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

This is a simple recipe, no-frills tart that attracts your eyes as well as your taste buds.  A refreshing and appetizing dessert for your sweet tooth after a  scrumptious meal.  You can also choose to enjoy it for tea with a piping hot cup of coffee or tea.  Tastes best when warm. Puff Pastry Peach Tart ~   水蜜桃挞 Ingredients 1 puff pastry sheet, 8 inch square, thawed and cut into 4 pieces 1 can of Peach halves, cut egg white icing sugar to dust Method Roll up the 4 sides of the pastry dough, about 1/4 inch. Brush some peach syrup on the dough and place the peaches on it. Brush some syrup over the peaches and apply egg white all round the pastry dough. Bake in a preheated oven @ 200 deg.C for about 20 mins. till the pastry is brown and all puffed up. Dust on icing sugar before serving.   Best to serve warm. Yield :  4 tarts

This is a very soft and light chiffon cake and I used a combination of coffee and cocoa.  The flavours do blend well and complemented each other and it's perfect to serve this to guests or to enjoy at any time of the day. Coffee Chiffon Cake with Cocoa layering  ~   咖啡 戚风蛋糕                              Ingredients (A) 70 gm plain flour 10 gm coffee granules 5 large egg yolks 20 gm caster sugar 70 ml hot water 60 ml canola oil Cocoa powder (B) 90 gm caster sugar 10 gm cornflour 5 large egg whites Method Sift plain flour, twice, set aside. Mix coffee granules with 70 ml hot water, set aside to cool. Beat egg yolks with sugar, then add in oil and coffee.  Sift in flour and mix well, set aside. Combine caster sugar with cornflour. In a clean bowl, beat egg whites till foamy, add in half cornflour mixture, then gradually add in the balance.  Beat till stiff peaks but not dry. Fold 1/3 of egg whites into the egg yolk batter, then pour this into the r

This is a quickie and delicious chicken dish, braised in caramelised sauce.  The ingredients are not too difficult to find and if you can't find kaffir lime leaves, you can omit them altogether.  This dish serves well with white rice and a side veggie dish.  Try it! Vietnamese Caramelised Chicken  ~   越南焦糖鸡 Ingredients 3 deboned chicken leg cut into bite size 2.1/2 Tbsp brown sugar or Palm sugar 1/2 cup water 1 Tbsp fish sauce 1 Tbsp lime juice 3 pips of garlic, chopped 5 shallots, minced Some black pepper Some shredded kaffir lime leaves (optional) Method Season the chicken with some salt and pepper. Place brown sugar and water in a wok over medium heat till bubbles appear and sugar melted.  Add in the other ingredients except the chicken and lime juice. Add the chicken pieces, skin side down, flipping over now and then, cook till chicken is tender and cooked through. Add in the lime juice and fine tune to taste. Dish out and serve with white ri

I was so pleased when I saw the nice green colour of this pound cake after I removed it from the oven, for true to the recommendation by the lady at the shop where I usually get my ingredients, she assured me that I won't be disappointed.  Yes, it is green and not pale or brownish.  The homemade red bean paste complimented well with the green tea and the cake stayed moist and soft even after three days kept in an airtight container, refrigerated. Matcha/Green Tea Pound Cake ~  抹茶磅蛋糕  (adapted from 'here'. ) Ingredients 150 gm plain flour 1 Tbsp matcha/green tea 1/4 tsp baking powder 150 gm unsalted butter 3 large eggs 130 gm icing sugar Red bean paste for filling Green tea powder or Icing sugar for dusting Method Sift baking powder with green tea powder and plain flour, set aside. Beat butter with icing sugar till creamy. Add in eggs one at a time till well incorporated. Fold in flour in 2 portions.  Mix well. Pour half batter into