Strawberry & Mascarphone Slice

Still remember the strawberries that I bought that day! Yeap, I've used them in making some delightful slices. A totally simple and refreshing goodie. I can hardly find mascarphone cheese around my living area so I decided to use cream cheese instead. Of couse, mascarphone cheese should be the best for this recipe.

*

Ingredients for Crust :

175gm butter

2-1/2 tbsp sugar

1 egg yolk

2 cups all purpose flour

- beat butter, sugar & egg yolk untill fluffy.

- stir in flour and mix untill combined.

- press firmly to a 9" square tray and bake at 180'c preheated oven for 25mins.

- leave to cool.

Ingredients for Strawberry Topping:

300gm mascarpone (I used cream cheese instead)

1/2 cup icing sugar

2 tbsp yogurt

1 tbsp fresh whip cream

300gm fresh strawberries, cut into quarters

50gm dark chocolate (for decoration)

1 tbsp full cream milk

- beat softened cream cheese, icing sugar, yogurt and whip cream untill combined.

- stir in fresh strawberries and mix well.

- spread the mixture over the crust and set aside.

- melt the chocolate over indirect heat(double boiler).

- stir in milk and mix well.

- drizzle over the slice and chilled for 2 hours before served.

Yum yum.....can't wait to have a slice!
There are 12 slices in a tray but I only ate 2....they all ended up in my kids belly lol!

Slow Cooker Sea Coconut With 'Atap' Fruit Sweet Dessert

Sea coconut which is also called as water chestnut. It is quite a popular fruit in Asian countries especially in Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand. The shape of sea coconut looks more alike the common coconut but different in colour and it's also smaller in size. We can easily buy fresh sea coconut at wet market or supermarket over here. For those who live out of this region, can get the can sea coconut from the Asian store.

Fresh sea coconut normally came in clean whole one with skin. Before cooking, we need to peel off the skin. The young fruits texture is very soft compare to the ripe one which I love the most.
This is the sea coconut after cleaning and peeled. Looks like a transparent jelly.

I'll normally used sugar cane rock and red dates for this kind of recipe, which will brings out the aromatic flavour of this sweet soup.

So, slice the sea coconut to a smaller bite size and add all the needed ingredients into the slow cooker. Starts boiling it over low heat by using the slow cooker at night. And serve in the next day.

And these are called as 'kolang-kaling' or 'buah atap'. Normally, we can only get them in packaging as below.
These kind of fruits can only be sold after some processing stages because the fresh fruits are not suitable for direct intake.
This is the 'atap' fruits and it's about the size of a 'longan'.
And this is the 'atap' tree which we can find locally. My hubby said the fresh fruits got a funny taste that you don't even want to eat them.

Ingredients :

*

10pcs fresh sea coconut

3L boiling water

handful red dates

200gm sugar cane rock

1 cup 'atap' fruits

*

Method :

*

- slice the after peeled sea coconut.

- combine all ingredients into the slow cooker pot, except 'atap' fruits.

- leave to boil over low heat over night.

- then off the heat, add in the 'atap' fruits and serve.

*

*for those who are not using slow cooker, boil the ingredients for at least 1/2 hour over high heat and 1-1/2 hours over low heat. Add in more water if needed.

Blueberry Orange Nut Loaf

What do you know! Blueberries on sales again.... hooo...yaaa..... 50% discount!!! Sometimes you can find good grocery coupons for frozen produce. I'm happy enough and successfully grabbed 250gm of the fresh berries and also 1/2kg of strawberries. Oh yes, SEE, what have I done to the blueberries!!! At first, I was thinking to use them in muffins. Nope...I've already tried those in muffins. Finally, I found a perfect recipe for my blueberries. It's a non buttery loaf. The original recipe was using cranberries. So, I was thinking to make a little switch to blueberries instead. It looks real good though! I love love love the flavour.... So, here's the recipe.

Ingredients :

2 cups all purpose flour

1/2 tspn baking powder

1/2 tspn baking soda

3/4 cup sugar

1/2 tspn salt

1 egg, beaten

2 tbsp olive/corn oil

orange juice from one large orange with enough water to equal 3/4 cup liquid

orange rind from one orange

1-1/2 cups blueberries

walnut, crashed (whole for decoration)

Method :

- combine flour, sugar, salt, crashed walnut, baking powder and baking soda together, mix well.

- beat oil, orange juice, orange rind and egg untill combined.

- stir in the dry ingredients and fold with a big wooden spoon.

(do not over mix)

- pour the batter to a baking tray and decorate with walnut.

- bake at 175'c for 45 mins.

Alright, this is something that I would not share with you... ha ha ha! Make your own!!! I love the natural sweetness of the fruits, not too sweet and with a little sweet & sour flavour of the fruits ....hmm...mmm, heavenly goodness! You can actually smell the aroma of fresh fruits once it's out from the oven. I'm sure you going to love it!

*

And herewith, I would like to pass this befriending button to another few more new foodie friends of mine. And thank them for being my friends and for sharing. They are as follow :-

*

Lyndsey @ The Tiny Skillet

Elin @ Elinluv's Tibits Corner

Cheah @ No-Frill Recipes

Selba @ Selby's Food Corner

Andrea @ Andrea's Wellness Notes

Chin @ Cherry Potato

Pegasuslegend (hope to know your name!)

Laura @ Laura's Paris Cooking Note Book

Chris @ Chris Passion With Food

Radha @ Radhasia

Barbara @ Moveable Feasts

Anna @ Chef Wanabe

Angie @ Angie's Recipe

Lulu @ Lululu At Home (hope to know your name!)

Nyonya @ Petite Nyonya (hope to know your name!)

Claudia @ Journey of An Italian Cook

Canuck @ Cookin' Canuck

Wasabi Prime (hope to know your name!)

Tana @ Cheap Appetite

Robert @ Shizuko Gourmet

Kathy @ KathyVegas

Chaya @ Sweet & Savory

Pari @ Foodelicious

Hopefully I didn't left out anyone!!! Please feel free to drop by and brings home the button LOL! Love & Kisses! =D

Awards

Yeap, more awards from my foodie friends! Thank you very much to Penny @ Jeroxie and Divina @ Sense & Serendipity. It's an honour and I'm really appreciate it. Penny, she's a cute little darling to me. She loves showing all those delicious, irresistible & fatty food reviewed which I love the most and not to forget she's also a good cook. Divina, she's a holistic nutritionist and there are many interesting healthy recipes in her lovely blog. Thanks again! Well, the next thing would be 7 things about myself..... 7 things!!! Wow....

(1) I love dancing and it's one of my favourite thing to do when I was younger, especially ballroom dance and free style. (You'll be surprised if you see me on stage..he he!)
(2) Now, I'm a mother of two beautiful kids, 15(daughter) and 12(son).
(3) I first started blogging was on March 2009 and I'm glad I did it.
(4) The most unforgettable thing in my life was when I'm carrying my first child.
(5) I went to Whakapapa ski moutain, New Zealand even I know nothing about skiing.
(Actually, I was in New Zealand for a year in 20 years back.)
(6) I still cannot swim but I can float...ha ha ha! (what a shame!)
(7) I like to laugh & make jokes a lot, and my parents & relatives called me 'Happy Nut'!

Now, I am going to pass the award to 7 other foodie friends which I think they've a great blog too. So, do feel free to visit them.

(1) Silvia @ Citronetvanille
(2) Kathy Gory @ The Colours Of Indian Cooking
(3) Drick @ Drick's Rumbling Cafe
(4) Laura @ Little Chef And I
(5) Mary Moh @ Keep Learning Keep Smiling
(6) Joycee @ Granny Mountain
(7) Hana @ Heavenly Housewife

Please feel free to drop by and brings home your award. Congratulations to all of you! And remember to paste the award, list out 7 things about yourself and then pass the award to 7 other bloggers.

And in return, I would like to pass this befriending button to Penny & Divina. Thank you for being my friend and for sharing.

And I also want to pass this befriending button to another new foodie friend of mine, Alwayswinner786. Thanks for being my friend and sharing. Have fun!

Red Bean Chinese Pastry

My foodie friends were asking me what I'm going to do with all the red bean paste that I made the other day! Well, I guess this is the answer! Actually, this is not the only recipe that is using red bean paste. You can find out more from my previous postings. Probably, you can use the bean paste in your pancake as well. I think that is creative enough! This is a very thin form of pastry skin which I think it goes perfectly well with the red bean paste. So, enjoy ladies!

Ingredients for Pastry Dough :

(A) Water Dough

100gm all purpose flour

25gm icing sugar

25gm butter

40gm water

- combine flour & sugar and mix well.

- rub in the butter untill combined.

- stir in water to form a soft dough, leave aside for 30mins.

- divide into 12 portion

(B) Oil Dough

100gm all purpose flour

45gm shortening

- rub shortening to the flour untill well combined.

- knead to form a dough and leave aside for 30mins.

- divide into 12 portion.

*Red bean paste : 12 portion (30gm each)

Method :

- wrap (B) into (A), roll in long flat piece then roll it up like Swiss roll.

- turn 90 degree, and repeat once.

- then press dough with palm and roll out into a circular sheet.

- place in the filling and pleat pastry upward.

- then slightly roll flat, place them onto the baking tray.

- brush on egg glaze and bake for 20mins at 200'c.
Wa..La... here's my yummy red bean pastry! Looks like puffs and it's really crispy when it's still hot.
Hope to share these with you all...... =D

Homemade Red Bean Paste

As requested by Divina, I've made the red bean paste this morning. After reading her comment on my previous posting yesterday, I really hope that I could help her out. So, staight away I went into the kitchen to look for red beans. Luckily, I still have some and without thinking further I washed and soaked them with water. I seldom make my own red bean paste because I could easily get them from the nearby specialty shop. So, Divina, this is specially for you lol!

After soaking the red beans for a couple of hours. Again, rinse it with clean water. Then place it to a pot with water juz slightly cover the red beans. Boil for 10mins. Off the heat, remove the water and again add in clean water(about 2" over the red beans for slow cooker user). Boil it again. For me, I'm using the slow cooker. So, I'll normally cook it at night over low heat. And shall be done by the next morning. For those who are not using slow cooker and you need to add more water for boiling. Just carry on boiling it untill became really really soft. But then make sure the water level always stay at 1-2 inches above the red beans. Add in more water if possible.
Once it's ready, blend it together with the liquid untill smooth. Pour it to a non-stick pot. Stir in a little sugar (about 4-5tbsp then add another batch later on) and cooking oil (about 1 cup & prepare more oil to add in later). Then simmer over medium low heat and stir gradually. Don't burn it!

Add in more cooking oil when you think it's a little dry around the pot. Switch to low heat when the paste began to thicken. Add in sugar to taste and also cooking oil (more oil if you want smoother & glossy paste).

The paste should be looking like this, smooth and creamy. If you prefer easy to handle texture, chill overnight before used. Then rub your hand with a little cooking oil when rolling it.

Ta...da.....Wooo....finally, it's done! The whole cooking time is about 1 hour.

Stir Fried Pumpkin Green Beans & Tofu With Chicken

I've made a simple and exotic dish today....more alike a little bit of these and that! I love playing mix and match thing in my cooking. Saving me lots of cooking time. Since everyone go pumpkin lately, so I go ahead with pumpkin too. I don't like stir fried pumpkin alone. So, have decided to add in some tofu, green beans and chicken mince....with light wet sauce. Sounds delicious, isn't it! So, come and join me....

Ingredients :

200gm green beans, cut small

200gm pumpkin, cubed

200gm bean curd, slightly fried

200gm chicken minced

1 tbsp chopped garlic

a few slices ginger

Seasoning :

1 tbsp vegetarian oyster sauce

salt & pepper to taste

Thickening : 1/3cup water + 1 tspn tapioca/corn starch

Method :

- marinade chicken mince with salt & pepper and a little oyster sauce.

- preheat pan with 1/3 cup oil, stir in the pumpkin and fried untill a little brownish.

- remove pumpkin from the pan, then stir in ginger, garlic, green beans and chicken mince.

- simmer untill cook, then add in fried bean curd & pumpkin.

- stir fried for about 2 mins over medium heat and add in all the seasoning & thickening.

- off the heat once the sauce became a little thicken (make sure it's not too dry).

- and then serve.

This dish is definitely easily go with plain rice, since it's all in one dish! Enjoy....!

The following award was given by Anncoo from Anncoo's Hobby to all her foodie friends. I'm quick enough to grab it back. Thank you! Her blog got plenty of yummy food and recipes. You guys should check her out.

And in return, I'm giving her a befriending award. Thank you so much for being friend and sharing. Muchas Gracias!

Red Bean Swirl Coffee Bun

So sorry, I've been away for a few days! Busy, busy, busy..... However, I tried my best to come up with a post. Ah....My hot hot coffee bun!!! I love bread and I love making bread as well. I bought a few new bakery toys a couple days ago and will try them out soon. So, stay tuned!

Ingredients :

550gm high protein flour

1 tspn yeast

200ml warm milk

2 eggs

2-1/2tbsp oil

2-1/2tbsp sugar

1/4tspn salt

1 tspn instant coffee powder

Filling : 360gm red bean paste (30gm/dough)

Method :

- add yeast into warm milk, sugar and leave aside for 5 mins.

- stir coffee powder into milk mixture.

- combine all ingredients together to form a soft dough.

- leave to proof for 1 hour.

- pouch out the air from dough, knead for another 2 more mins.

- divide the dough into 12 portion.

- wrap red bean filling into the dough, roll flat and make a few cuts in the center.

- twist the dough and make a knot, then place onto the cupcake paper cup.

- then leave aside for 10 mins.

Brush on the egg glaze and sprinkle some sugar on top. Then bake at 200'c for 20 mins or untill golden brown.

You can use nutella instead for the filling or maybe peanut butter.

What an aromatic cutie! Loveeee...the coffee smell.

Can't wait to take a bite on it!