Memories in the Cooking

This is the dessert I would make to reduce the effort required for a dinner party.  Ingredients: - 400ml of whipping cream  - 4 large tablespoons of hazelnut chocolate spread  - any toppings (wafer sticks, popcorns)  Procedures:  1) Whip cream until almost stiff.  2) Add hazelnut chocolate spread. Whip a bit more until stiff.  3) Pour chocolate mousse into a serving bowl (or small serving cups).  4) Decorate with any toppings. 

The family has been down with a cough for a few days. So, for the past few mornings, we had Tumeric Latte.  Ingredients (for 4 people): - 1 thumbsize of ginger - 1 thumbsize of tumeric  - 1 shot of Expresso (per person)  - 1 tablespoon of raw honey  - 1 teaspoon of cinnamon powder  - 500ml of warm milk  Procedures: 1) Add ginger, tumeric, honey, cinnamon powder and milk to a blender. Blend until smooth.  2) Add the tumeric milk into 4 cups of expresso. Serve.  

I would usually make my weekend meals from leftover ingredients from the weekdays. Today, I have 3 leftover bananas and 4 slices of bread. I decided to use them to make an easy Banana Tarte Tartin. Typically, this dish will require caramelising bananas on stove and using short-crust pastry for the base.  Ingredients - 3 large ripe bananas, cut into slices  - 1 tablespoon of caramel jam  - 4 slices of bread, rolled into very thin sheets  Procedures: 1) Arrange the banana slices on a baking tin. Bake it for 15 minutes at 180 degree celsius until soft and caramelised.  2) Drizzle caramel jam on the bananas.  3) Lay the thin bread sheets on the bananas. Fold in at the edges. Bake it for another 10 minutes until the bread layer is crusty.  4) Turn over the Banana Tarte Tartin onto a serving plate. Drizzle with honey or golden syrup and top it up with ice-cream if you want a sweeter treat. 

Today, we had a home party with a spread of yummy vegetarian food. Even without meat, this dish tasted so hearty and satisfying.  Ingredients: - 2 large brinjals  - a packet of sweet Cai Po  - half a cup of mayonnaise  - 1 tablespoon of garlic  - 1 tablespoon of Parmesan cheese  - 1 tablespoon of Lao Gan Ma  - vegetable oil  - parsley  Procedures: 1) Boil brinjals (whole) in boiling water until soft. Dry the brinjals in kitchen towel. Place them on a serving plate.  2) Slit open the brinjals to expose the soft flesh.  3) In a mixing bowl, add Cai Po, mayonnaise, garlic, cheese, Lao Gan Ma. Mix well.  4) Spread the mixture on top of the brinjals.  5) In a wok, heat up some vegetable oil. Pour the vegetable oil on the brinjal.  6) Place the plate in the oven and bake for 15 mins at 180 degree celsius.  7) Add parsley to garnish. Serve. 

Recently, I have been watching cooking shows featuring Nadia Hussein. I am very impressed that she shares my belief of making delicious food using simple and even short-cut methods. The creation of this dessert is inspired by her. Instead of buying expensive mooncakes during this mid-autumn festival, I am making Mooncake Pie!  Ingredients - 1kg packet of Mooncake filling from Phoon Huat. This year, I tried Osmanthus flavour and Durian flavour.  - 1 cup of melon seeds  - 1 cup of sunflower seeds  - stored-bought filo pastry or roti- prata  - golden syrup  Procedures: 1) In a mixing bowl, mix the Mooncake filling with melon seeds and sunflower seeds.  2) In a tart tin, place the pastry as the base. If using filo pastry, you have to brush oil on each layer of pastry.  3) Add the Mooncake filling.  4) Cover the filling with pastry again. Brush some oil on the pastry.  5) Bake at 180 degree celsius for 30 mins.  6) Drizzle generous amoun...

Elote is a yummy Spanish-Mexican side-dish. Ingredients: - 4-5 sweet corns, cut into 2-3 segments each  - vegetable oil  - salt  - 1/2 cup of mayonnaise  - 1 teaspoon of Cayenne pepper  - black pepper  - 1 tablespoon of Parmesan cheese  Procedures: 1) Brush some vegetable oil on the corn and sprinkle some salt on them. Bake them at 220 degree celsius at 15-20 mins (turn the corns at half-time).  2) In a mixing bowl, mix the mayonnaise, Cayenne pepper, black pepper and Parmesan cheese well. Brush the mix on each piece of corn. Serve. 

I have earlier posted a version of the green pandan nasi lemak rice. For this year's National Day Home Party, I did a Blue-Pea version.  Ingredients: - 4 cups of rice  - a handful of dried blue-pea flowers  - 2 stalks of lemon grass  - 1 bundle of pandan leaves  - 1 teaspoon of salt  - 1 packet of coconut milk  Procedures:  1) Wash the rice and blue-pea flowers in a rice-cooker pot. Add in 4 cups of water. Let the mixture soak for a while until the blue colour mix well with the rice.  2) Add salt and coconut milk. Mix well. Place lemon grass and pandan leaves on rice. Cook the rice in the rice cooker.  3) Remove the lemon grass, pandan leaves and blue pea flowers before serving the rice. 

Every National Day, I will cook Peranakan Food for the home parties. For a kid-friendly dish, I have Chinchalok Omelette.  Ingredients: - 10 eggs  - 1 tablespoons of Chinchalok  - 1 teaspoon of sugar  - 2 large red onions, sliced - Ice-berg lettuce  Procedures: 1) Fry sliced red onions until soft and brown.  2) In a large mixing bowl, add eggs, Chinchalok, sugar and soften onions. Mix well.  3) Panfry 2-3 omelettes. Serve on a bed of ice-berg lettuce. 

I have an elaborated recipe for Beef Rendang that is passed down from my husband's nanny. However, if I need to host a home party comprises of many dishes, I cannot spend all my time cooking only one dish. Hence, this is one modified version to help me cope in situation like this.  Ingredients: - 2kg of beef shin/beef brisket  - 1 packet of coconut milk  - 4 inches of ginger, sliced  - 4 inches of galangal, sliced  - 20 dried chilies, remove seeds and hydrated  - 8 stalks of lemon grass  - 2 large red onions - 6 cloves of garlic - 4 tablespoons of coriander powder  - 1 teaspoon of cumin powder  - 20 lime leaves  - 20 bay leaves  - 2 teaspoons of salt  - 4 teaspoons of sugar (gula melaka) - 3 tablespoons of grated coconut  Procedures: 1) In a slow cooker, place the beef pieces.  2) Blend ginger, galangal, chilis, garlic, onions, lemon grass into a paste. Add coriander and cumin powder. Add into the slow cooker.  3...

This is another recipe we tried using our Bruno Compact Hotplate - Okonomiyaki.  Ingredients: - 1 head of cabbage, chopped finely - chopped spring onions (amount as desired) - Japanese red ginger, shredded (amount as desired)  - 1 cup of flour - 1/2 teaspoon of baking powder  - 1 cup of dashi stock  - 4 eggs  - a pinch of salt and sugar  - 1 packet of streaked bacon  - bonito flakes  - Okonomiyaki sauce  - mayonnaise  Procedures: 1) In a mixing bowl, add flour, baking powder, dashi stock, eggs, salt and sugar. Mix well.  2) Add cabbage, spring onions, red ginger and mix well.  3) In the hotplate, add the cabbage mix. Top up with streaky bacon. Flip the okonomiyaki over when one side is brown.  4) Top up with okonomiyaki sauce, mayonnaise,  bonito flakes and spring onions. Serve.