Showing posts with label zaty. Show all posts
Showing posts with label zaty. Show all posts

Sunday, January 18, 2015

Vegetarian mug chocolate cake - 3rd try

- zaty.

This is a modified version of the mug choc cake I tried a few years ago (ori recipe here; my 1st, 2nd attempts). I like experimenting... and i like how this turned out, especially if I'm in dire need of a quick chocolatey treat. The result? Half a mug of choc cake -- just enough to satiate those sudden pangs of sweet goodness.


Equipment 
  • A microwable mug/bowl
  • A tablespoon
  • A microwave 


Ingredients
  • 4 Tb flour
  • 1 Tb white sugar
  • 1 Tb unsweetened cocoa powder 
  • 1 Tb nutella
  • 1 tsp peanut butter (might use more pb next time)
  • 3 Tb water
  • 3 Tb coconut oil
  • 1 Tb vanilla essence


Directions  
  1. Combine dry ingredients (flour, sugar, cocoa) in the mug/bowl.
  2. Add wet ingredients (nutella, peanut butter, water, oil, flavoring), mix well
  3. Place mug in microwave; nuke for 2mins 30secs in a 1000w microwave oven
  4. Take it out of the microwave, let it settle for a few moments, and dig in!

Best eaten fresh out of the microwave when it's still soft and gooey; if you leave it for a while the cake might harden (it's not that bad, it just gets a bit a bit chunky/flaky after that, and I prefer my cakes soft).

You can also sprinkle some icing sugar at the top or have this with vanilla ice cream if you like, because i've reduced the sugar for this version because of the additions (e.g. choc chips/nutella) :)

Enjoy ^___^

Monday, May 12, 2014

Vegan-friendly 5-minute choc cake in a mug

- zaty.


This is a modified version of the mug choc cake I tried a few years ago; this cake is less of a mess to make, uses basic ingredients, is vegan-friendy, and better for those on a diet (fewer calories, less sugar, less fat, smaller portion)! Basically, I omited the egg, substituted the milk with water, and changed the portions of some of the ingredients of the original recipe.

So I've done this a few of times in the past few months, and I like how it turns out, especially if I'm in dire need of a quick chocolatey treat. The result? Half a mug of choc cake -- just enough to satiate those sudden pangs of sweet goodness.

Equipment 
  1. A normal-sized mug
  2. A tablespoon
  3. A microwave 

Ingredients
  1. 4 Tb flour
  2. 1 Tb white sugar
  3. 1 Tb unsweetened cocoa powder 
  4. 3 Tb choc chips
  5. 3 Tb water *
  6. 3 Tb oil **
  7. Some flavoring:
    1. if using liquid eg. vanilla, peppermint essence, 1Tb
    2. if using powder form eg. cinnamon, 1tsp plus 1Tb water
sometimes I add 1 Tb oatmeal powder to give the cake some texture
**  sometimes I mix coconut oil, butter, and/or vegetable oil
Directions  
  1. Place dry ingredients (flour, sugar, cocoa, choc chips) into the mug, mix well.
  2. Add wet ingredients (water, oil, flavoring), mix until well-combined. This might take about a minute.
  3. Place mug in microwave; nuke for 2mins 50sec in a 1000w microwave oven (or 4 mins for 700w). 
  4. Take it out of the microwave, let it settle for a few moments, and dig in!
Best eaten fresh out of the oven when it's still soft and gooey; if you leave it for a while the cake might harden (it's not that bad, it just gets a bit a bit chunky/flaky after that, and I prefer my cakes soft).

You can also sprinkle some icing sugar at the top or have this with vanilla ice cream if you like :)

Enjoy ^___^

Sunday, May 11, 2014

Super Simple Stacked Sandwich

- zaty.

after much experimenting with sandwich-making recently, i have found my fav. way to stack my sandwich so that stuff doesn't spill out/fall off so much.

the result = cleaner hands, mouth, plate, everything :D

must-haves:
  1. 2 buns/slices of bread - go for those seedy, wholegrain ones. and toast them just a bit
  2. salad leaves - the more colorful, the better
  3. meat slice/egg/protein-ish slab - cook it if it's not cooked yet
  4. cheese slice

steps

in order of appearance on the plate:
  1. bottom bun/bread slice
  2. salad, esp. leafy ones
  3. onion slices, if needed
  4. ready-to-eat patty/egg/salami/slab of protein
  5. sauces, if needed
  6. cheese slice
  7. herbs/spices, if needed
  8. top bun/bread slice.
i wish i took a pic of my sandwich just now. it was quite beautiful if i do say so myself.

that is all.

/procrastinationtimeover/

Sunday, January 01, 2012

Awesome Chocolate Chip Cookies

- zaty.

So far I've tried a number of choc chip cookies -- crunchy, chewy, big, hard, soft, a mixture of either or all of these etc -- and I think I like the crunchy on the outside but slightly chewy on the inside kinda type. I found an awesome recipe for choc chip cookies on popularcookierecipes.com which I like to use as a rough guide to make these cookies, because I've only made them a few times before (at this time of writing)... and I tend to forget the ingredients and their general measurements lol :P

I made a few changes to the linked recipe above, I:
  1. used a bit less sugar, because I don't like it too sweet
  2. added chocolate powder, because I just felt like it
  3. used sea salt, because I saw another recipe using it so I'm curious about how it'll turn out
  4. added a bit of milk, because I like the idea :P
  5. used baking powder instead of baking soda (yes, the horror!), because I didn't have baking soda and I'm too lazy to go get some
Anyway, here's tweaked recipe, which roughly makes 5 dozen cookies that are about 2 inches in diameter. :)

Equipment

  1. Oven
  2. Spatula
  3. A large mixing bowl
  4. Baking tray (2 if possible)
  5. Baking/lining paper
  6. Measuring spoon/cups
  7. Airtight container
  8. Dining tray/baking rack/large plate


Ingredients A (wet):
  1. 1¼ C sugar (mixing white sugar and packed brown sugar is better)
  2. 125 g butter, melted
  3. 2 Tbsp cooking oil
  4. 2 large eggs
  5. 1 Tb milk
  6. 5 drops of vanilla essence (you could also try 4:1, vanilla and peppermint)

Ingredients B (dry):
  1. 2¼ C all purpose flour, well-sifted
  2. 1½ tsp baking powder (or 1 tsp baking soda)
  3. 1 Tb cocoa powder
  4. 3/4 tsp salt
  5. 1 C of chocolate chips

Directions:
  1. Preheat oven to 190degC.
  2. With a spatula, mix Ingredients A one by one in a bowl until well-combined.
  3. Stir in Ingredients B one by one, and mix everything well. The dough will become quite firm.
  4. Line the baking tray with baking paper.
  5. Scoop half a tablespoon of dough and use the spatula to push it onto the baking paper
    (arrange each scoop of dough so that there is about 2 inches of space between each cookie to prevent the cookies from melting+combining together).
  6. Place the tray in the oven for about 8-10 minutes
    (8 mins = slightly chewy brown-on-the-edges-lighter-in-the-centre cookies, 10min = darker and crispier; I'd go for 9 mins).
  7. Prepare another batch on a second baking tray
    (keep this and the rest of the dough in the fridge/freezer while waiting for the batch in the oven!) ^*^
  8. After a batch of cookies are done, take it out and replace it with the second tray you have prepared. Transfer the freshly baked cookies onto a clean surface (baking rack, dining tray or large plate) to cool down at room temperature
  9. The cookies are good to eat/store just before the previous batch is done in the oven - transfer the baked cookies into an airtight container as soon as they've cooled down to prevent them from going stale. :)


And that's pretty much it. Now I'll enjoy my cookies with some mint tea. :D

^*^ a cold dough will 'melt' faster, making the cookie melt quicked and make it thinner (and crispier) around the edges. Just the way I like it :D

Sunday, March 13, 2011

Honey Tomato Chicken

- Zaty.

I'm just so sick of my own cooking (and I'm sure Mr. M feels the same way) so yesterday I tried to make a modified version of "ayam masak merah" (ie. tomato chicken). This was inspired by this recipe; I adapted it to suit what I had around the house (I didn't have tomatoes and ginger, most importantly).

The taste was bit different from what I expected, I'm guessing 1/2 can of tomato puree was too much, so next time I use this recipe I'll use only a 1/3 or less. I had to add in a bit of boiling hot water to make the gravy less thick, and added in honey and soy sauce for extra flavor.

Anyway, here's the (fixed) version of what I made yesterday:

Ingredients (for 2 people)
  • Group A - to 3/4 fry:
    • 4 pieces of chicken nibbles
    • turmeric powder
  • Group B - to blend:
    • 2 shallots
    • 3 Tbsp dried chilli blend
    • 1cm ginger (I was out of this so I used galanghal, but next time I'll make sure to use ginger)
    • 3 pcs garlic
    • 1 medium onion
  • Group C - other stuff:
    • 1/3 tin tomato puree
    • 1 large Tbsp-full of honey
    • 2 T soy sauce
    • 1/2 tin of button mushrooms, sliced
    • 1 small onion, cut into rings
    • 1 cup frozen vege (peas, carrots, corn).
    • sugar
    • salt Optional: 1 cup boiled water
  • Optional: 1 cup boiled water

Instructions
  1. Clean and prepare chicken as appropriate (small pieces is easiest and fastest to cook). Toss the chicken pieces in a bowl and cover them completely with turmeric powder.
  2. Heat up some oil in a pot, and fry turmeric-covered chicken until about 3/4 done. While waiting for this, blend everything in Group B - it doesn't have to be finely blended.
  3. Take chicken pieces out and sautee the blended Group B ingredients till a fragrant smell rises.
  4. Add in tomato puree, mixing well. Wait for a few minutes so that everything heats up well and the paste produces some oil (ie. until 'pecah minyak').
  5. Add in soy sauce and honey as desired.
  6. Add in sliced mushrooms, stir for a few minutes.
  7. Place the previous chicken pieces back into the pot, stir well. 
  8. Wait for the gravy to thicken, stirring the pot content every half a minute. Continue until sure that meat is cooked.
  9. When gravy has thickened (might take about 10 mins), add in sugar, salt, peas etc. Wait for a few minutes, stirring constantly. 
  10. When done, serve with rice (preferably tomato rice, but I ate it with plain rice).

Result

Will update with picture when my internet's not being annoying. :P

Have a nice day!

Friday, March 04, 2011

Super-easy Yoghurt Cake

- Zaty.

Today's baking is a a result of Carlo's story about his friend's mom who makes yoghurt cake (which is apparently one of the best cakes he's eaten), and a M'sian potluck thing (masquerading as a 'natural disaster' meeting). After much debate on what to bake, I surrendered and googled up 'yoghurt cake', and was pleasantly surprised by how easy the recipe seemed. It really is easy to make, just like how this recipe looks - no electric mixers, melting butters, kneading etc. Easy peasy. Just the way I like it. :P

Anyway, I got the recipe from here, but with a simple adjustment - I used the (150g) cup for single-serve yoghurts as the measuring tool. In other words, every ingredient is measured using this cup (aside from the eggs, of course... although 3 eggs do fill up the yoghurt cup nicely). :)

I made 2 cakes: one with raspberry+cream yoghurt, and the other was peach+cream yoghurt.

Will post up more pics later.
~

This recipe makes a medium-sized cake.

Note: cup* = single-serve yoghurt cup

Ingredients 
  • 1 cup* of yoghurt (fruity flavored is yumm)
  • 1 cup* oil (I used my canola cooking oil)
  • 2 cups* white sugar
  • 3 cups* self-raising flour
  • 3 eggs
    Optional: raspberry (or other) jam.
Directions
  1. Preheat oven to 160degC.
  2. In a bowl, beat the ingredients one-by-one with a wooden spatula until smooth and creamy. This might take a few minutes.
  3. Pour smooth mixture into a greased/baking-paper lined pan. 
    • Optional: Scoop some jam and slowly place it at the top of the batter. Use a chopstick or something long to squiggle or swirl the jam to give the cake extra flavour.
  4. Bake for 1 hour or till golden brown (the fork should come out clean when poked).
  5. Give about 10 mins to cool down, then cut and serve.
    • Optional: After the cake has cooled down a bit, turn the cake out of the pan, and let it stand on its side. Cut the cake in the middle lengthways, and place both sides down. Spread some jam onto the 'fluffy' side of both halves, then enjoin the two parts the way it was before -- it should look like a 'jam sandwich' cake in the end.

Result?


Raspberry+cream yoghurt cake (see the swirley bit at the top? Hee ^_^)
Note: This is before I turned it into a sandwich cake.



I have some extra slices left, so I'll post some pics of what it looks like later.

~

It's so easy to make, and it tastes nice if I do say so myself. Do try it! Have fun baking! :)

Monday, December 06, 2010

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.
 

Thursday, September 23, 2010

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! ;)

Saturday, September 18, 2010

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! :)

Tuesday, August 17, 2010

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?

sweet filo egg tart - plain
simple and plain

sweet filo egg tart - choc chip
with choc chips
(added last, right before baking)

sweet filo egg tart - choc
with powdery choc drink
(added last before baking)

sweet filo egg tart - crust focus
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!

Sunday, August 15, 2010

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:



IMG_1652
meaty mini quiches.
messy, i know. lol.

IMG_1650
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:

IMG_1666
vegetarian mini quiches
(no sausage, extra veggies+mushroom)

IMG_1662
meaty mini quiches

IMG_1659
meaty square quiche

Bon apetit! :)

Tuesday, August 10, 2010

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

extra cupcakes
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! :)

Friday, August 06, 2010

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!

scone attempt #1 - unrised!
FAIL Batch #1 - bakingpowderlessness = unrisen dough

2nd batch of scones - after, closeup
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

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

last updated 05122010

Saturday, October 10, 2009

Sardine Rolls

- z.

My loaf of multigrain is going to expire tomorrow. I hate not finishing my bread so I decided to have it for lunch today, and since I've never made sardine rolls my whole life, I figured this should be a good chance.

So yeah, easy peasy recipe, inspired by my friend Iqa who makes awesome sardine rolls.

1. Prepare filling: I used
- 1 can sardine (in soya bean oil),
- 1 packet tomato paste,
- 1tsp crushed garlic,
- 1tbsp prawn sambal,
- 1/2 big onion,
- 1 vegetable cubestock.

Thus:
Sardine Roll : Filling

2. Prepare coating: I used 2 eggs & sprinkles of parsley (whisked lightly)
Sardine Roll : Coating

3. Get ready with the weapon and ammo: A rolling pin and sliced bread. Keep rollin' them bread to get 'em as flat you can, yo.
Sardine Roll : Miscellaneous stuff

4. Place the filling (1) inside the flattened bread (3), roll it up tight, and coat it with the egg mixture (2). If the bread keeps unrolling itself, secure with a toothpick as I did. Then, place it in heated oil (light/medium fry) slowly. Repeat till these prepared rolls fill up the pan/wok:
Sardine Roll : Cooking!

5. End result:
Sardine Roll : Done!

This uses about 9 slices of bread, and the quantity of eggs used may be less/more, so if you want to use a whole loaf, use 3 eggs instead.

This is ridiculously filling, possibly because of all that oil XD.

Have fun~

Wednesday, October 07, 2009

Quiches!

- z.

So there I was salivating while reading/viewing some food blogs where suddenly, upon cruising through some of their archives, an entry about quiche loaded before my eyes. It was then that I realised that I should probably start making some... before I lose too much liquid from my body. :P

And THUS, the search for easy-to-make Quiche recipes began!

I learnt that there were two ways of making quiche : one where you make the crust and contents separately, and the other where you just pretty much mix the whole thing up. Laziness would dictate that I do the latter, but seeing that I was out of self-raising flour which that one requires, I did the first one, which wasn't too bad to begin with. Later I saw a friend and got some self-raising flour from her, so I did the second recipe as well because I had way too much 'filling'. Much later, I used the excess of that (I told you I made way too much :P) for some pasta.


So let's make some Quiche already!


Quiche #1

The quintessential quiche, for me, is one that uses sour cream or 50% cream 50% milk.
...but to put it simply, I used neither in this first recipe...because I forgot, lol. So this is practically like an egg tart. A very savoury egg tart.

Next time I make these (which will probably be aaaaaaaaages away because they're so unhealthy with all that cheese and eggs, lol) I will :
  • add cream (duh)
  • add spinach (because I'm dumb and forgetful D:)
  • add tomatoes (because I forgot again D: D: D:)
  • make the crusts thinner :D
  • use cheddar cheese 

Anyway, Here's the recipe I used for this one: ( My comments/alterations are in red. :) )
  • Crust (recipe suggested by Afdzal, thank you!!) : from Recipezaar.
    • Ingredients
      • 1 cup flour
      • ½ teaspoon salt
      • ¼ cup olive oil or canola oil - I used soya bean oil
      • ¼ cup cold water - refrigerated is good

    • Directions
      • Mix flour and salt with fork. 
      • Beat oil and water with whisk or fork to thicken.
      • Pour into flour and mix with fork ~ I think it's perhaps easier to use my hands, so I did. However, if you do this, don't knead too much, and make sure to put it in the fridge for a few minutes.
      • Press into 9" pie crust ~ I used a muffin tray, it works just as well

  • Filling (found at Suite101)
    • Ingredients:
      • 1 cup shredded cheese ~ I used vegetarian edam. It tastes kinda funny before it's cooked, but the aftertaste pretty much disappears after it's cooked. It's also quite creamy, so it's got a nice texture to it after the quiche is done. 
      • 1-1½ cups of whatever ~ I used:
        • 1tbsp of finely chopped garlic
        • 1tsp of ginger
        • 2 cups meat:
          • minced chicken (2 burger patties, mashed, actually =_=)
          • 1 chopped chicken sausage 
            • I realise that these processed meat products aren't as good as real lean meat, and aren't exactly healthy/conventional lol, but they're practical items to have around the kitchen.
        • 1 big white onion
        • 1 carrot
        • 1 capsicum,
        • ¼ cauliflower
        • Salt to taste
        • Blackpepper
        • A pinch of oregano, basil, parsley 
      • 4 eggs
      • 2 cups heavy cream or half & half with milk ~ Didn't add this in x_x 
      • ¾ tsp salt
      • ¼ tsp nutmeg, ground ~ Didn't add this either, because I don't have any. And I think I might be allergic to it, for some reason. I substituted this with some basil, a little bit of oregano and some parsley. Because I kinda predicted that I was gonna screw up anyway since it's my first time, so might as well experiment, lol.

  • Crust + Filling (also from Suite101)
    •  Directions
      • Sprinkle cheese evenly over the bottom of the crust. 
      • Place veggies, meats and other additions on top of the cheese. ~ I separately cooked my filling first till about 75%, because I use meat and I tend to get paranoid about meat not being cooked well :P.
      • Whisk together eggs, cream, salt and nutmeg in a medium size mixing bowl on medium speed.
      • Carefully pour cream on top of veggies, etc. ~ Seriously, do this carefully or everything may spill out of the crusty bit like mine did. -_-
      • Bake at 350degF/approx. 176.6degC for 45 minutes or until knife comes out clean.
      • Let sit for 15 minutes before slicing. ~ Content IS hot when it's fresh from the oven. Or you'll get a burnt tongue *shifty eyes*
      • Refrigerate leftovers.
And the result?

miniquiche
It doesn't taste that bad, I swear. x_x

~
Next, Quiche #2


Note for next time:
  • USE BUTTER! =_= I keep skipping ingredients accidentally, sigh! (I'm terrible at following recipes...)
Recipe taken from Best Recipes. :)
  • Ingredients:
    • 4 eggs ~ Used probably 3 eggs...long story.
    • 1½ cups milk ~ I used 2 cups by accident, sigh...
    • 3 tbsp melted butter ~ I suppose oil would do?
    • ½ cup self-raising flour ~ IMPORTANT! 
    • 1 cup grated cheese ~ Haha I grated my thumb while doing this =_= - the ingredients were fine tho!
    • 2 cups of whatever ~ See above 'whatever'

  •  Directions: 
    • Set oven to 180degC
    • Whisk together thesefirst 4 ingredients (eggs, milk, butter, s-r flour)
    • Fold in cheese and filling
    • Pour the mixture above into a quiche pan  ~ I used a normal medium-sized square baking pan ... which is a lot thicker than a normal quiche pan (quiche pans tend to be wide but short).
    • Bake for about 40 minutes ~Wait for about 10-15 minutes before serving
 Et voila:

bigquiche

This was right after I took it out from the oven, so the middle part is kinda bulging out.


To be honest, I prefer the taste of the 2nd quiche to the first, but then... I was silly enough to miss the milk of the 1st one, so I guess it's unfair to compare to begin with. Hehe.

As I've written above, due to the excess filling, I decided to make a pasta dish. Thus:

Pasta!

Chicken, Carrot, Capsicum Pasta

So that's just pasta (leftover elbows and spirals from previous cooking), about 250g, boiled (without the essentials : a tsp each of oil and salt, because, again, I forgot to add until they were done T_T), with other stuff. After sifting out the boiling water, I chucked the pasta into the pot with the extra filling. Then I twirled the whole combo around the pot with medium heat to let it mix. I added some salt, black pepper, oregano too. BecauseomgIloveoreganoomgitisawesome :P

And that's that. End of story, YAY! I can do other things now because this entry's done! :D :D :D

Hope I gave some ideas on how you can venture more in your cooking, or at least improve on. :)

Thursday, July 23, 2009

Choc cake in a mug

- zaty.

Update 11/5/2014: here's an updated version of the recipe: clickie!

Yes, in a mug. I kid you not.

microwave chocolate mug cake attempt #1 (before)
Pre-microwave

microwave chocolate mug cake attempt #2 (after)
Post-microwave

Not exactly the prettiest cake in the world, but honestly - if you have 10 minutes, a microwave oven, and a dire craving for a choc cake fix pronto, this is much easier than walking all the way to the bakery or even baking a 'real' cake.

Original recipe from here.

Microwave choc cake in a mug recipe:
Tools
  • Microwave & coffee mug. Also baking paper to line the mug :)
Ingredients
  • 4 tbsp flour
  • 4 tbsp sugar
  • 2 tbsp unsweetened cocoa
  • 2 tbsp whisked egg (omit this for a fudgier cake)
  • 3 tbsp milk
  • 3 tbsp oil
  • 3 tbsp choc chips
  • A few tsps of of flavoring - eg. vanilla, peppermint
Directions
  1. Add all of the dry ingredients (flour, sugar, cocoa) to the mug and mix.
  2. Add the egg and combine well. It gets pretty pasty at this point.
  3. Stir in milk and oil.
  4. Add choc chips and flavoring. Stir well.
  5. Microwave for 3 minutes in a 1000w oven, or 4 minutes in a 700w oven. It will start to crown over the top of the mug. Don't panic! It will collapse once the heat stops.

Enjoy :)

Tuesday, March 04, 2008

sushi

- zaty.

how to make a sushi can be seen here : [click]

learn well, so that the batch of sushi you produce will not get screwed up.
like mine did :

sushi???

i show you the pictures, folks, as a lesson.

patience pays off.

i was impatient, so i couldn't wait for things to heat up and then cool down and stay warm etc etc. and other than that, i basically didn't really note the measurements of each ingredients. the rice was too sticky, i used too much vinegar (it stank, but thank god the sushi didn't -___-), and i had NO idea how to roll it up, but too lazy to google it up. and the only thing i placed in the sushi was egg slices. uglily-cut egg slices. *evil laughs*

but wait, there's more.

and as horrorful as above looks, there's something even scarier.
oh yes. it gets worse.

behold...

MY GHASTLY ATTEMPT AT CALIFORNIA ROLLS! *le shock*

the pathetic-looking california roll

i SO cannot cook for a living. hahahah. XD

more shots to lose your appetite, if you so desire (scroll down pls) ;)









a close up




hahahaha. don't judge food by its cover. the above pathetic-attempts at sushi may look ugly, but they taste more horrible than they look. hihihi ;P

Thursday, October 04, 2007

Kerabu Mempelam [P]

- Zaty.

SO! This was made more then a couple of days ago by Ma, her very own recipe! ;P Sorry about the lateness, I couldn't/didn't find the time. Simply put, I was lazy =P

Alritey, onto the pictorial!

Needed:
Grater/slicer, knife (duh), onion, mangoes ('young' ones, which are more sour and not-so-soft), lime (squeezed), lime leaves, sugar, salt, chillies (preferably cili padi or the like).

*optional : anchovies, peanuts (both need to be fried)

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The How-to's:
Set A : Mangoes - grate and slice finely

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Set B : Peanuts - fry, if they haven't been fried yet.

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Set C : Anchovies - fry well.

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Set D : Lime - squeeze them and add sugar & salt to the juice. as for the leaves, slice finely.

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Set E : Misc stuff - slices the chillies, serai (lemongrass) and onions.

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Now combine all sets!
Note : only add more lime squeeze (not water!) if it's too dry - remember to add quite a lot of sugar to de-sour-ise the mangoes & lime.

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End result:

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Oishi~~~ ^______^ It's slightly hot, sour, sweet, tangy... YUM! It'll surely make food taste better =D