Multi seed walnut beer bread

I love bread and pastries. I am now using my fourth bread machine. My first machine was Princess brand, followed by Kenwood (the most expensive ) and then Tesco brand. This second Tesco machine was bought online...only rn168!!  The cheapest ever.

 I used up the beer which I was unable to finish in my bread. (Never ever throw out unfinished beer or soju or wine....throw it into the bread 😆😆).

1 egg

1 c liquid (I topped up the beer with water to reach a cup)

2tbsp olive oil

3/4 tsp salt

2 c HP flour

1 c whole meal flour

4tbsp various seeds

1/3 c walnut

2tbsp brown sugar

2tsp yeast 

Bake with Tesco machine..basic for 3 hours. The result is as the picture above. 

Long ngien (foo chow egg noodle)

Long ngien is a Foo Chow noodle made from tapioca flour unlike mien fen kau which is made from wheat flour. Many times this year mum has pestered me to make for her to eat but I was too busy. It's holiday now and I had better cook this noodle before the new academic year starts with its busyness. 

Ingredients:

500 g tapioca flour

2 eggs

3 tbsp wheat flour

Water

Method:

Beat the eggs. Pour in a cup of water. 

Slowly add the tapioca flour and wheat flour. The wheat flour is to make the texture slightly tougher so that it's easier to handle. Otherwise it gets too soft. 

 Add water and mix well till it is smooth. 

It must have a runny consistency. 

Heat a non stick wok or pan. Oil the wok slightly. 

When warm pour in a ladle full of batter. Tilt the wok about so that the batter fills the pan. If it doesn't smoothen out on the pan easily, add a little water. The batter is too thick. 

This is like making crepe or pan cake. 

Add a little water every now and the as the batter will thicken. 

Oil the pan slightly after two rounds of making the 'pancake'. 

Lift the 'pancake ' to the table. Roll it up while it is still hot. Otherwise it will not roll nicely. 

Cut the rolled pancake and the long ngien or egg noodle is ready. 

The stock is really up to the individual. As I couldn't find lala today, I decided to use flower crabs. I also added foo chow fish balls, mushroom, vegetables and fuchok fish paste roll. I use lots of ginger and pepper as this noodle tend to be cooling. 

Long ngien has a smooth texture. Don't even need to chew it. Unlike mien fen kau which can be hard and thick if not we'll done. 

Mother eats long ngien with yemeishu. Lyn will add a dash of rice wine. I usually add DOM to mine. Real good!!

Multi seed walnut wholemeal bread

I have problem understanding my bread machine. It had been producing bread of irregular shapes. Recently Yee shared a recipe with me which is so delicious that I used it as the base to all my bread. After much experimenting finally my loaf of bread yesterday turned out almost perfect. 

7/8 cup milk

1 egg 

2 tbsp margarine 

2 cups HP flour

1 cup wholemeal flour

3/4 tsp salt

2 tbsp sugar

2.5 tsp yeast

2tsp poppy seed

2 tbsp sunflower sees

2 tsp flax seed

1/3 c walnut ( crushed lightly)

Bake at Basic...the loaf should look like the picture below. 

Totally nutty and wholesome. Every bite has a crunch in it. 

Poppy seed bread

1cup warm water

1 tsp butter

1/4 cup oil

3 cup Hp flour

1 tsp salt

2 tbsp sugar

2 tbsp poppy seed

2 tsp yeast 

Put in d bread machine in the order above 

Kenwood machine: 750 g, dark

3 hours 18 minutes 

Banana walnut muffins

The kids are tired of sandwiches everyday and asked for a change in menu. So I decided to bake banana walnut muffins as requested by Lyn. I've tried a variety of recipes but can't remember where I found or kept them. Today I decided to keep the recipe I use in this blog or else I will forget again. 

Did some changes to the recipe below. Used cooking oil instead of butter. Used half a cup of brown sugar instead of the amount suggested. Can still reduce a little as it is still too sweet. Replaced coffee with cinnamon powder. 

The product: fantastic. As the cups I have are rather big I have only 10 muffins instead of 12. I reluctantly let KC ate one after his dinner. All of us took a pinch. Really great because it is so so nutty. A good healthy snack for the kids' recess. 

Now I have only 9 muffins left. Need to ration them because Lyn wants to share with her friends too. 

popiah

I've not made popiah for years. Too much work involved. This had been a favourite in the Lim family and I'm glad I learnt how to cook it. It's different from how Ing cooks it where she dumps everything in and it's done.

Today while in the market, I saw popiah skin. Decided I have to make it since it's still holiday and CNY and I'm not in a stressed mode yet. So picked up all the ingredients needed.

 Three turnips, peeled and ready to be sliced.

 While I was slicing the turnips, KC helped me to fry the omeletes which are later cut to strips.

 This is the time consuming part. Slicing the turnip to thin slices. The thinner the better. Nelda helped me...that cut the time by half.

 Chicken slices used to fry together with the turnip. I seasoned it with some pepper, sesame oil and soya sauce.

One picture missing...shallots. First of all, I fried the shallots in my vision pot. I discovered vision pot is great for frying shallots or garlic till crispy as the heat is even. Place the shallots into the oil before it gets hot. It takes a while to brown....once it browns, lower the heat and remove the shallots. It is evenly browned, real crispy and fragrant. Leave the oil for frying all the other stuff.

 Cucumber...sliced thinly also.

Chinese sausage...sliced. This is the first thing I fried in the wok without oil as it is very oily and the wok would be oily after frying it. Be careful not to let it burnt as it is sweet so burns easily.

 Yellow taukua....sliced thinly also. I fried this after the sausage. The oily wok was good enough to fry this till fragrant. So not oily.

 A whole kilo of shrimps. Fried with the oil used for frying the shrimps and add some pepper and salt to it.

 French beans...also sliced thinly. Stir fry and add some salt.

Lastly....the turnip. This is the most important ingredient. Do it well and the popiah will be great. Fried the chicken slices and pour the turnip in the wok. It's a lot...KC had to help me stir and turn it around the wok. Add salt, pepper and black soya sauce. I just covered it and left it to simmer till soft. The softer the better. I kept adding water as it tends to dry up. Took quite a while before the texture was soft enough. I kept the fire going even while we were eating the popiah...so the turnip in the wok will continue to be hot and continue to soften.

KC is the expert in folding popiah. So this is how it is done. Skin at the bottom. Lettuce. Put some sauce onto the lettuce. 

(Forgot to mention how I cooked the sweet sauce. Bought a bottle from the market. Fried some chopped garlic, put in a bit of sambal which Ing cooked for me and then half bottle of the sweet sauce. Add a small spoon of sugar....fantastic sauce.)

Put the turnip, taukua, cucumber .... oh yes bean sprouts/taugeh (blanched in hot water), chinese sausage, egg, prawns and onions. Roll it up!!! I started work at 10am and food was only ready at 1pm. That was lunch and dinner ... really healthy. Three popiah and a bowl of soup ...the tummy is overfull!

You need skill to roll it as neat as this. I can't do it. Only KC can. When we retire, we are going to open up a stall outside our gate....I will prepare all the stuff and he will roll the popiah. Then I will collect the money!!!

Maybe I can put some tables out and add Penang laksa to the menu!

long ngien or foochow egg noodle

Ma had been pestering me to make long ngien....yesterday she changed tactic. Instead of pestering, she said, "I'll cook long ngien for you tomorrow." I looked at her stunned....she is on wheel chair and she has not cooked for years. How on earth is she going to cook for me? That was how desperate she was to eat long ngien. It worked!! I felt bad and decided that I will cook long ngien for her today.

 I beat four eggs in a bowl. (Ma was bossing me the whole time. She thought I didn't know how to make the noodle. When I told her I used three eggs, she said four eggs will make the noodle nicer. So I added another egg.) Put in 500g of tapioca flour and two tablespoons of flour. Flour will help to harden the noodle a little but not too hard so that it still has its slippery texture. Add enough water to get a thick but runny consistency.

 Put a little oil in the wok...very little. Ladle out the batter and turn the wok/pan so that it thins out. If it's difficult to thin out, it means the batter is too thick. Just add a little water. Adding water has to be done quite often as it tends to thicken towards the end.

Flip over and then bring it out of the pan. Roll it up immediately...this is challenging as it's quite hot. If it cools it hardens and it will be difficult to roll. I am able to roll, put another ladle of batter in to the wok and cut the rolled up noodle while waiting for the batter in the wok to cook.

 This is how it looks like when it is all cut up. When we were in Vancouver, we did a whole batch of it and stored it away. We brought it along when we went on our Rockies road trip. When we stopped for dinner, brought it out, boiled anchovy stock, throw in vegetables and the noodle....dinner is ready!!

This is the final product. I boiled lala stock. Then I fried ginger, added slices of chicken. Poured in some rice wine before pouring the stock in. Added fishballs, stuffed taufupok, vegetables to the soup. Finally throw in the noodle. Ma says can't find such nice long ngien in Sitiawan.

At the end of the meal, she asked, "When are you getting kompian?" ........lol...I don't know how to make kompian and there is no way I can find it in Seremban!!!!!

American Fritata

American Fritata

Ingredients

·       4 potatoes, peeled and cubed

·       1/2 onions, sliced

·       1 tablespoon vegetable oil

·       8 eggs, beaten

·       3/4 cup cubed ham

·       salt and pepper to taste

·       3/4 cup shredded Cheddar cheese

Directions

1.     Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add potatoes and cook until tender but still firm, about 5 minutes. Drain and set aside to cool. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).

2.     In a cast iron skillet, heat oil over medium heat. Add onions and cook slowly, stirring occasionally, until onions are soft.

3.     Stir in eggs, drained potatoes, ham, salt and pepper. Cook until eggs are firm on the bottom, about 5 minutes. Top frittata with shredded cheese and place in preheated oven until cheese is melted and eggs are completely firm, about 10 minutes.

Nutty chocolate bread pudding

I made sandwiches for tea at the old folk home yesterday and had a whole plastic full of edges leftover. Decided to bake bread pudding. Kids hate raisins so had to leave them out. Checked the fridge and saw cooking chocolate and almond. Googled for the recipe and I got a rough idea what I wanted. Here's my version of the pudding.

3 eggs
2 cups milk
1/2 cup brown sugar
A tsp cinnamon
(beat the above ingredients together)
Grate the cooking chocolate (to your taste)
Melt 2 tbsp of butter (just pop it into the microwave )
Butter the bottom of a casserole dish
Place a layer of crumbs
Dot the top with melted butter
Layer it with chocolate
Sprinkle some nuts over it
Pour the milk eggs liquid over it
Repeat till all is done
Press the bread down with a spatula and let the bread soak up the beaten mixture.
Bake in the oven for 45minutes.
The kids love it!!!!!

Chilled cheese cake

It's a week of cheese...I made this cheese cake twice this week. Once for Ing, Lyn and Dan's birthday celebration and another round for Lyn's friends who came to visit on Wednesday. No wonder can feel my tummy going bigger. On top of it; Lyn baked scallop potatoes with cheese twice this week too. First she used cheddar cheese; then yesterday she used parmesan cheese (so much nicer!!!) I have to stay away from cheese for a while before I turn cute.

Each evening I walk/jog for 30minutes plus and I burn only 200cal. The amount of calory intake is way beyond that. How frustrating.. ok enough complaints....the recipe!!!

250g McVites Digestive biscuits
5oz melted butter
1 block Philadelphia cheese (250g)
1 can evaporated milk
1 lime
3/4 cup castor sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla essence
2tbsp gelatine

a. Crush digestive biscuits till fine. Melt butter and add to the biscuits. Pour mixture into pie dish and press till firm; about 1/2 inch thick. Put the biscuits into freezer to set.
b. Blend cream cheese and sugar till smooth.
c. Add milk, lime juice and vanilly. Beat till white and frothy.
d. Melt gelatine in 1/2 cup hot water. Add into the creamed mixture to blend for a while.
e. Pour mixture onto the biscuits and put back into the freezer to set for an hour.
f. Remove and place it in the fridge after an hour.
#For variety, can add chocolate/coffee into the mixture. For decoration, can arrange fruit cocktail on top or just sprinkle chocolate rice.

crunchy cheese cake

It's holiday....and I've not baked for a long time. Promised Pn Yee I'll bring cheese cake to school for her tomorrow. So I woke up bright and early this morning to do my baking!!

This is a favourite with the kids. It has the saltish taste of cheese and the top is crunchy. It's almost like an ordinary cake but the cheese makes the difference.


The ingredients needed for the cake. I use two machines here; one to beat the egg white and sugar; the other to beat the butter and sugar. Unfortunately, the machine for beating the egg white stopped working after I turned it off. About time for it to konk off anyway....overworked it with all my cookie baking before CNY. I've an excuse now to get a bigger machine.


Here's the chef/baker lining the tin. I use oil paper nowadays for baking....so much easier to clean up.


Pop into the pre-heated over for 50mins at 180.

After 50 minutes...the whole house smells of cheesy cake.

CRUNCHY CHEESE CAKE (from Agnes Chan's recipe book)

Ingredients:

250 g butter

100g icing sugar

5 egg whites

120 g castor sugar

5 egg yolks

200g self-raising flour mixed with 35g cornflour; sifted twice

100 g grated cheddar cheese

Topping:

60 g grated cheddar cheese

(I added chopped almond)
1. Cream butter and icing sugar till light.

2. Whisk egg whites and casotr sugar till stiff. Add egg yolks and beat well.

3. Mix in btter mixture (1) and fold in flour and cheese.

4. Pour into a lined and greased 22cm baking tin.

5. Sprinkle grated cheese to cover the top.

6. Bake in pre-heated oven at 180C for 50minutes.

The cake was a hit....finished in no time at home. I had to protect the little container that I kept aside for school. Chan and Seck loved it....they were protecting the cake in the container to make sure Pn Yee has her share.

Cheddar Loaf

The cheddar loaf viewed from the top.


The bread; toasted in oven and sandwiched with icecream. Most delicious!!!!!


It's so wonderful to walk in the house and smell freshly baked bread; especially cheesy bread. I tried this recipe yesterday. We couldn't wait till today to eat; almost immediately I cut two slices for us to share (we just had our dinner). It is wonderful...savoury. Reminded us of the cheese bread from Panash, Hong Kong. But the family complains that the cheese is not enough and I must put in chunks and not grate it so that can bite chunks of it. I did stinge on the cheese because it looked so much. Here's the recipe. Worth trying and eating. Will upload a picture of it the next round I bake.

Cheddar Loaf
180ml milk
2 tbsp butter
2 eggs
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp salt
500g flour
1 tsp yeast

chocolate walnut bread

I baked two loaves of bread today. Need two loaves to feed the whole family. I thought I have this recipe in my blog but it was just the picture. So decided I might as well put the recipe down so I will not forget.

I have been baking bread for years. But none of the recipes which I used earlier are with me....somehow I lost them. Maybe by blogging them, I will not lose the recipes anymore when I try out new ones. Bad habit of forgetting the old ones when I start a new recipe which I like.

Again; this is for AJ7. I just remembered I tried a cappocino orange bread which is nice but didn't bake it anymore as Dan doesn't like the slight coffee taste in it. Will try it again soon and blog the pic and recipe.


1 egg plus enough water to equal 3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons water
1/2 tsp salt
3 tbsp sugar (I use slightly lesser so it won't be so sweet)
1 tbsp margarine
1/2 tsp vanilla essence
2 1/4 c bread flour plus 1 tbsp
1 tbsp dry milk
3/4 cup chocolate chips
1/4 cup walnut halves
1 tsp yeast

I bake it at 1kg weight...turns out ok. Slightly more dense than poppy seed loaf because it has lots of chocolate chip in it and also walnut.

poppy seed bread

This is the loaf of poppy seed bread I baked just now. It's our favourite. (I have only two recipes which I use; no time to test out the rest). Makes good sandwiches. Below is the recipe; specially for AJ7.

1 cup water

1/4 vegetable oil

1tsp vanilla essence

1 tsp margarine

11/2 tbsp sugar

1 tsp salt

3 c bread flour

1 tsp milk powder

2 tbsp poppy seed

2 tsp yeast

Bake at 1kg weight; takes 3.25hrs.

(Remember to scrape down the sides when the machine is in kneading mode).

London Almond

This is probably my second attempt making London Almond. The first time was maybe ten years ago, didn't get the accurate recipe; so wasn't good. This time I followed Agnes Chang's cookbook. Fantastic. Really good. Just need a bit more practice and it will look good too. Next time must remember to get the brown papercups; look better.

Ingredients A:

250g butter

120g icing sugar

1 egg

1 egg yolk

1/2 tsp vanilla

Ingredients B:

300g plain flour

200g ground almond

250g toasted whole almond

Decoration:

150pcs small paper cups (brown/black colour would be the best)

500g cooking chocolate, melted (use the microwave oven; don't overdo it)

150g toasted nibbed almond

1. Cream A till well-combined. Mix in B to form soft dough. Shape into balls and wrap up almond in it. Place in paper cups. Bake at 180deg for 17 minutes.

2. Cover cookies with melted chocolate and sprinkle some nibbed almond on top (sprinkle the almond before the chocolate hardens). Chill in the fridge to set the chocolate before storing.

famous choco chip cookies

This is the all famous choco chip cookies. High in demand. Ing got the recipe from don't know who; shove into my hands and said bake it...very nice. From then onwards; this has become the all time favourite. I think if I don't bake this cookie; everybody will be upset. Infact; Ing bought me a packet of chocolate chips last year; expecting me to bake this but I didn't because I didn't have the time and mood for baking.

Using the one tsp measuring spoon; scoop up the dough and put onto the tray. Don't have to roll as it's very sticky. Don't flatten it either; or else it will end up totally flat.

Choco Chip Cookies

1 block butter

2 cups flour

1 tsp soda bicarbonate

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp implex

1 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup castor sugar

2 cups oatmeal

25o g chocolate bar (cut to small pieces)

1 cup chocolate chips

1 cup chopped almond

1 tsp vanilla essence

1/2 tsp salt

2 eggs

This was how the recipe came to me and I just had to figure out what goes where and what to do first etc. After baking for so long; it comes quite naturally.

This is evidence of how much the kids love this cookie. I reminded them to leave some for the father. By evening, I was shocked to see only three pieces left (I wanted to curi one to eat). The most guilty person is none other than the cute tubby fella.

coffee crunch

250g margarine/butter
180g brown sugar
2 egg yolk
150g custard powder
200g flour
1tsp coffee essence
100g chopped almond
1tsp soda bicarbonate
60g dessicated coconut
Do the necessary.
Bake at 180deg for 17minutes.

I use a one teaspoon measuring spoon to scoop up the dough before forming into a ball; pressed slightly with a fork.


Fresh from the oven. Really crunchy and nice. Gave a bottle to Nee, only two bottles left. Need to bake more.

moist chocolate cake

I'm in a baking mood. Need to spend time to bond with my new oven to understand it better. Lyn helped me...infact she did most of the stuff. I just supervised. This recipe is from an old colleague(who is a Maths teacher; the recipe is almost like a formula) when I was teaching in PD. I have not tried it for years. It's real simple. I believe if I leave it totally to Lyn; she would be able to do it too except the baking part.

Moist Choc Cake
A:
300g flour
60g cocoa powder
2tsp bicarbonate of soda
(sieve the above together)

B:
12 0z water

C:
300g castor sugar
300g butter
(cream together)

D.
5 eggs

1. Cream C
2. Add D
3. Add A and B alternatively to the mixture

Pour into the baking tin and bake as you would bake a cake and the result is as below! (The almond flake is optional, I added that as I needed to check how brown the cake gets so that I can adjust the temperature etc accordingly.)

Looks real moist; right? I believe it tastes as good as it looks. Can't test it as I've brushed my teeth, the kids will tell me how it tastes tomorrow.

Dan mentioned that ever since I stayed home this one month, there seems to be a lot of food to eat. Hahaha...all this will stop once I start working next month.

absolutely great...sent a tupperware to school for Chan and friends...all gone...very moist. Lyn suggested adding chocolate chips too. Will do that the next round.

Pork rib sea cucumber stew

Ingredients:

sea cucumber

mushrooms

pork ribs

potatoes/taufoo pok (optional)

garlic and ginger

star anise/cloves/pepperseeds (not too much)

rice wine

Method:

(Season the ribs with a dash of pepper, salt and ginger wine for an hour)

1. Saute garlic and ginger; add star anise, cloves

2. Throw in the meat; fry till fragrant

3. Then dump in the mushrooms, potatoes and whatever you fancy

4. Pour in a bowl of water and simmer.

5. Remember the seasonings : salt, black soya sauce, oyster sauce

6. Finally pour in the rice wine (maybe half a bowl)

This stew is most delicious the day after...the meat etc have absorbed all the taste.