Home-cooked Basil Pesto Sauce
During one orchestra rehearsal, a chorister made pesto sauce and spread it over cream crackers as a break-snack. It was so good I couldn’t forget the taste and had an urge to make it! I went to ask her about the making process and googled and youtubed.
So I went to buy the ingredients one day after work. Boy, basil leaves are expensive! It cost about $3.50 for just 30g! Pine nuts were expensive too!!! That packet cost me $11.50! Other ingredients include garlic, olive oil and cheese.
I washed the basil leaves, strained them and throw them into the blender together with the rest of the ingredients. Add in some pepper and salt.
Here’s my pesto sauce – less than 100g of basil leaves makes just a little sauce.
This is the pesto sauce spreaded on cream crackers by the chorister.
Though I had good reviews from my relatives, I am not satisfied with it. It didn’t taste the same as what I ate! I posted on FaceBook and many friends gave me comments on what I could improve on. I will make some adjustments and test it out again soon.
Comments:
– roast the pine nuts… more garlic….more basil
– use Parmesan cheese
– Use Parmesan, and roast the pine nuts in a pan first until a bit golden brown or when you see the oil or smell it. Add some salt and pepper to taste
Steamed Yam Cake
My favourite yam cake!! I only eat yam cake that my mum makes!
Ingredients:
1. yam 350g
2. (荷花牌 粘米粉) Rice flour 350g
3. corn flour 50g
4. water 1200ml
5. dried prawns (虾米) 40g
6. shallots 3 pieces (cut into fine slices)
7. Chicken shreds 100g (can be replaced with roast pork!! More fragrant!)
Seasonings for Marination of chicken shreds:
1. Soya sauce 1 tablespoon
2. pepper half teaspoon
3. ginger wine (姜酒) 1 teaspoon
Seasonings:
1. salt 3/4 tablespoon
2. Five-spice powder (五香粉)
3. Pepper
4. Sesame oil 1 teaspoon
5. Fine sugar 1 tablespoon
6. Chicken stock 1 piece
Method:
1. Steam the yam. Then cut into fine cubes. Mesh them up after that.
2. Season the chicken shreds for 30 minutes.
3. Mix the yam, rice flour and corn flour with the water.
4. Add 3 tablespoon of oil into wok. Stir-fry the shallots and dried prawns till fragrant.
5. Then add in the chicken shreds. Stir-fry till cooked.
6. Add in the mixture of yam, rice and corn flour and water into the wok.
7. Stir-fry till the whole mixture becomes thick.
8. Remove from heat.
9. Pour the whole mixture into a 9 inch mould.
10. Steam for 25-30 minutes. Test with a skewer to check if it’s cooked. (Poke the skewer into the middle of the yam cake. If it comes out clean, means cooked!)
11. Let it cool for at least 4 hours before cutting with a plastic knife.
12. Garnish with sesame seeds, deep-fried shallots, fried dried prawns, chilli, coriander and spring onion. THEN EAT!!
You can put the remainder into the fridge. Coat with some corn flour, then pan-fry them the next day to get crispy yam cake! I like to eat them with alot of sesame seeds, shallots, coriander and TABASCO!
Pineapple Tarts
It’s the time of the year again!!! My mum’s most popular cookies definitely can’t have this MISSING! YES, PINEAPPLE TARTS!! She used to make them for sale ten over years ago and the smell of butter would fill the whole corridor. So here I’m going to share the recipe with all of you!! SHOUT YEAH!
Pastry Ingredients:
1. 250 g butter (my mum uses SCS butter)
2. 50 g icing sugar
3. 1/2 teaspoon vanilla essence
4. 1 whole egg
5. 375 g plain flour
6. 25 g corn flour
You can buy ready-cooked pineapple jam, imported from Thailand, from Phoon Huat. 1 kg for $4.60.
Method of Pastry:
1. Beat sugar and butter until sugar dissolves and whole mixture becomes light.
2. Add in the egg and beat. (not too long)
3. Fold in sieved plain and corn flour and vanilla essence into the mixture.
4. Ready for use on any mould.
5. Roll in the pineapple jam.
6. Brush on egg yolk (additional. 1 egg yolk to 2 teaspoon of water) on the pastry’s surface before placing into the oven for “golden” appearance.
7. Preheat oven before-hand.
8. Bake at 180 degree Celsius for 20-25 minutes.
HAPPY PROSPEROUS CHINESE NEW YEAR!!!
Passion Fruit Muffin
This passion fruit muffin is not sour, so don’t worry. I like the texture of the muffin. Being soft and a little spongy, the passion fruit seeds give the crunchy bite. So eating it is not boring! However, you may not like this muffin if you’re a person who likes strong/heavy taste.
This muffin sure goes well with a cup of afternoon tea. =)
Recipe (from Asia Food Channel):
Ingredients:
1. 2 eggs
2. 1/2 cup sugar
3. 1 cup plain yoghurt (if you used flavoured one, the muffin will not taste of passion fruit)
4. 60 g butter, melted
5. 1/2 cup dessicated coconut
6. 1.5 cups self-raising flour
7. 1/2 cup passion fruit
Method:
1. Preheat oven to 180 degree Celsius and grease 12 hole muffin cups.
2. Whisk eggs and sugar till frothy.
3. Add yoghurt and melted butter and mix well. Add in the passion fruit, coconut and flour. Mix gently.
4. Fill muffin pans with mixture.
5. Bake 15-20 minutes.
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