strawberry salad

chicken cottage pie

why?

I wanted to prepare a dish that I could make the day before to serve at the luncheon to save me slogging over the kitchen and leaving me utterly exhausted on the day when my friends arrive. This dish also tastes better the next day after the chicken fillings are allowed to soak in the gravy at least over a day. I have made this dish so many times and it is something that my mom taught me that never fails to WOW my guests. Thanks mom!

failure?

I forgot that the gravy would be lessen with baking and being soaked up by the chicken and potato topping. So personally, I would have preferred the filling to have a wetter consistency.

success?

Never fails and I this dish is a keeper. Here's the recipe:

Chicken Cottage Pie (serves 10)

Ingredients

• 1 kg chicken breast, diced in bite size
  
• 2 cups of frozen vegetables
  
• 1 can of mushroom soup
  
• 1 can of button mushroom, sliced
  
• 3 tbs of mixed herbs
  
• 2 medium white onions, finely sliced
  
• 20 cloves of garlic, chopped
  
• salt and pepper to taste
  
• 10 US potatoes, peeled and cut into half
  
• 300g of butter
  
• 1 cup of full cream milk
  

Method

1. Fry the onions and garlic in some butter till fragrant.
2. Add in some pepper and mixed herbs.
3. Add in the chicken and fry till slightly browned.
4. Add in the mushrooms and frozen vegetables.
5. Mix the canned mushroom soup with 1 can full of water and 1/2 can full of milk, and pour in.
6. Bring to a boil then simmer for 15 min.
7. Spoon the fillings into the baking pan for your pie.
8. In a pot of boiling water, add a pinch of salt and the potatoes.
9. Once the potatoes are cooked, drain off the water.
10. Mash the potatoes with a fork and add the butter.
11. Add in milk 1 tablespoon at a time till smooth consistency is achieved.

apple crumble

peach and cheese salad

yam rice

why?

Just last week, I was hit with this unexplainable push of wanting to be more intentional in juggling work and home responsibilities has somehow inspired me to want to start preparing cheap, quick and of course delicious meals at home. I don't know, perhaps this could be a sign of my biological clock ticking? Somehow I always liken mothers to being SUPERwomen. How they need to juggle work, family and kitchen still boggles me. Can I ever be a SUPERwomen? Everyday when I get home from work, I simply can't see myself doing any housework or cooking after a long tiring day even though I really enjoy being in the kitchen! So perhaps this concern has prompted me to start with small? I don't have kids right now... so maybe I need to start with managing work and kitchen and somehow slowly I can see myself progressing to managing children as well. Sounds so tough! No wonder in Singapore, it's so easy for families to succumb to employing help. Wow... What a rant! Haha... ok, so back to yam rice. Totally fits the criteria of cheap, quick and delicious!

success?

This took about half an hour to prepare and cook, although I had to soak some of the ingredients in the morning before I left the house. So quick it is! Cheap? I probably spent about $8 to prepare a 4 person portion. So yeah it's cheap too! Delicious? Good enough for me and LR!

failure?

Nothing to complain about! So here's the recipe...

Yam Rice (serves 4 person)

Ingredients

500g yam, diced in 2 inch cubes

100g dried shrimp, soaked in warm water and drained

100g dried scallops, soaked in warm water and drained

8 dried mushrooms, soaked in warm water, sliced and drained

4 cloves of garlic, finely chopped

2 small shallots, finely sliced

2 tsp pepper

2 tsp sesame oil

2 cups of rice, washed and drained

4 cups of chicken stock

2 tbsp dark soya sauce

Serve with

small bunch of corriander

sweet dark sauce

Method

1. Heat up 2 tbsp of vegetable oil

2. Fry the garlic and shallots till fragrant

3. Add the yam and fry till slightly browned

4. Add in the shrimps, scallops and mushroom and fry till fragrant

5. Add sesame oil and pepper

6. Add in the rice and fry for 10min

7. Dish everything into a rice cooker

8. Add in 4 cups of chicken stock and cook accordingly to the rice cooker

9. When cooked, season with dark soy sauce and serve with corriander and sweet dark sauce

lady marmalade biscuits

why?

I was flipping through my Bake It recipe book and came across this recipe for thumbprint biscuits and I couldn't resist making these cute little jam filled cookies :)

success?

They tasted really light and almost had a texture of a macaroon, coupled with the marmalade filled centre to give the buttery biscuits a nice tang of citrus flavour with the right amount of bitterness. I would definately try this recipe again with other jams and possibly even chocolate!

failure?

They really didn't had the crunch of being a biscuit and they expanded so much! In future, I would reduce the pre-baked size of biscuits and maybe try the recipe with less baking powder and soda.

Lady Marmalade Biscuits (Makes about 45)

Ingredients

250g unsalted butter, softened

140g icing sugar, sifted

1 egg yolk, lightly beaten

90g cream cheese, softened

1.5 tsp of vanilla essence

zest of 1 whole orange

350g plain flour, sifted

1/4 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

6 tablespoons of marmalade

Directions

1.Preheat the oven to 180 degree celcius

2.Grease baking sheets

3.Cream the butter, icing sugar and egg yolk till pale and fluffy

4.Beat in the cream cheese, vanilla and orange zest till smooth

5.Combine the flour, baking powder and soda and salt with a wooden spoon

6.Until a soft dough firms up, set aside for 10min

7.Break off small pieces of dough to shape into balls

8.Flatten slightly and make a small indent in the centre of each with your thumb

9. Spoon in the marmalade into the small indent

10.Bake for 10-12mins

11.Cool for a few minutes on the tray then transfer to a wire rack

candied chicken wings

meatball noodles

why?

GBS organised a picnic last Saturday, and it was requested for me to prepare beehoon. To me frying beehoon would be automatically labelling myself as an Ah-Soh!! Of course, I wanted to prepare something close to the request of beehoon but still try something exciting :) So began to pour through all my cook books to find something to cook. I found this recipe in Nigella's FEAST book and as I read through how to prepare the dish I discovered that even when it comes to cooking, there can be an element of surprise and mystery! I bet you must be wondering as you look at the picture above and cannot help but ask "Where are the noodles?" Haha... that's the surprise! The noodles are actually mixed with minced meat to form the meatball noodles!

success?

This dish is so easy to prepare and it definitely got people asking where the noodles are! Yeah, this is really a 'cheap thrill' experience, but I did get a kick out of it! Haha.. It does look pretty as well, but somehow the noodles were not visible enough.

failure?

Somehow Nigella's recipes never turn out great for me at least. On my part, I knew that from my many experiences trying out her recipes, so I already knew I had to tweaked the recipe to add more spices and seasoning but the meatballs still ended tasting too bland for my liking. Yes, the recipe did call for Thai sweet chilli sauce to complement the meatballs, but it should not be bland on its own! And the meatballs could have turned out much worse if not for my added ingredients...Sigh, I wonder if she really did pen down the recipes accurately. I watch her on television and I am more incline to think she has not been as meticulous as she should be :(

saigon baguette

why?

I remembered the first time I had a sample of this sandwich with Rach, we knew we would be back! I brought LR to try it, and he proclaims this is the best sandwich he has ever eaten his whole life! Haha... and it only about time I try my hand at making it. What if the shop closes down? Would we need to fly all the way to Vietnam for our sandwich fix?

success?

LR said it tasted almost like the real thing! I knew I would never be able to produce the real thing because I don't have those ham that they use. I substituted with marinated pork and I used very good Pate that I bought from Cold Storage. On a scale of 1 to 10 of being like the real thing, I would rate it a 7.5 :) I included the recipe, do try!!

Saigon Baguette Recipe

Ingredients

Ciabatta bread (I bought mine from Giant at a steal! $1.70 for 4 small ones)

Mayonnaise

Pate De foie (I bought 100g from Cold storage)

Corriander

White vinegar

Sugar

2 Carrots

1 Radish

2 Cucumbers

200g Lean Pork

1 Lemon grass

Cornflour

Fish sauce

Method(Start at least 3 days before eating)

1. Peel the carrots and radish.

2.Slice the carrots, cucumbers and radish into 3 inch by half inch rectangular shaped.

3.Place the vegetables into an airtight container.

4.Mix 2 cups of white vinegar with 1 cup of sugar, then dilute with 1 cup of water.

5.Pour the mixture into the container with the vegetables and preserve for at least 3 days.

6.The day before, marinate the pork.

7. Slice the pork thinly and marinate with 3 tsp of cornflour, pounded lemon grass, 3 tsp of fish sauce, 1 tbs of sugar and 1 tsp of sesame oil. Cover with a cling wrap and sit overnight in the refridgerator.

8. Fry the pork with some vegetable oil and set aside.

9. Toast the bread and slice into half.

10.Spread some pate, then mayo, put in the pork, pickled vegetables and corriander.

11.Drizzle some fish sauce over the sandwich and you are good to go!!

failure?

The real deal doesn't use pork, but 3 different kinds of ham. Maybe next time, I'll go get some salami and try. I know it isn't regular ham, because the pork taste is much stronger than the common ham we eat.

teochew mui

stewed mushrooms with oysters

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