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

I've frequently made this mung bean sweet soup or 'tong sui' during this crazy, hazy weather but this is the first time that I'm serving it with freshly shredded jackfruit or   大樹菠 蘿 .      An Indonesian friend gave me the idea for she said that it was the normal practice in her kampong.  I was a bit skeptical at first but I believe that there's no harm in trying some thing new.   The jackfruit did add some fragrance to the sweet soup and made it more delicious! Recipe for Jackfruit Mung Bean Sweet Soup ~   绿豆糖水 Ingredients                       300 gm mung beans Jaggery powder to taste 2.1/2 litre water 5 pieces screwpine/pandan leaves, slit and tied like a bunch Jackfruit, shredded Method Wash the mung beans and boil in a pot of water.   Add in the pandan leaves and boil till the beans have softened. Add in the jaggery powder, mix well to taste. Before servin...

This is a delicious, fast and easy dish which can be prepared for lunch or dinner.  The chicken has a slight tinge of sweetness and the added herbs lent a sweet smelling fragrance to the dish.  Serve with rice or plain white porridge. Recipe for Herbal Soya Sauce Chicken ~ 药材酱油鸡  Ingredients 800 gm free-range chicken, chopped 1.1/2 Tbsp light soya sauce  1/2 Tbsp dark soya sauce pinch of salt 3 pcs Star Anise 1 bulb of garlic 2 pcs Dong Quai/Angelica sinensis 3 pcs Pak Kei/Astrgalus root 4 cups water Rock sugar to taste 2 to 4 pcs of  fried bean curd (optional) 2 hard boiled eggs  (optional) Method Heat up a wok with a bit of oil and lightly fry the garlic and star anise. Add in the water, sauces and once the water starts to boil, add in the chicken pices. Add in the dong quai and pak kei, salt and some rock sugar. Let it simmer for a while, then add in the bean curd and hard boiled eggs. Once the chicken is cooked, fi...

I love red bean, be it  in kuih, mooncakes, rice dumpling or other pastries with red bean paste filling.   This was my first attempt at making the red bean paste from scratch and had to admit that it was really very time consuming.  Nonetheless this sticky rice cake or glutinous rice cake with red bean paste, was indeed very delicious especially when taken fresh from the pan.  I like it that it was not deep-fried but pan-fried with very little oil when using a non-stick pan.  Great to snack on with a good old cup of hot Chinese tea! Recipe for Sticky Rice Cake with Red Bean Paste ~  芝麻豆沙饼 (adapted from 'here' ) Ingredients 250 gm glutinous rice flour and extra to dust 200 to 230 ml water 360 gm red bean paste, homemade 1/2 cup sesame seeds Oil for frying Method Put glutinous rice flour into a mixing bowl.  Gradually add water to mix into a soft, pliable dough that doesn't stick to the hand. Cover dough with a we...

This is a 'cheat' version of chicken puff as I didn't make the rough puff pastry dough from scratch.  It was store-bought, Kawan puff pastry to be exact.  Why Oriental?   Simply because the chicken filling was cooked the Chinese way with soya and oyster sauces, plus a drizzle of sesame oil with onions and frozen peas thrown in.   They were indeed delicious and was perfect to snack on. Recipe for Chicken Puff ~ Oriental  (鸡肉千层酥皮) Ingredients 350 gm chicken breast, cubed 2 onion, cubed 100 gm frozen peas 3 sheets of Kawan puff pastry Egg glaze Seasoning 1 Tbsp light soya sauce, 1/2 Tbsp each of dark soya sauce and oyster sauce, 1/4 tsp salt, 2 tsps sugar, a dash of pepper, sesame oil and 3 tsp cornflour + 2 Tbsp water to thicken. Method Season the chicken with the above seasoning.  Lightly fry the onions, then the chicken.  Once cooked, add in the frozen peas.  Mix in thickening and fine tune to taste. Th...

This is another delicious yet super easy dish to prepare.  Not only does this dish goes well with rice, you can use this pork fillet as a sandwich filling as well.  I made my sandwich with these and enjoyed it tremendously. Recipe for Panfried Lemon Grass Pork Fillet  ~   香茅煎猪肉片 Ingredients 350 gm pork fillet 4 calamansi Marinade 6 pips of garlic, minced 2 Birdeye chillies, chopped 2 Tbsp fish sauce 1 Tbsp light soya sauce 3 tsp brown sugar 1/4 tsp dark soya sauce 3 stalks lemon grass, crushed and chopped Method Mix all the ingredients for the marinade. Rub the marinade evenly on the meat, set aside for a few hours, preferably overnight. Heat oil, pan-fry on both sides till golden brown. Remove and arrange on serving plate.  Drizzle on the calamansi juice before serving.

This post has been sitting on my desk for quite some time as I've been busy making mooncakes and posting the recipes on my blog for the mid-autumn mooncake festival.   This Nigella Lawson's mother-in-law's Madeira cake does not need much introduction as many fellow bloggers have made and posted the recipe in their respective blogs.  This lemony flavoured cake is soft and moist and is great for breakfast and double up for tea! Recipe for Madeira Cake ~  马德拉蛋糕  (adapted from 'here' ) Ingredients 240 gm butter 150 gm caster sugar Zest of 1 lemon 6 Tbsp lemon juice 3 large eggs, lightly beaten 210 gm self-raising flour 90 gm plain flour Raw sugar for topping Method Sift flours, set aside. Cream butter and sugar till light and creamy, add in lemon zest. Add beaten eggs in three batches, with a tablespoon of flour for each addition at low speed. Gently mix in the rest of the flour in a few batches. Add in the lemon juice. Pour batte...

These crispy straws, full of cinnamon fragrance are perfect for snacking and great to satisfy your hunger pangs while waiting for lunch or dinner to be served.   I kept them in a bottle and they stayed crispy and fresh even after a week. Recipe for Cinnamon dusted puff pastry straws Ingredients 1 piece frozen puff pastry, thawed (store bought Kawan pastry) 1 egg, whisked Cinnamon raw sugar Method Lightly whisk the egg. Roll out the pastry to 1/8 inch thick, then brush with egg wash. Sprinkle the whole surface with cinnamon, then sprinkle on the raw sugar. Cut into 3/4 inch strips with a sharp knife. Twist each strip and place on a  parchment lined baking sheet. Bake in a preheated oven at 180 deg.C for about 15 - 20 mins till golden brown. Let cool and keep in a bottle. Yield :  10 pastry straws.

I'll round off my mooncake posts for this year with this Gold Fish Snowskin Moocakes.  I love the colours of these goldfish and it was indeed an attraction especially with the kids.  The recipe is the same as with my other snowskin moonies except that I use four different colours to 'create' this Gold fish.   Don't you agree that they are too pretty to be eaten? Recipe for Gold Fish Snowskin Mooncakes ~  金 鱼冰皮月饼 ~ 2015            Ingredients 100 gm koh fun (cooked glutinous rice flour) 100 gm icing sugar 32 gm shortening 125 ml ice cold pandan water ( boil 1 cup water with a few pandan/screwpine leaves and keep refrigerated) 320 to 350 gm of cranberry paste Dried cranberries (optional) Chocolate chips for fish eyes Method Sift koh fun and icing sugar into a mixing bowl.  Mix well. Rub in shortening till it resembles breadcrumbs. Gradually add in the ice water and mix into a ball of dough. ...