Japanese Mochi

Out of curious, I bought this Mochi Premix from Isetan. The texture of the mochi is more chewy. And both my boys love it but I prefer the soft and chewy Mua Chee.

Method: Pour 160ml of boiling water into the flour. Put on gloves and knead until it form a dough. Greased your gloves, pinch some dough and shape it into ball. Drop it into boiling water and cook until it float on the water. Scoop out and roll it onto ground peanut and sugar. (Best eaten with Japanese soya sauce syrup or red bean paste.)

Milk Chocolate Chips Cookies

Recipe

Ingredients
90g butter
30g caster sugar
50g brown sugar
1 egg
1/2tsp vanilla essence
140g plain flour
1/8tsp baking soda
100g milk chocolate chips
40g diced almond

Steps:
1. Preheat oven to 180C.
2. Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
3. Slowly beat in the egg and vanilla essence until well combined.
4. Sift the flour and baking soda together.
5. Fold in flour, milk chocolate chips and diced almond into Step 3.
6. Scoop the cookies dough and drop it on a greased tray.
7. Bake in a preheated oven for 15-20mins until firm.
8. Cool on a wire rack and keep in an airtight containers.

Steamed Soya Bean Milk Cake

Recipe adapted from Aunty Yochana blog 'Steamed Milk Cake'.

I replace the milk with soya bean milk. I used a big muffins tray and the recipe yield only 3 big cakes. It has a mild taste of soya bean. Which I find that it will be nice to accompany this steamed cake with a glass of warm soya bean milk.

Katsu Curry

Recipe

Curry Sauce:
- Saute 1/2 diced onion in hot oil.
- Add in 1 carrot diced, 1 potato diced and 2cups of water.
- Simmer until vegetables soften.
- Add in 1/3 block of curry sauce mix and stir until sauce thicken.
- Off fire and set aside.

Chicken Cutlet:
- Marinate 3 boneless chicken thighs with 1tsp soya sauce, 1/2tsp salt and 1/2tsp sugar for 30mins.
- Coat chicken thighs with some flour then with 1 beaten egg.
- Lastly coat it with good amount of bread crumb.
- Deep fry in hot oil until golden brown.
- Dish out and drain oil on kitchen paper.

Serving:
- Cut chicken cutlet into serving pieces.
- Arrange it on a plate of steam rice and pour some curry sauce beside the cutlet and serve. (Serving: 3 person)

Instant Read Thermometer

Some call it Candy Thermometer. I used this to monitor on the temperature when cooking Water Roux for bread or sugar syrup for French/Italian Meringue or melting sugar in egg white for Swiss Meringue. For example; when boiling sugar syrup, if the temperature is too high the syrup will crystallize. If too low when syrup is pour into the meringue it will turn watery as a result I will waste all my time, effort and ingredients used. I am not a professional baker, with this it really help.

Chocolate Sponge Shells

Recipe

Ingredients
38g butter
15g cocoa powder
1/2tsp chocolate emulco

75g cake flour
1/4tsp baking powder
1/8tsp salt

125g egg
80g sugar
1tsp ovalette
75g milk

Steps:
1. Preheat oven to 175C.
2. Melt butter, stir in cocoa powder and chocolate emulco together and set aside.
3. Sift flour, salt and baking powder together into a cake mixer bowl.
4. Add in egg, sugar, ovalette and milk.
5. Whisk until thick and glossy. (Do the ribbon test: Use the whisk to spoon some batter, drip some into the mixing bowl. If it stay visible for a while then this is the right stage.)
6. Fold in the cocoa paste.
7. Grease and lightly flour a shell tray.
8. Fill up the cavity of the tray with batter. (If batter is thick, the batter wouldn't overflow during baking. It will give a nice dome shape.)
9. Bake in a preheated oven for 20-25mins.
10.Remove and cool on a wire rack.

Gula Melaka Chiffon Cake

Adapted Recipe from 'Chiffon Cake is Done' by Kevin Chai.


Recipe

Ingredients
4 egg yolk
3tbsp cooking oil
1/8tsp salt
95g cake flour
1/4tsp baking powder
95g gula melaka (chopped)
65g thick coconut milk

4 egg white
1/4tsp cream of tartar
30g caster sugar

Step:
1. Preheat oven to 175C.
2. Melt gula melaka and coconut milk together over low fire.
3. Set aside to cool.
4. Sift flour, salt and baking powder together.
5. Use a hand whisk mix egg yolk, oil, gula melaka syrup and flour together.
6. Whisk until well combined.
7. Use a cake mixer and whisk the egg whites and cream of tartar till frothy.
8. Gradually add in the sugar and whisk till stiff peaks form.
9. Fold in 1/4 of the meringue into the egg yolk mixture until combined.
10.Then fold in the rest of the meringue lightly until well combined.
11.Pour batter into a 21cm tube pan.
12.Put into a preheated oven and bake for 40-45mins.
13.Remove from oven, invert cake onto table until completely cool.
14.Remove from pan and serve.