Fried Prawn and Pork Patties

It's been about two weeks since I came back to Singapore, and very soon I will be returning to Europe again, but will be stopping by Belgium first. Quite exciting since it will be my first visit and also work-related so while I am sad at leaving my family soon, I also have something to look forward to.

My Dad likes to watch cooking shows and this was one of the dish he wanted to try but haven't got the chance yet. I didn't watch the episode and relied mainly on his description and some prior knowledge from when I made the Chinese meatballs, I experimented with it. If you have a better recipe, please share!

Ingredients

150g prawns, deviled, shelled

300g minced pork

Japanese breadcrumbs

1 egg

1 tablespoon soy sauce

2 tablespoon ginger-soaking water

2 teaspoon chicken stock powder

1 teaspoon Shaoxing wine

Steps

1. Minced the prawn meat by chopping it with your knife, but do not render it to too small pieces.
2. Add the minced prawn to the minced pork in a large bowl, add in the seasoning and use a pair of chopsticks to stir and mix everything up in one single direction. You should see the mixture becoming stickier and binding itself as your stir.
3. Let it rest for about 10 minutes before you start frying. Use a shallow fry pan such as this one shown on FoodBuzz Daily Special and fill it up about halfway over medium heat.
4. Using your hand or a spoon, scoop 1 tablespoon of meat mixture and mould it round and dip it in a bowl of the beaten egg, then transfer it onto the plate of breadcrumbs. After coating it evenly, flatten it slightly with the palm of your hand and drop it carefully into the frying pan.
5. Once the bottom side of the patty has turned slightly golden in colour, flip it over and fry the other side. Be careful not to use too high heat otherwise the coating will be cooked before the meat mixture is cooked through.
6. Once it has been fried to a nice golden colour, drain it on kitchen paper and serve it hot with some chili sauce if preferred.

Johan's chili con carne

We had a party last Friday to celebrate Johan's 30th birthday plus his graduation. We had about 40 guests and there was a lot of food to be prepared. Johan chipped in with his chili con carne which has that spicy kick because of the addition of bird chili. Its easy but great for gatherings but what would be nice to have would be the "Never Burn" Pauli Sauce Pot as you need to cook off the liquid for it to become the thick stew that is the mark of good chili.

Ingredients (this serves at least 10 people or more)
1kg of minced meat (can be beef only or beef and pork)
2 cans of baked beans
2 cans of kidney beans
1 can of corn
3 cans of crushed tomatoes
2 tablespoon of tomato puree
1 tablespoon of cumin powder
3 bird chili, minced
1 large onion, minced
5 cloves of garlic, minced
salt and pepper to taste

Steps

1. Heat up about 3 tablespoon of cooking oil in a large deep pan and sweat the onion and garlic till soften before adding in the minced meat.
2. Fry the minced meat with the onion and garlic mixture till the meat is slightly brown, then season with salt, pepper and cumin. Mix well.
3. Add in the beans, crushed tomatoes, tomato puree and bird chili and mix well altogether, turning the heat down to low to let it simmer for about 1.5h to 2 hours or until the sauce has reduced and thickened. During the last half and hour, add in the corn and season accordingly.
4. Chili should be served hot, with a sliced of bread or over fries or a hot dog or just as it is. For extras, you can freeze them and they heat up well in the microwave too.

Mango Pudding

I'm back in Singapore again! This time for only three weeks and one of the things I had was Mango Sago with Pomelo at one of the famous dessert store along Liang Seah Street at Bugis, but I didn't like it very much because it uses small ice cubes to chill the dessert. It's disturbing to the whole experience of a smooth, cold dessert when you have to crunch down the ice cubes or spit it out of your mouth.

I very much prefer this version of mango dessert - mango pudding. I especially love those you can drench with evaporated milk but this recipe provides that already with the use of condensed milk. As I've told some of my friends, I don't usually cook when I'm back in Singapore since I will be pampered by my Dad, so this was one I did a few months back, when a friend, Dayny had some visitors from Philippines and graciously gave me some famous Filipino mangoes. They were sweet and succulent, perfect for this dessert!

Min favoritfrukt är mango och jag gillar allt som har med mango att göra. Det var den första efterrätt som jag åt när jag kom hem till Singapore för tre dagar sen. Det var inte samma som detta receptet utan den har isbitar. Jag gjorde den här för några månader sen, när min kompis Dayny gav mig Filippinska mangos som hennes kompis har tagit med när de besökte henne i Lund.

Makes about 4 large wine glass portion

Ingredients:

125ml cold water

2 and 1/4 teaspoon powdered gelatin or equivalent amount of gelatin blade (about 6-8 pieces)

125ml whipping cream

125ml condensed milk

30g sugar

2-3 mangoes, peeled and pureed, reserve some dices of mangoes as toppings

pinch of salt

1 tablespoon of lemon juice

Steps

1. In a bowl with the cold water, add in the powdered gelatin or if you are using gelatin blades, prepare them by soaking in cold water.
2. Prepare the mango by blending it in a mixer till it is smooth.
3. In a small pan, heat the cream and sugar together till it comes to a fast boil, remove from heat and add in the gelatin mixture or gelatin blades. Mix till the gelatin dissolves. 
4. Add the condensed milk, mango puree, lemon juice and salt into the mixture.
5. Pour into your serving containers, topped with diced mangoes and chill in the fridge.

Avocado Cheesecake

I know it may sound strange to some of you - avocado in cheesecake? However it works for me because this recipe incorporates the creamy texture of avocado with the cream cheese by binding it with some lemon. The best thing I love about this is the combination of colours, green and cream :). This is yet another recipe from Alex Goh's cheesecake 'bible'.

Beautiful swirls of whipped with avocado cheese mixture, isn't it lovely?

För recept i svenska, klickar här

Ingredients
Prepare a thin vanilla sponge cake layer like what I did in Strawberry Cheesecake, but you can halve the recipe instead.

For the cheese topping:
250g cream cheese - room temperature
60g sugar
100g avocado, scooped out and chopped roughly before puree(would be useful if you had a Chop N Scoop board to do this in)
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 tablespoon gelatine powder
40g water
100g yogurt (natural or vanilla flavoured)
200g whipping cream

Steps

1. Cream the cream cheese and sugar until light.
2. 
   
   Puree the avocado in a blender until smooth and add it to the cream cheese mixture and blend it well.
   
   
3. Mix the gelatine powder with water and place it over a double boiler and stir till it dissolves. Add it to the cream cheese avocado mixture until well combined. If you don't have a double boiler, just place a metal bowl with the gelatine mixture over a pot of boiling water.
4. Add in the yogurt next and mix it well until you get this:
   
   
5. In a separate bowl, whip the cream until soft peak and fold the cream into the previous mixture until well combined.
   
   
6. In the cake mould which you should have the vanilla cake layer at the bottom, pour over the cheese filling. Smooth the surface and refrigerate for 4 hours or until set.
7. Unmould the cake and decorate with slices of avocado or pipe whipped cream on it.

Ham & Cheese Bread - Skinka & Ost Bröd

This is such a common bread in Singapore that I remember it all the way from my childhood, where they sell for about 50 cents a piece and my mom will buy them for our breakfast for school the next day. The basic is a sweet dough which once successfully prepared you can vary it to have it contain red bean paste, or kaya, peanut butter, curry potatoes or luncheon meat...or anything you prefer. You can also shape it according to your creativity and for this one I did it by rolling the ham with a flat piece of dough like a Swiss roll, then fold it into half and cut it almost through the middle and open it up. You can do it like Breadtalk's flossy bread and have the toppings on the outside instead. They freeze well too and you need to warm it up only in the microwave.

I have tried and proven this recipe and I hope you will grow to like the versatility of it too! This is adapted from Alex Goh's Magic Bread:

Jag minnande den bröd från min barndom när min mamma köpte de för vår frukost. Den här är ett grundläggande recept för söt bröd och du kan använda vad du vill för fyllning. För recept i svenska, var gärna klickar här.

Ingredients
Sponge dough prepare 12 hours before
100g plain flour
70g boiling water

Mix both together until it forms a dough and once its cooled, cover and keep in the chiller for at least 12 hours before using.

400g plain flour
80g sugar
6g salt
9g dry yeast
20g milk powder
175g cold water
1 large cold egg (about 60g)
60g butter

Steps

1. Take the sponge dough out of the chiller while you prepare the rest of the ingredients.
2. Mix the flour, sugar, salt, dry yeast and milk powder well before adding in the cold water and egg to form a rough dough. You can do this with the dough hook if you have a machine or by hand otherwise.
3. Tear up the sponge dough bit by bit and add it to the mixing bowl while the machine is running.
4. Cut the butter into smaller pieces and add gradually to the dough mixture too until well incorporated.
5. Cover and proof for 40 minutes before diving them up into portions about 55-60g each.
6. Roll out each portion to be slightly larger than the slice of ham you have, and roll them up like a Swiss roll, fold into half and cut almost all the way through in the middle and open it up like a butterfly.
7. Brush with egg wash for each bun and sprinkle grated cheese over. Let it rest for 10 more minutes while you preheat the oven to 190 degrees celsius. Bake for 12-15 minutes until golden brown.
   
   
   

Making Kim Chi - The Proper Kim Chi By Chef Ajin!

My feet's been hurting quite a bit and I don't know if its from the 3km walk I took in the forest the other day or just standing in the kitchen too long but I saw this Chef's Mat from Foodbuzz daily special and wondered if it would help in alleviating it. Did anyone try it before and how was it? Do write to me and let me know! O and a special hi to Denise who dropped me an email after reading my blog, it was very nice to hear from you!

Anyways, I got to know a real Korean lady from the church group I am attending cell in Lund and she recently organized a Kim Chi making session at another friend, Lina's place. It was a great time of fellowship and I learnt another way of making Kim Chi. If you remember, I posted one before from a recipe I found on the internet and in it I substituted the Korean pepper powder with my own mix of paprika and chili powder. Still works but thought this is more authentic. So here are the steps taught by her and of course with real Korean pepper powder, which I also got some from here this time round. Thanks Ajin!

Jag träffade en riktig Koreanska kvinna, Ajin från kyrkan som jag delta i på bibel studie. Hon och en kompis Lina hade en kimchi session i förra vecka och jag lära sig rätt metod som man göra Kim Chi. Jag har gjort en förut men här man använder riktig Koreanska paprika pulver så det smacka bättre, tror jag. Det följa med bilderna vad vi har gjort.

Ingredients
1 large head chinese cabbage or napa cabbage or you can use white radish or cucumber but vary the amount of seasoning accordingly
1 dl coarse salt
3 dl cold water
2.5 tablespoons sugar
6 tablespoon Korean pepper powder
5 tablespoon fish sauce
about 1/2 onion, 4 garlic and 1 fresh chili blended into a paste
3-4 tablespoon cooked (1/2 dl flour & 1.5dl water) mixture
1/2 chopped onion and 1 spring onion for mixing in the end


Steps

1. Cut the lettuce or cucumber into quite large chunks and add the salt and water and 'massage' the vegetables thoroughly. Leave it to rest for about 2 hours.
   
   
   
2. While waiting, prepare the onion and garlic mixture and just sit around and talk or take pictures like us :)
   
   
   
3. Also prepare the flour and water mixture by cooking it in a small pot. It should be a thick mixture but not hard like cooked glue!
   
   
4. After the 2 hours wait, wash and squeeze as much water out of the vegetable or cucumber as possible. It is also possible to taste these pickled vegetables now to see if they are salty enough. Rule of thumb is your own test buds eventually, the amount given are just guidance and you are free to vary as you like.
   
5. This brand (looks like the roof of the house) is supposedly to be one of the better ones for Korean paprika powder, so try to find that if you can.
   
   
   
   
   
6. So the last stage is just to assemble, prepare a large bowl to do this, as Chef Ajin will tell you... (do note the steps are same for the cucumber or radish version but you have to vary the seasonings according)
   
   
7. First add the pepper powder:
   
   
8. Then the garlic and onion mixture:
   
   
9. Next the cooked flour & water mixture:
   
   
10. Finally, sugar and fish sauce. This part is a balancing act, so add more or less depending on how salty or spicy you want your Kim Chi to be.
    
    
11. Put on gloves at this stage if your hands are sensitive and wash your hands and dry them before you mix everything thoroughly, being careful not to bruise the vegetables too much. You can also try tasting and adjust the seasoning accordingly to your preference. Remember, taste, taste, taste!
    
    
     
12. Remember to store them in clean containers in the fridge and they can last you for a couple of months. The longer you store them, the more fermentation occurs and it will carry the sourish familiar tinge.
    
    
    
    

Banana Walnut with Chocolate Cupcake - Banan med Valnöt och Choklad Muffin

Bananas are on sale most of the time here and we always buy a bunch to have on our fruit plate. Sometimes, they turn brown before we have any desire to eat them and this is one good recipe to make use of brown bananas - which are very sweet and fragrant for baking purposes. I tweak the recipe which I got from Alex Goh's Baking Codes to include chocolate because that's Johan's favorite combination. Instead of using cupcake trays, you can do this like a banana loaf bread too! Just use a loaf tin instead ;). I like this recipe also because you basically only need one bowl instead of the normal 2 bowls because of the need to separate the dry and wet ingredients for cupcakes.

Den här är ett gött som du kan göra om du här mogna banan. Jag här byta receptet en lite för att Johan älskar banan och choklad kombination. För recept i svenska, du kan gå här.

Ingredients - Makes about 24 standard size cupcakes

2 eggs

200g sugar

250g banana

1/4 teaspoon salt

90g milk

250g plain flour

2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

150g corn oil or any neutral flavour cooking oil

80g dry roasted, chopped walnuts

80g chopped chocolate

Steps

1. Whip the eggs with the sugar until light and fluffy.  
2. Mash up the banana and add it to the egg mixture with the salt and whip until thick.
3. Blend in the milk well and add in the flour, baking powder and baking soda until well combined.
4. Add in the oil until incorporated and then add in the chocolate and walnuts, leaving a handful of walnuts for sprinkling on top of the cupcakes.
5. Line your cupcake tray with paper cups, and butter the top of the tray only, along the sides so the batter will not stick if it overflows. Fill up each cup to about 3/4 of the way, topping it with walnuts.
6. Pre-heat your oven to 180 degrees celsius, bake it for 25-30 minutes until nice and golden brown.
   
   

Tiramisu or Pick-me-Up

I just received great news today so feeling extremely happy. This would be a dessert that would fit my mood right now :) So far the best one I have tasted is at Raffles Hotel where you can get it at their Seah Street's deli. I specially requested for it for my wedding last August and I was very glad when they actually send it up to us after the wedding lunch because we didn't have time to eat but my 'sisters' love them too!

I got this recipe from a brother in Christ from New Creation Church, Weixin, who is a great cook, a great photographer and recently became father too! So I dedicate this blog post to him, his wife Wendy and their lovely son Zach! (whom I have not met yet!)

Och om du behöver den recept i svenska, du kan hitta det här

Ingredients

2 cups or 500ml strong coffee, cooled to room temp
3 tablespoons Amaretto Liquor
2 eggs, separated
30g caster sugar
250 g mascarpone cheese
1 cup cream
250 g ladyfingers or savoiardi (you may vary this according to the container you will eventually serve it in, at times you can also break up the biscuits to fit it)
cocoa powder, for dusting

Steps

1. Put the egg yolks and sugar in a large bowl and beat with electric mixers until the mixture goes pale and thick.

2. Add marscapone (which should be at room temperature) and beat until combined.

3. Whip the cream until stiff peaks and fold gently into the egg mixture.

4. Beat the egg whites to soft peaks in a perfectly clean metal bowl.

5. Fold the whites into the cream.

6. For serving you can use a big dish or individual glasses. Prepare a dish which you mix up the coffee and liquor in which you can dip the ladyfingers in.

7. Dip biscuits in coffee one at a time. Do this quickly and turn the biscuit once only because it absorbs very fast and turns soggy if there's too much liquid. Drain well.

8. Layer in your dish or glass (breaking it into appropriate sizes), covering the whole bottom.

9. Place one third of the marscapone mix on top and spread out.

10. Repeat with remaining biscuits and marscapone, finishing with a creamy layer.

11. Smooth surface with a spatula and dust with cocoa just before serving using a small sieve containing the cocoa powder and tap over each glass or the container gently.

12. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours, but it works quite well if you leave for up to 24 hours.