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

I baked this old-fashioned Cherry Loaf using the Marble Butter cake recipe but adjusted the recipe as I only used three eggs instead of four to fit into the loaf pan.   I remember that when I was little, I was attracted by the red cherries as any other kid and would gingerly take them out and eat them first.    The cake was secondary.  This cake is soft and moist infused with the sweet glace cherries giving it a lovely combination of flavours. Cherry Loaf Cake ~   樱桃蛋糕 Ingredients (A) 173 gm unsalted butter 100 gm caster sugar 3 egg yolks 150 gm self-raising flour, sifted 45 ml milk 100 gm glace cherries pinch of salt (B)     3 egg whites           30 gm caster sugar Method Rinse the cherries lightly with water to rid of the syrup, pat dry, cut into quarters.  Dust with some sifted flour. Cream butter and sugar till light and fluffy. Add in the egg yolks one at a time, mix well. Fold in sifted flour alternating with milk and mix in the cher

A super quick recipe where all the ingredients are put together to generate light, moist muffins with a nice golden hue.  Perfect as a breakfast, mid-morning snack alongside a hot cup of coffee or tea any time of the day! Passion Fruit Muffin  ~  百香果马芬 Ingredients 95 gm plain flour 60 gm caster sugar 1 large egg 1.1/2 tsp baking powder 1/4 tsp salt 100 ml milk 30 gm butter, melted 65 gm passion fruit pulp with seeds Icing sugar to dust Method Sift or whisk flour with salt and baking powder.  Stir in sugar. Whisk milk, eggs and melted butter with passion fruit pulp. Pour the wet ingredients to the dry ingredietns, mix till just combined, lumpy. Distribute the batter into lined muffin pan. Bake in a preheated oven @ 180 deg.C for 20 to 25 mins, till brown.  Test with a skewer till it comes out clean. Remove from oven and let cool in pan.   Before serving, dust with some icing sugar. Yield :  6

My blog has taken a back seat for a while and it has now shifted to a new ‘home’.  Yes, a very good friend of mine had tirelessly helped to give my blog a fresh new look.  Here's a short guideline on how to ‘hover’ around my blog.   On the Home page, ‘Subscribe’ is to get email notification, ‘Search’ is to look for any recipe with key words and a click on the ‘menu’ will bring you to ‘Connect’ which is email, facebook, g+ and Pinterest.  And on the individual post, you can click on ‘Share’ and follow my post. So for today, I’m going to introduce a savoury noodle dish …….. Salted Fish with Glass Noodles. Fried salted fish with bihoon or rice vermicelli is a common item on the menu of any ''Tai Chau" for home-cooked Chinese dishes.  But here I substituted rice vermicelli with glass noodles.  The glass noodles were given a quick  stir-fry with cabbage, chicken, eggs and not forgetting the Salted Fish.   Verdict?   Yum! Salted fish wit

This almond jelly is commonly found in Dim-sum restaurants and it is a refreshing dessert to enjoy. You can either treat your family with this home-made jelly or serve this to your guests after a meal.  There are many ways to serve this dessert.  Can be eaten on its own or served with fresh fruits and some syrup or canned fruits or fruit cocktail.  No one will refuse this dessert except for some people who may not like the almond fragrance. Chinese almond jelly ~  杏仁豆腐 Ingredients 20 gm agar agar strip 100 gm rock sugar 1 cup water 5 cups soy milk 4 Tbsp almond powder mixed with 1/4 cup water a can of rambutan and pineapple and some Osmanthus flowers Method Soak agar agar strips for 30 mina or more, till softened, squeeze out excess water. Place the softened agar agar stips into a pot with 1 cup of water and cook on low heat.  Keep stirring till strips have dissolved. Mix 1/4 cup of water with the almond powder, add this into the pot. Add in t

The shrivelled passion fruit may not be appealing to you at first sight but you will be blown off by its distinctive sweet smell.  Although the fruit tastes tart and gritty because of the seeds but the smell which is like perfume and its bright yellow colour compensate for its ugly appearance. This chiffon is soft, moist and refreshing not forgetting the strong sweeet aroma! Orange Passion fruit Chiffon cake  ~  橙子百香果戚风蛋糕     Ingredients (A)  6 egg yolks        75 gm sugar        85 ml blended passion fruit juice + 1.1/2 Tbsp seeds        20 ml orange juice        4 Tbsp canola oil        150 gm self-raising flour        1 tsp each of lemon and orange zest (B)        6 egg yolks        60 gm sugar        1/4 tsp cream of tartar Method Add some water to the passion fruit pulp and blend, then strain to get 85 ml juice.  Keep some seeds.  Set aside. Combine egg yolks, sugar with a ball whisk.  Add in the oil, juices, seeds and zest, stir to mix thor

Assam Prawns is a popular Malaysian dish which is not difficult to whip up.  The two main ingredients in this dish are the prawns and tamarind paste or what we call, 'assam'.  Tamarind does pair well with seafood, they complement each other and prawns cooked in this way is incredibly delicious and appetising.  Yum is the word for it! Assam Prawns  ~  亚参虾  Ingredients 400 gm, 12 big prawns  1 onion, sliced Seasoning 1 Tbsp sugar 2 Tbsp Assam/Tamarind plus 2Tbsp water  1.1/2 tsp dark soya sauce 1/2 tsp salt Method Mix the assam with water and strain it. Trim the prawns, devein, pat dry with paper towel and marinate with the sugar, dark soya sauce and salt, for about an hour or more. Heat up the wok with some oil and once oil is heated, drop the prawns and pan-fry till seventy percent cooked and slightly caramelised, dish out. Add in two tablespoons of water into the wok, swirl and add in the tamarind juice.  Add in the sliced onions. Stir-fr