Marble Chocolate Easter Cake

This luscious chocolate cake is perfect for the family if you are doing entertaining. Beside tasting delicious, this recipes is so easy to make-it's simple enough for even the most inexperienced cook. Ingredients:

• 200g butter
• 200g caster sugar
• 200g self raising flour
• 2tsp baking powder
• 4 eggs
• 2 tbsp cocoa powder
• 1 tsp vanilla ssence

for the chocolate fudge:

• 100g plain cooking chocolate
• 100g butter, softened
• 100g icing sugar
• 25g white chocolate
• mini eggs for decoration*

*you may use different decoration according to the occassions.

FYI: If you are lazy to make the icing, you can buy from the shelf at supermarket. Look for Betty Crocker rich & creamy ready to spread chocolate fudge icing.

Method:

Preheat oven at 160 degrees Celcius (for fan assist oven) or 180 for normal oven. Grease and line 2 x20 cm cake tins.

Using 2 separate bowls, place half of the butter, caster sugar, flour, baking powder and eggs in each bowl. Beat until light and fluffy.

Mix the cocoa powder with 2 tbsp boiling water until it makes a smooth paste. Add this to one of the cake mixes and add the vanilla essence to the other.

Spoonthe mixtures into the tins alternately to create a marbled pattern. Level with a spatula. Cook for about 20-25 minutes. Turn out and cool on a wire rack.

Break up chocolate. Melt in a bowl over a pan of simmering water. Put butter and icing sugar in a bowl, add the chocolate. Whisk until smooth.

Spread some on one cake and then place the other cake on top. Cover top and side with the rest of the chocolate icing.

If you are buying the chocolate icing, follow the instruction of using the fudge and again spread as the above way.

Decoration:

Melt about 25g to 30g of white chocolate in a bowl over a pan of simmering water. Here I use my son 's Milkybar. Once melted, scope into a plastic food bag & snip a small corner of the plastic bag. Drizzle the white chocolate over the mini eggs as shown on the picture. You may ingore the white chocolate drizzle if you are doing a different decoration.

Fried Noodle

Fried noodles is the easiest,fastest and delicious way to stir up a dinner if you are in hurry or cannot decide what to cook. Keep a few packets of this noodles will be very handy. You can get the Amoy brand in supermarket. You can also choose any type of vegetable to add on. For the noodles, choose the medium size noodles. Here is a recipes for quick fry. Ingredients:

• 2-3 cloves of garlic, shopped finely
• 1 small chicken breast, cut into small pieces
• some raw prawns
• 2 cups of beans sprout
• some choy sum, cut into 3 inches in lenght
• 1 packet of Amoy medium noodles
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2-3 tbsp oyster sauce
• 2 tbsp dark sauce
• soy sauce to taste
• 3-4 tbsp cooking oil

Method:
Heat the oil in wok and add in the garlic. Fry until fragrant and then add in the chicken pieces and the salt. Cook until the meat is cooked. Add in the vegetable and the prawns. Give it a quick stir. Then add in the noodles and fry until the noodles is well coated with the oil. Add in the oyster sauce and the dark sauce. Stir until the noodles are well coated with the sauces.
Cook until the prawns are cooked and do not over-cook the prawns. Add in the soy sauce to taste & stir well. Dish out and serve hot.

Nyonya Pork Curry

Ingredients:

• 1kg of pork shoulder, cut into cubes
• 4-5 potatoes, cut into wedges
• 4-5 tbsp cooking oil
• 3/4 cup of coconut milk

Seasoning(A):

• 1tbsp light soy sauce
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp sugar

Spices (B)-combined & ground:

• 10 shallots
• 3 cloves garlic
• 2.5cm ginger
• 3-4 candlenuts
• 1tbsp chilli powder
• 21/2 tbsp meat curry powder

Spices (C):

• 4cm cinnamon stick
• 2 star anise
• 5 cloves
• 5 cardamon pods, split to obtain the seeds only
• 2 stalk lemongrass, lightly bruised
• 2-3 sprigs curry leaves

Seasoning:

• 1tsp salt ot to taste
• 1/2 tsp sugar or to taste

Method:
Marinate pork with (A) and set aside.
Heat the cooking oil and fry (B) and (C) until fragrant and oil rises. Occasionally, add a bit of the coconut milk to prevent the spices from sticking to the pot when frying.
Add in the pork and fry well until meat is well coated with spices. Pour in the coconut milk and simmer until the meat is cooked. Add potatoes and cook until meat is tender and potatoes are cooked and soft. Add in the seasoning and cook to just a boil. If you prefer the curry to be creamier, you may add more of the coconut milk at this stage. Cook until the curry is just a boil. Dish out curry and serve hot

Devil Curry

From Wikipedia, this is how the curry being describe. Devil's curry (also known as curry debal in Kristang or curry devil) is a very spicy curry flavoured with candlenuts, galangal and vinegar from the Eurasian Kristang (Cristão) culinary tradition in Singapore and Malacca, Malaysia. It is often served during Christmas and on other special occasions. Kristang cuisine blends the cuisines of Southeast Asia with a western-style cuisine inherited from Portuguese colonial rulers. Other popular Kristang dishes include curry feng, Eurasian smore (a beef stew), and sugee cake.

Devil Curry is indeed spicy but sumptuously tasty from the Eurasian kitchen. Reminiscent of olden days in Melaka where foreigners and locals daily lives are mixed up while in search of riches around Strait of Malacca where the shipping routes from China to the west passes through. This recipe has been brought down from generations after generations just like the Curry Kapitan featured earlier.

Here is the ingredients for the recipes:

Ingredients:

• 1 try of chicken drumstick
• 4-5 tbsp cooking oil
• 2 tbsp chili powder
• 1 tbsp turmeric powder
• 2 tbsp mustard
• 4-5 tbsp rice vinegar
• salt & sugar to taste

Ground ingredients:

• 1 large onions
• 10 shallots
• 5 cloves garlic
• 2,5cm ginger
• 3 candlenuts

Method:

Heat oil and fry the ground ingredients till fragrant. Add chicken and salt and fry over high heat for a few minutes.

Mix the chilli powder and turmeric powder with a little water to form a smooth paste. Add it to the meat. Stir well, add a little water and cook over low heat.

When just about cooked add in the mustard, sugar and vinegar. Stir and simmer for another 20 minutes or until the chicken is tender. Serve with steamed rice.

Mocha Brownies with Ice Cream & Hot Chocolate Sauce

This is one of my favourite dessert. I have try many places during those days when I was working in KL but my verdict is that Hard Rock Cafe still do the best. Now that I am in UK, I can't find this dessert on Hard Rock Cafe menu in London. Therefore I decided that I need to make myself to kill off my urge of eating this dessert. And guess what. My son is my main rival for this dessert now! This recipe will give you the ingredients for the brownies & also th chocolate sauce. Ingredients for the brownies:

• 180g unsalted butter
• 250g dark chocolate, chopped
• 3/4 cup caster sugar
• 1 tbsp dry instant coffee
• 1 tbsp hot water
• 3 eggs
• 11/2 cups plain flour

Method:

Preheated oven at 180 degree Celcius. Grease deep 19cm square cake pan, cover base with paper, grease paper.

Melt butter with chocolate in pan over low heat, stir until smooth. Remove from heat, stir in sugar and combined coffee and water, then eggs 1 at a time. Stir in sifted flour and mix well. Pour in the prepared tin. Bake in preheated oven for about 35 minutes or until firm; cool in pan. Once cool, cut into a square to your desire size.

Ingredients for the chocolate sauce:

• 125g dark chocolate, melted
• 300ml thickened cream
• 2 tbsp Kahlua
• 1 tsp vanilla essence

Method:

Place chocolate in a bowl, stir in cream, liqueur and essence. Stir until smooth & well combine.

How to serve:

Place a piece of brownies in a microwave proof plate. Heat on high for 30 second. Pour the chocolate sauce at the side of the brownies & again microwave for another 30 second. Take out from microwave & scope some vanilla ice cream on top of the warm brownies. Decorate with some whipped cream & also some strawberry (if any). Enjoy & eat warm.

Sago & Honey Dew Dessert

When I attend chinese wedding banquets, I always looking forward for the last serving as it will be the dessert time. One of the dishes I look forward to is Sago & Honey Dew Dessert which is one of my favourites. This dessert combines the sweet and fragrant taste of fresh honey dew fruit with the sago in a refreshing syrup-based drink. This dessert tastes great if is taken cold and is suitable for kids and adults. Here is the recipes for the dessert. Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup of sago
• 1 honey dew
• 1/2 cup of sugar with 1 cup of water
• 7 cups of water
• 1/2 cup of coconut milk

Method:

Soak sago in 2 cups of water for 30 minutes. Drain off the water and boil sago with 5 cups of water. Boil the sago until turn transparent.

Drain and sieve the cook sago over running cold water to get ride of the starch. Put the cook sago aside.

Cut up the honey dew and remove the seeds. Blend half of the honey dew to make juice. Cut the other half into little cubes.

Mix honey dew juice, coconut milk, sago and the honey dew cubes together. Add the syrup to taste. If you prefer it to be creamier, you may add some vanilla ice cream too.

Roti Jala

Roti Jala is a yellow lacy crepe or pancake, usually served with chicken curry. Roti jala is more likely to be sold by the Malays, though Nyonya Chinese has also adopted this dish for themselves.To make roti jala, one needs to get its mould or roti-jala cup, which is made from metal or now, increasingly, of plastic as shown on picture above. The mould allows the batter to flow through in tiny threads, where it solidified on a hot pan. I found my mould when I went back to Penang 5 years ago.

Ingredients:

• 1 3/4 cup plain flour
• 1 1/2 cup milk (may use low fat if you wish)
• 1/2 cup water
• 1 egg
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp turmeric powder
• 1/2 tbsp oil
• oil (to grease the pan)

Method:

In a big bowl, mix all the above ingredients (except the oil for greasing) well and sieve

Heat up a pan with medium heat and lightly grease it with some oil. Pour some batter into the mold and transfer the mold to the pan. As the batter flows through the holes of the mold, make circular rounds around the pan to form the netty patterns. (Click on this video clip for the cooking guide).

After the top is set and done or when the bottom turns light brown, transfer the Roti Jala out and fold it into triangle shape. Arrange a few Roti Jala on a serving plate and add some curry chicken on the side. Serve immediately.

Microwave Golden Syrup Sponge Pudding

This is the most easiest & fastest pudding I ever made. All you need to do is to put into the microwave for 3.5 minutes! Ingredients:

• 100g self raising flour; sifted
• 100g butter
• 100g sugar
• 30ml milk
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 1/2 tsp vanilla essence
• grated zest of 1/2 a lemon
• 3 tbsp of golden syrup

Method:

Cream the butter and sugar together until light. Gradually add the eggs and vanilla essence. Mix well. Finally add in the flour, milk and lemon zest.

Put the golden syrup in the bottom of a 2 pt bowl. Spoon the mixture on top. Place in microwave (with a plate on top). Cook for 3.5 minutes on high.

Serve warm with custard.

Sticky Toffee Muffins

This make 12 large muffins Ingredients:

• 250g stoned dates
• 250ml water
• 280g plain flour
• 1 tbsp baking powder
• 1/8 tsp salt
• 115g soft dark brown sugar
• 2 medium eggs
• 6 tbsp sunflower oil
• 4 tbsp Duche de Leche (can be purchase from supermarket), to serve

Method:

Preheat the oven to 200 degree Celcius. Grease a 12 cup muffin tin or line with 12 paper cases.

Put the dates and water in a food processor and blend to form a rough puree

Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt into a large bowl. Stir in the sugar.

Lightly beat the eggs in a large jug or bowl then beat in the date puree and oil. Make a well in he centre of the dry ingredients and pour in the beaten liquid ingredients. Stir gently until just combined; do not over mix.

Spoon the mixture into the prepared muffin tin. Bake in the preheated oven for 20 minutes until golden brown and firm to the touch.

Leave the muffin in the tin for 5 minutes then serve warm or transfer to a wire rack and leave to cool. Spread a teaspoon of Dulce de Leche over the top of each muffin before serving.

Thai Fish Cake

Ingredients:

• 2 cups vegetable oil
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1/2 tablespoon salt
• 3 kaffir lime leaves
• 1/4 cup of thinly sliced dwarf beans
• 500 grams white fish meat (cod, haddock, hake, etc) , minced or cut into chunks
• 1 egg
• 1 tablespoon red curry paste. (Here I used the ready mix paste. You can make your own too)

Method:

Cut the fish into small pieces and then grind it up in a food processor, or pound it in a mortar and pestle until it's a paste. Transfer to a large mixing bowl, and add the rest of the ingredients (except the oil). For a more spicy taste, add a bit more red curry paste. Using your hands, knead the mixture until it’s sticky enough to mould it into a disc about 2 inches wide and ½ inch thick. Heat the oil in a wok or frying pan at a medium or high heat. Add the fish cakes and fry until they are golden brown on both sides. Remove the fish cakes with a slotted spoon and drain them on paper towels. Serve with sweet chilli sauce

Zebra Cake

This cake recipe given to me by a friend about 10 years ago. I still remember the ingredients but cannot recall the measurement. Recently, I decided to research the web & I finally found what I'm looking for all this while. This is an interesting cake. Looking at the picure you may think that the stripe is difficult to make. They are not..... Just need a little bit of patient. Zebra cake is easy and fun to make, it’s beautiful and just irresistibly delicious!

INGREDIENTS:

• 4 large eggs, at room temperature
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1 cup milk, at room temperature
• 1 cup oil (corn or vegetable is fine)
• 1 tsp vanilla essence
• 2 cups plain flour
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 2 tablespoons dark cocoa powder

Method:

Pre heated the oven at 180 degree Celcius. Lightly grease a 9"non stick pan or a round silicon bakeware. If. If you don’t have non-stick baking pan, grease whatever pan you have then line it with parchment paper (baking paper).

In a large mixing bowl, combine eggs and sugar until the mixture is creamy and light in color. Add milk,oil and vanila essence, and continue beating until well blended.

In a separate bowl, combine and mix flour and baking powder. Gradually add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients and beat just until the batter is smooth and the dry ingredients are thoroughly incorporated. Divide the mixture into 2 equal portions. Keep one portion plain. Add cocoa powder into another and mix well.

The most important part is assembling the cake batter in a baking pan. Pour 1/4 cup of plain batter into the middle of the baking pan. Then pour 1/4 up of cocoa batter and pour it in the center on top of the plain batter. IMPORTANT! Do not stop and wait until the previous batter spreads - KEEP GOING! Do not spread the batter or tilt the pan to distribute the mixture. It will spread by itself and fill the pan gradually. Continue alternating the batters until you finish them. The pictures above will show you how the batter will look like when you have finish with all the batter.

Bake in the oven for about 40 minutes. Then leave the cake for another 10 minutes in the oven Do not open the oven door otherwise the cake will shrink and will not rise. To check if the cake is ready, insert a toothpick into the center. It should come out clean when ready. Remove from the oven.

Immediately run a small thin knife around the inside of the pan to loosen the cake, then invert the cake onto a cooking rack. Turn the cake back over and let cool.

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

Vegetarian Curry

Ingredients:

• 100g dwarf beans
• 200g cabbage, cut into 5cm squares
• 200g potatoes, skin and cut into large cubes
• 100g cauliflower, cut into florets
• 150g carrots, cut into wedges
• 1 brinjal (aubergine), cut into 1.5" ring & cut into quarter again
• 2 tomatoes, quarter
• 2 green chillies, seed and slit into half
• 1 onion sliced
• 2 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 stalk curry leaves
• 1 cup coconut milk
• 1 cup of water

Ground spices (combined):

• 11/2 tbsp fish curry powder
• 1 tbsp coriander powder
• 1 tsp cumin powder
• 1/2 tsp turmeric powder
• 1/2 tsp belacan (shrimp paste)
• 2 cm pieces galangal
• 4 shallots

• 1 stalk lemon grass, smash
• 4 tbsp cooking oil

Seasoning:

• 1/2 tsp salt or to taste
• 1/2 tsp sugar or to taste

Method:

Heat oil in a pot. Fry the garlic until fragrant. Add onions and fry till soft. Add lemongrass & curry leaves and ground ingredients. Fry until oil separates.

Pour in coconut milk and water and bring to a low boil.

Put in potoes and carrots. Bring to boil for 10 minutes. Add the rest of the vegetables and simmer for about 30 minutes. Add seasoning.

Dish out and serve immediately.