Black olives fried rice & Baked basil eggplant

**Ready to eat in less than 30 mins!**

Black olives fried brown rice

ingredients:
2 T black olives paste (bought from oriental market...usually eaten in plain jook as its salty)
OR 15 black olives (chop it and seasonings will need to be increased)
3 cloves garlic
3 cups cooked long grain brown rice*
2 eggs
1/2 large red onion
3 stems green onions, chopped.
seasonings: pepper, soy sauce, mushroom seasoning, salt
Directions:
1. Peel onions and garlic and fry in an oiled pan. Add cooked rice.* Remove from pan.
2. Beat egg and add pepper, soy sauce and mushroom seasoning.
3. When the egg is almost cooked, stir in the cooked rice. Add in preserved olives and mix well!

Note: **If over night rice is too dry, add water while cooking.
**Overnight rice cooks better
**I allowed the rice to be a little "burnt" on the pan; just like bibimbup on stonebowl

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Baked basil eggplant.

Ingredients:

2 large eggplant, bunch of FRESH basil leaves, 4 cloves chopped garlic, 2T sesame oil, 5T vegetable oil, 2t soy sauce, 3t onion powder, 2T spicy eggplant seasoning, pepper, salt, sugar.
Directions:
1. Slice eggplant 1/4" thick. Place it into a bowl and add in all the ingredients above. Place it on a tray and bake at 500F for 20 minutes to get ~~ fragrant and tasty eggplant! *_*

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Note: the seasoning noted here is the approximate amount used. Be adventurous and substituted with what you have and like when cooking!

*that's why i love chinese cooking...feel so free~ & easy~!*

roasted garlic mashed potato puffs

I made these for vespers and they came out really tasty. *_* This recipe can be modified to suit your preference. For example, you can make pesto mashed potatoes or carrot & leek mashed potatoes or just regular mashed potatoes without baking it. I like it baked because it holds well- like a puff. It's also a nice & easy finger food.

To make garlic mashed potatoes
2 pounds ( 6 medium) russet potatoes, peeled, cut into quarters, and boiled
1/4 cup margarine or butter
1/2 tsp salt
1/ tsp black pepper
1/4-1/3 cup soy milk
10 large peeled cloves garlic
1 tsp garlic powder and onion powder
1 tsp brewers yeast
1 tsp McKay's chicken seasoning

Directions:
Mix olive oil and garlic on a pan and place it in the oven at 330F for approximately an hour. Or, chip the garlic finely and pan fry it.
Drain potatoes well.Add margarine, salt and pepper.. Using a flat beater, beat for 20 seconds, or until potatoes are broken up. Continue on speed 1, slowly add milk and roasted garlic. Beat until smooth. Cool it before going on to the next step.
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Preheat oven to 400F. Lightly spray cookie sheet with vegetable pan spray on line sheet. Fill Cookie master plus or pastry bag with the potato mixture and use star tip to press mixture onto cookie sheet about 2 inches apart. Bake 10 Min's or until golden brown around the edges.

Video! Cake Decorating *_*

Yipeee!!! I've finally compiled the videos and pictures of the Wilton cake decorating class and added music and descriptions to go along with it!
(Thanks, Ryan for telling me how to convert video files from the camera... everything came together after that. *smiles* )
It took me many hours to do this because I experimented with many things but I'm glad its finally up. *elated feeling*
It's a good overview of what you'd expect to learn at the WIlton Cake decoarting class 1,2,3. So, check it out!!! *_^

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BWEV3eLvDKI



edited video...

Yam Kueh

Ok, let's get this straight!! What exactly is a yam, sweet potato and taro?
It's called differently in US and Singapore. Friends in the US were asking me how I made the 'yam' cake. But it didn't seemed right because 'yams' are orange in color while the one i made was whit-ish color.
Anyways, here's the deal-- "yams" in the US are the "sweet potatoes" in Singapore and "yams" in Singapore are the "taro" in the US. Got it? lol. I'll be making Yam puffs soon so I'll post up pictures of Yam, taro and sweet potato to prevent terminology confusion. It's important to use the correct ingredients!
I learnt how to make Yam kueh from a cooking class in Singapore and it's absolutely my favorite! 2 methods can be done...the regular steam-and-eat OR steam-pan fry-then eat. For this one, I pan-fried it.

Ingredients A:
water, 500g
alkaline water, 1/3 tsp
rice flour, 160g
Directions A:
Mix water, alkaline water and rice flour together.
Ingredients B:
Yam (cut into small pieces), 300g
Garlic, 3 tsp
shallots, 1 tsp
mushroom, 100g
Seasoning: salt, pepper, sugar, Shouyu seasoning (or any other that you have)
Directions B:
Heat wok and fry garlic, shallots, mushroom till fragrant. Add in yam and seasonings. Continue frying and add in ingredients A. Mix well. Off the fire immediately. Place it in greased molds. Steam for 15 mins or whnever the top is firm. Cool it for several minutes. Slice...and then pan fry it!
Dipping sauce:

Mix 1/4c braggs (soy sauce) + 2T rice wine + shredded ginger

Sweet malt beverage- Shikhye

I feel that my body is too“hot" and might be coming down with a fever. To “cool” it down, I made sikhye. Sikhye is one of those drinks that I can drink the whole day and not feel sweet-sick or guilty because of drinking “empty calories”.

Jung taught me how to make it last year and I fell in love with it. It’s like a barley drink with a different twist to what I’ve been used too.

Sikhye is a traditional sweet Korean rice beverage, made with barley malt and rice. It was originally made from the rice that stuck to the sides of the cooker after the rest had been scooped out. Sikhye is made by pouring malt water onto cooked rice. The combination is then fermented for at least a day, and then boiled with ginger and jujube. It is served chilled. Shikhye is known to help the digestion of food and blood circulation. It is best after a meal of meat or something particularly greasy as a refreshing dessert. It is also great for people on a diet. This slightly fermented rice nectar should be drunk during the winter. But nowadays it can be found all the year round.
**The key to its flavor is a good quality barley malt which gives it much sweetness. **
Time consuming, yes, but once you become familiar with the recipe, you can make this wonderful drink at your own convenience. Just plan ahead and do it the night before.

Ingredients:

Barley malt, dried and pounded barley germ (yotkirum) : (450 g, available in Koreanstores)

Rice : 4 cups, cooked

Sugar to taste

ginger to taste

Pine nuts, for decoration, sprinkle

Water

Directions
1.Cook rice
2. Add 4 liters of water to the malt and scrub with hands to make powder. Let it sit for several minutes before removing the barley.
Note: Do not stir, remove the top barley carefully.
3. Sieve and discard the remnant and keep still the water for about 30 minutes until clean water is produced.

4. Pour the barley water to rice and leave it in the rice cooker overnight. (This is to allow fermentation to take place)
5. Several grains of rice will float to the top of the water in the electric rice cooker (of warm button)

6. Transfer it to a pot and bring it to a boil for 15 minutes. Add ginger and sugar to taste.

7. Cool, refrigerate and before serving, top with pine nuts.

Happy New Year!!!

"Wishing everyone a very Happy, Healthy, Successful and Prosperous New Year 2007!!!"

^_^

Look our for me- Miss Rain. ;p