King Spareribs (Pai Ku Wang)

Ingredients:

600 g pork spareribs, cut into pieces (1 inch)
2 tbsp cornstarch
1 tsp sesame oil
oil for deep-frying

Marinade:

1 tsp soy sauce
1.5 tbsp shao xing wine
1 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp black pepper
1 tsp salt

Seasoning:

4 tbsp ketchup
2 tbsp plum sauce
1.5 tbsp Lea & Perrins Worcestershire sauce
2 tbsp soy sauce
1 tsp garlic powder
6 tbsp sugar
3 tbsp water

Method:

In a bowl, mix all the marinade ingredients.

Marinate spareribs for at least 2 hours or overnight in refrigerator.

Remove from refrigerator and stir-in cornstarch.

In a deep pan, heat oil to medium high heat and deep-fry spareribs until golden brown, drain on absorbent paper.

Over low heat, combine all the seasoning in a non-stick pan to incorporate well.

Return the cooked spareribs to the pan, stir well to coat evenly.

Remove from heat and stir-in sesame oil.

Serve hot with rice.

Dark Chocolate Mousse

Ingredients:

200 g dark chocolate
50 g unsalted butter
40 ml espresso
30 ml whisky
200 ml whipped cream
2 eggs yolks
2 eggs whites
2 tbsp icing sugar

Method:

Beat whip cream until stiff and keep in refrigerator.

Over a double boiler, melt chocolate and butter.

Remove from heat, pour-in espresso and whisky, stir to incorporate.

In a deep bowl, whisk egg whites till almost stiff, add-in sugar and beat till soft peak form.

Add-in egg yolks to the chocolate mixture one at a time, beat to mix.

Gently stir-in one-third of whipped cream to the chocolate mixture, fold-in half of egg whites, stir to just incorporate, fold-in the remaining whites then whipped cream and stir to incorporate well.

Spoon mousse into individual glasses and chill in refrigerator for at least 8 hours or overnight till set.

Serves 5.

Sweet Banana Chips

Ingredients:

2 raw banana
1 cup ice water
2 tsp salt
oil for deep frying

Coating:

2 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp brown sugar
1/2 tsp honey
1 tbsp water

Method:

Dissolve salt in 1 cup of ice water.

Peel banana, slice into four and soak in the salted ice water for 15 minutes.

Drain banana and pat-dry.

Slice banana into thin round slices (about 2-3 mm thick).

Dry banana slices on paper towels to remove moisture in a layer basic.

Heat oil in a wok or deep pan.

Deep-fry banana slices until golden yellow and crispy in a layer basic.

Drain banana chips on paper towels.

To prepare sweet coating, combine all coating ingredients in a wok or pan, cook over low heat till sugars dissolve to form syrup.

Return crispy banana chips into pan, toss and stir to evenly coat with the sweet syrup.

Remove from heat and let cool completely before store into air-tight container.

Kuih Bahulu

Ingredients:

1 cup eggs (3 eggs yolks + 4 egg whites)
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup flour
1/4 tsp baking powder (optional)

Method:

Sieve flour together with baking powder, set aside.

In a deep bowl, whisk eggs and sugar until thick, pale and stiff.

Preheat oven to 250 °C.

Lightly grease mold.

Fold-in 3/4 tbsp of flour mixture into 4 tbsp of stiffed eggs batter (prepare just enough for a batch), stir batter to mix.

Spoon batter into the prepared mold (fill-up to 80% in volume).

Bake batter in the preheated oven for about 6 minutes or until puffed and golden brown.

Remove from oven and let cool completely before storing.

Steamed Chocolate-Coffee Cake with Creamy Butter Frosting

Ingredients:

1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
6 tsp soluble coffee
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 cup milk
1 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup sweetened concentrated milk
1 1/4 cups cake flour (Tipo OO)
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
3 eggs

Creamy Butter Frosting:

125 g butter, softened
250 g icing sugar
1.5 tbsp milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Method:

Grease a 22cm cake pan.

Mix cocoa powder, coffee powder, sugar, milk, oil and sweetened concentrated milk in a non-stick pan and cook over low heat until cocoa powder, coffee powder and sugar are fully dissolved.

Remove from heat and leave aside to cool.

In a separate bowl, sift to mix the flour, baking powder and baking soda.

In another bowl, beat eggs until light and fluffy then fold into the cooled cocoa-coffee mixture and mix well.

Stir-in flour mixture and mix well to form homogeneous batter.

Pour batter into prepared pan.

Steam over high heat for about 1 hour with a cover that wrapped with kitchen towel to avoid water vapor droplets, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.

Let cool in pan for at least 10 minutes and turn out onto a plate and cool completely.

To Make Frosting:

In a large bowl, beat all ingredients until smooth and spread consistency.

Prepare in advance, keep in refrigerator and frost the cooled cake later.

Focaccia Cipolle (Onion Topping Flatbread)

Ingredients:

1/4 cup warm water
1 1/2 tsp instant yeast (or 15 g fresh yeast)

2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp salt
1/2 cup warm water

Topping:

4 yellow onion, sliced
6 tbsp olive oil
1/2 tsp salt for sprinkling
1 tbsp olive oil for drizzling

Method:

In a heavy non-stick pan, heat 6 tbsp olive oil over medium-high heat. Add onion and stir-fry till sweet and golden yellow (about 12 minutes). Let cool to room temperature.

Dissolve yeast and salt in 1/4 water, leave for 10 minutes.

In a large bowl, combine flour, oil and salt.

Pour yeast solution into the center of the flour mixture, mix-well and gradually pour-in the remaining water to form dough.

On a lightly floured work surface, knead dough until becomes smooth and soft (about 8-10 minutes).

Transfer dough into a lightly oiled container, turn the dough to coat lightly with oil, cover and leave aside in a warm place to rise until doubled in bulk (about 1.5 hours).

Lightly grease an 8 inch pan.

Place dough in the prepared pan and gently stretch it toward edges from center to achieve an even thickness.

Cover with kitchen towel and let rise till almost double in bulk, soft and puffy (about 45 minutes).

Preheat oven to 240 °C.

Using fingertips, dimple the dough evenly to leave indentations for about 1/2 inch deep.

Cover dough with towel and let to rise again for another 20 minutes.

Arrange cooked onion evenly over the risen dough, drizzle the top with olive oil.

Bake focaccia in the preheated oven for 15 minutes or till golden yellow.

Remove from oven, transfer the pan to a rack and let stand till the focaccia is barely warm (about 10 minutes) before cut to serve.

Roast Chinese Five Spice Chicken

Ingredients:

1 chicken drumstick

Marinade:

2 tsp Chinese five spice powder
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp black pepper
1 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt

Skin Glaze:

3 tsp honey
1 tsp rice vinegar
1 tsp black vinegar

Method:

Wash drumstick and pat dry completely.

Combine all the marinade ingredients in a small bowl, rub the marinade mixture all over the drumstick, marinade for at least 2 hours or better overnight.

In another bowl, mix all glaze ingredients to form syrup and brush on the skin evenly.

Roast the marinaded drumstick in preheated oven at 220 °C for 1 hour or until drumstick is cooked and the skin is golden brown (occasionally brush the skin with glaze syrup while roasting).

Remove from oven.

Let cool for 15 minutes before chopping into serving pieces.

Soy Bean Milk

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups dry white soy bean
800-1000 ml water
1 pandan leaf, cleaned and knotted
palm sugar or white sugar to taste

Method:

Soak soy bean overnight in water, drain.

Blend soy bean with 400 ml water for the first time.

Strain liquid manually by using a fine texture filter cloth, reserve soy bean residue.

Re-blend the soy bean residue with the remaining water for the second time, strain again.

Heat liquid along with pandan leaf over medium heat by continuous stirring.

Remove from heat immediately just right before boiling (dramatically proof-up in volume).

Serve hot or chill plainly or sweeten with palm sugar or white sugar.

Espresso Soft Loaf

Ingredients:

1/2 cup milk
1 1/4 tsp instant yeast
2 cups bread flour (Manitoba Tipo O)
1 egg
1/4 cup espresso
1 cup sugar
1 tsp salt
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup butter for surface brushing
Cornmeal for topping (optional)

Egg Glaze:

1 egg yolk
1 tbsp water
1/4 tsp salt

Method:

Dissolve yeast in milk, leave for few minutes.

In a large bowl, mix flour, egg, espresso, sugar and salt.

Pour yeast solution into flour mixture and mix to form dough.

Turn out the dough onto a lightly floured work surface, knead to form smooth and soft dough (about 5 minutes).

Add-in butter and knead again until dough is soft and elastic (about 15 minutes).

Transfer dough into a container, cover and leave to rise till double in size (about 1 hour).

Punch down the dough and shape accordingly.

Place dough into a lightly greased loaf pan, leave to proof for another 1 hour or until double in volume again.

Brush loaf surface with egg glaze and sprinkle with cornmeal.

Bake loaf in preheated oven at 190 °C for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown.

Remove loaf from oven, unmould immediately and brush loaf with butter.

Let cool completely.

Steamed Nutella-Chocolate Cake

Ingredients:

1/2 cup nutella cream
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 cup milk
1 cup vegetable oil
1 1/4 cups cake flour (Tipo OO)
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
3 eggs

Method:

Grease a 22cm cake pan.

Mix nutella, cocoa powder, sugar, milk and oil in a non-stick pan and cook over low heat until cocoa powder and sugar are fully dissolved.

Remove from heat and leave aside to cool.

In a separate bowl, sift to mix the flour, baking powder and baking soda.

In another bowl, beat eggs until light and fluffy then fold into the cooled nutella-cocoa mixture and mix well.

Stir-in flour mixture and mix well to form homogeneous batter.

Pour batter into prepared pan.

Steam over high heat for about 1 hour with a cover that wrapped with kitchen towel to avoid water vapor droplets, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.

Let cool in pan for at least 10 minutes and turn out onto a plate and cool completely.

Black Bean-Broccoli Salad

Ingredients:

3/4 cup dry black bean
250 g broccoli, cut into bite size
1/2 cup canned corn, drained
1 hard boil egg, sliced (omit it for vegetarian version)
2 tomatoes, sliced
3 dry Chinese mushrooms, soaked and sliced
1 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp lemon juice
1/2 tsp salt

Method:

Soak black bean overnight in water, drain and steam together with mushroom over high heat to cook and soften (about 1 hour).

Remove from heat and let cool to room temperature.

Bring a bowl of water to boil, blanch broccoli in boiling water for 2 minutes, drain and let cool to room temperature.

In a large bowl, combine the bean, broccoli with all the remaining ingredients and stir-well to mix.

Serve immediately alone or along with bread or rice.

Torta Salata di Pollo al Curry (Curry Chicken Pie)

Ingredients:

1 roll (250 g) of frozen puff pastry (pasta sfoglia)
3 cups boneless leftover thick curry chicken
2 eggs
1/3 tsp salt or to taste
bread crumb for dusting (optional)

Egg Glaze:

1 egg yolk
1 tbsp water
1/4 tsp salt

Method:

Preheat oven to 190 °C.

Unroll pastry along with parchment paper and press lightly into a baking pan (28 cm in diameter).

In a bowl, lightly beat eggs with salt.

Add curry chicken into the eggs mixture, stir to incorporate well.

Fill the prepared pastry with the curry chicken batter.

Sprinkle a layer of bread crumb on top.

Fold-up the excessive edge of pastry inwardly.

Brush pastry surface with egg glaze and bake in preheated oven for 30 minutes or until pastry puff-up and became golden brown.

Naan Breads

Ingredients:

3/4 cup warm water
1 tsp instant yeast
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tbsp oil
2 1/2 tbsp yogurt
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 cup butter/ghee for surface brushing

Method:

Dissolve yeast in water, leave for few minutes.

In a large bowl, mix flour, oil, yogurt, sugar, salt and baking soda.

Pour yeast solution into flour mixture to form dough.

Knead dough until becomes smooth and soft (about 5 minutes).

Transfer dough into a lightly oiled container and turn the dough to coat lightly with oil.

Flatten the dough and leave covered to rise at room temperature until doubled in volume (about 3-4 hours).

Preheat oven to 250 °C.

With oily hand, divide dough into 8 balls.

Dust work surface with flour, roll each balls out into 1/4" thick.

Wet both hands with water, flips the individual doughs among two hands few times and transfer onto a baking tray.

Bake naans for 3 minutes or until golden brown.

Remove naans from oven and brush each naans with butter/ghee.

Cool on a wire rack.

Steamed Japanese Cheesecake

Ingredients:

2 eggs
1 cup sugar
1/3 cup milk
100 g cream cheese
1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp vegetable oil

Method:

Grease a 22cm cake pan.

In a deep bowl, beat eggs and sugar until thick and pale.

Add-in soft cream cheese and baking soda, mix-well for few minutes.

Add-in flour and baking powder, mix to incorporate.

Pour-in milk and stir till the mixture become milk white sticky batter.

Stir-in oil.

Pour batter into prepared pan.

Steam over high heat for about 1 hour with a cover that wrapped with kitchen towel to avoid water vapor droplets, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.

Let cool in pan for at least 10 minutes and turn out onto a plate and cool completely.

Paruppu Vadai

Ingredients:

250 g Chana Dal
1/2 cup shrimp, peeled and finely chopped (omit it for vegetarian version)
2 red onion, finely chopped
4 red chili
2 green chili (optional)
2 tsp curry powder
1.5 tsp salt or to taste
few curry leaves, roughly chopped
3 tbsp flour
1/4 cup water
oil for deep-frying

Method:

Soak channa dal in water for at least 3 hours or overnight.

In a food processor, add red chili, green chili, curry powder and salt, grind for 5 minutes.

Add-in soaked dal and water (use water as little as possible just for processor to roughly grind), partially grind for 1 minute (divide into few batches for smaller processor).

Withdraw from processor, add-in chopped shrimp, onion, curry leaves and flour, mix-well to form homogeneous paste.

Shape into small balls and lightly press to flatten.

Heat oil in wok, deep fry till golden grown.

Coca-Cola Cake with Chocolate-Ricotta Cheese Frosting

Ingredients:

2 cups sugar
2 cups flour
1 1/2 cups marshmallow
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup oil
1/2 cup margarine
3 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
1 cup coca cola
1/3 cup plain yogurt
1/6 cup milk
1 tsp baking soda
2 egg yolks

Chocolate-Ricotta Cheese Frosting:

250 g ricotta cheese, softened
3 cups icing sugar
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

Method:

Grease a cake pan (26 cm in diameter).

Preheat oven to 180 °C.

In a bowl, mix sugar, flour, marshmallow and salt, set aside.

In a sauce pan, bring oil, margarine, cocoa and coca-cola to boil.

Remove from heat, pour into the dry mixture and beat well to dissolve the sugar, marshmallow and salt.

In another bowl, mix yogurt and milk, stir-in baking soda and lastly egg yolks, mix well and add into the cake batter.

Pour batter into prepared pan.

Bake in the preheated oven for 50 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.

Let cool in pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack and cool completely.


To Make Frosting:

In a large bowl, beat all ingredients until smooth and spread consistency.

Prepare in advance, keep in refrigerator and frost the cooled cake later.

Kuih Ondeh-Ondeh (Nutella Filling)

Ingredients:

1 cup glutinous rice flour
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 cup hot water

Filling:

1/4 cup nutella cream
(original filling is palm sugar)

Coating:

1/2 cup roasted peanut powder
(original coating is grated coconut mixed with a pinch of salt)

Method:

In a mixing bowl, mix flour and salt.

Pour-in hot water and stir to form soft and smooth dough (adjust between flour and hot water).

Divide dough into small pieces lime-size balls.

Flatten each ball, fill enough nutella in the center, close to seal and roll up into ball again.

Drop the filled ondeh-ondeh into boiling water.

Scoop-up dry once it floated.

Coat with roasted peanut powder.

Polpettone Genovese

Ingredients:

350 g string beans
1 big potato (or 3 medium)
1 big onion (or 2 medium)
100 g grated parmigiano cheese
3 eggs, lightly beaten (use vegetarian eggs for vegetarian version)
2 tsp olive oil
1 tsp garlic powder
2.5 tsp salt or to taste
bread crumb, oregano and olive oil for topping

Method:

Boil string beans, potato and onion until solften, drain and pat dry with kitchen towel.

Finely chop the string beans, put aside.

Peel the potato and mash with onion, put aside.

In a large bowl, mix chopped string beans, mashed potato-onion, cheese, eggs, oil, garlic powder and salt to form paste.

Pour the paste mixture into a lightly greased baking pan (28 cm in diameter).

Top with a layer of bread crumb, dash with oregano and oil.

Bake in preheated oven at 200 °C for 45 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center, comes out clean.

Remove from oven and let cool completely.

Chicken Biryani Rice

Ingredients:

3 cups rice, washed and drained
1 kg chicken, cut into bite size
250 g plain yogurt
1 (100g) bag biryani masala (thanks to Aamir for this Pakistani masala)
1 cup oil or ghee
4 onion, sliced thin
4 ripe tomatoes, cut into cubes
3 tbsp salt or to taste
6 cups hot water (or water level is about 1 inch about the rice surface)

Method:

In a large bowl, marinate chicken with yogurt and masala for at least 30 minutes.

In a wok, heat oil and stir-fry onion till fragrant and golden brown.

Add-in marinated chicken, stir-fry for about 3 minutes.

Cover and leave to simmer till chicken is tender and cook-through, stir occasionally.

Add-in tomatoes, rice and salt, keep stirring for another 5 minutes.

Add-in water, cover and let simmer over low heat till rice is tender and cook-through.

Turn-off heat, uncover to evaporate extra water moisture.

Mix well and serve hot.

Curry Puffs

Ingredients:

Filling:

2 large potatoes, boiled and cut into cubes
2 medium red onion, finely chopped
1 (80g) canned tuna (omit it for vegetarian version)
4 tbsp hot curry powder
6 tbsp soy sauce or to taste
1/4 tsp pepper
3 tbsp oil

Pastry:

500 g all-purpose flour (tipo o)
150 g margarine
3/4 cup water
3/4 tsp salt
oil for deep-frying

Method:

Filling:

Heat oil in wok or non-stick pan, stir-fry onion till fragrant and golden brown.

Add tuna and potatoes cubes, stir-fry for another 2 minutes.

Add curry powder, soy sauce and pepper, stir-fry to well-mix the seasonings.

Remove from heat and leave aside to cool.

Pastry:

In a large bowl, mix flour, margerine, water and salt, knead to form smooth dough.

Leave to rest for 30 minutes.

Roll into cylinder shape, cut into pieces.

Flatten each dough into circle with 3 inches diameter and half cm thick.

Place enough filling in the center and fold pastry over to make a half circle, flowered the edge to seal.

Deep-fry over high heat until golden brown.

Drain on absorbent paper and serve warm.

Cabbage Rolls

Ingredients:

200 g pork (not too lean), finely chopped
2 dry Chinese mushroom, soaked and finely chopped
1 small carrot, finely chopped
3 tsp corn starch
1/2 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1/4 tsp garlic powder
5 cabbage leaves
1/2 cup water
2 tbsp soy sauce or to taste
1 tsp sesame oil

Method:

In a bowl, mix pork, mushroom , carrot, corn starch, sugar, salt, pepper and garlic powder to make the filling, marinade for at least 30 minutes.

Blanch cabbage leaves in boiling water just enough to solften.

Fill each cabbage leaf with enough filling, roll up and cut-off the excessive leaf.

Line rolls in a heat-resistance shallow bowl, add-in water and soy sauce.

Steam for about 15 minutes (Wrap the cover with kitchen towel to prevent dilution from water droplets).

Remove from heat and dash-on sesame oil.

Garnish by sprinkling-on some fried shallot or garlic.

Serve hot with rice or as appetizer.

Steamed Easy Banana Cake with Chocolate Butter Frosting

Ingredients:

2 ripe bananas, peeled and mashed
1 egg
1 tbsp oil
2 tbsp water
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup flour

Chocolate Butter Frosting:

125 g butter, softened
250 g icing sugar
1.5 tbsp milk
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

Method:

Grease a 22cm cake pan.

In a large bowl, mix all ingredients with fork just enough to form smooth batter.

Pour batter into prepared pan.

Steam over high heat for about 40 minutes with a cover that wrapped with kitchen towel to avoid water vapor droplets, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.

Let cool in pan for at least 10 minutes and turn out onto a plate and cool completely.

To Make Frosting:

In a large bowl, beat all ingredients until smooth and spread consistency (adjust the amount of cocoa powder for the preferring darkness).

Prepare in advance, keep in refrigerator and frost the cooled cake later.

Kuih Pie Tee

Ingredients:

1 cup flour
1 tbsp rice flour
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 1/8 cups water
1/4 tsp salt
Metal mold
oil for deep frying

Method:

In a bowl, mix all ingredients to form smooth batter.

In a wok, heat mold in oil (just enough to pick-up batter while dipping).

Dip the hot mold into batter to coat.

Return to hot oil, shake-off the batter from mold, deep fry till golden yellow.

Drain pie tee cases on absorbent paper, left cool before storing in airtight container.

Serve with any of your favorite dry filling.

Garnish with chili sauce.

Chinese Steamed Filled Buns

Ingredients:

Filling:

1 cup pork (not too lean), finely chopped
1 cup red onion, finely chopped
2 tbsp oyster sauce
1 tbsp dark soy sauce
2 tbsp light soy sauce or to taste
1/2 tsp pepper

Pastry:

1/2 cup warm water
3.5 g active dry yeast
2 cups flour
2 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp vegetable oil
1/4 cup water
3/4 tsp salt

Method:

Filling:

In a bowl, mix pork and onion.

Add-in the rest of ingredients and marinate for at least 30 minutes.

In a wok or non-stick pan, stir-fry the mixture till cooked through, set aside.

Pastry:

In a large bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water.

Stir-in half cup of flour, cover and let rise for 1 hour.

In a wok or non-stick pan, mix sugar, oil and 1/4 cup water, bring to boil and stir to dissolve the sugar.

Remove from heat, leave to cool and mix with yeast dough.

Add-in the remaining flour, knead till soft and smooth.

Lightly greased a container, place-in the dough, cover and let rise till doubled in size (about 1.5 hours).

Punch down the dough, knead again for another 2 minutes.

Roll-up dough into cylinder shape, cut and roll into 12 balls.

Flatten each piece roundly into 1/2 cm thick, fill-in the prepared filling in the center, twist to seal the top.

Place the filled buns on parchment paper, cover with kitchen towel and leave to rise till doubled in size.

Steam buns covered over high heat for about 15 minutes.

Remove from heat and serve hot.