Crunchy Shrimp Wantan/Wontan/Wonton/云吞 Rolls

Ingredients:

10 shrimps, peeled by leaving tail-on
10 wantan wrappers
oil for deep-frying

Marinade:

2 tbsp light soy sauce
1 tsp lemon zest
1 tsp minced fresh ginger
1 tsp sesame oil

Method:

In a bowl, combine together all the marinade ingredients.

Add-in shrimps and set aside to marinade for 30 minutes.

Place a shrimp horizontally in the middle of wantan wrapper (cover the unused wantan wrapper with damp kitchen towel to prevent dry out and become hard sheet).

Brush a bit water on all edges.

Fold-up side edge over shrimp, follow by the bottom edge, roll-up till end and press to seal.

Heat enough oil in pot/wok/deep pan over medium high heat.

Drop-in shrimp wantan rolls in batches (single layer) and deep fry till golden brown, crispy and crunchy.

Remove shrimp wantan rolls from oil and drain well on absorbent paper towels.

Best serve with Thai chili sauce, sweet and sour sauce, ketchup or mayonnaise.

Sizzling Tofu

Ingredients:

12 slices of homemade tofu
2 tbsp oil
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
5 dried chinese mushroom, soaked, drained and chopped/slices
handful of bay scallop, (optional)
handful of minced meat (pork/chicken/beef), (optional)
2 cups shrimps/pork/chicken stock/water

1 tbsp oyster sauce
1 tbsp fish sauce
1 ½ tbsp soy sauce or to taste
1/2 tsp sugar or to taste
1/4 tsp white pepper powder or to taste
cornstarch solution (2 tbsp cornflour in 1/4 cup water)
1 egg, beaten
1 tbsp sesame oil

enough chopped green onion for sprinkling

Method:

Heat oil in pan/wok over medium high heat, fry both sides of tofu till golden brown.

Remove tofu from oil and drain-well on absorbent paper towel.

Transfer tofu onto a serving plate; set aside.

Add garlic to hot pan and saute till fragrant.

Add-in mushroom and meat, stir-fry till meat is tender and just right cooked through.

Pour-in stock and bring to boil.

Seasoning with oyster sauce, fish sauce, soy sauce, sugar and pepper.

Pour-in cornstarch solution, bring to boil for 1-2 minutes.

Whisk-in egg to form fine streaks.

Drizzle-on sesame oil.

Remove gravy from heat and pour over tofu.

Sprinkle-on chopped green onion and serve immediately with rice.

Bah Kut Teh (Chinese Meat Herbal Soup)

Ingredients:

1 liter water
1 package (50 g) bah kut teh mixed herbs and spices (any brand of your choice)
200 g pork spareribs/chicken/beef, cut to bite size
Some lean meat
5 dried chinese mushroom, soaked and drained
3 hard boiled eggs, peeled
1 bulb garlic, peeled and crushed

2 slices dong kwai
1 tbsp chinese wolfberry fruits

2 tbsp light soy sauce
1 tsp dark soy sauce
1/2 tsp sugar or to taste
1 ½ tsp salt or to taste

Optional Garnish:

needle mushroom
pork internal organ
chinese lettuce leaf (place on the surface of hot soup just right before serving)
chinese cabbage (place on the surface of hot soup just right before serving)
deep fried bean curd (add into hot soup just right before serving)
deep fried tofu (add into hot soup just right before serving)
chinese cruller (add into hot soup just right before serving)

Method:

In a pot, bring water to boil over high heat.

Add-in meat, 1 sachet of bah kut teh mixed herbs and spices, mushroom, eggs and garlic; bring to boil covered for at least 1 hour (if boil for longger period, may need additional water).

Remove meat and add-in dong kwai, chinese wolfberry fruits and another small sachet of mixed herbs and spices (if applicable).

Seasoning with light soy sauce, dark soy sauce, sugar and salt.

Cook covered for another 10 minutes.

Return meat into the pot and cook for another shortwhile.

Dish-up and serve hot with rice or as it alone.

(Note: best serve on the next day by keeping it warm covered in slow cooker)

Cuculli (Chickpeas Flour Fritters of Liguria)

Ingredients:

1 ½ tsp dry instant yeast
1/4 cup lukewarm water
2 cups chickpeas/besan/gram flour
1/2 cup lukewarm water
1 tsp oregano or chopped marjoram
2 tsp salt
oil for deep-frying

Method:

Dissolve yeast in water, leave for 8 minutes or till foamy.

In a large bowl, dilute flour with water to obtain a thick but smooth batter.

Pour-in yeast solution and set aside to rise for few hours or overnight.

Once the batter has done leavening, add-in oregano and salt.

Heat oil over high heat.

Drop a spoonfuls batter into hot oil and fry till golden yellow.

Remove from hot and drain well on absorbent paper towels.

Serve warm or at room temperature.

Yield 38 pieces of cuculli.

New York's Style Cheesecake with Gram Crust

Ingredients:

Gram Crust:

1/2 cup gram/besan/chickpeas flour
1/3 cup sugar
1/8 tsp salt
1/4 cup water
1/2 cup butter

Cheesecake Filling:

450 g cream cheese
3/4 cup icing sugar
1 ¼ tbsp cake flour
3 tsp zest of half orange
2 tsp zest of half lemon
2 egg
1 egg yolk

Method:

To prepare the crust or base:

Base a 18 cm springform cake pan with parchment paper; set aside.

In a bowl, mix together gram flour, sugar, salt and water.

Gradually, add-in butter and mix until the mixture begin to clump together.

Pat crumbs into the bottom of the prepared cake pan.

Keep covered in refrigerator for at least 2 hours while preparing cheesecake filling.

To prepare the cheesecake filling:

Preheat oven to 250 °C.

In a large bowl, combine cheese, sugar, flour and zests; whisk till smooth batter.

Gradually, add-in eggs and yolk, whisk thoroughly till smooth and fully incorporated; set aside.

Put a tray of shallow hot boiling water into the bottom rack of preheated oven.

Pour batter into the prepared crust and bake in the preheated oven for 12 minutes.

Reduce oven temperature to 100 °C.

Continue baking for another 1 hour or till cake is mostly firm and center is just slightly jiggly/wobbly.

Turn-off oven and leave the cake cool completely inside the oven for at least 3 hours.

Remove from oven and chill overnight or till ready to serve.

Cinnamon Buns (Sticky Bread)

Ingredients:

Bread:

200 mL lukewarm milk
1/2 tbsp sugar
1 ½ tsp instant yeast
2 tbsp butter (30g) butter
1 ½ tbsp sugar
1 egg yolk
1 tsp salt
3 cups all-purpose flour

Cinnamon Sugar Filling:

1/2 cup packed brown sugar
2 tsp cinnamon powder

Surface Brushing:

3 tbsp apricot preserves/jam (I use cherry preserves), melted or softened

Glaze:

1/2 tbsp butter, softened
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1/2 tbsp milk

Method:

Dissolve sugar and yeast in warm milk, leave for 8 minutes or till foamy.

In a large bowl, cream butter with sugar till creamy, pale and glossy.

Add-in yolk and salt, mix to homogeneous mixture.

Pour-in yeast solution, stir to incorporate.

Gradually, add-in flour and combine till soft dough.

Transfer dough to a lightly floured working surface, knead dough till smooth and elastic (about 10 minutes).

Transfer dough into a lightly oiled container and turn the dough to coat lightly with oil; set aside covered to rise until doubled in volume (about 2 hours).

Lightly grease a 18 cm springform cake pan; set aside.

With oily hand, punch down the dough and leave to rest for another 5 minutes.

With a well-floured rolling pin and working surface, roll out dough flat into about 36 x 18 cm rectangle with the thickness of 0.5 cm.

Spread-on cinnamon-sugar mixture and leaving a 1 cm border.

Roll up dough sheet tightly (like assembly sushi or swiss roll).

Press roll firmly to eliminate internal air trap.

Pinch seams and ends to seal.

Cut dough roll into 8 pieces, transfer to the prepared pan with cut side up and set aside covered to rise till double in volume for about 1 hour.

Meanwhile, preheat oven to 180 °C.

Bake cinnamon rolls for 35 minutes or until lightly golden brown.

Remove buns from oven, and leave to cool in pan for 10 minutes.

Remove from pan onto wire rack, brush-on apricot preserves and leave to cool completely.

Spread-on glaze mixture.

Torta Salata Pasqualina (Liguria Easter Pie)

Ingredients:

Pastry:

2 cups all purpose flour
2 tsp salt
2 ½ tbsp extra virgin olive oil
2/3 cup water

Filling:

4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
500 g chard, sliced into slim silvers
1 onion, sliced into slim silvers
250 g ricotta cheese
1 cup Parmesan or Grana cheese
2 tsp salt or to taste
1/2 tsp black pepper powder or to taste
1 tsp oregano flakes
3 eggs

Egg Wash:

1 egg yolk
1 tbsp milk

Method:

To prepare the pastry:

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

Gradually, pour-in water and mix to homogeneous dough.

Knead dough into smooth and elastic dough (about 10 minutes).

Divide dough into 6 portions and set aside to rest for 30 minutes covered.

To prepare the filling:

Heat oil in a wok or pan over medium high heat, saute chard and onion for 15 minutes or till wilt.

Remove from heat and set aside to cool completely.

Add-in ricotta, Parmesan, salt, pepper, oregano and stir-well to homogeneous mixture.

To assembly:

Line the bottom of 18 cm baking pan with parchment paper; set aside.

Preheat oven to 180 °C.

Over a smooth working surface, roll out a portion of dough into very thin sheet and almost transparent.

Transfer it into the prepared pan and brush the exposing surface all over with oil.

Roll out second portion of dough to very thin, transfer onto the first pastry and brush-on oil.

Again roll out another portion of dough till very thin, transfer onto the previous pastry as third layer but without oil brushing for this time.

Pour-in the prepared filling and spread out evenly.

Make 3 holes in the firm filling and fill-in a whole raw egg into each holes.

Gently cover the filling with another 3 layers of pastries in the same procedures as of the pie basement assembly.

Close the pie by folding-in the wall-sides pastries.

Poke surfaces with fork or knife.

Brush surface with egg wash and bake in the preheated oven for 50 minutes or until golden.

Best serve hot or at room temperature.

Viscous Tamarind Coconut Curry Chicken

Ingredients:

500 g chicken, cut to bite sizes

10 shallots/ 3 onions, peeled and chopped
4 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped
2 stalk lemongrass, chopped (white part only)
1 knob (2 inches) ginger, peeled and chopped
2 tbsp chili paste

1/4 tbsp toast belacan (toasted dried shrimp paste)
1 ½ cup thick tamarind squeeze (2 tbsp tamarind paste in 1 ½ cup water)
1 cup coconut milk
1 tsp brown sugar
1 ½ tbsp sugar or to taste
2 tsp salt or to taste

4 tbsp cooking oil

Method:

Blend together onion, garlic, lemongrass, ginger and chili paste to smooth paste; set aside.

Heat oil in wok or pot over medium high heat, saute the blended paste till fragrant (about 3 minutes).

Add-in belacan, and stir for another 1 minute.

Pour-in tamarind juice and bring to boil.

Add-in chicken, sugars and salt, cook covered till chicken is half cooked

Pour-in coconut milk, continue simmering till the gravy is half thicken and chicken cooked thoroughly.

Remove chicken from gravy, stir to further thicken the remaining gravy.

Bath chicken with thick gravy and bake in a preheated oven at 200 °C for short while or till chicken just roasted slightly with gravy.

Remove from oven and serve hot with steamed rice.

Savoury Cheese Cookies/Snack/Sticks

Ingredients:

9 tbsp (50 g) grated cheese (Camembert, Grana or Parmesan cheese)
8 tbsp (60 g) all purpose flour
1/4 tbsp black pepper powder or to taste
1/2 tsp chopped or powdered oregano (optional)
3 ⅓ tbsp (50 g) butter

1 tbsp salt for sprinkling

Method:

Preheat oven to 200 °C.

Line a big baking tray with parchment paper; set aside.

In a bowl, combine cheese, flour, pepper powder and oregano.

Add-in butter, and mix to smooth dough.

Wrap dough with plastic wrapper and chill in fridge for at least 3o minutes.

Roll out dough flat to about quarter inch thick and cut to strips or to the desired shapes.

Arrange the shaped cookies on the prepared tray and bake cookies in the preheated oven for 15 minutes or until lightly golden brown.

Remove from oven, immediately sprinkle-on enough salt, transfer onto wire rack and set aside to cool completely before storing into an airtight container.

Yields 35 cookies.

Thai Tom Yam 冬粉/Glass/Cellophane Noodles Spring Rolls

Ingredients:

250 g dry 冬粉/bean threads/Glass/Cellophane Noodles
200 g shrimps, shelled with tails-on (omit it for vegetarian version)
5 large dried chinese mushroom, soaked and drained
3 handful bean sprout
3 cloves garlic, chopped
3 tbsp tom yam kung paste dissolved in juice of 1 lemon
1 tsp sugar or to taste
1/4 tbsp salt or to taste
4 tbsp vegetable oil

enough medium size spring roll wrappers (thawed)
water or beaten egg or 1 tsp cornstarch/1 tbsp water paste to seal

Method:

To stir-fry the cellophane noodles:

Soak noodles in cold water until soften (about 30 minutes) and drain well; set aside.

Heat oil in a wok, pot or non-stick deep pan, saute garlic till fragrant and starting to brown.

Add mushroom and shrimps, stir-fry until shrimps are slightly pink and half cooked.

Add bean sprout and continue stir-fry for short while.

Add noodles and tom yam solution, keep stirring until noodles are well coated with the paste.

Adjust taste with sugar and salt, continue stir-fry till noodles cooked-through.

Dish-up; set aside to cool completely (Best serve hot immediately at this state too :P).

To assemble spring rolls:

Place a sheet of spring roll wrapper on a clean working surface.

Locate enough tom yam noodles on one corner of the wrapper (try to balance among the distribution of noodles, shrimp, mushroom and bean sprout for each spring roll).

Spread the filling lengthwise along the wrapper by using chopstick or fork (reserve some spaces at all edges for sealing).

Fold-up left and right sides of wrapper over filling.

Lift-up the filling side egde and roll upward to the other end.

Seal roll end by brushing-on some water.

Deep fry spring rolls under hot oil till golden brown and crispy.

Remove from oil and drain well on absorbent papers.

Serve spring rolls warm with Thai sweet chili sauce or any favorite homemade dipping sauce (chopped fresh chili in 1/3 cup plum sauce and 3 tbsp light soy sauce).

Curry Chickpeas-Coconut Birthday Cake with Jam Butter Cream Frosting

Ingredients:

Cake:

2 ½ cups cake flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 ½ tsp sambhar masala (mild curry powder)
1/2 tsp cinnamon powder
3/4 cup toasted coconut flakes (bake in oven at 180 °C for about 10 minutes, stir occasionally)

2 large egg
1 ½ cup sugar
1 cup blended/mashed canned chickpeas
1 cup coconut milk
1/2 cup vegetable oil

Jam Butter Cream Frosting:

125 g butter
125 g icing sugar
2 tbsp cherry jam (I take the advantage of it color, may use any other preferential jam)
1/2 tbsp milk

Sides Topping:

1/2 cup toasted coconut flakes (bake in oven at 180 °C for about 10 minutes, stir occasionally)
1/4 cup powdered brown sugar

Method:

To prepare the cake:

Preheat oven to 180 °C.

Lightly grease a springform cake pan (18 cm in diameter), dust bottom and side of pan with bread crumbs and tapping out excess; set aside.

In a bowl, mix together flour, baking powder, curry powder, cinnamon powder and coconut flakes; set aside.

In another bowl, combine blended chickpeas, coconut milk and oil; set aside.

In a large bowl, whisk egg with sugar till creamy, pale and glossy.

Alternately, stir-in wet mixture and dry mixture, whisk to smooth batter.

Pour batter into the prepared pan and bake in the preheated oven for 55 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the middle of cake comes out clean.

Remove cake from oven, let cake cool in pan for 10 minutes.

Run a thin flexible knife or spatula around the pan to loosen the cake, transfer cake onto a plate and set aside to allows it to cool completely.

To prepare the frosting:

In a large bowl, cream butter with sugar till creamy, pale and glossy.

Add-in Jam and milk and continue whisk till smooth and spread consistency.

Frost the cooled cake (may slice the cake into half, fill cake with 1/3 of the frosting and arrange-on some thin slices fresh/canned fruits like pineapple, peach, kiwi or apricot; to yield a layer cake).

Bean Sprout Salad (Kongnamul Muchim)

Ingredients:

3 handful bean sprout, cleaned

Dressing:

3 tsp chopped green onion
3 tsp minced garlic
1 tsp salt or to taste
1 tsp Korean chili powder or to taste
1 tsp sesame oil

Method:

Bring a pot of water to boil.

Add-in bean sprout and cook covered for about 5 minutes.

Drain cooked bean sprout and run-through ice cold water for about 3 minutes.

Drain well, pat-dry with kitchen towel and transfer onto serving plate; set aside.

In a small bowl, combine together all dressing ingredients.

To serve, pour dressing mixture onto the bean sprout and mix well.

Crispy Spareribs with Thai Hot/Spicy Sauce

Ingredients:

400 g spareribs, cut into bite sizes
1 bowl cornstarch for coating
oil for deep-frying

Marinade:

1 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp red curry powder
1 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp black pepper powder
1 egg white, beaten
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tbsp cornstarch

Sauce:

2 tbsp Thai chili sauce
1 tsp worcestershire sauce
1 tbsp fish sauce
1 tsp red curry powder
3 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
6 tbsp water
1 bird's eye chili, chopped

Method:

In a container, combine all the marinade ingredients, add-in spareribs, mix well and set aside to marinate for at least 1 hour or overnight covered in fridge.

Coat marinated spareribs well with cornstarch, deep-fry into hot oil till crispy and golden brown.

Remove from oil and drain well on paper towels; set aside.

In a saucepan or wok, bring all sauce ingredients to simmer.

Add-in spareribs and stir to coat well.

Dish-out and best serve hot with rice.

Dark Chocolate Ice Cream Sandwich with Chocolate Chunk Cookies

Ingredients:

Dark Chocolate Ice Cream Filling:

3/4 cup milk
1/3 cup butter
2 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
80 g dark chocolate, chopped
1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 tsp salt
3 egg yolks

Cookies Dough:

2 cup all purpose flour
2 tsp cornstarch
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 cup butter
1 cup brown sugar
1 egg
50 g bittersweet chocolate, cut into chunks

Method:

To prepare the ice cream:

In a saucepan or small pot, heat milk, butter and cocoa powder over medium heat till smooth and bubbling at edges.

Remove from heat and add-in chocolate, stir well still smooth paste, set aside.

In another small pot, bring milk, sugar and salt to boil over medium heat.

Remove milk mixture from heat and whisk-in yolks till smooth paste.

Return milk-yolks mixture to heat and stir for the entire time to thicken a bit.

Remove from heat and pour into chocolate mixture, stir to smooth paste.

Pour cream mixture into a container and freeze covered still set (whisk mixture occasionally for every 1 hour to enhance the lightness and fluffiness).

Alternatively, refrigerate cream mixture in a container covered for at least 6 hours then prepare according to ice cream maker's instructions.

To prepare the cookies dough:

Preheat oven to 180 °C.

Line a big baking tray with parchment paper; set aside.

In a bowl, combine flour, cornstarch, baking soda and salt; set aside.

In a large bowl, cream butter with sugar till pale and glossy.

Add-in egg and whisk well to incorporate.

Add-in flours mixture, and mix to homogeneous mixture.

Stir-in chocolate chunk.

Shape dough into a ball, flatten into a disc, wrap with plastic wrapper and chill for at least 30 minutes.

In between two pieces of plastic wrapper, roll out dough flat by using rolling pin to thickness of about 1/3 inch.

Cut dough into circular shape by using opening part of glass.

Transfer cookies onto the prepared tray and bake in the preheated oven for 15 minutes or until aroma and cooked through.

Remove from oven, leave cookies to stand on tray for 5 minutes, transfer cookies onto wire rack and set aside to cool completely.

To assemble:

Remove ice cream from freezer and set aside at room temperature for 3o minutes just to soften.

Place enough ice cream in between two cooled cookies and press lightly to firm the assembly.

Wrap individual ice cream with plastic wrapper and return to freezer till serve.

Best serve after remove sandwiches from freezer to room temperature for about 10 minutes.

Yield 15 sandwiches.

Cracker/Crispy Thin Crust Pizza

Ingredients:

1/2 tsp active dry yeast
1/2 tsp sugar
1/8 cup warm water

1 cup all-purpose flour (Tipo O)
2/3 tsp salt
1/2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1/4 cup warm water
cornmeal for dusting

Basic Toppings (A Must):

1/2 cup tomato puree
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
2/3 tsp salt
150 g mozzarella cheese (best serve: hot/warm) or stracchino cheese (can be served at room temperature), shredded

Alternative Toppings:

cheese: mozzarella, stracchino, fontina, gorgonzola, parmesan and/or grana
vegetable/herb: onion, garlic, spinach, mushroom, artichokes, asparagus, eggplant, bell pepper, tomato, corn, peas, olive, rucola, zuccini, capers, oregano and/or chili
poultry: egg and/or cooked chicken
meat: bacon, sausage, ham, salami and/or bresaola
fish: tuna and/or anchovies

Method:

Dissolve yeast and sugar in warm water, leave for 10 minutes or till foamy.

In a large bowl, mix together the flour, oil, and salt.

Make a hole in the center of flour mixture, pour-in slowly the yeast solution, gradually add-in the remaining water alternate cover-in with the surrounding dry flour.

Knead the mixture from outside-in to form smooth and elastic dough.

Form dough into ball, lightly coat dough ball with olive oil, transfer into a lightly greased large container, let the dough rise covered for at least 24 hours in refrigerator.

Preheat oven to 250 °C.

In a bowl, combine tomato puree, oil and salt; set aside.

Punch down the risen dough, form into dough ball again, turn the dough out onto a sheet of parchment paper (28 cm in diameter and so) dusted with plenty of cornmeal.

Flatten the dough, use a floured rolling pin, roll out the dough into a very thin crust circle (if the dough springs back, let it rest a minute or two, or chill it in the fridge, and continue to work it out again).

Dock dough sheet well with fork or dough docker and bake the crust in the preheated oven for about 4 minutes.

Remove the crust from oven and pop off any large air pockets.

Pour the prepared tomato puree mixture onto the center of the pre-baked crust and spread-out the liquid mixture evenly via spoon (limit the liquid mixture spreading for about 1 inch apart from outer edges).

Arrange-on any favorite toppings (normally up to 4 choices), sprinkle-on cheeses, return pizza into the oven and continue baking for another 5 minutes, or until the cheese is melted with few brown spots (rotate occasionally for an even baking).

Remove pizza from oven, and transfer onto wire rack to cool for about 5 minutes before serving.