Recipe : Mango Strudel Cream Cheese

Mango strudel

Mango Strudel Cream Cheese Recipe

I made a Mango Strudel Cream Cheese with Filo Pastry the other day and surprisingly it turned out really good. It isn’t difficult to make.

The two most important things to make this Mango Strudel delicious are being generous with butter and choosing the right kind of ripe mango.

I would suggest using Kensington Pride mango for this recipe as it has excellent flavour, juicy and it’s aromatic.

 

Ingredients

250 gm cream cheese (room temperature)

150 gm unsalted butter (room temperature)

3 tbsp of caster sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 egg

6 filo pastry sheets

1 tbsp icing sugar for dusting

Filo Pastry

Procedure

 

Pre heat oven to 160 C (fan baked)

Using an electric hand mixer, combine the cream cheese, sugar and vanilla extract. Beat until smooth and creamy.

Add in the egg and beat well.

Place a sheet of baking paper on your work place. Lay a sheet of filo pastry on the baking paper. Brush generously with melted butter.

Top with another sheet and brush with butter. Repeat until you have used all the sheets.

 

Spoon and spread the cheese mixture over the centre of the filo sheets horizontally, about 3 ½ inches wide, leaving a small a border along the edges.

Top the cheese spread with sliced mango. Fold in the ends of the pastry and roll up, enclosing the filling.

Brush the edges with butter to stick it down.

Brush the top surface with the remaining butter.

Lift the baking sheet carefully onto the baking tray and bake the pastry for 20 to 25 minutes until the pastry is crisp and golden.

Transfer to a wire rack to cool for 30 minutes.

Slice it, dust with icing sugar and devour it immediately.

Enjoy!

Recipe : Kueh Bakar Pandan Santan

Kueh Pandan Bakar Santan

Kueh Pandan Bakar Santan is a traditional Malay dessert with custard like texture and flavoured with pandan extract and coconut cream.

The very first time my daughter had this kueh, she loves it immediately. She even ask me for the recipe and very eager to assist me in baking this kueh.

I always use the freshly squeezed pandan extract.

I am pleased to share with you the following recipe :

Ingredients

1 cup caster sugar

25 gm salted butter (room temperature)

2 ½ cup plain all purpose flour (sifted)

3 eggs

1 tbsp of roasted sesame seeds

500 ml coconut cream (Kara brand)

1 cup homemade pandan extract (made using 10 matured pandan leaves)

1½ cup water
(Combine coconut cream, pandan extract and water in a bowl)

Procedure

Heat the oven at 180 C.

Grease your baking pan with butter.

In an electric mixer, place the sugar and butter, beat on medium speed for 3 minutes until light and creamy. Add the eggs one at a time until all the mixture incorporated.

With the mixer on low speed, add one third of the combination of coconut cream, pandan extract and water followed by the sifted flour. Repeat with another one third of the mixture and the remaining last flour.

Scrape down the side of the bowl and continue mix for a minute or two till no lumps.

Pour your batter into the baking pan, sprinkle some sesame seeds on top of the batter and bake for 60 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the centre and comes out clean.

Transfer to wire rack to cool.

Enjoy!

Basil Pesto recipe

Basil Pesto

Pesto means sauce.

If you have too much fresh Basil leaves in your garden, use it to make it into sauce.

I use the sauce to serve it with pasta.

Fresh basil leaves

 

 

Pine nuts and garlic

Ingredients

70 gm fresh Basil leaves

25 gm roasted pine nuts or walnuts

2 cloves garlic

½ cup extra virgin olive oil

Salt and ground black pepper to taste

½ cup parmesan cheese

Procedure

Blend Basil leaves, nuts, garlic and oil into paste in a food processor.

Season it with salt and pepper.

Transfer it into a bowl.

If you are using it immediately, add parmesan cheese.

Otherwise store it in an air-tight glass container and place it in a refrigerator or freeze it.

Allow me to share with you how I cook the Basil pesto for my pasta :

Blend a brown onion. Heat a pan. Sprinkle some extra virgin olive oil. Saute the onion till golden brown. Add in Basil pesto. Stir and mix together. Add more salt or pepper to taste. If you love having more cheese, add another ¼ cup of parmesan cheese. Turn off heat.



Cooked basil pesto with additional cheese



Agar-agar palm sugar (gula Melaka) with coconut cream and egg

Agar-agar palm sugar (gula Melaka) with coconut cream and egg.

 

This jelly is my all time favourite. One piece is always never enough.

It is advisable to use a good quality Gula Melaka for making this jelly. You could smell and taste the difference between a good quality as compared to low grade Gula Melaka. I bought my Gula Melaka from a sundry shop at Jalan Kubu in Melaka.

A good quality Gula Melaka is sold in blocks, dark in colour, soft and crumbly and as mentioned earlier, it smells more fragrant.

I use the following recipe to make my Agar-agar Gula Melaka :

Good quality gula Melaka

Ingredients :

(A)

4 cups water

10 gm agar-agar powder

200 gm gula Melaka

¼ cup brown sugar

1 pandan leaf (tie into a knot)

 

(B)

250 gm coconut cream (kara brand)

1 egg

A pinch of salt

(Mix the 3 ingredients together and set it aside)

 

One 9 inch line baking tray (wet it)

 

Procedure

Prepare a pot. Place (A) in the pot. Let it boil and at the same time keep on stirring until sugar dissolves. Remove pandan leaf.

Add (B) into the same pot. Continue stirring and let it boil rapidly for 2 minutes.

Turn off heat.

Pour the agar-agar mixture into the baking tray. Let it cool.

Place it in the refrigerator for the agar-agar to harden.

Slice and serve chilled.

Enjoy!

Sambal prawns and calamari

Sambal prawns and calamari

This dish is my favourite. Both my kids love it too. It is very easy to prepare and cook.

I make my own sambal but if you find that it is time consuming to make, it is easily available in any grocery stores or wet markets in Malaysia. You can purchase sambal from the Asian grocery stores in Sydney too.

Ingredients

300 gm calamari/squid (cleaned, scored and cut into pieces)

300 gm prawns (de shelled and deveined)

1 brown onion (finely chopped)

1 tbsp sambal (Recipe : http://5foodway.blogspot.com.au/2014/09/recipe-for-making-sambal.html )

1 tsp tamarind juice

½ anchovy cube

1 to 1½ tsp sugar

1 tbsp shallot oil (Recipe : http://5foodway.blogspot.com.au/2014/05/jennifers-secret-ingredient-in-her.html )

 

Procedure

Heat a wok or pan.

Drizzle with 1 tbsp of shallot oil.

Add in sambal. Give a quick stir. Add squid/calamari. When squids are cooked, 

add prawns. Mix and stir fry all until prawns are cooked.

Add cube and sugar. Cook and combine both the cube and sugar until dissolve. Lastly add tamarind juice.

Mix all. Remove and dish on serving plate. Serve hot with white rice or nasi lemak.

Enjoy!

Recipe : "Savoury Glutinous Rice"

Savoury Glutinous Rice

Most of my family members love Savoury Rice. My mum visited me recently and she made this dish for us. Mum’s simple recipe as follows:-

Ingredients

500 gm white glutinous rice

100 gm meat (cut in pieces)

20 gm dried anchovies (cleaned)

30 gm dried prawns (de shelled and de skinned)

4 dried shiitake mushrooms

Crispy Fried shallots (4 tbsp)

Recipe :- (http://5foodway.blogspot.com.au/2014/05/jennifers-secret-ingredient-in-her.html)

Shallots oil (1 tbsp)                  

Water

Sauces and spice

 

2 tbsp Light soy sauce

1 tsp Dark caramel sauce

Dash of Pepper

1 tbsp Oyster sauce

Procedure

 

Rinse and soak the rice for half an hour. Remove and sift the rice with a colander.

Set aside.

Marinade the meat with salt, pepper and some corn starch.  Set aside.

Rinse, soak the dried anchovies and prawns. Sift the two items. Blend or pound it respectively. Set aside.

Wash and soak shiitake mushrooms in hot water. Once soften, cut into strips. Lightly fry the mushrooms and drizzle with few drops of light soy sauce. Set aside.

Heat a pan or wok. Add shallot oil. Fry the dried anchovies and dried prawns till aromatic and fragrant. Add the marinated meat and fry till the meat cooks. Add rice. Fry and combine. Add the sauces and spice. Stir fry all for 2 to 3 minutes.

Turn off heat. Transfer the aromatic rice (mix 2 tbsp of the fried shallots into the rice) into a line baking tray. Use the back of the spoon to even/flatten the rice. Add hot water to the level just cover the rice. Steam the rice for 40 minutes in a rapid boiling steaming wok or pan.

Remove into a serving plate. Garnish with fried shallots, chopped spring onions and shiitake mushroom strips. Serve hot.

Recipe : Sweet and sour Chicken

Sweet and sour chicken

Sweet and sour Chicken

 

Sweet and sour Chicken/Pork is also known as ‘Ku Lo Yoke’.  This is a Cantonese dish. My son loves it.

 

Ingredients:-

500 gm chicken thigh fillet (cut into pieces)

1 brown or spanish onion (cut into 8)

Fresh pineapple (cut into bite sizes)

Chilli (julienned)

1 tsp minced garlic

Oil for deep frying

 

Marinade (A)

1 tbsp soy sauce

1 tbsp Shao Xing cooking wine

¼ tsp salt

¼ tsp pepper

1 tsp cornstarch

 

Sauce

2 tbsp tomato sauce

2 tbsp chilli sauce

1 tsp white/rice vinegar

1 tsp sugar

1 tsp oyster sauce

300 to 500 ml chicken stock

½ tsp salt

1 tsp tapioca flour (dilute with 2 tbsp cold tap water)

 

Batter

2 tbsp cornflour

1 tbsp plain flour

1 tbsp rice flour

1 egg

1 tbsp unsalted butter

1/8 tsp of salt

water

 

Procedure

 

Marinade chicken with (A) for an hour.

In a bowl, mix all the sauces except for tapioca starch and set it aside.

Mix the batter ingredients. Combine and incorporate till no lumps. Place pieces of chicken into the batter.

Heat a wok or pot with sufficient amount of cooking oil.

Deep fry the chicken meat till golden brown. Remove and drain on kitchen paper towel.

Heat a clean wok. Add 1 tbsp vegetable oil.

Saute the brown/spanish onion. Add minced garlic and fry both till golden brown.

Pour the sauce into the wok. Stir and let it boil. Add pineapple and chilli. Simmer the sauce for 2 minutes. Keep on stirring while you pour the tapioca starch mixture.

Lastly add the fried chicken. Turn of heat. Give a quick stir to combine chicken with the sauce.

Serve hot with rice.

 

Chicken in batter

 

Deep frying

 

Deep fried chicken

 

Recipe :- Appam Made Easy



Appam

Appam Made Easy Recipe

Who likes eating Appam? I do because it is tasty, healthy and light. It is an all time favourite breakfast.

Appam is a type of pancake made with fermented rice batter and coconut milk. It is popular in Tamil Nadu and Sri Lanka.

I would like to thank my Sri Lankan friend, Pauline for giving me a seasoned Appam pan and sharing with me the following easy recipe making Appam.

Ingredients

 

(A)

½ box rice flour

½ cup self raising flour

1 tsp sugar

½  tsp instant yeast

¾ cup room temperature water

(B)

250 gm coconut cream (Kara brand)

¼ tsp salt

 

Gula Melaka

Fresh grated coconut

 

Procedure

Sift both the flour. Combine ingredients A until it forms a thick batter.

thick batter

Cover and keep aside overnight for fermentation.


The batter will rise and increase in volume the next day.

Overnight fermentation

Add coconut cream and salt into the batter. Stir and mix well.

Batter after mixing coconut cream and salt

Heat an Appam pan and grease it lightly with oil.

Pour a ladle full of batter into the pan and slowly rotate the pan in circular motion so that a thin layer forms on the side while the middle remains thick.

Cover with lid and let it cook.

Appam cooking in the pan

Serve hot.

I love to devour my hot Appam with gula Melaka and grated coconut.



Yummylicious

 

Recipe : - Chocolate Chip Cookies

Chocolate Chip Cookies

My friend makes the best Chocolate Chip Cookies and recently shared her recipe with me. My kids love the cookies.

Ingredients

227 gm of unsalted butter at room temperature

2 ½ cups self raising flour

2 eggs

¾ cup white sugar

¾ cup brown sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

½ tsp water

Pinch of salt

1 packet chocolate chips

 

Procedure

Preheat oven at 160 degrees Celsius (fan baked). Lightly grease cookie sheets.

Combine butter, sugar, vanilla extract and water until creamy.

Add eggs.

Gradually add flour and salt.

Add chocolate chips and mix.

Drop a large teaspoon of mixture onto greased trays and bake for 12 to 15 minutes.

Recipe :- Oatmeal raisins cranberries cookies

Oatmeal raisins cranberries Cookies

Oatmeal cookies are healthy snacks for both adults and kids. This crisp and chewy cookie is loaded with oats, raisins and dried cranberries.

 

Ingredients

227 gm of unsalted butter at room temperature

1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour

2 eggs

¾ cup granulated sugar

¾ cup brown sugar

½ tsp baking soda

½ baking powder

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1 tsp vanilla extract

Pinch of salt

3 cups rolled oats

½ cup raisins

½ cup dried cranberries

Chopped nuts (optional)

 

Procedure

Preheat oven at 160 degrees Celsius (fan baked). Lightly grease cookie sheets.      

 

In a large bowl, combine butter, both sugar, vanilla extract until creamy.

Add eggs and beat until smooth.

Gradually add flour, baking powder, baking soda, ground cinnamon and salt.

Add the rolled oats, raisins, dried cranberries and chopped nuts. Mix all.

Drop a tablespoon of mixture on baking trays and bake for 10 to 15 minutes.

Recipe :- Banana peanut butter ice cream

 

 

Banana peanut butter ice cream

I would like to share a simple way of making your own ice cream without using ice cream machine.

 

Ingredients

1 kg sweet ripe bananas

3 tbsp creamy peanut butter

 
Procedure

Cut banana into equal bite size.

Arrange pieces of banana in an air tight container.

Freeze the bananas.

Remove from freezer.

Place the cut bananas in the food processor and blend till smooth.

Add creamy peanut butter.

Serve immediately or refreeze.

Enjoy! 






cut bananas

 

Frozen bananas

banana puree

Frozen banana peanut butter ice cream


 

Recipe - "Kiam Beh" (Savoury Porridge)

‘Kiam Beh’ (Savoury Porridge) Recipe

‘Kiam Beh’ is a Hokkien dish. ‘Kiam’ means salty and ‘Beh’ means porridge.

In Hokkien, salty means savoury.

I always turn to my comfort food during cold weather and porridge is one of them.

As a tribute to my grandma, I would like to share one of her signature dishes which is ‘Kiam Beh’. Others are ‘Mee Hoon Kueh’, Popiah, Dry Wan Tan Mee and Sambal belacan. You may click the link below for the other four recipes listed at the end of this page.

 

Ingredients

Chicken, shallots, garlic, dried squid and dried prawns

 

1 cup white rice

300 gm chicken/pork (cut into small pieces)

30 gm dried prawns

6 shallots (sliced)

2 tsp chopped garlic

1 dried squid

3 tbsp shallot oil/vegetable oil

2 litre chicken stock

4 chicken thigh (drumstick – skin remove)

2 to 3 pieces of firm bean curd (tau kwa)

Spring onions for garnishing

Crispy fried shallots for garnishing

 

Seasoning

3 tbsp light soy sauce

1/8 tsp dark caramel sauce

½ tsp white pepper powder

 

Procedure

Marinade chicken/pork with 1 tsp soy sauce, a dash of white pepper and ¼ tsp corn flour. Set it aside.

As for the dried prawns, remove skins. Soak in water. Drain and rinse two times. Slightly pound it. Set it aside.

Rinse rice and set it aside.

Soak the dried squid in hot water. Cut into thin strips when it soften. Deep fry and set it aside.

Cut ‘tau kwa’ into small cube sizes. Pan fry it and set it aside.

Prepare a wok with vegetable or shallot oil. Saute the shallots. When it is about to turn brown add in garlic. Fry both till golden brown. Add dried prawns. Combine and fry until fragrant. Add chicken. Once chicken is cook, add rice. Fry and combine all the ingredients. Drizzle all the seasoning. Mix everything. Turn off heat.

Boil the chicken stock in a large pot. Add in chicken drumsticks and the rice with all the ingredients that you just fried.

Boil the rice in medium heat. Stir occasionally until you are satisfy with the texture of your porridge. Once satisfied, taste it. Normally, I will add some light soy sauce if it is not tasty. Lastly add the crispy fried squid and fried ‘tau kwa’ cubes into the pot and give a quick stir.

Dish and garnish with chopped spring onion, crispy fried shallots (refer recipe : http://5foodway.blogspot.com.au/2014/05/jennifers-secret-ingredient-in-her.html ) and some pepper powder. Serve immediately.

 

 

 Recipe for mee hoon kueh : -

(http://5foodway.blogspot.com.au/2015/06/recipe-making-mee-hoon-kueh.html)

 

Recipe for popiah filling :-
(http://5foodway.blogspot.com.au/2015/09/recipe-popiah.html )

 

Recipe for dry wan tan mee :-
(http://5foodway.blogspot.com.au/2014/06/recipe-dry-wan-tan-noodles.html)

Recipe for sambal belacan :-
(http://5foodway.blogspot.com.au/2015/06/recipe-making-sambal-belacan.html )

 

Recipe - "Lemon Meringue Pie"

Lemon Meringue Pie in Muffin Tins

These individual Lemon pies are set in biscuits crumbs with a lemon filling that’s wonderfully tangy, finished off with a sweet meringue.

 

Ingredients

6 muffin tins

Base

50 gm biscuits

40 gm butter (melted)

 

Filling

2 tbsp plain flour (sifted)

2 tbsp corn flour (sifted)

¼ cup caster sugar

½ cup water

1 medium size lemon (1/4 cup juice, 1 tbsp rind)

45 gm butter

2 eggs yolk

 

Meringue

2 eggs white

1/3 cup caster sugar

 

Procedure

Preheat oven to 180 C. Line 6 holes of a muffin tray with papers.

Smash biscuits in a bag or in a food processor until you have fine crumbs.

Mix in melted butter and divide crumbs between the muffin trays.

Combine sifted flour and sugar. Add water. Blend till smooth before applying heat.

Stir over heat until boils and thickens.

Reduce heat, add lemon rind and lemon juice and stir for 2 minutes.

Remove from heat. Stir in butter and yolks. Stir until blended and melted.

When slightly cool, pour the blended mixures into muffin papers, over biscuits base.

Beat egg whites on medium high until soft peaks form. Gradually add sugar. Beat well until shiny peaks.

Using a table spoon, scoop the meringue on top the filling. Seal to the edges.

Bake for 5 to 10 minutes until lightly brown.

Let it cool and refrigerate it.

 

 

Making of "Popiah" skin

Many of you have asked me how to make "Popiah" skin, so let me share it with you by simply following this short video. Have fun making it!

Recipe - "Tom Yum Glass Noodles Soup"

 

Tom Yum glass noodles soup

 

 

Simple Tom Yum Noodle Soup

Tom Yum soup is spicy, sour, flavourful, refreshing and is perfect for the cold weather. The soup is easy to make using ready made paste.

Chicken, fish cake and prawns



Button mushrooms, tomatoes, fresh chillies, lemon grass and kaffir lime leaves

Tom Yum paste (Penta brand)



Ingredients

2 servings

 

200 gm chicken breast

2 tbsp of Penta tom yum paste

2 tomatoes

3 to 4 stalks of lemon grass (slightly pounded)

6 to 8 kaffir lime leaves

1 to 2 fresh finger length red chillies (seeds removed)

1 litre chicken stock

1 tbsp vegetable oil/shallots oil

 

Other ingredients

6 slices of fish cake

6 medium size prawns (cleaned, peeled, divined)

4 big button mushrooms

(You can also add squid, fish, fish balls and etc…)

 

1 tsp lime juice

1 tbsp of fish sauce

 

Bean thread noodles (glass noodles)

(Bring a pot, let it boil, add noodles. The noodles turn transparent when thoroughly cooked). Remove and place into a bowl.  Set it aside.
Note : Make soup first then cook the noodles.

Procedure

Cut chicken breast into small pieces. Season it with salt, pepper and ½ tsp of cornstarch. Marinade for about an hour.

Season fish cake and prawns with salt and pepper. Set it aside.

Heat up a pot. Add shallots oil. Cook chicken. Add tom yum paste, lemon grass and kaffir lime. Pour about 100 ml of chicken stock, let it simmer for 2 minutes.

Add the balance of chicken stock. When its boil, add tomatoes and all other ingredients except prawns. Let it simmer for 5 minutes, then add prawns and let it cook. Add lime juice and lastly fish sauce. Pour the soup into the noodles, if you like, garnish with coriander leaves. Serve hot.

 

Recipe - "Kung Pao Chicken"

Kung Pao Chicken with rice

Kung Pao Chicken

Kung Pao Chicken is a popular Chinese dish commonly ordered at restaurants in Malaysia. It is a flavourful stir fry dish cooked with a combination of well seasoned chicken, zesty sauce, nuts and chilli pepper.

I used the ingredients below to cook my Kung Pao Chicken and my son loves it.

 

Ingredients:-

500 gm chicken breast/chicken thigh (skinless and boneless)

1 tbsp soy sauce

1 tsp Shao Xing cooking wine

¼ tsp salt

¼ tsp pepper

1 tsp ginger juice

½ chicken cube or ½ tsp chicken seasoning powder

2 tsp cornstarch

 

Sauce

1 tbsp thick soy sauce (Tian Nu brand)

2 tsp soy sauce (Lee Kum Kee brand)

1 tsp Shao Xing cooking wine

1 tbsp white rice vinegar

½ tsp salt

¼ tsp sesame oil

100 to 150 ml chicken broth/stock

1 tsp cornstarch

 

Other ingredients

vegetable oil

1 tsp garlic

3 dried chillies

2 stalk stallion/spring onions (chopped)

½ cup of roasted cashew nuts

Procedure

Cut chicken into small pieces. Marinade chicken with all the spices and leave it overnight in the refrigerator.

In a bowl, mix all the sauces and set it aside.

Heat a wok. Add oil. Cook chicken in high heat for about 3 minutes or until is longer pink. Remove chicken and set it aside.

In the same wok, drizzle some oil. Saute the chopped garlic and dried chillies till aromatic. Add in cooked chicken into the wok. Stir fry briefly. Pour the bowl of sauces into the wok. Give a quick stir and combine everything in the wok. Lastly toss in Cashew nuts. Mix it and transfer to a serving plate. Garnish with chopped spring onions. Serve immediately with rice.

 

 

Recipe - "Making your own 'Tau Pok'"

'Tau Pok'

Recipe making ‘Tau Pok”

 

If you wish to make your own ‘Tau Pok’ from scratch, firstly, you have to purchase soft tofu.

 

Soft tofu

Steps making your own ‘Tau Pok’

 

1.        Freeze soft tofu.

 

2.        Defrost soft tofu. Gently squeeze to drain excess water from the tofu.

 

3.        Cut into cubes. The tofu cubes become spongy.

 

4.        Place on kitchen towels to absorb the water.

 

      5.   Heat wok. Pour sufficient amount of oil. Deep fry until golden brown.

 

Frozen tofu

Cut into cubes

 

Drain excess water from kitchen towels.

The deep fried tofu (‘tau pok’) tastes better than bought from the Asian grocery stores.