No-Frills Recipes ... cooking, baking & excerpts on travel

Protein rich Silken Tau Fu/Beancurd by itself is bland in taste and therefore it needs to be cooked with some meat or seafood with some sauces added to it to make the dish tasty.  Tau fu with minced pork is a home-cooked dish that's very commonly found in a Chinese house-hold.  This is also a very quickie and easy way to cook tau fu to serve on the dining table in a relatively short time.  Mashed Silken Tau fu/Beancurd  ~  粉碎 豆腐     Ingredients 1 tub silken beancurd 2 shitake mushrooms, soaked to soften and cut into small pieces 50 gm pork fillet, cut into cubes 2 pips of garlic, chopped 1 Tbsp oyster sauce (divided) 1 tsp light soy sauce 1 egg white (optional) 1 tsp cornflour Salt to taste Sesame oil Method Season the pork with 1/2 Tbsp oyster sauce, light soy sauce, sesame oil, salt and cornflour, set aside. Saute the seasoned pork with the chopped garlic till fragrant.  Add in the shitake mushrooms, some water, simmer for a few minutes till the meat is cooked. Add in the silken

  One of my family's favourite to have for breakfast or tea is the evergreen Chiffon Cake, be it in whatever flavour.   I have posted different flavours of chiffon cakes on my blog and this time I used matcha powder, and chocolate powder mixed with matcha powder not only for flavour but to create some swirl patterns.  As always chiffon cakes are light, airy, soft and most delectable. Chocolate and Matcha Chiffon Cake  ~   巧克力抹茶戚风蛋糕 Ingredients (A) 6 'L' egg yolks 90 gm caster sugar 75 ml milk 75 ml oil 75 gm plain flour 3 Tbsp cornflour a pinch of salt 2.1/4 tsp matcha powder (divided) 1/2 tsp chocolate powder 1/8 tsp vanilla (B) 6 'L' egg whites 65 gm caster sugar Method Sift the plain flour with the cornflour and salt.  Set aside. Whisk the egg yolks with sugar till creamy, add in the oil followed by the milk and mix till well combined.  Add in the sifted flour mixture and mix thoroughly. Divide the batter into 3 portions.  Sift in 1 tsp matcha powder into one por

  This is an easy peasy chicken dish to whip up in the kitchen which can pair well with plain white rice or plain congee.  Ingredients are not complicated and mostly available in the kitchen, but it's best to season the chicken first before stir frying them. Black Bean Sauce Chicken   ~   黑豆酱鸡 Ingredients 450 gm  chicken, cut into bite size (whole leg of chicken and breast) 2 tsp black bean sauce 4 pips of garlic, chopped 1 big onion cut into wedges 1 chilli, chopped 1 small Carrot, cut into slices Curry leaves Bit of sugar to taste Method Season the chicken with a pinch of salt. Saute the chopped garlic with the curry leaves and black bean sauce till fragrant. Add in the seasoned chicken, stir fry and sprinkle on some water if the dish is too dry. Simmer till chicken is cooked and tender. Add in the sliced carrot and onion wedges.  Fine tune to taste with a bit of sugar. Toss in the chopped chilli. Dish up to serve.

  Angel Food Cake is a meringue based sponge cake with no butter, no oil and no baking powder or any rising agent.  It's aerated texture comes from the beaten egg whites.  This cake is soft, cloud-like, pillowy with a slight tinge of orange and is great to serve as dessert with some whipped cream, berries and in my case I chose grapes. Angel Food Cake ~~  天使蛋糕 Ingredients (A) 100 gm superfine flour  (plain flour also can be used) 90 gm caster sugar    (B)                                                         1.1/4 cups egg whites (approx. from 9 'L' eggs)  90 gm caster sugar  1/4 tsp salt 1.1/2 tsp cream of tartar OR 2.1/2 tsp lemon juice        1/2 tsp vanilla paste or 1 tsp vanilla essence (I used vanilla paste) Method Pour the egg whites into a clean mixing bowl.  (Egg whites should be at room temperature for them to inflate well).  Set aside for about 30 mins. Mix the flour with the caster sugar, sift thrice.  Set aside. Add lemon juice, salt and vanilla paste into t

  Another quickie and fuss-free meat dish to serve on the table without a greasy kitchen to clean up later.  I used simple pantry ingredients to prepare this dish.  Just mix up the ingredients, rub the meat with some olive oil, coat the meat with the seasoning rub, give it a good massage.  Let the meat sit in the zip lock bag overnight in the fridge. Next day take the meat out to rest at room temperature, heat up the oven and the meat is ready to go into the oven. Oven Roasted Teriyaki Pork Tenderloin Ingredients 550 gm pork tenderloin, cut into 2 Some olive oil 1.1/2 Tbsp honey 1.1/2 tsp light soy sauce 1/2 tsp salt 1/4 tsp dark soy sauce 2 Tbsp Teriyaki sauce 2 cloves garlic, chopped 1 tsp chopped ginger Lightly toasted sesame seeds Spring onions for garnishing Method Whisk, honey, teriyaki sauce, garlic, ginger together.  Set aside. Rub some olive oil on the meat. Place the marinade in a zip lock bag, add in the pork tenderloin, swish to let them coated.  Rest for a few hours or pre

  The recipe for these Raisin Buns was adapted from  my post of   Wool Roll Bread  but the buns were baked in a muffin pan instead.  I should have spaced out the buns in the pan for the second proofing to give more room for them to 'rise' so that they won't stick together.  A few of the buns rose much bigger and had to be gently 'separated' after baked.   Raisin Buns  ~   葡萄干包子 Ingredients 300 gm high protein flour or bread flour 30 gm sugar 1 tsp seasalt 1 egg  (55 gm or 65 gm) 80 ml for 55 gm egg or 70 ml milk if egg is 65 gm 25 gm melted butter Egg wash (1 whole egg + 1.1/2 tsp water to dilute) 80 gm raisins (soak in water for 5 mins. to plump them up) 80 ml warm milk )    Yeast  1 tsp dry yeast      )  mixture Method Prepare a greased muffin pan. Prepare the  yeast mixture by mixing 80 ml  warm  milk to 1 teasp of dry yeast.  Give it a stir and let rest for about 10 mins. to let it ferment. Mix the milk with melted butter.  (If using a 55 gm egg, make 80 ml milk

Another easy peasy way of making use of over-ripe bananas.  No mixer is required in this recipe, just mix everything together till fully incorporated.  This Banana Bread is moist with a bit of crunch from the almond topping and it tastes much better the next day when the flavours have been infused together. Moist Banana Almond Bread       Ingredients 3 over ripe bananas, mashed 2 'L'eggs, slightly beaten 160 gm plain flour 50 gm wholemeal flour 100 gm Rapadura sugar 1/2 cup vegetable oil 1/4 cup milk 1 tsp sodium bicarbonate 1 tsp vanilla 30 gm almond slivers a pinch of salt Method Combine oil, eggs, sugar, milk, vanilla and mashed bananas. Sift in sodium bicarbonate, plain and wholemeal flour and salt.  Mix well. Pour the batter into a greased loaf pan.   Level the surface and tap the pan lightly to evenly distribute the batter. Sprinkle on the almond slivers. Bake in a preheated oven @ 180 deg.C for 45 mins. to 1 hour till golden brown. Remove the pan from the oven, let cool