Avocado Egg Sandwich

It's been quite a while I did something to add to my list of 'healthier options'.

I'm a moderate eater. I eat everything, and the only thing I ever indulge in is vegetables, and my old buddies know how much vegetables I can eat in one sitting.

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Pan Fried Pork 煎猪肉

In memory of Grandaunt. Happy 102 birthday, if you were still here.

This was the only “cha siu” made at home. Though not a char siew, but it’s the closest. My grandaunt is particular about names of dishes and will never teach us to call this char siew. It’s Pan Fried Pork, Pan Fried Pork, Pan Fried Pork according to her. She’s a very strict cook… just by observing her when I was a kid, I have learnt a lot. And I try to recreate her dishes from memory, all thanks to the opportunity to watch her in the kitchen

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Kuih Lompang Pandan

I do get occasional cravings for this kuih. No food colouring used, all natural.

Bad. As my pandan plant is half dead, so I need to buy the leaves and now that I'm working, it's not that easy for me to drive out and get it as I wish. I have time constraints.

Some northern Nonya cookbooks will call this as Kuih Kosui Pandan, but in Home Science books, they are called as Kuih Lompang, the kuih in a cup that comes with a crater filled with grated coconut. Kuih Lompang is the general name used in the Malay community.

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Ginger Baked Chicken Pieces 姜茸烤鸡片

Sometimes I just feel soo lazy to wash up after cooking.

Initially I wanted to steam the chicken and then cook the sauce to pour over, but the lazy bug hit me the last minute and I dumped everything in and baked it instead. Reducing a lot of washing up. I used just one bowl for marinating and another dish for baking. But if you want, just use the same baking dish to marinate. Even lesser to wash, haha!

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Paradise Pear Pecan Cake

Paradise Pear is a type of pear that is small in size. So small I can pop the whole thing into my mouth in a go. The ones we get here are imported from Australia and are usually available from January to March, depending on your luck. These paradise pears aren't cheap and they cost almost RM1 each, and are sold by weight. I got my pears from Aeon and once, from the local night market.

It's because of the timing... that I tend to keep these pears until they almost rot. I am just too busy around Chinese New Year.

I made this cake 3 times and I finally got this posted.

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Fresh Tuna Purple Potato Salad

Tuna is a common fish in Malaysian cuisine. The local tuna is smaller in size than the ones we eat in Japanese restaurants or those found in colder waters. The local tuna is known as ikan tongkol and it's not an expensive fish to consume. There is another fish that looks almost the same, known as ikan kayu, and I wasn't able to distinguish between the two, until the fish monger placed them side by side. The local tuna, ikan tongkol's skin is actually bluish, looks pretty when the sun shines on it.

Ikan kayu has a much larger bloody area when cooked, tastes more fishy and has a drier texture.

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Claypot Lamb Brisket 腐竹羊肉煲~ 祝你喜洋洋 CNY Spread # 6

Why is lamb or mutton auspicious for Lunar New Year? The Chinese word for lamb and mutton is 羊and it sounds similar to 洋 which means vast. 喜洋洋 means lots of joy.... It might make you laugh more as you eat. Joking :)

I love lamb and mutton and all the likes of them. It's the smell that I enjoy. But I'm not the biggest lamb fan in the house.

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Teriyaki Prawns 笑哈哈 - CNY Spread #5

After making a few tedious dishes... maybe a 5 minute dish will be a good choice.

It's quite a no brainer.. with just prawns, some salt and teriyaki sauce.... oh yeah, oil as well.

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Bamboo Leaf Belly Rolls 竹叶扣肉（祝你财源滚滚来）- CNY Spread #4

Showing you this recipe for now seems..... weird.

I know it seems hard to find bamboo leaves at this moment, but I think some of you might have some half used packs left over from the last dumpling session. But then again, if you really want to get it, it's usually still available at Chinese ingredient grocery shops. We do eat dumpling the whole year long, just that it's more festive to eat it during the festival.

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5 Spice French Quail 芬香迎春 ~CNY Spread #3

fried :)

French quails are a type of quail. I didn't get them from France and neither were they raised in France.

I just bought them from Jusco/Aeon. Go to the poultry section. Sometimes they are thawed, sometimes they are sold frozen in packs. FYI, this is not pigeon or what is called in Cantonese as "Yu Ghap". This is "Umm Choon", from which you get those small spotty cute eggs

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Peacock Steamed Fish 绰绰有余 - CNY spread #2

I didn't hunt down any peacock for this dish. Nor peahen. Nor its chicks or egg.
It's just the method of arrangement that resembles a peacock. The auspicious Chinese name I gave this dish 绰绰有余, means, more than enough. And the 绰 (cheok), sounds like the Cantonese pronunciation for peacock.

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Starfish Sea Coconut Soup 海底金星- CNY spread #1

海底金星... sea coconut, carrot and starfish 海底椰，金笋，海星.

My kids squealed when they saw the starfish in the soup. Haha! Such a delight.
And my girl asked me to cook it again. She likes the taste.

I made this soup some time ago when I had guests for dinner. No one ever tasted starfish in anything before. No one said no to this bowl of soup. I'm glad everyone didn't feel disgusted.

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Black Sesame Cookies

A simple black sesame cookie with only 4 ingredients, that is if you find toasting the sesame not difficult :)

Black may not look auspicious for Lunar New Year, but i think most of us, do wear black during the festival nowadays. We have modernized, right? Hehehe.

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Cranberry Orange Cookies

Yummy! My hubby said these were so good. It was at Peabody's site that I first came to know of these cookies.

I like the refreshing taste of orange in this, with chewy cranberry bits that contrasts with the crisp cookie. The orange sugar coating adds some glitter to its outlook.


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Budapest Roll ~ Budapestrulle

I tried baking dacquoise once. It came out so beautiful, and so I let it cool down for a few hours, thinking to attend to it, later. But it sweated and melted in the humidity. Sigh!

I didn't realise that the cake base for this, is actually almost a dacquoise, yes just almost, or maybe it is still considered as one. It is baked much quicker, only 15 minutes rather than 1 hour. It was only after I ate it, I realised what type of cake did I bake. Hahahah.

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Guangxi Banana Leaf Dumplings 广西蕉叶糍

Today is my mother's birthday. I will try to post one Guangxi dish each year on her birthday to honour her heritage.

Guangxi is one of the few places in China where banana leaves are abundant, and I saw on the internet that some are so huge, you can go all bare behind a frond and not get seen.

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How to Prepare Mandarin Segments

Mandarins are abundant at this time, when it's around Lunar New Year.

If I need to use Mandarin segments in my bakes, normally I will buy canned mandarins because I had no idea how to peel away the membrane. Mandarin membranes can't be easily sliced off as the segments are loose , unlike oranges that are snugly bound.

This time, it came upon me the idea of blanching and peel, just like how we peel nuts. I tried it and it works!

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DIY Icing Sugar

Icing sugar, or confectioner's sugar in the US, is also known as powdered sugar.

I have been making my own since 1996 and I don't always buy it. Why?
Because of the price, it's double of regular sugar.
And I don't want to eat any any anti caking agent if I can.
Plus I don't know why the ants at my house won't crawl into the pack of icing sugar when left around. *suspicious look*

It's not difficult and you can use either the blender or the dry mill attachment that comes with your blender. Food processor is not recommended.

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Sweet Chilli Crisps~Popiah Gunting Bersira Pedas

It so happened that Chinese New Year (2014) was over and I didn't make my peanut rolls as planned. I just wanted to get rid of the pack of spring roll wrappers. Not wanting to do anything I have done, I remembered there was this popiah bersira recipe that I had been seeing on a few blogs

I have eaten this quite a number of times and it's very addictive. Once I pop, I can't quite stop. But after I have tried making this, I can totally control myself, as I know how siiiiiiinnnfuuuuuul this is. Seriously I kid you not.

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Pineapple Tart Cookies (Open Faced)

I sold these 19 years ago for Chinese New Year... when I just completed my SPM (something like high school exam) while waiting for my exam results. My clients were just friends. They asked for more the next Chinese New Year. But I was doing my Form 6 (Pre-U), so, I can't sell anymore. That was the only time I sold Chinese New Year cookies.

I found this recipe from The Star Newspaper somewhere from 1993-1995, I'm not sure as I had a habit of collecting recipe cuttings. In those days, I can't afford to buy recipe books and we subscribed The Star, and I only need some effort to cut and collect the free recipes.

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Fish Head Casserole

My mom shoved me this fish head. Simply because she bought one whole big fish, had the fishmonger to cut them into steaks and she didn’t know what to do with the head.

Well, haha, it’s not hard for me to find a way to cook it. I just flipped the cookbook she passed to me. There it is, almost at the end of this book is the “Fish head casserole”.


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DIY Black Sesame Powder

Nowadays, you can easily get black sesame seed powder from shops, but I rather make my own to ensure I get them toasted the way I like it. It's not that hard.

Black sesame seeds are black. Yeah.

You can't see well if they are black. Whether they are over toasted or undertoasted.
To counter that, add in some white sesame seeds. Not too much white sesame seeds so that the powder stays as black as possible.

Some will choose to wash them before use, for me, I prefer to sift them.
I put the seeds into a sieve, that is not too fine. And give it a few shakes. Some stuff will fall out, usually.
If you really want to wash them, make sure you dry them properly before use, if not, they won't smell good.

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Fruit Pie Cake, Frozen themed for my Lyanne

Happy New Year!

A last minute decision to bake. Her birthday was on 31st Dec, just few days back.

I celebrated Lyanne's birthday few days earlier with a red velvet snowflake cake (to be blogged next time) ... and when it was her real day.... I felt bad not making her a Frozen themed cake. She had been asking for an Elsa cake as well weeks before. I had a meeting until 4pm and rushed to the shop to get something related to Elsa or Frozen. I only managed to get these mini figurines at RM18.90. Plastic and so expensive. But thinking they can play with it after the cake was gone, I bought it.

I had 2 hours to get it done.
Now a Frozen themed cake... there must be snow. A quick cake with white snowy look..... so I made this cake that I once made for my niece.

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