Nutella Mochi

Ever had too much sticky rice flour and bottles of uneaten nutella sitting around in your house?

Hehe, I did..and here's what my brain could think of

I've never really been a fan of mochi. The ones in the shop are always kind of tough..

These on the other hand, were soft and not -make you tired- chewy

It tastes pretty fresh and it was really quite quite enjoyable!

I would definitely make this again.

ooh and the sesame oil in the mochi dough was a great touch!

 oh mama =)
recipe:

cocoa powder, to dust

1 bottle of nutella (375g)

250g Glutinous rice flour

2 tablespoons cornflour

2 tablespoons icing sugar

325ml cold room temp. water

2 teaspoons sesame oil

Scoop teaspoons of nutella and drop them onto a bowl of  cocoa powder (prevents sticking)

Roll them with your hands into balls

make about 25 of these

Place them on a tray and freeze for 30 minutes.

Heat up your steamer

Meanwhile, mix both flours, icing sugar, water and oil together

Steam this for 15minutes

You should get a firm, sticky dough

Cool slightly

On a surface, floured with glutinous rice flour, roll out teaspoons of dough into rounds

Place a nutella ball in the middle and wrap it up

Pinch to enclose (you might wanna cut off some if there's too much excess)

And you're done!

Fridge it until its time to eat them

nom nom

A day with the cousins- Red Velvet Cake

My cousin and I wanted to attempt a Red Velvet cake (her ultimate fave) today

Fortunately, it was absolutely Deeevoin, and she'll be baking her own birthday cake in 2 months!

Every bite was Lovely and Moist, the White Chocolate and Cream Cheese icing ooohhh
what a sinful treat, that icing..

I shiok sendiri and had two helpings xP

Cake:
3/4 cups sugar
2 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
2 tablespoons cocoa powder
a pinch of salt
1 1/2 cups oil (yes, 1 and a half)
2 eggs
1 cup of milk
dash of vanilla
red food colouring (as much as you like)

Icing:
400g room temperature cream cheese
220g white chocolate, melted
150g softened butter
2 cups icing sugar, sifted
seeds of 1 vanilla bean (or 1 tsp vanilla extract)

For the cake, sift the dry ingredients into a bowl

Beat the wet ingredients in another
Combine the dry and the wet
Add in the food colouring last,adjusting the intensity
Bake in an 8 inch round tin, in 180C for 45 minutes.
Cool completely
Slice horizontally in to 3 layers.

 Blitz the icing stuff in a food processor until its smooth and lump-free.
If the icing is too liquid, fridge it for about 10 minutes
( I don't suggest adding anymore sugar )
Layer the cake with the icing as shown in the picture
Top it all off with icing.

We used vanilla bean, which gave it a little something extra!
And plus, the icing had teenie tiny specks of black, and it looked great =)

A day with the cousins- Honey Soy roasted Chicken and Caramelized Carrots

 

The yumminess is effortless!

Simply marinate the whole chicken (skin on) with sesame oil, soy sauce, minced ginger and garlic

Rub it all over and stuff the ginger and garlic under the skin..that way the flavour really penetrates the meat.

Fridge it overnight

and roast it in a 180C oven for about 45-50 minutes.

Drizzle the skin with Honey before serving!

Some of my guests thought they were sausages..

anyway,

simply cut the carrots into bite size pieces

toss them in olive oil, salt and pepper, a handful of brown sugar (I used Gula Melaka) and a dash of nutmeg.

Roast in a 180C oven for about 35 minutes, till they're golden and have burnt bits here and there.

Finally, sprinkle with shredded Kaffir Lime Leaves for a lovely touch!

CHhhoppp!

A day with the cousins- ham and cheese sandwich

With scrambled eggs too..yummmy!

Oooey Gooey Cheesy Cheddar

I love it

(ignore the lack of greens)
No one needs a recipe for a sandwich, because you simply follow your heart!

nyehehehe

Lasagne

Yeapp this is like the 2nd or 3rd lasagne post..that shows how much I love it!

But this time it looks way better

Ollo ollollollollo

Chocolate Cherry Cream Shortcake

It was my first time going cherry picking and it certainly won't be the last!

We went to "Chappies" on Dandenong mountain because apparently it's the best? 

Well, anyway, they had tonnes of big, juicy and pluckable cherries.

ME LIKE

And let me introduce my helpful cherry-picking companions for the day..

Lady with bucket

girl who does not pick

The lovely Mr and Mrs Hew

and umm..

yeah..

The sor chai and I picked almost 12 kilos of cherries..serious overload..

but a very delicious load

And here's a Super Special THANK YOU to the bucket lady, for baking me this Amazing Kahlua cake..

I love sitting under cherry trees

Now what to do with all these cherries?

Make cake lorr

Soft chocolate sponge soaked in cherry juice, smothered with dollops and dollops of fresh cream and Cherries...who could ask for more?  

(me)

More cake and more cream and more cherries

nyehehe

oh mama

Satay Partayy

Satay is Malaysian? Indonesian? I think every country has it's own form of satay..

I just happen to think Malaysian satay is the Awesomest!!

or perhaps I'm just biased..hehe

Yup that big bowl of brown stuff's the satay sauce..peanuty and quite spicy

My brother and I managed to burn all 200 of em satay stick..and boy was it hot..

Once we got the hang of it, we confidently filled the entire grill!

So the Party was a success!

On the menu

Satay

 

Beef Rendang

Pandan Chicken

Glass Noodle Salad

For Dessert

Durian Cake

Ruth's Apple & Rhubarb Pie

 

I just LOVE durian..unfortunately some need a little bit of psycho-ing to try it xP Hence, the fruit cake gesture

Not too heavy, just the right amount of sweet, My Birthday Cake=) 

nyehehehe

 

And those are all the lovely people in my oh so wonderful life =)

Chicken Biscuits

Kampar Chicken Biscuits are deliciously sweet and savoury

No, they don't really contain any chicken (don't know why they're called chicken biscuit then)

To me, the core ingredient, that gives it its distinct taste is the fermented beancurd (foooo yee)

and the 5 Spice. I loove 5 spice =)

I was wrapping them in plastic as Christmas give-aways..

recipe:

300g flour, sifted

170g icing sugar

100g crystallised melon, diced

1 tsp garlic powder

1 tsp baking powder

1 egg

2 cubes fermented beancurd

a dash of pepper

2 tsp five spice powder

sesame seeds, to sprinkle

Combine everything Except the sesame seeds in a bowl

Mix well until a crumbly dough is formed

form small pebble sized balls

Using a rolling pin, roll out balls in between two pieces of non-stick baking paper.

Place flattened dough onto a baking tray

Bake in a 180C oven for 9-10 minutes.

Mussels- A day at the beach

The Beaches in Frankston on a lovely day like this are just amazing!

Kid's playing in the sand, sun-bathers getting a tan, fishers waiting for a catch and some (us) just wandering =)

 The platforms took us out further than we thought..

little did we know, the bottom of those stilks are covered in Mussles!

Lucky for us, we found some lying on the platform itself=)

Of course we didn't put them to waste..

 nyehehehe

 yeah my bag was really sandy after that..

 This one was extremely tiny

 Threw it into the pot anyway..funny thing is, I couldn't find it after I finished eating them..hmmmm

 

They were so extremely salty and surprisingly sweet, I did'nt even need to add any salt

Plus, I think the mussels already had some sea water in them..so there was plenty of yummy broth at the end

That's what I call REAL food

Recipe:

Freshest mussels

2 cloves of garlic

extra virgin olive oil (glug glug glug)

everything in a pot. Bring to a boil (might need to add water) until mussels start to open

Turn off heat and let sit for 1 minute (mussels will open further)

Eat with hands =)

Apricot and White Chocolate Muffins

This HAS to be the moistest and most delicious muffin ever! It's almost Refreshing

well, at least I think so.. nyehehe

Featuring my favourite candy, Apricot Delight

If you're like me, and tend to buy more candy than you can actually consume, this is a fantastic way to put all that candy to good use!

I absolutely Love this chewy, sweet, tangy and super apricotty treat =)

It tastes exactly like a dried apricot, just better..

The yoghurt in this recipe makes these muffins moist, not too sweet and just perfect..

recipe:

 125g butter,softened

zest of 1 orange

zest of 1 lemon

3/4 cup sugar

3 eggs, separated

1 1/2 cups flour 

2 tsp baking soda

1 cup yoghurt

2 tablespoons lemon juice

1/2 cup white chocolate buttons, roughly chopped

1/2 cup Diced apricot delight candies

Preheat oven to 180C

Beat the butter, zest and sugar till its light and fluffy

Beat in the yolks

Sift in the flour and add in the yogurt and lemon juice

Mix well

Beat egg whites till soft peaks form

Add in white chocolate buttons and diced apricot delight candy

Fold the whites into the batter

Spoon into 12 muffin cases

Bake for 30 minutes.

Cool.

ooh..bad camera flash

Oh well =)

Marbled Butter Cake

Daddy has ALWAYS been bugging me to bake a simple, untwisted cake..

So dy, here it is..

Here's what it looks like in tze middle

Quite pretty =)

Recipe:

Butter cake

100g butter, softened

1/2 cup sugar

1 tsp vanilla

2 eggs, separated

4 tablespoons milk

1 cup flour

1 tsp baking soda

Preheat oven to 180C

Beat the butter, sugar and vanilla till its light and fluffy

Beat in the egg yolks

Sift in the flour and baking soda, add in the milk

Mix well

Beat the egg whites till soft peaks form

Fold the whites into the batter

Reserve 4 tablespoons of the batter in a small separate bowl.

Pour the remainder into a lined loaf tin

Prepare chocolate batter

Chocolate batter

50g butter

1/4 cup sugar

1 tsp vanilla

1 egg, separated

2 tablespoons milk

1/2 cup flour

1/2 tsp baking soda

Repeat the same steps as the butter cake recipe.

Spread Chocolate batter on top of the butter cake mixture.

Dot the reserved butter cake mixture on top of the chocolate mixture

Using a skewer, swirl and twirl the chocolate and butter mixture to get a nice pattern.

Bake in the oven for about 30 to 40 minutes (cover it with foil when it starts to get too brown)

Cool before removing from the tin.