HONEY SESAME CHICKEN

 MY SUPER YUMMYLICIOUS HONEY SESAME CHICKEN FOR DINNER.

Now my tummy is rolling with hunger by looking at this home-cooked honey sesame chicken that I cooked the last few days. Once in a while, I will cook something that we have eaten at the restaurant selling Chinese food. Honestly speaking, I don't like sticky food, but this one is an exception. The chicken is deep-fry until it is crispy, then is covered with sauce. That's why I say this is an exception.

I liked it because the chicken is crispy. I can just  eat  the chicken without the sauce, but I'm making 

honey sesame chicken, so the sauce must go with it. There are some who add in vinegar, but I wouldn't do that cos if I add in vinegar, my dish will be called "Sweet and Sour Chicken", and not "Honey Sesame Chicken". Some do not add in any soy sauce, but I like to add in some for better flavor.

 The chicken chunks are deep-fry to a golden brown. You can just eat this golden chicken without the sauce just like you eat nuggets. My kids thought that I was making nuggets. It really tastes and look 

like nuggets a bit.

A lot of people all over the world have already made this dish, so there's not much for me to talk about it. 

MARINATE INGREDIENTS;

454 g chicken breast

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp white pepper

3 tbsps water

BATTER MIXED;

1 large egg

1/2 tsp salt

120 g flour

65 g corn flour

2 tsp baking powder

150 ml water

2 tsp veg oil

 SAUCE MIXED;

1 pic garlic, diced small

6 tbsp tomato sauce

2 tbsp sugar

4 tbsp water

2 tbsp honey

SPRINKLE;

2 tbsp  roasted sesame seeds

METHOD;

1.  Cut chicken breast into cubes. 

2.  Marinate chicken cubes with salt, pepper, and water. keep inside the fridge for 20 minutes.

3.  In a medium bowl, add egg, salt, flour, cornflour, baking powder, and water. Mix and whisk.

4. Add the oil in and whisk to a smooth batter. 

5. In a saucepan with 1 tsp oil, fry the garlic till fragrant and pour in the sauce mix. 

6. Stir until the sauce starts to thicken. Then off the heat and add in the fried chicken.

7.  Sprinkle with roasted sesame seeds.

8.  Enjoy with hot rice.

OATS RAISINS COOKIES

This week finally have some free time so that I can bake some cookies for snack time.  I 

bought some baking ingredients but hadn't done any baking. The last time I baked was in mid-January.

Yesterday I started baking pineapple tarts and today I baked Oats Raisins cookies. These cookies are so addictive.  I made two types. One is without egg and the other with egg. 

The without egg type is crispy inside and outside. The egg type is chewier inside and crispy on the outside. I like both of the types. These cookies are also tasted like Famous Amos. Raisins can be 

substitute with chocolate chips. 

Make sure to store the cookies in an airtight container after it has cooled down.

 Pre-heat oven to 190°C.

INGREDIENTS;

105 g All-Purpose Flour

1 Tsp Cinnamon

1/2 Tsp salt

1/2 Tsp Baking soda

115 g Butter

85 g White Sugar

60 g Brown Sugar

1 Egg

1 Tsp Vanilla Essence

Mix all the above ingredients.

Add 130 g oats and 75 g raisins.

Bake 15-20 minutes or until brown. Take out from the oven 

and cool on a wire rack. Store in an air-tight container. 

Happy Baking!

COLOURFUL GERMAN COOKIES

I try making German cookies with different colours. This recipe is the same as I've used in dog German cookies.

These are irresistible soft cookies for those having soft teeth to enjoy.

The green colour is extracted from pandan juice. The chocolate is from cocoa powder. The white colour is just plain. 

These cookies are not hard to make at all.

Ingredients:

250g unsalted butter(I prefer salted,so I used)

80g icing sugar

2 tbsps vanilla

250g potato starch

160g plain flour/all purpose flour

Methods:

1. In a mixing bowl,use electric mixer to beat butter and icing sugar till creamy.Add in vanilla

and continue beating till well combined.

2.Add in sifted potato starch and plain flour with a spatula to form a soft dough.

3.Make small balls and tiny balls for the nose attachments.Then attach the koko crunch as 

ears,the chocolate chips as nose,the love as the tongue,and chocolate chips as the eyes.

4.After all done,bake in oven 150°C,fan forced with top and bottom heat.Bake for 15-20 minutes,but your oven temperature may varies.(know your own oven).

5.Let the cookies to cool on the baking tray first to prevent breakage before transferring to wire rack to further cool.

CHIPSMORE COOKIES LIKE FAMOUS AMOS

 

Just like everyone says that chocolate chips cookies like famous amos are very additive,crispy and crunchy. I agreed with everyone who said so. My son keeps on eating one bite after the other till all are nearly finished.This recipe was given and shared by a friend of mine who liked to make and sell it away.

Without realising and a person like me who seldom look at the calendar,didn't even noticed that december is almost gone and way to christmas soon. Upon realising, I promised myself that I must bake some cookies even though we don't celebrate christmas.Christmas is a time of joy and happiness. I liked christmas very much as much as I love december.Merry christmas everyone who read my posts.

Have a good year ahead and wish that the pandmic will end soon.

Let's try the recipe out. It is very easy to make.

Pre-heat the oven to 150°C.

INGREDIENTS;

70 g Salted butter

105 g Low gluten flour

25 g Castor sugar

30 g Egg

2 g Baking powder

2 g Baking soda 

80 g Dark chocolate chips

INSTRUCTIONS;

1.  In a mixing bowl,beat butter and sugar till creamy.

2.  Add in egg and continue beating.

3.  Mix baking powder and baking soda into the low gluten flour. Then sift in to the batter. Add in chocolate chips. Mix well. Take some and make into round balls.

Baking temperature 150°C

Baking time 15-20 mins

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

CHICKEN ROLLS

   

I love rolling meat with seaweed and beancurd skin. This meatroll is almost like Ngo Hiang,also meat roll,but mostly consist of pork meat. For this recipe,I used chicken meat. Other than chicken meat,you can also use prawn,sotong,pork or beef. It is then flavoured to make it tasty. Ngo Hiang is wrapped without beancurd sheet,but I like to double the skin with nori sheet. I think that it tasted more nicer with the nori sheet. I did made 2  rolls without nori sheet, the rolls are steamed for 10 minutes and then deep-fried in hot oil till cooked. If you make  thinner rolls, there is no need to do the steaming, but straight 

bring it to deep-fry in medium heat. The reason I steamed it first is because my rolls are thick,and I'm afraid if I straight deep-fry, the meat will be burned before it is cooked,so I steamed first so that it can be cooked much faster. This chicken meat rolls are special hit at my home.

500g chicken/fish paste or sotong

6 waterchestnuts,chopped and squeezed dry

dash of salt and pepper to taste

NORI BEANCURD ROLLS;

 4 pcs Nori sheets

4 pcs beancurd sheets

8 crabsticks (can be replaced with carrot or long beans)

Batter (mixed together )

120g self-raising flour

1 egg

120g water

1 tbsp oil

1/2 tsp salt or to taste

dash of pepper

METHOD;

1.  Mix the fish/chicken/sotong paste,waterchestnut and salt in one direction till sticky. Gather paste 

    and hit against base of mixing bowl till spongy. Divide into 4 portions. 

2.  Place the nori sheet on top of  beancurd sheet for the 4 portions and spread the paste on. Arrange             crabstick in the center and roll up tightly.

3.  Steam over high heat for 10 minutes till cooked. Cool.

4.  Deep the rolls in the batter and deep fry till golden brown.

5.  Dish up. Cut into slices. Serve hot with chilli sauce and hot rice. You can also served fry long

    beans as side dish. By using the left over batter for the long beans and deep fry.

PANDAN BUTTER CAKE

Today, I made pandan butter cake. What was supposed to be a chiffon cake,turned out to be pandan butter cake towards the end. Before baking, I have forgotten that I have no more plain flour,and so I couldn't make chiffon cake. I was half way in separating my eggs that I suddenly remembered that I have no flour. Then fret not, cause I think that I can changed to rice flour. I have rice flour in my pantry, but by now I decided to make pandan butter cake instead of chiffon cake. The method is almost the same as making chiffon cake,except instead of using oil, I used butter. I was afraid my cake will not turned up to be a success,but it turned up really really successful. The cake is light and not heavy. Not too moist and not too dry. I'm satisfied with the outcome.

INGREDIENTS;

5 eggs,separated, medium size

68 g plain flour,sifted (This is all I have left )

180 g rice flour,sifted

230 g caster sugar

230 g butter, at room temperature

4 tbsps pandan juice

METHOD;

1.  Beat egg yolk and half of the sugar till creamy and fluffy. Add in soften butter to beat. Beat until creamy and fluffy.

2.  Add in the sifted flour ingredients at low speed till well-combined.

3. In a separate clean bowl, beat egg white till bubble. Add in the sugar and continue beating till just stiff and not dry.

4. Mixed egg white with butter mixture. Add in the pandan juice to mix. The batter will turned green.

5.  Pour the batter into a lined baking tray with parchment paper or no lined non-stick baking tray with removable base.

6.  Bake in the pre-heated oven 180°C for 45-50 minutes top and bottom heat till skewer or tooth pick inserted into the center of the cake comes up clean . Leave the cake in the oven for about 5 minutes.The cake will shrunk away from the sides when it is slightly cool. Take the cake out and let it cool completely on a wire rack.

   

CHICKEN DRUMSTICK WITH SPICES

 

If you love eating chicken drumsticks,but got bored of always eating fried drumstick,why not change a little bit different this time and try this chicken drumstick with some spices and milky substance like coconut milk and evaporated milk mixed? This is not bad at all.Try it and you will know.

I just love it. Every few months I will cook this.

INGREDIENTS;

6 Chicken Drumsticks

1-2 Stalks Curry Leaves

200 ML Thick Coconut Milk

3 Tbsps Evaporated Milk

MARINADE;

3 Tbsps Curry Powder

1 Tbsp Chilli Powder

1 Tsp Salt

1 Tsp Sugar

2 Tbsps Corn Flour

1 Egg

SEASONING;

1 Tsp salt

1 Tsp Sugar

1 Tsp White Pepper

1 Tsp Black Pepper ( optional )

SPICES;

4 Stems Lemon Grass

6 Shallots

6 Cloves Garlic

2 Cm Fresh Galangal

2 Cm Fresh Tumeric ( can be replaced with tumeric powder )

3 Tbsps Cooking

 METHOD;

1.  Blend all spices in blender until finely paste. Remove and keep aside.

2.  Season chicken drumstick with marinade for 30 minutes. Deep-fry in hot oil until golden in colour.

     Dish up.

3.  Heat up oil in a wok.  Stir-fry blended spices over medium heat until fragrant. Add in curry leaves,and

     seasoning. Toss well.

4.  Add in coconut milk and evaporated milk. Add in the fried drumsticks. Bring to a boil. Simmer until the gravy is almost                     absorbed. Dish it up. Serve hot with rice.

Swirl Soft Bread With Cocoa And Cheese Filling

 

When I saw one lady from facebook group posted this type of bread, I was interested and wanted to try making it, and so here it is, but mine is not so perfect done yet. I mean the swirl and braid, or was it a braid that she made? Check it out Here

Anyway, when I saw her bread I was intrigued. I began gathering my ingredients the next few days

and started making my own bread. I still need to practice more to get the perfect braided top and swirl.

I had to roll the dough like a swissroll tightly, but as the dough was so sticky, I couldn't handle it.

Hence, my swirl is also not perfect. Perhaps I should give it another try next week. Practice makes perfect is what I believed.

Instead of chocolate chips,I changed to cheese as the filling.

Below are the recipe that I copied from her website. Please visit her site from the link given above.

Many thanks to her recipe.

Recipe:

250g bread flour

140g fresh milk

8g milk powder (optional)

1 egg

50g sugar (can reduce to 30g if too sweet)

3/4 tsp instant yeast

1/2 tsp salt

40g butter

Method:

1. Mix all ingredients except salt and butter into a stand mixer. Mix for 5-10 min till a rough dough forms.

2. Add in salt and butter and knead on slow, then high for the next 20 to 30 min. Stop frequently to turn dough and scrape down the sides. Knead till window pane.

3. After dough is just kneaded, divide into 2 parts equally.

4. Place 1 back into mixing bowl, add in Cocoa powder and 1 to 2 tsp water. Knead on low till mixed well.

5. Roll both doughs round and rest for 20 min covered.

6. After resting, roll out dough into long strip and fold 1/3 up and down as below. Rest for 10 min.

7. Roll both longer and flatter, then place chocolate dough above plain dough.

8. Continue to roll out very long, almost 2 A4 baking mats long. Keep the width the same as the Pullman tin. As you are rolling, you may dust the surfce very lightly to avoid sticking. Turn over to roll as well, to ensure both the chocolate and plain dough roll out evenly.

Add chocolate chips, but leave the last section without choc chips.

18. Swiss roll down from top. But leave a last section unrolled.

10. Use scraper or knife or pizza cutter to cut into 12 strips and twirl as shown. To get a nice design, i roll in opposite direction for each strand. I also twirl the same number of times for each strand and then arrange them very neatly so that the black and white portions are lined up.

11. Roll up fully and place into baking tin. Proof for 60 to 80 min till 80% of tin height.

12. Bake at 190 deg for 35 to 40 min. Cover with aluminum foil after 15 min if the top gets too brown. Unmould and cool on wire rack. Slice only after loaf has cooled.

Note:  After going through her website again,I figured out that it is not braided but twirled. I did a thinking that it can be braided as well. Well, I can just give it a try and update here. By the way, the cheese filling was super nice.

Japanese Milk Bread

 

This recipe was adapted from: Here

Yesterday I baked this Japanese milk bread.  If you want to know more about this bread, please visit the link given. The author of the link provided gave very details of how to make this Japanese bread.

I follow the recipe closely and made a successful soft bread and it is suitable to make sandwiches because of the loaf pan that is rectangular in size. Go get yourself a Pullman loaf pan and start making Pullman bread.

Ingredients for big Pullman tin:

440 g Bread flour - 100 %

290 g Milk - 66%

26 g sugar - 6%

9 g Salt - 2%

53 g soft Butter - 12%

13 g Sweetened Condensed Milk - 3%

4 g Yeast - 1%

Ingredients for small pullman tin:(This is suitable for my pan)

318 g Bread Flour 

210 g Milk

19 g Sugar

6 g Salt

38 g Soft Butter

10 g sweetened Condensed Milk

3 g Yeast

I use bread maker kneading. 

Using a Bread Maker

• Add milk, salt, sugar, soft butter, condensed milk,  flour to the bread maker and lastly yeast. 
• Select "dough" setting to make the dough only. Follow your own bread maker instructions.
• After the cycle is finished, take the dough out and divide it into 3 parts evenly. Covered with a damped cloth or paper towel. Bench rest for 30 minutes.
• Take one piece and use a rolling pin to flatten the dough into a 4 in x 6 in (10 cm x 15 cm) sheet. Pinch one end and fold the other end lengthwise. With the fold opening downwards, form it into a U shape and place it into one end of the bread pan.
• Repeat the same process for the second piece and place it on the other end. Do the last one and place in the middle. Make sure all the ends of the dough hit the bread pan without large gaps.
• Final proofing at  82°F / 28° C (80% humidity) until the dough rises to 80% of the pan for square shaped toast.
• Preheat the oven ahead of time to 395° F / 200° C. Cover the pan with a lid and bake for 30 minutes. 
• Shake the pan 1-2 times and transfer the bread to a cooling rack. Wait till it completely cools down before slicing.

Traditional mooncakes

 Mooncake festival is coming soon. I bet every bakers is making mooncakes at home to eat or send as gifts to someone, be it relatives, siblings, neighbours or friends.

Here, I'm making traditional mooncakes. Mooncakes are not my favourite, but I do love to make for the festival every year. The only paste that I like are red bean and lotus paste. In the past, I do not eat much mooncakes because they are too sweet. Now I can bake my own mooncakes and adjust the sweetness. My late papa loves mooncakes a lot, especially this traditional one and he will always buy the  red bean fillings because it is cheap and affordable and nice. I really hate mooncakes at that time. They are too sweet for my liking. After I started making my own mooncakes, I ate quite a lot from that day onwards. Well, just considered once in a year of sweetness although most manufacturers now have also lessen the sugar to "Less Sweet". 

 For the unacquainted, the celebration falls on the 15th day of the eighth month

 of the lunar calendar on September 21 this year.It is also known as mid-autumn festival.Each year during this time,the moon is at the roundest and brightess.

My family will gather together and enjoy eating mooncakes in front of our house outside and at the same time gazing at the moon while drinking tea too.

These days not many people want to celebrate the festival.Every year we hung lanterns all over our gate,but I never see my neighbours doing that.Even the youngsters are not interested in this kind of

festival or any other festivals,unlike the olden days when the older generation will sit together with their family and eat mooncakes and chat together all throughout the night with the moon above them.

What eye catching in recent years are the boxes of mooncakes are getting lovelier and more prettier.

People came out with ideas of making beautiful and colourful mooncakes too. Too pretty to be eaten away!. Come to think of it, I'm a very dull person. I can only make a few simple types and not creative, and one thing I know for sure is our family don't like mooncakes with salted egg yolk.

Mooncakes are getting more and more expensive. Don't you want to make your own? Follow the recipe below. It is very simple. If you don't want to make your own fillings, go buy the pre-made one.

Dough Ingredients:

100g Low protein flour (cake flour)

60g Golden syrup

30g Cooking oil

½ tsp. Alkaline water (lye water)

Divide into 4 with each 48g

Filling:

460g Lotus seed paste (4 x 115g each)

Some Almond Flakes

Egg Wash:

1 egg yolk + 1 tbsp water

Mix golden syrup, cooking oil and alkaline water. Sieve in flour and mix well until all ingredients fully combined into dough. Do not over knead/mix.

1.  Wrap with cling wrap, rest the dough for 2 hours.

 2. Mix lotus seed paste/red bean paste with some almond flakes.

 3. Place dough between cling warp and roll out evenly into 2-3mm thin disc shape with a rolling pin.

 4. Wrap mooncake filling with dough.Put some flour to the wrapped dough.

 5. Shape mooncake with mooncake mould.

6.  Bake in preheated oven at 160°C/320°F for 10 minutes. Spray mooncake with some water to avoid         crust from cracking during the baking process.

7.  Remove from oven and brush with egg wash.

 8. Bake for another 10 minutes or until golden brown.

 Crust of Mooncake will become softer and shiny after 2-3 days in air-tight container and ready to be served.

Red Bean Filling Recipe: (Yield 400g, 4 portions, 100g each)

Recipe of red bean paste adapted from mykitchen101en.com (I copy it down here, but I used ready made filling instead cos I was lazy to cook that day) (This is for future reference)

150 g red bean (soak overnight)

600 ml water

110 g granulated sugar

55 g cooking oil

15 g glutinous rice flour + 3 Tbsp. of water

¼ tsp salt

Instructions for red bean paste:

1 Wash and rinse red bean, soak overnight in the refrigerator. Soaking will reduce the time to cook and soften the beans.

2 Drain the soaked red bean, add in 600ml water, bring to the boil, reduce to low heat and cook for 2 hours until bean soften.

3 Slightly cool the cooked red bean and process using a blender until smooth.

4 Sieve the red bean paste through a fine mesh strainer to remove skin; this will give you a fine and smooth red bean paste.

5 Add in 110g sugar, 55g cooking oil, 15g of glutinous rice flour with 3 tablespoons of water and ¼ tsp of salt. Cook over medium heat for about 30 minutes, stirring constantly until a smooth and shiny paste formed. Cooking time may vary. Red bean paste can be prepared in advance and store refrigerated in airtight container.