I Like My Cookies To Look Like Flowers During Chinese New Year–Plum Blossom Cookies (梅花饼）

梅花开五福 – A Plum Blossom Will Bless One With Five Fortunes

‘长寿’是命不夭折而且福寿绵长 – “Longevity” means not to die at the young age and have a long life
‘富贵’是钱财富足而且地位尊贵。- “Rich” means have abundance of wealth and respectable position
‘康宁’是身体健康而且心灵安宁。- “Healthiness” means a healthy body and a peaceful mind
‘好德’是生性仁善而且宽厚宁静。- “Generosity” means is benevolent and of generous character
‘善终’是能预先知道自己的死期 – “Hospice” means ability to know in advance the date of death

Source: http://iask.sina.com.cn/b/11547911.html

---

INTRODUCTION

First of all, I have to say that it is intentional to have the cookie cracked because I want the cracked cookies to resemble the petals in a plum blossom. Because of this, I have to make my dough slightly harder such that when the dough was pressed, it will be cracked into this shape. If you want to have a nice shape like the traditional thumb print cookie, you can adjust the butter quantity by another 20-30 grams and reduce the cream  cheese by the same quantity. In this way, your dough will be greasier and moister, it will be a round shape and not cracked like flower petals.

During the Chinese New Year, Chinese like to have auspicious cuisines including cookies. They will give their cuisines (both savoury dishes or sweet cookies ) some special names or special looks just specifically for the festive seasons. Most cookies will have names that linked to prosperity, joy, happiness and other positive greeting words.

Though this cookie is a traditional thumb print cookie, however, because of Chinese New Year, I will love to have my cookie  look like a plum blossom (梅花）。 Plum blossom is a flower that thrives well in the cold weather and when it blossoms, it signifies that springs have arrived and time to celebrate Chinese New Year (Spring Festival). To Chinese, it also signifies hopes and the abilities to endure hardship. If you wish, you can read a bit more about this flower in one of my older post – National Flower Series–East Asia 5–Taiwan Republic of China– Prunus Mume.

Preparation is definitely not difficult but a bit laborious. If you have the patience, it will definitely be a good cookie that can impress your guest. The inclusion of cream cheese make it creamier but will not be as crispy as compare to pure butter cookies. Response from relatives and friends are positive, a nice cookie and we have finished all the cookies even before I issued this post, which is rather unusual.

---

WHAT IS REQUIRED

• 450 grams of plain flour (about 3.6 cups)
• 110 grams of cream cheese (about 1/2 cups) (at room temperature)
• 200 grams of butter (about 7/8 cups) (at room temperature)
• 150 grams of sugar (about 2/3 cups)  (not in picture)
• 1 hard boiled egg yolk
• 3 teaspoons of vanilla essence
• 0.5 cups strawberry jam

---

STEPS OF PREPARATION

• Cream the butter, cream cheese and sugar until light and fluffy. Sift in the hard boiled egg yolk. Stir until well mixed.

• Sift in the plain flour and use the slowest speed to stir until well mix. Take the dough out and lightly knead until well mixed.

• Take some dough (about 10 grams each) and shape it into a ball. Use the end of the wooden ladle to make a cavity on the ball (vertically from top).

• Put the strawberry jam into a piping bag and pipe the jam on the cavity. Bake in the oven at 175 degree Celsius for 10-12 minutes.

---

CONCLUSION

I like this cookie because of the shape and colour that resembles a beautiful flower. I am sure it will stand out in a tray of golden looking cookies during Chinese New Year. The taste of the cookie is definitely delicious.  As it is rather easy, I will encourage reader to try preparing this traditional cookie for the coming Chinese New Year.

Hope you like the post today. Cheers.

For your convenience, this recipe has been included in the E-book Page 37-38 (Easy Chinese New Year Recipes – A step by Step Guide). The e-book was packed with 30 Chinese New Year recipes and you can get hold of a copy of the E-book HERE or by clicking on the picture below.

---

For more recipes, you can refer to my RECIPE INDEX here and you can follow me at PINTEREST or visit this blog’s FACEBOOK PAGE .  

If you are a Pinterest user and you are interested to have more recipes, you can join or follow this Pinterest Board set up by me  where there are more than 1000 recipes worldwide and pinned by various bloggers: FOOD BLOGGERS AND FOODIES UNITED PINTEREST BOARD. You can also join the Food Bloggers and Foodies United Group Facebook Group to see more recipes.

Another Lapis For Your Consideration–Cream Cheese Chocolate Lapis Cake

 

INTRODUCTION

During Chinese New Year, lapis has recently become one of the essential cakes in Singapore and Malaysia. If you are looking for a healthier version, you can consider the following lapis because the butter and eggs are much less than the traditional lapis.: For most traditional lapis, the butter used can range from 350-500 grams whereas for this lapis, the butter used is only 100 grams. Another big difference is the eggs used, only 5 whole eggs were used as compared to the other lapis that can use 10-30 egg yolks per lapis.

The taste is definitely acceptable  and it is full of variations as you can base on this recipe and tailored to the type of flavour that you want.

But I have to be frank that it is not as fragrant and moist than the traditional lapis due lower eggs used and fat (butter) contents. Having said that, the texture is still soft and I would definitely opt for this simpler, healthier version of cream cheese chocolate lapis.

If you are looking for other lapis, you can try this rich and dense version of lapis or  layered cake – HORLICKS LAPIS CAKE. In that post, you can also read more about lapis as defined by Wikipedia.

---

WHAT IS REQUIRED

Serving: One 9” x 9” cake

• 150 grams of butter – softened at room temperature
• 150 grams of cream cheese
• 5 whole eggs
• 250 grams of self raising flour
• 230 grams of icing/powdered sugar (not in picture)
• 1 teaspoon of vanilla essence (not in picture)
• 75 grams of milk
• 3 tablespoons of cocoa powder (Not in picture)

 

---

STEPS OF PREPARATION

• Preheat the oven to 180 degree Celsius.

• Lightly grease a 9” x 9” square baking tin.

• Cream the cream cheese, butter and sugar until light and pale. Add in vanilla essence, followed by one egg at a time and ensure that the egg and cream cheese mixture are well mixed.

• Take out the mixing bowl and fold in 1/3 of the flours followed by 1/3 of the milk.. Repeat for the other 2/3 portion. Divide the batter into 2 equal portions. For one portion, add in 3 tablespoons of sifted cocoa powder and stir until well mixed.

• Heat the greased baking tin for about 1 minute and turn the oven to top grill mode. Put 2 ladles of chocolate batter in the tin and ensure that it is equally distributed in the tin. Bake for 4-5 minutes or until the surface has dries up. Take out and use the fondant icing smoother to roughly press again the cake (to ensure that it is flat). If you note of some bubbling, use a toothpick to poke the hole and let the trapped air escape. For this lapis, you need not to wait until the top layer of lapis turned brownish since the layer is already very obvious.

• Put another 2 ladles of beige batter, bake until dry and press it slightly. Repeat the same procedures until all the batters are finished. After all the batter have finished, for the last layer, reduce the oven to 170 degree Celsius and resume to the “top heat and bottom heat” mode, bake for additional 10-15 minutes. For the last layer, you can create some pattern of your choice. Cooled completely (best to rest overnight) before cutting into smaller pieces. Can keep in refrigerator for at least up to 2 weeks in an air tight container.

 

---

CONCLUSION

If you are adventurous enough, try this recipe. I have given some to my friends and asked them to assess objectively. The general comments are that it is a nice and tasty cake. Do try this healthy alternative of lapis or layered cake during this Chinese New Year. At least I need not to enjoy this traditional cuisine in guilt.

Hope you like the post today.

---

For more recipes, you can refer to my RECIPE INDEX here and you can follow me at PINTEREST or visit this blog’s FACEBOOK PAGE .  

 

If you are a Pinterest user and you are interested to have more recipes, you can join or follow this Pinterest Board set up by me  where there are more than 1000 recipes worldwide and pinned by various bloggers: FOOD BLOGGERS AND FOODIES UNITED PINTEREST BOARD. You can also join the Food Bloggers and Foodies United Group Facebook Group to see more recipes.

Lets Try Roasting Some Shark Fin Melon–Shark Fin Melon Spaghetti With Shrimp Marinara

INTRODUCTION

I got the idea of preparing this dish from two sources. One was Spaghetti Squash With Pesto And Fried Eggs from Play Party Pin and the other was Easy Shrimp Marinara from Le Monine Family Kitchen

When I was visiting Play Party Pin, very frankly, I didn’t read in detail. Looking at the title, I thought it was spaghetti cooked with a type of squash. When I scrolled down her post, I started  to see the picture of a big melon and Ms. Britni Vigil was using a fork to take out the flesh. I was shocked as the way she prepared this melon looked really familiar to me. It was just like the way my mother in law prepared the shark fin melon. I read in detail and I noted though the colour of the skin is different, I am rather sure shark fin melon can be used for the dish too.

On the next trip to the market, I purposely went to look for a whole shark fin melon and I used her way to prepare this dish on the next day. As for the sauce, since I did not know what Pesto sauce was, I have resorted to the use of  marinara sauce with shrimps. I have never had any spaghetti that have shrimps in it. I thought it might be a good idea to give it a try when I saw Le Monine Family Kitchen posted her Easy Shrimp Marinara in my Food Bloggers and Foodies United Group.

Subsequent read up showed that spaghetti squash and shark fin melon both belong to the same family Cucurbita pepo., however, spaghetti squash belong the species Fastigata whereas shark fin melon belong to the Ficifolia species. In Chinese cooking, shark fin melons were commonly used to prepare soup. After steaming and de-seeding, the flesh were used to make into some type of starchy soup resembling the real shark fin soup. In fact, it is the alternative of shark fin soup in vegetarian meals. If you are interested, you can refer to  Vegetarian Shark Fin Melon Soup (素鱼翅瓜羹）.

It was fun to roast the entire melon. It never came across my mind that whole melon “may explode or burst” as questioned by my Facebook friends subsequently. I just roasted the melon in accordance with the instructions. After 45 minutes, the melon was done. I let it cooled and I asked my kids to help me took out the flesh and threw away the seeds. It did took quite a while to do this. After half an hour, I have 1 large container of shark fin melon fleshes. It must be at least 1-1.5 kg of pure fleshes. As I can’t finish it in one meal, I used half for shrimp marinara pasta sauce. On the next day, I stir fried the other half with hot chlli  shrimp paste (belachan) to go with white rice.

I was rather surprised  that the fleshes from roasting and steaming shark fin melon yielded rather different textures and tastes. The fact that it was commonly used in the soup was because when steamed, the flesh was very soft and smooth.   On the other hand, when it was roasted, the fleshes were a bit crunchy and sweet.. In the process of de-seeding, my kids kept popping the flesh into their mouth claiming that the unseasoned fleshes were very sweet. In fact, I agreed with them and I am very pleased to have embarked in this adventure.

What I am sharing in this post is more of a concept and the recipe is just for your reference and the servings will very much depends on the size of shark fin melon . Dish is full of flexibilities. In the very minimal, you will just need a can of pasta sauce, some shrimps and a shark fin melon.

---

WHAT IS REQUIRED 

Servings : 6 adults

• 1/2 whole shark fin melon flesh  (you have to roast in whole)- about 600 grams fleshes
• 1 can of tomato based pasta sauce (about 750 grams)
• 500 grams of shrimps (shelled and de-veined)

Optional

• 3 large tomato chopped
• 3 onions cut into big pieces
• 200 grams of mushrooms
• Few cloves of garlics cut into slices
• 2 tablespoons of olive oil
• Some shredded parmesan cheese/cheddar cheese (not in picture)

(Note that you can just buy 2 cans pasta sauce of your choice if you do not plan to cook the sauce yourself. This recipe uses 1 can of pasta sauce and the above the ingredients to boost the volume and enhance the taste)

---

STEPS OF PREPARATION

Roasting of Shark Fin Melon

• Roast the shark fin melon (in whole) at the oven for 180 degree Celsius for 45-60 minutes depending on the size of the melon. Towards to end of the last 15 minutes, you will start to smell the familiar aroma of roasted vegetables. My kids said it smelled like roasted sweet corn. Turn sides after 30 minutes of roasting.

• Let the roasted shark fin melon cool to room temperature. Cut the shark fin melon into halves. Use a spoon to dig out the flesh and a fork to take out the seeds. (You can take a few pieces to try the taste, it is sweet and fragrant).

• The figure above show the seeds, skins and the white membrane that should be thrown away.

• What is left is the white strings of shark fin melon fleshes. Unlike steamed shark fin melon fleshes that are soft and smooth, these fleshes are rather springy or crunchy. It will be an ideal choice of Chinese style of stir frying vegetables.

---

Preparing the Marinara Pasta Sauce

• In a hot sauce pan, sauté the onion and garlic with olive oil until fragrant. Add in mushrooms and chopped tomatoes and stir fry for 2-3 minutes. Add in canned pasta sauce and let it simmer until all the vegetables are soft. Add some cheddar/parmesan cheeses.

• Once the cheeses  melt, add in the shrimps. Cook for 1-2 minutes or until the shrimps turn  opaque white. Off the heat.

---

Assembly of the Shark Fin Melon Spaghettis

• In a serving plate, place some shark fin melon fleshes. Topped with some pasta sauce and place the shrimps on top of the sauce. Garnish generously with additional cheeses or desired herbs.

---

CONCLUSION

I have to thank Play Party Pin and Le Monine Family Kitchen for giving me this inspiration. Roasting shark fin melon is not only new to me but also among my circle of Chinese friends. As the texture of roasted shark fin melon is different from steamed shark fin melon, Chinese home chefs shall start to have a new array of culinary adventures.. Do try and it is fun, at least for once… Before I end, see what I did with the other half of my shark fin melon flesh? Shark fin melon stir fried with chilli sauce and shrimp paste (belachan). It is really a hit during the meals

Hope you like the post today. Cheers and have a nice day.

---

For more recipes, you can refer to my RECIPE INDEX here and you can follow me at PINTEREST or visit this blog’s FACEBOOK PAGE .  

If you are a Pinterest user and you are interested to have more recipes, you can join or follow this Pinterest Board set up by me  where there are more than 1000 recipes worldwide and pinned by various bloggers: FOOD BLOGGERS AND FOODIES UNITED PINTEREST BOARD. You can also join the Food Bloggers and Foodies United Group Facebook Group to see more recipes.

Need To Go To A Party? Try Preparing This Party Snack : Bacon/Tuna Tortilla Cups and Pizza Snack

UPDATED POST on 13-11-2014

I have some homemade flour tortilla wraps left and I have decided to prepare this snack for kids….

The last attempt shaping in a cups is a hit in my family gathering, however, it is rather time consuming to cut the pizza into round shape as flour tortilla is rather difficult to cut. I have decided to change the shape into a rectangular shape which is much easier.. In addition, for those so called crispy pizza recipe, most have opt to use flour tortilla as well..

Please scroll down for an updated recipe of how to prepare the crispy tortilla pizza strips.

---

INTRODUCTION

New year eve is approaching. I know that there will be many pot luck parties where readers may be required to contribute a dish or two.  I made these tortilla bacon/tuna cups for one the family gatherings during the Chinese Winter Solstice festivals and it was rather well received. Since kids are still on holiday, you can always asked them to join you to prepare this simple snack.

Honestly, it is a simple recipe of my own adventures starting with 2 leftover tortillas in my fridge. On the day before the gathering, I have used these 2 leftover tortillas to make about 6 tortilla cups with bacon fillings and baked in a mini oven. My  family members loved it.

The next day on the day of the gathering, I have prepared more than 50 tortilla cups with tuna fillings, using muffin trays and baked in the conventional oven. You can use exactly your prefer pizza toppings for this tortilla cups. In addition, you can use  baking tins of any shape  that you have.

The recipe is full of flexibilities be in in terms of ingredients used or the quantities.Therefore, just follow some of the simple steps in this recipe and you will come out with some presentable snack that impressed your guest. It is a one bite size snack, be prepared to do a bit more as one is definitely not enough for your guest.

---

WHAT IS NEEDED

No detail measurement will be provided in this post as the dish is full of flexibilities.

• Some tomato sauce/pasta sauce (not in picture)
• Some tortillas
• Some cherry tomatoes/tomatoes cut into slices
• Some coriander/parsley
• Some bacons/tuna
• Some mozzarella/parmesan/cheddar cheeses

Others (not in picture)

• A round ring cutter
• Some muffin cups/trays

---

STEPS OF PREPARATION

• Use the ring cutter (about 1cm bigger than the muffin tin diameter) to cut the tortilla into round shape and press it down either into the tarts tins or muffin tins. Spread the tomato sauce or pasta sauce. Add in shredded/chopped cheeses, tuna/bacons and tomatoes.

• Add in more cheeses and chopped herbs and baked in the oven toaster for 3-5 minutes. If using the conventional oven, baked at 160 degree Celsius for about 5 minutes or until all the cheeses have melted. You may want to try baking a cup to get the correct timing as every oven toaster can be different.

---

PREPARATION OF CRISPY PIZZA

• Have some pieces of flour tortilla, spread some tomato sauce  followed by your desired filling (i have used canned tuna in this illustration). Sprinkle with some chopped tomatoes and grated cheese of your choice (I have used mozzarella cheese). Bake in the pre-heated oven of 160 degree Celsius for about 10 minutes or until your desired crispiness. When cooled, cut into your desired sizes using a sharp knife or pizza cutter.

 

---

CONCLUSION

An extremely short post. Easy and presentable finger snack. It will be well liked by both kids and adults..Remember do prepare a bit more and if you can’t finish it in the dinner, continue having this as your breakfast…It is worth  a try..

Hope you like the post today Cheers and have a nice day.

---

• For more recipes, you can refer to my RECIPE INDEX (updated as at 15 October 2014)  here and you can follow me at PINTEREST or visit the blog’s FACEBOOK PAGE to keep abreast of my future posts.  

• You can also join the FOOD BLOGGERS AND FOODIES UNITED FACEBOOK GROUP  to see more recipes. Currently there are about 11,500 members sharing various food photos . I am posting my daily home cooked food in the above Facebook Group daily. I would be more than happy if you can  post in the Group for the recipes that you tried from my blog.

• If you are a Pinterest user and you are interested to have more recipes, you can join or follow this Pinterest Board set up by me  where there are more than 2600 recipes worldwide and pinned by various bloggers: FOOD BLOGGERS AND FOODIES UNITED PINTEREST BOARD.

 

Chinese Braised Noodles (Lor Mee) – 卤面

INTRODUCTION

Sour and starchy are the two main characteristics of this bowl of noodles. I do know among my circles of friends, most of them craved for the gravy rather than the noodles. For me,  I like to add in some home made chilli sauce, when it become spicy, sour and starchy, it will definitely wake up my palate. 

I was told that this is a Hokkien dish, but varies from regions to regions. This is the type of braised noodle that are common in Singapore hawker stalls.

This post has been queuing up in my list of posts to be issued for quite a while. I did not issue because it will be quite a long post and preparation is rather laborious. However, if you separate the entire preparation process into 2 sessions, it will be more manageable. That is what I was doing all this while. I will braise my meats and eggs today for dinner and use the meat broth to prepare the noodle dish the next day. Of course reserve some meat and eggs for the noodles..

I learned how to prepare this dish from my neighbour and prior to this, I have never ever tasted this noodle dish until I came to Singapore more than 15 years ago. This dish is not common in my hometown, Sarawak…

Though it is not a dish that grows up with us, my wife was “hooked” on this noodle dish because of the sour starchy gravy.. She will definitely order a bowl of this starchy noodle whenever she saw stalls selling this noodle. She will order a bowl with extra vinegar and minced garlics. My love of this noodle was influenced by her.. She “forced” me to try the noodles…. After a few tries, I gradually get used to the taste and started my own adventure of cooking this noodle dish…Whenever I cooked, I will gave my neighbour (master) some and general feedback is  a good bowl of noodles…

---

WHAT IS REQUIRED

Servings: 5-6 adults servings

For braising of eggs and meats

• 500 grams of sliced pork belly meat
• 2 pieces of dry bean curd (optional)
• 4 hard boiled eggs
• 5 cloves of garlics cut into slices
• 2 cm long gingers cut into slices
• 1 medium size rock sugar (about 4 cm in diameter)
• 1 cup of dark soya sauce
• 3 cups of water (or water adequate to cover the meat)
• 1 teaspoon of 5 spice powder

Preparing the gravy

• 3 cups of Meat broth (from braising of meat above)
• 3 cups of plain water
• 1 cup of Chinese black vinegar
• 1/2 cup of tapioca/corn/sweet potatoes starch
• 3 eggs lightly beaten

For assembly and garnishing

• Braised eggs cut into halves (as above)
• Braised meats cut into slices (as above)
• 500 grams of yellow noodles
• 250 grams of rice vermicelli (optional)
• 100 grams of beansprouts
• 100 grams of fish cake cut into slices (ready made)
• 200 grams of deep fried fish fillets (optional)
• 6 deep fried wantons (ready made)
• 1 Chinese meat roll – cut into slices (Ready made)
• 1 whole garlic – minced
• 2 stalks of Chinese celery – minced
• Some deep fried shallots (not in picture) (Ready made)

 

---

STEPS OF PREPARATION

Braising The Meats

• In a sauce pot, put the water (estimated to be 3 cups to cover the meat), the garlics and gingers, dark soya sauce, rock sugar, five spice powder and bring to boil. Add in the pork belly meat and let in simmer for 15 minutes or until the meat is soft. How long it needs to be simmered will very much depends on the thickness of your meat. The thinner it is, the faster it will be.

• After 15 minutes, add in dry bean curd and hard boiled eggs and let it simmer for another 10 minutes. Close the lids and let it rest in the pot for another 15-30 minutes.

• Cut the eggs into halves and the meat into small slices.

 

---

Preparing the Gravy

• In the same sauce pot, add about the same quantity of water (about 3 cups) to dilute the meat broth. Add in one cup black vinegar (Note that you may want to gradually add in the vinegar if you are concern it may be too sour for your taste buds). Bring to boil.

• Beat the eggs lightly, when the gravy is boiling, gradually add in the beaten eggs and use a big ladle or spoon to stir it in a circular motion as fast as possible. It will become an egg drop or egg flower soup. Put about 1 cup of cold water into the starch to form a solution. Stir well and gradually pour to the hot boiling gravy. Keep an eye on this process. If it is too sticky, stop the addition. If it is too watery, add in more starch. Remember to stir the gravy continuously. Add seasonings such as salt and sugar and off the heat. Set aside for later assembly.

 

---

Preparing for Assembly

• In a pot or sauce pan, bring some water to boil. Add a few drops of cooking oil. Blanch the bean sprout (about 1 minute), rice vermicelli (about 3 minutes) and yellow noodles (about 3 minutes) in this order. Drain and set aside.. If you wish, you can wash your rice vermicelli and yellow noodles with cold water to prevent it to become soggy.

• Minced your garlic and Chinese celery. Cut your eggs into halves and meat into slices. Sliced your meat rolls (ngoh hiang) and fish cake into small slices. If you want to prepare your own ngoh hiang, please refer HERE

 

---

Assembly the Noodles

• In a serving bowl, put some yellow noodles, rice vermicelli and bean sprouts. Add in the gravy just enough to cover the noodles and bean sprouts. Put some braised eggs, wanton, meat rolls, fish cakes on the noodles. Add a teaspoon of minced garlic, some minced Chinese celery and deep fried garlics. Based served hot with some chilli sauces..

---

CONCLUSION

Preparation is not difficult but a bit laborious. If you just braised the meat and buy all the others from the stores, it will save you a lot of time. It is my sincere advise to braise a bit more meat and eggs for the dinner the day before and reserve the broth, some meats and eggs for the next day’s noodle dish… The broth will also be more tasty..

This recipe was included in Page 26-29 of the “One Pot Noodle E-book”. For more One Pot Noodle Dishes, you can have a copy of “Easy One Pot Noodles  – A step by step guide” that was packed with 30 recipes, 60 pages at a reasonable convenience fee of USD5.00. The recipes covered various recipes from curry laksa, prawn noodles to fish head beehoon and etc. Of course not forgetting the well like Economy Bee hoon and Mee Rebus . You can purchase by clicking the link above.You can either pay using Pay Pal or Credit card account. Please ensure that you have an PDF reader like Acrobat or iBooks in your mobile phone or iPad if you intended to read it in your ipad or mobile phone. Should there be any problems of purchasing, feel free to contact me at kengls@singnet.com.sg and separate arrangement can be made.

Hope you like the post today. Cheers and have a nice day.

---

For more recipes, you can refer to my RECIPE INDEX here and you can follow me at PINTEREST or visit this blog’s FACEBOOK PAGE .  

 

If you are a Pinterest user and you are interested to have more recipes, you can join or follow this Pinterest Board set up by me  where there are more than 1000 recipes worldwide and pinned by various bloggers: FOOD BLOGGERS AND FOODIES UNITED PINTEREST BOARD

Four Seasons Blog Hop #31 (Dec 23 2013)

Welcome to the Four Seasons Blog Hop

A party where we can celebrate the greatness that each season brings to our lives.

Wishing you a beautiful holiday and a New Year of peace and happiness –  May the Spirit of the Holidays be with you throughout the New Year

                       Betty, Kenneth, Lynn, Sandra, Shawna & Terri

 Thank you to everyone who shared their wonderful creations last week and to all of you who are joining us new this week!

Meet Our Hosts:

Follow us:  Terri/Shawna – Easy Life Meal & Party Planning – Bloglovin  Google+  Facebook  Pinterest  Twitter Betty – Loosing My Gut While Gaining My Insanity   Bloglovin  Google +  Facebook  Pinterest  Twitter Kenneth – Guai Shu Shu  RSS  Google+ Facebook  Pinterest Twitter  Webstagram  Tumbler  Lynn – Turnips2Tangerines  Bloglovin  Google+  Facebook  Pinterest  Twitter Sandra – Scruptilicious4You  Bloglovin  Google+  Facebook  Pinterest  Twitter

NOTE: To accommodate everyone’s busy schedules during the holidays, this party will remain open through January 5, 2014 at 1:00 P.M. You are welcome to share numerous posts throughout this period. After January 5th we will resume our regular schedule.

So Let’s Get This Party Started!! Share your  food creations, gardening, clever projects, tablescapes, decorations, party themes, and inspirational knowledge … Ok, you get the point.  Join us every Thursday (opens Wednesday evening at 6:00 pm). Please stay for awhile and show some love to the guests, join us in the fun and grab a button.

<a href=”http://easylifemealandpartyplanning.blogspot.com”><img border=”0″ src=”http://i1302.photobucket.com/albums/ag127/tlsplanners/f67eac4a-c360-44c4-96b3-76544bbfaa85_zps44db952e.jpg&#8221; /></a>

We will share your posts in a variety of ways on Pinterest, Twitter, Facebook and Google Plus.  We will also have features of the week! Be sure to follow our Four Seasons Board on Pinterest!

 

By participating in this linky party, you agree to have your posts shared on social media and Pinterest and to receive email and Google notifications for reminders about the party. If you don’t want to receive notifications, please let us know.

If you are sharing on this party and have a linky party that you host or co-host, we would love to have you link it at the end of this post (after the Four Seasons Blog Hop)!  Your linky party will show up on the Four Seasons Blog Hop for the next month – just a small way in which we can show our appreciation and support to you!

FEATURED

 

On the Home Front – Prudent Living – My Garden a Year in Review

Darlene Nemeth – When the World Says Quit

Heaven’s Garden – Gingerbread Cookies

Cooking In Bliss – Amaretto Cookie with White Chocolate Chips

We Made That – Christmas Tree Science

God’s Growing Garden – Pinwheel Christmas Cookies

Dizzy Busy and Hungry – Spiked Butterscotch Hot Chocolate Fabulous Farm Living – What’s Growing in the Veggie Patch

 

The next two weeks are going to be really hectic and of course then 2014 arrives and we are all thinking about eating healthier, exercising more or losing weight so this week we have a special “Featured” section just to address these issues.

 

 Special Features

 

Forever Fitting In – 18 Years of Maintaining Weight-loss 

We Made That – Healthy Holiday Treats

Curl Weight Loss – Change Ur Life

Losing My Gut While Gaining My Sanity (Betty Taylor – Co-Host) – Weight Loss Blog Directory

 

You are next

CLICK HERE to enter your link and view this Linky Tools list…

NEW!!!! MORE LINKY PARTIES YOU MIGHT ENJOY (LINK UP YOUR PARTY IF YOU ARE A HOST OR CO-HOST)!

CLICK HERE to enter your link and view this Linky Tools list…

Easy Peasy Lasagne…….

INTRODUCTION

There is nothing to shout about this post. A simple lasagne tailored to meet my taste buds. Since young, I am not taking beef…I do not have many chances to eat lasagne because it was usually served using beef.. Looking at the ingredients, I knew I will like it. I decided to try, but instead of beef, I have substituted with pork and I believed minced chicken is equally applicable.

On one of the trips to a big Singapore supermarket, I saw this semolina lasagne sheets, I decided to try making it for our dinners.. I have prepared this based on the normal way of spaghetti preparation. Instead of using beef, I used minced pork. Preparation is very easy as I followed exactly the instructions as in the package and what came out is a delicious “tin” of lasagne. (Note that as I do not have any casserole dish big enough for the lasagne, I have used an 8” detachable baking tin instead.) Please follow the packaging instructions in the lasagne sheets that you have purchased as every brands may be different slightly.

---

WHAT IS REQUIRED

Servings : One 8” baking tray (5-6 adult servings)

All quantities listed here are for reference as variations are many and the dish is full of flexibilities

• 500 grams of minced meat (beef, pork or chicken)
• 2 tomatoes cut into cubes (optional)
• 5 sausages or chicken franks cut into small pieces
• 1 onion cut into small pieces
• 200-300 grams of shredded mozzarella/ricotta/parmesan/cheddar cheeses
• 100-200 grams of mixed vegetables (peas, corns, carrots) – optional
• 250 grams of lasagne sheets
• 1 bottle of ready made tomato pasta sauce (about 500 grams)
• 2 tablespoons of olive oil
• Some Italian herbs mix (optional)
• Some aluminium foils

 

---

STEPS OF PREPARATION

This set of instruction is from the lasagne sheets packaging. Every brand may have different instructions. Therefore, prepare it in accordance with the packaging instructions. This post aims to give readers some pictorial illustrations to complement your packaging instructions.

• Preheat the oven to 180 degree Celsius.

• Lightly greased an 8” square baking tin or your preferred casserole.

• In a hot sauce pan, put the olive oil and onion. Stir fry until the onion are soft. Add mixed vegetables, tomato cubes, minced meat and stir fry for 2 minutes. Add pasta sauce and cut chicken franks. Let it simmer for about 3-4 minutes or until the meat and vegetables are soft and soak all the pasta sauce.  Should the need arises, add some water.

• Add half of the cheeses and let it simmer for another 1-2 minutes. Off the heat and set aside.

• Lightly grease a baking tin. Put a few pieces of the lasagne sheets to cover the bottom. Add in some pasta sauces, level it and sprinkle generously the cheeses on top of the pasta sauce.

 

• Put another layer of lasagne sheets followed by pasta sauce and cheeses. Do the same for the remaining until the pasta sauces have finished. On the last layer, sprinkle generously with Italian herbs and cheeses. Add about half a cup of water in the baking tray.

 

• Use an aluminium foil to cover the baking tin. Bake in the preheated oven at 180 degree Celsius for 45 minutes.

• After 45 minutes, open the aluminium foil, and continue baking for another 15 minutes. Best served hot with additional parmesan cheeses and desired fresh herbs.

 

---

CONCLUSION

Again, a simple dish to prepare. Nothing to shout about. Just follow the packaging instructions and you can have some delicious lasagne. I will definitely prepare this again as it is well liked by my family members.

Hope you like the post today. Have a nice day and cheers.

 

---

For more recipes, you can refer to my RECIPE INDEX here and you can follow me at PINTEREST or visit this blog’s FACEBOOK PAGE .  

 

If you are a Pinterest user and you are interested to have more recipes, you can join or follow this Pinterest Board set up by me  where there are more than 1000 recipes worldwide and pinned by various bloggers: FOOD BLOGGERS AND FOODIES UNITED PINTEREST BOARD

 

Time To Bake Chinese New Year Cookies–Macadamia Russian Tea Cakes

INTRODUCTION

Today is Winter solstice or Dong Zhi and Chinese throughout the world is celebrating this important festival by having a bowl of glutinous rice ball soup called Tangyuan, It is usually 3 days before Christmas and after today, Chinese can start prepare for the arrival of Spring Festival or Chinese New Year.

Today, I am sharing a recipe of a tangyuan look alike cookie, not originated from China but from Scandinavian countries. It is called Russian Tea Cake. Scandinavians served this cookie during Christmas and the same cookie will definitely a hit in the Chinese New Year as it resemble one of the cookies commonly served during the Chinese New Year in Malaysia– Ghee cookies or Kueh Arab. It had another more common name, snowball cookies because of the dusting of icing sugar on the cookies.

As per Wikipedia:

“Russian tea cake is a kind of pastry, commonly eaten around Christmas in the United States. It is a form of jumble, a pastry common in England during the Middle Ages. They are also known as Mexican wedding cakes (or cookies) and butterballs; however, they are perhaps most commonly called snowball cookies for their powdery white spherical appearance and for appearing around the winter holidays. Russian tea cakes have a relatively simple recipe, generally consisting entirely of ground nuts, flour and water or, more commonly, butter. After baking, they are coated in powdered sugar while still hot, then again once the cookie has cooled. However, a reason for the common name “Russian Tea Cake” or any connection to Russian cuisine is unknown. (Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_tea_cake)

While I am visiting Ms. Danita Shipp Carr ‘s blog “O TASTE AND SEE”, I saw her Russian Tea Cakes. It immediately reminded me of the ghee cookies  that I used to have when I was young. I missed the cookies as it is not that common in Singapore. Since the ingredients are simple, I have decided to try preparing the cookies with the leftover macadamia nuts that  I have. (The original recipes uses pecan nut and other recipes called for walnuts or almonds).

It was in the morning and I asked my kid to wake up earlier to help me to shape the cookie. Though they are 7 and 9 years old, their shaping is definitely better than mine. After the baking, when I took my first bite, I knew very sure that this will be a hit among the Chinese New Year.  My initial intention is to prepare these cookies for a family gathering two days later, somehow, after one day, half of the cookies were gone….My family members keep popping into their mouth these delicious cookies.

For my international readers, during Chinese New Years, most Chinese families will have open house inviting guest to visit their families. Possibly influenced by the British Colonization prior to the countries’ independence in the 1960’s, most Chinese families will serve Western butter pastries to their house guest. However, most cookies have been adapted to the local taste. One of the important localization is the size of the cookies. Chinese liked their cookies to be one bite size bearing in mind, there may be many types of cookies in a serving tray… Therefore, I have decided to make it into a common Chinese New Year cookie size – a 1.5 cm ball.

---

 

WHAT IS REQUIRED

Recipe adapted from: Russian Tea Cakes

Servings : About 80 1.5cm balls

• 225 grams (1 cup) of butter
• 250 grams (2 cups) of plain flour
• 100 grams of chopped macadamia nuts
• 50 grams of icing sugar for pastry
• About 40 grams of icing sugar for rolling
• 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract (not in picture)
• Pinches of salt (not in picture)

---

 

STEPS OF PREPARATION

• Preheat the oven to 170 degree Celsius.

• Cream the butter and 50 grams of icing sugar until light and pale. Sift in plain flour, use a spatula to stir until well mixed. Add chopped macadamia nuts,  vanilla essences and salt, stir again until well mixed.

• If you are able to handle soft dough, you can by pass this step. Otherwise, let it chill in the fridge until slightly harden which took about 10-15 minutes.

• This step is optional. Depending on your ability to divide the dough equally, you can either follow this step or use your own step. You can consider using a teaspoon to drop the dough to your desired size. In a flat surface, lightly flatten your dough. Put  a piece of clingy wrap on top of the dough and use a rolling pin to roll the dough into a 0.5 cm thick flat sheet. Use a knife to cut into an even square shape. Take out one portion of the square doll and shape it into a ball using your palm.

• Due to Singapore’s hot weather, by the time your balls were shaped, it will be rather soft. Put the balls to the fridge again and chilled for 10-15 minutes. After 10-15 minutes, shape the ball again. Your balls should have a better shape now. Baked in the oven for 10-12 minutes.

• Immediately when the cookies are out of oven, get ready a bowl of icing sugar, transfer the cookies to the bowl and roll against the sugar powder. Take out and put in a wire rack and cool completely. In this process, care have to be taken to handle these balls as it is still hot and fragile. Once the balls are completely cooled, roll against the icing sugar again. Keep the cooled cookies in an air tight container.

---

CONCLUSION

It is rather seldom that the cookies that I prepared were well liked by all the family members. This is one of the exceptional  The inclusion of macadamia nuts not only enhanced the taste but also make it a presentable New Year or Christmas gift.

 

This recipe was included in Page 24 and Page 25 of the following E-book. 

For more Chinese New Year related cookies, snack and steamed cake recipes, you can have a copy of “Easy Chinese New Year Recipes – A step by step guide” that was packed with 30 recipes, 60 pages at a reasonable convenience fee of USD3.50. The recipes covered various recipes from auspicious radish cake to nian gao to traditional kuih bangkit to trendy London almond cookies. Of course not forgetting both type of pineapple tarts. You can purchase by clicking the link above. You can either pay using Pay Pal or Credit card account. Please ensure that you have an PDF reader like Acrobat or iBooks in your mobile phone or iPad if you intended to read it in your ipad or mobile phone. Should there be any problems of purchasing, feel free to contact me at kengls@singnet.com.sg and separate arrangement can be made.

• For more recipes, you can refer to my RECIPE INDEX (updated as at 26 November 2014)  here and you can follow me at PINTEREST or visit the blog’s FACEBOOK PAGE to keep abreast of my future posts. Also follow me at INSTAGRAM or TSU, a new social network for some more personal sharing other than recipes.

• You can also join the FOOD BLOGGERS AND FOODIES UNITED FACEBOOK GROUP  to see more recipes. Currently there are about 21,500 members sharing various food photos . I am posting my daily home cooked food in the above Facebook Group daily. I would be more than happy if you can  post in the Group for the recipes that you tried from my blog.

• If you are a Pinterest user and you are interested to have more recipes, you can join or follow this Pinterest Board set up by me  where there are more than 2600 recipes worldwide and pinned by various bloggers: FOOD BLOGGERS AND FOODIES UNITED PINTEREST BOARD.

A Token Of Appreciation To My Dearest Readers and Supporters

 

All my dearest readers and supporters;

Without all your support, I will not be writing this blog;

I hope you like my blog;

And this post is written “straight” from my mind without manipulating my thoughts and the use of jargons;

By now, you should know that Guai Shu Shu (An Uncle Who Behave In An Abnormal Way) is a Chinese educated student;

Bear with me, if I lack beautiful descriptive words in my blog;

Pardon me,   if I made lots of grammatical mistakes in my posts; and

Forgive me, if I do not have beautiful images to entice you.

Guaishushu is very frank and tell you what he thought…

Guaishushu is a computer illiterate…

Guaishushu don’t know anything about plug-ins, giveaways gadgets and etc., self hosting that are technical jargons that most bloggers are familiar with…

Guaishushu currently do not engage any computer consultant for the blog….

He had to to solve all these technical issues by himself….

He don’t know how to go about “presenting” his blog…

Such that it is best for him and for the readers….

He had work hard for the last few weeks….

Rushing out this humble hardcopy booklet for his readers……

It may be a bit late and he felt guilty of issuing it late……

He still has one persistent technical issue that he cannot tackle….

In his “INDEX” page, there is a big watermark that he can’t erase off…..

He is still puzzled…..and he felt bad….

But he know he cannot wait anymore…..

Christmas is approaching, in another 4 more days…

He adopt the Chinese saying: 丑媳妇见爹娘……

Meaning no matter how ugly is the daughter in law……

She will eventually have to “face meet” her parent’s in law……

He took the courage to issue this less than desirable hardcopy compilation……..

He honestly hope that reader’s wouldn’t mind……

Forgive him for such a “crude gift”…….

But it is sincere and tactful…..

There is no condition attached to the gift…..

Not even an e-mail address required, Facebook Page Like required…

Since Christmas is love sharing…..

Whoever read this post are entitled to download the hardcopy of this 10 simple recipes………

More recipes will come in due course if the proper technical issues can be resolved…………

Hope readers like it and feel free to download the number of copies you like…….

Again, bear with me any grammatical mistakes that may be found in the booklet….

I apologize for that if there is …

If you appreciate this humble Christmas gift……….

Please leave me some simple constructive comment on what do you think of this e-book….

Either in this blog’s comment section below, my Facebook Page or the place you see this post.

Not forgetting to have a simple request to follow me at PINTEREST or visit Guaishushu’s FACEBOOK PAGE

 

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR 2014…..

MAY YOU AND YOUR FAMILY BE BLESSED WITH HAPPINESS ALWAYS….

---

Please download here

CHRISTMAS EASY RECIPES

 

---

 

Out Of Gift Ideas This Christmas? Try Some Homemade Marshmallows

INTRODUCTION

Home made marshmallows is not in the agenda of my baking/cooking adventures. Somehow, when Ms.  Mary Ellen Seavey posted her beautiful Marshmallows in my Facebook Group (Food Bloggers and Foodies United), it immediately caught my attention. Her marshmallows looked so attractive and I told her I wanted to prepare these marshmallows. She assured me that this is a tested recipe and encouraged me to try. One hour after I “digested” her post here, I started my trial on making the marshmallow. I am happy that on my first attempt, I managed to make my marshmallows.

I have slightly modify her recipe by the usage of Pandanus or Screw pine paste. I like the colour and the flavour. For red and white, I have added vanilla flavour to it.  It turn out to be a rather nice design. 

Wouldn’t it be nice while learning how to make this childhood candy, lets learn together something about this candy. Per Wikipedia:

“Marshmallow is a confection that, in its modern form, typically consists of sugar and/or corn syrup, water, and gelatine, whipped to a spongy consistency, moulded into small cylindrical pieces, and coated with corn starch. Some marshmallow recipes call for eggs. This confection is the modern version of a medicinal confection made from Althaea officinalis, the marshmallow plant.Marshmallow probably came first into being as a medicinal substance, since the mucilaginous extracts come from the root of the marshmallow plant, Althaea officinalis, which were used as a remedy for sore throats. Concoctions of other parts of the marshmallow plant had medical purposes as well. The root has been used since Egyptian antiquity in a honey-sweetened confection useful in the treatment of sore throat.The later French version of the recipe, called pâte de guimauve (or “guimauve” for short), included an egg white meringue and was often flavoured with rose water. (Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marshmallow)”

From the above definition, it is rather clear that ingredients of marshmallow preparation are rather simple comprising syrup and gelatine.

---

WHAT IS REQUIRED

Recipe adapted from : Marshmallows 

Servings: a    9” x 13” x 1”   tray of marshmallows – no. of pieces will depend on how big you cut it.

• 3 cups of granulated sugar
• 1 1/4 cups of golden syrup or light corn syrup
• 1/4 teaspoon of salt
• 16 gelatine sheets (or 3 tablespoons plus 1.5 teaspoons of gelatine powder or 4 gelatine packets)
• Adequate sugar powder or cocoa powder for dusting
• 1 1/2  cups of water divide equally into 2 portion (1 portion equal to 3/4 cups)
• Permitted food flavourings and/or colourings

Others

• Oven thermometer/candy thermometer
• 9”x 13” container (baking tin or casserole dish)
• Parchment/baking paper
• A stand mixer

---

STEPS OF PREPARATION

• Use one portion of cold water (3/4 cups) and put it in a whisking bowl. Cut the gelatine sheets into smaller pieces and soaked the sheets/gelatine powder in the cold water.  It will gradually soften and slightly expands.

• Get ready a 9” x 13” baking tray or casserole dish. Place a piece of baking paper with about 2” extra from each side as collar. Lightly grease the baking paper with cooking oil or cooking spray.

 

• In a sauce pan, put the other 3/4 cups of water. Add golden or light corn syrup, salt and castor sugar. Bring the syrup to boil under medium heat. In between, stir until all the sugar dissolved.

• Let it simmer without stirring until when an oven thermometer or candy thermometer inserted, it registers a temperature of 115 degree Celsius. Take the hot syrup from the stove and gradually pour the syrup into the whisking bowl. Start with low speed until all the syrup are added. Once added, gradually increase the speed to high.

• Beat using maximum speed until the syrup is at firm peak. It will take at least about 10 minutes. Divide the marshmallows into 3 portion. For one portion, add in the Pandanus or screw pine flavouring and for the other 2 portions, add in vanilla essence. For the 2 portions that have vanilla, add red permitted food colouring to one of the portion. (note that this step is optional if you want it to be original marshmallows).

• Fill the greased baking tin or casserole in your desired pattern. For me, i have my first layer as white, second layer green and third layer pink. Let the marshmallows rest for at least 3 hours before cutting with a sharp knife. For my case, I noted that overnight resting is easier for cutting. Dust your marshmallow using your prefer ingredients such as icing sugar or cocoa powder or sugar sprinkles.

---

CONCLUSION

I concurred with Mary that it is almost not possible to use hand whisking as it will require at 10 minutes of continuous whisking. Therefore, to make this, a stand mixer is deemed absolutely. After preparing this, I would think there are a lot of variations. If you have strawberry essence, you can prepare strawberry marshmallows; if you like chocolate marshmallows, may be addition of cocoa emulco is a good alternative.

All this while, I seldom eat marshmallow on its own. I like to put it in my breakfast drinks… The sweetness of two pieces of marshmallows is just nice for a cup of breakfast drink. However, if you want to eat it as a sweet, for Asian taste, you can consider reducing 10%-20% of the sugar used and that very much depends on your sugar tolerance level.

This is a good and recommendable recipe. It is nice to have some homemade marshmallows to entertain your guest. Try making this marshmallow and surprise your guest this coming Christmas or Chinese New Year. Not forgetting to support the original recipe provider, Ms. Mary Ellen Seavay by supporting her Facebook Page or her blog here. Thanks to her generosity in sharing this recipe.

Hope you like the post today. Cheers and have a nice day.

I am submitting this to the “Baby Sumo’s Christmas Recipes Collection 2013“ event which is hosted by Baby Sumo of Eat Your Heart Out.

---

For more recipes, you can refer to my RECIPE INDEX here and you can follow me at PINTEREST or visit this blog’s FACEBOOK PAGE .  

If you are a Pinterest user and you are interested to have more recipes, you can join or follow this Pinterest Board set up by me  where there are more than 400 recipes worldwide and pinned by various bloggers: FOOD BLOGGERS AND FOODIES UNITED PINTEREST BOARD