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

I was introduced to this dish when we dined out recently and the waitress recommended that this would pair very well with white porridge.  I've never thought of a dried shrimp salad and naturally we were game to give it a go.  True to what she said, this dish did go very well with the porridge and I tried to replicate it at home.   This is indeed delicious and can double up as an appetiser as well.   Think it will be a good accompaniment with a glass of cold Beer too! Dried Shrimp Salad ~  虾米沙拉 Ingredients 150 gm tiny dried shrimps 1 onion, sliced 3 bird eye chillies, cut 6 limau kasturi/limes 6 tsps sugar or to taste Method With some oil, pan-fry the dried shrimps until they pop up and fragrant. Dish out into a mixing bowl. Squeeze out the juice from the limes and mix with the sugar till sugar is dissolved. Mix in the sliced onion and toss in the chillies. Pour the lime juice into the mixture and mix well.  Fine tune to desired taste. Cover and ch

The sweet aroma of this cake filled the air in my kitchen as it was baking in the oven.  The crunchy top is delicious which gives a perfect finishing touch to a moist and delicious cake.  This cake will double up as a luscious and fragrant breakfast treat as well! Blueberry Streusel Coffee Cake  ~   蓝莓细末蛋糕 (adapted from 'here'   with slight adjustment) Ingredients 250 gm plain flour 100 gm caster sugar 2 tsp  baking powder 1/4 tsp salt 1 large egg 1/2 cup milk 113 gm butter 125 gm frozen blueberries (unthawed) 100 gm lightly toasted walnuts, chopped 1 tsp vanilla Streusel Topping 50 gm caster sugar    50 gm cold butter, cut into cubes  80 gm plain flour      1 tsp cinnamon Method  To prepare the streusel : combine the sugar, flour and cinnamon, rub in with the cold butter till it resembles breadcrumbs, set aside. Sift or whisk the flour, baking powder and salt.  Whisk in the sugar, mix well. Beat the egg, milk and but

I've never thought of making Angku Kuih or Red Tortoise Cake simply because it's so readily available in my daily market place.  But there have been so many posts of this traditional kuih by my fellow food bloggers and  they look so cute and beautiful that I just cannot resist the temptation of not trying my hands at it. I must admit that making this kuih can be rather tedious and the amount of work can really make your head spin.  But if you prepare the mung bean filling a day ahead, then it does help to lighten your work quite a fair bit.  For all the  effort, these Pandan Angku Kuih came out beautifully.  To see how the kuih will be like the next day, I kept some in a container at room temperature.  To my surprise the skin of the kuih stayed soft till late the next day.  I didn't have to steam them again.  All I can say is that my efforts paid off handsomely and I'm so pleased.  Now, I've no qualms  experimenting this Angku Kuih with different flavours :)

This is a simple yet delicious dish with a few easily available ingredients.  The lemon grass lets outs a citrusy fragrance while the yellow turmeric spice lends a beautiful colour to the dish.   Turmeric not only helps to boost food flavours but it also has many benefits which includes helping to ward off dementia and reduce the risk of cancer, just to mention a few. Lemon Grass Turmeric Chicken ~   香茅姜黄鸡 Ingredients 2 whole leg of chicken, about 700 gm, chopped 2 stalks of lemon grass, finely choppped 2 tsp turmeric powder 1.1/2 Tbsp fish sauce 1/2 Tbsp light soya sauce 1.1/2 Tbsp brown sugar 2 Tbsp cooking oil 50 ml water a dash of seasalt Method Marinate the chicken with the chopped lemon grass, sauces, brown sugar and turmeric powder for a few hours or overnight. Heat up a non-stick pan with the cooking oil, pan-fry the marinated chicken, add in the water, cover with lid and let it simmer till the chicken is tender and cooked thoroughly. Fine tun

These non-baked Cranberry Snowskin Mooncakes make an ideal gift for your friends during the Mid-Autumn festival.  Making these mooncakes is not so time-consuming as you don't need to  bake them and they do look cute and pretty when made in different colours.  These Cranberry Snowskin moonies remain soft and chewy even after being chilled in the fridge for four days. Cranberry Snowskin Mooncake  ~   蔓越莓冰皮月饼  2016 Ingredients   100 gm kao fun 100 gm  icing sugar (sifted) 32 gm Crisco shortening 125 ml ice water  (boil 1 cup of water with some pandan leaves, strain and leave  in the fridge) 350 gm cranberry lotus paste (storebought) a drop or two of pink food colouring Method Sift kao fun and icing sugar into a mixing bowl. Rub in shortening till it resembles bread crumbs. Measure 125 ml chilled pandan water, add in a drop or two of pink colouring, mix well. Gradually add in chilled pink coloured water and mix to form a smooth dough.  (You may need mor

Vegetable and Ham Noodle Cups are a great way to snack on or you can add in a salad to serve as a meal.   If you have kids who refuse to  eat their veggie, this is a good way to add or rather hide the veggie into the noodles and with some meat thrown in, I'm sure they will enjoy it. Vegetable and Ham Noodle Cups ~  蔬菜火腿杯面 Ingredients 120 gm  dried thick noodles 3 large eggs 1 capsicum, chopped Cherry tomatoes, chopped 2 slices of ham, cut into match sticks Salt, pepper, olive oil and sesame oil Method Grease muffin pan with cooking spray or melted butter. Cook the noodles in boiling water for about 4 mins, drain. Mix olive oil and salt into the noodles. Arrange the noodles into the muffin, add in some chopped capsicum and cherry tomatoes. Beat the eggs in a measuring cup, add in 1/2 tsp salt, sesame oil and a dash of pepper. Pour the egg mixture into the noodles. Top with some ham strips. Bake in a preheated oven @ 180 Deg.C for 25 mins.  

I cooked this dish during my recent holiday in Perth.  I was attracted to the big chunks of bacon bones at the butchers in the supermarket and instantly thought of the savoury and sourish dish which we normally cook leftovers with 'gai choy'.   I couldn't find 'gai choy' and so substituted with green cabbage which turned out just as good. Bacon bones and cabbage stew ~  培根骨焖白菜.    Ingredients 500 gm bacon bones 800 gm green cabbage 6 pieces tamarind skin 4 dried chillies, reconstituted 1 Maggi chicken cube Salt and sugar to taste 1.5 litre water Method Blanch the bacon bones in hot water, drain and rinse with water.   Set aside. Cut the cabbage. In a pot, add in the water and bring to a light oil.  Add in the tamarind skin and dried chillies. Add in bacon bones and cabbage.  Cover and simmer till the cabbage is soft. Stir in the chicken cube and add salt, water to taste. Dish out and serve with rice.  

Mooncake festival is here again.   And looks like I've been collecting and tempted to collect more and more mooncake moulds each year.  I love this 'Fook' or  Prosperity mould which was a gift from a good friend and I made these mooncakes with homemade red bean paste. Red bean paste mooncake  ~   红豆蓉月饼 Ingredients for Skin Dough   150 gm superfine flour (may need to add more if too soft to handle) 90 ml golden syrup 38 ml vegetable oil 2 ml alkaline water Egg wash - 1 whole egg + 1 tsp water, mix and strain Filling - Red bean Paste Method Mix syrup, oil and alkaline water thoroughly till no oil surface.  Use a ball whisk. Sift in flour, mix well with spatula and let rest for 2 hours or more. Knead lightly on floured surface. Dough skin is 25 gm Red bean filling is 25 gm Yield :  11 pieces of mooncakes How to assemble and bake the mooncakes, please check it out 'here' .