the little egg

3rd March 2014.

A friend gave us a very small egg.  Just for the fun of it, I placed the small egg and a normal sized egg standing side by side at one corner of our house.  Both eggs stood for nearly 47 hours!  I've planned to let it stand till 48 hours, but my younger daughter and her itchy hands.

classic cantonese home style pork ribs (數字骨)

30th June 2014.  I saw a video on this dish, it was super easy that I decided to cook it the very next day.  It was spoon licking good!

Ingredients
> 500g pork ribs

Sauce
> 1 tbsp Chinese cooking wine
> 2 tbsp dark vinegar
> 3 tbsp sugar
> 4 tbsp soya sauce
> 5 tbsp water

Method 
[1]  Simply just dump everything into a pot and cook (stew).
[2]  Start with high fire until the gravy is boiling, then lower to small fire and simmer until gravy thickens.

Recipe courtesy of  Day Day Cook.  Video link at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3kRZV6ol6P4

CNY 2014 ~ mandarin oranges

Chinese New Year is over and I have lots of mandarin oranges left.

Here's what I did with them.

REMEMBER to remove the seeds from mandarin oranges before putting it into the juicer or blender.  The first time I did this, a few years back, I didn't remove the seeds and the juice was bitter!

CNY 2014 ~ some random pics

Min's Chinese Writing Competition before the new year.

Zhen & her classmates Chinese Calligraphy competition before the new year.

Marketing on the eve of CNY, Zhen saw a special pineapple.

A close-up of the pineapple.

3rd day of CNY.  Lunch Dana at Vihara Buddha Gotama with the children
and an AFS foreign exchange student from Colorado, US.

4th day of CNY, visiting hubby's grandma, the kids' great-grandma.

CNY 2014 ~ vegetarian dishes on the 1st day of Chinese New Year

It is the 1st day of Chinese New Year and our family observes a full day vegetarian diet, since years ago.  My sister-in-law, the chef of the house, cooked all these dishes.  Only one, the 'Loh Hon Chai' (羅漢齋) is done by me.

heart-shaped steamed banana cake

Valentine Day's round the corner.  How about some heart-shaped cupcakes?

After placing liners in a regular cupcake tin, place a marble or small ball of aluminum foil in each well between the liner and the tin to create a heart-shaped indent.  Fill it up with batter and starts baking/steaming your cake.

Happy Valentine's!

apple chips

Recipe courtesy of sally's baking addiction

糖水 dessert - tāng ​yuán (汤圆)

Winter Solstice (冬至) is here and we tried out this Granite Tāng Yuán (石头汤圆) from Table For 2..... or More.

As I can't get bamboo charcoal powder, I substitute it with green tea powder instead.  My girls have much FUN as they get to "help" out in making the tāng ​yuán.

 

snacks for girls' kindergarten graduation

I made these graduation caps for Zhen's classmates in year 2010 for her kindergarten graduation.

Three years later, is Min's kindergarten graduation.  Min and Zhen helped me in making these little teddies in cars for her classmates.

pancake

Ingredients
> 2 cups flour
> 3 tbsp sugar 
> 2 tsp baking powder 
> 1 tsp baking soda 
> 1/4 tsp salt 
> 2 cups (400ml) milk 
> 2 eggs
> 1 tsp vanilla extract
> 4 tbsp vegetable oil

Method
[1]  Mix all the dry ingredients with milk, eggs and vanilla extract.
[2]  Add in oil to mix well and keep aside to rest for about 20-30 minutes.
[3]  Scoop and fry pancake in a non-stick pan.
[4]  Roll pancake with your favourite jam and serve.

papaya smoothie

refreshing drink

banana chocolate chiffon cake

Ingredients [A]
> 4 egg yolks
> 50g corn oil
> 25g milk
> 80g bananas (mashed)
> 80g Cake Flour (sieved)

Ingredients [B] 
> 4 egg whites
> 70g castor sugar

Ingredient [C] 
1 tbsp cocoa powder and 1 tbsp hot water, mixed, to be used later.

Method
[1]  Sieve cake flour and set aside.
[2]  Mix Ingredients [A] - beat egg yolk and corn oil, pour in milk, mix in mashed banana.
[3]  Lastly add in cake flour and mix with a mixer.
[4]  Beat Ingredients [B] till stiff.[5]  Remove one third of the white batter to mix into the yolk batter, fold.
[6]  Mix in the rest of the white batter and fold.
[7]  Take half of the mixed batter and add in cocoa mix.
[8]  Pour banana batter in an 18" chiffon mould.  Tap pan lightly to get rid of trapped air bubbles.
[9]  Add in cocoa batter, with a chopstick or knife, move around the batter in circles. 
[10]  After preheating oven, bake at 170°C for approximately 30-35 minutes.
[11]  Invert the pan immediately and let it cool completely before serving.

banana oatmeal raisin muffins

After making Banana Oatmeal Almond Cookies, a friend suggested that I try Banana Oatmeal Raisin Muffins.  She said that it is very yummy and asked me to look up the internet.  I followed this recipe, I found in Rasa Malaysia website.
Ingredients
> 1/2 cup (80g) raisins 
> 1 tbsp water
Bowl A
> 1 1/2 cup all purpose flour 
> 1 tsp baking powder 
> 1/4 tsp baking soda 
> 1/4 tsp salt 
> 1/2 cup brown sugar
Bowl B
> 1/2 cup quick oats + extra for topping 
> 1/2 cup + 2 tbsp milk 
Bowl C
> 1 large egg
> 1/2 cup vegetable oil
> 2 over ripe bananas, mashed
Method
[1]  Soak raisins with 1 tbsp of water and chill for 2-3 hours.
[2]  When raisins are ready, remove from refrigerator, squeeze dry and pat with paper towel.
[3]  Preheat oven to 190 180°C.  Line a 12 muffins/cupcakes baking pan.
[4]  Bowl A:
Sieve flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt into a bowl. 
Add in brown sugar, whisk to mix the dry ingredients together and set aside.
[5]  Bowl B:  Combine quick oats and milk together.  Set aside.
[6]  Bowl C:
Beat egg.  Add in vegetable oil and beat to incorporate.
Add in mashed banana and mix well.
[7]  Make a well in the center of Bowl A and pour in Bowl C.
[8]  Use a spatula to fold the flour into the center until all combined with no traces of flour.
[9]  Next, fold in Bowl B.  Add raisins and fold a few more times.  Do not over mix.
[10]  Spoon batter into muffin tray until 75%-80% full.  Sprinkle some oats on top.
[11]  Bake at 190 180°C for 10 minutes.
[12]  Then reduce temperature to 180 170°C for another 8-10 minutes or until a cake tester inserted into the center come out clean.
[13]  Transfer muffins to wire rack to cool completely before storing the muffins in air tight containers.