Avocado Prawn Savoury Pie

This is my second homemade pie after the Curry Chicken Pie.  Another wonderful experience, I found myself completing the pie much faster than before.  Here, I needed to blind bake the crust twice to 80% cooked before filling the ingredients.
It is such a delicious pie, glad that I bought this book, I can learn even more pie recipes here.

Custard Mooncake

It is very delicious,  I especially love the texture and flavour of the custard. The soft, thin pastry skin, flavoured with a hint of syrup is the best. It is interesting to do egg wash 3 times and  a syrup wash. I was tired in the end :)
Overall, it is something worth going through and I  would like to do it again next year.

Gongzai (Doll) Mooncake

These are the soft textured version of the Gongzai Mooncake. They are plain but full of syrup flavour, and it gets more intense the longer you keep it.  They are good to keep for quite a number of weeks.

Kluang Mooncake

Another tasty mooncake here.  Just be sure to slice after it is completely cooled as the crust is soft, which may be separated easily when it is still hot.

Traditional Mooncake ( Cantonese style)

I know I can't go wrong with Christines's recipes,  it turned out very good on the third day. This is what we want, a very thin and shinny layer of pastry.

Taiwanese Style Mooncake

                                      They are crispy, can be eaten straight after baked.

Shanghai Cheesy Mooncake

This is quite a quick and easy mooncake to bake, very tasty too.
Once it is baked, it can be eaten right away.

No Churn Coffee Ice Cream

Seriously, this is ridiculously easy to make.  We were very surprised for the first time,to have found out that no churn ice cream actually can be so delicious.  I always have the impression that no churn ice cream would be slightly icy, not as smooth or creamy, a heavier kind of result. This proves me wrong.

Baked Oreo Cheescake

This is quite a small cheesecake, 6 inches.  It looks beautiful with three layers where each layer ensures you won't miss a bite of the oreo. I always liked baked cheesecake more if I had to choose , it is just my own opinion. The texture and flavour is slightly different somehow. My children loved it so much, you just can't go wrong baking with Oreo.


From my past experience with the unfinished cheesecake, I would normally wrap them individually with aluminium foil in a ziplock bag and put it in the freezer. They actually freeze well for a good six months. Just move it to the fridge and thaw for a night to have a treat the next day.

Light, not overly sweet, a very nice cheesecake.

Ingredients
For the bottom crust (A)
80g Oreo biscuit
20g unsalted butter


For the fillings (B)
350g cream cheese ( it has to be in room temperature)
50g castor sugar
50g plain yogurt
2 small eggs ( room temperature)
1 tsp vanilla extract
100g Oreo biscuit


To decorate the top
80g oreo crumbs

Pound them to small crumbs

Butter and oreo crumbs mixed up nicely. Pour into the pan, flattened using a cup.

                                                          batter over the base (the crumbs).

                                                              more crumbs on top.

                                        sits on a pan, over it another larger pan filled with boiling water.



Methods (on a 6 inch springform pan)
Preheat the oven to 140C.
Pound 80g Oreo cookies secured in a ziplock bag.  Do that to the next lot of 100g oreo ( for the cake), then to the last 80g lot (to decorate the top). Set aside for later use.
Lay the foil on the base of the springform pan, secured with the lock, and fold it upward like the picture above.
In a bowl, mix well the (A) ingredients.  Lay on the pan, flattened with a cup. Cover it up and let it chill in the fridge for 20 minutes.
Meanwhile, with your Mixer running, beat in the cream cheese. Add in the sugar, continue to beat til it is well combined.
Add in one egg at a time, then the yogurt, vanilla. Fold in the Oreo crunch (100g).
Pour the mixture into the chilled pan, smoothen the top, sprinkle more Oreo crumbs (80g).
Place the pan on another pan, over the larger pan filled with boiling water.
Bake for 35 to 40 minutes.
When it is done, let it cool completely and chill it in the fridge overnight.
Slice with a heated knife and serve.


Recipe from Carol Hu

Homemade Cheong Fun

I have a great fun making these cheong fun, which is simple and easy, with a bit of patience you are able to enjoy it.  It is so delicious, and is not as oily as the Yum Cha place definitely.  The sauce is something never to be missed!

Curry Chicken Pie

What a wonderful experience for me, I finally made my very first homemade pie! I shall move on to more pastries with a sense of confidence from now :)

Blueberry Avocado Ice Cream ( no churn)

Quick and easy, no heavy cream, egg or sugar used here. No churning needed.
My children think it is more like a sorbet but they loved it anyway.

Fan Tuan / Chi Fan ( Sticky Rice )

This is my son's favourite, he can actually have it as his proper meal too. I often make lots so he can bring for school lunch.  Good to eat it warm or at room temperature too. Youtiao has to be pre-toasted so you get some crispy texture from the bite, I was very generous with the fillings this time, I added fried black sesame on the rice for aroma and nutrients.

For my Fan Tuan, I just wrapped it with free hand. I find it very easy to handle this way. You can to use sushi mat or a clean towel wrapped inside a plastic bag to support and wrap it up. The rice has to be warm when doing the wrapping. It does harden when it cools down.

Recipe and inspiration from here
Ingredients
( makes 8 rolls)

4 cups glutinous rice ( washed, soaked for 4 hours, drained)
6 beaten eggs ( mix in with salt and pepper, pan fry thinly)
1 cup shredded pork floss
4 tablespoons chopped salted dried radish (cleaned, drained, with a little cut chili and sugar, fry for a minute or 2).
2 Chinese fried cruller (youtiao), cut into 8 pieces, get it toasted in the oven til crispy.
Fried / toasted black sesame
some sesame oil

Use a shallow pan to ensure all rice evenly cooked.

you can use a sushi mat to wrap too

Methods
Place the rice in a shallow pan, mix well with 1/2 tsp salt. In rapidly boiling water, get it steamed for 20 minutes or, until it is cooked, stir the rice half way through. When it is done, mix in black sesame and combine well.
Wipe some sesame oil on the top surface of the cling wrap, place some rice on top of it, then top up  the rest of the ingredients (see pic).
Roll it up nice and firm.

Blueberry Pikelets

                                                     Serve hot with honey or maple syrup...

Kuih Lapis ( 9 layered kuih)

Recipe from Poh's Kitchen
Ingredients
200g tapioca flour
100g rice flour

Part A 
320g sugar 
1 litre coconut cream ( heat to dissolve sugar)
3/4 teaspoon salt

 note: I reduced sugar to 280g

slice with plastic knife, sits the kuih on the plastic cling wrap...

Methods
In a pot, pour in Part A ingredients, using heat to dissolve the sugar ( I used a low heat).
Remove from the heat, cool slightly. Mix them with the flours, sieve to remove lumps.
Divide into 3 portions of equal 425g each.  One portion is uncoloured.
The other two portions are red and green ( pandan paste).

Heat up a 25cm tray. ( I greased the tray as well).
Pour 140g plain mixture into the tray and steam for about 3 minutes.
Next layer would be 140g green mixture, steam for 3 minutes. Last is the red mixture, again 3 minutes.
Continute in this order until all mixutre are done.
Darken the last two layers and steam for 5 minutes each.
Leave to cool completely before slicing.

note: Wipe the steamer cover each time for steaming.