My father has been diagnosed to have a 16cm tumor in his liver during Chinese New Year, I’d been trying to find food, drinks, recipe that have high anti oxident which can help him.

One of the soup that is highly recommended by a lot of people is the Burdock Root Soup (牛蒡汤, 五行蔬菜汤), which supposedly is very good for fighting cancer, as well as to prevent cancer.

The first time I made this, I got the instruction from the organic shop in verbal form. I missed out 1 ingredient and didn’t know the exact quantity of each of ingredient, I ended up using an estimation. I finally found this recipe from a book by Dr. Kazu Tateishi (立石和), the creator of this soup.

♥Recipe for Dr. Kazu Tateishi’s Vegetable Soup / 五行蔬菜汤♥

You’ll need (all organically grown if possible) :

1/4 Daikon Radish (萝卜)
1/4 bunch of Daikon Radish leaf (萝卜叶)
1/2 Carrot (红萝卜)
1/4 Burdock Root / Gobou (牛蒡, pronounced as Ngao Pong in Cantonese and Niu2 Bang4 in Mandarin) – Used Japanese and not Chinese burdock root
1 good quality sundried shitake mushroom (if not sundried, expose the mushroom in the sun for a couple of hours)

Method :

1) Wash everything clean

2) Scrap off the dirty / earthy layer of burdock root using the back of the knife

3) Cut the carrot, daikon radish, daikon radish leaves and burdock into big pieces. Do not skin anything.

4) Put all vegetable in a pot (preferably glass or aluminium pot, do not use Teffal or enamel coated pot) Add water 3 times the quantity of the vegetable.

5) Bring to boil. Then lower the heat and boil at low heat for 1hr.

6) Store soup in glass pot or container, and serve it using bowls made of similar material.

I sliced off the skin of the vegetable in my 1st attempt, not knowing I should retain them; I’d also left out the daikon radish leaf.

The soup tasted a bit ‘ginsengy’, my oldest didn’t like it but she drank it because I said it was good for her, my youngest drank 3 bowls and kept saying it’s delicious.

I’ll be making this often to keep everybody in the house healthy, and asking my sister, whom my father lives with, to boil this frequently for my dad for his overall well being.

If you don’t know how burdock root looks like, here is a picture.

Credit : Snowheart’s blog

You can get the Chinese ones easily from the wet market, but you may need to do a bit of searching in the supermarket for the Japanese ones (which is preferred for making this soup).

Hubs’ birthday was on Monday. Since we were out the whole day (and night) on Sunday, I had to wake up slightly earlier on Monday to bake him his birthday cake.

He loves coconut, so I thought I should try to make him a cake with coconut milk; and found this Southen (Manhattan) Coconut Cake recipe in the latest book I purchased, Rose’s Heavenly Cakes by Rose Levy Beranbaum.

Rose’s way of preparing the batter is very much different from the conventional method I’m used to. Instead of beating the butter and the sugar first, she uses two-stage mixing technique (Step 4, 5, 6 in the attached recipe), which results in a finer and more velvety crumbs.

Her cakes (2nd time I’d followed her technique and recipes from her book) do feel very light and spongy, which is different from the ‘grainy’ cakes that I’m used to. It taste very much like the sponge cake you get from the shops.

Unlike most other American cook book authors, Rose has been very considerate in puting all her measurement in US measurement as well as its equavalent in metrics, which I find extremely useful. Save me all the hassle of doing the conversion myself.

There was also an accompanying frosting for the cake, but since it’s a work day for me, and the steps and ingredients were more than 3, I didn’t have time to make it, and just left it plain.

♥Recipe for Southern (Manhattan) Coconut Cake♥
Adapted from Rose’s Heavenly Cakes by Rose Levy Beranbaum
Make 1 9inch cake

You’ll need :
(the measurement is a bit odd because the original recipe calls for making 2 9 inch cakes so the frosting can be sandwitched and applied all around. Since I wasn’t going to make any frosting, I only baked 1 cake and cut half all the measurements)

3 large egg whites
164g coconut milk
3/4 tsp pure vanilla extra
3/4 tsp coconut extract (I didn’t put this since I had none)
200g cake flour
200g superfine sugar
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
114g unsalted butter

Method

1) Line and grease 9 inch cake pan

2) Preheat oven to 175 C

4) Mix the liquid ingredients – in a medium bowl, whisk the egg whites, 1/4 cup of the coconut milk, the vanilla, and coconut extract just until lightly combined

5) Use a standmixer attached with flat beater, mix the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt for low speed for 30s. Add the butter and the remaining coconut milk. Mix on low speed until the dry ingredients are moistened. Raise the speed to medium and beat for 1 1/2 minutes. Scrape down the sides of the bowl.

6) Starting on medium low speed, gradually add the egg white mixure in 3 parts, beating on medium speed for 20s after each addition to incorporate the ingredients and stregthen the structure.

7) Scrape the batter into prepared pan, and smooth the surfaces evenly.

8 ) Bake the cake for 30 to 40 minutes, or until a wire cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean.

9) Let the cake cool in the pan on a wire rack for 10mins, then invert the cake onto wire rack to cool completely.

My 3 years old asked me, “Why you didn’t put cream on Daddy’s cake? Why you didn’t make him any handy manny things?” (As hubs is the Handy Manny in our house).
Maybe next year, when I have more time, I’ll put some decorations.

Hubs was smiling ear to ear when the girls sang him Happy Birthday song in their sweetest voice.

Maybe because I didn’t use fresh coconut milk (the recipe actually calls for ‘canned’ coconut milk) but used coconut milk in a carton instead, and nor did I put in any coconut essence (since I don’t have any), the cake just tasted like a very light sponge cake with no coconut milk fragrance. If I were to make it again, I’ll definitely use fresh coconut milk.

The girls and hubs do like the cake very much. That’s all that matters.

(and I think I need to invest in a cake stand)

Chinese New Year is a time we feast, eating together with family and friends.

Since 3 years ago, we’d started hosting the Chinese New Year eve dinner instead of my MIL. My hubs come from a small family, his parents, his eldest sister and his younger brother. Since we started hosting the dinner, we’d been doing steamboat for Chinese New Year eve, it’s the same this year. There are only 3 of my in-laws (my BIL hasn’t been back for Chinese New Year for the last 3 years), my hubs, our helper, our 2 girls and myself, a small group suitable for steamboat.

The most important park of steamboat is the soup and the chilli sauce. I just realised I didn’t take photo of either.

We love having mushrooms for steamboat, shitake, button, enoki, and of course lots of vege.

Seafood is also a must.

We have Garoupa slices lightly seasoned with salt and pepper.

And prawns which I bought a month before Chinese New Year, before the prices of prawns gone up.

My two daughters were hungry and wanted to eat first, so we heat up some soup, cooked them some fishball, fuchuk and noodle. Both girls love any type of noodle.

Having steamboat means when it’s time to start cooking and eating, it gets busy at the table, so no time for photo taking.

For dessert, I made Hazelnut Torte, and I got the thumbs up from everybody, including my 2 little fussy eaters.

When everybody was sipping their cup of tea, and having dessert, the bread for the following morning was being baked.

It’s a family tradition that on the first day of Chinese New Year, we will visit the in-laws first thing in the morning, and then go over to my brother’s house where my side of the family congregates and have lunch. This year, my in-laws have moved to the same housing estate as ours, merely 3km away, reducing some travelling time.

I don’t know why, but my MIL never prepares anything for breakfast every year we visit her on the first day. Breakfast served was always Chinese New Year cookies at her place. This year, I decided take control, I made some pancakes in the morning (and also the bread I baked the day before), got everyone to eat their breakfast before we headed to my MIL’s. I made enough pancakes to bring over as well. Because we now live closer together, we could stay longer at MIL’s, and still get to my brother’s place the earliest.

Lunch at my brother’s place included Lap Mei Fan (腊味饭, rice cooked with Chinese sausages and duck); vegetarian beehoon and fried wanton. (Again I forgot the photos).

Then dessert was Sugee Cake which I baked 2 weeks before (wrappped and refrigerated to wait for this occasion).

And Nian Gao (年糕, sticky cake made with glutinous rice flour and brown sugar) with shredded coconut.

Also cupcakes I got as Chinese New Year gift from my neighbour, Cini. We attended the same fondant course together, and she has been practicing her skill and getting really good at it.

Happy Chinese New Year everyone.

I’d planned for all the things I wanted to bake during the Chinese New Year break, but haven’t done much because of an unfortunate event. This is also the reason I’d not posted anything for the last 2 weeks, although I was still cooking and baking during this period, and have captured most of the things made on photos.

Here is one that I’d baked before Chinese New Year, Almond Tile Cookies which I rather like.

I actually baked 2 batches of these, they are very unlike the eggy ones which I’d tried making before.

They are rather fragile to handle and store, because they are very light and crispy, which makes them also very delicious.

Richard Bertinet’s Dough is the book that I refer to for most of my bread recipe.

His book covers different type of dough, The White, The Olive, The Brown, Rye Dough, and lastly Sweet Dough, and adding different nuts, roots, vege, flavours to different dough, it becomes a different bread, giving variety and ideas of mix and match to a bread eating home like ours.

After baking bread for a while (which I do almost twice a week if not more) and after following his recipes a couple of times, I now mainly use his flour, water, salt ratio to come out with my own recipes (mixing different flour and flavouring it with different seeds).

My daugthers prefer Guardinia or High-5 white bread to the bread I bake, just because it’s softer and sweeter and also because they prefer white bread. Since lots of other ‘additives’ are included in the bread to make it taste like that and last for so long, I try to convince them to eat the bread I bake, and call the other bread ‘chemical bread’.

So, occasionally, I have to bake a white loaf to fulfil their liking for white bread and also give us some variety. This is the first time I’m trying out Richard Bertinet sweet dough, and I thought I’ll try the Pain Viennois, which is supposed to look like this.

Mine instead turned out like this.
A puff up version of the Pain Veinnois.

Mind you, I followed the recipe, step by step (oh, except he uses hands, while I used my mixer to knead), but after the dough is rested, it was so elastic that I couldn’t do the small deep cuts like what’s shown in the recipe (see pic) as the dough just bounced back.

The bread however, did turn out very nice. Lots of air bubbles, very soft and chewy, a bit sweetish and milky, just the way the girls like.

♥Recipe for Pain Viennois♥
Adapted from Richard Bertinet’s Dough
Make 5 baguettes

You’ll need :

250g full fat milk (yes, weigh it)
15g yeast (but I used 1 sachet of instant yeast, ~11g)
500g strong bread flour
60g unsalted butter at room temparature (cut into small cubes/slices)
40g castor sugar
10g salt
2 large eggs

Method : (assuming you are using a mixer)
1) Warm the milk genty until it’s about body temperature (I put mine in a cup on a hot bath).

2) Mix flour, sugar, salt and yeast and then rub in the butter (dough hook low speed)

3) Add eggs and milk and knead using dough hook at low speed for 5 to 8mins until butter is totally rubbed into the dough, and dough is soft and pialiable

4) Flour the inside of your bowl, and put the ball of dough into it. Cover with tea towel and let it rest of 1hr.

5) Turn the rested dough out onto a lightly floured work surface and divide into 5 pieces.

6) Flatten the pieces of dough with your hands into rough rectangles. Fold and roll the dough into a long log shape. Place the baguettes on a tray with space between each, give them two coats of egg wash, and then make a series of small deep cuts diagonally along the top with a sharp knife. Leave to prove for 1hr

7) Bake baguettes for 10~12minutes in a preheated oven (~200C) for 10~12minutes

8 ) Cool on a wire rack once done

I love chocolate chip cookies which are very light and crumbly but crunchy at the same time.

When I was in Sydney attending my best friend’s wedding almost 10 years ago, I happened to try the chocolate chip cookies baked by my friend’s FIL, and that’s exactly how the cookies tasted, light, crumbly and crunchy at the same time. Carl, who’s my friend’s FIL, has kindly given me the recipe when I asked for it. Since then I’d been baking this every year for Chinese New Year, and also a couple more times during the year as and when there’s this craving for chocolate chip cookies.

♥Recipe for Carl’s Chocolate Chip and Pecan Nut Cookies♥
Makes 50 cookies

You’ll need :

150g butter
1/4 cup soft brown sugar
1/4 cup castor sugar
1 egg yolk
1 tsp vanilla essence
1 1/2 cup self raising flour
1/2 cup choc chip
1/2 cup lightly toasted pecan nut halfs (you can replace it with white chocolate chip or any other nuts)

Method :

1) Heat up oven to 180C degrees
2) Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy
3) Add yolk and vanilla essence and beat further
4) Mix flour, chips and nuts into batter with wooden spoon
5) Spoon batter onto baking sheet and bake for 10~15mins
6) Cool on wire rack

Handle the cookies with care, as they tend to crumble easily.

Monday was a holiday for me (just me because the hubs and my daughters are working and schooling in Selangor, which was not on holiday). Instead of lazing about (which I really wanted to), I was hard at work and dashing around.

First thing in the morning, I baked 20 cupcakes as I wanted to bring some for my masseur, and also for the hubs to sample as he was flying off to Hong Kong for work in the afternoon. Once the cupcakes were cooled, I went downtown to get my dui na (推拿) massage done, and by noon time rushed off to pick the girls up from school.

After lunch, I taught our helper how to fry arrowroot chips. I even drove my MIL over to help with this. But alas, being the stubborn mule (my helper, not MIL), she did it her way and started banging the pots and pans (her way of showing dissatisfaction) when I corrected her. Instead of slicing with hand directly into the oil, she used our food processor to slice the root, juicing some in the process; instead of draining the fried chips on a wire rack she just drop them into a tray lined with kitchen towel. The chips turned out to be part soggy part over fried, and extremely oily. Grrr!

While the 2 of them did the frying of the arrowroot chips, I made biscotti using a recipe which I’d been using for 10 years. I only made this during Chinese New Year because it’s rather taxing on my arms. The slicing of the logs make my arm muscles ache, and I never seemed to be able to slice them to perfectly thin slices. Maybe it’s the recipe, maybe it’s my slicing skill or maybe I need a better knife. If you know of any easier way of doing this, let me know.

♥Recipe for Almond Biscotti♥
Adapted from a recipe from Bake With Yen
Makes a bottle

You will need :

4 eggwhites
1/4 tsp cream of tartar
90g castor sugar
120g medium protein flour (sifted)
120g toasted unblanched whole almonds
few drops of vanilla essence

Method :

1) Beat eggwhite with cream of tartar until stiff peaks form. Gradually add sugar, beating constantly until stiff.
2) Lightly fold in flour, almonds and essence.
3) Bake in a lined (loaf) tin for 35mins at 180C.
4) Rest and wait till loaf is slighly cool then turn it out and cool on wire rack.
5) Cut the cool loaf into wafer-thin slices (I can only get half cm thickness the best), and then lay them on wire rack (rested on baking tray) and bake for 20 minutes or until crisp at 150C.
6) Cool the baked biscotti on wire rack.

I made two portions of the above quantity, so I got 2 bottles, 1 for us and 1 for MIL.

With so much eggyolk left from making the biscotti, I baked 2 sugee cakes, and packed them all up to be kept in the fridge till Chinese New Year.

As for the arrowroot chips, My MIL only picked those nicely fried ones, dabbed the oil from the chips with kitchen towel and then bottled them. I gave her a bottle and kept 2. Another 1 bottle or so was wasted since it was soggy and soaked through with oil.

I can call this dish rum infused prawns with caramelised onion, which sounds like a name of a dish in a posh restaurant; or it can be called fried prawns with soya sauce (si-chap har or 酱油爆虾), which will then probably not catch your attention, but means same thing, without the glam.

This fish monger in the wet market was trying to sell us these big prawns which he claimed were caught fresh the evening before. I thought I’ll stock up for Chinese New Year reunion dinner before the prawn price sky rocketed, so we bought 1Kg.

Back home, I took out six to cook for lunch just to try if it was as fresh as the fish monger claimed. There was a bottle of rum at the pantry which hubs recently bought for me to use for cooking/baking. So I thought, maybe I can try to use the rum on the prawns.

♥Recipe for Rum Infused Prawns with Caramelised Onion (or fried prawns with soya sauce)♥
My own creation

You will need :

6 palm size prawns (size is from head to tail)
1 tsp rum
1 shallot sliced
1 tbs soya sauce
2 tbs oil

Method :

1) Deveined the prawn
2) Heat oil in wok, toss in sliced shallot and fry until, well, caramelised (i.e. soft and slightly brown)
3) Put in the prawns to fry, try to move the shallots to the top of the prawns, so that when the prawns are fried, the shallot does not get burnt. Fry the prawn about 1 minute on each side.
4) Pour in the rum, and stir fry everything in the wok, so that the prawns and shallots are infused in the rum
5) Pour in the soya sauce, and stir again, so that the prawns are evenly seasoned

So the fish monger was right, the prawns were very fresh. Hubs like the hint of rum taste in the prawns, and I like the fragrant of the caramelised onion.

I love fried chicken, actually, who doesn’t? So when I saw the Momofuku Fried Chicken recipe posted by Ellie, my first thought was I had to try it.

We have been doing our fried chicken the same way, i.e. season the chicken with salt and pepper, then fry it. Sometimes, we’ll add some tumeric powder, just to give it a ‘twist’.

The Momofuku recipe, calls for the chicken to be steamed first, then only fried. This mean, the frying time is reduced, making the chicken more tender and juicy inside.

My photos are not as nice as Ellie’s, you should check out how she captured the simple fried chicken dish.

Zaria, my youngest, who’s the biggest fan of fried chicken, loved every bit of it.

♥Momofuku Fried Chicken♥
Adapted from Ellie of Almost Bordain, who has adapted the recipe from Momofuku by David Chang and Peter Meehan. My chicken was half of Ellie’s portion, so I adjusted the recipe accordingly.

You’ll need

2 cups lukewarm water
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup sea salt
5 drumsticks
Cooking oil for frying

Method

1) Mix the water, sugar, and salt in a container with a lid and stir until the sugar and salt dissolve.
2) Place the chicken into the the brine, ensuring it’s covered by the brine, refrigerate for 1 hour.
3) Drain the chicken and discard the brine.
4) Steam the chicken in medium heat for about 30mins, remove and let it cool on a rack for 1 hr (recipe calls for cooling it in refrigerater on a rack for at least 2 hours or overnight).
5) Heat oil in a wok and fry the chicken until crisp, 6 to 8 minutes.
6) Remove and place on wire mesh or kitchen towel to drain.

I was wondering what bread to bake 2 days ago and found a pack of soy flour in my pantry. I thought I’ll try making bread with soy flour then.

Using the same recipe as the Oat and Apricot Wholemeal bread, except the recipe calls for : 400g strong white flour (or bread flour) + 100g soy flour and extra 2 tbs of water; with no oat or apricot used; the rest of the ingredients and method remain the same. I asbolutely love the end result.

The bread was very delicious, with a golden crust, and a dense body. It tasted malty and a bit sour dough-ish.

I offered our live in helper some the next morning, and even though she’s eaten breakfast, she ate 1/3 of a loaf and said, “Very nice mum.”

Served toasted with some butter, it’s yums. I guess this will be something I’ll be making again and again.