Steamed Glutinous Rice in Lotus Leaf

This is one of Trenyce favourite dish among the dim sum dishes. Saw this recipe in Simply Her magazine(april issue) in a Saturday morning, looks easy, and tried made some with some little changes to make it taste better. Trenyce ate the first one when the first batch came out from steaming and she like it. :) But I think there still room for improvement..^-^

Ingredients
500g glutinous rice
1tbsp sugar
1 tsp salt
1 tsp chicken stock powder
400ml chicken broth (I use 400ml water mix with one tbsp concentrate abolone stock)
2 tbsp shallot oil
2tbsp vegetable oil
300g chicken thigh, deboned and diced (I use chicken breast because I bought the wrong meat :( )
10 dried chinese mushrooms, soake a few hours and drained, with stems removed and diced
50g dried shrimps, soaked for 15min
100g prawns, peeled, deveined and diced (I omitted this)
100g ham, diced (I omitted this)
4 dried scallops, soaked for 15min --steam for 10min (I steamed it to soften it abit)
4 dried lotus leaves, soaked for and hour and patted dry--available in chinese medical hall here
4 cooked egg yolks (forgot to buy so I omitted it)

Original recipe doesn't have the seasoning part...
Seasoning (I added the seasoning to improve the flavour of the meat, mushrooms etc)
dash of pepper
dash of salt
1 tsp cornflour

1tbsp oyster sauce
1tsp dark soy sauce
1 tbsp water


Method:
1. Soak the glutionous rice in hot water for 1 hour. Drain. (I soaked in tapid water for several hours)
2. Steam the soaked glutinous rice for 45min over medium heat.
3. Marinate the chicken meat with pepper, salt and cornflour.
4. Mix the sugar, salt, chicken stock powder, chicken broth and shallot oil evenly into the steamed rice. Set aside.
5. Heat the vegetable oil in a hot pan. Stir-fry the chicken meat, mushrooms, dried shrimps, prawn, ham,  oyster sauce, dark soy sauce and water for 3min over medium flame. Dish and set aside
6. Cut the lotus leaf into half, take a fistful of rice and place it in the centre of a lotus leaf. Pat it down. Place a dried scallop and a salted egg yolk in the middle of the rice.
7.Place 2 tbsp of the cooled chicken mixture onto rice. Top with another fistful of rice.
8. Fold the side of the lotus leaf towards the centre. Roll and tuck the ends into the fold. (I just roll and make sure the loose end was press against the plate and dont come off during steaming)
9. Steam for 8min over medium heat. (I steamed 15min to make the rice softer)

Blueberry Buttermilk Muffins

Have not made muffins for a long while, wanted to use up the frozen blueberries in the freezer, bought a pack of buttermilk and made a batch of muffins...

Recipe from book Muffin Galore

Makes 12

Ingredients:

150g fresh or frozen blueberries
25g icing sugar
300g plain flour              } I use 300g self raising flour
2 tsp baking powder      }
pinch of salt
150g soft brown sugar
1 egg, lightly beaten
225 ml buttermilk
2 tbsp milk
50g butter, melted
finely grated zest of half orange

Method:
1. Preheat the oven to 200 deg C/ 400 deg F/ Gas mark 6. Grease a 12 cup muffin tin or line the cups with paper muffin cases.
2. Put the blueberries into a large bowl. Sift over the icing sugar and toss blueberries in the sugar to coat. Add the sifted flour, baking powder, salt and brown sugar, then stir together.
3. In a separate bowl or jug, mix together the egg, buttermilk, milk, melted butter and orange zest. Add the buttermilk mixture all at once to the dry ingredients and mix breifly until just combined.
4. Spoon the batter 3/4  full into the prepared muffin cups. Bake in the oven for 18-20min, or until risen and golden. Cool in the tin for 5 min, then turn out onto a wire rack. Serve warm or cold.

Tiramisu

Kenny kept mention that it had been a while since I made tiramisu, today I adapt the recipe from nigella express..I made half recipe in the morning. And its ready for dessert tonight..Kenny had 2 servings :)

Ingredients
350ml espresso coffee, made with 350ml water and 9 tsp instant espresso powder, cooled (I made 2 tbsp nescafe gold with one cup water)
250ml Bailey cream liqueur ( My Bailey cream liqueur looks weird so I use kalua instead)
400g packets Sponge finger biscuits
2 eggs
75g caster sugar
500g mascarpone cheese
2 1/2 tsp cocoa powder

Methods:
1. Mix the coffee with 175ml of the baileys in a shallow bowl.

2. Dip the biscuits into this liquid; let them soak on each side enough to become damp but not soggy. Line the bottom of a 22cm square glass dish with a layer of biscuits. (I use a smaller square corninware to do half recipe)

3.Separate the eggs, but keep only one of the whites. (I use 1 yolk and 1 white)Whisk the two yolks and the sugar together until thick and a paler yellow,then fold in the remaining 75ml of baileys, and the mascarpone to make a moussy mixture.

4.Whisk the single egg white until thick and frothy; you can do this by hand with such a little amount. Fold the egg white into the yolky mascarpone, and then spread half of this mixture on top of the layer of biscuits.

5. Repeat with another layer of soaked biscuits, and then top with the remaining mascarpone mixture.

6. Cover the dish with clingfilm and leave in the fridge overnight. When you are ready to serve, push the cocoa powder through a small tea strainer to dust the top of the tiramisu.

Fried Prawns with Garlic

The kids preferred fried prawns to steam prawns and happen to browse thru yum yum magazine and saw something that I can adapt and it was well received.

Ingredients:
800g medium prawns, trimmed
3 tbsp cornstarch
oil for deep frying
1 clove garlic, peeled and sliced


Seasoning (mixed):
1 tbsp oyster sauce
1 tbsp light soy sauce
2 tbsp tomato sauce
1 tsp sugar

Method:
1. Coat prawns with cornstarch and deep-fry in hot oil until well cooked and golden brown. Dish and drain.
2. Add slice garlic and deep-fry until crispy. Dish and drain. Leave aside.
3. Bring seasoning to boil. Add prawns and stir-fy until well combined. Dish up.
4. Sprinkle the fried crispy garlic on top and serve.