Neapolitan Yogurt Cheesecake ?? ??????

Had this idea of making a chilled neapolitan cheesecake. Tried searching online for one, but couldn't find one. I can only find baked ones.. So, I created this for my mom.

I used yogurt for the top layer, so that the cake would be lighter on the tummy.

After tasting this (after my mom cut the cake, of course), I can say, I'm satisfied with it. Recieved good comments on it. Saying it was light and refreshing, not too filling and overpowering. I like the slightly bitter chocolate sponge (bitter like dark choc), it's a good contrast to the sweet fillings.

So, if u are looking for a light cheesecake, try this. If u want a very strong cheese smell cake or prefer a denser one... skip this.

Chocolate Sponge
4 eggs
100gm sugar
70gm flour
20gm cocoa powder
50gm corn oil

1. Preheat oven at 180C. Line a 10� x 10� shallow square pan with paper.
2. Beat eggs and sugar until light and fluffy, about triple in volume
3. Sift cocoa powder together with flour.
4. Fold into (2). Mix well.
5. Fold in corn oil.
6. Pour into baking pan and bake for 15-20 minutes.
7. Remove from oven and remove paper lining from cake.
8. Let cool and cut cake to fit cake ring. (I used 8 inch ring)
9. Place cut out cake in cake ring onto cake board and freeze.

Vanilla Cream Cheese layer
250 gm cream cheese (room temperature)
40gm sugar
100 gm plain yogurt
1 tsp vanilla essence
100 gm whipping cream (whipped)
1 Tbsp gelatin
60 ml water.

1. Put gelatin and water into a heat proof bowl. Double boil until gelatin dissolves. Let cool to room temperature.
2. Beat cream cheese and sugar until light and creamy.
3. Add in yogurt and vanilla essence. Mix well.
4. Fold in whipped cream. Mix well.
5. Drizzle in dissolved gelatin and mix well.
6. Pour cheese filling onto frozen choc sponge. Level surface and place cake into the fridge, not freezer.

Strawberry Yogurt layer.
150gm strawberries
2 Tbsp sugar
420gm strawberry flavoured yogurt ( I used 3 cups of Dutch Lady yogurt)
100gm whipping cream
1 � Tbsp gelatin
60ml water

1. Chop strawberries and macerate with sugar until strawberries soften and bleed. Puree with a fork.
2. Bloom gelatin in water.
3. Bring whipping cream to a boil and pour onto gelatin mixture. Stir to make sure gelatin is dissolved.
4. Mix yogurt with pureed strawberries.
5. Pour (3) into (4) and mix well.
6. Pour (5) onto set cheese layer. Chill cake for 5 hours before removing from cake ring.

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Fried Silver Pin Noodles ????

I still haven't deliver......... can't wait for it.... When u know it's fully engaged..but dunno when the bb wants to come out, the wait is rather......nerve wrecking!

Malaysians call silver pin noodles as Loh Su Fun ???, which literally translates to rat noodles. Why such a disgusting name.. Simply because the noodle looks like a short rat tail.

I�ve once cooked this with my Malay students back in Pahang, 5 years ago. Boy were they shocked when I told them that we�re cooking rat noodles that day, �Mi tikus� , and it got the other teachers scrambling to the Home Science kitchen to see what the heck are rat noodles when they heard that my students will be learning to cook it that day.

I like to cook this the way that roadside hawkers cook �kueh kak� or fried radish/carrot cake, or chow loh bak gou ????, depends on what u may call it, with preserved radish, chilli and lots of beansprouts�

Ingredients:
450gm Silver pin noodles (loh su fun)
300gm beansprouts (I love a lot of this)
3 eggs
� cup peeled prawns
� cup chopped preserved radish , ??(I use the less salty type, if using the salty type, chop and soak in water b4 use)
1 Tbsp finely chopped garlic
4-5 Tbsp oil (yes, this much!!)
4-6 Tbsp light soy sauce (depends on the saltiness of the brand u use)
1 heaped Tbsp chili paste (cili boh/giling)

** Work very quick in Step 2-5. You can relax in the later steps.

Method:
1. If u�re using supermarket bought noodles, blanch in boiling water for 5 seconds, drain well. If wet market ones, just leave them as they are.
2. Heat wok until very hot (if not noodles will stick), add in oil. Coat wok well with hot oil.
3. Put in chopped garlic, quickly stir. It�ll burn easily with a very hot wok.
4. Put in chopped radish and prawns. Stir until prawn gets fragrant and half curled.
5. Put in drained noodles and toss well. When noodles are well warmed through, as in 1-2 minutes time, push them aside in the wok.
6. Crack eggs into centre of wok and let the eggs fry for a few seconds before pushing back the noodles onto the eggs. Toss well.
7. Put in 3 or 4 Tbsp soy sauce. Stir well. Taste. Add soy sauce tablespoon by table spoon until desired saltiness is achieved. (I put in 6 Tbsp of Lee Kum Kee light soy sauce). Stir in chili paste.
8. Spread noodles around wok to let noodles dry up a bit. No need to stir too often. Mix and spread noodles every 30 second interval. Do this for about 2 to 3 minutes or until desired dryness is achieved.
9. When desired dryness and fragrance is achieved, put in beansprouts and toss for another 1-2 minute, depending on how crisp u want the sprouts to be.
10. Dish up and serve.

Method of cooking is done differently than the hawkers simply because our home stoves are not as hot as the hawker�s fuming stoves. You need to know the heat level of ur stove to adjust the cooking method stated above to achieve the �wok hei� that is greatly needed to make this noodle dish yummy yummy.





My Lydia were all thumbs up with this dish.. even tho it contains hot chilli!!!

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Salad Pie Tee

Actually, this is a very old post that I should've posted long long time ago.

RecentlyI haven't been cooking much... so, I'm looking back into some pics that I've taken some time ago, but haven't post.

I made these during Chinese New Year 2008. Not for the reunion dinner, but as leftovers.. kekeke. There were ground peanuts leftover from the Lou Sang, water chestnut from dunno what, and pie tee that hub's aunts bought.

So, I just mixed equal amounts of water chestnut, carrots, and cucumbers with mayo, fill up the pie tees and top with some ground peanuts.... It was a refreshing change from the regular cooked turnip filling.

Ingredients
Water chestnuts
Carrots
Cucumber (peeled, cored)

2 Tbsp Mayonnaise
1/4 cup ground peanuts

1. Dice water chestnuts, carrots and cucumber into 1cm cubes. Prepare 1/2 cup each.
2. Mix (1) with mayonnaise.
3. Fill up pie tees.
4. Top with ground peanuts.
5. Serve immediately.

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Pandan Kaya Sponge Sandwiches

My sis in law�s mother in law gave us a bottle of home made pandan kaya.. and it�s been weeks, we still can�t finish it.
So, I made this cake, used the kaya as filling.. yummy, yummy.

Ingredients:Sponge:
160gm sugar
1 Tbsp Ovalette (cake emulsifier)
5 eggs
125gm flour
1 tsp baking powder
40ml thick coconut milk
1 tsp pandan paste
75gm corn oil

Filling� cup whipped cream
2 heaped Tbsp of pandan kaya

Method:1. Preheat oven at 180C. Line 2 baking sheets with baking paper. ( I used 2 trays of 10X10inch pan)
2. Beat sugar and ovalette until sugar looks crumbly and yellow.
3. Put in eggs and beat until combined.
4. Sift in flour and baking powder and combine to a smooth paste.
5. Pour in coconut milk and pandan paste. Beat until mixture is thick and fluffy. It will double up. 6. Fold in corn oil and bake in 2 baking sheets for 20 minutes each.
7. Cool cake and mix whipped cream with pandan kaya.
8. Place one layer of cake, surface side down and spread filling evenly.
9. Cut into desired size.



*** this cake freezes very well. Just thaw it for a while and yummy, yummy. Hub asked me to make this and freeze it, so that he can have some whenever he is hungry.

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Sandwich Dirt Cakes ???????

I made Dirt Pot Cakes for Lydia's 1st birthday party. And I made these again for my colleagues on Lydia's actual birthday. But in sandwich form... without any flowers or worms


The dirt pot cakes in paper cups on Lydia's birthday

With flowers and worms...

Sponge:
(A)110 gm flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
50gm sugar
5 egg yolks
50ml milk
50ml corn oil
1 tsp vanilla essence

B) 5 egg whites
1/4 tsp cream of tartar
100 gm sugar

1. Heat oven to 170C
2. Combine A to a smooth paste.
3. Beat egg whites until frothy.
4. Put in cream of tartar and beat until soft peaks, add in sugar and beat until stiff.
5. Fold in 1/4 of egg whites to A, when well combined, fold in another 1/4 egg whites, then the rest of it. Do with a quick hand.
6. Place batter onto a 10 X 10 inch lined baking pan and bake for 25 minutes.

Filling:
200ml non dairy topping, whipped (u'll get about 2 cups of icing)
1 can of fruit cocktail, drained and chopped.

Topping:
Crushed oreo cookies

Assembly:
1. Cut sponge into 2 slices.
2. Mix 2/3 of whipped topping with chopped fruits.
3. Spread filling onto the first layer, and top with another layer of sponge. Press well.
4. Spread remaining portion of whipped topping onto cake.
5. Sprinkle crushed oreo evenly onto cake.
6. Chill for at least 1 hour before cutting cake.

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Stir Fried Long Beans with Garlic ?????

I know this is an easy dish that many people will know how to do...

And I also know that many people do not cook long beans this way..

I just want to share with you that long beans are extremely fragrant when cooked this way..

and this method can be applied to other leafy vege dishes in order to achieve that 'wok smell' (wok hei) that we can only get in restaurants.

Ingredients

2 cloves of garlic, smashed with the side of a cleaver(even if u want to chop it, u must smash it first. If not the fragrance will be different)

200 gm long beans (washed n cut into long slants)

1/2 tsp salt

1 1/2 Tbsp oil

1 Tbsp water (if u want it slightly softer)

Method

1. Heat wok until hot.

2. Put in salt, stir a bit and wait for them to be jumping around.

3. Put in oil (at this point, the wok will be smoky)

4. Put in garlic and stir.. be careful, it'll burn easily at this point

5. Put in long beans (should be slightly damp at this point) and toss well for 1 minute.

6. Pour water around the wok, not onto the beans. The steam will soften the beans a bit.

7. Dish up.

Warning: If u cannot stand the "green smell" of vege, you may find this too raw for ur liking. Adding more water to further cook it will spoil the original intended texture & smell. But in the end, u're still the one that'll eat ur own stuff... Up to u then.

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Steamed Pandan Cup Cakes

My Braun Multimix of 12 years said good bye to me recently... so, making cakes that needs lots of whipping up has to be put off until I get a new good mixer..

I made this based on my previous post of Steamed Cheese Cake.

Steamed Pandan Cup Cake Recipe

Dry ingredients

(A) 200gm cake flour
� tsp salt
4 tsp baking powder

80gm sugar

Wet Ingredients
100ml pandan juice (from 3 blades of pandan leaves)
100ml coconut milk
2 eggs
20gm melted butter

Method:
1. Sift A.
2. Mix sugar with (A)
3. Beat eggs and combine all wet ingredients.
4. Combine wet and dry ingredients well.
5. Spoon into paper lined cups until 2/3 full.
6. Steam on high heat for 15 minutes.

**********
10 cup cakes

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Omelet with Minced Meat Gravy ?????

Omelet with Minced Meat Gravy

Ingredients
3 eggs (beaten and fried into an omelet)

� cup minced pork or chicken
1/3 cup straw mushrooms (quartered)
1 clove garlic (finely chopped)
1 shallot (finely chopped)

Gravy:
1 tsp cornstarch
� cup water
1 Tbsp soy sauce
1 tsp oyster sauce
Pinch of sugar
1 Tbsp oil

Method

1. Heat wok and put in oil
2. Saut� shallot and garlic until fragrant and slightly golden.
3. Put in minced pork and cook until brown. Put in straw mushrooms.
4. Pour in gravy mixture and cook until gravy thickens.
5. Pour gravy over omelet and serve.

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Split Top Butter Loaf

Split Top Butter Loaf Recipe

Bread loaf
320 gm Bread flour
66 gmWhipping cream
162 gm milk
33 gm honey
16 gm butter
3 gm yeast
4 gm salt
30gm egg

Topping:
1 tbsp butter
2 tbsp coarse sugar
Egg

Method:
Knead everything together, except butter for 15 minutes. Add in butter and knead until a thin membrane can be formed when stretched.

Cover and let proof for an hour or until doubled.

When dough has doubled, punch down and knead. Divide into six balls.
Stretch each ball long and flat, roll up. Place rolled up dough into a buttered loaf pan.
Let proof until double again.

Preheat oven to 180C. When dough has doubled, make a long 1 inch deep slit all the way through the centre. Mix butter and sugar for topping and spoon into the slit, trying to push them down a bit. Brush egg onto dough top.

Bake at 180C for 10minutes and 160C for 25 minutes.

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No Bake Strawberry Yoghurt Tart ?????

Actually I planned to make Yoghurt Cheesecake�. a Secret recipe copycat.. But I didn�t get hold of cream cheese and my yoghurt�s coming to it�s use by date.. And I got a lot of fresh strawberries in the fridge (just went to Camerons the week before, Strawberries were on sale, RM20 /2kg @ 4 big boxes).

So, this came as a sudden idea. I planned to use digestive biscuits for this, but the minimart nearby didn�t have it. So, I changed plans to use Oreo and Weetameal instead.


No Bake Strawberry Yoghurt Tart Recipe

Ingredients:

Weetameal Crust
130gm Jacob�s Weetameal (1 small pack)
2 Tbsp honey
65 gm melted butter

Oreo Crust
150gm Oreo (1 tube)
50 gm melted butter

Yoghurt Filling
500gm / 2 cups good creamy strawberry yoghurt
1 cup milk
2 Tbsp sugar
1 � Tbsp gelatin
2 Tbsp water

Topping
2 cups of strawberries (cut into halves)
1 cup water
2 Tbsp sugar
� Tbsp gelatin

Method:
1. Weetameal crust: Blend biscuits in a food processor, mix in honey and melted butter. Mix well.
2. Oreo crust: Blend whole cookies in a food processor and mix in melted butter. Mix well.
3. Press crumbs into a deep dish or tart foils. Freeze.
4. While tart cases are freezing, prepare filling. Bloom gelatin in water. Boil milk and sugar. Pour onto bloomed gelatin. Stir until gelatin is totally dissolved. Leave to cool down.
5. Pour yoghurt into milk, mix well. Ladle yoghurt mixture into chilled tart cases.
6. Place tarts into the fridge again to set and then prepare topping.
7. Boil water and sugar, remove from heat and sprinkle in gelatin. Stir to dissolve. Leave to cool until syrupy consistency.
8. When yoghurt filling has set, arrange strawberries on top of filling and spoon in a 5mm layer of gelatin mixture.
9. Chill in fridge until everything is set.




The tarts I made, 2 big and 2 small




Weetameal crust






Weetameal crust cut up







Oreo crust







Oreo crust cut up



****

I personally prefer Oreo crust

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Eggplant with Fragrant Topping ????

Eggplant or brinjal is one vegetable that many people either love it or hate it, it's the extreme of either ends. I love eggplants... but less oil please.

In Chinese cooking, eggplants are usually deep fried before cooking with other ingredients. They do this to "strengthen" the structure, so that it won't be all mushy. But it's a bit too oily, cos, eggplants are good oil 'suckers' !!!

I have a few creations that doesn't require the eggplant to be fried. This is one of them.

I know there is another version... that boils the eggplant til soft, peel them, torn to small pieces, and topped with sambal, soy sauce and lime juice.... This is not the same.. not the same..

Eggplant with Fragrant Toppings recipe

Ingredients
1 long eggplant
3 shallots
2 cloves garlic
1 red chili
1 Tbsp dried shrimp (washed, dried, chopped finely, but I used very small dried shrimps, so there�s no need to chop them up, the drier the shrimp, the crispier they'll be)
� tsp salt
2 Tbsp oil

Method
1. Chop shallot, and garlic finely. Separately chop chili finely too

2. Boil a small saucepan of water. Cut eggplants just to fit the width of the pot.
Blanch eggplants until they are cooked and soft, but not soggy. This takes less than 2 minutes

3. Drain egg plants and cut into strips.

4. Arrange nicely on a plate.

5. Heat wok and put in oil. Saute garlic and shallots until slightly golden.

6.Put in chopped chili and dried shrimp, and saut� until everything is golden and very fragrant

7. Put in salt, and stir.

8. Place fragrant toppings over blanched eggplants

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Chinese Cabbage with Pacific Clams ??????

I bought a can of pacific clams for Chinese New Year and I didn't use it that time.

Ingredients:

5 leaves of Yuan Siew Pak (Chinese long cabbage, imported from China, it does taste different than local long cabbage)
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 can pacific clams
1/2 cup of clam brine (from the can)
1/4 cup water
3/4 tsp corn starch
1 Tbsp cooking oil

Method:

1. Boil a pot of water. Add in salt.
2. Blanch Yuan Siew Pak for 1 minute. Drain and cut into desired length. Arrange on a serving plate.
3. Mix clam brine and water with cornstarch. Cook mixture until it boils.
4. Add in pacific clams, and simmer for few seconds. Off the fire and add in cooking oil.
5. Dish up clams with gravy onto Yuan Siew Pak.

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Rich Chocolate Ice Cream ????????

This is my first attempt at making ice cream.

Went thru a few sites to get an idea. Most recipes I found online needed an ice cream maker to make ice cream, but not many Malaysians have it in their homes. I'm one of those that don't have one. So, I tried to do it with just a whisk and a hand held mixer.

My brothers commented," This tastes like melted chocolate... too rich...."

My hub said," Very nice, but not more than 2 scoops at one go, very 'geng' "

Well, if u're not fan of rich chocolate ice cream, just cut down on the cocoa powder and sugar.
This is a "no maker" recipe. As long as u have a whisk as a minimum requirement.

I didn't make it according to recipes found online. This is my personal preference of proportions.



No maker Rich Chocolate Ice Cream Recipe

Ingredients:

8 egg yolks

500gm sugar

500ml milk

150 gm quality cocoa powder

2 tsp vanilla essence

500ml dairy whipping cream

Method

1. Whisk egg yolks and sugar until slightly pale.

2. Bring milk and cocoa powder to a boil.

3. Pour 1/3 of hot cocoa mixture into whisked egg yolks and combine well.

4. Pour in the rest of cocoa mixture and combine well.


5. Return the cocoa custard mixture to the fire and cook with a low fire, stirring continuously until custard turns dark and glossy. Turn off fire. Stir in vanilla essense.

6. Leave cocoa custard to cool down.

7. Pour whipping cream into a large mixing bowl and whip until soft peaks form. Whipping cream would have doubled up by now.

8. Fold 1/4 whipped cream into cooled cocoa custard mixture and combine well.

9. Continue to fold in 1/4 whipped cream at a time.

10. Place ice cream mixture into freezer and freeze for 1/2 hour.

11. Take ice cream out from freezer every half an hour to give it a good whizz.

12. After a few whizzes, transfer ice cream to freezer containers. I use Tupperware's Freezermates.

13. Freeze until firm.

Serving suggestion:

Here's how it looks after being scooped...

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