Coffee Meringues

I am not good at baking. From the previous unsuccessful experiments I think I am better in cooking dishes. But when I see Giada making this in one of her shows, I am very tempted to try baking one. After looking at many people talking about their failed tries at making meringues,  I am well prepared for another failed attempt at making this coffee meringues. There's always a first time.

I love to eat meringues cos they are so fluffy and light. And they are made of egg whites only, seems to be pretty healthy. But what we buy outside tends to  be pretty sweet. However, when I research about making good meringues, they were saying sugar is important factor in making good ones. Therefore, for my 1st try I shall stick to the original measurement for the sugar.

I does not have cream of tartar at home. That's why I think my meringue did not maintain it's light airy and fluffy shape. Pardon the ugly look of the meringue. I did not use pipping bag or plastic bag to pipe out. And I am BAD in shaping the meringue. I saw some chefs using only 2 spoons and they can get a pretty nice shape, but I failed haha.

Inside of the meringue. Pretty compact. Not light and fluffy. But still crunchy ;p

Add a scoop of blue bell vanilla ice cream to go with the coffee meringue so yummy! 

But I am pretty satisfied with what I get today. At least it taste okie and not burnt. Thought it is not fluffy, but it is crunchy and I can still eat it as a biscuit ;p For my next attempt I will reduce the sugar and add cream of tartar. AND get a pipping bag! 

Recipe follows: Adapted from FoodNetwork Giada's recipe of coffee and chocolate meringue

Ingredients

• 3 egg whites, at room temperature
• Pinch fine sea salt
• 3/4 cup superfine baker's sugar*(I used confectioner's sugar)
• 1/8 teaspoon cream of tartar 
• 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 teaspoons instant espresso powder
• 2/3 cup mini semisweet chocolate chips (I did not add this)

Directions

*Can be found at specialty cooking stores. Or you can use the food processor to grind the sugar into finer sugar.

Place an oven rack in the center of the oven. Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F (Saw some reviews which says that 300 is too high and recommended it to be 225 - 250. So i use 250 and it turn out well) Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Set aside.

In a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat the egg whites and salt until frothy, about 1 minute. With the machine on medium-high speed, gradually add the sugar, about 1 tablespoon at a time. Add the cream of tartar, vanilla extract, and espresso powder. Increase the speed to high and beat until the mixture is thick and holds stiff peaks, about 3 to 5 minutes. Using a spatula, fold in the chocolate chips. Drop 1/4 to 1/2 cup of the mixture onto the prepared baking sheet about 2 inches apart. Bake for 30 minutes. Rotate the pan and bake for another 30 minutes. Turn off the oven and allow the meringues to cool completely while still in the oven, about 2 hours.

Store airtight in a plastic container for up to 4 days.

Cook's Note: The meringue mixture can also be placed in a pasty bag fitted with a large, plain tip (recommended: Ateco # 9808) and piped onto the baking sheet.

Mui Fan (烩饭)

I seldom order Mui Fan when I eat at Cze Char stall. Cos I think we can easily cook this at home. I think it is an easy way to cook a one pot meal with whatever ingredients you can find at home. I did my version one day when I am so lazy to think of a 1 soup 2 dish meal for dinner. Open up my fridge and found some sea cucumber, frozen mix seafood and some vegetables. Just nice for a seafood mui fan! You can also use chicken or pork too.

Ingredients:
1  Prawns
2  Frozen seafood mix
3  Sea cucumber
4  Vegetables (any kind will do)
5   A clove of minced garlic
6   Oil
7   Salt
8  Pepper
9  Cooked Rice
10 1 beaten egg
11  Some Water or chicken stock
12 Corn starch mixture

Steps:
1  Heat up some oil in the pan. Saute the minced garlic.
2  Add in all the seafood and saute for a while.
3  Add in the vegetables. Stir fry for a while.
4  Add in the water or chicken stock.
5  When the water starts to boil add in the salt than corn starch mixture to thicken the stock.
6  Add in the beaten egg and turn off the fire. When the egg gets 3/4 cooked you can scoop the mixture onto the cooked rice.
7  If you like you an add in a dash of pepper before you serve.

枸杞叶肉丸汤

有两道汤我好久没有喝了。第一道是老黄瓜汤，第二道是枸杞叶猪肝汤。在这里的华人超市完全找不到这两样食材。没想到那天竟然让我无意间找到枸杞叶！真是太高兴了，马上买了回家煮汤！

以前妈妈煮枸杞叶猪肝汤，我就会很期待。因为有我喜欢吃的猪肝！枸杞叶和猪肝是绝配。 可惜先生不吃猪肝，所以只好用肉末做成肉丸煮汤。枸杞叶令我印象深刻的是它有非常多的刺。每次帮妈妈摘枸杞叶时都要小心翼翼。不然一个不留神，就会被厚厚的刺扎到手，还蛮痛的。不过，这里卖的枸杞叶虽然还是有刺但是却小很多。

这次一煮好汤，马上忍不住喝了一口。那熟悉的枸杞叶汤的味道真是令我想起妈妈煮的汤！

食材
1  枸杞叶（摘下叶子，冲水沥干水份）
2  肉末150克
3  枸杞
4  鸡蛋一颗
5  盐

步骤：
1 肉末先用酱油，胡椒粉，太白粉调味。
2  将锅里的水烧开后，将肉末做成肉丸放入水中。盖锅盖，焖一下。等水再次煮开后，加入枸杞叶和枸杞。
3  等肉丸熟了，加盐调味。然后加入蛋液。
4  蛋液变成蛋花后，就可以关火盛盘。

粉葛花生瘦肉汤

粉葛也称为葛根。我妈妈第一次煮这个汤的时候，我就爱上粉葛甜甜的味道。这道汤不但好喝，更重要的是吃粉葛对身体有非常多的益处。查了查医学百科网站，粉葛能防治心肌缺血，心肌梗死，心律失常，高血压，动脉硬化等病症。还有它能降糖降脂，用于治疗高血糖，高血脂病症，有显著疗效。

要去除粉葛厚厚的皮非常不容易，所以当你用刀削皮时要小心手。我妈妈一般上煮粉葛汤时不加花生。这次我加了花生，增加了另一种层次的味道，使汤更甜。

食材：
1  粉葛一个，去皮切块
2   花生
3   瘦肉（排骨也可以）
4   红枣去核

步骤：
1  瘦肉先用滚水川烫。捞起备用。
2  将大概6碗水煮开，然后加入所有材料。
3  等水再度煮滚，转小火煮大概1 1／2 至2个小时就可以了。

Ngoh Hiang 五香

Have been too lazy to cook anything special and posting it here. And I am hooked to a new hobby ---crocheting, recently. That's why I had been quiet for the past 1 month. Time flies it's October now! Luckily this year it had been a quiet hurricane season here in Houston. I can feel Autumn coming (actually officially it is Autumn)with some cool weather approaching here---finally!

 I have cooked this Ngoh Hiang quite some time ago. I wouldn't say it is a success cos from the picture you can see that I did not managed to roll it tightly and nicely plus looks a bit burnt ;p But taste wise still ok a nice five spice powder aroma. There is a Hokkien and Teochew Ngoh Hiang recipe. I followed the Teochew one as I like to have yam in it. I will add more water chestnut next time to add more bite to it. The dried beancurd sheet which I bought here seems to be different from those sold in Singapore. It is not salty (which is good) but it seems to be harder and tougher which makes it hard to make it into a roll. Or maybe I lack the skills haha! 

The recipe I have adapted from Cuisine Paradise(http://ellenaguan.blogspot.com/2010/05/teochew-ngoh-hiang.html). Do take a look at her website as she has detailed instructions and photos to guide you.

The changes I made is that I did not add carrots and the fried onions. As mentioned in her website, if you make a big batch like me and intend to freeze please remember to wait for it to cool down before putting in the freezer. I have wrapped the Ngoh Hiang individually in plastic wrap so that they will not stick together when frozen. 

I have tried to use the oven to bake the Ngoh Hiang too (to lazy to deep fry and do the cleaning work later), actually it also can be pretty crispy on the outside! I have sprayed some oil (I use those baking sprays) on the ngoh hiang and put them on the baking tray to bake at 350 F for 10- 15 min or until you see the Ngoh Hiang turns slightly brown.   Oh before I forget you must defrost them before you bake them. It is a lot of work making them but I think it is worth the effort. You can make more and froze them. When you have a carving for it just dump them in the oven and you can enjoy it after 15 min! :)

Raw Ngoh Hiang. Looks ugly right! My wrapping skills really needs more practice

Chicken Curry

Usually when I crave for curry chicken, I will buy prima deli's chicken curry mix. It is the best I have eaten so far and I can get it from the supermarket in Chinatown! Ever since I have learnt to make my own Sambal chilli paste, I have tried to make my own curry from scratch. This year when I went back to Singapore, my mother-in-law bought me 5 packets of meat curry powder and seafood curry powder each. I have so many in my pantry now! Have been trying to use up the curry powder but I don't think I can ever finish!

My neighbour has been giving us gumbo which he cooked for a few times already. He and his father can cook the best gumbo! Even much better than the restaurants! We are really pai sei (embarrassed). Therefore I decided to cook chicken curry for them as they love curry!  It is really not difficult to cook chicken curry from scratch. Just that you will need the time to chop the ingredients for the chilli paste. You can refer to my previous post on how to make the spice paste.

Ingredients: (serve 4 to 5)
1    Chicken wings and drumlets (you can use whole chicken too)
2    4 medium size potato  cut into chunks
3    3 tablespoons of spice paste (the recipe is for cooked spice paste, you can don't cook it too. This time I did not cook my paste)
4    4 tablespoons of curry powder
5    1 can of coconut cream (I can only get can coconut cream here. you can get fresh coconut and squeeze the juice to make curry too. it is definitely better!)
6    Water (around 6-8 bowls or till the water covers the chicken)
7    3 tablespoon of oil
8    Some salt and sugar

Steps:
1    Heat up oil in the pan. Add in the spice paste and saute till you see the oil seperates from the paste or when the paste turns a darker colour. Note: Use medium heat so as not to burnt the paste.
2   Add in the curry powder and saute till fragrant.
3   Add in water and stir well.
4   When the water boils, add in the chicken and potato.
5   Simmer till the chicken is cooked and potato is tender.
6   Add in the coconut milk, salt and sugar.
7   When the curry starts to simmer, you can turn off heat and serve.

Note: I have marinated the chicken with curry powder overnight. you can skip this step if you are lazy.

Updated Version stir fry ladies finger (Okra) with belachan chili and Steam fish

I had a recipe for stir fry ladies finger in my previous post. After my friend ww saw that she told me another way which her mum will cook it. Her mum will pound the dried prawns with the chilli to form sort of a paste. I think it sounds good. This time I have added toasted belachan (I took a piece of belachan and toast it in the oven for a while) and pound it with dried prawns and chilies to cook it with the ladies finger. This version is of cos more yummy as the belachan adds so much fragrance to the dish. You can refer to the old version recipe on how to cook this dish. The difference is that I just added the pounded mixture to the pan to stir fry.

Besides having the ladies finger for dinner, I also steam a fish (Hong kong Style) for dinner too. It is pretty simple. Just steam the fish with ginger and scallions. Meanwhile I added 1 1/2 tablespoon of good soya sauce, some sugar, and 1tablespoon of water in a bowl and heat it up in the microwave till hot. When the fish is cooked, pour away the water accumulated in the plate, the scallions and ginger after steaming the fish. Add some ginger and scallions cut into thin strips onto the fish. Pour about 1 tablespoon of oil (I use shallot oil which I kept after frying the shallot) in a bowl and microwave till hot (be careful when doing this). Pour the hot oil onto the fish followed by the soya sauce mixture. And voila you can enjoy a great meal!