing sugar into a mixing bowl.
Rub in butter with hand, or by using the paddle attachment of your mixer on low speed, until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs.
Add in the egg gradually. Observe the change in dough consistency. Do not be tempted to add in all the egg if not necessary. Mix just until the pastry begins to form large lumps. Press together gently with your hand until the pastry forms a ball.
Chill pastry dough for about 30 minutes to 1 hour to relax the dough.
Grease tart moulds. I like to use non-stick spray.
Divide chilled shortcrust pastry into 10 portions. Press pastry evenly into each tart mould. Trim the edges to remove excessive dough. Prick base of each tart with a fork to allow air to escape during baking.
Fill tart with about a tablespoon of jam. Add or reduce the amount of jam according to your personal preference. In any case, do not fill the tart to more than 50% full as the jam will bubble and overflow during baking.
Bake in a preheated oven at 180 degC for 15-20 minutes.
Leave the tarts in moulds for 5 minutes before turning onto wire rack to cool.
Do not be tempted to 'appreciate' your tarts when they first come out of the oven as the jam can be boiling hot!

Shortcrust pastry can be very versatile. You can fill your pastry case with anything you like, be it sweet or savoury, and they get baked pretty fast. Make more the next time you prepare shortcrust, vacuum pack and pop into the freezer. Thaw at refrigerator the night before you want to use it. Remove the packet from refrigerator and test hardness by pressing the dough. If you are able to leave your finger mark on it, it is ready to be rolled.

Patrick Star, the Spongebob's Friend

2008-01-28T13:30:00.000+08:00

I don't really take cake orders nowadays. The main reason is, I am too tied up with the teaching part as well as the management side of the training department of the school. Secondly, I prefer teaching. I like sharing my knowledge with my students and enjoy every moment of my teaching.

This customer wanted to order a cake from me a couple of months ago but I was too busy to take this order. This time, he was going to celebrate the birthday of his other son, Joe Joe. The birthday boy wanted a Patrick cake. Feeling guilty to reject him again, I took the order. I was not familiar with Spongebob so I had to do quite a bit of research on the internet, e.g. colors of the body, pants, facial expressions, his uniqueness, what he liked doing, etc, before I was confident enough to start working on this cake. I started disliking this character but the more I searched about him, the more I started to like him. By the time I finished decorating this cake, I actually fell in love with this guy :P

I couldn't make use of any of the Wilton novelty pans we carry as Wilton only manufactures Spongebob's character pan and not the friend, Patrick. I basically had to bake one 18x12 inch rectangular cake to carve into the starfish-like body shape and one 'wondermold' cake for the tummy. The flavour of the cake was vanilla and it was coated with vanilla buttercream before fondant was put on. The tummy was the most challenging part as it involved quite a bit of patching and sculpturing work so that the big tummy would look natural. The decorating, from carving to completion took about 4.5 hours. Overall, I was pretty satisfied with this cake. Hope you will like him as much as I do.

See the super large tummy?

Quick & Easy Sushi

2008-01-23T13:42:00.000+08:00

This was supposed to be Jeriel's snack for tomorrow but he obviously didn't like it by throwing his first bite out. Probably he didn't quite like the nori. It's really not easy being a mommy huh? Food needs to be delicious as well as nutritious.

Quick & Easy Sushi
Serves 6

Ingredients:

300g calrose rice

3 tbsp sushi vinegar

2 tsp salt

1 tbsp sugar
2 eggs, made into omelet

5 nori sheets
3 crab filament sticks

1 cucumber

1/2 cup mayonnaise

To serve:
Sushi soy sauce
Wasabi

Method:

Preparation: Cut omelet into shreds. Divide crab filament sticks length wise into four. Peel skin and remove seeds of cucumber. Cut into long strips. Set aside.
Rinse the rice thoroughly. Repeat 2-3 times or according to the directions on packaging.
Add water suggested in the directions. Cook the rice in rice cooker.
While cooking rice, dissolve salt and sugar in vinegar. Set aside.
When the rice is done, set it aside for 15 minutes to cool a little.
Pour vinegar mixture into rice. Use a wooden spatula to mix thoroughly but take care not to mash the cooked rice.
If you have a makisu (bamboo sheet), set it down on table top. Lay a piece of nori sheet.
Spread a thin layer of rice on norri sheet with the back of a spoon. Leave gaps on the four sides of the nori sheet, do not spread rice till the edge. Spread a thin layer of mayonnaise on the rice.
Place omelet, crab stick and cucumber on nori sheet. Lift makisu and start rolling from the end closer to you. Roll sushi tight with the help of makisu (like rolling swiss roll).
Using a sharp knife, cut roll to obtain 6-7 sushi of approx. 1.8cm thick.
Serve with sushi soy sauce and wasabi.

I know you do not like leftovers, so do I. The leftover cucumber, crab filament sticks, omelet and nori sheets were made into the below soup.

Cut crab filaments, omelet and cucumber into thin fine shreds. Cut nori sheets into small pieces. Bring a pot of stock, either homemade or bought, to boil. Turn down the heat and add the shreded crab filaments and cucumber. Simmer for 10-15 minutes. Add shreded omelet, then bring the soup to a boil. Beat 1 or 2 eggs in a bowl. Add in to the soup and immediately turn off the heat. Stir the soup quickly to obtain egg drop. Serve soup while still hot with nori sheets and some chopped spring onion.

Jeriel's Snack Box - Sardine Puffs

2008-01-21T11:47:00.000+08:00

New Year, new me, new home organisation! Chinese New Year (CNY) is approaching, it’s time to clear the pantry and refrigerator so that new food can come in. I needed to clear a packet of ready-to-roll puff pastry and a can of sardine. They had been sitting and occupying my already-small kitchen space for at least half a year. You know what, I have this bad shopping habit which I like stocking for food and groceries even before I know how and what I want to use them for. I know a lot of you do this too, so we are all buddies huh? Hey come on, aren't our husbands glad that we are obsessed with food, and not with gold, diamonds, houses and super branded stuff?

Back to today’s recipe. So the puff pastry and sardine were used for this quick and easy Sardine Puffs for Jeriel to bring to his nursery today. The Pampas puff pastry comes in 375g so it will only produce 8-10 puffs if you have a small family like mine. Despite of its convinience, the Pampas does have its drawback on the taste side. Unlike the authentic butter based puff pastry, it offers the taste of the pastry margarine based pastries that we could easily get at most of the bakeries here. Well, I guess one has to compromise the taste for the convinience right?

Sardine Puffs
Makes 8

Ingredients:
1 pack of 375g ready-to-roll puff pastry
1 can of 155g sardine fish in tomato sauce
1 medium onion, diced
3 tbsp oil, for frying
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp sugar
Pepper to taste

Egg glaze:
1 egg, lightly beaten

Method:

Remove puff pastry from freezer to thaw at chiller (Note 1).
To prepare filling: remove sardin fish from its gravy in to a bowl. Remove the bones. Heat up oil in a pan/wok. Fry diced onion till fragrant. Add sardine. While frying, mash sardine with stir-fry spatula. Season with salt, sugar and pepper. Dish out and set aside to let cool.
Preheat oven at 200 degC. Line baking tray with greaseproof paper.
Remove puff pastry from chiller onto a lightly floured table topand roll it out to a rectangle of 3mm thick. Cut into 8 rectangles.
Place about 1 full tablespoon of filling on to each rectangle. Brush edges with egg glaze (Note 2). Fold pastry to enclose the filling.
Use a fork to press down the edges to seal. Dock top of puffs with a fork (Note 4) and place them on prepared baking tray.
Brush the top of puffs with egg glaze (Note 2).
Bake preheated oven for 15-20 minutes until golden brown. Cool on wire rack.

Notes:

Due to the Malaysia climate, i.e. hot and humid, I prefer to thaw my puff pastry at the chiller instead of room temperature. It is much easier to work with puff pastry when it is at 4-6 degC.
Pelase be careful to not let egg glaze touches the layers of puff pastry as the egg glaze will act as a 'glue', preventing the layers from rising properly during baking.
When cutting puff pastry dough, cut it very cleanly with a sharp knife or pizza cutter, otherwise the layering at the edges will be compromised when baked.
Dock top of puffs with a fork to allow the steam to escape during baking.

Chinese New Year Series - Hong Kong Style Radish Cake

2008-01-06T11:31:00.001+08:00

It is really not that popular for the Malaysian Chinese to have radish cake for Chinese New Year (CNY). I know it is almost a practice to have it during the CNY in Hong Kong though. The main difference between the radish cakes in Hong Kong and Malaysia is that, the chopped ingredients like chinese sausages, mushrooms, dried shrimps and shallots are mixed into the batter before steaming while the Malaysians prefer to first steam a plain radish cake and then the chopped ingredients are sprinkled on to the cooked radish cake before serving with some tim jiong, literally means 'sweet sauce' to the Malaysians or more commonly known as hoisin sauce. These are more like a garnishing although they are actually the heart of the radish cake. During the normally days, you can easily find almost everywhere at the hawker stalls plain steamed radish cakes cut into cubed and fried with preserved radish and eggs.

Hong Kong Style Radish Cake
Makes one 7 inch square

Ingredients:
1 radish (approx. 500g)
2 cups water
2 nos. chinese sausages, skinned then diced
4 nos. chinese mushrooms, soaked till soft then diced
20g dried shrimps, soaked till soft then roughly chopped
2 nos. shallots, sliced
3-4 tbsp oil, for frying
Extra oil for greasing
150g rice flour
30g wheat starch (tung min flour)

Seasoning:
1 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp chicken granules (optional)
Few drops of sesame oil
Dash of pepper

Hoisin sauce to serve

Method:

Refer to step-by-step photographs here

Skin and cut radish with a knife to long thin strips. Place radish with 2 cups of water in a pot. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer until radish is soft. Let cool.
Clean and grease 7 inch square pan with oil.
Clean and soak oth dried shrimps and dried mushrooms until soften. Chop dried shrimps slightly. Cut mushrooms into small cubes.
Soak chinese sausages in water to ease the removal of casing. Cut sausages into small cubes.
Heat oil in a pan/wok. Fry shallots until fragrant. Add in chinese sausages, mushrooms and dried shrimps and continue to fry until fragrant. Season with the seasoning ingredients. Set aside to let cool a little.
Drain cooked radish well. Save and obtain approx. 200ml of the juice from the boiling of radish. Pour away the excess or top up with water if not sufficient.
Combine rice flour and wheat starch in a large mixing bowl. Pour radish juice and mix with a hand whisk to obtain smooth batter. Add cooked radish and the rest of the fried ingredients into the batter. Mix well. Pour mixture into the greased pan.
Steam over rapid boiling water for 1 hour or until chopstick inserted into radish cake comes out clean.
Remove from steamer and let cool completely before slicing. Reheat in steamer or microwave. Serve with hoisin sauce (tim jiong). Alternatively, pan fry with some oil until golden brown.

Notes: The portion of water to radish is important in determining the texture of the final product. I always give flexibility to my students when I teach so I will do the same here. The above suggested amount of the water serves as a guide for a texture that I think is good. Try it out and adjust to your family's preference. At the end of the day, your family members will be the ones who are going to appreciate your goodies :)
Add cooked radish to form a batter while it is still hot so that a thick nice paste is formed before steaming.
To save time, it is actually a more common practice to shred the radish with a shredder. Cutting, instead of shredding, the radish does improve the texture of the radish cake. Again, cutting is an alternative way from me for your consideration.

Jeriel's Snack Box - Butter Cupcakes with Blueberry Filling

2008-01-03T11:14:00.000+08:00

It was Jeriel's first day at his new play school. I was in fact more excited then he was. Probably he was still too young to understand the meaning of 'school'. It was not only new to Jeriel but also a new experience to me. I was told by the principal that Jeriel could bring his own snack from home for his 10am snack time although food will be provided if students didn't prepare theirs. Jeriel's today's snack box was a simple one; a slice of wholemeal bread with his favourite rojak spreads, i.e. margarine, fruit jam and peanut butter, plus a packet of Luxury vegetable crackers.

I was told by the principal that Jeriel was considered very well behaved for this was his first time and first day at school. He cried once during the first half an hour when he couldn't find trace of me and his kakak. We were actually hiding at a corner. After his break, seeing everything was fine, we went off. He was totally fine after that. Looked absolutely happy when I went back to pick him up. Thank God for Jeriel's first day at school. It was early after dinner. Marinated two chicken thighs for tomorrow then proceed to bake a batch of simple Butter Cupcakes for Jeriel's snack tomorrow. Thank you Edith for the lovely strawberry paper cups. Was trying to give Jeriel something not so heavy as snack. Got to give room for his lunch after school. Filled the cupcakes with blueberry pie filling to make them a little more interesting for this kid.

Butter Cupcakes with Blueberry Filling
Makes 12 small cupcakes

Ingredients:
120g butter, at room temperature
100g castor sugar
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 tsp vanilla essence
120g self raising flour, sifted
4 tbsp milk
60-80g blueberry pie filling

Method:

Line small muffin tray with paper cups, or get ready nut and party cups.
Combine butter and sugar in a mixing bowl. Beat with the paddle attachment of mixer at medium-high speed until light and creamy. Scrap mixture down from the sides of the mixing bowl once in a while to ensure mixture is evenly mixed.
Gradually beat in eggs, mixing well before each addition. Add in essence.
Fold in flour and milk to make a soft dropping consistency.
Spoon one tablespoon of batter into each baking cup. Using a teaspoon, spoon blueberry filling into centre of mixture. Top with another tablespoon of mixture, or more, to enclose the filling and such that each cup is 2/3 filled.
Bake in preheated oven at 170 degC for 15 minutes or until cooked when tested with a skewer inserted into the centre of cupcake comes out clean.
Cool on wire rack. Serve or store in air tight container.

New Year Resolution

2007-12-02T11:07:00.000+08:00

It's Sabbath day today, it also marks the first Sunday of the last month of 2007. Time flies, I have been abondoning my webpage for about a year since I decided to become a full time cake decorating instructor. At times, it could be heartbreaking seeing the webpage and forum which I have been running since 2003 being set aside, untaken care of. However, my greatest joy at this point is probably being able to do something I really enjoy doing. Well, that's life I guess; you have to sacrifice something in order to achieve another.
***
Went to bed pretty early last night. Was terribly tired after a long day work. (Yes, I do occasionally need to work on Sunday). Hubby talked to me in my dream, 'I thought you said one of your 2008 new year's resolutions was to sleep less everyday, get up earlier and get more things done?' We both burst into laughter. Yes, indeed, it is my resolution to make more things happen in 2008.

2008 New Year's Resolutions

Sleep earlier and get up earlier (sounds easy but yet so difficult to achieve)
Spend more time with hubby and Jeriel
Have more luncheons with girl friends. No more work comes first.
Spend at least one hour daily on reading technical information on baking and cake decorating (not recipes)
Be consistent in planning the family's weekly menu so that I won't be clueless when doing marketing and grocery shopping
Try out new recipes instead of keep repeating the same dishes
Publish at least 3 recipes per week on website and/or blog
Bake/cook breakfast. No more store bought stuff.
Save enough money to treat mom and dad a good overseas trip
Attend good baking courses from well-known chefs. Life is a never ending process of learning.

How about yours? Good luck in planning your new year's resolutions.

Just a little more.......

2007-12-02T08:48:00.015+08:00

A Malaysian Chinese staying in the heart of the largest city of Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur with her husband, her little boy and housekeeper.

Jo was professionally trained as a Chemical & Process Engineer. After obtaining her Masters degree in the same discipline, she worked for the highly prospective oil and gas, and later the water and wastewater industries. She used to dedicate her off-work time in the kitchen experimenting recipes and sinfully stole time during her working hours to share her tried and tested recipes on her webpage and forum. She also took wedding cake orders, trying to recover at least a little of the ‘investment’ cost she put in to her experimenting and webpage hosting. Jo then realised nothing was more satisfying and rewarding than being able to share her cake baking and decorating knowledge with others. After years of searching guidance from God, she decided to pursue her dream as an instructor, making beautiful cakes and sharing her skill with others. Started as a self-taught baker with no qualification in pastry making and cake decorating art, Jo took up part time pastry courses from the Malaysian Institute of Baking, Taylor’s College/Academie de Toulouse France and was later trained by the Wilton training team and officially authorised as a Wilton Method Cake Decorating Instructor in 2006, not long after quiting her full time job as an engineer. In 2007, she received a small recognition from the Wilton Industries of Chicago for her achievement of having taught 200+ students within a year after becoming a Wilton Method Instructor.

As a part time instructor and a mother of a non-stop exploring toddler, Jo is not quite able to enjoy the luxurious time she used to have in the kitchen. She is trying very hard to steal time out to do the things she enjoys doing. When she is not babysitting Jeriel, not surfing the net for cake related topics, nor teaching, she can be found in her kitchen experimenting recipes or stirring woks and pots of scrumptious dishes for her family.

Jo had been missing her cyber community ever since she slowed down in her webpage updating. She also kiasu-ly (Malaysian slang of ‘afraid to lose’) thought that she would want to be part of the food blogosphere, and so the creation of this blog.

Jo likes sourcing for unusual sauces especially when she goes traveling. She also creates a variety of sauces from scratch as she belives sauce is the essence of a dish; it enhances, compliments and sometimes even alters the flavour of a dish. A sauce can be anything you want it to be. It may be something carefully prepared over hours or it can be as simple as things thrown in at the last minute.

Jo tries very hard to keep this blog going and hopes everybody who visits this blog will enjoy her sharing. God bless.

Jo can be contacted at joanneloo(at)time(dot)net(dot)my

Press Release:

Malaysian Women’s Weekly
Penita Page 1 & 2
Oriental Cuisine
Newicon Page 1 & 2
Graduates (still looking for the write-up)
Jelita Page 1 & 2
HerWorld Brides Page 1, 2 & 3
Female Brides June 2007
Female Brides Dec 2007
Bridal Trend Jan 2008 Page 1, 2 & 3
Bridal Trend August 2008
Flavours November 2008 Page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 & 6
The Edge Financial Daily 26 Feb 2009
ICCA Instructor of the Year 2008
Awarded the Century Club Award & 250 Club Award by Wilton Inc., USA
Wedding Cake Gallery

Saucing Around, Jo's Deli

Shark Fin Melon Soup

Passion Fruit & Almond Cupcakes with Passion Fruit Icing

Counting Down Christmas with .... (6) Another go of Gingerbread House

Counting Down Christmas with ........(5) The Christmas Cookies

Chinese New Year + Cupcakes = Something not quite ordinary

Vanilla Chiffon Cake with Fresh Fruit Toppings

Adjusting to a new lifestyle.......

Counting Down Christmas with ........(4) The Cookie Tree, Cookie Bouquet & Rice Crispie Treats

Peanut Butter Muffins

Steamed Moist Chocolate Cake

Counting Down Christmas with ...... (3) The Christmas Cupcakes

Counting Down Christmas with ...... (2) The Gingerbread House

Aubergines in Hot Bean Sauce (辣酱茄子）

Easy Sweet & Sour Chicken (简易糖醋鸡）

Dried Daylily & Black Fungus Fish Soup (金针木耳滚鱼汤）

Awards

Counting Down Christmas with ...... (1) The Preparation

Happy Mid Autumn Festival

Merdeka Open House 2008: Pan Mee

The Begining..........

Carrot & Raisin Cupcakes

Cake Decorators Unite!

Ham & Garlic Pinwheels

The Birthday Cakes

Counting down Jeriel's 3rd Birthday

Heart & Floral Theme Mad Hatter Cake

Jeriel's Snack Box: Wholemeal Bread with Cheddar Cheese Topping

Taiwanese Stewed Chicken, with a twist (三杯鸡）

Ham & Onion Soup

American Ginseng & Lotus Seed Soup (花旗蔘莲子瘦肉汤)

Mom's Fishy Patties (Fish & Wheat Germ Patties)

Girl's Baby Shower Cake

Happy Wedding, to a real nice couple

I am terribly sorry

Friendship Award

The Art of Boiling Soup

Shanghai Red Bean Pancake

Haw & Du Zhong Tea (山楂杜仲茶)

Shameless Self-Promotion: Recent Works in Magazines

Award and Tag

Special Feature: Nutritious Tonic Soups I

Yam Rice (Taro Rice 芋头饭)

Stir-Fried Pork Shreds with Szechuan Pickle (榨菜炒肉丝)

When time is not really on your side.......

Braised Pork Rib & Taro in Claypot

Dummy Wedding Cake, very not-Jo

'Beachy' Cupcakes

Jeriel's Snack Box - Mini Tuna & Spinach Quiche

I have been Tagged!

A Cake for Charity

Chinese New Year Series - Cornflake Cookies

Chinese New Year Series - Chicken Floss Rolls & Seaweed Crisps

A Simple Cake........

Braised Yee Mee in Claypot

Copyright of Recipe?

Jeriel's Snack Box - Jam Tarts

Patrick Star, the Spongebob's Friend

Quick & Easy Sushi

Jeriel's Snack Box - Sardine Puffs

Chinese New Year Series - Hong Kong Style Radish Cake

Jeriel's Snack Box - Butter Cupcakes with Blueberry Filling

New Year Resolution

Just a little more.......

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