Mini vanilla cupcake with cream cheese frosting

Yesterday, my friend Vivian and I attempted to make these babies and it came out great.

Mini Vanilla Cupcakes (Makes 36 Mini Cupcakes)

Recipe:

1 1/2 Cups All Purpose Flour


1 1/2 Tsp Baking Powder


1/4 Tsp Salt

3/4 Cup Unsalted Butter, softened


3/4 Cup Sugar

2 Large Eggs


1/2 Cup Whole Milk

1 Tsp Vanilla

Direction:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.


2. Whisk the flour, baking powder and salt in a bowl and set aside.


3. Using an electric mixer, beat the butter and sugar on medium-high speed for 2 minutes or until light and fluffy.


4. Add the eggs one at a time and vanilla and beat on low speed until combined.


5. Slowly add some of the flour mixture and then some of the milk, alternating until just combined, scraping down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula as you go.


6. Pour the batter into mini muffin cups (I like to use a mini ice cream scooper) lined with paper or foil liners until 2/3 full.


7. Bake for 15 minutes or until a wooden toothpick inserted into the middle of the cupcake comes out clean.


8. Cool and frost.

*Refrigerate cupcakes after frosting

Cream Cheese Frosting (Makes About 1 Cup)

4 oz Cream Cheese, softened


4 Tbsp (1/4 Cup) Butter, softened


1 Cup Confectioner’s Sugar


1 Tsp Vanilla

1. Place the cream cheese and butter in a bowl and beat for 30 seconds on low to medium speed using a hand mixer.


2. Add the confectioner’s sugar and vanilla and continue to beat for 1 minute or until frosting is smooth and creamy.


3. Frost the cupcakes and refrigerate until ready to serve.

Salted Egg Prawns

We had salted eggs crabs the other day and boy it was delicious. I decided to cook prawns today with the same recipe.

Recipe:
10 Salted Egg Yolk only (Boiled and smashed)
1 kg Prawns
8 bird eye chilies sliced
2 tablespoon of curry leaves
2 eggs
tapioca or corn flour
3 tablespoon of butter
Oil for deep frying
chicken stock for flavoring
sugar for flavoring
salt for flavoring

Direction:

Devein the prawn and cut the top part of the prawn. Leave the head intact. Assemble coating line.
Dip the prawns with the beaten eggs and coat with the flour. Heat up the wok with oil. Once oil is hot, fry the prawns until crispy. Take out and put aside.

Salted Egg Sauce:

Heat up the butter and pour the smashed salted egg yolks. Stir and once it turns bubbly add the curry leaves, chillies and flavoring (Salt, Chicken stock & Sugar) and stir. Pour all the prawns into he sauce and stir for 1 minute and serve.

Basil Chicken Pesto Pasta

This is another dish you can use for your frozen pesto sauce. It is really simple and easy to make.

Recipe:

Pasta for 4 pax

10 pieces of chicken fillet

salt & Pepper

Chili Flakes

1/2 cup pesto sauce ( Thawed in room temperature) - Recipe for Pesto sauce in my other post.

1 cube chicken stock

6 pieces of sun dried tomatoes ( Soaked in warm water for 20 minutes) sliced

Parmesan Cheese

Direction:

Pasta

Add the chicken stock cube to the boiling water for the pasta and boil as per instructed in the packet. Once pasta is cooked, drain and coat lightly with olive oil.

Chicken:

Season the chicken fillet with salt, pepper and chili flakes and pan fry until  it is cooked. Once it is cooked, slice the chicken fillet to small slices.

How to Serve:

In a big bowl, combine pasta, chicken, sun dried tomatoes and the pesto sauce and toss. Season well with salt & Pepper. Serve with sprinkles of parmesan cheese on top.

Spaghetti Bolognese

2 cups grounded beef

2 tbs olive oil

1 yellow onion diced

1/2 cup fresh button mushrooms sliced

2 cans tomatoes

1 cup tomato puree

1 cup beef broth

2 bay leaves

1 teaspoon dried oregano

salt & pepper to taste

Parmesan cheese

1 pack whole wheat pasta

Bolognese sauce:

Saute the onions with the olive oil and once onions is soft, add the mushroom and saute for another 3 minutes or so, add the grounded beef (Make sure you break them rather then dumping the whole lot in) and brown it. Once beef is browned, add the tomatoes in cans, tomato puree, Beef broth and add bay leaves and dry oregano.

Simmer with low fire for about 1 Hr to 2 Hrs and season with salt and pepper to taste.

For Pasta:

Boil pasta according to the instruction in the packet and add salt to the boiling water. Once pasta is al dente, drain and run under cold water to stop the cooking and coat with a little bit of olive oil.

Serving: Serve pasta with the sauce on top and sprinkle with parmesan cheese.

Béchamel Chicken Crepes

We love this dish. It is so easy and so tasty. We had it for lunch today but I could have his for breakfast too.


Crepes:


Recipe:


1 cup flour
1 1/4 cup milk
a pinch of salt
1 whole egg
1 egg yolk


Direction:

Mix all the above until smooth with a whisk, sieve to make sure there are no lumps in the batter.
Refrigerate for at least 1 hr or more to rest the gluten in the batter. 


Béchamel Chicken:


The mother of all sauces also known as the white sauce.


Recipe:
3 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons flour
2 cups milk, heated
Salt
Freshly ground pepper
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg powder
1 cup chicken meat cubed
1/2 yellow onion diced
Direction:
Heat up the pan and melt 1 tablespoon of butter. brown the chicken. Once the chicken is browned add the onions and let it sweat for another 2 minutes or so. Take out and put aside.
Start heating up the milk. Just let it scald instead of boiling in a pot.


In a clean pan, heat up the butter. Once butter is melted add the flour and stir to form a roux. Once the roux is golden brown, slowly add the milk and whisk until smooth. Once the béchamel sauce is smooth, add the chicken and onions with the juice to the sauce and season with salt, pepper & nutmeg powder.


Once your sauce is done, it is time to make the crepes. Heat up a small non stick pan and pour in 1/4 cup of batter and swirl until batter coats the whole inner part of the pan. Once the shine of the batter is gone, flip it with your hand or spatula. wait for another minute before you set it aside and repeat.


Once the crepes are done, put it in a plate and pour the béchamel sauce on top of the crepe, roll and serve.

Easy Chicken Stroganoff with Yoghurt

Can you believe, The whole Mid Valley mega mall don't sell sour cream. I've seen it thousands of time but when it comes to buying it, it's not available. So sad but lucky got yoghurt. Substitute.

Today I made chicken stroganoff because we can't be eating too much red meat.

Recipe:

15 Chicken Fillet
2 Onions Diced
2 Garlic cloves diced
1 cup of fresh button mushroom or Shiitake sliced
3 tablespoon of all purpose flour (Or 2 tablespoon if you like it runny)
3 tablespoon butter
4 cups of chicken broth
1 cup of fresh yoghurt
salt & pepper

Direction:

Pat dry the chicken fillet and season with salt and pepper. Heat up 1 tablespoon of the butter and brown the chicken both side and put aside. Put another tablespoon of butter on the same pan and saute the onions and mushrooms. Once soft, put aside and put in the last tablespoon of butter. Once melted, add the flour to make a roux the add the chicken stock and whisk and whisk until there's no flour clumps. Once the sauce is smooth, add the mushroom and chicken and seasoned with salt & pepper.

Lastly, because it is yoghurt, switch off the fire and combine the yoghurt with the rest of the ingredient and stir until smooth. Season with more salt & pepper if needed.

** Don't cook yoghurt because it will separate under fire.

Carrot Cake

This is the 1st time I made carrot cake. It came out very nice and it is really a workable recipe that I found from www.sleeplessinkl.com website. Thanks to her, my dream of trying to make a carrot cake came thru and the frosting is really to die for. I cannot stand too sweet dessert. So I adjusted the sugar content to suite my taste. It is not going to be my last carrot cake, trust me. I am going to add more carrots and lessen the bicarbonate soda next time.

Here goes the Recipe from sleepless in KL:

    4 eggs
•    1 1/4 cups vegetable oil
•    1 cup white sugar (Just Nice)
•    2 teaspoons vanilla extract
•    2 cups all-purpose flour
•    2 teaspoons baking soda  ( Next time I will use just 1 teaspoon, I dislike the aroma of Baking soda, Just a personal dislike. Nothing against the recipe. It is still delicious but I have sensitive nose.)
•    2 teaspoons baking powder
•    1/2 teaspoon salt
•    1 teaspoon ground cinnamon (Next time I should only use 1/2 teaspoon. Very powerful taste)
•    3 cups carrots, grated coarsely (Next time I should use 4 Cups)
•    1 handful walnuts, chopped coarsely (quantity can be increased, to taste)
•    1 handful of raisins (or to taste – don’t put too much: it will make the cake too sweet)

Ingredients for the frosting:

•    1/2 cup butter, softened
•    8 ounces cream cheese, softened (1 box Philadelphia cream cheese or 1 tube of Tatura cream cheese)
•    2-4 cups confectioners’ sugar (TIP: I only used 1 cup sugar because I don't want it to be too sweet)
•    1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease 2 round pans & line sides and bottom of pan with baking paper. (I don’t like the taste of the flour, so I don’t grease & flour my baking tins anymore.)
2. In a large bowl, beat together eggs, oil, white sugar and 2 teaspoons vanilla.
3. Mix in flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and cinnamon.
4. Stir in carrots.
5. Fold in walnuts and raisins.
6. Pour into prepared pans. Bake in the preheated oven for 40 to 50 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Let cool in pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack and cool completely.

To Make Frosting:

1. In a medium bowl, combine butter, cream cheese, confectioners’ sugar and 1 teaspoon vanilla.
2. Beat until the mixture is smooth and creamy.
3. Frost the cooled cake.

IMPORTANT: The key to a moist carrot cake is baking it until just cooked, i.e. when you stick a toothpick in the centre, it comes out clean. I never really time my baking. I just wait for the a strong, yummy aroma to waft out of the oven. That usually signals that the cake’s done. Take a peek inside the oven; if the top of the cake looks set, open the oven and stick a toothpick in the centre. If some batter sticks to the toothpick, that means the cake is not ready yet. Close the oven door and wait for a few minutes. Remember: the longer the cake stays in the oven, the drier it gets.

Oh, and as for softening the butter and the cream cheese, just leave it out at room temperature for half an hour or so. Never put it in the microwave.

Finally, make sure the cake has cooled completely before  you frost it. Otherwise, the cream cheese frosting will melt.

Garnish the top of the cake with almond slivers, if desired.

Baked Fish and chips minus the chips

I am still on my low carb diet. so I omitted the chips and just ate the fish and tartar sauce. To be frank, I tried to substitute the potato with baked radish wedges, boy it was awful. Bad idea!! So I ended up eating only the fish and my pickled onion tartar sauce. I declared it no veggie day. I like the crispiness of the fish baked compared with fried and it is healthier too.

Recipe:

3 Dory fish fillet.

2 cups of bread crumbs

1 cup of seasoned flour

1 teaspoon of garlic powder

1 egg beaten

salt & pepper

3 tablespoon of Olive oil.

Direction:

Make sure the fish is dry. Pat it with kitchen paper to dry the moisture. Season the fish with salt & pepper to taste both side. Combine the bread crumbs with the garlic powder.

Prepare the coating assembly. In sequence, Flour - Egg - Bread crumbs.

Take the fish and dip in the flour and shake to shed the access flour, then dip in the egg and coat it with the bread crumbs.

I normally do this process at night because you can refrigerate the bread crumb coated fish and bake it the next day. In the morning, before I take my shower, I crank up the oven to 350f and spread the baking pan with 1 tablespoon olive oil, arrange the fish and drizzle the balance of the olive oil on the fish and put the fish in for 25 - 30 minutes. I like the fish crispy. By the time I am done with my make up, The fish is ready to be packed. It should be eaten right away but if your office have an oven toaster, there's your lunch or a microwave with grill function. Just don't microwave it otherwise you'd get soggy fish.

Home made tartar sauce

I loike very much.. The sauce for my baked fish & chips.


Recipe:

2 Pickled onion, diced

1 tablespoons capers, drained, patted dry, and then minced

1 tablespoon minced parsley

1 1/4 cups good-quality mayonnaise (Home made even better)

1 teaspoon chili flakes

salt & pepper to taste

Direction:

In a medium bowl, everything until well blended and lastly crack some salt & pepper to taste.

Store, covered, in refrigerator until ready to use. (Refrigerate at least 1 Hr before use).

Home Made Mayonnaise

I made this as a base for my pickled onion tartar sauce tomorrow. Please do not use extra virgin Olive Oil. If you must use olive oil for health purpose, Use the light Olive Oil otherwise your mayo is going to be bitter and you get the oily taste no matter how much you beat it. ( I learned the hard way).


This is not the normal Mayonnaise recipe. This suits my taste bud.

Ingredients

2 egg yolks

(340 ml) of vegetable (Peanut/Grape-seed/Sunflower) or light olive oil

2  tbsp of lemon juice or white wine vinegar

1 tsp of Dijon mustard

1 tsp sugar ( I like it sweet)

1 tsp liquid chicken stock concentrate 

salt and pepper

Direction:

In a large mixing bowl whisk together the egg yolks with a pinch of salt.

Add one drop of oil to the egg yolks and whisk together with an electric whisk.

Continue to add one drop of oil at a time, whisking continuously until the mixture begins to blend together and thicken. The process is to add one drop of oil and then blend it in before adding the next drop. This will take several minutes.

After a quarter of the oil has been blended, add the lemon juice or vinegar and beat into the mixture.

Continue to whisk in the remaining oil, which you should be able to add a lot quicker by now, in a thin stream.

Once all the oil has been beaten in, add the mustard to give extra taste and season with salt and pepper.

If the mayonnaise is too thick, you can whisk in a few teaspoons of boiling water.

Chill the mayonnaise in the refrigerator before serving.

The mayonnaise may be stored in the refrigerator for 3 - 4 days in an airtight container or jar.

Butter Garlic Rice.

This rice is very easy to make. It is the side dish for my Chicken Ragout and Zucchini.

Recipe:

3 Cloves Garlic
Cooked Rice ( Make sure just cooked. Must be steaming).
2 Tablespoon butter
1 teaspoon liquid chicken stock

Direction:

Melt the butter in a pan and saute the garlic until golden. Add the chicken stock and switch off the fire. Combine the rice in the pan and toss until all rice is coated with the butter and serve.

Julia Child's Zucchini with Butter and Shallots

This recipe is for 2 person. It is delicious and very easy to make.

Recipe:

3  zucchinis

2 tablespoons butter

1 tablespoon olive oil

3 tablespoons minced shallots 

salt and pepper

1 Grate the zucchini and measure.

2 For each two cups of zucchini toss with 1 tsp salt.

3 Let squash drain in a colander for 3 to 4 minutes or until you are ready to begin cooking. If too salty rinse and drain again.

4 Squeeze in a clean kitchen towel until most liquid is pressed out.

5 In a skillet heat 2 Tbsp butter and the olive oil.

6 Saute the shallots briefly.

7 Add the zucchini and toss, cooking about 4 minutes or until tender.

8 Serve.

Julia Child Chicken Ragout with onions

I found a new idol. Well, she's not really new but I idolize her now. Now I believe that her recipe is worth to cook and if we follow the recipe, It can't go wrong.

This dish will taste much better using chicken thigh but I only have chicken breast in my fridge. Not bad but I strongly feel that using thigh is better. Next time thigh it will be. I also didn't use red wine but I used Rose wine instead because that's the only one I have in my pantry. I am a firm believer in using up what's available.

The taste is wonderful and hubby and I had it at 1:30 am. Nocturnal chef living up to her name.

Ingredients

• 2 -3 lbs chicken parts ( I prefer thighs)
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
• 3 cups sliced onions
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 teaspoon thyme
• 1/3 cup canned tomato puree or 1/3 cup tomato sauce ( I used can plum tomatoes)
• 3 cups chianti wine or dry red wine ( I used Rose Wine)
• 1 1/2 cups chicken stock
• kosher salt
• black pepper

for thickening of sauce

• 1 1/2 tablespoons flour
• 1 tablespoon melted butter or 1 tablespoon wine

Directions:

1 Brown chicken in large skillet on both sides in butter and oil.

2 Remove chicken from pan and set aside, leaving the liquid in the pan.

3 Add onions to the pan and saute till tender on moderate heat.

4 Drain liquid over sieve into small bowl.

5 Remove any unwanted fat.

6 Set liquid and onions aside in different bowl.

7 Season the chicken parts with salt/pepper and return to pan.

8 Add tomato sauce, garlic, bay leaves, and thyme.

9 Add enough wine and chicken stock to cover chicken parts.

10 Simmer for at least 20 minutes uncovered.

11 Remove chicken and place on platter.

12 Pour juices and onions into saucepan and adjust seasonings.

13 You may add more garlic, thyme, salt and pepper.

14 In small bowl whisk together flour and butter (or wine).

15 Add to the sauce and simmer until the sauce coats the back of a spoon.

16 You may need to double the thickening agents if you have lots of juice.

17 Pour sauce over chicken on platter and garnish with parsley.

18 Serve with rice and crusty bread.

Ahead-of-time note: If you are not serving shortly, set aside uncovered. Or, for later serving, refrigerate uncovered. Cover when chilled.

Serving: Before serving, reheat, basting the chicken with the sauce; simmer a few minutes to rewarm nicely but not to overcook.