Malaysian Style Sardine Sandwich Filling

This recipe based loosely on the one found on Ayam brand website: http://www.ayambrand.com.sg/ayambrand-recipes/349-sardine-sandwich.html however, I did not have fresh chillies, red onions nor lime juice on hand so I improvised as I was desperate to eat this most yummy sandwich that I had fond memories of eating & had made during home economics classes at school a very very long long time ago.... haha! 

So here is my version of it... :-)

Malaysian Style Sardine Sandwich Filling

Ingredients

1 can (425g) Ayam brand Sardines in Tomato Sauce
1 brown/red onion (diced finely)
2 Tbsp Lingham's (Sweet) Chilli Sauce
2 Tbsp Lemon juice (or Lime juice - preferred)
1 Tbsp Fish Sauce

Oil for cooking

Optional Salt, Pepper & Sugar to taste.

Bread, Butter & Cucumber (for sandwich)

Method

1. Heat oil in pan.
2. Fry diced onions until cooked (slightly translucent color)
3. Add sardines (incl tomato sauce) and remaining ingredients.
4. Mix ingredients well and simmer on low fire to reduce sauce. Whilst cooking, mash up sardines. 

Taste and add chilli sauce/lemon juice/fish sauce/salt/pepper/sugar according to your taste!

5. Once sauce reduced turn off fire and allow to cool slightly.

6. Butter bread slices and thinly slice cucumber (leaving skin on).
7. Spread cook sardines onto bread and using a cafe style sandwich toaster, toast bread with sardine filling till desired "crispyness". Remove from toaster and place onto plate.
8. Open 1 layer of toasted bread & add sliced cucumber. Cut Sandwich into half.

Enjoy!

Notes: 

1.Some people reckon the removal of vein and bones from sardines would decrease fishy-ness of sardines but it doesn't bother me, so its entirely up to you.

2. I used Lingham's brand Chilli Sauce as it is a spicier than normal sweet chilli sauce to replace the fresh chillies & sugar found in the Ayam brand recipe link above.

Malaysian Style Sardine Sandwich Filling

Ultimate Japanese Cheesecake

I can't remember what I was searching for when I stumbled upon this recipe... and created the ultimate japanese cheesecake with a rare raspberry cheesecake sandwiched between... "rare" as in like "rare" beef; uncooked cheesecake... :-)  Initially I thought, Wow... super special cake with a rare, hard to find recipe... bonus! But no... that was not the case! *haha*... OK recipe... 

The recipe for the japanese cheesecake is found here.

The original recipe for the rare cheesecake is found here but I have also included it below.

Ingredients:

• 100gm frozen raspberries (any berries can be used, try a mixed even...)
• 125gm Philadelphia lite cream cheese
• 100gm fresh cream or UHT lactose free cream
• 3 tbsp fresh lactose free milk
• 30gm sugar
• ¼ tbsp lemon juice
• # 2½ tsp gelatin
• # ¼ cup hot water

Directions (3 ramekins or thin layer in 8" pan):

1. Bring all ingredients except those marked with # to room temperature, then blend together using blender or food processor until smooth. Set aside.
2. In a small bowl, mix together gelatin with hot water and stir until all gelatin is dissolved.
3. Pour gelatin mixture into (1), pulse the blender to mix.
4. Pour the mixture into ramekins or pan and chill in refridgerator until set.
   
   
   
   

   OR

   
   

   in cake version: I cut the japanese cheesecake into half, horizontally, then poured the blended rare cheesecake in & replaced the other half of the japanese cheesecake to form a sandwich pressing just gently so that the rare cheesecake spreads properly underneath...

   
   

   Enjoy!
   
   
   
   

Ultimate Japanese Cheesecake

French Apple/Pear Cake

This is the yummiest apple cake ever... & extremely easy & simple to make too... Loved it as I could hand beat everything so less washing up to do! *haha*

The recipe I used is by Dorie Greenspan but found it in this blog by David Lebovitz (one of my fav blogs too!).

Ingredients:
110g self-raising flour (or 3/4 plain flour mixed with 3/4 tsp baking powder)
pinch of salt
4 large apples (any variety)
2 large eggs (at room temperature)
100g sugar
3 tbsp dark rum (I just used Bunderburg Rum)
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
115g reduced salt butter (melted & cooled to room temp)

Method:

Apples coated in batter

1. Preheat oven to 180C and adjust the oven rack to the center of the oven.

2. Heavily butter a 20-23cm cake pan (I used one of those with the holes in the centre)

3. Melt butter in microwave & set aside to cool.

4. Mix flour & salt together in a small bowl.

5. Peel & core apples, then dice to about 3cm pieces.

6. In a large bowl, beat eggs till foamy then whisk in sugar, then rum and vanilla. 

7. Whisk in half of the flour mixture, then gently stir in half of the melted butter. 

Baked and Cooled... Yum!

8. Stir in the remaining flour mixture then the rest of the butter.

9. Fold in the apple cubes until they are well coated with the batter & scrape them into the prepared cake pan and smooth the top a little with a spatula.

10. Bake cake for 50 mins to 1 hour or until a knife inserted into the center comes out clean. Let cake cool for 5 mins then run a knife around the edge to loosen the cake from the pan and carefully remove the sides of the cake pan, making sure no apples are stuck to it.

Serving: Serve wedges of the cake just by itself or with some ice-cream.

Alternatives: Substitute apples for pears makes a real yum treat too... :-) My children want me to try a mango version, I have yet to do that, but will definitely let you know when I do if it works... :-)  Enjoy!

Pear Version (I think had more pears
maybe bigger pears used... *haha*)

French Apple/Pear Cake

Tau Sar Piah Filling

After making those Taiwanese Mooncakes, I couldn't get the thought of Tau Sar Piah out of my head, seeing as the skin, is pretty much the same and having learnt the method or technique to making the flaky skin... so I searched the internet & found the Tau Sar Piah filling recipe here. I used her ingredients for the skin but my SIL preferred the skin that I used for the my Taiwanese Mooncake, so I have reverted back to that for the Tau Sar Piah too.

Here is the recipe again:

shallots

Ingredients:
180g oil
10-15 shallots-thinly sliced
300g sugar
3 tsp salt
3 tsp white pepper
600g mung beans

Method:
1. Soak the beans for at least 2 hours.
2. Steam for about 1 - 2 hours (my electric steamer took about 1.5 hours) until soft, then mash mung beans.

mashed mung beans
180g oil
thinly sliced shallots

3. Mix sugar, salt & white pepper together and add to the mung beans. Mix well till thoroughly incorporated.
4.Heat oil and fry shallots till brown and fragrant (approx 10 mins)
5. Pour in the bean mixture and fry mixture till dry and can make into a ball.
6. Divide filling in to approx 100 pieces (weighing approx 16g/ball).

7. Prepare and make Water Dough & Oil Dough as per my instructions here. Note: You would need approx 1.5 lots of the Water Dough & Oil Dough to wrap all the mung bean paste made here.

8. Weigh out 100 pieces of Water Dough (weighing approx 8g/ball).
9. Weigh out 100 pieces of Oil Dough (weighing approx 4g/ball).
10. Then follow same wrapping techniques as seen with the Taiwanese Mooncake recipe.

Mung Bean Paste

Shallots frying

Tau Sar Piah Filling

Hong Kong Style Sausage Bun (Asian Hot Dogs)

Hong Kong style sausage bun
Lunch: 15-Mar-2010

Picnic: 24-Sep-2011

Recipe was obtained from Kwong Wai's friend... (& tweaked slightly) I did however, use the method from this website (http://en.christinesrecipes.com/2010/03/hong-kong-style-sausage-rolls.html) Thanks heaps Wai for sharing your friend's recipe! :-D and thanks heaps Wai's friend for allowing her to do so... Have used it quite a few times with great success! *hehe*

Note of caution though, recipe is easy to do but including all the proofing & baking time, this recipe can take up to 3 to 4 hours to do... so make sure you've got time up your sleeves... but it does make the yummiest sausage buns... the bread is beautiful and soft on the inside and so delicious smelling when they are fresh out of the oven...

2nd proofing

bread dough & sausages

Ingredients:
Using a bread maker machine, add following ingredients in the following order:

2/3 cup warm water
2 tbsp olive oil
1 egg
300g Chinese Bread Flour
45g Raw Caster Sugar
2/3 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp yeast (put last after dry ingredients)
---
Not to be put into bread machine the following ingredients necessary to complete dish:

approx 8 regular size frankfurter sausages (I like to skin them before using them or buy Costco's skinless american style hot dog sausages - about 14 in a pack - you would need to double the quantities of bread dough though, if you wanted to make all 14 into hot dogs.)

1 egg - lightly beaten for glazing

A few Cheddar cheese slices (I didn't use the Kraft Single slices, I find them to processed, I used the "real" "cheddar cheese... *hehe* OR grated mozzarella or cheddar cheese)

Method:
1. Set to "Dough" setting - includes kneading & 1st rise (approx 110mins)
2. Transfer to a clean floured surface.
3. Deflate and divide the dough into four to six equal portions (approx 75g per ball if doubled dough quantities for 15 sausage buns).
4. Knead into ball shapes.
5. Cover with cling wrap, let rest for 15 minutes.
6. Knead each part into a long tube, about 41cm in length (it depends on how long your sausage).

Optional:

with egg wash &
cheese sprinkled

Put cheddar cheese slices around the sausage then wrap dough around sausage & cheese... (Note: Mine were precut to squares then i further cut them so I could put 4 little pieces about the length of the sausage, all around the sausage) Gives it that extra yummy taste! :-D Hubby has just had his 2nd sausage roll... even though its been made for the children's lunch... *hahahaha* 

OR sprinkle grated cheese on top after brushing with egg wash glazing.

7. Roll to enclose the sausage, with start & end points facing down.
8. Place rolls on a tray lined with baking paper, covered with cling wrap or a wet towel.
9. Leave it for the 2nd round of proofing, about 45 to 60 minutes, until double in size. (the weird thing I found about this level is that prior to going into oven, buns don't look like they were rising... until I put them into oven... then it started rising... so don't be too concerned if they are not doubled in size.)
10. Brush whisked egg on surface of rolls. (& sprinkle cheese on top if using grated cheese)

what's inside...

11. Bake in a pre-heated 170-180C (356F) oven for 35 mins (mine took about 25 mins), or until golden brown.
12. Transfer onto a wire rack and let cool completely.

Tip: if not eating all immediately - put into zip lock bags or covered container & refrigerate. When ready to eat, just cover in a microwave & microwave for about 30 seconds on High... worked for us for morning b'fast! :-)

ENJOY!!  YUMMY! 

YUM YUM!

Hong Kong Style Sausage Bun (Asian Hot Dogs)

Yummiest Egg-Free, Nut-Free, Dairy-Free Choc-chip Cupcakes

These are the yummiest Egg-Free, Nut-Free, Dairy-Free Choc-chip Cupcakes...

(sugar flowers - I bought & its
not egg-free but it does make it
so much prettier don't you think?)

(or so I've been told, admittedly, I haven't had a chance to try them just yet... since I'm in a desperate attempt to lose some kilos! LOL! They sure smelt beautiful though... the many parents at Mainly Music have told me that they were the yummiest & they could not believe that it did not have any egg in it... *hehe*)

Morning Tea & Birthday Surprise at Mainly Music: 23-Sep-2011

Blessed Birthday Sharon & Lisa... :-) Hope you thoroughly enjoyed the indulgence... :-D


Recipe for cupcakes adapted from:
http://allrecipes.com.au/recipe/4534/egg-free-chocolate-cake.aspx

Recipe for chocolate ganache adapted from:
http://www.sewinlove.com.au/2010/06/19/krishnas-chocolate-cupcakes-egg-free-but-delicious/


serves: approx 36 (depending on the size of your cupcakes of course, I made small ones, not tiny but small)

Ingredients:
655g sifted plain flour
120g dark cocoa (Mine is Homebrand from Safeway but found in section with coffee)
3 tsp bicarb soda

(Reese's peanut butter cup
additional  - not nut-free)

1 tsp baking powder
660g raw caster sugar
4 - 8 tbsp dark chocolate chips (I think I added about 6-7 tbsp)

250ml vegetable oil (I used rice oil)
700ml water
1 tbsp vanilla essence
1/2 tsp vinegar

Method:
1. Preheat oven to 170C & line muffin tray with cupcake liners.
2. In a large bowl, sift all dry ingredients together (flour, cocoa, bicarb soda, baking powder). Add sugar & choc chips and mix all dry ingredients thoroughly.
3. Mix all wet ingredients (oil, water, vanilla essence, vinegar) together.
4. Pour wet ingredients into dry ingredients and mix thoroughly.
5. Pour into cupcake liners. Fill till about 2/3 full.
6. Bake in preheated oven for about 20 mins - 25 mins or until skewer inserted in centre of cupcake comes out clean.

Dark Chocolate Ganache Buttercream frosting (optional, but note, this is not dairy-free)
Ingredients:
250ml whipping heavy cream
400g dark eating chocolate (eg. Lindt 70% Cacao, I used Cadbury Old Gold Dark Chocolate - original)
250g unsalted butter (optional, but I added this as the ganache was not holding its shape, perhaps too much cream)

Method:
1. Coarsely chop dark chocolate into small pieces.
2. Bring cream to a boil in a small saucepan.
3. Remove from heat when bubbles subside and add chocolate, stir until smooth. Leave to cool.
4. Cream butter until light. Add chocolate & cream mixture in and beat until well combined.
5. Pipe onto cooled cupcakes.

Note: If chocolate ganache buttercream is not holding its shape, refrigerate for a while until buttercream is firmer, then try piping again.

Yummiest Egg-Free, Nut-Free, Dairy-Free Choc-chip Cupcakes

Taiwanese Mooncake

Made: Wed, 14-Sep-2011

This recipe was from Ruth Syn - thanks heaps! Love it & so do the children! I've made it just in time for Mid-Autumn Festival... Hopefully it'll last till the weekend, between me giving them away & the children (& hubby) popping them? LOL! 

My sis reckons this tastes very similar or exactly like Tau Sar Pneah, which I intend to try out soon... the flaky skin on the outside is similar or same as Tau Sar Pneah, but filling is lin yung like moon cake... :-)

- Makes approx 32 moon cakes (or 64 – 88 mini moon cakes)

Larger Mooncake
made with Ruth!
(my 1st time making)

Ingredients:

1 – 1.5 kg Lotus Seed Paste (Lin Yung)
(or Mung Bean Paste to make Tau Sar Piah)

Water Dough (Skin):

2 cups plain flour

½ cup water (room temp)

½ cup oil

Oil Dough (Inner layer):

1 ½ cups plain flour

½ cup oil

Method:

1. Mix & knead water dough ingredients together & leave to stand for approx 30 mins.
2. Weigh out Lin Yung & roll into balls approx 30g per ball (or 15g - mini mooncake version: Note: 1.5kg lin yung yielded approx 88 mini balls).

3. Portion out water dough to approx 32 balls (or however many to match lin yung balls – approx 12g per ball (or mini mooncake version it is 6g/ball).

4. Portion out oil dough to approx 32 balls (or however many to match lin yung balls - approx 8g per ball (or mini mooncake version it is 4g/ball).
5. Press out to a thin layer the water dough portion. Put oil dough portion inside & wrap with water dough portion to a little ball.

My children's play toys
came in handy! :-)

6. Flour table top & rolling pin (optional, do if sticking, I did when making for first time, but subsequent times, I found that I didn't need too). 7. Roll out in 1 direction the mixed dough ball to flat.
8. Roll back up into a sausage (like a swiss roll).

9. Flour table top & rolling pin again (optional - do if sticking).
10. Put sausage roll standing top down & press downwards, then roll back out again in 1 direction.

11. Put a portion of lin yung into rolled out dough and wrap lin yung ball inside. (Note:Dough can be stretched to fit over lin yung ball.)

12. Shape into a ball & place on paper-lined baking tray.
13. Do the same for the rest of the ingredients.

Mini Taiwanese Mooncake
made by yours truly! :-)

14. Bake at 170^oC for 10 – 15 mins.

15. Brush with beaten egg. Sprinkle with sesame seeds. 

16. Bake another 10 mins – 15 mins till golden.

17. Cool & store.
 

Taiwanese Mooncake