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

Ho, ho, ho!  Muffins anyone?  Lemon peel gives extra flavour to these moist, citrusy muffins while poppy seeds add in the extra crunch!   Perfect for Breakfast, Tea or snacking!   Recipe for Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins Ingredients 3 oz butter 5 oz caster sugar 2 eggs 6 oz plain flour 1/2 cup milk 1.1/2 tsp lemon juice 1 lemon zest 1/8 tsp salt 1.1/2 tsp baking powder 1 Tbsp poppy seeds Lemon Glaze Juice of 1/2 a lemon + 2  Tbsp sugar - Mix well. Method Beat butter, sugar and eggs till well combined. Instead of sifting the flour, aerate the flour, salt and baking powder with a wire whisk till well incorporated. Pour the egg mixture into the flour mixture.  Add in the milk, lemon zest and juice. Mix till just moistened. Fill 3/4 of the muffin cup with the batter. Bake in a preheated oven @ 190 deg C for 20 mins., till golden  brown.  Test with a skewer till it comes out clean. Prick holes on the muffins and drizzle on the lemon glaze once

     I fast forwarded Dongzhi aka Winter Solstice and celebrated it early.  Made these Savoury Tong Yuen or glutinous rice balls  and had this for lunch with my family.  Normally, I would make sweet tong yuen but this year I thought I'd try something different which will double up as a meal as well instead of having it just for dessert.  Dongzhi falls on this Friday, 21st December 2012. Recipe for Savoury Tang Yuen For the ingredients and method of  making Tong Yuen, please click ' here' . Ingredients       150 gm pork or chicken fillet 4 dried Shitake mushrooms, soaked, stemmed and sliced Chicken stock Vegetables of your choice Seasalt to taste Sesame oil Seasoning for meat 1 tsp light soya sauce, 1/2  tsp seasalt, 1/4 tsp sugar, a dash of  pepper Method 1.  Bring the chicken stock to a boil, add in the mushrooms and marinated meat, simmer on low heat till cooked. 2.  Fine tune to desired taste and add

I got the idea of steaming this fish from my daughter.  She tasted this dish recently and gave the thumbs up.  She suggested that I try to replicate this and gave me a rough idea of the ingredients.  I just concocted the sauce with whatever ingredients  I had on hand and came up with this. True to what she said,  this fish was delicious, a wee bit sweet, tangy but just refreshing!  Thanks, dear! Recipe for Steamed Fish in Garlic Lime Sauce Ingredients 400 gm Siakap fish or Tilapia 2 chilli padi/bird eye chillies, chopped 1 stalk lemon grass, only the white part, chopped finely 12 cloves garlic, chopped 1.1/2 Tbsp pomfret fish sauce (nampla) 3  Tbsp calamansi juice 2  tsp sugar Seasalt to rub onto the fish, inside out Sesame oil to drizzle Method Clean and make 2 diagonal cuts on the fish.  Rub in some seasalt, inside out.  Set aside. Mix all the ingredients in a bowl, fine tune to taste. Place 2 tsp of the sauce on the plate, place

Walnut Tart ~ My first attempt at making tarts.  I  googled for an easy crust recipe to make the tart shell and after watching a video from Joyofbaking.com., set out to experiment.  I was overjoyed when the tarts came out well but on scrutinising them further, found that the edges were  thick.  Nonetheless,  the tarts were yum and my family loved it! See the thick edges .... never mind more crust to munch on!   Will definitely try to improve. Recipe for Walnut Tart  ( Sweet crust pastry adapted from Joy of Baking.com) Ingredients for Sweet Crust Pastry  210 gm plain flour  1/8 tsp salt 113 gm butter/margarine 50 gm sugar 1 egg Egg white to seal the crust  Method Whisk the plain flour and salt, set aside.  Beat the butter till softened, add in sugar and beat till light and fluffy. Gradually add in the egg, beating just till incorporated. Add flour mixture all at once and mix just until it forms a ball of dough. Flatten dough into a disk, cover wi

Beancurd on its own is rather bland in taste but with 'add ons', it can be transformed into a delicious dish.  I cook this quite often and it does go well with a bowl of fluffy white rice. Recipe for Braised Beancurd ~ Tofu Ingredients 4 pieces of  fried beancurd/tofu 100 gm pork fillet, diced 100 gm prawns, diced 1 capsicum diced 2 pips of garlic, chopped 1 egg, lightly beaten 1.1/2 tsp cornflour + 1.1/2 Tbsp water to thicken Sesame oil to drizzle  Seasoning for pork and prawns 1/2 tsp each of seasalt, light soya sauce 1/4 tsp of dark soya sauce, sugar and cornflour (for pork only) Dash of pepper   Method Season the  pork fillet and prawns with the above seasoning for about half an hour. Saute the chopped garlic with some oil in a wok, add in the pork fillet, stir fry, add in 1/2 cup water. Once cooked, add in the beancurd, followed by the prawns and capsicum. Test for taste, add in the cornflour mixt

It's the month of December and as X'mas is not too far away, I made this Apricot & Sultana Fruit Cake which can be made early  and giveaway as a gift to relatives and friends during this festive season.  This cake keeps well and yummy with a cuppa of plain hot tea for breakfast, tea party or snack.   Recipe for Apricot and Sultana Fruit Cake Ingredients 13.1/2 oz dried apricot, chopped 9 oz sultanas, chopped 8  Tbsp orange Cointreau 12 oz butter/margarine 5 oz vanilla/caster sugar Zest of 3 oranges Zest of 1.1/2 lemon 6 eggs 6 oz plain flour 3/4 tsp baking powder 6.3/4 oz almond meal Method Combine chopped apricots and sultanas with Cointreau in a bowl and set aside.  You can keep this in the fridge, covered, overnight. Sift flour with the baking powder, set aside. Cream butter, sugar, zest till light, creamy and thick.  Add in the eggs one @ a time, mix well after each addition. Fold sifted fl