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

The recipe for this bake is adapted from the Marble Butter Cake that I posted not long ago.  Since I ran out of self-raising flour, I settled for plain flour and added in baking powder.   I was also eager to see the result.  There were no cracks on the surface of the cake.  I didn't invert the cake immediately after removing it from the oven as I wanted to decorate the cake and didn't want the lines of the cooling rack imprinted on the surface.  I just let it cool in the pan.  The cake was moist and soft much to my other half's delight and he promptly ate two pieces with a cup of hot tea! Greentea Matcha Marble Butter Cake  ~  抹茶大理石牛油蛋糕  Ingredients (A)   230 gm butter (unsalted) 150 gm caster sugar 4 egg yolks (I used 67 gm eggs with shell) 200 gm plain flour 2.1/4 tsp baking powder 60 ml milk 2.1/4 tsp Greentea powder 1 tsp vanilla a pinch of salt (B)     4 egg whites           30 gm caster sugar Method Line the base of an 8 in

This steamed pork spareribs is readily available in most of  the dim-sum restaurants and it's one item that my children will nod in acknowledgement when the dim-sum carts come rolling by.  It's not too difficult to replicate this at home and in fact you can make adjustments to it to suit your taste.   You can serve this over rice or plain white porridge as a meal like what I'm doing  here! Steamed pork spareribs with black beans   ~     豆豉蒸排骨 Ingredients 250 gm pork spareribs cut into bite size 2 tsp fermented black beans 4 pips of garlic, finely chopped 1 tsp finely chopped ginger 1 Birdeye chilli, chopped 3/4 tsp sugar 1/4 tsp dark soya sauce 1 tsp cornstarch 2 Tbsp water Method Combine all the ingredients into a paste. Marinate the spareribs with the paste for about 2 hours or preferably overnigh. Place the marinated spareribs onto a heat-proof plate. Steam under medium heat for about 15 mins. till the spareribs are cooked.  If you p

This recipe has both orange zest and juice which gives these muffins an awesome orange flavour.  Topped with cereal, this will make an excellent nutritious breakfast to start off your day! Orange Muffins with Cereal Topping  ~    香橙麦片玛芬 Ingredients 85 gm melted butter 125 gm plain flour 1 egg 1/4 cup milk 1/2 tsp vanilla 60 gm caster sugar 1 tsp baking powder 2 tsp orange zest 1 Tbsp orange juice a pinch of salt For the topping :   6 Tbsp cereal + 3 tsp Demerara sugar, mix well. Method Sift plain flour, baking powder and salt into a mixing bowl.  Whisk in the sugar and orange zest, mix well, set aside. In another bowl, whisk together the melted butter, egg, milk, vanilla and orange juice. Pour the wet ingredients into the flour mixture and mix till just combined. Scoop batter into a paper lined muffin pan.  Sprinkle with the cereal topping. Bake in a preheated oven @ 190 deg.C for 20 mins.  Test with skewer till it comes out clean. Let co

Cakes are one of the most popular desserts across the world. It is simple to make, it is sweet, and there are many variations in which cakes can be made and enjoyed. There is no clear reference as to when and how cakes were first discovered, and who was responsible for it. However, one thing is pretty well established, that cakes have been popular from the very beginning. Another reason behind the popularity of cakes is that they are easily available as well. There are many bakeries in every city, every locality, and all of them make decent cakes. Now you can also order cakes online in Chennai,  or any other city for that matter, and enjoy a cake in your house or workplace without ever having to get up from your couch. This is like a dream come true for all the people with a serious sweet tooth. Butterscotch Cake Variations of delicious cakes Every person has different choices in different aspects of their life. The individual choices differ even in the smaller

The Burdock root had always attracted my attention whenever I spotted it during my marketing rounds.   I had been wondering how to cook with it as I know that it's a soup ingredient until one day I saw a lady promptly dropping a long Burdock root into her shopping basket.  On inquiring further she told me that it's very nutritious and rattled off the ingredients that she will normally use to make this soup.   So today, I'm sharing my recipe or rather hers with you. Burdock root yuzhu and apple soup ~  牛蒡玉竹苹果汤   Ingredients    400 gm pork shoulder, cut into chunks 150 gm Burdock root 50 gm yuzhu (polygonatum) 1 green apple 2 honey dates 3 lt water Seasalt to taste Method Scald the pork in boiling water, remove and rinse. Wash, peel and core the apple.  Cut into wedges. Peel off the skin from the Burdock root and slice. Rinse the yuzhu. Fill a pot with 3 litres of water, bring to a boil and add in all the ingredients.  Let it boil for about

I was a bit apprenhensive at the onset when I  chose to use yam paste as the filling for this Black Sesame Angku Kuih.  Just wondering how will the taste of yam combine with the black sesame.  But if I don't experiment, I wouldn't know.  Come what may, I tried and  wasn't disappointed at all when the Kuih were freshly steamed and the first bite said it all ...... yummy! Recipe for Black Sesame Angku Kuih Ingredients for Yam Paste 350 gm yam (nett weight), steamed with pandan leaves and mashed 150 gm sugar 60  ml oil Pandan leaves Method Combine and cook the above together under low flame,  keep stirring till the paste comes together, leaving the sides of the pan and can be lifted up with a spatula. Yield : 460 gm of yam paste. Ingredients for Skin (A)  30 gm rice flour        60 ml water  (B)  150 gm glutinous rice flour        25 gm black sesame powder        40 gm sugar  

Quite a number of fellow bloggers have posted Korean Egg Bread in Facebook and shared their recipes  and I was tempted to try.  It struck me that I could make this for lunch and upon surfing the internet for more info about this recipe, I chanced upon Seonkyoung's blog and decided to try her Korean Egg Bread recipe.  I made some plain with a sprinkling of seasalt, some topped with roast pork and some with chopped spring onions.  They were delicious and I will be making this again for a light meal. Korean Egg Bread (Gyeran-Bbang)  ~    韩式鸡蛋面包 Ingredients 128 gm plain flour 1 tsp baking powder 1/2 tsp baking soda 3 Tbsp sugar 1 large egg 1/2 tsp salt 2 Tbsp melted butter or vegetable oil (I used canola oil) 12 small eggs spring onions/shredded cheese/bacon bits for topping 3/4 cup milk + 2 Tbsp white vinegar or lemon juice to make Buttermilk Method Make Buttermilk, set aside. Sift flour, baking soda and baking powder, add salt, sugar and mi

I made this using the same recipe as my previous post of  'Steamed sponge cake' but this time added in black sesame seeds to lend an extra flavour.  I was very pleased with the result as the cake was soft, not too sweet and tasted good with a slight sweet aroma of sesame.  I can never resist steamed sponge cake as it's light, oil free and the best part is that I can have more without much hesitation!

Chiffon cakes remain a top pick in my family because of its soft and light texture.  Moreover these cakes are not overly sweet and the plus point is that one can have many helpings and need not worry over adding extra inches to the waistline! Coffee Marble Chiffon Cake   ~   咖啡大理石戚风蛋糕 (adapted from 'here' with modification) Ingredients  (A) 84 gm plain flour 6 large egg yolks 24 gm caster sugar 84 ml water 72 ml canola/corn oil 3/4 Tbsp hot water + 1.1/4 tsp instant coffee granules (B) 108 gm caster sugar 12 gm cornflour 6 large egg whites Method Dissolve the hot water with the coffee granules, set aside. Sift the plain flour, twice, set aside. Mix the egg yolks with the sugar, then add in oil, water and blend well together. Add in the sifted flour and mix well with a wire whisk, set aside. Combine sugar and cornflour. Beat egg whites till foamy, add in half the sugar and cornflour mixture, then add in the remaining mixture.

The mild taste but firm  texture of the Grouper fish blends well with the bland silken tofu and black bean sauce.   A simple and quick to prepare dish which goes very well with white rice or just plain white porridge. Fish fillet steamed with Tofu  ~  豆腐蒸鱼片 Ingredients 200 gm Grouper fish fillet 1 box silken tofu 1.1/2 Tbsp fermented whole black beans/tau cheong 1/2 tsp sugar 2 tsp cornflour a small piece of ginger, chopped pinch of seasalt pepper olive oil spring onions to garnish Method Marinate the fish fillet with some seasalt and sugar, set aside. Slice up the silken tofu into 10 pieces and place on a dish. Place the seasoned fish fillet on top of the tofu. Sprinkle on some chopped ginger. Mix the black beans with sugar, cornflour and 2 Tbsp of water. Pour the mixture over the fish fillet. Steam on rapidly boiling water for 6 mins. Fine tune to taste, garnish with some chopped spring onions, a dash of pepper and drizzle over some olive

The El Nino helped in speeding up the proofing process for these Pumpkin Cinnamon Nutty Rolls.  I was really surprised when the dough tripled in size in just under an hour.  I checked the temperature at that time and it was 34 deg.C!  These sweet and tender rolls are best eaten on the day they are made but do heat up leftovers if any. Pumpkin Cinnamon Nutty Rolls  ~    南瓜肉桂面包卷 Ingredients 1/2 cup milk 430 gm plain flour, sifted 3 Tbsp/45 gm unsalted butter, melted 2 Tbsp sugar 2.1/4 tsp instant dry yeast 1 large egg 2/3 cup fresh pumpkin puree (from 300 gm raw pumpkin) 1/2 tsp salt some raw sugar to sprinkle Filling 50 gm brown sugar 2 tsp cinnamon 50 gm lightly toasted walnuts, chopped 2 Tbsp melted butter Method Discard the seeds and membrane from the pumpkin and steam with the skin.  Then scrape out the pumpkin, and mash with a spoon, leave aside. Heat milk and butter till butter is melted and pour this into a stand mixer with the