Friday, July 14, 2006

Birthday cake

I also baked a cake for my husband's birthday. Again, using available ingredients in the kitchen, I was able to bake a cake called Eggless, Milkless, Butterless Cake. I modified the recipe from www.allrecipes.com (2004).

Ingredients:
1 c brown sugar
1 c waer
1/3 c vegetable oil
1 tsp cinnamon powder
1 tsp sesame seeds
1/2 tsp salt
2 1/4 c all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 1/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 c chopped cashew nuts

1. Combine sugar, water, oil, sesame seeds, cinnamon and salt in a microwavable glass bowl. Stir. Put in microwave at medium heat for 3 minutes. Take out and stir. Cool.
2. Measure flour, baking soda and baking powder, and sift together.
3. Gradually stir dry ingredients into sugar mixture. Beat well. Add the cashew nuts . Pour batter into a greased pan, preferably an 8 x 4 inch loaf pan.
4. Bake at 165 degrees C for 30 minutes (if pan is square or rectangle and bigger than 8 x 4 inch). if using the loaf pan, bake for 165 degrees C for about 1 hour.

Mocha frosting (adapted from the recipe for mocha filling):
1/4 c butter
1 c sugar
1 tbsp coffee powder mixed with 1-2 tbsp milk
1 tbsp cocoa

Cream butter until light and fluffy. Add sugar alternatively with milk and coffee mixture and cocoa. Blend well.

Thursday, July 13, 2006

Birthday noodles

We always cook noodles during birthdays. So last 12 July was my hubby's 41st. I cooked noodles the night before (see recipe below) and also for dinner on the 12th. This time I used brown rice vermicelli with shrimp balls (mixed with carrots). I only had cabbage as vegetable as this was the only one available in my fridge (for noodles). Other vegetables that can be used include carrots, mushrooms, green beans, bean sprouts.

Ingredients:
Brown rice vermicelli, 100 g
Shrimp balls, 200 g, sliced into pieces
Cabbage, half medium, sliced into strips
Chopped garlic
Sliced onions
Knorr cubes
Soy sauce
Pepper

1. Prepare noodles as instructed, i.e. soak for 5 minutes or so. Then cut at sides/corners. Drain
2. Saute garlic and onions.
3. Add sliced shrimp balls and knorr cubes. Mix. Add carrots, beans and mushrooms if available. Cook for a minute.
4. Add softened noodles and mix.
5. Add some water to cook noodles.
6. Add cabbage.
7. Add soy sauce and pepper.
8. Serve.

Miswa with sardines

This recipe is an old one which we used to do at home esp. for dinner. For a long time that I have been looking for miswa noodles here in Thailand. Recently I found one so am glad to be able to cook this dish again.

Ingredients:
Miswa, 70 g
Sardines in tomato sauce, 1 small can
Chopped garlic
Sliced red onions
Choice of knorr cubes/soy sauce/fish sauce/salt to taste
Chilli powder or fresh chilli (optional)

1. Saute garlic and onions
2. Add sardines, crush fish into small pieces
3. Fill the can with water and add into the pan (2x)
4. Bring to boil
5. Add the miswa noodles
6. Bring to boil. Add water if more soup is needed.
7. Season to taste
8. Serve immediately as the noodles absorb water quickly.

Friday, June 30, 2006

Bitter gourd and egg

When we were at the supermarket last Saturday my sister said she wanted to cook bitter gourd with egg. So we bought the bitter gourd. Last night we had the opportunity to cook it, I mean I was the one who cooked it! Most people do not like eating bitter gourd because of its taste (bitter!). However, it is good for health. So how to prepare it to reduce the bitterness? First, cut the vegetable open in half. Then remove the inside (seeds) by scraping it with a spoon. The remaining part should then be cut into small pieces across to get a c-shaped piece. Sprinkle with salt and squeeze until some juice (greenish) comes out. Then rinse the salt with water. Soak the gourd with water for a few minutes, then drain. The proper recipe is as follows:

Ingredients:
Bitter gourd prepared as above
Egg, beaten
Garlic, chopped
Onions, sliced
Butter
Knorr cubes
Soy sauce
Pepper

1. Place bitter gourd in a microwavable dish, add garlic, onions, butter, cube, soy sauce and pepper. Place in microwave and cook at High (#5) for 2 minutes. Cover.
2. Take out from MW and stir.
3. Return to MW and cook for another minute.
4. Take out and pour egg over it. Stir.
5. Return to MW and cook at High for 1.5 minutes.
6. Take out and stir.
7. Return to MW and cook for 2 minutes.
8. Remove from MW after 1 minute and serve.

My husband's comment was that it didn't taste that bitter. So I explained to him what I did to reduce the bitter taste. Cooking it this way is healthy coz there isn't much oil. Oftentimes when we cook it in the frying pan, we have to use lots of oil for sauteing.

Friday, June 23, 2006

Healthy and easy

The other night we had baked/grilled red tilapia and blanched green vegetables (pak waan in Thai). So easy to cook. For the red tilapia, I just put some vinegar and soy sauce, then chuck it in the oven for 20 minutes at 220C. For the vegetables, I just added hot water and let it soak for a few minutes. Then I drained the water before serving. So easy and nutritious. If I had enough time I could have added some chopped garlic, pepper and other spices to the fish. But it tasted ok just with vinegar and soy sauce!

Photo: honey oatmeal bread w/ sesame seeds


Just baked honey oatmeal bread with sesame seeds. Not bad considering this was my first time to use this recipe. I modified the recipe I downloaded from AllRecipes.com. I did not put wheat germ and salt as I had none of these at that time. I used low fat milk (liquid), but I will try the powdered one next time.

Wednesday, June 21, 2006

Honey oatmeal bread

Today I found the bread oven transformer, so I got to work with my bread oven. However, I could not find the recipe book. It might still be in one of the unpacked boxes when I moved from the campus to our condo last year. Anyway, I found 2 recipes from my recipe envelop. One calls for sugar and I do not have sugar at this time, I forgot to buy. But the other calls for honey and that I have. So now my honey oat bread is in the bread oven. It is nearly 1 hour and it will take another 1 hour and 15 minutes. I modified it a bit by adding some sesame seeds. I will see what the result will be. Also for the low fat milk, I do not have the powdered one so I used the liquid milk. I hope the bread will not be too wet. It's the first time for me to use this particular recipe. Hmmm I have to get used to it. And I have to look for that recipe book of mine where I have already done nearly all the recipes so I know the 'secret'. You see, sometimes the recipe needs some adjustment because of differences in elevation, humidity, temperature and the like. And since this bread oven and the recipes were designed for the US, using it here in Asia needs some adjustments. I will report later on the results!

Monday, June 19, 2006

Breadmaking

I will open my bakery soon :)) yesterday I was able to buy from a visiting Indian trader who comes to the campus every 2 weeks. I usually buy wholewheat flour from him. One pack contains 5 kg and is much cheaper than buying from the supermarket. The price of this 5 kg pack is equivalent to less than 2 kg in the supermarket!!! I am using a breadmachine to make wholewheat and rye bread. I make it plain, or sometimes I add some cashew nuts or sesame seeds. But I have to look for the transformer coz this machine is from the US (110v) and we are using 220v here.

Sunday, June 11, 2006

Instant noodles

Here we call instant noodles, Mama. It is a basic food especially among students. There are many ways to cook Mama (the noodles). Here in Thailand, it is readily available and the easiest way is to pour boiling water onto it and after 3 minutes or so, it is ready to be eaten. However, it is also nice to add some other things such as fresh green vegetables, meat and eggs. This can be cooked on any cooker. I use the rice cooker.

Instant noodles (any flavour), 1 pack per person
Egg
Vegetables-can be pakchoi/bokchoi, mustard leaves, cabbage
Chinese sausage/kuncheang/chorizo bilbao-sliced diagonally/ground pork/meat

1. Boil water (1 bowl/pack)
2. Add the noodles and seasoning
3. Add sausage or meat
4. Let it boil
5. Add egg, stir
6. Add vegetables
7. Serve while hot!

Spaghetti tuna carbonara

We live in a condo and gas cooking equipment is not allowed. So I use the following electric cooking equipment: rice cooker, microwave and conventional oven.

250 g spaghetti
290-g can, white sauce/carbonara (cheese and herb flavour)
185-g can, tuna steak in oil
grated cheddar cheese
chilli powder (optional)

1. Boil water in the rice cooker, then add the spaghetti pasta. Stir until cooked (about 10 minutes). Once cooked, remove the cooking pot and pur cold water. Drain.
2. Microwave sauce at high for 1 minute.
3. Microwave tuna at high for 1 minute.
4. Serve with cheese and chilli powder.

Easy recipe, right? The sauce can be substituted with tomato sauce. The tuna can be substituted with hotdog or ground meat or pork.

Wednesday, June 07, 2006

Introduction to my recipe blogpage

Welcome to my new blogpage. All about food and recipes. You are free to comment and share the outcome of the recipes you followed here. Would love to taste the food you make hmmmm ... I have been cooking since I was small. I am the second child in the family, and with our eldest sis suffering from rheumatic heart at that time until high school, most of the work and responsibilities were on my shoulders. So I was always the one to go with my mom to the market, and when I was a bit older I would go to the market alone, sometimes early morning. And then after school in the afternoon. And the cooking. My parents taught us to cook. I learned about recipes later, at school in our Home Economics class. And when my parents bought a gas and oven range for my older sister's birthday (oh well it was just a reason to buy one), I got hooked on baking as well. We asked a friend of my mom to demonstrate to us how to bake orange chiffon cake, using a tube pan. Later on, we became adept at baking cakes esp banana cake using just the basic sponge cake recipe. We had a small home-based business selling banana cakes to our school canteen.

Well, I hope this page will be useful to those who come looking for recipes that are easy to make.