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

Truffles using fondant fudge method

I made truffles using the Dry fondant fudge recipe that was posted earlier. However, I made some adjustments....rolling them into balls and coating it with caramel crunch, chocolate bits and chopped almonds.
Let me explain a little more about the ingredients since I didn't do it last time.
-Dry fondant looks like icing sugar, made of candy fondant sugar. This is usually used for candies in hand-rolled cream center, cordials, cast creams.
-Invertase is a yeast derived enzyme that splits sucrose to give glucose and fructose (invert sugar). It helps to increase shelf life and is used in any inversion of sucrose esp liquefied cherry centers, creams, mints, truffles, marshmallow, invert sugar, fondants.
-Invert sugar works similarly to honey.
-Corn syrup discourage discolorization. (like vinegar, cream of tartar, lemon juice)
note: I would reduce the sugar (corn syrup and invert sugar) by 1/2 as its a little sweet)
**these ingredients are pretty hard to find but the result is melt-in-the-mouth fudge that's irressisable**

All-occasion downy yellow butter cake

Since I'm currently taking the Wilton cake decorating class 2x/week, I'm really into the 'cakey' mood. I've been baking cakes from scratch to bring it to the class for decoration practice.
On page 30 of the Cake bible, Rose gave a very convincing description of why this cake is her fave. "If I had to choose among all my cakes, this one would win first place because it is delicious by itself yet versatile enough to accommodate a wide range of buttercreams. The cake combines the soft texture of white cake with the buttery flavor of yellow cake. Using of yolks instead of whole eggs produce a rich yellow color, fine texture, and delicious flavor. "
With this description, who wouldn't want to check this out!
Ingredients:
6 large egg yolks
milk 1 cup ( I used Silk soy milk)
vanilla ( 21/4 t)
sifted cake flour, 3 cups
sugar, 1 1/2 cups ( I used 1 cup)
baking powder, 1T + 1 t
salt, 3/4 t
unsalted butter, 12 T ( must be softened)
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350F
2. In a medium bowl, combine the yolks, 1/4 cup milk and vanilla.
3. In a large mixing bowl, combine the dry ingredients and mix on low speed for 30 sec to blend. Add butter and remaining 3/4 c milk. Mix on low sped until the dry ingredients are moistened. Increase to high speed ( for hand mixers) and beat 1 1/2 min to aerate and develop cake structure. Scrape down the sides. Gradually add the egg mixture in 3 batches, beating 20 seconds after each addition to incorporate the ingredients and strengthen the structure. Scrape down the sides.
4. Scrape the batter into prepared pans and smooth the surface with spatula. ( pan will be 1/2 full).
5. Bake 25-35 mins. THe cake should shrink from the sides of the pan only after removal from the oven.
Store: 2 days room temperature, 5 days refrigerated, 2 months frozen.
Texture is most perfectly moist the same day as baking.
Complementary adornments: A simple dusting of powdered sugar, buttercream, glaze or fondant.
Evaluation:
I really like this cake! And I have to admit that I made a huge mistake by not adding butter! *opps** After putting the pan into the oven, I felt that something was wrong although I could not pin-point what was wrong. It was several minutes later that I realized butter was not added. *embarrassed red face* I rushed to open the oven door to find the cake cooking and rising well. Since the equipments were not washed, I hesitatingly made another batch. Glad I did. *_^ Otherwise, I'd not realize how nice this cake is. ;p

At Wilton cake class 1, lesson 2...something we did

And finally, practicing on the cake...

Wilton Cake decorating class 2: final product that I didn't post up earlier...

Genoise classique

Pronounced as "JenWAHZ ClassEEK." Genoise is a European sponge-type cake which differs from American sponge in that it contains melted butter to partially tenderize and flavor it and much less sugar. When compared to a basic butter cake, genoise uses double the egg, half the sugar, flour, butter and no chemical leavening or added liquid. This explains why genoise is "lighter than air!"
Replacing some of the flour with cornstarch tightens the grain and holds the moisture supplied by the eggs and sugar.
Genoise is usually moistened with syrup. However, for this, i did not add syrup. Adapted from The Cake Bible... which is the ultimate cake book I'll ever need. ;p I'm giving step-by step directions so that anyone can bake this easily. It not a straight-forward cake so I'd not recommend this for beginners.
Ingredients:
1. clarified beurre moisette, 3 T ( if you do not have clarified butter on hand, you will need to clarify 4T unsalted butter. In a heavy saucepan melt the butter over medium heat. When the butter looks clear, cookuntil the solids drop and begin to brown. Pour through a cheesecloth. However, for convenience sake, I simply put it into the micrwave and set it on high at several intervals until melted)
2. vanilla, 1 t
3. sugar, 1/2 cup
4. sifted cake flour, 1/2 cup
5. cornstarch, 1/2 cup - 1 T
syrup: sugar 1/4 cup + 1 1/2 t, water, 1/2 cup

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350F
2. Warm the beurre noisette until almost hot (110F). Add vanilla and keep warm
3. Heat a pot of hot water. In a mixing bowl, place it in the hot water and heat the eggs and sugar until lukewarm, stirring constantly to prevent curdling.
4. Using the whisk beater, beat the mixture on high speed for 5 mins or triple in volume. ( 10 mins for hand beaters)
5. Sift flour and cornstarch
6. Remove 1 scant cup of egg mixture, and thoroughly whisk into beurre noisette.
7. Sift 1/2 flour mixture over the remaining egg mixture and fold it in gently but rapidly with a large spatula until almost all flour hsa disappeared.
8. Repeat with the remaining flour mixture until the flour has disappeared compltely. Fold in the butter mixture until just incorporated.
9. Pour immediately into prepared pan and bake 25-35 mins. Once cake shrinks slightly from the sides, it is done. Lossen the sides of cake with spatula and unmold at once onto a rack.

This picture shows a frosted genoise classique. I coated it with a mixture of buttercream icing and nondairy fat free whipped cream. ^_*

Jia lei's banana cake

This banana cake is from Jia lei's recipe book. I have been making several 'banana' products because 1. Bananas are abundant and 2. want to find out how each recipe turn out 3. its a good breakfast item
Evaluation:
This cake is dense with a strong banana taste. It should be eaten on its own, without cream or icing i.e. it can't be a birthday cake base because of its heavy texture. ( reminds me a little of 'kueh') I cut it into little pieces to enjoy as I think it taste better taking mini bites.
Ingredients:
150 g sugar
400g banana
4 eggs
140 g melted butter
1 tsp baking powder
210g flour
Method:
1. Sieve flour and baking powder together
2. Cream sugar, bananas for 1 min. until light and fluffy. Add eggs in, beat 2 min and cream until light. Pour in melted butter. Mix well.
3. Fold in sifted flour, mix well and pour into a 8 in cake tin and bake for 80 mins at 356F (180C). Temperature varies.