Country Style Steamed Chicken

Very easy to make and yummy dish, not forgetting it's a healthier choice :)

Recipe is from here

I doubled up the amount due to the size of the chicken (mine was 800g)

What you need:

400 gm free range chicken chopped to bite size
8 dried Chinese mushrooms (soaked, stemmed and sliced)
10 gm cloud ears/wan yee (soaked, stemmed and cut) -> I didn't use
1 knob ginger, pressed for juice
2 tsp wolfberries
8 red dates (seeded and sliced)

Seasoning:
2  tsp oyster sauce
1  Tbsp Shaoxing wine -> I forgot to use :(
1 tsp each of :  salt and sesame oil
1/4  tsp sugar
1/2  tsp light soya sauce
Chopped spring onions for garnishing -> Another thing I forgot to add :'(
A dash of pepper

Marinate the chicken pieces with all the seasoning except  the wine  
Mix in the red dates, wolfberries,mushrooms, ginger juice and cloud ears.  Set aside for 2 hours
Steam under rapidly boiling water for 20 mins. or till chicken is tender and cooked through
Test for taste, turn off heat and drizzle in the wine
Garnish with chopped spring onions and a dash of pepper
Serve immediately with white rice

Submitting this post to NCC Chinese Food Week

Shanghainese Meatballs Soup

A very hearty dish loved by my family, a recipe from my beloved mum, loved by her kids all along :)

What you need:

For the meatballs:

500g minced pork / chicken (you may mix both)

3 shallots

2 cloves of garlic

a small bundle of bean vermicelli, softened and finely chopped

1/2 carrot, finely chopped

2 black fungus, softened and finely chopped

4 tsp sago flour

salt, pepper

1 egg white

For the soup:

1 pot of water

1 chicken bone

3 cloves of garlic, crushed

3 carrots, cut thinly

1 medium size cauliflower, cut

a little oil

For garnishing:

chopped spring onion

fried garlic

How to make the meatballs:

Blend shallots and garlic

Mix into the meat together with the rest of the ingredients, shape into balls

If still soft, you may add sago flour

Heat a pot of water together with the chicken bone til boiling, discard all the floating residues

Sautee garlic with oil and throw in the boiling stock

Add in the meatballs one by one, simmer til all floating

Add in carrots and let boiled

Once boiled, throw in cauliflowers, stir for awhile and off heat

To serve, garnish with chopped spring onion and fried garlic

I'm also submitting this post to NCC Chinese Food Week

Strawberry Cheese Swiss Roll

Recipe is from Kevin Chai's book - Elegant Swiss Roll
Found the book at Popular big sale at Brash Basah Complex - grabbed one copy right away - still have high level of curiousity in mastering swiss roll :)
Some other books I managed to get, too - so happy :P

This is one soft, cheesy and yummy cake - my kind of cake, but I think this time I didn't get it real round hihihi.....

What you need:

6 eggs
120g caster sugar
130g plain flour
20g grated parmesan cheese
80g butter - melted
25g cheddar cheese

Preheat oven to 200degC
Grease baking tin and line with baking paper (I used square 25x25x2cm)
On high speed, beat eggs and sugar til light and fluffy (ribbon stage)
Fold in sifted flour and parmesan cheese
Take a few tablespoons of the batter and mix in a small bowl with melted butter, mix back with the remaining batter - mix well until combined
Spread batter on baking tin, sprinkle cheddar cheese over mixture, bake for 10mins - leave to cool on cooling rack

For the filling, I used buttercream - recipe can be viewed HERE
I mixed with 175g cream cheese

Transfer the cooled cake on a baking paper
Spread the filling on the cake, arrange fresh strawberry cut at one side of the cake (the side closer to you where you will do the first folding before rolling the cake
After the strawberries nicely arranged, fold one time to seal the strawberries cut - tighten it and continue rolling using baking paper slowly til the cake completely rolled
Wait for approx 15minutes before you open the baking paper

I'm submitting this cheesy roll to Aspiring Bakers #9 Swiss Roling Good Times hosted by Lynn from Obsessedly Involved with Food at this LINK

At the same time, I'm submitting this entry to NCC Swiss Roll Week which will end tomorrow :)

Cheesy S'mores Mini Swiss Rolls

Remember my cheesy s'mores whoopie pies? I still have the cream cheese filling and the chocolate ganache sat prettily in the fridge
Such a waste if I don't finish them up

As a new member of NCC Indonesia I'm so keen in participating in their event - right now it's all about swissroll
So here it is - my cheesy s'mores mini swissroll :)

Chocolate swissroll recipe is from Hesti's site - soft and yummy :)
Since I don't have the pan with the size suggested by her - 28x28x3cm, I used my cookie pans - 25x25x2cm - divided the batter into 2
That explained why I had those 2 long mini swissrolls :)
It was such an experience - knowing it's only my second attempt on swissroll - the cakes were so thin I was so scared they could torn into pieces during handling - I was lucky they didn't
I could actually just pour everything into 1 pan if I prefer not so mini roll :)
And I was even luckier to be able to roll them without any crack whatsoever :P

What you need:

8 egg yolks
2 egg whites
1/4 tsp salt
100g caster sugar
30g plain flour
30g cocoa powder
10g milk powder
1/4 tsp baking powder
85g melted butter
1/2 tsp chocolate paste

For filling:
marshmallow fluff mixed with cream cheese - recipe here

Topping:
chocolate ganache (recipe can be viewed at the same link for the filling above)
graham crackers crumbs

Preheat oven to 190degC
Grease pan with butter and top with parchment paper (I used 25x25x3cm - 2 of them for making mini rolls, normal size roll will be best to use 1 pan with size of 28x28x3cm)
Sieve plain flour, cocoa powder, milk powder and baking powder together - set aside
Beat eggs, salt and sugar on high speed til ribbon stage and doubled in volume
Add in sieved flour mixture - fold in gradually slowly till well mixed
Mix melted butter and chocolate paste in small bowl
Add in the butter mixture in the batter - fold in gradually slowly till well mixed
Pour batter on the pan(s)
Bake for approximately 8minutes for mini rolls (a little longer for normal roll)
(the surface should not be dry - spring to the touch, if overbake it can crack during rolling)
Let cool on cooling rack

After cooled, transfer the cake on parchment paper, and spread the filling
After done with the filling, roll the cake using the paper away from you, tighten it and keep the roll in the paper for 10 minutes or so, after that open the paper
Spread chocolate ganache on top of the roll and sprinkle graham crackers crumbs on top