Carrot Cake

几天前，公主在互联网上看了胡萝卜糕说"I am craving for carrot cake" . 她已經好久没吃蛋糕了。今天去了超市买了3个胡萝卜。 午饭后， 做了这些胡萝卜小蛋糕。希望能为公主打打气!😊😊😊

I have been wanting to make western carrot cake. Today, I finally fulfill my dream. 😊

Ingredients :

1 cup plain flour (150 g)

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon(will reduce to 1/4)

1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg*

1/8 teaspoon ground ginger *

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 cup finely grated carrot (approx. 140 g)

1 teaspoon orange zest (optional)

1/2 cup soft dark brown sugar (80 g) (will reduce to 1/4 cup 40g)

1/2 cup vegetable oil (100g /120ml)

2 eggs

1/2 cup chopped walnuts (60 g)

2 tablespoons raisins or sultanas (28 g)

You may replace nutmeg n ginger with 1/2 allspice. 

*Spices was replaced.

Method : 

Line paper cups into muffins tray

1)Preheat oven to 175°C. 

2)Grate carrot. And zest an orange (optional). Set aside.

3)Sifted flour, ground cinnamon, ground nutmeg, ground ginger (or allspice), baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Whisk a little and set aside.

4)In a separate bowl, add in soft dark brown sugar and vegetable oil. Whisk to combine. Stir in eggs one at a time. 

5)Pour the dry ingredients into wet mixture all at once. Fold until combined.

6)Fold in grated carrot, chopped walnuts, and raisins or sultanas. Use a ice-cream scoop to scoop into papercups. 

7)Bake for 25 minutes, or until an inserted satay stick or wooden stick comes out clean.

Note: You may pour the mixture into baking tin and bake for 45-55 minutes.

French Bread

Using bread maker to bake french bread was my first time. I have taste someone who bake french bread using Philip BM. It tasted good. I got the recipe from a FB friend ( Thanks Joni). I did some modification on the ingredients 

The first attempt wasn't very successful as my instant yeast wasn't active. Resulted I have very short and cute loaf of bread.

This is the cute and short bread which the yeast was not active. Thought was a new box of yeast with expiry March 2018. However, it just not active. When I saw the dough in the tin was not rising, felt something is not working. I did a test. Pour half teaspoon of instant yeast into lukewarm water. Even after half hour, there was no bubbles found. So, I threw away all the rest balance yeast. Heartache! And bought new one from supermarket.

2nd attempt was good. Bread taste good. Even the 1st attempt though short and heavy still it taste good. I use this bread with my Homemade Otah (see recipe here) to make otah sandwich. Taste really good and delicious. 

Ingredients 

270gm  Water

1.5 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon sugar( not in original recipe)

1.5 tablespoon olive oil

400g bread flour

50g rye flour

1.3 teaspoon instant yeast.

Note : Original recipe is 450g bread flour. No rye flour. I replaced 50g of bread flour with Rye flour. You can use all 450g bread flour. 

Method:

Directions using Bread Maker:

1)Place water, salt, sugar, oil, bread flour, and rye flour into the tin of the bread machine (according to the sequence as stated in the instruction manual of your bread machine). Make an indentation on the flour and add in the instant yeast. Then cover the yeast with some of the flour.

3) I used "French Bread" "Function 3" with "Light" crust. Choose weight 750g. My BM indicated it take 3hrs 30mins for french bread to complete the whole cycle.

4)When the loaf is ready, there will be a continuous beep sound. Remove tin and shake out the loaf onto a rack and leave to cool. Appro. an hour. Slice it and serve.

Purple Sweet Potato Snow Skin Mooncake. 紫蕃薯冰皮月饼

Ingredients 用料 (冰皮 Snow Skin)
45g Glutinous Rice Flour 糯米粉45克
35g White Rice Flour 粘米粉35克（大米粉）
20g Wheat Starch 小麦淀粉20克（澄面）
18g Vegetable Oil 植物油18克
185g Milk 牛奶185克
35g Icing sugar 糖粉50克

Filling ingredients馅用料:
1 whole purple sweet potato without peel about 80g 一个80克紫色蕃薯
10 gm sugar 糖10克
15g vegetable oil 植物油15克
15g coconut cream 椰浆15克
10gwheat starch 小麦淀粉10克
10g water 水10克

Or

220g lotus paste 莲蓉馅220克
15g melon seeds 瓜子15克

Method for Purple Potatoes Filling紫蕃薯馅做法:
1. Place washed purple potatoes with skin into a small pot and cover the potato with enough water. Boil it over a stove for half an hour or until potato is cooked. 将紫蕃薯放进一个小锅， 加水盖过蕃薯煮熟。


2. Remove potato from fire once it is cooked. Peel off the skin. Use a fork to smash the potato while it is hot. 将煮熟的紫薯去皮。乘热用勺子压成泥。


3. Press sweet potato through a fine sieve. Set aside  a tablespoon of potato. Add sugar into the rest.  Mix wheat starch with water, then pour into the mashed sweet potato. Stir in coconut cream and oil. Transfer to a non-stick pan and cook over medium heat. Stir occasionally until most of the moist is dried up and the wheat starch is cooked through. Cover with plastic wrap and chill in fridge for later use.然后过筛一遍成幼滑薯蓉。加糖。澄麵粉加水先拌勻，跟椰奶一起拌入紫薯蓉中，最後加油。转置不黏底锅中，用中火炒至澄麵粉熟透和乾身。蓋好，放入雪櫃中，備用。

Method for snow skin 制作冰皮
1. Combine milk, vegetable oil (sunflower/corn oil) and icing sugar together. Do not use olive or peanut oil. As the aroma for the oil is too strong.
将牛奶、植物油（选择如玉米油、葵花籽油等色浅无味的植物油，不要用橄榄油、花生油等有特殊气味的油）、糖粉倒入碗里，搅拌均匀




2. Combine glutinous rice flour, white rice flour and wheat starch  in a bowl. Add the above 1 and also 1 tablespoon purple smashed potato into flour and mix them well.
糯米粉、粘米粉、小麦淀粉倒入另一个碗里。将上一步的牛奶混合物和紫蕃薯慢慢倒入粉类里，边倒边搅拌，直到混合均匀

3. Sieve the liquid mixture 1-2 times
混合好的粉浆，过筛1-2遍

4. After sieved, cover the bowl of mixture with cling wrap and put into boiling water to steam for 25min.
过筛后，静置半个小时。表面盖上保鲜膜，放入烧开水的蒸锅，大火蒸25分钟

5. Immediately after steam, remove from heat and use a pair of chop stick to stir the dough into a smooth dough.
蒸好的面糊，趁热用筷子用力搅拌，直到变得顺滑均匀

6 Let the dough cool down and then store in fridge.
面糊冷却后使用。同样，如果想尽快冷却，可摊薄在盘子里，放入冰箱

7. Prepare some kou fen (fried glutinous flour). You may fry some glutinous flour in low fire  if you do not have ready made kou fen. Remove from heat once it turn light yellow. Kou Fen is done.
准备一些糕粉，如果没有现成的糕粉，将糯米粉放入锅里小火翻炒，炒到微微发黄。蘸少许品尝，没有生粉味道，就表示熟了。冷却后即为糕粉

8. Add melon seeds to lotus paste.
将瓜子加进莲蓉馅。

9. When the snow skin dough is cold, divide the dough and lotus paste filling into small portion. Snow skin is 25g and lotus filling is 47g and purple sweet potato filling is 47g
冷却后的冰皮面糊与莲蓉馅和紫蕃薯馅分别分成小份. 则冰皮分成25克1份，莲蓉馅分成47克1份,  紫蕃薯馅分成47克1份。

10. Put snow skin dough on hand and flatten it. Place filling on the snow skin. Wrap the lotus filling with the skin.
将冰皮放在手心压扁。然后把莲蓉馅或紫蕃薯馅放在冰皮上。用冰皮把馅 包起来，收口捏紧

11. Sprinkle some kou fen(cooked glutinous flour) into mould, shake  off excess flour. Lightly coat mooncake with cooked kou fen. Shake off any excess flour. Place into a mooncake mould. Press to print the pattern. Repeat this step until finish all the dough and fillings. Store the mooncakes into an air-tight container. Refrigerate for few hour. Serve it cold.
月饼模里撒一些糕粉，晃一晃，使糕粉均匀的沾在月饼模上，再把月饼模在手心磕一磕，将多余的糕粉磕出来。把包好的面团放入月饼模。压出月饼形状。到这一步，冰皮月饼就做好了。做好的冰皮月饼，放冰箱冷藏数小时后再食用，口感最佳。

You may be interested in my other post:
1.Snow-skin-mooncake (Instant Method)

Dairy Free Blueberry Muffins

Ingredients
2  egg, lightly beaten
1 cup (240 ml) unsweeten soy milk added 2 tbsp lemon juice
1/3 cup (80 ml) melted coconut oil
2 cups (260grams) self-raising flour
1/4cup (50 grams) caster sugar 
1/4cup (50 grams) brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 - 1 1/2 cups (240-360 ml) fresh blueberries

Method:
Blueberry Muffins: Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Position rack in center of oven. Butter or line 12 muffin cups with paper liners.

In a large bowl whisk together the lightly beaten egg, soy milk+lemon juice and melted coconut oil

In another large bowl whisk the flour with the sugar(brown + caster), and salt. Gently stir in the blueberries. With a rubber spatula fold the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir only until the ingredients are combined and moistened. (The batter will be thick.)

Evenly fill the muffin cups with the batter, using two spoons or an ice cream scoop. Place in the oven and bake for about 15 - 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin just comes out clean. Transfer to a wire rack and let cool for about 10 minutes before removing from pan.

Makes 12 muffins.

Pancake (Non-Dairy)

Lately my princess wanted to keep away from dairy products. Pancake which is sold in the market are added with cow milk. She has been seeing her friends having pancake and waffles and craving for it. So this morning to give her a 'surprise'  I have did some slight modification on my homemade-pancake recipe.

Princess is happy and finished 2 large pancakes.
Obviously when she is happy I am happy too!


Ingredients
1.5 cup self-raising flour
1 cup Non Sweet Soy milk
1 tbsp lemon juice
2 eggs, beaten lightly
3 tbsp caster sugar

Method
Add lemon juice into soy milk and let it stay for about 5-10min. I do this to achieve buttermilk texture. You can substitute lemon juice with white vinegar or apple cider. Note: if you do not have lemon or vinegar,  you may omit it. Just soy milk is fine.

Sift flour in a large bowl.  

In another bowl, whisk eggs and sugar together for few minutes. Add the above buttermilk(soy+ lemon juice). Whisk them together. Then gradually whisk the egg mixture  into the flour. Whisk until mixture makes a smooth batter. Tranfer batter to large jug. 

Heat up a non-stick frying pan. Highly recommended non-stick pan.

Pour about 1/4 cup of batter into frying pan. Cook pancake until you see bubbles appear on surface and almost dry. Turn the pancake with a spatula to lightly brown other side. Cover pancakes on plate with foil to keep them warm. Continue to make more pancakes with remaining batter.

Serve pancakes topped with your desired jam and butter or margarine

P.S.  If you are using a normal frying pan, oil the frying pan with 1 teaspoon of oil. Then use a kitchen paper towel to wipe away excess oil. Note: the first piece using normal frying pan will not look so desirable. But subsequent one will be perfect.

Note: If you do not have a metric measuring cup at home, you may use any kind of  drinking cup which you use for your water or coffee etc.. Just make sure you use the same cup to measure all the rest of ingredients

You may like to view my other posts :
1Rice-omelette-pancake
2kimchi-pancake

Simplified Rice Cooker Chicken Rice

Bought a large chicken yesterday morning from ntuc. Deboned on my own, and made this simplified rice cooker chicken rice. I used to cook this quite often when my children were in primary school for their lunch. And they loved it. Even my mother-in-law who is a very good cook also like this.

My children like to eat chicken rice. When running out of time and craving for chicken rice, this is the fastest way and no hassle. Quick cook and yummy to eat. Less things to wash.  Traditional way  is boiling the chicken in hot boiling water. And cook the rice separately. See Ama's chicken-rice.

The 2 different ways of cooking the chicken rice, has their unique taste. The chicken rice cooked in this way is softer but more flavourful and tastier than traditional way. Because the meat is cooked with the rice. So the flavour of meat is in the rice. However, it is more difficult to control the texture of rice and chicken. So, if you desire to have better texture of rice and tender chicken meat, traditional way is recommended.

For time when I have to prepare 3 meals a day and needed to fetch children to and from school, it can be quite a challenge. So, I always like to find new and easy way to cook simple meal for family to save time. Of course the easiest way is to go to a chicken rice stall in hawker centre or coffeshop to buy 2-3 packets for the children. But my family always prefer homecooked food.
Personally, I love to cook for my family. I like my children to have sweet memories of homecooked food and childhood. So one day when they have grown up, wherever they are on this earth, when they think of home and childhood, these will be their sweet memories for a long long times. :)

I have not been cooking chicken rice in this way since children entered into their secondary school. So, yesterday, it brought back lots of sweet memories as we ate our dinner. What a wonderful day!

Ingredients:
1 chicken  about 1.4-1.5kg
2 cups uncooked rice
2 cups of water (minus 2 tbsp)

Seasoning for rice
1 tsp sea salt
1 tsp chicken powder(optional)
2 thumb size ginger (cut into 3 pcs, use the base of a mug to lightly hammer the ginger)
4-5 cloves of garlic removed skin
2 stalk spring onion
3-4 leaves pandan leaves

Seasoning for chicken
1 tsp sea salt
2 tbsp light soy sauce
Dash of pepper
1 tbsp sesame oil
1-2 tsp corn flour

Method:
1. Wash and rinse chicken. Deboned. Removed skin.  Add the seasoning for chicken. Marinate the chicken for minimum 20mins or more. You can prepare in the morning and cook at dinner time.

2. Rinse the rice once. Add water..
Add the seasoning for rice except spring onion and pandan leaves. Put into rice cooker and set cook. Cook rice in the normal way when you put rice to cook in rice cooker.

3.When the rice & water just started to boil, lay the chicken on top of the boiling rice. And add spring onion and pandan leave. Closed the cover of rice cooker and let it continue to cook until rice and chicken is cooked. Rice cooker will automatic switch to "warm" when the water dry up. And rice is ready to serve.

4. Remove and discard garlic,ginger, pandan leaves and spring onion from the rice. Serve rice and chicken in a plate with sliced raw cucumber and sliced raw tomatoes.

Happy Cooking

Note: I am using a simple stainless steel rice cooker with only 3 functions "porridge" "warm" "cook". So, please make necessary adjustment according to your rice cooker. My rice cooker total cooking time is 20mins for rice. I know some rice cooker take an hour to cook and quick cook is minimum 30mins.

Kimchi Meat Soup

Kimchi soup using minced meat with taukwa and mushroom

Kimchi soup with pork sabu sabu and glass noodle

Homemade kimchi.

Ingredients:
2 cups of water
1 clove garlic - minced
1/2 yellow onion - sliced
1 tbsp salted soya bean(豆鼓)
1/2 tbsp korean chilli paste
Kimchi - any amount ( I used homemade)
3 tablespoon minced meat or beef shabu shabu
1 pc of tau kwa(hard beancurd) -cut into pieces
1 pkt Enoki mushroom
2 stalks spring onion -  cut inch length
1 stalk chinese celery - cut  inch length
1 tbsp fish sauce


Method:
1. Put water into a pot and bring to boil. Add sliced yellow onion , garlic, salted soya bean and korean chilli paste.

2. Seasoned minced meat with 1-2 tsp light soy sauce, dash of pepper, 1 tsp sesame oil and 1 tsp cornflour. No seasoning required if use beef shabu shabu.

3. Use spoon to scoop minced meat into small balls and add into the boiling mixture. Add kimchi.

4. Remove the "root" part of Enoki mushroom. Rinse. Then add the Enoki mushroom and tua kwa into soup.

5. Add 1/2 - 1 tbsp of fish sauce and light soy sauce into soup or your desired taste.

6. Sprinkle cut spring onion and chinese celery. Remove from fire and place soup into a bowl and serve with rice.

P.s. : you may add tanghoon /glass noodle in above 4.

You may replaced pork with beef sabu sabu or sliced chicken.

You may like to view also my other post:
1. kimchi
2. kimchi-pancake