我的试验室 My Lab

We had quiche for dinner. I got the basic recipe from Coles Spring Magazine 2010, but I made some alteration to suit to our family's taste.  It is called 'Super Easy Asparagus Pie' in there.  I don't know why they call it a pie, because it is actually a quiche.  To me, so long the recipe is easy and it tastes good, then I wouldn't mind whether that is a quiche or a pie.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup milk + 1 cup water (original recipe calls for 2 cups milk without the water)
• 4 eggs
• 1 cup grated cheese
• 3/4 plain flour
• 1 onion, chopped (I fried until golden brown)
• 100g ham, chopped
• 1/2 tsp salt
• About 300g Broccoli, cauliflower and broc-cauli florets which are enough to cover the baking tray (Original recipe calls for 2 bunches asparagus, ends trimmed)

Procedure:

1. Whisk eggs, milk, water, plain flour and salt until combined and no lumps.
2. Stir through cheese, onion and ham.
3. Arrange all the florets on the baking tray.
4. Pour the mixture evenly on the florets.
5. Bake at 175C for 35 min or until set (I spooned mine into 2 smaller trays,so mine was cooked in shorter time).

Serve hot with green salad.  Yum!

My auntie told me before, 'Chicken floss is very easy to make, just fry the cooked chicken breast with soy sauce and sugar in a low heat, then it will become chicken floss!'  That easy?  I am not sure, I haven't tried it before. 

Just now, I was trying to fry grind dried prawn to make the 'Salted Black Bean for porridge' again.  I was thinking of preparing a little bit more so that I can keep it for next time too. Half way through, my imagination gone wild again, how about making it into dried prawn floss instead.....

Ingredients:

• 2 cup dried prawn - grind them (Note:  It has too be really fine to avoid the 'rocky' feeling)
• about 1/2 cup of cooking oil
• 2 tbsp soy sauce
• 3 tbsp sugar

Procedure:

1. Heat up the wok and then the oil.
2. Fry the grinded dried prawn until it turns a bit brownish and smells good with low heat.
3. Add soy sauce and sugar.
4. Continue frying sugar has caramelised and prawn floss turns a bit crispy.
5. Let it cool down then sttore in an air-tight container.

We had it with porridge just now.  The kids are very happy :O

They enjoy the prawn floss while we enjoy the salted black bean!

Ning says,' White porridge tastes better tonight....'

Yesterday, my Chinese Si Fu gave me a 'golden' recipe again.  No cooking is required for this recipe!!  I made it immediately when I reached home.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup salted black bean
• 2 tbsp fried grind dried prawn
• 2 tbsp chilli oil (can be omitted if you prefer it not hot)
• 2 tbsp sugar
• 1 tbsp fried garlic
• 1 tbsp minced ginger
• 2 tbsp fish sauce
• 3 tbsp soy sauce ( I make it saltier as I want it to go with porridge)
• about 1/2 cup olive oil
• 2 tbsp sesame oil

Procedure:

1. Wash and drain salted black bean.
2. Add all ingredients except olive oil and peanut oil into a glass container and mix well.
3. Top up with olive oil until it covers the mixture.
4. Add sesame oil to cover the olive oil.
5. Leave at cool area for a week before serving.  ( But we have already finished 1/2 of it just now).

It goes really well with porridge.  We love it!

Note :  I will try to upload the picture when I make it the next time.

I fried veggie meat patty again yesterday.  I don't know why, whenever finish frying, my pan is full of stubborn oil stain.  Could it be I use too little oil?  

Anyway, I recall Ms Chan's handy tip.

After frying, don't turn off the heat yet, pour a cup of water, try to scrub them out with the turner.  They actually came off!  To make it more thorough, I even put the 'green cloth' inside the pan, use the turner to hold the 'green cloth' and scrub them again.

Wow, perfect!!

Thank you Ms Chan :0

Note:  I think this tips can only be applied for Stainless steel cookware because a caution note for my hard-anodised wok was 'Do not pour cold water onto hot wok!'.

I am thinking of make a change to the usual birthday cupcakes for the schoolmates.  So, I made these as Zhe's birthday sweet treats last Friday.  They seems to enjoy it too.

Ingredients:

• Same as honey rice bubbles plus...
• Hundreds and thousands
• Some M & M

Procedure:

• Same as honey rice bubbles.
• Rather than pour all rice bubbles onto the pan, divide them onto lined muffin cups.
• Sprinkle with Hundreds and thousands then bake them.
• When it is hot, slightly touch the bottom of M&M with honey, then stick it on top of each rice bubbles cups.
• Put them bake into oven, back for another 2 minutes.  Leave them in the oven to cool.

I am into Thai cooking lately.  So, here I am, reading 'Simple Thai Cookery' by Ken Hom.  I like this book because the recipes are really simple, and the ingredients called for are just basic ingredients which are easily found in the pantry.  After reading this book, chilli oil is my first attempt.  It turns out...... good!

Ingredients:

• 150 ml groundnut oil (I use olive oil)
• 2 tbsp chopped dried chillies (I grind them with Sichuan peppercorn)
• 1 tbsp Sichuan peppercorns
• 2 tbsp whole salted black beans

Procedure:

1. Heat up the wok.
2. Add oil, followed by all the rest of the ingredients.
3. Cook over low heat for about 10 min.  Then remove from heat and leave it to cool.
4. Pour into a jar and leave for 2 days, then strain the oil.
5. Store in a tightly sealed glass jar in a cool dark place.

I made it yesterday.  Immedietely, I used 1tsp for my Ma Po Toufu 麻婆豆腐.  Wah, what a big heat!!

"I want 麻婆豆腐 again, but without the chilli!" Zhe saids while scratching his sweating head :-)

Last Friday, did you watch Today Tonight?  There was this visual artist who took a daily picture of a McDonald's Hamburger for 180 days.  And, after 180 days, other then the size has shrunk and the moisture has disappeared, the hamburger and the meat patty are still 'intact'.  No mould, no nothing!!
http://au.todaytonight.yahoo.com/video#   Go to 'Happy Meals'

Just now, in Today Tonight again, we have been consuming too much salt in our diet.  Absolute maximum daily intake of salt should be just a little more than 1 teaspoon only.
http://au.todaytonight.yahoo.com/article/8155173/none/salty-shock

I don't think anybody can control within that level unless you are having home cooked meal with lots of homemade food, veggies and fruits.

As everybody knows, homemade food is the best. However, how many of us can include fully or even partly homemade diet in our daily life? i.....

These honey rice bubbles are made by Jia and Ning.  It looks good right?  It tastes good too. Most of all, it is easy to make.

Ingredients:

• 8 cups rice bubbles
• 2 tbsp melted butter
• 2 tbsp honey
• 2 tbsp condensed milk

Procedure

1. Mix all the above ingredients.
2. Line a big baking tray with a non-stick baking paper.
3. Pour the mixture onto the tray press flat with spoon to compact it.
4. Lightly pre-cut the rice bubbles so that they are easily divided later.
5. Bake in the oven temp 150 C for ~9 min.  No oven pre-heat is required.
6. Leave it in the oven to cool down. Once cool down, break it and keep in airtight container (if you ever have a chance to do so).

Enjoy!

Everybody says, Rosemary grows like a weed in Australia.  Though, this definitely does not happen to me.  I have been trying to grow rosemary from cutting since last year.  And, this is the 5th time trying it....


This is my rosemary cutting in the water



When you look closer, seems that there are new roots, but why are they pointing upwards?

 



These are other Rosemary cuttings in the pot

I am keeping double fingers crossed this time.

Tell you something.  I tried to make the above patties a few weeks ago.  I ended up spending the whole day cleaning my wok!!  I didn't know what happened, the patties just sticked on the wok.  I was so so so disappointed....  I decided to give it a final try after getting some tips from my mum on 'how to fry meat patties'.  (Just wondering anybody started laughing at me? mmmm....)

Finally, I manage to make some hamburgers for lunch last weekend.  Hey, just realised that it is not so difficult to homemake hamburger patties.  However, this is not the McDonald's meaty type.  It is my own version with lots of veggies/herbs in it.

Ingredients:

• 600g minced pork
• 2 medium onions - chopped
• 6 cloves garlic - chopped
• 1 bunch coriander - chopped
• 1 bunch parsley - chopped
• 1/2 cup plain flour/corn flour
• 1/2 tsp pepper
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp sugar(optional)
• 1 tsp ginger powder
• 1/2 tsp 5 spices powder
• 2 tbsp dark soy sauce / light soy sauce
• 1 egg

Procedure:

1. Mix well all the above ingredients.
2. Heat up the pan, when the pan is hot, add 1 tbsp oil. 
3. When oil is hot, add 1 heaped tbsp of the mixed minced pork, flatten it using a turner to a desired thickness.
4. Fry both faces using very low heat. 
5. It is ready when both side are golden brown.

I sincerely think that, it is again the healthy version of hamburger patty, simply because you need only 1 tbsp oil to fry all the patties.  And, it is free from preservatives!!  Good for simple and easy lunch.

I don't have a magic porridge pot, but I do have a magic rice cooker :-)

Before I proceed further, I have to clarify that I am not the sales representative of this product.  And, I earn nothing for publishing it in my blog.

Now, let me introduce you to my Magic Rice Cooker.

• Save time - You can cook rice/ porridge/red bean soup/ black glutinous rice/ gandum/.... using this cooker.  It takes very short time to cook.  Can you believe that the cooking time for black glutinous rice is only 20min?
• Save gas - With the above fact, you will definitely save gas.
• Have hot food at any time anywhere - It will keep warm for hours.  It is especially useful when you want to have some hot rice for a picnic.

1. Wash rice and add water as usual. 
2. Heat up the inner pot on the stove using high heat until it boils( It takes me about 7 min).
3. Turn down to low heat until the rice is 'dry'(It takes me about 12 min).
4. Keep the inner pot in the magic rice cooker. 
5. It is ready to be served after 1 hr.  If the lid is not open, it can keep warm for about 8 hours if the weather is not so cold.

B.  Cook black glutinous rice porridge using this cooker

Procedure

1. In the morning, wash glutinous rice and red bean and add water as usual.
2. Heat up the inner pot on the stove using high heat until it boils( It takes me about 14 min).
3. Keep the inner pot in the magic rice cooker.  Leave it for >1 hour. 
4. Heat up the inner pot on stove, add sugar and coconut milk, turn off the heat after it start to boil(It takes me about 6 min).
5. Keep the inner pot back to the magic rice cooker.
6. The sweet soft porridge will be ready to be served after 1 hour.

C.  Cook white rice porridge using this cooker
 
Procedure:

1. Wash rice and add water as usual.
2. Heat up the inner pot on the stove using high heat until it boils( It takes me about 12 min).
3. Keep the inner pot in the magic rice cooker.  Leave it for > 1 hour. White rice porridge is ready.

Weather is getting hotter and stomach is feeling less hungry now... So, it's porridge time.  I usually cook a pot of Tao Yu Bak for the kids.  While boiling the Tau Yu Bak, I'll make the above pickles for myself.  I like it because the veggies are very crunchy and I find it very refreshing.  I got the original recipe from Puay Img years back.....

Ingredients:

• 2 tbsp dried prawn
• 1 big red chili / a few chili padi
• 1 small onion / a few shallots
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1 small lemon
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1/2 tsp salt

Procedure:

1. Chop the first 4 ingredients.
2. Add the lemon juice, sugar and salt.  Mix well.
3. Keep in the fridge for 2 hours.

See, as easy as 1 2 3 :-)

How about having some 'Toink Toink' pancakes for breakfast this coming weekend?

Ingredients:

• 1 cup plain flour(can substitute by wholemeal flour/ add some oat...)
• 2/3 cups water/milk
• 1 egg
• 1/2 tsp yeast
• 1 tbsp sugar(it is optional if you are going to spread the pancake during serving)
•  maple syrup/ your favourite spread of the day

You can substitute plain flour and yeast for self-raising flour.  I personally prefer yeast pancake as it will give you the 'toink toink' feeling.

Procedure:

1. Mix all ingredients. 
2. Close batter and wait for the batter to get bubbly(about 2 hours).  This step can be skipped if use self-raising flour.
3. Heat up a heavy based pan ( I use a thick base Stainless Steel pan). Have to make sure that it is really hot. O/w, the crepe will stick onto the pan.
4. Pour a ladle of batter onto teated pan.  Wait till it is bubbly and the edge of the pancake change colour to translucent.
5. Turn the pancake.  It will rise evenly this time.  The pancake will be ready when the colour of the bottom surface changes to light brown (As in the picture).

6. Put it on a dry chopping board.  This will conserve the moisture of the pancake.
7. Keep stacking up the pancake to make a pancake stack.  Pancake stack is not just for the look.  This is a crucial step to keep the moisture of the pancake.

Serve immediately with maple syrup to enjoy the 'toink toink'....

Frankly, the above stuffed potato does not look good at all.  However, don't judge a book by its cover!!

Potato skin is nutritious.  It is very tasty after baking.  At Tony Roma's, there is even a dish called 'Potato Skin'!!  They are mmmmm......

So, please leave the skin on if you consider to make this dish, ok?

Ingredients:

• 12 medium size potatoes
• 100g shredded cheese
• 1 medium size onion - sliced
• 100g short cut bacon - diced
• 50ml milk/water
• 1 tsp oil
• salt and pepper to taste

Procedure:

1. Wash the potatoes thoroughly.  Don't peel them.

2. Cut potatoes into 1/2 then steam them for 20 min or until soft.

3. Meanwhile, add oil to hot wok, fry sliced onion and diced bacon until golden.  Add salt and pepper to taste then set aside.
4. Scoop out the steamed potato flesh and put it into a big bowl.

5. Mash the potato flesh.
6. Mix the mashed potato with fried onion, bacon and milk.
7. Spoon them back to the potato shell.
8. Spread shredded cheese on the stuffed potato.
9. Bake at 180 C for 20 min/ until cheese is melted and golden.

Serve warm.  The filling inside is rather hot!!

When you look at the advertisement choc chip cookies, have you ever thought that choc chip cookies is so sofisticated that you are willing to pay what they ask for? Then, you are absolutely wrong!  They are easy to make.  And, you can adjust the taste and look as you wish with homemade cookies.
I call this healthy version of choc chips cookies because I include oat in the cookies.  Well, the water soluble fibre in oat helps to reduce the cholestrol content these cookies :-)

Ingredients:

• 1 cup self raising flour
• 1/2 cup corn flour
• 1/2 cup quick oat
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 100g butter(melted)
• 1 egg
• handful of choc chips

Procedure

1. Mix all ingredients except choc chips and knead into a smooth dough. Note: You can also add 1/4 cup of choc chip into the dough and knead together.

2. Divide into 20 pcs, roll them into balls.

3. Press down using fingers into almost even thickness of ~5mm.  Keep space of minimum 3cm from each cookies on the baking sheet which has been lined with non-stick baking paper.
4. Decorate choc chips as you like. Kids will definitely give you a hand.

Before baking

5. Bake at 180C for 15 min(no need to pre-heat).


After Baking -  Compare before and after baking.  Look at how much they have expanded!!


6. Leave in the oven to cool to room temperature.
7. Keep in air-tight container.

I bet you will not visit chop chic cookies section in the departmental store again.

This is the very first afternoon snack I learnt how to make when I first arrived here.  I got the original recipe on the carton of Kellogg's corn flakes except that  I decrease the butter and sugar usage.  Well, just want to reduce the kids' sugar and butter intake.

Ingredients:

• 4 cups corn flakes
• 50g butter (melted)
• 1 big tbsp honey
• 1/4 cup sugar

Procedure:

1. Mix melted butter, honey and sugar until sugar is melted.
2. Pour mixture onto corn flakes.  Mix until corn flakes are mostly coated by the mixture.
3. Spoon the corn flakes onto lined muffin tray.
4. Bake at 150C for 7-8 min, then leave it in the oven until it cool down.(Note:  No pre-heat is required.)

I have been reading some articles about cooking oil.  However, all of them have different suggestion. I find attached links are rather informative eventhough there is slight contradiction between two of them.
 
http://bbq.about.com/od/grillinghelp/a/aa061607a.htm
http://www.culinary-yours.com/frying_oil.html

I am using extra light olive oil. Sometimes I alternate it with canola oil.  The reason for the alternative is, I simply do not have confidence to stick to only one type of oil.

How do we find out whether canola oil is refined or not?  And, when you read the label, it even contains trans fat.  This means it is not pure, and this means the smoking point is lower than the refined one?  Then, why do some doctors still recommend diabetics to use canola oil?  Do they mean refined / pure canola oil?  How to get the pure canola oil then?  A friend of mine whom has been using olive oil for her home cooking changed totally to canola oil after listening to the doctor's advice when she found out that her husband is a diabetic.

Do you have any information/ advice to share in this matter?  You are most welcome to post your idea here....  Perhaps, we can come to a conclusion?!

The truth is should be out there :-)