layered agar-agar

i hv always been fascinated by agar-agar.... thanks to hubby's influence.... i tried out this layered agar-agar... but not before i searched online for the easiest recipe to follow.... on the actual day itself, i followed non of the recipes... instead i ventured on my own... as in determining the level of water, sugar etc..... the result: 50% ok

coz i did two trays of it.... onli one survived... LOL.... which means onli one turned out good... the other one was "rosak"...... as in not presentable as the layers did not stick to each other....

the good one, we gave to nearby friends and relatives.... the bad one, into our own stomach of course....

here's the recipe for my own record... not a good one... will try to improvise it soon

** i used the normal swallow brand agar2 powder **

ingredients:
(A)
one packet of red agar2 powder
900ml water
100gm of sugar

(B)
one packet of yellow agar2 powder
900ml water
100gm of sugar

(C)
one packet of green agar2 powder
900ml water
100gm of sugar

(D)
two packets of clear color agar2
400ml of coconut milk powder
1400ml water
3 pandan leaves
1/2 tsp salt

method:

1) cook (A) pour evenly into two different trays

2) cook (D). Once the (A) has harden a bit, measure about 600ml of (D) and pour evenly into the two trays. If (A) is too hard, lightly scratch it with a fork to form some "holes/ lines" so that (D) can stick onto it. The remaining of (D) to be keep in the pot and keep warm with a small flame

3) cook (B) then layered with (D) and repeat this step for (C)

** if got some leftover agar2, put it into those pattern mould, turns out nice as well **

TIPS:
this recipe is a bit time consuming compare to the normal agar2.for it to be succesful, must be really patience. preferably, the layered agar2 be cool off first before refrigerate it in the fridge for about 3 hours and finally be cut as u like.....

dinner for two

this is a backdated post... this meal was prepared last two sundays ago when MIL was not at home... while multi tasking to bake cake, surf net and taking care of daniel, i onli managed to prepare a very simple dinner for hubby & i

i made ABC soup & roast chicken wing/ drumstick

* the raw ingredients for the soup *

* just add two bowl of water & add some salt, this is the result *

* the marinated chicken *
* the roasted chicken * hubby loves it *

the recipe for the roasted chicken can be found here

Ingredients
3-5 lbs whole chicken
2 table spoon room-temperature butter
2 table spoon chicken seasoning powder
coarse salt & ground pepper

Directions
Preheat oven to 425 degrees
tie chicken legs together with kitchen twine.
Place chicken in a roasting pan.
Mix the butter and seasoning together
Rub chicken all over with the mixture of butter
Roast until an temperature reaches to 160 degree about 45-50 mins.

the baking of marble cake

found this simple recipe from this site

INGREDIENTS (Nutrition)
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup white sugar
1/2 cup butter, softened
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup milk
2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder

DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).

Grease and flour a 9 inch round pan.
Place flour, baking powder, salt, sugar, butter or margarine, eggs, vanilla, and milk into mixing bowl.

Beat slowly to moisten, then beat with an electric mixer at medium speed for about 2 minutes until smooth.

Reserve 3/4 cup batter; pour the remainder into pan.
Stir cocoa into the 3/4 cup reserved batter.

Drop by spoonfuls over top of white batter.

Using a knife, swirl the cocoa batter into the white batter to incorporate it in a marble effect.
Bake in preheated oven for 30 to 35 minutes, until an inserted wooden pick comes out clean.

* the ingredients *

* the mixture of all ingredients minus the cocoa powder *

* before baking *

* after baking *

* the end result: too oily coz i used too much of butter *

1st cookies attempt

today baked some chocolate chips cookies... as usual, i surf for a simple recipe as i am still at learning stage... hehehe... the recipe can be found here....

the first tray was "undercooked".... the 2nd tray was "overcooked" (burnt)... luckily the 3rd tray onward was not bad.....

Ingredients
• 3/4 cup sugar

• 3/4 cup packed brown sugar

• 1 cup butter

• 1 large egg

• 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

• 1 teaspoon baking soda

• 1/2 teaspoon salt

• 2 cups semisweet chocolate chips(too bad i onli had a cup of it)

• if desired, 1 cup chopped pecans

Directions
Preheat oven to 375 degrees(about 175 celcius)

Mix sugar, brown sugar, butter and egg in a large bowl by hand.

Stir in flour, baking soda, and salt.

The dough will be very stiff.

Stir in chocolate chips.

Drop dough by rounded tablespoonfuls 2 inches apart onto ungreased cookie sheet.

Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until light brown.

The centers will be soft.

Let cool for one minute then remove from cookie sheet and place on wire rack to finish cooling.

* the ingredients*

* the mixture of all the ingredients *

* before baking *
* after baking *

* the cookies *

Roasted Nam Yee Chicken Wings

since my mum's oven is still at my house, last weekend me & my MIL decided to roast some chicken wings..... so, what i do were to surf the net for another simple recipe... and i found it at kuali.com

Ingredients

8 chicken wings, cleaned

Combine:
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp honey

Seasoning:
1/2 tbsp chilli paste
1 piece red nam yee
1 tbsp ground coriander
1/2 tsp salt or to taste
1/2 tsp Chinese five spice powder (ng heong fan)
1 tbsp fish sauce (nampla)
1/2 tsp Worcestershire sauce

Method

Combine all seasoning ingredients in a mixing bowl.
Place chicken wings in a bowl and mix well until they are evenly coated with seasoning.
Place chicken wings in a plastic container, cover and refrigerate for several hours or preferably, overnight.
Arrange chicken wings on a wire rack placed in a baking tray lined with tin foil.
Bake in a preheated oven at 200ºC for 20 minutes or until golden brown.
At the end of the baking time, remove the chicken wings and brush with the honey and oil glaze, then bake the wings for five to six more minutes until they become shiny and a little charred.

* marinated ones *
* roasted ones... YUMMY! *

baking again

i am in the mood to bake.... so, while hubby & bb daniel is having their afternoon nap, i did this baking :)

a very simple recipe i found from this site

Ingredients for Quick Sponge Cake

2½ teaspoons baking powder
½ cup hot water
1½ cups sugar (do consider using less)
½ teaspoon lemon or vanilla extract (i used vanilla essence)
2 cups flour
4 eggs

Instructions

1. Separate the eggs.
2. Add hot water to yolks of egg and beat until thick.
3. Add gradually sugar and flavoring while beating.
4. Add whites beaten stiff.
5. Fold in sifted flour and baking powder.
6. Turn into buttered and floured cake tin, and bake in moderate oven for 30 to 35 minutes

* the main ingredients *

* before rolling into the oven for baking *

* fresh from the oven *
* the end result, i find it too sweet. next time i will have to adjust the amount of sugar *

baking a cake using a premix

since me is not working today, my sis and i decided to bake a cake... me borrowed my mum's oven coz this time we really need to "bake" a cake.... and not steam a cake... hehehe

both me and sis got no idea at all on how to bake a cake... so, the best way is to buy a premix.... yesterday after work, we went to GIANT hypermarket to get the premix.....

all we need to do is just to follow the simple instructions...

* the packet of premix retail @ RM 9.99 *
* preheat the oven at 180 celcius *
* we used planta margerine to grease the pan *
* put in the premix together with the egg & a 1/4 cup of oil *
* stir the ingredients for a few minutes, then put into the oven *
* after baking for 30 minutes at 180 celcius *
* the end result: i find it too sweet but my sis likes it *

my first baking attempt

hahahaha... i shouldn't consider this as baking.... coz the recipe is actually simple and i don't need an oven to bake it..... reason: it is steamed banana raisin cake.... yeah... all i need is just a wok to steam the cake instead of an oven (plus i don't have oven at home)

i tried out this recipe on thursday right after work..... baking on a weekday? dunno why i was so "semangat" to do it....

me found the recipe from this site

Ingredients

1 ripe banana, mashed (i actually used 5 bananas instead)
1 egg
1 teaspoon oil
2 teaspoons water
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 cup icing sugar
100g (close to 1 cup) all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons of semi-sweet chocolate chips or raisins, optional

* just put all ingredients into the pan *
* before steaming the cake *
* when i first saw the outcome, i thought Oh Oh.... no one will wanna eat it *
* the end result *

can u see that? i just need to wash a pan and a fork... all can be done in less than 30 minutes(preparations + steaming + washing)

i highly recommend this recipe to those who are interested to learn to bake....

MIL & my mummy finish all of it in one day.... so, i guess the result is not that bad

potato patties

got this recipe from mr & mrs ha when they came to our house for potluck last month... and today i tried this recipe and it turned out OK OK onli..... hmmm.. need to improve it next time...

ingredients (served 4-6 persons)

four potatoes(wash & peel off the skin)

cornflour

salt

pepper
one capsicum(any color)- diced it

water chestnut- diced it
big onion(this time i used small onions coz no big onions at home)- diced it

steps:

i) boil the potatoes in a big pot until it cook/ softens

ii) mash the potatos iii) add in and mix the diced capsicum, water chestnut & big onion with the mashed potato. also add in a pinch of salt and pepper to taste
iv) lastly, roll the patties to any shapes that you like, coat it with cornflour and fry it in hot oil

** the finished product **

thai Tub-tim Grob(thai dessert- rubies in coconut milk )

almost one year ago, i mentioned about this thai dessert in my blog and i can't believe that i actually took the trouble to try out this recipe which i found on the net.......

http://www.thaitable.com/Thai/recipes/Rubies_in_Coconut_Milk.htm

last saturday after my half day work, i dropped by at Giant to buy the "nangka" fruit and a few small packs of the coconut milk... much much earlier i have prepared the other ingredients... just waiting for the correct timing & "mood" to try out this recipe.....

and yes, this dessert is one of my favourite!!!

ingredients: One can of peeled water chestnut – can buy this from Giant
Tapioca flour
Red food coloring
Rose flavoring
Nangka
Coconut milk – chill it in the fridge first
Sugar
water

steps:(as according to my way, almost similar to the internet recipe)

- diced the water chestnut and placed the diced water chestnut into a big bowl
- put about five drops of the red coloring into the diced water chestnut followed by three drops of the rose flavoring. mix it well until the all the diced chestnut turn to red color
- pour in enough of the tapioca flour into the bowl of red color diced chestnuts until all of it are coated with the tapioca flour - sieve the coated chestnut so that it will be evenly coated

- for bigger "rubies", repeat with coating the chesnut with a few more layers of flour by sprinkling some water each time before re-coating it with the tapioca flour.....
- once done, boil a pot of water. when the water comes to boil, put in the chestnut and let it boil until all of it cooked(it will float when it's cooked)
- then transfer the cooked "rubies"(chestnut) into a big bowl of iced water (this will make the "rubies" look better by turning transparent, just like magic coz when the "rubies" are boiling in the pot, it looks much uglier). later pour away the iced water and leave it aside(or in the fridge)
- after that, to prepare some syrup, just mix some sugar with water and boil it(quantity of sugar + water depends on your taste, as for me i put in 5 tablespoons of sugar with 300ml water)

to serve this dessert,
pour some coconut milk into a bowl, add in some syrup, then add in the "rubies" plus the nangka. serve chilled(you can add in either some crushed iced or ice cubes)...

* close up of this homemade yummylicious dessert *

hubby gave his comment as OK but i give myself 8/10.... i can't wait to prepare this dessert again maybe this coming weekend... okie dear?