Stir Fried Burdock Root with Pork

This was my first time buying a Burdock Root or Gobo (in Japanese) and stir-frying this dish.  Lots of times, I would buy food that was said to have medicinal benefits and this was one of them.  You can read more about Burdock at Wiki.   I heard people used this to make soup but I have yet to try it.  I should have do a search but I wanted to make this dish first.  My friend gave me this recipe and I also had a privilege to try it at her house.  I quite liked it and thus prompted me to buy the Burdock root in the first place.

This root was quite harsh and fibrous and I didn't do the step as mentioned in wiki, "Burdock root is very crisp and has a sweet, mild, and pungent flavor with a little muddy harshness that can be reduced by soaking julienned or shredded roots in water for five to ten minutes."; perhaps that's why.

When my husband first saw this, he asked, "Are those gingers?"  HAHAHA.... Looked similar to ginger right?  I bet it will be delicious with ginger but probably use less than half of the amount.  This stir-fried burdock root was a bit hard to chew but I loved it though.  My girls couldn't eat this and my hubby didn't like it, so I "sapu" (finished) all. 

My First Roasted BrineTurkey!

This is an old post way back on New Year day. I have been here for so many years but I never did my own turkey.  I guess the pure size of it turned me off.  With a small family, the idea of roasting a turkey never cross my mind, until I tasted a brine turkey at Lily's house.  Ever since then, I always wanted to brine a turkey.  My chance came when the turkey was on sales on Thanksgiving week.  I managed to find the smallest turkey there, about 10lb.  I guess holding the smallest young turkey wasn't that intimidating.  Furthermore, this small turkey fit into my large stock pot used for the brine.

My plate of turkey breasts.  I guess instead of carving the turkey, I sliced it the Chinese way instead.  I had no idea how to carve a turkey, hahaha...  I thought the turkey smell was a bit strong. :-P   But the drumstick, wing and bone made the best soup.  I made a big pot of soup with it and served it with noodle but I forgot to take any picture.

This was an old post but I wanted to show you my first brine turkey.  :-)   I will share the brine recipe that I used in the next page.  Is there a way to get rid of the turkey smell?

Beer Chicken with Taro

This was an interesting dish and I got the inspiration from a TV cooking show.  The taro was soft and the sauce was really fragrant.  I didn't add water in this so all the sauce came from the beer.  You won't be able to taste any alcohol in this and surprisingly the sauce was sweet with a tint of spiciness from the dried red pepper.  I would probably omit the dried red pepper so that I could taste the sauce as naturally as possible.  This is a dish that I would make again because all of us liked it.

Fried Nam Yu Crackers

Below was my failed attempt at making a crispy cracker for "Yee Sang".  I didn't roll it thin enough and thus it turned soft when cold.  I took some when still warm and added it with some sugar for my girls to snack on.  They loved it because it was just like fried bread with sugar.  It was good if you eat it right away.  It was crispy and soft when warm.

 

 

My girls said it's tasty!

I thought I roll it thin enough but apparently not.  I should roll this again as thin as wonton skin. 

I cut and then stretched it and placed it on a slipat ready to deep-fry.

Mung Kuan Char or Stir-fried Jicama

 Top Left

Since a reader asked me to teach her how to stir-fry jicama, I'm sharing my recipe here.  Mine is called "mung kuan char" and not "ju hu char" because I don't add dried cutterfish/dried squid in mine.  This is my version and we really like it.

Waxed Meat Rice

I wanted to try this dish ever since I saw it appeared on fellow blogger's blogs.  But I couldn't try it because I couldn't find waxed duck or waxed pork belly here.  So, most of the times I could only imagine the taste.  However, my chance came when our friend who's the restaurant owner served us a plate of mixed waxed meat that her head chef prepared in her own kitchen.  Wow, lucky us!  The head chef made a combination of waxed duck, waxed pork belly and waxed sausages.  I took some leftover of the waxed duck and sausage as I found the waxed pork belly too fattening.  Alright, alright, you can say I don't know how to appreciate the best part, I agreed, I agreed.  :-P

Traditionally to until these days, waxed meat delicacies is one of the must have items to welcome the Chinese Lunar New Year.  Usually served on CNY eve on the reunion table and throughout the CNY.  Lots of shops will be selling waxed meat products in their stores during this time.  Many buy them as gift for relatives and friends as well.

 I steamed the rice in my electric steamer and once it's almost cooked, I placed the waxed meat on top.  It was so fragrant and the juices from the waxed meat seep into the rice.  I loved it!  I also loved the waxed duck that the chef prepared, very flavorful.  My little Edda loved this rice a lot too, both of us finished the most part of it as my hubby doesn't like waxed meat at all.  Hehe...more for us.

Lettuce Wrap

~Old Post~

This is one dish that I must cook every Chinese New Year.  What I enjoyed when I was little visiting grandparents' houses and what was the favorite food that my mom cooked on reunion dinner that seem to be stuck in my memory is this dish.  My mom would roast a chicken or buy the roasted pork from the vendor and made her own chili to go with this lettuce wrap.  It was always so divine that I just had to cook it every year.  Of course the meat served in my house would be different as I often too lazy to roast a chicken and also too lazy to drive so far away to the Asian store to buy the roasted pork.  So, I made an easy stir-fried marinated chicken to go with mine.
 

A piece of romaine lettuce (you can use green leaf, red leaf or Boston lettuce too).  Spread the "mung kuang char" (stir-fried jicama) on top, top with chicken and a little of the chili, wrap and enjoy!

This is what I called yummilicious!!!

Now that I thought about it, I can even wrap some rice in and eat it together eh?  Did you eat this dish during CNY?

Lotus Root Soup with Dried Mussels

Recently I asked my readers how they used their dried mussels to cook and this was one of the suggestions.  Except I used chicken drumsticks instead of pork ribs.  This is definitely delicious and the dried mussels brought another flavor into the soup.  This is Chinese dried mussels which you can find in the Asian market.

I would certainly make this soup again!  Thanks friend!  :-)

Stir Fried Mixed Veggies with Lotus Root

If you have noticed like me, lotus root have been appearing on most Chinese New Year meals, either served at home or in a restaurant.  When I did a search, I found that Chinese believed if you eat lotus root during the Chinese New Year, all the new ventures that you are planning for this year will take root and grow.  My friend served lotus root soup on reunion dinner so I served up stir-fried lotus root with mixed vegetable.  It would be nice with some broccoli as well but I just used what I had at home at that moment.  The lotus root and water chestnut gave this dish the crunch.

The food symbolism of this dish are listed below:
Mixed Vegetable (什锦蔬菜) overall means Family Harmony.  Golden lily buds (金针) means wealth.  Water Chestnut (荸薺) means unity.  Shrimp (小虾) means happiness and good fortune.  Sweet corn (甜玉米) means increase growth.  Carrots ( 紅蘿蔔) red color means good luck.  Chinese Cabbage (白菜) means 100 types of prosperity luck.

Reference from Food Symbolism during Chinese New Year celebration.

Dried Mussels Recipe

I was searching for dried mussels recipe but I couldn't find many online, so I resorting to experiment it myself.  I had it in a friend's restaurant before and she used it to boil soup, so for one I know it will be great in soup.  My friend's suggested to add it in the lotus root and pork ribs soup which sounded yummy to me.  Going to try it soon but probably with chicken drumsticks as I don't have pork ribs.  Another suggested to braise it with chicken and mushroom which sounded good to me as well which I intent to try it out.  A few suggested to cook it in porridge but I probably going to pass this as my girls don't like porridge.  One suggested to cook it in sambal for example instead of sambal ikan bilis, make it into sambal dried mussels, sounds good to me too.  But I cannot cook this dish, read below for the reason.

This dish is very auspicious as bean curd sticks means blessing the house, Chinese cabbage means 100 types of prosperity luck, carrots means good luck, glass noodle means long life, wood ear means longevity, Shitake mushroom means longevity and sizing opportunity, shrimps means happiness and good fortune.  Mandarin orange means gold and wealth.

Koi Fish Jelly

Today marks the last day of Chinese New Year and also Chinese Valentine's Day.  The 15 long days of Chinese celebration is finally over.  Right now I can concentrate on losing some extra weight gain.  LOL!

Sharing with you a Koi fish Almond Konnyaku jelly that I made recently.  To get this pattern, all you need to do is to take a little bit of the jelly water out and mix it with a drop of red coloring, stir to blend well.  Use a spoon to spoon a little of the red jelly inside the fish molds.  You can wait for it to harden before scooping the white jelly in to have a white fish with red strips, or if you couldn't wait like me, before the red jelly harden completely, I scoop the white jelly in and thus it became pink fish.  Got the idea?  I used black sesame seeds as eyes on the big koi fishes.  I later added the black sesame seeds on the little fishes too.  Definitely nicer with the black sesame seeds.

By the way, Happy Chinese Valentine's Day to all who celebrate this day.  Wish you find your other half soon if this is what you are wishing for. :-)  And have a great "Chap Goh Meh"!!

Fried Nian Gao and Sweet Potatoes with Spring Roll Wrapper

An interesting new way to serve nian gao that I noticed this year.  I was eager to try it and I did.  I saw a friend did a deep-fried nian gao with spring roll and she said it was delicious.  But I bought a sweet potato to go with my nian gao already and thus I wanted to incorporate the sweet potato into this spring roll.  Then, I saw another similar post while blog hopping.  That blogger used smashed steamed taro mixed with coconut flakes to wrap the nian gao and rolled it in the spring roll wrapper before deep-frying.  So, that was my "aha" moment.  I can steam and then smash my sweet potato before wrapping it with the nian gao and spring roll wrapper.  The idea was set and I got to work and the resulted product was really crispy and delicious.

I used the steamed nian gao that I did earlier.   The verdict of this nian gao is not what I was hoping for.  I wanted one that would melt when deep fried but this one was not.  It is not as fragrant too maybe it was because I didn't use the palm sugar but the Chinese bar sugar instead.  Therefore the color of this nian gao is not as dark brown.  Overall, it was an okay recipe, definitely not the best.  But I would try it again with palm sugar just to see whether it will have any difference (just want to experiment :-P).

Kuih Bahlu 2 (Chinese Egg Sponge Cake, 鸡蛋糕)

 

I did a Pandan Kuih Bahlu before in year 2008 and never try it since.  Because I found the recipe a bit dry.  This year I had no plan on making kuih bahlu but while I was browsing and jumping blogs, I decided to check out Sinner's blog.  And then I saw her kuih bahlu recipe posted last year.  I quickly compared her ingredients with the one I made before and found that hers uses less sugar and flour and she also stated that hers produces soft kuih bahlu.  So, I got interested and prompted me to try out her recipe.  I was glad I tried because it is indeed soft and slightly chewy.  Edda and myself couldn't stop popping a few of this once it was cooled.  :-P  However, after I kept it in the container, it turned sticky and moist unlike the dry kuih bahlu we used to.  Almost like the mini egg sponge cake I did in 2007.  So, I don't think this can be kept long.  Guess I will have to play with the old recipe again, like adding oil.

Guess you have noticed the ugly looking kuih bahlu I have right?  I don't have the pretty kuih bahlu mould so I used the mini muffin pan to make this instead.  If you too don't own the mould and wanted to make this, check out my instruction on the next page.  The method is about the same but slightly different.  You can still enjoy the kuih bahlu without the mould.  I guess the next time I go back to M'sia, I need to buy myself two kuih bahlu moulds.

Custard Cookies

This cookie sure have a strange look.  Evy called it snake skin cookie.  LOL!  This was resulted from my experiment in the kitchen.  I was surprised that the cookie turned out like this too.  If you try this recipe of mine, let me know if yours turn out looking like this too, okay?  Because I am curious!  Look aside, this cookie is crisp and melt in the mouth with the fragrant of custard powder.  Actually tasted very good.  This is the last of my CNY cookies for this year.  收工了!

Homemade Yee Sang for Chinese New Year (魚生)

Yee Sang, Yusheng, 魚生 or Prosperity Toss is enjoyed throughout the 15 days of Chinese New Year.  It is a symbol of abundance, vigor and prosperity as the fish tossing in this salad means 余升 and 年年有余.  The waiter would add each ingredient and says an auspicious phrase related to that ingredient and then everyone would stand up and toss the yusheng together while saying auspicious wishes.  It is believed that the higher you toss, it would bring you higher growth in wealth and fortunes. This dish is mainly enjoyed by the Chinese in Singapore and Malaysia.  I talked to Chinese from Hong Kong, China and Taiwan before and they have no clue what is 魚生.  Whereas if you mention this dish with people from Malaysia or Singapore, everyone knows what it is.  This dish is a must have and very popular during Chinese New Year, in fact, it only served during or around Chinese New Year.  You can order it in a restaurant or "to go" the ready made packet to bring it home.

We living in the U.S. or overseas have no such luck as in order it in a restaurant or buy it at a store.  But fear not, we can enjoy Yee Sang (魚生) too.  Frankly it is not difficult to make at all.  The only tedious part is the slicing of the vegetable thinly.  I made this easy version so it would be easy for all of us.  :-P  Everything can be bought in the Asian store such as ground toasted peanuts, toasted sesame seeds, wonton wrapper (or better yet the ready to eat fried wonton crackers), pickled ginger, ready to eat jelly fish etc.  I used jelly fish because we don't eat raw fish in the house.  Of course you can use any raw fish you like or smoke salmon, etc, etc.  You can even add pomelo or other ingredients you can think of.

 

I actually have thinly sliced romaine lettuce underneath the cilantro, scallion, pickled ginger and seaweed.  My plate was too small thus I had to pile everything up a level.  My carrot was actually got covered underneath too.  If you have sharp eyes, you will notice that my crunchy doesn't really look like fried wonton.  Well, you were right, because I was out of it and thus I used the spring roll wrapper.  It was crispy but turned soft quickly when mixed together as it was very thin you see, so the wonton skin is recommended.  I tried to make the nam yee cracker from scratch but failed as it turned soft when cold.  Later I did toast them in the toaster oven to crisp it again for the yee sang when the spring roll crunchy turned soft.  And it worked!

This simple yee sang is delicious, try it yourself and feedback to me ya!

Today is also the 7th day of CNY, which is everyone birthday, so Happy Birthday to all of us! 人日快乐!

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.

Chinese Sesame Cookies

I remembered when I was a child, I heart a type of Chinese sesame seeds cookies.  It had been so long that I could hardly recall the texture of this cookies anymore.  I only remembered if I saw it being served, I would certainly had some.  I did a search on the web and found one recipe from About.com and the picture of the sesame seeds cookies resembled the one I remembered.  So, of course I got to give this recipe a try.  But not sure why my cookies turned out looking different (mine had flat top)?  The one thing I changed was used all butter instead of half butter and half shortening.

I wanted contrasting colors so I tried a few with black sesame seeds.  This cookies is delicious, fragrant with the smell of sesame seeds and very crispy.  But not quite like the one I remembered.  Nevertheless, we were all in loved with this cookies, my girls couldn't stop snacking on it.  I don't think this batch can last through Chinese New Year.  The longer it kept, the smell of sesame seeds grew stronger.

If you are looking for a new CNY cookies to bake this year, this can be it.  :-)

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

Dong Quai Soup (當歸汤)

 

Dong-Quai or female ginseng or Angelica sinensis or 当归 is a Chinese herb widely used in traditional Chinese medicine to treat gynecological ailments, fatigue, mild anemia and high blood pressure. It has anti-inflammatory and antioxidant activity.  It is believed to be a uterine tonic and hormonal regulator.  My mom used to boil this soup for me when I was living at home.  Usually this soup was served after each menstrual cycle.  This herb is a little bitter but once you are used to the bitterness, it is actually a tasty soup.  This soup is not advice for pregnant women and if you are on any medication, consult with your doctor first before consuming.

This herb is used in soup and in making Emperor Chicken.  It is also found in dishes that were prepared in the restaurant in powder form.  You can buy this herb in most Asian supermarkets or Chinese Herbal Shops.  It usually sold as dried herb either in thin slices (like above) or in pieces.

The link of this recipe can be found here.  I have a picture of the raw ingredients too.  I am submitting this post to Weekend Herb Blogging and this week host for this event is Min from Honest Vanilla.  Check it out on Sunday for the full roundup.  Thanks!

BoBoChaCha 2

I made BoBoChaCha before but this time with the added tapioca strips.  I steamed the cubed yam for 25 minutes and set aside.  Then, I cooked the cubed sweet potatoes in a large pot with water.  Boil in low heat for 20 minutes or until the sweet potatoes are soft.  Then, I add in the Chinese bar shape brown sugar or you can use Gula Melaka or gula Jawa.  Dissolve those sugar to taste.  Lastly, stir in the cooked sago pearls/tapioca pearls, cooked tapioca strips, cooked yam and stir to mix well.  Add in some coconut cream to increase the overall fragrant of this dish.

In the next page, I will show you what the dried tapioca trips package looks like.  You should be able to buy this in any Asian or Vietnamese market store.  Instruction to cook this will be provided as well.

Boiled Fruit Cake

I adore fruit cake and it is one of the cakes that I wanted either to bake my own or buy from the store during the Christmas holidays.  As you know, I skipped any recipe that seem too troublesome to make for example too many different steps that ended out with lots of dishes to wash.

I saw this Boiled Fruit Cake recipe at JoyofBaking and decided to read through the recipe and it was surprisingly fairly easy with minimal dishes to wash.  I only need to clean the saucepan and since I already have all the ingredients at home, I was eager to try it out.  It was named Boiled Fruit Cake because half of the ingredients were boiled on the stove and mixing in with the rest of the ingredients.  I modified the recipe by adding Brandy.  The only downside of this was it tasted better after three days and longer.  I read that if wrap nicely, it can be kept for up to six months.

My verdict is I find this fruit cake a bit dry, I would prefer it to be more moist.  So, the next time I make this, I would substitute the water with milk.  Hopefully then it will make this fruit cake better.  

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. 

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.

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.

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!!