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Friday, August 29, 2014

Light Japanese Soufflé Cheesecake

Baking has always been my weakness as it involves accuracy and many steps, not to forget the horrible washing after all the mixing bowls used. Nevertheless, with all the time I have in the day as well as to hone my baking skills, I knew I should do it! Anyway, its a great way to save money when a family member celebrates their birthday as cakes can be really expensive!

Anyway, decided to cook this after eating a really nice chiffon orange cake baked by my aunt-in-law. However, changed it to cheesecake because my children simply loves cheese!!

This is a great recipe as its light and fluffy!

Enjoy!

Ingredients (for 9 x 9 x 2 inch square tray):

160 ml milk
80 g butter, at (tropical) room temperature, cut into small pieces
280 g full-fat cream cheese block, at (tropical) room temperature, cut into small pieces
100 g cake flour, sifted
30 g cornstarch, sifted (if you have corn flour instead, use twice the amount (60g)
1/4 tsp salt
140g egg yolks
 4 tsp lemon juice

 350 g egg whites
 150 g caster sugar


The eggs should amount to about 8-10 eggs depending on size.

Steps:

1) Spray the baking tray with oil/butter, then place baking paper on it.
2) Wrap the sides of tray with aluminium foil
3) Heat milk till warm. Then, place the milk in a mixing bowl, together with the small pieces of butter and cream cheese. Mix it evenly.
4) Add the egg yolks and lemon juice into the mixture of cream cheese.
5) Sieve the mixture twice or more to make it very smooth
6) Place the sifted flour (both cake and corn flour) as well as salt into the cream cheese mixture.
7) Mix it really well and even.
8)Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C
9) Mix the egg whites with a mixer till it creates soft peaks. While mixing, add in the sugar gradually.
10) Fold gently in the egg whites to the yolk mixture in 3 rounds. Get rid of big air bubbles.
11) Pour batter into the tray slowly to avoid creating bubbles
12) Put hot water on a big rectangle tray, then place the square tray in to act as a water bath during baking to keep the cake moist.
13) Place the tray into the oven and bake it at 170 degrees C for about 50-60 mins.
14) Test it with a skewer to see if its ready.
15) Remove cake from oven and cool it on a rack

Enjoy!


Wednesday, August 6, 2014

Claypot Braised Pork Belly with Salted Fish

My friend shared this recipe with me as I have been looking for dishes that goes well with rice so that I can just prepare a dish or two just for dinner. Simple and tasty is my goal in cooking. Simplicity takes away the stress of washing up!

So here's a great dish for the family to dig in. You can just boil vegetables like cai xin or Xiao bai cai as a side dish with the rice.

Enjoy!

Ingredients
- pork belly (500g)
- salted fish- the oily ones you use for steaming (50g)
- 2 large onion (Initially, I was sceptical in using so many but its worth it! Sweeten up the dish)
- pepper
- ginger (cut)
- shallots (cut)

Marinade for the pork belly
- 1TB oyster sauce
- 1 TB light soya sauce
- I TB dark soya sauce
- 1 cornstarch

(I didn't have enough pork belly in my fridge, so I added minced pork as well)

Seasoning
- 1 TB oyster sauce
- 1 TB light soya sauce
- I TB dark soya sauce
- 150 ml water
- 1 tsp sugar
- 1 tsp sesame oil

Steps
1) Marinade the pork belly for at least 30 mins and place it in the fridge
2) Heat wok, drizzle some oil. Pan fry the pork belly both sides till brown. Set aside
3) Add a little of oil and put salted fish in claypot and fry for a while
4) Add the ginger, onions and shallots and sauté till fragrant
5) Add pork belly and seasonings, then pour water and simmer for 15-20 mins or till slightly dry. I did not wait till its dry as I love mine with gravy for the rice. Your preference!

Serve with rice and veggies!

Oven Baked Shrimp Paste Chicken

This is quite a guilt-free recipe for those who love shrimp paste chicken but refrain from eating so much because stalls outside usually deep fry them

Of course it will not be as crispy as what you find outside but its good enough and more acceptable on the waistline

Enjoy!

Ingredients for 12 wingettes
- 1 TB Shrimp sauce (Lee Kum Kee)
- 1 TB sugar
- 1 TB shaoxing wine
- 1/2 cup of flour (I used corn flour)
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp baking soda
- olive oil

Steps
1) Marinate the wingettes for at least 4 hours using the first 3 ingredients (Shrimp sauce, sugar and wine)

2) An hour before you bake, coat the chicken with the mixed powder- flour, baking powder and baking soda. Place them on the rack to dry before you bake an hour later.

3) Brush olive oil on them before baking

4) Bake at 200 degrees celsius for 20-25 mins, depending on oven. Turn once during half time.

Note: The shrimp sauce can be rather salty. So adjust it to your own preference.

Enjoy!