Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Oyster Mushroom Chicken



I couldn't resist myself when I see fresh oyster mushroom in the Asian market.  I loved to serve variety of mushrooms for my family.  Oyster mushroom is said to be able to lower the cholesterol levels as it naturally contains lovastatin.  All I know is mushroom is good for us so I am trying to cook it often.  However, my Evy is not a mushroom lover which makes it hard for me.  Because I am trying to give her food that is good for her but she just won't touch it.  The only mushroom that she would eat is Enoki mushroom which I will also get whenever I am in the Asian market.
This is one easy stir-frying dish with oyster sauce.  If you have a bottle of oyster sauce, you can make lots of Chinese dishes with it.  There is even a vegetarian version of oyster sauce which is made from this oyster mushroom. 

Saturday, January 08, 2011

Green Tea Pudding without Eggs


I called this green tea pudding without eggs because this pudding was not made with eggs and baked in a water bath.  I used gelatin to harden it.  I got the inspiration from Nasi Lemak Lover's Soymilk Pudding and a commercial I watched on youtube.  That commercial featured vanilla pudding, coffee pudding and green tea pudding and it just caught my eyes.  Since I have one last packet of powder gelatin to use and all other ingredients at home, I set to work.  I revised the recipe using my Reduced Fat Panna Cotta that I made earlier.  The difference was no heavy cream was used in this pudding.

If you loved green tea, you would love this.  Just make sure you use a good quality green tea powder or matcha so that the color will come out green and the taste of green tea will be strong.  It does makes a difference so don't buy a cheap green tea powder for baking or making dessert (I had learned my lesson).  I recommend Redman's green tea powder for baking if you live in Malaysia.

This pudding is delicious and all of us loved it.

Wednesday, January 05, 2011

Pumpkin Sweet Potatoes Sago Dessert


What to do with extra pumpkin on hand?  Make this!  This idea was suggested by one of my readers and I couldn't agree with her more, so easy to make and so tasty especially with lots of tapioca pearls or sago pearls.

You have to use fresh pumpkin for this.  Just cut it into small pieces along with the sweet potatoes.  You can either steam to soften and cook it or just boil them together in a pot for 20-30 minutes.  Add Chinese brown sugar pieces to taste, add in cooked tapioca pearls and lastly coconut cream.  Stir to mix well.


Good either serve warm or cold.  My hubby loved it cold with crushed ice.  Keep any leftover in the refrigerator and enjoy it cold straight out of the fridge.  This method of cooking is just like BoBoChaCha actually.  So, of course you can add in yam or tapioca strips or plantain or red bean or whatever you think is suitable.

Monday, January 03, 2011

Baked Chicken Fries


Evy's school cafeteria was offering chicken fries as a menu one day.  So I let her had her lunch at school.  She came back and told me it was baked and the chicken was cut to resemble fries.  She requested me to make it for her at home because she liked it.  I liked the idea that it was baked and not fried.  So, I told her I was going to make it for her but mommy version.  She said she liked mine better than the school.  Haha... I was not sure she said that to make me happy or what, but she certainly confirmed that mommy version was better.  Perhaps she liked the crunch that the panko gave.  If you don't have panko at home, you can use crushed cornflakes for the coating as I did here.

Do enjoy this healthy chicken fries!!

Thursday, December 30, 2010

Asian Sweet Soybean Milk


Like many Asian who are used to the Asian sweet soybean milk, I cannot stomach the American soybean milk.  What worst is most soybeans produced in the U.S. is GMO (Genetically Modified Organism) product.  Anyway, it doesn't matter to me as I don't like the American soybean milk anyway.  I buy my dried soybeans at the Asian grocery store here as it was imported from other Asian countries. I remembered I helped my mom made soybean milk before but I forgot how easy it is to make our own.  Until I saw Noobcook's soybean post.  I was like wow it is very easy to make our own sweet soybean milk at home.

I measured the amount I used to give my readers a guide.  1 cup of dried soybeans made 1 pitcher of soybean milk for me.  I keep it in the refrigerator because I like it cold.  It should be able to keep for a few days in the refrigerator.  If you like to make your own American style soybean milk, just omit the rock sugar.

Monday, December 27, 2010

Pumpkin Cheesecake


I wanted to try a pumpkin cheesecake ever since I tried it few years ago.  It was a store bought frozen kind and it was so good, the memory just stick with me.  I actually prefer the duo version where there was part white and part pumpkin cheesecake.  However, it sort of ended out this way.

You can use graham crackers instead of ginger snap cookies if you like.  Omit the nuts if you prefer. 


Look at my crack cheesecake!!!  This was my first cheesecake and it cracked badly.  Note to self, never offer to bring a whole cheesecake for a party or potluck because you never know how it would turn out.  If you have great tips on baking a non-crack cheesecake, feel free to share with this cheesecake amateur here.  :-)