My New toys

I got these special delivery from my sister last night. I am soo over the moon! It has got cover too. Stuff like these is hard to get in Perth. If there is, it is quite pricy. My sis gave hers to me and all the way from Brunei, have to come up with a good recipe to show it to her soon, hee!

Together, Kerrie also gave me her hot plate, really excited to have all the new toys. Can't wait to try out my sizzling tofu now!.... Thanks sis.

Fried Whole Meal Pasta with Ham and Pork Mince

Whole meal pasta is very high in fibre. It is supposed to be more healthy than the normal pasta. I find it abit less chewy than normal ones and the taste is something that we have adjusted to over a period of time. Nevertheless, it is still tasty and fun to eat!

Ingredients

500g Whole Meal Pasta(any shape and sizes can do)

1 big Onion sliced

3 crushed garlic

1/2 cup Ham cubes or sliced Ham

1/2 cup Mince pork

1 tbsp Oyster sauce

1 tbsp Sweet Soya sauce

1 tbsp Dark Soya sauce

1 tsp dried chilli powder

dash of pepper

1 tsp Sesame seed oil

Olive oil for frying

Use a pasta pan to boil enough water for cooking the pasta. Put pasta into the boiling water and simmer until it is soft. Add abit of olive oil and salt into the water will stop the pasta from sticking to each other. Pour directly into a sieve to drain and set aside for frying.

In a big wok, heat olive oil. Add in Onion and garlic. Fry till soft and fragrant. Add sesame seed oil, ham and mince. Fry till mince is thoroughly cooked. Add in oyster sauce, pepper, and dried chili powder. Stir in until all ingredient well and add pasta. Stir it a little and add sweet soya sauce and dark soya sauce. Fry till all ingredient are well mixed. Remove from heat and serve.

Note: I love to put a dash or two of my home made lime juice into the pasta which make it even more appetizing

Spicy Tofu

Made some tofu today, and so spicy tofu is already planned on my mind for dinner tonite!

Nothing taste more better than self made tofu. Maybe its because when I am just beginning to enjoy the harvest of hard labour of cooking (have just cracked the tofu recipe), it somehow made the dish more appetizing!

Ingredients


1 piece fresh tofu


1/2 cup of frozen mix veges


1/3 cup pork mince


1/3 cup tin meat cubes


1 red onion(finely chopped)


2 gloves garlic(finely chopped)


1 cup water


1 tbsp spicy sauce(any type preferred)


1 tsp sesame oil


1 tbsp oyster sauce


salt and pepper to taste


olive oil for frying


corn starch for thickening

Heat a small sauce pan, put olive oil and fry the tofu until slightly golden brown on each side. In a wok, heat olive oil, put onion and garlic into the wok and fry until fragrant. Add in spice sauce and stir fry the sauce evenly. Add pork mince and meat cubes. Fry until slightly cook and add veges. Add sesame oil, oyster sauce and salt/pepper follow by water. Reduce the liquids in half and then add in corn starch( mixed with a little water) to thicken the gravy.

Put tofu onto serving plate and pour the spicy sauce over it. serve hot.

Baguettes

Made some stew today and also made some baguettes to go with it. It goes down extremely well with the portions size of this recipe for four person. Especially when it just came out of the oven and straingt onto the dinner table! Extra satisfying when looking at the faces of my contented customers.







Ingredients

2 1/2 cups bread flour
1 tbsp sugar
1 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp instant yeast
1 egg yolk
1 cup water

Put all ingredients into the bread machine. Set machine into dough mode and let it finish its cycle.

Remove from machine and divide dough into 8 portions. Roll it out into a long oblong shape. Place on baking tray and leave to double in size in warm places.

Use scissors, snip diagonally twice on the top of each baguette. Egg washes the baguettes and bake in a preheated 375 c oven for 20-25 minutes. Remove and cool a little before serving.

Bloggers

Surfing through the net, I seen so many beautiful blogs that seems to have sooo many interesting and cute stuff I can click on. REally wish to learn from them how they modify their blogs that well.

My sis suggest I should change blog site. I think it should not be the case. I like my little blog, but it kind of looking plain. There are things which I tried to add into my blog also doesnt seem to work.

Try harder next time!

Ham and Cheese Pizza Pockets

Ham and Cheese Pizza Pockets



Ingredients
2 3/4 cup bread flour

1 cup plain flour

1 Tbsp. milk powder

1 tsp. bread improver
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. bread softener
12g instant yeast sachet

1/4 cup sugar

1 egg
1/3 cup Melted butter
100 ml Butter Milk

250ml cold water

Egg washes (one egg and milk)
Sesame seeds for sprinkle on top

Fillings

Sandwich Ham cut into small squares

Cheese slices

Hand knead: Dissolve the yeast from the portion of water; approx 60ml of water. (Pre warm water slightly in micro). Let it sit for 5-10 minutes. Combine all dry ingredients first and wet ingredients in two separate bowls. Add in wet ingredients into dry ingredient bowls and knead it into dough. Cover and leave to double in size for 30-45 minutes.

Bread Machine: Set machine in dough mode and put all ingredients into the machine. Take note that butter is cool before placing into machine. Let the machine do the work.

After double in size/ (bread machine beep), remove and punch the dough on a floured surface. Cut into 75g dough pieces. Roll out each dough into a round shape and put ham and shredded cheese (I use cheddar) in the middle. Pinch up the sides and roll into a ball. Place on baking trays lined with baking paper. Cover and let it double in size in a warm environment for 45minutes. Egg washes the buns and sprinkle with sesame seeds. Bake in a 190 c oven for 20 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool slightly before serving or putting in cake tin.

Note: I have a small family. As this recipe will yield good 16 or so buns. I freeze those extras in the freezer. This has to be done right after; when the buns are completely at room temperature and I packed them in freezer bags. When needed, I simply remove and heated up in the microwave oven. Reheat will be better using conventional micro.

Little Ginger Man

Ginger Bread Man


Ingredients

3 cup whole meal plain flour
½ cup sugar
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp Bicarbonate of soda
1 tbsp ground ginger
2 tsp cocoa
½ tsp salt
1 tbsp warmed milk
½ cup melted butter
½ cup warmed treacle

Dissolve bicarbonate of soda in the warm milk and set aside. Cream butter and sugar; add bicarbonate of soda follow by milk and treacle. Add in flour, ginger, and cinnamon, cocoa and salt. Knead it into firm dough. May add little flour if abit sticky.

Divide dough into four portions. Roll dough in-between two grease paper with a rolling pin. Cut out biscuits with cookie cutter. Put on baking trays and bake in 180 c oven for 7 minutes. Remove and cool before placing in cookie tin.