Stir Fried Eryngii Mushroom with Sichuan Pickled Mustard

I have made this dish a couple of times ever since i saw it in Maureen's blog ( TasteHongKong.com ) quite some time back. It is a very simple dish to whip up , just within minutes . Maureen claims this is one healthy 'fast food', it is light, meatless and yet nice enough to serve with some rice and porridge. Most of the time i do not have  much idea what to cook with Sichuan pickled mustard other than cooking it with some minced meat, so when Maureen did it with mushroom, i was very excited to try as i've never cooked putting just mushrooms and pickled mustard together, just these 2 main ingredients. It was also suggested that you can replace mushrooms with cloud ears fungus ( 云耳 ) if you like.

I am linking this post to Little Thumbs Up event organised by Zoe of Bake for Happy Kids and Doreen of My Little Favourite 123 DIY and hosted by Joyce of Kitchen Flavours with the selected ingredients, " Mushroom" this month.

Right : shredded eryngii mushrooms and the sichuan pickled vegetable at the back.

Recipe( from TasteHongKong.com )
Ingredients
2 pieces eryngii mushroom ( king oyster mushroom )
1 packet julienned Sichuan picked mustard, 100gm, rinsed and drained
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
cut chilli (optional )

Seasonings
1/2tsp cooking wine
1/4tsp salt , or to taste
1/2tsp soy sauce
1/4tsp sugar
pinch of ground white pepper
droplets of sesame oil ( optional )
spring onions ( optional)

Method:
1. Wash and pat dry the mushrooms. Cut off the roots of the mushroom and slice them , on the diagonal, about half cm thick and cut into shreds.
2.Over medium heat, heat wok with one tbsp of oil , saute garlic till fragrant. Toss in mushroom shreds, stir fry for about a minute. Throw in a pinch of ground white pepper and sprinkle wine on sides of wok. Put in the julienned sichuan picked mustard ,toss them around in the wok and add in the salt, soy sauce and sugar.
3.You might like to give a last splash of some cooking wine at the end. Remove from heat and serve hot.

Essence Of Orange-Chocolate Cake

I have to quickly post this up as today is the last day of submission to The Home Bakers for this delicious cake. Taken from the book, Coffee Cakes by Lou Seibert Pappas, our 17th bake at The Home Bakers, i must say that this is one of my favourite cakes so far that we are baking from the book. The cake is rather unique as the peels of an whole orange including the fruit itself are processed together with some raisins, hence the name essence of orange cake, are added along to the batter, which according to the writer, it helps to provide a long lasting moistness to the cake. Even though the white piths of the orange were processed together, it didnt give any bitterness to the cake, instead all the zests and the orange fruit gave a lovely sweet and tangy flavour to this orange cake.  Chocolate chips, chocolate wafers or pieces of chocolate and in my case, i have used chocolate buttons were then scattered over the cake, it is deliciously gooey when eating it warm. For full recipe, pls check at Eileen's blog at Hundred Eighty Degrees and to view the rest who had made the same cake, click here

Recipe
this is half of the original recipe
1/2 orange, scrubbed
1/2 cup black raisins
56gm unsalted butter, softened
1/3 cup sugar
1 large egg
140gms cake flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup low fat plain yogurt/ buttermilk
1/4tsp salt
1/8 cup of chocolate chips
chocolate buttons

Method:
1.Preheat oven to 180C and butter and line the prepared baking pan. Cut the orange into quarters, leaving the peel on. In a food processor, combine the orange segments and raisins and process until finely ground.
2.In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar using an electric mixer until light and fluffy, add the egg , beating well. Mix in the orange mixture.
3. In a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Stir to blend. Add the dry ingredients to the creamed mixture alternately with yogurt or buttermilk , beating until blended. Mix in the chocolate chips into  the batter, spread evenly in the prepared pan. Scatter chocolate chips or chocolate buttons evenly over the top and bake for 35 to 40 minutes or until the cake is golden brown and a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean. Let cool in the pan for 15 minutes before removing the cake out from the pan.

Pan Fried Salmon with Shitake Mushroom Sauce

Our Malaysia 13th General Election has just concluded...nothing much to say here...just was not in the mood to blog for the past week..life still carries on and blogging continues...slowly. Thank you very much to those who took part in our Bake Along 2nd Anniversary Cupcake theme last week and thanks for all of your wishes. You can have a look at all of the submissions here.

The selected ingredient for this month's Little Thumbs Up event is Mushroom, hosted by my dear friend, Joyce from Kitchen Flavours. Cook or bake anything using mushroom as one of the ingredients and link it to the above event. What i am posting today is a simple yet tasty dish and doesnt take long to prepare. If you  have mirin and sake in the kitchen, why not give this a try. The soy sauce that i used here is the chinese type of light soy sauce and i find it just a little salty, you can choose to reduce a little soy sauce or perhaps add a little sugar at the end or use Japanese soy sauce which is less salty. Happy cooking!

Recipe ( from the book Meet Masa in the Kitchen )
1 piece salmon fillet
1 garlic, sliced
1 fresh shitake mushroom , sliced
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp mirin
2 tbsp cooking sake
pepper

1. Clean and pat dry salmon. Pan fry salmon till skin is crispy and cooked. Set aside on a plate.
2. Fry sliced garlics till golden brown and add in the mushrooms, stir till cooked. Add in the soy sauce, mirin and sake and simmer for a while. Pour over the cooked salmon. Serve immediately.

I am linking this post to Little Thumbs Up event , hosted by Joyce of Kitchen Flavours, organised by Zoe of Bake for Happy Kids and  Doreen of My Little Favourite DIY

Hummingbird Cupcakes - Bake Along 2nd Anniversary

Happy birthday to Bake Along! This is my 2nd year of baking along with my partners, Joyce and Zoe, both of whom among some bloggers that i got to know when i started blogging some few months later and here, we would like to thank everyone who has participated in our event and also to the regular bake along friends,  we really appreciate your active participation and would like to say thank you so much for the support given to us. Well actually, what i'm seeing is most of us are very supportive of one another, not just our bake along event but also to other events like Little Thumbs Up, Malaysian Food Fest event , Cook Like A Star etc and it's really good to see all this happening among my blogging circle of friends, sharing and supporting each other and i hope that this high spirit will live in us as long as we can. Also please excuse me for not dropping by at some of your blogs lately, i will try to catch up with all of you soon. But meanwhile, bake some cupcakes and celebrate with us! The linky will be on starting today for 10 days, happy baking!

This recipe is taken from my Hummingcake cake post and i learned to make these dried pineapples flowers from  Anncoo's post here. Thank you, Ann!

Recipe
3 eggs
80gm sugar
180gm self

raising flour, sifted
1/4tsp soda bicarbonate, sifted
50gm toasted pecans, toasted and chopped
80gm pineapple, cubed
220gm bananas, mashed
90gm vegetable oil/ butter

Cream cheese frosting
125gm cream cheese, at room temperature
40gm softened butter
1 tbsp passionfruit pulp
40gm icing sugar, sifted

Method:
1. Whisk eggs and sugar with electric mixer on medium speed until pale and frothy. Mix in bananas, pineapples, pecans and oil on low speed. Add in combined sifted ingredients and mix well.
2. Pour mixture into cupcake liners till more than 1/2 full and bake in a preheated oven at 180C for 25-30mins.

To prepare cream cheese frosting
1. Beat cream cheese, butter and passionfruit pulp with mixer until light and fluffy.
2. Add in icing sugar and beat till creamy. Fridge if necessary before using.

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Sira Labu

I came to know of this sweet dessert when K.Nor from Secubit Garam posted her sira labu in the Malaysian Food Fest Facebook page. A well known dessert that comes from the state of Kelantan, it is usually served at weddings and as far as i understand, this dessert is usually very sweet. But since i'm replicating this at home, i will try to limit the sweetness as much as i can. I have to thank KNor for guiding me thru the process, although the process is not difficult, there were some things that i were unsure of. For example the use of alkaline water. The pumpkin was first soaked in water with a bit of alkaline water to avoid the pumpkin from being too mushy at the end of the cooking process. You can also have a choice to use brown sugar or gula nisan if it's available at your place. Here i have used gula melaka ( palm sugar ). Just remember to cook the pumpkins on low fire during the entire cooking process otherwise it may burn the pumpkins.

after soaking and cleaning the pumpkins, arrange the pumpkins on top of the pandan leaves in a big pot

then pour the gula melaka syrup onto the pumpkins and cook on low fire for about 40 mins or till pumpkin is soft.

Recipe ( from Secubit Garam, whom adapted from linapg ) with some changes
1/2 small pumpkin, cut into wedges with skin on
1/8 cup alkaline/lye water
enough water to soak the pumpkins

85gm gula melaka/palm sugar, crushed
1/4 cup water
some pandan leaves
pinch of salt

Method:
1. Place the cut pumpkins in a big basin or pot and put in just enough water to to cover the pumpkins. Add the alkaline water and let it soak for 1 hour. Meanwhile can cook the gula melaka syrup. Place the gula melaka and the water together in a pan and cook till the sugar has melted. Set aside.
2. Discard the water, rinse the pumpkin and pat dry. Arrange the pandan leaves onto a big pot and put the pumpkins in.  Pour in the gula melaka all around the pot and let it cook on low fire for about 1 hours ( i cooked mine for abt 40mins ) or till pumpkin turns soft. Remove and serve immediately.

I am submitting this post to Malaysian Food Fest Event ( Kelantan Month ) hosted by Gertrude of My Kitchen Snippets

Chicken Kerabu ( Kelantan Peranakan Dish )

I am not surprised that many of us are not aware of  the Peranakans and also the Peranakan dishes in Kelantan. From what i understand and read, the Peranakans in Kelantan is just a very small community. They live and speak just like the local kelantanese malay, and some with a little bit of hokkien with some influence from the Malay and Thai language and call themselves Cina Kampung as this community lives exclusively in the kampung ( village ) and their houses are just like the local malay houses and some Peranakans have even Malay nicknames. They are different from the urban Kelantanese Chinese and they communicate with each other by speaking the Kelantanese Malay though the scenarios may have changed now as more and more those in the younger generation can speak Mandarin. You can read further on the Peranakan Kelantanese by clicking here

There are strong influences from the Malays and Thais in the Peranakan dish and this chicken kerabu is one of the Kelantan Peranakan Dish. While the dish tastes very similar to the usual thai style kerabu, here we can see that it uses some local leaves like laksa leaves, gula melaka ( palm sugar) and also Budu, a local fish sauce which is very popular used by the people from the state of Kelantan. You can subsitute ordinary fish sauce for budu if you do not have one. I got a small bottle of budu just to make this from Jaya Jusco. I would say this is a very delicious kerabu dish.

bottle of budu

Recipe ( The Hungry Caterpillar )
1/4 of chicken ( i used 2 parts of chicken breasts)
enough water to boil the chicken

6 shallots, sliced thinly
2 stalks lemongrass, sliced thinly
1 medium sized torch gingerbud, sliced thinly
1 sprig laksa leaves, sliced thinly
1 pc cabbage leave, sliced thinly
5 bird's eye chilli ( i didnt put this )

Sauce
10 limes , halved and squeezed for juice
1cm gula melaka /palm sugar, crushed
1tbsp budu ( local fish sauce )
1/2 cm belacan ( optional)
pinch of salt

Method:
1. Boil the chicken till cooked and then shred the meat.
2. Mix in the rest of the ingredients in a bowl and pour in the sauce. Mix thoroughly and serve immediately.

I am submitting this post to Malaysian Food Fest ( Kelantan Month ) hosted by Gertrude of My Kitchen Snippets

Tres Leches Cake

Actually this cake has been made long time ago, about more than a year. That time i happened to receive some DDL from Elin and decided to make this cake as i have also seen it in Wendy's blog. I was very keen to try it out at that time becos it's something interesting to know eating a cake that is soaked in milk. I had adapted the whole recipe and method from wendy's blog and that time i didnt take any photos as to how to assemble the cake but you can refer to wendy's blog as to how to go about soaking the cake.

When Zoe made a choice for the bake along to make this cake, i was telling my 2 other hosts, Joyce and Zoe herself that i will not be making this cake again as i have made earlier but yet to post and am still keeping the photos in my file. First of all, i'm lazy to make this cake again as the earlier one i made did involved a bit of preparation work. Secondly, only me likes the cake in my family. The rest find it a little weird eating a soaked cake or rather a wet cake.  The milk mixture is actually very nice, like a mild coffee milk and i didnt pour in all the milk mixture onto the cake cos when i was doing that, it seemed quite a lot so i held back some of the milk mixture and just drank that up. But i think it's worthwhile trying this cake especially if you are just as curious as i was in the first place, a soaked cake.

the plain cake after baking..

you can see the different tone colours in the cake, that 's the milk mixture that has been
poured over the cake earlier on.

Recipe ( from Table for 2..or more, who adapted from Rose's Heavenly Cakes  )
Milk Mixture
600gm fresh milk
100gm Dulce de Leche ( DDL )
115gm whipping cream

Put DDL in a heatproof bowl and stir in whipping cream. Bring fresh milk to a boil and pour over DDl and cream. Stir to melt DDL and leave to cool in the fridge.

Cake
4 large eggs
133gm sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
133gm cake flour

Method:
1.Preheat oven to 180C and line the base of the pan ( i used 8 inch square pan)
2.Beat eggs, sugar on high speed for abt 8 mins then to low speed for 2 mins
3.Beat in vanilla and sift cake flour over eggs and fold. Pour batter into pan and bake for 30mins or until cooked.
4.Let cake cool in pan for 5 mins , remove and let cool on wire rack.

Assemble:
1. Using a cake pan, place 2 sheets of cling wrap crisscrossing each other over the pan. Scape off the top of the cake using a serrated knife and place the cake into the cake pan, top side up.
2. Pour the milk mixture over the cake all around, fold cling wrap over the cake and chill overnight. ( note that i didnt pour in all of the milk mixture, i left for about 150ml )
3. Next day, remove the cake from fridge and unwrap. Turn the cake over to a plate and turn it up again. Whip some cream and spread it on top on the cake.

For pics instructions how to soak the cake,  you can refer to Wendy's post here

The link will be opened from today till May01, 2013. You can pick any Tres Leches Cake recipe of your own choice. Just a reminder to all who are interested to do a link with us, please mention Bake Along event in your post and link it back to any of the hosts' post and link only new and current post. Thank you.


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Kuih Bingka Jagung

While i was searching for some corn recipe ideas to take part in the Little Thumbs Up event, i came across this kuih bingka jagung in several sites. To my non asian friends, kuih is a term that we use to relate to our local cakes, mostly steamed but do have baked ones too like this kuih bingka. I do like eating kuih bingka, well actually i enjoy eating all types of kuih but never tried kuih bingka that comes in corn or jagung flavour. I set my mind to make this. Of course another factor that interest me to try was that it is so easy to make. Just put in all the ingredients into the blender and grrrr..grrr..grrrr.. and it's all ready to be baked! Yay! Easy! I have also made this kuih twice in the past week and was referring to a few recipes ..the first time i did that i didnt blend the creamy corn together with the rest..although it was still good but the kuih was full of  holes due to the corn kernels in the kuih. It is up to you whether you want to eat the whole corn kernels or not but i think blending it together makes the appearance better. This is a nice kuih and full of jagung/corn flavour.

Recipe (  with some reference from hana memories )
125gm flour
3tbsp custard powder
100gm sugar
350ml coconut milk
2 eggs
2tbsp oil
1 can creamy corn ( CREAM STYLE )

Method
1. Lined a 8" x8 " with banana leaves and preheat oven to 170C
2.Put all the ingredients above into a blender and blend till all mixed well.
3. Pour the batter into the prepared tin and bake in the preheated oven for 50-60mins. Set the oven to upper  grill at 220C and grill for about 5 mins. Remove and let cool before cutting.

You can reduce the sugar amount to 70gm-80gm if you prefer less sweet but i think the above is good for me for a kuih. 

This post is linked to the event Little Thumbs Up organised by Bake for Happy Kids and My Little Favourite DIY and hosted by Esther of Copycake Kitchen with the theme " Corn"

Rosemary Polenta Cake

Have you tried putting rosemary in a cake? This is our latest bake at The Home Bakers ( THB ), our 16th bake so far from the book, Coffee Cakes by Lou Seibert Pappas. This recipe gives us the option to use fresh rosemary, fresh lavender or dried lavender blossoms and although i have some dried lavender at home, i chose to stick to the original recipe which calls for rosemary. I do not know if i like the scent of rosemary in my cakes therefore i put in less than the required amount in the recipe..about 1/2 tbsp.  I am glad that i did not put in all cos somebody in my family said it tasted strange...and to be honest, in the beginning i also thought it's a little strange..but not going to give this recipe a pass because i'm just curious to taste as well.

This cake has a nice texture, light and kind of fluffy and fragrant too with the addition of some cornmeal in the cake. As for the rosemary, i can say that it gives me a pleasant taste to the cake..just a little hint of the rosemary which i think it's quite unique too. Still, i think it's really up to individuals to accept the taste of rosemary in cakes. I have halved the recipe and made them in muffin pans and it yields 12 muffins altogether and i have skipped the rosemary lemon syrup which is supposed to drizzle onto the cake after baking. Not a problem for me, i still find it's a nice tea cake. For recipe, kindly refer to the host of this bake, Angela from The Charmed Cupcake and to view the group baking, you can click here.

Cek Mek Molek ( Fried Sweet Potatoes Dumplings )

I find the name of this kuih is rather cute..cek mek molek. The Malay word, Molek means pretty or beautiful..so i shall just call it Miss Pretty or molek. The making of this molek is quite similar to the sweet potato balls where we can find at our local kuih stalls but instead of round, these molek comes in oblong shape and also they are filled with sugar which will eventually melt into syrup after frying these molek.

This is a small recipe and it comes to about 10 moleks. Well, out of 10, there were 4 which the sugar has leaked out during the frying process. I thought i had sealed them nicely but it still leaked out , so when you want to do this, do make sure you seal up properly. I had made them cooked under low fire enabling the sugar to melt into syrup, i didnt time them but it takes probably about  8-9 mins. Do not tempt to eat this while they are still hot, the syrup will burn your tongue..i almost burnt mine.

my moleks got a bit out of shape :)

the melted sugar filling

Recipe ( with reference from Table for 2..or more )
240gm peeled sweet potatoes ( i used orange sweet potatoes )
70gm- 80gm plain flour
caster sugar for filling

1. Boil or steam the sweet potatoes till soft and mash them. Add the plain flour till a pliable dough is formed. I used  mixer to do this .
2.Divide the dough into 30gms each and shape round. Flattem them into disc and fill them with 1 tsp of sugar, seal and make into oblong shape. Repeat for the rest of the dough.
3. Deep fry them on low medium heat till a crust is formed on the outside. Let cool down before serving.

Try not to add too much flour into the dough. If you find it a little stickly, flour your palms. You can also watch the video created by Wendy on how to shape these moleks. 

I am submitting this post to Malaysian Food Fest ( Kelantan Month ) hosted by Gertrude of My Kitchen Snippets