Sushi

There are days when you just totally run out of ideas on what to cook for dinner, fret not there's always takeaways! Last night was one of those nights, sent me hubby out to get some sushi for dinner from St.Pierre's here at Botany Town Centre. Being asian and into raw stuff (to a certain extent) salmon has got to be my favourite sushi of all times. The rest of the chicken teriyaki sushi and BEEF was a little too dry. To be fair, it was hours and hours since they made the sushi so can't penalise them on that.

This dinner put me off sushi for at least 2 day i think (at most). Sushi is just one of my favourite healthy food yummmm....

Rich Dark Chocolate Cake

Ingredients:
185g unsalted butter
250gm dark chocolate bits
1 3/4 cups (220gm) self-raising flour
1/3cup cocoa powder
1 1/2 cups caster sugar
3 eggs, lightly beaten
1cup water = 250ml

Buttercream icing (this recipe is from Wilton)
1/2 cup solid vegetable shortening
1/2 cup butter or margarine
1 tsp clear vanilla extract
4 cups sifted confectioner's sugar aka icing sugar
2 tbsp milk

Method for cake:
Heat oven to 160C, lightly grease a 9inch springform tin and line with baking paper
Melt butter and chocolate bits in a double broiler or in a microwave for the easy way out :) (be very careful not to overheat it though)
Sift flour and cocoa powder. Combine the chocolate mixture, sugar and eggs, then add 1 cup of water and mix well and add into the flour and cocoa powder mixture. Mix until well combined and pour into the prepared tin and bake for about 1hour 30minutes, this varies oven to oven, so keep a close eye on your bake. Test with a skewer. Tip: Must not overbake and overmix this cake otherwise it'll crack. Very light mixing will do but do ensure its well mixed otherwise the cake will have crumbs of flour.

Method for buttercream:
Cream butter and shortening till light and add vanilla. Gradually add sugar, one cup at a times, beating well on medium speed. The icing will appear dry once all sugar have been added, add the milk and beat till light and fluffy. Keep bowl covered with a damp cloth until ready to use.
Add any colors to your buttercream according to the pattern that you'd like to do.
Tip: Buttercream icing will harden after a while and this makes it difficult to pipe out, all you'd need to do is put it back into the mixer for a quick whip.

Alternative chocolate frosting if you're not in the mood for cake decorating:-
20gm unsalted butter
125gm dark chocolate (you could use those for eating)
Melt the above in a heat proof bowl sitting over a saucepan of simmering water making sure the base does not touch the water. Spread over the cooled cakes in a swirl pattern.

The teddy bear cake was made with the Wilton cake pan, you'd need 1.5 portions of this recipe for that cake pan.

Verdict: This cake is quite yummy but it could be quite crumbly. If you're into very fine textured cake, this will not be one for you.

Malaysian Curry Laksa in 1-2-3

Curry Laksa quick you say? YES quick Curry Laksa here for this busy mom who again have no maids at my expense :( Sorry for being so whinny about this maids issues, but this is one of my very big sore here in NZ! Why won't the government here allow maids to come? Even Canada allows it. The typical Kiwi answer to this question is 'Oh its just not our way of life' Bahhhh i detest! Sorry spoilt child here hehe...

Anyway coming back to Curry Laksa, I've been craving this for a long time here and have never had the guts to make it in fear of all the extensive stock making that would be needed for the soup to be nice. Weather here has been pathetic over the last few days, its been raining non-stop for 3 days and that just made me crave for something rich and spicy and gives you the satisfaction at the first bite! Nothing better than curry laksa i say.

So i decided that's what we shall have for dinner at 12pm while at office, so called mum (who's here with dad for a 3 months visit at the mo) to get some hard boiled eggs ready and cut up some onions and ginger.

Rushed home after work and pre-warned my parents who can be pretty fussy with their eats that its going to be a quickie Curry Laksa, so don't get your hopes up high.

Here goes:
-3 big onions
-3 inch of ginger
-3 tbsp of dried shrimps
-1 heaping tbsp of shrimp paste aka belacan
-4 HUGE fresh red chilli's-can substitute with dried ones and even chili powder

Blend the above till it become paste.

-2 stalks of lemon grass bashed
-1.5tbsp of chicken granules
-3tbsp of fish curry powder-Baba's brand the best
-4 litres of water-you can add more or less up to you
-1 can of coconut cream - for lucky people who gets fresh coconut cream, I'd say cream from 1 coconut or more if you desire a very rich soup
-salt & msg to taste

Assembly:
-Balanced noodles/meehoon/mix-personally fresh egg noodles are the best with Laksa
-Blanch beansprouts
-Shreded chicken meat, can cook this in the soup together-I used leftover KFC, it was gooooooddd...
-Hard boiled eggs
-Fish cakes

Saute the paste in a wok/pan with some oil, ooh and chuck in 2 stalks of bashed lemon grass and the curry powder. If you're trying to keep guilt to the lowest level, go sparingly with the oil otherwise the more oil the richer the soup will be. Saute it till it becomes very fragrant and you'd know this when the color turns really dark. Then add in water and chicken granules and leave it to boil for 20 minutes before adding in the coconut cream. Add seasoning to taste. Assemble your bowl of noodles and top up with the soup. I swear it was really nice, i mean the next best thing besides getting it back in Malaysia from a reputable hawker :) Got my parents approval too *wink* I was too hungry and eager to dive in to my noodles hence forgot to snap a pic or 2, darn.

Betty Crocker's Chocolate fudge cupcakes

I've never been one who's much into baking till my baby Alyssa's birthday crept near. Not that i know nothing about baking or have not baked before, i just don't invest much time into perfecting anything. My mum was a home science girl back in school days, so naturally i'd have picked up a few tips here and there along the way.

After having baked a few cakes for Alyssa, its gotten me totally hooked on cakes/cupcakes and everything chocolatey and sweet. But i got to tell ya, I'm shamelessly lazy what with a baby and no maid in NZ! So while i was picking up some groceries the other day, i wandered into the baking aisle and picked up a box of ready mix. Never heard anyone complained about it before so i decided to give it a go. Besides i had to justify my investment into my Kenwood cake mixer, its a life saver and an absolute pleasure to possess.

Look what turned out, I overfilled the baking cups cause i was errr lazeh to wait for this batch to finish baking and put in another batch, i've only got this 1 muffin pan :~ despite my greedy overfilling of the cups, there was still some left. Feeling rather smug, i filled it into the baking cups and just placed it in the open, i'm sure the picture would have proven that it doesn't work, so don't go about being any smarter than what i did.
But those aren't important, what's important is if it tasted decent. Tasted totally artificial, can't explain the taste. The packet also came with ready mixed chocolate frosting as well, so i thought might be decent once its frosted, but the frosting tasted just as artificial!

I had some cupcakes that thankfully didn't make the ready frosting simply cause there wasn't enough. In order not to waste food, i had to think of some remedy to make it edible, aha i have some Nestle chocolate melts and whip cream in the fridge! Placed some melts into the microwave for 30 sec and added in some cream so that the melts wouldn't harden immediately. Iced it and ate it immediately and it was heavenly! If you ask me if i would buy this again, i have to say NO not only to this but to all ready-mixes. Somethings are just not worth being lazy over sigh...Lesson learnt.

Sambal

This is one of my hubby's favourite thang to have in the fridge, he eats it in all kinds of fashion that he could think off, weather its with his instant noodles, plain rice, cracker, toast you name it he would devour it! I only make this occasionally cause the amount of oil needed for it to be nice is insane! You could do it a little more healthily by minimising the oil, but my mantra here is 'its all or nothing'.



Shrimp paste or belacan is the essential ingredient here, I've never ever cooked any dishes with belacan when i was in Malaysia, there's just simply no need too, but when i came over to NZ, i realised a lot of our favourite Malaysian fares uses it and i stumbled upon this particular brand (Trachang Brand) here that is just ooohhhhhhh so goood...mum says its not available in Malaysia though. I guess other brands will just be as nice though, just got to play around with the amount to use.


Ingredients:-
-3 giant onions (that's what i get here in the land of the giants)
-1 small handful of dried anchovies aka ikan bilis
-3 tbsp of dried shrimps
-3 tbsp of shrimp paste
-4 tbsp of sugar - lessen if you don't desire your sambal to be sweet
-2 tbsp of chilli powder-phhphhh 2 tbsp are for babies, go for 4? It'll open up your sweat glands
-salt to taste (no salt needed with my belancan here)
-OIL-should cover all ingredients in the wok by at least a centimetre


Place everything into the blender and chop it finely, then heat oil in the wok and saute everything till soft and well mixed. Add seasonings to taste.


p/s: the way everyone likes their sambal is very different, so adjust the amount of belacan,sugar, chilli powder and salt to your liking.


Tip: Do not overfry the belacan as the color will become very dark and unattractive. Also do not be tempted to add too much anchovies too as this will cause the belacan to be very chewy.

Quick Tom Yum Chicken

Found a jar of Tom Yum paste in my pantry and discovered that its about to expire next month! Since i had no idea what to cook my chicken with, it shall be Tom Yum chicken then, this is an untested recipe, just a spur of the moment kind off dish but it turned out pretty pretty good i think.

Here's the recipe:

-1kg Skinless chicken pieces-there will be too much oil in the dish if the skin weren't taken off

-2-3 heaping tbsp of tom yum paste depending on the saltyness of the brand

-few dashes of fish sauce for extra kick
-lime juice to taste-i use lime juice extract that comes in a bottle, absolutely love the convenience -4 birds eyes chilli-more or less up to your taste buds
-2 stalks of bashed lemon grass
-2 tbsp sugar
-add some kaffir lime leaves if you have but not essential since there's lime juice already

Just dump everything into the pan/wok and cook with low flame with lid on to get smooth and juicy texture on the chicken. No water needs to be added especially so if the chicken has been pre-frozen.

I like this with fried meehoon, next dish that i shall make with the paste to finish it off before it expires will probably be Tom Yum fried Meehoon :)

ABC Soup

This is one of favourite soup of my mum's that i could remember without any recipe. Just in case i'd forget as i age, here are the ingredients:-

Pork Bones/chicken carcass-its your liking..chicken carcass gives a clearer soup and pork bones is all about hearty-nesss...

Onions-lots

Carrots-abundance

Tomatoes-depending on the level of sourness you like with your soup, i usually go for about 4 mid sized for a big pot of soup

Potatoes-as many as you'd like

Whole pepper corns

Salt to taste

Variation:- have been told bay leaves makes a better soup, yet to try but i definately will when my pantry have some :)

Secret to great soup:- It needs to be boiled for a minimum of 3 hours, the longer the better. Don't be too greedy and add lots of water especially during cooking, i don't know my grandma says that supposedly causes lots of 'fung'/'angin'/wind as you'd call it in english. Medically proven? Old chinese myths? Holds any water? You be the judge!