Baked Chicken Chop with Hugarian Sauce

I've been quite busy with classes lately. I haven't find my time to cook, although I had a short list on what should I be experimenting on! So, when I had nothing better to do today, I asked my mother if I could make dinner for tonight. Baked Chicken Chop was on my lists. I've been wanting to try them for quite some times. I wanted to practice my deboning technique too. However, I forgot to buy myself some bread crumb. So, I toast some bread, and blend them finely to make my own bread crumb.

Baked Chicken Chop

2 Chicken legs - debone

1/2 nos Lemon (juice)

1 cup Bread crumbs

1 tbsp Salt and black pepper (combined)

1 eggs

1/2 cups flour

1. Marinate chicken legs in lemon juice for 2 hours.

2. Mix bread crumbs with salt and pepper.

3. Toss juice from chicken.

4. Coat chicken with standard breading procedure (flour, eggs, bread crumbs).

Hungarian Sauce

30 gm Minced onion

1 tbsp Paprika

10 gm butter

500 ml chicken veloute.

1. Sweat onion with paprika in butter until soft.

2. Add chicken veloute, and simmer for 10 minutes.

3. Strain.

Baked Chicken and Basil Spaghetti in Tomato Sauce: trying to get my kid sister to eat her vegetable

I found this cute little pot of sweet basil on sale. I've been meaning to buy myself some herbs for my kitchen (okay, it was my mum's kitchen).

A few nights later, my mother asked me to make some spaghetti for dinner. And I think, this might be a great chance to use my herbs. So I make some Chicken and Basil Spaghetti in Tomato Sauce.

My kid sister loves cheese. And I love making her eat vegetables. So I add some sliced tomatoes, and sprinkle more basil on top.

Then, I sprinkle some Mozzarella and Parmesan on top, and bake them till they're golden. With the cheese sticking on to the tomatoes, it was hard for my sister to split those two. In the end, she had to eat those tomatoes (and managed to split some of them).

Gai Hor Bai Toey/Deep Fried Chicken wrapped in Pandan Leaves

I've always wanted to try making this Gai Hor Bai Toay. I've learned them while I was still in culinary school, and there was one Thai Chef coming to our school to demonstrate a few of Thailand cuisine. I thought that the wrapping procedure looks fun! A few of my classmate did get the experience to wrap the chicken with those Pandan/Screwpine leaves. I didn't. Well, we didn't have enough Pandan leaves to begin with. 

Ingredients

500g Chicken

60g Pandan Leaves

150ml Cooking Oil

100g Palm Sugar/Brown Sugar

20g Salt

3-5 nos Pandan Leaves - blended

Pandan/Screwpine Leaves

Toothpick

1. Cut the chicken into a small size. Then, marinate with cooking oil, palm sugar, salt, oyster sauce and with blended pandan leaves. Let the chicken rest for 10 minutes.

2. After 10 minutes, put the chicken in the pandan leaves. Wrap it.

3. Steam the chicken for a while (about 2 to 5 minutes). You don't want to steam them too long, or your chicken gets dry. Then, deep fry the chicken.

Image from asianonlinerecipe

 
Sauce

100ml Water

50gm Shallot - finely chopped

40g Garlic - finely chopped

50g Brown Sugar

50ml Fish Sauce

50ml Dark Soy Sauce

100ml Coconut Milk

40g Dried Chili Powder

2 tbsp Tamarind Juice

1. Combine all ingredients in the pot, and simmer them until thick

I guess, the hardest part of making this dish is the wrapping part. I get confused, and I used too many toothpick in the first batch in wrapping them. After a few practice, the wrapping gets a lot easier.

Have fun!

Baked Macaroni with Spinach Sauce: Trying to teach my kid sister to eat her vegetable

Baked Macaroni with Spinach Sauce

My mother was saying that I have always made the same pasta sauce. So, she bought me a book of 75 classic pasta sauce. While browsing through the book, I've found a recipe of Spinach Sauce! I thought that it would be a great dish to make my kid sister eat her vegetables again.

I boiled the macaroni, saute them with some garlic and chicken fillet, and pour them into the heatproof serving dish. Then, I pour over the sauce. The sauce is made of soft cheese (I used plain cream cheese),  milk and spinach.

To cover the spinach, I sprinkle some mozzarella and a little bit of parmesan. Then, I shove them into the oven over 180° C for 15 to 20 minutes.

The final product... absolutely no trace of the greens! My kid sister finished them all, and left none for me （￣へ￣）. But I guess, it's a good thing!

Experimenting: Chocolate Dipped Marshmallow

The last time we went back to JB, my aunt mentioned that she saw someone selling marshmallow dipped with chocolate. My mother thought I should try and experimenting them. So, I browse through my recipe book, and find a recipe of marshmallow. 

The recipe was quite easy, but the cutting and dipping process was quite messy!

Waiting for the marshmallow to set! Isn't it beautiful?

So, I was supposed to drag those marshmallow onto the cornstarch/confectioners sugar mixture, but, yeah, it was so sticky, and look what happened to it! Folded!

Lets take a closer look! Yummy!

The marshmallow was cut, and dragged onto the confectioners sugar/cornstarch mixture. 

Marshmallow on stick! Ready to be dip.

And... The final product! It was fun making these, although the process was quite messy! I should revise the recipe again sometimes, as this one was quite sweet!

I had a few more marshmallows, and decided to add it all into the hot chocolate. It dissolve quickly, that it didn't even looked like marshmallow anymore. lol

Pasta Carbonara: Trying to teach my kid sister to eat her vegetable

My kid sister hates vegetables. In fact, the only vegetable she would eat is mushroom. So, the last time I made Pasta Carbonara for a friend, I was a bit surprised when my mother told me that she ate the carrots too (I usually put away some for my family). It must be the Parmesan!

Well, you see, when I was preparing the sauce, I noticed that the taste of the sausage is overpowering the Carbonara. I didn't like it. So, I put in a lot of Parmesan Cheese to cover the taste of sausage. It worked! Now, my kid sister is able to eat those carrots as the taste of those carrots has disappeared because of the Parmesan. (I'm not sure if that's a good thing, though...)

This time, I wanted to try and make her eat some of the broccoli, and put them in into the Pasta. It didn't work though... She removed the broccoli, and I had to finish them up for her. Oh well, I'll try to find some recipe where she would eat those vegetables... (I don't get it... Why do kids these days hates vegetables?)

Any recommended recipe, anyone?

Cabbage Wrap with Kimchi Paste

Cabbage Wrap and White Radishes with Kimchi Paste

I need to go on a diet. After a few months lazying around the house, I noticed that I've put up some weight. Then, my mother mentioned that my dad wanted to go on a diet too, and she needs to think of some menu for dieting. I thought that Cabbage Wrap is a good menu for dieting, and went around looking for the recipes.

However, I thought that the Cabbage Wrap looked somewhat plain. It needed some sort of dipping sauce, or gravy. I was thinking of something spicy, and remembered that cabbage would taste great in kimchi, and started to Google for some kimchi paste recipe on the internet.

The Cabbage Wrap with Kimchi Paste taste really good!! I thought that the kimchi paste was too spicy for my preferences, but after a while, I get addicted to the taste. I'm going to keep the recipe and try them again for sure!

Recipe:

2 medium size Chinese Cabbage
400g Ground Beef
1 Medium Carrot - diced/chopped
1 large Onion - chopped
1 clove garlic - chopped
Salt and Pepper

Kimchi Paste (Click for recipe)


Direction:

1. Combine ground beef with chopped carrot, garlic and onion. Season with salt and pepper.
2. Preheat oven to 180ºC.
3. Boil a large pot of water on stove, and sprinkle some salt.
4. Pull the cabbage leaf off the head carefully. Blanch the leaves a few minutes until they're tender. Dry the blanched cabbage on the chopping board.
5. Take the ground beef mixture and place on the edge of the leave. Roll the leaf. Make sure that the beef mixture is fully covered.
6. Arrange the wrapped cabbage into a casserole bowl and pour the kimchi paste on top of the cabbage.
7. Put the dish on the oven, and bake for 10 minutes at 180ºC.

Black Pepper Chicken and Mushroom in Pita

I'm not a big fan of kebabs or anything which includes pita bread. During my practical training, I used to prepare the ingredients for chicken and mushroom in pita. Once in a while I would sneak to taste the chicken and mushroom while filling them up in the pita pocket. It was delicious! However, I'd never had the chance to learn the complete recipes.

I remember onions, chicken, and mushroom as the main ingredients. Using these ingredients, I decided to make my own chicken and mushroom pita, and come out with black pepper chicken and mushroom in pita.

Ingredients:

1 no      Onion - Chopped
1 clove  Garlic - Chopped
400g     Chicken - Cubed
400g     Mushroom - Cubed
2 nos    Bay leaf
dash     Oregano
5g        Ground Black Pepper
            Salt as needed
            Corn Starch


Directions:

1. Preheat the oil in pan. Add in bay leaf, onion and garlic. Saute until soft.
2. Add in mushroom and chicken and stir frequently.
3. Add some oregano and ground black pepper. Stir in the corn starch, and season with salt.
4. Cut the pita bread, and serve the chicken in the pita pocket.

Experimenting: Ice on Patties

I went out with a friend yesterday. It was nearly 7p,m when I get back, and I hurriedly went to the kitchen. I was in charge of cooking dinner.  I was thinking of making some beef patties as my brother said he wanted to try them (the last time I made them, he was away from home), but I wasn't so sure about the starch and vegetables.

I looked up in my recipe books, and decided to try for garlic rice and salsa. Since I was a bit lazy to think of the vegetables, I added some carrots and french bean to the salsa.

In a Japanese drama called Otomen, there's an episode where the main character, Asuka teach how to cook the patties. Ice cubes were put on top and the side of the patties. Then, cover the pan, to allow them to cook with its own juice. I was thinking on experimenting them, and the patties turned out great!

Barbecue in Gold Coast, Sepang

Last week, my friends and I went to have barbecue. Well, it's Azizah's birthday, and my friends were longing to play around the beach. So, we decided to head to Gold Coast, Sepang. It took us about an hour to start the fire due to the strong winds. We ran out of matches, and borrowed a lighter from a passerby (;´ρ`).  We're famished!

This was supposed to be a mini burger. It's marinated with salt, pepper and garlic. But I guess, it turned into a meatball （　´∀｀）.

Who can resist the goodness of grilled cherry tomatoes and those button mushrooms? The mushrooms were marinated with oil, and oregano. It tasted real good! Ｏ(≧∇≦)Ｏ

Those fish fillet was marinated with bay leaves, oregano, tomato paste, oil, vinegar, and onions. I got the recipe while I was doing a practical training in Brazilian Kitchen.

The must have ingredients in barbecuing - Chicken! It's marinated with lemon juice, oil, salt and chili pepper.

I'm experimenting to grill some baby carrots. I was supposed to marinate them and bake them in aluminum foil. But, I forgot to do that. It turned out quite well too~

Order: Chocolate Cheese Cupcakes

A few days ago my brother asked me if I could make some cupcakes for his friend. I'm not really good with cupcake decorating. So, I did my best experimenting for this one. The theme for the cupcakes was black and red. But I added in some white icing too o(>< )o ｏ( ><)o I thought that that would make it more interesting

So, how does it look? Seems like I need to work on my decoration technique, eh?

Experimenting: Red Velvet Cupcake

I'm still not satisfied with the velvet cake I made last time. It didn't turn up right. The chocolate coating (which is made of chocolate spread) taste is overpowering the taste of the velvet cake. So, when I went to visit a relative, I decided to make some velvet cup cake. Moreover, there were so much cheese frosting leftover in the refrigerator.

So, I pulled the bowl and whisk, grab the ingredients, and started working in the kitchen. 

Then, I waited patiently while the cake is in the oven.

... and 30 minutes later, they were sitting nicely on the kitchen counter, ready to be frosted.

 Nicely decorated velvet cupcake with cheese frosting. I sieved some cocoa powder on top of the cupcake, and they're ready to be eaten. I love those cheese frosting! It is so~ good!

Experimenting: Velvet Cake

I was watching the TV when I saw Giuliana (from E!) tasting the velvet cake. I then, googled for the cake because of my curiosity, and found a recipe from Bakerella.

The red velvet cake looks tempting, and I decided to experimenting making them.

Tempting red velvet batter.

The velvet cake is made into ball, and dipped into chocolate.

In the experiment, I found that I need to use less oil, if I'm going to make them into ball as they are a bit moist.

I've used chocolate spread instead of cooking chocolate to coat the cake. (There's still leftovers of chocolate spread from my chocolate making). The result isn't that good. It's too sticky, and too sweet! （￣へ￣）

And oh,

I substitute their buttermilk with a teaspoon of vinegar + a cup of milk. (I have no idea where to but those buttermilk)

I think, the cake would taste better without the chocolate.

Experimenting: Prawn Siu Mai

I saw this nice dim sum steamer the other day, when I went shopping with my brother. I've always wanted to try making dim sum! So, I made my brother paid for the steamer  ( ´ ▽ ` )ﾉ

The nice dim sum steamer.

First steamed dim sum. It looks good, doesn't it? However, they seemed to be sticking with each other due to my the arrangement. Lesson learned: don't arrange it so closely together! ☆⌒(＞。≪)

Second batch of the steamed dim sum. Those dim sum was sticking on the cloth ＿|￣|○ I used towel as I couldn't find any other suitable cloths. Maybe I shouldn't be using towel the next time I made this? （￣へ￣）

The recipe is basically as follows:

Yellow skin wonton  30nos.

Fillings:

200 g     Prawn

4g          Salt

12g        Corn Starch (dissolve with a bit water)

20g        Onion

50g        Carrot (diced, small)

50g        Chinese Turnip

Heat oil, add in onion. Let it sweat. Stir in prawn and vegetable. Then, pour in the corn starch. Season with salt and pepper.

Lay a piece of wonton skin. Wet the edges. Put 2 to 3 teaspoons of filling in the middle. Gather up the edges of the wrapper and gently pleat so that it forms a basket shape, with the top of the filling exposed.

Steam over boiling water for five minutes. Steaming for more than five minutes would ruin the taste a bit (as according to the chef).