Sit down and relax with egg sandwich

I have not been able to blog for the last 3 days. Quite frustrated when one's computer been infected by viruses and worms. Luckily, I have a good friend whom I can rely upon to be the worm-buster. Thanks to my techie and not so nerdy friend, my computer is up and running again.

As a keen gardener, July onwards is time to sit down and relax and enjoy the spectacular display of beautiful summer flowers in the garden. And those days of hard labor in the garden in the early months had been handsomely rewarded.


Yes, it's also time for afternoon tea party in the garden or in the conservatory. I must say a tradition that is truly English and one could easily embrace especially in the summer months. I've few friends over last Saturday [quoted: they cycle a long way to my house] for this delightful tea party in my little conservatory that overlook the little back garden. I hosted a full tea party where the menu consist of finger food that is savory, sweet and desserts. Sit down and relax over some egg sandwiches, cooling cucumber sandwiches, freshly baked mini sausage rolls and not forgetting the delightful summer fruit tarts over a nice cup of freshly brew tea plus some gossips. I will post here the simple to make egg sandwich recipes.

Egg sandwich
Ingredients

Salad cress

• 3 hardboiled large eggs
• 1.5 tbsp mayonnaise (I use Hellmans brand)
• sprinkle of freshly ground black peppercorn
• handful of salad cress
• 6 slices of bread of your choice
• vegetable spread/margarine
  

1. Mashed the eggs with fork. Add in mayonnaise, black peppercorn. Mixed well and set aside.
   
2. Take 3 slices of bread and stacked them up, remove the crust. Repeat for the next 3 slices.
3. Spread margarine on the bread.
   
4. Add the salad cress into the egg and mix. Divide the egg fillings into 4 portions.
5. Spread one portion on every 2 slices to form 3 tier sandwiches.
   
6. Use a bread knife to slice the sandwich into 4 finger size bites.
7. Arrange nicely onto a plate and decorate with some salad cress.

And indeed it was a delightful thing to enjoy on a nice afternoon............



Enjoy the nice pictures from my garden with it's fair share of lovely butterfly and bumble bees

Cone flower or enchinachea

Green Apple with grated sour plum

I can smell spring. Indeed spring is in the air. So much to look forward to..... in short, anticipation. I've been so busy lately as gardening calendar year is starting here again. Few achievements - like erecting a rose arch for my climbing rose (to last count I've 19 different rose varieties in my garden), enlarging my flower borders single handedly, grow my own grubs, weeding, lawn repair, cleaning up after winter etc. Some of you might think why the hassle ...... I tell you honestly,reap the reward in summer with a fantastic display of colors and bountiful harvest ..... sit and enjoy the labor and effort you put in during late winter/early spring. I don't mind a glass of Pimms on a hot summer day though.

Here is a nice little healthy snack to have on a hot day. I find that sour fruit will easily quench one thirst and open up ones appetite. This is so easy to prepare and in no time you'll snacking away on healthy bite.

Green apple with grated sour plum
Ingredients (serve 2)

• 3 Granny Smith green apples
• 3 dry sour plum
  
• 1/4 tsp of salt

1. Wash, peel and diced the apples. Place them in a bowl/plate. Rub them with salt to prevent browning of apples.
   
2. Use a grater or knife to grate the dry sour plum flesh onto the apples.
3. You can cool it in fridge or serve them immediately.
   

Onion Bhaji

As some of you might know, I've been churning out soy milk with my new machine. And the by product is the soy pulp. I was thinking what to do with it:

1. Chuck it into the bin.
2. Feed the birds.
3. Using it to make some lovely food.

I think I'll go for option (3).
My mum always make a traditional Foochow fried oyster/prawn cake using the soy pulp, rice flour, oyster/prawn/minced pork, chives and some seasoning. Even Anthony Bourdain tried that special oyster cake at Maxwell Food Centre in Singapore. It was prepared with a special ladle and deep fried to golden brown. The skin is so crispy on the outside and the soya pulp makes the texture inside moist and soft. So next time don't throw away that lovely soy pulp after milking the soy. It can be used for making a lot of cooking, even it is being used a lot in Japanese cooking (known as okara).
As for me, I adapt my own method to churn out onion bhaji in a jiffy. And the end result........ am asking for more ... the soy pulp does make a difference to the texture and it's good for vegetarian friends and do give it a try.



Onion Bhaji
Ingredients (good for 2 persons)

• 1 large onion- finely chopped
  
• 2 tbsp of soy pulp
• 2 tbsp of rice flour/corn flour
  
• 1/2 tsp of salt
• 1 tbsp of curry powder
• 1 egg
• 1 green chilli-deseeded and chopped
  
• 1/2 tsp soda bicarbonate (optional)
• vegetable oil for shallow frying

1. Lightly beat the egg, add in the soya pulp, curry powder, salt and rice flour.
   Mix well.
2. Add in the onion and green chilli. Stir to mix well.
3. Heat a frying pan with oil for shallow frying. Use medium heat.
   
4. Use a tablespoon to ladle a scoop and slowly drop into the frying pan. Repeat to fill up the pan. Fry each side for about 2-3minutes till golden brown.
   
5. Remove and drained. Served with ketchup or chutney.
   

Potsticker wrapped with white radish

Ahhh.....time to clear old stock from my fridge before replenishing with new ingredients. Well, I still have- use by 26thDec minced pork, half of white radish, some water chestnut and spring onion. Alright, just the right ingredients needed to whip up potsticker with white radish as the skin. I've seen somewhere of this recipes before but have not try it. So it seems high time to give this recipes a try.

Radish skin wrapper
Ingredients

• 1 big radish-chose one with at least having the top with 2.5-3inches diameter
• 2 tsp salt
• 1 litre of water
• 1 tsp corn flour
  

Filling
Ingredients

• 150gm minced pork
• 6 chestnut-finely chopped
• 3 stalks of spring onion- finely chopped
• 1 tsp of chopped ginger
  
• 2 tsp of shaoxing wine
• 2 tsp of white pepper
• 1/2-1 tsp of salt
• 2 tsp of sesame oil

1. Sliced the radish thinly using mandolin or if you can sliced thinly with knife to a thickness of less than 2mm. Make about 30 slices.
   
2. Add salt to the water in a big bowl. Stir to dissolve. Place the radish in the bowl and let it soak for 2 hours or until the radish skin can be easily folded half.
3. Drained and rinsed. Pat dry the skin with paper towel. Then dust one side of the skin with corn starch. This is to ensure the filling will stick onto the skin.
   
4. For the filling ingredients, add everything and let it marinate for at least an hour.
5. Place a teaspoon of filling ingredients onto a piece of radish wrapper. Fold half. Repeat until all the wrappers done.
6. Heat a pan, grease lightly with some vegetable oil. Once hot, place the potstickers onto the pan and cook. Turn to low heat to let it cook slowly. You don't have to add water onto the pan as radish will excrete juice from itself. Cover with a lid for5-7 minutes. Check if the side has browned, if yes, turned all over and cover with lid and let it cook for 5 minutes or so until browned.
7. Once cooked and nicely browned, removed from the pan. Garnished with some sesame seed and served with ginger in rice vinegar.

To me this little snack is healthy, the radish gives a crunchy bites and the moist minced flavor blended well with radish.

Enjoy.....

Here's some of my FOC decoration for Christmas....

Cut the holly berry from a park

My holly wreath - I just tied them together....

Mistletoe given by friend. I've not seen mistletoe before coming over here. It is meant for couple to kiss underneath the mistletoe, hence the song "I saw Mummy kissing Santa Claus underneath the mistletoe."

Chips in a Pot

I can't deny that UK produces variety of really nice potatoes, be it for roasting, boiling, mashing, frying etc. On the whole, if you ever visit a pub in UK, most of the dishes come with a side serving of potatoes, like it or not.... refer to the comic below and you'll understand why British people are rather apologetic about their food :-) . Now you would understand what I call ''British sense of humor''.
I do like British potatoes, better still, locally grown. They tasted so good, these humble potatoes. I'm going to make the versatile fun food that everyone like. I got these tips from a friend of mine on how to make the perfect chips (or better known as French Fries), crispy on the outside and soft and moist on the inside.

Potato Chips
Ingredients

• 3-4 large potatoes (use variety that s good for frying - i.e King Edward)
• oil for frying (I use olive oil [health conscious], but tasted better with some goose fat
  
• salt and vinegar

1. Clean and peel the potatoes.
2. Cut the potatoes about the size of your index finger.
3. Boil the potatoes for 5minutes just slightly soft. Drain until dry.
4. Place the potatoes into a plastic container and frozen them (preferably 24hrs)
   
5. Remove from freezer when you need to fry them. You might find that the potatoes are stuck together, thaw but not fully thawed until you're able to separate them.
   
6. Heat oil in the deep fat fryer, once is hot and ready, drop in a small batch of potatoes, this will ensure that the frying temperature doesn't drop drastically and avoid the chip being soggy.
   
7. Once it's lightly golden brown, remove and drain with an oil absorbing paper. Drizzle with pinch of salt and vinegar. Served hot.
   
8. Served in a pot-and it's called chips in a pot. :-)

You'll like it's crispiness on the outside and moist on the inside.

Ang Ku Kueh

I'm enjoying every bits of summer..... especially the weather, longer daylight, outdoor activities etc. That could explain for my long disappearing act.
I did cycle 33.7 miles on my Pashley, together with my cycle buddy in search of poppy field. So lovely they were.......

For today, I decided to make ang ku kueh with my mom. Ang Ku Kueh (Hokkien) can be translated as Red Turtle Cake. This is normally served during child's one month old or one year old birthday. I have craving for this kueh ..... frankly speaking I've not had them for almost 2 years now. My sis and I used to visit a kueh shop in Singapore deem to serve the best Ang Ku Kueh.



Ang Ku Kueh
Ingredients (make about 12-15 cakes)

Dough

• 250 gm glutinous rice flour
• 100 gm sweet potatoes ( steamed and mashed)
• 1 tbsp of tapioca flour
• 2 tbsp of cooking oil (I use corn oil)
• 2 tbsp sugar
• 1 tsp red coloring (optional)
• 150 ml boiling hot water

Filling

• 250 gm mung bean
• enough water just to cover the bean
• 80-100 gm sugar
• 1/2 tsp of salt
• 1 tbsp cooking oil
• Banana leaves cut to the size of the mold for lining
  

1. In a mixing bowl, mix the glutinous rice flour, tapioca flour and mashed sweet potatoes. Add in sugar and cooking oil into the flour mixture. Then slowly little by little add in the hot boiling water, using a wooden spatula to mix well. Add in the coloring.
   
2. Then use your hand to knead the dough till smooth and non sticky to your hand. If it's too sticky, add in a bit more glutinous rice flour, if it's too dry try add in some water. Let it to rest for 30minutes.
3. In a pot, bring to boil the mung bean with water. Simmer until bean is soft and ready to be mashed. Drain the water away. Add in sugar , salt and cooking oil and mashed until paste is formed. Let it to cool for awhile.
4. Line cut banana leaves and lay them onto steamer. Grease with a little cooking oil.
5. Divide the dough into 12-15 portions. Roll them into balls using your palm. Press each ball down with your palm to form circle about the size of your palm. Scoop 1 tbsp of mung bean paste onto the dough, and wrap the edges and rolled into a ball.
6. Grease the ang ku kueh mold with some oil. Put the rolled ball into the mold (smooth surface facing the print of the mold) and pressed into it to fit the mold. Then knocked the mold to release the kueh. Place it on the greased banana leaves. Repeat until done.
7. Heat the steamer, once water is boiling, let the kueh steam for 5 minutes the steamer covered. Remove the cover and let it steam for a further 5-7minutes. This step ensure that the mold print on the ang ku kueh will be retained. Once cooked, remove from the steamer and brush with some oil on the surface. Let it cool down for 10 minutes before serving.
   

Enjoy.....it's nice ang ku kueh that me and my ma couldn't help ourself with more servings :-)

Happy New Year 2009

To all readers and fellow bloggers, my best wishes for New Year 2009. Some might wonder again of my dissapearing act (yes AGAIN). So what's been happening? With Ann we went to Scotland a week before Christmas for sight seeing then back to Cambridge and then head south to London after Christmas till New Year. Am still recuperating from running about :-)

So excited to be back food blogging again. I made pai tee (top hats) for my guests during my Christmas gathering. I wanted to introduce this lovely nyonya delicacy to my friends who had not known what pai tee was. How lovely these mouthful delights to wow your guests. It was a sellout.....how pleased I were.

As pointed out earlier in my blog, Ann brought me a pai tee mold all the way from Malaysia, else am not able to make this lovely nyonya snacks from Malaysia. Thanks Ann.

Pai Tee ( Top Hats)

Ingredients ( roughly make 40 pieces )

For pai tee casing

• 50 gm rice flour
• 20 gm corn flour
• 20gm plain flour
• 1/2 small egg
• ¼ tsp baking powder
• a pinch of salt
• 100ml water
• 1 pai tee mold
  

Filling

• 1 cup turnip julienned
• ½ cup carrot, julienned
• 2 dry shitake mushroom soaked and thinly sliced(optional)
• 1/2 tsp white pepper or to taste
• 1/2 tbsp oyster sauce
• 1 tbsp soya sauce
• 1 shallot sliced
• Coriander/parsley for garnishing
• Chilli sauce to serve
• some cooked prawns , diced for garnishing
• Vegetable oil to deep fry pai tee casing

1. Mix all ingredients for pai tee casing into a bowl until all flour is nicely mixed. Leave for about an hour
2. Heat oil in a wok with the mold in the oil. Put on medium to low fire.
3. Once hot, dip the mold about 3/4 into the batter mix and slowly transfer into the heated oil for frying, Jiggle the mold and use a fork to gently remove the case from the mold. Fry till golden brown and drained on oil paper. Repeat for more cases. Tips: If it's a new mold ensure that you dip the mold in oil overnight before using it.
4. For the filling, add some oil into a wok. Stir fry the shallots until light brown. Add in french beans , mushroom and carrots and season with soya sauce, pepper, oyster sauce. Add in turnip and cook until dry.Leave to cool.To serve, fill the cases with the filling, and serve with chili sauce.

This is my first attempt on Pai Tee....turned out lovely isn't it?

Curry Puff (Karipap)

Curry puff has been one of my favorite Malaysian snacks. We used to eat them as mid morning tea break snacks. I still remembered my secondary school canteen has variety of fillings for those lovely puff be it spicy sardines or curry potatoes for merely 10 Malaysian cents.
So I thought of bringing a piece of Malaysian snacks to treat my colleagues on my B-day.
Instead of frying(being the health conscious fellow) I opted to bake.

Ingredients (make about 30 puff)

Pastry:

• 500gm Just Roll pastry puff
• 1 egg for brushing
  

Fillings

• 2 big potatoes (300gm)
• 2 big onion-finely chopped
• bunch of curry leaves-finely chopped
  
• 2 tbsp cooking oil
• 2 tbsp curry powder+2tbsp coconut cream+1/2cup warm water-make into paste
  
• 1 tbsp sugar
• 2 tsp salt

1. Boil the potatoes just about cook, drain the water. Diced into cube
2. In a pan, heat the oil, add in onion , curry leaves and stir fry till fragant.
3. Pour in diced potatoes and stir fry a little while, add in the curry paste, lower the heat.
   
4. Add in the salt & sugar and let it simmer for another 5 minutes till slightly dry.
5. Remove from pan and cool.
6. On flat working surface roll out the pastry into thickness of 2-3mm. Then use a cookie cutter(3inches diameter) to cut into circular pad.
7. On each circular pad, scoop in a tbsp of curry potatoes filling. Fold up and nip the edges.
8. Use thumb and index finger to make the plait on the edges.
9. Place the completed puffs onto baking tray.
   
10. Heat the oven to 190C.
11. Egg brush each puff on the top side
12. Bake for 20-25mins till golden brown

Served while it's hot. What's the verdict from my colleagues? Thumbs UP!!!
I said SEDAP