sweet bread

Last week L asked me to try a christmas stollen recipe, I thought why not give it a try, since I am still obsessed with bread lately.

However, after seeing the recipe I realized some of the ingredients are not easily obtainable in Mumbai, so I decided to alter the recipe a little bit. Here are the changes I have made :

1. I substituted the raisins and mixed fruits with chopped dates.

2. I added a little bit more water. (total maybe about 140-150g)

3. I didn't put almond flakes, melted butter (for brushing), and rum.

4. Lastly, I reduced the amount of butter to 20g only

Nevertheless, I still like the outcome, it's sweet, rustic, and definitely a comfort food :)

Here's the link for the recipe : http://esjoie.wordpress.com/2008/12/14/christmas-bread-stollen/

Happy trying and don't give up!

yes! i made it

I have been trying to make white bread this week. My first experiment was failed badly!

Basically, my dough didn't rise at all and my guess was because I used gluten free all purpose flour.....

Today was my second experiment, I tried again by using a plain white wheat flour and I used another recipe that I got from youtube video, here is the link : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hwwxNwVTnP4

I was a little bit worried when I was kneading the dough, it felt still a little bit sticky. So I just kept adding the flour and continue kneading the dough. But when I left the dough to rise, at least it rose accordingly, so I felt a bit of relief.

Upon baking, the top didn't come out as golden colored as the one in youtube video. However, as 25 minutes has passed and I didn't want to burn the bread bottom, I had to take out the bread from oven and cool it off.

Result is.....not bad at all but can be better with more practice.

chicken & potato in sweet soya sauce

This is a classic home cooked food in Indonesian household (well, at least in my house).

I don't think I ever found this in a restaurant, but my mom used to make dish for us when we were kids.

It's a simple combination of chicken (minced or chopped it's fine), Indonesian dark & sweet soy sauce, shallot, garlic, tomato, and lastly chilly.

Also I think it's a good meal for kids (minus the chilly of course) as it has a sweet taste, so it's very enjoyable for the kids to munch this dish.

i want a lasagna please

The best lasagna I had so far was in new york city, it was in an old school restaurant around upper west side, called Scalleta. It was so smooth, moist, juicy, and creamy~~~ just a thought of it makes me want to go to new york now.

Since I can't be there easily, I would make one as a solution to my craving! I made chicken lasagna tonight for dinner. Why chicken and not beef? Well, beef is generally harder to find in Mumbai, because cow is a holy animal in India, although I heard you can find beef in muslim area of Mumbai.

We can, of course, find plenty of buffalo meat around the market. But I would prefer beef than buffalo, just because buffalo meat has a stronger taste and small than beef has. So to be on the safer side, I chose chicken as a substitute.

However, I am not 100% satisfied with my lasagna today, reasons are:

1. I made it with an instant-no-required-precooking Barilla pasta, I don't really like the texture as it was a bit dry.
2. The bolognese sauce could be slightly more wet.
3. I cooked the bechamel sauce too long by 1 min!

The taste was actually pretty good, but I feel overall the lasagna was a little dry, not enough moist in it. I guess I have to practice more~~

jia you !!!!

"cooling"down soup

One thing that I miss a lot from Singapore is having a clear and light soup for my meal. On days that I feel my throat is a little bit protesting, I like to take some clear soup to "cool" down my sore throat.

The concept of "heaty" and "cooling" food/fruit/meal is only available in Asia. In western world, they don't put labels on their meals like Asians do.

My wild guess is long time ago people must have generalized what to eat and not when you are sick. Therefore, heaty food is okay to eat when your health is tip top, but cooling food is best to take when you are not feeling well (this is just a generalization, although it doesn't work like this sometimes).

I was feeling good today but I found a white pumpkin in my fridge (which was inside the fridge for almost a week!), so I decided to make a clear white pumpkin soup.

The result was a simple soup which has a "cooling" effect in it :)

chinese kfc

My mom taught me this fast fix of fried chicken for a fast meal.

I don't know whether this is counted as Chinese food or not, but for sure it doesn't taste bad at all, and it has that simple and home cooked food quality in it.

To make this Chinese KFC is pretty simple, below is the recipe:

Ingredients: cut into small-medium stripe of a chicken fillet (thigh part is my preference, but if you prefer breast then it's also ok), chinese soy sauce, garlic minced, a tiny bit of ginger juice, salt, pepper, egg white (1 egg), tapioca flour.

Preparations: marinade the chicken with soy sauce, garlic, ginger juice, salt and pepper. Leave it inside the fridge for at least 30 mins.

Prepare a bowl of an egg white and a plate of tapioca flour. Roll the chicken into the egg white first and followed by tapioca flour afterwards, and then deep fry the chicken until the coating color turns into golden brown.

Have fun trying it~

light risotto for lunch

I always think risotto is quite a full meal dish, but after making one myself I know it doesn't has to be heavy. In fact it can be a light dish for your lunch.

Today, I made chicken parmesan risotto for my lunch and I got the recipe from this website :

http://recipefinder.ninemsn.com.au/readersrecipes/276681/chicken-and-parmesan-risotto

I made the chicken stock myself yesterday, it's so easy to make, but it does take a long time. I had to leave it to simmer for 3 hours, but I have to say it's worth it !

My tip is, do use Grana Padano for the parmesan cheese, as it is less salty. The first time I made this dish I used Parmigiano Regiano, which contains more salt and my risotto turned out to be on the salty side.

And one more thing, I added 3 thin slices of bacon to have that yummy aroma and taste, adding bacon in your cooking can never go wrong~

corn fritters + prawn

Last night I made corn fritters for dinner, this dish is actually a typical Indonesian afternoon snacks.

However I wanted to have it for dinner, so I made it slightly heavier by adding mashed prawns in the batter.

The result is pretty interesting, I find the middle part of the fritter is soft and moist, yet the outside part is still golden crunchy.

Normally if you don't put any prawn in the batter, it will be quite crunchy inside out after you deep fried it.

Also, corn in Mumbai are sweeter than the ones in Indonesia, so I thought it's quite a nice twist to have some sweet taste with a little bit salty and spicy mixture.

shrimpy delightful

Tonight dinner is a deep fried shrimp roll, this is one Chinese delicacy that I can't get enough of.

It's how surprising that making this dish is not so easy, the ingredients are not complicated. However, the right amount of the tapioca flour and salt matter so much to the texture and flavor of the dish.

I can't say I am fully successful on this one though, I would like to have more chewy texture. So, I will add a little bit more flour on the next batch.

Wear your apron

One of my dearest friend "L" gave me an apron some time in September. L gave me this present because L was aware of my enthusiasm in cooking.

I love it so much, thank you L for giving me a useful present :)

It will definitely be utilized well in my kitchen lab!

It's Sticky alright

I love Sticky Dates Pudding, the first time I tasted this lovely stuff when I was in Singapore, my friend "A" decided to bake this cake in her office (she got a kitchen in her office).

When I took a bite, I was so blown away with the taste, it's such a savory. It's sweet and has a divine fragrant inside my mouth.

Immediately I asked A for the recipe! "I have to learn how to do this" I thought.

According to A, this recipe comes from Lebanon community in Australia.

It took me some practice to make the perfect results, but I am sure A will be proud of me now, she taught me well.

yum~!

Cupcakes attack!

It was one of those evening that I felt a sudden urge to bake, I know it might sound so strange, but it did happen to me a few times. So, I baked!

But since it's already 5.30pm on that day, I decided to bake something easy, such as cupcakes.

The best way to find a recipe is to google it and find which one that you think it's easy for you to make and whether you have all the ingredients at home.

Although eventually I ended up staying in the kitchen for almost 2.5hrs, this was partly due to the making of frosting from scratch!

I got a back pain the next day, but it was worth it, it were yummy~ cupcakes!

Home cooked Mac & Cheese

Everyone has a comfort food, it's a kind of food that when you eat it you just feel relax and at ease.

Comfort food always has a simple taste and texture, and it reminds you of your mom's cooking (if your mom is a good cook of course).

Today I decided to attempt making a home cooked mac&cheese, the recipe is fairly simple and I have all the ingredients at home.

Forget that instant mac&cheese that you get in a box from supermarket, this will take you only 45mins and it tastes so much much yummier.

I am pretty happy with the outcome, it's very tasty and moist in the middle and crunchy on top!! I use 2 cheese in this recipe, cheddar and parmesan, cheddar will be for the sauce and parmesan will be on top of the macaroni together with the bread crumbs.

one word, yum~!