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

  These Sunflower and Pumpkin Seeds muffins, soft and light are so easy to whip up to enjoy with a hot cup of coffee or tea.  They are very versatile as you can have them as a light breakfast or snack as and when you feel like it.  I topped them with more seeds and with a sprinkling of Rapadura sugar to give the extra crunch and coupled with the frgrance of the latter, they certainly brought the muffin to a new level. Sunflower and Pumpkin Seeds Muffin  ~    向日葵和南瓜籽玛芬  Ingredients  150 gm plain flour 70 gm light brown sugar 130 gm pupkin puree (from fresh pumpkin) 1 'L' egg 1/4 cup milk 60 ml oil 1 tsp baking powder 1/4 tsp baking soda 1 tsp cinnamon 1 tsp vanilla 1/4 tsp salt 45 gm lightly roasted sunflower seeds 45 gm lightly roasted pumpkin seeds Rapadura or Turbinado sugar to sprinkle on top (optional) Method Sift the plain flour with the baking powder and baking soda, salt and cinnamon.  Set aside In a mixing bowl, whisk sugar, oil, egg ...

A simple stir-fry dish of Fish Bladder (魚鰾) with carrot, celery, shitake mushrooms and not forgetting my favourite soy bean chip/dao bao ( 豆包).  The dao bao tends to be very absorbent and hence I had to add in more water to the dish after I added them in, and I added them in last.  This dish goes very well with white rice and is quite popular during Chinese New Year. Stir-fry Fish Bladder  ~ 翻炒魚鰾 Ingredients 20 gm fish bladder 100 gm celery 50 gm carrot 4 Shitake mushrooms 3 pieces soy bean chip/Dao Bao  2 pips of garlic, sliced 3 slices of ginger Spring onions 2 Tbsp oyster sauce 1 Tbsp light soya sauce 1 Tbsp cornstarch and 1.5  Tbsp water to mix 1 Tbsp Shaoxing wine Salt to taste Method Soak the fish bladder till soft, then blanch in hot boiling water.  Remove, rinse and squeeze dry.  Cut up. Soak the Shitake mushrooms till soft, stem and cut. Shallow fry the dao bao and cut into smaller pieces. Saute the sliced garlic, ginger and mushrooms til...

  These chocolate chip cookies made with melted butter are delightfully dense on the inside and crisp on the edges.  As melted butter is being used, the cookies have a softer inside.  No mixer is required to make these cookies and I only used a ball whisk throughout the whole process.  Can give this a try and add on to your CNY cookies list! Chocolate Chip Cookies  ~  巧克力曲奇饼 Ingredients 115 unsalted butter (melted) 70 gm brown sugar 30 gm caster sugar 1 'L' egg 210 gm plain flour 1/2 tsp baking soda a pinch of salt 1/2 tsp vanilla essence 150 gm chocolate chip Extra chocolate chips to place on top of the cookies (optional) Method Heat up the butter in the microwave until JUST melted, not bubbly.  Stir with a spoon till soft and smooth.  Let cool for about 5 mins. Sift the flour with the baking soda and salt.  Set aside. Pour the melted butter into a mixing bowl.  With a ball whisk, mix in the egg and sugars.  Mix till well inco...