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

  It's the durian season again and I'm sharing with you a simple yet fragrant Durian Butter Cake.  This recipe does not use the traditional butter totally, in fact there is oil too.  Liquid oil tends to make the cake softer and stays moist longer as it does not solidify at room temperature.  This cake is soft and moist with a tinge of durian flavour and aroma.  A breakfast or Tea time snack for durian lovers. Durian Butter Cake ~  榴莲牛油蛋糕 Ingredients 150 gm unsalted butter 190 gm plain flour 2 tsp baking powder 30 ml vegetable oil 85 gm caster sugar 3 'L' eggs 130 gm pureed durian flesh 4 Tbsp milk a pinch of salt 1/4 teaspoon vanilla Method Sift flour with baking powder and salt.  Set aside. Beat butter with sugar till well blended, add in oil and continue beating till pale and fluffy. Add in eggs one at a time, mix well. Add in pureed durian flesh, mix till well incorporated. Sift in again the sifted flour in 2 batches, alternating with the milk.  Fold in till well inc

  Three Cup Chicken is a very popular Taiwanese dish and it gets its name from the recipe which calls for a cup to measure the sauces, namely sesame oil, soy sauce, and rice wine together with some dark soy sauce, garlic, ginger, chillies and basil leaves.  This is indeed a very flavourful dish and certainly goes well with a bowl of  plain white rice......a keeper recipe for sure!  Three Cup Chicken ~ 三杯鸡 Ingredients 900 gm free-range chicken, chopped into bite size 6 Tbsp + 1 Tbsp Shaoxing wine  (the 1 Tbsp is for seasoning the chicken) 4 Tbsp light soya sauce 3 Tbsp sesame oil 1/2  Tbsp dark soya sauce 2 Tbsp sugar 12 pips garlic, chopped 10 gm ginger, sliced thinly 1 red chilli, sliced Fresh Thai Basil leaves a bit of salt Preparation Season the chicken pieces with 1/2 tsp salt and the 1 Tbsp wine for about 2 to 3 hours. Heat up a wok with 1.1/2 Tbsp sesame oil, stir-fry the seasoned chicken pieces till light brown. Push the chicken aside and add in the remaining sesame oil, garlic,

  The recipe for this Ginger Nut Chiffon Cake is adapted from my earlier post of Biscoff Chiffon Cake . As always, chiffon cakes are soft and fluffy and the crushed ginger nut cookies gave the cake an added crunch.  This cake can be enjoyed as a dessert or for an afternoon tea. Ginger Nut Chiffon Cake    ~  姜饼戚风蛋糕                        Ingredients (A) 6 'L' egg yolks 60 gm caster sugar 90 ml vegetable oil 155 gm plain flour 1 tsp baking powder 1/4 tsp salt 115 ml milk 1/2 tsp vanilla 60 gm ginger nut cookies, crushed (B) 6 'L' egg whites 1 tsp vinegar or lemon juice 60 gm caster sugar Method Sift four with baking powder, salt.  Set aside. Using a handheld whisk, whisk egg yolks with sugar till creamy.  Add in oil, milk and vanilla, whisk till well incorporated. Sift in the flour mixture, fold in and add in the crushed ginger nut cookies. In a clean mixing bowl, beat the egg whites till frothy, add in the vinegar or lemon juice, beat till foamy, add in the sugar in 3 ba

  This Meat Floss Butter Roll is soft, chewy with a little bit of sweetness and has a buttery flavour.  As I have some meat floss at hand, I added it in to make the roll more yummy.  The roll does taste good on its own too.  Although bread making is very time consuming, but there's a difference between homemade and store bought ones and believe me homemade ones are definitely much better.  I did share before a Meat Floss Ring recipe using the tangzhong method.  You can stop by 'here'  to have a look. Meat Floss Butter Roll  ~ 肉松黄油面包卷  Ingredients 30 gm egg (beaten) 120 gm ice water 25 gm sugar 3 gm dry yeast 250 gm high protein flour 3 gm salt 15 gm milk powder 25 gm unsalted soft butter 10 gm or more beaten egg for glaze later Meat floss as filling (optional) Sea salt flakes or white sesame seeds (optional) Method Pour 30 gm beaten egg into the mixing bowl of a stand mixer.  Add in ice water, sugar and yeast.   Add in high protein flour, salt and milk powder.  Attach a dou

  This mango butter cake is soft, spongy and not too sweet.  It has the flavour and aroma of mango and the buttery taste is not too dominating.  Butter can be replaced with oil but consistency will be a bit runny.  This cake can be enjoyed at all times of the day, be it for breakfast, tea or as a dessert to round off a hearty meal. Mango Butter Cake Ingredients 115 gm butter 80 gm caster sugar or brown sugar 2 eggs 100 gm mango puree 120 gm plain flour 1 tsp baking powder 1/4 tsp baking soda a pinch of salt 1 tsp vanilla essence Method Puree the mango till smooth and set aside. Sift the flour with the baking powder, baking soda and salt.  Set aside. Beat butter and sugar till creamy, light and fluffy. Add in eggs one at a time on low speed.  Incorporate thoroughly. Add in the mango puree, mix well. Sift in the flour mixture, mix well. Scoop the batter into a lightly greased 8.5 inch by 4.5 inch dish or loaf pan. Level the surface.  Bake in a preheated oven for about 40 to 45 mins. @ 18

Since I have recently acquired an Air Fryer I wanted to make use of it to try various recipes.  I like to use the Air Fryer as it makes clean-up very much easier and I don't have to deal with a greasy kitchen when deep frying in a pot of oil or even panfry.  Also it's more healthy as only a little oil is used and the chicken is not submerged in oil.  The crust of the Airfried Shrimp Paste Chicken is crackly and tasty and the meat is juicy too.  I kept them in the Air Fryer for about half an hour before serving and the crust was still crispy. Airfried Shrimp Paste Chicken ~空气炸锅 虾酱鸡   Ingredients 460 gm from 2 deboned whole leg of chicken (you can use bone-in chicken too) Seasoning for chicken 3/4 Tbsp shrimp paste 1 Tbsp shaoxing wine 1/2 Tbsp sugar 1/2Tbsp sesame oil 1/4 Tbsp oyster sauce A dash of white pepper Flour mixture 1/2 cup plain flour 1/2 Tbsp cornflour (helps to make the chicken skin crispy) 1/2 tsp baking powder (helps to dry out moisture before airfrying) Method Mi

  Ginger Nut biscuits have a unique blend of taste, sweet and spicy at the same time and I made my version of Ginger Nut cookies with crushed Arnotts Ginger Nut biscuits.  Ginger Nut biscuit on its own is a hard biscuit and needs to be dunked in milk to soften and enjoy it.  No mixer is required in this recipe and the cookies can be made in a relative short time.  This cookie is crunchy at the sides and slightly chewy in the centre.  You can also make this cookie with other biscuits like Biscoff or Digestive biscuits. Ginger Nut Cookies ~  姜饼曲奇 Ingredients 115 gm vegetable oil 70 gm caster sugar or soft brown sugar 1 'L' egg 185 gm plain flour 1/2 teasp baking soda 1/8 teasp salt 110 gm Arnotts ginger nut cookies, crushed 1/4 teasp vanilla essence Method Sift the flour with baking soda, salt, set aside In a mixing bowl, beat the oil and sugar with a hand whisk till creamy. Break in the egg, beat and mix well.  Add in vanilla essence. Sift in the flour and fold in with a spatula