Divalicious

More More More!

2009-04-28T07:51:00.000-07:00

I had the privilege to design safari themed cupcakes for a dear friend's baby boy 1st birthday. You should have seen his excited legs kicking when he saw the cupcakes.

My Favourite.

The Crowd's Favourite.

My largest order ever.

Made these for a very special woman in my life.... and she's none other than Yahlan! She's one amazing woman who has made a tremendous impact in my life. It was her birthday the past Sat so I decided to make her a little something. :)

Mother's Day is comin' up! Care to surprise your mum with custom designed cupcakes? Contact me at xinyingyau@hotmail.com! :)

I'm back.

2009-03-22T23:05:00.000-07:00

I'm back. And I know it ain't exactly the most appropriate first dish to rave about since my diasppearance, but I think it's been given far too little credit than it should receive. And it's none other than a dish we commonly fight over in my house - yes, pig's stomach soup.

It's one which usually gathers people on both extreme ends - you either love it or hate it. My mum makes the best soup and my entire clan can vouch for that. It's intensely peppery from the generous amounts of black peppercorns and soothingly aromatic from the hours it spends over the fire. Not only is the soup deliciously tasty, the pig's stomach is tender and has an irresistable crunch to it. My mum never fails to tell me how many packets of salt she'll use to scrub and massage the intestine, so much so that the "scrub" is sufficient to flavour the intestine without seasoning it further. This is a dish I've yet to master, but I will!

A true delicacy.

My first pasta dish after discovering the wonders of melting anchovies in hot olive oil. Heat up your pan with olive oil, throw in a few fillet of anchovies till it's melted, add in chopped garlic and chilli, return your al dente pasta to the pan and toss. Top it with oven roasted chicken breast and a poached egg. Yums.

Just barely a week ago, a good friend of mine wanted to surprise her cell group with cupcakes and requested that I created something for her. I was really honored and greatly appreciative as she left the deisgn of the cupcakes entirely to me, believing that I will not fail her. With such a supportive friend, I kicked into full gear and made her these sheeps.... :)

7 hours of moulding in an air conditioned room, I was greeted with 30 smiling sheeps...

Having always been interested in cookies, I signed up with The Patiessier for their cucpakes and cookies class. And my amateur creations...

The man and his rib.

Just a word of advice to all who are looking for classes to sign up, be it cooking or baking, if the lesson outline is not given, call up the company and ask if it's suitable for you. Questions like, if I have no prior baking/cooking knowledge, it is still suitable for me? etc.

A valentine's gift.

The Girliest Thing

2009-01-20T08:44:00.000-08:00

It was my cousin's 21st birthday and I was tasked to provide cupcakes as dessert. Having read up on a recipe for chocolate ganache, I was more than happy for the opportunity to try it out.

So I woke up really excited, my mind filled with pictures of how I wanted my cupcakes to turn out. After a total of 7 hours and a really bad back, I was really proud of how everything turned out and they're really the girliest things I've ever done :)

This had to be my biggest cupcake project ever, a total of SIXTY cupcakes and just a pair of hands. I had to sacrifice some calories to make sure the cupcakes were decent. That accounts for the 1 missing cupcake :P

Glazed with Chocolate Ganache.

If you were trying to sell your house, make a batch of these and let it sit in the living room, the dense chocolate aroma will definitely be a plus point. These were made with 73% cocoa chocolates. Dark is the way to go.... *yum*

Just frosting these pinkies made my day. They're the happiest and prettiest things to look at, don't you think? The people who invented piping tips were geniuses...

Mummy: You have to make different patterns!

I took 3 hours to come up with just 5 designs....Well, most of time went to experimenting with the near 15 tips I have. Thank God for disposable piping bags, they're truly a gift from heaven.

Verdict: Everybody loved the cupcakes, just that the birthday girl commented:

WHY ARE THEY PINK?????

Chocolate Ganache - Adapted from Cupcake Bakeshop

9 ounces strong dark chocolate, 73% cocoa

1 cup heavy cream

1 tsp vanilla

1 tbsp butter, room temperature

2 cups icing sugar

1. Chop chocolates and transfer into a heat proof bowl.

2. Heat cream until bubbles form around the edge of the pan, pour cream over the chocolate.

3. Let sit for 1 minute then stir until combined.

4. Add butter and vanilla and stir until combined.

5. Transfer to the bowl of an electric mixture and let cool for 10 minutes.

6. Sift powdered sugar into the mixture and beat until combined.

7. Continue to beat with an electric mixer until lighter in color and creamy.

Pomegranate Cosmopolitan

2009-01-10T08:16:00.000-08:00

I'm a big fan of pomegranates. A huge part of it is actually attributed to it's interestingly molecular interior which makes cracking the fruit open and getting its seeds out a whole lot of fun. I use to think eating the fruit was more of a fun thing to do rather than for its nutritional value. How each seed pops in your mouth and the burst of sweetness... Oooooh....makes me feel like having one now.

But a recent search on Wikipedia revealed a lot more interesting facts about this intricately structured fruit:

1. "pomegranate" derives from Latin pomum ("apple") and granatus ("seeded")

2. The seeds have a name - arils.

3. It's a good source of Vitamin C and B5. Pomegranate juice provides about 16% of an adult's daily Vitamin C requirement per 100 ml serving.

4. Last year alone, 17 clinical trials were underway to examine the effect of pomegranate juice consumption on 9 diseases, including diabetes and your common cold!

5. In Arabic countries, pomegranates are used to cure mouth ulcers! Not bad for a fun fruit to eat huh?!

6. Pomegranate ('rimmôn') is mentioned in the Bible as one of the seven fruits/plants that Israel was blessed with.

I'm gonna be drinking more of this!

And so I was cupcake-recipe surfing and I chanced upon a Pomegranate Cosmopolitan Cupcake recipe and I knew I had to try it. A friend's birthday was coming up - a perfect occasion for some Pom Cosmo!

Excited, I woke up really early to start work on my Pomegranate Molasses, which is basically a pomegranate syrup reduced from its juice, sugar and lemon juice. I baked a simple lime cupcake, whipped up a batch of pomegranate-vodka cream cheese frosting and topped it up with a dollop of pomegranate molasses to give it an extra "pommy" boost, served up with a wedge of lime.

Here's how it looks!

I'm not a fan of sweet stuff but I actually finished the whole lot of frosting.

Pomegranate Molasses

4 cups Pomegranate Juice
1/2 cup Sugar
1/4 cup Lemon Juice

In a large, uncovered saucepan, heat pomegranate juice, sugar, and lemon juice on medium high until the sugar has dissolved and the juice simmers.

Reduce heat just enough to maintain a simmer. Simmer for about an hour, or until the juice has a syrupy consistency, and has reduced to 1 to 1 1/4 cups. Pour out into a jar. Let cool. Store chilled in the refrigerator.

If you want your pomegranate molasses to be sweeter, add more sugar to taste, while you are cooking it.

Pomegranate-Vodka Cream Cheese Frosting

225g Cream Cheese
225g Unsalted Butter
1 Vanilla Bean Pod, cut lengthwise
3 tbsp Pomegranate Molasses
3 tsp Vodka, to taste
2 cups Icing Sugar, sifted

Cream the butter and cream cheese together in an electric mixer.

Add Pom Molasses and vodka, taste.

Add vanilla beans to icing sugar.

Gradually add icing sugar sugar/vanilla bean mixture to bowl. Scrape down the bowl as needed.

The Feeding of 40

2009-01-05T06:42:00.000-08:00

My largest feasting project for 2008.

Menu:

Roasted Pumpkin Soup

Grilled Chicken with Pesto on Baguette

Slow Oven Roasted Beef Fillet with Tomato Relish

Roasted Vegetable Dip with Breadsticks & Chips

Prawn Cocktail with Avocado Salad and Tomato Basil Dressing

Butter Rice with Raisins & Almond Flakes

Deep-fried Chicken Fillet with Orange Sauce

Spiced Dory Fillet with Mango Salsa

Strawberry Cheese Cake

The Feast.

To feed 40 people.

Fell in love with pumpkin soup from the first time I drank it. Roasted pumpkins gives the soup an additional sweetness because of the caramelisation.

The butter rice was a major hit. Surprising cos it required the least effort.

Spiced Dory Fillet with Mango Salsa.

Slow Oven Roasted Beef Fillet with Tomato Relish.

A fillet of striploin, sealed with spices, then into the oven at 100 degrees for an hour.What you get is a perfect hue of pink all throughout and a lightly roasted crust.

Roasted Pumpkin Soup

1 peeled, seeded butternut pumpkin cut in big dice

1 chopped leek

1 chopped onion

3 cloves of garlic

2tbsp butter

Few springs of fresh thyme

1.5l chicken stock

250ml cream

salt

pepper

1. Lay the diced pumpkin on a oven tray and drizzle with olive oil. Roast at 200 degrees for about 30 mins till it's brown and caramelised.

2. In a large pot, melt the butter. Add the onions, garlic, thyme and leek. Cook till onions are almost translucent. Add the pumpkin to the pot and cook gently for 5 mins.

3. Add the chicken stock and cook with a bit of seasoning for about 30 mins.

4. Remove the springs of thyme and blend the soup. Strain if necessary and bring to boil again, adding the cream.

5. Check the seasoning and serve with croutons and a dash of cream.

If you don't have an oven, you can skip the roasting and still serve up a bowl of deliciously sweet pumpkin soup.

Turning 25

2009-01-05T03:16:00.000-08:00

Allow me to shout about something. It's probably one of the few things that I keep talking about even days after I received it. I'm blown away by the creativity and the heart and effort that went into it.

Presenting to you:

My very own MENU

They sure know what makes my heart tick :P

Menu drawn up just for me on my birthday :)

Check this out! Everyone is represented by a dish and its descriptions are actually their birthday wishes for me! How creative is that?!

Haha... the plan was that I could call up anyone on the menu and request for a delivery (of their dish) on my birthday!

This is done by a group of beautiful people, and they're none other than my cg, S35!

Never underestimate these young chaps. They're meant for great things :)

On the 26th of December, I had one of the most memorable dining experiences of the year - at Forlino, a place that I've been wanting to visit for a long time. Getting to Forlino was like finding my way through a maze. It could get a little intimidating if you're going there for the first time, but I must say that walk through the maze got my heart a little more expectant and excited.

What greeted me at the reception was a group of friendly staff who promptly brought me to my seat. The restaurant has a seating capacity of about 20 tables with 2 private rooms if you have a big group. After showing me to my seat, another intricately designed stool was promptly placed beside me for my bag. I was impressed.

As I was the last one seated, our waiter handed me the menu and formally introduced the specials of the night. He was quite a humourous guy and made ordering a pleasant experience.

An intricately hanging lamp shade hung over every table and created a warm soothing ambience, perfect for a night of romance. And did I mention the spectacular view of the Marina Bay??

Insalata "21"
Green Salad "21" $21

It is a salad of 21 different greens, refreshing and perfect as an appetising starter.

Capesante Gratinate alle Erbe e Salsa all'Arneis

Scallops on the Shell with "Arneis" Wine $32

Piatto di Salumi e Formaggi dalla Nostra Cantina

Home Cured Meat & Cheese Platter $26

Batsua' di Piedino con Costine e Salamino di Maiale

Pork Ribs with Grilled Sausage and Deep Fried Trotter $42

Fritto Misto di Pesce e Verdure

Deep-fried Selection of Baby Fish & Seafood with Vegetable Matchsticks $45

Ravioli de Aragosta, Capesante e Gamberi al Sugo di Finferli

Lobster, Scallop & Prawn Ravioli with Chanterelle Mushrooms $42

I adore this dish. Ravioli is of the right thickness and cooked to perfection. I've done my own raviolis before and it came out either broken or wrinkly. The texture was firm, slightly bouncy but not floury at all.

Costolette di Agnello "Scottadito" alla Moda di Mia Mamma

"Mamma Forlino" Lamp Chops $45

These chops are so tender, my knife literally just slid through the meat effortlessly. The first time I didn't have to saw my chops.

And a pleasant surprise! A dark chocolate birthday cake on the house.

It was then re-plated for the five of us.
It's all about presentation isn't it?

Not only was food fabulous and beautiful, the place was elegant and chic. But above all, service was impeccable. Simply flawless and I couldn't ask for more.

Cupcake Madness

2008-12-22T04:58:00.000-08:00

It all began one lazy Sunday afternoon when it was the regular mahjong sessions for the mums and dads and I went over to my aunt's place for dinner. Who would have known that what was suppose to be a casual conversation with my 3rd aunt unleased my desire to bake. I had an insightful peek into the meticulously complex world of baking and that sparked a wave of baking in my house.

I've never been best friends with flour, butter and sugar. Somehow this combination seems almost impossible to handle. I remember my first cupcake baking experience resulted in a sunken valley, which I sheepishly tried to hide with the help of buttercream. So when I related that incident to my aunt, she generously shared her fail-proof cupcake recipe and imparted her touch of magic to me.

Equipped and excited, I was ready to conquer the trio again. A game of badminton with my cell group provided the perfect opportunity. After an hour and a half, along with my 2nd aunt who came by my house....

I made my first batch of Chocolate Banana Cupcakes!

You don't know how esctatic I was when I saw my cupcakes rise....

From then on, my Teka oven and Kenwood mixer became my best friends. Now I know why people can bake all day, it's truly therapeutic! The only thing I had to get pass was the monotony of weighing :P And so I went on a baking spree....

Apple Cinammon

I had 3 at one go...

Oreo Chocolate

Orange Almond . Apple Cinammon

Orange Chocolate with Marsh

Sunken Marsh has never looked prettier :)

Chocolate Chip with Marsh & Skittles

The happiest looking cupcakes

And we did something fun for dinner tonight! It was a snack I got from Nigella's TV show and she was doing TV dinners. It's a simple pan-fried mozerella sandwich. Nothing elaborate and fancy, but it was a whole lot of fun eating it!

My sister's first attempt.

And then my mum decided to join in the fun.

An attempt at the Guinness Book of World Records.

I wasn't gonna lose to her.

2008-12-15T05:23:00.000-08:00

Met up my uni mates for lunch! To think we could gather a crowd of 4 on a weekday lunch at Vivo! These are the first people I met when I first stepped into SMU and they made OBS and school really really fun. Just writing this brought back so many memories of our "funnest" project presentations during our first year in school.

Well, the reason for lunch was cos Shanise will be heading to London for work and we're trying to catch her one more time before she flies. Lunch was at one of my favourite places - Sushi Tei. I personally think it's one of the few places that serve good japanese food at affordable prices. It's a by default place if I can't think of anywhere to go.

The beginning of a very long lunch.

Cheryl had the steak sushi. If you haven't tried this before, order it! The beef is tender and the mushroom is tasty.

Mango King - the love of my life.
Deep Fried King Prawns with Jap Rice and a layer of Sweet Mango topped with Ebiko

Cha Soba with Salmon.
The noodles are springy and cooked to my liking. Perfect for a hot weather.

Then we decided to head elsewhere for dessert and coffee and came across this beautiful cafe.

Check out the menu. It's so english cottage-y.

The shelves of pastries and cakes.I'm attracted to all things beautiful.

Look at the teapot, doesn't it make tea-drinking so much happier?
As much as the place was gorgeous, the desserts were a big letdown. A pity I think.

The following day, I had my first student!

Mission: To recreate the bacon quiche I learnt in Palate

Well, I gathered that since I did the quiche myself during class, recreating it shouldn't be a problem at all. Even though I've had some "interesting" experiences with baking, I was fairly confident that nothing could go wrong.

By the time we made our dough and tried rolling it, my confident slowly crept away. What was suppose to be a crunchy tasty tart base turned out to be flaky compressed piece of flour. Yet another "interesting" experience added to my world of baking.

Even though the tart base wasn't something to look forward to, we were comforted by the toppings that went in.

My excited student - Rachel.

Mushroom and Ham Quiche

Bacon and Asparagus Quiche

Though we can't make it tasty, the least we could do was to make it gorgeous.

Oh! I received my first birthday present. An early surprise from Mingzhen and Cherry - a fuschia pink silicon oven mitten. It sure did brightened my day :)

Just in time to replace my tired and burnt out cloth mittens.

That's one more reason to master baking.

A Weekendfull

2008-12-09T05:06:00.001-08:00

It's one of those weekends where it just revolves around food, food and more food. So, I signed up for another one of Chef Eric Low's class cos the menu had something I wanted to learn. PESTO! It's never been something I would order if it were on the menu, but so many people have raved about it, I settled that it was time to get into the greens. It isn't something particularly pretty at first sight (green goo doesn't appeal to me), but I was pleasantly surprised at how tasty fresh made ones are. I'll talk as we go along!

Menu:

Prawn Cocktail with Avocado and Thousand Island Dressing

Fish Fillet with Pesto Sauce

Rosemary Banana Tart Tartin

If you're thinking of serving an appetizer that's simple and tasty, this would be it. The only difference is that the 1000 island dressing is not store-bought but home made! Trust me, homemade ones are far better and a lot more healthier. If you're a salad person, make a bottle of two of these during the weekend and you can store this easily for the rest of the week! It takes 5 mins.

Here's the star of the day. Fish fillet with pesto sauce, served with baked potato wedges and stew vegetables. That green goo on the fish is a burst of flavours. It's a perfect combination of sweet Italian basil leaves, pine nuts, garlic, parmesan cheese and extra virgin olive oil. I absolutely adore it with the pan fried fillet. It's heavenly with the wedges as well. Pesto generally goes well with any seafood or white meats, or even a spread for toast.

Then we ended the lesson with bananas! Molecular gastronomy discovered the beautiful pairing of bananas and rosemary, hence the invention of this dessert. Tart tartin is a french term for caramelised apple tart that's served upside down. I love this banana version. I'm not a fan of desserts, but this was good. The warm caramelised bananas went extremely well with the cold vanilla ice cream - the perfect comfort dessert.

The only thing that didn't go well with me was the puff pastry. It's a ready rolled frozen pastry from carrefour. It was a little hard and didn't provide any crunch to the tart at all. Wait till I go on to my dessert lesson at Palate, I'll be making my own pastry!

Then barely 2 hours later, I went for my 5th module at Palate Sensations! I know this sounds crazy, but I'm enjoying every minute of this. Would be even more fun if I had friends with me :) I casually left my camera in the car so I don't have any pictures of the class, but we made our own pasta!

Menu:

Goat Cheese and Parmesan Ravioli with Pesto Sauce

Fresh Linguini Pasta with Prawn and Tomato Sauce

Penne Al Aglio Olio

Mushroom and Parmesan Risotto

By the end of the class, I was sure I wouldn't eat pasta for a week. Not that the food wasn't good, but that's FOUR pasta dishes in 3 hours! I loved the ravioli and risotto. We filled our raviolis with roasted red bell peppers and feta cheese and pounded our pesto sauce the traditional way. Yup, pesto again, but this time, it was a pesto cream with pasta, as some would say, pesto was truly made for pasta.

Then on Sunday, my 2nd aunt invited us over for dinner, well just a casual dinner and a game of mahjong for the regulars, or so she said. When we reached, she greeted us with this...

Lime Juice with Gula Melaka.

If you have friends coming over, prepare this and everyone would love you, especially on a hot humid day. I had 3 cups.

And then she went on to do this...

Can you think of what she's preparing for dinner? By the way, the un-peeled crab pincer left sitting on the plate never made it to her hands.

Lavish.
Yup, it was one of the ingredients she prepared for POPIAH!!!

Look at that spread. If the popiah auntie had all these ingredients in her hawker stall, I'll be her regular patron.

My 1st aunt, the first to lay her hands on the spread. By the way, she's an amazing cook as well. Now you know why I'll never be thin.

This was quite a funny shot cos she paused for quite a while to think what to add to her popiah. Talking about being overwhelmed.

My beautiful popiah. haha

This is the generously generous host of the night.

Her mission in life is to ensure no one goes hungry. Not only will she feed you, she'll give you enough to take home for next day's lunch.

Check out her popiah. I feel the stress of Mr. Popiah Skin.

Then on monday, public holiday! My mum use to always complain how much time she spends in the kitchen preparing lunch and then dinner and end up not having time for anything else. And since lunch was settled (remember we had 3rd aunt's popiah take home), I decided to whip up what I've just learnt! A quick blend of pesto, cooked spaghetti, pan fried some fish fillet and tiger prawns, and dinner was ready in 30 mins!

Spaghetti with Pesto Cream topped with Pan Fried Fish Fillet and Prawns on Pesto

You can always have it gorgeous.

Pesto Sauce

250ml Extra Virgin Olive Oil (EVOO)

4 cloves Garlic

100g Fresh Grounded Parmesan Cheese

100g Pine Nuts, toasted for 5 mins at 150 degree celcius

30g Italian Basil Leaves

1tsp Salt

In a food processor, combine garlic, cheese, nuts and basil leaves together. Blend, adding the EVOO in at a trickle until fully incorporated. Season with salt and allow to rest for an hour before using.

You can always vary the amounts of pine nuts and cheese according to your liking.

Cover your pesto with EVOO to keep its green-ness.

The important thing is to make sure you have a sharp blade that will blitz the basil quickly without it becoming warm, it it will begin to ferment and taste bitter. The same goes for the nuts, if you overwork them, they become sweaty.

Blend the basil leaves at low speed to prevent it from turning into a dark olive green.

Eggilicious

2008-12-07T05:05:00.000-08:00

It was a week of eggs! haha...2 weeks ago actually. Eggs are my absolute favourites and I can have them anytime of the day. Nature designed eggs as the food source for developing chicks. But it also became an excellent food for us humans because of their high protein content, low cost and ready availability. I love its versatility. You can either serve it alone or as an ingredient in almost every cuisine under the sun. A quick eat I always have is a quick 2 min microwaved whisked egg. The aroma is simply heavenly.

How do you know if an egg is fresh? The most common way we know is to see if we could pick up with yolk with our fingers, thanks to Seng Choong for the tip. Another way is to see how runny the whites are. The fresher the egg, the firmer the whites. Also, notice the bubble in the membrane whenever we crack open the shell? The bigger the bubble in the membrane, the less fresh the egg. Proper storage of your eggs help to maintain its quality. Eggs should be stored at temperatures below 4 degree celcius and at a relative humidity of 70 to 80 percent. Eggs will age more during one day at room temperature than they will during one week under proper refrigeration. So now you know! Eggs stay happy in the fridge :)

So, lesson 4 was on eggs. And more eggs. It was the most eggy day I've ever had. First up! We did poached eggs. The trick to making perfect poached eggs is to grasp the proportion between water and vinegar. Yup! it's VINEGAR. Bring water to boil, add salt and vinegar, then crack an egg into a cup and carefully add it to the water. It's approximately 4tbsp of vinegar to 500ml of water. It's quite amusing to watch as the egg white envelops round the yolk (with a little help from Mr. Spoon) and forms a pretty little treasure bag. If your egg white become scattered when it hits the water, you need more vinegar. But if you add too much of it, your egg will taste sour. So balance is the key...

This is Hung. He's become our frontline warrior. Basically he gets to do everything first, commits all the mistakes and we learn from him. Hung, it's been really helpful. Thanks for reminding us it's important to remember the salt and pepper. Oh, but I must add, he made the most beautiful poached egg among the 3 of us (the first egg to ever go into the pot...) *Clap Clap*

Presenting to you....Tania, our dearest Egg "Opener", which to date, Francois is still teasing her about. While most of us cracks our eggs, she opens them :)

Our fluffy clouds of poached eggs. The runny yolks are what makes me salivate. We lower the eggs into a bowl of ice water to stop the cooking and also to store it for future use. It comes in handy if you're cooking eggs for a whole bunch of people. This can be done an hour or two before, and then reheated in boiling water for about a min before serving.

Omelette! You can have almost ANY filling you want, anything you think can go with eggs. The key to a beautiful omelette is your ability to work the pan with your spatula and roll the omelette to envelop all its toppings without it breaking.

It comes with practise. It turned out that Hung's omelette was the most pretty looking one. Mine isn't even worth taking a picture of. Tania's was LOADED with good stuff. Oh I forgot to mention, our frontline warrior had the prettiest looking omelette... BUT he forgot salt and pepper. Well, we learn that sometimes looks are not everything...

It's serious business here.

We moved on to making egg benedictes. I remember watching The Prince and I and how the butler was cooking egg benedicte on a portable stove in a hostel room. Anyway, egg benedicte is typically poached egg serve on a toasted bagel with meat and greens, topped with hollandaise sauce. So here we are, making our own hollandaise sauce and as with most of the sauces we made, involved whisking...

and more whisking...

and more whisking....

Trust me, the smile was not a true reflection of the condition of my hands.

The therapeutic part

I need to get my hands on one of these. You can torch anyone... anything I mean.

My beautifully torched Egg Benedicte

Finally, we did a scrambled egg with smoked salmon. I always thought scrambled eggs was made with whisked eggs, but apparently the yolks are only beaten together with the white when it hits the pan. You can see the shreds of whites among the yellow. To make your scrambles a little smoother, add a splash of cream :)

For the first time, I had too much eggs.

Power Week

2008-11-24T05:04:00.001-08:00

Last week was probably one of the most eventful week I've had in a long long time. Asia Conference was just phenomenal. The message wasn't particularly one that we've never heard of before but it clicked this time. One person can make a difference. The power of one isn't just for the intelligent or talented, but simply for the willing. As long as you're willing to give, your love and giving goes a long way.

Well, I hope this blog's been giving you an appetite! I had a blast last Saturday with 2 back to back sessions of non-stop aroma! Mummy and 1st aunt have been attending a number of Chef Eric Low's cooking classes and everytime they never fail to give praises. Also known as Chef Yong, he gives demo classes at community centres on particular weekday nights and weekends, empowering the regular women and housewives to create restaurant-salivating dishes at the comfort of their own homes. What he says of his profession: He Cooks, Hosts, Educates and Feeds people about food, ie. CHEF.

And so, I finally signed up for one of his classes at Cairnhill, though a little apprehensive about what to expect, but I must say, I enjoyed myself! Though it wasn't hands on, but I thought it was sufficient for me to duplicate it at home. The good thing about going for classes as opposed to just reading a recipe off a cookbook, is that you get to see the cooking process. It's crucial as most cookbooks omit little but key steps that transform your dish from being just ordinary to spectacular.

Menu:

Baba Ghanoush on Toast with Fresh Prawns

Osso Bucco

Molten Lava Chocolate Cake with Vanilla Ice Cream

Chef Yong at work.

The key ingredient to Baba Ghanoush. These shrivelled up, mushy looking giants will probably not attract you, but I simply love the taste of it.

Baba Ghanoush on Toast with Fresh Prawns

Most of us are familiar with Hummus when it comes to Middle Eastern dips, but its cousin, Baba Ghanoush is an equally popular appetizer and dip in the Middle East too! You could serve alongside pita bread, raw vegetable sticks and even use it as a sandwich spread. I thought the garlic was a little overpowering though, would have enjoyed it more if it tasted more of eggplant. To give it a more vibrant colour, you could replace the prawns with tiger prawns, which has a beautiful deep orange colour and a firmer texture, which also helps to balance out the goo-iness of the Baba Ghanoush.

Osso Bucco

This is an Italian dish that traditionally uses veal shanks because of the long simmering time. The one we had was replaced with pork ribs because of the time factor. I think I would love an oxtail version. Served on a bed of spinach and chickpeas, finished off with a sprinkle of parsley and lemon zest.

Molten Lava Chocolate Cake with Vanilla Ice Cream

This is a fail proof dessert. IF you manage to do it successfully, you serve it as molten lava chocolate cake, but if you miss it by a minute or two, you can serve it as chocolate pudding, but if you happen to need the toilet halfway through baking and overbakes it, you've just made for your guests some chocolate brownies.

Just when you think that's mouth-watering enough for the day.... I had part 2 of the day! As you can imagine, after a long week of chiong-ing in Asia Conference, I was sleep deprived and a little groggy when I went for lesson. But it was the most enjoyable class I've had so far! Probably cos everyone's getting to know each other, and my cooking buddies are the funnest people around!

Menu:

Braised Chicken in Red Wine with Mushrooms

Mashed Potatoes

Quiche Lorraine

Our pot of braised chicken in red wine bubbling away. I'm not really a fan of chicken (it's actually at the bottom of my list of favourite meats), so I wasn't particularly excited about this. But the red wine sauce was flavourful and really tasty. I would consider substituing the chicken with veal or beef shanks.

As you can see, I was the only one not paying attention...

Our tarts undergoing the test of heat. Can you what's sitting inside our tarts? It's bags of baking beans that helps to prevent our tart base from rising and keeps it flat. Brilliant. In case you think what a waste, the beans are reused.

Finally, our tarts are filled with bacon and cream then topped with parmesan cheese.

All ready for devouring.

Not bad for a first timer eh. Daddy said it was good, which is a rare compliment.

Homemade Noodles

2008-11-18T05:04:00.000-08:00

This is as random as it gets. But I've got to shout about these noodles. Two sundays ago, I went back to jurong west for service and everytime I go back there, I have craving for one thing: Dry Homemade Noodles at Best Coffee Pte Ltd. Located at the intersection of Jurong West St 91 & St 92, this coffee shop brings back memories from days when Jurong West was the weekly hangout place before and after service and also SOT days. We use to da bao this as early as 8am in the morning, slurp it down with satisfaction before the SOT clap sounded.

This dry homemade ban mian never fails to put a smile on my face. I can't recall who introduced me to this but once I ate it, I was hooked. The owner of the stall would cook this the regular way, in a broth with the noodles, pork, vegetables and egg. Once it's done, he drains away the soup and serves it with a homemade secret recipe sauce, which is the highlight of the dish. The luscious rich dark soy based sauce accompanied with sambal chilli perfectly balances with the lightly seasoned handmade noodles. The noodles are cooked to my liking, firm but without the floury taste.

When it first comes. Littered with generous amounts of ba chor, shredded mushroon, fried ikan billis and a poached egg.

Look at that gorgeous colour.

The ba chor is well seasoned, tasty and peppery.

Try it.

Lesson 2!

2008-11-17T05:02:00.000-08:00

Lesson 2!

Menu:

Creamy Pumpkin Soup

Potato Gratin

Grilled Sirloin Steak

Sauces: Black Pepper, Bearnaise, Shallot Red Wine and Tartare

Lesson 2 was much more hands on with a lot more stove-work while the first was more explanatory and I must say, I'm enjoying every minute of it! I'll let the pictures do the talking!

Everyone hard at work, chopping, slicing, dicing...

Potato Gratin. Thinly sliced potatoes bubbling away in a cream sauce with a dash of nutmeg, topped with a layer of mozerella cheese, giving it a beautiful golden crust.

It's a really easy dish to prepare and impress with. Simple ingredients, minimal cooking yet bursting with flavour.

Crushing our beads of black pepper for our black pepper sauce.

Tania would say," Can't we just buy it off the shelve?"

All set for our very own black pepper sauce! Talk about being organized. I think my dad would be very pleased if he saw this at home.

Getting ready (and jittery) for the big "act".

Walah! We kinda thought stunts like that would be better left to the professional. That's called Flambe`, where you light the alcohol in your pan with a torch, burning off the alcohol. What's it for?

To look sey...

Making our own tartare sauce, which involves whisking that made 3 pairs of hands really sore. The basics of tartare is really just egg yolks, mustard, white vinegar and corn oil. The combination together with consistent whisking gives you a smooth creamy sunny yellow sauce, which in my opinion, is far better than commercial made ones.

Tadah! The 4 sauces we made from scratch. In order: black pepper, tartare, shallot red wine and bearnaise. I love the black pepper while Tanya and husband loved the shallot red wine. Now I can have sauces to go along with my steak besides plain old mustard!

Chef. Knife. Meat. Charming.

That's Aaron. The one out of two guys in our class.

Just adjacent to the cooking studio is a small outdoor area where you can grill your meats and enjoy alfresco dining.

The picture speaks for itself.

Personally, the dish I loved the most was the creamy pumpkin soup. Not only does it have a gorgeous orange glow, it has a soothing sweetness that's qualifies it as top notch comfort food! Everybody should have a bowl of this.

Creamy Pumpkin Soup

1 peeled, seeded butternut pumpkin cut into big dice

1 chopped leek

1 chopped onion

3 cloves of garlic

2 tbsp butter

4 sticks of fresh thyme

1.5 litres chicken stock

250ml cream

Salt

Pepper

1. Melt the butter in a large pot

2. Add in onion, garlic, thyme and leek, stir till it looks soft and yummy

3. Add in pumkin, cook gently for 5 mins

4. Add the chicken stock and let it cook for about 30 mins till the pumkin is soft and googey

5. Blend the soup and strain if necessary

6. Bring it back to boil and add cream

7. Check seasoning and serve with croutons!

TOTALLY Chocolate Cookies

2008-11-13T05:01:00.000-08:00

I did a little something I usually wouldn't crave to do. I baked! I'm more of a cook than a baker, simply because cooking allows more creativity, flexibility and freedom. I love to splash a little of this, sprinkle a little of that and be extremely proud of my creation. Unfortunately, I can't say that of my baking. What comes out of the oven usually differs greatly from my expectations. But my hands were itching to mix and blend, so I decided to give baking another shot, but did something simpler and fail proof.

I am a great fan of Nigella Lawson. Hailed as the domestic goddess, her cooking shows, Nigella Express & Nigella Bites are currently aired on Travel & Living. There is something about watching her cook and listening to how she describes french toast batter as glorious golden goo. She has no qualms about eating off her fingers on national TV and gives no apologies for taking huge greedy bites off her toast. I just love her shows.

So there she was baking these TOTALLY chocolate cookies which I couldn't resist not making, even though I'm not a fan of chocolate. I had to bake them.

Gorgeous Giant Balls of Chocolatey Goo ready for baking

Into the oven it goes, ready to be eaten within minutes!

Piping hot from the oven, it actually taste better than it looks. They actually sat in the oven for a full ONE hour...

The 2nd batch of cookies where I reduced the baking time by almost half. Even I can bake them, see how fail-proof they are!

TOTALLY Chocolate Cookies

yields 12 big cookies

250g dark chocolate

150g plain flour

30g cocoa powder

1tsp bicarbonate soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp vanilla extract

125g unsalted butter

75g soft light brown sugar

50g caster sugar

1 egg

2 whole packets of chocolate chips

Melt the dark chocolate over a hot water bath and leave it to cool.

Into the blender goes the unslated butter, light brown sugar, caster sugar at low speed. Once thoroughly mixed, add the vanilla extract.

Add the melted dark chocolate, followed by the egg (directly from the fridge so that it's still cold). Mix in the dry ingredients (flour, cocoa powder, bicarb, salt) till thoroughly combined.

Take off the blender, stir in 2 packets of chocolate chips and walah!

Using an ice cream scoop, place 6 scoops of the cookie batter onto a tray and pop it into the oven at 170 degree celcius for a full hour.

It's extremely chocolatey and would satisfy any chocolate lover, but not too sweet cos of the dark chocolate. If I were to bake it again, I'll probably try it in small dollops of bite size.

Back To Basics

2008-11-13T04:58:00.000-08:00

Last saturday I attended my first cooking class at Palate Sensations! I've been looking forward to class ever since I signed up! It's an 8 week HANDS ON basic western cooking skills class, where you learn from the basics from knife skills, to making stock, braising meat techniques, creamy soups, sauces and fail-proof dinner desserts. Taught by chef Francois Merlliliod, who use to be at Flutes at the Fort, our first lesson went straight back to the foundations of chopping and de-boning.

I have this thing about chopping things up. To me, it's as therapeutic as the act of cooking itself. The finer the chopping needs to be, the more satisfying. So as you can imagine, I was enjoying myself thoroughly when we had to chop up carrots, leeks, celery, onions, tomatoes, garlic into teeny weeny bits! (All of which went into the fish stock we made and turned it into a simple "minestrone" with pan seared pacific prawns topped with strips of fresh basil)

Do you see the generous amounts of saffron? It's what gives the soup a gorgeous deep yellow colour, not to mention the taste!

There were a total of 11 of us in the class, divided into 3 groups and they are my cooking buddies for 8 weeks! A lovely couple, I think they're newly weds. The course is actually her brithday gift to him cos he thinks it's really fun to cook in the kitchen with his wife! Awww....awfully sweet :)

Oh! My very own chef and pairing knife! They come as a gift with the course and I'm loving them! Satisfyingly sharp, so sharp that they sliced through my nail even without me feeling it. Haha... thankfully my fingers were spared. Contrary to what many think, a blunt knife's actually more dangerous than a sharp one cos more force is applied trying to get your knife through what you're cutting. Invest in good knives people! It makes chopping an ease..

See how the blade goes all way round through the handle of the knife? That's the mark of a solid knife cos it's one solid piece through. oh my darlings...

Some new French terms I added to my culinary vocab:

Brunoise (broo-nwaz) - a cube-shaped item with dimensions of 1/8 inch x 1/8 inch x 1/8 inch

Julienne (ju-lee-en) - a stick-shaped item with dimensions of 1/8 inch x 1/8 inch x 2 inches

Batonnet (bah-toh-nah) - a stick-shaped item with dimensions of 1/4 inch x 1/4 inch / 2 inches

Coming week, I'll be learning creamy soups, meat and accompanying sauces. The other joy is being able to cook in a fabulous kitchen. Fully air-conditioned, it has EVERYTHING you'll need to cook with.. and I really mean everything. I think it's time to start thinking of how I want my dream kitchen to be like....

Oh by the way, Chef Francois is due to open his very own restaurant, Absinthe, in mid December, so watch out for it!

Glorious Spread

2008-11-03T04:56:00.000-08:00

As promised, here's the full menu for my sister's birthday.

Mains:
Roghan Ghosht
Grilled Mango Chutney Mid Wings
Crab Cake with Thai Chilli Sauce
Caramelized Pork Ribs
Spiced Pacific Prawns
Homemade Otah Mussels with Thai-seasoned Rice
Ballicious

Sides:
Mushroom Cup
Melon & Cucumber Mix
Pan Fried Tofu with Mango Salsa
Egg Mayo w Ikura on toast
Smoked Salmon w Cream Cheese on toast
Salad Greens

Dips:
Guacomole
Button Mushroom
Grilled Vegetables
Chickpeas

Desserts:
Jelly Heart
Mango Sago with Pomelo
French Cheesecake Yoghurt with Strawberries & Muesli

The chefs of the night. Amazing Talents.

A combination of cubed lamb cooked gently in mildly spiced yoghurt with chopped fresh mint and flaked almonds. We substituted mint with cilantro, my absolute favourite garnish.

These wings are addictive and really easy to make! Perfect for BBQs too. Recipe below.

This little thing here is 95% fresh crab meat. Lavish.

Succulent and tasty pacific prawns marinated in lemon juice and spices on our newly acquired porcelain spoons from Sia Huat. Recipe below.

Homemade Otah with coconut cream and garnish

These are the hot favourites of the night. Packed in these beautiful mussel shells are fragrant jasmine rice cooked in thai spices and the juice reduction from the mussels. Finish it off with some fried shallots and finely shredded mint.

I named it Ballicious for the lack of a better name. Inside each tiny little cupcake ball are SIX ingredients: Chicken, prawn, squid, crab, fish and pork! Created by my 2nd aunt, it's a whole ball of effort! The red vs. green garnish denotes spicy vs. non-spicy. And then there's another whole lot of them that's without prawns cos grandma and mummy's allergic to them.

The only dish made by yours truly. It's the simplest of the lot, but I've got quite a number of good reviews too! Simple, healthy and real easy. Thankfully I had the help of my little black plates to dress them up.

This dish came up cos 2nd aunt made these cute looking little pastry cups and we didn't want to let it go to waste. So 3rd aunt "casually" whipped up a cream of button mushroom and red and green capsicum and walah! Yum.

Check out my new addition! I absolutely adore this piece of dishware. In it are the 3 dips we experimented with. Green naturally being the guacomole, orange is the grilled vegetables and lastly the button mushroom. These gooey looking stuff have such amazing and robust flavour. I love the grilled veg, sister loved the button mushroom.

Dessert! I'm not really a dessert person but one thing I'm always excited about are these. I was introduced to Yoplait's Fresh Cheesecake Yoghurt and was hooked since. It's the BEST yoghurt I've ever tasted. Pair it with any fresh berries and muesli, you're on your way to a hearty dessert!

Lovely Jelly Hearts. The only thing that was bought.

Mango Sago with Pomelo and a dash of evaporated milk. Could have been sweeter though.

That's the end! I hope you're hungry now.

Grilled Mango Chutney Mid Wings

16 mid wings

3 tbsp hot/sweet mango chutney

2tsp dijon mustard

2tsp olive oil

1tsp paprika

1tsp black mustard seed, roughly crushed

1/2 tsp tumeric

2 garlic cloves, finely chopped

Salt

Pepper

In a bowl, mix the spices with the mango chutney. Marinate the mid wings for 2 hours.

And you're ready to go!

Oven: 200 degree celcius

Time: 30 mins

Spiced Pacific Prawns

12 giant pacific prawns, peeled

2btsp olive oil

1 tbsp lemon juice

1tsp paprika

1/2 tsp chilli powder

1/2 tsp tumeric

1/2 tsp salt

2 garlic cloves, finely chopped

fresh coriander leaves, finely chopped

Place all the ingredients in a shallow dish, stirring to coat the prawns thoroughly. Let it sit for an hour.

In a cast iron pan, cook each side for abt 3 mins.

Serve.

Babylicious

2008-11-02T04:55:00.000-08:00

After 2 failed attempts at trying to blog, I was certain I never needed the help of blogspot again. I have a thing for wordplay and good english. It's soul-inspiring how words can come out so wonderfully formed. And so I thought since writing was not my cup of tea, I'll just be happy feeding my soul with brilliant blogs. But a recently rekindled dream got me inspired. So here I am again, with a simple agenda - to record my journey from stove to stomach.

2 sundays ago, my extended family celebrated my little sister's 21st birthday. Mummy and I took on the task of feeding the multitudes. While mummy was busy flipping all her cookbooks to come up with a menu, I did a little something of my own to make the dinner table a little more celebratory.

Everyone who came by took a little time trying to figure out what it read.

Then my 2nd aunt said: "Is this a rabbit with a mortar board??"

I applaud her creativity! Well, my sister was indeed born in the year of a rabbit. It spells BABY, a name we affectionately call my sister cos she's the youngest on my mum's side. But if you look from the vertical view, it really does look a little like what she said.

A week before the big day, mummy and I went to sia huat, hoping to get some pretty dishware. And we came home with some proud buys! Got a porcelain trio bowl for dips that has a little handle in the middle, 12 porcelain spoons with their arms like hooks so you carry them like cups and little black triangular plates for bite size items, which I absolutely adore. Thanks to the great additions we got, our little buffet line got its professional status. It's one of the most extensive displays I've ever done though.

That's a full 2 days of preparation work!

For those of you who know me, I'm blessed with not just a mum who can cook, but also 3 amazing aunts who can cook up a storm anytime anywhere. So with 4 chefs and a food lover in the kitchen, this is what you get! The menu mummy came up with - a full 21 course dinner. Yes, twenty one...

Well, as you can see, when it comes to food gatherings in my family, there's never lack. It usually feeds twice the number of people and there's never just 3 dishes and a soup. And recipes are seldom repeated with a few exceptions of those on the popular list.

The baby of the night.

The cake's homemade too, by my 3rd aunt!

Haha, it kinda looks more like a wedding decor than a birthday one, especially the red roses. But i think my sister enjoyed herself, which makes everything worthwhile.

Stay tune for the full menu and recipes!