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

This is a sugar dusted Apple bundt cake with a thin crunchy crust and a moist and nutty inside.  Made  with tart Granny Smith apples, chopped walnuts and a sprinkling of cinnamon, it was very aromatic.  The sweet smell of cinnamon and vanilla lingered in the kitchen for quite a while. Recipe for X'tra Good Walnut Apple Bundt Cake Ingredients 3 eggs 1 cup sunflower/canola oil 7 oz soft brown sugar 12 oz plain flour 1/2 tsp baking powder 1  tsp baking soda 1  tsp cinnamon 1  tsp vanilla 1/4  tsp salt 2 cups peeled, cored and shredded apples 1 cup walnuts, lightly toasted and coarsely chopped Icing sugar for decoration (optional) Method Grease and lightly flour a 10 cup Bundt pan, set aside. Sieve flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.  Stir in the cinnamon.  Set aside. Beat eggs, oil and sugar till light and creamy. Add in the shredded apples to the egg mixture. Fold in the sifted flour. Finally, mix in the chopped walnut

This is another dish taken from the book, Women's Weekly - 'Toss', a simple seafood stir-fry.  A very tasty and colourful dish which pairs well with plain hot white rice. Recipe for Chilli, Salt and Pepper Seafood Ingredients 200 gm prawns 100 gm fresh scallops, roe removed 2 capsicums, sliced 1 red chilli, finely chopped 1 tsp seasalt 1 tsp light soya sauce 1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper 1/4 tsp sugar Some spring onions Method Shell and devein the prawns, leaving the tails intact. Combine seafood, salt, sugar and black pepper in a large bowl. Heat some oil in a wok, stir-fry seasoned seafood till cooked, dish out, set aside. In the same wok, add in some oil, stir-fry the capsicums and chopped chilli for a while, toss in the seafood, add light soya sauce and spring onions.   Dish out and serve immediately with white rice. This post participates in 'Cook your Books # 1' hosted by Kitchen Flavours.

I used to get this from the economy rice stall when I had to fetch my children back and forth from school and will occasionally  prepare this at home.  It's been quite a while since I've cooked this..... Recipe for Pork Patties with Mixed Peas Ingredients 250 gm minced pork 6 shallots, chopped Watties mixed peas 1  tsp cornflour + 1.1/2 tsp water to thicken Seasoning for the minced pork 1/2 tsp each of sugar, dark soya sauce, seasalt 1 tsp each of oyster sauce, light soya sauce 4 tsps of cornlfour a dash of pepper and sesame oil Method Marinate the minced pork with the seasoning, cornflour and chopped shallots for about 2 hours or more.  Mix well.   Use hands to shape each into 1/2 inch thick and 2 inch round patties. Pan fry them in a non-stick pan, cook on each side till light golden and cooked through.  Transfer them onto a plate. Simmer 3/4 cup water, add in some salt and light soya sauce.  Fine tune to taste and add in the cornflour

This is my second attempt at making Vanilla ice cream.  My first try was without the custard base and the texture was smooth but  it was far too sweet.  This time around I tried a recipe with a custard base and   reduced the amount of sugar.  I was delighted when I finally achieved a not too sweet but creamy, smooth and full of vanilla fragrance ice cream.  I find it a challenge to snap pictures of homemade ice cream, for they melt so fast..... Recipe for Vanilla Bean Ice Cream (adapted from ' here ' with slight modification) Ingredients 250 ml whipping cream 250 ml full cream milk 5 egg yolks 1 vanilla bean (scrape the seeds from the bean with the back of the knife) 90 gm caster sugar  (reduced from 130 gm) 80 gm choc bits, crushed a pinch of salt Method In a pot, stir and lightly boil the cream, milk, salt and vanilla seeds till the milk begins to foam up slightly.  Remove from heat. With a handheld whisk beat

I was browsing through a book .... Women's Weekly - 'Toss" and it contained many recipes for salads, stir-fries and quick meals.  This is a very straightforward salad making use of greens and fruits but I threw in some leftover pork fillet as well!  Pork fillet, one may ask.......  Sounds weird with added meat but then it's just personal preference and moreover I just don't like to put food to waste. Recipe for Pork Salad with Apple and Raisin Ingredients 250 gm pan fried pork fillet seasoned with some salt, sugar and light soya sauce. 1 medium size green apple, sliced, thinly.  (Drizzle on some lime juice to prevent browning). 1/2 cup raisins 2 cups salad greens Lime Dijon dressing 1  tsp Dijon mustard 2  tsp lime juice 2  Tbsp olive oil 1 clove garlic, pressed -  All mixed well together Method Slice up the pan-fried pork fillet.  Place them into a large bowl with the salad greens and sliced apples.

This month's Bundtamonth theme is Swirl Bundt Cake, a decision made by the co-founders Anuradha of Baker Street and Lora of   Cake Duchess .  As I've a soft spot for Bundt cakes but more so for Bundt pans I surfed the internet  for some inspiration to bake a swirly bundt cake.  There are a lot of awesome recipes for swirly bundt cakes and I finally settled for a simple Mocha swirly.  To give plain Jane a makeover, I decorated it with Kahlua icing topped with lightly toasted nibbed almonds which was an added  boost to the flavour of the cake.  I didn't make the icing too thick as I preferred a not too sweet topping. Recipe for Mocha Swirl Pound Cake Ingredients 12 oz plain flour 2  tsp  baking powder a pinch of salt 9 oz caster sugar 12 oz unsalted butter (if use salted butter, omit the salt) 5 eggs 1/2 cup milk 10 gm instant coffee powder 10 gm cocoa powder 10 ml hot water 1.1/2  tsp vanilla Kahlua Icing  Mix 3/4 cups ic

It's one of those evenings when I'm too lazy to crack my brain over what to cook for dinner and to make life more relaxing, I whipped up this one-dish meal.  It has carbohydrates, protein and adding sweet potatoes to our diet is beneficial too for these tubers contain Vitamins B6, C and D and also have a fair amount of potassium and calcium. Recipe for Sweet Potato Rice Ingredients 400 gm Japanese sweet potatoes 100 gm pork fillet 20 gm dried shrimps 2/3 cups rice   sesame oil Fried shallots and chopped spring onions for garnishing Seasoning 1/2 tsp each of sugar, light soya sauce, salt 1  tsp oyster sauce Method Season the meat for about an hour, set aside. Peel and cut the sweet potatoes into cubes. In a wok, shallow fry the dried shrimps, add in the marinated meat followed by the sweet potatoes.  Give the mixture a few stirs, turn off heat. Wash the rice and place in the rice cooker with less water than normal. When

I was browsing through some recipe books and these muffins caught my eye.  Have not used bran in muffins before, only added it in bread and since there were also apples at hand, I just had to try this out this recipe.   These muffins are a healthy lot with apples and raisins and should there be leftovers, fret not, just warm them up in the oven toaster, and you're all set for a healthy breakfast or tea!   Recipe for Apple Bran Muffins Ingredients 300ml milk 150 gm Oat Bran 75 gm wholemeal flour 150 gm plain flour 1  Tbsp baking powder 2 eggs 90 gm butter, melted 80 gm light brown sugar 1/2  tsp vanilla 2 green apples, peeled, cored and chopped 2  Tbsp raisins 40 gm lightly toasted walnuts, chopped  Method Put milk and oat bran in a bowl, stir till well mixed, set aside. Sift plain flour with the baking powder, mix in the wholemeal flour. In a mixing bowl, use a ball whisk to whisk the eggs, melted butter, sugar and vanill