X'mas Cake 2015

Merry Christmas 2015 to all my family, colleagues, friends & fans of Life @ Home that had being with me for the whole of 2015. There is lots of gains & lots thru out the year but it is still a fruitful year for me. Being back to working society for a year & learn lots of baking & cooking skills even there is still lots of failure but it is a learning process so never give up..... More to come in Year of 2016.....

I had being curious with X'mas Log Cake & wondering how it was being made for the past few years. This year I build my courage to a level which I dare to start tried making one from a recipe shared on Food & Travel Magazine but it failed on me at the initial stage of baking a proper swiss roll. I was lucky to have a friend who I only know for about 2 years plus who bake very well. She taught me via WhatsApp on how to reform a X'mas Log Cake from a disaster swiss roll.

Recipe attached as below:

Ingredients

800gm  Crispy Rice Puff Brown

800gm  Toasted Peanuts

200gm  Toasted White Sesame Seeds

Syrup

1000ml Water

800gm  Castor Sugar

10ml     Cooking Oil

Preparation and Cooking Instructions

1. Mix the rice puff with peanut and set aside.
2. Pour all the ingredients for the syrup into a wok and let it boil until the sugar is completely dissolved. Keep stirring and cook till thick. To test whether the syrup is ready, drop a few drops into water and if it forms into small balls and not dissolve, it means the syrup is ready.
3. Pour the cooked syrup into rice puff mixture and stir till completely combined.
4. Pour the mixture into a rectangular wooden tray (5ft by 5 ft) and press down firmly. Leave to cool till semi-warm.
5. Cut into pieces when still warm and then leave it to cool.
6. Store in air-tight containers.
7. Enjoy!!!

Authentic Ampang Yong Tau Foo in Kuala Lumpur (KL)

24 Nov 2014, Monday

Authentic Ampang Yong Tau Foo

We saw about 5/6 food stalls only. We went around to take a look & got attracted by the Ampang Yau Tau Foo Stall. We decided to have it as dinner since the rain is just over, location was pretty cooling then. 

Map of the Location

After we order & enjoying our food, people start coming in to the location & within 15mins, the seatings in-front of the stall is all filled up with everyone eating Yau Tau Foo. It gives me a sudden thought: "I should be at the right place as so many locals are having it". 

We saw about 5/6 food stalls only. We went around to take a look & got attracted by the Ampang Yau Tau Foo Stall. We decided to have it as dinner since the rain is just over, location was pretty cooling then.

Our Order of Ingredients

After we order & enjoying our food, people start coming in to the location & within 15mins, the seatings in-front of the stall is all filled up with everyone eating Yau Tau Foo. It gives me a sudden thought: "I should be at the right place as so many locals are having it". 

To my surprise, I love this Yong Tau Foo. It is not too salty. The sauce served as very great soup with rice. The filling are so full. It was indeed a satisfying meal to compensate my 1 hour plus of walking. 

Then I decided to take photo of the stall & owner as a memory recall for future trip if there is a chance.

The street stall & the boss

Also took another photo in the view of where am I seated. We can see Berjaya Times Square.

View on my right @ my seat

Oven-Baked Chicken Drumsticks / 烤鸡腿

Oven-Baked Chicken Drumsticks

4-in-1 Spice

When I first saw this 'I Love Cooking' seasoning, I couldn't restricted myself for not buying. I bought it at KL, Malaysia but cannot remember which supermarket I bought from. 

Oven Baked Chicken is the easier way to cook a chicken, there is many recipe out there to be google. There isn't the best seasoning for the chicken as it is all up to the taste bud of individual. Try & error to find out which kind of seasoning suit my taste.

The process of baking take long time as baking a chicken need at least an hour so please be patient. 

We can baked any chicken even without letting the seasoning to seat on the chicken for hours or even over-night if you do not have time. That will mean more seasoning volume of ingredients are required to make it tasty.

Sometime it is good to trust our gut-feeling, it may not goes wrong even without any recipe to follow. Try it & you may just love it.We can baked any chicken even without letting the seasoning to seat on the chicken for hours or even over-night if you do not have time. That will mean more seasoning volume of ingredients are required to make it tasty. 

I personally hardly follow any baked chicken recipe as most of the time I will end up buying the spice/herbs, used it once & seat in my kitchen for months. I will go by my feel & see what I have in the kitchen & bake out of it. This theory was apply to my previous 2 oven-baked chicken as well.

Sometime it is good to trust our gut-feeling, it may not goes wrong even without any recipe to follow. Try it & you may just love it.

Recipe attached as below:

Ingredients:

10gm 'I Love Cooking' Chicken Seasoning
4 drumsticks
½ cup of olive oil
 
Preparation and Cooking Instructions:

1. Preheated oven @ 230 °C (oven with fan mode) / 250 °C ( oven without fan mode). 
2. Prepare a baking pan with aluminium sheet, this will prevent the chicken stick to the pan while baking. Do prepare an extra aluminium sheet which is enough to cover the chicken drumsticks in the pan.
3. Clean the chicken drumsticks & towel dry the drumsticks with kitchen towel & place them into the mixing bowl.
4. Mix the seasoning & olive oil together & give the drumsticks a good rub of the mixture.
5. Place the well coated drumsticks onto the baking tray & bake for 30 mins with aluminium sheet covering the pan.
6. Remove the aluminium sheet, drizzle the drumsticks evenly with the sauce in the baking pans & bake for another 20 mins to brown the drumsticks evenly.
7. Serve hot with homemade balsamic salad, Enjoy !!!

Note:

1. If you will like to season it for a few hours or overnight, please remember to reduce the amount of seasonings used.

Caramel Popcorn / 焦糖爆米花

Caramel Popcorn is an American confection made of popcorn coated with a caramelized sugar. Typically a sugar syrup that is made by melted and heated until it browns and becomes thick, producing a caramelized sugar syrup. This hot candy is then mixed with popped popcorn, and allowed to cool. Sometimes a candy thermometer is used, as making caramel is time-consuming and requires skill to make well without burning the sugar. The process creates a sweet flavored, crunchy snack food or treat. Some varieties, after coating with the candy syrup, are baked in an oven to crisp the mixture. Mixes of caramel corn sometimes contain nuts, such as peanuts, pecans, almonds, or cashews. 

Since I had made the Caramel Sauce so I also tried Caramel Popcorn from the stretch as I had the Corn Kennel in my Kitchen. You may consider to give it a trial, you may love it like I do.

Freshly Baked Caramel Popcorn

Recipe attached as below:

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon of olive oil
½ cup of raw popcorn
80gm of caramel sauce
 
Preparation and Cooking Instructions:

1. Preheat the oven to 100 ºC, line a large baking pan with aluminium sheet and set aside.
2. Add olive oil (big & deep enough for the raw popcorn to pop later in it) & slightly heat it.
3. Add raw popcorn & make sure the raw popcorn are evenly toss with olive oil to the pan. Quickly cover the pan as the raw popcorn will pop very fast once it is in contact with heat.
4. Pour the caramel sauce (warm it up in a pan or microwave) over the popcorn and stir everything together.
5. Tumble the mixture on your prepared baking pans and bake them for 1 hour giving them a stir every 20 minutes. 
6. Allow them to cool at room temperature then break them up into bits once cooled. Store them in airtight glass container.

Caramel Syrup / 焦糖糖浆

Caramel is a beige to dark-brown confectionery product made by melting and heating of any type sugars. It can be used as a flavoring in puddings and desserts, as a filling in bonbons, or as a topping for ice cream and custard. 

The process of caramelization consists of heating sugar slowly to around 340 °F (170 °C). As the sugar heats, the molecules break down and re-form into compounds with a characteristic color and flavor.

A variety of candies, desserts, and confections are made with caramel: brittles, nougats, pralines, crème brûlée, crème caramel, and caramel apples. Ice creams sometimes are flavored with or contain swirls of caramel. 

I personally love Laura Vitale Recipe, I had not failed once following closely with her video & recipe. You may consider to give it a trial, you may love it like I do.

Caramel Syrup

Adapted from Laura in the Kitchen by Laura Vitale.

Recipe attached as below:

Ingredients:

1 cup of Brown Sugar
½ cup of Water
¾ cup of Heavy Cream / Whipping Cream, warmed slightly, either in a small saucepan or microwave
2 Tbsp of Unsalted butter at room temperature
¼ tsp of Salt
 
Preparation and Cooking Instructions:

1. In a large non stick sauce pan combine the sugar and water, cook over medium low heat until the sugar dissolves without stirring ever! Just swirl the pan around. Once the sugar has dissolved, turn the heat to medium high and let it bubble away until it turns a deep amber color, about 8 to 10 minutes.
2. Turn the heat down to low at this point and add the warm heavy cream slowly. Be careful because it will bubble vigorously. Keep whisking until everything is combined and turn the heat off.
3. Add the butter and salt, whisk in until the butter melts. Set aside to cool completely.

Store in glass container

Note:

1. I replaced granulated sugar with brown sugar.
2. I omitted vanilla extract/essence.
3. Can be store in the fridge for 2 weeks.

Homemade Muah Chee (Glutinous Rice Balls) / 麻芝

This is a recipe that I wanted to post & keep for a long time since Year 2015 but did not get it done. I had to learn to keep up with the speed of updating & keeping a record of the recipes in year 2016, wish me good luck.....

Having little snack will brighten up the days especially in the afternoon when one is tired & sleeping. Let's have some Muah Chee which is one of the popular snack among Singapore & Malaysia. I had being having this snack since young & never know it is so easy to be make at home. With the introducing of Happycall Pan, making Muah Chee no longer need to stress over burning the batter like in the past. 

Let me treat you a portion of Muah Chee, Enjoy !!!

Adapted from Cuisine Paradise & Loft48.

Serve 1 - 2 pax

Recipe attached as below:

Ingredients:

½ cup glutinous rice flour

½ cup water

1-2 tbsp oil

2 tbsp toasted sesame seeds

1 cup grounded peanuts

1 tbsp fine sugar

Preparation and Cooking Instructions:

Preparing Peanut Mixture

1. Toast sesame seeds.
2. Let it cool before adding to grounded peanuts.
3. Add fine sugar.
4. Mix well.
5. Set aside.

Preparing Muah Chee

1. Combine glutinous rice flour and water.
2. Whisk till smooth.
3. Using a non-stick pan, heat up 2 tbsp of oil.
4. Pour batter into pan & keep stirring.
5. Scrap down the side while batter form a sticky dough.
6. Add a teaspoon of shallot oil on the pan.
7. Fold in the dough repeatedly for about 2 to 3 mins.
8. The dough is ready when it appears slightly transparent and smooth.

Serving Muah Chee

1. Oil the scissor blade.
2. Tear some dough using the chopsticks.
3. Toss in the peanut mixture.
4. Coat the entire dough with peanut mixture.
5. Cut into smaller pieces while coating it with peanut mixture.
6. Serve in individual portions.
7. Add more peanut mixture.
8. Serve warm.

Notes:

1. I like my Muah Chee to be very soft & chewy so the portion for the dough is 1:1. If you like a firmer texture, reduce water to 3/4 : 1.
2. You can buy ready made grounded peanuts with sugar from supermarket but it comes without sesame seeds.
3. I like to premix my peanut mixture and store in an airtight container. Whenever I feel eating Muah Chee, I will make one portion Muah Chee using 1/4 cup flour & water.
4. If you coat the dough with peanut mixture every time before snipping, it will not stick onto your scissor and create a sticky mess.

Hakka Rice Puff Cracker / 客家米通

Today I am introducing this traditional CNY snack/food that my family have since young. It is a must have CNY goodies at home. As it was a culture to be vegetarian for the 1st day of CNY (初一), this was great for us due to the ingredients used.

Many people is asking me what is Puffed Rice. Puffed Rice are just like Popcorn. The method of making puffed rice and popcorn is quite similar. Rice would first be heated under high pressure or being sun dry naturally. Puffed rice also referred to as pop rice.

Puffed rice is tasteless but try slipping in some syrup and it becomes yummy. Puffed rice cake is a traditional food for both the Cantonese and Hakka.

Puffed rice cakes can be stored for two to three months, depending on how it is kept.

Phoon Huat selling 2 type, White & Brown. I took the brown type since young.

Close-up

$18 / Bottle of 18 pcs

Recipe attached as below:

Ingredients

800gm  Crispy Rice Puff Brown

800gm  Toasted Peanuts

200gm  Toasted White & Black Sesame Seeds

Syrup

1000ml Water

800gm  Castor Sugar

1tbsp     Maltose

1tsp       Cooking Oil

1tsp       Lime Juice

Preparation and Cooking Instructions

1. Mix the rice puff with peanut and set aside.
2. Pour all the ingredients for the syrup into a wok and let it boil until the sugar is completely dissolved. Keep stirring and cook till thick. To test whether the syrup is ready, drop a few drops into water and if it forms into small balls and not dissolve, it means the syrup is ready.
3. Pour the cooked syrup into rice puff mixture and stir till completely combined.
4. Pour the mixture into a rectangular wooden tray (5ft by 5 ft) and press down firmly. Leave to cool till semi-warm.
5. Cut into pieces when still warm and then leave it to cool.
6. Store in air-tight containers.
7. Enjoy!!!