Simple Sunday Lunch

As much as I love to cook, sometimes when I do not feel like cooking, I will ask my hubby to cook. Personally, his cooking skills has improved a lot compared to those days when we just got married. He is being very helpful in the kitchen especially during the weekends. As his wife, I do appreciated that.

Ta-da...this is the simple Sunday lunch cooked by my hubby.

1)Fried black promphet fish (with seasalt & pepper)
2)Simple mix vegetables
3)Cal rose rice mixed with Korean Gim-mat seaweed

Our daughter just love it.

For dinner, I use the simplest method to steam the red snapper. After steaming the fish, I just fried some ginger & soya sauce to pour over it. Simple & nice.

Besides that, I also made some mince pork cake for weekdays dinner.
Here is the recipes:
Mince pork, soy sauce, ginger, salt, pepper, spring onion & some chicken granules .
Marinated it & shallow pan fried. Yummy~~

For the mince pork cake, you can also add a little bit of 5 spices powder. It really enhance the flavour. I already tested it.

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Bread with Fermented Dough

This bread uses mostly strong white flour & 10% organic rye flour. After long hours of fermentation (24 hours), it gave good structure to the bread (beautiful air bubble) & beautiful crust with a slight sourness. This fermented dough is lighter than polish ferment & it is really spongy (see pic). It is very suitable to be made into loaves, baguettes & bread rolls. The organic rye flour give the bread that is slightly darker looking, with a more rustic look & a lovely depth of flavor. In my case, I made make it into rolls. By the way, this bread it 100% handmade. I noticed that handmade bread can in cooperate more air into the bread which make it so much lighter. Sourdough bread sandwiches for weekday’s breakfast are just great. It tastes unbelievable great with anything. Examples: Egg sandwich: Fried eggs + sliced tomato + lecture + low fat cheddar cheese BLT sandwich: Fried crispy bacon + sliced tomato + Lecture + low fat cheddar cheese Making sourdough is more advance technique in bread making. For beginners in bread making, I would always recommend to learn the basic bread recipes. The Naked Chef Jamie Oliver has a pretty cool bread recipes which is “fool proof”. The reason why I recommend this is, it will give confident for anyone who wants to try to bake bread for the first time. Again, It will encourage you to try another bread recipe & move on & on...
Just give it a try. I have tried this bread before & it turned out pretty well for a basic bread. Besides that you can use this bread dough as a pizza base. Here is the link:http://www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/bread-recipes/basic-bread-recipe

P/S: These type of bread are great for toast. It is addicted. That's my cozy weekend breakfast. We built 3 tall BLT (Bacon, Lettuces, Tomato, Egg) sandwich for me, my husband & 5 years old. You won't believe that my 5 years old can gobble up such a "Huge" sandwich (compared to her size). She refused to share it with her daddy, I was worried that she ate too much. Of course, she ate very little later on for her lunch.

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America on the Plate 2

This is round 2, as there is only so much I can fill into my tummy (lest it looks like a melon soon), I decided to get my colleagues to try out Betty Midwest Kitchen (BMK) while getting a partial review on other items on the menu.
For this round, my colleagues and myself ordered a truly interesting item, pull burger and sloppy Joe. Both of these items are truly interesting because it offers very little clue what is it about, okay start off with pull burger, you might have seen minced meat patties, but have you seen a burger patty made with meat that is “pulled”? Base on what is presented; the meat is actually pulled or shredded from a larger chunk. In theory, it should have a different effect, just like the pork chop that is mashed with the mallet.

You can definitely expect the flavor to be richer, and to have a better texture, as what the Chinese would say, a good chewing feel, i.e. The joy of having a piece of food between the teeth.
Next is Sloppy Joe, well it is actually a minced meat stew that is served with a toasted bun and fries. Again, the minced meat stew carries a unique taste of Mid West, which is marinated and matched with spices that is totally not Malaysian style, Thai style, Indian style or Vietnam style,…. Just Mid West style. For this dish, you can either spread the minced meat on the toasted bun and eat it like a burger, or dip the toasted bun into the stew, either way; it is very much of American style.
Okay, this is round 2, rest assure, there will be more rounds, to my satisfaction, and half of the menu must be tested or reviewed.

I have to confessed there was a round 3, I went with my colleague. We have tasted the baby pork ribs & the country fried chicken. Personally, I prefer the pork ribs.


This was a round 4, I had the juicy roast Boston Butt in beer. This dishes really impressed me. Juicy & moist compared to the pork chop.
Finally, it ended with a vanilla ice cream with toasted almond. My kid favorite.

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English Fruity Scone

The British should be proud of scones. By far, that is the most sinful & delicious dessert for tea time. Aha….especially with a cup of English Tea. Normally the local bakery will sell round shape scones, but I like to make my scones squares. Eg, the infamous Cameron Highland Old Smoke House round plain cream scones with the Devonshire cream, butter & strawberry jam. These scones are made with good quality raisin & butter. Remember, good quality ingredients will make the best pastry. The secret to make a good scone is, do not over mix the dough. The best way to control dough is to mix it by hand. Rub in the butter by hand. Feel it. Handmade pastry is the most delicious. The scones turned out so delicious & I was so excited to tell my buddy Sabrina to come over to sample it. I am so glad that she did drop by. Remember, good food must share with good friends ;>.

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Sourdough Pizza

Pizza is probably one of the most famous Italian dishes in the whole world. This fermented sourdough pizza give a depth flavor to the pizza. I have mixed some rye flour to this pizza dough. It is basically incredibly earthy & absolutely delicious. Very often tomato is the basis of a pizza topping & mozzarella cheese is a must.
To be honest, the pizza served by the standard pizza chain is not that brilliant. I always enjoyed making these simple dishes so that I can make my favorite topping. Besides, I can control the amount of cheese on the topping. When making the pizza topping, always remember, “Less is More”. This is a thin crust pizza that my family loves. The special thing about this pizza is the slow fermentation of the sourdough gives the pizza base a good golden crust & that was absolutely delicious.

Just a bit of everything make a delicious pizza, here are my ingredients:
Meat chunks, green bell pepper, onion, organic tomato sauce, egg & mozzarella cheese.

If you prefer an oozy & runny egg, you should crack the egg on top of pizza 2 minutes just before the baking is done. I would love to have that too but unfortunately the pasteurized egg was not available at that point of time.

For beginner to learn to make pizza; I would recommend Jamie Oliver pizza dough recipes:

http://www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/pizza-recipes/pizza-dough

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A Proper Chocolate Ganache

Last week, I tried to make a proper Chocolate Ganache. Ganache refer to a variety of icing, or fillings for pastries and glazes. It is made from chocolate & cream. Its origins dated to around 1850, it may have been invented in Switzerland or France. It is a very versatile glaze for any cakes.

It is pretty easy. Equal part of chocolate vs equal part of cream with a knob of butter. If you would like to have a very chocolate ganache instead of the creamy ganache, you can reduce the cream around 15-20%.

Here is the simple recipes:
125g chocolate
100g cream
1 tsp of butter

1) Chop the chocolate into smaller pcs.
2) Heat the cream in a pot, when it is just boil, throw in the chocolate pcs, off the heat & stir until the chocolate melt.
3) Cool the chocolate ganache before pour it on a cool cake.

The butter cake looks gorgeous with chocolate ganache icing.

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America on a Plate I

I love cooking but sometimes I do love to dine in a restaurant. Recently I found one new restaurant which sell American Midwest cuisine, the restaurant is pretty straight forward.

For the uninitiated, US is a huge country, and west can be divided into Mid West and South West, and both region offers cuisine that differs in terms of style and taste. You might know of Texas, but that is South West, which have some influence of Mexican style.

Okay back to the Betty's kitchen, the signboard said Mid West, hence, this definitely deserves some investigation. For this round (round 1), I ordered (refer to pics) the cheese burger, juicy pork chop & pig blanket ( sausage with bacon). The cheese burger came with costs about rm15.5, which is a brilliant deal considering KFC dinner plate would cost rm 11.95 (+ 5% tax), on top of it, the burger is old school, minced and grilled, with a combination of pork and beef, neither will you get such combo from McD, BK or Carls Jr.

As per the pork chop, it came with caramalised apple and peas. The pork is juicy and chewy, while some prefers it to be tender, but chewy is good, that gives you the satisfaction of chowing it hard, taste wise, it is truly American, and the caramelised apple definitely makes feel like you are somewhere in Iowa or Minesota.

Last of all, is the pig blanket, you might find it look simple, i.e. bacon wrapped sausage, rest assure that the taste speaks for itself, the bacon is packed with the smoky flavor that truly symbolise the all American grill. Try if you will with bacon that you would get from Jusco, you just won't get the same flavor (I knew I tried).

In short, claiming to be Mid West flavor, this eatery really lives up to the claim, and rest assure that, for myself, there will be round 2 (I did mention round 1 when I started the review right?)

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Tiramisu Cupcakes (Baking Class with Sabrina)

Last Saturday I was really busy conducting a “baking class”. My buddy Sabrina is coming over to my kitchen to learn how to bake tiramisu cupcakes, chocolate cheese cake & durian cake. We spent about 4 hours in the kitchen to make 3 cakes. It sound crazy but we had fun. Yeah….it was tiring but we enjoyed the baking therapy. It is good to have friends sharing the same hobby – baking, cooking & eating. Well, that is the reason why we can’t really diet strictly. Oops…………
So, I the so called “Sifu” try to teach the 3 recipes in a roll. Initially we were thinking of baking tiramisu cupcakes & chocolate cheese cake. Since we have the ingredients for making the durian cake, then we decided to bake it immediately. Luckily my kitchen can accommodate 2 people. We are quite efficient to split all the work loads including the clean up.
This is the 2nd time I am baking the tiramisu cupcakes with some modification. I have made the tiramisu frosting a little thicker than the original recipes. The frosting tasted richer & it was really delicious with a shot of Brandy. We were delighted with the “brandy-ed” tiramisu cupcakes. It tastes even better to keep the cake overnight. Our friends & neighbors who had sampled the cupcakes gave good comments. We were so glad.
Here are the pictures, aren’t they gorgeous? They are smiling at us & say “eat me”!!

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Durian Cake (Baking with Sabrina)

We have made a simple durian butter cake. The tip to make a better butter cake is you must cream the sugar & butter properly. The butter will turn into pale yellow batter. This will help the cake to rise & the texture will be just right. When we were baking the cake, I could hear my neighbor’s kid shouting: “mummy, smell good~~” Yeah, it was the POWERFUL durian smell. Durian is one very strange fruits, either you will love it or hate it. Most of the local Malaysian love durian, but still I do have friends that think the durian stink. The soft custard like durian flesh is sticky & sweet. It is very suitable to make dessert.

For those who are crazy about durian will love anything made with durian. In the local market, we have pancake with durian, crepe with durian, cheese cake with durian & durian butter cakes. It is quite popular. This is also my 1st time to make a durian cake, this recipe pass the mark. The sweetness is just nice. I wish I can search for a better durian cake recipe when the durian is in season again.

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Chocolate Cheese Cake (Baking with Sabrina)

I have been making my favorite chocolate cheese cake again. We like to indulge in the smooth texture & the creamy cheese filling. This time, I have made it with a little twist. We use the intense espresso powder to replace the normal coffee powder. The cheese cake has the bold & intense coffee flavor. I knew Sabrina will enjoy this cheese cake because she loves coffee. Fine, I confess I love coffee too.

Since there are surplus ingredients: cold cream & chocolate. We made the rich chocolate frosting on top. Just use equal part of cream & chocolate. Boil the cream in a saucepan; add in the chocolate when the cream just starts bubbling. Remove from heat. Stir …..stir….stir…until all the chocolate melted..drop in a knob of butter. Cold the batter until it reaches 28 degree Celsius. Just pour on top of the cheese filling. Keep in the refrigerator until the chocolate set.

You can refer to the pictures. Yeah…I knew I should have use a white color plate & the chocolate frosting was not completely cool when I slice it. That’s because it was late, my buddy are rushing back home. She has been in my kitchen for at least 4 hours. It's OKay. I will definitely make a proper one again.

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Cherry Tomato Salad with Lemon Dressing

I have ran out of fresh vegetables yesterday. Normally, we will have stir fried vegetable for weekdays dinner. Fine. We will have fresh salad for dinner which need very little effort & time to prepare.

Therefore, I grab some very fresh & delicious cherry tomato from a fresh mart near my office before 5pm. They are the wholesales for fresh Cameron highland vegetables. Price are cheaper compared to the supermarket or hypermarket. It is always good to buy direct from the source. The fresh cherry tomato is directly from Cameron Highland.

Sweet yellow cherry tomato and sour red cherry tomato combined with some green leaves make perfect salad. Before that, we must make perfect salad dressing. I was delighted by this lemon salad dressing. Yummy~~

Just mix 6 tsp good quality oil, 3 tsp fresh lemon juices,1 tsp good honey, pinch of good french salt & some fresh cracked pepper. Mix ....mix....mix.....That's easy isn't it? Just pour over the salad, mix it using your hand. That's my super fast salad recipes. You can always paired this salad with Japanese sushi. Children will love this. This colorful & yummy salad will encourage children to love vegetables.

I have used this dressing for the Sunday lunch with some hard boil eggs. My girl like it so much & it make me feel happy. Because I don't need to nag on her..."eat fast fast"..........=P

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