Tag: home-cooked food

Ad Hoc Potato Pavé

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I saw something so divine and so pretty while looking for recipes for potatoes, and what to do with them. I tried to replicate what I saw, but I failed. Don’t get me wrong, it was super yummy, but it just didn’t come out the same way as Momofuku For 2‘s potato pavé. Hers was nice and crisp and stays in perfect shape! Mine, fell apart. haha and I know the reason why, from the start. Silly me forgot to read the recipe thoroughly, and didn’t chill the pave long enough for it to stay in shape. haha so when I cut it into the pieces, it all started to fall apart. This might also be due to me not using 3 large 1kg potatoes, cause what I have are small potatoes at home. But it was still yummy! Just not very pleasing to the eye on the plate. haha But I must say, it came out of the baking tray beautifully! An awesome bright orange caramelisation. I was beaming when I lifted the baking tray up!

Learn from my mistake, prepare this a day before the party, cause it could be kept in the fridge after it’s cooled down for up to 2 days! (: Trust me, this is something that will make everyone ask for more at a dinner party. And it is really not too difficult and doesn’t take that long to prepare either!

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Baked Meatballs

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So I have been experimenting on different kinds of meatballs to go with my spaghetti.

You see, I am a HUGE fan of meatballs. I could have with anything or even have it on its own. When I head to Subway for a meal for example, I do not have to think about it, it would definitely be meatballs sub. haha When I head to IKEA, an order of meatballs is a must! (:

So it’s no wonder I am looking for the perfect meatball recipe. I’ve tried the Safeway’s Nana’s meatball recipe. Baby likes that one cause he says the lemon zest in the meatball brings out the taste when he’s having it with spaghetti. I, on the other hand, is not a big fan of having lemony flavour in my meatballs. So I continued my search of finding the perfect one!

I chanced upon this recipe as I was blog-surfing and it looked amazing and pretty sure it will taste amazing as well. So thank you Smitten Kitchen! It turned out really well, and we all loved it! hehe Being me, I took the recipe and tweaked it a little to see if it will turn out good. and this I did!

Of course, I followed the recipe but I added a few more herbs in to substitute for the ones I don’t have.

and to go with my spaghetti (which I fried with garlic, chilli and some salsa), I added pasta sauce mixed with milk and parmesan and baked them further.

topped it with cheese, and my meatball sauce is done! (:

The meatballs were moist, and together with the sauce, it complimented the spaghetti really well! This is one meatball recipe I am going to keep and use to whenever I feel like having meatballs! Which is, quite often haha.

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Guest Post : My Baby !

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One of the people who inspires me to cook and bake is no doubt my baby

and of course he himself is a chef! hehe and when he cooks, the food is just awesome! hehe

some of his famous dishes are his crispy skin pork that my family adores, his chicken rice, and of course during chinese new year, his big treasure pot! (: There are alot more, so stay tuned for more in the future! hehe

so a week ago, while walking and shopping for groceries at Woolworths, we saw yam selling cheap! so baby decided to get a relatively big one and make steamed yam cake!

so what is steamed yam cake? it’s a local delicacy back home in sunny Singapore and is usually enjoyed as morning snacks or even for breakfast with rice rolls and a special sweet sauce. This savoury snack is always enjoyed in my house as well as in baby’s household and his grandma makes the best ones I heard (: It’s made of cubed yam and rice flour and is denser than the steamed carrot cake (and my mummy makes a mean carrot cake which I miss so much), and is topped with spring onions, fried shallots, chilli and dried shrimps! I had it for breakfast this morning and it’s super yummy!

So try and make it and hope you will enjoy it as much we did! (:

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Easy Pork Chops with Apple Sauce

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Sorry about the recent fascination with pork chops. haha Baby and I got it pretty cheap at Footscray market and we just couldn’t resist buying! We ended up buying almost 3kg of pork chops. haha

so that’s why I’m experimenting on different recipes that I can get my hands on! (:

Tonight. I decided to go all western! and what goes better with pork than apple sauce? it’s like a match-made in heaven!

The apple sauce could be done in less than 10 mins or you could even do it the day before and make it hot just before you serve your pork chops! (: and it’s not difficult at all!

Recipe (Adapted by Heat Beads)

Apple Sauce

2 Grannysmith apples, cut into small pieces

25g butter

2 tsp caster sugar (or alter to your liking)

Steps :

1. Peel and chop the apples into small pieces. Melt the butter in a saucepan over a moderate heat.

2. Add the apples, cover the pan and cook down until the apples have softened. Sweeten with sugar to taste.

3. Using an electric stick blender, process the apples until smooth. Alternatively, push the apples through a sieve. If necessary, add a dash of water to thin down the apple sauce. Leave on one side while you fry the chops.

Pork Chops

3 Pork Chops

2 cloves of garlic, chopped

Juice of 1/2 a lemon

Olive oil (for frying)

Salt and Pepper to season

A dash (or more) Tabasco sauce

Steps :

1. Make light incisions in a criss-cross pattern on one side of the pork chops.

2. Brush the chops with olive oil and place on a plate scored side upwards.

3. Squeeze over the lemon juice and push the  garlic into the incisions. Leave for about twenty minutes.

4. Just before you fry it (or on the barbecue), add the tabasco and season well.

5. Cook the chops, scored side upwards for about 5-7 minutes on one side – until slightly charred and crisp. Flip the chops over and cook for a further minute or two. By this time, the chops should be tender and cooked through. The shorter cooking time helps stop the garlic from burning. (Don’t worry about cooking it longer than this time especially if your chops are on the bone, it will stop it from over-cooking!)

Bon Appetite!

Grilled Pork Chops (Suon Nuong) on Rice

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have you ever gone to a Vietnamese restaurant

and look through their menu and see a dish called grilled pork chops on broken rice?

Don’t worry; just order it! cause it’s super good!

Baby had it recently at Footscray and I decided to try and replicate what he had. haha

doesn’t look too bad right? haha

just a piece of pork chop, with Bi (Pork skin with shredded pork, roasted rice powder, and garlic powder), sunny side up, curried spinach and long grain rice (instead of broken rice)

what is broken rice?

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Cream of Portobello Mushroom Soup

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Sorry that it’s been a long while since I’ve blogged.
the internet is giving us a little bit of problems
so i cant upload anything
including blog posts! (:
not that im on a road trip with my parents.
I can! haha (:

I made this really long ago
and I came across this recipe from Noob Cook
and thought that it looked quite yummy!
decided to gie it a try
since portobello mushrooms are quite cheap at Costco! haha

Baby really loved it. hehe
it was, dare I say, really tasty (:
you should give it a go! hehe

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Tai Lok Meen (Hokkien Noodles)

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i had a craving for tai lok meen for the longest time.
and whenever i think about this noodles.
i think about my dad.
and how much he loves this.
or how he would rather sit in a coffee shop in KL while we shop
just so he could order a plate of the best tai lok meen ever.
and slowly enjoy it for the night.
it makes me smile. and it makes me wanna spend more time with my family (:

so i’ve been looking around and I found the recipe on my love.my food
and it looked really yummy.
i went to BoxHill to buy the ingredients
and got down to cooking it for dinner tonight!
and boy was I a happy girl.
it wasn’t as yummy as the one in KL
but it was YUMMY enough! hehe
We enjoyed it so much we almost finish the whole pot. haha

so here’s the recipe!
give it a go cause it was really easy to cook it.
and it was really yummilicious!

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Creamy Seafood Spinach Pasta

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it’s Sunday! (:
and Sunday normally means either a baking day
or cooking something that I love. hehe
just to end the week on a high note.
so tonight.
I decided to cook creamy seafood pasta
which I haven’t made in ages!

baby loved it! (: hehe
good to see him happy. hehe
espcially cause he is doing his assignments and studying for his papers.
this meal was to cheer him up a little! hehe

it’s really quick to cook.
easy as well,
you will get delicious pasta in 30 mins or less!

so here’s the recipe
hope you guys enjoy it as much as we did!

Creamy Seafood Spinach Pasta

Ingredients :

500g marinara mix
1 onion, finely chopped
4 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
50g butter
1/2 cup (125ml)  white wine
2 cups (500ml) cream
2 teaspoon lemon juice
1 1/2 teaspoon dijon mustard

Steps :

1. Separate the marinara mix into the different seafood
(cause all have a slightly different cooking time)

2. Melt and heat the butter in a frying pan
and cook the onion and garlic over medium heat for 2 minutes
or until the onion is softened
(be careful not to burn the garlic, as it will turn bitter)

3. Add the wine to the pan and cook for 4 mins
or until reduced by half.
Stir in the cream, mustard and lemon juice and simmer for 5-6 mins
or until reduced by half.

4. While allowing the cream to reduce,
cook the pasta according to the instructions on the box

5. Add the seafood into the cream sauce.
First, put the prawn and cook it for 1 minute
then add the fish and cook for 2 minutes.
Finally,
add the calamari and mussels and cook for a further 1 min.
If any of the seafood is uncooked, cook for another minute or so,
but be careful not to overcook as this will result in tough flesh.

6. Add the pasta and coat each strand with the cream sauce.
Serve with salad or a glass of wine.
Anything to your liking (:

DONE!

i dunno about you, but some creamy goodness is always good in my books (:

Prawn Paste Chicken Drumlets

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after my last paper.
I just wanted to cook something nice
so I went to BoxHill and walked around waiting for inspiration to hit me
haha. so….
I saw drumlets and they were going cheap!
and then it hit me that I really miss having some prawn paste chicken

Prawn paste chicken is something I always had at the zhi char back home
haha so it was quick and easy decision.
I went to get a bottle of prawn paste and scooted home!

and it turned out quite well!
and boy was it yummy hehe
and trust me. after not sleeping enough
this was so easy to make
you could do it in a jiff and have dinner served before you know it!

so here’s the recipe (:
Hope you guys would enjoy it as much as we did!

Ingredients :

15 drumlets
1 tablespoon of prawn paste
1 tablespoon of chinese cooking wine
1 tablespoon of sesame oil
1 tablespoon of soy sauce
2 tablespoon corn flour
Pepper

Oil for deep frying

Steps :

1. Marinade the drumlets with all the other ingredients for at least ah hour.

2. Heat the oil in a deep dish on medium heat.

Tip : To make sure the oil is hot enough, dip the tip of a chopstick
and when you see bubbles, the oil is ready for deep frying.

3. Deep fry the drumlets till there are golden brown.
Do make sure the oil is not too hot, or else it will brown before it’s cooked!

We had some mince pork in the fridge.
so we rolled them into balls
and coated them with the prawn paste liquid left over from the drumlets
and fried them as well
and they were absolutely divine! (:

ENJOY!

Malaysian Coconut Butter Prawns

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I must admit, mine is just butter prawns.
cos I don’t have coconut anywhere in the house. haha
and I wanted to whip up something quick and yummy.
so I didn’t bother going down to the convenience store to get coconut.

we bought these really fresh and large tiger prawns from Woolworths recently.
and cause we haven’t had seafood for the longest time.
I could not wait to cook these huge-little things. hehe
and looking through Rasa Malaysia (in the midst of doing my thesis)
I found this recipe!
and it was super yummmy!
and quick (which is key now during the midst of the crazy exams and thesis writing)
baby really liked it. hehe
so here is the recipe! ENJOY!

Malaysian Coconut Butter Prawns
(adapted from Rasa Malaysia)

1 lb large prawns (washed, deveined and patted very dry)
3 tablespoons butter
6 bird’s eye chilies (chopped, seeds removed)
3 sprigs of curry leaves (leaves only) (I left this out)
3 stalks of scallions (I used coriander instead)
3 cloves garlic (finely chopped)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon soy sauce
1/4 cup of grated coconut (I left this out)
3 tablespoons Cognac (or brandy) (didn’t put this either!)

Steps :

1.  If you do have the grated coconut
toast the coconut:  In a dry, nonstick skillet, toast the coconut until golden brown.

2. Fry the prawns: In a large saute pan or wok, heat 2T cooking oil on high heat.
When smoking, add the prawns.  Cook only half way.  Timing depends on size of your prawns.
When they just start to change color, remove and set aside.

3. Stir-fry: In same pan or wok, you should have some cooking oil left over. If not, add 1T.
When hot, add the curry leaves, scallions and garlic.
Fry for a few seconds until fragrant.
Add Cognac, butter, salt, sugar and soy.
Reduce just a bit – you should have a nice sauce that will coat the prawns.
Add the prawns back in the pan.  Fry until prawns are cooked through, timing depends on size of prawns.
Turn off heat, add the toasted coconut and immediately serve.

just go with rice. it’s awesomeeeee! (: