Bento #3 爱心早餐

爱心早餐..literally for dear hubby!

The sandwich behind was filled with nutella filled and Valrhona Dark Chocolate Pearls. Yum!

Bento #2 - Miffy

Discovered this blog recently http://www.motheringcorner.com/ . Followed her method for the Miffy Sandwich as I realised that I have the same cookie cutter.

My Very First Bento

Got sis' help to look out for these kawaii bentos in Hong Kong

So here's are my very first bentos! still very amateur hehe

The Loot! - Tokyo 2009

Now I know why so many people like Tokyo. The city is the most vibrant one that I'd ever seen, and of course, complete with beautiful (or should i say hardworking) people. The Chinese saying 'there is no ugly people, only lazy ones'. I could see the hard work behind the beautiful hair and make up and the perfectly coordinated outfits. Also got a shock on my first day in Tokyo when I saw the number of ladies touching up their make in the train toilet!

And oh...the shopping!!! the range of merchandise available here is dazzling! Unlike the shopping centres in Singapore, each shopping area / centre in Tokyo offers varied styles and brands. So each shopping destination is refreshing and interesting.

Here's some of my loot, while I find time to upload the rest of my holiday pictures.

Loft is my heaven. The array of stuff here basically short circuited my neuropathways. Here's the tools for bento making. Problem is..not sure when I will put them into use... :p
Egg moulds and cookie cuttersEgg Timer. Got to know about this product from dreamersloft. Just immerse this egg shaped timer together with the rest of the eggs to boil. The size of the red area will determine how cooked the yolk is. Very useful for making ajitama

Got these on orders of dear sis from Ranking Queen. The 'qiam qiam' with the green packaging is ranked No. 1 and the yellow packaging is ranked No. 2. Sis likes the yellow one but I prefer the green one. Also discovered that there are 2 Ranking Queen outlets in Shinjuku. One at Mosaic Street and one inside the train station
This sandwich cutter and sealer is my older daughter's favourite. She had been asking me to make her sandwiches using this almost everyday since I returned from Tokyo. The one on the right is the sandwich box.

Tools for fondant modelling. Bought this on impulse as I couldn't find any in Phoon Huat before I came to Tokyo. Cuoca is a cool baking supplies shop that I chanced upon in Shinjuku at the basement of the building where FranFranc and LV are.
Overpriced bath toy for my girls. The merchanise of Studio Ghibli is so expensive! A DVD costs about S$50!

Sweets from Afternoon Tea, a zakka and tea place opposite my hotel. Only managed to pop by the shop just before I leave Tokyo. The goods in Afternoon Tea are pretty (and expensive like rest of Tokyo zakka shops)!! Too bad, our luggage are packed and I'm left very little yen.

Chocolate Chip Cookie

A farewell gift for foodie WH

I actually also designed a label for the container, but I did not manage to take a picture of it. See if I can successfully download the photo from my mobile.

Hello Kitty Egg Mould

Never thought that I would ever succumbed to Hello Kitty's saccharine sweet claws. BC (i.e. before children), my sis and I used to looked at Hello Kitty with distaste and declared her as "the Cat without a Mouth".

However, the mission to feed / coerce / trick my children into eating more nutritional stuff, had lead to my ever-growing collection of cartoon related kitchen tools to disguise food as cutesy characters. So this was how my HK collection started. I must say that I'm somewhat a convert nowadays. I do honestly think that HK do have a certain cute factor. :p

Here's an attempt to make my older girl to eat hard boiled eggs.Hello Kitty Egg Mould

1. Boil extra large eggs, weighing about 65 grams each.
2. While boiling, try to roll the eggs around so that the egg yolk will settle at the middle of the egg.
3. Let the eggs cool slightly, peel off the shell and squish the egg into the egg mould. In order for the egg mould to work, the eggs have to be as hot as possible.
4. Latch the moulds and let the eggs cool for about 10-15 mins
5. Unlatch and remove eggs.

Unfortunately, HK failed to work her charms. The egg was untouched by her.

Affordable Luxury Kopi

Recently discovered this when helping my auntie to look for Japanese instant Matcha au Lait. Must really give it to the Japanese for their ingenuity. The drip coffee are flat packed into individual packages. To enjoy, just open the satchet, and hang it on the coffee cup or mug. Add hot water and wait for it to filter through the satchet and enjoy oiishi kopi in a few minutes! At only S$8.10 for a pack of 10, it's really recession-proof luxury.

Thai Style Chicken Dip

This is one of the yummy goodies that SK's mom brings to office now and then. When we asked to learn from her, SK's mom had taken the time to write down her recipes and generously shared it with us. The chicken dip is surprising easy and tasty although it was made with very few ingredients. I only made a slight adjustment to her recipe by adding a tablespoon of minced ginger.

However, be careful when handling the chilli padi. I suffered a bad case of chilli burn after preparing this dish. Tried every method to remove the capsicum but with no effect. Methods I tried:
1) Rubbing with cooking oil, leave for 5 mins then wash off - Doesn't work
2) Soaking in milk - works only when my hands are in it
3) Soaking in ice water - works only when my hands are still submerged
4) Washing with soap, then rubbing with salt to remove the chilli oil - Seemed to help a bit, but the burn returned within minutes
5) Wash wash wash with soap - Didn't work too!

In the end, i wrapped ice cubes in handkerchief and clutched it until i felt asleep.

250gm coconut milk (i used pasturised coconut milk)
200gm minced chicken
2tbsp fish sauce
1tbsp corn flour, mixed with a bit of water
1tbsp minced ginger
8 chilli padi
1 stalk Chinese parsley

Method:
1) Fry minced chicken with some oil and minced ginger
2) Add coconut milk and boil till chicken are fully cooked
3) Add in fish sauce and stir well
4) Add in corn flour mixture, then chilli padi and Chinese parsley

Serve with rice cakes. SK's mom deep fries the rice cakes, but I chose to bake the rice cakes as a healthier option.

Tangerine Chiffon Cake

My earliest memory of a homemade cake was a orange chiffon cake made by my grandmother. However, the memory of taste and smell of that cake had faded together with time until recently. I tasted an orange chiffon cake made by KS' aunt and memories of that fragrant, citrusy, moist cake came flooding back. I adapted the recipe to use up the leftover mandarin oranges from CNY. The taste of the cake is wonderful! So now, I can easily whip up a batch of orange chiffon cake for myself whenever nostalgia hits me :)

Dry Mee Siam

Sedap! This is another recipe from Sunday Times. However, as I read the recipe, I felt that the taste could be improved with the addition of a few more ingredients. So buah keras, lemongrass and assam were added to the recipe. The end result is very good!! My spice loving dad and hubby gave their stamp of approval to this mee siam.

Ingredients

Spice Paste:
20 dried chillies, deseeded, soaked in water till soft then drain
6 fresh red chillies, deseeded
8 cloves garlic
1 rice bowl of shallots (about 15 small ones)
2 stalks lemongrass, cut off lower bulb and outer tough leaves and use only pale yellow part. sliced thinly
4 pieces buah keras (candlenut)

Method: Pound or blend the above until coarse paste forms. May need to add some oil or water if using blender

Garnishing:
6 hard boiled eggs
350 gms fresh prawns
2 pieces firm soya beancurd (tau kuah), cubed
fresh limes
Chinese parsley

Method:
1) Boil prawns with shells intact until cooked. Reserve prawn stock for later use. (Can also steam prawns with shells still intact.)
2) Fry tau kuah till golden brown and set aside. Make sure wok and oil are hot before adding tau kuah

Other ingredients:
3/4 rice bowl of dried shrimps, rinsed, soaked in water till soft, drained and coarsely pounded
6 tbsp fermented soya beans (tau cheo)
2 tbsp assam soaked in 1 cup warm water, squeeze seeds and reserve assam water for later use
400 gm dried rice vermicelli, soaked in water till soft then drained.
350 gm bean sprouts
100 gm Chinese chives, cut into 2 cm strips (optional)
Soya sauce, to taste

Method:
1) To a hot wok, add oil and fry spice paste for about 5 mins or more until fragrant
2) Add dry shrimps and tau cheo and stir fry until incorporated
3) Add bean sprouts and Chinese chives, mix well
4) Add assam water, and appropriate amount of prawn stock
5) Add vermicelli, mix well and stir fry until cooked.
6) Add soya sauce to taste.
7) Top mee siam with prawns, tau kuah, egg and Chinese parsley. Squeeze fresh limes over noodles and toss well before eating.

Serves about 6-8

Tangy Valentine Lemon Butter Cake

The Straits Times ran a series of DIY projects recently in response to the current 'cheap is chic' media climate. One of the DIY projects featured was a recipe for Orange Butter Cake provided by Judy Koh of Creative Culinaire . I had saved a cut out of the recipe as I wanted to try it out. Before I had the time to do so, my colleague TT tried out the recipe and provided feedback that it was difficult to incorporate the egg yolk butter mixture with the egg whites. Bearing in mind TT's experience with the batter, I made a slight adjustment to the recipe to make the butter mixture less thick. I also substituted the orange juice and zest with lemon.

This cake was done with the help of my older daughter as a Valentine's Day gift for hubby. She was my bowl holder, manual whisker, flour sifter and lemon juice extractor. :) We presented the cake to him when he returned home in the evening. But hubby gave me a bigger surprise with a bouquet of flowers *wide grin*


Lemon Butter Cake

160 gm butter (Golden Churn)
10 gm sugar
5 egg yolks
1/2 tsp lemon essence
1/2 tsp vanilla essence
1 tsp lemon zest
100 gm cake flour (Phoon Huat)
1/2 tsp baking powder
35 - 40 ml lemon juice
4 egg whites
1/8 tsp cream of tartar
80 gm sugar

1) Cream softened butter and 10gm sugar (The recipe called for the use of electric mixture, but I used a manual balloon whisk)
2) When the butter and sugar are well combined and the mixture is a whittish shade, add egg yolks one at a time, beating till just incorporated
3) Add lemon essence, vanilla essence and lemon zest
4) Sift together flour and baking powder
5) Add the flour and lemon juice in 3 alternative batches to the butter mixture
6) In a clean and dry bowl, add cream of tartar to 4 egg whites and beat
7) Once egg whites have turned white, gradually add the sugar. Continue beating until soft peaks are formed
8) Fold egg whites into butter mixture in 3 batches (be careful not to deflate the egg whites as the butter mixture is rather thick)
9) Pour mixture into a greased and lined 18cm cake tin.
10) Bake in 160C oven for 35 min. Check doneness with clean skewer test (Note: Original recipe calls for 180C oven and baking time of 45min

If Icing is preferred;
Cream 120gm cream cheese and 40gm icing until smooth. Add colouring if desired and spread onto cooled cake

Fruit Salad Wonton Cups

One last gathering before the end of 15 days of Lunar New Year. I needed something quick and easy to fix up for our potluck contribution to the gathering as we only returned home the night before. So decided do a simple appetizer - fruit salad in wonton cups. First saw such wonton cups at rojakrendevous and later saw a how to video by Rachel Ray.

The cups were really easy to do. Just brush the wonton skins with olive oil, position the skins into mini muffin cups, sprinkle with a bit of salt and bake the skins in 170C oven for about 9mins or until the skins turn brown and crisp. Take out the baked cups to cool before using. Now the cups are ready to hold whatever you want to put in it!

I did a simple fruit salad as the filling for the wonton cups. Japanese zuchinni were chosen for its crunchy texture, strawberries and mango were added for sweetness, grapefruit was included to brighten the mixture and lastly raisins to raise the overall sweetness and to add another texture to the salad.

Happy Lunar New Year!!

May you be blessed with happiness, prosperity and good luck in the Year of the Ox!

年年有余!

Kueh Bangkit

Kueh Bangkit is one of my favourite Chinese New Year goodies. Kueh Bangkit that melt in the mouth are the best! Recently bought a new book by Y3K on Chinese New Year goodies, and had flagged out a few recipes that I would like to try for this Chinese New Year. One of the recipes is for Kueh Bangkit and one of the forum member, Peng, had tried out this recipe with good results. So decided try this recipe. The resulting cookie is the type that I like - slightly crispy on the outside but melts in the mouth.

Here's a step by step (well almost, heh) guide to making kueh bangkit.

1. Heat wok, the add sago flour with cut pandan leaves . The sago flour is slighty damp as seen from the photo below. Stir fry sago flour with pandan leaves. I stir fried 500 gm with about 10 pandan leaves.

2. Stir fry the flour until the flour density lightens. The flour will be very fluffy and may 'fly'. This may take about 20 mins or so. Note the difference between the flour density in the 2 pics.

3. Remove pandan leaves and allow the flour to cool before storing. Keep the flour for at least 2 days or longer. My mum-in-law explained that if the flour is used immediately, it will be too dry and may soak up excessive coconut milk.

4. Ingredients for Kueh Bangkit
- 100 g icing sugur
- 1 egg yolk (i use the yolk of a 62 gm egg)
- 100 concentrated coconut milk (Ayam brand, but i believe fresh coconut will taste better)
- 300 sago flour (sieved)

Mix egg, sugar and coconut milk until sugar dissolved. Strain mixture. Add the coconut mixture to the sago flour. Knead dough until everything comes together. It may seem that the liquid is not sufficient but continue kneading until the dough can stand on its own without toppling over and has a non-shiny look. Rest dough for 1 hour or longer. This allows the coconut milk flavour to develop. Keep the dough covered with a damp cloth . 5. Roll out the dough until about 1/2 cm thick and cut out cookies. If the dough sticks, stain the cookie cutter with some flour before cutting. Bake at 140C for 15 mins (note: my oven is hotter than usual, the recipe stated 160C for 20-25 min or until the cookie is baked through but not golden)

6. I 'inherited' my hubby's beloved grandma's kueh bangkit cutters. Things from the old days can really last. the cutters feel very solid and heavy, unlike our metal cutters nowadays. Cookies using her cutters:

7. I was also given a few traditional moulds from another relative so i tried to make a few trays of kueh bangkit using the moulds. It is more tedious than using a cutter, but it was quite fun and the cookies look nicer.
8. How to use such moulds? Just dust the moulds with fried flour, pinch a bit of dough and squish the dough into the mould. Cut the excess away with a knife. Tap on the table to release the dough. Feels a bit like playing with playdough. :) 8. End result to welcome the Year of the Ox!