Cheesy Baked Salmon

Ingredients:
1 pound salmon fillet

1 clove garlic ~ crushed

½ tsp dried drill weed

Salt & pepper to taste

½ cup shredded Cheddar Cheese

3 green onions ~ chopped

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 180 deg. C
2. Place the salmon on a large piece of foil, season with garlic, dill, salt & pepper.   Seal foil around the salmon & place on a baking tray.
3. Bake 20 minutes in the preheated oven.   Top with Cheddar cheese & green onions & continue baking 5 minutes or until cheese is melted & fish is easily flaked with a fork.

Steamed Egg White Rainbow Cake

Found an old recipe in my recipe file and thought of giving it a try. This cake uses only egg whites which happen that my neighbor gave me during her baking cake lapis for CNY and I had left in the freezer to clear.   The layering of the cake can be quite a time consuming but it was worth every effort.

Ingredients:
500g egg white (about 20 large eggs ~ 60g)

¼ cup evaporate milk

1 tsp vanilla essence

150g melted butter

225g castor sugar

300g top flour

1 tbsp ovalette

½ tsp for each color (Red/Green/Yellow)

1 tbsp chocolate emulco

¼ tsp salt

Directions:

1. Beat egg white at high speed.  Add sugar bit by bit once the egg white turns bubbly.  Continue beating till soft peak.
2. Add milk, vanilla, ovalette & butter into the egg batter & continue mixing
3. Add flour & salt & mix till good blend.
4. Split the batter equally into 4 parts & add color to each part & chocolate emulco into 1 part.
5. Grease a baking tin with butter & scoop 1 tbsp of yellow mixture into the center of the baking tin, continue with 1 tbsp of the red onto the yellow mixture, scoop 1 tbsp of the green mixture onto the red, scoop 1 tbsp of the chocolate mixture on the green and repeat with the yellow, red, green and chocolate until the finish.
6. Steam on high heat for about 30 minutes or till cake is done.

Suji Cookies aka Semolina Cookies

Source: QQB Site

Ingredients:
250g QBB
1 tsp vanilla essence
500g plain flour
2 tsp bicarbonate soda
170g icing sugar
¾ tsp fine salt

Directions:

1. Melt QBB over low heat & cool.
2. Add vanilla essence to cooled ghee.
3. Sift flour, b. soda, icing sugar & salt into mixing bowl.
4. Pour ghee mixture in flour mixture & knead well to form firm dough.
5. Preheat the oven to 180 deg C.
6. Roll dough into melt-in-your-mouth ball sizes and place on greased tray.
7. Bake for 10-15 minutes till cooked but not brown.   The cookies should be white & crumbly in texture.

Shrimp With Snow Peas

I've been very busy since December for baking X'mas cookies & chocolate tart for my daughters' teachers as a gifts.  Then Chinese New Year cookies order in January.  I was so damn tired that hubby was so nice to cook us dinner.  He used to cook meal for me before we had kids.  After having our 3rd child, a son, I begun to learn how to cook & bake.  Since then he had laid off for quite awhile.  So, here is the dish that hubby cooked.....

Ingredients:
1 pound shrimp ~ peeled & deveined

6 oz snow peas ~ removed strings

3 cloves garlic ~ minced

2” fresh ginger ~ minced

Chives ~ chopped

2 cups cold water

1/3 cup chicken broth

2 tsp rice wine

1½ tsp soy sauce

1½ tsp cornstarch

¾ tsp sugar

1 tsp ground white pepper

Oil

Salt

Directions:

1. In a large bowl, stir salt into water until dissolved.  Add shrimp & set aside for about 5 minutes.  Rinse shrimps & dry on paper towels.
2. In a small bowl, mix together broth, rice wine, soy sauce, cornstarch, sugar & pepper.   Set aside.
3. Heat 1 tbsp oil in a large skillet or wok over high heat.  Cook shrimp, turning constantly until pink on all sides about 1 minute.  Stir in garlic, ginger & 2 tsp oil.   Stir in snow peas, chives & ¼ tsp salt; stir-fry 1 minute more.
4. Stir broth mixture into skillet & continue cooking until sauce thickens.  Serve immediately.

Homemade Fish Fingers

Ingredients:
400g fillet of white fish ~ partially thawed

120g breadcrumbs

2 tbsp grated parmesan cheese

1 tbsp parsley ~ finely chopped

1 tsp lemon ~ grated

½ tsp paprika

½ tsp dried thyme

¼ tsp garlic salt

150ml double cream

1 egg

100g plain flour

100ml vegetable oil

Salt & pepper

Directions:

1. Cut the cod fillets into strips & put aside.
2. Place the breadcrumbs into a bowl, season with salt & pepper.  Add the parsley, parmesan, garlic salt, lemon grind, paprika & thyme.  Mix well together thoroughly.
3. In a separate bowl, pour in the double cream & egg.  Beat them together with fork.
4. Lightly dust the fillets in the flour.  Then dip the fillet into the egg & double cream & finally coat with the breadcrumbs mixture.
5. Heat oil on medium-low heat.  Place the fillet in the pan.  Turn them over & cook until the fish flakes easily & the breadcrumbs are golden brown
6. Drain the fillet onto the kitchen paper to remove any excess oil.  Serve with wedges or chips.

Bangkit Cookies / Kuih Bangkit

Ingredients:
2 ½ cups Tapioca flour / Starch

1 tbsp butter ~ melted

1 large egg (yolk)

1 cup icing sugar

120ml thick coconut milk / cream

Directions:

1. Place tapioca flour on a paper towel of microwave container & heat for 1 minute.  Set aside & let it cool.  (You also can fry the flour in a wok if don’t have a microwave oven).  Microwave extra tapioca flour for standby & knead purposes.
2. Shift tapioca flour & icing sugar in a big bowl.   Add melted butter, yolk & coconut cream.  Knead until the dough is pliable.  (If the dough is wet or soft, add 1 tbsp of tapioca flour at a time until it becomes harder dough.  Likewise, if it’s too dry, add 1 tbsp of coconut cream)
3. Lightly floured the surface & roll out the dough about 3mm thickness.  Cut into shapes with a cookie cutter.   Arrange on lined baking tray & bake at 180 deg C for 15 minutes or more.  It will puff when baked.

Tips

1. Just make sure the dough is not too wet, if not it can't hold the shape. How to know is when you rolled it out and cut it with a cookie cutter and placed it on the baking tray, the shape disappeared before your eyes. If this happen, add a little more tapioca flour and knead it again. (Microwave extra tapioca flour for backup and kneading purposes) But if the shape hold, you are fine to go.
2. Also, give your kuih bangkit a taste test after 15 minutes and cool off a bit, if it still tasted like not fully dried out in the middle, put it back in the oven and bake it some more until it's completely dried, crispy and melt-in-your-mouth (can be as long as 30 mins). Baking time depended on the thickness of the kuih bangkit, so don't follow blindly by the stated time. For example, after 15 mins, you taste and middle not dry out yet, pop it back for another 5 mins, take it out and do a test taste after it's cool a bit, if still not, in the oven it goes for another 5 mins, until when you tasted the kuih bangkit, it's completely dried in the middle, whole thing crispy and melt-in-your-mouth. I have baked my thicker one for as long as 30 mins before and no harm done.

Chocolate Cornflake Cookies

Ingredients:
200g Milk Block Chocolate (Couverture)
200g corn flakes

50g margarine/butter

50g honey
50g roasted Almond
Colorful rainbow ~ decorator
Mini paper cups

Directions:

1. Prepare a muffin pan with paper liners and set aside.
2. Place the chocolate, butter, and honey in a heat-proof bowl on a double boiler.  Stir until completely smooth.
3. Place the cornflakes in a very large mixing bowl and pour the warm melted chocolate over them. Use a spatula to mix them together until all the cornflakes are evenly covered in chocolate.  Then add the roasted almond and mix again.
4. With a spoon, place the chocolate cornflakes in each muffin liner, gently pressing on them to ensure they are tightly and compactly packed together.
5. Place in the fridge to set for about 1 hour or until the chocolate is fully set and hard.  Store in an air-tight container.

Peanut Cookies

Ingredients:
250g ground peanut powder

200g plain flour

110g icing sugar

½ tsp baking powder

200ml Canola oil

1 egg yolk ~ lightly beaten with 1 tsp water

Directions:

1. Mix ground peanut powder, plain flour, baking powder, icing sugar & salt in a big mixing bowl well combined.
2. Pour in oil slowly & mix till pliable dough is formed.  (If dry, add little more)
3. Shape into small bite-size pieces & place 2cm apart on baking tray.  Apply egg wash.
4. Preheat oven at 180 deg. C & bake for about 18-22 minutes or golden brown.

Ikan Bilis Sambal Tempeh aka Spicy Anchovy & Tempeh

Ingredients:
250g Ikan Bilis (Anchovy)

250g Tempe ~ cut into dice sized

8 shallots ~ Sliced thinly

5 cloves garlic ~ Sliced thinly

1” galangal ~ pound into a paste

3 tbsp palm sugar

1 tsp shrimp paste

2 tbsp sweet dark soy sauce

2 curry leaves

2 fresh red chilies ~ sliced thinly

1 tsp tamarind (Add 3 tbsp water)

1 tsp salt

Cooking oil

Directions:

1. Heat oil & fry the Tempe & Ikan Bilis (Anchovy) till golden brown.  Dish out & put aside.
2. Heat 3 tbsp oil & fry the shallots, garlic, and galangal paste & curry leaves for about 3 minutes.
3. Then add the shrimp paste & chilies & stir-fry for about 1 minute.
4. Add the sweet dark soy sauce, palm sugar, tamarind juice & salt.  Mix well the mixture & let simmer slowly for about 2 minutes.
5. Lastly, add the Tempe & Ikan Bilis (Anchovy) & simmer for a few minutes.  Serve with rice or by itself.  It can be a snack too.

Pineapple Tarts

Ingredients:
400g sifted plain flour (I used All-purpose flour)
250g butter (I used Buttercup)
2 eggs ~ beat the eggs
½ tsp salt

Direction:

1. Preheat oven at 180 deg. C
2. Rub butter into sifted flour till like crumbs.  Add in egs & make into dough.
3. Roll pastry & cut with mould.  Brush with 1 (beaten egg) egg.
4. Bake the pastry for 10 mins first.  Take out & then add pineapple balls.
5. Bake again for another 10-15 mins or golden.  Total baking time 20-25 mins.