Takoyaki aka Grilled Octopus Balls by Stevia Chai Yuen Loh

Ingredients
1 egg
300ml water
1 tsp soy sauce...
1 tsp mirin
3g salt
3g dashi granules

100g flour
15g wheaten starch/ deng mien
3g baking powder
200g cabbage shredded
100g cooked octopus, diced
20g red pickle ginger
1/2 Tbsp corn, optional
 
Garnishing
bonito flakes
spring onion, chopped
mayonnaise
BBQ sauce


Method
Sift flour, wheaten starch and baking powder together in a bowl. Set aside.
Mix egg, water, soy sauce, mirin, salt and dashi granules in a bowl and mix till well combine.
Add the egg mixture into the flour mixture and stir till lump free, add in the shredded cabbage, diced octopus, ginger and corn. stir to get the vegetables and octopus to be evenly coated with the batter. Rest batter for 45 to 60 minutes.
Heat the takoyaki iron or gem tin and lightly oil each hole, when the iron is hot fill the iron with takoyaki batter to the top, it's alright if it overflows.
Cook till the the batter is golden brown, using two skewers, flip the half cook batter over and tug in the surplus around the side to make it round.
Cook till golden brown, remove and garnish with mayonnaise and BBQ sauce and top with bonito flakes and chopped spring onions.

Traditional Chinese Sponge Cake Pandan Flavour by Rebecca Lin

Traditional Chinese Sponge Cake Pandan Flavour 

Ingredients

300g plain/hong kong flour

300g sugar

5 eggs

100ml water/7 up /sprite

1/3 tbsp pandan paste

Method

1. Beat eggs till fluffy. Add in sugar gradually and continue beating till well-blended.

2. Add in flour and water, mix well. Pour mixture into a round baking tin lined with baking paper.

3. Sprinkle a handful of sugar such that it forms a cross on the surface of the mixture.

4. Steam over high heat for half an hour.

Apple Crumble Muffins by Gwen Chow

Ingredient for crumble topping:

1/2 cup brown sugar
6 TBsp plain flour
1/4 cup (56g) cold butter
1 tsp cinnamon powder

Ingredients for batter:

1 1/2 cups brown sugar
2/3 cup canola oil
1 large egg
1 tsp vanilla essence
2 1/2 plain flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup buttermilk
2 cups diced apples

Method:

1. To make the crumble topping, rub in all the ingredients with finger tips until resemble bread crumbs. Set aside.
2. In a large bowl, combine brown sugar, oil, egg and vanilla essence.
3. Sift together plain flour, baking powder, cinnamon powder and salt.
4. Blend the flour mixture into the batter and alternate with buttermilk.
5. Add the diced apples and mix until just combined.
6. Spoon into prepared muffin tins and sprinkle generously with crumble topping.
7. Bake in preheated oven 170 deg for 30mins until golden brown.

Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Cookies by Gwen Chow

Ingredients:

(A)
1 1/2 cups rice flour
1/2 cup corn starch
1/4 tapioca starch
1 tsp xanthan gum **(optional, see note)
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt

170g butter, softened
3/4 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup caster sugar
2 large eggs
2 tsp vanilla essence
2 cups chocolate chips
Sea salt for sprinkling

Method:

1. Mix ingredients (A) together with a whisk and set aside.
2. Cream butter and sugars
3. Add eggs one at a time.
4. Add in vanilla essence
5. Mix in chocolate chips
6. Drop dough into rounded balls about 1" apart on baking tray.
7. Bake in preheated oven at 170 degress 12 to 15 mins.

**Note: Xanthan gum is widely used in gluten free baking. It can be purchased at Phoon Huat or any baking shops. It is a binding agent to bind the flours together since the above flours do not have gluten. However, it is optional when baking cookies but should not be omitted in baking cakes.

Cranberry White Bread Using Natural Yeast Starter by Grace Tan

 

Recipe Link http://taglicious.blogspot.sg/2014/04/a-nice-whole-of-cranberry-bread.html

Recipe Link to make your own starter natural starter http://taglicious.blogspot.sg/2014/04/making-your-own-natural-starter-yeast.html

Recipe reference source and did some modification: Jayeon Bread Book

(make 2 loaves)

Ingredients

 

200g of refreshed starter

370ml of water
10g of salt
30g of white sugar
30g of vegetable oil (I used olive oil)
260g of bread flour + more for dusting during shaping.

 

Steps to prepare the bread dough

1.  In a large bowl, combined the water & refreshed starter and mix until it is dissolved.
2.  Add in the salt and sugar.
3. Add in the oil and mix well.
4. Add in the flour and mix well like 1-2mins until the mixture is well incorporated. I am using a Danish dough whisk. If you don't have it, you can use a wooden spoon. Note: The dough is soft & sticky.
5. Cover the bowl with plastic cling and let the dough rest at room temperature for 2-3hrs until it rise doubled in size.
6. Place the bowl into the fridge overnight or 7-10hrs.
7. Flour the work surface and take out the overnight dough from the bowl.
8. Sprinkle some flour on the dough’s surface. Punch out the air from the dough to deflate it.
9. Flatten the dough and fold it into half, repeat this step for 3 times. Add more flour on the surface if you feel stick to handle it.
10. Divide the dough into 2 equal portion. Shape it into loaf shape to fit into your bread pan.
11. Cover the bread pan with cling wrap and let the dough rest for 2-3hrs until it doubled its size.
12. Preheated the over at 200C and bake them for 45mins. Note: Cover the bread pan with bread pan lid or aluminium foil to prevent it from getting burnt.
13. Let it cool on a wire rack before slicing it. 

Homemade Soft Dinner Roll ( Garlic) by Catherine Han

Homemade Soft Dinner Roll ( Garlic)

Straight Dough Method

Ingredients

200 ml Warm water
½ + ¼ tsp Instant dry yeast
300g Plain flour
1tsp Garlic powder
15g Unsalted butter (melted)
1 tbsp Sugar
1 tsp Salt

Method

• In a large bowl, dissolve sugar and yeast in warm water and set aside for 10 minutes. • In a mixing bowl, combine flour and salt. Pour in yeast mixture and knead until well combined. Add melted butter. Knead until dough is smooth. Do not over knead! • Divide dough into approximately 60g portion (about 8 pieces) and roll in a ball. Cover with cling wrap and proof for an hour. • Roll into long strips and place on a lined baking sheet. Cover the dough and let rest for another 30 minutes. • Bake in a preheated oven at 190 -200 °C • Bake for 12 -15 minutes or until golden brown. • Remove from the oven brush with melted butter. • Allow to cool for a few minutes before serving

Cola & Ginger Braised Chicken by Shar Kay

Cola & Ginger Braised Chicken 

Recipe link http://delishar.blogspot.sg/2014/04/cola-ginger-braised-chicken.html

Ingredients (Makes 20 mid wings)
20 mid wings, cleaned
280ml coke
1 tbsp honey
2 tbsp dark soy sauce
4 tbsp light soy sauce
6 slices old ginger
5 cloves garlic, peeled
3 dried chilli
2 tbsp chinese cooking wine
salt & black pepper
3 tbsp sesame oil


Method

Marinate your wings in 1 tbsp light soy sauce, 1 tbsp dark soy sauce, a little bit of salt, and pepper to taste.

Heat pan on med high until smoking hot, add 2 tbsp sesame oil and swirl to coat pan.
Brown the chicken, DO NOT add in the marinade. Save the marinade sauce.
It only takes a min to brown the chicken in the hot pan. Set aside.
In the same pan, lower heat to med high, and add another tbsp of sesame oil.
Pan fry the garlic, ginger, and chilli until fragrant.

Pour in the coke, honey, reserved marinade sauce, dark & light soy sauce, and wine

Now add chicken and bring to boil.
Cover and let it cook for 10 mins.
Remove lid and let the sauce reduce until a glaze consistency.
Occasionally coating chicken with the sauce

Serve with some chopped parsley.

Rosti Sunday Brunch by Shar Kay

Rosti Sunday Brunch

Ingredients (serves 2)
2 potatoes
4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
4 turkey bacon
2 eggs
4-5 cups of baby spinach
Salt and pepper

Bring a large pot of water to boil.
Parboil unpeeled potatoes for about 8 mins.
Drain and leave to cool.
Fry your eggs, and turkey bacon.

When potatoes are cool to touch, peel off skin.
Grate it into a large mixing bowl.
Season with 2 tbsp olive oil, salt, and pepper.
Mix well, divide into 2 portions.
Heat pan on med heat with 1 tbsp oil, place one portion of the grated potato on hot pan.
Flatten with spatula and shape it, then leave to cook for 12-15 mins until base is golden brown.
Flip carefully and cook the other side until golden brown too.
Side aside for plating

Heat pan on med high with 1 tbsp oil.
Add spinach, season with salt and pepper, and sauté until wilted.
Remove from heat.

Plate it and serve!

Bon appetit!!

Pan Seared Scallops with Honey Balsamic Glaze by Shar Kay

 

Pan Seared Scallops with Honey Balsamic Glaze

http://delishar.blogspot.sg/2014/04/pan-seared-scallops-with-honey-balsamic.html

 

Ingredients (Serves 2)
Bunch of baby asparagus, woody ends removed

10 fresh scallops, cleaned and pat dry with paper towel
1-2 turkey bacon, prepared and crumbled
2 tbsp spring onion, chopped
salt and pepper
2-3 tbsp oil (or butter if you do not mind the extra calories)

 

Honey Balsamic Glaze (about 1/2 cup)

1 cup balsamic vinegar
1/4 cup honey

 

Season scallops generously with salt and pepper on both sides.

 

Heat grill, spray asparagus with pam/cooking oil.
Generously season with salt and pepper.
Grill until done.
I cut them into 1/3 pieces to plate.
In a sauce pan on med heat, bring balsamic and honey to boil.
Lower heat and simmer.
Let it reduce until you get a glaze like consistency.
If it is too thick, add some hot water.
Heat pan on med high heat.
Add oil.
When oil starts to smoke, add your pat dry scallops.
Do not over crowd pan, and DO NOT TOUCH IT!
Let it sear for 1.5 to 2 mins on each side.
Use a tong to peek and see if the beautiful golden crust is formed.
Then flip and do the same for the other side.

Plate it!
Sprinkle the spring onions and turkey bacon over the scallops.
Drizzle honey balsamic glaze and serve!

Bon appetit!!

 

 

Fruit Tarts by Feralyn Leong

Fruit Tarts by Feralyn Leong

 

Sweet shortcrust tart shell (24cm fluted tart pan / 4 pcs 8cm fluted tart tin)

225gm plain flour

30g icing sugar (I used 57g)

½ tsp salt

125g chilled unsalted butter, cubed

1 egg, lightly whisked

chilled water (optional)

1. Sift the flour, icing sugar and salt together in a mixing bowl. With your palms facing upwards, use your fingertips to rub in the butter, lifting the flour mixture up as you rub to aerate it till the mixture looks like breadcrumbs.

2. Make a well in the centre, add in whisked egg till a coarse dough is formed.

3. Press the dough together with your hand. It should be soft, not sticky. Turn it out onto lightly floured, cool work surface, lightly knead a few times till a smooth dough is formed.

4. Shape the dough into a round disc, wrap in a plastic wrap and chilled for at least 30 mins to rest the dough.

5. Use the dough to shape into your desired tart size. Prick the base of tart shell with a fork to prevent the pastry puff up. Bake 180C, 20-25 mins till golden brown.

Pastry Cream (Crème Pâtissière)

250ml fresh milk

250ml whipping cream

4 egg yolks

150g fine sugar

1 vanilla bean, split lengthways and seeds scraped. ( I used 1 tsp pure vanilla paste)

2 tbsp plain flour

1 tbsp cornflour

1. Put vanilla seeds/paste, milk and cream in a medium heavy based saucepan over medium heat and bring just to a simmer. Remove from heat.

2. Use electric mixer to whisk the egg yolks and sugar in a mixing bowl until thick and pale. Sift flour and cornflour together into the egg mixture, whisk till smooth and well combined.

3. Pour the milk mixture into egg mixture slowly and keep whisking until smooth. Then return the mixture back to the saucepan.

4. Stir constantly with a whisk over medium heat to prevent lumps. Reduce the heat and simmer, whisking constantly till thick and smooth for about 2-3 mins.

5. Remove from heat and transfer to a metal or glass mixing bowl. Cover the surface with plastic wrap or non stick baking paper to prevent a skin forming. Cool to room temperature and then chilled.

Assembly

1. You can scoop or pipe the chilled pastry cream onto the tart shell. Decorate with your favourite fruits toppings.

2. You can glaze with apricot glaze or gelatin to prevent fruit from drying.

Lion Pork Floss Buns by Grace Tan

Lion Pork Floss Buns by Grace Tan


Basic Bread buns using natural yeast starter

Recipe source: Jayeon Bread Book

(make 10 standard muffins size buns with no filling)

Ingredients:

60ml of water

50ml of fresh milk
1 egg ( abt 50g, lightly beat)
100g of refreshed starter
5g of salt
25g of sugar
30g of vegetable oil (I used olive oil)
250g of bread flour + more for dusting during shaping.

Steps to prepare the bread dough

In a large bowl, combined the water, milk & egg.

Add in the refreshed starter and mix until it dissolved.
Add in the salt and sugar.
Add in the oil and mix well.
Add in the flour and mix well like 1-2mins until the mixture is well incorporated. Note: The dough is soft & sticky.
Cover the bowl with plastic cling and let the dough rest at room temperature for 2-3hrs until it rise doubled in size.
Place the bowl into the fridge overnight or 7-10hrs.

Flour the work surface and take out the overnight dough from the bowl.
Sprinkle some flour on the dough’s surface. Punch out the air from the dough to deflate it.
Flatten the dough and fold it into half, repeat this step for 3 times. Add more flour on the surface if you feel stick to handle it.
Divide the dough into 10 portion.
Coat your hand lightly with some flour. Make each small portion of dough into round shape and place it into a lined muffin cup on the muffin tray.
Cover the muffin tray with cling wrap and let the dough rest for 2-3hrs until it doubled its size.
Preheated the over at 200C and bake them for 20mins or until the buns’ surface is golden brown.
Let it cool on a wire rack. Once it is cool, we can start making our lions bun. ROAR!

Making Lion pork floss buns

Things needed:

10 bread buns
60g of pork floss
3 tablespoons of condense milk + 1.5 tablespoons of mayonnaise (Mix well)
Some chocolate chips (Put it in a piping bag and melt it using a cup of hot water for several mins)

Steps:

Spread the condense milk & mayo jam like a O shape around the bun.
Stick the pork floss on the spread surface.
 Use the melted chocolate, start drawing out the lion’s face feature.

Recipe Link~

http://taglicious.blogspot.sg/2014/04/making-your-own-natural-starter-yeast.html

http://taglicious.blogspot.sg/2014/04/roars-roars-i-love-lions.html

Basil Meatballs by Rontree Chan

Basil Meatballs


Ingredients
1 pack (200g+) of minced pork or beef or chicken or mix.
4 Tbsp of fish paste
30 Basil leaves finely chopped
1/2 white onion finely chopped
1 tbsp of light soy sauce
1 Tbsp of fine sugar
1 Tbsp of chinese hua diao wine
1 Tbsp of seasame oil
1 1/2 Tbsp of corn flour
1/2 tsp of white pepper
1/2 tsp of salt

Method
Mix all ingredients in a mix bowl, stirring in one direction till it become sticky.
use a spoon to scoop out a dollop and pan fry it. taste it and adjust the seasoning accordingly.


Suki sauce:pour half bottle of dancing chef suki sauce in a mini pot on medium heat.
put in 2 Tbsp minced garlic / 3 Tbsp finely chopped spring onion + corriander / 2 Tbsp sugar.
Stir and cook for few minutes. Done!
U can thicken with some corn flour water (1 tsp corn flour + 1 tsp water)
to serve ~ sprinkle with some grounded peanut and spring onion.

Simple Cheesecake by Wendy Kwan

Simple Cheese Cake

 Ingredients
(A)
500g Cream Cheese
300ml UHT Milk

(B)
120g Corn Flour
10 Egg Yolks
1tsp vanilla essence

(C)
10 Egg Whites
2tsp Cream Of Tartar
180g Caster Sugar

(D)
120g unsalted butter, melted

Method
1. Boil (A), stir and cook until smooth in low fire, let it cool.
2. Mix (B) before stir into cheese mixture.
3. Whip up (C) until stiff (Medium speed, 10mins).
4. Fold in egg white mixture with cheese mixture, add in melted butter. Mix well.
5. Pour into 8 inch square pan.
6. Bake in water bath at 150C for 50-60mins or until cook.
7. 2 ways to serve - (serve immediately, texture will be fluffy or put into the fridge to chill, texture will be creamy).

Wholemeal Loaf using 24h Liquid Dough Starter Method by Meng Choo Tan

Wholemeal Loaf using 24h Liquid Dough Starter Method by Meng Choo Tan


Put the following ingredients in the order and mix them well.
Leave them in a warm environment for 1-4hr or overnight in the fridge for a slower fermentation rate. Max is 48hr.
You should see plenty of activity on the starter. It double in size and plenty of holes.

Dough Starter:
Cold Whipping Cream 75gm ( You can replace it with milk for lesser fat content)
Hot Water 120gm
Cold Water 40gm
Yeast 3gm
Wholemeal Flour 140gm

When the starter is ready for use, add the rest of the dry ingredients together except salt.
Gradually add salt while kneading the dough.
Add butter and knead it in when dough is formed.

Main Dough:
Sugar 35gm
Bread Flour 210gm
Yeast 2.5gm
Butter 30gm
Salt 7gm

Method
Proof for abt 30-45mins ( first proof)  then "punch" or double fold it in and shape it in loaf pan.
Proof for the next 30-45mins ( second proof)
Bake at 175deg at 30mins lowest rack and then lower to 160deg for 10mins with a pan on top rack to cover heating element from burning the bread.

Otherwise if u like assorted breads, start dividing into individual dough balls by size.
Use those dough and shape them with anything u like.

Proof until double in size. Baking time for the breads @175deg are:
40gm ~ 12/13mins
55gm ~ 15/16mins 

40 Minutes Bread Rolls by Diana Gale

40 Minutes Bread Rolls by Diana Gale

Recipe link as below

http://www.thedomesticgoddesswannabe.com/2014/04/40-minute-bread-rolls.html


30 Minute Bread Rolls (Makes 12)
Adapted from YourHomeBasedMom

Ingredients:
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons warm water
1/3 cup oil
2 tablespoons (about 16g) active dry yeast (or instant yeast)
1/4 cups sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 egg
3 1/2 cup (or about 476g) bread flour (seems to work better but all purpose flour will also work)

Method:

1. Heat oven to 220C.

2. In your mixer bowl combine the water, oil, yeast and sugar and allow it to rest for 15 minutes. Using your dough hook, mix in the salt, egg and flour.

3. Knead with hook until will incorporated and dough is soft and smooth. (Just a few minutes) The dough will be a little sticky. I oiled my hands, knead it one to two times, and it became really easy to shape. If your dough is too wet, add a little more flour and knead a few times.

4. Form dough into 12 balls and then place in a greased 9 x 13 pan and allow to rest for 10 minutes. Glaze with egg wash. Bake for 10-12 minutes or until golden brown.

TROUBLESHOOTING:
1. Dough is too wet or sticky? Add a little oil and hand knead a couple of times. The dough should become easy to work with. Still too wet? Add a little more flour.
2. You can use any oil. Maybe not peanut oil. Unless you want a peanut-y bread. Olive oil, Canola oil, Sunflower oil, Grape seed oil... all can be used.
3. Personally, I have not had any problems with the bread being too yeasty. If you find it so, change the yeast and try different ones till you find one that you like.
4. Conversion of flour from cups to grams: This is a conversion I got online. You may still need to adjust.
5. Oven temperature: Every oven is different. You need to understand your oven, so if you have one that tends to be hot, lower the baking temperature, and vice versa.
6. I do not recommend that you reduce the yeast quantities because this is a quick bread. You need the yeast to make it work. Similarly, you need the sugar to feed the yeast so it works.
7. You can put any filling you like in this bread. It is very versatile.
8. You can also glaze with milk (full-fat, low-fat, skim, etc), sprinkle any toppings you like.
9. I don't recommend that you rest the dough for more than 10 minutes. From feedback I received, the bread may be less soft.
10. You can use 1/2 bread flour, and 1/2 wholemeal flour, or 100% plain flour. The results are the same. You can't use top flour. There isn't enough protein to form gluten. 
11. Every environment differs. You may live somewhere humid, or dry, or hot, or cold. If in doubt, check what other bakers recommend that you do for the weather conditions you live in, and experiment! You may need to tweak timings/ baking temperature, etc. Don't give up!