Crab Meat Omelet and Mixed Berry Crumble Cake

Last week when I went visiting my parents, my mum gave a little surprise. ;) She actually bought me 3 fresh blue crabs! ;) At first I felt a little helpless because I have not handled fresh crabs before and it's been awhile since I last cooked them too. :P Luckily my parents helped me washed and steamed the crabs, then packed them nicely for me to bring home. Lucky me! They told me these fresh crabs have really sweet and tender meat, best eaten that day. My mum gave me a few suggestions and I decided to go with the simplest yet delicious recipe; Crab Meat Omelet.

One of the main reason why I chose to go with this recipe is because my 2 young girls. I can't expect them to get the crab meat out of the spiky shell themselves....they probably be complaining more then eating!

It was not too difficult to get the meat out, because it was really fresh and the meat was plum and juicy. However it was a little time consuming to do all 3. :P These 3 crabs actually yielded quite a bit of meat, which could make 2 BIG plates of crab meat omelet. So I freeze half of it for good use the following week. :)

If you are interested to make this dish, here is how I did it:

Ingredients for Crab Meat Omelet:
150g fresh crab meat
1 tbsp minced garlic and shallot
3 large eggs
1 tsp light soy sauce
salt and pepper to taste
1 ripe tomato, sliced into thin wedges
1 spring of green onion, diced small

Method:

• In a large bowl, crack the eggs in. Add 2 tbsp of water into the eggs and lightly beat it till frothy.
  
• Add soy sauce into the egg mixture and some salt and pepper to taste.
• In the meantime, heat up the wok with about 2 tbsp of cooking oil at medium high fire.
  
• Add in the garlic and shallot and stir fry till fragrant. Add in the eggs and swirl the wok a bit to cover more surface area.
• Moments later, add in the crab meat, tomato wedges in. Leave it for a good 3 minutes to get that golden brown color before starting to flip the omelet to fry the other side.
  
• After frying the other side for another 3 minutes, dish up and sprinkle some chopped green onions over. Serve while still warm.
  

This is really a simple and wonderfully delicious dish, even my elder daughter who is not too fond of seafood, enjoyed it a lot too! ;) The fresh sweetness of the crab meat was tasty with the tender soft omelet, double thumbs up! Some might feel that it's too much 'luxury" to add the crab meat in such a simple dish...come on, who cares if it still ends up in my tummy?! Lol! Hope you all will be able to try it out. ;)

Another lovely recipe that I want to show everyone today is yet another simple recipe that you can whip up in no time. It's Mix Berry Crumble Cake. This cake was actually an order for my neighbors here and since they do trust my taste, I decided to introduce a new cake to them. In fact, after taste testing it, I was really glad I did that. ;)

Since strawberries and blueberries were quite abundant in the past weeks, making this mixed berry cake was not too difficult. And I love using fresh berries to bake, it really makes the cake extra moist and gives it a vibrant color too! ;)

This recipe is actually adapted from my previous Strawberry muffin recipe but made some modifications to it. I replaced 1/3 of the caster sugar with brown sugar, added sweet crumbs on top and also added blueberries on top. Note that I did not mix the berries into the batter this time, merely just sprinkle them on the top.

The contrast in the sweet crumbs on top and moist tender cake below was really good. And every mouth is like almost melt in the mouth...yummy!

With a cup of tea and a slice of this sweet cake and you are golden. ;) If you try this out, you can also use fresh cherries which might also be a good combo with the cake. ;) The next time I make this I will make it in a big round cake pan...enough to last me a few good days. ;) Okay, got to run now, take care all! Have a great week!

Happy Birthday Dear Mum & Ladyfingers Genoise

It has been a busy week again and it seems like there is little to no time left for my blogging. :( And nowadays I don't turn on my laptop as often as I used to, sometimes it can be a good 3 days. :P With that new gadget phone, I am totally satisfied with just that 3x2 inch screen to visit other blogger's posts and leaving comments, on the go! ;) That is why I am posting less lately. :P Hope this doesn't keep up though....not too "healthy" for my blog, lol! ;D But don't get me wrong, I am baking and cooking every single day, and there is plenty of post and photos to show. It's just my poor time management is just not making things efficient enough. :P Okay, that aside, last Sunday, I got busy baking my dear mum's birthday cake which fell on last Sunday. Nothing very special, just a simple Strawberry Shortcake with homemade Ladyfingers wrapped around it. ;)

Simplicity is all this cake is about. I didn't have that much time anyways, lol! And since my mum loves fruit cakes, going with this will be a safe bet. :) And I was really lucky to find these big and sweet strawberries especially since it is not really in season now. :P The recipe I adapted is pretty much the same as the Strawberry Swiss Roll cake I made. Instead of baking the sponge cake in a 10x8 inch tray, I used 2 round 8" round cake pan. :)

I was in a rush and did not get nice shots for the cake. :P Furthermore I totally forgotten to take a shot of the inside of the cake after it was cut...haiz. :P Notice those homemade ladyfingers are not even in shape! Anyway, at least it made the cake slightly more "sophisticated", lol!

But the good thing was my mum loved the cake. ;) My family were pretty impress that I was able to come up with this in a day, lol! How did this little daughter/sister of theirs that used to have no clue in cooking/baking did this, lol! Yeah ladies and gentleman, I've grown up!

Here is the shot of the cake (secretly taken while they were singing "Happy Birthday" to my mum, heehee) Yaks! The candle wax is dripping on the cake! :P Check out my mum's age, she's 70 but she still look as young as late 50s. No white hair and no color-dye either. ;) (Fingers crossed, praying I'll be the same when I hit 70, lol!) Well, I won't be showing photos, so you'll have to take my word for it, hee. :D Glad that everyone enjoyed eating the cake. Mission accomplished!Anyways, I wanted to show how I made the Ladyfingers I used in the cake. No, not that vegetables we eat in curry fish head OK. It's a genoise studier then your usual sponge cake, more flour in it that is. So it actually retains it's shape with baking. If you have tasted the traditional Tiramisu cake, these genoise can be found in it. It's usually soaked up in the Kalua mix and gives that extra texture that Tiramisu needs. :) Anyway, that will be another post. :) Taste wise of the genoise itself is like a drier cake and a bit crisp on the outside when it first come out from the oven. Something like a dry Kueh Bulu. :)

Frankly speaking I need to brush up on my piping skill here....these ladyfingers look pretty rouged and uneven in shapes. :P Anyway, my first try on the recipe, so I won't be too hard on myself. :) Enough, here is the recipe:

Recipe for Ladyfinger Genoise (makes about 30 of 5 X 1cm):
Set A:
130g cake flour
some confectioner's sugar for dusting
Set B:
65g egg yolk 35g caster sugar
Set C:
100g egg white
1g cream of tartar
65g caster sugar

Method:

• In a large mixing bowl, beat all ingredients of Set B until ribbon stage. Set aside to be used later.

• In another mixing bowl, beat the egg white from Set C until foamy. Add cream of tartar and continue to beat. Then gradually add the caster sugar in and beat the mixture till stiff peaks.
• Gently fold the egg yolk mixture into the egg white mixture till both is well combined but do not overmix.
• Sift in the cake flour and gently fold in till no visible flour lumps.
  
• Transfer the batter into a piping bag with a wide tip. Preheat the oven to 18oC and prepare a baking tray with parchment paper.
• Pipe the genoise out into 5cm by 1 cm sticks on the prepared tray and bake in the oven for 10 minutes till golden brown.
  
• Remove from oven and let cool completely before storing or use. Freeze unused ones for up to 1 week.
  

Unfortunately, these genoise taste best on the day it's baked. It will become too tough or chewy the following. However I have to admit these ladyfingers did help beautify my mom's cake, else it would look too plain. :P I hope you all will give this recipe a try and perhaps use it to decorate your cake next time. I am sure with steady hands, your ladyfingers will look great and make your cake look fabulous. ;) Happy baking all!