Memories in the Cooking

My husband's nanny is a superb cook. Hence, it is very difficult to cook or bake her anything to please her. Fortunately, there are 2 desserts that she would accept from me - they are the Ultimate Durian Cheesecake and Christmas Fruit Cake. Ingredients (4 loaves of fruit cakes)  - 1 kg of dried mixed fruits  - 1/2 kg of chopped nuts (e.g. walnuts, almonds, macadamia) - 1 litre of grape juice   - 400g of butter  - 6 eggs  - 400g of flour  - 300g of brown sugar  - 2 teaspoon of cinnamon powder  - 2 teaspoon of baking powder - honey - whisky/rum/sherry Procedures:  1) Soak dried mixed fruits in grape juice for 24 hours.  2) In a mixing bowl, whisk soft butter until pale.  3) Add eggs, brown sugar, cinnamon powder and baking powder to the butter. Continue to whisk it.  4) Sieve flour into the mixture. Mix them well with a spatula. Add chopped nuts and mixed fruits and mix it well.  ...

Can this be counted as a home-cooked dish? Today, I suddenly got a random idea to make crossiants from store-bought roti prata pastry. Look like the real thing? Ingredients: - store-bought roti prata pastry (1 piece makes 3 tiny crossiants) - 1 beaten egg Procedures: 1) Cut 1 piece of roti prata pastry into almost 3 triangles. 2) Roll each piece from the broader end. Twist the ends to make it into the shape of crossiants. 3) Place them on a baking tray and brush them with egg wash. Bake at 180 degree celsius for 10-15 minutes. Serve.

My husband and I once squabbled over this dish. It is one of my husband's favourite dishes which he often requests to be cooked. Sometime near our first Chinese New Year as married couple, I asked him what he would like to have for reunion dinner. I was expecting a grand wishlist. But lo and behold, he replied, "potato minced beef and anything else does not matter". This was a classic example on the clashes of expectations. I was upset that he did not understand the significance of festivities as this dish is not anywhere near the 'big dishes' that we should have for a CNY reunion dinner. On the other hand, he did not understand why he could not celebrate CNY with his favourite, though humble, potato minced beef. Thankfully, the 'storm' blew over very quickly and we still laugh about this episode as it was pretty hilarious on hindsight.  Ingredients: - 3 to 4 large Russet potatos, cut into thin slices   - 300 g of minced beef  - 3-4 cl...

This is a common pub food that we often ate in UK when we stayed there a few years ago. To make the dish more substantial, I will add some leftover roasted meat to the dish. With the meat, the dish can be promoted from a side dish to a satisfying one-dish meal. Ingredients: - 1 head of cauliflower - 25g of butter - 4 cloves of garlic, crushed - 1 tablespoon of Italian mixed herbs - 80g of parmesan cheese - 125g of mozzrella cheese - 1.5 cup of milk - 2 tablespoons of plain flour - sausages/leftover roasted meat Procedures: 1) Cut the cauliflower into florets. Boil it in water unil cooked. 2) Drain the cauliflowers and arrange them on a baking tray. Spread leftover meat or cooked sausages to the cauliflowers. 3) To a fry Pan, melt some butter. Add garlic and fry until fragrant. Add flour and fry it a little. Add milk and the sauce will become thick. 4) Add the 2 cheese, salt, pepper and herbs. 5) Pour the cheese sauce on the cauliflowers. Bake in the oven at 180 degr...

It is not easy to find Chinese recipes for lamb chops. Finally, I found this one online. So, I decided to give it a try. Ingredients: - 1.5kg of lamb chop - 5 tablespoons of oyster sauce - 2 tablespoons of light soya sauce - 5 tablespoons of huatiao wine - 2 tablespoons of sesame oil - 3 tablespoons of sugar - 3 tablespoons of white sesame seeds - 4 cloves of garlic, minced - 1 itch of ginger, minced Procedures: 1) Marinate lamb chops with oyster sauce, huatiao wine, sesame oil, sugar  garlic and ginger overnight. 2) Bake it at 160 degree celsius for 1.5 hours covered. 3) Drizzle with the marinate. Bake it at 210 degree celsius for 10 minutes. 4) Sprinkle white sesame seeds on the lamb chops. Serve.

My boy ordered fruit tarts for his birthday cake. You can use biscuits crust or popian skins as the base. Ingredients (for 18 fruit tarts): - popian skins or biscuits with butter (as base) - 3 eggs  - 5 tablespoons of sugar  - 2 tablespoons of flour  - 1 tablespoon  of corn starch  - 1 tablespoon of vanilia extract  - 260 ml of milk  - assorted fruits of different colours (e.g. mango, kiwi, strawberries and blueberries)  Procedures:  1) Heat the milk in a saucepan.  2) In a mixing bowl, whisk eggs, sugar, flour and corn starch until pale yellow.  3) Add half of the heated milk slowly to the egg mixture. Pour the mixture to the saucepan with the other half of the milk.  4) Stir the mixture under low heat until a thick custard is form. Cool it in room temperature and chill it in the fridge overnight.  5) Lay 2 sheets of popian skin in each muffin cup. Let it bake at 160 degree celsius for...

My husband said that the apple sauce is marvelous. Alright, for this dish, apple sauce is the main star. So, apple sauce accompanying by the pork chops. Enjoy! Ingredients: - 4 pieces of pork chop - 1 packet of apple juice - 2 tablespoons of light soya sauce - 3 cloves of garlic, minced - 2 apples, remove core and cut into small pieces - 1 onions, chopped - 1 tablespoon of mustard - salt, sugar, pepper Procedures: 1) Marinate pork chops in apple juice, light soya sauce, garlic over night. 2) In a baking tray, lay out the apple and onion pieces. Place the pork chops on top. Bake at 160 degree celsius for 1.5 hour. Flip over in between the baking period. Set aside the pork chops on a serving place. 3) Blend the remaining apples and onions in a saucepan. Blend it with a hand blender. Adjust the taste of the sauce with sugar, salt, pepper and mustard sauce. 4) Serve pork chops with apple sauce.

We first ate this dish at Black Penny Pub. Loved it, recreated it! Ingredients: - 1 whole butternut pumpkin - salt, sugar, paprika Procedures: 1) Slice butternut pumpkin lengthwise. 2) On each slice, sprinkle some olive oil, salt, sugar and paprika. 3) Bake at 160 degree celsius for 1 hour. Flip over half way through the baking time. Serve.

My husband has a good friend whose wife makes very good Nasi Briyani. So, today, I decided to take a shot at it. Ingredients: - 2 cinnamon sticks - 1 teaspoon of cumin seeds - 5 pods of cardamom - 2 pieces of anistars - 5 pieces of cloves - 1kg of basmati rice - 4 cloves of garlic, minced - 2 stalks of lemon grass - 1 can of evaporated milk - 1000ml of water - 1 chicken cube - 1 handful of raisins Procedures: 1) In a wok, add some vegetable oil. Fry cinnamon sticks, cumin seeds, cardamom, anistars, cloves and minced garlic until fragrant. 2) Add basmati rice and fry a little. 3) Place the rice in a rice cooker. Add lemon grass, evaporated milk, water,  chicken cube and 1 teaspoon of salt. Cook the rice. 4) Add half a teaspoon of tumeric in hot water. When the rice is cooked, pour the tumeric water and mix well with the rice. 5) Add a handful of raisins. Serve.

San Lao Hor Fun was one of my partor dishes with my then-boyfriend (now hubby). Back in university days, we always had this dish at a zichar stall at Buona Vista. Ingredients: - 400g of Toman fish slices - 300g of beanspouts - 200g of spring onion, cut into 2cm length - 800g of kuay tiao - 1 thumb-size ginger, sliced - 6 cloves of garlic, minced - 2 tablespoons of light soya sauce - 1 tablespoon of fish sauce - 1 tablespoon of sugar - 1 ikan bilis cube - 1 tablespoon of sesame oil - 1 tablespoon of huatiao wine Procedures: 1) Marinate fish slices in light soya sauce and pepper for 2 hours. 2) Drain the marinate on the kuay tiao. Mix well. 3) In a wok, add some minced garlic and fry until fragrant. Add kuay tiao and fry under high fire until there is a little char bits with "wok fragrant". Set aside the kuay tiao in a serving plate. 4) In the wok, add ginger and garlic and fry until fragrant. Add fish slices, beanspouts and spring onions and fry a little....