Spring In Action

Lately the weather has warmed up significantly and always gifted with clear blue sky in the morning. Before the April shower sets in,one should enjoy the best weather while you can. After all, English weather is truly unpredictable.

So I decided to check out the Daffodil dale near astronomical ground in Cambridge. With my regal Pashley Princess, I cycled all the way to Cambridge and urged my buddy to go and enjoy the lovely flowers and spring weather. This year the arrival of daffodils are late by roughly 4 weeks due to extreme cold we had in winter. They're such a cheery flowers, they break the winter gloom and telling us spring is in. Even my garden daffodils are up too :-).

After the daffodils, I went to town to do some marketing. I passed by a lovely bakery shop, Fitzbillies along Trumpington Street. Yes, I heard of their famed Chelsea bun but had never try it before. This bakery dated back to 1922 and at times expect ques to get this lovely bun. And if you've craving for sweet things......go for it with a cup of tea. I bought two buns and brought it home with me. Indeed, this is one of the best Chelsea bun one could hope for- nice mix of cinnamon, berries, sweet syrup. So next time if you're around Cambridge do remember to go to this bakery and get this lovely bun and give it a try.

And yes we've switched to BST (British Summer Time). We've to change our clock to an hour earlier as day are getting longer. Yes, the whole season cycle begins again................

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.
   

Sunday Roast

This is a classic British meal served on Sunday for lunch. It's normally consist of a type of roast meat (chicken, pork, lamb, beef) and served with roast potato, with sides of yorkshire pudding, vegetables, stuffing and good gravy.

I wouldn't say NO to this classic meal anyday of the week, imagine the flavorsome chicken with it's delicious crispy skin plus the perfect golden and crispy roast potato......you've got the idea.
My British friend always invited me over for lovely roast dinner, am gosh their roast potato is to die for. So I learnt a bit of skill from them on how to create that lovely roast potato and for the chicken-the oven will do justice for me I hope. :-)
So I thought, I will experiment with this classic dish, off to supermarket to get a medium size free range chicken (1.5kgs), king edward potatoes and some vegetables.

Roast chicken with roast potato
Ingredients (serve 4)

• 1 whole free range chicken
• some sea salt
• Rosemary sprigs
• 2 carrots-diced
• 1 medium onion-diced
• 4 large King Edward potatoes-cut into 6 for each potatoes
• 100 ml sunflower oil (if you prefer, you can do with 50ml sunflower oil+50ml goose fat)

1. Preheat the oven to 190C.
2. Clean the chicken and pat dry. Stuffed the chicken cavity with carrots, onion and one sprigs of rosemary. Use a toothpick to seal up the bottom. Rub with sea salt on the skin and top with some rosemary sprigs. Place on a roasting tin.
   
3. Pour the oil into another roasting tin. Put the tin into the oven. Also put the chicken roasting tin into the oven as well. Let it roast for 20minutes at 190C.
   
4. Put the potato into a pot with lid and parboil for 10minutes. Off the heat. Drained. Pour it back into the pot and close the lid and let itself steam for another 10minutes or so to loose some moisture, the potato should look slightly soft and fluffy.
   
5. Take out the oil roasting tin, place the potato into the tin, it should be bubbling away. Use a spoon to scoop up some oil to baste the potato. Place the tin back into the oven.
6. Turn the oven heat to 160C now. This will ensure the slow cook process of the chicken and retain it's moisture.
   
7. Baste the potato every 30minutes. The chicken should be cook after 1.5hrs.
   
8. By the time the chicken cook, the potato will be have acquire a golden brown skin. Remove the potato and drained with paper towel.
9. Place the chicken onto a big serving plate, carved and served with the roast potato and onion gravy. The vegetables in the cavity will taste absolutely gorgeous too.

There you go, Sunday lunch sorted out. :-)
That's a real good roast chicken and successful roast potato too. Yummy.

And here carpet of crocuses along The Backs in Cambridge, and couldn't resist my Pashley against the backdrop of crocuses. Ahhhh....... it's Spring :-)

Kick start your day with healthy breakfast

There is a wise saying in Chinese, "早 上 吃的 飽, 下午 吃的好, 晚 上 吃的少" [ have a full breakfast, have a good lunch and eat less for dinner] . Most often we're reversing our meal-where we skip breakfast and end the day with a heavy supper. This is not healthy.
I always take my breakfast even if it's just a glass of milk. I felt much more energize if I have a proper breakfast.
So this morning I decided to make a rather healthy breakfast and it tasted light and yet packed with energy to start my day......or rather to conquer the world. :-)

Poached egg, salad with ciabata
Ingredients (served 2)

• 1 ciabata roll
  
• 1 medium tomato-deseed and chop
• one bunch of lamb lettuce
• 4 chestnut mushroom-slice
• 2 cloves of garlic-finely chopped
• 1 tbsp of balsamic vinegar
• dash of sea salt
• 3 tbsp of olive oil
• 2 free range eggs
• some seeds
  
• dash of pepper
• dash of dry herbs-oregano
  
• parmesan cheese (optional)

1. Heat a pan, add the olive oil, once heated, add the garlic to saute till fragant. Off the heat, add the mushroom immediately and mixed well. Let it to cool.
2. In a bowl, mix the chopped tomato and lamb lettuce. Scoop 2 tbsp of olive oil from (1), balsamic vinegar and salt. Mixed well.
3. Prepare the poach egg. Boil a pot of hot water, one boiling, crack the egg one at a time into egg poacher or just drop it into the boiling water. Boil for 1.5-2minutes. Remove from the pot. Set aside.
   
4. Slice the ciabata roll. Dab some olive oil onto the ciabata roll. Sprinkle with some oregano. Toast the roll in oven or toaster for 5minutes.
   
5. Place the roll on a plate. Top with some mushroom, salad and poached egg. Sprinkle with some toasted seeds and black pepper. Add grated parmesan cheese if you like. Drizzle the plate with balsamic vinegar and olive oil dressing.

Enjoy the healthy breakfast.

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.
   

Banana Muffin and a great weekend

This week has been splendid.....lots of sunshine and everyday almost perfect blue sky. Still a little bit on the chilly side, but hey I can't complaint for this lovely weather, it has been a freaking cold winter. Even my spring bulb flowers had been delayed...... I started to see some coming out and some early flowering crocuses and iris make my day. :-)
Initially I intended to bake banana cake but somehow decided at the last minute to bake muffin instead, as I've no access to my laptop for banana cake recipes. Therefore I always fall back on my ole good muffin recipes book on the shelf.

Banana muffin
Ingredients (make 11-12 muffins)

• 280 gm plain flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp soda bicarbonate
• pinch of salt
• 100 gm sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp vanilla essence
• 3 ripen bananas (weighs around 1 pound)-mashed
• 85 gm melted butter
• 90 ml milk
• 3 tbsp rolled oats
• a handful of chopped walnut (optional)

1. Seive the flour, baking powder and soda bicarbonate into a mixing bowl. Add in the sugar.
2. Preheat oven to 190C-200C.
   
3. In another bowl, mix bananas, butter, milk and rolled oat. Pour this mixture into (1)
4. Lightly beat the egg and mix to (1). Add in essence vanilla and drop in chopped walnut.
   
5. Mixed well all the ingredients. Scoop into muffin cups or muffin trays. I use silicon muffin cup (they're brilliant).
6. Bake for 20-25minutes till golden brown, or when you poke the middle of muffin with knife they come out clean.
7. You can decorate muffin with glazed banana.

I'm enjoying my muffins with friends on lovely Sunday morning.


I also took some pictures of my early flowering spring bulbs. I'm intrigued whether I could produce saffron from the stamen of my lovely crocuses. :-)

White and lilac crocus

Snowdrop

Iris reticulata

Purple Crocus

Happy Chap Goh May

I'm so looking forward to spring at the moment, I've had enough of this extremely cold winter. This few days weather is warming up, really sunny, the days are getting longer and yes all my spring bulbs in the garden seem to wake up from their dormant period. So much to look forward to..... how I love spring. I'm counting down, officially it's only 3 weeks away from March 21st.
Over the weekend I made sweet potato dumplings with minced meat fillings. I served them over a bowl of piping hot rice noodle soup. It's definitely warming and of course ended the CNY on a high note with sweet potato dumplings looking like gold nuggets....

The recipes of sweet potato dumpling can be found here. One can also replace the fillings with vegetable fillings of your choice if one doesn't like meat fillings.

Wishing everyone a belated Chap Goh May. Anyone out there making a wish and threw mandarin oranges into the river on that nite? :-)

Happy Occasion

Joyous be every such occasion marked with gaiety and full of happy fervour, yes I'm talking about wedding here. Last weekend I have flown over to Dublin, Ireland to attend a wedding of a lovely couple, friends of mine. It was a happy moment to had witness the joining of two hearts into one. Not only that, we were treated to the most sumptious and delicious Chinese banquet at Ming Court restaurant Blanchardstown. The seafood were aplenty and fresh. We had a 12 course dinner banquet. One of my favorite is the huge lobster cooked with scallion and ginger and not forgetting the abalone stewed with oyster sauce with pak choi. And I have the opportunity to dine with so.moo.food. I truly enjoy every moment of it.

I also did a 2hrs touring Dublin city on my foot. It was a crisp winter day. Here you are with the photos of Dublin city.

Chinese radish cake/Loh Bak Gou 蘿蔔糕

I have always wanted to attempt making this savory radish cake but never come round to it. It's commonly found in Hong Kong dim sum restaurant. Reason is I'm not sure of the success rate and also it requires quite a lot of effort I would have thought. And I have no excuses not to make it to consume during Chinese New Year. But I had researched online for quite a number of recipes and decided to stick to this one and change some ingredients as I can't find them in my local supermarket and make do with what I have in my pantry. It's not that tedious as I would have thought and the end result is yummy-licious delights. For those would like to follow the step, you can follow this video (it's in Cantonese though)

Loh Bak Gou 蘿蔔糕
Ingredients:

• 200g smoked bacon - finely chopped (you can use Chinese lap yuk and Chinese sausages)
  
• 2 tbsp dried shrimps-soaked and finely chopped-I omitted this
  
• 3-5 large dried shitake mushroom - soaked, removed stem and finely chopped-keep the soaking water
• 4 dried scallops- soaked for 1 hour and shredded-keep the soaking water
• 3 shallots-finely chopped
• 2 cloves garlic-finely chopped
• 1/2 tsp white pepper
• 1 tsp salt or to taste

• 750 - 800g shredded radish-drained any excess water
  
• 250-300 ml water (from the water used to soak scallops and mushroom)
• 220g rice flour
• 30g wheat starch/corn starch/tapioca starch
• 1/2 tbsp chicken powder
• 4 tbsp cooking oil
  

1. Mix rice flour, starch and water together.
   
2. Heat up a non stick wok with 2 tbsp oil and fry shallot and garlic till fragant. Then add smoked bacon , dried shrimps, mushroom and scallop. Fry till fragrant. Add in white pepper and salt to taste. Remove to one side. Check if the wok has any brown sticky bits, if yes wash before proceeding to next step. Browning bits can make the cake looks greyish or brownish.
   
3. Next heat the wok with 2 tbsp of oil. Once hot, add in the radish and stir fry for around 6 minutes. You'll notice that the radish will excrete it's own juice during cooking process.
   
4. Stir in flour mixture, taste to check if more seasoning is needed and cook at low heat stirring all the time for till the mixture started to thicken like gooey congee . Turn off heat.
   
5. Grease a retangular cake tin or aluminium foil container. Scoop the mixture into the container. Prepare the steamer. Place the cake into steamer and steam for about 1 hour 20minutes. Once cooked, it is a bit soft at the moment, don't worry, the cooling process overnight will cause it to set. Remove from steamer and cover the top with aluminium foil and let it to cool overnight.
   
6. Once it's set, you can easily removed from the container and you can slice the cake. You can dust it with just a little corn starch/potato starch. You can also omit the corn starch and fry on it's own.
   
7. Prepare a non stick pan, heat 2 tbsp of vegetable oil. Once hot, put in the cake and let it shallow fry till a golden brown surface is achieved on both side. Served hot with sprinkling of spring onion and XO sauce/sambal sauce/or thick dark soya sauce.
   

Enjoy.....

Shredded radish

Steamed and cooled radish cake-ready for slicing

I gave some loh bak gou to my guinea pig friend to try my first attempt and it's thumbs up :-)

Just to let you all know I was given a new kitchen gadget by a friend...... A soy milk making machine. It's a brand made in China (Joyoung) and gosh I'm impressed.....only at a press of a button, and 20minutes later you'll have the freshest hot soy milk. I highly recommend this machine for those who like fresh soy milk. I've been milking it every morning for breakfast :-)

Gong Xi Fa Cai & Happy Valentine's Day

Welcoming the arrival of Year of the Tiger. Wishing all who are celebrating the festivity a Happy Lunar New Year, 恭喜发财, 新年快乐, 年年有馀.

This year St. Valentine's Day fall on the same day as Lunar New Year, wishing all Happy Valentine's Day too.

Enjoy the weekend too...........

Here's my starter dishes for CNY eve dinner - Giant Prawn Cracker(from Malaysia), homemade Yee Sang and 4 seasons platter, and won't be complete without wine :-)

Chinese stir fry beef and tenderstem brocolli with noodles

Chinese New Year is just around the corner, I believe many of you who are celebrating it must be busy "spring cleaning", baking cookies, decorating houses with auspicious items and etc. For me, "spring cleaning" - tick, baking-intend to, decorating with auspicious item - could be tough, I can't even find ang pow packets here. Indeed, the Chinese New Year has all it do's and don't. I would rather spend my energy to create some nice recipes to whip out on Saturday, the eve, for friends to enjoy. And of course to inspire people who reads my blog to try out the recipes and enjoy them too.

For those who know me well, I'm not a keen beef meat eater. Maybe my mum did not train us to eat beef since we're young as she herself has allergic towards beef, and hence beef is not something common on our palette. However I did try a stir fry beef noodle and it did change my opinion on this rarely eaten meat for me. The red meat taste is not overwhelming and is so gorgeously tender, and yes it's acceptable for my taste department. I started out to like this stir fry beef and now it's a love affair. This is a simple recipes and I believe in no time you'll love it too. It will be a lovely noodle dish for Chinese New Year rather than the traditional longevity noodles. :-)

Chinese stir fry beef and tenderstem brocolli with noodle
Ingredients (serve 4)

• 200 gm lean pork fillet-thinly sliced perpendicularly to grain
  
• 300 gm egg noodles/spaghetti- I used spaghetti here
  
• 4 cloves garlic-finely chopped
• 1 packet of tenderstem brocolli (200 gm) / Chinese Kailan
  
• 2 tbsp of vegetable oil
  

Marinating ingredients for beef

• 1.5 tbsp light soya sauce
• 1 tbsp sugar
• 1 tbsp shaoxing wine
• 1 tsp of ginger juice
  
• 2 tsp of corn flour
• 1 tsp sesame oil
• 1 tsp of dark soya sauce/caramel sauce
  
• 1 tbsp oyster sauce (optional)

Noodle sauce

• 300-400 ml chicken stock
• 1/4 tsp of white/black pepper
• 1 tsp sugar
• 2 tbsp of light soya sauce
• 1 tbsp shaoxing wine
• 1 tsp sesame oil
• 1 tbsp oyster sauce (optional)
  

1. Marinate the beef with marinating ingredients for 30 minutes.
2. Boil a pot of water, once boiling, blanched the tenderstem brocolli for 30 seconds and remove. Then add in spaghetti to cook. Follow the spaghetti packet instruction, i.e if 15 minutes require to achieve al-dente, drained after 12-13minutes.
3. Heat a wok on high heat. Add in a tbsp of vegetable oil. Once it's hot, add in the garlic and lightly brown. Then add in the beef, lay thinly over the wok and let is slightly caramelised, this will take about 1 minute or so. Then flip over and stir fry for another minute. Do not overcook as you want your beef to be just tenderly nice. Remove to a plate.
4. Add in another tbsp of oil onto the wok, throw in the green and stir fry quickly to nicely coat the vegetable with oil. This will take about a minute. Remove to a plate.
5. Then pour in the noodle sauce, once it start simmering, turn the heat to medium. Add in the spaghetti and stir, let it absorb the liquid. When the liquid is almost absorbed, turn off heat, add in the beef and brocolli stem and mixed well. Served hot with pickled green chillis.

Steam Chicken with Dong Quai, goji berries and red dates

Bet many of you must be checking my blog and wonder whereabout Apron's Delight is. Been quite busy lately at work, an early spring clean my house during weekend and watching some really good documentaries on TV. And I am still keeping my resolution to keep cycling to work at least 3 times a week during winter (note: cold and dark here in winter), but nevertheless 36 miles per week for the last 6-7 weeks felt like an achievement.
Yes indeed it's also good time in winter to replenish one's body with nutritious meal. Here's a really simple and good remedy for women well being. My mum used to cook this dish for me. So simple and yet really delicious with a bowl of rice.

Steam Chicken with Dong Quai, Goji Berries and Red Dates
Ingredients (for 2 persons)

• 2 chicken legs portion
• 6 slices of dong quai (Chinese angelica root)
  
• 6 red dates-pitted
• 1 tbsp of Goji berries
• Dash of kosher/sea salt
• 8 tbsp of water
• 1-2 tbsp hard liquor-Brandy, Cognac, XO
• aluminiun foil
  

1. Wash the chicken and pat dry. You can opt to chop into smaller pieces.
2. Rub the chicken with sea salt.
3. Wash the dong quai, red dates, goji berries. Drained. Lay them on the aluminium foil. Top them with the chicken pieces.
4. Slowly wrap the parcel, before sealing, pour in the water and brandy.
5. Heat up a steamer and let it steam for 25-30minutes. Ensure when you prick the chicken there is no bloody liquid as it's still not cook, continue to steam on high heat.
6. Serve hot with rice.

Of course one should read about what is dong quai if in doubt.

The arrival of snowdrop signifies spring is just around the corner, I can see myself smiling

Comforting Mushroom Soup

At times, I'm busy with other stuff that I will try to make simple dish in a jiffy. Here is one good example, this mushroom soup is fulfilling and comforting for a cold winter day and it's so easily made. I don't buy Campbell Mushroom Soup any longer since I discover the fuss free homemade mushroom soup making . Homemade fresh mushroom soup is so flavorful and fresh. Moreover, mushrooms are brimming with protein, Vit B and minerals. They're low in calories and may have antibacterial substances to help the body. This soup can be incorporated as a starter as well.

Mushroom Soup
Ingredients (serve 4-5 persons)

• 500 gm closed cup mushroom- chopped
  
• 800-1000 ml of vegetable/chicken stock (if you want thicker soup use less stock)
  
• 1 big onion-chopped
• 2 cloves of garlic-finely chopped
• 90 gm butter
• 1 bay leaf
• 2 tbsp plain flour
• 1/2 cup single cream
• salt & pepper to taste

1. Heat a pan, once hot, melt the butter, add in chopped onion and garlic. Turn to medium heat to sweat the onion and garlic till soft. It takes approximately five minutes.
   
2. Add in the chopped mushroom and cook for about 3-5 minutes. Add in the flour to coat well the mushroom, continue to stir. Then add in the stock and throw in the bay leaf.
3. Bring it to small boil and let it simmer for further 10minutes. Remove the bay leaf thereafter. Use a hand blender to blend to your require consistency.
4. Off the heat. Add in the cream and stir. Serve hot with some bread. Drizzle some cream over the soup to garnish. Add your salt and pepper to your taste.

This soup can be kept in container in the fridge and kept well over one week. You can heat up when required. Warming winter soup......

Pork Ball Cellophane/Glass Noodle Soup

As from the title of my recipes, my main aim here is to share with you how to make bouncy meatballs [pork, beef or chicken] that one could easily make.
I always thought making those bouncy meatballs required a lot of skill. Fear not, it's as easy as I promised you. Infact this is my first try in making these bouncy meatballs and it turned out really well.

Pork ball
Ingredients (make 20-24 balls)

• 250 gm mince pork
• 60 ml icy cold water
• 1/2 tsp nam pla- Thai fish sauce
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1 tsp oil
• 1 tbsp cornflour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp of white pepper

1. Put the mince pork into a food processor and blend until a paste is form. During blending, add 3 tbsp of icy water slowly(one tbsp at a time) until a smooth paste is form. Remove the blended meat paste into a big bowl
   
2. Then mix the remaining icy water with fish sauce, salt, sugar, oil, cornflour, white pepper and baking powder in a bowl.
3. Pour this mixture into the meat paste and use a big spoon to stir slowly until all the liquid is absorbed.
4. To do the taste test, boil a little of the paste. Taste it and season according to your taste by adding salt or sugar.
5. Cover the meat paste with cling wrap and place in the fridge for 30 minutes or so.
6. When you wanted to shape the pork ball, boil a kettle of water. Pour the boiling water into a deep pot.
7. Using a wet hand, scoop the meat paste onto your palm, close your hand, push the paste through the index finger and thumb, use a wet spoon to scoop the ball and drop it onto the hot water in the pot. Continue to do so until complete. Here a video clip on how to shape the ball with your hand.
   
8. At this time, you should notice the outer layer of the meatball is slightly cook. Bring the pot onto your cooker, on the heat to lowest, slowly bring it to simmering point but not boiling. This will ensure your pork ball will be bouncy. This roughly takes about 15minutes or so. Once cooked the pork ball will float to the surface. You can half one of the ball to ensure it's cook, no sign of pinkish meat.
   
9. While it's cooking, prepare a big bowl and fill in with icy water. Drop the cooked pork balls into it. Once cooled, you can remove the pork ball and store in the fridge until it is required.
   
   

Cellophane/Glass Noodle Soup
Ingredients (serve 4 persons)

• 200 gm dried cellophane noodle
• 1.5 litres of chicken+anchovy stock- add salt and 1/2 tbsp of sugar
  
• 2 stalks of spring onion-finely chopped
• 2 tbsp shallot oil
• 1 tbsp of pickled radish/turnip (chai po)
• 2 cups of bean sprouts or some greens
• pinch of pepper
  
• sliced red chillis (optional)
  

1. Boil the cellophane noodle for 5 minutes or so till cook. It should be transparent.
2. Bring to boil the prepared stock. You can add in the pork ball to boil as well. Off the heat
   
3. Separate the noodle into 4 bowls.
4. Garnish the noodle with bring sprout, spring onion, pickled turnip, shallot oil, pork ball and red chillis.
5. Served piping hot, nice to dip the meat ball with garlic chilli sauce or just soya sauce with bird eye chillis.
   

Un croissant sil vous plait

This brings back memory while I was in Grenoble, France some time ago. In any French town, one could only be drawn to boulangerie that dotted every corner of the street. I picked up a few useful sentences while in France in order to get along with everyday life, i.e bon jour, merci beaucoup, la dison sil vous plait, ca va? , tres bien and of course my favorite phrase while I visit any boulangerie: un croissant sil vous plait.
The freshly baked aroma of croissant is drawing me to the boulangerie every morning. Oooh, ooh so heavenly. I could easily get ready made croissants from Tesco but I'm so lazy to go out this morning as weather is damp and windy. Yes I know making croissant is quite tedious but aye, who can resist the freshly home baked croissant?

I followed this recipes from bbc good food:

Croissant
Ingredients (make 24 croissants)

• 1kg/2.2lb strong white flour
• 450g/1lb unsalted butter
• pinch of salt
• 570ml/1 pint water and milk mixed
• 2 sachets easy bake yeast (14 grammes)
  
• 1 egg for egg wash

1.Sift flour into a bowl, cut butter into small pieces, add a pinch of salt, yeast and with a pallet knife cut in water and milk. This makes a horrible sticky mess but turn onto a lightly floured table and carefully knead to make a cohesive dough.

2. Shape mixture into a rectangle and roll out to approximately 30cmx20cm/12inx8in. Fold over the top third, fold up the bottom third, seal each side with the side of your hand, then put into a plastic bag and chill for 30 minutes. Turn 90 degrees and roll again to another rectangle. Fold up bottom third and seal with the side of your hand. Chill as before for 30 minutes. Repeat two more times, chilling 30 minutes between each rolling. Return to plastic bag and refrigerate for an hour.

3. Remove from fridge and roll carefully into a big rectangle 50cm/30cm/24inx12in cut in half lengthways, divide each half into 12 triangles. Then from the widest edge of the triangle, roll up tightly and place in a crescent shape on a tray. Beat egg for egg wash and with care, egg wash croissant. Make sure you do not go over a cut edge with egg wash. This will stop them from rising properly if desired.

4. When frozen take off the tray and put into a plastic bag.

5. For use, remove from freezer the number required for breakfast, put onto baking tray and leave overnight. Put into a hot oven at 200C and bake for about 15 minutes until browned and risen.

You can also watch this video on step by step how it's make.
And one of my favorite baking websites - Joe Pastry who gives a lot of good tips on how to bake.

Serve with strawbery jam or marmalade. It's so crispy and flaky on the outside and soft on the inside. Hmnnnn............heavenly.