my mummy's corn soup

*slurp*

I'm eating my mum's style corn soup as I type this recipe. This corn soup brings back fond memories of my mummy and her superb home cooked food. * can't wait to hug you mummy! *

Many people love her corn soup and have asked her for the recipe. Of course her daughter has to know how to make it! LOL. It taste like the chinese restaurant's corn soup. Even better! ^___^

Ingredients:

( 1 serving- i can eat it all myself..haha)

1 canned cream corn

3 shallots, minced

Soy sauce, mushroom seasoning or vegetarian osyter sauce and pepper to taste

a few drops of sesame oil

1 egg white

1/2 teaspoon cornstarch mixed with 2 teaspoons water

1/2 cup water or vegetable broth

water chestnut, 5, diced finely

dried shitake mushroom, 3 pieces, chopped finely

Directions:

1.Soak mushrooms in hot water. Squeese out the water before mincing it finely.

2. Fry onions or shallots in oiled pan until golden brown. Add mushroom and continue frying for 1 minute. Add soy suace, pepper and mushroom seasoning.

3. Add diced water chestnuts and continue frying for several seconds.

4. Pour in the can cream corn. Add 1/2 cup of water or vegetable broth into the can and pour the liquid out.

5. Allow it to cook for 1-2 minutes before adding the corn starch mixture. Give the cornstarch slurry a quick re-stir and add to the soup, stirring quickly to thicken.

6. Pour the egg white into the soup before turning off the fire.

7. Drizzle in sesame oil. Top it with chopped green onions if you want.

~Serve immediately when its warm~~

Nastar

Or it can also be called Pear-shaped cookies. At least I tried to make it look pear-shaped. ;p I wonder if there is a secret to quick shaping because it made my hands tired after the first batch. I am going to try out another recipe using the piping method so that it'd save my hands extra work. If there's an easier way, i'll take it. hehe.
It's been a year since I made pineapple tarts and hence, i had a little difficulty remembering what i did before. After reading my old Pineapple tart post, i decided to use the same filling method but a different dough for the cookies.

Ingredients:

(makes about 70, each is 1 Tablespoon big)

Pineapple filling (refer to old post)

butter, 320g

icing sugar, 140g

flour, 600g

egg,2

custard powder, 60g

soymilk powder, 15g

egg yolk, 2, for brushing

cloves, for decoration ( about 70)
Direction:

1. Sift flour, custard powder, soymilk powder together

2. Beat butter, icing sugar, egg in mixer well.

3. Pour (1) in to mix well.

4. Divide dough into small balls. Wrap each with ball of pineapple filling and form into pear shape. Arrange on baking tray. Brush with egg yolk and decorate with clove. Bake at 350 for 12 mins.

"Nian Gao" New Year's cake (taiwanese)

Nian gao ( 'Sticky cake 'or 'Year cake' translated literally from mandarin) is traditionally eaten during Chinese New Year. There are numerous varieties of nian gao.Since this VERY simple recipe was taught by Jesse, a true-blue Taiwanese, it is a Taiwanese style nian gao.;p It is a sweet, stretchy, and sticky pudding made with glutinous rice flour and brown sugar, flavored with rosewater or red bean paste. The batter is steamed until it solidifies and served in thick slices. It can also be served fried. After niangao has been cooked, cooled and cut, coat it with flour and pan fry My mum likes to place two pieces of yam between nian goa before frying.

If you've never made Nian Gao before, you really have to try this! Only 3 ingredients!

Ingredients:

1 cup Glutinous rice flour,

(Basically, the ratio of flour and sugar is 1:1. However, if red bean paste is used or sweetened red beans, decrease the sugar ratio )

1 cup soft brown sugar

(sieve it well to remove lumps/ brown sugar is used for the brown color effect)

red bean paste or red beans

(i used the instant red beans beans paste usually used in bingsu or korean shaved ice dessert. However, you can steam or boil the red beans)

water

If you want it softer and eaten on its own, add 1/2 cup of water. However, if you want to fry it, the nian gao has to be thicker. Hence, 1/3 c water is used.

Directions:

Grease pan with oil

Sieve sugar. Mix flour, water and sugar together. Add in red beans.Stir until all the lumps disappear.

Steam for 1/2 hour.

Tutti-Frutti Cookies

Today, baby Zoei Toh and I baked tutti frutti cookies! YUM! She couldn't stop eating them. lol. *_^

Isn't she cute!!!

( didn't have my Digital camera and had to use my cellphone to take these pics)

Okee, i chose this recipe because of the rave reviews on Little Corner of mine blog. It was Pusiva's recipe. I modified it because I'm not a fan of desiccated coconut and substituted with almond powder instead. In addition, i added vanilla and almond essence and decreased the sugar by half. It turned out just right because the mixed fruits were pretty sweet.

Ingredients:

1 cup plain flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 cup butter, softened

1/4 cup sugar

1 egg

8 almonds, chopped very finely

1 cup mixed fruits to give its colorful look ( bought from Loma linda market)

vanilla essence, 1 tsp

almond essence, 1/4 tsp

Directions:

Sift together flour, baking powder, and salt. Add almond powder. Set aside.

Beat together butter, vanilla and almond essence and sugar until light and fluffy.

Add the egg and beat again.

Stir in flour mixture and mixed fruits.

Mix until dough forms.

Shape into rolls and wrap them in wax paper or cling film.

Refrigerate for at least 4 hours or overnight.

Slice the dough logs into thin slices with a serrated knife. OR shape them any way you like...like the way we spelled "ZOEI"

Place on ungreased tray.

Bake them at 175° C (350F) for 10 to 12 minutes or until pale golden.Remove and let it cool on wire rack.

vegetarian wontons

A refreshing hike...

@ Mount Rubidoux

followed by delicious (vegetarian)WON TON noodle soup night!

We made way too many wontons to stuff into our asian stomachs' *wink*

Brief recipe for 150 wontons...

Filling ingredents:

dried mushroom, soaked and diced

water chestnuts, 1 can

1 box of TOFU or vegetarian pork paste (we used both types)

green onions,minced

garlic, minced

shallots, diced

carrots, chopped

seasoning: soy sauce, black pepper, corn starch, sugar, sesame oil, salt, ginger powder, vegetarian oyster sauce

What we did: Fry garlic and onions until golden brown. Add chopped carrots, mushrooms followed by water chestnuts. Stir in green onions and seasonings. Divide into 2 portions. Add vegetarian pork paste into one and mashed tofu in the other. (mashed tofu does not need to be cooked). Allow it to cool before wrapping. Fold each wrapper in half to form triangle and use egg white or water to stick the edges. Press edges to seal and shape

Boil or deep fry them:)

Boiling the wontons: Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add the won tons, making sure there is enough room for them to move about freely. Let the wontons boil for 5 - 8 minutes, until they rise to the top and the filling is cooked through. Remove from the pot with a slotted spoon.

Deep-frying the wontons: Heat oil for deep-frying. Add wonton in small batches and fry, turning occasionally, until golden brown. Remove with a slotted spoon and drain on paper towels.

~~Wontons can be prepared ahead of time up to the cooking stage and frozen. Thaw before cooking.~~

Other stuff to go along with the soup...

bok choy, egg noodles, vermicelli, bean sprouts, mushroom, sliced carrots, sliced baked tofu bean curd, chinese parsley,

Sauce: for dipping the wonton(Kar's recipe!)

Mix lemon juice, soy sauce, ginger powder, garlic powder

Yam puffs!!!

Here's the Yam Puffs recipe that I promised to post up earlier; along with the various pictures of Yams, sweet potatoes, etc. Everyone liked this recipe so much that there was a "guessing game" going on that night- to guess all the ingredients! LOL. *_* Thanks for the compliment, Andy and Han- that this is one of the best dishes I've made! & Danny for saying that its "restaurant-like!". *grin* ;) Anyways, anything "fried" and crispy is always nice, right!?

SMALL TARO

LARGE TARO

called "RED YAMS" in the US ( but in singapore, we call it sweet potatoes)

YAMS (PURPLE)

ok, now that we're on the same page, check out the picture of LARGE TARO! that is what we'll be using for this recipe!*wink*

ingredients: (filling)

anything goes! mixed vegetable, turnip, veggie beef bits, mushroom, garlic

seasoning: pepper, sesame oil, soy sauce

thickening: corn flour, water

Method: Filling: Heat up the wok with oil and fry minced garlic till fragrant. Add in the rest of the ingredients and seasonings. Stir fry thoroughly before adding thickening. Dish up and keep aside.

we made it into different shapes...and they didn't fall apart while frying! Variation: add the filling over the top of the empty taro ring or heart.

Skin-ingredients:

wheat starch, 40g + boiling water, 40g, Yam, steamed, 150g, sugar, 1 dsp, 5 spice powder, 1/2 tsp, lye water, 1 tsp, oil, 1 tsp, pepper, dash, baking powder

Method:

Skin: pour wheat starch in a bowl. Add boiling water to form a dough.Mash steamed yam in a bowl. Add in cooked wheat starch dough and knead evenly. Add in remaining ingredients and mix well. Divide dough into small portions and enclose each with filling. Deep fry yam puffs until golden brown.

ENJOY!!!!

vegan breakfast banana muffins

Do not be fooled by the word 'vegan' OR its appearance!

These sugarless, healthy muffins make a delightful sweet breakfast treat!

Combine in a mixing bowl:

2 cups mashed bananas

1/4 cup soy milk

3/4 cup chopped dates

2/3 cup chocolate chips

2 t vanilla

1/2 t salt

2 T almond butter

1/2 t cinnamon powder

Mix well and add:

2 cups quick oats

1/4 cup semolina flour ( or 1/2 C oat flour)

1/2 cup chopped walmuts

~~~

Shape into 12 muffins by rolling into mixture into balls. Spray PAM before adding the balls into the nonstick muffin pans. Bake @ 350F for 30 minutes or till bottoms are golden. .

OREO® Fruit "Tart"

We made fruit tarts for several members in church last sat. These tarts are "instant" and good. BUT I find it a little sweet.

My advice: omit the 1/4 cup sugar!

*_*
1 pkg. (8 oz.) PHILADELPHIA Cream Cheese, softened

1/4 cup sugar(omit!)

2 cups thawed COOL WHIP Whipped Topping

1 OREO Pie Crust (6 oz.)

4 OREO Chocolate Sandwich Cookies, finely chopped

2 cups assorted fresh fruit pieces
Vanilla essence, 1 teaspoon
(aprioct jam) Preserves, glaze
~~~~~
BEAT cream cheese, vanilla and sugar in medium bowl with electric mixer on medium speed 1 min. or until well blended. Gently stir in whipped topping.

SPREAD into pie crust. Top with chopped cookies and fruits. (Have fun decorating!)

Glaze the top of fruits with preserves.

REFRIGERATE until ready to serve. Store the leftover tart in refrigerator.
~~~::~~~::~~~::~~~

peach icebox cake

I bought this recipe book called, "fabulous cakes and deserts" for Jayce and I. Hence, whenever she makes anything from it, I get very excited. *smiles* Her peach cake is impressively delicious but she kept saying that "its very easy to make." I didn't believe her but when i checked out the recipe, i realized that it's actually really easy! LOL ;)
It was supposed to be "mango icebox cake" but she substituted it with peach. Hence the name Peach icebox cake. ;p
ingredients:
a can of peaches ( 6lb)
75 finger biscuits
500ml, 2 cups canned peach juice
2, 225g (8oz) packs cream cheese
500ml (2cups) double cream
375 (3 cups) powdered sugar
--
1. Dip 25 of the finger biscuits one a time into the peach juice. Arrange in a 30x20x5 cm ( 12x8x2 in) cake tin, with the tops of the biscuits facing down.

2. Using an electric mixer, beat together cream cheese and double cream. Gradually add sugar and beat until mixture is smooth. Divide the cream cheese mixture into three equal portions.

3. Spread a layer of cream cheese mixture over the finger biscuits. Arrange 1/3 of the peach wedges over the cream cheese mixture. Dip 25 more finger biscuits, one at a time, in peach juice and layer over the mangoes. Spread another layers of cream cheese mixture on the finger biscuits and arrange another layer of peach on top.

4. Dip remaining finger biscuits in juice and arrange on top of peaches. Spread remaining cream cheese mixture on the finger biscuits. Arrange remaining peach wedges on top. Chill 4-5 hours, or until firm, before serving.

** finger biscuits are often used to add a crunchy texture to desserts. They are sold in packets in supermarkets. If finger biscuits are not available, substitute with pound cake or savioardi biscuits.

*peaches in this recipe can be interchangeable called mangoes