Persian Frenzy

This is the third Persian dish that I attempted to make. The result turned out to be alright. My first dish was a great success, I think. And the second one not too bad. I haven't put up the recipe here for the first two, but I will do so the next time I make them again. So here's the one I made today...

Adas Polow (Lentil Rice)

200 g lentils, washed and cooked until tender in salted water
500 g long grain or basmathi rice
400 g ground beef or lamb
1 cup raisins
2 large onions, thinly sliced
1/2 teaspoon saffron
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon turmeric
cooking oil
salt and pepper to taste

1. Firstly, soak the rice in water for at least 30 mins. The original recipe requires me to soak it for 3 to 4 hours but I couldn't wait that long.

2. While the rice is soaking, fry the onions in oil until slightly golden.

3. Add the ground beef/lamb, salt and pepper and fry over medium heat for 10 to 15 minutes. Add one cup of hot water and cook further until it becomes almost dry. Remove from heat.

4. Next, cook the rice in boiling water until the rice soften just slightly. Drain and wash the rice with cold water.

5. In a non-stick pot or rice cooker (I used rice cooker), pour oil into the pot. Add in half the rice, followed by the cooked meat, lentils and raisins. Pour in the remaining rice and cook over low heat for 20 minutes.

6. Dissolve saffron in 1/3 cup of hot water and pour over rice. Mix the rice well before serving.

I don't know what you would think about this recipe, but I like it. And the rice is to be eaten on it's own as it is considered as a complete meal. Very nourishing. Give it a try!

Pink Truffles

Happy Eid sweet toothers! 

so this eid, i decided not to make any cookies. instead, i made some truffl

es. this is my first attempt and it came out pretty decent :D. thanks to ms. not-so-tiny-me's experienced hands, her touch produced wonders!

so here is the recipe (taken from foodnetwork.com)...

2 tbsp heavy cream

7 oz white chocolate, chopped

1/2 tsp strawberry flavoring

1/2 cup hazelnuts, chopped

2 oz dark chocolate, chopped

• melt white chocolate with heavy cream using the double-boil method. when the chocolate is completely melted, add the strawberry flavoring and whisk in. chill until it is pliable.
• put the chopped hazelnut in the microwave for about 3 to 4 minutes (so that it gets a little bit baked). don't forget to move the nuts around every minute or two so that it won't get burnt. cool to room temperature.
• roll the chilled chocolate into bite size spheres. don't forget to wear gloves so your germs won't get stuck to the truffles! ;)
• melt the dark chocolate and drizzle it on some of the truffles. roll the remaining truffles in the chopped hazelnuts. 

and here's how those little treats look like....

the original recipe can be found here

i skipped the Bailey's since i'm serving it to my sister's house guests. and i substituted vanilla essence to strawberry flavoring coz i couldn't find any vanilla essence.

Broccoli and Chicken and Cheese Casserole

i am guilty of not posting this recipe earlier. apologies.

a week ago, i dreamed about my sister's lorraine quiche. and since i still have the leftover sharp cheddar from my broccoli and cheese soup, i decided to make something good out of something that's getting bad. so here goes my altered version of chicken and broccoli casserole (original version was taken from recipezaar).

Chicken & Broccoli Casserole

1 1/2 lbs boneless skinless chicken breasts, cooked and diced
1 head broccoli
2 onions, diced
5 small potatoes, diced
2 cans cream of chicken soup
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1 tsp curry powder
3 cups sharp cheddar cheese, shredded

• preheat oven
• cut up broccoli and place it at the bottom of a casserole dish
• place diced chicken, potatoes, and onions on top of the broccoli
• mix the cream of chicken soup, mayonnaise, and curry powder until well blended and smooth
• spread the soup mixture on top of the chicken+potatoes+onions+broccoli
• cover with cheese and bake uncovered for 30 minutes

and again, it slipped my mind to take pictures of my casserole coz i never thought ms. not-so-tiny-me would want me to post it here.

Broccoli and Cheese Soup

I had this urge to gobble down Quizno's Broccoli and Cheese Soup a few weeks ago but since we don't have any Quizno's Sub around, I decided to make some from this recipe i found on RecipeZaar.

2 tablespoons butter
1 medium onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1/2 cup butter
1 quart half-and-half
2 cups fresh carrots, grated
1 lb broccoli, washed, cut
1/2 cup flour
1 cube chicken stock diluted into 1 quart of water
salt and pepper, to taste
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
8 ounces grated sharp cheddar cheese

1. Saute onion in butter. When onions are golden, stir in garlic and set aside.
2. Make the roux. Melt 1/2 cup of butter and stir the butter and flour over medium heat. Stir constantly and slowly add the half-and-half. Add the chicken stock whisking all the time. Simmer until it thickens.
3. Add the broccoli, carrots and onions. Cook over low heat until veggies are tender. Add salt and pepper.
4. Pour in batches into a blender and puree.
5. Return to pot and add the grated cheese and stir till well blended.
6. Put on low heat and stir the nutmeg.

Sharp cheddar cheese is simply aged/matured cheddar. And be careful when you make the roux. The kitchen saw me screaming for my mom in dire need of some extra hand. maybe i'm just retarded.

I don't have the pictures for this post coz the soup made its way to the tummy faster than i thought.

Phew...! It's Been Ages.

Yes, I know. I've not been here for a very, very long time. Well, I have my studies to put all the blame on. This semester is a crazy one because I have 5 subjects to take instead of just 4.

Anyhow, I managed to cook up this claypot chicken rice today. My first trial but it fared up quite okay.

Claypot Chicken Rice

200g uncooked rice

250ml water

200g boneless chicken thigh or breast, cut into bite-size

2 tablespoons oyster sauce

1 tablespoon dark soy sauce

1 tablespoon soy sauce

1 tablespoon fish sauce

1/2 teaspoon sugar

1 teaspoon white pepper

2 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped

4 slices ginger

2 tablespoons oil

4 dried shiitake mushrooms, soaked until soften, stem removed and cut into halves

2 slices of salted fish in oil, diced

2 eggs

some sesame oil

chopped scallions and sliced red chili for garnishing, but I didn't use it here because I don't have them..

1. Wash chicken and drain. Marinate oyster sauce, dark soy sauce, soy sauce, fish sauce, sugar and pepper for about 30 minutes.

2. Heat 2 tablespoons oil on medium heat and fry garlic and ginger until aromatic. Add shiitake mushrooms and salted fish and fry for about 5 minutes.

3. Add marinated and continue stir-frying for about 5 minutes. Remove and set aside.

4. Wash rice well and combine with water and put in a claypot. Cover and cook on low heat until almost dry.

5. Place cooked chicken mixture on top of rice, cover and leave on low heat until rice mixture is dry, about another 10 minutes.

6. Switch off the fire and break eggs on top of the chicken mixture and leave pot covered for 5 minutes before serving.

7. Drizzle with some sesame oil an garnish with chopped scallions on top of rice and sliced chilies in soy sauce by the side.

Buffalo Chicken Wings with Blue Cheese Dip

Ok this one was adapted from a recipe I found in Recipezaar. Made these for Pearl who was craving for them. 

Buffalo Chicken Wings

10 to 20 chicken wings

8 teaspoons melted butter

2 teaspoons vinegar

2/3 cup hot pepper sauce (I used Tabasco because I can't find any other brand of hot sauce here in Malaysia, which was  not quite right for these buffalos..)

some cayenne pepper

1. Mix melted butter, vinegar and hot pepper sauce in a deep bowl and plunge all the chicken wings in it. As an alternative you can also transfer the marinade mix into a zip-lock bag and put in the wings.

2. Let it soak for 2 hours.

3. Bake at 200C for 20 - 30 minutes until the wings are cooked through and make sure to baste them one time during cooking.

4. Sprinkle the cayenne during the last 5 minutes of cooking to add in more heat.

Blue Cheese Dip

1 cup mayonnaise

2 teaspoons finely chopped onions

1 teaspoon minced garlic

1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley

1/2 cup sour cream

1 teaspoon lemon juice

1 teaspoon white vinegar

1/2 cup blue cheese, crumbled

1. Mix all the ingredients together and leave it chilled overnight (if possible).

Super easy, right? Though Tabasco may not be a good sub for hot pepper sauce, these buggers still do taste awesome!

This and That

Some of the jobs I have done lately... No write-up this time. Just. Too. Plain. Lazy. And busy.

I'm gonna have to make some announcement some time this week. I may not be able cope with all hobby-business and school-business and personal-business for the next 8 months. My amnesia is evolving from bad to worse... Hah!

Caramel Crunch Cheesecake

This one here wasn't very successful because it was made amidst of a baking frenzy and some last minute order. But luckily, this was made for domestic consumption, so it was alright. And because of that, here's the recipe to be shared...

The Cheesecake

125 g plain chocolate biscuits (I used Tiger Chocolate Shortbread)

1/4 cup butter, melted

2 x 250 g packets cream cheese, softened

1/3 cup caster sugar

2 tsp grated lemon rind

3 eggs

1/3 cup cream

1 tbsp plain flour

50 g bar chocolate-coated honeycomb (I used Cadbury Crunchie), chopped coarsely

1. Line based of 21cm springform pan with foil, line the sides with baking paper.

2. Process biscuits until mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. Add butter, process till you get the texture of damp sand.

3. Press crumb mixture evenly over based of prepared tin. Refrigerate 30 minutes or until firm.

4. Preheat oven to 150C. Beat cheese, sugar and rind in medium bowl with electric mixture until smooth. Beat in eggs, one t a time. Add cream and flour. Beat again till smooth.

5. Stir honeycomb and the caramel filling into the cheese mixture.

6. Place tin on oven tray. Pour cheesecake mixture into tin. Bake for 1 1/4 hours or until just firm. Cool in oven with door ajar.

7. Spread chocolate topping over cheesecake. Refrigerate for 3 hours or overnight.

Caramel Filling

2 tbsp butter

1/4 cup brown sugar

2 tbsp sweetened condensed milk

1 tbsp golden syrup

2 tbsp hot water

1. Combine ingredients in small saucepan, stir over low heat until sugar is dissolved. Boil, stirring occasionally about 4 minutes until a deep caramel colour is reached. Let cool.

Chocolate Topping

150 g dark eating chocolate, chopped

1/4 cup cream (I only had like 2 tbsp leftover cream from my previous bakes so I used just that)

1. Combine chocolate and cream in small saucepan. Stir over low heat until chocolate has melted and mixture is smooth. Cool.

Important note : If I were to make this again in the future, I'll omit the lemon rind and I won't use the Tiger Shortbread. The lemon rind interferes with the caramel flavour and the shortbread doesn't taste good at all! I'll use some other brand of chocolate biscuit next time. And of course, I will make sure I have that 1/4 cup of cream to go with the chocolate topping. This one I made was as hard as a bar chocolate when it sets. Haha!

Some Jobs

These golf themed cupcakes were made without much knowledge. :) I wasn't a fan of golf and I only know a thing or two about it.

I put water hazard in the golf course and sand  trap. Though the sand trap wasn't a good one, as you can see it was of darker shade than it should be, the sand trap tasted yummy because I used Loacker Cremekakao wafer. :D If I ever have to make this theme again in the future, I'll definitely use some plain wafer instead.

The not so new kamasutra theme is also back, only this time they were for Aziz. I had to crack my head for more position and their names to make sure no two cupcakes have the same position. So here, I have 18 different positions together with their names.

Mac Cupcakes for Foreign Affairs

Wanie just moved to a new department and thus these cupcakes occurred. The forever peanut-butter lover ordered nothing else but that (the vanilla cupcakes with peanut-butter filling). 

There's nothing much to say about these little devils, just that I got the idea from the net. Some moms who bake made cupcakes decorated with computer icons. So I kinda improvised from that.

Designer's Cups

Another birthday. It's usually birthday, isn't it? Or some other celebration. That's what cakes are normally for.

This time, it's designer's brand. I have thought about this for some time, and this is just the appropriate time to make them since the birthday is for a young lady who's going to turn 24.

And this one is just some additional I made for Un. He's visiting some relatives over the weekend, so I made something for him to take to them.

It's good to have birthdays. They make me less bored and less lazy. ;)

Easy Lasagna

After not having so much success with the macarons, I decided to make lasagna for dinner. This also my first experiment, but with this I was pretty sure it won't screw up so much like those macarons. And though it might not look pretty here, it is definitely soothing to the palate and soon enough, all my frustration about those feetless macarons of mine went away.

Meat Lasagna

250g instant lasagna (it has to be instant so u don't have to pre-cook it before layering)

Meat sauce:

2 tbsp oil

1 onion, chopped

1 clove garlic, chopped

1 can button mushroom, sliced

500g mince meat

5 tbsp tomato puree

2 fresh tomatoes, diced

2 cups chicken stock

salt and pepper to taste

a pinch of basil

1. Heat oil in a saucepan, add onion, mushroom and garlic, cook until soft.

2. Add mince meat, cook until brown. Then stir in tomato puree, diced tomatoes and chicken stock.

3. Season with salt, pepper and basil and let cook for 20 minutes.

Cheese Sauce:

2 tbsp butter

2 tbsp plain flour

2 cups milk

125 g mozzarella or cheddar cheese

1. Melt butter in a saucepan, stir in flour and cook for 2 minutes over low heat.

2. Remove from heat and stir in milk.

3. Return the pan back to heat, stir until thick and smooth, then add in the cheddar.

4. Season with pepper and salt as needed and stir until cheese melts.

Assembly:

1. Preheat oven to 180C and pour 1/4 of the meat sauce into a lightly greased baking dish.

2. Alternate layers of lasagna, meat and cheese sauces, ending with cheese sauce layer (make 4 layers).

3. Sprinkle with grated parmesan if desired and bake for 30 minutes with the dish covered in foil.

4. Remove foil and continue baking for a further 15 minutes until the pasta is cooked through.

And the Macaron War Begins...

Today was my first attempt of making macarons after many, many days and months of being a lazy ass. I used a basic recipe for the macarons and made some dulce de leche for the fillings. The result, as you can see, is not too satisfying but nevertheless, I am proud to have finally tried making these buggers. Just compare my job to these lovely ones from Paulette...

Whipping up the meringue was easy, I just had to make sure there were no traces of oil in my utensils or else the egg white won't rise. The baked macarons looked like they wanted to grow feet (really, they looked so promising, but still, I get no feet, only a few almost had feet). They tasted great, however, but I had a hard time removing them from the parchment paper. I ended up eating all the broken ones in my attempt to remove the little devils.

Now if anyone of you readers want to join me in this war, I'm leaving the recipe here, in this post.

Basic Macarons

3 egg whites (make sure they are at least a day old, that's what I was told)

1/4 cup of caster sugar

1 cup icing sugar

1/2 cup ground almond

1. Whisk the egg whites like you're making a meringue until it turns foamy.

2. Then add in the sugar and whisk again until the egg whites become glossy with soft peaks forming.

3. Add the icing sugar and the ground almond to the meringue and fold together to mix. The batter should be very thick now and flattens if you dropped a dollop of it on a surface.

4. Pipe circles of the batter from a piping bag onto a parchment paper placed on a baking sheet, leave them out for an hour at least and then bake them at 315F for around 10 minutes, till you see the feet form, then lower the temperature to 300F and bake for further 3 to 4 minutes with the oven door slightly ajar.

5. Let cool and remove from parchment paper and serve with the dulce de leche filling sandwiched in the middle.

The name dulce de leche may sounds a bit daunting, but really, it's easy and it's just made of caramelized condensed milk. Ahah! So don't fear, believe me, the making of the macarons are what anyone should be scared of. 

Dulce de Leche Filling

1 can of sweetened condensed milk

1. Boil the can of milk in a pot of boiling water for an hour. Always make sure the can is always immersed under water all the time. (And remove the paper label outside the can, before you dunk it in water!)

2. Cool the can before opening or else the condense milk might spurt into your face. Whip the milk in a small bowl until smooth and keep refrigerated till you're ready to use it.

There's another way of making this, but I'm telling you the easiest way of making it. My dulce de leche went well but it was a little too runny to hold up between the macarons. Maybe I should just settle for some ganache or buttercream the next time.

So, good luck to you and to myself too. Till my next macaron war, I reckon I'm gonna be successful the next time around.. Tata!

Soccer Again

Another male birthday. Now these here, don't be taken aback..., are cheesecakes in cups. I can't help from feeling strange when making these. I have always believe that cheesecakes should always go bare and naked. They are best eaten that way.

But anyhowsoever, what customers want customers get. I was asked to make these cakes that way so I made it. I also noticed that it's generally better to have more than a set of nine cupcakes in order to make a full fledge themed cupcakes. Nine is just too few.

Lazy Days

Eventhough I am on my semester break at the moment, I am still one lazy ass. Thus, lately, I didn't produce anything much from my kitchen. Well, I did made some churros the other day, but I didn't have any cameras with me so I don't have their pictures here to testify to that claim. Nevermind, those churros were pretty easy to make, I'll probably make them again next time and have the photos, and the recipe posted over here.

So, because I am lazy, my last quest of making birthday cupcakes has led me to take their picture in the muffin pan and not in the cake box or at least, on a cake board. That explains how lazy I was, right?

I also made some birthday cupcakes for my friend's dad. She asked for freestyle cupcakes, which I like because it gives me so much freedom to do anything with the little devils. I have been eyeing these football team cake toppers for a looong time so I bought them eagerly to go with the daddy's birthday cupcakes.

The cupcakes were turned into a football field (I made the grass from dessicated coconut which was tinted green) and I piped some line on the cupcakes to represent the football field better.

And these above, were the kamasutra cupcakes again, only this time they were ordered by the ever loyal Madam Zalwanie!

Teaching Day

Yesterday was teaching day. Guided a girl from class making some cupcakes for her special friend. Devil's Food was the easiest to make, so that was what I made her do.

We made some cream cheese fillings and fill them in the cupcakes. We wanted to have Manchester United emblem on the cupcakes, icing drawn, but was too risky to attempt. So, we sticked on some paper logos on to toothpicks and placed it on the cupcakes centres.

All in all, the day was considered a successful one.

Happy B'day Arsenal Fan!!!

From a sister to a brother. These were made for a birthday boy who happens to be a die-hard fan of the Arsenal football team. They are the ever favourite peanut butter filled cupcakes again. I have to say that I have made a lot of these within the past year. This and the oreo cheesecake. They seems to be my best produce so far.

Here's a cross-sectional view of the cupcake. See that thick filling of peanut butter in the center? That's the thing that make my heart fell for this little thing. Truly, truly nutty!

P/s : Mimi, I hope your brother likes it.

Love n Sex

I made this kamasutra cupcakes last night for a lady who wants to go home to her hometown in Malacca today. She wanted something to surprise the husband. I hope these little darlings will do just that.

It did cost me some time to actually find the names of the sexual position..., but hey, I made it at last!

In addition to those kamasutras, she also wanted something lovey dovey and romantic. Purple and pink was her choice of colour and I simply turned 9 cupcakes into lovestruck icons.

Hope you're satisfied with them, girl!

Chocolate Hazelnut in Citrus Suit

Another classmate of mine ordered 'freestyle' cupcakes. And when she said 'freestyle', she made me happy. Cos 'freestyle' means I can do whatever I want with them. Unfortunately, I was not so free at the time she ordered them because at the same time I was also handling another huge order.

Nevertheless, I didn't compromise the cupcakes, I managed to make these chocolate cupcakes, with chocolate hazelnut filling in their centres. And of course, here, as you can see, they're disguised in 'citrus' make-up.

Little Boy's...

My classmate's little boy just turned four last week. Made these for his little party at a day-care.

I love these blue cups. Simplicity and clarity.

I made 50 chocolate devil's food cupcakes for this batch.

I kept the design light and whimsical. I have to say, it's my identity to not have too many colours on a series of cupcakes. And I try as much as possible to make the deco minimal and neat. After all, cupcakes are meant to be simple.