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

Each Chinese New Year, I would get a Nian Gao, sticky rice cake as an offering for prayers as Nian Gao is a homonym for  'higher year',  which symbolises increasing prosperity and higher achievement for the coming year.  Therefore it is considered good luck to eat Nian Gao during this period.  Instead of frying the Nian Gao with batter like what I did 'here' , this time I chose to just wrap it up with a piece of puff pastry and dump it into the oven, and the ultimate result,  yummy gluey Nian Gao with crispy pastry! Puff Pastry Nian Gao   ~   酥皮年糕 Ingredients 10 small pieces of Nian Gao about 1.1/2 x 3/4 x 1/2 inch  10 pieces of 4 x 4 inch Kawan puff pastry Egg glaze Method Place a piece of Nian Gao onto a piece of puff pastry Apply beaten egg all round the edges Roll up, and use a fork to seal the two ends Place seams side down onto a parchment lined baking tray Apply egg glaze ...

Poon Choy (盆菜) or 'Big Bowl feast'  is traditionally a Chinese New Year dish and it signifies an abundance of wealth and prosperity.  The choice of ingredients are your own preference and here I have prepared a seafood poon choi with nine ingredients.  The dish should be eaten layer by layer from the top to the bottom and not just dig up the whole pot from the bottom.. As this is my first attempt preparing this dish, I made a small portion on the 15th day or the last day of  CNY, which is Chap Goh Mey.  Having this dish in a Chinese restaurant is pretty expensive especially during the Chinese New Year period and preparing it youself is definitely more economical and moreover you get to eat what you like to eat.  For more information on Poon Choi, take a look at  'Wikipedia'. Layering the Poon Choi Seafood Poon Choy ~   海鲜盆菜 Ingredients 1 small Napa Cabbage 1 can of abalone 2 dried fish bladder 4 big shita...

There is a huge variety of cookies come every Chinese New Year and this time I'm sharing with you a very simple and easy to make Nestum Raisin Cookies.  The ingredients are very basic for any cookie recipe but the star ingredient is of course, Nestum.  Crunchy and crispy Nestum Raisin Cookies to serve your guests this Chinese New Year and I hope you will like it! Nestum Raisin Cookies ~  CNY 2020   麦片葡萄干饼干 Ingredients 250 gm butter 140 gm caster sugar 280 gm self-raising flour 1 egg yolk 40 gm Nestum 60 gm raisins 1/2 tsp vanilla a pinch of salt More Nestum to coat Method Beat butter and sugar till creamy, add in the egg yolk and vanilla, mix well. Sift in the flour, add in the nestum and raisins.  Mix well. Pinch some dough about the size of a 20 cent coin, lightly roll onto some Nestum to coat and place onto a parchment lined baking tray, about an inch apart. Bake in a preheated oven @ 180 deg.C for about 10 to 15 mins....

These Hup Toh Soh (Chinese Walnut Biscuits) are without hup toh/walnuts.  I do remember from young that the traditional Hup Toh Soh that I ate those days were quite big, around 4 inches in diameter or because I was small and to me everything looked big!  They were made with lard and were very crunchy but there wasn't any trace of hup toh in them and nobody asked why.   Although these biscuits are without walnuts, they are still crunchy and yummy.  If you are allergic to nuts, this is a recipe for you.  Give this a try for the coming Chinese New Year. However, if you would like to have a recipe of  Hup Toh Soh with walnuts, do hop in 'here'. Hup Toh Soh  (Chinese Walnut Biscuits)  ~   CNY 2020  核桃酥 Ingredients 300 gm plain flour                                                    ...

Bak kwa or Pork Jerky is one of the most  sought after item during the Chinese New Year.  Other then cookies, well wishers choose to present this as a gift to their relatives and friends and one may see some makeshift tents by the roadside, barbecuing the pork jerky for sale.  Pork jerky can be eaten on its own as finger food alongside cold beer or with bread as a sandwich filling.  But today I'm sharing with you my version of using pork jerky as an ingredient with noodles. Bak Kwa Mee Suah  ~  猪肉干粗麵線          Ingredients 2 servings of dried  thick Mee Suah 2 eggs, scrambled some julienned carrot some shredded lettuce 1/2 tsp dark soya sauce light soya sauce and salt to taste 50 gm Bak Kwa, cut into small pieces 3 chopped garlic sesame oil Method Cook the mee suah in a pot of boiling water, Drain and set aside. In a non-stick pan, scramble the eggs, add in some light soya sauce, dish out. Sh...

A little bit of spiciness to usher in the Year of the Dog .... Sambal Shrimp Cookies!  The name may sound a bit weird but then there's always room for innovation and creativity.  I was just experimenting with this reicpe to make something different and surprisingly it yielded good result. Well at least the family members who were my guinea pigs gave a nod of approval! Sambal Shrimp Cookie ~  參巴蝦醬曲奇 Ingredients 180 gm plain flour, sifted 120 gm butter 40 gm icing sugar 1.1/2 to 2 Tbsp sambal udang (depending on spiciness) Curry leaves finely chopped Method Cream butter with icing sugar till light and creamy. Add in curry leaves and sambal udang,  mix well. Add in the sifted flour and lightly mix to form a soft dough. Cover with cling wrap and let chill in the fridge for about half an hour. Roll out the dough in between plastic sheets and stamp out the cookies with a cookie cutter. Arrange the cookies on a parchment lined baking tray...

These cookies can be served during the coming festive season or can be made into smaller pieces as a gift to relatives and friends.  The sugary top of these almond cookies adds a nice crunch and that's what makes them special. Sugary Almond Cookies ~  含糖杏仁曲奇 Ingredients 220 gm plain flour 30 gm almond powder 150 gm butter 100 gm icing sugar 2 egg yolks 1/4 tsp salt 1/2 tsp vanilla 1 beaten egg white raw sugar or granulated sugar to sprinkle Method Sieve flour with salt and set aside. Cream butter with icing sugar, add in egg yolks and fold in sifted flour and almond powder. Mix to combine.  Cover with cling wrap and keep in the fridge for about an hour. Roll into balls about the size of a golf ball, flatten with a fork, brush with some beaten egg white and sprinkle some raw sugar on top. Bake in a preheated oven @ 170 deg.C for about 20 mins. until golden brown. Yield :  18 cookies

Chinese New Year is not too far away from now, in 2018, it falls on 16th February and we usher in the year of the Dog.  This is a very addictive crispy snack and it's different from my previous post of Orange Sesame Almond Crisps for I used almond walnut powder instead of almond meal.  It tastes just as good. Pumpkin almond crisps  ~  南瓜杏仁片脆饼  Ingredients 45 gm caster sugar 23 gm plain flour, sifted 16 gm almond walnut powder 100 gm almond flakes 30 gm pumpkin kernels 20 gm sesame seeds 1.1/2 eggs 2 tsp chia seeds 1 tsp vanilla Method Beat eggs and sugar till sugar has dissolved.  Add in vanilla, mix well. Stir in the sifted flour and the rest of the ingredients. Mix till well combined and let the mixture rest for about half an hour. Drop 1/2 teaspoonfull mixture onto a parchment lined baking tray and using the back of the spoon, spread out the mixture, thinly. Bake in a preheated oven @ 150 deg.C for 8 to 10 mins. ti...

I was quite sceptical to try this Salted Egg cookie recipe with an addition of curry leaves but I was surprisingly pleased with the end product.   It is indeed difficult to describe the taste of these cookies except that they do have an appetising flavour.  But one thing for sure, the sweet smell of salted egg and curry leaves will linger in your kitchen for quite a while.  Check it out here for a simple and easy Salted Egg cookie recipe. Curry leaf Salted Egg Cookies ~ 咖喱叶咸蛋曲奇  Ingredients 128 gm butter 60 gm caster sugar 3 salted egg yolks, steamed for 5 mins, and mashed 188 gm plain flour 15 gm cornflour 1/4 tsp baking powder 1 egg yolk, lightly beaten to glaze a pinch of salt 20 curry leaves (depending on size), snipped till fine  Method Sift the flour with the cornflour, salt and baking powder.  Set aside. Beat butter and sugar till creamy, mix in the flour till well combined. Add in the mashed salted egg yolk an...

Here's a recipe that you may like to add onto your baking list for the coming Chinese New Year.  These shortbread like, slice and bake cookies are a bit crisp and crumbly, taste a little bit sweet and a little bit salty.  For those of you who like to snack on seaweed or nori, do give this a try. Seaweed Almond Cookies ~  紫菜杏仁饼 Ingredients 230 gm unsalted butter 320 gm plain flour 1/4 tsp bicarbonate of soda 1/4 tsp salt 4 sheets Japanese roasted seaweed ( 24 x 19 cm) 110 gm icing sugar 3 egg yolks 50 gm lightly toasted almond nibs Lightly toasted white sesame seeds for garnishing (optional) Method Sift the flour with bicarbonate of soda, salt, set aside. Cut up the seaweed and place in a chopper to chop into small pieces. With a handheld electric mixer, beat the butter with the icing sugar till well blended. Add in the egg yolks and mix well. Add in the sifted flour, mix well.  Mix in the seaweed bits and almond nibs (You can d...

Our first meal on the first day of the Lunar Chinese New Year was dumplings at  New Shanghai restaurant in the Emporium food court, away from the traditional vegetarian meal which we used to have all along.  Must admit that the food was delicious and the service  ...... Fast! I was mesmerised with the interior decor of the restaurant, nostalgic of my younger days! Shanghai stir fried noodles with pork and vegetable New Shanghai Xiao Long Bao - Steamed pork dumplings New Shanghai Pan fried pork buns (I love these, especially  the crispy underside) Crispy tofu with salted egg yolk And we were so surprised for while strolling along China town, chanced upon this filming in progress at the Chinatown Square... guess what?  It's part of Masterchef  2016 challenge between the Red and Gold teams.   After the contestants have finished cooking their food, the food will be sold to the public and whichever team garners the most sales wil...