Pan-fry Golden (Pumpkin) Dumplings 黄金窝贴

Today is Malaysia's 58th National Day...happy National Day!!!

To celebrate our National Day, I've planned to cook something that I never cook before for dinner tonight. Well, hopefully my family will enjoy it and I wish to share with you as soon as possible....if successful la...;p

Here, I'll like to share with you the recipe I've tried few weeks ago. Pan-fry Dumplings. I'm sure most of you guys have tried this before but this was my 1st attempt. Love this recipe and I love the color to bits!

Pan-fry Golden Dumplings

Ingredients for the pastry:
500g plain flour
130g mashed pumpkin
150-200cc water (note that you don't have to use all of it)
4g fine salt

~ Mix all ingredients together by adding the water slowly to form a dough
~ Using your hands, knead the dough for about 3 minutes
~ Wrap the dough with a cling wrap and rest for 10 minutes
~ After 10 minutes, roll out dough and divide into desire sizes.

Ingredients that you need

Ingredients for the fillings:
300g minced meat (i used pork)
100g carrot (fine strips) optional
200g chinese cabbage (finely chopped)
1 stalk spring onion (finely chopped) optional

Seasoning:
2 tsp sesame oil
1/2 tbsp corn flour
1 tsp sugar
1 tbsp shao Xin wine
salt and pepper to taste

~ Mix all ingredients above together

Ingredients for pan-frying:
1/2 bowl water
1 tbsp white vinegar
1 tsp sesame oil

Ingredients for serving:
50g shredded young ginger
some black vinegar and sesame oil

~ Wrap up the dumplings and set aside
~ Heat up 2 tbsps oil in a non-stick pan.
~ Put in dumplings and pan fry at medium heat for about 2-3 minutes
~ Pour in Ingredients for pan frying (above) and cover the pan with a lid.
~ Continue frying at medium heat until golden brown at the bottom of the dumplings.
~ Dish up and serve hot.

Enjoy!!!

Hainanese Chicken Chop

Hainanese Chicken Chop is one of my favourite dish. I always ordered this when I visit the nearest restaurant here named Kluang Station. I've longed to try this out myself and finally I have the gut to make this 2 days ago. I've searched for this recipe on the web and I got the tips from here and there, then came out with my own version for frying the yummy chicken!

Like my version though, crispy chicken drumsticks even if you eat it by it's own!!

Here, have a look at the deep fried chicken I've done before I showered them with the yummy tomato sauce! Isn't they look crispy? And yet it's still juicy inside...*satisfied*
Wonder what ingredients I've used? Here it goes.....

Marinate the chicken drumsticks / chicken breast (with skin) with...
2 tbsps Worcestershire sauce
1 tbsp corn flour
little black peper and salt to taste

*marinate at least 2 hours

When ready to deep fry....
~ beat up 1 egg and mix into the marinated chicken
~ Crush 10 soda biscuits (which u can get in any supermarket) into fine crumbs
~ Heat up enough cooking oil for fryin
~ Coat the chicken with the biscuits crumbs and deep fry till cook and turn golden
~ Drain well and place on your serving plate

*Then you'll get the crispy chicken shown above.

Tomato Sauce:
4 tbsps tomato sauce (any brand)
1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1 tbsp Oyster sauce
2 tbsps sugar
1 tsp salt
1/2 cup water
a little cornstarch to thicken the sauce
1 onion (thinly sliced)
Some frozen mix vege / beans (thaw)

~ Heat up a little cooking oil and saute the onions and vege / beans
~ Add in all the other ingredients and bring to boil

Enjoy!!!

Homemade Beef Burger

Nothing beats homemade food! This was my first attempt on making our very own burger buns and the result is awesome. And that I have to share this recipe with you, a very easy and thumbs up recipe indeed! 

We had this for dinner yesterday and everyone thought that the buns were store bought...hehe! *so proud of my self* (thick skin ^^)

Alright, dinner was served....Homemade Beef Burger, yeah! all homemade except the salad lah...I have no courage to plant them yet..LOL!!

Beef Burger with Garden Salad

Ingredients for the Buns:
60g condensed milk
15g beaten egg
170g cold water
2g salt
5g instant yeast
300g bread flour
5g milk powder
20g softened butter

* a little white sesame seed

Method:
~ Mix well condensed milk, egg, cold water and salt in a mixer. (just mix them at medium speed for 2-3 minutes)
~ Add in flour and milk powder and mix them into a dough
~ Finally add in the butter and knead into a fine dough until you can pull the dough to almost see through texture without breaking it. (Note that the dough is a little soft here)
~ Cover and let prove for 30 minutes
~ Dust some flour on the work surface and hands. Transfer the dough to the work surface.
~ Press down the dough to let the air out. Divide the dough into 60g each or smaller it you prefer.
~ Round them up. Spray some water and dust with some white sesame seeds.
~ Place them onto the prepared pan lined with parchment paper. Let prove for 1 hour.
~ Bake at 180'C for 10-13 minutes (please adjust to your own oven's temperature) 

Well, as you can see below here (before and after) the buns were done. If you want to make mini buns, you should divide the dough into 30g each instead. 

Ingredients for the Beef Patty:
500g minced beef (90% lean meat)
1 beaten egg
1 large onion (finely chopped)
1/2 cup Crushed Soda Biscuits
3 tbsps Worcestershire Sauce
a little salt and black pepper to taste

Method:
~ Mix all ingredients above in a large bowl
~ Make into patty about 0.5" thick (size depends)
~ Use a wax paper in between each patty when chilling for easier separation.
~ Keep chill for at least 30 minutes before frying with some olive oil.

** The patty can be store in freezer for a week in an airtight container.

Hope you like this recipe!

Preserved Meat Claypot Rice 腊味煲仔饭

Having this Claypot Rice the other day for dinner and it was all thumbs up! First time cooking this and find it I will cook this more often because I love it so much..haha! Quite an easy one, all you have to do is to get all the ingredients prepared and cook with a rice cooker or in a claypot over the stove.

Preserved Meat Claypot are Guangdong specialty snack. Love the aroma of the dish while cooking where the rice will absorbed all the flavors of the preserved meat. Somehow cooking with a claypot need a little skill by controlling the heat, example too fierce fire will burn the claypot. I still need practice on that..;p

Ingredients to prepare:
100g Thai rice (soaked for 2 hours)
1 tsp cooking oil
1 preserved duck / wax meat (cut in small pieces)
1 chinese sausages (cut into thin slices)
1 liver sausages (cut into thin slices)
 * some greens for decoration

~ Cook the rice with enough water. (as usually when you cook the white plain rice)
~ When the rice is cooked, use a fork or chopsticks to loosed the rice
~ Display all the other ingredients (except the greens) on top of the rice
~ Drizzle 2 tbsps of seasoning sauce over it and cover the lid
~ Continue to cook / simmer for another 15-20 minutes.
~ Serve with the greens you prepared.

** The amount of the ingredients are depends to individual.

Seasoning sauce:
100ml water
4 tsps soy sauce
1 tsp oyster sauce
1/4 tsp chicken stock powder
1/2 tsp sugar

~ Mix all the above and bring it to boil. Set aside.

If you find it's too dry while serving, drizzle more sauce onto the rice if you prefer.
I will be cooking this real soon, even though I know eating all these preserved food are not so healthy..;p No harm for one more time ha!!! Just Love it!

Happy Eating...^^" 

Tasty Grilled Chicken

Another grilled chicken recipe added into my list. This is also a simple one founded in a magazine long time ago (can't recall what magazine was that though), the recipe has been cut out and was all the while kept in my small note book in the drawer. Yeah...never thought of that until I tried to tidy up the drawer the other day...;p

Well, I can't think of the name of this dish, so just named it.."Tasty Grilled Chicken" will do..LOL!!

Recipe has been twisted a little here.

4 Chicken drumsticks 

Marinate the Chicken with:
1 tsp clove powder
1 tbsp nutmeg powder
1 tbsp coriander powder
1 tbsp celery powder
1 tsp paprika powder (optional)
1 garlic (pounded)
1 onion (pounded)
salt and sugar to taste

some honey (for brushing)

** Preheat the oven at 220'C
** Grilled the drumsticks till golden brown on both sides (about 25-30 mins) then brush a little honey over the crispy skin and continue to grill for another 5 minutes.

I've bought some beautiful sweet Honey Cherry Tomatoes and some Japanese mushrooms (bunashimeiji & bunapi) for the side too.
With some olive oil, saute some chopped garlic till fragrant then add in the mushrooms and stir fry for about 5 minutes. Then add in some dried ground basil leaves, ground blackpepper and some salt to taste. Lastly add in the cherry tomatoes, off the heat and dish up.
Some mashed potatoes for the base of the crispy grill...YUMMY!

That's our dinner...Yay!!

Happy Dinner-ing!!!

Grilled Stuffed Squids served with Aglio Olio Linguine

I always have difficulties when comes to think what should I cook for dinner. My mind will be blank and I will keep staring at the stuffs I have in my fridge or I will go round and round the market hopefully I can get something that my whole family will like. And these were what I got from the market in less than 30 minutes...small fresh prawns, squids, fish, meat, few kinds of vegetables etc. Oh yes, I grabbed almost everything...LOL!!!

So then, here came something different for dinner last night! "At least it's not rice again" ...that's what my little girl commented..:p

Saw this (kind of) recipe on a TV series, and I was, okay..I'll make that! Well, not bad at all, they were all been walloped up! It's alittle messy when comes to clean up the squids, you know the kind of gooey and slippery all over the hands....but I enjoy rubbing them though...haha!

These are what you have to prepare....(enough for 4 persons)

(A) 8 medium squids (cleaned and remove skin, rubbed with little sea salt)
(B) 500g minced pork / chicken
      200g shrimps (shell removed~cut into small pieces)
(C) 200g Linguine
(D) 2 tbsps minced garlic
      a bowl of brocolli (cut)
      1 medium carrot (cut into small cubes)
      2 tbsps dried basil leaves
　  a little black pepper & salt to taste
      3 tbsps olive oil

Marinate (B) for at least 2 hours with:
1 tbsp A1 sauce
1 tbsp Lea & Perrins sauce
2 tsps black pepper
1 tsp paprika powder
a little salt & sugar

Prepare some sauce for the grilled squids with:
2 tbsps A1 sauce
1 tbsp Lea & Perrin sauce
a little black pepper and sugar
~ mix well and put in microwave for 1 minute.
     

* When everything are nicely prepared, stuffed the squids with (B).
* Preheat oven at 225'C Rub a little olive oil on the stuffed squids and grill for 15 minutes until both sides turn yellowish. Dish up and cut into small ring size. (shown above)
* Bring the brocolli to boil and drain, keep aside.
* Saute the minced garlic till fragnant, add in carrots and stir fry for 5 minutes then add in brocolli and the rest of the ingredients from (D). Add alittle water if it's too dry. 
* Bring to boil a pot of water and cook the Linguine in 11-12 minutes until its totally softened. Drained.
* Mix in the cooked Linguine with the prepared vegetables and serve on a plate.
* Decorate (as you desire) the grilled stuffed squids on the plate and drizzle with some sauce.

Dinner is served!!!

It was so yummy and I regret I didn't cooked more..^^

Happy Cooking!!!

Simmer-fried Stuffed Hairy Marrow (红烧酿毛瓜)

It seems I didn't have much savory dish posted in my blog. I've tasted this dish since I was a small girl cooked by my grandmother, then by my mother. Now it's my turn, and I'll like to share it with you. 

Not much ingredients to prepare and it only takes about 20 minutes to cook. I never thought that my little girl loves it so much until she walloped the whole bowl of rice with only this dish!

Hairy marrow or fuzzy melon or even sometimes it's been called hairy cucumber looks like a fat cucumber with tiny little hair on the skin. It's quite popular in the Chinese cuisine especially in Cantonese dishes.

 Ingredients:
2x400g Hairy marrow (remove skin, cut into rings about 1.5" thick, remove the seeds)
2 tbsps dried shrimps
4 Chinese mushrooms (soaked till soft, cut into small cubes)
1 tbsp garlic (diced)

Mixed together:
500g minced pork
2 tbsps flounder fish powder
2 tsps cornflour
2 tsps sesame oil
alittle pepper
2 tbsps soy sauce
alittle sugar

300ml chicken stock
3 tbsps cornstarch

 Method:
~ Marinated the minced pork with the seasoning above for at least 30 minutes
~ Cleaned and removed the skin of the melon, cut into rings about 1.5" thick and removed the seeds
~ Stuffed the meat into the melons hole (shown above)
~ Heat up some oil then panfry the stuffed melon till half cooked. (both sides till brown)
~ Stir fry the garlic, dried shrimps and mushrooms till fragrant then add in the chicken stocks
~ When the stock begins to boil, put in the stuffed melons and cover the lid
~ Simmer at low heat for 20 minutes
~ Add in the cornstarch and bring to boil. Dish up!

Cheers!

What Ive Done Lately!

Hi! How are everyone doing lately? Me?!...Very busy since my daughter's school starts but of course I do cook and bake everyday. What I've been cooking? Here are some of them, something simple but delicious for my family. Well, of course there are some more but those are the repeat recipes which I've posted before so I'm not going to repost them.

I'm having a very important mission to complete this coming week. I'll let you know what it is later..hehe!

I'll make this post as short as possible, hope that you still enjoy reading it..:p

Here, the 1st one...saw this from a tv show once that a taiwanese cook did something with the chicken breast and I find that was interesting. With some changes, well actually I did change the whole idea except wrapping with the chicken breast. Flatten the chicken breast and marinated with some salt, paprika powder and black pepper then wrapped with anything that you desire ( I stuffed with some brinjals, carrots and cheddar cheese) Rolled them up and sealed with toothpicks. Then grilled at 250'C until done (about 20-30 mins) Removed the toothpicks and sliced. Served with some garden salad. Yummy!

Next, the roasted pork which is my family favourite. This is a super delicious and easiest recipe for roasted pork I ever done. get the recipe here.

Deep fried Spring Rolls! What a sinful snacks for my afternoon tea. using only the frozen spring rolls wraps that I got from the supermarket, the yummilicious fillings that I invented myself..haha! Nice!!
Fillings are minced shallots,turnips (thinly sliced), carrots (thinly sliced) and dried beancurd (thinly sliced). Stirfry the shallots till fragrant, then add in the rest of the ingredients and mix well. Add seasoning~ oyster sauce, sugar and pepper. (amount depends to individual) Slowly add in water until there is a small amount of gravy will do. Slow cook till the vege softened. Wrapped with the psring roll wraps and deep fry until golden brown.

Another old recipe here, the chiffon cake. Well this time I did 2 flavors in a cake because my daughter has been asking for chocolate flavor and me, I like the orange one. so at the end, I combined both!!Do look for the chiffon cake recipe from my blog here for details.

Lastly but not least, remember I mentioned earlier that I have a very important mission? Here's the roses that I wanted to show you. Chocolate fondant roses all done for a wedding cake next week!! I'm very satisfied with the roses here after so long that I didn't practice making them. Not bad huh?..hehe!
They are for my dear cousin's sister's wedding next week. So stay tune for the cake ya...^^

Cheers!

Spicy and Sour Trotter

Here comes a dish that I've longed for. Trying many times cooked by my mother but I never try it out myself. Until I saw my sister's post last week that drolled me out from the screen...haha! I've cooked mine the next day then...super yummy!! You'll never believe it...I almost walloped up the whole trotter...LOL!! Well, a tough jog the next day to burn those calories..;p

With a twist from my mom's recipe, I've done a good job I can say. Love this to bit!
Here...I'll share mine with you...:))

Ingredients:
1 medium trotter (chopped in big pieces)
2-3 Chilli Padi (bird's eye chilli)
1 small bowl dried chilli (wash and drained)
4-5 pieces old ginger (sliced thinned)
3 cloves black garlic
30g rock sugar
about 500ml assam water (I used 3 tbsps assam paste melted in 450ml water)
** can be substitute to black vinegar
a little salt to taste
a little light soy sauce to taste
some spring onions for decoration

Method:
~ Wash the trotter and bring to boil in clear water for 5 mins. Wash with running cool water, drain and set aside.
~ In a claypot or a wok, saute the garlic, ginger, dried chilli and chilli padi with a little oil till fragnant.
~ Add in the trotter and stir for a while.
~ Add in assam water and rock sugar, cover with lid and bring to boil.
~ Once boiling, lower the heat and simmer for 1.5 hrs or until trotter is tender.
~ Add in some light soy sauce and salt to taste.
~ Decorate with some spring onions and serve hot.

This is even tastier when serve overnight as the trotter has the flavor observed with the thick gravy.
I will definitely cook this again very soon！

Cheers!

Grilled Paprika Chicken with Baked Cheesy Potatoes and Mushrooms

So lately I've been baking and cooking all the old recipes, craving for all the old stuffs. My family has been asking why am I not baking or cook any delicious food that they like last time, so I just bake whatever they ordered..hehe! I'm not lazy but no new recipes lately..haha! 

Anyway, here is one of the old ones which I grilled long time ago for a Christmas party, but with a new side dish which I think I should share with you. A delicious and simple side dish which you should try.

Baked potatoes and brown mushrooms with pizza topping cheese. At the beginning I just thought of baked the potatoes but my daughter requested some mushrooms. So I just mixed all these 3 ingredients together and guess what!....They loved it!!

Ingredients:
4 Soft potatoes, cubed
1 pck Brown mushrooms, halved
salt, black pepper, olive oil (to taste)
Pizza topping cheese (as desire)

~ Mixed all ingredients together then spread the cheese topping over the potatoes and mushrooms.
~ Bake at 200'C for 20-30 minutes or until golden and crispy. Served hot!

*served 4

For the grilled chicken recipe, please refer to my old post, Paprika Grilled Chicken.
This grilled chicken was my best among the others. The chicken drumsticks were bursting with flavors!

Oh the side dish, please remember not to add too much salt as it will be too salty when served with the yummy grilled chicken. Try try try!!! I'll like to know about your comments...:))

Cheers!

Shepherd's Pie @ my way

Hi my dear readers, how are you doing and how do you spend the whole last week? Me?! I'm quite busy with the daily routine and I've been out for almost the whole week for some personal stuffs. Back home to my kitchen, found my old oven has almost dying after accompanied me for all these years. Guess I got to look for a new one now. Any suggestions?

Meanwhile I'm using the portable air cooker for my daily recipes. Still can be done for those simple ones. 

Here, the 1st from the portable air cooker, Shepherd's Pie for our Festive dinner (Mid Autumn Festival) few days ago. Still goes well, and it did not dissapoint me...:) I did twist and turn the recipe to suite my taste, and I love it!

Ingredients:

2 tbsps olive oil

1 large onions (chopped)

1 carrot, finely diced

some green beans (as desire)

250g minced lamb ( I used the Australian Lamb)

1 tbsp dried thyme

1 tbsp dried bazil leafs

5 tbsps tomato paste

2 tbsps brown sugar

a pinch of salt

Marinate Ingredients:

1 tbsp worcestershire sauce

2 tbsps A1 steak sauce

a little black pepper

a little salt and sugar

* marinate the minced lamb with the sauces above for at least 2 hours.

Topping:

600g fluffy potatoes, peeled and quartered

30g butter

1/3 cup fresh milk

a dash of black pepper

~ Steamed the quartered potatotoes for about 5-10 minutes or until potatoes are soft. 

~ Transfered softened potatoes into a tray, add in milk, butter and pepper and mash until smooth and fluffy.

~ Set aside.

Method:

~ Preheat wok and add in 2 tbsps olive oil, saute the chopped onions till fragnant.

~ Add in marinated meat, at medium heat stir fry awhile. Then add in the rest of the ingredients into the meat and keep stirring for few minutes. If the tomato paste is too sour, may add some sugar to adjust the sweetness. Total cook time is about 15-20 minutes.

~ Transfer the meat to a 1.25 litre overproof casserole dish.

~ Preheat oven to moderate 180'C.

~ Spoon the mashed potatoes evenly over the meat and fluff up into peaks with a fork.

~ Bake for about35-40 minutes, or until the top is golden.

Serve hot with a glass of red wine, the wine really brings out the dish quite well.
This was my 1st attempt making a Shepherd's Pie, and i'm very satisfied with the outcome!
I will definitely put this recipe in my top list menu...hehe!

Happy Baking!

Pork & Shrimps Satay with Tamarind Glaze

Hi all, I'm back with a simple recipe which its well received by my family and friends. Last weekend we had a small gathering with friends at my house. I've prepared some grilled chicken wings with lemon grass, grilled prawns, some desserts like blueberry cheese tarts and tiramisu. Well, this satay was the most welcome dish during that day. All were gone before the gathering ends..haha! I'll make more for the next one ya...^^

The recipe only needs few ingredients:
600g minced pork
100g minced shrimps
1 tsp ginger powder
3 small pcs galangal (chopped0
15 stalks lemongrass (wash & clean)
1 gloves garlic
50g coriander leaves
1 tsp ground tumeric
1 tsp freshly ground black pepper

Glaze:
1 tbsp tamarind puree
1 tbsp honey
ground black pepper to taste

Method:
- Place all ingredients except lemon grass stalks, meat, shrimps and glaze in a blender and pulse until combined.
- Mix the blended ingredients with the meat and shrimps. Mix well and leave to marinate for 1 hour.
- With wet hands, mould each portion around each lemon grass stalks into shape of a sausage (about 3-4") long. (like the picture shown above)
- Prepare the glaze. Preheat and overhead grill.
-Brush satay with glaze and grill, turning every 3 minutes until well cooked / browned. Takes about 8-10 minutes to cook. Serve hot!

For outdoor cooking, grill over medium-hot coal. It may taste better with the coal grill.
This was so nice and everyone started to ask for the ingredients, so here you are my dear friends. Sorry to take such along time to post...hehe!

Cheers!!