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.

卤肉饭 Taiwanese Braised Pork Rice

I came across this recipe in a cookbook on Taiwanese dishes about 2 years ago and have cooked it a few times. It gives me sweet, fragrant pork belly that melts in the mouth. It is not quite the same as the minced pork version I have tried in Taiwan but I prefer this which is mildly sweet and my kids love it so much they always ask for second helpings! 

Adapted from Home-Style Taiwanese Cooking

Serves 4 pax

Ingredients:

- 800 gm pork belly
- 15 gm garlic cloves, peeled and minced
- 30 gm rock sugar
- 60 gm fried shallots
- 4 soy sauce eggs

- 1 cucumber, sliced

- Cooked rice, enough for 4 pax

Seasoning1

- 400 ml water
- 2 tbsp light soy sauce
- 2 tbsp thick dark soy sauce
- 1/4 tbsp dark soy sauce
- 1 tbsp rice wine
- 1/2 tsp Chinese five spice powder

Method:

1. Blanch the pork belly to remove any impurities. Blanching the pork belly also partially cooks it and makes it easier to cut into small pieces. Pat dry and cut into small strips. Set aside.

2. Heat some cooking oil in a wok and saute the garlic. Add the cut pork belly. Stir fry the pork till it's slightly golden brown. 

3. Add the rock sugar and fry till it is dissolved. 

4. Add the crispy shallots and stir fry for 2-3 minutes. 

5. Add the water and seasoning and bring it to boil.

6. Transfer to a slow cooker and set on high, simmer for at least 2 hours. If you want it to really melt in the mouth (including the lean part), simmer it for more than 2 hours, I usually start cooking this after lunch and serve this for dinner. 

7. Skim off any oil on the surface from time to time during cooking.

8. Serve with rice, soy sauce eggs and sliced cucumber. 

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Notes:

1. I halve the amount of water (and seasoning too) because my slow cooker is very small so it is just barely big enough to hold the pork belly and the gravy. The gravy is however enough to go with the pork belly. If desired, the amount of water and seasoning can be doubled. 

Muah Chee (Glutinous Rice Flour coated with Grated Peanut)

I'm always keen to try new things and as a result of that, often have impulse buys (especially for hard to find items) when doing grocery shopping, my pantry is often bursting at the seams. On top of that, I'm often guilty of throwing out items that have expired and have yet to come around using it. :( 

So now I will only buy things that I will use immediately. As for existing pantry items, I'm finding recipes that use those ingredients. Muah Chee was one of it; because I have tapioca flour and glutinous rice flour! It is a also a very simple item you can make in 15min. So here's my sharing:

Muah Chee

Ingredients:

Muah Chee adapted from Rasa Malaysia

- 250 gm Glutinous Rice flour
- 2 tbsp Tapioca flour
- 375 ml water
- cooking oil for greasing the tin1

Peanut Coating adapted from Happy Home Baking

- 150 gm peanut powder
- 40 gm caster sugar
- 20 gm toasted white sesame seeds (optional)2

The flours tend to settle at the bottom, remember to give it a good stir before pouring
into the tin.

Before steaming

After steaming

Don't use a bowl! Use a tray!

Method:

1. Set up steamer and grease the tin with cooking oil.

2. Sieve glutinous rice flour and tapioca flour together.

3. Add water to flour mixture to form a watery batter. Mix evenly. 

4. Pour into greased tin and steam at high heat for 15 minutes or until centre is cooked.

5. To prepare the coating, mix all the coating ingredients together in a tray.

6. Cut a portion of the cooked Muah Chee and put into the tray with peanut coating. Use a pair of kitchen scissors and cut into bite size pieces and as you cut roll the pieces in the coating to prevent them from sticking together again. A wide tray will help in this case instead of a bowl. Serve immediately.

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Notes:

1. I use a 7 inch square tin.

2. The sesame seeds are optional. I have tried both with and without, both taste equally yummy. Do take note that sesame seeds do give it a different fragrance which some might not like it if they are not used to having it in their Muah Chee.

Chwee Kueh

I can't remember what was the reason that prompted me to try making my own chwee kueh but I am certainly glad I did. Chwee Kueh has always been one of my favourite savoury snacks and it is not hard to find it in food paradise Singapore but it is hard to find one with the Chai Por topping that suits my palate; I like my Chai Por to be on the sweeter side but those I found outside often tastes just plain salty. I have made Chwee Kueh a few times and especially loving the Chai Por. So here are the Chwee Kueh + Chai Por recipes I have tried:

Chwee Kuehs I made quite some time ago

I was told Chwee Kueh should have this distinctive "crater".

But sometimes mine end up with no "craters"! LOL. I think I might have stumbled
onto the cause. Let me do a few more rounds to confirm my findings.

Ingredients:

Chai Por topping
recipe adapted from book Singapore Hawker Food
- 450 gm Chai Por, chopped
- 60 gm garlic, minced
- 18-20 tbsp cooking oil
- 4-5 tbsp caster sugar

Kueh (about 30 pieces)
recipe adapted from www.cakes-kueh.com

A: 
- 460 ml water
- 1 tsp sea salt
- 2 tbsp cooking oil

B:
- 200 gm rice flour
- 40 gm tapioca flour
- 460 ml water

Method:

1. Rinse Chai Por a few times and soak for about 30 minutes to remove excessive salt. Strain and discard water.

2. Heat cooking oil (I used rice bran oil) in pot and put in the strained Chai Por and simmer on low heat for 40 minutes. Stir now and then to avoid burning.

3. Add minced garlic and simmer till fragrant.

4. Add sugar and stir well. Adjust sugar amount according to preference. Remove from heat and set aside.

5. Prepare steamer and moulds1.

6. Boil all A ingredients: 460ml of water, salt and cooking oil. Set aside.

7. Prepare B ingredients: Sieve the 2 flours and add remaining 460ml water to it. Stir well.

8. Add A to B while whisking B.

9. Pour into prepared moulds and steam at high heat for about 20 minutes.

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Notes:

1. You can choose to grease the moulds or leave them ungreased. I think I have tried both ways and there was not much of a difference. I will leave them ungreased.

茶叶蛋 Tea Leaf Eggs (Half boiled )

During one of the Chinese New Year I was planning to bake a kueh lapis cake but my oven decided to go on strike so I had to ditch the plan. But not before I already bought 5 boxes of eggs! Stuck with so many eggs, I decided to cook tea leaf eggs (茶叶蛋) since this is one fast route to get rid of one box of eggs at a shot. However I was not satisfied with the regular tea leaf eggs. And my last round with this dish wasn't that fantastic either when I followed the recipe that came along with the tea leaf egg herbs sold by Eu Yan Sang. So I decided to tweak it a bit: I will cook it without the shells (so that the marinade really gets into the eggs) and I want wobbly yolks (like those in Ramen!). So here is what I did:

Ingredients:

- 10 eggs (60gm sized)

Marinade:

- 1 sachet of Eu Yan Sang tea leaf eggs herbs
- 500ml water
- 1 tbsp dark soya sauce1

- 1 tbsp light soya sauce1

- 50-60 gm rock sugar1

Method:

1. Bring the herbs and water to a boil in a saucepan. Add the remaining seasoning and taste to adjust seasoning1 if necessary. Lower the heat and simmer for 15 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside to cool completely.

2. Put the eggs in a pot of room temperature water deep enough to cover the eggs completely. Bring it to a boil. Stir the eggs gently while waiting for the water to come to a boil.

3. When the water comes to a boil, lower the heat to a simmer and continue to simmer the eggs for 4.5 minutes2.

4. Remove the eggs from heat immediately and rinse under running tap water till they feel just barely warm to touch. Leave it aside to cool completely in a bowl of water. Peel the eggs when cooled.

5. Soak the peeled eggs in the cooled marinade sauce overnight in the fridge. Make sure the eggs are put into a small based glass container so that they get fully covered by the marinade.

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Notes:

1. The seasoning amounts are pretty much up to own preference. Above stated amounts are suited to my palate and it is not too salty. If u prefer a saltier version, you can add a pinch of salt or more light soy sauce.

2. Most recipes making eggs with runny yolks require an ice bath for the eggs once they are removed from the heat but I didn't keep ready made ice cubes in my freezer, so lazy me rinsed the eggs under running tap water till they were just warm to touch and I soaked it in a bowl of room temperature water for complete cooling. For this entry I simmered the eggs for 4.5 minutes but the yolks were not runny enough for me, so I will advise 3 or 3.5 minutes (tried 4 minutes before too and still way too cooked for me) of simmering. If you are using an ice bath, u might want to simmer for 4.5 minutes since that will cool down the eggs (hence stop further cooking) faster than my lazy method.

Sweet Beancurd Sheet with Bird Nest

Recently I decided to cook a simple desserts because I feel that I'm getting heaty and though I do not know if this dessert is "cooling" in nature or not but the fact that I eat this chilled is good enough for me! This is a very simple dump-it-all-in desserts which actually doesn't require a recipe but for those who are curious, this is it. 

Ingredients:

- 150gm beancurd sheets (腐竹)
- 160gm bird nest
- 160gm cooked gingko nuts
- 50gm + (150 to 200)gm rock sugar
- 4L water
- 1 egg

Method:

1. Soak the beancurd sheets in water to soften them. Soak the bird nest in a separate bowl.

2. Remove the little "stems" inside the gingko nuts.

3. Put the washed gingko nuts into a small pot and add enough water to cover them. Put in a piece of rock sugar (abt 50gm) and bring it to a boil. Continue to simmer for 10min. Leave aside to cool and let the gingko nuts soak in the syrup.

4. Bring the 4L of water to a boil and add in the 150gm rock sugar. Adjust the sugar amount to your liking. Make sure the sugar is dissolved completely before you add in the other ingredients.

5. Strain the gingko nuts from the syrup and put into the pot. Do the same for the beancurd sheets. Discard all the soaking liquids. Strain the bird nest and add them in too. Bring the whole pot to a simmer and simmer for few minutes. 

Lactation Cookies

All breastfeeding mommies will know that we are ALWAYS hungry. I often crave for food which are buttery and sweet so I eat a lot of cookies. Recently I baked my favourite Oatmeal Cookies and have been eating a lot of that. Since the ingredients between a regular oatmeal cookie and a lactation cookie do not differ much, the idea of baking lactation cookies pops up again. I mean since I'm going to eat a cookie, might as well eat one that is a milk booster, right?

The first time I baked lactation cookies was when I gave birth to my little P. I think I only baked it once. I wasn't exactly in great need of any milk booster at that time and also because those cookies didn't taste that fantastic. It had that bitter aftertaste, somewhat like beer, which I didn't fancy at all. So this round I try to find one recipe online that will taste good. I found one that is very similar to my Oatmeal Cookies and added cranberries and macadamia nuts instead of chocolate. I also try to reduce the brewer's yeast amount for a start; I reckon the bitter aftertaste from the previous bake was due to the brewer's yeast. This time round the cookies taste so much better! The texture is slightly different from the Oatmeal Cookies as it is more fibrous (because of the flaxseeds) yet softer. I recommend to bake it longer than 12min if you prefer a drier crunchier cookie.

Recipe adapted from: Dr Momma

Ingredients:

- 140gm unsalted butter
- 50gm caster sugar
- 50gm brown sugar
- 1 egg
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 40ml water1
- 115gm plain flour
- 1 tbsp brewer's yeast2
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp sea salt
- 95gm flaxseeds
- 105gm raw rolled oats
- 100gm cranberries
- 100gm macadamia nuts

Method:

1. Cream butter and sugars until light and fluffy.

2. Slowly add in beaten egg and vanilla extract into butter mixture as the mixer runs.

3. Slowly add in the water.

4. Sift flour, brewer's yeast, cinnamon, baking soda and salt in.

5. Add in flaxseeds. Fold the mixture a few times.

6. Add in the oats, cranberries and nuts and fold until even.

7. Bake at 175C fan forced for 12min1, 15min if you prefer a crunchier cookie.

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Notes:

1. The texture of the cookie is rather soft and crumbly. Almost cake-like. If you prefer a crunchier cookie, you can either reduce the water amount or lengthen the baking time.

2. I only used 1 tbsp of brewer's yeast because I want to avoid the bitter aftertaste. So far there is no such taste in this batch. I might want to increase this to 2 tbsp next round since this ingredient is supposedly a milk booster. :)

Sweet Toasted Macadamia Nuts

Sweet toasted macadamia nuts: super addictive be-a-couch-potato-and-watch-tv snack to munch on. Need me to say more? Recipe is adapted from a recipe for a pie topping from Martha Stewart's book.

Ingredients:
- unsalted macadamia nuts of any amount
- water that is slightly lesser than enough to cover the nuts completely
- caster sugar of the same weight amount as water

Method:
1. Put everything into a small sauce pan. Use a small based pot. Make sure the mixture is just enough to fully cover the nuts. Bring everything to a boil. Boil for 1-2min.

2. Strain n spread nuts on a baking tray. Bake at fan forced 160C for 15min or until golden brown. Cool completely.