Memories in the Cooking

Mushroom Swiss Burger, a signature burger from Burger King. Whenever the family eats at Burger King, it is a battle between the Mushroom Swiss Burger and the Rendang Burger. Thankfully, Mushroom Swiss Burger is easy to make at home. So, this simplifies our decision making process by leaving Rendang Burger, crispy or not, to our visit to Burger King. Ingredients: - 6 hamburger buns - 500g of minced beef - 250g of Swiss mushrooms, sliced - half a cup of bread crumbs - 1 egg - 1 teaspoon sea salt, 1 tablespoon mixed herbs, pepper - plain flour - 1 tablespoon of mayonnaise - 1 tablespoon of mustard - 2 tablespoon of parmesan cheese - 2 tablespoon of milk - fresh spinach - 1 tablespoon of flour Procedures: 1) In a mixing bowl, add minced beef, bread crumbs, egg, salt, pepper, herbs, 1 tablespoon parmesan cheese. Mix well. 2) Divide into 6 portions and shape it into hamburger patty. Coat it with some plain flour. 3) Place the meat patties on a greased baking tray. Spra...

In an earlier post, I mentioned that many of my husband's favourite dishes originated from his childhood days with his nanny whom the children affectionately called "mummy por por". 2 of these dishes are the bee tai mak 2-ways - black bee tai mak (see earlier post) and white bee tai mak. White bee tai mak is so simple yet my husband kept raving about it. In investment terms, this is certainly considered high ROI (return of investment). Ingredients: - 400g of bee tai mak - 300g of beanspouts - 300g of minced pork - 3 tablespoons of fish sauce - pepper - 1 tablespoon sesame oil - 3 cloves of crushed garlic - 1 small cup of water Procedures: 1) Bleach the bee tai mak in boiling water. 2) Bleach the beanspouts in boiling water. 3) Add 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil to a frying pan. Add crushed garlic. Add minced pork to the pan and fry until the meat turns brown. 4) Add fish sauce, some pepper, sesame oil and water. Let it simmer for a while. 5) Assemble ...

Few months ago, I learnt to bake Castella Cake but had no chance to practice it. Tonight, we reached home earlier than usual, so I wanted to make Castella Cake for my 2 younger sisters as their birthday cake and to be brought to their birthday lunch the next day. But the cake turned out looking rather messy. Meanwhile, the boys requested for some snacks before goimg to bed. So, I decided to let them eat it for supper! What a treat for them. Ingredients: (Meringue) - 6 egg whites - 100g of sugar - 1 teaspoon of cream of tartar (Batter) - 6 egg yokes - 75g of vegetable oil - 75g of milk - 100g of flour - 1 tablespoon of nutella - 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract (Decoration) - icing sugar - nutella with vegetable oil Procedures: - Heat vegetable oil until 60 degree celsius (20 seconds at middle power in a microwave). - Sieve flour into oil. Mix well. - Add milk at room temperature. Mix well. - Add vanilla extract and nutella. Mix well. - To a mixing bowl, whisk e...

My husband is a big fan of Thai food. His favourite dishes are Basil Pork, Tom Yum Soup, Papaya Salad, Mango Glutinous Rice, Red Ruby, Ice Thai Tea etc. As many of these dishes are spicy and the kids can't take much heat, I attempted to satisfy his Thai craving with Pineapple Rice. Ingredients: - 1 pineapple - 2 cups of cooked rice - 1 onion, diced - 2 eggs, beaten - 4 tablespoons of fish sauce - 1 tablespoon of tumeric powder - 1 kg of mixed seafood (or prawns or chicken) - roasted cashew nuts - raisins - pork floss - pepper Procedures: 1) Cut the pineapple into half. Remove the pineapple flesh and reserving the pinepple husks. Dice the pineapple flesh. Reserve any pineapple juice. 2) To a frying pan, add beaten eggs to make omelette. 3) Add onions dices, mixed seafood and pineapple flesh. Fry a little. 4) Stir in cooked rice. Season with tumeric powder, fish sauce, pepper and pineapple juice. 5) Add raisins and roasted cashew nuts. 6) Serve the pineapple ...

Part of my husband's fond food memories traces back to his nanny's home-cooked dishes. One, or should I say two, of the dishes are the black and white bee tai mak. Every time we visit his nanny, whom we address as 'mummy' and my boys call 'mummy por por', we will still get to eat my husband's childhood favourite dishes. For this post, I will first present the black fried bee tai mak.  Ingredients: - 450g of Bee Tai Mak, washed and rinsed  - 300g of beanspouts - 250g of minced pork  - fish sauce, dark soya sauce, pepper, sugar, sesame oil  - 3 cloves of garlic, crushed Procedures:  1) Add oil to a frying pan. Add crushed garlic and fry until fragrant.  2) Add minced pork and fry until it turns brown.  3) Add bee tai mak, followed by beanspouts. Fry until soft.  4) Season with 2 tablespoons of fish sauce, 1 tablespoon of dark soya sauce, 1 teaspoon of sugar, pepper. Add a few tablespoons of water if too dry.  5)...

To start the weekend on a good note, I decided to make creamy spinach omelette for breakfast. My elder boy named this "ultimate omelette" because it is simply rich, delicious and satisfying. Ingredients: - 80g of cream cheese, soften  - 125g of spinach  - 4 eggs  - 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil  - 1 knob of butter  Procedures: 1) Add a knob of butter in a pan, followed by the spinach. When the spinach softens, add soften cream cheese. Add a little pepper.  2) To another large pan, add a little oil. Add 4 beaten eggs. When the omelete is half cooked, add the cream cheese spinach filling to cover half of the omelete.  3) Foil the other half of the omelete to cover the cheese spinach filling. Serve. 

There are endless variations of loaded fries. But this is my family's favourite. We first tried this in Cambridge at a restaurant called Revolution which offered 50% discount during lunch hours every Monday. We would looked forward to every Monday lunch where we got to eat Mushroom Loaded Fries. Few years on, we tried to replicate it at home and the family still looks forward to having it. Ingredients: - 500g of frozen horse-string fries (store-bought) - 300g of brown button mushrooms, sliced - 3 tablespoons of mayonnaise - 1 tablespoon of mustard - 1 tablespoon of grated parmesan cheese - 150g of mozzrella cheese - 3 cloves of crushed garlic Procedures: 1) Toss the fries in 1 tablespoon of oil. Then lay them on a baking tray in a single layer. Bake them in the oven at 220 degree celsius at the top shelf, tossing it periodically until the fries are crispy. It takes around 30 minutes. 2) In a frying pan, add a little oil and fry crushed garlic until fragrant. Add sli...