Mee Sua Kueh (面线糕)

I was told by a friend that this Mee Sua Kueh (面线糕) was once a very much popular dish on the Facebook cooking groups a couple years back. Strangely I have never heard or taste it before until my recent late night dim sum adventures with my hubby then I got to savour it. Quite a special kueh as compared to the traditional ones we know of like pumpkin and yam kueh. The strands of noodles gives it a nice texture and mouth feel, plus that salty aftertaste is also something I adore of mee sua. ;9

Main ingredients involved are pretty much similar to the other kueh. The four main key aromatics for chinese cooking, that is dried shrimps, fried shallots, mushrooms and chicken stock.

And since this is my first attempt, I shan't make it too complicated. I'll try to make it as close to my yam kueh version as possible.

Ingredients for Mee Sua Kueh (面线糕) -makes a 8"by 8"by 1.5" size pan 

250g mee sua (It is th whole box)

30g dried shrimp, soaked

5 shittake mushrooms, soaked

5 to 6 shallots, peeled and thinkly sliced

3 garlic gloves, minced

1 chickem breast, minced

800 ml chicken stock

  

2 sprig green onion, chopped in to small sections

Handful of wolf berries (optional)

Seasoning for the Minced Chicken

1 tsp soy sauce

a dash of pepper

1 tsp sesame oil

1 tsp corn flour

Seasoning for the Kueh

1 tsp chickem seasoning

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp sugar

1/2 tsp white ground pepper

• Prepare the steamer at medium low fire. And a steaming dish, lightly greased.
• First you marintae the minced chicken meat, let it chill marinated for a good 20 to 30 minutes before use.
• Chopped the softened dried shrimp and slice the mushroom thinly.

• On a fry pan, add 3 tbsp of cooking oil and add 3/4 of the sliced shallots. Cook till the shallots are fragrant and golden. Do not over cook them as it will become bitter.

• Remove the shallots and drain on paper towels. Leaving the oil in the pan, add in the minced garlic, chopped dried shrimp and mushroom. Stir fry till aromatic and slightly golden brown.

• Then move the ingredients to the side of the pan and add the marinated minced chicken meat in.

• Cook the minced chicken and breaking it up into smaller pieces. Next you add in the chickem stock. And up the fire to high.

• Once the chicken stock starts to boil, add in the mee sua. Break up the mee sua as you add in, so it will not be lumps.

• After you add in all the mee sua, stir up the mixture so all the noodle is soaking up the chicken stock. Also add in the seasoning for the kueh as stated above.

• Cook for a few minutes until the mee sua is soften. Off the fire and pour the mixture into the prepared pan or dish. Then place in the steamer and steam at medium to high fire to cook for at least 35-40 minutes.

• Onced cooked, remove from the steamer and let cool for 30 minutes before adding the toppings.You can then add your reserved fried shallots, chopped green onion and wolfberries if using.

• Leave the kueh to cool completely before cutting. I usually like the steamed kueh more, but these mee sua kueh are also pretty tasty when they are fried up the next day too!

• If you like them panfried, just cut up the kuehs into large rectangular pieces and pan fried them.

Whether you like them steamed or pan fried, I think this mee sua kueh is a sure hit among the family. When my kids had them, it reminded them of their usual favorite mee sua soup haha. :D

Serve it up with some salad or fresh fruits since it is kind of hot these few days.

One last look at the crispy skinned mee sua kueh before I sign off today. Hope this recipe will motivate you to cook it for your love ones soon, preferrbly this long weekend yes?

Okay, enjoy your holiday guys!

Strawberry Yogurt Popsicles

Not sure about you, but whenever I bought myself a new toy, I mean new cooking toy,  I would get all excited to try out new recipes with it. And this time I bought myself quite a fun and dainty little popsicle mold from Zoku. :) Needless to say, I chose an easy recipe to test out this new toy. Plus I have fresh strawberries in the fridge, I made Strawberry Yoghurt mini pops!

These popsicles just reminds me of baby pacifiers haha! Frankly speaking they are the right size for my kids. They come back from school in the afternoon and craving for some cold treats. And what's better then homemade fruit popsicles verses sodas and store bought ice cream. :P These popsicles are so easy to make, even my 10 year old is capable of making them herself! 

The only thing that deters me from making popsicles at home last time was unmolding them. Soaking in warm water, leaving it to stand at room temperature which is such a torture when you are so craving for one. Or like me...pull and pull like no tomorrow, oops. :P Sometimes the holding stick just slides out on its own.. -_-" But NOT anymore with Zuko! Yay! These are so easy to remove, just pushing the silicon base and it pops right out~! Ok ok, I bought it from TANGS Orchard basement where all the bakeware is. I believe Vivo branch carries it too. ;) *Excited!*

Ingredients for Strawberry Yogurt Popsicles

90 g fresh strawberries

200g Greek Honey Yogurt

50g Strawberry Jam (I use New Zealand brand Anathoth Farm from Coldstorage)

1 tsp fresh lemon juice

• I had the other ice cream old from Daiso to standby incase I have more to freeze. 
• First you wash and slice up ~90g of the berries and place in the blender container. Leave some thin slices of the strawberries for decorations later but it is optional.

• Next add in the strawberry jam. Got this Anathonth Strawberry jam recently and love the intensive flavour and chunky fuit in it.

• Then now add in the greek yogurt and that fresh lemon juice.
• Blend at high speed for a minute.

• Place the thinly sliced starberries in the cavity of the Zuko mold. Then gently pout the puree into it. If you look carefully, you will see where you should fill the puree to. The right level which the stick will be able to grip it.

• Place the sticks over and cover all of the cavity.

• Since these popsicles are smaller, it also means the freezing time is reduced as well. I left it for 2 hours and it was already good to go!

• After two hours, remove from freezer. Then using your thumb, push up the silicon mold to release thepopsicales. 

• See! Just a push and it just pops out. Easy peasy right?

Perfect treat on warm days or any day yeah? 

Hope you guys like this super easy and healthy popsicle recipe. You cab change the fruit to any kind you fancy, like mango or even orange. :9

Have fun always

Earl Grey Lavender Cake with Lemon Vanilla ButterCream

I love baking for occasions. No matter how busy I am, I will try my best to bake a nice cake for the family. Frankly speaking, family matters most to me. No matter what you have done, or what you have not done, they still love you as much, haha! So doing little gestures like baking for them is really trivial I think. I always feel having a cake for any gatherings, puts a nice sweet ending to it. No matter how full you are, you will always have room for that slice of cake baked specially for you yes? And since I was particularly fond of the tea flavour Earl Grey Lavender from Gryphon, why not!

I was rather please with my first attempt. Used several different techniques here after reading up from books and recipes learnt from experience. I guess my only change next time is to lighten that frosting  by incorporating whipped cream into the buttercream and thus yielding a lighter texture and mouthfeel.

Tea floral mix powder:

2 tea bags amount of Earl Grey tea

5 g dried lavender (from Phoon Huat)

• In a blender, pour both the earl grey tea leafs and the dried lavender in. Zap for a good 1 minute at high speed.

• Sieve the blended mixture through a fine sieve. 

• This step removes the chunkier bits and also the calyxes of the dried flower. Set aside for use later. 

Tea syrup

1 earl grey tea bag

1/4 cup boiling water

2-3 Tbsp full cream evaporated milk

3 Tbsp caster sugar

• Place water, sugar and evaporated milk into a saucepan and bring the mixture to a boil. Remove from fire. Add the tea bag and let it sip for a good 30 minutes and stir it occasionally. 

• After the tea is well soaked through and it has a good earl grey flavour, set aside to cool and for use later.

Ingredients for Earl Grey Lavender Cake

200 g unsalted butter, room temp

180 g caster sugar

4 large eggs

All of the above Tea Floral mix

200 g cake flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

• Preheat the oven to 160C. Grease and line with parchment paper and grease again an 8" round  base removable cake pan.
• In the mixing bowl, add in the room temperature butter and caster sugar. Start beating the mixture till light and fluffy which will takes about 4-5 minutes. Lastly add in the reserved Tea Flora mixture above and beat for another minute.

• Next crack in one egg at a time and beat after each addition. Making sure the egg is completely incorporated after each addition.
• Sift in the cake flour and baking powder in to the butter mixture. Then fold in gently, making sure it is well combined and no hidden lumps of flour.
• Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Check out the creamy luscious batter!

• Use a toothpick to give the batter a good swirl to remove any undesirable air pockets.
• Then bake in the preheated oven for 40-45 minutes, rotate in between time to get even baking if necessary.
• Once the cake tester or the toothpick comes out clean, remove from oven and let cool for 5 minutes in the pan.

• Next invert the cake on a cooling rack till it is cool to the touch. Slice the cake horizontally across so you get two equal thickness of cake discs.

Ingredients for Lemon Vanilla Buttercream

3.3 oz egg white (from three large eggs, ~95 g)

3.3 oz caster sugar (~95 g)

1/2 vanilla bean pod with the beans scraped out

300 g unsalted butter, cut into chunks and room temperature

zest of 1 lemon

3 tbsp fresh lemon juice

• Place the egg white and sugar in a heat proof bowl and place over a double boiler of simmering water. Base of bowl should not touch the water.
• Stir constantly till the sugar melted. Then place candy thermometer to check on the temperature to make sure it reaches 115C (for sanitary and prevention of semolina). 
• Immediately beat the egg whites at high speed till it reaches soft peaks.
• Gradually add in the chunks of butter and beat at medium speed. It may look lumpy at first, but continue to beat and it will eventually come together.
• Lastly, add in lemon juice and zest and continue to beat till all fluffy and light.
• Chill the butter cream in a container in the fridge till needed later.

Assemble: 

• On a cake board, grease 1/4 tsp of the buttercream on top. Then place half of the cake disc on top. This will prevent the cake from sliding when traveling with it.
• Next spoon small amount of the reserved earl grey milk syrup all over the surface of the cake disc. You should use half the amount of the syrup.
• You then frost 1/3 of the vanilla lemon buttercream over the surface.

• Place the other cake disc over and making sure the cut side is facing up. Repeat the drizzling of the remaining of the tea syrup all over the cake surface again.

• Do not worry, you are not gonna make your cake mushy with the syrup. I guarantee you that this step is essential to keep the cake moist and gives it that extra tea flavour. So please don't skip it.
• Next frost up the whole cake nicely.

• Chill the cake in the fridge for a good 30 minutes before you bring it out for decorations.

You can decorate your cake however way you want. With chocolate, with more buttercream, drizzle with ganache or topped with mixed fruits. I like mine with fresh flowers and berries this time. And my family actually loved this simplicity of it too.

Nothing is more satisfying when your bake is enjoyed and loved by the family. :') I wish I have made a better cake, but with only 4 hours at hand, I had to settle with this. 

Overall a success, but I would have made a taller cake next time. Perhaps up the egg ratio to 5 instead of 4. 

With this in my bag, I am ready to try out other flavour combinations. ;) Hopefully something nicer. Salted Caramel with Peanut butter? Or Holicks with Chocolate? We will see... ;)

Until then, have a good week ahead all!

Happy baking!

One Pan Pizza using HappyCall Pan

It always amazes me whenever I discover a new dish that one can cook out of a HappyCall Pan. I myself have cooked a whole chicken in the pan for a good 20 minutes and it turn out perfect. I have also seen people "baking" a cake out of it. The last attempt was cooking a one pot pasta meal in the pan. Yes, all in the pan including the dried pasta! Quite fascinating I must say. And now I have discovered that I can cook pizza with it!

Thin crust with slight crunch on the edges, covered with creamy topping. I actually made two different pizzas, one seafood, one breakfast...let's see how I make them shall we?

Ingredients for One Pan Pizza (Using Happycall Pan or any non stick pan)

Pizza Dough

130g plain flour

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp instant active yeast

190ml water

1 tsp honey

Marinara Sauce

1 small onion, thinly sliced

2 garlic cloves, finely minced

200 g tomato sauce (I use Hunts)

1 tbsp sugar

salt and pepper to taste

Seafood Toppings

200g salmon slices

3 large prawns, peeled and deveined 

1/2 zucchini, sliced

2 portobello mushroom, sliced

5 cherry tomatoes, cut half

100 g shredded mozzarella cheese

Breakfast Topping

2 hash brown, pan fry till crunchy

1/2 zucchini, sliced

3 bacon strips, 

1 large egg

Method:

• Heat up a sauce pot over medium low fire with 1 tsp of olive oil. Add in the onion and cook till soft and translucent. Add in minced garlic and cook for another 3 minutes. 
• Pour the tomato sauce into the caramelised onions. Add sugar, salt and pepper to taste. Stir and cook till it simmers. Continue to cook for another couple minutes, remove from fire and set aside for use later.

• In a bowl, weigh out the flour, yeast and salt, set aside.

• Next, heat up the HappyCall pan at low fire. Add in the flour mixture, water and honey in to the pan. Stir together till it becomes a sticky soft dough.
• Spread it evenly over the pan surface.

• Next spread on the reserved tomato sauce over the dough.

• Now add all your toppings. Remember to season you salmon and prawns (light soy sauce, white pepper and a dash of sesame oil) 

• Lastly, sprinkle salt and pepper for additional seasoning, a little olive oil if desired. Then sprinkle that mozzarella  cheese.
• At this point with the fire still at low, cover the pan to cook for 5 mins. HappyCall pan will seal tight which allows better circulation of the heat and thus cooks are evenly and faster. 
• After 5 minutes, open the pan just a little with a small gap. And cook for another 10 minutes.

• After 10 minutes, open the cover and you have the pizza cooked and ready to be eaten.

• Remove from pan and slice up to serve. Enjoy!
• If you are trying out the Breakfast Pizza, repeat the same steps as above to make the dough at the bottom. Spread the marinara sauce and then put all the toppings over it.

• Cover to cook for 5 minutes. Then open the pan cover, sprinkle the cheese and crack the egg over it.

• Now cover but leaving a small gap, cook for another 10 minutes. And then open up, you'll get this:

• Slice and serve while still warm. Enjoy!

A delicious Italian meal that the kids love ready within minutes~! Literally ! Okay maybe the preparation takes awhile, but the cooking time and everything in a pan...it is really easy! If you have a HappyCall, you gotta try this. Else head on down to TANGS to get your pan since they are having this 12% rebate on the 21st to 22 nd May. And there's an early birds offer available too from 8.30am to 10.30am. Don't miss out!

And of course a closer look at this pizza. Thin crust checked, creamy delicious toppings checked....less cleaning up? Checked!

Do try this out and let me know how you like it! 
Happy day and cooking ahead all!