糖醋鸡翅/排骨

 Recipe adapted from: 美食作家王刚

Ingredients: 

• 1-2 kg pork prime ribs/ chicken mid joint wings
• some cooking wine
• 1 big stalk of leek/ spring onions
• 20 gm ginger (crushed)
• Marinade: 
• 80 gm rock sugar
• 50gm black vinegar
• 1 gm sea salt 
• 10 gm light soy sauce
• White sesame seeds (toasted) for topping

Method: 

1. Blanch the pork ribs in water with some cooking wine. Drain and set aside. Skip this step if you are using chicken. 
2. Sear the pork/ chicken with some oil for 3 min. 
3. Add ginger and spring onions/ leek and 2 tbsp of cooking wine. Fry for another 2 min. 
4. Add a bit of the marinade and fry until the meat is evenly coated.
5. Add the remaining marinade and continue to fry for a couple of min. Add sufficient water to cover the meat. Remove scum from time to time if needed. 
6. Simmer for about 30 min. Remove scum from time to time when needed. Remove the ginger and spring onions/ leek. 
7. Continue to simmer until gravy thickens. 
8. Sprinkle the toasted white sesame seeds on the meat when serving. 

Kenny Rogers Roasters Copycat Corn Muffins

Recipe adapted from: Piece of Cake

Makes 10-12¹ pieces

I fell in love with the corn muffins at Kenny Rogers Roasters the first time I tried them. I have tried a couple of copycat recipes in the past few years but all failed to come close to the original. Recently I remembered this "outstanding" item I need to do and so I finally got around to try another recipe that I have bookmarked long ago. And after a failed try and some changes, I'm quite satisfied with the results! So here I am sharing this with those who, like me, love these corn muffins! Have fun and enjoy! 

Ingredients:

- 115 gm² unsalted butter at room temperature  

- 85 gm caster sugar

- 70 gm honey

- 2 eggs

- 125 ml milk 

- 225 gm plain flour

- 120 gm yellow cornmeal

- ½ tsp sea salt

- ½ tsp baking powder

- ½ to 1 tsp vanilla extract

- 100 gm³ frozen corn kernels

The original muffins are square so needless to say, I have to use my square muffins pan!

Method: 

1. Sift plain flour, cornmeal, salt and baking powder together. Set aside for later use. 

Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy.

2. With the mixer running, add in beaten eggs bit by bit so that it can be easily incorporated into the butter mixture. It is important the mixture is homogenous. 

3. Add in honey. Mix well. 

4. Add in flour mixture and milk alternately in 2 to 3 additions each. Keeping the mixer running at slow speed while adding in. 

5. Scoop into greased muffins pan and bake at 180℃ fan forced for 15 minutes. 

6. Remove muffins from muffin pan and cool completely on a cooling rack. 

Notes

1. The recipe I adapted from, states that it makes 12 pieces but as you can see, the muffins are not very tall (But my own pan is not very deep neither.). So if you prefer a taller muffin, I suggest you divide this recipe into just 10 portions. 

2. The texture is a bit dry for me so I will increase the butter amount to say 140gm the next round. Alternatively you can choose to increase milk instead if you prefer a less buttery taste. 

3. I find the amount of corn is not as much as that in the original muffins so I will increase this too to 120gm the next time I bake this. 

Stove-popped Caramel Popcorn

Who doesn't like a snack of well popped popcorn that is generously coated with a caramel that cools to a crisp? Problem is the store bought ones are often too miserly in the sweet coating or if you manage to find delicious ones, they often cost you a bomb for a small packet. 

So it became a no brainer to try making some at home; afterall raw popcorn costs next to nothing and you only need a small handful to make one big giant pot.

For those popping popcorn for the first time, you might not be aware that a small amount of popcorn will yield many times its volume when popped, so please prepare a large enough pot with lid, preferably transparent, to pop the popcorn, unless you want a popcorn explosion in your kitchen! For this recipe I'm using a big pot (that measures diameter 21cm x 15cm tall) and the popped popcorn will fill it to its brim. You will also need an equally large, if not, larger mixing bowl.

This caramel sauce is also a 'play cheat' one as brown sugar is used instead of boiling caster sugar till it gets caramelised. The taste is still, however, awesome. Now let's go pop some popcorn now!

Recipe adapted from: Stovetop popcorn and Caramel Sauce

Ingredients:

Popcorn

- 60 ml avocado oil

- 2/3 cup popcorn kernels

Caramel Sauce

- 170 gm unsalted butter

- 300 gm brown sugar, sifted 

- 6 tbsp light corn syrup (KARO brand only!) 1

- 2 tsp vanilla extract

- 2 tsp baking soda, sifted to remove clumps

Optional: unsalted macadamia nuts, toasted

Method

A. Popping the popcorn

A1. Put oil and 3 kernels into a deep pot.

A2. Heat on med-high heat until the 3 kernels pop.

A3. Remove the 3 kernels and add in the rest of the kernels.

A4. Cover the pot and remove from heat. Wait for 30 seconds. Popping will start.

A5. Put the pot back on heat. Wait till the popping has slowed down. Off the heat.

The popped popcorn

A6. Remove the lid. Be careful of any moisture that might drip back into the pot! Pour popped popcorn immediately into a mixing bowl that is large enough to toss the caramel sauce later. Set aside. 

B. Caramel Sauce

B1. Bring butter, sugar and corn syrup to a boil in a saucepan for 3-5 min. 

B2. Remove from heat and add vanilla and baking soda. The mixture will bubble and sizzle! Be careful!

B3. Stir to get homogeneous mixture.

B4. Pour over popped popcorn and toss quickly to coat. Sauce will harden quickly once cooled so must act fast. This is also the time to add in the optional macadamia nuts. Take note that it is normal if you can't get the nuts mixed in with the popcorn, because the sauce most likely will just glide over the nuts.

Spread the popcorn evenly on the baking tray and bake at 200C fan forced for about 5min

B5. Spread out the mixture on a baking tray and bake at 200C fan forced for about 5min to get crispy coated popcorn. Watch out for burning! Re-melting caramel will help you to toss the popcorn evenly too if you have not done so earlier. Cool completely before storing.

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Notes:

1. Initially I had been using KARO brand light corn syrup until I changed to other brand of light corn syrup when I couldn't get KARO and have discovered that during those times, my popcorn coating didn't cool to a crunchy crisp; it was tacky and got between the teeth. It only dawned upon me much later that it could be due to the change of the syrup and true enough, after I used back KARO brand, the coating is back to the usual crunch I like. 

Buttery Rock Buns with Macadamia Nuts

Recently I saw a post of rock buns by a fellow member G of Facebook group, Making Food with Love and it brought back memories of the yummy taste of this old school cookies and of course I asked for the sharing of the recipe and was told that it was by DeQueenKitchen. DeQueenKitchen also shared with me that adding some nuts in will give it some crunch and make it even more delicious. So here I was today baking this and the cookies are just soooooo addictive! The best part is it is not difficult nor tedious to make them!

Adapted from Rock Buns by DeQueenKitchen

Makes about 30 pieces

Ingredients:

- 200 gm plain flour
- 80 gm caster sugar
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 100 gm unsalted butter, cold
- 160 gm mixed dried fruits
- 110 gm macadamia nuts
- 1 egg (60 gm sized)¹
- 1 tsp vanilla extract

Method: 

1. Sift flour, sugar and baking powder together.

2. Cut cold butter into flour mixture using a pastry cutter until the mixture resembles bread crumbs.

3. Stir the nut and fruits into the flour mixture evenly.

4. Lightly beat egg and vanilla extract together.

The mixture should look like this after all ingredients are mixed in.

5. Mix egg mixture into dry ingredients evenly. Refrain from adding extra liquid. Mixture will look dry and crumbly at first but the dough will come together as you continue to stir and mix.

6. Using a cookie scoop, scoop the dough onto lined baking trays. Flatten slightly using your fingers and bake at fan forced 170C for 17-18min.

Notes:

1. Some of you might have noticed that this recipe is 2x that the recipe of DeQueenKitchen but yet my egg quantity remains unchanged. Nope, there is no typo in the above recipe; this 'mistake' came about when I was trying to make 2x the recipe but I forgot to double the egg used but yet the recipe turned out very nice and of just the right texture so I shall leave it as 1 egg. I have also reduced the sugar used since I am using quite a bit of the sweet mixed fruits.

Serene's Butter Cake

I'm sure many of you have heard of the famous Mrs SK Ng's Butter Cake recipe and have baked it at one point or another; I have baked that too myself and have loved the fluffy fine texture of it. I also love to eat butter cakes but I am also a lazy baker, so the egg separation method used in Mrs SK Ng's recipe often makes me think twice to take out my mixer. Then one of my baking friends, Serene shared her whole eggs butter cake recipe and Voila! Since then I have been baking this recipe. And for this, I'm going to call it Serene's Butter Cake :).

Marbled Chocolate version

Here is her recipe with slight adaptions made by me:

Makes a 8x5 inch loaf tin cake.

Ingredients:

- 2 tsp lemon juice
- 90 ml mlk
- 250 gm butter, softened
- 140 gm castor sugar, sifted
- 30 gm icing sugar, sifted
- 3 eggs (60 gm sized)
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 250 gm self raising flour, sifted
- 1 tsp Grand Marnier (optional)

For marbled chocolate flavour only:

- 2 tbsp cocoa powder, sifted
- 1 tbsp castor sugar, sifted
- some milk

Method:

1. Mix the lemon juice with the milk and set aside.

2. Cream sifted sugars and butter together until light and fluffy.

3. Add the eggs in slowly as you continue to mix. Ensure the eggs are evenly incorporated into the mixture.

4. Add vanilla extract and Grand Marnier (if any) into the buttermilk from step 1.

5. Fold alternately the flour and buttermilk into the creamed butter in 2 to 3 additions.

6a. For plain butter flavour, pour batter into a lightly greased loaf tin and bake at 
170C non fan forced for 45-55min. Cover the cake with a piece of baking paper in the last 10min of baking if the top browns too much. 

6b. For marbled chocolate version, scoop 1/3 of the batter into a separate bowl and mix in the cocoa powder and castor sugar. Mix it well. Add enough milk to make the chocolate batter the same consistency as that of the plain batter.

Layer scoops of chocolate and plain batter alternately in a lightly greased loaf tin and use a skewer to make marbling patterns. Bake at 170C non fan forced for 45-55min. Cover the cake with a piece of baking paper in the last 10min of baking if the top browns too much.

7. Cool slightly in tin for about 5min before inverting cake out onto cooling rack to cool completely.

Updated 13 Aug 2018

My apologies for the typo in the ingredient list; I have actually missed out the eggs! Thanks to a friend who was trying out the recipe and brought my attention to the missing eggs which I have stated in the steps. Thanks J!

Cleaning 101: Cooker Hood Mesh Covers

This is a long overdue post. I was planning to post a few entries on cleaning stuff around the home because I find myself repeating the same info when sharing with friends, so I thought blog entries will be useful to direct friends to. The step by step guide and photos in a blog entry will be most helpful too. But well, every time I finally had time to write it, I found that I couldn't find those photos I have taken. So this time round, I made sure I edited the photos and saved them in a separate album in one sitting for easy retrieval. So here it goes! The 1st item to be cleaned this time is ... the dreaded hood mesh covers!

We all know how terrible it is to clean these covers; They are greasy and sticky and have hard to reach layers and worse is they are in mesh form! My early days as a new homemaker was spent using the dish sponge to clean it like dishes, only to find bits of the sponge being caught in the mesh and spending the next 30min trying to get those sponge bits out. Next I went on to using a brush, I thought that would be the best way but no, the mesh covers are way too sticky and coated with grime for the brushing to work without multiple cycles of soaping, brushing and rinsing. Seriously I could understand why no one cleans these things at all.

Well fret not, I have since found an easy peasy way to clean these mesh covers and have been sharing with my friends on how to tackle them. Below are the detailed steps with photos for the method. Before you jump right in to cleaning your mesh covers, I have a very important disclaimer here: Only use this method if you are very sure that your mesh are made of stainless steel. This method is NOT suitable for aluminium stuff, it will in fact tarnish your aluminium if you soak it in baking soda. (I have learnt it the hard way through my aluminium roasting tin!). Even if you are sure that your mesh covers are made of stainless steel, as with any other cleaning method being used for the first time, please test the method on a small area of your covers first. 

So now that you have understand the caution, let's take a look at how I clean my mesh covers!

Items needed:

- 1-2 cups of baking soda
- hot boiling water
- a tray that can fit your mesh covers
- dish detergent (optional)
- a small soft bristled brush (e.g. an old toothbrush)

First, you will need lots of baking soda. I suggest you buy those sold by the kilogram. I get mine from NTUC Fairprice under the brand Arm & Hammer. It is a bright orange box packaging, I use baking soda for cleaning my stainless steel stove too. This will come under another blog entry (hopefully soon!).

Put your mesh covers into the tray. This is one of my two covers.
I sprinkle baking soda generously all over it. 

1. Put your mesh covers into the tray. Sprinkle baking soda generously all over it.

Baking soda spread into the gaps in the mesh.
This is the second cover that is stacked on top of the first cover.    

2. Rub the baking soda into the gaps in the mesh and all around the covers.

I stacked the 2 covers in the tray.

After the hot boiling water is poured all over it. Look at the grime that is instantly dissolved!

3. Next, pour hot boiling water to submerge the covers. Use a chopstick to push the mesh covers down if they float. You will see that the water will instantly turn yellow with all the grime dissolved. Leave it to soak for a few hours. Usually I leave it till the whole tray cools down. 

The covers after the water is poured away. You can see that half the grime is gone!

4. After the water has cooled down, pour the water away and you will be able to see that most of the grime is removed. 

This step is purely optional but today I just decided to be "extra". LOL.
Pour more hot water over it and add a few squirts of the dish washing detergent. 

5. This step is purely optional but no harm doing if you have the time to spare. After the first round of soaking in boiling water and baking soda, squirt a bit of dish washing detergent and pour more hot boiling water over the mesh covers. I also use the brush to gently brush the cover that is on the top this time. Again, this is optional but it is so gratifying to see the grime coming off!

The mesh covers after the second round of soaking.
Looks clean but not throughly clean yet.
You will need to gently brush it to remove all traces of grime.

Use a soft brush to brush the mesh covers with your dish soap.
My dish soap is in a self foaming bottle so it is easy to rinse off the soap later.
Do not squirt concentrated form of dish detergent onto the covers at this stage! 

6. After the water has cooled down, pour the water away. For the last step you will need to brush the mesh with a soft bristled brush with some dish soap. My dish soap is always in a self foaming bottle so when I use it, it is in easy-to-rinse off foam. Do not use concentrated liquid soap or powder directly on the mesh at this stage, else you might have to rinse it many times, especially so if the thick gel or powder gets caught in the layers of mesh. 

If you do not have a self foaming bottle, you can dip the brush in your regular dish soap that is already diluted with water, we only need a slightly soapy brush to do the brushing. After brushing, rinse the mesh covers under running water and air dry them on your dish racks and voila! Your mesh covers will be as good as new!

The mesh covers after cleaning and drying!

Update: A technical error occurred with a previous posting of this same entry so I had to recreate and post this up again now.

Chocolate Meringues (that taste like Milo nuggets!)

When I first made this I thought it will just be a chocolate meringue cookie and it turned out to taste very much like the Milo nuggets! This is the second time I made this recipe; the first time I made this, I made a boo boo of forgetting to double the rest of the ingredients when I used double the amount of egg whites but the final product turned out yummy but still a bit on the sweet side. This time i reduced the sugar but it is still quite sweet. I think i can go lower on the sugar again.

Needless to say, they are a hit with my 3 little ones. I shall share this "boo boo" recipe with you first so that you can recreate them in your kitchen. :)

Adapted from book 每天都是饼干日 (ISBN 978-986-5912-04-8)

Ingredients:

- 100 gm egg whites2, room temperature1
- 100 gm caster sugar 2
- 40 gm water
- 20 gm Valrhona cocoa powder, sifted

Method:

1. Put the egg whites into a clean mixer bowl.

2. Put water and half the amount of sugar into a small base pot. Bring it to a boil until it reaches 110C 3. Meanwhile whip the egg whites till foamy, add the remaining sugar into egg whites as the whipping continues.

3. When the syrup reaches the correct temperature, pour the hot syrup into the egg whites, with the mixer running. Take care not to let the hot syrup hit the whisk as that can cause serious burns if the syrup splashes out.

4. Whip till the meringue has reached stiff peak and has cooled to room temperature. You should have a glossy Italian meringue by now.

5. Sift in the cocoa powder and fold gently to get an even mixture.

6. Pipe onto lined baking trays and bake at 120C (fan forced) for 1.5hrs to 2hrs. The meringue cookies are done when they do not stick to the trays. Adjust your baking timing if they stick to the bottom.   

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Notes:

1. This recipe uses an Italian meringue (IM) which basically makes a hot sugar syrup and pour it into half whipped egg whites. Previously I had made the mistake of using cold whites straight from fridge hence my IM didn't get as hot as required. The lucky thing was the end product still turned out yummy. Hence do remember to bring your egg whites to room temperature before you start making them.

2. The 1st time, I wanted to do a double portion recipe and I happened to have enough egg whites for that but I made a mistake of forgetting to double the rest of the ingredients. However the taste and level of sweetness is just right for that, hence I will not suggest doubling the sugar or the other ingredients. In fact I find the meringue cookies still a bit on the sweet side, The second time I used only 100gm caster sugar and I think it can be further reduced by a bit. 

3. I usually use my thermometer to make the syrup for my IM but I skipped that as the amount of sugar and water was not sufficient to properly submerge my thermometer to get an accurate reading. Besides, the original recipe calls for the syrup to reach 110C but I have always make my IM using 118C syrup. So I just eyeballed the bubbling (small and big bubbles) of the syrup to decide when it is ready.