hakka pig trotters

why?

My grandma cooked it every year for Chinese New Year, and then my mom took over the reigns to produce this so yummy dish and now that my mom is with the Lord, I have either the option of missing and hoping or I attempt to re-produce the dish!

success?

YUMMY!!!!!!! Of course as the saying goes, nothing beats mom's cooking, but I think my mom would be proud of me! The taste of sourness with sweet pork flavour is like the combination of bak kwa with kecap manis and drinking a cup of lemon juice! Haha... I tried to explain the taste but truly, if you are a huge fan of the confinement pig trotters dish, you would love this!

Ingredients

2 kg of pig trotters chopped into pieces (get the butcher to do this)

1 kg of white radish, peeled and chopped into big pieces (see the picture)

5 hard boiled eggs, deshelled

20 dried chillies, soaked for 1hr and drained

10 cloves of garlic, minced

3tbs of chinese cooking wine

5 tbs of light soya sauce

5 tbs of dark soya sauce

200g gula melaka

1 big bottle of white rice vinegar (add depending on ur preference of sourness)

salt and pepper to taste

Directions

1. Blanch the pig trotters in boiling water for 5 min

2. Dish up and rinse well

3. Heat up 1 tbs of cooking oil

4. Saute the garlic and dried chillies till fragrant

5. Add the pig trotters and fry till slightly brown

6. Add the light and dark soya sauce and wine and fry

7. Add in 2litres of water and bring to a boil

8. Add the gula melaka to dissolve

9. Pour in 300ml of white vinegar and add seasoning

10. Add in the radish and stir

11. Simmer for 1 hour

12. Put in the hard boil eggs and let the dish cool completely over the stove

13. Refrigerate for at least 2 days but make sure that all the radish, trotters and eggs are submerged in the sauce

14. When ready to eat, bring to boil and add more seasoning or vinegar till desired taste. I actually use up an entire bottle!

failure?

Mommy, you are not here to give me your comments :)

Gre-int cake

why?

A birthday cake for a special lady in my cell group. Also, LR expressed how much he really loves those japanese light and fluffy sponge cake. So I searched the internet and came across a japanese green tea cake. Sounds exciting enough for me try it! But why the name Gre-int? Refer to 'failure' below for a better explanation :(

  

success?

Sigh... it was a disaster, read below for the details.

failure?

The recipe calls for green tea powder which I could not find. However, I did not want to give up, so I went to the beverage section in the supermarket, hoping to find something similar to green tea powder. Fortunately, or unfortunately, I found a box of ice green tea drink mix in powder form and at that point it seemed like a really good substitute. I got home and followed the recipe religiously. When the cake was baking in the oven, I decided to reward myself with some ice green tea. I took out a sachet, mixed the contents with iced cold water and as I took a sip my face turned green. I simply could not describe what I just tasted. I picked up the box, checked the expiry date and that was fine, then I saw a small fine print of the words "mint" next to these words "Iced Green Tea". OH NO!! But confusion quickly turned to anger. Angry at the manufacturer! Where is the green tea? All I could taste was mint, mint and all mint! Seriously, there was absolutely no green tea at all. If anything, the manufacturers of this drink should change the label to "Iced Mint Tea". I was duped!!!!! And what was more disgusting was I had no idea how the cake would turn out! A mint cake?? Hence the name Gre-int. Sigh... needless to say, the taste of the cake was weird and I think my decorating muse left me too, I don't know what came over me to simply scatter silver balls around the cake. The cake looked like something out of twilight zone and it should stay there and never return!

O0ooooreo cheesecake

why?

I had another priviledge to bake a birthday cake!! I initially was going to bake a strawberry cheesecake, but the strawberries at the supermarket looked yellow and withered. I guess I would probably bake one when the season comes around!

success?

WOW! I mean I would definitely boast that THIS IS THE BEST cake I have ever made! Firstly, it looked so gorgeous, I learnt the technique of 'dripping' the chocolate on the surface of the cake from Nigella's FEAST and the mini oreos by the side added a touch of cuteness to the oh-so-sophisticated cake! Secondly, the texture of the cheesecake was soooo smooth and the bits of oreo cookies not just from the crust but the middle of the cake gave such a crunch to each bite. My only concern was that the cake would turn out too sweet, but the marriage of the oreos and cream cheese was perfect. I was really impressed at the taste and texture! Haha... I told LR, after we left the restaurant that I was supressing my immense excitment and joy the whole night. I wanted so badly to shamelessly boast but I guess I would have to settle for shamelessly declaring the wonders of this cake here!

Oreo Cheesecake

Ingredients

200g oreo cookies, with centre cream removed and crushed

100g unsalted butter, melted

55g soft brown sugar

910g cream cheese, softened at room temperature

250g white sugar

80ml whipping cream

15g plain flour

1 tsp of vanilla essence

4 eggs

160g oreo cookies, crushed with the centres

400ml sour cream

100ml whipping cream

50g white sugar

1 tsp of vanilla essence

100ml whipping cream

200g dark chocolate

1 tsp vanilla essence

mini oreo cookies for decorations

Directions

1. Combine 200g of oreo cookies, melted butter and brown sugar. Press firmly the mixture onto the bottom of a 10-inch spring form pan. Bake in a preheated oven for 5 min at 175 degrees.

2.Beat the cream cheese until smooth. Gradually mix in 250g of sugar, 80ml of whipping cream, flour and 1 tsp of vanilla. Beat in eggs, one at a time.

3.Pour half of the mixture on into the pan with cookie base, then gently sprinkle the 160g of oreos and carefully spoon on the top the remaining mixture.

4.Bake at 175 degrees for 45 min at the centre rack and at the bottom of the oven, place a roasting tray with water.

5.Mix the sour cream, whipping cream, sugar and vanilla essence. Remove the cake after 45min and carefully spread this mixture on the top and bake for a further 7 min.

6.Turn off the oven and allow the cake to 'rest' in the oven for 1 hour.

7.Combine the whipping cream and chocolate on low heat to melt then stir in the vanilla essence.

Using a spoon, spread the chocolate mixture in a horizontal direction then vertically to form a pattern as the picture above.

8.Decorate the cake with the mini oreos.

9.Refrigerate at least 8 hours before serving.

failure?

This cake failed in the affordable department! The cost of all the ingredients came up to just over $40 and I spent 4 hours making this cake. Gosh, if I ever had to sell this cake commercially, it is going to cost ALOT.

hainanese chicken chop

why?

I brought LR to Colbar once and from that day on, we started sharing this unexplainable love for this seemly old-fashion fusion dish. I decided to try to whip it up by 'feel'.

success?

This dish is terribly heart stopping. The potatoes and chicken are deep fried. But we can comfort ourselves to say the usual "once in a while, it is ok" and also we used white meat, chicken instead of red meat, pork! Any excuse to gorge! Haha

Ingredients

300g chicken / pork fillet

1 medium white onion, sliced

1 cup of frozen vegetables

2 bowls of breadcrumbs

1 egg

2 tbs of milk

salt and pepper

2 local potatoes cut to resemble french fries

4 tbs of tomato ketchup

1 tbs of sweet chilli sauce

3 tbs of sugar

1 tbs of light soya sauce

2 tsp of sesame oil

1 tsp of cooking wine

2 tsp of corn starch

some water to dilute, depending on how thick you want the gravy to be

Directions

1.Season the meat with salt and pepper.

2.Heat up cooking oil in a pot for deep frying. Check if the oil is ready by dropping some breadcrumbs. If it is ready the breadcrumbs should start 'bubbling'.

3. Deep fry the potatoes and remove on a kitchen paper to soak up the oil.

4. Mix the egg with milk. Dip the meat into the egg mixture, then the breadcrumbs. Repeat this again.

5.Place the battered meat to deep fry and turning only once when 1 side browns. Remove onto a kitchen paper to drain off excess oil.

6.Scoop 3 tbs of the oil into a frying pan and saute the onions till slightly brown. Do not overcook the onions, you want them to remain crunchy.

7.Throw in the frozen vegetables and fry for another minute.

8. Mix the ketchup, sweet chilli sauce, sugar, light soya sauce, sesame oil, cooking wine, cornstarch and some water together.

9.Pour into the frying pan, have some water on hand to dilute to the consistency of gravy you desire.

10.Place the french fries and battered meat onto the plate and spoon the gravy over to serve.

failure?

I would probably try pork. Chicken just isn't the same! The next time, I might add some white vinegar to add a slight tinge of sourness to the sauce.

low fat chocolate cake

japanese katsu rice

fish lasagne

french herb bread

minestrone soup

why?

Too many turkey bones which came from too many turkeys as a result of too many parties! It's either porridge or soup. We already had porridge twice from the stock, and I think it's time for variety within turkey bones of course. Such irony! Haha.. Oh and the bread was made because it rained :)

success?

I really didn't have a recipe and I pretty much threw into the stock whatever I could find in the kitchen coupled with vague past experiences of drinking minestrone. So what did I find and add?

Ingredients

Turkey bones

Celery, 4 stalks, diced

Carrots, 2 medium, diced

White onion, 1 large, diced

Pasta, given to me by Weilong / Jeffery from their Standard Chartered Marathon

Tinned whole tomatoes, squashed with a fork

Tomato ketchup, 3 tablespoons

Fresh rosemary and dill (from my balcony garden)

Salt and pepper to taste.

Basically, I just boiled the bones for about an hour, added the celery, carrots, onions and herbs to bring to a boil and lowered the heat to simmer for another hour. Next, add the tomatoes, ketchup and salt and pepper to taste. Finally, according to the time it takes the pasta to cook, add a cup in before serving. I sprinkled some parmesan cheese for richness.

failure?

LR's mom said it was not sour enough. I guess if I had fresh tomatoes I would add them in and that should help to make the soup more sourer. I checked allrecipes.com and most recipes suggest adding tomato paste as well.

turkey pie