Seasoned Crispy and Fragrant Beancurd Knots or Tofu Knots

Well, I love almost all variety of tofu products.  I love beancurd knots because it holds it shape well when braising. Before this, I mostly use it in braising my soy sauce chicken or pork.  It goes well with rice with some homemade chili oil.  And then I saw a video of a different way of cooking dried beancurd roll.  I didn't have dried beancurd roll but I did have this dried beancurd knots that I could use.  Hence, here this recipe is born.  I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as my girls and I.  Happy cooking!

Xmas Fruit Cake

Ingredients:

2 bags of candied papaya and pineapple from Dollar Tree, cut into smaller pieces

Equal amount of raisins, peels of any lemon or orange if have

Soak the above with 1/3 cognac and 2/3 apple juice for a week.

1 stick of unsalted butter, soften

3/4 cup of dark brown sugar

1/2 cup olive oil

3 Tbsp. 100% maple syrup

1/2 tsp. salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, clove

3 eggs

1/2 tsp. baking powder

1 2/3 cup all-purpose flour

Methods:

1.  Preheat oven to 320'F.  Line the 8" square baking pan with parchment paper.

2.  Beat soften butter and brown sugar until fluffy.  Add in olive oil, beat well.  Add in syrup, beat well.  Add in the seasonings and one egg at a time, beat until combine.

3.  Use a spatula and stir in the dry ingredients.  Lastly add in the soaked fruits along with the juices.  Mix well.

4.  Pour into the prepared pan and cover the top with foil.  Bake in the oven for 2.5 hours.  Take it out and set aside to cool completely.  Wrap it with foil and let it age for a week before serving.  Can be freeze in the freezer to enjoy it later.  Just bring it back to room temperature to serve.  Enjoy!

Air Fried Baby Portabella Mushroom

Air fryer is a great kitchen gadget to have if you haven't owned it already.  I used it plenty often to produce an easy lunch or dinner.  It save me time and the food turned out great every time.  I would advice you to invest in one if you haven't already, or you can wait until Black Friday for the great price deal!

I wish I have asparagus, then I could throw that in and make it a more colorful and balance meal.

Air Fried Asparagus

Air-fry asparagus 400'F for 8 minutes.  Very easy and very delicious.  Spray with avocado oil and season with any spices to your liking or simply salt and pepper would do.  Enjoy!

Air Fried Chicken Tender

You can either use chicken tender or just slice the chicken breast into strips, up to you.  And then season the poultry with salt, pepper, garlic powder, rice wine and sesame oil.  Then coat with cornstarch and air-fry in an air-fryer according to its instruction.  Enjoy!

Korean Meal

I love Korean food and I always have homemade kimchi in my refrigerator. When my Korean craving hit, the above was what happened.  I already posted the above recipes in my blog before, that was how I looked for my old recipe to make this.  You can either look under Korean or just type the recipe under the Search button.  Enjoy!

Penang Assam Laksa

When I went back to Malaysia last year, the one paste that I really wanted to buy was this Penang assam laksa paste.  I had to search for it in Penang and in the end, my aunty had to bring me to a special supplier house to buy it.  Now, I can have assam laksa in the U.S. :)

This paste is really good, very original and I had my craving fixed.  An otherwise very troublesome recipe to make turned into an easy recipe with a ready made paste.  If you ever go to Malaysia, do stock up on this paste as it is not available here.  Below I will show you the ingredients I used to make this, only need to wash and slice those ingredients to eat with the noodle and that's it!

Prawn paste- optional
Can pineapple rings
I used sardine in olive oil here, just add the sardine and discard the oil in a plastic bag
Red onion
Lettuce
English cucumber
Rice noodle
I don't have mint leave
You can also add red chili padi (bird eye chili) for extra spiciness

Just follow the instruction as the back of the package and thinly slice those vegetable to serve.

Stir-fried Udon Noodle with Shrimp and Scallop

A simple stir-fried Udon noodle with shrimps and sea scallop with spinach, carrot and yellow onion.

Chicken Pot Pie from Scratch

I made this from scratch today and my girls both said it was really good.  I actually made chicken pot pie back in 2008 and here is the link to my old post.  I used the same flaky pie crust recipe and slightly altered the ingredients and method to what I have at home or currently using.  You can see my recipe in the next page.

I used the same lattice pattern on my pie, but I didn't brush it with egg wash this time.

Pie before baking and top with chicken filling.  I used two homemade flaky pie crusts for this recipe.  I pre-made the pie crusts in the morning and then refrigerated until ready to use.  Just bring it out to thaw on the kitchen counter while cooking the filling.

Air Fried Sweet Potato Fries

Sweet potato always goes on sale during the holidays season, so I bought a few to make my sweet potato pie and air fry sweet potato fries.  I am very much prefer the sweet potato than the potato because it is healthier.  I like red potato for the baked crispy potatoes and Russet potato for smashed potatoes.  Anyway, with the air fryer, making sweet potato fries is so much easier and I have a meal ready in less than 40 minutes.

I am serving the sweet potato fries with my air fried Cornish hen and butter thyme broccoli.

Air Fried Cornish Hen

Air-frying Cornish hen sounds like an excellent idea.  I used to deep-fried my Cornish hen but it left my kitchen with smell.  With air-frying, it was quick and I didn't have to use a lot of oil.  Thus I can have my dinner in less than 45 minutes.

Ready for air frying.

Air-fried 5 Spice Tofu

This recipe popped into my mind while I was exercising on my stationary bike.  I know tofu takes the flavor of the marinade and I thought of an Asian style flavoring.  Like what if I marinate it with soy sauce and add 5 spice powder into it?  The other spices just came together while I was seasoning the tofu.

Did I mention how much I loved my air-fryer?  It just gave me so much more convenience when cooking the fried tofu.  I used to pan-fry the tofu in 2 batches and now I just threw it into the deep-fryer and it was done in 13 minutes.  How convenient is that?

Seasoned and marinated tofu cubes ready for air frying.

Thanksgiving Meal 2019

Our mini Thanksgiving meal.  My girls and I just loved the green bean casserole so we had to cook it again and this time we paired it with slow cooker turkey (I overcooked it and it turned out a bit dry and then I burnt it while I set it on broil!!! *slap face*), gravy and air-fried sweet potato tots.

Luckily my girls still like the turkey and said it was fine with the gravy.  Well, I did learn a lesson with each failure, don't ever trust the recipe completely and always check half way for sure.

My sweet potato pie from scratch!  I just can't do without it every holiday season.  A must have for my girls and I and in addition to that we also added the apple crumble pie into our tradition.  Those pies are so good homemade from scratch and it is just irresistible for us.

Air-fried Cauliflower

With the recent purchase of an Air-fryer, it is time for experimentation.  I loved the ideas of fast cooking time, easy to clean, minimum to no oil used and no smell in the kitchen.  Cauliflower was on sales at Sprouts so I bought some to cook.  It was a bit of an hassle to stir fry the cauliflower as more cutting and preparation was involved so I decided to air-fry it.  It turned out great and so easy to make and so quick to cook.  It prompted me to go to Sprouts again to buy more cauliflower!!

I paired it with chicken rendang and a delicious dinner was created.  Click next page for my recipe.