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

Winter Solstice or Dongzhi festival is here again and it's time to make tang yuan.  This time I tweaked it a bit by stuffing the glutinous rice ball with some black sesame paste and cooked Osmanthus syrup to pair with it.   This year the Winter Solstice festival falls on Tuesday, 22nd December. Recipe for Black Sesame Osmanthus Tang Yuan ~ 桂花黑芝麻汤圆 Ingredients 150 gm glutinous rice flour 125 ml water, approximate 100 gm black sesame paste 1.1/2 Tbsp dried Osmanthus flowers Rock sugar or Brown piece sugar to taste A piece of ginger, smashed Method Mix the glutinous rice flour and water to form a dough, cover with clingwrap and refrigerate overnight.  (You may need a little more or a little less water). Knead lightly, form into balls of dough and put in the black sesame filling in each of the balls of dough. Meanwhile, make the syrup by boiling water and adding in the smashed ginger.  Add in the Osmanthus flowers, sugar to taste, set...

This is a relatively simple sugar reduced cookie recipe, full of peanut butter flavour with added oats and choc chips. Decorated with a sugary top, these will make a lovely gift for your relatives and friends during this X'mas season!    Recipe for Chocolate Peanut Cookies - 巧克 力 花 生 曲奇 餅 (adapted from 'Baking - 200 Moreish & Comforting Recipes' with modification) Ingredients 250 gm chunky or creamy peanut butter 1/4 cup canola oil 70 gm dark brown sugar 70 gm caster sugar 2 large eggs 3 Tbsp plain yoghurt 2 tsp vanilla 150 gm plain flour 20 gm cocoa powder 40 gm rolled oats 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda 1/4 tsp salt 50 gm choc chips 50 gm raw sugar Method Whisk or sieve flour, cocoa powder, bicarbonate of soda and salt in a large bowl, add in rolled oats and mix well, set aside. Beat peanut butter, oil and sugar in a large mixing bowl.   Add in eggs, yoghurt and vanilla till just combined. Mix in the flour mixture and add i...

The month of December is both the holiday and fete season which makes it the perfect time to enlist your kids to help in making these Fairy Cupcakes.  I'm sure these will be a crowd pleaser especially with kids at your X'mas get together. Recipe for Fairy Cupcakes ~   仙女纸杯蛋糕 Ingredients 4 oz butter 3 oz caster sugar 6 oz self-raising flour 2 eggs 1 tsp vanilla 2 Tbsp milk Marmalade Snow powder Method Beat the butter and sugar till light and creamy. Add in the eggs, one @ a time, mix well. Sift in the flour, mix well. Add in the vanilla. Put the batter into cupcake liners using an ice cream scoop. Bake in a preheated oven @ 180 deg.C for 20 mins.  Test with a skewer till it comes out clean. Let cool in the pan before removing to cool on a wire rack. Using a sharp knife, cut a cone shaped piece from the top of the each cupcake, about 4cm wide and 1.5cm deep.  Cut each cone-shaped piece of cake in half.  Fill up th...

Panettone , a traditional Italian Christmas bread is suitable for breakfast, tea or as a dessert.  This recipe reminds me of   Kugelhopf , a southern German, Austrian and Swiss term for bundt  or marble cake which also consists of a soft yeast dough with raisins and nuts.   Making a Panettone is a long, long process as it takes many hours of proving in a warm place and after all my efforts, I was a bit disappointed that my Panettone didn't rise to a dome shape, instead it was a bit flat.  But the consolation was that it tasted soft and fluffy, when served warm.  As I couldn't find any Panettone paper moulds, I used an 8 inch springform cake pan and lined it with parchment paper with higher sides to give more room for the Panettone to rise. Combine warm water and warm milk, sprinkle yeast over and let sit for 5 mins, or more. Add 4 Tablespoons flour and 1 Tablespoon sugar to the yeast mixture, combine till thick, cover with clingwrap and let it s...

As the name implies, this cake is certainly very suitable to be baked for the X'mas season.  I've eaten this cake before but didn't know that it's called Bishop's Cake  or   Stained Glass Window Cake until I spotted this on the internet.  According to the website this is an old English fruit cake that got its name from the stained glass window of the churches and cathedrals because of the appearance of the cross-section of each slice of cake.  Also known as American Christmas cake.  The wonderful part of it is that no fat is used in this cake!   As X'mas is not too faraway, perhaps you would like to give this a try as it can be kept in the refrigerator, wrapped in foil, for about 2 months.   As this cake is quite sweet, cut and serve in thin slices with coffee, tea or sherry. Bishop's Cake ~ Stained Glass Window Cake Ingredients 150 gm dried pineapple, coarsely chopped ...

I was contemplating whether to unmould this chiffon cake by  hand  or with a thin palette knife and after deliberating for a while, I decided to give unmoulding by hand, a try.   To my pleasant surprise the cake was dislodged quite easily and there weren't any unsightly patches.  I had to wait 2 hours to let the cake cool completely before unmoulding.  This is a moist, light chiffon with a good taste of Rum, just what I need with my hot cup of tea! Recipe for Mocha Chiffon Cake ~  摩卡戚风蛋糕 (adapted from 'here' ) Ingredients (A) 6 egg yolks 4.1/2 Tbsp caster sugar 6 Tbsp canola oil 1.1/2 Tbsp Rum 120 gm plain flour 3/8 tsp baking powder 1.1/2 Tbsp cocoa powder  1.1/2 Tbsp coffee 75 ml hot water (B) 6 egg whites 6 Tbsp caster sugar 3/8 tsp cream of tartar Method Dissolve the cocoa and coffee powder in hot water, mix well, set aside. Sift plain flour,baking powder into a mixing bowl.  Add in the egg yolks,...

Online shopping with ShopBack and Cashback We were having our regular get together recently and among the topics discussed was the subject of online shopping.   Online shopping is continuously becoming more popular and improving day by day with so many platforms to choose from.   Then one of us was asking whether she can find any nice qipao which are reasonably priced, online.   Of course, echoed another friend and she mentioned Qoo10.my and a whole string of other platforms like Taobao, Lazada, Zalora, Aliexpress.   On top of that these platforms are having a ShopBack and Cashback campaign, meaning that when you shop online at any of these platforms, you’ll get back a certain amount in cash.  In other words 'Shopback gives cashback on your online shopping'! As the year end festive season is just round the corner, now is the best time to hunt for great deals and Enjoy Groupon promo codes  or   ge...

Very rarely do I steam black pomfret as I normally like to fry it.  But I was assured by the fish monger that this black pomfret tastes just as good, steamed.  Steaming a whole fish is also a great and quick way to cook and with a vegetable dish on the side, dinner is served in a jiffy. Recipe for Steamed fish with preserved radish and dried shrimps ~  甜菜脯蝦米蒸鱼 Ingredients 300 gm black pomfret 1.1/2 Tbsp preserved sweet radish 1 Tbsp dried shrimps 4 pips garlic, chopped 1 heaped oyster sauce Oil for frying Sesame oil Spring Onions Method Wash the fish, pat dry and make 2 slits on the fish.  Season with a bit of salt.  Set aside. Heat up a pan with some oil, saute the chopped garlic with dried shrimps, toss in the radish, stir fry. Add in the oyster sauce and fine tune to taste.  Set aside. Heat up a steamer, place the fish on a plate and steam the fish over rapidly boiling water, for 8 mins. Pour the radish mix...

To combat the haze I made this Mulberry Chrysanthemum tea as it's caffeine free and Chrysanthemum is a natural coolant which helps to lower the temperature in our body, lower cholesterol, brings relief to sore throats, redness, itichiness and dryness in the eyes.   Chrysanthemum flowers come in many colours, white, yellow, purple and while the disc florets are yellow, the main types used are those with white or yellow petals.  Mulberry leaves on the other hand contain more  calcium than green tea thus help in strengthening bone mass.  Mulberry leaves are also caffeine free and are also a great source of vitamins A,B and C, minerals and amino acids.   Wolfberries , native to China helps in improving eyesight, general well-being and strengthening the immune system. Recipe for Mulberry Chrysanthemum Tea  ~   桑叶菊花茶 Ingredients 2.1/2 litre water 25 gm dried chrysanthemum flowers 20 mulberry leaves 6 honey dates (mut choe) 10 gm...