Nestum Butter Prawns

Yesterday was one of the rare occasions I ventured out for a wedding reception. As part of the Chinese sit-down course dinner at a gorgeous hotel in the city, there were some delicious Butter Prawns. 

Now, I love a well-made dish of Butter Prawns as much as the next person, but somehow when I'm all dressed-up and at a swanky wedding reception, the last thing I want to do is eat prawns. Why? Well, if you've eaten a Chinese course meal, you'll know that the prawns usually come with the shell on (because the flavour is best if it's cooked with it on) and the absolute best way to eat them is to use your fingers to get to the sweetly succulent flesh inside.

BUT... (and this is a big BUT) you'll ultimately end-up with prawn-smelling fingers that will trail you all the way home. No amount of hand-washing will get rid of the smell unless you're OCD enough to wash your hand about 10 times, and then too only if you're lucky. Prawns are like garlic that way.  

All I was brave enough to attempt eating last night were two prawns. Thank God for luxury hotels, because along with the Chinese soup spoon and chopsticks, the place settings also included forks and knives which helped tremendously while dealing with the prawns. Yay! Still, I ate only two and came home craving more. 

If you've eaten it before, you'll know that there are many versions of Butter Prawns i.e. Butter Prawns with butter and cream; oats; egg yolk floss; Nestum; etc. My favourite is - well - are all the versions! Who can say no to Butter Prawns anyway? If you're afraid of cholesterol, eat it in moderation maybe once or twice a year. It's a remarkably rich dish, so if you eat more than three or four prawns you're likely to feel quite sick and jelak. 

Anyway, to finally get to the point. I decided to satisfy the craving. I bought some prawns and made Nestum Butter Prawns. I followed a recipe I found here, which even has a very useful Youtube video showing you how to make it. 

NESTUM BUTTER PRAWNS

Adapted from KitchenTigress

Cereal Mix

3/4 cup Nestum 

1/2 teaspoon Salt

1 1/2 teaspoon Sugar

1 1/2 tablespoons Skimmed Milk Powder

About 300g Prawns, medium (8 - 10 pieces)

(trim, de-vein, wash and dry completely)

1 teaspoon Salt

1/2 Egg, beaten

1 1/2 tablespoons Plain Flour

Peanut Oil

30g Butter

6 - 10 sprigs Curry Leaves

1 Bird's Eye Chilli, sliced thinly (optional)

In a bowl, mix ingredients for Nestum mix and set aside.

In another bowl, mix Prawns with Salt, Plain Flour and Egg. In a hot wok, add a little Peanut Oil and saute the prawns until just cooked through. Drain and set aside. 

Let the wok cool down and then on low heat, add the Butter, Curry Leaves and Chilli. Fry until fragrant. 

The add Cereal Mix and stir until lightly golden. Curry Leaves should crisp-up as the excess moisture is absorbed by the cereal.

Add Prawns and toss until well-combined. Taste and adjust seasoning if necessary. When the Nestum turns a golden brown turn-off the heat. Dish-out and serve immediately.

The Perfect Lemon Drizzle Cake

Ever since I discovered Lemon Drizzle Cakes, I've loved them to bits (bites?). The first recipe I ever tried was Jamie Oliver Nan's Lemon Drizzle Cake. I now know it to be the Lemon Drizzle I least liked. It was too sour, too full of poppy seeds and just too much going on. 

Then I tried the Lemon Drizzle Cake from my favourite recipe site. Now, this is was a Lemon Drizzle I liked. No frills, straight-up, pure lemony goodness with a delectable melt-y icing sugar glaze. I made and fed this recipe to hoards of Hungries who lapped-up every last crumb of it. 

My love for this cake was still going strong when I googled Felicity Cloake's amazing little Perfect blog for Chocolate Cake. Er... what? Chocolate? Where did that come from? Sigh. I was having a craving okay? For a perfect Chocolate Cake, so I went to Felicity and then got distracted instead with the Lemon Drizzle she had made... and I'm still distracted. 

I've made this cake thrice in the space of 2 weeks and I still cannot get enough of it. You know how when you were little, you could stuff yourself silly with your favourite sweet, feel very peculiar after, swear you won't eat so much of it ever again and yet still do when the next opportunity presents itself peculiarity be damned? Well... this is my problem with this cake. I'm addicted.  

To answer Felicity's questions - This IS a big wet sticky kiss of a teatime treat, not a damp squib and YES Lemon is the best-est choice ever!

No fancy photos for this cake. Sorry. It was made with eating in mind, not photography. 

PERFECT LEMON DRIZZLE CAKE

Adapted from Felicity Cloake

175g salted Butter, softened

175g Caster Sugar

2 Lemons, zested and juiced

3 Eggs

1/4 teaspoon Vanilla Essence

100g Self-Raising Flour

75g Ground Almonds

5 heaping tablespoons Icing Sugar

1 tablespoon Demerara Sugar 

Preheat the oven at 140 Celsius. Butter, flour and line a 2-pound loaf tin. Whisk the Flour and Almonds together in a bowl and set aside. Zest and juice the Lemons. Set aside.

In a large bowl, cream Butter, Sugar and Lemon zest with an electric mixer until pale and fluffy. Add in the Eggs one by one mixing well after each addition. Add in the Vanilla and mix that in. Gently fold in the Flour and Almonds set aside earlier.  

Scrap batter into the prepared tin and bake for 30 - 40 minutes at 150 Celsius or until a skewer poked through the centre comes out clean. While hot, use the skewer to poke holes all over the cake. 

In a small jug combine, the Sugars and Lemon juice to make a runny syrup. Pour over hot cake in spoonfuls waiting for the cake to absorb one lot before adding the next. Let cake cool in the tin before removing onto a platter for serving. 

[The only reason I didn't follow Felicity's recipe to a 't' is because the batter didn't need the Milk; I don't like eggy cakes, so Vanilla is a must; and I happen to like Icing Sugar.]

The birthday cake that wasn't

Time is a luxury. So sometimes when I'm craving a particular cake but cannot be bothered to go through the whole hog of waiting for butter to soften, creaming, folding, blah blah blah, I love a super-quick-fix cake that takes all of 10 minutes to put together and another twenty or so to bake. In no time, I'll have nice, warm cake on the table to cut slices from every time I pop into the kitchen for something or other (or just for cake!).

I was feeling like this recently and decided to try out a new recipe for one of those marvellous one-bowl-snap-your-fingers-together-and-its-done oil and yoghurt cakes. An Italian version this time (because it uses Extra Virgin Olive Oil instead of vegetable oil) with lots of fragrant freshly grated lemon zest for extra deliciousness using the glass French yoghurt pots I saved from a time when Carrefour was alive and thriving in this country. 

It was also somebody's birthday. Said somebody who lives halfway across the world. I thought it would be nice to bake and eat birthday cake on somebody's behalf. Oh well, why not? I'll take any excuse to eat cake. 

So on the pretext of former and latter, this cake got baked and eaten. I must say I liked this better than the French Yoghurt Cake from last year. This one was all silky, melt-y, moist crumb that I apparently couldn't get quite enough of. 

CIAMBELLONE AL LIMONE

Adapted from Rachel Eats

3 pots Plain Flour

1 pot Extra Virgin Olive Oil

1 1/2 pots Caster Sugar

1 pot Greek Yoghurt

3 Eggs

1 heaping teaspoon Baking Powder

The zest of 2 Lemons

Preheat the oven at 140 Celsius. Butter and flour a 6-cup Bundt tin really well.

In a large bowl, whisk together the Plain Flour, Olive Oil, Sugar, Yoghurt, Eggs and Baking Powder. Add in the Lemon zest and whisk vigorously. 

Pour batter into the prepared tin and bake for about 20 to 25 minutes until the cake is golden or a skewer poked through comes out clean. 

Allow to cool in the tin for about 10 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack to complete cooling.

Black Banana Cake

It's not Monday, but it feels like a 'black' day anyway. The sky is dull with swooshes of deep grey interspersed with teeny tiny touches of barely blue. I'm feeling dull and things don't seem very perky at the moment. 

The bananas in the fruit basket didn't look very encouraging either. A little too soft and speckled for eating. So, I rummaged through my stack of recipe books for the usual never-fail Banana Cake. The abundance of bananas however, led me to look for another, and I came across a rather interesting looking Black Banana Cake from dear old Nigel. 

It promised to be a sweet, hazelnut-ty, banana-ey, chocolate chip speckled delight - a sort-of Nutella-crossed banana cake. Well, it certainly delivered... YUM!

BLACK BANANA CAKE

Adapted from Nigel Slater

175g salted Butter, softened

175g Light Brown Sugar

75g Ground Hazelnuts

2 Eggs

175g Self-Raising Flour

2 ripe Bananas

1/4 teaspoon Vanilla Essence

175g Bittersweet Chocolate Chips

Preheat the oven at 140 Celsius. Butter and line the base and sides of a loaf tin with baking paper.

Cream Butter and Sugar with an electric mixer until pale and fluffy.

Add in the Eggs one by one beating well after each addition. Mix in the Vanilla Essence.

With a spatula, gently fold in the Self-Raising Flour and Ground Hazelnuts until just combined. 

Peel and mash the Bananas roughly. Fold this into the batter gently and finally add the Chocolate Chips.

Scrape batter into the prepared tin and bake for at 150 Celsius for about 45 minutes to 1 hour, or until a skewer poked through the centre of the cake comes out clean. 

Leave the cake in the tin for about 10 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack to cool completely. 

Roasted Pepper & Beef Stir-fry Wrap

So... what happens when you haven't posted anything in an entire week? Do you wait until a bout of fresh motivation to write grabs you or do you write something anyway? Well, just today, I'm going to wing it and write something anyway.

This writing, not writing thing is something I face more often than not. As I have a full-time job, one of the most difficult things to do after a long, tiring day at work is coming home only to switch on ANOTHER computer. Seriously? It's the absolute last thing I want to do, which is why my blog will likely remain something for my pleasure instead of a money-spinner.

Sometimes, cooking dinner too becomes a real challenge. That's when I whip something super simple that is perhaps not to everyone's taste, but who cares really? I'm the one who has to prepare it, eat it and wash the dishes after!

The Roasted Pepper & Beef Stir-Fry Wrap is a breeze to make. All you need to have on hand are some Tortilla Wraps, sliced Beef, Roasted Peppers in Olive Oil and some Guacamole. All store-bought.

What you need to do - Saute the Beef and some Roasted Peppers in Olive Oil with some Salt and Black Pepper. Set aside to cool slightly while you prepare the Wraps. Lay your Wraps flat on a plate, smear some Guacamole (as much as you want) down the middle, place the cooked Beef on it, wrap it up and eat. All in 15 minutes. What more can you ask for?

Mocha Java Cakes

So here's what we had (or rather what we didn't have for dessert on cook-out night. We all thought the the scrumptious Lemon Roast Chicken was goin to end on the sweetest of notes with these Mocha Java Cakes, but it didn't. Not quite. Well, so it did in a half-past-six manner. I'm not making any sense? 

You see, the batter was made correctly, but unfortunately the cooking time stated in the original recipe didn't work for the cold oven we baked them in despite preheating the oven to the given high temperature. What did we end up with? Little chocolate puddings that were not set.

We tried to unmould one (tried being the keyword) and we found that it had set on the top but not all around the molten centre. So back in the oven it went for another 15 minutes.

We unmoulded the second pudding and that while better was still not set properly. So, we ate whatever we could and I put the remaining four puds back into the oven for as long as it took for us to finish a bottle of wine... for oh say about an extra 20 minutes with only the oven's bottom heat turned on.

We said our goodbyes at about 11pm. I switched-off the oven and left the four puds to cool in the kitchen overnight.

This morning, I warmed them up and unmoulded one to check. Perfect! It came out with a soft plop and I enjoyed a little death-by-chocolate for breakfast. What a fine start to an overcast Saturday morning!

MOCHA JAVA CAKES

Adapted from Southern Living

180g salted Butter

200g good-quality Dark Chocolate

1 teaspoon Instant Coffee Powder

1/2 teaspoon Vanilla Extract

4 whole Eggs

4 Egg Yolks

230g Raw Sugar

70g Plain Flour

A little Butter and Flour, for ramekins

Preheat the oven at 180 Celsius. Butter and flour 6 ramekins well. Place them all in a shallow square baking tin (swiss-roll tin). Set aside.

In a saucepan on very low heat, melt the Butter and Dark Chocolate gently. Mix through until smooth and remove from heat. Mix in the Vanilla Extract and Instant Coffee Powder. Set aside.

In a large bowl, beat Eggs, Egg Yolks and Raw Sugar on medium speed with an electric mixer for about 7 minutes.

Add in the Plain Flour and Chocolate mixture. Beat for about 1 minute until well combined.

Transfer the batter into a large jug and pour into the prepared remekins.

Bake the pudding at 180 Celsius for about 30 minutes. At the 30 minute mark, run a knife gently along the inside of one ramekin. If the knife comes out clean, the pudding is set. If not, put it back into the oven to cook for a further 5 - 10 minutes using the bottom heat of the oven only. Check if its done at the 5 minute and 10 minute mark.

When done, remove from the oven and let them stand for 10 minutes. Then gently run a knife round the inside of the ramekins and turn out the pudding on individual serving plates. Garnish, if desired.

Jamie Oliver's Lemon Roast Chicken

The lovely Jesse, SIL and I had a second cook-out yesterday. This time we had Lemon Roast Chicken and Mocha Java Cakes for dinner and dessert respectively.

I've used Jamie's recipe over the years whenever a roast chook is called for and have never regretted it. It remains to this day one of the best recipes I've ever made with spot-on results.

Preparation for dinner and dessert started at 7pm after Jesse arrived with the shopping. As usual there was a lot of chatting going on during the prep so by the time we sat down to dinner it was well past 9pm!

Still, well worth the wait (as you cannot hurry a good roast) as we were rewarded with a scrumptiously moist and succulent dish. (gobble, gobble) We finished dinner on a sweet note of very molten Mocha Java Cakes (more about that later) and a deliciously crisp, sweet Alice White Moscato.

I toddled-off to bed very tired but happy last night... and am sure the rest did too!

JAMIE OLIVER'S LEMON ROAST CHICKEN

Adapted from Jamie Oliver

2kg Chicken

Sea Salt

Black Pepper, freshly ground

Olive Oil

1.5kg Potatoes, peeled

1 large Lemon

8 cloves Garlic

1 handful fresh Thyme

1 handful fresh Rosemary sprigs, leaves picked

8 rashers Smoked Streaky Bacon

Rub the Chicken inside and out with a generous amount of Sea Salt, freshly ground Black Pepper and Olive Oil. Do this in the morning if possible, then cover the Chicken and leave in the fridge until you're ready to start cooking it for lunch or dinner.

Preheat your oven to 190 Celsius.

Bring a large pan of Water to the boil. Cut the Potatoes into quarters, put them into the Water with the whole Lemon and Garlic cloves. Cook for 15 minutes until Potatoes are done. Drain into a colander and allow to steam dry for 1 minute (this will give you crispier Potatoes), then remove the Lemon and Garlic.

Toss the Potatoes and Rosemary in the colander while still hot so their outsides get chuffed-up and fluffy – this will make them lovely and crispy when they roast.

While the Lemon is still hot, carefully stab it about 10 times.

Take the Chicken out of the fridge. Push the Garlic cloves, the whole Lemon and the Thyme into the cavity, then put the Chicken into a roasting tray and cook in the preheated oven for around 45 minutes.

After the 45 minute mark, remove the Chicken from the oven. Some lovely fat should have cooked out of it into the roasting tray, so toss the Potatoes and Rosemary in the fat and arrange them at the side of the Chicken.

Lay the Bacon over the Chicken breast and cook for a further 45 minutes, or until the Chicken is cooked and the Potatoes are nice and golden. (You can tell the Chicken is cooked when the thigh meat pulls easily away from the bone and the juices run clear.)

Serve immediately with a nice cool Salad.

Fudgy No-Butter Brownies

As you know from the previous post, there was nary a lick of butter in the house for weeks. With no time to visit the shops, I desperately scoured the all-knowing Net to look for baking recipes that required no butter. Lucky for me, I found a GOOD recipe. The brownies were delicious!

FUDGY NO-BUTTER BROWNIES

Adapted from Scientifically Sweet

300g Icing Sugar, sifted
56g Cocoa Powder, sifted
200g Ground Almonds
1/2 teaspoon Sea Salt
2 whole Eggs + 1 Egg White
2 tablespoons Milk
1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract

About 200g Semi-sweet or Bittersweet Chocolate Chips, divided

Preheat oven to 160 Celsius. Line the bottom and sides of an 8×8-inch baking tin with parchment paper, letting it hang over the sides of the tin.

Sift Icing Sugar and Cocoa Powder into a large mixing bowl. Add Ground Almonds and Sea Salt. Stir to combine. Add whole Eggs, Egg White, Milk and Vanilla Extract. Stir until smooth. The batter will be thick. Stir through some Chocolate Chips.

Scrape batter into the prepared baking tin, smooth the top and scatter over the remainder Chocolate Chips. Bake until a shiny crust forms and a skewer inserted into the center comes out with a few moist sticky bits, about 30 - 40 minutes.

Cool brownies completely in the baking tin before removing and cutting into squares.

Baker's Gold

I've run out of butter for the first time in many, many years. The freezer - where I keep my stash - is well and truly empty. Horror of all horrors! I'm beginning to have withdrawal symptoms from not having butter around. Why? Because I cannot bake, that's why! What a predicament.

I do love butter. Yes, yes, all skinny bitches say it's chock full of fat. I say *eff* off. I just might outlive you lot. I heard of a little old English lady once who lived to a hundred and when asked how she did it, replied she had a bacon breakfast every morning. Hah! So you stick to your plasticky margarine, while I stick to utterly buttery natural goodness.

Source - kerrygold.com

Being a butter fanatic comes with a price (I know I'm not alone). We watch the price of butter closely. When it goes up 10 cents we cringe, 50 cents up we wring our hands in despondence and anything beyond that is just plain daylight robbery.

Where do we buy our precious golden treasure? Baking supplies shops. We get 250g packs for less than what it would cost to buy 227g packs from the grocer. The rule of thumb - for the Australian or New Zealander you head to the baking supplies shop; for the Irish or French you go to your upmarket grocer. Selling price point determines where they are sold.

Source - The Internet

We may switch brands... if ever! May being the keyword here, because we have our loyalties and they lie in the direction of specific brands or countries.

Source - The Internet

My love for baking means I bake all sorts of goodies imaginable fairly regularly. In my kitchen, different bakes call for different types of butter. For instance, I use Anchor for all types of baked goods, Golden Churn for a rich golden Butter Cake, Kerrygold for simple bakes using very few ingredients i.e. Butter Biscuits and Lescure for French delights. On bread it's Kerrygold all the way.

Source - The Internet

Have a look at this article on 30 Great Butters by Saveur. Three of the four mentioned above is on that list.

One last thing - I like my butter SALTED, or Demi-Sel s'il vous plait.

Claypot Chicken Rice

Claypot Chicken Rice is one of Malaysia's favourite hawker dishes. It's cooked in little claypots over a roaring fire, and has a lovely crusty bottom with succulent tender chicken pieces that steam with the rice. Mouthwateringly delicious.

The recipe I picked for Jesse and I to cook is from The Food Canon. After the success I had with the Char Siew recipe from the website, it's the first place I looked for Claypot Chicken Rice.

We took our time cooking this dish, stopping in between the cooking process to have a cuppa and snack on pineapple. We were richly rewarded in the end with a fabulous dish that sated our hunger. We rounded-off the meal with our Portuguese Custard Tarts and more tea.

CLAYPOT CHICKEN RICE (for 2-3 pax)

Adapted from The Food Canon

Preparing the Meat

About half a Chicken (800g - 1kg)

2 tablespoons Light Soya Sauce

2 tablespoons Oyster Sauce

2 tablespoons Chinese Wine

1 teaspoon Sugar

200ml Water

Cut-off and set aside the back bone, feet and less desirable parts for the stock. Cut the Chicken into small pieces, bone-in and skin-on. In a bowl add the rest of the ingredients and leave the Chicken to marinate for an hour.

Preparing the chicken stock

Add the pieces for the stock into a small saucepan with about 3 cups of water. Leave to simmer for about an hour.

Cooking the Rice

2 cups of Thai Jasmine Fragrant Rice

2 cups of Chicken Stock, strained

Add the Rice into the claypot. Add an equal amount of Stock into the pot. Be careful to keep to the 1:1 rice:liquid ratio. Cover and cook the pot on low flame for 10 minutes or until the Rice is cooked, i.e. the liquid has been absorbed and the Rice is fluffy.

Cooking the Meat

2 pieces of Chinese Waxed Sausages, sliced thinly (optional)

A little Salted Fish (optional)

As the Rice is cooking, slice the Waxed Sausages. When the Rice is cooked, open the lid of the pot and put the marinated Chicken pieces on top of the Rice. Stick to one single layer to ensure even cooking. Add the sliced Sausages on top and little pieces of Salted Fish into the pot. Cover and cook for another 15 minutes.

Preparing the sauce and garnishing the pot

Spring Onions

2 Red Chillies (optional)

1 tablespoon Dark Soya Sauce

For the Sauce

1 teaspoon Sesame Oil

1 tablespoon Light Soya Sauce

1 tablespoon Oyster Sauce

1 tablespoon Chinese Wine

1 teaspoon Sugar

1 teaspoon Salt

A little White Pepper Powder

Mix the sauce ingredients in a bowl. About 2 minutes before the pot of Rice is cooked, drizzle in the Sauce. Chop the Spring Onions and slice the Red Chillies. At the 25th minute mark, it should be done. Depending on the strength of fire and type of pot, the timing may vary, but it is easy to see to check whether the meat is cooked.

Just before you serve it at the dining table, drizzle in the Dark Soya Sauce, add the chopped Spring Onions and cut Red Chillies. When eating, give the Rice a stir first and scrape some of the crusted Rice at the bottom. Serve with with a dipping sauce of cut Chilies in Light Soya Sauce.

Portuguese Custard Tarts

So, the lovely Jesse visited and we had a lovely time cooking together. The menu of the night was Claypot Chicken Rice and Portuguese Custard Tarts. Both turned out absolutely scrumptious. Granted, there were times we weren't sure our dinner was going to turn out well, yet it did!

We had a delicious salty-sweet-savoury dinner, followed by these luscious golden tarts.

PORTUGUESE CUSTARD TARTS

Adapted from Simon Rimmer

Butter, for greasing

3 Egg Yolks

125g Caster Sugar

30g Cornflour

1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract

175ml Full Cream Milk

225ml Thickened Cream

Plain Flour and Icing Sugar, for dusting

Preheat the oven at 150 Celsius. Grease the wells of a 12-hole large cupcake tray with Butter.

In a pan, heat the Egg Yolks, Caster Sugar and Cornflour over a low to medium heat, whisking continuously until thickened and well combined.

Add the Vanilla Extract, then add Full Cream Milk and Thickened Cream, in a thin stream, whisking continuously, until the mixture is thick, smooth and well combined.

Continue to stir the custard mixture until it comes to the boil, then remove from the heat and cover the surface with cling film to prevent a skin from forming.

Roll out the Puff Pastry onto a clean work surface and lightly dust with Plain Flour and Icing Sugar. Cut the Puff Pastry in half and place one sheet on top of the other. Roll the Puff Pastry sheets up like a Swiss Roll and cut the roll into twelve slices.

Lay each of the rolled pastry slices flat onto the work surface and roll out into 10am discs using a rolling pin.

Press a pastry disc into each of the wells of the prepared cupcake tray. Divide the cooled custard equally among the pastry cases.

Transfer the tray to the oven and bake tarts for 18 - 20 minutes, or until the custard has set and is pale golden-brown in colour and the pastry is crisp and golden-brown. Allow to cool in the tray before removing for storage.

The Wind in the Willows

Photo from guardian.com

One of my favourite books of all time is Kenneth Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. I've read the story countless times, and yet have not tired of it. The book in the  picture above is the copy I have at home. Printed on luxuriously thick paper with gorgeous colour illustrations inside, this cloth-bound beauty is my treasure. 

Here is my favourite verse from it. Yes, it has to all tie in with food isn't it?

'When the girl returned, some hours later, she carried a tray, with a cup of fragrant tea steaming on it; and a plate piled up with very hot buttered toast, cut thick, very brown on both sides, with the butter running through the holes in it in great golden drops, like honey from the honeycomb. The smell of that buttered toast simply talked to Toad, and with no uncertain voice; talked of warm kitchens, of breakfasts on bright frosty mornings, of cosy parlour firesides on winter evenings, when one's ramble was over and slippered feet were propped on the fender; of the purring of contented cats, and the twitter of sleepy canaries. Toad sat up on end once more, dried his eyes, sipped his tea and munched his toast, and soon began talking freely about himself, and the house he lived in, and his doings there, and how important he was, and what a lot his friends thought of him.'

Chapter 8: Toad's Adventures

The Wind in the Willows, Kenneth Grahame

The first book I came across as a little girl was a Penguin edition with a beautifully illustrated cover with several black and white drawings scattered throughout. I can remember the drawing of Pan very well It was a fine specimen of Pan indeed! As it was a library copy, it went back to the library, and I eventually bought another version of this classic.

About two years ago, while searching for a vintage 1940s copy of the book (which I found!), I also discovered a second-hand copy of the book illustrated by Charles van Sandwyck for The Folio Society. Both were well-worth the price, so I got both! One for me, and one to give away.

Cheat's Fried Rice

There are days and there are days. It's Monday and it's one of those days. You know what I mean. The alarm rings shrilly at 5.30am, you open your eyes and think 'God, it's Monday again!' So you drag yourself out of bed and into work fervently looking forward to the end of the day.

Well, it's the end of the work day for me and while rummaging through the fridge for the makings of dinner, I discovered some french beans, tomatoes, carrots and leftover brown rice. With that I made some screaming hot (well, for me anyway) Fried Rice in a jiffy.

CHEAT'S FRIED RICE

1 small bowl Rice, cooked

8 French Beans, chopped

Half a Carrot, chopped

1 Egg

1 packet Seri Aji Kampung Fried Rice Mix

1 small Tomato, chopped

Oil

Salt

Black Pepper

Break Egg into a small bowl, add Salt and Black Pepper to taste. Set aside.

In a wok or pan, heat a little Oil. When hot, add in the Egg and scramble quickly.

Add in the French Beans and Carrot. Saute for a few seconds.

Add in the Rice and Seri Aji Kampung Fried Rice Mix. Stir until well combined and cooked through.

Remove to a plate, add chopped Tomatoes and serve piping hot.

Easter Egg Salad on Toast

Lent seems to have run through very quickly this year. It's Easter today. We woke at the crack of dawn to get to church for 6.30am while it was still dark out.

This year I am completely unprepared where goodies are concerned. Oh yes, I have baked, but nothing fancy and certainly no Hot Cross Buns. I did make some lovely Hot Cross Cookies though, but that's for another post.

We were given some Easter Eggs to take home at church today. So all I have today is a super simple recipe (or non-recipe) for Easter Egg Salad on Toast.

EASTER EGG SALAD ON TOAST

What you need: 4 boiled Eggs (peeled and roughly mashed); Salt and Pepper to taste; a teaspoon each of chopped Dill and Chives; and a tablespoon of Mayonnaise.

What you need to do: In a large bowl, mix all the ingredients above. Toast a slice of bread, spread some butter on the hot toast and arrange Egg Salad on top. Garnish with a little sprig of Dill.

He is risen

Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die."

John 11:25-26

Salmon, Cauliflower & Potato Bake

What do you do when you have salmon and cauliflower in your fridge that needs using up? Make a quick and easy casserole with minimal effort. The only thing that requires cooking time is the cream and that will take you no more than 5 minutes. Everything else is just slicing and cutting work. Sometimes this is what you need, no-fuss comfort food. 

SALMON, CAULIFLOWER & POTATO BAKE

200ml Cooking Cream

A knob of Butter

A piece of Salmon, sliced thinly

A small head of Cauliflower, cut into small florets

2 small Pink Potatoes, sliced thinly

Red Cheddar Cheese, grated

A handful of Breadcrumbs

Chives, chopped

Parsley, leaves only

Olive oil

To taste

About 1 teaspoon Salt

About 1 teaspoon Brown Sugar

Black Pepper, a few dashes

Nutmeg, a few dashes

Cumin, a few dashes

Paprika, a few dashes

Worcestershire Sauce, a few drops

5 cloves Garlic

Place a saucepan on low fire. Melt the Butter. Pour in Cream. Add Salt, Sugar, Black Pepper, Nutmeg, Cumin, Paprika and Worcestershire Sauce to taste. Add Garlic. Bring to a simmer. While the Cream is simmering, check seasoning and adjust if necessary. Keep checking and tasting until you are happy with it. Remove from the heat, discard Garlic and set it aside. 

In a rounded glass casserole place half the Potatoes in a layer at the bottom, top with half the Salmon and then half the Cauliflower. Sprinkle a little Chives. Make a second layer in a similar manner using up all the Potato, Salmon and Cauliflower. Pour over the prepared Cream. Finish with Chives and Parsley. 

Sprinkle over the grated Cheese, and then the Breadcrumbs. Drizzle on a little Olive Oil. Cover the top of the casserole with foil. 

Bake in the oven at 140 Celsius for about 30 minutes. Then, remove the foil and bake at 170 Celsius using only the top oven heat or grill until golden. Note: If using the Grill function of your oven, watch the casserole closely as it will get hot and burn quickly. 

When the top is golden, remove from oven and serve immediately sprinkled with more Chives.

The best Chocolate Chip Cookie EVER

These really are the best soft Chocolate Chip Cookies ever and I have tried many, many recipes in search of the One. This is it.

You see, despite the fact that most of those cookies have never seen the light of day on my blog, I've actually made Thomas Keller's Chocolate Chip Cookies, the famous Jacques Torres cookies, the Cook's Illustrated version and many, many more over the years. 

Interestingly, I have had this recipe bookmarked for a long, long time. (Yes, I can sometimes be the world's greatest procrastinator.) Every time I feel like having a really good soft chocolate chip cookie I would click on the bookmark to Alice's site and ogle at her beautiful cookies. 

Anyway, recently I decided to get off my you-know-what and actually make some. I am glad I did. I did tweak the recipe somewhat as sometimes when you make a recipe created in a temperate climate in the tropics it doesn't always turn out well. So I went with my instincts and the result is perfection. Perfection is crispy edges, a lusciously chewy centre paired with melty chocolate and hints of coffee-toffee in every bite.

I cannot wait to try this dough with toasted Macadamias, white chocolate chips or even turn it into a Cranberry-Orange delight for a seasonal delight. Enough said. 

THE BEST CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES EVER

Adapted from Alice Currah

227g Salted Butter, softened

260g Light Brown Sugar

100g Caster Sugar

Pinch of Salt

1 Egg and 1 Egg Yolk

2 teaspoons Vanilla Essence

4 teaspoons brewed Coffee

340 - 360g Plain Flour

1 teaspoon Bicarbonate of Soda

1 teaspoon Baking Powder

2 1/4 cups Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips

Preheat the oven at 170 Celsius. Line 3 - 4 baking trays with baking paper. 

In a large bowl, cream Butter, both Sugars and Salt by hand with a spatula. Add in the Egg and Egg Yolk. Mix well. Add in the Vanilla Essence and Coffee. Mix well. 

Gently fold in the Flour, Bicarbonate of Soda and Baking Powder. If the dough seems sticky, add in Flour a little at a time until you get a dough that doesn't stick to the spatula you are mixing it with. Gently fold in the Chocolate Chips. 

Using a 2-teaspoon cookie scoop, scoop dough onto the prepared baking trays. Bake the cookies at 180 Celsius for about 10 - 15 minutes or until slightly brown at the edges.

Remove from the oven and let it cool on the trays before removing and storing in an airtight container. 

Note

To keep cookies moist, place a slice of fresh bread in the container along with the cookies. Cookies are best eaten within the first two days of baking.  

Homemade Wan Tan Mee

As you know, I was extolling the virtues of a delicious Wan Tan Mee in a previous post about Homemade Char Siew. Once I had the Char Siew and Wan Tan Soup ready, it was only a matter of putting them all together into a delicious lunch of Wan Tan Mee. 

HOMEMADE WAN TAN MEE

For 4 servings

4 pieces of fresh Wan Tan Noodles

1 teaspoon Dark Soya Sauce

1 teaspoon Light Soya Sauce

1/2 teaspoon Sesame Oil

2 teaspoons Char Siew sauce

A dash of White Pepper Powder

Homemade Char Siew, sliced

Homemade Wan Tan Soup

Kai Lan or Siew Bak Choy, blanched

Cooking the greens

Wash and cut off the ends of the Kai Lan or Bak Choy, whichever you're using. Bring a saucepan of water to boil. Add a teaspoon of Salt. Blanch the greens very quickly, remove and set aside.

Preparing the bowls

Set out 4 bowls on the kitchen counter-top near the stove. Measure out the Soya Sauces, Sesame Oil, Char Siew sauce and White Pepper into each one.

Cooking the noodles

Boil some water in a large, deep saucepan or pot. Put the Noodles in a colander or wire-basket ladle that will fit into the saucepan or pot. Ensure the water is boiling hot before you immerse the Noodles in it. Dip in and out for a few seconds and loosen the Noodles with a fork or chopsticks. Then, dip the Noodles quickly into some cold water to clear off any remaining residue of starch and then plunge into the hot water one last time before draining the water off and placing the Noodles in the prepared bowl. Using a fork or chopsticks, mix the Noodles and sauces together until well combined. Repeat the procedure until you have all the four bowls of Noodles ready.

Presenting the noodles

Divide the greens and Char Siew equally into the four bowls. Drizzle any remaining Char Siew sauce left over the Noodles in each of the bowls. Serve immediately with Wan Tan Soup on the side.

Homemade Wan Tan Soup

Homemade Char Siew (Char Siu)

I love a good Wan Tan Mee (mee means noodles in Malaysia) and usually get my fix from the local hawkers you find all over Kuala Lumpur and Petaling Jaya. It's cheap, quick and delicious... well, most of time.

The highlight of the Wan Tan Mee for me is always, always the Char Siew. It's the star of the show. The Wan Tan, noodles, etc. are all supporting actors and actresses. As far as I'm concerned the quality of Char Siew can make or break the deal. It can turn your meal into a delicious, lip-smacking (from all that porky lusciousness) delight or an unsatisfying, stomach turning affair.

Again (thanks to procrastination), I have spent lots of time over the years looking for Char Siew recipes online, but no time at all actually trying any of the recipes out. A few weeks ago, the desire to make a good Char Siew at home became unbearable, so I did one last search on the Internet for recipes, settled on one and headed out to the supermarket to buy the pork. 

The method I chose to cook the Char Siew in is slightly more complicated than what is described on The Food Canon. If you prefer less hassle, please follow his instructions. My cooking method was chosen simply because I hadn't used the Le Creuset in weeks and wanted to give it some 'airing' time. I have not tried his method myself, however there's no reason whatsoever why I cannot make Char Siew again... and again... and again. So there'll be another time to try it out, of that I'm sure!

How did my Char Siew turn out? Really well! I loved the flavour and choosing a piece of meat marbled with fat made all the difference. They were succulent morsels of honeyed meat that went so well with my Wan Tan Mee. 

Auntie Ruby's Char Siew (Char Siu)

Adapted from The Food Canon

About 400 - 450g Pork Shoulder, with fat marbling

2 tablespoons Peanut Oil

Pinch of Salt

1 teaspoon Sesame Oil

1 teaspoon Dark Soya Sauce

1 teaspoon White Pepper Powder

2 tablespoons Honey

2 tablespoons Brown Sugar

2 tablespoons Oyster Sauce

1 tablespoon Shiao Hsing Wine

1 bowl Water

Cut the Pork Shoulder into thick strips. Set aside.

In a Tupperware large enough for the Pork and marinade, pour in the Oil, Salt, Sesame Oil, Dark Soya Sauce, White Pepper, Honey, Oyster Sauce and Wine. Mix thoroughly. Add in the Pork Shoulder strips, cover and leave to marinate in the fridge for about 4 hours.

When ready to cook, remove the Tupperware from the fridge and transfer everything into a cast iron pot. Add the bowl of Water, put the cover on and cook for about 45 minutes in a 140 Celsius oven.

Meanwhile, line a square baking tin with foil making sure the four ends of the foil are turned up to form a bowl of sorts.

After 45 minutes, remove the pot from the oven. With thongs, remove the Char Siew strips and place it on the prepared baking tin. Set aside.

Put the cast iron pot (with the marinade juices) on a low fire and let the marinade turn slightly syrupy. into a sauce. If you use a cast iron pot, this should take you only a matter of minutes.

Remove the pot from the stove and let cool slightly. Transfer a little of the sauce into a small bowl. With a basting brush that can withstand heat (or a spoon in my case) baste the Char Siew strips with the sauce and a little extra Honey.

Turn on the grill in your oven to about 130 Celsius and slowly grill the meat on one side with the door open. Once you see char marks and the meat looks like Char Siew, remove the tin from the oven, turn the meat over with thongs, baste with the sauce and Honey and grill till you are happy with the char marks.

Remove from the oven and immediately cover with foil. Let the meat rest and come to room temperature before slicing thinly and eating it with the reserved sauce drizzled over.

Homemade Wan Tan Soup

WAN TAN PARCELS

(makes approximately 20 parcels)

Pork, minced

Prawns, minced

Light Soya Sauce, to taste

White Pepper Powder, to taste
A little Cornflour

Wan Tan wrappers

A little Water

Wan Tan Soup

(serves 4)

1 Chicken stock cube

3 rice bowls of Water

Chives, chopped

More Water

Making the Wan Tan Parcels
Mix the Minced Pork, Minced Prawns, Light Soya Sauce, White Pepper Powder and Cornflour together in a bowl until well combined. Set aside.

Place a square Wan Tan wrapper on a clean, dry chopping board with a point facing upwards. Place a small teaspoonful of mince mixture in the middle. Wet the top edges with a little water and fold into a triangle. Press gently on the seams to ensure it is secure. Set aside. Do the same until all the mince mixture is used up.

Cooking the Wan Tan Parcels

In a saucepan, boil some water. Place Wan Tan parcels one at a time into the boiling water. Cook just until it floats to the top. Remove immediately and drain off the water. Set aside. 

Cooking the Wan Tan Soup

In a another saucepan, boil some water with the Chicken stock cube. Once the stock cube has dissolved, add in the drained Wan Tan parcels. Add some White Pepper Powder and a drizzle of Sesame Oil. Boil for a minute. Turn off the heat and sprinkle in the chopped Chives. Pour into a serving bowl and serve immediately while piping hot on its own or with Wan Tan Mee.