~ Scrambled Egg on Toast

Taken from:
Tiff's

Description:
Creamy scrambled egg, dotted with tomato bits

Ingredients (serves 1):
1 egg
1 tsp milk
1/2 tomato, diced
1/2 tsp oil
Salt & pepper to taste

Directions:
1. Mix milk and egg together. Stir in the diced tomato.
2. Heat oil in non-stick pan, and add the egg mixture. Scramble the egg by stirring the mixture, till its slightly dry with some tinge of moisture. Do not overcook the egg, if not it'll be dry. Season with pepper and salt.

Remarks:

I like the milky and creamy taste in this scrambled egg which was served on toasted bread~ Looked really appetising too, and it certainly started my day right :)

~ Lazy Thursday Breakfast

Shuijiao from nearby kopithiam. The stall's been there quite a long time ago, but this is the first time I tried their food. The shuijiao were quite reasonably-priced at $3.50 for 10. However, the skin was slightly rubbery and that the filling was abit on the stingy side. The fillings were mainly jiucai and I can barely chew on any meat.



Carrot cake from the same stall. Bland and oily. The generous amount of egg and some chaipo saved the day.



My daily calcium supplement with a hearty dose of antioxidant (cocoa). Do not try to be greedy like me, if not you'll end up spending one hour trying to dissolve the cocoa.



Today I craved for chocolate, so I had 7 blocks of Frey's chocolate. It's of the perfect sweetness, and the lingering taste of honey makes it a premium chocolate deserving of praise.

I had 11 pieces of vanhouten semi-sweet almond chocolate and an orange too. Ops, overdose of food today.

~ Tamagoyaki

Modified from:
Maki's

Description:
Sweet Japanese-style egg roll

Ingredients (serves 4):
4 eggs
1 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp water
1/2 tsp soy sauce
2 tbsp bonito flakes

Directions:
1. Heat up the pan on medium-low heat. Make ready a small bowl of oil, and the brush or wad of cotton wool or kitchen paper.
2. Beat all the ingredients together with a fork or chopsticks. Don’t use a whisk since you don’t want it to get foamy. Optionally, strain the egg mixture through a sieve to even it out (makes for a finer and more even egg mix.)
3. Brush the heated pan with a little oil. Put in about 2 to 3 tbsp of egg mixture in the pan. Cook gently (lower the heat if necessary) until it’s not quite set on top, but not runny. Roll it up with a fork or chopsticks to one side of the pan.
4. Brush the exposed part of the pan with a little oil and put another couple of tbsp of egg mixture in the pan. Spread it around, lifting the cooked egg so that the uncooked egg flows below it. Cook until this layer is almost set, then roll the whole egg to the opposite side of where it is.
5. Brush the pan again with oil. Add another couple of tablespoons of egg mixture in the pan, and spread around the pan and under the cooked egg. Keep repeating this procedure until the egg mixture is used up.
6. Put the tamagoyaki on a moistened sushi rolling mat, seam side down. Roll it up tightly. If you are eating this right away you can take it out and serve immediately, but if you’re making this for an (o)bento, leave the whole roll in the mat over a raised rim plate or bowl until it’s cooled to room temperature. This allows air to pass under and over it, cooling it faster.

Remarks:

I had a rolling good time trying to cook and shape this omelet. But it's quite a tedious process, and thus, patience is key to mastering this recipe! Though this recipe called for 4 eggs, the resultant omelet was really small for 4 people. Perhaps more water can be added to increase the volume, say 3 - 4 tbsp. Hopefully this amendment would not compromise the taste.

The omelet was wrapped in a sushi mat and placed over the oven to keep it warm:

This was the only dish which received compliments during dinner today. Sad.

~ Sesame Green Beans

Taken from:
Allrecipes

Description:
Green beans steeped in savoury sesame sauce

Ingredients (serves 2):
1/2 tbsp canola oil
1/2 tsp sesame oil
200 g fresh green beans, washed
1/2 tbsp soy sauce
1/2 tbsp toasted sesame seeds
1/2 C water

Directions:
1. Warm a large skillet or wok over medium heat.
2. When the skillet is hot, pour in canola and sesame oils, then place whole green beans into the skillet. Stir the beans to coat with oil. Cook until the beans are bright green and slightly browned in spots, about 10 minutes.
3. Remove from heat, and stir in soy sauce; cover, and let sit about 5 minutes.
4. Transfer to a serving platter, and sprinkle with toasted sesame seeds.

Remarks:

I have a confession to make - this dish was partly burnt! Well, it was not entirely my fault as I did not know that stir-frying with a claypot was so much of a challenge. The ceramic heated up slowly so I turned up the heat.. And when it's heated up, the temperature rose exponentially, so much so that my sesame oil and green beans got burnt. What I suggest now is to add the (unrefined) sesame oil last, as it burns quite rapidly, and do NOT use a claypot to stir-fry your food unless you have mastered the art of taming it.

The taste was acceptable, just that Mum thought I used dark soy sauce due to the brown sauce before I admitted to my crime.

~ Chilli Garlic BBQ Salmon

Taken from:
Allrecipes

Description:
Flaky spicy garlicky salmon to whet your appetite!

Ingredients:
4 thick slabs of salmon
2 tbsp soy sauce
1/2 tbsp fresh ginger root, minced
3 cloves garlic, minced (supposed to be 1, but misread and added 3)
1/2 tbsp distilled vinegar
1/2 tbsp brown sugar
Dash of pepper

Directions:
1. Mix all the spices together, and marinate salmon slabs. Cover and store in refrigerator for at least 2 hours.
2. Preheat oven to 220 deg. Wrap salmon in aluminium foil, drizzle with the leftover sauce and seal the aluminium case by crimping the edges. Bake wrapped salmon for 20 min (30 min if salmon are cold; general rule: take the thickest slice and calculate 10 min for each 1" thickness), or till cooked. Serve hot.

Remarks:

Ok, the picture's crap. But in actual fact, the salmon was good, tender and juicy! I think the freshness of the fish proved to be really crucial and the sauce (despite the additional garlic cloves) sealed the deal with its spicy and tangy kick. Mum did not share my sentiments though, for she still likes her salmon pan-fried. Dad and Bro er.. Edible.

~ Sushi Rice

Taken from:
Allrecipes

Description:
Sushi rice for sushi, or for consumption on its own!

Ingredients (serves 4):
2 1/4 C short-grain rice
2 1/2 C water
1/4 C rice vinegar
1/4 C white sugar
1 1/4 tsp salt

Directions:
1. Place rice into a large, deep bowl. Fill with cold water and rub rice together with hands until the water turns milky white. Pour off the cloudy water, being careful not to pour out the rice. Repeat 3 or 4 times until you can see the rice through 3" of water.
2. Drain the rice in a fine strainer, then place into a saucepan of water. Allow to stand for 30 minutes. Stir together rice vinegar, sugar, and salt until dissolved in a small bowl, set aside.
3. Transfer to rice cooker and cook. Once done, allow to stand for 5 minutes.
4. Scrape rice into a bowl. Stir in vinegar mixture until well incorporated and no lumps of rice remain. Allow to cool at room temperature. For a shinier appearance, use an electric fan to cool the rice rapidly.

Remarks:

We were too lazy to stir in the vinegar mixture though I prepared it. Just sprinkled some pre-packed spices on the plain rice. I was the only one who liked the spices =x

~ Coconut Pandan Agar

Modified from:
Swallow Globe Brand Agar Agar

Description:
Simple yet refreshing Asian dessert to cool the body on a warm day~

Ingredients:
1 packet of agar (12g)
750 g water (use 800 g in case water evaporates)
150 g sugar
250 g coconut milk
1/2 tsp pandan essence

Directions:
1. Bring water, sugar and agar to boil, till everything is dissolved.
2. Stir in coconut milk and pandan essence, and simmer for 2 - 3 min.
3. Pour into moulds, cool and refrigerate.

Remarks:

Constant exposure to inedible-foul-chicken-essence-smelling agar in the lab had induced me to make this - yummy fragrant agar dessert! I think it's a waste to feed microorganisms with such yummy red algae that possesses an array of health benefits (like detox, slimming, etc).

The agar jellies turned out just as expected, and did not fail to amuse my tastebuds. Great taste, minimal effort! Oh they can make a great treat for the health-conscious too (only if you reduce the sugar and omit the coconut milk)! =p

~ Sausage Linguine

Taken from:
Tiff's

Description:
Smooth linguine with chunky sausages (and other stuff) slathered in herbed tomato sauce.

Ingredients:
1/2 onion, sliced
1 medium tomato, wedged
1 sausage, sliced
2 sotong balls, cubed
1/2 C frozen mixed veggies
1/4 C broccoli florets
1/2 C water
1 tsp oil
2 tbsp ketchup or tomato sauce
1 tsp mixed herbs

Directions:
1. Cook linguine in salted water till al dente.
2. Fry chopped onions in oil till fragrant but not burnt.
3. Add water and tomatoes, and boil till tomatoes are soft but not mushy. If water dries up, add water by tbsp.
4. Stir in the mixed veggies, sotong ball cubes and sausage slices, along with ketchup and mixed herbs.
5. Once boiling, cook broccoli in the sauce for 3 min and spoon the sauce over linguine to serve.

Remarks:

This quick recipe makes one serving, and it's for brothers who do not care about how their food taste like. I'm not very sure how it turned out as I simply threw anything I fancied into the sauce, but Bro finished everything (was too hungry and too lazy to find food after my muffin made him "lose appetite") and commented that it's neither "awful" nor "good".

Brothers are simply a pain in the butt.

~ Jam Muffins

Modified from:

Allrecipes

Description:
Jam-filled chocolate muffins.

Ingredients:
3/4 C flour
1 1/2 tbsp sugar
2 tbsp cocoa
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 C water
1/2 C milk
1 tbsp oil
1 1/2 tsp vinegar
1/2 tsp vanilla
Jam, any flavour

Directions:
1. Mix dry ingredients and wet ingredients in two separate bowls.
2. Make a well in the dry ingredients and stir in the wet ingredients slowly.
3. Pour into well-greased tins and top with a dollop of jam.
4. Bake in preheated oven of 175 deg for 20 - 25 min.

Remarks:

The muffins turned out chewy again, something like fatt kueh. Could it be that I had reduced the oil too much? And I lost quite a lot of muffin to the muffin cups (bought new muffin cups just to fit the tins, finally!!) again as I didn't grease the cups before adding the batter. I shall remember to do so next time.

I used some of the watermelon jam I'd made in the morning, and it was kinda.. Okay. The jam seemed to work better on wholemeal bread. Most of the muffins were filled with the raspberry jam that I added to my Kolacky. Mum asked if the jam was spoilt as she tasted something sour in my muffins, I felt that they weren't sour though. It's either my tastebuds which were malfunctioning then, or hers were.

Oh ya, most of the muffins had weird alien faces~ Mars attack?

~ Watermelon Jam

Taken from:

Rox's

Description:
Tasty watermelon jam that you can't find elsewhere.

Ingredients:
1 1/2 C watermelon puree
1/2 C sugar
1 tsp distilled vinegar

Directions:
1. Boil water melon puree with sugar for 30 min, stirring occasionally to prevent burning.
2. Ladle into a hot sterile jar placed in a waterbath. Cover the lid and leave the bottle in the waterbath for 5 min.
3. Cool and store in the refrigerator.

Remarks:

Jam too sweet, but possess a unique watermelony taste. Anyway, I had a very hard time trying to get the jam to gel - if only I had gotten some gelatin or pectin, any would really make my job easier! I stood there stirring (and getting scalded along the way) the pot of semi-molten mess for 40 min!! A lady shouldn't cook if she wants soft smooth silky hands and legs. Geez, I'm going to be stucked for life with blistered and wrinkled ones.

~ Chicken Baked Rice

Taken from:

Mum's

Description:
Lip-smacking rice dish with Japanese crispy chicken basked in gooey creamy sauce~

Ingredients:
-

Directions:
-

Remarks:

Mum had put in so much effort to make such a scrumptious dinner, so I just had to take a few pictures to show the world what a great cook my Mum is!

~ Watermelon Milkshake

Taken from:
Tiff's

Description:
Luscious milk swirled with watermelony goodness~

Ingredients:
1/2 C milk
1/2 C watermelon cubes

Directions:
1. Freeze watermelon cubes till semi-frozen, around 1 h.
2. Blend the watermelon into puree and stir in the milk carefully, using a teaspoon as guide, to create beautiful swirls.

Remarks:

It tasted normal to me, and yes I know that I didn't do the swirling part nicely as I was short of time. The milk brings down the sweetness of the watermelon puree, so feel free to decrease the volume of milk to ensure a sweet affair suited for your taste. Or simply stir in a teaspoon or two of sugar/honey.

In addition to the milkshake, the mad rush for time had led me to make a very sloppy peanut butter, jam and cheese sandwich which any kid can assemble quickly:

Seriously, I still like my healthy sandwiches best.

~ Cream Cheese Kolacky

Taken from:

Allrecipes

Description:

Ingredients:
85 g cream cheese, softened
115 g butter, softened
125 g flour
160 g jam
40 g icing sugar

Directions:
1. Mix cream cheese and butter until smooth. Add flour slowly until well blended. Shape into a log and chill overnight or for several hours.
2. Preheat oven to 180 degrees. Slice equally from the chilled log and roll each slice into a ball. Place on an ungreased cookie sheet. Make an indention in the middle with your finger and fill with 1/2 tsp (approx) of jam.
3. Bake for 25 min in the preheated oven, till cookies are slightly browned. Cool. Sprinkle with icing sugar if desired.

Remarks:

I found the pineapple ones similar to my pineapple tarts despite the addition of cream cheese which made the crust savoury; the raspberry ones tasted akin to the I-forgot-the-brand-name raspberry tartlets (by memory, as I haven had the tarts since I was just a kiddo); the marmalade ones made me and my tastebuds feel special.

Not too bad on the whole, but eating them makes me feel guilty. I gotta dig out my reduced-fat recipes!!

~ Nougat Limar

Why does Singapore not carry one of the nicest nougats around.. T.T

~ Shrimp Salad in Peanut Butter Tomato Paste

Taken from:

Tiff's

Description:
Shrimps and veggies in peanut buttery tomato paste~

Ingredients:
1 tbsp smooth peanut butter
1 large tomato (2.5" dia)
1/4 C shrimps, shelled and deveined
1 small potato (1.5" dia)
1/2 large carrot, sliced
1/2 celery stick, diced
1/2 C broccoli
1 tube eggplant, sliced
Pinch of salt
Pepper (to taste)

Directions:
1. Bring salted water to boil, and cook tomato and potato till soft.
2. Mash tomato into puree and stir in peanut butter. Dice potato and add into the paste.
3. Blanch the veggies and cook the shrimps, making sure that they are not overcooked. Toss with peanut butter paste, season with pepper and serve warm.

Remarks:

The paste went well with diced veggies, not the chunky ones, and the shrimps didn't make much of an impact. Go vegetarian :)

~ Creamy Shrimp Linguine

Taken from:

Tiff's

Description:
-

Ingredients:
-

Directions:
-

Remarks:

The recipe is the same as that of "Chicken and Broccoli Alfredo", just that I substituted Mushroom Potage as the sauce base and shrimps for the meat. It was not as well-received as the alfredo, but still a good attempt to use up that eyesore (potage) in the cabinet.

~ Warm Lettuce Salad

Taken from:

Tiff's

Description:
Casual tri-coloured dish to hit the daily fruits and veggies intake~

Ingredients:
4 lettuce leaves, torn
1/2 C frozen mixed vegetables
2 imitation crabsticks, sliced
1 tsp soysauce
1 C water

Directions:
1. Place all ingredients in a pot and bring to boil. Simmer for 5 - 10 min till lettuce is soft. Serve warm.

Remarks:

After my banana muffin feast as breakfast, I felt that something was missing - the fibre-laden group! Hence I dug out some papaya to eat, and apart from that, I also cooked this simple veggie dish. It's a mini feast for the gut as well as for the eyes!

~ Fat Free Banana Muffins

Taken from:

Allrecipes

Description:
Guilt-free spongy banana muffins~

Ingredients:
1 egg, beaten
2 bananas, mashed
1/4 C milk
1 C flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 C sugar
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp banana essence
1/4 tsp vanilla essence

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 160 deg. Lightly grease or line 5 muffin cups.
2. In a medium bowl, combine egg, bananas and milk. In a separate bowl, mix together flour, salt, sugar and baking soda. Stir banana mixture into flour mixture. Pour batter into prepared muffin cups.
3. Bake in preheated oven for 35 to 40 min, or until a toothpick inserted into center of a muffin comes out clean.

Remarks:

Yes they are really soft, but there were small mushy uncooked spots inside my muffins, and the muffins loved their the paper cups so much that I lost like 25% of each muffin just by trying to get them out! It's my mistake to not grease the paper cups (used paper cups as my muffin cups were too big, and that my muffin tin was too small) as they were quite thin and couldn't even hold the weight of the batter. I shall get muffin cups of appropriate size next time when I visit Phoon Huat.

I tried baking the remaining batter in a loaf tin, but the insides just wouldn't cook without the outside burning. Lowering the temperature wouldn't help much either. I'm so getting used to eating mushy and uncooked portions (the texture was somewhat like that of kuehs, chewy chewy) that I don't find them weird anymore! Oh ya, the sugar content seemed rather high to me too, shall minus 2 tbsp next time. However, the loaf was easier to be remove from its aluminium foil as compared to the muffins.

I guess I'll just need more practice with non-fat recipes.

~ Potato Rice with Ti Wan Choy

Taken from:

Mum's

Description:
Fragrant mushroom rice with chunky potatoes and tender chicken bits, served with stir-fried ti wan choy~

Ingredients:
-

Directions:
-

Remarks:

Mum cooked this for dinner today! I blogged it down as potato rice is one of my favourite dishes! And geesh, I was mentioning about Ti Wan Choy being in the fridge in the morning, and now it's in my tummy!

Anyway, I can't help but notice, that I really have the special knack for producing weird images with my food presentation! Doesn't the picture resemble the dopey countenance of a brown-skinned person (mushrooms as eyes, veggies as hair and potato as ears)?

~ Toasted Mediterranean Sandwich

Modified from:

Allrecipes (just got the idea from a few recipes)

Description:
A medley of roasted Mediterranean vegetables sandwiched between toasted bread~

Ingredients:
2 tbsp tomato sauce
2 bread slices, toasted
1 slice of cheese
1 tube eggplant, sliced
1/2 medium carrot, sliced
1/4 medium cucumber, sliced
1 tsp butter/olive oil
Pinch of pepper

Directions:
1. Toss vegetables in butter/oil with a pinch of pepper, and roast in the toaster/oven at 180 deg for 10 min, stirring halfway through or when necessary.
2. Spread tomato sauce on both toasted bread. Place the roasted vegetables and cheese on one of the bread and cover with the other. Serve with a handful of lettuce.

Remarks:

I had a craving for sandwiches in the morning again, so I had to come up with something.. But definitely not peanut butter sandwich again (though I really love to). So I pulled the fridge door open, and took out some of the possible ingredients that I can add to spruce up my sandwich and make it exciting. There were some tube eggplants, cucumber, carrots, lettuce, ti wan choy (a greens which I do not know what its called in English), bean sprouts, and I thought of some roasted veggie sandwich. After referring to online sites to check for possible combinations, I launched onto this mission :) It turned out pretty well, just that I needed to roast my veggies for a longer period and lesser time for my bread which got a bit charred. The eggplant conferred texture, the carrots sweetness, the cucumber and lettuce crunch, the cheese cheesiness, tomato sauce moisture, and toasted bread crispiness - a harmonious and wholesome breakfast treat!

~ Almond Cranberry Biscotti

Modified from:

Allrecipes

Description:
Low-fat almond-flavoured biscotti, made savoury with added cranberries and orange zest!

Ingredients:

1 C + 2 tbsp flour
1/2 C white sugar
1/2 pinch salt
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 C almonds, chopped
1/2 C cranberries, chopped
1 1/2 tbsp orange zest
1 egg, beaten
1 tbsp milk
1 1/2 tsp oil
1/2 tsp almond extract

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 160 deg. Grease and flour a baking sheet.
2. In a large bowl, stir together flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, almonds, cranberries and orange zest. Make a well in the center and add the egg, milk, oil, and almond extract. Stir or mix by hand until the mixture forms a ball.
3. Separate dough into 2 pieces and roll each one into a log about 8" long. Place logs on prepared baking sheet and flatten so they are about 3/4" thick. Bake in preheated oven for 30-35 min.
4. Cool slightly, and remove from baking sheets. Slice diagonally into 1/2" slices with a serrated knife. Set cookies on side back onto the cookie sheet and bake for 10 min for each side. Finished cookies should be hard and crunchy.

Remarks:

The cookies were too hard!! I think I baked them for too long a time! Should have just stucked to the original instructions for the baking times. But I really had to lower the temperature as my cookies were burning before they are dry. I would like to slice them into thinner strips, say 5 cm instead of 1/2" too. Also, the cookie batter was really sticky, so wetting hands is a must when handling the dough. Despite the really hard texture (I do not know if they are supposed to be that hard or not), they were crispy and it was quite a sensory delight for me :)

~ Stir Fried Chinese Cabbage with Mushroom

Taken from:

Tiff's

Description:
Simple greens that can be whipped up in minutes!

Ingredients:

1 tsp oil
3 dried mushrooms, soaked and sliced
4 heads of Chinese cabbage (long types), chopped
1 tbsp soy sauce

Directions
1. Sauteed oil and mushrooms together till fragrant.
2. Add the cabbage and soy sauce. Stir well, cover and simmer for 5 min.
3. Serve hot.

Remarks:

Make sure not to overcook the cabbages to avoid it being mushy. I didn't, and it turned out green and crunchy. The mushroom added the flavour, in doing so, brought out the sweetness in the cabbage. The only problem with it was.. it needed more people to finish it! I underestimated the amount of cabbage to cook, and came up with a big bowl for one! This recipe makes 3-4 servings.

~ Fruit Salad with Sesame-Orange Dressing

Modified from:

Good Housingkeeping

Description:
Salad tossed in low-fat sesame-orange dressing.

Ingredients:

1/2 C orange juice
1/2 tsp grated orange peel
1 tsp sesame oil
1 tsp soy sauce

1/2 C cucumber, chopped
1/8 C sliced carrots
1 C lettuce, chopped
1 orange, chopped
4 strawberries, sliced
1 handful blanched beansprouts
1 handful sesame seeds

Directions
1. Mix wet ingredients together, toss with the remaining fruits and veggies.

Remarks:

I do not particularly like the taste of the sesame-orange dressing, I would still prefer creamy dressings. Also, the veggies seemed to pale in comparison to the fruits, which were very sweet, causing the veggies to taste raw and bland.

~ Yoghurt with Cereal Mix

Taken from:

Tiff's

Description:
Unusual but nutritious and yummy concoction of yoghurt with cereal mix!

Ingredients:

1/4 C muesli mix (?)
3/4 C cornflakes (Post Cereals: Pecan)
1/4 C dried cranberries
1 C fruit yoghurt

Directions
1. Mix dry ingredients together and top yoghurt in a bowl.

Remarks:

Breakfast for today! I'm a biased person, any yoghurt combinations serve my tastebuds well!