Cream Puff with vanilla filling / Durian Filling

Cream puff is one of my favourite dessert. It has all the combination of crispy , chewy , creamy , yumminess . Love it , love it and love it . I am tasting one while i am writing this ! I can't find any cream puff beat the yummy home baked cream puff, honestly. I just love the freshly baked from oven hot cream puff with the chilled cream !

Below is the recipe i adapted from Allrecipes

1 cup water
1/2 cup butter
1 cup flour
4 eggs
1/4 tsp salt

For Vanilla filling
1 packet of instant vanilla pudding
2 cups of milk -2 1/2cup ( depending on the filling thickness preferred)

For Durian Filling

1/2 cup cool whip
2 frozen durian

Durian Filling
1) Defrost durian
2) Mash the durian and mix it with cool whip
3) Cool the filling until ready to use

Vanilla Filling
1) mix pudding with milk and chill in refrigerator until needed

Puffs Instructions
1)Preheat oven to 425
2)In a pan , bring water , water and salt to a rolling boil
4)Add in the flour until the flour forms a ball
5) Transfer the dough into a mixing bowl. Using a stand mixer, beat in one at a time
6) spoon 1 -2 tb to parchment paper to bake for 20-25 minutes , until brown
7) remove from oven and poke holes on the puff to let the steam out
8) pipe in the filing to serve

And see the happy face everyone around you enjoying the cream puffs !!!

Pizza Dough

This is the third time i am making pizza at home. This is the pizza dough recipe that i like best. With try and error, i came up with the ratio below. The pizza dough is crispy on the outside and chewy on the inside! The rule of thumb for pizza making is when you think the dough is sticky when u are kneading them , add some flour, 1 tablespoon at a time, and if you think the dough is dry/crumble, add 1 table spoon of water until you have a shiny and lively dough :)

To serve 4

Ingredients
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour + 1/2 cup ground semolina flour
1 level tablespoon salt
1 packet active dried yeast
1 tsp sugar
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 cup lukewarm

- in a bowl , mix all purpose flour, salt and semolina flour
- in a cup, add the yeast into the warm water, oil and sugar. Leave it for about 5 minutes.
- Then pour the yeast mix into the flour. By using a fork , mixing it until it all come together. Then , knead with hand until it becomes springy and smooth. To make sure it is well kneaded, poke on the dough , if it spring back , then it is well kneaded.
- place a very hot water in the oven on the lowest rack
- Place the dough in a large dusted bowl and dust the top. Cover with damp cloth and place it on the upper rack in the oven for 1 hour .
- When the dough double in size, punch it down and roll it out with rolling pin about 1/4 inch thick
- preheat the oven to 450F
- Put on the topping and bake in oven ( lower rack for 5 minutes, then middle rack for 4-5 minutes until it is browned)
- Then ITADAKIMAS


* tips on making pizza - Make sure the dough is well kneaded
* roll it out thin, really thin if you want to have a thin crust pizza !

Pho "fuh"

It smells so good already after 2 hours of simmering ! I am making Pho tonight. Usually i will post up the recipe only after i had it just to make sure every recipe that i post up is a keeper. However, this recipe is for sureeee a keeper. I adapted this recipe from steamy kitchen. Using pork instead of beef, cause i prefer pork over beef. I got to tell you , this is a GREAT recipe from steamy kitchen !

The original recipe from steamy kitchen
http://steamykitchen.com/271-vietnamese-beef-noodle-soup-pho.html



Ingredients
To serve 4

THE BROTH
1 onions, halved
ginger powder - 2 tsp ( i run out of ginger in my pantry , but is better to use whole ginger if available)
3 lbs of pork bones
3 quarts of water
1 cinnamon stick, 1/2 tbl coriander powder 1/2 tbl fennel seeds, 3 star anise, 1 cardamom pod, 3 whole cloves - in mesh bag]
3/4 tbl salt
1/8 cup fish sauce
1 inch chunk of yellow rock sugar (about 1 oz) – or 1oz of regular sugar



1 lbs rice noodles (dried or fresh)
Garnish
mint, cilantro, basil
2-3 chili peppers, sliced
1 big handfuls of bean sprouts
Hoisin sauce
siracha

Char onions on baking sheet. Broil on high . It takes about 5 minutes to get it charred on the outside. Turn over. Continue broil for 5 minutes. Remove from oven and peel off the charred section.

Par boiled the bones by boiling vigorously for 10 minutes. Drain and rinse the bones. Refill pot with bones and 3 qts of cool water. Bring to boil over high heat and lower to simmer.

Add ginger, onion, spice packet, beef, sugar, fish sauce, salt and simmer uncovered for 3 hours . Taste and seasoned if needed

Then prepare the noodle by following the instructions on the packet.
Fill each bowl with rice noodles. Serve immediately. Garnish with bean sprouts , chili pepper, basil, mint and cilantro

* The noodle is just too hard to resist. As soon as it on the table , we gobbled up everything and forgot to take a picture. Will definitely cook again and next time, with a picture of the noodle !

Dry curry noodle with left over curry chicken

I love mee hoon ! The nice thing about meehoon is you can basically fry it with anything you like and it turned out to be a good dish ! This dry curry mee hoon is made with left over curry chicken from the nasi lemak the other day .

Ingredients

4 cups of left over curry chicken with chicken

cilantro

rice noodle 1/3 packet

Salt

1/2 cup water

Bean sprout

Choy sum

Soak the noodle in cold water for about 5 minutes
Reheat curry chicken in the pan for about 5 minutes.

Add the noodle into the curry chicken and stir fry. Add water if needed

Mix well the noodle and the curry, then add cilantro , choy sum and bean sprout

Continue to stir fry about 10 minutes. Add salt to taste.

Sambal Nasi Lemak

Nasi lemak is translated to be " fat rice " . I guess it must be the coconut in the rice that makes it so fattening. Nasi Lemak is usually served with sambal , curry chicken ,fried anchovies roasted peanuts and egg. I think it is too overwhelming to write down eveything in one blog, so i decided to start with the easiest among all. The sambal ! This sambal is so good and it taste just like the one i had in Malaysia !!




Ingredients

1/2 onion
10 anchovies
1 tsp-2 tsp belacan (Malaysian shrimp paste)
2 shallots
2 cloves garlic
1 stalks lemongrass
5 dried and seeded red chilies
2 fresh chillies and seeded
5 white pepper corns
4 heaped tablespoons coriander powder
1/2 cup siracha
5 tablespoons oil

Preparing Chili Paste

Blend all the ingredients except the anchovies, oil and siracha to a fine paste. Heat up the oil and fry the anchovies to brown. Add onion and fry for 5 minutes. Add paste and fry until aromatic over medium heat, for about 5 – 8 minutes. Add siracha and mix well.Dish out and set aside.

Cornbread muffin

20 minutes breakfast ! I have never use cornmeal flour until 2 weeks ago to make corndog. Anyway , i found that cornmeal texture is great. So , the first thing on my mind this morning was to make cornmeal muffin. I knew it is going to be easy , but i did not know it is going to be SO easy ! Waw, done in 20 minutes, that is awesome ! This recipe is adapted from the Neelys.

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/down-home-with-the-neelys/honey-cornbread-muffins-recipe/index.html

Ingredients
1 cup yellow cornmeal
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup whole milk
2 large eggs
1/2 stick butter, melted
1/4 cup honey
Special equipment: paper muffin cups and a 12-cup muffin tin
Directions
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Into a large bowl, mix the cornmeal, flour, baking powder, sugar, and salt. In another bowl, whisk together the whole milk, eggs, butter, and honey. Add the wet to the dry ingredients and stir until just mixed.

Place muffin paper liners in a 12-cup muffin tin. Evenly divide the cornbread mixture into the papers. Bake for 15 minutes, until golden.

*note: I used the parchment paper to replace the muffin cup papers so it wont stick.

Enjoy !

Strawberry Daifuku

Black Pepper Chicken Chop with Potato Wedges

Chicken Chop ! We can find this commonly in Malaysia's western restaurant but strangely enough i dont see it in any of the menus in US. This is one of the food that i miss terribly and i always make sure i had it before i return to US. However, to cure my chicken-chop-craving, i do mak it frequently at home here. It is quite easy and yield a pretty good result !

Ingredients: Main
• 2 chicken thighs
• 1 tablespoon soy sauce
• salt
• 1 tsp brown sugar

Ingredients: Sauce
1. 2 tb butter
2. 2 cloves garlic
3. 1 large onion, cut into strips, mushrooms (if desired)
4. 1 teaspoon sugar
5. ground black pepper, and salt to taste
6. 2 tb light soy sauce sauce
7. 2 tb worcestershire sauce
8. 1/2 cup flour , 1-2 cup water ( to your preference thickness)

Preparation:
1.Skin and de-bone chicken thighs, tenderise the meat using the tenderising hammer or the back of a chopping knife.

2. Mix all the main ingredients together, cover the meat with the marinade and leave it in a closed plastic container for about 1 hour.

3.Preheat the oven t 350F. Oil the grill pan and place it on 350F about 3 minutes. Place the chicken on the grill and return it back to the oven. Grill the chicken each side for 5 minutes- 8 minutes or till it is golden brown (depending on how thick the piece of chicken is).

4. To make the sauce, melt 2 tb butter in pan. add flour and stir until it become creamy brown. Whisk in 1-2 cup of water and chicken dripping. Add in onion , and mushrooms.

5. Add in the black pepper, light soya sauce, and Worcestershire sauce ; stir-fry for 1-2 minutes.

6. . Add on more of the ingredients to suit your taste if necessary.

7. Pour the sauce over the chicken chop and serve with your favourite steamed vegetable.

Enjoy !

Kimchi Fried Rice

I made some kimchi 2 weeks ago and have some leftover rice in the fridge. The easy way out , is of course to make Kim Chi fried rice. This kim chi fried rice is surprisingly good ! Here is some copy and paste recipe with some changes tht i made.

Adapted from trifood.com

Recipe Ingredients (Yield: 2 servings) 2 cups cooked rice ½ cup kimchi with liquid (pickled fermented vegetables) ½ cup minced pork or ground beef 2 roots green onion 1 tbsp soy sauce ¼ onion 1 clove garlic 1 egg Vegetable or olive oil 1/2 cup of red pepper and mushroom Salt & pepper Cooking Directions Cook rice as directed in a rice cooker or in a pot. Chop kimchi into small pieces. Save kimchi liquid to add to rice, if desired. Dice and mince green onions, onions, and garlic. Season the minced pork or beef with soy sauce, minced garlic and powdered pepper. Sauté the pork (or other substitutes) with vegetable or olive oil in frying pan. When the pork is cooked, add chopped onions, kimchi and cook for 5 minutes. Add minced garlic and green onion. Add in red pepper and mushroom. Add cooked rice and mix all ingredients well. Add 1-2 tbsp of sesame oil and re-heat again. Add salt and pepper to meet taste. Cook egg sunny side up (or scrambled). Put rice on a dish and place a fried egg sunny side up on top.

Enjoy !

Cinnamon Rolls

I was so excited that i successfully made some cinnamon rolls today! It was good ... I was so excited that i wanted to start a blog and share all my successful recipe with everyone so that people can enjoy it too !

I just knead everything by hand and it works ! Yey !

Adapted from Alton Brown, Good eats

Ingredients

Dough:

• 4 large egg yolks, room temperature
• 1 large whole egg, room temperature
• 2 ounces sugar, approximately 1/4 cup
• 3 ounces unsalted butter, melted, approximately 6 tablespoons
• 6 ounces buttermilk, room temperature
• 20 ounces all-purpose flour, approximately 4 cups, plus additional for dusting
• 1 package instant dry yeast, approximately 2 1/4 teaspoons
• 1 1/4 teaspoons kosher salt
• Vegetable oil

Filling:

• 8 ounces light brown sugar, approximately 1 cup packed
• 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
• Pinch salt
• 3/4-ounce unsalted butter, melted, approximately 1 1/2 tablespoons

Icing:

• 2 1/2 ounces cream cheese, softened, approximately 1/4 cup
• 3 tablespoons milk
• 5 1/2 ounces powdered sugar, approximately 1 1/2 cups

Directions

For the dough: in the bowl of a stand mixer with the whisk attachment, whisk the egg yolks, whole egg, sugar, butter, and buttermilk. Add approximately 2 cups of the flour along with the yeast and salt; whisk until moistened and combined. Remove the whisk attachment and replace with a dough hook. Add all but 3/4 cup of the remaining flour and knead on low speed for 5 minutes. Check the consistency of the dough, add more flour if necessary; the dough should feel soft and moist but not sticky. Knead on low speed 5 minutes more or until the dough clears the sides of the bowl. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface; knead by hand about 30 seconds. Lightly oil a large bowl. Transfer the dough to the bowl, lightly oil the top of the dough, cover and let double in volume, 2 to 2 1/2 hours.

Combine the brown sugar, cinnamon and salt in a medium bowl. Mix until well incorporated. Set aside until ready to use.

Butter a 9 by 13-inch glass baking dish. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface. Gently shape the dough into a rectangle with the long side nearest you. Roll into an 18 by 12-inch rectangle. Brush the dough with the 3/4-ounce of melted butter, leaving 1/2-inch border along the top edge. Sprinkle the filling mixture over the dough, leaving a 3/4-inch border along the top edge; gently press the filling into the dough. Beginning with the long edge nearest you, roll the dough into a tight cylinder. Firmly pinch the seam to seal and roll the cylinder seam side down. Very gently squeeze the cylinder to create even thickness. Using a serrated knife, slice the cylinder into 1 1/2-inch rolls; yielding 12 rolls. Arrange rolls cut side down in the baking dish; cover tightly with plastic wrap and store in the refrigerator overnight or up to 16 hours.

Remove the rolls from the refrigerator and place in an oven that is turned off. Fill a shallow pan 2/3-full of boiling water and set on the rack below the rolls. Close the oven door and let the rolls rise until they look slightly puffy; approximately 30 minutes. Remove the rolls and the shallow pan of water from the oven.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

When the oven is ready, place the rolls on the middle rack and bake until golden brown, or until the internal temperature reaches 190 degrees F on an instant-read thermometer, approximately 30 minutes.

While the rolls are cooling slightly, make the icing by whisking the cream cheese in the bowl of a stand mixer until creamy. Add the milk and whisk until combined. Sift in the powdered sugar, and whisk until smooth. Spread over the roll and serve

Enjoy!