No-Frills Recipes ... cooking, baking & excerpts on travel

I made these  Apple Turnovers   with the Kawan puff pastry and they turned out great.   I served these for tea and they were well received by my family members.  Not only were these flaky pastries delicious but they were extremely easy and simple to make.  Aromatic pastries with apples, raisins and much more ..........

I would like to wish all my Muslim readers and friends Selamat Hari Raya Aidilfitri Maaf Zahir Batin & to all Malaysians Happy Merdeka!

'Pingpei or Snowskin Mooncakes'' ....... don't they look unusual, the shape I mean.  I chose to differ from the norm and made these using jelly moulds instead.  These antique jelly moulds were handed to me by my mother.  I doubt anyone has ever seen pingpei mooncakes in this shape. I adapted this recipe from  Anncoo , who doesn't need much introduction as her blog is very popular and she's a one-good baker with excellent creativity and dexterity.  Besides this 'Pingpei mooncake or Snow-skin mooncake', she's got other types of mooncake recipes which you will find  interesting and you'll be kept in awe by her photography skills!

This cake was made with Cameron Highlands strawberries which I bought when I was there for a short holiday recently.  Strawberries were in season at that time and surprisingly they were quite sweet.  Going cheap too, at 10 rgt for 6 packets of medium sized ones and 10 rgt for 3 packets of larger ones.  We couldn't finish them off and for experiment, I rinsed some, pat dry and stored them in a covered container in the freezer.  This cake was made with strawberries that were left in the freezer for a week.  This crumble cake was liked by family members and my neighbour remarked that it was good and encouraged me to continue baking!

This chicken soup is slightly different from the normal good old chicken soup as it's double-boiled with black chicken.  Flavoured with traditional Chinese herbs like sweet wolfberries /goji berries/Boxthorn fruits, Ginseng aka 'Pau Sum' in Cantonese and Yuzhu aka Solomon's seal rhizome/polygonatum, this soup is believed to be invigorating and nutritious.  According to the Chinese, the black chicken has curative value and it's above that of white chicken meat as the former has less fat. A short introduction to the traditional Chinese herbs.  'Pau Sum' helps to increase energy, enhance healthy blood circulation and also boost the immune system. Wolfberries   helps to improve vision and  nourish the lungs and kidneys. Yuzhu helps to treat dry throat, dry cough, promote production of body fluid and relieve dryness syndrome.  

This is a cheat version of Chicken Pie with an Oriental twist.  I call it 'cheat' because the pastry is store bought, 'Oriental', as  I cooked the filling with Asian sauces.  This was our family's dinner and all of us enjoyed it thoroughly...... another one-dish meal!

When I first saw the Tofu chiffon posted by  Sonia, the Nasilemak lover ,  I was struck with awe and wondered  how  tofu would  taste in a cake.  Bookmarked straightaway of course,  but only found  time to experiment with it lately.  None of my family members who tasted the cake believed that it was tofu chiffon until I convinced them that tofu was one of the main ingredients that went to create this marvellous cake.   Tofu aka soybean curd originated in ancient China.  It's made by curdling fresh hot soymilk with a coagulant.  It's low in fat, calories and cholesterol free.  Also a good source of high quality protein as well as iron, calcium and magnesium. Tofu is rich in isoflavones and isoflavones helps reduce the risk of osteoporosis, breast and prostate cancers.  Although tofu is bland in taste on its own, it has the ability of absorbing flavours of any ingredients that has been added to i...

This porky dish tastes and resembles somewhat like 'char siew' or BBQ pork except  that it's got a slightly tangy taste and I find it rather unique.  The tangy taste comes  from the effect of adding tamarind aka Assam Jawa and other sauces into the meat.  This dish does go well with white rice and it can be very appetising indeed.

This is my first attempt at making bread/buns using the gelatinized dough method.  I'm very much overwhelmed with the result as the buns came out soft, fluffy and remained that way the next day.  Another plus point is that the dough is not sticky which makes handling and shaping a breeze.   This recipe is a keeper for sure and this is going to be a lengthy post!

I would label this as a 'saviour' dish as it'll certainly save your day when you have unexpected guests who happened to 'overstay' for dinner.  Open a can of baked beans, toss in some mince meat and if meat is unavailable, eggs will do just fine.  I remember that many years ago, I cooked this for my then school-going children.  I was busy that day, just managed to boil a lotus root pork ribs soup and squeezed in this dish before I rushed off to fetch them back from school.  Although they have always enjoyed this dish, they expected more food to greet them on the table after a tiring day at school.  A mere soup and a baked beans dish just won't do. I vividly remember my boy asking me whether we were in financial difficulty and needed to stinge on food ..... and this poor mama has been ridiculed ever since, whenever  'Baked beans with mince pork' is mentioned.

Don't be misconstrued by the word 'coffee' in this 'Blueberry yoghurt coffee cake' as coffee is certainly not an ingredient required in the making of this cake.  Coffee cake is just a class of cakes to be served alongside coffee or tea for breakfast, during coffee/tea breaks or even afternoon tea.  Some may have a streusel or a light glaze drizzle as topping but more often than not  they are flavoured with spices, nuts or fruits.