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.

Closed Pineapple Tarts

My friend S came all the way to my place to pass me a pack of pineapple paste, she wanted me to try as she knows I didn't have time to cook the paste. I have put off the thinking of making pineapple tarts this year but was curious about the taste of the paste and since I have a batch of pastry left, I try it by making some close tart using airfryer. I like the paste, taste like from pineapple with some sourish taste, but my pillow tarts was abit big...LOL..will fine tune the size next time if make.

Pastry:

380g plain flour
20g corn flour
250g salted butter
1 egg

Sift flours in a bowl, rub in butter (cut into small pieces), add egg and form a dough. Chill in fridge for 20min.
Take 10g pastry form into a ball, flatten, wrap with 10g of pineapple paste (roll into ball), form into desire shape. Bake in airfryer at 160degC for 15-20 min till golden color. Remove and cool on rack.

Chi Gu Chips

Chi gu aka as chinese arrow head, its only available at this time of the year near to Chinese Lunar New Year. I'm curious about this chips as many said its nice to eat but to me the price of ready made ones selling outside are expensive, so I read thru a few blogs and the process seems rather easy to do.
I tried with half kg at first to trial the process, the thickness of the vegetable, the oil temperature etc. Then bought another 1.5kg last weekend and finish a batch with help from Kenny..

   Fresh chi gu, bigger better, easier to shred.. 

After peel off the skin, leave the top part for easy holding while shredding

Shredded pieces for chi gu waiting to deep fried over medium fire

After fried. Preferred the chips to be slightly darker than pale color as it taste better.

Chinese Peanut Cookies

Lunar New Year is around the corner, as I'm very busy every weekend so those cookie like kuih bungkit which needs abit of time to do I will skip it, went thru some blog and found that Florence's Chinese Peanut Cookies was very popular and well received so attempt double recipes of it, but I omit the coarse peanut. Its indeed melt in the mouth and nice to eat...

Pork floss Brinjal

This is one of the dishes that I tried with my new toy... Philips Airfryer. Healtier way of cooking without using much oil and at the same time taste the sweetness of the brinjal.

After cut and soak the brinjal for a while, drain and coat the brinjal with some oil, I use my hands to rub the brinjal pieces, only need 2 tbsp oil for 2 big brinjal. Then place the brinjal in preheated airfryer and let it 'fry' at 180 deg C for 15min then remove on plate, sprinkle with pork floss...its that easy..