Best of 2007

First off, Happy new year!

2007 has been a fruitful year in terms of my culinary experiment!

One major difference between 2007 and prior years was the availability of asian ingredients. More and more stores (medium or hyper) start to promote asian ingredients, which I managed to grab some good deals. Some of the items that I acquired were tapioca flour, hoisin sauce, sambal oelek, sesame oil, tumeric powder etc :) Hopefully, in 2008 we will see the product range expand further!

The baking has gone overboard..hahah. In fact, I tried new recipes each week though I did not post it up here. Knowing that I can actually substitute some of the baking ingredients (ya duh!) helped to expand my experience.

I mentioned before the reason that I hardly cook Hungarian. In 2007, I did learnt 3 authentic recipes given by my partner's parents or from food blogs online. Slowly I'm building the confidence in trying out more Hungarian recipes.

Finally, since this is about the best of 2007, I shall choose my favourite recipes each from sweet and savoury category...

Fave. sweets of 2007 : chcolate walnut biscoti . It's bitter sweet combination just got me hooked. I'm looking forward to bake again and mail it to my sis back home. A chocoholic like her should appreciate it.

Fave. savoury of 2007 : Roasted pork belly . I'm really proud that I took the challenge, despite the lack of proper ingredients. Of course, the result wasn't perfect , but there's always a next time!

Luncheon meat

Lift, bend and pull!

Do you still store this in your pantry?

Well, I don't. Saw it at Lidl and wanted to remind myself of mom-cooked meals :)

Ahh....sinful! Later I found out that a can contained 29% of fat!!

Heat oil, add in sliced onions, stir fry til fragrant, throw in sliced chilli, stir in luncheon meat..again stir fry for a bit. Finally, season with pinch of sugar and if you like, a dash of light soy sauce. Ready!

Chocolate Walnut Biscotti

It was nearly 10pm when I'm finally free to bake ...

First "oops!" - accidentally used baking powder instead of baking soda.
I didn't know what the effect would be ..what's the difference anyway? Luckily it didnt show any side effect . Now that I have read the difference, let me link here for you ;)

Second "oops!" - when I tried to cut it after 20 mins of baking. Some small bits crumbled and the shape was all wrong !

Despite the mess, it tasted pretty good!! I'll be making it again for sure. Thought of a trick to avoid the crumbling next time. We will see how'd that turn out.

Oh, get recipe here.

Howdy!

Say hi! to my bangkit bears :)

Yes, those cuties are kuih bangkit ; a type of chinese cookies made from tapioca flour. Auchan was having a chinese kitchen promotion and brought in lots of ingredients which normally not available on their shelves. We made a trip there last weekend so that I could finally stock sesame oil and hoisin sauce...woohoo! Then I was ecstatic when I saw tapioca flour!!! Got to have 'em , don't know what to do with them (never used it before *blush*) , but got to have it!

Next, of course the drill is to search for a recipe. Found quite a number of interesting use for the flour; however, I think the one from Little Corner Of Mine was the easiest, plus she had included useful tips to obtain the right texture for the cookies.

The tips work superbly! The slightly browned base gives a smokey (not burnt!) taste first when popped into the mouth and it just melts in the mouth ...mmmm . How fun to see the initially skinny bears gained weight (raised) after coming out of the oven :D

Eggs & Ribs in Soy

Yeah, that's the best name that I can come up with :p which makes me realised that I do not know most of the home made chinese dish's names! Hmmm..
Anyway, this dish is popular on my mom's dinner's table. Everybody loves it, from children to adults! Am sure most of you are familiar with this dish :)

Here's what have gone to the wok :-

Eggs, hard boiled
Ginger, Sliced
Garlic, crushed
Spare ribs
Dark soy sauce
Light soy sauce
salt, to taste (not too much though since light soy sauce is already salty)
sugar, to taste
water


1) Heat oil in wok. Put in the crushed garlic and sliced ginger, sauté til fragrant.
2) Next add in spare ribs and stir fry until half cooked.
3) Poke hard boiled eggs with fork before adding to the wok. Followed by dashes of dark & light soy sauce, salt, sugar and water - stir to mix all the ingredients well.
4) Let it simmer til spare ribs are tender.

Like most chinese dishes, it is best eaten with steamed rice.

Easy, right?

Red Velvet Cake

Red velvet cake, what a romantic name!

Ever since Christina of Grey's Anatomy chose the red velvet cake as their wedding cake, I've been wondering how it'd taste. The white icing in contrast with red-brown color cake does fit the wedding theme very much. Despite the luxurious name, the ingredient were actually basic, well at least the version I made was pretty strict forward. I whipped it up in less than 20 mins. (not incl. baking time)

Recipe from Fűszer és lélek ..check out her beautiful presentation!

The translated recipe as follows :-

Red Velvet Cake
Ingredients:Dry (a)
2 1/2 cups flour, sifted
1 cup sugar
2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoon cocoa powder

Wet (b)
1 cup kefir or yoghurt
1/2 cup butter or margarine
1/2 cup oil
1 tablespoon white vinegar
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
2 eggs
2 tablespoon red food colouring

Frosting (c)
3 tubs cream cheese
powdered sugar, to taste
100ml sour cream
1/2 a lemon, juice and zest

Method :-
1) Preheat oven at 180°c
2) Combine dry(a) and wet (b) ingredients well in separate mixing bowls.
3) Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and mix well.
3) Pour mixture to spring form and bake for 30-40 mins. or until the skewer comes out clean.
4) Let cake cool.
5) Meanwhile, prepare frosting by combining the ingredient ( c).
6) Cut cake into 3 layers and spread each layer with frosting.
7) Finally decorate as desired. Chill cake before serving.

Verdict :Appearance : The red didnt turn out as dramatic comparing to images found on the web. It's more dark chocolate in colour. Perhaps changing another brand of red food colouring would help.

Taste : Light and moist but forgettable. For me , the cake tasted better chilled overnight in fridge.

will definitely bake this again for its simplicity. Will also try out other variations available on the net ;)

Since I halved the ingredients, my cake had only 2 layers. Oh, excuse for the uninspiring shot. didn't have time to compose a nicer shot..too many eyes on me!

For a inspiration on how to decorate and info. on this cake, go to Joy of Baking.

Happy birthday, B!

Geez, I don't remember the last time I blew birthday candles (probably my 16th birthday?)..its not a habit back home. At my age (ahem!) I tell myself , it's just another day..kind of in denial since hitting the big 30 :p But of course I'm thankful for a lot of things and happy that I'm blessed :)

Anyway, it's my fiancé's birthday today! Funnily, he requested for candles on his cake ... -_- .... He gets it of course :D

The cake was Moist chocolate cake with basic cream cheese icing. IMHO, a good combination. Pardon for the amatuerish decoration ;) I played around piping the cream and as always I lost interest pretty fast..heheh.. hence, the inconsistency in appearance