Slow Cooker Barley

I guess most of you like taking barley but do you know that there are actually many usage in each part of barley. Basically, barley is rich in protein, vitamins, minerals & amino asids. More importantly, its also one of the richest sources of both soluble and insoluble fiber. And barley contains high level of dietary fiber & solenium (a type of antioxidants), which will help to maintain your overall health in the long term. Most likely, barley water is the main claimed benefit in supporting the kidneys especially in times of stress. It is also used a therapeutic water for those who have kidney and bladder ailments. And barley grass.... What to check out more about barley!? Here, http://www.healthcastle.com/barley.shtml

For me, I hate boiling barley! I hate to spend time waiting for my barley to get boiled to soft and ready to serve. So, most likely I've thought of using slow cooker to make barley drink. I will leave the barley to boil over low heat in the slow cooker at night. Wow, the next morning I can have a cup of nice hot barley drink. I ate the barley as well! It is so soft that even a toddler can have it. It is absolutely the best drink ever early in the morning; instead of taking tea or coffee!

Ingredients :

3 litre boiling water

200gm barley, washed to clean

sugar to taste

Method :

- using a 5 litre slow cooker.

- pour in the boiling water and add in the barley.

- switch to low heat and let it boil till the next morning.

- off the switch, add in sugar to your taste and serve.

- the leftover can leave cool for a nice cool afternoon drink by adding in some ice cubes and lemon slice.

This is the nice cool barley drink of mine !

Traditional 'Ma Lai Gao' @ Malay Cake

You know, I've been searching for this traditional recipe high and low for more than a year. But no one seems willing to share and some of them don't even know what is this! Luckily, I found it from a friend recently. I am very thankful to her for sharing this with me. Thank you so much, Apple Ong! Nowadays, it is so difficult to find this kind of traditional cake but will see them once in a while at the night market. 'Ma Lai Gao' in chinese is meaning Malay Cake. This recipe is actually came from the combination cuisine of the Chinese Steamed Cake and Malay Honey Comb Cake. As you know, Malaysia is a multi-racial country which directly or indirectly had influenced and produced the entirely new cuisine of their own. So, this is one of those wonderful cuisines of Malaysia. And I do admit that Malaysian enjoy eating very much!

Ingredients for Starter Dough :

1-1/2 tbsp sugar
70ml warm water
1 tspn yeast
150gm flour

- dissolve yeast and sugar into warm water for 10mins.
- then add in flour to form a dough and let proof for 12 hours.


Main Dough Ingredients :

starter dough
40gm high protein flour
1 tbsp milk powder
1-1/2tbsp custard powder
230gm brown sugar
5 large eggs
150ml oil
1-1/2 tspn baking powder
3/4 tspn baking soda
1 tspn dark soy sauce


Method :

- combine starter dough, flour, milk powder, custard powder, baking powder, baking soda & sugar together, mix well.




- beat in eggs, oil and 1 tspn dark soy sauce under low speed untill combined.
( encourage to hand mix)
- then leave to proof for 2-3hours.



- place thebatter to a 8" tray and leave to rest for an hour.
- finally, steam for 40 mins under high heat.

I am so so so...happy! Finally, have a chance to eat this kind of cake again. Even my kids had never take this before! I mean they do serve 'Ma Lai Gao' in some restaurants but those are not the one I'm looking for. They normally served Hong Kong Style 'Ma Lai Gao' and not this!

These cakes are so good looking, right! Sometimes, nice food take times! Remember, no short cut..he he!

Century Egg Salad

Century egg also known as preserved egg and is a Chinese cuisine ingredient made by preserving duck, chicken and quail eggs in the mixture of clay, ash, salt, lime and rice straw for several weeks or several months depending on the method of processing. After processing completed, the yolk became dark green with strong odour with sulphur and ammonia. While the egg white became dark brown, transparent jelly with little flavour. Most Chinese will probably take this with pickled ginger but I like it in my way...which I've combined them to make salad instead! I love the mixture of flavour...very clean and nice!

Ingredients :

4 century eggs, sliced thin
100gm pickle scallion
2 zucchinis, cut
a little roasted sesame

Dressing :

2 tbsp lemon juice
1 tbsp fish sauce
1 tbsp sugar

- combine the dressing ingredients in a jar and shake well.

Method :

- mix sliced century eggs, pickle scallion and zucchinis in a large bowl.
- add in the dressing mixture and stir well.
- sprinkle on the sesame seeds.
- chill up before serve.
This is the sliced century egg that I'm trying to show you. Beautiful, isn't it!

And this is pickle scallion. I wonder if you can get this from your Asian Food Store!

Wa..la... I can tell just how much I love this! I think the Vietnamese also made this kind of century egg but it's golden in colour!

White Chocolate 'N' Blueberry Sauce Cake

My son was asking me to make another cake for him. He said : "mom, just make one more cake for me, any cake please....!". He is a big eater. He can actually finish the whole cake! So, I'm going to go for this blueberry sauce with white chocolate and pandan cake. Sounds delicious, isn't it? If you don't have any pandan coconut extract, just leave it either vanilla or lemon flavour for the sponge.

Ingredients for Sponge :

(A)

4 egg yolks

1/4 cup sugar

1/2 cup cake flour

3 tbsp oil

1/4 tspn green colouring

1 tspn pandan coconut extract

40ml milk

- beat egg yolk and sugar untill double in size

- add in milk and flour alternately untill well combine.

- add in the balance ingredients and mix well.

(B)

4 egg whites

1/4 cup sugar

1/2 tspn cream of tartar

- whisk all ingredients untill fluffy.

- then fold egg white mixture into ingredients (A).

- bake for 20 mins at 180'c in 9x13" baking tray lined with parchment paper.

Ingredients for Decoration :

2 cups whipped cream

1/2 cup full cream milk

1 cup blueberry sauce

2 cups grated white chocolate

icing sugar for dusting

Method :

- cut the sponge into half and divide into four.

- spread whipped cream(added with full cream milk) to a layer of sponge and then follow by blueberry sauce.

- repeat the process and end with a layer of sponge.
- finally, decorate the cake as desire with grated white chocolate and fresh berries.

- chill up before served.

Actually, I wanted to fill up the sides with grated white chocolate but my son keep on checking on me for the cake. So, no choice! Have to stop here. He just can't wait any longer! ha ha

You probably can fill up the top with blueberry sauce as well. Great satisfaction! My kids love it so much and so am I!

Cherry Pancake With Blueberry Sauce

Yeap, I'm actually making cherry pancake this afternoon for my kids. It happened that I'm still keeping a jar of blueberry sauce in my fridge and thought of using it for the pancake instead of syrup. It turned out absolutely fantastic! I love both either fresh blueberry or sauce and I didn't know that it goes so well with the cherry pancake. It actually tastes like having a black forest pancake, something like that! I'm so glad I tried it.

Ingredients for Pancake :

1 cup all purpose flour

2 tbsp sugar

1/2 tspn salt

1/2 tspn baking soda

2 tspn baking powder

1 cup milk

1 large egg

2 tbsp oil

*1/2 cup fresh cherries, quartered

- combine all ingredients and beat untill well mix.

- add in fresh cherries.

- preheat pan with or without oil. (I go without oil)

- place one scoop of pancake batter at a time untill finish.

- then serve with butter and blueberry sauce.

I always double up the ingredients to make more for four persons.

The pancake looks great, isn't it! And the cherries still very fresh and juicy eventhough after cooking.

Ingredients for Blueberry Sauce :

1 cup sugar

1/2 tbsp cornstarch

1/8 tspn salt

2/3 cup water

3 cups blueberries

1/8 tspn vanilla extract

2 tbsp lemon juice

- place sugar, cornstarch, salt & water into a saucepan and stir untill smooth.

- stir in fresh berries and cook over medium low heat.

- cook untill the liquid became thicken.

- add sugar to taste.

- off the heat and leave cool. (better to chilled up before use)

Remember, always make extra blueberry sauce and keep for something else. I'm sure you won't regret it!

Stir Fried Spicy Sweet Potato Leaves

Sweet potato sounds familiar to all of you, right?? But what about sweet potato leaves?? And do you know that sweet potato leaves had much higher polyphenol content than any other commercial vegetables! Sweet potato leaves are chock-full of disease-fighting antioxidants that could help to prevent heart disease, diabetes, infection and some types of cancer. If you want to find out more about the benefits, try to check out at http://www.bspp.org.uk/.../2005-44.asp and many other more. And it's also cheaper than many other commercial vegetables. Or probably, you can get it free from your own garden!

This whole bunch only cost me eighty cents but have to spent a little time in cleaning up. I take this almost every week.

Come on, follow me and learn more about the preparation for the dish! Firstly, separate leaves from the stems Then, peel off the skin of the stem and cut shorter(keep only the tender part of the stem). Wash them thoroughly with clean water and leave aside for drying.

Ingredients :

1 tbsp chopped garlic

1 tbsp chopped onion

1 tbsp chopped ginger

a few chili padi (extreme spicy)

salt to taste

- preheat the pan or wok with 1/2 cup cooking oil.

- stir in all the ingredients untill fragrant.

- stir in sweet potato leaves and cook under high heat.

- add in salt; and off the heat, once the leaves became soft.

- and wa-la... it's ready to serve.

(*Actually, mine one already added in some ikan bilis/dried anchovies)

Apple Cinnamon Scone

Scone, scone, scone, I love scone! I love them in any way! I just feel like having some scones for tomorrow breakfast. So, have decided to make this apple cinnamon scone. Sounds lovely, isn't it? Apple & Cinnamon! Cinnamon is always my favourite.

Ingredients :

2 cups all purpose flour

2 tspn double action baking power

1/2 tspn baking soda

1 tspn cinnamon powder

30gm butter

1/3 cup sugar

1 egg, beaten

1/3 cup milk

1 green apple, grated

*for dusting : 1 tbsp sugar + 1/4 tspn cinnamon powder

Method :

- combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, sugar and cinnamon in a big bowl.

- add butter and rub in using fingertips.

- then add in the grated apple.

- combine egg and milk, reserve 1 tbsp for glazing.

- mix the egg mixture into the dry ingredients to form a dough.

- turn onto a floured surface and shape it.

- brush on the egg mixture and top with cinnamon & sugar dusting.

- bake for 12-15 mins at 220'c.

Look at the grated apple still can be seen clearly!

You need to sprinkle more sugar and cinnamon mixture for better look.

The scone texture looks good! I love the aroma of cinnamon.

And I love to eat them with lots butter and jam ! So are my kids!

Strawberry Chocolate Delight

I felt like celebration mood yesterday!! Nop, just enjoying my bakery thing, that's all ! My son was asking me to bake him a chocolate cake a few days ago. He loves strawberries and he loves chocolate. So, ended up making him this Strawberry Chocolate Delight. I love it as well and hope you will like it too.

Ingredients for Sponge :

5 eggs, separated

150gm icing sugar

1/2 tspn vanilla essence

30gm cocoa powder

- whisk egg white untill soft peak form.

- add in 100gm of icing sugar a little at a time untill sugar dissolves.

- in another bowl, beat egg yolk untill thick and creamy.

- then add in vanilla essence, the rest of icing sugar and cocoa powder.

- next fold the egg yolk mixture into egg white untill well blended.

- pour the batter into a swiss roll baking tray, lined with parchment paper.

- and bake for 20 mins at 185'c.

- once the sponge is ready; immediately loosen the edge.

- and gently remove the sponge over onto an aluminium foil.

- peel away the parchment paper as well and leave cool.

******************************************************************

Cream Cheese Fillings :

250gm cream cheese, softened

150ml whipped cream

1/2 tspn vanilla essence

50gm white chocolate, grated

200gm fresh strawberries , cut small

extra grated dark chocolate for decoration

- beat cream cheese, whipped cream and vanilla essence untill soft.

- stir in grated white chocolate and leave aside.

*******************************************************************

Method :

- cut the cake into 3 equal layers.

- place an over size sheet of foil over a 9" loaf tray.

- place one layer of cake onto the tray.

- spread more or less one third of cream cheese mixture onto a layer of cake.

- then top with chopped strawberries.

- repeat the layering and ending with layer of cake.

- reserve the balance cream cheese mixture.

- fold the foil and wrap the cake nicely.

- chill the cake for one to two hours before spreading the top layer of cream mixture.

- then decorate with grated dark chocolate and strawberries.

- and icing sugar for dusting.

* It's best to chilled over night.

Hey, not bad huh!!! Actually, it tasted really really good. Not creamy at all! The cream cheese mixture became a little thicken like white chocolate after chilled and not too sweet as well. In addition, with fresh strawberries. Mm..mm..!!

My son can't wait to have a slice of it. So, I have no choice! Just cut him a slice and then quickly keep it back to the fridge untill the next day.

I thought of taking a few shots in the next day but ended up taking nothing! Because everything just gone so fast! I don't even have a chance to take one shot of it.

Stir Fried Spicy Long Beans 'N' Eggplant

How many of you already tried to stir fry long beans and eggplant with chicken minced in spicy way before?? It's nice to cook mixed vege in spicy without adding in extra spices. Just nice and clean stir fried spicy vege! You can eat more varieties of vege at once without any additional spices! Yeap, it's a nice one especially for those who are not interested in having eggplant and long beans! Just give it ago, guys!

Ingredients :

1 whole eggplant, cut in medium size
300gm long beans, cut in 2" long
150gm minced meat
1 tbsp chopped garlic
1 tbsp chopped onion
a few slices ginger / chopped ginger
a few chili padi (extreme spicy)
salt to taste
1-1/2 tbsp vegetarian oyster sauce
1 tspn dark soy sauce

Method :

- preheat frying pan with 1/2 cup cooking oil.
- stir in ginger, garlic & onion, cook untill fragrant.
- add in minced meat and stir fry untill cooked.
- then add in chillies, long beans and eggplant.
- stir fry under high heat for a few mins.
- turn to low heat and cover with lid.
- stir gradually untill it became soft.
- off the lid and add in the seasonings.
- stir to mix well and then off the heat.
- and serve.

Before ending this, there's another big surprise from a blogger, Pink!

I am totally flattered when I received the Kreativ Award from Pink of PINKIE'S YUMMIES. Eventhough, it's my second award but I'm still very much excited and happy about it. Thank you very much for the award, Pink! I'm really appreciate it. You can check out the 7 things about myself in my 1st award posting. And today, I'm going to pass on the awards to some nice blogger that you might find it interesting.

(1) the 1st one, I've already passed it on to Mary of ONE PERFECT BITE.

(2) Donna-FFW of MY TASTY TREASURES blog, a very interesting blog & lots of funny gags. Ha ha!

(3) Joycee of GRANNYMOUNTAIN blog, a wonderful stories teller.

(4) Pam of FOR THE LOVE OF COOKING blog, lots of wonderful recipes you might interested in.

(5) Angie of ANGIE'S RECIPES blog, you'll be surprised by her beautiful recipes.

(6) Chef Fresco of CHEF FRESCO blog, check out the easy way of food.

(7) Reeni of CINNAMON SPICE & EVERYTHING NICE blog, she got tonnes of recipes in her lovely blog.

Congratulations to all of you!!! And you might need to list out 7 things of yourself in your next posting. Thank you so much for sharing. Have a nice day!

Satay Drumstick

Satay is a very popular delicacy in Indonesia and Malaysia. In Malaysia, satay is a popular dish especially during celebrations for the Malays and can be found throughout the country. It may served with spicy peanut gravy; which I don't have it here today, and onion, cucumber and ketupat (press rice cake). To make it simple for my family dinner, I'm using drum stick instead of slice meat. And it still going well! Here you are...

Ingredients :

10 drum sticks

1 tspn tumeric powder

1 tspn curry powder

1 tspn coriander powder

1/2 tspn cumin powder

5 tbsp sugar

1 tspn salt

1 tbsp sesame oil

Method :

- marinade drum sticks with all ingredients at once.

- it's better to leave over night in the fridge.

- then preheat frying pan with a tablespoon of cooking oil.

- simmer drum stick over medium low heat untill golden brown.

- next bake the drumsticks for another 15mins at 200'c.
- and serve hot.

Oh dear, it smell sooo....delicious! Just imagine the combination of the mix spices! My son loves it so much.

By the time dinner is ready, I heard laughter coming out of my room. So, I sneak in and see what is going on! And my son asked me to look at the pictures of my dog! ha ha ha

Oh my goodness, just look at my kids!!!! What have they done to my dog!! ha ha ha