Oyster and Chilli Soybean sauce salmon sashimi 蠔油涼拌三文魚生小食

Ingredients:
Salmon Sashimi 200g
Oyster Sauce 1 Tbsp
Sesame Oil 1/2 Tbsp
Chilli Soy Bean Sauce 豆瓣醬1/2tsp
White Sesame seeds 1 tsp
Green Onion diced 2 Tbsp

Directions:
Cut salmon into cubes and mix with all the ingredients.

RECIPE from: 飯桌無邊 by 蘇三茶室

Black and white sesame sweet soup 芝麻糊

Ingredients:

Black Sesame 200g

White sesame 100g

Rice 50g

Water 6 cups 1.5L

Directions:

Rinse rice and soak in water for 15 minutes. Then drain it.

Pour black sesame and white sesame to frying pan and stir fry them for a few minutes. (Don't add oil). Or you can toast them in oven. 

Use a blender, pour in all sesames, rice and water. Blender in high until smooth.

Filter sesame with cheesecloth.

Then pour the sesame soup to a saucepan and boil for 15 minutes on medium. Keep stirring.

Add sugar according to taste.

You can always replace white sesame with black sesame for pure BLACK sesame sweet soup.

Basketball LA Lakers Cupcakes

March birthday cake continue: Part 3 for Luke, his birthday is on March 27. Last year he said he wanted a cake but unfortunately I went back to HK. This year, I remembered. I need to make him a cake! He likes chocolate cakes, basketball, LA Lakers and Kobe! Got all information I need! Then I proceed on making him some cupcakes. I made him a white chocolate cupcakes with chocolate ganache fillings. CHOCOLATE~~~

I used white cake mix and add 4oz white chocolate into the batter. Baked and make a hole inni middle of each cupcakes, then pour chocolate ganache to it! Chocolate ganache made out of 3oz semi-sweet Chocolate bar with 1/2 cream 1 tablespoon butter. Hope he likes them!

Canon DSLR Fondant Cake 相機蛋糕

Part 2: Thomas: his birthday is on March 25. He is the photographer who helps me to take many great food and party photos. His wife told me that his dream DSLR camera is Canon 5D Mark3. Therefore, I give him one (Cake!!!). I use one package of cake mix for both my cosmetic pouch cake( http://winniemsfong.blogspot.com/2013/03/cosmetic-pouch-cake.html ) and this Camera Cake. I use a rectangle baking pan for this camera cake. Then I frozen the cake for easier shaping and cutting process!

My Camera T4i (left) and Camera Cake side by side

Something I need to improve next time is the icing for writing! I planned to write all the words on the buttons but since the buttons at the camera back are really tiny. I am unable to use my piping bag to pipe the words there. If I will make this again, I will need to solve this problem! I guess I will need to by a tip#0 or #1 for that.

Cosmetic Pouch Cake 化妝袋蛋糕

On this coming week, I have 3 friends having birthday! March 23 - Polly, March 25 Thomas and March 27 Luke! Therefore, it is time to make some special cakes for them. For my friend Polly, I decided to make her a cosmetic bag/pouch cake as she just finished a make up class in Hong Kong during her last trip back there!

Cake:
I used cake mix this time 'cos I want to put more time on decorations and making party food instead. I use a 7" cake. Cut in half and combine both half circles with buttercream to make it look like a pouch!

Decorations and colour:
Cake is going to cover with marshmallow fondant. I use shiny pink air brush colour for pouch overall colour. For zipper, I make it using my girls' lego tires.

大地魚粉 Dried Flounder Powder

大地魚是左口魚乾，英文是 halibut或 flounder。潮州人稱為方魚，方魚炒芥蘭、方魚肉碎泡飯的方魚就是大地魚。

大地魚粉可用來製作雲吞及雲吞湯底，是一種天然味精！

方法很簡單，從中藥行或超市買來乾大地鱼。然後放入焗爐broil 乾脆。放入food processor打成粉，放在air tight container.

Scuba Divng Cake

Few weeks ago, I went to library with kids and borrow a book about making cakes and cookies. I found a recipe of persimmon mousse. And I decided to make a persimmon mousse cake for my friend's birthday with a theme of scuba diving.

The shells are made by candy melts. And the sand around the cake are graham biscuits.

For recipe of persimmon mousse, please refer to:

http://winniemsfong.blogspot.com/2013/03/persimmon-mouse.html

For this 7" cake, I (x3) all the ingredients from the recipe above. For the cake base, I use basic vanilla cake base.

Persimmon Mouse 富有柿慕斯

Ingredients: 

(makes 4 cups)

1 persimmon (Large)

1/2 cup whipping cream (whipped)

1 egg yolk

3 tbsp sugar

1/3 milk

1/2 envelop of gelatine

2tbsp water

Directions:

1. Peel and seed persimmon (Pic 1). Finely chop the flesh. Puree in a blender (Pic 2-3)
2. Pour gelatine in water and heat over a hot water bath. Stir until they dissolve completely (Pic 4)
3. Whisk egg yolk and sugar in a bowl over hot water until satiny and thick (Pic 5-6).
4. Bring milk to the boil (Pic 7). Turn off the stove. Put in the egg yolk from step(3) and mix well (Pic 8). Bring to the boil over low heat. Turn off the stove. Save the mixture in a mixing bowl.
5. Fold in gelatine solution from step (2) (Pic 9). Leave it to cool. Add persimmon puree (step 1) and fold in whipped cream. Divide among small glasses. Refrigerate until set. Serve Cold.
   
   
   
   
   

Gruyère Cheese Gougères - French Cheese Puffs 法式芝士泡芙

One of my friend - Laura always makes this and posts to Facebook. I already got the recipe from her for a long time but still doesn't have time to make one. I and my younger daughter are big fan of Cheese. It is very easy to make. And you can heat it up in toaster before serving! It is best to serve hot!

Recipe source: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/cheese-puffs-recipe/index.html

Prep time: 25mins
Cook time: 15 mins

Ingredients (make 40-50 puffs depend on size of puff)

• 1 cup milk
• 1/4-pound (1 stick) unsalted butter
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• Pinch nutmeg
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 4 extra-large eggs
• 1/2 cup grated Gruyere, plus extra for sprinkling
• 1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan
• 1 egg beaten with 1 teaspoon water, for egg wash

Directions

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.

In a saucepan, heat the milk, butter, salt, pepper, and nutmeg over medium heat, until scalded. Add the flour all at once and beat it vigorously with a wooden spoon until the mixture comes together. Cook, stirring constantly, over low heat for 2 minutes. The flour will begin to coat the bottom of the pan. Dump the hot mixture into the bowl of a food processor fitted with the steel blade. Immediately add the eggs, Gruyere, and Parmesan and pulse until the eggs are incorporated and the dough is smooth and thick.

Spoon the mixture into a pastry bag fitted with a large plain round tip. Pipe in mounds 1 1/4 inches wide and 3/4-inch high onto the baking sheets. With a wet finger, lightly press down the swirl at the top of each puff. (You can also use 2 spoons to scoop out the mixture and shape the puffs with damp fingers.) Brush the top of each puff lightly with egg wash and sprinkle with a pinch of Gruyere. Bake for 15 minutes, or until golden brown outside but still soft inside.

Hong Kong Mong Kwok street style curry 港式街邊勁辣咖喱魚蛋汁

My husband is a fan of Hong Kong Mong Kwok street food. He especially like curry fish ball. The curry they use are different than those Thai, singapore, and Indian curry. According to my husband description, it tastes sweet and hot! And the colour is dark brown.  So we tried to look for recipe. We use different ingredients in various recipes and we finally made this special recipe ourselves. I thicken the sauce using Beurre manié (or you can use cornstarch slurry). But Beurre manié is very good on thicken soup as well!

Beurre manié (Flour and Butter Paste)

Beurre manié(French "kneaded butter") is a dough, consisting of equal parts of soft butter and flour, used to thicken soups and sauces. By kneading the flour and butter together, the flour particles are coated in butter. When the beurre mani© is whisked into a hot or warm liquid, the butter melts, releasing the flour particles without creating lumps. Beurre manié should not be confused with roux, which is also a thickener made of equal parts of butter and flour, but which is cooked before use. ingredients about 50 g (2 oz) 4 tablespoons 25 g (1 oz) 2 Tbs Butter 25 g (1 oz) 4 Tbs Flour method 1. Combine the butter and flour together, beating until they are thoroughly blended. 2. Break off small pieces and roll into individual balls. The balls should be added, a little at a time, to whatever mixture is being thickened.

This time I use fish ball and beef tripe牛柏葉 (Albert Yip) to dip in the sauce.

June 22, 2014 I made this curry fish balls for a Beach Picnic Party today! I prepared 5 lbs of fish balls and use the ingredient amount (x2.5)

Ingredients 材料：（可做500ml 咖哩汁）

Garlic 蒜頭 4 粒

Shallots 乾蔥頭1 粒

Chicken Stock 雞湯1.5 杯cup

Curry Powder 咖喱粉1/4cup

Hoisin Sauce 海鮮醬2tbsp

Ground Bean Sauce 磨豉醬2tbsp

Curry Paste 咖哩醬1tbsp

Chili Sauce 冠益辣椒醬（適量）(Adjust to your taste on how hot you want the sauce will be)

Directions 做法：

1 蒜茸乾蔥切碎

2 落少量油起鑊爆香蒜茸乾蔥，加入咖喱粉炒香。

3 倒入1杯半雞湯，再加入磨豉醬、海鮮醬、咖喱醬煮滾。

4 可以加入少量辣椒醬（個人喜好）
5 可加生粉水使汁濃

1. Minced garlic and chopped shallots
2. Add oil to pan. Heat and cook garlic and shallots, then add curry powder and stir well.
3. Add chicken stock, ground bean sauce, hoisin sauce and curry paste until boil.
4. Add chili sauce and adjust to taste.
5. To thicken the sauce, you can add the Beurre manié and cook it. Or simply add cornstarch water. But Beurre manié will provide stronger and better taste!