Chocolate Cheese Cupcakes with Chocolate Fudge Frosting

christine is taking orders for next yr :P haha.. no la kidding. just wanted to "showcase" my 2nd official order for a birthday party.. :D

Eve can cook.. so can you!

I'm finally back in my apartment for real! Since I've shifted into this apartment, I haven't really been staying in it.. it's because of the summer holidays and my O&G posting. So when I got back, I decided to make full use of my kitchen (yippie, I have my very own kitchen now.. only shared between me, my housemate and occassionally Kenn ;p) and attempted cooking!

PS: Remember.. Evie never cooks from scratch.. instant noodles and salads are her normal meals.

So what did I attempt to cook?
1) Beef Rendang
2) Belacan Kangkung
3) Red Bean Soup

I must say, the most difficult part of cooking these two dishes is not the actual cooking process.. it's buying the ingredients. I visited all the chinese grocery shops in Chinatown and another one near the university to get most of my ingredients.. but I couldn't find the most important one, BELACAN! So I bought some fish paste as a substitute.

The cooking process took quite long though.. because I had to grind every lil thing like onions, ginger and red onions individually because I did not have a blender but it was a success and I manage to cook up these 2 dishes plus a dessert for Kenn and my housemates.

EeWan boiled some chicken soup and Kenn cooked something too.. you should ask him what he cooked ;p

Evie cooking the rendang

EeWan gave the rendang.. thumbs up!

Belacan kangkung

A group pic.. with EeWan behind the camera.

So what do we need?
1) Beef Rendang
1½ lb beef cut into 1½ to 2-inch chunks
4 cups thick coconut milk
1 cup fresh coconut, finely grated
2 stalks lemongrass, slightly crushed
2-3 turmeric leaves
3 tbsp vegetable oil
2 tsp sugar salt and pepper

To blend:
4-5 tbsp chili paste
1½-inch fresh ginger, peeled, sliced
1-inch galangal [lengkuas in Malay], peeled, sliced
1½ inch fresh turmeric root [kunyit basah in Malay], peeled, sliced
2 tsp coarse salt

To Prepare :
Season beef with salt and pepper, marinate for at least 30 mins
Using a mortar & pestle or blender grind galangal, ginger, turmeric root, chili paste and kosher salt into a spice paste
In a dry heated pan, toast the finely grated coconut [meat] over low heat, keep stirring until golden brown. Allow to cool, then using a mortar & pestle, pound into a paste [called kerisik in Malay]
Heat wok on high, stir-fry spice paste 2-3 mins, add coconut milk, reduce heat and slowly bring to a gentle boil; stir often
Add beef and slow boil for 10 mins
Add lemongrass stalk, turmeric leaves [or kaffir lime leaves; or lime zest], sugar and season with salt and pepper
Reduce heat to low, uncovered, simmer for 1-1½ hrs; stir often with a spatula [be sure to 'scrape' the bottom of wok], add a little water if it starts to dry up too quickly]
Add the toasted coconut paste [kerisik] during the last 30 mins of cooking
When the beef is very tender - the gravy, thickens and oil starts to float on top - remove from heat and discard the lemongrass stalks and turmeric leaves
Serve Beef Rendang with steamed rice, Nasi Lemak [Coconut Rice] or Lontong, a Malay Rice Roll

2) Belacan Kangkung
1lb Kangkung [also called Water Spinach or Water Convolvulus], washed well in water, drained and cut into 2-3 inch lengths
3 tbsp peanut or vegetable oil
1½ tsp sugar salt

To blend:
2 tbsp dried shrimp
3 tbsp or to taste, chili paste
6 shallots, peeled
4 cloves garlic, peeled
2 tsp belacan, also spelt belachan or blacan [dried shrimp paste]

To Prepare :
Soak dried prawns in hot boiling water till softened, drain, reserve some of the liquid
Using a mortar & pestle or blender, grind the softened dried prawns, shallots, garlic, belacan, chili paste into a chunky paste
Heat wok on high, add 2 tbsp peanut or vegetable oil, stir-fry the paste for 1-2 mins, reduce heat cook until quite toasted and turns a shade darker - careful not to burn!
Add the kangkung, sugar, and salt if necessary [*Note: belacan is salty]
Stir-fry on high heat, about 2-3 mins
Dish onto a serving dish while it is still quite crisp and serve hot immediately

The outcome was great.. I was worried at first that I've made a mistake and added too much coconut milk, made Thai Red Curry instead.. but after letting it simmer for 1 1/2 hours the sauce dried up and became rendang sauce. On the other hand, I put too little coconut milk and the dish was a bit too spicy for the rest of the people. The Belacan Kangkung turned out just nice, and finally I get to eat a belacan kangkung that's spicy!

The Perfect Half-boiled Egg :)

hehe. decided to post this up as i've just had one of my most perfect (by accident) half boiled egg ever!!!!!!!!!!

replaceD :) thanks again to vkeong.com but this my own reproduced picture for now..

so how did i manage to make this perfect half boiled egg?? (usually mine's too runny, or too cooked :( i guess this time it's thanks to serendipity!) ok here's how.

1) place egg into a deep dish/bowl. pour boiling water until egg is completely submerged in water.
2) eat my pasta (that i've already made. but thinks that i may still be hungry after that) while browsing facebook.
3) and i was right. i was still hungry after that bowl of pasta. so voila, i crack open the egg, and it is the most beautiful looking thing i've ever seen in my entire life. ok i'm exaggerating, but it is my best attempt. eat with buttered toast, and you're in heaven. almost.

**just in case facebook surfing time, and pasta eating time varies between individuals..... i reckon i took abt 7-8 minutes. haha~!**

Rainbow Seafood Restaurant, HK

To support Christine attempt.. to revive the blog ;p *I'm sorry, I'm one of the culprits who've left the blogging world for ages* I've decided to post something about my MakanMakan experience on the blog. Let's talk about one of the restaurants Li, Jay, CYin, Sze Siew and I visited together this summer!

Presenting...

Rainbow Seafood Restaurant,
16-20, 23-24, Fist St.
Sok Kwu Wan, Lamma Island, HK
Tel: 2982810

This is one out of the dozens seafood restaurants found in HK's famous seafood island.. Lamma Tou. Heard about it from Kenn Foong, when he went on his HK-Macau trip with his mum two years ago.

What's so special about it?
-They provide free shuttle services (Central-TsimShaTsui-Lamma Island and returns)
-'Seafood Expert', Mr. Lim Kenn Foong says it's SUPER GOOD!
-It's CHEAP! (to HK ppl's standards, did a price check with a couple of my HK friends and they think it's super cheap)

So when we arrived in HK, I gave them a call to book seats on the ferry and a table at the restaurant.

Experience 1 (The Ferry)
Service: 100 marks.. We left the hotel quite late that night (I was taking a nap, c'mon I was ill that day!), so we hopped into a cab and rushed over to the TST Ferry Pier. Problem is we couldn't find the jetty! By the time I called the restaurant get the number of the person at the TST Pier it was already past departure time. I managed to get the person, she gave me the directions but she said we'll most probably will have to take the next ferry which is in half an hour's time! With a bit of persuasion "M'sian style".. if you know what I mean ;p she agreed to wait for us. We were running so late that she actually called me back, located us, rushed us into the ferry and bang.. doors shut & off we go! But it was very kind of her to have waited for us.

Girls pic time.. sorry Jay, we know you're a girl too but we really needed someone to hold the cam ;p

Experience 2 (Rainbow Seafood Restaurant)
Service at the restaurant was really good too.. we didn't know what to order so the guy took charge. He brought us to the aquariums, asked us to choose the type of seafood we'd like to have, got our budget and he handled the rest. Not sure if he 'tipu-ed' us because we're tourists...but the food turned out to be delicious and it was really cheap too, for what we had.

The aquariums.. while the rest chose what seafood they wanna eat.

A group pic.. without Li, she was our camerawoman!

Dish 1: Scallops with garlic & dung fun

Everybody eat!

Dish 2: King prawns.. I think it's nai yau style

Dish 3: Lobster.. can't remember the name of the cooking style, it's something like 'Jiu Yim' with chilli

He always comes up with the most interesting poses ;p

Dish 4: Lai Liu Ha.. with the same cooking style

Dish 5: Steamed fish

Dish 6: Fried rice

The finale.. fruits

With 5 dishes, a fried rice and desserts.. this meal costs us less than HKD$1500 (Sorry, I can't remember the exact sum nor the exact names of each dish, told ya I was ill). Every single dish was fresh and I think they're really delicious.. though the 'Jiu Yim' ones were a bit too salty to eat on it's own ;p

Experience 3 (Ferry ride back to Kowloon Island)
This time the ferry was full.. we had to sit on the upper deck of the ferry which is an opened area. We got to enjoy the cold air and strong winds of the sea as we head back to HK.. and also the beautiful night view of HK Island and Kowloon as well as the Tsing Ma Bridge!

Our ferry ride, arriving at the restaurant's jetty

The night view of TST..

in an attempt to revive the blog...

presenting WASAI Japanese Kitchen, which happens to only be the awesom-est Jap restaurant in the whole of South Australia.

Edamame for starters

Green tea as always...

The SUSHI BOAT is like THE BEST EVER!!!!!! value for money too!!!!!!! 29 nigiris + makis only AUD3o. somemore with the drop in currency rates. wah! super dai!

just me posing with the boat.

shoyu + chilli flakes

lastly, strawberry parfait as our dessert.

twas a satisfying meal. see how happy chris is??


i know this pictures are already up on facebook. but haha.. oh well. yeah!! miss you people!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! when can we all makan again??!!

Banana Leaf Rice @ Bangsar

First time i've tried banana leaf rice among the 4 of us there that day.. paiseh. So i was a bit enthusiastic and jakun. hmm. and so i decided to blog it!

No sharing of food, so all of us ordered one each. and i finally had my 'limau ais' drink to go with it.

Comes with 3 types of vege for sides, a salad kind, a fried vege and a deepfried in batter bittergourd. yummy. And the rice, comes with choice of 3 kinds of curry to pour over it- fish curry, chicken curry and dal. Mine(pic) is fish curry. spicy, i like!

btw, it also comes with papadum and we ordered an extra mutton curry. which were both delicious as well! cant remember how much it was.. but affordable mamak price (rite?) and altho i wasnt very hungry i finished up my rice. service-wise, thumbs up as well. hahaha.

crab again ;)

and crab again..hehe. ths time, this crab is from this famous crab restaurant in kepong. wa, this place...i arrived at 7 something n it was packed wit so many ppl...n i had to line up just to get a table. but i must say, it's so worth the wait! coz the crab here is soooooo gooooooddddd!!!!! famous for their cheese crab or salted egg crab, i ordered the salted egg crab. yummy!

crab!!!!!

yummy sri lanka crab from this restaurant in ampang...
wit it is the delicious mini fried pau(s) to dip the sauce ;)n delicious pork ribs......

Din Tai Fung

introducing restaurant Din Tai Fung, in Garden's ....


the beef la mien was delicious! compared to Dragon i, the noodles are the same. but the soup here comparing the same flavour there, is very different. both hav their own special taste. both oso nice la hehe :)

siew long pau here oso very good. but i still like the siew long pau in Dragon i a bit more, coz there the one not so strong the smell..hehe...

this fried rice may look simple, but then when it comes to ur table, ur mouth start to water coz it smells so 'hiong'. then it's oso yummy yum. the rice summore it's the jap rice..round round...but it's not sticky la. so just nice!

Marmalade, bangsar village :)

yummy yum. this is marmalade's delicious carbonara. not too rich, just nice. coz most of the time, carbonara are too rich that when u eat more than 3 spoons u'll feel 'gelak'. but this one however is just nice, that i could finish most of it :)

my friends ordered chicken pie n beef pie each. the beef pie's good, but chicken pie here's a bit tasteless.

n here's 2 old pics of 2 other great delicious dish that's served here. this pic was taken during our breakfast few months ago ;) (wit seyin,eve,anu,shang). the cupcakes are yummy yum :) i think i can eat 10 of these in 1 shot hehe.n this mushroom spagetti, oso supereb!

Triple Chocolate Brownies

This is simple, quick and yummy! ;)

Ingredients:
275g plain chocolate
275g unsalted butter
85g pecans, broken into pieces (I used hazelnuts)
85g milk chocolate, cut into large chunks
85g white chocolate, cut into large chunks
175g plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
4 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 tsp vanilla essence
325g caster sugar

Method:
1) Preheat oven to 170 degrees C. Line a tin with lightly buttered greaseproof paper/ foil.
2) Put the plain chocolate and butter in a large bowl, place over pan of simmering water and allow to melt.
3) Sieve the flour and baking powder into a bowl and set aside. Remove the melted chocolate from the heat and stir in the sugar. Add eggs and vanilla essence. Fold in the flour, nuts and chocolate.
4) Pour the chocolate mixture into the prepared tin. Place in oven and bake fore 20-25 minutes. The top should be firm, but the inside should feel soft when cooked. Allow to cool in the tin. Remove the brownies from the tin and cut them.
5) Serving suggestion: Eat with ice cream and/or chocolate/ toffee sauce! XD

Meatball Spaghetti

Serves 2.

Pasta
200g spaghetti
olive oil
salt

Sauce [cheat]
1/2 bottle tomato based pasta sauce of your choice (i used Leggo's Bolognese with mushroom)
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 brown onion, chopped
1/4 stick medium carrot, grated
olive oil

Meatballs
250g minced meat of choice (i used beef)
1/4 cup bread crumbs
2 tbsp milk
1/4 stick medium carrot, grated
1 egg
1/2 brown onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
dash of parsley
dash of oregano
dash of salt and pepper

Directions:
1) Boil spaghetti with hot water for 10 mins. Rinse with cold water. Drain. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with salt. Toss. Set aside.
2) Sauteed onions and garlic with olive oil. Add carrots. Toss. Add in tomato based sauce, bring to a boil. simmer on low heat. Cover.
3) For meatballs, mixed all the above ingredients until it forms a consistent paste. using 2 tablespoons, shape mixture into a ball and pan-fry with olive oil. Brown all sides. Place meatballs in simmering sauce. and cover for 5 minutes.
4) Using the same pan from frying the meatballs, toss cooked spaghetti from (1). Pour in meatballs and sauce. Toss.
5) Serve with parmesan cheese and basil leaf (which i sadly do not have hence the plain presentation :P).

really easy! try it :)

seremban's always famous for their crabs, donno why. always thought the crabs here are nothing great compared to kl's crabs, summore the prices of crab in seremban is nearly double the crab price in kl. but i tried this super delicious crab that day in seremban. sorry guys, the pic doesnt look that nice, coz i took the shot from my phone. but anyways, the 'siew hai'...ketam bakar, here is damn good. it smells so good when it's brought to ur table. n when u bite thru the meat, it's so juicy n sweet that u feel like ur eating crab in wonderful crabland :) the crab was so fresh, that the meat was tender n juicy. seriously, guys, we must go eat this siew hai when u guys come back. it's super good. totally recomend it.

the shop's just a shed beside the road. nothing great, but it's always crowded with ppl if u come late. the food's fantastic thou...that's the most important thing right? :) they also serve porridge, 'lou si fun', laksa, ikan bakar and sotong bakar there.

Sinful Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients:
105g unsweetened chocolate
170g butter
375g all purpose flour
3g baking soda
2g salt
5g baking powder
375g white sugar
3 eggs
8ml vanilla extract
230g sour cream
505g semisweet chocolate chips

Method:
1) Preheat oven to 190 degrees C. In microwave or over a double boiler, melt unsweetened chocolate and butter together, stirring occasionally until smooth. Sift together flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt; set aside.
2) In a medium bowl, beat sugar, eggs and vanilla until light. Mix in the chocolate mixture until well blended. Stir in the sifted ingredients alternately with sour cream, then mix in the chocolate chips. Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets.
3) Bake for 8-10 minutes in the preheated oven. Allow cookies to cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. Store in an airtight container.

El Duo

I think I am not only in Medical School in Belfast, but in Culinary and Baking School as well. It's just that I will not graduate with a certificate from the latter. Whenever we celebrate our friends' birthdays, we actually bake the cakes ourselves, because cakes are just too expensive to be bought here! So here I am to share 2 recipes which are my favourites so far...


Strawberry CakeIngredients:
400g white sugar
225g butter, softened
4 eggs
400g sifted cake flour
10g baking powder
240ml whole milk
15ml vanilla extract
2 packs of fresh strawberries - make into puree.
Whipping cream
Icing sugar
Strawberry gelatin

Method:
1) Preheat the oven to 170 degrees C. Grease and flour 2 tins. (to make it 2 layers!)
2) In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs 1 at a time, mixing well after each. Combine the flour and baking powder; stir into the batter alternatively with milk. Blend in vanilla and strawberry puree. Divide the batter evenly between prepared pans.
3) Bake for 20-30 minutes in the preheated oven. Allow cake to cool in pans for 10 minutes before topping out to cool completely.
4) Place thickly sliced strawberries with whipping cream in between the 2 cakes.

For the puree - crush fresh strawberries and mix it with icing sugar.

For the decoration and presentation I used whipping cream, sliced strawberries and strawberry gelatin. It can be changed according to your preferences!


Chocco-Mocha Caramel Cake
Ingredients:
2 tsp instant coffee granules/ powder
2 tbsp cocoa powder
2 tbsp hot water
175g softened butter
175g golden caster sugar
2 eggs
2 tbsp golden syrup
200g self-raising flour
4 tbsp milk
2 x 50g chocolate caramel bars (I used Cadbury Caramel Bars)

For the icing
2 x 50g chocolate caramel bars
50g butter
2 tbsp milk
100g icing sugar, sifted

Method:
1)Preheat oven - 160 degrees C. Butter the cake tin. Line the base with baking parchment.
2) Measure coffee and cocoa into a cup, add hot water, mix into a smooth paste. Put butter, sugar, eggs, syrup, flour, milk and cocoa paste in a large mixing bowl and beat until smooth. Break caramel bars into sections and stir into mixture.
3) Turn the mixture into prepared tin and smooth the top. Bake for 30-40 minutes, until top springs back when you press it lightly. Cool for 5 minutes, turn out, peel off lining paper, leave to cool.
4) Make icing - break up caramel bars and put in a small pan with butter and milk. Gently heat until smooth, stirring all the time, then remove from heat and stir in the icing sugar. Leave to cool until it thickens to leave a trail when you lift the spoon. Put cake on a serving plate, spread icing over the top, letting it fall softly down the sides, leave to set.

I used caster sugar and chocolate chips for decoration. Again, that's up to you own preferences.

That's all folks! I thought the latter was easier to make, but do give both a try, if you guys are free! ;)