Gougère

I am a fan of eggy batter, and choux pastry is a perfect snack when I feel a little peckish. I tried to make choquette, but the Nestle chocolate chips burned, so it was not a sucess. So I quickly grated some gruyère cheese, mixed them into batter and piped them on the cookie sheet. I sprinkled more cheese on top before baking.


flour 1 cup
water 1 cup
butter 90g
a pinch of salt
2 handfuls + more of grated gruyère
4 eggs (room temp)

Preheat oven to 200C.
Bring water, butter and a pinch of salt to a boil in a pan. Once the butter has melted, take the pan off the heat. Add flour and mix vigorously using wooen spoon. Let it cool for 5 mins.
Once the dough has slightly cooled, add one egg at a time, mixing well. Add cheese to the dough, reserving some for sprinkling on top.
Pipe the dough on the sheet, about a walnut size, 1 inch from one another.
Sprinkle cheese on top.
Bake for 25-30 mins in the oven till golden brown.

Best served warm with wine or beer.

It is raining outside and I am listening to Leslie Cheung's 為你鍾情. Such a classic. -0-

Lemon yoghurt cake

I had some leftover plain yoghurt in the fridge that was nearing expiry date. I googled for a light yoghurt cake recipe, and noticed that everybody seems to rave about Dorie Greenspan's recipe. So I tried, and I was very happy with the result. It is light and lemony, perfect with a cup of tea on a summer's day. It is also very simple and easy to make, so much so that I can memorize the whole recipe.

1 1/2 cup AP flour
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup plain yoghurt
3 eggs
1/2 cup vegetable oil (non-fragrant oil like grape seed oil)
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 lemon
2 teaspoon baking powder
a pinch of salt
4 tablespoon icing sugar
Preheat oven to 175˚C

1. Put sugar and zest of one lemon in a bowl, and mix them together to make fragrant sugar mixture.
2. Add eggs, oil and vanilla extract to sugar mixture. Whisk well to achieve lemon curd-like mixture.
3. Sift flour, baking powder and salt to 2. Mix well.
4. Line muffin tins with cupcake paper. Fill upto 2/3. Bake for 25 mins or until the toothpick comes out clean.
5. Mix juice of 1 lemon with 4 tablespoon. Prick holes on the cakes with toothpick. Spoon lemon and sugar mixture over the cake when the cakes are still warm.
6. Enjoy with a cup of tea.

* Dorie Greenspan's recipe calls for warmed up marmalde glaze, but I replced it with lemon-sugar mixture.

Oatmeal, Pecan & Choc Chip Cookie

11 mins

13 mins

Can’t believe how long I’ve been ignoring my blog, or more like OUR BLOG if the other writer is still around to update, yes, I’m talking to you Banya~

I have suddenly had a brainwave that I odd to try out and train myself for a marathon someday. This is because I’ve been only running on 2-6 hours sleep for coming close to 3 months now. I had a long battle with assignments, and now exams (+ falling down the stairs and a fever in between all of that jazz). It’s really been pushing my limits both mentally and physically. I never thought I could last that long (trust me, when I was 18 I could but I'm VERY far from that age right now!).

In addition, I'm now busy playing hide and seek with my dissertation supervisor…my fear in stepping in the school of law is so immense I’ve really been avoiding that area of the building. I’m even avoiding that escalator that lead to the school…argggh…pathetic~~ So I've ended up writing an email to him and ask to take leave for an extra semester so I can squeeze out this painful labour of dissertation. I've yet to wait for his favourable response and really, it better be favourable!

So – question for today is “what does a girl do when she’s under so much stress and with so little time in her hand?” The answer is “bake some cookies!!” yes, that’s right! I’m a poor student who can’t afford for holidays and retail therapy so let’s just bring on some baking therapy!

This time, what will be in our cookies? Oatmeal, pecan AND CHOCOLATE CHIPSSSSSSS!!! No offence to raisin, but I’ll take the chocolate chips instead please! Again, I’ve reduced the amount of sugar because my lovely mother loves complaining about my cookies / dessert being too sweet! So if you like your cookies sweeter, by all means add more sugar in it.

I must say that usually I’m not a fan of cinnamon but I quite liked the taste of it, if you eat it fresh the scent doesn’t really come out as strong as when it’s cooled. My mother, my meanest critic (yet) has “ordered” me not to put in cinnamon and reduce the amount of orange zest next time. So I’m thinking to halve the cinnamon and orange zest by half next time. This little monster if you want on the crispier side, then you can flatten it slightly at around 6 minutes with a spatula, and bake it for a little longer (but watch out for burnt cookies!). I did two batches, one at 11 minutes and the other at 13 minutes to test the texture. I like the 11 minutes one better at fresh but preferred the 13 minutes one when cooled. Cooking it’s all about trial and error…let’s get baking.

Ingredients:

• 8 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature


• ½ cup sugar (white / caster)


• ¾ cup light brown sugar, firmly packed


• 1 teaspoon salt1 teaspoon vanilla extract


• 1 large eggs, 1 egg yolk


• ½ cup bread flour


• 1 cup multi-purpose flour


• 1 teaspoon baking soda


• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon


• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg1 cup quick-cooking oats


• 1 ½ cups chopped pecans


• 2 teaspoons freshly grated orange zest


• 12 ounces semisweet chocolate chips

Instruction:

1. Using an electric mixer to beat the butter in a bowl until light and fluffy.


2. Add both sugars, salt, and vanilla, and beat until well mixed, about 3 minutes.


3. Stir in egg and yolk.


4. Then sift together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and nutmeg in a separate bowl.


5. Add half of the flour mixture to the butter with the mixer on low speed. Once the flour has been incorporated, add the second half.


6. Stir in the oats, pecans, orange zest, and chocolate chips


7. Put the mix in the fridge for an hour (can be kept overnight) – I did not bake this fresh so I can’t compare the result but I’d experiment next time when I have more time.


8. Preheat oven to 170˚C


9. Line a baking paper onto the baking tray. Drop the dough, by the tablespoon, onto the cookie sheet and bake for 10-13 minutes or until golden. (the cooking time really depends on your oven!!!)


10. Remove from the oven and cool the cookies on a rack.


11. Cookies can be store at room temperature in a cookie jar or any airtight container.

Keeps gettin' better and better - Leite's chocolate chip cookies

I just have no idea why I am so obssessed with chocolate chip cookies. I am not American and I did not grow up or study in America. I certainly was not brought up on those. My mom did bake them for me time to time, but not so much that I should be obssesed with it.

I baked chocolate chip cookies many many times, tried classic Toll House recipe and Jaque Torres's many times. But I could never get the ones I pictured in my mind until I tried Golden Syrup chocolate chip cookies. Even than, I had to squash the cookies a bit to get the shape I wanted. Then I came across Smitten Kitchen's. Leite is the one who actually came up with the recipe, and the pictures in Smitten Kitchen seemed very nice, so I gave that a go.

It was perfect. I am so happy with it that I can confidently sell those delicious cookies at the cafe that I dream to have one day. (Wishful thinking it is)
It was buttery, cripsy, had a slight touch of toffe. It stayed chewy after cooling down. Crackly, rippled top was attractive.

I did make some change from the original recipe. I did not add all the chocolate I was supposed to, but instead, put in about 80% of the original recipe. Not that I have anything against chocolate, but I always felt that Torres' recipe is a bit overloaded with chocolate.

Leite’s Consummate Chocolate Chip Cookies
Adapted from Smitten Kitchen / David Leite via The New York Times

*** I halved the original recipe. It makes around 16-17 cookies.

1 cups minus 1 TSP cake flour
5/6 cups bread flour
5/8 teaspoons baking soda
3/4 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoons coarse salt
140g unsalted butter
5/8 cup light brown sugar
1/2 cup plus 1 TSP granulated sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoons natural vanilla extract
200g bittersweet chocolate disks or fèves, at least 60 percent cacao content
Sea salt

1. Sift flours, baking soda, baking powder and salt into a bowl. Set aside.

2. Using a mixer fitted with paddle attachment, cream butter and sugars together until very light, about 5 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Stir in the vanilla. Reduce speed to low, add dry ingredients and mix until just combined, 5 to 10 seconds. Drop chocolate pieces in and try to incorporate them without breaking them. Press plastic wrap against dough and refrigerate for 24 to 36 hours. [Dough may be used in batches, and can be refrigerated for up to 72 hours.]

3. When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a nonstick baking mat. Set aside.

4. Scoop 6 3 1/2-ounce mounds of dough (the size of generous golf balls) onto baking sheet, making sure to turn horizontally any chocolate pieces that are poking up; it will make for a more attractive cookie. Sprinkle lightly with sea salt and bake until golden brown but still soft, 18 to 20 minutes. Transfer sheet to a wire rack for 10 minutes, then slip cookies onto another rack to cool a bit more. Repeat with remaining dough, or reserve dough, refrigerated, for baking remaining batches the next day. Eat warm, with a big napkin.

Keeps gettin' better - Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies

If you have been reading my blog, you must be very familiar with my obsession about chocolate chip cookies. Till now, I thought Jaque Torres'schocolate chip cookie was it, but I found very simple but very satisfying - crispy on the outside, chewy centre- recipe which uses Lyle's Golden Syrup.

Finding the recipe was out of pure luck. I was searching recipes for sticky toffee pudding (my brother's request) but did not find any. So I decided to look for golden syrup pudding instead in memory of boarding school meals. I came across Mademoiselle M's recipe. in the process. It does not use any eggs, so I was a bit apprehensive at the beginning, but this seems to be the recipes I have been waiting for. I am so happy with this that I wish there was a school fete to sell these.





The recipe yields 12 cookies.

Ingredients

175g flour+ 1tsp baking powder and a pinch of baking soda
75g golden caster sugar
2 TSP Golden Syrup
100g butter
75g chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 180°C.

1. Mix soft butter and sugar.
2. Add goden syrup.
3. Mix flour with baking powder and baking soda. Add to 2.
4. Add chocolate chips.
5. Divide the dough into 12 balls. Bake for around 12 minutes. The cookies may look uncooked, but when it cools down, it will be OK.

Enjoy them warm with cold milk or coffee. When the cookies cool down, the flavour of caramely golden syrup comes through more. I think the cookies will be as delicious without chocolate chips. Pecans and cranberry will be good substitutes.

Pudding au Caramel (Caramel Pudding) - Recipe

Puddings are amongst one of my best love dessert, I love all types of pudding from Chinese steamed milk pudding, Japanese milk pudding, Panna Cotta (or the Italian milk pudding LOL), Mango pudding, Baked Sago pudding, Soya Milk pudding…I LOVE PUDDINGS!

Because this recipe is done to suit my taste, therefore, it is perfectly ok to adopt your own preferences to it. E.g. some might prefer using skimmed or semi-skimmed milk instead, some might prefer using vanilla seeds instead of essence, some might prefer to use more sugar or some might prefer it to have more caramel with the pudding. So just do what you like to it but this is what I have done with mine!

Ingredients:

• 500 ml Whole Fat Milk
• 3 eggs
• 110g Sugar (I used caster sugar instead because I just bought a new bag.)
• 1 teaspoon Vanilla Essence
• 35ml Water

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 160-180˚c (again, depending how hot your oven it, mine tends to burn EVERYTHING I cook…so 160 was enough for me!).

2. Place water and 70g of sugar into a heavy bottom pan or pot to make the caramel sauce. This is a quick process so have your glass / ceramic pudding mold stand by to pour the sauce in when it’s done. The colour of the caramel depends on you, some like it to be a dark amber colour some is happy with honey colour. The darker you want it, the long you stir the caramel in the heat, but be careful not to burn it. Pour in the equal amount of caramel into each bowl. (A tiny bit is usually enough)

3. Whisk the egg with 40g of sugar, you can use more sugar than that if you wish. Heat up the milk and for 2-3 minutes and slowly pour in some of the milk into the egg before mixing it. Remember NOT to pour in all the milk at once and do it in at least 2-3 separate go. Each time more milk is added, stir gently to mix both egg and milk until adding more milk in it.

4. Use the sieve to sieve the pudding mix at least 3 times before pouring it into the glass / ceramic pudding mold. Spoon out gently any bubbles before covering it with aluminum foil.

5. Place the pudding on to the bottom tray of the oven, place a piece baking paper in the tray and fill up 2/3 of the tray with water before placing the glass / ceramic bowls on it. Bake at 160 - 180˚c for 45 – 60 mins.

TIPS:

• You can use the handle of a knife gently tap the mold / bowl for checking if the pudding is cooked or not. If a pudding is not ready the top would have a ripple effect, whereas if it was cooked and ready, it’d just wobble instead.
• After the pudding is done, take it out to soak in water for about 50 mins before placing into the fridge. It taste a lot nicer when chilled.
• To serve the pudding, just run the tip fo the knife around the mold, turn it onto a plate and ready to serve.

Wing Lai Yuen - Sichuan food (Hong Kong)

Address 1: Wing Lai Yuen (Yeung's Kitchen)Shop 106-107, Site 8, Wonderful Worlds Of Whampoa, 7 Tak On Street, Hung Hum, Kowloon

Address 2:Wing Lai Yuen Sze Chuen Noodles RestaurantG/F, 15-17 Fung Tak Rd, Wong Tai Sin, Kowloon

Szechuen Szechuan Sichuan food, however you wanna spell it is known for its spice and chili!

Wing Lai Yuen in HK is best known for its Spicy Szechuan Noodles (Dan Dan Mian) mostly because of the texture of the noodles (handmade). The Szechuan noodles in Hong Kong have all be altered to less spicy and added in more wonderful flavours, the original version have often been described as blend which I have never tasted before.

I for one always love the peanut sauce used in Dan Dan Mian and the preserved pickled vegetable in it (This pickled veg tend to have more savory flavour to it rather then acidic taste and is usually slightly spicy but there are ones that go without the chili). At Wing Lai Yuen you can have this noodles in mild version (without chili), but because I love my chili so I have never tried this one before. But I admire that they would try to accommodate their customers though I do not know if they’d have to compromise with the taste in order to do so or not.

My order was as follow:

Spicy Szechuan Noodles (Dan Dan Mian 擔擔麵)

- The soup base is thicker than the usual broth you see with other Chinese noodles in soup because of the peanut sauce. Don’t let the colour frighten you, it looks hotter than it taste, the spiciness is not overwhelming at all but just enough to give you little tinkle feeling, the noodles is very thin and smooth but not soggy.

“Altered version” Spicy Szechaun Noodles ("改良版"擔擔麵)
- The only different in look is that there were more minced meat and pickled vegetable in this and there’s a layer of oil at the top. The soup here is more diluted in texture as well as in taste. I personally cannot tell any drastic difference between the two except I preferred the usual one because the soup smelt and tasted better. I was anticipating the layer of oil to give it some wonderful aroma or something but it just didn’t happen! In fact, I find the altered version does not stand out at all. I guess my price was the extra $10 to find out the differences.

Dumplings in Chili oil (紅油抄手)

- The sauce is sweetened soy sauce based with chili oil and with plenty of chopped garlic (raw). There is no particular rule with the filling of the dumpling except it’s pork based, this one have added some (Chinese) celery in it. I love the taste of the celery and thought it actually brought the whole dish alive. The only improvement I find is that the skin of the dumpling is too large, therefore the fold of the dumpling is thicker and when it’s cooked some of it goes hard. Where the sauce tasted good enough already, except I find the sweetness was just one tad too much. Also if a few drops of Chinese dark vinegar could be added to it would taste a lot better.

Sautéed Eel slice with (Chinese) Chives (韭王炒鱔糊)

- This is in fact a Shanghainese dish, so I was really curious why there are so many Shanghainese dishes served in a Szechuan restaurant. My mother told me it is really common, just like my grandmother who is not originally from Shanghai but cooks Shanghainese food really well. The look and taste of this was really right on spot and very Shanghainesy. Well it is oily enough, the sauce and flavour was strong and wonderful but not salty, the sweetness was right and certain part of the eel is slighly crispy. The only criticism I had with this dish was that the chive was a bit too old and chewy~

- I am unsure if everyone is familiar with this but in certain cities in China (mostly the southern part), we put sugar (or anything sweetly flavoured) in savoury dishes, best known example would be Sweet and Sour pork LOL.

Cucumber and thin bean starch noodles with Peanut sauce (青瓜粉皮)

- This is a cold dish but usually with shredded chicken as well as cucumber. The bean starch noodles is a bit like rice noodles (Ho Fun) but it is semi-transparent. The peanut sauce was given at a very generous portion, which you may well appreciate at the first couple of bite but it gets a bit sticky and uninteresting. But adding some sauce from the spicy dumpling really helped it and it tasted even better than before. Mind you I love mixing food and different sauces together, so it might have just been me doing my own thing there and the whole world find this completely off putting!

Steamed Soup Dumpling (小籠包)

- Have you not heard of the infamous Steamed Soup Dumpling from Shanghai? Ever been to a Din Tai Fung before? If you haven’t maybe you should! In theory, what they do is use (supposingly) thin dumpling skin to wrapped up minced pork and a frozen cube of broth then steam it. During cooking, because the meat would be steamed in the soup so it is usually softer and flavour in the soup would infuse to the meat. The dumpling is usually served with vinegar with thin ginger slices. But if you prefer you can have it on its own. The dumpling here doesn’t have as much soup as other places I’ve tried before, but the overall flavour and quality was not bad. The dumpling skin is vital key to this dish, it cannot be too thin otherwise it'd burst and lose all the juice, but if it is too thick then it'd taste chewy once it cool off slightly and takes away the flavour. The dumpling skin here was just slightly on the thick side but luckily it was not overingly dry or too chewy. I would personally prefer this dish at other places but this one is not bad.

Sautéed veggie with garlic

- Everyone needs some fibre with their meal!!

Soy Milk
- I don’t like the taste of the soy milk here, there are tons of places that do better soy milk then this. In fact, the one that are sold in the supermarket taste better.

Overall the environment is FAR from fine dinning, well the price is too! It only cost around $80 - $150 per head (with the current currency exchange would be around GBP 7 -14). On a busy day you may have to share the table with others, but I was lucky enough to get a table of my own.

It is always good to have some spicy food to spice up the rainy day, the weather have been terrible for the past few days!! So miserable~~ Nowww I better get back to work (even more miserable!) and do some research on public policy and enforcement --- Arrggh!

Moist Gingerbread cake with hot caramel sauce

Moist Gingerbread Recipe

(I'm sorry, I left out some ingredients!! I just remembered because I'm making another batch right now...so sorry!)

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 cup dark molasses
• 1/2 cup boiling water
• 5 tablespoons butter
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 - 2 teaspoons ground ginger (I actually grated some fresh ginger and used the juice instead this time. No idea how it'd turn out as it's still in the oven right now)
• 1 teaspoon grounded nutmeg (I used 1/2 teaspoon)
• 2 teaspoon of grounded cinnamon
• 1 teapoon grounded clove (I only use slightly more 1/4 teaspoon)
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 2 cups all purpose flour

METHOD:

1. Put molasses in a mixing bowl, add boiling water and butter and stir until well mixed.
2. Add salt, ginger, and soda and stir lightly.
3. Then stir in just enough flour to moisten and mix ingredients.
4. Turn into a baking pan / dish (I used a rectangular one).
5. Bake at 3750F (190 °C )for 25 to 35 minutes [I actually used 180°C because my oven tends to burn my cookies and cakes!! it really depends on your oven], or until top springs back when pressed lightly and bread pulls away from sides of pan.
6. Serve as is, with butter, or with a sauce. I've made some caramel sauce and served it with vanilla icecream!!

**It's the amount of molasses used and hot water that makes this cake moist, I'm not sure it'd be even more moist if extra molasses is put in, but I'll try it next time!**

Yield: 6 servings

Caramel Sauce Recipe

Ingredients:

• 1 cup of sugar
• 6 Tbsp butter
• 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream

Method:

1. Make sure you have everything ready to go before starting because making caramel is a fast process that cannot wait for hunting around for ingredients. If you don't work fast, the sugar will burn.
2. Heat sugar on moderately high heat in a heavy-bottomed saucepan. As the sugar begins to melt, stir vigorously with a whisk or wooden spoon. As soon as the sugar comes to a boil, stop stirring. Swirl the pan a bit from this point on. Use a brush to dip into a cup of water and brush it at the side of the pot (the rim) during the process, this will help the sugar to cook more evenly and prevent it from burning, though it will take longer as the water will need to evaporate before the sugar will caramelize. [I was too lazy when I made this so I skipped the whole brusing water at the rim part!]
3. As soon as all of the sugar crystals have melted (the liquid sugar should be dark amber in color), immediately add the butter to the pan. Whisk until the butter has melted.
4. Once the butter has melted, take the pan off the heat. Count to three, then slowly add the cream to the pan and continue to whisk to incorporate. Note than when you add the butter and the cream, the mixture will foam up considerably.
5. Whisk until caramel sauce is smooth. Let cool in the pan for a couple minutes, then pour into a glass mason jar and let sit to cool to room temperature. (Remember to use pot holders when handling the jar filled with hot caramel sauce.) Store in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks. Warm before serving.

** If you find the sauce too think then just put in more cream (the more butter and less cream the thicker the sauce gets**

The sauce can be kept in the fridge, just scope out the amount u need and heat it up on low heat, keep stirring gently and you can add a couple of spoonful of milk in it to prevent it from getting too thick.

This recipe makes a little over one cup of sauce.

Janchi gooksoo, chicken jorim

Janchi gooksoo, or party noodle, is a very simple dish that I can whip up with kitchen staples.
Very soothing, but it has a kick because of the chili (grown in my garden) in the sauce. It uses thin flour noodle called somyun.
By the way, the proper janchi gooksoo will have stir fried Korean courgette et al, but I prefer this version.



Stock
A handful of myulchi (dried anchovies)
15cm X 8cm dried sea kelp
20 cm of pa (Korean leek. It is spicier and slimmer)
4-5 cups of water

1. Lightly toast myulchi in the pan you are going to boil the stock in. Toasting process gets rid of fishy smell of myulchi. When ready, add sea kelp and very lightly toast it as well.
2. Add water and pa. Boil for 15 minutes or longer. The stock should be very light yellowish colour. When ready, strain. Keep it warm.

Sauce
1 Tsp chopped pa or leek
1 clove of garlic, chopped
1 chili (7cm long) chopped or snipped
1Tsp Josun soy sauce. (Or maybe dark soy sauce? It smells similar to Chinese dark soy sauce but Korean soy sauce is darker and richer.)
2 Tsp ordinary soy sauce
1/2 Tsp of Korean chili powder. If you don't have it, try hot paprika powder
A small pinch of ginger powder
A small pinch of sugar
A few drops of sesame oil

Mix all the ingredients together. Let it rest a bit.

Kimchi topping
Kimchi about 1/4 of whole kimchi
Sugar
Ground roasted sesame
Sesame oil

1. Get rid of excess yangnyum (spice, marinade or sauce on kimchi) Slice kimchi into thin strips, about 0.5cm.
2. Add a bit of sugar (depends on your taste), 1tsp of ground roasted sesame and a drop of sesame oil. Set it aside.

You don't need to add anything at all. Kimchi tastes good as it is. For some reason, it tastes better when sliced into thin strips.

Noodle
2 somyun packages. I don't know how to descirbe this, but somyun is usually wrapped in paper ribbons. The diameter of packages are usually 2.5 cm in diameter

1. Cook according to the instruction.
2. Rinse them in cold water.

How to assmeble
1. In a bowl, put noodle. The noodle is cold, so it must go through toryum process. It means that the noodle has to be warmed with soup first. Put a laddle or two of hot stock, stir a bit and put the stock back in the stock pot.
2. Add a bit of sauce and kimch. Serve.





Chicken jorim (braised in sauce)
400g chicken thighs or breast
1/4 cup maple syrup
1Tsp soy sauce
1 dried chili
1tsp grated ginger (or use a piece of ginger and remove it later)
salt and pepper

1. Cut chicken into bite size. Add a bit of salt and black pepper.
2. Heat a pan and add oil. Seal chicken on both sides and let them brown a little
3. Mix maple syrup, soy sauce and ginger. Add it to 2.
4. Add dried chili for kick.
5. Cook until almost all the sauce evaporates.

My so-called "Atkins" Recipes

Since X'mas is a big deal in HK and so is New Year, I've gained 4lbs and the weight went straight to my tummy and thigh (well, buttocks as well but hey!) It didn't quite go to the upper half of my body as I would have preferred so here I am stuck with a dilemma - DO I DIET BEFORE CHINESE NEW YEAR COME ALONG - OR - SHOULD I JUST CONTINUE TO EAT MY HEART OUT (hence none of my jeans would fit me anymore!)?

So my decision has come to this, I'll cut out Carbs and cut down on sugar! I guess I'm really just doing my own version of the infamous "Atkins Diet". Mind you I couldn't resist a slice of pizza and a few mouthful of spagahetti last night and I find cutting out alcohol is insanely hard, well, at least harder than I thought it would be!

So here are a few pieces of recipes to give you some perspective on how well I've been treating myself in regards with my diet!! Please note that the measurement are rough estimate as I tend to just taste my food while cooking and add in anything I think is needed.

Lemon Pepper (Buttery) Garlic Chicken

INGREDIENTS:

• 2 teaspoons butter
• 10 skinless chicken mini-fillet
• 1 teaspoon grounded black pepper

Marinate:

• 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
• 2 teaspoon lemon peel
• 1-2 teaspoon Salt
• 1-2 teaspoon Sugar
• ½ tablespoon mixed herbs
• 1 tablespoon grounded black pepper
• 1 tablespoon chopped Garlic
• 1 tablespoon dark soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon water
• ½ - 1 tablespoon cooking oil
• Little bit of egg white

DIRECTIONS:

1. Marinate chicken fillet, let it marinate for at least an hour or leave overnight. The egg white will keep the chicken tender once cooked.
2. Melt butter in a saucepan / frying pan. Sprinkle with 1/2 tablespoon of the pepper / mixed herbs, then lay the chicken breast on top. Saute chicken breast for about 2 to 3 minutes, then turn to the other side,
3. You may squeeze lemon juice or splash in a tiny bit of white wine onto around the side and saute for another 2to 3 minutes (or until chicken is cooked through and juices run clear). The extra lemon juice / wine is optional.

Tips: adding egg white when marinating meat will keep the meat juicy and tender when cook. But don't use too much otherwise there would be bit of egg white and ruin your dish when cooking.

Salmon Fillet with Lemon Cream Sauce

Ingredients:

• 1 Salmon Fillet
• 1 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 teaspoon olive oil
• 1-2 tablespoons butter, divided use
• 2 tablespoon fresh minced onions
• 1 small clove garlic, finely minced
• Splashed of white wine (like 1-2 tablespoon)
• 1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice, or more to taste
• 1/8 cup heavy cream

Directions:

1. Heat up olive oil (or cooking oil) and add in butter to melt in a big skillet on high heat sear the salmon, try not to over cook it. Remove and keep warm.
2. Lower heat to medium. Add remaining tablespoon of butter to the pan along with the onions. Gently saute until onions are translucent.
3. Add garlic and saute 1 additional minute, stirring often.
4. Carefully pour in the white wine and lemon juice. Stir and cook until the liquid is reduced by half, about 2 to 3 minutes.
5. Add heavy cream and return to a simmer. Cook another 3 minutes or so until thickened.
6. I've have used capers except I didn't have any so I just shuffled in some finely chopped parsley.
7. Pour lemon cream over salmon and serve.

Tips: Remember to throw in the parsley in the end and turn off the heat in order to keep that fresh green colour.

Steak with Garlic Gravy

Ingredients:

• 1 Wagyu Steak (or use whatever steak you prefer)
• 1 tablespoon Butter
• 1/2 tablespoon Salt
• 1 teaspoon garlic, minced
• 2 tablespoons cream
• 2-3 tablespoons water / broth
• 1 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 teaspoon flour

Marinate:

• 1/2 tablespoon of oyster sauce
• 1 teaspoon of sugar
• 1 tablespoon of dark soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon of terriyaki sauce
• pinch of black pepper

Directions:

1. Marinate Steak overnight
2. Melt butter in pan with olive oil, sear the steak quickly to sealed in the juices.
3. Cook the steak on low-medium heat for about 3-5 minutes on each side, depending on the thickness of the steak and how you like you steak to cook. Remove and keep warm.
4. Melt butter in the same pan, (similar when you de-glaze the fat and juices after roasting chicken to make gravy), throw in the garlic and use a spatular or wooden spoon to scrape the sauce pan and stir gently. Add in some broth / water (or even wine if you so wish to). Stir it round for a bit before adding cream.
5. Thicking the sauce with flour and add in salt and black pepper to flavour.

Tuna & Salmon Paté Served with Avocado

When my mum made this, she would actually use fresh salmon, however, don't forget that I'm a student trying to scrape by!! T^T sob sob sob, so I have to buy the canned ones and I had to mix tuna with salmon because even with canned salmon, it is at least double the price of tuna~ Well, at least in HK that's the case!

Ingredients:

• 10-15ml Olive Oil
• 1 canned Salmon and Tuna
• 1/4 onion, finely chopped
• 1 garlic clove, finely chopped
• 1-2 tablespoons fresh parsley, finely chopped
• 20ml whipping cream
• 4 tablespoons of mayonaise (well I uses the Kraft Miracle Whip Light)
• 1 tablespoon tastelemon juice
• pinch of pepper, to taste

Directions:

1. Drained the water from tins, put the tuna and salmon in a bowl and use a fork to break it up.
2. In a large mixing bowl, whisk the whipping cream until it's almost the consistency of whipped cream. Fold in the salmon, mayonaise (or dressing), lemon juice, onion, garlic and season.
3. Serve with Avocado~~ well, if you are on all carbs diet then congratulation, have it with bread!! :P

By the way, my diet didn't go well since I had some crisps and chocolate tonight!! haha~ but I enjoyed all the meat, cheese, cream and butter i've been allowed to have!!

Vanishing oatmeal cookie

I have been planning to do some cookies, and found a nice recipe on the back of Quaker oatmeal box lid -I noticed that when I was having an oatmeal+honey+milk bath-.

Ingredients
1/2 pound (2 sticks) butter, softened
1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt (optional)
3 cups Quaker Oats (quick or old fashioned, uncooked)
1 cup raisins
*I also added a handful of chopped almonds
Preheat the oven to 175°C .

1. Cream butter and sugar together.
2. Add eggs.
3. Add sifted flour, baking soda, cinnamon to the wet ingredients.
4. Mix oatmeal, raisins and almonds.
5. Drop by spoonfuls on the baking tray.
6. Bake for around 12 minutes until brown.

The cookies were crispy on the edge but soft in the middle. I think it will make nice ice cream sandwiches. If I want to be naugthy, I will make lemony cream cheese frosting instead of ice cream and sandwich it between cookies.
I flattened cookie mixture before putting them in the oven because the first batch was a bit too puffy for my taste.

Chilled Spaghetti (Japanese influence) - Recipe

Ok, so this is not much of an original Japanese-influenced dish, one day you've opened your fridge and figured you'd probably need to make a trip to the supermarket. It's late and you can't be bothered, at the same time you don't exactly feel like abusing your taste buds then what do you do... You have some mint leave, smoked salmon, cheese, lemon, some ham, some dead looking lettuce...you know you won't be satisfied with a sandwich, anyways there's no bread in the house. You just have to get creative~~~ hey, let's make chilled spaghetti! Haha, in fact I've got another version I called "italian influenced", I'm pop the recipe up when I am feeling less lazy. Or maybe when I have sth to celebrate like getting 3.6 for my GPA...(being sarcastic, a British thing, please excuse me if u dun get it). So with this recipe you can just be creative and throw in what you wish as long as it suit your taste!

Ingredients:

• 2 portion of spaghetti (I have a spaghetti measurer, don’t ask…it’s my mum’s!)


• Small pack of Smoked Salmon (the fatter the better)


• Mint leave


• 2 tablespoons Soy Sauce


• 2 tablespoons Balsamic Vinegar


• 1 tablespoon Lemon Juice


• 1 tablespoon Sugar


• 2 teaspoons Sesame Oil


• 1 tablespoon Olive Oil


• 1 tablespoon Sesame

Directions:

1. Boil water in saucepan / pot to cook spaghetti, once cooked (abt 7-8mins) then drained.


2. Cool spaghetti in iced water after cooked then drain, make sure spaghetti is cooled otherwise, please repeat the step by putting it into iced water


3. Then pop it into the fridge for now


4. Sliced Mint leave (about a handful) for later use


5. Sliced the Salmon, put aside for later use


6. Prepare the sauce by putting all ingredients soy sauce, balsamic vinegar, lemon juice, sugar, sesame oil, olive oil and sesame, stir it well until mixed.


7. Take out the spaghetti from the fridge, pout in the sauce to mix, sprinkle on top with mint leave and salmon, mixed the ingredients in as well.


8. Garnish with some more mint leave on top.

The first post of the year

No, I did not make oatmeal. Although my blog is supposed to be a food blog, I could not get myself to cook anything. I am officially ill. I could not go to work on Friday, but crawled to hospital for an injection, medcine and an IV shot (I could not eat anything since 1st Jan). After days of sleeping, I decided to take a hot bath. (I did take showers, if you must know.) Being a former bath-product addict, I decided to make my own with natural ingredients. Oatmeal to soothe, honey to nourish and milk to gently exfoliate my skin. I also added some lavender essential oil because oatmeal, though it is good for my skin, does not have pleasant smell. My skin did feel softer afterwards.

1. Add a cup or 2/3 cup of oatmeal in a cotton bag/bath tea bag. While running the bath, add the bag and let it soak. The water should turn milky.
2. Add 1/2 cup of milk and 1/2 cup of honey.
3. Add 5-8 drops of lavender essential oil.
4. Soak. When your skin begins to feel soft, get sissal or Korean bath mitt to scrub away dirt and worries.

FYI, the plastic gloves in the pic are for my hands after bath. I slathered Jurlique rose hand cream (my favourite in the world) and wore the gloves and took a nap after bath. Bliss.