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

This is a nutritous soup made from fresh ' Huai Shan ' aka Diosocrea Opposita with pitted red dates, gojiberries and Yuzhu aka Polygonatum root .  'Huai Shan' is the Chinese name while it is  known as Nagaimo in Japanese.  Once the skin of the 'Huai Shan' is peeled off, it's very slimy exposing a mucous substance similar to okra but once it is boiled in water, the mucous substance will disappear and the slices of 'Huai Shan' remains crunchy. Pitted red dates, fresh 'Huai Shan', Gojiberries and Yuzhu.   Recipe for 'Huai Shan' Pork Ribs Soup Ingredients 350 gm pork ribs 350 gm fresh 'Huai Shan' 10 gm gojiberries 40 gm red dates, pitted 30 gm Yuzhu 10 cups of water Seasalt to taste Method Blanch the pork ribes in boiling hot water to remove scum, drain and rinse in running water.  Set aside. Bring to the boil, 10 cups of water and add in the red dates and

I stumbled upon this Guinness Tea Loaf recipe from ' The Secret Tea Room'.  Not only does this loaf  taste soft and moist with only a slight tinge of stout, it's extremely easy to make.   I've tweaked the method a little and reduced the amount of sugar in the recipe.  Hope some of you may like to try it and I'll be glad to have your feedback! Recipe for Guinness  Tea Loaf   ( adapted from  The Secret Tea Room   with  modification) Ingredients 60 gm raisins, chopped 60 gm pitted dates, chopped 165 ml Guinness stout 1 egg lightly beaten 135 gm self-raising flour 100 gm light brown sugar Icing sugar (optional) Method Add Guinness stout to dried fruits, cover and leave overnight in the refrigerator. Sift the flour into a mixing bowl and stir in the sugar to mix well. Mix in the beaten egg followed by the Guinness and dried fruits.  Stir just to combine. Pour into a parchment lined 8.1/2 x 4.1/2 x 3 in

This is an old-time favourite and I'm quite sure that most Chinese households must have served this dish at one time or another.  Whenever I cook this, I will always store any excess stock in the freezer to cook pork belly with it and will  normally toss in some hard-boiled eggs and fried bean curd as well.

This is a light and moist lemony cake with a hint of strawberry.  Do be liberal with the greasing and dusting of the Bundt pan as the strawberry may stick to it when unmoulding.  Great cake to go with tea or coffee! Recipe for Lemon Strawberry Bundt Cake Ingredients 13 oz butter 12 oz plain flour 6 to 7 oz strawberries or any berries of your choice 10 oz caster sugar 2 oz granulated sugar 6 Tbsp milk 4 eggs + 2 egg yolks 2  tsp vanilla 2  Tbsp lemon zst 1.1/2  tsp baking powder A pinch of salt Syrup to glaze -  Mix 3 Tbsp lemnon juice with 1.1/2 Tbsp caster sugar Method Heat berries in a pot to release juice.  Add in 2 oz granulated sugar, cook over medium heat till juicy and moisture reduces to a little under 1/2 cup.  Let cool completely. Sift flour with baking powder and salt, set aside. Cream butter and sugar till light and creamy.  Add in eggs one at a time, mix well. Fold in sifted flour alternatively with milk, starting with