Kung Poh Chicken

Ingredients:

• 4 pieces of boneless chicken thigh
• 4 tablespoons roasted cashew nuts
• 10 dried red chilies (deseeded and cut into halves)
• 1/2 onion, quartered & open up the petals
• 1/2 carrot, sliced thinly
• 4 tablespoons cooking oil
• 5 slices peeled fresh ginger
• 2 gloves garlic, crushed
• 2 stalk of spring onions, cut into 2 cm

For the chicken marination:

• 1 tablespoon corn starch
• 2 teaspoons soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon Shaoxing wine
• 1 teaspoon oil

For the sauce:

• 2 tablespoon light soy sauce
• 1 teaspoon dark soy sauce
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1tbsp worcestershire sauce
• 3 tablespoons water
• 1 teaspoon corn starch

Method:

Cut the chicken meat into cubes and marinate with the ingredients above for 30 minutes. Mix the sauce ingredients in a small bowl and set aside.

Heat up a wok with 2 tbsp cooking oil and stir-fry the marinated chicken until they are 3/4 cook. Dish out and set aside.

Clean the wok and add in the remaining 2 tablespoons of cooking oil until it hot. Add in the ginger and garlic and do a quick stir before adding in the dried red chilies. Stir fry the dried red chilies until aromatic and they smell spicy, then add in the chicken meat.

Continue to stir for 2 minutes. Add in the sauce and stir continuously until the chicken meat is nicely coated with the sauce. Add in the onions and carrot. Mix well and add in the roasted cashew nuts & the spring onion.

Dish out and serve hot with steamed white rice.

Tau Sar Pheah (Tambun biscuits)

Have been longing to eat this tau sar pneah for a while but can't find time to do it. I have been keeping the recipes from Amy Beh site for a while. Since I am on 2 weeks off, decided to have a go. Well..... it turn out great, looks like those that I bought from Him Hiang when I come home for holiday to Penang.

Ingredients:

For the filling:

• 250g mung beans, soaked for several hours and drained
• 160g castor sugar
• 2-21/2 tbsp fried shallots oil
• 2 tbsp deep fried shallots crisps
• 3/4 tsp salt

For the pastry:

water dough:

• 150g plain flour
• 1 tbsp icing sugar
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 60g vegetable oil
• 80g water

oil dough:

• 100g plain flour
• 60g shortening/margarine

Egg glaze:

• 1 egg york
• 1 tbsp water
• a pinch of salt

Method:

To prepare the filling: Steam the well drained mung beans until soft and cooked through. Blend in a food processor until fine.

Remove blended mung beans paste in a non stick wok and add in suga, salt, shallots oil and shallot crisps. Cook over medium-low heat until sugar dissolves. Keep stirring until the mixture is well combined. Remove and leave to cool completely.

Water dough: Put flour, salt, icing sugar and oil into a mixing bowl. Pour the water into the flour. Mix well to blend until dough is smooth. Leave a side to rest for 25-30 minutes. You may also use a food processor to mix the dough.

Oil dough: Combine flour & shortening and mix into a smooth dough. Set aside to rest for 25-30 minutes. Again you may want to process this with food processor.

Method:

Roll out both dough into a long sausage shapes and cut each into 35-38 equal size pieces. Roll out a pieceof water dough and wrap into a piece of oil dough. Roll out flat and roll uo into a swiss roll style. Repeat the rolling and the flattening of the piece of dough 3x. Do this for the rest.

Add a heaped teaspoonful of filling to the prepared pastry skin. Gather up the sides and roll into a ball. Place each ball into a lightly greased tray.

Brush the biscuits with egg glaze and bake in preheated oven at 160 degree Celcius (140 for fan assist oven) for 15-20 minutes.

Apple cake

Many thanks to Kit who provide me with apples from her own garden. Have baked several round of this cakes until my son told me to stop as he has enough of it. Well....not to waste those big lovely apples. The apples are baked on top of a butter cake, then glazed with apricot jam. The cake can be served warm as dessert with whipped cream. Ingredients:

• 180g buter
• grated lemon rind of 1 lemon
• 2/3 cup of sugar
• 3 eggs
• 1 cup self-raising flour
• 1/2 cup plain flour
• 1/3 cup milk
• 2 medium apples
• 2 tbsp water
• 1 tsp gelatin
• 2 tbsp apricot jam, strained

Method:

Grease 20cm springform tin or deep 20cm round cake tin, cover base with paper, grease paper.

Beat butter, and sugar in a small bowl until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs 1 at a time, beat until combined. Transfer mixture to large bowl, stir in sifted flours and milk, spread into prepared pan.

Peel, quarter and core apples. Make lengthways cuts into rounded sides of apple quarters, cutting about three-quarters of the way through. Place quarters, rounded side up, around edge of cake. Bake cake in preheated oven at 180 degree Celcius ( 160 for fan assist oven) for about 1 hour. Stand for about 5 minutes before turning onto wire rack.

Heat water in pan, sprinkle over gelatine, stir, without boiling, until gelatine is dissolved, remove from heat, stir in jam. Brush jam mixture over top of hot cake, cool before cutting.

Fried Wanton

Fried wanton is the favourite finger food at any chinese party. I normally buy the skin from the oriental supermarket & freeze them in my freezer. If you are keen to make the skin yourself, here is the recipes:

Wanton Skin recipes:

Ingredients:

• 2 cups of plain flour
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• 3/4 cup water, approximately

Method:

Sift flour and salt into a bowl, add egg and enough waterto mix to a stiff dough. If the dough is too soft, add a little extra sifted flour for easier handling.

Roll the dough on a well floured surface until paper thin. Use sharp knife, trim edges to form 15"x15" square. Using a ruler, cut evenly into 3" square. If you prefer a round skin, stamp out with round cutter. Place the skin on baking sheet, cover with a damp cloth until ready to use.

Makes about 25-30 skins if square & about 20 if round.

For the filling:

• 100g shelled prawns, minced
• 200g minced pork or chicken meat
• 50g water chestnuts, chopped finely
• 1 tbsp finely chopped carrot
• 1 tbsp chopped spring onion

Seasoning:

• 1 tbsp light soy sauce
• 1/2 tbsp oyster sauce
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp sugar
• Pinch of pepper
• 1/2 tsp sesame oil
• 1 tsp corn flour

Method:

Place one teaspoon of the filling in the centre of each wantan wrapper. Fold into small pouches. Seal the edges of each pouch with a bit of water.Heat enough oil in a wok until just hot. Put in wantan in batches and deep-fry until golden brown in colour. Remove and drain on paper towels. Serve the crispy wantan with the dipping sauce. or sweet chilli sauce

Gyoza

Gyoza is a popular dumpling in Japanese cuisine. Gyoza originated in China, and it's said to have been introduced to Japan in late 17th century. Gyoza is cooked in various ways: deep-fried, boiled, steamed, or pan-fried. Boiled gyoza (sui-gyoza) is very soft and can be eaten hot or cold. Steamed gyoza (mushi-gyoza) is also soft and is eaten hot. Deep-fried gyoza (age-gyoza) can be finger food, so it's suitable for a potluck dish. The most common way to cook gyoza is pan-fried. Bottoms of gyoza dumplings should be brown and crunchy. Fillings for gyoza are also various. Different kinds of vegetables and meat can be used for fillings. The most popular fillings are ground pork, cabbage, and chives. Also, using mashed shrimp makes tasty gyoza called ebi-gyoza. You can even make vegetable gyoza without meat. Have fun creating your favorite gyoza. Gyoza wrappers are slightly thicker than wonton wrappers, and they are round in contrast that wonton wrappers are square. Here is the recipes to make the skin & also the pork filling recipes. Makes about 24-26 pieces of gyoza.

Ingredients:

For the skin:

• 2 cups of plain flour
• 2/3 cups of boiling water
• a pinch of salt

For the pork filling:

• 175g of minced pork
• 1 medium size carrot, only use half. Chopped finely
• 3/4 cup of chopped cabbage
• 2 spring onions, finely sliced
• 2 tbsp of sesame oil
• 4 tbsp of soy sauce
• 1 tbsp cornflour

Method:

To make the skin: Sift the flour & salt in a bowl. Add in the boiling water. Use a fork to mix the mixture to look like crumbles. Then use hand & knead the dough well forn another 5 minutes. Rest the dought for 30 minutes.

Pinch the dough about the size of 50p. Flatten the dough with a rolling pin into a thin flat sheet. Use a small bowl to cut the dough into a round shape. Continue with the rest of the dough.

For the filling: Mix all the ingredients in a bowl. Use a teaspoon & scoop the filling in the gyoza skin. Fold up the skin & pleat about 5 pleats along the skin as seen on the picture above. Set aside.

Heat a frying pan with 1 tbsp cooking oil. When the oil is hot, put in the ready gyoza & pan fry until the bottom is brown in a medium heat. Set aside. When all the gyoza has been fried leave all the fried gyoza in the pan & add in 3/4 cups of water. Let the gyoza simmer in the pan until the water is dry. Serve hot with dipping sauce or chilli saue.

Marbled chocolate muffins

Ingredients:

• 280g plain flour
• 1 tbsp baking power
• 1/8 tsp salt
• 115g castor sugar
• 2 medium eggs
• 250ml milk
• 6 tbsp sunflower oil
• 1 tsp vanila extract
• 2 tbsp cocoa powder

Method:

Preheat the oven at 200 degree Celcius (180 if fan assist oven).

Grease a 12 cups muffin tin or line 13 paper cases. Sift together the flour, baking power and salt into a large bowl. Stir in the sugar

Lightly beat the eggs in a large bowl then beat in the milk, oil and vanila extract. Make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients and pour in the beaten liquid ingredients. Stir gently until just combined; do not over mix.

Divide the mixture between 2 bowls. Sift the cocoa powder into one bowl and mix together. Using teaspoons, spoon the mixtures into the prepared muffin tin alternating the chocolate mixture and the plain mixture.

Bake in the preheate oven for about 20 minutes until well risen, golden brown and firm to touch.

Leave the muffin in the tin for 5 minutes then serve warm or transfer to a wire rack and leave to cool.

Fried Udon

You can never have enough of noodles. There are many ways to fry noodles and all depends on your taste and style. I use chicken & vegetables for this recipes. You can replace the chicken with seafood if you wish.

Ingredients:

• 2 packets of udon ( I used the Amoy brand)
• 1 chopped garlic
• 3 cups of cabbage, cut into bit pieces ( can add more if you like)
• 1/2 cup of carrots, sliced and cut into matchstick lenghts
• 3 spring onions, sliced slightly angle
• 100g of chicken breast, thinly sliced
• 2 eggs

For the sauce: Mix well all the sauces in the bowl

• 1/3 cup of soy sauce
• 5 tbsp teriyaki sauce
• 5 tbsp mirin
• 3 tbsp sake ( optional)
• 2 tbsp sugar

Method:
Boil a pot of water in and put in the udon. Let the udon in the water for about 3 minutes & drained. Set aside.
Put 3 tbsp cooking oil in a wok & heat the oil. Then add in the chopped garlic. Fry untill fragrant and add in the chicken. Fry till the chicken is cooked. Then add in the cabbage. Mix well & continue frying until the cabbage is soft. Add the udon and the sauce. Stir fry until the sauce has dried up. Then add in the carrots & mix well for another 3 minutes.
Put the noodles at the side of the wok. Break the eggs in the wok and scramble it up. Then push the noodles to cover the egg. Let the eggs cook for anothe minutes. Stir the noodles & mix well with the eggs. Put in the spring onions & dish out to serve.

Chocolate Mascarpone Cheesecake

I have not been making this cheesecake for a while. Decided to have a go again recently when I invited my colleagues over for dinner. This cake is not as rich as the usual cheesecake. Ingredients: For the filling:

• 100g dark chocolate with 75% cocoa solid
• 250g mascarpone
• 50g raisins
• 110g chopped roasted hazelnuts
• 200g fromage frais (8% fat)
• 2 large eggs
• 50g castor sugar

For the base:

• 50 chopped roasted hazelnuts
• 110g sweet oat biscuits
• 40g butter, melted

For chocolate curls:

100g dark chocolate

Method:

Preheat the oven at 200 degree Celcius or 180 for fan assist oven.

To make the base: Crushed the biscuits in a poly bag with a rolling pin-not to finely. Put the crushed biscuits into a large bowl, then add the chopped nuts and melted butter and mix throughly before packing into the base of the cake tin pressing it very firmly all over. Place the tin in the oven and prebake the crust for 20 minutes. Then remove it and let it cool while preparing the filling. Reduce the oven temperature to 150 degree Celcius (130 if fan assist oven).

To make the filling: Place 1.5 cups of water into a saucepan, then out the pan on the heat. Meanwhile, break the chocolate ito small pieces and place into a basin. As soon as the water is boiling, remove the pan from the heat and place the bowl on top until all the chocolates melts.

Spoon mascarpone and fromage frais into abowl and whisk them together until smooth. Then add the eggs and sugar and whisk well before adding the melted chocolate. Lightly fold the chocolate into the egg mixtre. Finally add the raisins and chopped nuts. Pour into a baking tin and bake for 11/4 hour. After that turn the ovenn heat off but leave the cheesecake inside for another 20 minutes.

To make the curls: Melt the chocolate as before, pour into a flat smooth surface. Leave chocolate to set at oom temperature. Use a cheese slicer or a sharp knife. Draw a long sharp knife at a slight angle across the surface of the chocolate, using a light sawing action. Allow the chocolate curls to become firm before handling. You can use shave chocolate instead of curls, as you can see from the picture as I was in a hurry.

Serve the cheesecake with sprinkle of cocoa powder & chocolate curls/shave. Serve it with creame fraiche or pouring cream