Mocha Ganache or Chocolate Ganace (with Coffee)

Discover one super delicious icing for simple chocolate cake. Let us present the crowd pleasing Mocha Ganache.  I use this to ice one of my favorite Eggless Chocolate Cakes (8" round cake). It turns out great. This is so simple, you just need a spoon to ice the cake on  the plate



Simple Ingredients:
6 oz Dark Chocolate (chopped into small pcs)
Half cup of Double Cream
1 tbsp of Kahlua
1 tsp of Hot water mix with 1tbsp espresso powder  ( or any coffee powder)
 


 Method:
1) Place chocolate in a bowl.
2) Heat double cream on medium fire with the hot water mixture of coffee powder, make sure the coffee powder melt nicely with the double cream.
3) When the double cream come to boil, the side of the pot with the cream will simmer slightly.
4) Quickly pour in the boiled double cream into the chocolate, stir until the chocolate melted & glossy.
5) Let the ganache cool down completely. The longer it sets, the thicker it gets.
6) I let the ganache cool at room temperature & then put it in the refrigerator chilled for another half an hour.
7) Then, I took it out & whipped with a fork to let it slightly thicker so that it can hold the shape when I apply the ganache by using the back of the spoon. [Yes, I admit I love to cook & bake but not washing...]
8) Apply the ganache all over the cake. It is better to let it set slightly in the refrigerator for another half an hour before serve.

Tips: You can use a hand held whisk to whip the ganache to incorperate more air in order to have thicker icing. Make sure the ganache mixture if set up further in the fridge for 45 mins - 1 hour.

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Simple Delicious Daikon Soup (with Konbu)

As usual on one sunny Sunday I was doing my round of groceries shopping in a mall. For those who live in this region (Souteast Asia), the weather is hot & humid. We love to visit the shopping mall during the weekend.You may not believe how this recipes was created. It was inspired by the soup served  on Japanese events.

Whenever I see other people cooking delicious stuffs,  I will automatically ask them: " This is nice,  how do you cook it?".  From here, I learned the combination of raw material that make this soup delicious.

This soup is so clear & delicious. Simple ingredients & it can be made vegan or non-vegan. The "umami" or the pleasant savory taste shines in this soup.

Ingredients for 3 paxs:

1 medium size Daikon (White Radish)

10-15g of dried konbu (Kelp- normal come in square shape, use a damn cloth wipe the konbu)

1 corn

1200 ml water

Method (using pressure cooker):

1) Put all the ingredients in a deep pressure cooker.

2) Cook for 15 mins & let it simmer in the pressure cooker until it cooled. Serve warm.

or

Method (using normal deep pot)

1) Put all the ingredients in deep pot & cook with medium fire until boiling. You may add extra 300-500ml water as the liquid will reduced after 30 mins of boiling with small fire.

2) Let it simmer for 30 mins (mins). Serve warm.

Tips: For those who prefer to add some ribs or lean chicken meat in this soup, pls do so. It tastes equally good. But the soup base will not be so clear after adding the meat.

The secret of success for this soup is the konbu or sea tangle. It is very "umami" & full of fibers. We love to eat the sea konbu & it is great for detox. This soup is super cooling for this HOT summer. 

There are lot of vegetables in this soup, I just need to stir fry one dish & dinner can be served right away. This is a two in one dish- soup & vegetables.

I love to use pressure cooker because it is so fast & we can enjoy soup on a busy weekdays. Kids just love soup. 

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Classic Banana Cake (made with Yogurt)

I have been looking for a classic banana cakes recipies. Guess what? I found one. Everyone can bake it without fail. The classic banana cakes has be to firm instead of spongy. That's my personal liking. One good thing about the banana cake is we can use less sugar. These are good for Saturday & Sunday tea time. Surprisingly, such simple cake is always a hit among the crowd every time. It tastes so good even without icing. Besides, you must use the local fruits (banana or pisang emas) to make this cakes. It just tastes superb.

Ingredients I: Mix & Set asides

210g Mashed ripe bananas by fork

1 tsp Lemon Juice

Ingredients II:

85g Butter

Pinch of Salt

180g  Fine Sugar

1 Egg (L)

1 Egg Yolk

1 tsp Vanilla Extract

1.5 cup of Yogurt (original flavor- no sugar added)

188g AP flour

3/4 tsp Baking Soda

* Tips: You can also replace the Yogurt with Buttermilk. Buttermilk will give fluffier texture banana cakes.

I bake this cake in a 8" inch round tin. Always coat the inner of the round tin with butter or cut a round wax paper at the bottom of the tin for easy remover.

Method:

1) Mashed banana & lemon juice - set aside.

2) Mix AP flour & baking soda- set aside.

3) Mix yogurt/ butter milk with vanilla extract- set aside.

4) Cream butter , sugar, salt until fluffy for about 3-4 minutes.

5) Beat in one eggs each time until well mix.

6) Add in the flour mixture & alternately it with yogurt mixture. Fold in the mashed banana mixture. Remember not to over mix.

7) Bake in a preheated oven at 175'C from 45 minutes to 1 hour until a toothpick inserted come out clean. 

The baking time need to be calibrated for different oven. Enjoy.

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Korean Japchae (Stir Fried Korean Glass Noodles with Vegetables 杂菜炒)

We had Japchae for the 1st time during our trip to Korea. We thought that was very good. As usual we will try to figure out how to cook it at home.  We miss the Korean glass noodles which is very different from the Chinese glass noodles. It was made with potato starch. My hubby loves the texture of these noodles so much. As the Korean wave is very strong in Malaysia & Singapore,  we have these noodles import into this region with reasonable price. It is actually quite easy to cook. This noodles are great for partis as it tastes good even when it served cold. It has a lots of vegetables in it. For the vegetarian versions, just skip the meat & it tastes just as great.

The infamous Korean Glass noodles made from potato starch.

The Ingredients (3 - 4 servings):
350g Dried Korean Glass noodles
6-8 cloves of minced garlic
Light soya sauces
2-3 eggs
Cooking oil
Some water
Salt & Pepper
Sesame oil

Cut everything below in strips: to
Fresh mushrooms
Onion
Carrots
French beans
Green bell pepper
Spring onions
Black wood fungus  (fresh)
300g Meat strips marinated with 1tsp of oyster sauces
Garnish with cucumber strips & sesame seeds (toasted)

Tips: You can throw in any kind of vegetables. Any amounts. As long as it is well season with soya sauces. It  will taste great.
Tips: You can use the Korean soya sauces which will it even more authentic.

I

1) Separated the eggs yolk and eggs white. Fry with vegetable oil, let it cold, cut into strips, set aside.

 

2) Heat oil with mince garlic & fry the french beans & carrots. Season with salt & pepper. Set aside.

 

3) Put a big deep pot with lots of water over the noodles & cook according to the instruction on the packaging. I noticed that different glass noodles with slightly different size has different cooking time. The rule of thumbs, always pick up one noodles from the pots & eat it. This classic grandma method work perfectly well.

4) Drain the cooked noodles & put in into a big bowl, pour some light soya sauces to flavor it. The noodles is very long. Need to cut it with a scissors. I use stainless steel bowl. Mix the noodles with clean hand.

i

5) Heat oil with mince garlic, cook the onion with green bell pepper, season with soya sauces. Just put all the cooked vegetables on top of the noodles.

 

6) Heat oil with mince garlic, cook the meat strips with mushroom & black fungus. Cook this last as it will stain the wok. You don't really wash the wok pan every time when you cook.

 

7) Finally mix in the fresh cucumber. Use clean hand to mix is the fastest way. Season with sesame oil or additional soya sauces if needed.

Serve immediately.

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Garlic Fried Brown Rice with Fresh Mushroom

Fried Brown Rice is always a popular option in local vegetarian restaurant. Today, I am not doing the vegetarian version as I need to please the kids. However, you could omit the roast meat in the recipes if you want a vegan version fried rice. The highlight of this recipes is MUSHROOM & GARLIC. 

Ingredients:

3 bowl of  brown rice (it is ok to replace with white rice)

4 cloves of minced garlic

Handful of varieties fresh mushroom (cut into slices)

200g of roast pork (cut into little cubes -see pics below)

2 stalks of spring onion 

2 tbsp of light soya sauces 

1 tbsp of vegan oyster sauces

2-3 tbsp of water if needed

See Vegan oyster sauces below. It also included the dark caramel soya sauces. 

Method:

1) 1 tbsp of vegetables oil dry with the garlic in small medium fire together with the roast pork.

Do not let the garlic burn as it will taste bitter. Do not leave the non stick wok, keep stir frying.

2) In all the fresh mushroom & continuing stir frying. Add in the oyster sauces.

3) Add in the spring onion & brown rice.Keep on stir frying.

4) Add in the soya sauces,pouring the soya sauce in circular motion over the fried rice over medium high fire.

5) You can add around 2 tbsp of water if you think the fried rice is too dry. 

6) It is best served hot.

For those who are fans Japanese Garlic Fried Rice, you just need to change the recipes slightly:

3 bowl of  round sticky Japanese rice

4-5 cloves of minced garlic

3 stalks of spring onion 

3 tbsp of light soya sauces 

Pinch of salt if needed
2-3 tbsp of water if needed

**Tips: The ratio of water : brown rice is 2:1.

Pre-soak the brown rice 4-6 hours ahead before cooking in the rice cooker.

Let it cool down before frying. Normally, I will cook all the rice in the afternoon, half portion is for lunch consumption & the other half to be kept in the fridge for dinner fried rice.

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ABC Soup - Everyday Simple Vegetables Soup with Ribs

This soup is as easy as ABC. And it is so comforting for the kids. I used to love this simple soup when I was a kid. Guess what, my little ones love it too. It is a simple delicious soup that is full of nutrient for growing up small kids from 1 year old to 18 years old. It is good to eat these vegetable when drinking the soup.

Ingredients for 3 servings:

300-350g of ribs/chicken chunks with skin removed 

2 carrots (cut into thick slices)

1 medium size tomato (quarter)

1 medium size red onion (quarter)

3-4 medium size potato (cut into half)

1200ml plain cool water

Method:
1) Remember to blanch all the ribs with hot boiling water for a min & then wash it clean with running tap water.
2) Chop all vegetables according.
3) In all the ingredients above into a pressure cooker with 1200ml water.
4) Let it boil for 20 mins in the pressure cooker & it is done.

If you do not have a pressure cooker.
1) Just put all the ingredients in a deep pot over the stove & boil with high heat.
2) You will need to increase the water slightly to 1900ml as the water will evaporate while boiling.
3) Once the soup is boil, reduce the heat to the smallest setting & let it simmer in small fire for 2-3 hours.

This soup is best served warm.

Tips: You can also add one pcs of corn into this soup. Chop the corn into 4pcs. The soup will have the sweetness of the corn. Yes, kids love it. Who doesn't love corn?

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Easy Sambal Ikan Bilis ( Spicy Chilies Condiment in Anchovies -Malaysia Style)

As I have promised, I would like to share my Easy Sambal Ikan Bilis. Trust me, this taste as good as the original recipes that start from scratch. Looks yummy?

3 simple Ingredients:

1 tub of store bought Sambal Chili paste

Half bowl of dried anchovies ( rinse with running tap water)

1 medium size red onion 

Pinch of salt & sugar

Method:

1) 3-4 tbsp of vegetable oil, fry the ikan bilis (pre-wash & drained dried anchovies) until crispy.

2) Drain the excess oil with kitchen towel & put aside.

3) 1 tbsp of vegetable oil into the non stick pan, red onion in, brown it with medium fire. By using non stick pan, we reduce the oil needed to cook the sambal ikan bilis.

4) Stir fry for 3-5 mins in medium fire, add in 2-3 table spoon of the sambal paste ( chili paste). You can add more if you think it is not enough. Don't worry, cooking do not need to be so accurate compared to baking.

5) Tips: Need to add pinch of salt & pinch of sugar ( 1-2 tsp). The sugar will caramelize the onion in the sambal & it taste even better. Feel free to adjust it to your liking:

* Add more sambal paste if  you like it hotter

*Add more onion & sugar if you like it sweeter (kids love this)

6) Finally, stir in the fried ikan bilis & let it simmer for a while about 2-3 mins.

Serving recommendation: Taste best with Nasi Lemak & Curry Chicken. Stay tune for the Curry Chicken Recipes.

Thanks to my sister in Singapore, the below recipies was her home science recipes in secondary school.

I think she doesn't even remember this was the recipes she shared with me. I could still remember my late father who was so supportive & he was trying so hard to finish the sambal. Why? My sister double the spiciness of this recipes. 

Here is the traditional Sambal Ikan Bilis if you like to make it from scratch.

Ingredients:

3 tbsp dried anchovies (cleaned & pre-washed)

4ea shallots

1 knob of gingers (sliced thinly)

6 dried chilies

1cm dried belacan ( dried shrimped paste, toasted- optional)

1 stalk of lemon grass

1/2 cup of asam juice (mix some asam paste with water, drain the juice)

1/2 tsp of salt

1/2 tsp of sugar

2 tbsp cooking oil

Method:

1) Grind all these ingredients or you can smash it finely using a mortar & pestle- dried chilies, lemongrass, shallots, ginger, belacan.

2) Heat 2 tbsp of oil & fried the anchovies until crispy. Put aside & drained.

3) Then, add in all the no (1) finely grind ingredients, fry until become thick, you can see that the oil is turning into slightly red color & the aromatic smell of spiciness.

4) Add in the asam juice, let it simmer for a while. Add in salt & sugar.

5) Finally, let the mixture simmer & add it the fried anchovies, let the sauces become slightly thicken.

6) Serve the sambal ikan bilis with Nasi Lemak, accompaied with cucumber slices, hard boiled eggs (sliced half), fried peanut. This is a authenthic Malaysian breakfast!

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