Egg Tart

My love for egg tarts is on a par with Mom's love for taro cake, Dad's love for almond cookies, Bro's love for BBQ pork, and Sis' love for stuffed glutinous rice balls. Egg tart is certainly one of the food items that I missed most from home. I tried making egg tarts with a friend two years ago from an online recipe and they turned out great! I've been making egg tarts occasionally since then. Thanks to Pierre for his effort finding the recipe :)

Ingredients:

(A) Pastry

1/2 cup + 1/3 cup margarine/butter

1/3 cup icing sugar (sifted)

1 1/2 cup all-purpose flour (sifted)

1 beaten egg

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

(B) Filling

2 eggs (lightly beaten)

3 1/2 tbsp sugar

160 mls water

26 mls evaporated milk

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Directions:

1. Mix the margarine, icing sugar, egg, and vanilla extract from (A) together. Slowly add all-purpose flour while stirring the mixture.

2. Chill the pastry dough for ~ 2 hours in the refrigerator, or at least 30 minutes in the freezer.

3. While waiting, mix the ingredients from (B) together.

4. Preheat the oven at 350 degrees F.

5. Once the pastry dough is ready, take ~ 2 tbsp of dough and spread it evenly on a tart mould. Do the same using the rest of the dough. It yields ~ 10 standard-sized tarts.

6. Prick holes with a fork on the bottom of the unbaked tarts.

7. Slowly pour the tart filling into each mould about 3/4 full.

8. Bake tarts for 25-30 minutes until the tart shells turn light brown and the fillings fully solidify.

9. Cool the tarts and dig in!

Tom Yum

What's the first thing come into mind when someone mentions about Thai food? Tom yum it is!! Eric who craved for tom yum so badly, has decided to have a Thai fix! Presented to you, the hot & spicy tom yum soup and tom yum rice vermicelli!

The delicious Tom Yum soup.

Ingredients:

~ 1 kg chicken thighs (chopped into pieces)

30 frozen cooked shrimps

2 medium carrots (1.5-inch pieces)

1 large onion

1/4 lb long beans (one-inch pieces)

5 medium white mushrooms (sliced)

2 medium tomatoes (in cubes)

6 dried red chillies

2 stalk lemongrass

3 piece lime leaves

1/2 can instant tom yum paste

2.5 tom yum cubes

Directions:

1. Chop the chicken thighs into small pieces. Cut the onion into pieces.

2. Cut the carrots, long beans, white mushrooms, and tomatoes. Soak the frozen shrimps in a bowl of water to thaw.

3. Prepare a large pot of boiling water. Add the tom yum cubes into the boiling water.

4. Add the chicken pieces into the pot. While they're almost cooked, add the rest of the ingredients (except shrimps). Snap the dried red chillies into two pieces before adding into the soup.

5. Add tom yum paste and salt according to taste.

6. Once cooked, cover the pot with lid and let simmer for 30 minutes until the soup thickens. Add the cooked shrimps for the last two minutes.

7. Serve it with white rice. Bon appetit!

The tom yum soup tasted more delightful the next day! And the best of all, it reminded me of asam laksa ;D

The spicy fried tom yum rice vermicelli.

Ingredients:

1/2 lb chicken breast (small stripes)

5 medium white mushrooms (sliced)

1/4 lb long beans (one-inch pieces)

1 small carrot (thin stripes)

1/2 medium red pepper (thin stripes)

1 inch ginger root (finely chopped)

1/2 large red onion

Bean sprouts

1 packet rice vermicelli

Instant tom yum paste

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp white pepper

Directions:

1. Soak the rice vermicelli in a bowl of hot water to soften.

2. Cut chicken into stripes and prepare the vegetables.

3. Heat the pan and add cooking oil. Saute the onion and ginger. Pan-fry the chicken stripes.

4. Add tom yum paste to taste. Add the rest of the vegetables into the pan and stir-fry them.

5. Add the rice vermicelli and more tom yum paste according to taste. Add salt and pepper.

6. Add bean sprouts and stir-fry for one minute.

7. Ready to serve!

Very colourful rice vermicelli indeed! Red (red pepper), green (long beans), orange (carrots), light brown (mushrooms), white (bean sprouts) etc. The presentation was appetizing, and the aroma of tom yum was simply irresistible! I certainly went for seconds, so did others!

Thanksgiving Feast

Thanksgiving celebration without a turkey? Yeah! This was an Asian-style thanksgiving with yummy sushi! Oh well, sushi was one of the many dishes we prepared for the big feast! There were mostly finger food:

Pork ribs with barbecue sauce.

Pork ribs were marinated overnight with barbecue sauce and kept in the refrigerator. Bake them the next day in the preheated oven at 400 F till cooked (about 40-45 minutes). It's as easy as ABC!

Chicken wings and home-baked fries.

Half of the chicken wings were marinated with ginger sesame sauce and the rest with teriyaki sauce. Together with the pork ribs, they were kept in the refrigerator overnight. Bake them in preheated oven at 400F.

Home-baked fries

Ingredients:

6 medium potatoes

1 tsp red chili powder

2 tsp dried basil

1 tsp thyme

1 tsp dried oregano

1/4 tsp black pepper

1/4 tsp white pepper

1/2 tsp salt

2 tbsp olive oil

Directions:

1. Wash and peel the potatoes. Cut them into long stripes.

2. Place potato stripes in a large mixing bowl. Add the rest of the ingredients into the bowl and mix well.

3. Spread the potato stripes on a greased cookie sheet with aluminum foil.

4. Cook them in a preheated oven at 400 F until cooked (about 45 minutes).

5. Serve while hot!

*Hint: Fries are best served with mayonnaise + ketchup as dipping sauce.

Sushi with avocado, simulated crab sticks, picked radish, canned salmon and tuna ;)

This special dish was prepared by Paul and Eric. Yummy sushi, best served with wasabi + sashimi soya sauce ;)

The cream cheese blueberry pie from the Happy Baker!

The bountiful food left my stomach with no room to contain this yummy blueberry pie bought by Teck from the famous bakery store, Happy Baker. Located in the heart of downtown Fredericton, it sells fresh and delicious pastries, cakes, breads (you name it) and I just love to be there!

I had to take a two-hour break before indulging into the yummy pie. Smart choice, Teck! Fresh blueberries on soft custard and tasty pie shell, yumm....

Gingerbread loaf from my Lab Manager, Tracy.

I shared this gingerbread loaf on Thanksgiving day with two of my roommates. Apparently, gingerbread is best served with whipping cream. We had it plain and it was tasteful with a strong aroma of spices just the way it was!

Birthday

Chocolate cake + chocolate icing with creative decorations ;)

Fried rice with fried egg and sliced cucumber. A splash of tomato ketchup completed the meal ;)

Fried rice, baked potato fries, mashed potato, and Rootbeer float for our "candlelight"dinner.

I don't use a cake mix very often. I decided to give it a try for a surprise birthday cake. A chocolate cake with chololate icing and chocolate wafer sticks. It shall be called the "ultimate triple chocolate" cake. Thanks to Betty Crocker, the cake turned out to be rich and moist. Yumm...

It took me some time to come out with the decorative idea though. It looked plain with just the icing. Hence, I had chocolates (with nuts) around the cake and wafer sticks sheltering the birthday candle, made it look like a camp fire when the candle is lit. Sweet...

It certainly saved some time using the cake mix and the instructions were easy to follow. Besides the cake mix, only milk, eggs, and oil are required. The batter was separated into half for baking. The two cakes were then stacked together and coated with Betty Crocker "instant" frosting.

The fried rice was prepared by Eric with Maggi fried rice seasoning. It came in handy. Together with chicken, chinese sausage, carrots and peas, the fried rice turned out great and colourful! The birthday supper for Paul was so special that we even had Rootbeer float. Of course, he wasn't greeted with birthday wishes until we brought out the birthday cake with lit 24 candles (oops...did I just say that?).

Paul, hope you had an enjoyable birthday celebration. Presented to you by Adeline & Eric :)

Chee Cheong Fun

I was absolutely inspired by the Chee Cheong Fun (a.k.a. rice noodle roll) prepared by Lily that she had it on her blog (http://lilyng2000.blogspot.com/2008/07/chee-cheong-fun-iii.html). The preparation process was fascinating and I was so eager to try it out myself!

Ingredients:
(A)
60g rice flour
20g tapioca flour
2 1/2 cup water
1/4 tsp salt
2 tbsp oil

(B)
1 1/2 tbsp Hoisin sauce
1 1/2 tsp water
1 tbsp sesame seed

Directions:
1. Mix ingredients from (A) and leave it aside for at least 30 minutes.
2. Preheat a non-stick pan on medium heat. Pour a thin layer of batter into the pan and heat until a thin layer of the the batter solidifies at the bottom. Pour back any excess batter.
3. Place a lid on the pan and cook on low heat.
4. The noodle is cooked when it turns translucent. Remove pan from the heat source.
5. Roll the sheet of noodle carefully (not to break it) with a wooden spatula on the pan. Place the rice noodle roll on a greased plate.
6. Continue cooking with the remaining batter.
7. Dilute the Hoisin sauce with water. Pour the sauce on the noodles and garnish noodles with sesame seed. Savour the chee cheong fun while hot!

p/s: It takes some practice to yield smooth texture cheong fun. I appreciate those hawkers who cook fine and tasty chee cheong fun!

Steak Feast II

The carrot was cut into a unique shape, very creative :)

I've been craving for steaks these days and hence prepared myself a Grade A striploin and salad for supper. Besides the similar ingredients used to prepare the first steak that I had (refer to the post "Steak Feast I"), I added some Moroccan harissa spice (1 1/2 tsp) for marinating the meat. It was merely a 15-20 minutes of cooking time with the toaster oven set at 400F, for a medium rare steak. With the steak topped with mushroom sauce, and salad as side dish, I indulged myself in this delicious meal ^v^

Salad

Ingredients:
1 cherry tomato
1/2 medium green pepper
1 small carrot
2 stalks celery
2 leaves iceberg lettuce
2 leaves romaine lettuce

Directions:
Creativity + Passion + Patience = Awesomeness

How did I come out with this idea? Well, I had these ingredients sitting in the refrigerator that I needed to prepare for tomorrow's lunch. Instead of a boring dish of salad, I wanted something that's more presentable, and more appetizing! And here I am, combining the salad with some canned salmon for a meal *wink*

Steak Feast I

Hmm...what am I gonna have for today's supper? I found this sirloin tip steak from the meat market for a good deal. Without second thought, I've decided my supper menu--sirloin steak, salad, mashed potatoes, and my favourite Campbell cream of mushroom soup.

It was an absolutely random recipe. A good try!

First of all, let's prepare the steak.

Ingredients:
2 tsp light soya sauce
1 tsp dark soya sauce
2 tsp cooking wine
1 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp white pepper
1/4 tsp salt

Directions:
1. Keep the marinated steak aside for 30 minutes.
2. Preheat the toaster oven to 400F.
3. Cook the steak for about 10 minutes on each side.

It was a well-done steak before I managed to stop it from being cooked further. I was anticipating a medium rare. Oops! Too bad...try again next time ;P

Next, we have mashed potatoes.

Ingredients:
2 medium potatoes
1 small onion
1 tsp light soya sauce
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/4 tsp white pepper
1 tsp dried basil
Dash of red chili powder
2 tbsp margarine
2 tbsp whipped dressing or mayonnaise

Directions:
1. Prepare a pot of boiling water.
2. Peel and cut the potatoes into small cubes.
3. Dice the onion into small pieces.
4. Cook the potatoes in boiling water on high heat for 15 minutes. Add onion into the boiling water and cook for another 10 minutes on medium heat.
5. Drain water from the pot. Mash the potatoes and onion efficiently with a hamburger press (use a spatula if you don't have one).
6. Add light soya sauce, salt, margarine, and whipped dressing according to taste (adding some milk will give a richer taste too). Mix thoroughly.
7. Add black and white pepper, dried basil and red chili powder.
8. Ready to serve.

Umm...what else are we missing? The gravy! Again, a simply random recipe for gravy.

Ingredients:
1/2 small onion
1 1/2 tbsp corn starch
3/4 cup water
1/2 beaten egg
1 tbsp cooking wine
1 tbsp oyster sauce
1/2 tsp dark soya sauce
1/2 tsp light soya sauce
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp white pepper
1/4 tsp black pepper

Directions:
1. Dice the onion into small pieces. Fry the onion in a sauce pan on medium heat till brown.
2. Dissolve the corn starch in water. Pour in the corn starch mixture. Let it boil on high heat, while stirring it occasionally.
3. Keep it on medium heat once it's boiled. Add the beaten egg, oyster sauce, salt, dark and light soya sauce. Stir well and cook the egg.
4. Add salt, cooking wine, white and black pepper according to taste.
5. Let the gravy simmer on low heat till thicken.
6. Serve it on the steak.

* The above recipes serve as a reference. The amount of ingredients used may not be exactly the same. So how? Try it out according to personal taste!

Last but not least, the creamy mushroom soup! It's quite self-explanatory. Simply refer to the directions on the can. You can either add a can of water or milk (gives creamier texture) to cook with it. Mushroom soup was a nice treat in the family for either supper or just a late night "snack" when I was little. Dad used to prepare it during a few occasions. Once it's cooked, stir in with dash of Maggie seasoning and white pepper. It's the best soup ever that will warm your heart! And not to mention, fog up your glass too with its hot steam! Yumm.... a memorable taste from childhood. *What a little girl I am*

Nasi Paprik

What is nasi paprik (a.k.a. paprik rice)? Also referred to as nasi pad prik, it is a fried rice dish with paprika sauce which is known to be of Thai origin.

Ingredients:
1 sachet Maggie Nasi Paprik
2 cups uncooked rice
1/2 lb ground pork
10 stalks green beans
1 medium carrot
1 beaten egg
1 medium onion
1 tsp light soya sauce
Dashed of white pepper
Sliced cucumbers
Tomato ketchup (according to taste)

Directions:
1. Cook the rice and let cool.
2. Marinate ground pork with dashed of pepper and light soya sauce. Leave it aside.
3. Cut the onion and carrot into small cubes.
4. Saute the onions till brown on medium heat. Add the ground pork and cook.
5. Pour in the cooked rice and mix in Maggie Nasi Paprik seasoning. Add dashes of white pepper.
6. Fry the rice until fragrant. Add the egg and cook.
7. Serve with sliced cucumbers.

One thing is missing here-tomatoes! Additionally, nasi paprik is usually served with sliced chicken meat as opposed to ground pork. It's just my little modification to come out with something different, as I always do ;)

Taro Cake

Taro cake (a.k.a. woo tao koh) is a Cantonese delicacy normally eaten for breakfast or afternoon tea. Since it's impossible to get it from a stall here, unlike in Malaysia; it can be easily found at the wet markets and coffee shops.

This special dish reminds me of Mom who loves Taro cake a lot ;) She even commented that this picture looks tempting (*blushed*). Haha... no worries, Mom, you can sure have some :)

Here is the recipe adapted from Lily's Wai Sek Hong. Thanks to Lily for sharing her great recipes!

Ingredients:
(A)
250g taro root (a.k.a. yam)
1 tsp five-spice powder
1 cup water

(B)
125g rice flour
20g tapioca flour
1 cup water
150g taro root

(C)
1 tbsp chicken stock granules
1 tsp soya sauce
1 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp sesame oil
Dash of white pepper

(D)
Dried shrimps (~100)
4 shallots
2 stalks green onions
2 red chillies

(E)
10 red chillies
2 tbsp tomato ketchup
1 tbsp sugar
2 tsp salt
2 tbsp lemon juice/lime juice/white vinegar

(F)
3 tbsp Hoisin sauce, diluted with some water
1 tsp soya sauce
2 tsp sugar
Dash of white pepper

Directions:
1. From (A), coat the diced taro root with five-spice powder.
2. Dice, steam, and mash the taro root from (B). Mix in other ingredients from (B) and sieve.
3. For seasoning, mix together the ingredients from (C).
4. Soak and chop the dried shrimps from (D) coarsely. Cut shallots in slices and deep fry (or microwave with 1tsp oil on high till crispy). Chop the green onions and red chillies from (D). Set them aside for garnishing.
5. To prepare the chilli sauce, chop or blend the red chillies from (E), and mix in with the other ingredients from (E).
6. Mix together ingredients from (F) for sweet sauce.
7. Heat up some oil and saute the dried shrimps from (D) till fragrant. Remove 3/4 and set aside for garnishing.
8. Add some oil and into the wok, stir fry the seasoned taro root. Mix in water from (A) and bring to a boil.
9. Add in (B) and (C), and cook till the batter is fairly thick.
10. Pour thick batter into a well-greased 25cm round tray. Steam till the cake is set and cooked.
11. Garnish the cake and press lightly. Leave aside to cool.
12. Serve taro cake with chilli sauce and sweet sauce!

Yummm... Don't be intimidated by the long recipe. Trust me, it's not hard at all once you get it started! And believe it or not, you'll be tempted to prepare it over and over again ;)

Quick & Easy Pizza

Craving for pizza but don't feel like order one, wanna customize your own instead? Here is a recipe of a quick & easy pizza crust, plus your favourite toppings (anything you like):

Ingredients:
1 cup warm water (~ 110 degrees F)
1 tbsp sugar
2 1/4 tsp active dry yeast
3 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp salt
2 1/2 cup all-purpose flour

Directions:
1. Dissolve yeast and sugar in the warm water. Add in olive oil and salt.
2. Stir in the flour until well blended. Let dough rest for 10 minutes.
3. Preheat oven at 450 degrees F.
4. Pad dough into a pizza pan. Spread pizza sauce. Top with your favourite pizza toppings (i.e. onions, green peppers, carrots, tomatoes, sausages, bacon, hamburger slices etc.). Lastly, top with cheese slices/shredded cheese.
5. Bake pizza for 15-20 minutes. Serve while hot!

Onde-onde

Typically, onde-onde is prepared with glutinous rice flour and pandan extract, filled with "gula melaka" and coated with shredded coconut. This modified recipe, however, is using sweet potatoes, glutinous rice flour, and shredded coconut. It is a simpler version of onde-onde :) These sweet potatoes balls taste yummy and many of my Canadian friends love them!

Ingredients:
Sweet potatoes
Sugar
Glutinous rice flour
Shredded coconut

Directions:
1. Prepare a pot of boiling water. Peel the sweet potatoes and cut them into cubes (to minimum boiling time coz of smaller sizes).
2. Boil the potato cubes with medium heat for 20-30 minutes till tender.
3. Drain water off and mash the potatoes. Meanwhile, boil a second pot of water.
4. Add sugar (a bit sweeter than what you'd take, coz the next boiling step tends to reduce the sweetness). Pour in glutinous rice flour into the mashed potatoes gradually, to prepare a non-sticky dough.
5. Take a tablespoonful of dough and roll it into a ball-shaped dough. Repeat till dough is used up.
6. Drop them into the boiling water on high heat. Remove them once they appear on the water surface (they're cooked! Aren't they cool?)
7. Cool them for a bit before rolling them on a plateful of shredded coconut.
8. Bon appetit!

My Passion About Cooking & Baking

The kitchen in my apartment is my favourite spot to hang around. I have the opportunity to try out a variety of cooking styles and baking recipes and it has been such a great fulfilment in life ;) Being away from home has not only taught me to be more independent, but has also allowed me to explore new challenges in daily life.

Cooking and baking is my passion. It is my joy to share the stories of dishes I have had prepared. Hope you'd enjoy them as much as I do!!

Err...Kleenex is self-supply by the way. Stay tuned for exciting posts!