Spaghetti olio with tuna

Normally, I would make this in a pot or pan but this time I used a claypot instead. It worked quite well actually. This is a very simple dish than can be done in around 30minutes

As usual start off with the olive oil in the pan (or pot). Add the chopped onions, garlic, and mushroom. If you’ve made spaghetti olio before you’ll know that the oil is not supposed to be “spitting” hot. It should be on medium heat so that you can let the garlic/onion slowly brown. Once they’ve browned, you can add in the shredded tuna. In the meantime, boil the spaghetti. Once it’s cooked, drain and pour the spaghetti in with the garlic, onions, mushrooms and tuna. Toss evenly in the pan for a couple more minutes and serve hot.

You can sprinkle coarse black pepper or cayenne pepper as well. By the way I don’t eat this, I prefer bolognaise version. Only ed eats the olio version.

simple cinnamon rolls

its a been very productive weekend for me and its only Saturday. the next thing that i baked was a simple cinnamon roll. since the sweet dough buns were quite good, i decided to "experiment" with that and make cinnamon rolls.

i basically used the sweet dough bun recipe as a base but infused it with cinnamon powder. i also made a cinnamon mix out of... well, what else, but cinnamon powder and with chocolate chips and chocolate powder. i managed to make 2 rolls which i basically cut up into a total of 11 individual buns. once i got the dough rolled out into a rectangular shape, i proceeded to spread the cinnamon/choc mix evenly on the dough, then rolled it carefully into a tube. then i sliced them into 2 inch circular slices. bake for 20mins @180C i was a bit wary since i used the sweet dough bun recipe as it wasn't the original recipe for cinnamon rolls. BUT....... surprisingly the end result was actually interesting. its actually very nice. the texture of the dough still remained quite soft. the chocolate bits in between the rolls melted nicely and the cinnamon mix formed a sweet crunchy crust. by the way, there's still the scent of cinnamon in the air :-) Recipe for Sweet Dough Buns:

Ingredient A

100g all purpose flour

400g high protein flour (or use super soft bread flour)

220ml water

1tbsp instant yeast

100gm sugar (according to Lanvin yeast feasts on sugar and make the bread rise)

1 egg

Ingredient B

75gm butter

Method (hand knead)

1. Mix A till smooth and all mixed

2. Add in butter and knead till smooth

3. Leave it to rise - double the size. Remember to cover it with a piece of damp cloth.

4. Knead again

5. Leave it to rise. Then form into desired shapes.

6. Leave it to rise for about 10-15 mins, brush with egg and bake for ~ 20 mins.

Sweet Dough Buns

so the flavor of the week.. or of the past 2 weeks is sweet dough buns. its a recipe i picked up and changed many times over these past 2 weeks. its a pretty simple recipe but you need patience when you're waiting for the dough to rise. also i baked them in muffin cups and in cupcakes trays :-D rev0 and rev1 were basically just plain buns but they were quite soft and went nicely with butter.. just like dinner rolls so far, i've experimented with the fillings below: -sambal heh bi -peanut butter -minced pork /char siew -cadbury chocolate (special request from you know who laah..) i was going to do a nutella version but that meant making a trip to the supermarket and time just did not permit that. too bad, maybe next time... my favourite is still the sambal heh bi and as you can see, its overloaded with the yummy prawn fillings.

Knitted Hat

My 1st knitted hat. Took me 3 weeks to complete this project. Giving this hat to Loong. Hope he loves it. Next project is Transformers Autobot hat for Ryan.

Floral Pandan & Santan Jelly

The folks up north is having house warming party tonite and I was given the task to make jelly. Normally I will make Koniyaku jelly which is easy, pour everything into boiling water and cook. This time I thought of being creative so I made these.

I made the santan jelly first and using floral mould I cut the shapes and placed them into jelly moulds. Cooked pandan jelly and poured them into the jelly moulds.

Give it a try. It is pretty easy. .

Swiss Roll Attempt # 4

Finally found the right recipe for swiss roll. The texture is nice, soft and spongy. I just need to improve on the filling. Thinking of making Macha swiss roll tomorrow.

Need to find out why the skin stick to the cloth when I rolled it.

Here is the recipe from http://sakura-lovebaking.blogspot.com/2009/02/yam-swiss-roll.html

Recipe

Ingredients:

A)4 Large eggs whites

35gm castor sugar

4 Large egg yolks

35 gm Castor sugar

1/2 tsp or 2 gm baking powder

1 tsp vanilla essence

10gm cornflour(sifted)

70gm cake flour(sifted)

1 gm salt

B) 40ml Melted butter/canola oil40gm milk

Method

1)Pre heat oven at 350F.

2)Beat egg whites cream and sugar(add gradually)till stiff.

3)Add in 30 gm sugar and continue beating till thick and glossy.

4)Beat egg yolks,ovallete and 30 gm sugar till light and creamy.

5)Lightly fold in sifted flour,corn flour,baking powder,milk and oil into the egg yolk batter.

6)Gently fold in egg whites.(Do not overfold)

7)Pour batter in shallow tin lined with waxed paper.

8)Bake for 15-18 minutes.

9)You need to roll it immediately while it's hot,then let it cool. Unwrap and fill your favourite filling and roll back up.

Swiss Roll

My first attempt at swiss roll. There is still room for plenty of improvements in terms of texture, taste and shape. Found another recipe and going to try it this weekend.

briani rice and mutton

The people up north had a small a gathering in conjunction of moving in to their new place and they ordered some delicious briani rice and mutton rendang. There were mountains of leftovers so I helped myself..:-)

The mutton was very tender and was not all that spicy. and Together with the briani rice, it was a perfect combination.

 

 

assorted food @the bean

Apple crumble

Tomato and herb pasta

Brew of the day

Breakfast set.

think this was the triple layer cheese cake.. texture was very smmoth..

By the way, while we were eating at dave’s deli, ry didn’t finish his spaghetti and told me its because it didn’t taste nice and the one at the bean was nicer..WHAT??!!?? sigh.....

thou shalt not cin-nabon

When I got tired of donuts, I turned to my other sin..

Cinnabon, that is. Well, at least I don’t smoke, right?

These 2 boxes of beauties are imported from kay-el… where else..

We are so cut off from the world here on our small lil secluded island… :-P

Anyway, the fruity apples and berry toppings didn’t really agree with me but the other choc+cheese+walnut ones suited me just fine..

Again, I would have been just fine with no toppings and just the plain cinnamon bun.

You just got to love the tons of cinnamon sprinkled on and in-between the buns.

Eeer, if you don’t like cinnamon then this is definitely not for you.

breakfast of fathers...

This was my surprise breakfast on father’s day morning and n you'll see it came with OJ as well..

Missing the eggs and bacon but there’s a reason for that :-P

and I don’t really miss them all that much....

Loved the grilled sausages and mash..

Thanks dear..

Mini Orange Cupcakes

Saw these beautiful mini cupcakes cups at Tesco last Friday and I could not resist but to buy them. Since I have bought them I need to use them, right. :)

So I end up baking these mini cupcakes on Sunday morning after I dropped Ry at Maths 4 Kidz. Teacher Jimmy is so dedicated. He gave the kids replacment class as he cancelled last Saturday's.

Back to the cupcakes. I baked some normal size ones too and he called them baby, papa & mummy cupcakes. Seriously, I dont know how he differentiate between the papa & mummy. LOL.