pastrami for my honey

Mini pastrami & chedder cheese bun with dijon mustard takeaway for the hubs' lunch tomorrow. It's so cute I can't help but to share it here :) Packed in a small container with a lil' note to make lunch bit more fun...hopefully!

ooishi to hayashi

I discovered this amazing Japanese invention called hayashi sauce in a cube at our local supermarket (Bishan NTUC). It looks and works the same way as the instant Japanese curry sauce cubes. But don't be deceive by this sauce as it can be used for many many dishes, besides as hayashi stew itself. It is has this rich beefy-stewy taste and these are some of the recipes I've created outta this instant sauce. It makes great gravy for bangers & mash! Added it into my lamb meatballs & sausage stew and not only it acts as a thickening agent, it gave the stew a rich beefy, three dimensional taste! So deelicious!!

Ooishi to hayashi nei!!

molten dinner with the Ngs

The Ngs were in town for cny and requested for me to cook them dinner so how could I refuse right hehe! Had 2 hours to prepare dinner after work today and even I impress myself with a main of grilled chicken leg stuffed with roasted garlic and rosemary butter, served with potato and asparagus gratin. Was simply yummy altho I think the leg could be bigger hehe! Dessert was molten chocolate raspberry cake served with hagen daz vanilla ice cream. This was the first time I tried this Donny Hay recipe and I have to say it is really easy and pretty impressive! Best part of this dessert is you can prepare in advance and warm up in the microwave briefly before serving. Needless to say it was a hit with XLB and hubby hehe! Here's the recipe as requested by ambien. What you need (makes 6 delicious cakes)

• 1/4 cup plain flour, sifted
• 1/3 cup of icing sugar, sifted
• 3/4 cup of ground almonds
• 2 egg whites, beaten
• 80g butter, melted
• 100g dark choc + 60g dark raspberry choc, melted (or 160g dark choc)
• 6 small squares of raspberry choc (or dark choc)

Let's bake

1. Preheat oven at 150 degrees
2. If using electric mixer, mix sugar and butter first then slowly add in the egg whites, melted choc and dry ingredients and mix all together. Alternatively place all the in food processor and mix
3. Fill half of a 6-pce muffin tray with the mixture, place a choc square in the middle and top with rest of the mixture
4. Bake for 20-25 mins till cooked but still gooey in middle
5. Stand for 5 mins before turning over
6. Serve with vanilla ice cream and indulge!

P/S: baby D was so tired and outta action so no photos of him tonite...sigh...

pawn me a prawn toast

Tried this simple recipe from Marie Claire over the cny hols. I have to say was impressed at how pretty it look and yummy it taste. Food needs to be like this for me all the time hehe! Oh and again, simple to prepare as well. Here's my simplified version of the recipe. Ingredients

• 20 small prawns, shelled
• 1 teaspoon grated ginger
• 1/3 teaspoon chilli flakes
• soya sauce, pepper & dash of sesame oil for seasoning
• slices of bread, trim off the crumbs and cut into 1/4s
• 1 egg beaten
• mixture of black & white sesame seeds
• oil for frying

Let's cook

1. Cut prawns into pieces and place in food processor with next 3 ingredients and blend into paste
2. Spread paste onto bread squares
3. Dip into egg, bread side first then prawn paste side
4. Dip prawn side into sesame seeds to coat
5. Shallow fry in hot oil prawn side down till golden brown then turn over
6. Remove from oil, drain and enjoy with Japanese mayo dip :)

corny but yummy beehoon

This is my mom's recipe, which is our all-time fav and comfort food - corned beef beehoon. It's not some dish you can get at the local hawker centre as it is our family recipe. And it may sounds weird till you tried it. I have converted 2 friends and the hubs (of cos) to big fans of this dish and that says it all haha! Also it is so easy to prepare with less time slaving over the stove and more time to sit and enjoy it. You'll need 1 can of corned beef, 1 small cabbage, 1 pack of beehoon (I use brown rice beehoon which is 1/2 the size of the usual pack), diced garlic, pepper, chilli flakes and light soya sauce!

melt in your mouth not in your hands...jaffar cakes

This cny, I decided to try this recipe of mini jaffar cupcakes consisting of dark chocolate, oj and marmalade. And oh I have to say it tasted ohhh sooo good!! Was super moist in the centre and not too sweet at the same time. This was definitely a hit with everyone! This is the larger version I did for dessert for Monday nite dinner with my in-laws and everyone loved it! Also baked a batch of mini blueberry and macadamia with lemon cream cheese cupcakes. Ain't they cute?

love was in the air

What did you do for your love one this valentines day? I did what I do best...baked him a cake haha! Here it is. Blueberry and macadamia with lemon cream cheese frosting and fresh blueberries :)

sunday best

I was totally ecstatic to land my hands on a box of giant scallops from Hokkaido that was on sale at NTUC and went trigger happy in the kitchen last Sunday! Treated the hubs and myself to Pan-seared Bacon-wrapped Scallops, served with Chilli Pasta. Words cannot describe how this taste but if I have to sum it up in one word it'll be amazing! The hubs took a peep while I was cooking and commented it looked so professional. He even suggested that I should take part in Masterchef if it ever comes to sg hehe! Ok enough of rattling here's the evidence. Scallops was pan-seared in butter with dash of olive oil, while pasta was boiling in another pot. Remove scallops when cooked, then stir fry some garlic, bacon and diced mushroom (or whatever ingredients you fancy) and the pasta in the scallop-jus with a dash of olive oil. Season with salt, pepper and dash of Italian herbs.

easy peasy weekday dinners

Chasing-the-blues Beef Stew

I've been sooo busy with the big move that it's not fun at all. With the amount of stress that came along with it, cooking was hardly on my schedule. So what do we eat for dinner everyday you ask...here's a series of easy peasy dinners for busy folks like me :) Sorry too tired to jot down the recipes today but enjoy the pics yeah. On those days when you are really busy and craving for some fried stuff, my fav is frozen Tay's Chicken Karage and my trusty Heineken! Best part about Tay's is I heat it up in the oven and it's still super crispy hehe! Had this last Thursday at the height of my stressed week. Then there is some dishes you can prepare in advance, freeze it and reheat when wana eat. I call this "Chasing-the-blues Beef Stew". It is topped with thinly sliced potatoes instead of pastry and contains diced carrots, mushrooms, peas, canned tomatoes and thicken with Jap stew cube. Yummers and sure to get rid of all Monday blues!

things to stew about

Sorry I have MIA from blogging for a week. Partly was recovering from bad stomach flu and another part is due to busy packing for my office move happening next week. With so much on my plate, I needed to find some time to cook. Well of course we still need to eat but there's always takeaway as most busy folks will opt for. But for me cooking is my way to de-stress, even it is a quick and simple dish. So I finally hit the kitchen yesterday to prepare dinner for tonite, after about a week away. Whipped up our all-time fav one-pot comfort meal - Spicy Sausage Stew or Soup as it is rather watered. This dish is great for all of us working wives. Cook it the day before, pop it into the fridge and re-heat when ready to devour! Ingredients (feeds 2 very hungry folks)

• 2 herb sausages
• 2 Italian sausages
• 2 medium potatoes, diced
• 2 medium carrots, diced
• half onion, diced
• 1 can of Hunt's stewed tomato
• half a glass of water
• dash of mixed Italian herbs
• 1 teaspoon dry chilli flakes (I get mine from BKK, the best and most spicy)
• salt & pepper

Method

1. Saute the onions in bit of olive oil in a medium stainless steel saucepan, add sausages and fry till semi cooked.
2. Pour in canned stewed tomato, stir awhile then add in potato and carrots and pour in water.
3. Season with Italian herbs and chilli flakes, cover and simmer on low fire for about half hour or till potato/carrots are soft...and you are done!
4. Transfer to a container, leave to cool then refrigerate. Re-heat when ready to enjoy!