Castella Cake (Japanese Honey Sponge Cake)

Yup, my turn to make the Castella Cake (Japanese Sponge Cake). I was made aware of this cake because of the special ingredient used, honey! My hubby drink a glass of honey water before he goes out for his sport so I always have a bottle of honey at home. Honey Sponge Cake sounds good to me as I like the soft and spongy texture of sponge cake. I got the recipe from Notes From My Food Dairy and made a few changes to it. I just wanted to try the original taste of this cake before attempting other variation. Would certainly love to try the matcha flavor next time. The Castella Cake is all soft to goodness spongy. This cake has fine crumbs and very irresistible because it is so light and soft, I just want to eat more.

You can read more about Castella cake at Wikipedia here. I also found an extract here that is useful for my next attempt:

"In the meantime, mix together the 1 tablespoon of honey and a little hot water, to make a glaze.

As soon as the cake is out of the oven, brush the top with the honey-water mixture.

When it's cool enough to handle but still warm, lift it out of the pan, paper and all, and put into a plastic bag. Seal the bag and put into the refrigerator, for at least several hours. This step is critical to ensure the kasutera has a moist texture. If you let it cool to room temperature before putting it in the plastic bag, it will end up a bit dry." Extracted from Just Hungry. Cool tips ya! :) 

Seaweed Soup with Fish Balls, Tofu and Chicken

I was so happy I found another way to enjoy the Chinese seaweed. Before that I only know one way to enjoy the seaweed with eggs and dried anchovies. It is definitely a benefit for me when someone posted pictures of the food they eat while vacationing in Malaysia or Singapore. It gave me ideas or ways to cook a certain food that I have not thought of before. My hubby loved this type of seaweed, which I called Chinese seaweed instead of the Korean green seaweed. He just won't touch those at all. So, I was glad that I found another way of preparing this soup.

Cheesecake Cups

I loved to buy cream cheese when it was on sales, just for the "just in case" I need it moment. Then, often time because of my laziness, the cream cheese will left untouched. I really need to do something before the cream cheese past the expiration date and I found this mini cheesecake cups very easy. I used my roasted edamame cookies as base for these cheesecake cups, if you asked me, any round cookies would do. Then prepare an easy cheesecake mix and it was all set. I would recommend you to decorate the cheesecake cups as you desired as it will make it prettier and more presentable. ;) This is definitely an easy party dessert or treat for little kids. I like the bite size serving too!


Plain ones

Microwaved Ground Pork

While I was at a ladies gathering, I noticed that my girls loved this pork dish. Lily made this dish with a Chinese preserved vegetable and she told me it was very easy, just used the microwave or put it in the rice cooker 5 minutes before the rice is cooked. This is one familiar home cook dishes in Malaysian households as my mom used to make this dish too, along with the steamed eggs. You can also find it at the place where they sell porridge or economy rice. But for some reason, I just never make it, perhaps finding steaming takes too much time. Anyway, now I learned that it takes 4 minutes in a microwave, I have no reason not to make it anymore. Since I don't have the Chinese preserved vegetable, I substituted it with salted turnips/ "chai por" and used my seasonings since I couldn't remember what Lily told me already (she was busy cooking and spoke so fast that it just went in my right ear and came out my left ear, LOL!). Got to say, it turned out delicious and very flavorful. "Chai Por" is a very good substitute.

Spicy Stir Fried Shrimps

This dish is so simple yet delectable. Minimal seasonings required yet packed with flavors. I love to chew on the shell of these shrimps because that's the best part. Even my Evy who hardly eat shrimps asked for more. Edda who complaint too spicy finished her share after I told her to eat with white rice then it won't be too spicy anymore. :P If you have a bottle of Szechuan peppercorns at home, this will be a great way to use it. Can substitute the shrimps with chicken too.

Nyonya Chap Chai (Nyonya Mixed Vegetable)

This is a Nyonya style mixed vegetable which uses preserved bean paste. This dish is normally served during Chinese New Year and is associated with festive dishes. Since I have all the ingredients, I gave this dish a go (first time trying). My glass noodle disintegrated and almost melted following the recipe in the cook book (not sure brand of glass noodle plays a part or not). The taste did not come out well too and something was missing. In the end, I had to add a few more seasonings to bring out the taste and had to change the method in the cook book for my own record, so that one can still see the glass noodle once this dish is cooked. Believe it or not, I always refer back to my blog for my own recipes because most of the recipes I created out of the blue and often time I forgot what I put into the dish. So, these recipes are not only for my girls but for myself as well.