Fish Soup

- Zaty.

Carlo brought some fish fillets from home and we were thinking of how to cook them. First we tried tempura flour - didn't turn out that well. Then he tried the egg+flour fry, which was pretty nice (just a bit bland, in a no-salt kinda way :P), but I wanted the fish to be cooked in liquid - like curry or something. I didn't have the curry powder for seafood, so that idea had to go.

And then I decided to make fish soup. And after looking around the net for a quick+easy recipe, I found one. After modifying it to suit what I have in my cabinet/fridge, came up with this. And Carlo approves! :D

----

Original recipe from from here.

Ingredients

• Oil, just enough for sauteeing
• 3 cloves of garlic, smashed/sliced
• 1 shallot, chopped finely
• 2cm^3 of ginger, smashed/sliced
• Fish fillet, washed and cut in big chunks (rub a bit of salt on it while preparing the other stuff)
• Boiled water
• 1 cube chicken stock
• 1 large carrot, sliced
• 2cm^3 of galangal, sliced
• 1 big onion, half sliced, half diced.
• Salt
• Black pepper
• A few pinches of fennel
• Sweet basil
• A few cardamoms

Steps

1. Heat the pot and add oil just enough to cover the surface.
2. When oil is heated, sautee garlic, shallot and ginger until they give of a nice smell & slightly brown.
3. Add chunks of fish in the pot by just resting them on the sauteed ingredients. Let one side of the fillet turn white and slightly harden, then turn it carefully to 'whiten' the other side.
4. Add boiled water into the pot, then chicken stock. Stir well.
5. After a few minutes, add in carrots, galangal and onion. Stir.
6. Add in salt, black pepper and fennel.
7. Allow soup to cook for about 15 minutes, then add in cardamom and sweet basil for the final 10 minutes.
8. Serve it while it's hot! :)

Will post photo(s) later.

 

Mini Pizza

- Zaty.

Before baking

Ingredients

Essentials:

• 'Small' breads (preferably pizza bases, but any breads - even pita/normal sliced bread will do)
• Tomato paste
• Oregano
• Salt
• Sugar
• Cheese (slices/shreds = awesome). Best to use mozarella, but could use edam or colby.
• Oil (olive, preferable)

Topping suggestions:

• Garlic, chopped
• Mushrooms, small pieces
• Onion, diced
• Meat, diced finely (I used sausage bits for this one) - make sure this is pre-cooked!
• Pineapple, diced

Instructions

1. Preheat oven. If you'll be making mini pizza using...
1. Pizza bases, 230 deg C will do. F
2. For other breads, I'm unsure... maybe 200 degs?
2. If you'll be using meat, cook it while you're preparing the other stuff.
3. Add in salt, sugar, oregano and chopped garlic into the tomato paste. Not too much!
4. Slather the tomato paste mixture onto the breads.
5. Sprinkle mushrooms, onions and pineapples evenly on the bread. Then add meat. (Make sure to not overcrowd the toppings or they'll fall off!)
6. Cover #5 with cheese.
7. Sprinkle breads with some oregano and sugar.
8. Spread some oil on a baking tray/paper/foil, and place breads carefully onto it.
9. Put it in the oven for 8-10 mins.
10. After taking it out, let it stand for a couple of mins, and you're ready to dig in. Should turn out something like this:

After baking

うまえ! ;)

Coco Choco Slice

- Zaty.

Got the recipe from the back of a tin of Pam's evaporated milk. Seriously.

I think I lost the recipe sheet. Darnit. I'll update this when I find it/buy another tin of evaporated milk. :P

Prep time: 20 mins
For: 1 medium-sized pan

Ingredients

Base

• 1 1/2 C flour
• 3 T cocoa
• 2 t baking powder
• 3/4 C castor/icing sugar
• 1/2 C dessicated coconut
• 175g butter, melted

Topping

• 1 C icing sugar
• 2 T cocoa
• 3 T butter, melted
• 1 C dessicated coconut
• 4 T sweetened condensed milk
• 1 t vanilla essence

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 180 deg C, then grease/line a 20cmx30cm slice tin.
2. Prepare base:
1. Sift flour, cocoa and baking powder into a bowl.
2. Stir in sugar and coconut.
3. Add in butter and mix well, to moist crumbs.
4. Press the crumb base mixture into the prepared tin using a spatula/wooden spoon.
5. Bake in a preheated oven for 20mins, then allow to cool.
3. Prepare topping:
1. Sift icing sugar and cocoa in a bowl.
2. Stir in melted butter, coconut, condesned milk and vanilla essence. Mix well.
4. Spread topping over the base and place in fridge for 2 hours (until firm), then cut the pieces.

It was fun to make! :)

Sugar Cookies

- Zaty.

Recipe will be posted later :)

Choco Banana Pancake

- Zaty.

recipes will be posted later :P

Sweet Filo Egg Tarts

- zaty.

So I have tonnes of filo pastry sheets... and they're expiring soon. Like, real soon. I needed something easy to make with them, and I needed it like super fast.

Aaaaand so it happens that I stumbled upon some pics of egg tarts today. Yummy, eggy, 'healthy', sweet, smile-erupting egg tarts. All together now, MMMmmmMmmm. :)

I searched high and low for egg tart recipes that happen to use filo, but alas, none was conjured up by Google. This, of course, calls for an experiment by yours truly! :P

So after compiling a few egg tart recipes to find a reasonable/rational experimental recipe (and taking whatever I have in my cupboard into consideration), here's what I managed to come up with:


Sweet Filo Egg Tarts

Makes 18 tarts (using medium-sized cupcake pans).

Ingredients

• Filo pastry
• 220ml hot water
• 80g white sugar
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 3 eggs
• 80ml milk
• 1/4 tsp vanilla extract

Instructions

1. Preheat oven at 180 C
2. Dissolve sugar & salt in hot water. While waiting to cool, continue with #3
3. Prepare filo:
• Cut filo into desirable size and layer about 8 of them in each cupcake hole. 
• Butter the edges of the stacked pastry to avoid them from getting too flaky.
4. In a bowl, whisk eggs until thick and creamy, then add milk. Continue to whisk until combined.
5. Add sugar+salt solution gradually and then some vanilla essence. Continue whisking. It will turn quite runny, that's fine.
6. Scoop the mixture slowly into the prepared filo pastry.
7. Bake for 20 minutes or till the edges of the filo is brown and the filling is set.
8. Let cool before serving.

Results?

simple and plain

with choc chips
(added last, right before baking)

with powdery choc drink
(added last before baking)

yup, crispy pastry. :)

Haha they're not the prettiest things in the world, but they taste alright.

Good luck and have fun trying them out!

Quiche - with filo pastry

- zaty.

Update: salt amount corrected :)

So I made quiche again today. The difference, however, is that I used filo pastry for the first time in my dear life. Considering the fact that I'm making this as a 'more' (shared 'dessert' for after terawih prayers), this is quite a risk.

But then I'm too much of an experimenter to not take the risk. :P

Anyhoo this time around I made both 'mini' (ie. cupcake-sized) quiche and a medium-sized square-pan quiche. I also prepared two batters - one is with meat, and the other is vegetarian. Just cuz I felt like it. The later is only for the mini ones though.

Anyway, onto the recipe!

Inspired by this recipe (uses filo pastry) & the easy quiche #2 recipe --- modified. 

Makes:

• 3 dozens mini quiches OR 
• 2 dozens mini quiches + 1 medium-sized square-pan quiche.

Ingredients:

• filo pastry sheets
• 6 eggs
• 3 cups milk ~
• 5 tbsp melted butter (about 75g)
• 1 cup self-raising flour
• 2 cups grated cheese
• 4 cups of anything you like *
• 2 large tomatoes, sliced
  
  Optional: Oregano, thyme, black pepper, salt to taste (thanks canadian girl for the tip!)
  
  ~ for better taste, use 1½ cup cream+1½ cup milk
  * I used:
       Diced = 1 large sausage, 5 button mushrooms, 1 onion, 1 green capsicum
       Sliced finely = 4 spinach leaves

Directions:

1. Set oven to 175 deg C
2. Whisk together the first 5 ingredients (eggs, milk, butter, self-raising flour, salt)
3. Fold in cheese and filling (*)
4. Prepare filo pastry:
• For mini quiche:
• Take one sheet, fold it in half. You can 'glue' the folded parts together using melted butter/cooking spray.
• Cut filo sheet into 4 strips - each strip about 6cm in width.
• Fold the strips twice to make an approx 6cm square.
• Place filo 'squares' in muffin tray hole. 
• When every container is lined with filo, continue with step #5
• For square pan:
• Lay filo sheets one above the other, about 8 sheets
• Make the sheets look neater by folding them in/cutting them (I didn't do a good job tho :P), then continue with step #5.
5. Pour the mixture into pan.
6. Top with sliced tomatoes and sprinkle with herbs.
7. Bake for about 35 minutes. Wait to cool before serving (about 10 minutes).

PICS!

Before baking:

meaty mini quiches.
messy, i know. lol.

meaty square quiche.
i topped this with another sheet of filo, which explains that white-ish surface.
(next time i'll skip that - i prefer the quiche w/o it. haha.)

After baking:

vegetarian mini quiches
(no sausage, extra veggies+mushroom)

meaty mini quiches

meaty square quiche

Bon apetit! :)

Cupcakes!

- zaty.

For someone's birthday:

Really easy to make too :D

Here are the recipes for the cupcake (original here) and the icing (original here), in that order:


Needed/recommended tools:
Oven (not microwave), electric beater, cupcake pan, big mixing bowl, measuring spoons/cups.


Easy (vanilla) cupcakes recipe

This simple vanilla cupcake recipe creates a cupcake that is perfect background for your creative decorating ideas.

Ingredients

• 2 1/4 cups all purpose flour 
• 1 1/3 cups white sugar
• 3 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup butter/shortening
• 1 cup milk
• 1 tsp vanilla essence (I used 3/4 vanilla, 1/4 peppermint)
• 2 large eggs
• Optional: 1 cup of chocolate chips.

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 175 degrees C and line cupcake pans with paper liners.
2. Combine: flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in a large mixing bowl.
3. Add shortening, milk, and vanilla and beat for 1 minute on medium speed.
4. Scrape side of bowl with a spatula, add eggs to the mixture and beat for 1 minute on medium speed.
5. Scrape bowl again and beat on high speed for 1 minute 30 seconds until well mixed. (You may add choc chips and stir it using a spoon after this)
6. Spoon cupcake batter into paper liners until 1/2 full. (more than this = big cupcake).
7. Bake for 20 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.
8. Cool 5 minutes in pans then remove and place on wire racks to cool completely.
9. Once cupcakes are completely cooled, top with icing (read on).

It's important to make the icing AFTER your cupcakes are done, because if you wait to use the icing, they will harden. And no, heating it up again is  a good idea because it'll melt and turn out very greasy. Really, eww.

The icing is easy to prepare and probably takes about 10 minutes.


Easy buttercream icing recipe

Ingredients

• 150g butter, softened
• 250g icing sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 2 tsp hot water
• Food colorings (for the above, I used red and blue liquid coloring)

Directions

1. Beat together butter and sugar with an electric beater.
2. Once well combined, add the vanilla and hot water.
3. Beat again until smooth and creamy. It will be of a light yellow shade, like creamy butter.
4. Decide how many colors you want and separate this concoction into that number of colors. Then add coloring as needed, little by little.

Note: For the above cupcakes, I used 4 'batches' of colors for the icing:
- yellow (uncolored - as seen as the 'yellow flowers' bordering the cakes),
- hot pink (a few drops of red),
- turquoise (a few drops of blue),
- purple (two shades - one for the base and a darker one for the writing. red+blue)


For the writing, I used combined the leftover icing and added a bit more coloring. I also cheated and used an icing squeeze gel pen I bought sometime ago :P

The cupcakes that didn't make the cut, topped with all the extra icing and some sprinkles :P


(You can tell I was messing around with everything, eh? Haha)

Have fun! :)

Cheese scones

- zaty

Today Carlo and I made two batches of scones - one is plain cheese scone, the other is savoury (we added bits of half a sausage). We made 2 dozens for the first batch but it didn't turn out very well because we forgot the baking powder... which led to us making the second batch, the savoury one.

Most ppl who've tried this prefer the savoury one - I like the plain ol' cheese scone more. :P it tastes great with fruit jam!

FAIL Batch #1 - bakingpowderlessness = unrisen dough

Batch #2 - looks much better, don't it? :D

Also, in case you were wondering, we used Edam cheese, which is quite yummy. Cheddar might work too.

Update (22/05/11): use self-raising flour instead of flour+baking powder

This original recipe is from here. :)

Prep time: 20-40 minutes
Cook time: 10 minutes
Servings: 6 scones

Ingredients:

• 1 1/4 C self-raising flour
• 1 1/4 cup flour
• 3 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp sugar
• 25g butter, diced
• 1/2 cup milk for dough (MD)
• 1/4 cup milk for coating (MC)
• 1/2 cup grated cheese for dough (CD) - the more, the cheesier! :)
• 1/4 cup grated cheese for topping (CT)
• Optional: 
• Rubbed oregano (for the lovely smell)
• 1/2 finely diced onions
• 1/2 chopped sausage

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 220 deg C.
2. In a bowl (stir using wooden spatula - not hands!):
1. Sift in dry ingredients.
2. Add diced butter by 'massaging' it in - should look like breadcrumbs at the end.
3. Add cheese for dough (CD) (and onion/sausage bits if you want savoury scones). Mix evenly.
4. Make a pit in the middle of the mixture, then add milk (MD) while mixing quickly.
3. Cover your hands with flour and sprinkle some on the tabletop/board to prevent dough from sticking to it.
4. Turn out dough and place on the tabletop/board. Knead dough lightly; if it's too sticky, add flour, bit by bit.
5. Roll out dough on board until about 2cm thick, then cut into 6 equal portions. (I like shaping the portions to make them slightly rounder).
6. Dunk each scone in milk (MC), then place each on a greased/lined oven tray. Make sure to leave at least 2cm gaps between them.
7. Top each scone with grated cheese (CT). (I like to sprinkle a bit of oregano as well).
8. Bake for 9-11 minutes, depending on how brown you want them.

Enjoy! :D

Baby scone tucked in ( - Carlo's idea!) :P

last updated 05122010