Pandan Chiffon Cake

The thought of trouble shoot the failure cake on the old pan from making the cranberry yougurt chiffon cake kept dwelling in my mind, the following I made another cake from the same book using a new chiffon cake tin. The tin is bigger than the old one thus the cake is shorter but result was satisfactory therefore I concluded that the problem lies in the tin and not the oven.

Cranberry Yogurt Chiffon Cake

My friend recommended this recipe from this book, but some problem with my old chiffon tin thus the cake didn't turn out as presentable as expected. Nevertheless the cake taste good, not sweet at all, will try other recipe from the book...

Ingredients

20cm chiffon tin

5 large egg yolk

130g castor sugar

65ml corn oil

2tsp lemon juice

130g plain yogurt

130g cake flour

7 large egg white

95g dried cranberry mix with some cake flour

Method:

1. Mix egg yolk and 1/3 portion of sugar and oil till well combined.

2. Add in lemon juice, yogurt mix well, add in cake flour, use a whisk mix till smooth texture.

3. Beat the balance sugar with egg white till stiff peak. 

4. Take 1/3 portion of beaten egg white and mix with egg yolk mixture. Pour the egg yolk mixture back to the remaining egg white and fold till well combined. 

5. Fold in the dried cranberries.

6. Pour batter into chiffon tin, hold the tin up and drop the tin on table with a bang to knock out the big air pockets in the batter.Bake at 180 deg C for 40min or till skewer come off clean.(temperature is a reference, I bake at 170 deg C for 50min for my oven)

Stir fry prawn with ketcup

This is a easy and common dish to do. Did my own version of this dish with the prawn given by mum in law some time ago.

Ingredients:
about 500g Prawns
chopped garlic
corn starch

Sauce:
6 tbsp ketcup
1 tsp vinegar
11/2  tbsp sugar
6 tbsp water

Method:
1. Rinse and trim prawn. Cut slit at the back of prawn, devein and marinade prawn with sugar, salt and pepper for 15min.
2. Coat prawn with corn starch. Fry in hot oil for 1-2 min. Remove and set aside.
3. Pour sauce ingredients in wok, stir fry for a while, then pour prawn back into sauce, stir fry the prawn till sauce thicken and dried. Dish and serve.

Breaded Fish Fillet

This is one of my preferred brand of frozen sutchi fillet, found it sometime last year at ntuc supermarket, thought that the packaging looks much appetising the the rest in the freezer, so bought it and did fish and chips, to me as long the fish didn't have the mud smell like some other brand its good enough. If there are stock of this brand I will buy and keep in freezer as the stock is not so frequently available.

Simply marinade it with salt, pepper and some sesame oil for about half hour, then coat with flour, egg and bread crumb,  then deep fried till golden color.

Assam Sotong

Craving for sontong or squid so I use my mum-in-laws chilli paste and cook some spicy sour squid.

Ingredients:
500g sotong/squid - weight is before cleaning and clearing the unwanted parts
1 tbsp chilli paste- the paste is quite spicy for me so i only use 1 tbsp
2 tbsp assam paste mix with half cup water- not sure how much to use but add in a few tbsp of the mixture and taste it before adding more
2 tbsp sugar

Method:
1. Clean and cut squid into smaller pieces.
2. Add squid into wok, stir for a while and there will alot of water in the wok. Throw away the water. Remove squid and set aside.
3. Add in a little oil, fry the chilli paste for a while, then pour in squid and a little assam juice and sugar. Taste the sauce, if not sour enough, add more assam juice. Dish and serve.

Quick and Easy Nutella Cake

Recipe from Agnes Chang's 'I Can Bake' book

Ingredients:
250g butter, softened
200g soft brown sugar.
4 eggs, lightly beaten
300g self raising flour, sifted
5 tbsp milk

6 tbsp nutella chocolate hazelnut spread
60g hazelnuts, chopped coarsely (I use pecan nuts)

Method:
1. Put all ingredients for cake into a mixing bowl and beat until light and fluffy.

2. Pour 2/3 portion of the cake mixture into a greased and lined 22cm/9 inch round baking tin and spread to level. Spoon the nutella into six blobs. Top with the remaining 1/3 portions of the cake mixture, swirl a few times with a skewer, then smooth the top.

3. Sprinkle nuts on top and bake in a preheated oven at 180degC for 45min-1 hour until cooked and golden brown.

4. Remove, leave to cool before cutting into pieces and seves as snack.

Sweet Sour Pork Ribs

Bought some meaty pork ribs before chinese new year and its being laying in the freezer for quiet a while, last week I took a couple of days leave to stay home while my helper was on home leave (she never return...arrrggghh ) as I have more time to do dinner I did this dish with my own version of sauce...

Ingredients:


500g meaty pork ribs

Half capcicum-diced

1 small yellow/brown onion-cut into chunk pieces

1 tomato-seeded and cut into chunks

5 cloves garlic-chopped



Marinade:

2 tbsp light soy sauce

1 tbsp cooking wine

1tbsp sesame oil

Half tsp pepper

Half egg white

Tapioca starch for coating

Sauce:

4tbsp tomato ketcup

Half cup water

2 tbsp sugar

1 tbsp mirin or any cooking wine

1 tsp vinegar



Method:

1. Rinse ribs, add in marinade and mix well. Place in fridge for a few hours.

2. Remove ribs from fridge, add in egg white and mix well. Heat up wok, coat ribs with tapioca starch and deep fry over low heat for at least 10min or till meat is well cooked. Dish up and set aside.

3. Heat up wok with a 2 tbsp oil. Add in onion and stir fry for a while, push to one side and add in garlic and sauté till garlic is fragrant. Add in the other vegetables, stir fry a while.

4. Pour in the Sauce ingredients and let it simmer for a while, pour in the fried ribs and cook till sauce is thicken. Taste the sauce, if its too sour add more sugar. Dish and serve.