Grilled Honey Soy Chicken

So I am a big fan of oven roasted dishes. Seriously, what can be easier than marinating and putting into the oven and then come back to lovely dinner?

Well,  the only problem was that I ran out of time! So after marinating the chicken overnight with the purpose of chucking into the oven, circumstances happened and I didn't managed to oven baked it in time. The next best thing is of course, grilling it.

I didn't regret it one bit. The result was crisp chicken, but tender on the inside. I served it with rice and veges and it was a lovely comforting meal.

Grilled Honey Soy Chicken (Serves 4)
6 drumsticks
1/2 cup of honey
1/4 cup of soya sauce
1 tablespoon of garlic
1 tablespoon of oyster sauce
1/2 tsp grated ginger
1/4 cup of chinese wine

All marinated over night or for at least 20 minutes. Baked in oven for 40 minutes or grilled it for around 15 mins. Serve with a squeeze of lemon.

Apple Pancakes

Lunch does not always have to be savory. One random weekend, I decided that we will be having apple pancakes and ice-cream for lunch.
My logic:
- Let's skip the main and go straight to sweets. More calories can be allocated to sweets.
- It's healthy! see... we have apple.
- We need to finish our raspberry ice-cream in the freezer.

The disappointing thing about this recipe is that it isn't exactly light and fluffy. It did hit a good spot and made an excellent sweet lunch!

Apple Pancakes

1/2 cup self raising flour
2 tablespoon of caster sugar
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 egg whisked
1/3 cup milk
2 apples peeled and grated (but I chopped!)
ice cream to serve

Combine flour, sugar and cinnamon in bowl. Add egg and milk. Whisk till smooth. Fold in apples.

Heat frying plan over low heat. Pour 1/4 cup of apple mixture (a ladle) in pan. Great spread out with back of spoon. Cook pancakes until bubbles appear on surface. Turn over. Cook for anotner 1-2 mins till done. Serve with ice-cream.

Chicken Hor Fun

There are some days, where I want Singapore hawker  food. In MY ideal world, it will be low fat, low calorie but tastes the same. Alas, that's not always the case isn't it. We are quite blessed that in Perth, we have easy access to similar hawker food like in Singapore (plus where we reside). However, it is never quite the same as sitting in a kopitam, enjoying a plate of hor fun or  my ultimate favourite... ban mien.

Still, a girl has got to make do with what she has. So dropping by the oriental store, I picked up a packet of the white flat noodles, got my wok in action and started frying.

The result is still not as nice as the hawker style one of course, but it will do! for the time being..... =)

Chicken Hor Fun

200 grams of Hor fun noodles blanched and seperated
500 grams chicken diced and  marinated with soya, sesame oil, dark soya, oyster sauce and pepper.
1 bunch of choy sum washed and chopped
1 cup of chopped mushrooms (I used button but dried dehydrated shitake is fine)
2 eggs
1 tablespoons of garlic

Seasoning
2-3 tablespoon of oyster sauce
2-3 generous tablespoon of soya
1 tablespoon of dark soya sauce 
1/3 cup of shiao xien wine.

Heat a little oil in pan. Fry garlic and chicken till nearly done. Toss all veges in. Then toss noodles and add seasoning. Keep frying. Make sure the heat is on HIGH. Add eggs and tadah.. dinner is served.

I'm sharing this very simple dish with my friends from Presto Pasta organized by Ruth. This week Deb of Kahakai Kitchen is hosting.

Horseradish Beef Wrap and Indian Chick Pea Salad

As the weather gets warmer, you can see that my posts on wraps increased exponentially. Truth is that I find wraps really easy to prepare. Besides, they are usually low carb and filling. Where do I get my inspirations from? Usually from lunch bars or cafes where they serve up gourmet recipes for $14 a sandwich. I like to take a peak into what they put into there and re-create in our home kitchen.

I have never used horseradish cream before and have only had a hint of it in a sandwich some time back. Keen to experiment, I bought a tiny jar and thought of pairing it with roast beef.

Not knowing how pungent it was, I put a generous spread on quite a few wraps. OH MY GOODNESS. It stings on the tongue. Eventually, both hubby and I had to scrap some of the horseradish off our wraps. Having said that, I love the combination of roast sliced beef with the horseradish cream + salad. Totally delish and "gourmet" ...again.

The chickpea salad is an adaptation of my previous version.  What changed was that I toasted mustard seeds and the spices with some olive oil before tossing the chickpea through. That little step actually made the salad tastes more roburst, the flavors seem to blend in better.

Horseradish Beef Wrap and Indian Chick Pea Salad

1 packet (around 100 grams of roast beef slices)
horseradish sauce
2 cups of baby spinach leaves
crumbed feta cheese

Place some spinach leaves on choice of wrap. Place 2 slice of roast beef (You can use left over roast beef if you have some instead of store bought packets) on leaves. Spread a tiny amount of horseradish cream on the beef and sprinkle with crumbed feta. Wrap up, toast and serve with chickpeas salad or your choice of salad.

Carrot Fritters

Remember my recent post on my BIG bag of carrots dilemma? Well, turns out that I grated WAY too much carrot for our carrot cake too! So I decided to make fritters instead!

With no recipe in hand, and totally random...I mixed up a few batches of this with egg, flour, water and lots of seasoning. Surprise surprise, it tasted quite good with some mayo and bbq sauce.

One thing I do enjoy about these fritters is that it is super healthy-with all the vitamin A we consumed using the carrots.

Carrot Fritters (around 16 fritters)

1 generous cup of shredded carrot
1 cup of flour
3 eggs
1 cup of water
pepper and salt

Mix it all up. Heat fry pan with a little oil. Dollop mixture into pan. Flip and serve warm with mayo and bbq sauce.

ps-I love the bright orange!

Taco Wrap!

What would you do with your leftovers?

We had tacos one afternoon for lunch (with a group of mates) and ended up with left overs!

Quick reheat and da dah! Great lunch in a wrap!

Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

We went for a quick overnight trip to Mandurah and bought a BIG BIG bag of fresh organic carrots for $1. It was soooo big that I was wondering how in the world am I going to use it up?

So I grated half a kilo and proceed to make a carrot cake (still too much!!)

Although there are many recipes out there, I chose this time to use trust Donna Hay again. The addition of sultanas not just gave it a juicy texture but an added surprise. The cake turned out moist and delightful. I brought it to a group gathering and it was a hit! All gone in 20 mins. *beams*

Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

1 cup of Brown sugar (original recipe calls for 1 1/4 cup)
3/4 cup of olive oil (original recipe calls for vegetable oil)
3 eggs
1 1/2 cup of plan flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp bicarb
2-3 tsp of ground cinnamon
1 tsp of ground nutmeg (omitted)
3-4 cups of grated carrot (original recipe calls for 2 1/2 cups of grated carrot!)
1 cup of crushed walnuts (original recipe 1/2 cups of crushed pecans)

Preheat Oven 180C. Beat sugar and oil for around 2-3 mins. Add eggs and beat well. Sift in flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and mix well. Add carrots, walnuts and sultanas. Pour mixture in greased and line cake 9 inch pan and bake for 55-60 mins.Cool and frost with cream cheese frosting.

Cream cheese frosting- Beat 205g cream cheese with 1/3 cup of icing sugar and 1.5 tablespoon of lemon juice.

Lamb Pies with Mash and Mushy Peas

A few years ago, I tasted pies from Harry's Cafe De Wheels. Then more recently, I went back to Miami Bake House in Mandurah and totally fell in love with their pastry there. We ate one pie there around 3-4 years back and didn't think it was great but Miami Bakehouse have certainly gone up a few notches with its pastry!

Again, this is my attempt to bring something similar to our little home kitchen. I was too lazy to use the pie maker and just folded the pastry into half instead! I cheated and used store bought gravy-still it made a good Friday meal with little fuss!

Lamb Pies with Mash and Mushy Peas

300 grams of lamb mince
3-4 tablespoons of Worcestershire sauce
2 tsp of soya sauce
2-3 tsp of mixed herbs
1 cup of chopped mushrooms
generous dashes of pepper

2-3 pieces of puff pastry cut into quarters

2 potatos boiled and mashed
1 cup of peas defrosted in the freezer, mashed with reduced fat butter, milk and pepper.

Saute lamb mince. Add sauces and herbs and mushroms. Add around 1/4 of water or stock and simmer. Cool.

Preheat oven to 200C. Once meat mixture is cooled, spoon a few tablespoon onto pastry, fold and brush with egg wash. Bake for around 25 mins.

Maggi Mee Stir Fry

What was your first cooking experience like?

Mine started off with some simple instant noodles. Actually my favorite was the Ramen Char Mee from Myojo(?). I could devour 2 packets at one sitting!

This was probably one of the first REAL dish that I learned how to cook when growing up- Fried maggi mee (instant noodles) with egg. For some odd reason, it is sooo comforting and certainly still hit a good spot in me when it is fried up.

So it isn't as oily or delicious as a packet of instant noodles but at least some calories were saved. 

Some chicken, fresh veges and quick dinner is made. Best of all, it tastes better the next day.
*Slurp Slurp*

Maggie Mee Stir Fry (Stir Fry Instant Noodles)

3-4 blocks of instant noodles blanched or cooked in boiling water.
1 bunch of spring onions sliced
1/2 cup of cauliflower
1/2 cup of carrots
1 chili chopped
1tsp garlic minced
300 grams chicken breast diced

4-5 tablespoons of kikoman soya sauce
1 tablespoon of oyster sauce
2 tsp sesame oil
1-2 tsp of chili powder or curry powder
1-3 tablespoon of shao xien jiu (wine)
pepper! heaps of pepper!

3 eggs
Saute garlic and chili. Brown chicken. Toss vege and noodles in till cooked. Add in seasoning and eggs. Serve with crispy shallots (and sometimes sambal chili!)

I'm sharing this very simple dish with my friends from Presto Pasta organized by Ruth. This week Chaya of Sweet & Savory Says It All is hosting! 

Garlic Pepper Steak

Rarely do we have a "Meat and vege" dinner. Just the thought of having a big chunk of meat as a meal does not appeal to me that much. It does however appeal to the hubby-so when he requested steak for dinner, I gave in.

I marinated these sirloin steaks with some garlic powder, mixed herbs and lots of freshly grounded cracked pepper. The result was one tasty yummy steak-and it didn't costs us AU$30 either! The potatoes were over baked with olive oil and mixed herbs- I didn't have the time to leave it in the oven abit longer for it to become crisp.

Garlic Pepper Steak  

Sirloin Steak (I rubbed in some freshly grind sea salt and left it for around 10 mins. Rinse then pat dry)
2 generous tsp of garlic powder
2 tsp of mixed herbs
freshly grind black pepper.
1 tsp of olive oil

Rub oil, herbs, garlic powder and black pepper onto meat. Preheat grill pan to very hot. Grill each side for around 3 minutes or cook till your liking.

Red Bean and Logan Sweet Soup

Time just seem to slip by so quickly. Last week we were in Sydney for 4 days and what a great experience it was.

Max Brenners

Lindt Chocolate

Who can resist Pancakes on the Rocks!

The only regret is that we did not manage to try Guylian Cafe.


While having dinner yesterday, we were reflecting on our very young 6 months of married life. What have we learned, how "prepared" we thought we were but truth be told, being married is joyous BUT hard work. I told hubby that I have learned how to take my responsibility as a wife seriously-doing my best to put family first and of course, learning how to be more patient and to hold my tongue.

His version was:

"I learned that I need plan ahead and how to look after you...especially your late nights at work."

So I thought. "That's so sweet!"

then he said:

"Like for example, if I plan ahead what kind of dessert to prepare for you, that brings a smile to your face and you will be happy. But if i don't then you seem to get easily stressed and I get into trouble."

me: "...."

No wait..there is more.

He said: "What I have learned is that bubble tea will make you happy. Oh, and if I plan ahead and make you almond jelly (From the packet) and cut some mangoes, that makes you happier.. but if I buy hot grass jelly, that is up a few notches happy. My struggle is finding a dessert that is low in fat!"

and he ended with

"I wish I learned that the first 3 months of marriage so that we can be even happier!"

Words of a wise husband. =)

Even I did not realise how a tiny thing like dessert can be pivotal in having a good evening ahead. The hubby said that he realized what hard long days I have at work and the least he could do is to prepare something sweet so that I can look forward to it when I come back. Also, I haven't have much of an appetite for dinner these days so he thought he could feed some sugar in me-that should count as some nutrients right? LOL

From that conversation, it also made me realize how many more marriage books I have to read to curb my tongue, leave my work behind when I lock the car door and concentrate on being a wife and partner.

(here is one dessert I made one Sunday afternoon that lasted us for a few days- Bet Hubby was relieved that he didnt have to think of a dessert for a few days at least! LOL)

Red Bean Logan Sweet Soup

2-3 cups of red bean soaked over night.
4-5 bowls of water
100 grams of gula melaka or if you can't find it brown sugar
30 grams of dried logans washed

Boil water and add sugar till dissolved. Put red beans and logans in pot over medium heat and simmer for around 40 minutes. Stir constantly. Cook till beans become soft. Taste test to see if it is sweet enough. Ladle and serve hot or cold.

Zucchini Ham and Mushroom Slice

Given my success with Smoked Salmon Zucchini Slice, I thought that a variation using ham and mushrooms will be cheaper and healthier option. True enough, it did not disappoint!

Zucchini Ham and Mushroom Slice

3/4 huge grated zucchini
1 cup of low fat cheese
4 eggs
3/4 cup of self raising flour
200 grams of honey baked ham
1 cup of chopped mushrooms
1 tablespoon of olive oil
4 tablespoon of low fat milk
salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 200C. Line slices tray with baking paper.

Squeeze water out of zucchini. Combine it with cheese, mushrooms, ham and flour. Using a fork, beat eggs, milk and oil in a bowl. Fold wet ingredients to dry. Spoon to pan and bake for 30 mins. Serve with a salad.

Jamie Oliver's Nan's Peach Clafoutis

I have never tasted clafoutis before. Reading ABC delicious magazine and Jamie Oliver saying that it is really a french pudding intrigued me. The beauty of it though is that it is dead simple and quite eggy!

I'm not quite sure if this is how it is suppose to look like-it sank a little when I took it out from the oven and during the cooling process. Oh well, it tasted good nonetheless! Perfect with some raspberry icecream.

Jamie Oliver's Nan's Peach Clafoutis 
1/4 cup of plain flour
5 tbs of caster sugar
3 large eggs
450 ml milk
cinnamon
400 grams peach halves (I used quarters)

Preheat Oven to 200C. In a bowl, add flour, 3 tablespoon of caster sugar, and pinch of salt to beaten eggs Mix well, then put aside. Warm milk in saucepan till lukewarm, then stir this into the egg mixture. Add cinnamon. Grease dish and put drained peaches on the bottom, pour egg batter over them. Dot some butter on it(I omitted this step).

Bake for around 25-30 mins till egg set. Sprinkle caster sugar and serve with ice-cream!

Ma Po Tofu

The best thing about Chinese cooking is that it can be as simple as you want it to be or as challenging as we want it to be. More often than none, I choose the simple way.

Tofu is often perceived as boring. Not so in Chinese cuisine. I love my tofu as spicy as possible and the look of ma po tofu certainly appeals to me. Served with warm rice, it is the basis for good comfort food after a hard's day of work isn't it?

Ma Po Tofu 

2 firm tofu diced
300 grams of chicken mince (pork mince will be perfect for this)
handful of dehydrated shitake mushrooms diced
1 chili diced
1 red onion diced
1 tablespoon of minced garlic
1 big bunch of spring onions sliced
1/2 cup of Spicy bean paste
1/2 cup of Shiao Xin Wine
pepper

Fry garlic, chili and onion till nice and soft. Add in chicken mince and cook-breaking it up in pieces. Add mushrooms and tofu. Add all sauces and simmer. Adding stock or water if needed. Finally add in spring onions and toss through. Serve with hot rice.

Poached Egg with Ham on Turkish Bread

Ahh... the simple pleasures in life.

That's it. Just a poached egg with him on Turkish Bread. Yolk running eggs on bread.. Yummmmmm.