~ Apple and Prune Sauce

Taken from:
Tiff's

Description:
A sweet marriage between Granny Smith's and Sunsweet's

Ingredients:
1 Granny Smith's apple, diced
7 preserved prunes, diced
Cinnamon powder

Directions:
1) Fill a heavy-bottom pan with enough water to cover the bottom.
2) Add in fruits and bring to boil.
3) Simmer till fruits are are soft and mushy. If there is still a lot of liquid left, simmer uncovered. Mash fruits.
4) Spoon over pancakes, or just eat on its own with a dash of cinnamon!

Remarks:

This recipe uses prunes as a sweetening agent rather than the addition of sugar called for in most recipes. I wanted to add in raisins instead of prunes but apparently some pig (shhh don't tell any of my family members) finished all my raisins. I didn't mash my fruits as I like them whole. A delectable treat nonetheless~

~ Hummus (canned)

A can of store-bought hummus! Free of added oil and msg and darn cheap! It smelt good too! The only complaint is that its too sourish for my liking (perhaps to preserve the hummus as there were no other preservatives). It's a good deal anyway. I'm so addicted to chickpea-related dishes =)

I had it with some wholewheat bread which lent some sweetness to the meal, and topped it up with a quick salad.

Ever heard of the saying that the more disorganised one's life is, the messier one's table will be? Mine's a testament to that.

~ Russian Tea Cakes

Adapted from:
Allrecipes

Description:
Teacakes

Ingredients:
1 C butter (227g), softened
1/2 tsp almond extract
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
4 1/2 tbsp icing sugar
2 C flour
1 1/2 C almonds, diced
Castor sugar

Directions:
1) Cream butter, sugar and extracts till fluffy.
2) Stir in flour and nuts till well-combined.
3) Roll into 1" balls and coat in sugar. Place on ungreased cookie sheet.
4) Bake in preheated oven at 175 deg for 15-20 min.

Remarks:
Not enough sugar resulting in bland taste. Just stick to the original recipe for best results.

~ Chickpeas Spaghetti

Adapted from:
divine caroline

Description:
Fibre-rich quick spaghetti fix!

Ingredients:
1 tbsp oil
1 medium onion, sliced
1 tsp minced garlic
1 tbsp chilli flakes
1/2 tbsp dried mixed herbs
1 big tomato, diced
1/2 celery stick, diced
1 can of chickpeas, drained (240 g)
1 tbsp ketchup
100 g wholewheat spaghetti

Directions:
1) Cook spaghetti in salted water till al dente. Reserve 1/2 C cooking liquid.
2) Saute chopped onion, garlic, chilli flakes and mixed herbs in oil.
3) Once onions are translucent, add in diced tomato, celery and chickpeas. Cook for around 5 min. Mash a portion of the chickpeas if they are too much.
4) Mix in ketchup, and adjust consistency of sauce with the pasta cooking liquid.
5) Serve hot with your favourite topping.

Remarks:
I'm so busy nowadays! Working like a bull 9 hours a day at a measly 5 bucks! It's a hard life as an intern, I can't wait for 6 weeks to be over! Anyway K bought for me a can of chickpeas, and I wanted to try out some new recipes (mock tuna salad, hummus etc) with it. In the end I chose this recipe as it promises a quick and satisfying lunch, and that it was raining (lazy to grab a bite outside before dragging myself to work). I shouldn't have thrown in the whole can, it's way too much! But the overall taste was pretty ok, for I like the nutty taste of chickpeas combined with tomato sauce and herbs :) For improvement, I would only use half a can of chickpeas and one more tomato for more moisture.

~ Banana Chiffon Cake

Adapted from:
Small small baker

Description:
A seductive dance between the aroma of an egg chiffon cake and the essence of banana~

Ingredients:
(A)
4 egg yolks
40 ml oil
30 g sugar
1/4 tsp salt
2 medium bananas, mashed
1/4 tsp banana essence

(B)
70 g flour
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp baking powder

(C)
4 egg whites
1/2 tsp cream of tartar
60 g sugar

Directions:
1) (C): Mix cream of tartar together with the sugar. Beat egg whites, and gradually add in the sugar mixture. Beat till soft peaks form and set aside.
2) (B): Sift all together.
3) (A): Beat egg yolks, salt, oil and sugar together till pale. Stir in essence and mashed bananas.
4) Combine (A) and (B) with minimal mixing.
5) Fold in (C) slowly, taking care not to overmix.
6) Gently pour the batter into a 12" chiffon cake tin, and give the filled tin a few quick knocks to remove any bubbles.
6) Bake in preheated oven at 170 deg, for 30-35 min.
7) Invert the whole tin while cooling to prevent collapse of cake. Slice when cool.

Remarks:

Right from the start, I was pretty sure that this cake would turn out well. And it did! It was very soft and spongy.. and surprisingly creamy and moist! Mum said that it was slightly undercooked on the inside (which I partially agreed too, though the cake seemed to be adequately baked and this made the cake moist and soft) and didn't believe me that only 1/4 tsp of essence was used as the cake was so fragrant. Now you know the reason behind the description.

This cake is one of the best that I've made, of course it would have been better if: less oil, less sugar, more oven time =p

Here are the phases which the cake had gone through:

Phase 1 - Blooming in the oven. I was quite taken aback when I saw the cracks on the chiffon cake as it meant to me that the temperature was too high.

Phase 2 - Cooling. The cracks then collapse into one big wrinkled blob after cooling.

Phase 3 - Unmoulding. Standing tall and proud!

Phase 4 - Sliced up. With slight distension.

Phase 5 - Ready to be devoured. Yummy!

~ Corn, Peas and Fish Paste Porridge

Taken from:
Tiff's

Description:
Sweet steamy porridge with chunky fish bites~

Ingredients:
1/4 C rice
800 ml water
1/4 C corn kernels
1/4 C sweet peas
1/4 C fish paste
1 tbsp soysauce

Directions:
1) Bring water and rice to boil. Simmer till rice is cooked.
2) Add in fish paste in teaspoons. Once cooked, add in corn and peas.
3) Stir in soysauce, and cook uncovered to let water evaporate till desired consistency

Remarks:

The porridge was of the consistency I like, and boy it's sweet due to the corn and peas! It's not of the savoury type despite the soysauce addition. The fish paste was made by Mum (I scouted it from the freezer section) long time ago had a lot of other ingredients which I'm not very sure of. It's just my usual way of doing things - just dump everything and anything I can get my hands on.

Anyway, today is the last paper of my exams and gosh I didn't do very well. Pharmacology's all about regurgitating information, and this is definitely not my forte. I can't seem to recall the points though I've memorised before, perhaps cause I wasn't concentrating well enough? I think I'm not going to do very well for this semester's papers, as I kept having mental blocks during the exams for god-knows-what-reasons. Nevertheless, there was still a celebratory dinner after today's exam - a luxurious dinner at Al Hamra, a Lebanese restaurant situated at the heart of Holland Village. Two appetisers (arabic bread, cold mezza) , one main course (mixed grill) and a drink (sweet yoghurt) costed 60 bucks! The food was fine to me, just that the experience of dining in such a well-decorated place with someone whom I feel comfortable with made the bill worthwhile (though I wasn't the one who footed the bill =x). Too bad the camera decided to take a break and refuse to start up, if not some nice pictures would have been featured here. Nevertheless, I felt (always will feel) better after a nice dining experience =)

~ Corn and Veggie Omelette

Taken from:
Tiff's

Description:
Omelette with a healthy twist

Ingredients:
1 egg, beaten
1/4 C milk
1 1/2 tsp soy sauce
20 g corn kernels
1 tomato, diced
1 lettuce leaf, shredded
Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
1) Blanch corn, tomato and lettuce leaf for 5 min. Drain and set aside.
2) Mix egg, milk and soysauce together, and pour into a lightly-greased saucepan on low heat. Do not scramble.
3) Once omelette is set at the bottom and the top is still runny, add in the blanched veggies.
4) Cover and let the omelette cook for 5 min or so, till the bottom of the omelette is well-cooked enough to flip. Flip the omelette in half and brown both sides till desired.
5) Serve with salt and pepper, or ketchup.

Remarks:

All the time I have been trying to clear what the fridge has! This is another one =x

Before I whipped up this recipe, I went jogging as I was growing too fat mugging away and consuming processed food (emo-eating! =(). Surprisingly, I met an old buddy! The last time I saw him (no I didn't peek at anything, I just presumed that he's a guy) was a few months ago!