The Cooking Ninja

Yesterday afternoon I learned from my cousin that my 2^nd auntie had been admitted to the hospital in serious condition. I was quite saddened by the news and was hoping and praying that she would somehow pull through this for I looked forward to seeing her again during next Chinese New Year and also for my Little One to get to know her. Today I was shocked to learn that she has passed away at 3am this morning at age 77. Although I did not know my aunt very well, I have very fond memories of her. As she aged, she looked like a carbon copy of my grandmother. I'm so glad I got to see her during last Chinese New Year and was able to introduce to her my daughter. You see, I hadn't been back in Singapore for CNY since 2001 as all the CNY dates falls during school term. I shall miss visiting her next year.

Back to the kitchen. I had 3 very ripe bananas sitting on my kitchen counter for some time and decided to turn them into either cakes or muffins till I came across this delicious recipe from fellow blogger Little Corner of Mine yesterday who got the original recipe from Amanda. I have modified the version slightly to add some spices and increase the quanity. Steaming pastries, rather than baking them in a oven, is somewhat uncommon, but it's regularly done in Asia.

Steam Banana Muffins

Ingredients

• 3 very ripe medium-size bananas (mashed)
• 3 eggs
• 150 g sugar (white or brown or a mixed of both)
• 225 g self raising flour
• ¼ tsp baking powder (approx.)
• 112 ml vegetable oil like sunflower or canola
• 2 dashes cinnamon and nutmeg powder
• a bit of vanilla essence

Directions

1. Sift flour, baking powder, cinnamon and nutmeg together.
2. Whisk the eggs, sugar and vanilla essence until it is creamy and fluffy.
3. Mix in the mashed banana until it is combined.
4. Gently fold in the sifted flour mixture and then fold in the oil until combined.
5. Pour the batter into the muffin pan lined with muffin cups.
6. Steam over high heat for 15 minutes or till an inserted skewer comes out clean.
7. Serve it warm or room temperature.

The Verdict

It is truly delicious - flavourful, dense yet light, soft, fluffy and moist. The muffins look very much like Chinese steam cake or kueh but who cares if it doesn't look as good as the baked ones ! It's the taste that matters the most, right.

Frankly I love both versions - be it steamed or baked. But I have to say that the steamed version does taste slightly different than those baked ones. In what sense, I don't know.

Store the rest of the muffins in the fridge and heat them in a steamer for a couple of minutes before serving.

Notes

Some readers in Amanda's blog have replaced oil with butter and they said the results are equally delicious. But probably not as healty.

I have been sadly neglecting this blog for a month - besides being so caught up with so many things on the domestic front, my passion for cooking and baking suddenly left me - how did that happened ??? Could it be the summer heat that zapped it out of me? I just know that lately I just don't feel inspired to cook or bake anything. Sad isn't it, considering the fact that it is this passion that inspired me to start 'The Cooking Ninja'.

This blog was created right after I finished my exams of my last year at the university to be exact - about a year ago. Finally I had time to write about my passion for cooking. Back then, Little One had just turned 1 and was taking her first wobbly steps - so no worries, I still had plenty of time to cook, clean the house and blog. Boy, did I blog a lot more back then.

I think there must be something magical about the age 1 because a week or so after she turned 1, her wobbly steps became firmed and she walked her first steady '5 steps' without any aid at all on the sandy playground. What a sight and joy for both of us... we felt like some proud peacocks at that moment. Soon those 5 steps became 10 and more, then she was all over the place: climbing here and there, opening this and that. The whole house became a treasure island for her especially my nightstand drawers - she loved raiding it. Then the walking gave way to running ... it was so cute to watch her run - see her diaper backside swaying left and right like a little duckling.

These days, she is a real demanding little person. She does not like it whenever she sees me on the computer. She would either climb all over me like on my shoulder, or sit on my lap right in front of my laptop (like what she is doing right now ) or pull my hand away so that I'm left only with 1 hand to type or surf. She demands a lot of my time and attention as she grows older which leaves me so little time to do any surfing or posting - my last post took me more than 10 days to publish. *sigh* With just 1 kid, I find it hard to keep my house clean and in order. I do not know how some mothers with more than 1 kid manage to find time to blog everyday and sometimes have a full time work on top of it. I truly admire their ability to do that. Maybe I'm just lousy in my time management or maybe it is just the big 'P' word. Do you know what does this big 'P' stands for?

Enough of my rumblings. Today I'm going to share with you another very simple yet delicious recipe that I have came up with after eating a similar one at a French restaurant. This will also be my entry for the Pie in My Eye Adventure hosted by Joelen's Culinary Adventures.

Crispy Apple Pie

Ingredients

• 1 flaky or puff pastry
• 3 apples (cored and thinly sliced)
• sugar syrup
• sugar
• cinnamon
• nutmeg
• butter

Directions

1. Preheat oven at 220°C (425°F - gas mark 7).
2. Lay out the flaky pastry on the baking sheet on a flat baking tray. Fork all over the pastry surface.
3. Boil a bit of water in a pot and stir in some sugar to make a syrup.
4. Using a your finger or a brush, spread the syrup all over the surface of the pastry.
5. Line the thinly sliced apples starting on the outside towards the inside center of the pie.
6. Sprinkle some sugar, cinnamon and a bit of nutmeg on top of the apple slices
7. Spread small slices or bits of butter all over the pie.
8. Bake it for about 20 to 25 minutes.
9. Serve it warm, maybe with a bit of vanilla ice cream.

The Verdict

I love it - almost like the one we had in the restaurant. Crispy or flaky, buttery, delicious taste of the apples (not overwhelming) and not too sweet. It's nice to get a successful experiment sometimes, given all the ones that fail

The next time I'll do it, I'm going to sprinkle some dry rasins and almonds flakes before putting the butter bits all over the pie. Should be interesting.

Notes

Some put a layer of home-made apple sauce (cooking diced apples with sugar and cinnamon until it is all melted) on top of the pastry before laying the apple slices while others brush a light coat of apricot jam (stir some jam with a bit of water over low heat till it becomes a syrup) on top of the pie just before serving.

It has been quite a while since we have a weekend alone sans Little One. So when my parents-in-law offered to look after her, we took it up without any hesitation. Pierre was already planning which restaurants to check out, what to do in Paris etc while I was torn between being happy to have some couplehood time alone at last and feeling like I have abandoned my little girl behind and worried about this and that (like a typical mother ). Pierre kept reassuring me that she would be fine and I should relax and enjoy this rare 'us' time alone but I was too stressed up. Needlessly to say, I hadn't slept well on the first night as I was too worried about how Little One was adapting with her grandparents and whether she was crying for us or not etc. Upon my insistence, Pierre called home the next day to check on her and was told that she passed a wonderful day out with her grandparents and enjoyed herself thoroughly and that she didn't asked for us once (to my surprise and a bit of a disappointment - Am I being selfish to want her to miss us just a little bit?). After the phone call, I thought 'tonight I can have a good night sleep.' ha! What a joke that was... We were woken up by the lady living upstairs at 4 am. As you know, many apartment in Paris have thin walls and floors so one can literally hear the neighbour next door or upstairs.

Anyway when Little One joined us finally a few days later, she didn't seems to miss us at all... I guess my little girl is growing up and no longer my little baby. We brought her sightseeing Paris and checking out the restaurants... she loves wraps and club sandwiches just as chinese dim sum. The 3,5 hour train ride home went uneventful, thank goodness. We were pretty worried that she might get bored and start to run around etc. At the end of the train ride, she made friend with a Maltese which growled at her in the beginning and she wasn't the least afraid of him. She insisted on patting and caressing him despite his hissing. *eyes rolling upwards* Then she decided to wander off from us even though I told her to stay put ... she walked away confidently waving and saying 'au revoir mommy' ... then started bawling her eyes out when a burly mustachio man smiled at her from his seat. So much for her little adventure.

Today I would like to share with you a delicious muffin recipe that I made before I left for Paris. I call it Banana Muffin Surprise because you never know what you gonna get. Hope you like it.

Banana Muffin Surprise

Ingredients

• 75 g butter (melted)
• 250 g self-raising flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• ½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
• ½ tsp ground cinnamon
• ½ tsp ground nutmeg
• 115 g caster sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 large ripe bananas or 3 medium size bananas (almost)
• 2 medium eggs
• 125 ml milk
• some nutella
• some chopped dark chocolates
• some chopped walnuts
• some chopped white chocolates
• pinch of salt

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 190°C (375°F - Gas 5).
2. Melt the butter and allow to cool.
3. Mash the bananas well.
4. In a large bowl, sift flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg together. Add caster sugar and stir though.
5. Beat the eggs with the fork for a minute before adding vanilla extract, melted butter and milk. Then add the mashed banana and stir till combined.
6. Make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients, add the banana-egg mixture, stirring roughly with a fork until it is a lumpy paste. Do not over-mix.
7. Place the paper cups into the moulds, or grease the moulds well with butter.
8. Fill some of the cups with the banana mixture till almost full cup while filling a few half way to the cup, drop a few chocolate chips or nuts and cover it with the mixture until almost full. As for the nutella, fill a few cups 3/4 way up and drop a teaspoon of nutella into the centre of it and it will sink down naturally.
9. Bake for about 20 minutes or until the muffins come away from the side of the pan when touched.
10. Rest the muffin tray on a wire rack for five minutes then remove the muffins and leave on the rack for another five minutes before serving.

The Verdict

These muffins are very flavourful, light, moist and super delicious. Everyone started checking out the muffins at microscopic range after I told them that each muffin contains different stuff inside it. ... of course everyone is battling over each other to get either the dark chocolates or nutella ones ... I tell you I have a bunch of chocoholics in my house.

My mother-in-law who was watching her lines couldn't help but ate 2 of them. My father-in-law and Pierre were happily chomping down the muffins and see who gets the most chocolate ones out of the batch.

I thought we wouldn't be able to finish all of them and that I would have to freeze some of them. To my great surprise, they were so good that only 3 were left at the end of tea time.

I have made these again just last week and I have beaten all the wet ingredients together at one go with a fork - with this method, muffins are more compact but still moist, flavourful and delicious.

Notes

In all my baking, I use only salted butter (and I usually skip the salt part in the recipe). And I used 1½ tsp baking powder instead as I didn't have any bicarbonate of soda in my cupboard.

Happy Birthday Little One !

Today we celebrated Little One's special day ... her big '2' ... my little baby is now a big girl. Hehehe ... she is still a little bit too young to understand what is a birthday all about but I think she is getting the idea more or less : delicious cake, blow-out candles and tearing those beautiful wrappers with surprises inside.

Her grand-mère dressed our little princess in her beautiful little red dress bought by her ma ma (maternal grandma) with cute little pigtails while we were busy putting up the decorations and getting everything ready before her grand entrance. However she caught us in the act. She was more attracted to the balloons on the ceiling than all the deco that we have put up for her like rose petals (compliments from our garden) sprinkled all over the table and the colourful garlands hanging from the wall to the ceiling. Then she saw those lovely petals and climbed on top of the table and started dancing. Looks like a star is born. This year she is quite spoiled on her birthday: a swing, a sandbox, 4 DVDs (all her favourite characters), a set of kitchen utensils (toy version of course), a set of mini cars (she loves cars like her dad), aquadoodle, a dress, a CD player and a Lego set. Oh... she went to visit her great great aunt this afternoon and they celebrated her birthday there again... she gets to eat more cakes and got another present. Shh... more presents are on the way from Singapore - she doesn't know that yet.

Originally I wanted to make a chocolate Teddy bear cake for her on her birthday but I had to scrap that plan as I have never done anything like this before and it was not the right the time to do an experiment. In the end, I made a simple chocolate cake and decorated it the best I can.

The chocolate cake recipe that I'm sharing with you today is one that I found on the Internet a few years back and it has since been a favourite in our family. For this special day, I made this cake with chocolate icing.

Chocolate Cake with Chocolate Icing

Ingredients

• 2 medium eggs
• 1½ cups sugar
• 1½ tsp vanilla extract
• 1½ tsp baking powder
• ¼ salt
• 4 tbsp cocoa powder (non sweetened)
• ¾ cup of milk
• 113g butter (melted)
• ¾ cup flour

Chocolate Icing

• 1½ cups icing sugar
• 2 tbsp cocoa powder
• 1 tsp butter (softened)
• 2 or 3 squares dark chocolate (made for dessert)
• ¼ cup hot water

Directions

1. Preheat the oven at 175°C (350°C - gas mark 4) and butter a round 20 cm diameter cake pan.
2. In a big bowl, beat the eggs and sugar together until it is light and fluffy.
3. Stir in the vanilla extract, baking powder and salt.
4. Add in the cocoa slowly.
5. Then the milk and the cooled down melted butter.
6. Stir in the flour.
7. Pour the batter into the cake pan and bake in the oven for about 40 - 45 minutes. When inserted into the cake, the toothpick should not come out completely clean. The cake is supposed to be a bit moist.
8. Let the cake cool for about 10 minutes before turning it out on the wire rack to cool completely.
9. Pour or spread the cooled chocolate icing on the cake and decorate it as the way you wanted it. Refrigerate it for a while so that the icing gets set nicely.

Chocolate Icing

1. Sift the icing sugar, cocoa powder and the dark chocolate pieces into a bowl.
2. Add butter and hot water and beat with a wooden spoon until smooth.
3. If the chocolate pieces do not melt, microwave them for a few seconds.
4. Let it cool to the consistency you want and then spread it on the cake.

Conclusion

No matter how many times I bake this chocolate cake, it always comes out perfect and delicious. However this is the first time I decided to put icing on it. Initially I thought a chocolate icing with a moist chocolate cake would be a bit too much... mais non... it's luscious - rich, moist and filling. And it wasn't too sweet either. Little One couldn't wait and was already helping herself with a teaspoon on the cake before we could even take a pic of the cake or even put the candle. While we were cutting the cake, she was busy scooping and eating the chocolate icing on the side. She loves it so much that she was tucking in her cake and at the same time scooping the icing off the cake. Everyone loved it.

Notes

Cake : If you bake it on a 9" round cake pan, bake it at the same temperature but the cake will be done about 30 to 35 minutes. The cake is delicious on its own without icing. Alternatively you can serve the plain chocolate cake with crème anglaise (light custard sauce) or a scoop of vanilla ice cream or sprinkle some icing sugar on top.

Chocolate Icing : The original icing recipe was a bit too liquid to my taste so I added a few dark chocolate tablets to get a thicker consistency. I have modified the above recipe accordingly. I have also used less icing sugar than what was stated above. I poured the icing on the cake when it had thickened to be just fluid enough.

My mother-in-law found this delicious salad recipe from one of my books and made it for her guests. It was a great success and her guests couldn't get enough of it. So when we came back from Singapore, she made this for us and I was also so enthusiastic about it that I decided to try it on my own. This salad includes red cabbage and Chinese cabbage.

I discovered the colour of the red cabbage changes depending on the pH (acidity) of the soil. The more acid the soil is, the more leaves turn reddish... but if the soil is alkaline, it produces greenish-yellow coloured cabbages instead. It is said that the juice of red cabbage can be used as a home-made pH indicator. Interestingly, the red cabbage will turn blue upon cooking but it will retain its colour if vinegar or acidic fruit is added to the pot. The red cabbage is a seasonal plant and is planted in spring and harvest in late fall.

The Chinese cabbage is also known as Napa cabbage and originates from China, near the Beijing region. It is used to make the most common type of kimchi in Korean cuisine.

This my contribution for this Weekend Herb Blogging hosted by Wondering Chopsticks.

Salad with Thai Dressing

Ingredients

• 1 medium onion (finely sliced)
• 2 tbsp dried shrimp
• 6 cloves garlic (sliced)
• 2 cups red cabbage (shredded)
• 2 cups Chinese cabbage (shredded)
• ¼ cup unsalted roasted peanuts (chopped)
• salt

Dressing

• 2 tsp soft brown sugar
• 2 tbsp lime juice
• ½ tsp black peppercorn (cracked)
• 2 tbsp fresh coriander leaves & stems (chopped)
• 3 cloves garlic (crushed)
• 1 tbsp fish sauce

Directions

1. Mix the sliced onion and a bit of salt in a colander. Leave it for 30 minutes. Then rinse and drain well.
2. Soak the dried shrimps in hot water for 15 minutes. Drain and chop finely.
3. Heat oil in a small pan and fry the sliced garlic until browned and crisp. Drain on paper towels.
4. Combine the onion, shrimp and half of the fried garlic with the shredded red and Chinese cabbage in a large salad bowl.
5. Pour the dressing over the salad and mix well.
6. Sprinkle the remaining fried garlic and chopped peanuts on the salad before serving it.

Make the Dressing

• Combine sugar, lime juice, peppercorns, coriander, crushed garlic and fish sauce in a food processor and blend until smooth.

The Verdict

I love how the taste of fresh salad goes so well with the dressing. The onions gives the salad the biting taste while crunchiness of the peanuts, the coriander and garlic (not too overpowering) lends its wonderful flavour to the salad.

Notes

To make things simpler, I just blended the dried shrimps, roasted peanuts together with the dressing ingredients.

For those who do not like to eat big chunk of garlic, you can crush the fried garlic and sprinkle it all over the salad.

To vary the salad, I would suggest adding some bean sprouts and cooked French beans etc.

Do you know that Mother's Day is celebrated on different days throughout the world? For example, Greece celebrates it on the 2^nd February while Thailand celebrates it on the 12^th August and Indonesia on 22^nd December. I have always thought everyone everywhere celebrates Mother's Day on the 2nd Sunday of May (11 May 2008) like in Singapore. To my surprise, in France, Mother's Day is celebrated on the last Sunday of May. At first it was kinda strange for me to celebrate it 2 weeks later than Singapore but over the years I have gotten used to it.

Yesterday we celebrated Mother's Day in France. The weather was a bit cloudy but that didn't stop us from doing a BBQ on our terrace. The honey marinated chicken thighs (that I have specially prepared for Little One) turned out beautifully and delicious but to my utmost disappointment, Little One wanted nothing to do with it. *sigh* Oh well, her loss, our gain. Next time, I'm going to BBQ chicken wings ...yummy.

For Mother's Day, Little One got me a nice Lafuma recliner (via her papa) that I wanted so much for the coming summer days. Pierre wanted to buy a cake for me but I said 'why waste money when I can bake one for us.' I decided to take this opportunity to do another experiment. This is what I made yesterday and is part of my contribution to this month's Sugar High Friday host by Helen of Tartelette :

Orange-Almond Cake

Ingredients

• 180 g self rising flour
• 100 g ground almonds
• 180 g butter
• 200 g sugar
• 1 whole orange (peel grated)
• 80 ml orange juice
• 3 eggs (white and yolk separated)

Creamy Chocolate Icing

• 200 g butter (cut into cubes & softened)
• 150 g dark chocolate (melted)

Directions

1. Preheat the oven at 180°C (350°F - gas mark 4) and grease a round cake mold about 20 cm (diameter).
2. Separate the egg yolk and white.
3. Whip the butter and sugar in a big bowl until it is creamy and fluffy.
4. Add in the grated orange peel and egg yolk and beat till well mixed.
5. Add in the ground almonds and stir until combined.
6. Stir in the flour and orange juice on alternate turns until it is combined.
7. Whipped the egg whites till stiff peaks formed and delicately incorporate it into the mixture.
8. Bake it for about 50 minutes or until the wooden stick comes out clean.
9. Let it cool for about 10 minutes in the mold before turning it out on the wire rack.
10. Once the cake is of room temperature, delicately cut away the slightly crusty border and round edge.
11. Spread the chocolate icing all around the cake with the icing knife.
12. Cake is ready to be served.
13. The cake needs to be kept refrigerated because of the icing.

Creamy Chocolate Icing

1. Whipped the butter in a bowl with an electric beater.
2. Slowly add in the melted dark chocolate bit by bit until all is well mixed.
3. Refrigerate it for about 5 to 10 minutes before spreading it on the cake.

The Verdict

The cake itself is very aromatic - the delicious taste of orange and almond together. It is compact and just moist - not as dry as I thought it would turned out, and a bit crunchy when you hit on almonds. As for the icing, hmm ... not exactly to my taste - I find it a wee bit too creamy and buttery, however Pierre likes the contrast - slightly salty creamy icing with the sweetness of the cake. (salty because we always buy salted butter)

Ooops, I just realized that I didn't add the right quantity of dark chocolate in my icing. Perhaps that is why my icing tastes so creamy, buttery and salty.

Note

I wanted to whip up 3 egg whites but I was clumsy in separating the first one so I ended up with 2 white eggs instead for my above cake.

If you want a more moist cake, perhaps you can add a bit more juice and adjust the baking time.

Little One has made an amazing progress in her vocabulary during these past few weeks. She still can't make out a phrase but she just learnt how to say her name the other day at the park (well, not exactly accurate but her name is kinda difficult for her to pronounce at her age). She can understand both languages - in French and English. I'm still working on Chinese as I seldom speak to her in Mandarin, however I take the occasion to compensate that by reading Chinese story books to her. Hope that works too.

She has also learned to shout A table (literal translation 'at the table' meaning 'dinner is served') whenever a meal is ready. And when papa is still not there yet, she would shout 'papa, à table!' 'papa, à table' till papa sit at his place. hehehe She surprised us a month or two ago when she can associate which object around the house belongs to who - e.g. muffins- papa's, tool box - pépé (grandfather), which laptops belongs to who etc. She also has been playing tea party with her toys and feeding her teddies. Sometimes she would make a cup of tea (imaginary of course ) and serve it to each of us. Too cute for words. She also loves reading her books (well, mainly look at the pictures) and for bedtime, she will chose which books she wants us to read to her.

Oh ... she has a new favourite word besides gateau (cakes): 'cartoon'. Now that the weather is warm enough to set up her baby pool in the backyard, she keeps asking for piscine (swimming pool) even at night. Unfortunately she caught a chill. Thought it was just a normal runny nose and a slight fever which lasted for 4 days. Poor kiddo, her runny nose has caused her a right ear infection. With the medication, she is getting better however it is a real hide and seek when it's time for medicine - she would quickly either hide under the table or chair or behind the curtains and sometimes in the closet. Well, it is not always like this, sometimes she takes her medication bravely without resisting for she knows it to get rid of the 'little mouse' in her right ear.

Now back to food. It has been a while since I last baked something so I decided to try out this recipe that I have found in my cooking book but I did some modifications and tried two different methods of making it.

Orange-Coconut Cake

Ingredients

• 2 eggs
• 125 g butter (softened)
• 50 g dried schredded coconut
• 250 g sugar
• 180 g self raising flour
• 1 tbsp orange peel (grated)
• 250 ml milk

Coconut Icing

• 60 ml or more orange juice
• ½ tsp orange peel (grated)
• 90 g dried schredded coconut
• 140 g icing sugar

Directions

Preheat your oven at 180°C (350°F, gas mark 4) and prepare a greased round 20 cm diameter (approx) cake tin.

Method 1

1. Separate the egg white and egg yolk.
2. Beat the egg yolk, softened butter and sugar together in a big bowl till it is creamy and fluffy.
3. Stir in the grated orange peel and the shredded coconut and then add in the flour.
4. Pour in the milk and stir till combined.
5. Beat the egg white until stiff peaks formed. Fold it into the mixture till combined.
6. Bake it for about 60 minutes until the wooden stick comes out clean.
7. Leave it to cool for 10 minutes before turning it out on the wire rack.
8. Once the cake is of room temperature, spread the coconut icing on the cake.

Method 2

1. Beat the eggs, butter and sugar in a big bowl till creamy and fluffy.
2. Add in the orange peel and grated coconut.
3. Stir in the flour and milk alternatively until combined.
4. Bake for about 45 minutes until the wooden stick comes out clean.
5. Follow step 7 & 8 in Method 1.

Coconut Icing

1. Mix the icing sugar and the grated coconut together in a bowl.
2. Add the grated orange peel and stir in the juice. (Add more juice if needed.)
3. Mix it to get a consistency but smooth enough to be able to spread it.

The Verdict

Method 1:

I find it to be light, moist and fluffy. The aroma of the orange, butter and coconut icing is a delicious combination. I was initially worried that the whole cake might turn out to be too sweet because of the icing but it tastes just nice - not overly sweet. I simply love it so did the rest of the family members.

Method 2:

The cake turned out to be light but dense and we can taste the bits of shredded coconut in the cake. It is equally delicious. Everyone likes both versions, however for me, I prefer the light and fluffy version above.

Notes

For method 1 : I would reduced the milk quantity a little bit.

To make your own self rising flour - for every 125 g of plain flour, add 2 tsp baking powder. Then sift the flour several times.

4 months have passed since we moved into our new house and it's beginning to look more and more like home. Off with the old wallpaper (in most of the rooms, the wallpaper have been there for 4 decades!), a fresh coat of paint... voilà: it looks a whole lot prettier and modern. All this is possible due to relentless effort of my parents-in-law, without them, it would have taken us a lot longer to get the house looking like home. THANK YOU Michèle & Patrick for all that you have done for us.

Early this week we hosted a lovely Canadian couple who were here to visit Michèle & Patrick. With so many people around the house, it was la fête (a party) for Little One. Basked in the adoration limelight of everyone, she shines like a true star and charmed the Canadian couple (needless to say, the grandparents are already under her spell). Since this couple had been to Singapore before, I decided to cook curry - something local for them.

Mom's Chicken Curry

Ingredients

• 1 whole chicken (peel off most of the skin and chopped into pieces)
• 350 g shallots or white onions (approx.)
• 4 cloves garlic
• 6 or 7 stalks lemon grass (white part only - sliced)
• 1 or 2 pieces candle nuts
• 3 or 4 slices galangal
• 1 thumb size ginger
• 3 or 4 tbsp meat curry powder or curry powder
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 4 green cardamoms
• 1 star anise (big)
• 3 cloves
• a bunch of curry leaves (fresh or dried)
• 400 ml coconut milk
• 600 ml milk (approx.)
• salt or light soya sauce for seasoning
• oil

Directions

1. Put shallots, garlic, lemon grass, candle nuts, galangal & ginger in the food processor and grind it into a fine paste.
2. Mix the curry powder well into the paste.
3. Heat the wok with some oil till hot. Stir-fry the cinnamon stick, cardamons, star anise and cloves for a minute or so.
4. Stir in the paste and stir-fry it till fragrant.
5. Add in the chicken pieces. Stir and coat the chicken pieces with the curry paste.
6. Pour in the milk, coconut milk and curry leaves. Stir till blend with the chicken pieces and paste. (Add more milk if you feel the gravy is too thick or little.)
7. Season it with salt or light soya sauce to your liking and check the spiciness. If it is not spicy to your taste, add another spoonful of curry powder.
8. Bring it to a boil, then lower the fire to let it simmer for half an hour.
9. Serve it with rice or a loaf of French bread.

Conclusion

Mmm...yummy. It really DOES tastes like the curry I have back home, so I guess this is a success. I had prepared a tiramusi for dessert, but it was a tough sell after everybody had gotten a second (and for some even third) portion of the curry.

Sorry I haven't posted anything since 28/2. I just got so caught up in the daily affairs at home. My cool Sister in law came and stayed with us for a week or so before flying back to LA. We enjoyed her company so much that we were so sad to see her go, especially Little One who cried at the train station. A few days after that, I suffered a personal loss (as the saying goes, we never thought it would happen to us), then a few days later, I slipped and fell down the concrete stairs at home (earning myself a big bruise on my back and pigeon size bruises on my right arm). As if to prove that things happens in 3s, I got super lucky and caught stomach flu which lasted for days.

As I was on the mend, Little One caught a virus at the day-care centre (I think). Poor thing (and also poor self) suffered 2 days of fever and the next morning, I gave her water and she cried and stuck her finger in her mouth: 'mommy, bobo. bobo.' (so cute right but so painful to watch her suffer like this). So I had a clingy and cranky baby for 2 days (I was about to pull out all my hairs). Stuck at home for a week as she was super contagious, she got a bit of luck with the doc who prescribed ice cream as medicine. Anyone wants her virus? hmm...think I spoke too soon - I myself caught her super bug. This taught me something: don't eat some chilli while having a really bad sore throat. Duh!

End of my complains and back to food. I would like to share this easy and delicious thai dish that I have prepared for my sister in law with all of you.

Coriander Pork with Pineapples

(Taken from Thai Cooking)

Ingredients

• 400 g pork loin or fillet (cut into thin slices)
• ¼ medium pineapple (cut into bite size pieces)
• 1 tbsp oil
• 4 cloves garlic (chopped)
• 4 spring onions (chopped)
• 1 tbsp fish sauce
• 1 tbsp lime juice
• ½ cup fresh coriander leaves
• ¼ fresh mint (chopped)

Directions

1. Heat the oil in a wok, add the chopped garlic and spring onions and stir-fry for 1 minute. Remove from wok.
2. Stir-fry the sliced pork in a very hot wok in 2 or 3 batches. Cook each batch for about 3 minutes or until the meat is just cooked.
3. Return all the meat in the wok together with the garlic and spring onions and add the pineapples, fish sauce and lime juice. Mix it well.
4. Sprinkle some coriander leaves and chopped mint on it and toss lightly just before serving.
5. Serve with rice.

The Verdict

This is a nice sweet dish, of course the pineapple dominates but the coriander and mint are what makes the whole thing interesting. My Sister-In-Law loves it very much and the dish was completely cleaned out before end of dinner.

The weather has been acting weird for the past few days. We had weeks of very sunny spring weather and flowers were blooming everywhere, including the fruit trees in our backyard (we don't know what kind of fruit trees we have in our garden so that will be a surprise. ) Then suddenly end of last week, it started to rain for 2 days... and turned into snow.... gasp! Within half an hour, our garden was all covered with snow. The scenery was actually very pretty. Little One (LO) saw snow for her first time, and when the snow flakes hit her face and little hands, her expression was truly priceless ... It was like 'hey...what was that?' with a serious frown on her little face. We went on the balcony and let her play with snow. Since she never had snow fight before, I decided to gather a little snow ball and threw it at her ... hahaha ... she was like 'Mommy, why did you do that?' Sister-in-law joined in the fun and soon LO got the idea, however instead of her throwing her tiny snow ball at us, she threw it off the balcony. hahaha Apparently she enjoyed watching it falling down and making a splatter on the floor. Too soon, it stopped snowing and the sun came shinning and melt all the snow.

To chase away this cold weary weather, baking is the way to go : filling up the house with cookie aroma - mmm... yummy ... this recipe is (heavily) inspired by my previous Choc-Hazelnut Scrolls.

Coconut-Choc Scrolls

Ingredients

• 234 g or 2 cups plain flour
• 50 g or ½ cup dry grated coconut
• 100 g butter (cubed)
• ½ cup caster sugar
• 1 egg (lightly beaten)
• 2 tbsp iced water
• chocolate hazelnut spread
• some extra dry grated coconut

Directions

1. Very lightly brown the 50 g grated coconut in a pan.
2. Place the grated coconut and flour in food processor bowl; add butter and sugar. Using the pulse action, press button for 30 seconds or until mixture is fine and crumbly.
3. Add egg and 2 tbsp water; process a further 20 seconds until mixture forms a dough.
4. Turn out onto a lightly floured surface and knead 30 seconds or until smooth.
5. Roll pastry out on a large sheet of baking paper, to a rectangle. Trim any uneven edges.
6. Spread dough evenly with hazelnut spread.
7. Sprinkle dry grated coconut all over the hazelnut spread.
8. Using paper to lift dough, roll up from the long side in Swiss roll style. Wrap tightly in paper and refrigerate for 1 hour.
9. Using a very sharp knife, cut dough into 1 cm slices. Place it on biscuit trays with baking paper.
10. Bake at 180°C (350°F - gas mark 4) for 15 minutes. Transfer to wire rack to cool.

The Verdict

My sister-in-law took the first bite and exclaimed 'This is really good. Can I have the recipe please. Super yummy.' I was really taken by surprise and went : 'Really?' :O ... Pierre took one and didn't say anything ... he just chomped down another one, yet another. Little One was happily devouring hers. So I sank my teeth for my first bite... it is really good. Crunchy but not overly crunchy - a bit like shortbread. The coconut aroma just swamped my senses. I have to say the nutella or any chocolate spread goes very well with coconut.