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

  These cookies are crunchy on the outside and a bit soft and chewy on the inside.  They are healthy cookies with sunflower seeds and whole grains giving a unique and delicious flavour.  I used instant oats in this recipe and they tend to soften the cookies somewhat but if you prefer them to be more crunchy when you consume the next day, just pop them into the oven toaster for a minute or two. You may like to add this onto your CNY to-do list of cookies. Sunflower Oatmeal Cookies    ~   向日葵麦片曲奇饼   Ingredients 60 gm butter 80 gm brown sugar 20 gm caster sugar 120 gm plain flour 1 egg 1 tsp vanilla 1/4 tsp cinnamon 1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda 1/4 tsp salt 100 gm raw sunflower seeds 80 gm oats (instant or rolled oats) I used instant oats Method With a hand mixer beat butter with brown and caster sugar till well combined.  Add in egg and vanilla. Sift in the flour, bicarbonate of soda, cinnamon and salt.  Mix well. Fold in the sunflower seeds followed by the oats.  Mix till well combined.

  'Tau you bak' in Hokkien or 'Braised Pork Belly in Soy Sauce' in Cantonese is a very homey dish.  The main sauces are light and dark soy sauce with the addition of some spices like cinnamon, pepper and star anise and in this recipe I also added some oyster sauce, which is optional.  The addition of hard boiled eggs infused with the intense gravy makes this a very delicious and tasty dish.  Pair it with some sambal belacan to make it more appetising and appealing. Tau Yu Bak  ~   Braised Pork Belly in Soy Sauce ( 豆油肉 ) Ingredients 700 gm pork belly cut into 1.1/2 inch 1 Tbsp oyster sauce 1 Tbsp light soy sauce 1.1/2 Tbsp dark soy sauce 8 cloves garlic 1 cinnamon stick 2 star anise some pepper rock sugar to taste Hard boiled eggs Method Marinate the pork belly with oyster and light soy sauce for a few hours or preferably overnight. Saute the garlic with cinnamon stick and star anise with some oil in a wok. Toss in the marinated pork.  Stir-fry, add in the some hot water

Lactation cookies are Greek to me until I googled for more information.  My daughter introduced this to me and she said they are easily available online. These cookies are mainly for nursing mothers who require an ample flow of milk supply to feed their babies especially the new borns.  The three key milk-boosting ingredients which have been known to increase milk supply are Brewer's yeast, Flaxseeds and Rolled Oats.  Some recipes do not require Brewer's yeast and yet yield good results and some recipes use coconut oil, vegetable oil instead of butter.  Basically they taste just like healthy Choc chip Oatmeal cookies but the added ingredients do help to generate more milk in nursing mothers. Lactation Cookies  ~  哺乳期曲奇饼   Ingredients 125 gm butter 160 gm brown sugar 1 egg 120 gm plain flour 1/2 tsp baking soda 185 gm rolled oats 20 gm chopped almonds (optional) 85 gm dark chocolate chips 2 Tbsp Brewer's yeast 1 Tbsp Flaxseed meal (ground Flaxseed) 2 Tbsp water 1 tsp vanilla

  Previously I used the breadmaker to help me make bread using the tangzhong method as I find the dough a bit wet and messy to handle by hand.   I was very keen to give it a try after browsing through the posts of  ''Bake with paws''  and was indeed very happy when I finally, yes, finally managed to handle the dough by hand.  I noted her tip of not adding the milk all at once and to add it gradually as different types of flour have different degrees of absorption.  I managed to get 10 soft, slightly chewy buns and I freezed some of them for a few days, defrosted and reheated before consumption.  They were just as good as freshly baked.   Baked Char Siew Buns ~ (Tangzhong method) ~  叉烧面包  (adapted from  'here'  ) Ingredients  - Tangzhong 25 gm high protein flour 120 ml water Main dough 300 gm high protein flour 1 tsp dry yeast 2 Tbsp sugar 20 gm milk powder 1/2 tsp salt 30 gm butter, softened 40 gm whisked egg 100 ml milk (I used only 80 ml) 1 whole egg + 1 tsp

  I was a bit apprehensive when I wanted to try making a chiffon cake with wholemeal flour.  If I were to use wholemeal flour totally, will the chiffon turn out to be dense or will it not rise or only rise a fair bit? As wholemeal flour is heavy and coarse I had to make adjustments to the normal recipes I used for my chiffon cakes.  So I browsed through my chiffon cake recipes and decided on a mixture of wholemeal and plain flour with an additional egg white to fluff up the batter.  I was delighted when the finished product turned out well, the cake didn't collapse when inverted and the taste was good, light, soft and refreshing wthout much hint of coarse wholemeal.  Wholemeal Chiffon Cake   ~   全麦戚风蛋糕 Ingredients (A) 5 'L' egg yolks 30 gm light brown sugar or caster sugar 75 ml vegetable oil 75 ml milk 75 gm wholemeal flour 45 gm plain flour 1 tsp baking powder 1/2 tsp vanilla a pinch of salt (B) 6 'L' egg whites 75 gm light brown sugar or caster sugar 1/2 tsp crea

  Fish Maw is the commercial term for dried fish bladders of large fishes like sturgeon.  Fish Maw (鱼鳔)  is cheaper and more affordable than shark fins or birds nest but the higher grade Fa Gau  ( 花膠) is very much more expensive.  Fish maw is bland in taste but the spongy texture allows it to absorb flavours from the other ingredients.  Here I am sharing with you a Fish Maw stew which can be easily done at home far more cheaper than what you have to pay for when eating this in a restaurant. Fish Maw Stew ~  鱼鳔羹  Ingredients 4 shitake mushrooms, soaked, stemmed and sliced 25 gm dried fish maw, soaked in hot water and cut 150 gm chicken breast meat, shredded 2 cloves of garlic, chopped 1 tsp chopped ginger 1 litre chicken broth 1 Tbsp oyster sauce 1 egg, beaten 2 tsp cornstarch + 2 tsp water for thickening 2 tsp sesame oil 1 Tbsp Shaoxing wine Pepper Salt to taste Balsamic vinegar (optional) Method Saute the mushrooms with the chopped garlic and ginger till fragrant. Add in the chicken b

  These healthy Chocolate Almond Muffins are grain free and serve as a perfect breakfast for the whole family or to snack on at any time of the day. They are moist, soft, full of chocolate flavour and bursting with chocolate chips with added crunch from the almond slivers. Chocolate Almond Muffins  ~    巧克力杏仁玛芬 Ingredients 188 gm plain flour 45 gm cocoa powder 1 Tbsp cornstarch 130 gm caster sugar 1/4 tsp baking soda 1 tsp baking powder 1/8 tsp salt 2 'L' eggs 1 cup buttermilk (milk + 1 Tbsp vinegar or lemon juice to make 1 cup) 1/2 cup oil 1 tsp vanilla 50 gm chocolate chips Almond slivers to sprinkle Method Sift flour, cocoa powder, cornstarch, salt, baking soda and baking powder into a mixing bowl.  Add in sugar, whisk to combine. In another bowl, whisk eggs, oil, buttermilk and vanilla. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients, mix just to combine.  Overmixing will make tough muffins. Divide the batter between the paper lined muffin pan.  Sprinkle chocolate chips and