Sliced Fish Yee Mee

My husband has always advocated us to eat healthily and this is a recipe that has been well-loved by everyone at home.  So, I am saving it here for easy future reference.

  

Sliced Fish Yee Mee 

Ingredients

1 litre water
80 gm ikan bilis, rinsed
1 stalk celery, chopped
1 onion, quartered
1 packet Hong Kong Yee Fu Mee
1 1⁄2 tbsp cooking oil
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
3 slices ginger
400 gm batang fish, sliced
8 stalks xiao bai cai
2 tbsp oyster sauce
1 tbsp fish sauce
1 tbsp Chinese cooking wine
Salt and pepper, to taste
2 tsp corn flour, mixed with 50ml water

Method

1. Place the water, ikan bilis, celery and onions in a pot and boil for 15 min.  Strain and set aside the stock.

2. Blanch the noodles in boiling water for 2-3 min until just cooked. Drain and set aside.

3. Add the oil, garlic and ginger to a hot wok. Stir fry until the ginger sizzles then add the sliced fish and stir-fry until cooked.

4. Add 750 ml of the ikan bilis stock, xiao bai chye, oyster sauce, fish sauce, Chinese cooking wine, salt, pepper and the noodles. Cover and boil for 1 min. Thicken with the corn flour mixture and mix well.

5.  Serve in bowls and eat while hot.

Reference : Her World

Chocolate Muffins

I was trawling the internet for a 'chocolate cum chocolate' muffin recipe and this caught my eye as it seems so easy to do and had good ratings.  I had tried other recipes but they turned out to somewhat lacking in the degree of chocolate-ness as deemed by my kiddos. 

The recipe called for buttermilk which I substituted with 1 tablespoon of white vinegar to which enough milk was added to make up 1 cup.

  

I was excited when the muffins came out dark brown, almost blackish.  Surely, it hints at the amount of chocolate in it.  And it looked moist too!

Chocolate Muffins 

Ingredients

2 large eggs

1 cup buttermilk
2 tsp vanilla extract
210 gm all-purpose flour
83 gm unsweetened cocoa powder
250 gm light brown sugar (without lumps)
2 tsp baking powder
150 gm chocolate chips
110 gm salted butter (melted, slightly cooled) 

Method

1. Place rack in centre of oven and preheat oven to 220 ^oC. Line muffin pan with liners.

2. In a large bowl, whisk together eggs, buttermilk and vanilla extract.

3. In another large bowl, whisk together flour, cocoa powder, brown sugar, baking powder.  Break up any lumps of brown sugar.

4. To the bowl of dry ingredients, add the wet ingredients and chocolate chips. Mix until well combined.

5.  Using 2 tablespoons, fill the muffin cups to the brim. You may choose to lightly press some more chocolate chips onto the top of the filled cups.

6.  Place into oven and bake for 8 minutes. Turn down oven temperature to 175 ^oC and bake for another 12 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the middle of cupcake exits clean.

7.  Transfer to wire rack to cool.

Reference : Once Upon A Chef

Ipoh Hor Fun with Mushroom and Shredded Chicken

To say that the last time I posted was a long time ago would be an understatement since it has been years. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the Circuit Breaker policy has been implemented in Singapore to interrupt transmission cycles. With the adults in the household are working from home and the kids doing home-based learning, our meals are starting to get boring.

And so I started exploring some new recipes to inject some further varieties. Some are excellent hits and those recipes are definitely keepers for my family, so I am posting some of them here to save myself from hunting for good recipes when that craving for specific dishes hits us again.

  

We love chinese food and this is one that I always enjoy. However, ordering it back as a take-away sometimes results in a gooey mess that does no justice to an otherwise excellent meal.

So I decided to attempt this at home instead.

I did not try it for taste whilst cooking but it turned out amazingly perfect. My fusspots are now older and are more vocal about what tastes good and what warrants a thumbs down. It is with great satisfaction that they slurped this up and the younger one gave a nod when I asked if he enjoyed it.  

Ipoh Hor Fun with Mushroom and Shredded Chicken 

Ingredients

500 gm Ipoh hor fun

1½ chicken breast (adjust if you prefer more/less chicken meat with the dish)
2 packets Xiao Bai Chai
4 dried mushrooms (rinse and soak till softened, remove stems and slice, keep the water)

Gravy :
250 ml chicken broth (I use Swanton's instant chicken broth)
2 bowls of mushroom water (from soaking the mushroom)
1 tsp sesame oil
2 tbsp oyster sauce
2 tbsp dark soy sauce
2 tbsp light soy sauce
1 tbsp sugar

Thickening Agent :
1 tbsp corn starch with 1 tbsp water (for thickening of gravy)

Method

1. Wash chicken breast and pat dry. Rub in ½ tsp salt, dash of pepper and ½ tsp sesame oil. Leave in refrigerator to season at least 1 hour. 

2. Cook chicken breast meat in boiling water. Remove and set aside. Shred the meat when cool.

3. Blanch the Xiao Bai Chye. Set aside.

4. Blanch the Ipoh hor fun in boiling water. Remove, drain and apportion onto serving plates.

5.  Add mushrooms and all ingredients for gravy into saucepan.  Allow it to come to a boil.

6.  Add thickening agent. Let it continue to simmer, stirring to prevent starchy lumps from forming.

7.  Apportion shredded chicken, Xiao Bai Chye and mushrooms onto serving plates. Spoon gravy over the hor fun.

8.  Serve with sliced green chillies on the side.

Reference : The Fussy Palate

Oreo and Raisin Cupcake

My boys have a weakness for cupcakes but what with the eye-popping prices of commercially available ones, I figure it would make more sense making our own.  Coming from our own kitchen also means that I can cut down on the sugar (read as less hyper kids) and minus the cream frosting that we do not fancy.

There are loads of cupcake recipes everywhere but I decided to give this a try as it seems more likely to be accepted by my children.  I loathe to try something with fanciful names and ingredients but to have it rejected outright by the fusspots at home.

The cupcakes turned out good and not cloyingly sweet.  I guess the highest praise came from my younger son who said he would sell the cupcakes to his friends!  The joys of motherhood, no less :)

Oreo and Raisin Cupcake

Ingredients

235 gm self-raising flour

100 gm Oreo biscuits, chopped

40 gm raisins

230 gm unsalted butter

180 gm sugar

4 eggs

¼ tsp salt (omit if using salted butter)

Method

1. Beat butter, salt and sugar till slightly creamy.  Add eggs and flour and mix till well combined. Then beat at higher speed until smooth and pale, takes about 2 to 3 minutes.

2. Stir in chopped oreo biscuits and raisins.  Mix evenly and spoon mixture into paper cups.

3. Bake at 190 ^oC for 20 minutes or until cooked.

4. Remove from oven and cool on cooling rack.

Reference : Aunty Yochana

Baking Conversions

I am terrible at metric conversions and I always struggle to find the right conversions for the quantities mentioned in the recipes I want to try.  It is a hassle to have to pause and try to figure out the correct amounts in the units that I am used to.  

So I have finally decided to track down something that I can use at just a glance.  Phew!

Ingredient Measurements

All-Purpose Flour	1 cup	120 grams
Cake Flour	1 cup	95 grams
Dark / Brown Sugar	1 cup	200 grams
Granulated / Castor Sugar	1 cup	225 grams
Icing / Powdered Sugar	1 cup	120 grams
Butter / Margarine	1 cup	225 grams
Cocoa Powder	1 cup	125 grams

Volume

1 cup	240 ml
1 quart (4 cups)	960 ml

Oven Temperature

225 F	110 oC
250 F	130 oC
275 F	140 oC
300 F	150 oC
325 F	165 oC
350 F	175 oC
375 F	190 oC
400 F	200 oC
425 F	220 oC
450 F	230 oC
475 F	245 oC
500 F	260 oC
550 F	290 oC

Chocolate Chip Cookies

My kids love chocolate cookies and this is a useful recipe to have around.


Chocolate Chip Cookies


Ingredients

1 cup (226 grams) unsalted butter, room temperature
¾ cup (150 grams) granulated white sugar
¾ cup (160 grams) firmly packed light brown sugar
2 large eggs
1½ teaspoons pure vanilla extract
2¼ cups (295 grams) all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
1½ cups (270 grams) semisweet chocolate chips
1 cup (100 grams) walnuts or pecans, coarsely chopped (optional)


Method

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees C with rack at bottom of oven. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

2. Beat the butter until smooth and creamy. Add the white and brown sugars and beat until fluffy (about 2 minutes). Beat in eggs, one at a time, making sure to beat well after each addition. Add the vanilla and beat until incorporated. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed.

3. In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking soda, and salt. Add the dry ingredients to the egg mixture and beat until incorporated, adding the chocolate chips and nuts (if using) about half way through mixing.

4. If the dough is very soft, cover and refrigerate until firm (about 30 minutes).

5. For large cookies, use about a 2 tablespoon ice cream scoop or with two spoons, drop about 2 tablespoons of dough (35 grams) onto the prepared baking sheets. Bake about 12 - 14 minutes, or until golden brown around the edges.

6. Cool completely on wire rack.


Note: You can freeze this dough. Form the dough into balls and place on a parchment lined baking sheet. Freeze and then place the balls of dough in a plastic bag, seal, and freeze. When baking, simply place the frozen balls of dough on a baking sheet and bake as directed - may have to increase baking time a few minutes.


Reference : Joy Of Baking

Muah Chee

Muah Chee is a popular snack amongst the old and young and it is so simple to make at home. It takes just a few minutes and we usually make it at home at the spur of the moment, when the fancy for a sweet snack arises.


Muah Chee


Ingredients

250 gm glutinuous rice flour
300 ml water
Some oil for greasing
Ground peanut and sugar powder


Method

1) Mix flour and water. Stir until there are no lumps.

2) Grease pan and pour mixture into it.

3) Steam for 20 mins then remove from heat.

4) Cut dough into small pieces with scissors and pour onto a large plate of peanut powder. Mix pieces of muah chee in the powder until each piece is well covered in peanut powder.

5) Serve warm.