black sesame pudding (from house kurogoma pudding mix) -- Serves 4 to 5 pax

Black sesame is my ultimate favourite. From black sesame spread to black sesame rice balls I love them all. Just that it's a little heaty for my body to take sometimes but it is said to have nourishing effect on the skin and hair.

It had been a busy week for me due to courses and weekend work assignments so I decided to cheat and bought a box of Black Sesame Pudding (Kuro Goma Purin) mix from Yamakawa Super, A Japanese mart in Tiong Bahru Plaza. 

The instructions look as easy as A-B-C. 

Recipe reflected on the box (the instructions on the box were in Japanese language so do remember to look out for English version provided near the door at the mart):

Ingredients:
The mix~!
400 ml fresh milk

Method:
1. In a pot, open a packet of the Kurogoma pudding powder. Add 400ml fresh milk. Turn on medium flame.

2. Mix well until powder melts. Once boiled, turn to small flame. Continue to boil for 1 minute.
3. Divide the mixture into small container cups. 
[please do it immediately, do not wait any longer as the upper layer of the liquid would have already started to solidify in the pot. I made that mistake and by the time I got down to divide the mixture into small cups, I had to break the upper layer into pieces. I tried reboiling it to reverse the process of solidifying but it didn't work, of course.]

That explains the pieces of dark patches, they are the broken solidified bits.

4. Cool it to room temperate for about 10min. After chilling in the fridge for more than 1 hour...

black sesame pudding

Masakthoughts: The texture is soft, close to a creamy texture. It's very sweet with an extremely milkish taste. They look hideous (nothing like the picture on the box) but the taste was decent for a quick fix like this in the kitchen :)

mini begedil (fried potato patty)

Recently during lunch, I was introduced to begedil by a colleague. It is a malay potato patty, often added to mee soto or your nasi (rice). The girls would usually scream "a lot of calories ah" but still unable to resist the temptation to order one or two when we were queuing in front of the muslim stall.

As we are approaching Hari Raya Puasa, why not try a malay dish? 

There are lots of slight variations across the different recipes offered online. This looks one of the simplest.

Recipe extracted from Annielicious Food:

Ingredients:
[yes we will be frying so some oil please!]
650g Potatoes, use slightly firmer ones. [I cooked three potatoes, quite small in the size of my fist]

50g Shallots, sliced, fried [you can buy fried shallots off the shelf, hassle-free]
2 sprig Spring Onion
1 sprig Coriander leaves (optional)
1 tsp Salt, or more [I just took a pinch of salt]
dashes of pepper [this was omitted as I forgot about it, oops]
1 beaten egg 

Method:
1. Fry sliced shallots till golden brown. Set aside. Do not discard the shallot oil. Those are good stuffs. 
[I skipped this as I already had some packet ones which you could purchase from stores]

2. Slice potatoes into thick slices, deep fry it until potato slices are cooked. Use chopstick to poke on it to test it's softness. 
[drain your potato slices after washing them (before frying) to minimize splatters. Oil's height could be just enough to cover the slices. According to Annie, there are two versions, you can either fry the the potatoes or boil the potatoes before they are mashed. The fried version originates from Johor whereas the boiled version gives you a healthier alternative I supposed. This is the fried version. :)] 

[the chips look delicious, and they are good to be eaten.]

3. Cut spring onions and coriander leaves. 
[really depends on yourself how much you would like to add, I know some friends who do not eat coriander leaves..]

4. Mash the fried potatoes. You don't have to 100% mash them. Leave some chunks (about 30% roughly mashed). It gives patties a nice bite. 
[I mashed using a metal spoon. It is difficult to mash those golden brown edges...so just leave those chunks..at this point I also added the pinch of salt.]

5. Add fried shallots, spring onions and coriander leaves into the mashed potatoes. Mix well. 
[to your preference! You might want to try adding meat or other ingredients, be creative!]

6. Scoop some of the mashed potatoes and put them into the palm. Repeatedly press and make the patties compact. Roll them into balls and press it into thick patty form. 
[as I did not have sufficient potatoes, I decided to do mini begedils, about 1.5 inches in diameter. Bite-sized begedils..]

7. Heat up enough oil for deep frying - medium heat. 
[the oil's height could be slightly lower than the begedils, just have to overturn them when they become golden brown at the underside.]

8. Beat egg in a bowl.
9. Dip the begedil into beaten eggs, one at a time. And then fry the begedil till golden brown. 
[they smell so nice!]

10. Drain the begedils of excess oil before serving.

begedil

Masak-thoughts: Potatoes potatoes, how can you go wrong with potatoes? Begedil is indeed an unhealthy snack, but by DIY-ing at home, it certainly allows you to have a certain level of control over the ingredients.. So try it! For amateur cook, it takes really long to fry and cut the potatoes but generally manageable with very minimal oil splatters (just remember to drain your potatoes after washing..). The taste is not as good as those sold outside but my tummy is just as contented!

cranberry white chocolate cookies (40 to 50 pieces)

Cranberry. Another superfruit. Some of my female colleagues are crazy over cranberries due to the fruits' superpower to prevent Urinary Tract Infection.
Cranberry cookie -- definitely an irresistible snack for the health conscious (if you can ignore the amount of sugar that is compressed in a little piece of cookie heh).

So this recipe was found by my friend, S online -- Good Food, Shared. It is a pretty cool blog with step-by-step tutorial recipes, mainly pastries and desserts. Will revisit the blog for more!

Recipe extracted from Good Food, Shared [Please refer to the awesome link for step-by-step description :)]

Ingredients:
150g butter
125g soft light brown sugar
100g caster sugar
2tsp vanilla extract
1 Large egg, straight from the fridge
1 Large egg yolk (also from the fridge)
300g plain flour
1/2 tsp bicarbonated soda
150g dried cranberries
200g white chocolate

Steps:
1. Preheat the oven to 170ºC
2. Line either one large or two smaller baking sheets with baking paper and set aside.
3. Melt the butter, set aside to cool slightly- this prevents it from cooking the eggs. Mix the two sugars together then pour the now slightly cool melted butter and mix until the mixture is well combined.
4. Add the vanilla extract and the eggs, mix slowly at first then increase to full speed.
5. Mix on high for 3-5 minutes until the mixture is pale and creamy. Weigh the plain flour, add the bicarbonate of soda and give a quick stir to combine.
6. Add the flour in two batches to the egg batter on the lowest speed and mix enough to just combine.
7. Meanwhile roughly chop the white chocolate into thumbnail sized pieces.
[we bought chocolate chips so there was no need to chop. However, due to Singapore's sweltering weather they quickly melted into unfavourable lumps]

8. Add the dried cranberries and the white chocolate to the cookie dough, barely mix together. Overworking the cookie dough will lead to tough cookies. 
[I guessed we really over-mixed it. Would come to that later.]

9. It is recommended that the cookie dough remains completely cool, so either place in the fridge between batches or place the whole mixing bowl in a basin of ice. Place walnut sized pieces onto the prepared baking sheets.
10. Place the cookies about 4cm apart as they will spread while baking. Bake in the center of the oven for 14 minutes or until they lightly toasted around the edges and a light golden colour.

[and G decided to be creative and mould the dough into heart shapes]

11. Leave to cool on the baking tray for 4-5 minutes, the cookies will harden as they cool.
12. Cool completely on a wire rack.
[S warned us that these were not pressed cookies, therefore the shape would not stay. We only found 1 close-to-perfect heart shape at the end of the baking session.]

cranberry white chocolate cookies

Masak-thoughts: Taste was great. But why was the texture so rough!
I found the cookies really tough too. WAY TO GO!~

Less is more when it comes to dough. 
Overworked dough is a baker’s worst nightmare and it often comes down to temperature. Ideally, you want the kitchen to be cool before you start handling the dough. If yours tends to heat up quickly, work the dough first before turning on the oven. Silverton recommends that you “handle the dough as little as possible and always use your fingertips because they’re cooler than your palms.” When rolling the dough, start from the center and work your way out, flouring the surface and dough as you go. “People are afraid of flour,” Jackson says. However, “if the dough has enough flour in it, don’t be afraid to use enough flour to roll it out. Otherwise, you’ll overwork it.” You can tell when cookie and pie dough is overworked because it will be stretchy and sticky, resulting in poor texture—and results. Deborah Racicot, pastry chef at Gotham Bar & Grill in New York City, says, "If it is a pie crust, the dough will be tough and taste like cardboard. For a sweet dough, the butter may leach out, and be greasy, or even tough.”

[From: http://www.womansday.com/food-recipes/cooking-tips-shortcuts/10-baking-tips-from-the-pros-117036]

blue berry pie bars

Blue berries are packed with lots of Vitamin C, E and anti-oxidants. They are known to be "brain-food" and can be helpful for those who are combating body fats.
Not to mention these indigo-painted berries look so appetizing and easy to chew -- Once you pop, you can't stop. I am not sure whether these health benefits are retained after being cooked, anyhow it does not stop me from introducing them as the "lead character" today.

My friends (S and G) and I decided to meet for the last time before the preggie goes on maternity leave/ confinement. So what better way can girlfriends spend time together on a weekend afternoon? Yes, we baked.

S, being our shifu (master) whipped out her mobile phone and introduced us the website Foodgawker.
It is a platform to search for food blogger recipes and even if you are not a kitchen person, you can feast your eyes with those pretty pictures of food. :)

After browsing Foodgawker for some time at the supermarket (and being constantly distracted by the random mascots promoting their items), we decided to grab 3 boxes of blueberries and challenge the blueberry pie bars recipe (we made cookies too but I shall leave that for another post).

The strawberries were on sale but S opined we should stick to blueberries as strawberries contain more moisture and we might be setting ourselves up for failure if the pie turned out to be too moist.

Recipe extracted from Kleinworth & Co.

Ingredients:

Crust & Topping
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
3/4 cup sugar
pinch salt
1 1/2 sticks cold butted (cubed)

Filling
3 cups fresh blueberries
2 eggs
1 cup sugar
1/3 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup sour cream
pinch salt

Steps:
1. Grease 9x13 glass baking dish- set aside.
2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
3. Add flour, sugar, salt & cubed butter to mixing bowl, beat until combined & crumbly.
[But I continued until it became creamy...forgot that the crust should be crumbly!]

4.Take 1 cup of mixture & set aside. Take remaining mixture & firmly press into your baking dish, covering the bottom.
5.Bake 15 minutes.
6. While crust is baking- whisk eggs in a large bowl.
7. Add sugar, sour cream, flour & salt.
8. Gently fold in blueberries. Set aside.
[Look at the happy berries swimming in the mix!]

9. When crust is ready - remove from oven & add filling.
[Remember to bake the bottom crust before adding the swimming blueberries!!]

10. Gently spooning over the top of the crust.
11. Sprinkle with remaining crust mixture you had set aside.
[I over-beaten the mix and it became creamy. Thus the texture of the top crust.] 

12. Bake 1 hour or until top is lightly browned.
[Meanwhile, you could do a lot of things in an hour with your girlfriends..such as napping and going into stone mode. We could smell the sweet crust when the pie was baking in the oven. Berries bursting (literally) in happiness under the heat. Pure excitement!]

13. Cool before serving if eating alone. If serving warm add a scoop of vanilla ice cream on top.
[We didn't have ice cream but it's already oh-so-yummy!]

blue berry pie bars

Masak-thoughts: Shopping for ingredients alone requires certain level of knowledge and some calculation. For example, I didn't know there are so many different types of flour *noob*.
S told me that the ang moh (western-style) pastries are usually very sweet, especially so when the recipes are created by the Caucasians due to taste preferences. So take note and adjust the ingredients to your liking (we reduced the sugar by about 20% or even more..)!
Oh yes, it doesn't matter if you beat the crust mix for too long that it turns creamy instead of crumbly, it still tasted good, or so I think. It was also less messy when we cut and packed the pie into bars (but of course the top layer was not as aesthetically pleasing).
The sour blueberries complement the sweet crust, totally yums! ^.^ I would not have attempted the recipe without the ladies!

egg in capsicum slice!

And so, I had been wanting to try this which went viral some time ago.

Starting a blog like this motivates me to enter the kitchen. Frying an egg, chicken feed lah (ridiculously easy)! Or so I thought.

Look at the pretty capsicum. @.@

I happily emptied the content in the capsicum and followed the steps. Even added dices of ham in the egg, thinking I had everything under control. 

To my horror, splatters of oil started going wild and I went hysteria over what I saw:

The egg leaked through the bottom of the capsicum slice and there you have, capsicum omelette (slightly charred)?

I cheated and cut away the edge...

egg in capsicum slice

Masak-thoughts: It was really disappointing, I guess this seemingly easy task requires some culinary skills. I did a quick search on Google and found out onion slices work too. Taste was so-so, the savoury ham did make it taste better though. Anyway, had a good laugh with my mom whilst admiring the pathetic eggs.

Oh yes, and Happy Father's Day. My dad was not at home to witness this tragedy...hehe.

sesame oil chicken + black fungus (Serves 4 to 5 pax)

My first challenge given by my mum -- Sesame Oil Chicken. Sounds complicated to those who lament "me no cook"? Fret not.

We played cheat by buying steamed chicken from one of the hawker stalls. In that case, you don't even have to worry about your chicken go uncooked. *maniacal laugh*

Ingredients:

Black fungus (to clean by soaking them in water for several hours)

Half steamed chicken (cut; usually already dripping with gravy)

Salt

4 tablespoons of cooking oil

Half a tablespoon of dark soy sauce

A packet of sesame oil which comes with the steamed chicken

2 tablespoons of Chinese rice wine (optional)

A few pieces of sliced ginger

Steps:

1. Add the cooking oil and stir-fry the ginger.

2. Add the fungus + a dash of salt. 

3. Throw in the steamed chicken. Continue to fry. Add dark soy sauce for the colour. 

4. Add the packet of sesame oil for the taste.

5. After some minutes of tossing the chicken, you may feel the ache at your bicep. Add some rice wine if you want the flavour.

6. Cover the lid and allow the content to simmer for 3 minutes.

sesame oil chicken

Masak-thoughts: It was scary to hear the explosive "PSSSSSSSSST" sound when the black fungus landed in the wok. And do note that this hassle-free method does not apply to cooking raw chicken.
The excess water in the ingredients may cause oil to splatter so just beware...stand away from the wok or remove the excess moisture as much as possible before dumping them into the wok! Not a bad first try afterall! :)