Carrot soup

The carrot soup cooked by my MIL has 3 different carrots, the normal orange colour carrot, white radish and green radish. When i first attempted it, i used 3 carrots and ended up with a huge pot of soup that the 2 of us cant finish. So now, i will simply cook carrot with white radish. Green radish is not commonly available in the supermarket so it has been a long time since i used it.

This time round, i added a couple of tomato cos i happen to have some in the fridge and i want a hint of sourness for 'kai wei' feel... white radish has a pretty strong smell that is not so pleasant and the tomato can help to cover it up...

In my soup, i added a couple of dried figs (anti cancer properties in TCM), north and south apricot seed ('nan xing, bei xing'), red dates and dried oysters. As usual, my soup is always made of chicken bones (i dont spend money on pork ribs!). Come to think about it. Long time since i made soup, i have collected 3-4 chicken carcasses in my freezer already!

Couple of hours on low heat will yield a pot of sweet tasting wholesome soup.

Do not keep leftovers in the fridge. It will only keep 1 day and will taste different after a day. I realised that freezing is a better way of keeping soup, especially for soups made with vegetables. Freeze in clean plastic bags, tie with rubber band and defroze the giantic ice cube in a pot over the stove. Can keep up to 2 wks with no change in taste.

Strawberry pastry cake

Dont know why its call a pastry cake and i dont know what is a pastry cake. The cake is dense, not oily (as there is little butter used) and has a great taste! tastes 10x better if its heated up in the mircowave (covered for 30 seconds on high).

I know the cake will look prettier without cinnammon but i am willing to sacrifice the looks for great taste and the aroma which fills the house when the cake is baking!

The cake will look better if i sprinkle some icing sugar on top but its too late at night and i cant be bothered! (went to watch 'Inception'. Fantastic movie!)

The jammy but in the cake is the strawberry bits from the strawberry yogurt i used in the receipe (instead of sour cream). Extra yummy!

The tastiest muffcake ever

The good news is, this is the softest and tastiest cupcake/muffin (my girlfriend calls it muffcake) ever. The bad news is, this is because I made a mistake and didnt follow the receipe right. I double up all the ingredient but only added 1 portion of the flour. Should i claim credit for this success? can i call myself the accidental chef? wahahha.

I only have 1 muffin tray so i made some in cupcake cups and some in muffin cups.

:)

Simply delicious. This receipe is a keeper. Opps, what i mean is, my accidentally self-created receipe is a keeper.

Coffee baileys cheesecake

My first cheesecake. NYDC cheesecake is the choice for hubby's birthday cake for 2 - 3 yrs. Wanted to make one for him this birthday so this is a test run. Problem now is, the cheesecake is so BIG, i have 1/4 stored in the freezer. Don't know when this 1/4 cheesecake is will 'go away'. Before it does, it makes no sense to make another one yah?

Anyway, it is a success. Thanks to the many hints and tips from those who tried the receipe.
Receipe is from here.

Angle Gourd

Angle Gourd ('Jiao3 Gua1') is so common in the supermarket. And cheap. Problem is, its always sold in a pair (and yet only cost SGD$1 plus). The skin looks very thick but its very easy to scrap off using a vegetable peeler. It has such a natural sweetness that i will be surprised by its taste each time i cook it. 

I used one to stir fry with dried scrimps, dong fen, black fungus and prawns.

The angle gourd is sliced around 1 cm thick and 4-5 cm long.

My second dish using angle gourd - stir fry with minced meat and egg.

Angle gourd is sliced in thicker chunks.

Chicken porridge with water chestnut

In wiki, water chestnut is called Eleocharis dulcis. How many people in the world will know this?!!!

I have a love hate relationship with water chestnut.

I have some water chestnut leftover from making dumplings. This is the reason why i will buy water chestnut 99% of the time. Preparing water chestnut is a hassle! u will have to scrub the mud off the skin, wash until the water runs clean, cut off the skin before u can use the inner flesh. Of cos, if u are throwing the skin, u need not wash them to cleanly. Having said that, u will still have to rinse them thoroughly. I am not being fussy here but if there is mud on the skin, when u slice it, the white flesh will be contaminated cos the knife comes into contact with the mud. Hate it.

If you have the time to clean the skin, boil the skin in a huge pot of water with barley for a couple of hours, add sugar and u will have a big pot of barley water chestnut drink!

I will usually have leftover water chestnuts as a snack/fruit. When i saw them in the fridge one afternoon, i decided to chop them up coarsely and add them to my porridge to add a 'crunch' to the mushy porridge. Reason why i love water chestnut is that it retains its sweetness, juiciness and crunch even after cooking. Love it.

Stir fry chicken with pineapple

My mum used to cook this but she has not cooked it in the last few yrs.

Despite so, I always remember this dish as i think its super appetizing and i love the natural sweet and sourness of the pineapple. I can finish a bowl of rice with the gravy alone.

This is my first attempt - the resultant taste is not the same as my mum.

The fragrance and taste of the pineapple is not strong enough though i am very sure i have simmered it thoroughly. Probably due to the pineapply not being flavourful. A little disappointed.

It's still a delicious dish - i say so myself!