Tofu Exploration ::: Cold Tofu with Fried Dry Shirmp, Fried Crispy Garlic Slices and Pork/Chicken/Fish Floss Recipe

Ingredients
1 Silken Tofu
1/2 tablespoon Light Soy Sauce
1/4 tablespoon Oyster Sauce
1/4 tablespoon Sesame Oil
1 tablespoon of Fried Dry Shirmp
2 teaspoons of Fried Crispy Garlic
2 tablespoon of Pork/Chicken/Fish Floss

Step 1 Open the packet of Silken Tofu, drain the excess water and place on a plate.
Step 2 Mix Light Soy Sauce, Oyster Sauce and Sesame Oil in a pan over low heat.
Step 3 Top the silken tofu with the fried dry shrimp and fried cripsy garlic.
Step 4 When ready to serve pour the sauce over, decorate the top with Pork/Chicken/Fish Floss then serve immediately.

If you love garlic you can put more!


Click here for our blog page Cooking Classes for more recipes. Hope you will be inspired~

Tofu Exploration ::: Cold Tofu with Century Egg, Salted Egg and Pork/Chicken/Fish Floss

Ingredients
1 Silken Tofu
1/2 tablespoon Light Soy Sauce
1/4 tablespoon Oyster Sauce
1/4 tablespoon Sesame Oil
1/2 diced Century Egg (smaller the better)
1/2 diced Salted Egg (smaller the better)
2 tablespoon of Pork/Chicken/Fish Floss

Step 1 Open the packet of Silken Tofu, drain the excess water and place on a plate.
Step 2 Mix Light Soy Sauce, Oyster Sauce and Sesame Oil in a pan over low heat.
Step 3 Top the silken tofu with the diced Century Egg and diced Salted Egg.
Step 4 When ready to serve pour the sauce over, decorate the top with Pork/Chicken/Fish Floss then serve immediately.

I used up the whole Century Egg & Salted Egg as we prefer our tofu to be more flavorful.


Click here for our blog page Cooking Classes for more recipes. Hope you will be inspired~

Tofu Exploration ::: Tofu with Century Egg and Salted Egg

Ingredients
1 Silken Tofu
1/2 tablespoon Light Soy Sauce
1/4 tablespoon Oyster Sauce
1/4 tablespoon Sesame Oil
1/2 diced Century Egg (smaller the better)
1/2 diced Salted Egg (smaller the better)

1. Open the packet of Silken Tofu, drain the excess water and place on a plate.
2. Mix Light Soy Sauce, Oyster Sauce and Sesame Oil in a pan over low heat.
3. Top the silken tofu with the diced Century Egg and diced Salted Egg.
4. When ready to serve pour the sauce over and serve immediately.


Click here for our blog page Cooking Classes for more recipes. Hope you will be inspired~

Breakfast Cup Exploration ::: White Bread + Streaky Bacon + Egg

Been seeing people posting pictures and it looks simple and easy to make for a breakfast. Here is it!


Ingrediants needed:::
1 Baking Porcelain Cup or Silicon Cup
1 Slice White Bread (use 2 if your cup is big)
2 Streaky Bacon
1 Egg

Step 1
Push and fit the bread inside the Cup as you can see in the picture below.

Step 2
Place the Streaky Bacon.

Step 3
Crack the Egg. I crack it separately and fill up the bread cup as much egg white as possible so it won't overflow.

Step 4
Bake in the oven at 150ºC for 15mins. If you like your egg semi solid leave it in the oven for another 3mins.

I pop-ed the breakfast cup up to so it's easier to eat.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Below is my plating creations hopefully it'll inspire you. Hope you all will love this recipe.



Click here for our blog page Breakfast, Desserts, & Snacks Ideas for more recipes. Hope you will be inspired~

Salad Exploration ::: Fresh Garden Salad served with Deep Fried Chicken Cubes

Salad can go with every thing! Since dear and me are now starting to eat healthy. No carbohydrates but Fresh Garden Salad with Deep Fried Chicken is one of the dishes. May we suggest and post more exploration and match in the salad journey.



Follow this recipe for the deep fried chicken, however, cut them in cubes to make it similar to the above picture. Place them aside to cool.

Place the mixed salad in the mixing bowl, pour in your favourite salad cream sauce & mix it up evenly. Dish it into the serving plate. Top up the fried chicken on top and drizzle a little more salad cream sauce, place a few tomatoes to spice up with color & serve.

Enjoy this simple recipe!

Click here for our blog page Cooking Classes for more recipes. Hope you will be inspired~

Appetizer Exploration ::: Cutie Tuna Cherry Tomato Bites

Second appetizer recipe here, Tuna Cherry Tomato Bites~ One of all of our favorite at Mother's Day Dinner! Flavored Tuna being served in Cherry Tomatoes makes it easier and more fun as you just need to pop it in your mouth!

Important to make sure the Cherry Tomatoes used are good-quality with firm, smooth-skin and pinkish orange! If they are green leave it to ripen at room temperature avoiding any sunlight.

This is definitely more towards all of our liking then the Honey Ham Baby Asparagus Roll-Ups. Have fun.......


Ingredients:::
1 box of Cherry Tomatoes
1 can of Tuna Mayo
1 teaspoon of Chilli Powder
1 teaspoon of Tabasco Sauce
Half inch size Chives for garnishing

1. Wash and soak Cherry Tomatoes for 15mins.
2. Put Tuna Mayo Chilli Powder and Tabasco Sauce in a small bowl and mix well. Place it in the fridge when done.
3. Preparation of Cherry Tomatoes: Cut the top and bottom off slightly for it to sit well when serve. Next is to slice it into half, take a small butter knife and remove all the seed parts leaving it hollow. Reason of doing this we do not want the sourness of the tomato to spoil this appetizer. Rinse it with filter water and shake a little to dry.
4. Take 2 teaspoons, spoon and push the tuna mixture to fill up the hollow tomatoes. Also leave a generous portion of Tuna Mountain!
5. Decorate it with chives. Place it on a nice plate to serve.

A delightful appetizer that will be loved by everyone. :)

You might love to try~~~

Home Cured 'smoked' Salmon 'gravlax' style

Honey Ham Baby Asparagus Roll-Ups

Appetizer Exploration ::: Honey Ham Baby Asparagus Roll-Ups

Me being just a sous chef in charge fully on appetizer and a kitchen hand to chef Tim ("dear") on Mother's Day Dinner. I'm here to share my 1st appetizer recipe!


Ingredients:::
200g of Baby Asparagus
200g of Honey Ham
125g Butter
Salt and Black Ground Pepper to taste
Chives for garnishing & to knot up the Roll-Ups
Filtered Water.

Preparation of Baby Asparagus
1. Wash, soak, and cut baby Asparagus in half.
2. Bring water to boil with 3 pinch of salt, place in asparagus in to boil till it’s tender rescue it and place it in a plate.
3. Heat a non-stick pan and melt butter, slowly pour in the asparagus and stir it around for about 1 minute then add in salt and black ground pepper to taste.
4. Dish it up and now we can start rolling it up~

Assembling the Honey Ham Roll Ups
1. Cut Honey Ham into 4 slices (2”x3”)
2. Take one slice and place 2-3 sticks of baby asparagus at the side and roll it up.
3. Use a chive to knot up the Honey Ham Baby Asparagus Roll-Ups so they will stay together and will not be fallen apart when consuming.
4. Repeat steps 1-3. And stack them up in a pyramid formation for a nice presentation.

The type of ham used can be changed to your preference.

Hope this pretty nice blanket of Ham will encourage us to consumer more vegetables & love Asparagus more as it has 8 Health Benefits!!!!!!

Quoting from Here "Hubpages" click to read more!!!

1 - can detoxify our system
2 - has anti-aging functions
3 - is considered an aphrodisiac
4 - can protect against cancer
5 - reduces pain and inflammation
6 - can prevent osteoporosis and osteoarthritis
7 - reduces the risk of heart disease
8 - can help prevent birth defects

Do not be afraid of cooking Asparagus, this would be a good way to start... ^.^

Click here for our blog page Cooking Classes for more recipes. Hope you will be inspired~

Learn to make Macarons and more at Taylor's University!

"More and more bakeries are introducing the macaron in their menus as this sweet sensation sweeps through the Klang Valley," says a leading local English newspaper, in opening up a fluff story about macarons. While the terms 'sweep' and 'sensation' are perhaps open to personal interpretation, it's clear that Macarons have been getting more attention in Kay-El of late. And what's not to love? Macarons combine fuss-free finger eating with a myriad of colours and flavours limited only by the baker's imagination. The only criticism, perhaps, is that it might be too sweet for some taste buds.

Anyways, the darling and I find ourselves on a Sunday afternoon, in Taylor's University's Pastry Kitchen with award winning Chef Karam for a quick and easy class on how to bake Macarons. Chef Karam has over 20 years of kitchen experience prior to joining the academic field, so we know we're in good hands!


After a quick demonstration by the Chef, we're let loose into the kitchen to whip up our own batch of Macarons!

Step 1: Mix crushed almonds, sugar, and egg whites.


Step 2: Boil some sugar.


Step 3: Add the boiling sugar to more egg whites and whisk.


Step 4: Fold in the crushed almond mixture.


Step 5: Mix in the food colouring of your choice.


Step 6: Spoon the mixture into a icing bag.


Step 7: Pipe the mixture onto baking sheets (yes, I know, I badly needed a haircut months ago).


Step 8: Admire your handiwork. Or as in my case, lack thereof.


Step 9: Bake!


Step 10: Leave your macarons to cool while you work on the filling.


Step 11: Use more icing bags to pipe jam, butter cream, chocolate ganache, or whatever you fancy, and sandwich the macarons.


Done!


You'll have noticed that we haven't provided any actual measurements or detailed steps - we're holding off for now because we want to try again in our own home kitchen. Because, you know, how many of us have industrial strength ovens and food service-style baking trays sitting in our kitchens? We'll cook up a batch in our home and will give you the recipe soon, promise!

For me, the hardest part of making the Macarons was probably the process of piping the unbaked mixture onto the baking sheets/trays. I guess I lack the skill and dexterity to get them round and uniform. Nothing a little practice can't change, of course :)

And if you're interested in learning more, Taylor's University offers weekend classes - typically over 2 months - covering cooking, baking and pastry making, both basic and intermediate levels. For details, please contact Ms. Anne Tay at 014-633 5114 / 603-5629 5000 (Ext: 5780) or email cpe@taylors.edu.my.

Baking Exploration ::: Cheese Tarts

It's been ages since I very last baked my legendary Cheese Tarts that my hometown family friends that had a chance to taste it, came back ask for more, and asking if they could place order. Since I'm a big fan of cheese and cheesecakes too, I'm baking it again!!! Not forgetting I'm more of a chocoholic actually.


Happy Friday! We both started our day off with my warm up Egg Tarts that I baked yesterday, along with Mauritius Roasted Coffee bought from Mauritius on our trip there last year Nov-Dec. A very suitable, combination which dear's daddy mentioned. *****yummy yummysss*****

Getting back to baking Cheese Tarts.

For the pastry, I use back the same pastry as my Level 1 Egg Tart Exploration.

Tart Crust Recipe
115g Butter (softened)
70g Sugar
1 Egg
210g All-Purpose Flour
1/4 teaspoon Salt
Removable Bottom Tart Pan

Grease the tart pan with Butter. Cream Butter and Sugar until light and fluffy. Add the egg and beat until mixture is smooth. Add the Flour and Salt and mix well. Divide the mixture, then use your fingertips to press the dough into the tart pan. Prick all over of the base of the tart with a fork. Refrigerate for 30minutes. Pre-heat the oven to 180°C. Bake for 5mins to 10mins or until slightly golden. While it's baking prepare.......

However, this round here are some pictures of the pastry process!

After the dough is mix up nicely, it would look like this!


Since it's cheese tarts and I love it more when it's a mini version, I took out my long not use mini tart molds and butter all of them before i press the pastry dough in.


Taking the pastry dough smaller then a ping pong ball size, and roll it up. Oh! remember to press it flat too!


Press the flat pastry dough in the tart molds, and cut off the edges so it looks like this. Now you're half way done. From Mixing to pressing out the pastry normally takes up half or more then half of the whole process of all tart baking.


After the 10mins baking time at 180 degree C. This is the tart shell that can be used to do tons of tarts eg: egg tarts, cheese tarts, fruit tarts.....


Now it's time for the most important part of this bloggie post!

THE.....................

Cream Cheese Fillings
Ingredients:::
250g Philadelphia Cream Cheese
20g Butter
60g Fine Granulated Sugar
1 Egg

(for some artistic work)
2-3 cubes of Milk Chocolate
OR
2-3 tablespoon of Blueberry Jam


Beat the Philadelphia Cream Cheese, Butter, and Fine Granulated Sugar together till light, then add in the egg and beat to mix well.


Using a tablespoon to spoon the cheese mixture, along with the assistant of a teaspoon to push the mixture down easily into the baked tart shells.


If you are using chocolate, melt them in a double boiler and add a teaspoon or two of milk, this will make the texture of the chocolate more suitable for your artistic drawings to make your cheese tarts look more mouth watering.
This is an important note: As I couldn't find any milk at home so my chocolate texture makes my tart looks a bit................... ugly =[ Good thing I am the one making this mistake so your tart won't look like mine!

No matter if you are using Chocolate or Blueberry Jam, depending on your tart size put a dot in the middle of the tart and use a chopstick to do some twirling, simple like mine. However, if you are artistic enough you can try piping the Chocolate or Blueberry Jam and use a satay stick to draw patterns. ^.^

After you finish your art work, place all of it back into the oven and bake for another 180 degree C for 10mins.


Take it out to cool for 30mins to 45mins. Since Cheese Tarts are best when served cold. After it is cool to put it in the fridge to chill before serving or consuming.


There you go ready to impress the people around you that you can bake!



Click here for our blog page Baking Classes for more recipes. Hope you will be inspired~

Jokes On / April Fools Exploration ::: McD mini Hamburger & Cinnamon Fries

April Fool happens only onces a year...where you can actually play a joke on anyone or everyone making them believe it & at the end they receive a surprise "April Fools'" no one can actually be angry with you!!! Here is something interesting about April Fools' Day all around the world.

On a April Fool eve mood, I planned out Dear's surprise as his arrival back in KL that falls nicely on April Fools' Day, "Mc Donald's" Hamburger set meal. Didn't really went well as it was too last minute & Dear was actually craving for maggie mee rather then mcD. :(



My prank wasn't as real & funny as Dear's sister Su-Ann, where she actually asked around the house "anyone wanna buy anything. i'm going to South City Plaza." then she and Su-San headed out with her mom's car. Suddenly out of the blue, she called her mom telling her she is an accident, the guy banged her when she was reversing. With that Dear was sent out to check out and resolve the problem. Shortly after Dear went out she called her mom again! Since i was there observing without knowing it was a joke. Aunty's face was extremely serious and agitated. After a while i receive a Whatapps msg that it's a April Fools' joke that Su-Ann is playing on Aunty! That's when i know it's a joke. S-Ann called about 2-3 times with her mom explaining to her that Big Bro is on his way to help. To have her revenge on her mom, she actually wants her to come out immediately that Uncle (her daddy) need to come in the scene to bring Aunty out to get her. Boo!!! "April Fools'...." Su-Lynn & I can actually hear them laughing all the way in. **extreme prefect way of fooling a person**

Continue on this exploration of mine...

Let's start with the Hamburger. This involves no cooking nor baking... It is just creativity & having tons of fun making these adorable mini burgers which not only can be made for April Fools, it can also be made to serve as dessert for Parties or BBQ Gatherings. I have left some extremely important best suggestions for greater taste & better outlook beside the ingredients.





Ingredients Needed:
2 tablespoons of Shred Coconut
1/2 teaspoon of Green food Coloring
1 small transparent plastic bag
1 teaspoon of Warm Jam Spread
1/2 teaspoon of Sesame Seeds
Red Frosting **self made / ready bought from supermarkets**
Yellow Frosting **self made / ready bought from supermarkets**

These two ingredients need to match in size:::
2 packets of Mini Chipsmore Cookie **Best is Butter Cookies/Vanilla Waffle Cookies**
Mc Vitie's Mini Short Cakes with Milk Chocolate **Best is Round Mint Chocolate**

Step 1: Preparation for "lettuces". Place the Shred Coconut in the plastic bag and add the Green Food Coloring little by little after shaking them till even out!


Step 2: Preparation of the top bread. Take a Mini Cookie and spread it with the warm jam prepared. Sprinkle Sesame Seeds on top immediately so that it can stick.


Step 3: Assembling the Hamburger! Take a upside down Mini Cookie put a little Red Frosting as Tomato Sauce and also Yellow Frosting as Cheese!


Step 4: Place the Chocolate Petty on top.


Step 5: Press more little Red Frosting as Tomato Sauce and also Yellow Frosting as Cheese! Then sprinkle with "Vegetables" the Green Coconut Shred.



Steop 6: This time 2-3 drips of Red & Yellow Frosting only before you cover them with the "top bread". You're DONE!!!


Next is the Cinnamon "Fries".




Ingredients Needed:
Vegetable Oil to deep fry 1 inch deep of your pan
White Bread
1/2 cup of Sugar
2 tablespoons of Cinnamon Powder

Step 1: Heat 1 inch of vegetable oil to 365 degrees F in deep skillet.

Step 2: Mix Sugar and Cinnamon Powder on a plate.

Step 3: Cut white bread into sticks and fry until golden, about 1 minute.



Step 4: Drain on paper towels or rack, then roll in the cinnamon-sugar while still hot. Note: Beware of over dosage of cinnamon-sugar..


Step 5: can be serve with warm strawberry jelly as ketchup.

Packaging is as truthful & important. I dropped by McD to have my lunch there. emptying the French Fries and Nugget box and fill them with Mini Hamburgers and Cinnamon Stick. Of course not to forget that McD drink makes a set & kept my drink fresh and un-drank. Arranged and packed nicely in a McD paper bag!



There you go... Professionally Real enough to Prank your family or friends or colleagues! hehe~

Have fun!

Click here for our blog page Breakfast, Desserts, & Snacks Ideas for more recipes. Hope you will be inspired~