East Meet West Prata

Having seen a similar combination at Aromacookery, they look interesting enough, I decided to make my own.

Verdict: They didn't taste too bad but the 3 combition is a tad heavy for the stomach. Sausage-oily, cheese-kinda oily, prata-definitely oily. Makes your stomach bloated after eating, and be sure not to check your cholesterol level after forcing them all down your throat..........

STAY AWAY FROM GO-GO EXPRESS - just kidding, go stuff your face if you want, don't mind me........

More Pics by Big King

The pics turned out so bad......sigh.... don't know what to say no more..........


Steamed egg roll stuffed with mince meat and vegetable

Minced pork and vegetable spread on omelette, roll up and steam for 10 minutes. Cut into 1 in piece when cooled.

Chicken and shiitake in ginger and spring onion sauce

I always cook this when either Big King or I fell ill, this is our sickie food, haha......

Winter Warmer - Ba Kut Teh

Ba Kut Teh (herbal version) served with chinese you char kway (cruellers)

Ba kut teh is a famous Hokkien dish, I do not know the origin or the history of the soup but it's something I have grown up with. The black herbal version is the original Hokkien version. Those peppery version you find in Singapore only exist in Singapore as far as I know. Hokkien people normally cook the peppery version of soup with pig stomach and of course the ubiquitous pork big bones.

My version is not black enough as I have gone easy with the black soy sauce, oh yes, the black colour comes from soy sauce. Hokkien people cook with the black soy sauce A LOT as evidence in our famous Hokkien noodles and Hokkien style braising sauce. Somehow food just taste more appetizing if they are darker in colour.

Herbs I used are 15 wolfberries, 1 piece angelica (tong kwai head), 6 red dates, 6 garlic pips (do not remove skin), 1 star anise. Other herbs required are mandarin peel, chuan siong, cinnamon and liquorice which I have omitted as I do not have them in my pantry.

I simmered the herbs together with spare ribs and some chicken bones for 1.5 hours. Add black soy sauce for colour and salt to taste when cooked. A very tasty winter warmer........

Chinese Tong Tze - Time for Tang Yuen

Black sesame tang yuen in sweet ginger broth

Today is the last Chinese festival of the year - tong tze. Hokkien people always cook tang yuen (glutinous rice balls) on this day because it symbolizes getting together of a family.

These little balls are so tasty I make them all year round and serve them in all kinds of sweet soup like red bean soup, purple glutinous rice porridge, green bean soup, etc.

Sweet and Sour Delight and Korean Pancake

Sweet and sour homemade fish balls and pork


Korean pancake with Choy Sum, beansprouts, shiitake and spring onion

I have also made the pancake with squid, also very tasty. You can put whatever you fancy like kimchi, seafood, etc. I find it tasted very much like our prawn fritters in Brunei. It's so easy to make using the pancake pre-mixed and 0% failing rate and cheap too making this at home.

Pancake pre-mix

Squid version - photo taken by Big King, STAY AWAY FROM MY CAMERA AND DISH, you hear??

Waffle dipped in chocolate with marshmallow sandwiched inside - bought from the German Christmas market. 50p each, expensive but tasted cheap. I can hardly taste the dark chocolate and the waffle has lost crispiness due to long time being exposed in open air.

Winter Warmer - Spare Rib and Walnut Soup

Winter is here, soup is good to nourish and warm me up. I have seen this soup in a cookery programme so decided to try it. Walnut is said to be good for the eyes and aid in brain development and not to mention good for the skin.

I was pretty excited when I put the ingredients into the slow cooker. But, 3 hours later, when I open the lid I was shocked to be faced with a pot of black soup @_@

Luckily the taste was alright but it still puzzled me why the soup has turned black!

Ingredients:

4 strips spare ribs

handful of walnut (deshell, of course)

small piece of Chinese Jin Hua ham (I cannot find here, substituted with normal ham)

Put everything into a slow cooker and pour enough water and cook for 3 hours. Season with a little salt and rock sugar to taste.

German Christman Market in Leeds

All the photos were taken with my new Kodak V550 except the first one which was taken with Sony DSC V1.

The photos taken with V550 has not been edited in any way and I reckon they give stunning pictures under maximum lighting circumstances and didn't do too badly in dimly lit surrounding but need the help of a tripod. The first photo has been edited both brightness and colour.











Princess, pretty in pink, enjoying the cold day out.

German Sausages

The only German food I like is their sausages. There are hundreds of different varieties, all very tasty. It's not easy to find freshly made German sausage here but you can find pre-sliced ones in packet from Sainsbury's. Also available are dried ones in sealed packages. I tend to go for the pre-sliced ready to eat ones, lazy..........:P

3.15 pm Afternoon Tea

Steamed pandan cupcake and Giotto chocolate

The Cantonese regards 3.15 as golden afternoon tea hour. I suppose this practice will die out soon as more and more people nowadays tend to have late lunch.

Here in England because of the nature of my job (dateline to be met for every job) I hardly have a proper lunch hour unless I go back to the office. Even then it's always 'grab a sandwich, go back, eat and work at the same time'. I always bring lunch so I never go out unless colleagues insist I accompany them.

Ever since I stopped working to care for my Princess, afternoon tea has become my luxurious 'mine-only' hour. As I am still eating at irregular hours, it's not everyday I get to enjoy this luxury. But I try to have one whenever Big King is home during the day.

Green Tea Panna Cotta with Bittersweet Dark Chocolate Sauce

Panna cotta is an Italian dessert which is simply softly set cream. It has the texture of a light mousse but made without the egg.

The chocolate sauce is simply melting a bar of unsweetened dark chocolate (I use Green & Black's organic dark chocolate) with some water and sugar.

I adapted Keiko's recipe which in turn is adapted from Delicious magazine (a food and drink mag in UK). This is a Jamie Oliver recipe who is a celebrity chef in UK.

Like Jamie Oliver said, "The best combo ever", which I totally agreed.

PS. Try to use matcha cooking powder instead of the much weaker drinking green tea powder or green tea teabag, the result is markedly different.

Chicken and Vegetable Green Curry served with Roti Prata

I love Thai green curry. This is cooked from pre-packed paste and the roti came from frozen packet. Delicious nonetheless.

Donna Hay's Self Frosting Cupcake

There seem like a Donna Hay baking frenzy in the food blogging world. I also joined in the fun adapting the recipe from Nic's tweaked recipe. I have, however, baked the cupcake for too long so I ended up with SELF CHOKING CUPCAKE. I suggest baking at 200 degree celcius for 10 minutes only.

Ham & Mushroom Fettucine in Creamy Sauce

Saw this unusual beer at supermarket, goes very well with the pasta.

Nacho Chips with Guacamole Dip

Princess Makan Photos at 7 Months Old

Chicken Pie

Creamy mixed vegetable and chicken in white sauce encased in sweet short crust pastry. I don't know why the skin crack, maybe the dough was too dry?......

No recipe but if anyone is interested please leave me a note.

Lychee Mousse Cake

Recipe
For the chiffon cake:
A. Sugar 10g
A. Egg yolks 2
B. Cakeflour 42g, sifted
B. Oil 35g
B. Milk 35g
C. Sugar 30g
C. Egg whites 2

Method:
1. Beat A till light and pale.
2. Add B to 1.
3. Beat C till stiff and fold into the cake batter.
4. Pour into a lined 7 in cake tin and bake at 150°C for 25 to 30 minutes. Test with a skewer, it should come out clean.

For the lychee mousse:
Cake 1cm high
A. Lychee 150g (without skin and stone)
A. Lychee juice 20g

A. Lemon juice 1 tsp (optional)

B. Water 15g
B. Sugar 45g
Gelatine 10g or 3½ leaves
Whipping cream 120g
Egg white 30g


Method:
1. Blitz A and set aside.
2. Boil B till 117°C and set aside.
3. Beat egg white to soft peak add in syrup from 2 and beat till stiff.
4. Soak gelatine leave (as per packet instruction) until soft and dissolve in a double boiler. Add to lychee mixture from 1 above.
5. Beat cream till spreadable consistency.
6. Fold egg white and cream into lychee mixture.
7. Arrange cake at the bottom of a 7in cake pan and pour the mousse over. Chill in refrigerator until set before serving.

Leeds Chinatown

Sien, I haven't make anything or did anything exciting to blog about lately. Some failed cakes and dishes which I have all blog about before......

Took a couple of pictures of Leeds Chinatown, or street more like, a while ago. Take a peek......

Not very exciting, that's why I visit Manchester's every now and then.

Hope to get out of this food rut soon........

Blog Music - Kiss the Rain

I have received a number of enquiries regarding my blog music "Kiss the Rain". I have since done some research.....

The very moving music is the work of Yiruma, a Korean New-Age musician. Born on 15/2/1978 in Korea, the young musician was the first Korean to graduate from the exclusive "The Purcell Of Specialist Music School", "King's College Of London University". The track is taken from his 2003 album "From the Yellow Room".

The yellow room refers to Yiruma's apartment in London. The album is about 13 loveletters that were unable to be sent out of the room ....

Perhaps his most famous commercial music is the piece he wrote for the popular Korean drama 'Winter Sonata'. It's the piece you hear everytime the female lead is in emotional turmoil .........

Chocolate Tasting

The freshest chocolates from renowned chocolatiers in Europe. The small bag of pure chocolate shavings drinking chocolate is FREE.

Chocolate menu and scoring card.

My favourite is the delicious dark Gianduja which melts in your mouth the second you pop into your mouth followed by the more-ish caramel chocolate buttons. (Both are lower left hand corner)