Hummus Dip

You know my love for our food processor. One other handy thing that I can now do is to make dips! Freshly made dips and pesto will not be a hassle anymore. Hummus is made out of chickpeas and sesame paste. It's a real treat as a dip or even as a spread. I know of some recipes that pair hummus with grilled lamb as well. One reason why I like hummus is because of it's nutty taste! Oh, and not forgetting that this is probably one of the healthier alternatives to other sorts of oily dips or spreads.

Hummus
1 can of chickpeas (or 1 cup of dried chickpea soaked overnight)
2-3 tablespoon of sesame paste (Tahini)
1/2 cup of lemon juice
1-2 tablespoon of olive oil
seasoning

Whiz everything together. Do a taste test and adjust seasoning accordingly. Serve with water crackers or as a spread.

BurBo Char Char My Sweet Malaysia

It's the time of the year again! Malaysia's Merdeka Day. Merdeka Open Day 2009 is hosted by Babe in KL. Although I am not Malaysian by birth, my dear husband is. After participating in this event for 2 years, this 3rd one is the first one that I will be entering as a Mrs. Just like the other two though, I asked hubby to pick his choice of dish given that he is the Malaysian!

This time round,the theme is My Sweet Malaysia. Hubby wanted me to make BuBor Char Char - This is an nonya dessert that features lots of different textures. The little glutinous rice balls, sweet potato cubes and of course yam/taro cubes in creamy coconut.



I haven't had this dish for ages-probably 5 years at least and to make this was a challenge due to the number of steps. Still, it wasn't hard just a tad time consuming!


Bubor ChaCha

Tapioca Flour Cubes
300 grams Tapico flour
1tsp bicarb
colouring (red, blue, purple)
200 ml boiling water

Sago
1 cup of sago boiled in hot water and rinsed with cold water.
Sweet Soup
200 grams sweet potato cubed
300 grams taro cubed
1 can of coconut cream (I used lite and flavoured instead of the real thing. Big mistake!)
500 ml water
8 pandan leaves
300 grams rock sugar
pinch of salt

Tapioca Flour cubes
1) Sift flour and bicab. Pour boiling water and stir.
2) Knead to form dough. Dive dough into 3-4 parts and add food colouring.
3) Flour your hands. Roll them in little circles or cubes.
4) Bring saucepan of water to boil.Add cubes. When cubes float up, drain.

Sweet Soup
1) Steam sweet potatoes till cooked. Same with taro
2) Bring 500 ml of water to boil with pandan leaves
3) Add rock sugar
4) Add coconut cream and salt. Taste for sweetness. Add taro and sweet potato cubes + tapicoca tubes + sago.
5) Serve hot or cold!

Chicken Stir Fry Noodles in Peanut Sauce

The humble peanut butter is sooo much more than a spread on our breakfast toast. Some things I can think of include....

1) A dip for veges
2) Muffins and cupcakes!
3) Can't forget it can be used to bake a cake too
4) Oh, what about a sauce for satay chicken skewers?
5) Brownies?
6) Peanut butter sauce on ice-cream?
7) AH! Peanut butter ice-cream?
8) Eat from the jar?

Inspired by Good Taste magazine recently, I used chunky peanut butter as a sauce in my stir fry noodle dish. It was sooo good that I freeze a batch and made another batch a few weeks later. Kraft has a low fat peanut butter version which is less smooth than their usual one but I love it all the same.


Chicken Stir Fry Noodles in Peanut Sauce (Serves 4-6)
1 packet of noodles of your choice ( I bought skinny yellow noodles which is named "Singapore noodles-even though there is really no such noodles named after Singapore IN Singapore)
500 grams of chicken thigh meat diced
half a cabbage shreddedd
1 carrot diced
1 chilli chopped
1 tablespoon of minced garlic
1 cup of chopped mushrooms
1/2 cup of peanut butter
1 tablespoon of soya sauce

In a jar, whisk peanut butter till smooth.

Cook noodles per directions of your pack (I blanched mine). In a wok or deep pan, fry garlic and chilli till it smells oh so good. Then brown chicken. Toss in the veges. After around 4 minutes, or when veges are nearly cooked, toss noodles through. Add peanut paste and soya. Taste to see if it requires more seasoning.

If you like, toss some peanuts through. I served with with a sprinkle of sesame seed.


If you haven't guessed it, I'm submitting this to this week's Presto Pasta! All thanks to Ruth form Once Upon a Feast who founded this event. This week's host is Helen from Fuss Free Flavours

ps- perve at more peanut butter creations at The Peanut Butter Boy.

Cheesy Chicken Spinach Parcels

I have written about one of my favourite wraps- Mountain Corn Bread a while back. It remains a versatile staple in our pantry-especially for a quick Sunday lunch after church. Remember my post about my love for bbq chicken? This recipe is another one to add to the list. Oh, and do check out Babe in KL's One chook 5 ways post. This further proves how creative bloggers are in utilizing our humble chicken!


Cheesy Chicken Spinach Parcels (makes around 4-5)
200 grams of shredded roasted chicken meat
50 grams feta cheese
1 cup of cheddar cheese
2-3 cups of baby spinach leaves
low fat mayo
seasoning

In a bowl, toss chicken meat, crumbed feta cheese, cheddar and spinach leaves. Add mayo- the amount to your liking. Season with some pepper.

Put 1-2 generous tablespoons of mixture onto your choice of wrap. Fold it into a parcel. Toast it and serve with some potatoes.

Also see Shortcut Crumbed fish wrap and Mango Chicken Wrap.

Honey Pecan Granola

I have recently fallen in love with....

home made granola or muesli.

I didn't realise that it is really to easy to make it at home.

I love it by itself


Or with milk, yogurt for breakie.

Or even as a topping on ice-cream.


Honey Pecan Granola
2 cups of oats
1/2 cup of pepitas
1/2 cup of sunflower seeds
1 cup of crushed pecans
1 cup of dried cranberries
1/4 cup of honey
2-3 tsp vanilla essence
2tsp of mixed spice


Toss everything together. Bake at 180C for around 25 mins. Cool, then break it up. Store in air tight containers.

I have also used

Dried Strawberries with crushed walnuts, pecan nuts and even macademia nuts!

Easy Peasy Chorizo Pasta

It's a little slow for me but I have only recently discovered the lovely flavours of chorizo sausages. To me, it is like the Italian version of Lup Chong (which is like a dried cured style of chinese sausage) only that the chorizo is spicier.

What do I do with it? well.. pasta of course. ;)

Easy Peasy Chorizo Pasta
250 grams of spaghetti
1 chorizo sausage sliced
2 cups of peas
1 small bunch of broccoli
1 cup of long beans

Cook pasta till done. Drain and set aside.

In a deep pan, fry chorizo (using a cold pan so that the oil drains out from the chorizo) till done. I drained abit of the oil out but if you want more flavour, you can leave it in. Add peas and beans. Toss spaghetti through. Season to taste.

Dishing this to my friends from Presto Pasta founded by Ruth from Once Upon a Feast. This week it is hosted by Katie from One Little Corner of the World.

Healthy Spicy Chicken Soup-with heaps of veges! + Kreative Blogger Award

I try to do the "balancing game"- The have a heavy lunch and light dinner. Or have a slice of cake for lunch sort of deal. This soup was made when hubby and I had a big lunch and decided on something warm and hearty for dinner instead. Did I mention this is also another way to use up your left over veges?

I am always on a lookout for bargains and cannot resist it when roast chicken goes on sale towards the end of the day. I think it costs around AU$8 for an extra large roast chicken. The chicken meat is then shredded and freeze for future use (or current use). For instance my spicy chicken enchiladas, Stir fry noodles and Feta, Chicken and Spinach Pasta are all inspired by a roasted chook. I am also impressed by a recent post by Amy from Very Culinary who posted two other posts on Roast Chicken-2 Ways. Looks like great minds think alike!


Healthy Spicy Chicken Soup
100 grams of shredded chicken meat
1 tsp of garlic
1 chilli chopped with seeds in for ours
2 carrot sliced
1 cup of chopped button mushrooms
1 big red capsicum
3-4 stalks of celery diced
2-3 cups of chicken stock
1 tsp of chili powder or flakes for the extra kick!

Heat 1 tsp of oil and fry garlic and chilli. Add all veges and stock till it boils. Add chicken. Taste test and add salt/pepper as needed. We wanted the extra punch so we added in 1 tsp of chili powder. Serve with toasted bread.

Thank You Baking Cottage for sending me this award! How pretty this is!

The Kreativ Blogger Award comes with some rules:

1. You must thank the person who has given you the award.

2. Copy the logo and place it on your blog.

3. Link to the person who has nominated you for the award.

4. Name 7 things about yourself that people might find interesting.

5. Nominate 7 other Kreativ Bloggers.

6. Post links to the 7 blogs you nominate.

7. Leave a comment on which of the blogs to let them know they have been nominated.

Just like baking cottage- I have previously posted things about myself so I'm going to "follow her footsteps" and post 7 cooking/baking disasters!

1) My cracking cheesecakes- I do not have a light in my oven so after around 1 hr, I would hv to open the door to check if it is done.. which of course leads to it being cracked.. :( Chocolate is the best way to cover it up I learned.

2) Cupcake frosting- argh, need I say more? My frosting just wouldnt set and then I had difficulty pipping it too.

3) My Tasteless char siew bao dough which my grandmother said the filling was nicer (because she made the filling!)

4) I recently made a chorizo pilaf and used a wrong size baking pan hence the rice turned out mushy on the bottom and uncooked on the top of the pan!

5) The classic-added salt instead of sugar to some of my stir fry dishes!

6) My bits and pieces of Thosai pancake- I am still trying to learn how to flick one properly!

7) This one is one that hubby will remember. My first attempt in cookies resulted in tasteless cardboardish rock cakes.. my poor housemates actually ate them just to encourage me to do better!!!

My nominations are:

Amy from Very Culinary- Love her style and more importantly her dishes!

Skinny mum- for her dedication to her kids

Noobcook- Her photos are amazing and I love how all her dishes are so healthy.

Mochachocolata-Rita- Her sense of humour with heaps of Indonesian/HK food posts is mouth watering.

BeachLover Kitchen- I have been following her blog for ages. I love it when bloggers started slow and then you slowly see the progress one makes on dishes/recipes. Everyone can do it!

Singairishgirl- check out all her bento meals. I'm so envious of her little girl!

Teczcape Tiger Fish- I love the way she uses seasonal produce and how she manages to cook across continents.

xoxo
d

Sticky Date Pudding

The only reason why I have not posted this recipe up despite making it for the past 3-4 years is that I just can't take a decent photo out of it! grr...

This is still the best sticky date pudding recipe that I have tried. It's gooey, sticky (duh!) and the right amount of sweetness.

Now, I just have to master the art of phototaking...



Sticky Date Pudding
280 grams dried dates
450 ml water
1 tsp bicarb soda
100 grams butter
200 grams caster sugar
275grams self raising flour

Sauce
160 grams brown sugar
250 ml cream
200 grams butter

Pre heat oven to 180C.

Bring dates and water in saucepan to boil. Mix in bicarb soda and cool.

Cream butter and sugar till pale. Add eggs. Sift in flour. Add date mixture and vanilla and mix well. Pour into large rectangular ceramic dish and bake for around 30 minutes.

To make sauce: Put sugar, cream and butter in a pan over medium heat. Mix till well combined and smooth. Bring to boil,. remove from heat and cool.

Pour sauce over pudding. Return to the oven for around 5 more mins. Serve with ice-cream.

ps- i always ended up with too much sauce so I just reserve it and use it for other cakes or ice-cream.

pps- I like to make this when invited to dinner parties because it can easily feed around 15 people!

Garlic Chili Aglio Olio Spaghetti

Sometimes the best comfort food is the simplest. Nothing fussy about this dish but just good olive oil, chili and a nice handful of Parmesan cheese! Friday lazy nights to the best! I served this with Crab and Fuji Apple Salad.

I think it was nearly a Nigella moment when my tongue and the garlic/chili flavors met each other.


Garlic Chili Aglio Olio Spaghetti
250 grams Spaghetti
2 chilli chopped (I left the seeds in)
1/4-1/2 cup of good olive oil
1 tablepoon of garlic

Cook Spaghetti as per instructions. Heat oil in pan and fry garlic and chilli. Toss spaghetti with it. Serve with Parmesan cheese.

Another pasta night for friends from Presto Pasta! Hosted by psychgrad from Equal Opportunity and founded by Ruth from Once Upon a Feast.

Date and Walnut Loaf

There are some recipes that stays with you forever. The "I always count on it when I need something" sort of recipes. This Date and Walnut Loaf is probably one of the first "cake/loaf" recipe that I have tried. I can't exactly remember where I get it from-probably from a very old Food Ideas Recipes Magazine that I was very fond of 7 years ago (Until the raise their prices).

When I look back at my posts, I realized I have not once blogged about this! Sometimes, you take old test and trusted recipes for granted.. Shame on me!

So here we go:
Date and Walnut Loaf

250 grams pitted dates roughly chopped
1 1/3 cups of water
3/4 cups of brown sugar
100grams melted butter
2 eggs
2 cups self raising flour
1 tsp of mixed spice
1 cup walnuts chopped

Line loaf pan with baking paper. Preheat Oven 180C.

Place dates and water in saucepan. Cook stiring occassionally for 5 minutes or until water comes to boil. Reduce heat to medium and simmer for 5 minutes.

Stir sugar, butter and eggs into dates. Sift flour and mixed spice into mixture and fold to combine. Fold in walnuts.

Spoon mixture into pan. Bake for 50-60 minutes till skewer comes out clean. Stand for 5 minutes before turning into a rack to cool.

Slice- I usually have mine just like that but hubby sometimes like to spread a little butter on it.

Honey Roasted Spiced Pumpkin and Carrot Soup

I love my Kenwood FP920 Multi Pro food processor. It was my parents and grandmother's wedding present to us. My mom knows how much I have been wanting a food processor and surprised us by getting us one. She did not need to do that because we thought our family commitment to travel to all our wedding celebrations is a big gift enough

Mom is always curious to how I use the food processor/blender (or what they term as liquidizer). I remembered our old chunky one being stored away in the SG kitchen, rarely being taken out to use as it was quite cumbersome. This kenwood sits on my kitchen benchtop (even though our kitchen is extremely small) and I still go "awww" when I walk passed it.

I love my thick wintery soups. Hence it is no surprised that our first debut dish from the kenwood baby is Honey Spiced Pumpkin and Carrot soup! Mom and I are big fans of pumpkin soup so this is for you till you next come to Australia (seriously, she is a big fan, we carry tins of pumpkin soup back to SG for her... much to the amusement to the other nurses at the hospital she work in).

Look out- more dishes from our Kenwood food processor. I made quite a few soups and even made cake batter out of it. and cheesecake base is no longer a problem with a few whizzs!



Honey Roasted Spiced Pumpkin and Carrot Soup
1.5 kg of Butternut Pumpkin diced
1 kg of carrots diced
1 red onion diced
1 cup of honey
1/4 cup of olive oil
2 tsp of cumin
2 tsp of chilli powder
1 tsp of garam masala
seasoning
4-6 cups of low sodium chicken/vege stock

Toss all veges in spices, honey and oil. Roast veges for around 45 mins. Place roasted veges in a big pot and add stock. Boil for around 20 minutes and cool. Taste. Add seasoning if needed. Put soup in batches into blender. Whiz till smooth. Transfer back to pot and heat. Serve with toasted cheese bread or just by itself.

This is my first entry to Weekend Herb Blogging. It's Host's Dhanggit Kitchen's little girl's birthday!!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY dearie. Dhanggit's blog is one of the inspiration baking sites I go to regularly..all those french makes me drool.



Butternut Pumpkin belongs to the family of squash. One thing I love about the nutty taste of this vegetable is that it can be made into creamy mash or soups without the added fat. Not only that, it has the added nutrition of betacarotene which then converts to Vitamin A in our bodies- Great for our eyesight and other degenerative diseases.

Cheesy Baked Pasta with Bacon, Mushrooms and Peas

Whenever we hit winter, I have this urge to cook baked meals. This comes in handy as well I suppose because then I cook in larger than normal quantities, freezing the meals. Comes in very handy on nights when I return home late.


I love creamy and cheesy pastas. The only thing is that I rarely order them in a restaurant because I know how bad they are for us. I'm thinking horror horror-calories and fat and the length of them I need to run in the next COLD winter morning to get rid of it. However, I tend to use reduced fat cheese and 98.5% fat free evaporated milk for the creamy sauce, allowing me to still enjoy a small portion of it without the guilt. The use of lean bacon is perhaps a little more expensive but worth it because it allow me to taste the salty savory cured meat that I miss!


Cheesy Baked Pasta with Bacon, Mushrooms and Peas (Serves 4-6)
250grams of penne pasta
180grams of lean bacon diced
2 cups of chopped mushrooms
1 cup of peas
2 cups of baby spinach

Sauce
1 tablespoon of flour
1 tablespoon of reduced fat spread
1 can of 98.5% fat free evaporated milk
1 cup of cheddar cheese
extra 1/2 cup of cheese
Cook pasta according to instructions. Drain and set aside. Toss bacon, mushrooms, peas and spinach with pasta.

Meanwhile, preheat oven to 200 C.

To make cheese sauce, melt spread and add flour. Stir till the mixture becomes golden brown. Add milk. Whisk till it thickens and become creamy. Add cheese mixture. Stir till it melts. (Adjust by adding more milk of mixture turns too thick). Season.
Pour sauce on pasta. Toss with pasta. Spoon in baking dish. Sprinkle more cheese on top. Bake for 35 minutes or so. Serve HOT!

Sharing this with my friends at Presto Pasta founded by Ruth from Once Upon a Feast. This week, it is hosted by psychgrad from Equal Opportunity.

Spicy Chicken Enchilada

I have to admit that I have always been fascinated with Mexican food. At Subiaco Markets on Station street (Where we do most of our vege, fruits, nuts and spices shopping), we stumbled across a tiny little Mexician store that intrigued us further. At home, I have tried making Tacos before but never anything else that resembles mexican.

This is my take on easy home made spicy chicken enchiladas- I wouldn't call it authentic but it is a good spicy meal for a good winter week night!


Spicy Chicken Enchiladas
150 grams of shredded bbq chicken meat.
1 packet of low fat/low carb tortilla wrap (I used 4 pieces)
1 small red onion chopped
1 can of chopped tomatoes
dashes of tobasco sauce
1 chopped red chili
seasoning

cheddar cheese
salad and potato to serve

In a pan, cook onions till soft. Add chicken and tin of chopped tomatoes. Season with tobasco and salt/pepper. Taste to see if it is spicy enough. Cool slightly.
Preheat Over to 180 C. Lined baking pan/tray with baking paper. Start with first tortilla, spoon chicken mixture in it, rolled it up and place on tray. Repeat. Sprinkle with cheddar cheese. Bake for around 25 mins till cheese melts.

I had some leftover packaged roast potato in the freezer and decided to serve with that instead. Prob the least most authentic, choose to serve it with rice or even just with salad. =)