My Christmas Roast Chicken

I would like to post this article "My Christmas Roast Chicken" as the last blog in year 2010. My family love this roast chicken so much & we had a wonderful Christmas celebration. I managed to take leave from work on the Christmas eve. It belongs to the family.

As this is the 1st time I am roasting a chicken, it is actually quite easy. In fact, if you are busy, you should roast a chicken. Just simply marinate the chicken & put it in side the oven for 1-1.5 hours. The oven will get the job done. You just need to serve it.


Simple Ingredients:
1-1.2kg Chicken
50g unsalted butter (melted)
1 ea orange
2 big clove of garlic (keep skin intact)
2 cup of water or beer
Salt & pepper

Onion, carrot, celery, potato
- cut all these into big chunk , oil it & salt + pepper it

Method:
1) Heat oven 180'C
2) Marinate the chicken inside salt & pepper
3) Rub the butter on the chicken skin outside. Premium butter will bring great taste.
4) Stuff slices of orange inside the chicken & not forgetting some garlic.
5) Lay all the big chunks vegetable on the tray, then lay the chicken on top of the big chunk vegetables.
6) Pour 2 cups of water inside the roasting pant & start roasting @180'C for 80 mins
7) You can also use beer instead of water. It taste even better. This is to keep the roast chicken moist. You can add the water again if the water is dried up during the roasting process.
8) To make the brown sauces, it is easy. Just put a knob of butter into the roasting pan together with all the juices (from the chicken), 2 tablespoon of flour. Then, cook all these on the stove, scrapping the roasting pan clean. Salt & pepper it.



Finally, we end our meal with these outrages caramel peanut cupcakes. What a fatty meal ;).
It is OKAY to indulge sometimes.

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Jaffa Cupcake

Delicious Jaffa Cupcakes :
Chocolate cake base with homemade orange cream (made with fresh orange juices)

I have been receiving quite a number of inquiries on Jaffa cupcakes.
We can guarantee that you will love these cupcakes as we do. It is so delicious.

We received orders for these Jaffa cupcakes.
We are so pleased that people love our cupcakes.
The most satisfying thing for a baker is to see people enjoy eating your cakes.

For more inquiries, please contact us @ 012- 3813896.

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Product Goes Public

On the 19th Dec, I had the opportunity of setting up a booth in Plaza Month Kiara morning market. It was a day filled with fun and excitement, it is the first time that my stuff have direct and open interaction with the live market.

The morning market started at 10 am, and ended at 5 pm. Being overly excited, needless to say, the booth was set up at 10 am. And here is the booth, (some of you might be really curious about the booth)

(Apologies for the not so clear picture, believe it or not, I felt so excited that I left out the camera and had to use my handphone.)

And now you probably be asking what was sold, and here they are,



Here is the Kimchi Fougasse (pronounced as fooGAHc), it is quite a hit, we had 2 French customer who bought this without hesitation, my guess is that, they already knew what is a fougasse.

Next, we have,...

... Pain Brie, another bread of Normandy origin, we could have made the usual French loaf, but this is one of my favourite. I had a French gentleman who was genuinely interested to buy it after tasting it, the funny thing is that, I forgot to bring along a bread knife and a chopping board,... my bad.


The next item is an Italian flavor, Focacia with rosemary, cherry tomato and fennel seed. It smelled great, in fact this is the first that got sold (to a non friend customer), I suppose the fine gentleman who bought it was in a rush and needed a quick fix.

The next goodie was
... Jaffa cupcakes, for the uninitiated, Jaffa is a common term to describe, orange + chocolate flavor. Since we are using our secret recipe chocolate cupcake with our special blend of orange cream, naturally, we have to call it Jaffa. At RM 2.00 each (promotion pack), it was a major hit. (If you may ask why the simple decoration?, it was baked the night before at 8 pm, and you could have guessed it, too tired for it, afterall, too much sugar is bad for your teeth LOL).

Finally, something for the kids,
... a king size chocolate cookie. I remember clearly, one mummy bought 1 for her toddler son, where the cookie was almost as big as his face.

Overall, it was a wonderful experience and we made many new friends, and we had so many encouraging feedbacks and suggestions. Rest assure, I am somewhat addicted to the idea of bringing my products to the public,.... orders anyone?

Part II
Our 2nd bazaar day at Plaza Mont Klara: 26th Dec 2010 (Boxing Day)
The stall outlook is slightly different compared to the 1st time.

Breads offered:

Jaffa & Lemon butter cupcakes were sold out.


Thinking back, we created a lot of nice memory. My daughter helped me on the drawing & the daddy  design the pricing tag for all the baked goods. It was really fun.

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Crepe Mille Cake

French Crepe is always delicious. A crêpe is a type of very thin pancake, usually made from wheat flour. The word is of French origin. While crêpes originate from Brittany, a region in the northwest of France, their consumption is widespread in France and they are considered a national dish, and they are also increasingly popular in North America and South America. In France, crêpes are traditionally served with sweet or savory filling. The most popular crepes is the crepes Suzette that you can order in a fine dining restaurant.

Normally when we have guests for dinner, we will serve some home baked pastry. when I am do not have time to prepare a baked pastry, I will normally serve crepes Suzette to my guests. They love it every time.

Today I am going to share with you a crepe mille recipes where you don't even need an oven for it. Crepe mille is a cake that made of many crepes layer. It is guarantee a delicious dessert.

To make a diameter 15cm crepe mille. You can use a diameter 15cm non stick pan. You will have a nice & tall crepe cake. But I am using my normal 28cm non stick pan, therefore, it is not "tall" enough. Nonetheless, it still taste good. Don't restrict yourself by all the "rules" of the recipes. Improvise if you need too. Enjoy the processes & you will fall in love with cooking.
Crepes:
90g low protein flour/cake flour
30g sugar
Pinch of salt
15g melted butter
90g eggs
270g full cream milk

Method:

1. Mix the flour+ sugar + salt in a bowl & make a well in the middle.
   
2. In the egg, mix with a whisk. Mix until all the flour come together.
   
3. Slowly add in the oil continuously. Mix until all the all the material come together.
4. Add in the milk slowly & continue mixing.
   
5. Filter the batter mixture to ensure smooth texture.
6. Lightly mix the batter every time before fry if the flour starts sinking at the bottom.

Pan fry the crepe:

1. A little butter melt in the pan. Not too much. You need just enough to cover the pan.
2. Scoop 30cc of batter & pour into the pan. Quickly spread the pan to make sure all the batter fill up the pan base. (30cc for a 15cm pan), you will need more if your pan is bigger.
3. Use small medium fire. Don't burn the crepe. Lift up your pan if it is too hot.
4. When you can see bubble on the surface & a thin layer start forming, it is time to flip the crepe over & cook the other side. Total cooking time is about 1-2 min depends how thin your crepe is.
   
5. Use a spatula, lightly scrap over the crepe edges, flip it over. Well, I use my hand. But my hubby can flip the crepes like a chef. Practice make perfect I guess.

Assemble the crepe with chocolate cream.
130g cream
130g melted chocolate (cool)

Lightly whip the cream until soft peak.
Mix in the cooled melted chocolate.

Assemble it : 1 layer of crepe , 1 layer of chocolate cream, 1 layer of crepe, l layer of cream..etc
You can also sandwich some chocolate chips between the layers if you like.

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Fresh Flounder or Flat Fish

To be frank with you , this is the 1st time we had flounder on our dinner table. Thanks to my friend, he is a fish lover, he strongly recommend these fish to us. He is telling us how good or how delicious those fish are. Fine. He got us about at least 1 kg of fresh flounder or flat fish. It is really FLAT.

Take a look at the back & front of the flat fish. Strange looks but very delicious. Although the flesh is very little ( compared to others fish) but it taste really sweet. Later on, I did a small survey on flounder. There are different species of flounder. The fisherman loves these fish because it is abundance & it tastes like the sea. It is so delicious.

We gutted & cleaned the fish. To be honest with you, it has quite a lot of bones.
We need 5 ea of flat fish to feed 2 adults & 1 kid.

Actually, it is very easy to prepare these fish. You can just pan fried it with oil & drizzle some lemon juice or lime juice. Simple & nice.
You can also braised the fish in thick soya bean sauces & it taste fantastic.

Braised flat fish in soya bean sauces:
Fish
Knob of sliced ginger
3ea shallots diced
Spring onion diced
Sauces: 1 tbsp soya sauces + 1 tsp thick soya sauces + 1tbsp bean paste + 2tbsp chinese wine + 1tsp sugar + 3tbsp water( or more depends on the size of pan)

Method:
1) Pan fried the fish until cooked.
2) Heat a wok, in the ginger + shallots. Slightly brown it.
2) In the cooked fish + sauces. Lid on.
Let it simmers for a few minutes & reduce the sauce. Decorate with spring onion before serve.

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My BBQ - Asian style

Last month, my sister came to visit me. She brought me some really fresh seafood for BBQ.
Who doesn't love BBQ? Everyone LOVE BBQ (with beer). This is probably one of the best moment to enjoy a can of cold beer. It is really fun especially BBQ with your close friends & family.

The easiest charred vegetables:
Just grab some bell pepper ( green/ yellow/ read) & onion, drizzled with oil + salt + pepper. The most important thing is don't cut it too small. It is good to retain the crunch of the vegetable. Avoid over cooked. You can skewer it too.

Thanks to my sister, we had this wonderful BBQ lobster. Cut the lobster into half. Mix lots of chopped garlic into the butter & smear it on the lobster which is a lot easier. You know what..I learn it from experience ( see below pic), the garlic fall out easily when I smear the butter on the lobster. When it is served, drizzle with lime/ lemon juices. Cook the lobster 2 minutes on each side.


For the shrimps, you can just marinade it with some ginger juice, chopped chili, salt & pepper.
The shrimps got to be fresh & keep your eye on the shrimp. It won't be nice once it is overcook.
You can determine if the shrimp is cook when it change color to "pinkish".

I found that the best material to BBQ is ....MEAT!
Yes. Compared to all the seafood/vegetables, no one can deny that poultry is the best ingredients for BBQ. Meat rules.....! I can recommend you to watch Robert Rainfort show to confirm that.

Ladies & gentlemen, now I am going to share with you the most versatile Korean BBQ marinate. It is awesome. You can use it on chicken, beef or pork...any poultry.

For the marinade: (Pls double / triple the recipes if you need)
4 tbsp korean gochujang chili paste / korean doenjang - i use gochujang cuz I love spicy
3 tbsp mirin/ rice wine
1 tbsp dark soya sauce
2 tsp sesame oil
1 tbsp grated fresh ginger root
2 spring onion, finely chopped
2 tsp ground black pepper
4 clove of chopped garlic ( or lots of garlic if you love garlic so much)
1 tbsp lemonade

** Combine all of the above & marinate the meat in refrigerator for at least 3 hours/ overnight.
The outcome is just fantastic.

With good food & good friends...it is time to enjoy.

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Funny Pictures

We have been collecting some funny pics if there is one.
I guess this is one of it, it is a good reminder.

Well, it is such a creative way to recycle a key. A key is meant to lock something.
Yup, it can be used to lock the water tap.

I just couldn't understand why children like to take pics from this perspective?
We have tonnes of these similar pictures in our digital camera thanks to my kid.

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Classic Muffin - Variety

Muffin is good for breakfast & tea time. The texture is something between cake v.s. bread. The best thing about muffin is the fat content is lower than regular cake because it is made of vegetable oil (liquid form) instead of butter. I like to make it because it is so simple & you don't really have to spend a lot of time watching the batter....mixing it proper to ensure it can be baked successfully.

Here is a recipes that it never fails. Anyone can do it. Simple.

Mix all the below in a big bowl ( see below).
500g flour
250g sugar
4tsp baking powder
1tsp salt

Mix all the below in another big bowl ( see below).
Eggs - 150g
Milk-350g
Vanilla- 12 g
Oil -200g

Option:
100g raisin or
100g chocolate chips or
100g chopped prune or
100g cranberry or
100g nuts (any nuts that you like)
- More is less . Just add 100g of choice of yours from the above & add in the the batter mixture.


Method:
Just pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredient. Mix mix mix with a whisk.
***DO NOT OVERMIX*** mix until it is just in-cooperated. Scoop the batter into muffin case & bake at 175'C for about 20-25mins.

I baked those muffin with jam & fresh fruits-strawberry/blue berry.
It was awesome!

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Homemade Birthday Cake

It has been always busy with my kid, work & family. I have to admit it is not entirely easy to juggle between those. Honestly, I wish I could update my blog more often. Nonetheless, a promise is a promise. Since I have already promised her that I will make a birthday cake for her. I will make it. I even took a leave from work to make this cake for my 6 years old birthday.

We have agreed on the design. I need my 'client' approval. Then, we bought all the materials from the ingredient shop & make everything from scratch (except the marzipan/fondant- a dough like sugar paste). In fact, you can make your own fondant. But, that consume way too much time. I purposely design this cake to be assembled in the simplest way.


1st- I baked a lemon butter cake , sliced into two & sandwich it with the royal icing. (yummy)
2nd- Roll the fondant & cover the whole cake.
3rd- Prepare all the small flower- Pink & Blue.
4th- Make a rose & 2 leaves & a pink ribbon.
5th- Assemble & stick everything using the royal icing.

You can also noticed that the cake is in 'dome' shape. Yes, you are right....it is too tedious for me to flat it, I decided to leave it naturally & the end result looks good.

My kid also telling me that....don't forget next year she want a princess cake. I am smart this time.."hm......let mama think about it......hehehehe"

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Taiwan Style Soy Chicken with Basil

This is my family favorite recipes for Chicken- Taiwanese Style (simplified version)

Ingredients:
Chopped Chicken in pcs
Thai sweet basil
Chinese dark vinegar
Ginger & shallots

Marinates Chicken:
White pepper
2 tsp five spices
2 tbsp of soy sauces
1 tbsp of dark soy sauce
a little sugar
1 tsp sesame oil
2 tsp Chinese wine


Method:
1) Marinate the chicken for at least half an hour to 2 hours in the refregirator.
2) Heat oil in the wok & fried ginger/shallots.
3) Pick up all the chicken from the marinates, retain the marinate juices. Add all the chicken into the wok now.
4) Let the meat brown a little bit for about 3-4 minutes.
5) Add about 4-6 tbsp of water mix with the marinate juices & add into the stir fried chicken.
6) Let the chicken simmers for a few minutes until it is cooked.
7) Add this point of time, you can add in the basil & the vinegar.
8) Stir fry for about a minute & serve.

Option:
-You can also fry some basil leave in oil until it is crisp & sprinkle on top of the dish. It looks more presentable.
- You can also add in one or two dried chili into this dish if you like something spicy.

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