Happy New Year 2010......

To all my readers and friends,

Hope this New Year brings you .....

Hopes for a bright future.

Affection & love.

Peace for the heart.

Prosperity that's unlimited.

Year round fun.

Happy New Year 2010

Happy Winter Soltice Festival 2009...

This morning I just realised it is Tang Yuen day again. I have been busy the last few days and I forgot to buy the ingredients to make my tang yuen (glutinous rice flour dumplings). I wanted to make some as I had miss making it last year. So off I went to Tesco and to my disappointment there were no glutinous flour and pandan leaves anymore in the big supermarket. Finally I decided to buy the ready made frozen ones which were just as nice with fillings of red beans, peanuts and my favorite black sesame. All I need is cook some syrup with rock sugar with a few slices of ginger and add in some pandan essence. I grind some glutinous rice and make some colored balls for added color but it is a bit hard.

Cooked glutinous rice dumplings......

Red bean fillings.........

Peanut fillings........

Sesame fillings.............

DIY Chicken Burger............

The moulded pattie...........

Prepared burger.............

Making your own burger is not too difficult. All you need is some minced meat of your choice, egg, chopped onions, breadcrumbs and a handful of spices for seasoning of your choice. I always make it in big portions and mould it and freeze it for later use. Today I made some with chicken thighs and breast meat. Here is to share..........

Ingredients: (makes 12 patties)

600 g minced chicken

1 big onion- chopped and fry in pan for a minute til soften.

1 egg

100 g breadcrumbs

1 tsp meat curry powder

1 tsp freshly grounded black pepper

1 tsp salt

Mixing the ingredients...............

Moulding the patties.........

Method:

Mix all the ingredients together with your hands in a bowl. Using a mould or your hands, shape into round patties of 1 1/2 cm thick. Shape it on top of a plastic sheet. Then place another plastic sheet on top of shaped burger. Fold to wrap and place in freezer and it will keep for a few weeks. When needed take it out of freezer and fry it in pan with a little oil til cook.(4-5 mins on each side) Sandwich with burger buns and some vege and dressings of your choice.

Breadcrumbs from leftover bread........

Wrap up with clean plastic sheets for storage in freezer.......

While In KL...............

Braving the traffic along the streets of Bukit Bintang.....

Christmas trees in The Garden............

Noel & Linda's wedding.........

Last weekend hubz and I attended a wedding celebration of his niece Linda to Noel in Sheraton KL. We had a great time meeting up with friends and relatives as well as filling our stomach to the brim with food. The next day was more food and shopping for me. The festive season and mega sales is here again and who is not tempted to buy and buy til we drop. At one point my plastic card was rejected which I later found out was due to their system breakdown and not my spending spree to the limit. That saves some money for my banker but a disappointment for me......

Here are the food we had @ Sheraton Imperial KL..........



Four hot combination of pumpkin rolls, salad prawns, stirfry top shells and spicy beancurd rolls.

Braised sharkfin soup with crabmeat......


Roasted crispy chicken with garlic sauce..........


Steamed Silver Garoupa fish with Nyonya sauce....


Sauteed Prawns with Butter...........



Braised Lin Chi Mushroom with Tao Kan and Broccoli...


Fried Rice with Assorted Meat..............


Sweetened Red Bean Paste with Lotus Seed.....


Pan fried pancake.......


Our Thank You gift from the lovely couple...the bridegroom is a handsome pilot........


Stirfried La Mian with Black pepper sauce @ dragon i KL............


Pork chop rice @ dragon i KL..................


Siau Lung Pau @ dragon i KL............

Din Tai Fung @ Midvalley, KL................


Pork chops with fried rice @ Din Tai Fung Midvalley.........

Beef La Mian @ Din Tai Fung, Midvalley.........

Super delicious dumplings with black sesame fillings in red bean paste @ Din Tai Fung, Midvalley............

Mee Rebus Cravings.......

Most Malaysians would have love this Malay dish as I do. Mee is the Malay word for noodles. Rebus means boiled. Actually the noodles (fresh yellow noodles) are just blanched and eaten with a spicy and sweet gravy with some garnishing of prawn crisps, hardboiled eggs, fried bean curd and bean sprouts. Lime juice is added to it before serving to add some tangy flavor to it.

Mee Rebus needs a lot of time to prepare so cooking it at home is once in a while when rice fails to interest any eaters. The secret of a good mee rebus lies in its gravy that consists of chilli paste, sweet potatoes, coconut milk, and prawns. Most outside bought mee rebus has a watery gravy with not much taste. So when I have a craving for it, I find time to cook it at home. Here is the recipe to share..

Ground ingredients:

15 dried chillies, seeded

20 shallots

4 cloves garlic

4 cm tumeric root

2 cm lengkuas

30 black peppercorns

2 tbsp preserved soya bean paste

Frying the chilli paste .........

Stirring the gravy..............

Blended ingredients:

1 packet (200ml) santan

800 g sweet potatoes-steamed

600 g small prawns- shelled

10 to 12 cups water or stock

Seasoning:

2 to 3 tsp salt

2 tsp sugar

2 tsp chicken or beef stock granules

Thickening:

1/2 tbsp rice flour

3 tbsp water

Garnishing ingredients:

4 to 5 hard boiled eggs quartered

3 stalks spring onion- chopped

5 green or red chilli- sliced

10 small limes- halved

300 g bean sprouts- talied and blanched

1 cucumber, shredded

3 pieces deepfried hard beancurd- sliced

prawn crisp- crushed lightly

Prawn crisps batter:

180 g plain flour

200 ml water

1/2 tsp salt

dash of pepper

1/2 tsp chicken granules

50g mashed prawns

1 kg yellow mee- blanched

6 tbsp oil

Method for gravy:

Heat oil in kuali and fry ground ingredients til fragrant and oil seperates. Pour in blended ingredients and bring to a slow boil. Lower heat and simmer for 5 to 10 mins. Add in seasoning and rice flour mixture to thicken the gravy. When it comes to a boil again, turn off heat. Reheat again just before serving.

Frying the prawn crisps.......

Method for Prawns Crisp:

Combine all the ingredients to a smooth paste. Heat oil in kuali til hot. Spoon a tablespoon of batter into hot oil. The batter will gradually spead out into a crispy piece.Fry til golden brown. Drain on absorbent paper and keep in air tight container before serving.

To serve, scard yellow mee and beansprouts. Drain and put on a plate. Add all the garnish ingredients on top and then pour hot soup gravy over .

Muffins in a Jiffy.........

When you talk of muffins you will think of Kenny Roger's muffins. You can make your own in the comfort of your own kitchen to be share out with friends for tea. Muffins taste so much like a normal butter cake and it does not need much effort to make. With all the ingredients that comes ready mix in many flavors in baking specialist shop you will have muffins on your table in a jiffy.

But let me give some good tips on how to make a soft muffin. Some muffins turn out to be hard and too dry. The reason lies in the skill in mixing the ingredients. To make a light and fluffy muffin you must mix together the dry ingredients like the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, or dried fruit mixture etc..etc... together first using a wire whisk. In another seperate bowl combine the eggs and milk. Then add in the dry ingredients to the eggs and milk mixture in small portions while stirring using a spatula or electric whisk on the slowest speed until just moistened. Over stirring is a no no as it will harden the mixture. I stir in my melted butter last using the folding method as I consider it too heavy for the wet mixture. Spoon into prepared muffin cups and bake in preheated oven at 200 degrees celcius for 20 minutes.

Here is how my blueberry muffins turns out using ready mix ingredients. All I have to add is eggs, milk and melted butter to the dry ingredients. The ones sis Karen bought for me from Batu Lanchang market taste good and its not too sweet. Will be testing out more flavors. You can also check out Erina's Cooking Island for your baking needs. All ready mix comes with all the dry ingredients of different flavors with us having to add in only eggs, milk and butter ourselves. The amount will be printed on the packaging.

Its a joy to see and smell my muffins rising up in the oven.............

5 minutes in the oven...................


10 minutes in the oven.............

15 minutes in the oven............

After 20 minutes...its ready to be served...............

Singapore Trip.......

Checking in on arrival @ Changi airport...........

This is the only trip that was not planned at all. After much persuasion from son H, my tickets were only bought at the airport counter less than 24 hours before my departure after a last minute decision to step foot on this shopping paradise since more than a decade ago. I did enjoy my short stay there and only regret I did not plan it earlier or I could have meet up with my Singaporean blogging buddies. Anyway I get to meet up with old friends and my niece Jennifer who is married to a Singaporean.

All we could do during the 3 days is taking a cab to Orchard road shopping paradise and shop til we drop. Window shopping is more likely the word as most of the things are expensive considering the high exchange rate of SGD 2.40 to RM 1.00. We did get to eat some good food. Transportation by cab was expensive but more convenient as we were short of time to travel MRT. What I really like about Singapore is that their toilets are really clean and their traffic is not as heavy as in Malaysia. Their food courts which they called food republic are nicely and neatly presented.

Besides shopping, food is not forgotten and here are some shots of the food we had.........

Our first lunch at DinTai Fung with this delicious sweet sour beancurd seaweed soup. The beancurd cut into strips were really soft that it melts in the mouth and the soup was not sour at all.

Prawn fried rice, nicely done with rich flavor of egg yolk.....


Cha cha mien....hand pulled noodles with pork

Pork tenderloin fried rice...meat is crispy on the outside but super soft and sweet on the inside.....


DTF Siau Loong Pau.....just as nice and even better than dragon i....

Din Tai Fung Siew Mai...............

St Louise pork ribs for meat lover son H.........


Son H trying out more dim sum at Crystal Jade HabourFront Walk in VivoCity. Working in the dim sum kitchen @ Canton i has make him a good judge of the best dim sum.

My one year old Singaporean grandnephew, Jesse........



Shopping in Bugis junction. Across the road is the street market where we can buy souvenir items and cheap goods. Just a whole day over here is not enough as there are so many shopping malls to explore all over the place.

This dancing fountain is a great place to relax........


Singapore's Cab ready to go at your doorsteps.........

Passing by Singapore flyer....do not have time to go for a ride......

Japanese food @ Tampopo Takashimaya before our departure for home.....deep fried wagyu beef with rice and miso soup (Wagyu Katsu set) @ 29.80 sgd.....


My black pig Katsu Don @ 22.50 sgd.......the pork slices were soft and tender as the black pig were specially bred.....


Sakura fried rice @12.80 sgd................

Our complimentary dessert..............

Note that in Singapore, the service charge is 10% and govt tax is 7%.....

More shopping on the way home..........

Charles & Keith handbag for myself..........

Irish Baileys for son R...................


Chocolates and Nougats for the sweet tooth............