Spam Ham with Scrambled Egg and Spring onions

Yes, i know spam ham is not a healthy thing to eat... but it have done me no harm growing up when my mum, grandparents or uncles or aunties who serve it for dinner. In fact it tasted soo good on rice with a little soy sauce, that makes us quiet on the table and be a happy eater.
Spam ham with scramble egg and spring onion is one nostalgic dish whilst growingup for me & mr C.  Its something my mum make when she struggles to think what to mak, quick and simple, and when its on table me and sister would fight for it, esp the crispy ones and sometimes the spring onions ;p

I suddenly wanted some tonight... and its definitely a thumbs up!

Ingredients

200g Spam Ham (1 tin)
3 Eggs
2 Spring Onion
1/2Tbspn Veg Oil
pinch of salt

Method:

1)Wash and finely chop the spring onions.
2) Beat the eggs in a bowl and pour the spring onions and a pinch of salt and give it a good mix.
3)Once taken the ham out carefully from the tin, on a chopping board, cut it in thin slices.
4) In a non-stick pan, put it over a high heat with a little oil, then turn medium heat.  Place the slices and let it pan-fry for 2-3mins on one side, then turn over and pan-fry for another 2-3minutes
5) Once the ham is nice n crispy, pour the egg & spring onion mixture.  Use a chopstick to stir and get the egg scrambled. Once all the egg is cooked its ready to serve.

Happy Cooking!

Wonton Soup Stock

 If you went through all the effort to make the wontons, then having the great wonton soup stock would enhance the flavour of the entire eating experience.
Whenever I go eating at Chinatown with my dad, and if we choose anything like noodles, dumplings in soup, he always make a comment on the flavour of the soup.  A good soup stock would require a long time to let the ingredients infuse into the water, but should not be too strongly flavoured so that it does not steal the limelight of the wonton, however would make the wonton ever more so irresistable.

At home, if you do not want to go through fuss, you can opt to use stock cubes. For those who like the challenge, heres my very simple recipe - and it would make you feel really resourceful when all you use is the leftovers or things you would normally throw away.

Ingredients:

1 Nylon soup bag
Prawn heads & Shells
200g Chicken Wing Tips
1 piece of Pork bones (if cant find this 2 or 3 spare ribs)
big piece of ginger, crushed, sliced
white pepper
2 litres of water
1Tbspn Light soy sauce
0.5 Tbspn Oyster sauce
few drops of sesame oil
salt - season to taste.

Method:
1) In a pot of water, boil the pork bone/spare rib with a slice of ginger for 2-3mins.
2) With a little oil, wok-fry the ginger then prawn head and shells and chicken wing tips, for about 2-3 minutes - this is to bring out the aroma.
3) Place all the ingredients in a nylon soup bag.  Place it in a big pot with of water, and bring it to boil. Then cover with a lid and let it simmer on a medium-low heat for at least 1hr (the longer the better).
4) Take the bag away, and you can either strain it for storage for later use.
5) To use straight away, add the soy sauce, oyster sauce and sesame oil, let it to boil. Ready to be used for the wontons.

Tip:
I added a few shitake mushroom & carrot in to the soup to simmer.
The Japanese Nylon soup bag can be bought from the oriental supermarket, its a good investment, because you can keep the ingredient in the bag without doing extra work like strain to another pot. Its more pop it in the bag, pull the drawstring tight, in the water, then once done take it from the pot thats already infused full of flavour. 

Happy Cooking!

Wonton - Pork & Prawn dumplings

Wonton is a very popular chinese dish that is basically a dumpling.  The name in chinese means swallowing a cloud, which when its in a bowl of soup it does resemble some floating clouds.  For me its its swallow a mouthful of delight.
Different regions of Chinese will have variation of their wonton. My parents are from Hongkong, so the school/norm way  for me is the Cantonese style, where the filling is predominantly mince pork & prawns and served in a soup with very thin noodles or can have on its own in a soup but dip with a little red vinegar.

But the recipe i use is from my mum, who always tell me that once i learn the recipe, i should try and make my interpretation and add things and make it as tasty as possible.

 Ingredients:

500g   Minced Pork
200g   Fresh Prawns (Diced)
4         Dried Shitake/Chinese Mushroom (Soaked in hot water and chopped)
Bunch of chives, finely chopped
2 clove of garlic - grated
2tspn   Salt
4tspn   Sugar
2tspn   MSG (optional)
2tspn   Sesame Oil
1Tspn   Light Soya sauce
2Tspn  Corn flour
1Tspn   Vegetable Oil
1         Egg White (optional)


2packet  WonTon Pastry/Skins
1 Egg Yolk - to use to stick

Wonton Soup
Chinese Cabbage - Chopped,
Spring Onions, finely chopped for garnish when serve

Method:


1)Place all the ingredients in a bowl and mix well together. Cover with cling film and let it stand in the fridge for at least 20mins.
2)Prepare a plate with a bit a plain flour, so the wrapped wonton, dont stick on the plate
3)Place a wonton wrapper on a clean plate, turning it like diamond shape
4)Place 1 teaspoon of filling in the center of the wrapper
5) Brush a little egg yolk on one corner, then fold it in half (corner to corner), the ruche up the sides, then with your fingers give it a little press to make sure it sticks together.
6) Repeat steps 3-5 until either all the filling or wrappers are all used up.

7)In a cooking pan, boil a pot of water with a little oil. Drop the wontons gently into the boiling water. Initially, they will sink to the bottom. Boil the wontons until they float to the surface of the water. This means the filling within the wonton is cooked. Drain and transfer into a bowl. Set aside.

8) Prepare wonton soup.
9) Boil the chinese cabbage, and the already cooked wontons for 1 minute.
10) Scoop the wonton & chinese cabbage into a serving bowl, and pour a little soup.
11) Drizzle a few drops of sesame oil and white pepper. Finish by garnish with a handful of spring onion.

Happy Cooking!

Wonton Noodle 云呑麵

I was really looking forward to put together todays lunch, because been thinking of making wonton noodles for a long time.  Since Mr C been away for work, thought i treat him his favourite and to welcome him home.  Healthy and tasty!
Having wonton noodles also make me think of trips to Hongkong, after an exhausting walking around shopping, carrying my mum or grans stuff, and to rest up in a dai-pai dong with a steaming hot bowl of soupy noodle, and every bite of dumpling is like a mouthful of delight...hmmm.

 So last night, sat down with my ipod on the background and wrapped my wonton noodles.

Then this morning, i prepared my stock for the soup base - by putting the ingredients in the nylon bag - so still get to infuse the flavours but not got the fuss in changing pots etc. 

Then time for lunch - boil the noodles and wonton.

All in the bowl to enjoy it.

Happy Cooking!

Mixed Vegetable Stirfry with Quorn

Whilst growing up in my family, we often cook vegetarian dishes for good health at least once a month. My mum say its a natural way to detox your body.  I love vegetables, and so i quite happy to follow suit when i start to cook for myself. During university, i have discovered Quorn range from my vegetarian friends.  So even now, when i dont fancy meat, i use quorn pieces in vegetable stir-fries.

Today, after weeks of indulgence of cakes, crisps and chocolate, i feel like a good detox - so it was time for no meat stirfry. I think i might have went a bit mad at the end with the vegetables, but it was very tasty! Great and easy way to get my daily intake of vegetables too!

100g Quorn 'chicken style' pieces
1/4 Broccolli, chopped
1/2 Carrot, peeled and sliced
1/4 Sweet Red Pepper, sliced
handful of Green Beans, cut the ends, chopped in halves
handful of Beansprouts
handful of Baby corn, halved
2 cloves of Garlic, crushed, and finely chopped
small thumb-sized ginger, deskinned, sliced
1 Spring Onion, finely chopped

1Tbspn Groundnut oil
Sprinkle of White Pepper
50ml Vegetable stock
1 Tbspn Oyster sauce
1Tbspn Light Soya sauce
dash of sesame oil
dash of Rice Wine/Cooking Wine
2tspn of cornflour blended with a little cold water

Instruction:

1) Heat a wok over a high heat and add the oil. Stir-fry the garlic & ginger for 1 minute.
2) Add the Quorn pieces, and give it a good stir for 2 minutes, then add the vegetables and stirfry for a further 2-3minutes
3) Add the veg stock, oyster sauce, light soy sauce, sesame oil, dash of wine & sprinkle of white pepper.
4) Stir in the blended cornflour if you would like to thicker sauce.  Add the spring onion and give a final stire before serve. 

Tip:
For tougher vegetable like broccoli, carrots, add a little of water to help cook, and always add the crunchier vegetable into pan/wok first and the softer ones last - so all the vegetable will all have a balanced crunchy bite.

Happy Cooking!

Filo Tartlets with Garlic Prawns

Having soo much fun with the filo tartlets last couple gatherings, i thought i test out another recipe for the upcoming house gathering, and let my guest be my guinea pigs. 

They just reflect the day, spring day full of colour with the chopped mangetout and carrots then you get that garlicky chilli kick - delightful!

Ingredients:

Filo Tartlets:
75g Filo pastry
2Tbspn Sunflower Oil

Garlic Prawns

1Tbspn Sunflower oil

2-3 garlic cloves, crushed

1 fresh red chilli, seeded and chopped

350g/12 oz peeled, cooked prawns

1tspn Oyster sauce

handful of mangetout, finely chopped

1/4 carrot, finely chopped

salt and ground black pepper

Method:

1) Preheat oven to 180C. Brush one sheet of filo pastry with sunflower oil.
2)With a sharp knife cut into 5cm x 5cm squares. Butter the 12-cup cake tin and line each one with 3 buttered filo pastry squares placed at slightly different angles. Repeat until all filo pastry has been used.
3)Bake to a deep golden brown for 6-8mins. Carefully remove tartlets from the caketin and leave it cool on a wire rack.
4) To make the filling, pour sunflower oil in a large frying pan, fry the garlic, chili and prawns for 1-2 minutes to warm through. 
5) Stir in the mangetout & carrots for further 2mins Add in the oyster sauce then season to taste with salt and pepper.

6) Spoon the prawn filling into the tartlets and serve at once.

Happy Cooking!

Nibbles of the day - tada!

Tomato Seaweed Tofu drop-egg Soup

Today at work i feel abit eurgh.... must be from all the junk food, cakes, chocolate, crisps....etc.. and my body is telling me that i need to go healthy. So come home, decided to make soup to make me feel better, something simple and humble but full of nutrition. This is something i make for myself when i feel abit under the weather but not fancy meat or the white congee (tuk). 

Time: 15mins

Ingredients:
2 Tomatoes, quartered
50g Silken Tofu, cut into small cubes
500ml Veg Stock
dash of Light Soy sauce
dash of Sesame oil
sprinkle of white pepper
1 Spring Onion, finely chopped
1 Egg,
1 sheet Nori seaweed

Method:

1)In a pan, heat up the veg stock with the tomatoes, boil for 2 or 3 minutes
2) Add the tofu cubes
3) Add the soy, sesame oil, white pepper
4) Shred in pieces of nori seaweed and add spring onion.
5) Beat the egg, and let the soup boiling and add the egg. Then remove it from heat. Ready to serve.

Happy Cooking!

Banana Bread with Breadmaker

I have been waiting for my bananas to get really ripe so i could make really moist and full of banana aroma bread.  This is the first time i have made this in my breadmaker, so was not sure how it would turned out, but at the end i am pleasantly surprised.  Even Mr C, who was thinking its rather strange to bake bread with banana... really enjoyed it :)
When i bite into it, its really moist, and have a hint of sweetness, but not sickly.

I taken this recipe from allrecipes.co.uk, but added things extra to suit my taste.

Ingredients:

260g (9 oz) Plain flour
1 tspn Baking Powder
1/2 tspn Bicarbonate of Soda
150g (5 oz) Caster sugar
3 Tbspn Vegetable oil
2 Eggs
3 Bananas, peeled and slightly mashed

1 tspn Vanilla Essence
dash of Milk

Method:

1)Place ingredients in the pan of the bread machine.
2)Select the Dough setting and press start. Mix the bread for 10mins. If necessary, use a rubber spatula to push the dough from the sides of the bread pan. When time is up, press Stop. Do not continue mixing.
3) Smooth out the top of the loaf with the rubber spatula.
4) Select the Bake setting, and press Start. The Bake cycle time may vary with machines, but should be about 50mins. To test the the bread for doneness, insert a cocktail stick into the centre top. Remove the cocktail stick. If the bread is done, the cocktail stick will come out clean. If there is dough on the cocktail stick, reset the machine on Bake and continue to bake for an additional 10-15mins. Test again with the cocktail stick to assure the bread is completely baked.
5) Remove the pan from the machine, but allow the bread to remain in the pan for 10mins. Remove the bread to cool completely on a wire rack.

Happy Baking!

Char Siu with Spinach Noodles in Soup

This week, i been thinking about it would be sooo good if i could go to one of Hongkong's dai pai tong and have a bowl of char siu noodle, hmm.... yummy. I miss my second home ;(
So on the spur of the moment, i went to supermarket and got some pork and decided i'm gonna roast my own char siu, and get to have my spinach-flavoured noodles.
Mr C was very happy - even though i made him wait late afternoon for lunch.... but good food is always worth the wait, especially yummy ones.

 This is the char-siu recipe i used. Enough char-siu for noodles as well as rest of the week... hmm maybe charsiu fried rice, char-siu beansprouts fooyung, or even char-siu veg stir fry.

It is actually very simple to make char-siu, the hardest bit is de-skinned the pork and cut it in smalller pieces.

Marinate for overnight, then roast it for 45mins... and Ta-da.
Kitchen smelled soo nice too!


Ingredients:

Char Siu - 2 small pieces

1 packet of Tiger Tiger Quick Cook Spinach Noodles
500ml Chicken/Veg Stock
handful of dried shrimps, soaked in warm water and rinsed.
drizzle of sesame oil
dash of light soy sauce
salt & pepper to taste

4-5 Chinese Leaf Cabbage, chopped
2 Spring Onion, finely chopped.


Method:

1) On the hob in a pan, pour in the chicken stock and dried shrimps and let it to be boiled. Put in the noodles and let it cook for 5-6 minutes.  While the noodle is cooking, season with sesame oil, soy sauce, salt and pepper.
2) Using a chopstick, divide the noodle in a serving/eating bowl, then set aside.
3) Place the chinese cabbage in the soup and let it cook for approx 2mins, then serve it on one side of th bowl.
4) Thinly slice the char siu, and arrange it nicely in the bowl.
5) Pour the soup in the bowls, then sprinkle with a little spring onion, and ready to serve.

Happy Cooking!

Cranberry and Cinnamon Scones

I have been eyeing up this recipe for ages..... what i called a treat but healthy. A scone that is absolutely essential for a perfect afternoon tea, but without the guilt on the waistline. On a plus side too - its perfect for anyone who unfortunately cant have diary, and i had a perfect reason to make it for the weekend.
So on friday after work, baking stuff all out and ready for all the fun in the kitchen. 

Once it was in the oven, the smell of cinnamon in the kitchen was just wonderful, but i did burnt slightly my first 6 and it was on a tad thin side. However, i dont like wasting food, so i sampled it myself and OMG despite the slight burnt outside, it was really yummy, dont need no jam or butter or clotted cream.
Whilst munching,  and self-correcting myself, the second batch of scones was a smashing result, firm from the outside, but bite in you experience the lightness of inside, and got a good eating experience with the dried cranberries and the slight hint of sweetness.

The recipe was from Channel4.com, but it was called Blueberry & Cinnamon, but i adapted it because i had cranberries in my cupboard.  It is very simple recipe and is worth all the effort and complement it with a nice cuppa tea, actually, no a vanilla latte would be even better! ;)







Ingredients:

300g Self Raising Flour, sifted
1tspn Baking Powder
1/2 tspn Cinnanom
50g Light Olive oil spread
25g Caster Sugar
50g Dried Cranberries (or Dried Blueberries)
2 x 125g pots of Soya Strawberry and/or forest fruits yogurt alternatives, eg Alpro
2Tbspn Soya Milk alternative

Method:

1)Preheat the oven at 220C/Gas mark 7 with a baking sheet.
2)Put the flour, baking powder and cinnamon into a food processor, then cut the olive oil spread into pieces and add to the flour. Whiz for 30 seconds until the mixture forms into crumbs and tip into a bowl.
3)Add dried cranberries, two potsof soya yogurt and gently mix everything together. Knead on a well floured surface to make a smooth dough. Roll out to 2.5cm/1inch thickness and using a small round cookie cutter and stamp out approx 12 circular disks.
4)Put onto a greased baking sheet. Brush the tops with soya milk. Put on top of the preheated baking sheet and bake for 12-15mins until pale golden. Place on plate and ready to serve with some cranberry jam.

Happy Baking!

Chocolate Cupcake with Chocolate Fudge Frosting

If you are a big fan of chocolate, having it as a small cupcake is a treat.  I know Mr C loves chocolate, so baked these for him so ready for the weekend to share.  It was great fun for me to bake them and especially give me an opportunity to use and improve the frosting with the piping bag.

This is a very simple chocolate sponge recipe taken from 'Bake me i'm yours...Cupcake' by Joan & Graham Belgrove. The frosting recipe was from Joy of Baking.

Ingredients:

Chocolate Sponge:

3 Eggs
175g Caster Sugar
115g Self Raising Flour
6tspn Cocoa Powder
1.5tspn Baking Powder
1tspn Vanilla Extract
175g Butter

Chocolate Fudge Frosting:

120g Plain Chocolate, coarsely chopped
150g Unsalted butter
160g Icing Sugar
1.5tspn Vanilla Extract

Method:

1) Pre-heat the oven to 170C/338F/Gas3-4. Place cases in bun trays.
2)Put  sugar, butter, eggs and vanilla extract into food processor. Blitz together on full power fr a good 2-3 minutes. Remove blade. Alternatively, mix it all together with a hand-held whisk.
3)Sieve the flour, baking powder and cocao together into a separate bowl and then add to the mix gradually, folding in with a spatula.
4)Spoon the mixture into the baking cases.
5)Place in the centre of the oven and bake for 16-18 mins or until the tops of the cakes spring back when lightly touched.
6)Turn and cool on wire racks.

7) For the frosting, melt the chocolate in a heatproof bowl placed over a saucepan of simmering water. Remove from heat and let cool to room temperature.
8)In a bowl of your electric mixer, or with a hand mixer, beat the butter until smooth and creamy for about 1 minute. Add the sugar and beat until it is light and fluffy for about 2 minutes. Beat the vanilla extract. Add the chocolate and beat on a low speed until incorporated. Increase the speed to medium-high and beat until frosting is smooth and glossy for about 2-3minutes.

9) Once the cupcake have completely cooled, frost with icing. You can spread the frosting on the cupcake with a small spatula or with piping bag with a star tip.


I was a little bored, i added some chopped nuts in one tray.  why not eh?

Happy Baking!

Happy Pancake day!

Wish everyone a very Happy Pancake day!
I was not going to bother in making pancakes on my own. But really wanted pancake and ice-cream, so then if i'm going to make a sweet one, i might as well and make a couple of savoury for dinner.  I must admit i'm not very good with the tossing bit, but i managed it and had a full belly.
I used Delia's recipe for the pancake mix.... then freestyle on the ingredients.


Pancakes are definitely a sweet, plus they are easier to make.

My most perfect pancake and my favourite - pancake with sugar & lemon juice AND ice-cream!

Savoury ones are alot harder - more like making an omelette, (must say appearance is not great!)

Ham & Cheese pancake

bacon & spring onion pancake

Happy Pancake day!

Covent Garden, London

After a wonderfully morning wandering in Notting Hill, i head to my next stop..... Covent Garden.  Covent Garden is really famous, before i came to London to study, it was one place i hear people saying how good it is.  Then whilst in university, its a place to find inspiration, and stroke my ego to think maybe i could be selling my stuff on the stall.   It has a totally different feel compare to Portebello road, hmm... upmarket..... and you see more regular high street brands, but so pleased to see the antiques, handmade art & crafts still remain in the Apple market, and Jubilee Market still have lots of little stalls and have all sorts of things to pick up.  Sadly, i did go home empty-handed, but it was great wandering!  Well well, my camera's battery was dying, but i did take some pics.

I really enjoyed standing the mezzaine and listen to live music, whilst taking in all the food you could choose if you want to stop by. 

ooooh fresh paella... hmmmmm

pancakes maybe?

maybe a good filling pie stop?

maybe something sweet.... neon colour-frosted cupcakes?

I couldnt resist take pic of inside of this candy/cake cafe - it make me feel girlie being inside ;p













Wow.... for me it was a great inspiring trip.... made me feel all buzzing. Next time i have a dull moment, i just need to do what i did today.... just wander around and lighten my head ;)

Portebello Juice Bar, Notting Hill, London

After a long walk, i came to the end, and conveniently it was lunch time... and i was drawn to this little cafe.... standing outside trying to work out what it is.... its abit of a mad place in decor.... so i walked in. 

See all this pics of this colourful cafe - then imagine the background music - chillout album you probably hear in the beauty salon or yoga class.  Actually feel quite cozy inside here.

Anyway, on a very cold day a cuppa tea & warm bacon sandwich was a great treat! Simple but yum ;)

After this point.... its unbelieveable how many cakes desserts shops i walk passed, especially The Hummingbird Bakery and Wafflemeister - dont i wish then i had a bigger appetite!!!

Portebello Rd, Notting Hill, London

Have you ever had a day where you are at a place and you can be left to wander around with no schedule, no point of destination?  Well, today i have, I woke up in London, and i could go wherever the London Underground takes me, (well strictly speaking its within zone 1 &2).  So, i took a route down memory lane and go places i not been for absolutely ages.  So Notting Hill was my stop and i used as much time and wander on Portebello Road.
Lets say, the more i walk the more i got soo excited...... here is my route and what my eyes was welcome to:

Vintage jewellery

Colourful eh?

my favourite shop!

The details in the doll house furniture, is just amazing.. so tiny too!

a good sign for a chocoholic

car keys in a ice-cream van??

shoe heaven!

 

After my walk - it was time to stop for some lunch :)