Reunion Dinner 2011 with Friends

I wanted to share the reunion dinner we had at our friend's restaurant this year.  These were the common dishes that she would prepared every time we were invited for dinner.  She would alternate between lobsters or crabs and each time it would be at least 8-10 dishes.  She said this was Cantonese Cuisine and I definitely got introduced to lots of new ingredients that I didn't know before (not this meal but throughout the years that I had known her).

Steamed Whole Tilapia Fish (very fresh) 

Braised Lamb, really soft. (but we didn't know how to appreciate)  They said it's good to eat lamb during winter.

Stir-fried Huge Prawns (simply divine!)

Click next page to read and see more....

Early Happy Valentine's Day!! 情人节快乐!!

I was told that the last day of Chinese New Year is also the Chinese Valentine's Day.  So what's better way  to incorporate the Chinese New Year cookies into the Valentine's Day cookies as well.  I made this pineapple tarts using the heart shape cookie cutter and voila ~ a sweet heart shape Valentine's cookie made with love from the heart! 

You can find my recipe here.  I am sure your loved one would love to receive a gift from the heart that made from scratch.  People always say to win a man's heart, you will have to win his tummy first.  These days I am not too sure about this, but perhaps that's still the case if he is looking for a wife that can cook.  :-P

 

I want to wish all the love birds out there a Very Happy and Sweet Valentine's Day!!  情人节快乐!!

I am also submitting this post to Aspiring Bakers #4: Love In The Air (Feb 2011) hosted by Cuisine Paradise.

Click next page to see the cookie cutter that I used to make this!

Steamed Nian Gao (年糕)

This is again something new for me this year.  I always did the baked Nian Gao like all the previous years.  The baked nian gao is delicious too but this year I stumbled upon a Vietnamese steamed nian gao recipe from a blogger friend.  I tried a few of his recipes before and liked it, so it encouraged me to give this recipe a try.  Truthfully, what got me interested was the steaming time in his was only 20 minutes for a rice bowl size.  Hey, you know me, always seek out the easiest recipe to try.

I used my porcelain ramekin to steam my nian gao as I believed this shape resembled the one that I was familiar with the most.  Looks good right?  I won't be eating this until after the Chinese New Year as I wanted to use this to bring good luck to my house.  I heard that since this is sticky, it means family reunion and togetherness.  Also of the Chinese word 年糕, the last word sounded like high (高), so it's like each year is higher or better than the previous. (年年高升)

Since I am not eating this yet so I have no comment regarding the taste.  Probably will do a post later when I slice it and pan-fry it.

This is how it looks like when I took it out of the ramekin to cool on wire rack.

Happy Chinese Lunar New Year and Gong Xi Fa Cai everyone!!  May this new year brings you much joy, good health and abundance wealth.  祝您 兔年快乐, 健康良好,  万事如意，恭喜发财!!!

P/s:  I recommend my new and improved super easy steamed nian gao recipe that I created in 2012.  Check it out!  :)

Instant Noodle with Cheese

If you watched Korean drama or Korean variety shows, you would probably noticed that they added a slice of cheese in their instant noodle or Korean rice noodle.  At first when I saw it, I was like what was that that they put into the instant noodle, then I realized that it was a piece of cheese.  That was mind blowing for me, cheese in spicy kimchi soup??  I was really curious especially those who tasted it all said it was good.  So, my curiosity got better of me and I bought Korean kimchi instant noodle and my American cheese and decided to give it a try.

To increase nutrition, I added seaweed and an egg.  By the way, the Korean instant noodle was like Taiwanese instant noodle made without preservatives and with all natural ingredients.  So, after I finished cooking, I pour it into a bowl and then top with a piece of American cheese.  When the cheese started to melt like the above picture, I stir to mix it well into the soup.

My verdict:  it actually tasted delicious, the soup when mixed it well together was richer and thicker with the fragrant of cheese.  Thumb up from me!  Try it yourself to believe it!  :-)

Brown Sugar Glutinous Rice Cake (Kuih Pulut Gula Hitam)

I made this Malaysian cake or kuih to bring to a friend's house.  I won't be sharing the recipe because I didn't make a good job of it.  The glutinous rice turned out too soft and I think I picked the wrong method to do this.  Since I made this without measurement, just estimation, I also found it not sweet enough.  Since lots of people know how to make this, I won't be telling you how.  Just that I added brown sugar and sweeten coconut flakes into the coconut fragrant glutinous rice before putting it into a container to shape.

Surprisingly my hubby liked it and I thought he hardly eat any Malaysian cake.  I would definitely try this again and this time with another method of doing it.  This cake is best eaten on the same day.  It is not recommended to put it in the refrigerator as this will harden the glutinous rice.

I tried to arrange it like a snowflake, haha... does it look like a snowflake?  :-P

Chinese Cashew Cookies

This year I made Cashew Cookies instead of my usual Peanut Cookies.   I have a can of salted cashews and I thought I would use that to make my cookies.  First, I toasted my cashews until golden brown and then I processed it in my food processor until fine.  After that, I used it to make this cashew cookies.  I decorated the top with a half cashew just to identify it (if not it would look like peanut cookies).  This cookies is the soft and melt in the mouth type.  So, very fragile.  Once you pop into the mouth, it dissolves and melts.

The sweetness is just nice and very easy to make as well.  Through my blog, all beginner can at least make a few delicious CNY cookies on their own.  Such as peanut cookies, cashew cookies, sugi cookies, cornflakes cookies, etc...

I am submitting this to Aspiring Bakers #3 : My Favorite CNY Cookie (Jan 2011) hosted by Jess of i3ss kitch3n.