Steamed Chicken With Lily Buds

Here's another simple dish for this festive season. Nothing fancy or tradition... just a nice simple dish to go with rice or porridge. After all those baked and deep fried food for the past few days... nice to have some light flavour meat.

These are the lily buds after soaked. And remember to remove the woody bit at the bottom of the bud before cooking.

Ingredients :

1 whole boneless large chicken breast (sliced)

50gm dried lily bud (soaked)

handful of shredded ginger

Seasoning :

*

2 tbsp vegetarian oyster sauce

1/2 tbsp light soy sauce

a pinch of salt & pepper

2 tspn cornstarch

2 tbsp 'shao xing' wine/ rice wine

2 tbsp sesame oil

*

Method :

- make a knot(to prevent from breaking up) to all the soaked lily buds and set aside.

- marinade chicken meat with all the seasoning ingredients and set aside for an hour.

- combine lily buds with marinated chicken meat.

- place the meat to a baking tray/plate and spread the shredded ginger on top.

- then steam for about 20-30 mins over high heat or untill cooked.

- and serve hot.

Dundee Cake

What do you know..... it"s Christmas day!!! So, I'm here to wish all my foodie friends Merry Christmas & Happy holidays! Hope you all have a fantastic time with your family & friends. Though I'm not celebrating X'mas, I love this kind of festive season too. It's fun! It is also the best time to learn more about western cooking and baking. Probably, I could use the recipes in my coming Chinese New Year as well. hehe... Our Chinese New Year is fall on the 14th February 2010! Yes, exactly the same day on Valentine's Day. Much fun huh....two celebrations on the same day! However, make sure you guys have lots of fun and food as well.... say 'CHEESE'! haha....

Ingredients :

*

400gm mixed fruits (washed & drained)

50gm crashed walnut

50gm crashed pistachio

3 large eggs

150gm butter

100gm sugar

150gm all purpose flour

1/2tspn baking powder

2 tspn rum/brandy

Method :

- rub mixed fruit with rum and set aside.

- combined baking powder & flour together in a bowl.

- cream butter & sugar untill fluffy.

- beat in eggs one by one and mix well.

- fold in flour & mixed fruits & nuts, mix till well combined.

- pour into a 9"loaf tray and bake at 150'c for 1-1/2 hours.

- leave to cool before remove from tray.

- double up the ingredients if you're using 8" round baking tray.

Well, here's a little yummy treat for this special season. Dundee cake is a traditional Scottish fruit cake with rich flavour. But the sweetness of this fruit cake just nice cause I have the mixed fruits washed thoroughly before used and I've also cut down the usage of sugar. And the addition of nuts just perfect! So, enjoy and have a marvellous time!

MERRY CHRISTMAS, everyone!!! =D

Best Wishes, Kristy

'Dong Zhi' Festival

Today is 'Dong Zhi'. 'Dong Zhi' is the last celebrated festival on Chinese lunar calender. The Chinese words 'Dong Zhi', refers to 'the arrival of winter'. 'Dong Zhi' is the celebration of good year one has had. 'Dong Zhi' also known as 'tuan yuen jie' meaning reunion festival and one of the customs is eating the rice flour dumpling. The rice flour dumpling is also called as 'tang yuen' which means full reunion. Thus, eating 'tang yuen' on 'Dong Zhi' represents family reunion and harmony. Click here or here for more info.

Ingredients Dumpling Dough :

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500gm glutinous rice flour

1-2/3(1-3/4) cups warm water

For fillings : chocolate chips, raisins & chopped palm sugar.

Method :

- place glutinous rice flour into a large bowl.

- slowly stir in warm water and mix untill became a dough.

- then separate into 2 or 3 portion for additional colouring.

- wrap in any filling as desired or just go plain.

- boil all the glutinous rice ball in another pot of hot water untill float.

- then remove the rice ball to the syrup water pot.

Ingredients for Syrup water :

3L water
sugar cane rock (sweetness as desired)
1/4 cup sago pearl (tapioca pearl)
pandan leaves
a few slices ginger

Method :

- boil all ingredients(except sago pearl) together.
- add in the sago pearl about half way of boiling time.
- off the heat when sugar is completely melted.
- place in all the glutinous rice ball and serve.
- for preparation of tapioca pearls click here for info.

My kids love having this kind of sweet dessert especially with palm sugar filling! While I, can at least take 3 bowls of this...hehehe.... I like drinking the ginger flavour syrup, taste really delightful! Hope you all will enjoy this.

A Place Without Snow

I just love watching the sky everyday. And these pictures were taken by me for the past whole week. Well, here's the place without snow~~ No heater is needed!

And I successfully captured this by one evening! Love this view so much..... But too bad, it's not a perfect shot!

It was pouring rain almost every evening over here and extreme windy during the night. Weather is getting chill too.

Can you see the rain???? Em..em... that's no rain drops at all, looks more like water pouring down from the sky! Well, this is mother nature!

This is an evening shot! Did you notice the cloud batches at the above? That is no good sign at all!!! Whenever I seen this..... 2-3 days after, there'll be earthquake at somewhere! Believe it or not?

Star Anise Cookies

Today I'm going to do a guest posting for Shirley @ Enriching Your Kid. Shirley was a clinical phycologist but she willing to give it up for the sake of her children. And now, she's a full time homemaker. What a fantastic mother she is! Let's give her an applause.... Besides of that Shirley also owned a very lovely little blog with many interesting recipes with her.

Thank you very much for your invitation and I'm honoured to be your guest blogger, Shirley. Please do check out Shirley's blog for the recipe. Hope you all have a joyous weekend with your family and have lots of fun during this festive season! =D .... tra~lalala~lala~lala~lala~~~ Sorry, I'm not good at singing! haha....

~~~HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!!~~~

Kristy's Spirulina Almond Cookies

While scrolling through my mails, I came accrossed that Elaine @ Gourmet Girl Magazine's is holding a Virtual Holiday Cookie Crawl contest. Attractive giveaways, of coz! I'm not sure if my submission is valid. Well, at least I have made my first try!

Spirulina is a well known healthy dietary supplement. And it contained of all the minerals and vitamins that we need daily. According to scientific studies, it maybe good for the brain, heart, immune system and more. We can used green tea for flavouring in our bakings and why not spirulina! Since it is so healthy. And here's my recipe.

Ingredients :

230gm butter

1/2 cup sugar

1 large egg

1-1/2 tpsn vanilla extract

1/4 tspn salt

2 cups all purpose flour

1/3 cup ground almond

15gm spirulina powder (for mild flavour use 10-8gm)

Topping : 100gm white chocolate (+ 1tbsp butter), melted

Method :

- combine flour, almond, salt and spirulina powder together in separate bowl.

- beat butter and sugar untill fluffy.

- add in egg and whisk untill well combined.

- fold in dry ingredients and mix well to form a dough.

- divide into 24 portion & roll into a ball.

- place them to the baking tray & press flat.

- finally, bake for about 10 mins at 175'c.

- leave to cool and then decorate it with melted white chocolate as desire.

You must be wondering how was it taste like, right? Well, it actually tasted real GREEN! haha... It's true! You can actually smell and taste the green in it. It's more or like seaweed flavour. Hope you'll enjoy it and have a healthy X'mas! Cheers.

Red Beans 'Won Zai Go' vs 'Put Zai Go'

This is also called as Kuih Kosui. But over here, the elderly called it 'won zhai go' which means small bowl goodie/kuih. In Hong Kong, they called it 'put zhai go' also means the same thing. It's such a delicious dessert and it's very easy to make. So, just have fun with it!

*

Ingredients (A) :

*

230gm all purpose flour

200gm tapioca flour

1/4 tspn alkaline water

salt to taste

700ml water

*

Ingredients (B) :

*

300gm brown sugar

pandan leaves

300ml water

*

Ingredients (C) :

*

100gm grated coconut

1/4 tspn salt

(steam for 20mins & leave aside)

*

Ingredients (D) :

1 can cooked azuki red beans

(wash, drain and divide bean into bowls)

Method :

*

- mix ingredients (A) well, strain into a big bowl and set aside.

- cook ingredients (B) untill sugar dissolves & strain mixture

- and pour into ingredients A quickly.

- stir well and strain again.

- pour batter into ceramic bowl (I'm using rice bowl).

- steam for 30mins over high heat or untill set.

- leave to cool before lifting.

I've cut down the quantity of sugar and this kuih is more delightful than sweet when having it together with steamed grated coconut.
Absolutely yum....

Simple Boiled Baby 'Bok Choy'

After my returned, my hubby was craving for my homecook meal. He doesn't like eating out! So, for a quicky! I've made some simple dish for his crave.

Ingredients :

200gm baby bok choy (2 persons), washed thoroughly

cooking oil

1 tbsp chopped ginger

1 tbsp chopped scallion

1 tbsp chopped garlic

Seasoning :

1tbsp vegetarian oyster sauce

1/3 tbsp light soy sauce

*

Method :

- boil a pot of water with 1 tbsp cooking oil.

- stir in bok choy and let it boil over medium heat untill cooked.

- remove bok choy from the boiling water and let drain.

- preheat a frying pan or wok with 1/3 to 1/2 cup of cooking oil (depend on the amount of chopped ginger, garlic & scallion used).

- fry the ingredients untill golden brown, off the heat and remove the fried ingredients to aside.

- stir in bok choy to the cooking oil and add in all the seasoning, stir till well mixed.

- mix in the fried ingredients and serve.

I love this kind of simple boiled dish too. The veggie is tender and juicy. As for the oil, it's always adjustable depends how juicy you prefer it to be.

Somewhere I Shouldn't Miss !

Singapore Zoo is definitely somewhere I shouldn't miss every visit! My kids love it so much especially these polar bears.

This is mother polar bear name 'SHEBA'. She's now 33 years old, if not mistaken. I still remember when the first time I visited her, she was only 2-3 years old.

And this is her baby boy name 'Inuka'. He's now 19 years old. I've once visited him when he was about 1-2 years old. He's so cute and he still is... hahaha.... Oh boy, he is huge! But both of them are less active than usual now.

Just look at him! Love seeing him in the water. Huge huh!!!

I love this picture the most! Glad that I be able to catch this shot while he was trying to dive into the water.
He is actually taking his afternoon snack at that moment. They're feeding him water melon, some meat and some live fishes. He did a little hunting!

~ The White Tiger ~ Really gorgeous!

~ Cheetah ~ Best body shape ever! haha.....

~ Sloth ~ And this is another favourite picture! Just look at the little one, enjoying his/her nap. Extreme cute!

I'm actually looking forward to those panda bears which is coming in another 2 more years. Pretty excited!

More Christmas Shopping !

More Christmas Shopping Spree......

~ Christmas Cookies ~

~ Christmas Fruit Cakes ~

~ Cake Pudding ~

~ More Cakes ~
Are you salivating now???
~ Delicious Candy Gift Packs ~

~ A Little Bit of Everything ~
~ Miu Miu outlet ~
~ Tod's outlet ~
~ Prada outlet ~
~ More Prada ~ (I think these teddy bear key chains just nice for Christmas gifts!)