19 Sep 21 (Sun) - Pandan Leaf Chicken (Gai Hor Bai Toey)

Bought a pack of two bunches of pandan leaves last weekend because I was trying to root them for growing. However, I wasn't successful. So left with the leaves and I had to find ways to use them. Didn't have ingredients to cook dessert with them and didn't want to buy a lot of new ingredients just for that. The next best option was to cook pandan leaf chicken, a dish that I used to see in one of the Facebook cooking group.

Searched the Internet for a recipe and found one by Spice N' Pans. It seems easy enough except I didn't like the part where I need to fry the chicken with oil. So searched the Internet some more and found one published by Women's Weekly that uses the oven-bake method. Decided to combine both by using the recipe by Spice N' Pans while using the cooking method by Women's Weekly.

I have most of the ingredients on hand. So yesterday went to the market to buy two chicken breasts, young ginger and coriander. I didn't manage to buy young ginger though so had to use the regular old ginger. Came back home, cut and blend the ingredients to make the marinate. Left the chicken to marinate in the fridge while I did housework. Only started to wrap the chicken at 1pm but I was done by 2pm. Left the wrapped chicken in the fridge overnight and oven-baked them today.

I could smell the fragrant from the pandan leaf chicken while they were being baked inside the oven. The result was pretty good, not too dry even though was oven-baked. The lemongrass and coconut milk from the marinate plus the pandan leaves made the chicken very flavourful. 

Made the dipping sauce and ate with the fried kway teow that I had cooked earlier. Yummy!

14 Sep 2021 (Tue) – Ruby Grapefruit Sorbet

 Acquired the taste for ruby grapefruit recently, after buying three last month to make fruit peels enzyme. The fruit is tangy and sweet at the same time while the peels yield better results than orange peels when comes to making fruit enzyme.

Therefore, I bought another six last weekend to make more enzyme. So, what should I do with the flesh of the fruit then? Since the weather has been rather hot and humid lately, I decided to make sorbet instead. 

Ingredients (Makes about 3/4 pint)

150ml water

180ml grapefruit juice (squeeze and remove pulp)

110g white sugar

1/2 tbsp grapefruit zest (from 1 grapefruit)

Method:

1.  Combine water and sugar in a saucepan over medium high heat.

2.  Bring to a boil and stir until sugar dissolves.

3.  Remove from heat, add zest and set aside to cool.

4.  Once cool, sieve the mixture to remove the zest to set aside.

5.  Add grapefruit juice, some zest from previous step, stir and cover.

6.  Refrigerate for a couple of hours until thoroughly chilled.

7.  Once chilled thoroughly, put in the freezer.

8.  Remove from freezer after 1 hour to churn using a fork.

9.  Repeat the step for another 3-4 times and store in the freezer until ready to serve.

This sorbet is by far the best that I have made. The tanginess and sweetness was just right. When eaten with a bit of grapefruit juice and flesh, was really refreshing. This will be my go-to sorbet from now on.

11 Jul 2021 (Sun) - Hobak Jeon (Pan-fried Zucchini)

It has been a while since I blogged. The COVID-19 situation and the pro-long work-from-home arrangement killed my mood to blog or do any creative cooking.

Since last year, I have been watching a lot of Korean dramas and variety shows and became interested in their way of cooking. So, I decided to attempt something easy, Hobak Jeon (Pan-fried Zucchini), since I bought a pack of zucchini recently.

Found a simple recipe online by My Korean Kitchen but because I didn’t have plain flour, I made modification to the batter instead. 

Ingredient for Batter:

50g Self-rising flour                                            25g Corn Flour
1 egg                                                                  Pepper
Sugar                                                                 Salt
Water (adjust to the consistency that you want for the batter)

Method:
1.  Mixed all ingredients in a mixing bowl and refrigerate for at least 10 minutes before use

After the batter is ready, just dip the sliced zucchini into the batter and shallow fry in oil. The result was not bad, all things considered. Maybe next round I can make again using the correct flour. 

27 Sep 20 (Sun) - Kimchi Jjigae

Watched "House on Wheels" and learnt a lot of Korean dishes which I have never eaten before. One of them is Kimchi Jjigae. Re-watched that particular episode a few times to copy the ingredients and steps.

  1) Sauté minced garlic

  2) Add thinly sliced pork belly and stir fry till half cooked

  3) Add bite-size kimchi

  4) Add enough water to cover

  5) Add soy bean paste, oil, Korean chili powder and sugar (optional)

  6) Cut green chili and scallion to 1" length and add in to boil

  7) Cut firm tofu to 1" cube and add in to boil till cooked

  8) Serve hot with rice

Of course, this means that it will not be very accurate and given that I have not eaten the dish before, I do not know exactly how it should taste like. Therefore, I googled for a proper recipe online and found one by "My Korean Kitchen". Modified the recipe I copied from the tv program with the recipe I found online and created this.

 1) Sauté minced garlic

  2) Add thinly sliced pork belly and stir fry till half cooked

  3) Add bite-size kimchi

  4) Add enough water to cover

  5) Add 1 tbsp chili powder, 1 tbsp light soy sauce, 1 tsp Korean chili paste and some sugar

  6) Cut firm tofu to 1" cube and add in to boil till cooked

  7) Cut spring onion to 1" length and add in to boil

  8) Serve hot with rice

The recipe from My Korean Kitchen asked for Korean chili flakes but I do not have it so replaced with chili powder instead. The recipe from the tv program used scallion which I also do not have so replaced with spring onion instead.

Taste-wise, really cannot comment since I do not know how the actual dish should taste like. Haha... Perhaps I should try to eat this dish in a restaurant one day and I will know the answer.

22 Sep 20 (Tue) - Kongnamul Muchim (Soybean Sprout Side Dish)

Went to the K-fresh zone at the NTUC Finest over at Tiong Bahru Plaza last weekend and bought a packet of soybean sprouts. Have always wanted to try making Korean side dish also know as Banchan and decided to attempt this one called Kongnamul Muchim (Soybean Sprout Side Dish) by Korean Babsang.

The steps were very easy and this dish can be kept for 3-4 days.

21 Sep 20 (Mon) - Pad Krapow Moo and Pickled Radish & Carrot

Been stuck at home (and work from home) most of the time since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic and thought of trying to grow some edibles at home since I cook more often nowadays. Started with mint which is relatively easy to propagate. Then I decided to grow dill and basil. Went to the NTUC to look for them in the chilled section and bought a box each. Used water to try to propagate some cuttings and used the rest for cooking. So what can I cook using basil? Went back to my favourite dish, pad krapow moo, since I cannot visit Thailand anytime soon. Guess I got to work hard on my plating and cooking of the sunny side up. Heh.

There were some radish and carrot left in the fridge from last week so googled for a recipe to use them. Found one from "My Korean Kitchen" which was easy to follow. Tweaked the recipe to use 75g sugar, 75ml water, 75ml apple cider vinegar and a pinch of salt for a 500g honey jar. Used half of a small radish and half of a carrot. The amount turned out to be just nice. Now just need to chill it in the fridge before eating.

27 Aug 20 (Thu) - Modified Gimbap

Have always been into Korean cuisine and recently saw a post on the Facebook group "Home-cooked Delights 家常便饭" page that mentioned replacing rice with potato in the making of Korean Gimbap. This is just what I need since I don't have short grain rice. Bought things like cucumber, carrot, potato and seaweed over the weekend for today's attempt. Found my sushi mat hidden away in the corner of my cupboard. Then another idea popped into my head and that is to cook some rice and add to the mashed potato.

Got down to work early in the morning, cutting the cucumber and carrot into strips. Cut and boiled the potatoes, cooked some rice, sliced the leftover smoked duck breast and fried an egg to make egg strips. Then mashed the potatoes, added the cooked rice, seasoned them with some grated cheese and sesame oil. Once all the ingredients were done, it was down to do the rolling. Think I need more practice on that.

It was not too bad for a first attempt but there is always room for improvements. Think I will need to season the potato/rice mixture a bit more the next time.

20 Aug 20 (Thu) - Gochujang Pork Belly Rice Bowl

 Ever since I read a CNA article on Yeo Jin-goo last month and learnt about his new reality TV program "House on Wheels", I have been following each and every episode of the program faithfully. Each episode brings the viewers to different parts of Korea and the hosts, Song Dong-il, Kim Hee-won and Yeo Jin-goo, will cook meals for themselves and their guests.

In episode 8, Jin-goo cooked Gochujang Pork Belly Rice Bowl for P.O of Block B, his guest and co-star in Hotel Del Luna. Watched that episode and that particular segment a few times to jot down the recipe for it.

Finally got down to cooking it with some modifications to the steps. I like the taste of it but just not sure if it was supposed to taste like this.

Ingredients:

300g pork belly, sliced thinly 2 tbsp oil 4 garlic cloves, minced 2 shallot, minced 1 onion, diced

1.5 tbsp honey                    1.5 tbsp light soy sauce                    1.5 tbsp vinegar                    Few heapful of gochujang sauce                    1 egg, beaten

Method:
1.  Heat up the oil in a frying pan.
2.  Add garlic and shallot and stir fry till fragrant.
3.  Add pork belly and continue to stir fry on medium heat until almost ready.
4.  Add honey, light soy sauce, vinegar, gochujang and onion and continue to stir fry till well mixed.
5.  Increase the heat to high for the sauce to boil down and bubble.

6.  Add beaten egg and continue to stir fry for few seconds then off the heat.

7.  Pour sauce and pork belly over a bowl of rice and serve hot.

22 Jul 20 (Wed) - Castella Sponge Cake

Have been practicing baking this cake since my first attempt back in early-June and failed many times over. Took a break from it for the past couple of weeks and decided to attempt it again.

Baked a one-egg portion cake based on the recipe from the first attempt using a smaller baking tin and baked in an oven. Then adapted the baking time (i.e., 1hr 15mins) and method (i.e., bake at 130 degree Celsius with water bath, aluminium foil over the baking tin and drop the cake a few times after taking out from the oven) from another recipe I found on the Facebook group "Home-cooked Delights 家常便饭" page.

One-egg Portion...

... with height about one small yogurt cup.

Happy to say that the result was satisfactory. The top of the cake was still wrinkled but at least not too brown or burnt. The cake managed to rise fully without sinking after taking out from the oven.

19 Jul 20 (Sun) - Pan-fry Salmon on Rosti with Chicken Ham Spring Onion Egg Roll

Craved for salmon so cooking it again. Have potato and chicken ham to clear so squeezed my brain for ideas. In the end, decided to just have fun with whatever ingredients I have on hand. Turned the potato into rosti, pan-fry the salmon and cooked the chicken ham with spring onion and egg to make into egg roll.

14 Jul 20 (Tue) - Lemon Yogurt Cake with Sakura

Have been practicing on baking castella cake for a while now but still unable to quite get it right. Felt a bit disheartened and decided to bake something familiar. Dug out the Lemon Yogurt Cake recipe and added some salted sakura that I have in the pantry. Now I will have cakes for afternoon tea over the next couple of days.

12 Jul 20 (Sun) - Teriyaki Salmon, Roast Eggplant and Egg with Sesame Sauce

Have not cooked salmon for a while. Bought a big piece recently and decided to cook it with teriyaki sauce. Bought some mini eggplants too but have never cooked them before. Googled on how to cook eggplants and most of the recipes were on steaming them with garlic and soy sauce. Searched further and found a couple on roasting eggplants.

Gave one of the roasting recipes a shot but the eggplants did not turn out as expected. Instead of becoming crispy, they were soft even though I flipped them over half way through cooking as instructed in the recipe. Fortunately, they were not soggy so it was not too bad. Taste-wise, I guess I can develop a taste for eggplants now.

06 Jul 20 (Mon) - Stir-fry Kimchi Pork Belly (Second Attempt)

Was not happy with the Stir-fry Kimchi Pork Belly that I cooked last month and so decided to give it another shot. This time round I managed to cut the pork belly into thinner slices and did not marinate them before cooking.

Instead, all I did was stir-fry the pork belly slices for a few minutes before adding kimchi, a dash of light soy sauce and rice wine. Turns out to be even better than the first attempt. So I guess cooking without recipe sometimes works better than following one blindly.

21 Jun 20 (Sun) - Stir-fry Kimchi Pork Belly

Watched this episode from "I Live Alone" featuring Song Seung-heon where he cooked for his friends when he was filming on Jeju Island. One of the dishes was stir-fry kimchi pork belly and he seemed to just really cooked with just the kimchi with pork belly and no other seasoning. It looked easy enough and I thought of trying it out myself. It was a few weeks ago and I finally got the chance to try the dish out today.

Bought a slab of pork belly from the market and sliced it myself. My knife-work needs more polishing. Tried my best to cut as thin as possible but still not thin enough I think.

Googled a bit about the dish and most recipes called for the pork belly to be marinated with light soy sauce and rice wine. In addition to marinating the pork belly, some recipes called for gochujang (Korean chili paste) and gochujang (Korean chili powder) to be added while stir-frying the dish. As I have neither the gochujang nor the gochujang, I just marinated the pork belly with light soy sauce and rice wine.

The cooking steps were simple. Just add in the pork belly to stir-fry for awhile till half-cooked and then add in the kimchi to cook till the meat is done. Taste-wise, I think the marinate overpowered the kimchi taste. Maybe next round I will not marinate the pork belly and also to use the shabu-shabu sliced pork instead. Nevertheless, it is still a taste of Korea. Hahaha...

After I was done with that, I went on to make the castella sponge cake again. This time round, I made them as cupcakes instead but forgot to lower the temperature some more compared to the previous round and hence, they became wrinkled again. Will need more practice.

13 Jun 20 (Sat) - Castella Sponge Cake

There has been a lot of posts on castella sponge cake lately on the Facebook group "Home-cooked Delights 家常便饭" page. My sis also makes quite a mean castella sponge cake using her airfryer. So follow their footsteps to try and make one. Found this recipe that bakes the cake in a rice cooker and gave it a try last week.

Unfortunately my cheap rice cooker wasn't able to bake the cake well. It kept jumping from the cook function to the keep-warm function. In the end, the edge of the cake rose well but the middle didn't. The fortunate thing was that at least it wasn't too dense in the middle either.

Not satisfy with the result and gave it another attempt today. This time I only played with one egg portion and baked in an oven. I tried baking it at 150 degree Celsius for 18 mins. As usual, the cake rose while in the oven and sank after it cooled down resulting in wrinkles. I guess I should have baked them as cupcakes instead because the cake turned out to be very short.

Wonder if it would be better if I bake it at 140 degree Celsius for longer time say maybe 20-25 mins. Shall try again.

Whole cake

One slice

26 May 20 (Tue) - Marble Butter Cupcakes (2nd attempt)

Attempted this recipe the second time with the suggestions received previously. The cakes didn't crack this round but they still sink and created wrinkles. Oh well... at least some improvements from the first round. Shall attempt it again to try and get cakes with smooth top.

11 May 20 (Mon) - Mini Chocolate Croissants

There have been many posts on using frozen prata for a lot of pastries on the Facebook group "Home-cooked Delights 家常便饭" page. Since there are some frozen prata sitting in the freezer, decided to also jump onto the bandwagon.

Experimented by making mini chocolate croissants. The result was rather good.

10 May 20 (Sun) - Honeydew Sago

There were a lot of soy milk in the fridge and the honeydew bought recently wasn't sweet. So what to do to finish all these items? Honeydew Sago dessert! Googled for a recipe to use as a base to follow and found this recipe by Roti & Rice.

Improvised to suit my needs and the result was a refreshing dessert just nice for a hot, hot day.

01 May 20 (Fri - Labour Day) - No-mixer Double Chocolate Banana Cake

There were three very ripe bananas at home so put them to use by baking a banana cake. Googled for easy recipe and found this no-mixer double chocolate banana cake recipe by Foodie Baker. The top of the cake was rather hard but fortunately the inside of the cake was moist and soft. Probably need to reduce the temperature and bake longer instead.

I reduced the amount of cocoa powder and it was a good thing I did because otherwise the cake would be rather bitter. Overall, it was quite good except that I will need to reduce the amount of cocoa powder some more the next time or omit it totally since the recipe already called for chocolate chips/chunks.

22 Apr 20 (Wed) - Marble Butter Cupcake

My sis found this marble butter cupcake recipe by Kimiya Lim and told me to give it a try. The steps seem simple enough to follow so gave it a try.

Don't know why my bakes always rose and crack in the oven then sink after cool. Posted on the Facebook group "Home-cooked Delights 家常便饭" page to ask for advice and some members told me to try to lower the temperature and bake longer as well as to only fill 2/3 of the baking cup.

Shall give this recipe another try with the suggestions given.