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

  After tucking in all the yummy food and goodies during the Chinese New Year, it's time to have something simple but refreshing for a change.  There is no recipe for this fruit and vegetable salad, you can just use whatever fruits and veggie you have or fancy. I've here in my salad bowl, cherry tomatoes, red cabbage, cucumber, some toasted cashew nuts, hard boiled egg and homemade Thousand Island dressing.  For ease of reference here's the recipe for the Thousand Island dressing. Recipe for Thousand Island Sauce Ingredients 1 egg yolk 2  tsp white vinegar a few drops of olive oil 2  tsp honey 20 gm chilli sauce Salt to taste Method With a wire whisk, whisk the egg yolk with vinegar till creamy. Add in the rest of the ingredients one by one and continue whisking till thick and creamy. Fine tune to desired taste. Serve as required.

Prosperity Noodles .... an auspicious dish to usher in the Year of the Snake!  Cooked this during the Chinese New Year after feasting on all the goodies and 'heavy' food, something light which was well received by my family members. Recipe for Braised Prosperity Spinach Noodles Ingredients 200 gm chicken fillet, cut into strips 2 capsicum, cut into wedges 2 tsp black bean paste 3 servings of Spinach noodles 3 pips of garlic, chopped 1.1/2  tsp cornflour + 2 tsp water to thicken Marinade for chicken :  1/4  tsp each of salt, sugar, light and dark soya sauce, dash of pepper Method Marinate the chicken fillet for an hour or so, set aside. In a wok, saute the chopped garlic with some oil till fragrant, add in the black bean paste, stir-fry, add in the the marinated chicken fillet. Add in 1/2 cup water and simmer till chicken is cooked. Toss in the capsicum, add in thickening and fine tune to ...

Wishing All my Readers and Friends A very Happy and Prosperous New Year ~Gong Xi Fa Cai~

For X'mas I had a wonderful gift from my three musketeers ~ the much awaited Cuisinart Ice Cream Maker!  I'm very pleased with this  gift as the freezer bowl just fits snugly in my freezer compartment without having to take out the shelves to make room for it.  I was very eager to try out the much talked about yummy ice cream that the Cuisinart Ice Cream maker can churn out.  I've made ice cream before, years ago with my old faithful Kenwood Chef but it was indeed time consuming as I've got to freeze and cream the mixture many times and with long waiting periods in between.   Yummy, smooth Chocolate ice cream, just what you need to cool down during a hot day.   Why not make this and serve to your visitors during Chinese New Year  or  as dessert after a sumptuous reunion dinner ...........Ooops, it's melting! Recipe for Chocolate Ice Cream   (adapted from  JoyofBaking.com with recipe and video) ...

These Cherry Choc-Chip cookies are light and slightly chewy.  The choc chips melt in the mouth and the sweet aroma fills the house.  Kids may find the little dots of red from the cherries too tempting to resist, just right for the coming Chnese New Year! Recipe for Cherry Choc-Chip Cookies Ingredients 125 gm Butter or Margarine 100 gm  caster sugar 50 gm Brown sugar 1 egg 200 gm self-raising flour 70 gm red cherries, chopped 70 gm white choc-chips 70 gm choc chips Pinch of salt Method Sift the self-raising flour with salt, set aside. Cream butter with sugar till creamy.  Add in the egg. Fold in sifted flour.  Add in the choc chips and chopped cherries, mix well. Cover the dough and let rest in the fridge for about 1/2 an hour. Drop 2 level teaspoonfuls onto a parchment lined baking tray. Bake in a preheated oven @ 180 deg. C for 10 to 12 mins. Cool on tray for 5 mins. before removing them onto a wire rack to cool completely. ...

This is a luscious rich, moist chocolately cake.  The Guinness stout does pair well with the chocolate, although the taste of stout is not overwhelming.  Definitely tastes much better the next day. Recipe for Guinness Chocolate Cake   (adapted from Nigella Lawson with slight modification) Ingredients 250 ml Guinness Stout    250 gm butter 45 gm cocoa powder 220 gm brown sugar 110 gm caster sugar 3/8 cup yoghurt (measuring cup halfway between 1/4 and 1/2) 2 eggs 1/2  Tbsp vanilla 275 gm plain flour 2.1/2  tsp baking soda A pinch of salt Method Sift the flour with baking soda and salt, set aside. Melt the butter and Guinness stout.  Remove from heat, add sugar, cocoa and whisk together.  Let cool. Beat yoghurt, eggs and vanilla till thoroughly combined. Add to stout mixture and whisk together.  Add sifted flour and whsk again till smooth.  Batter is a bit runny. Pour batter into a well gre...

I was curious when I saw this post by Ann of  Anncoojournal .  Never thought of adding 'Bak Kwa' or BBQ meat into cookies....hmmm wonder how the cookies would taste.   To satisfy my curiosity I made them and was not disappointed at all.  They were not too sweet, a wee bit savoury,  fragrant and chewy, not a bad choice cookie for the Chinese New Year! Recipe for Bak Kwa Cookies ~ CNY 2013   (adapted from Anncoojournal but with slight modifications) Ingredients 75 gm butter 50 gm shortening 35 gm icing sugar 1/2 an egg 1/2  tsp vanilla 200 gm plain flour, sifted 65 gm Bak Kwa, diced small Method Cream butter, shortening and sugar till light and fluffy. Add in egg and beat till well mixed. Add vanilla, mix well. Fold in sifted flour and add in the Bak Kwa pieces, mix thoroughly. Shape the dough roughly into a rectangle,  wrap up in cling film and chill in the fridge for 30 mins. till firm. Cut up the dough into...

This is my first attempt cooking this dish and I'm glad that it turned out well.  The dish is indeed very tasty and the briny oyster proves to be a perfect compliment to the mushroom.  It tasted much better the next day.  I'll definitely be making this dish for the Chinese New Year reunion dinner as it can be prepared a day or two ahead and kept in the freezer.   Moreover, oysters are called 'Hoe Si' in Cantonese which means 'good tidings' and it's most auspicious for the New Year! Recipe for Braised Spare Ribs with Mushroom and Oyster Ingredients 600 gm spare ribs                                                              8 Shitake mushro...