Pumpkin Rice (4grains)

Yesterday we had nutritional pumpkin rice that consist of four different types of grains.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups rice, pre soaked for an hour, can soak longer if got time (jasmine rice, brown rice, tri colour quinoa and millet)
• 2 lap cheong (waxed sausage), sliced
• 1/2 onion chopped
• roughly bout 400g pumpkin cubed
• 1 tablespoon minced garlic
• 2 tablespoon dried shrimp, pre soaked
• 2 cups water
• 3 tablespoon oil

Steps:

1. Sauté the lap cheong with dried shrimp and onions till almost crisp. 
2. Add in garlic and pumpkin. 
3. Stir fry for bout 2mins, add in grains and water and cooked under low fire for bout 15mins.

Air Fried Fluffy Cupcakes, with sliced banana and melted chocolates

Ingredients:

• 2eggs separated (white and yolk)
• 100g self raising flour
• 80g sugar
• 5g olive oil

Steps:

1. Beat white till stiff peak. 
2. Then beat the yolk and sugar (separate bowl) till creamy white. 
3. Add in self raising flour, oil and mix well. 
4. Fold in the egg whites into the mixture till the batter is well mixed.
5. Scooped in the paper cups. I sliced some banana and push down the middle of the batter and put a piece of cooking chocolate on top, push it down. 
6. Preheat air fryer at 160 for 2 mins. Bake for 7 mins at 170.

Healthy Energy Ball

Since I'm still breastfeeding, I'm eating non stop and like crazy (get hungry easily). However, I can't just simple snack on junks as I still want to be on diet to shed those extra weights. So, I was looking up for healthy snack and decided to try make energy balls instead. But the initial batches are super unhealthy with too much calories, fat and sugar (I need to be very careful with sugar intake).

Here it is, the healthier version.

Ingredients:

• 10 pitted dates
• 1 small piece of seaweed, shred it
• 1/4 cup of rolled oats
• 3 tablespoon of virgin coconut oil
• 1/8 cup of dried cranberries
• 1 slice of ginger, cut to really small pieces
• a handful of dried coconut flakes to coat

Steps:

1. Blend all the ingredients together with the blender. Don't need to blend till they are fine, but slightly coarse will do.
2. Chill in the fridge for at least 20mins.
3. Use the hand to scoop small amount to form into small balls and coat it with coconut flakes. Make sure you press it hard to avoid it from breaking apart.
4. Ready to serve. Do store in the fridge if not finish eating it.

Sup Ekor or Oxtail Soup

Just had the felling of drinking those Malay type of soup and so, I bought a bag of oxtail from the butcher the other day and wanted to try cooking it myself.

Here it goes .

Ingredients:

• 500-600g of oxtail
• 2 teaspoon of cumin seed
• 1 star anise
• some dried chills (I omitted this cause my daughter is drinking, she don't like it spicy)
• a small piece of cinnamon stick
• 1 carrot cut big chunk
• 1 potato cut chunk
• 1 tomato, quartered
• a little oil
• 1/2 teaspoon of salt
• a handful of chopped spring onion
• a handful of parsley
• half a big onion, sliced and fried till crispy, for serving
• 1.5l water

Steps:

1. Wash the oxtail, and dry it.
2. Pound the star anise and cumin seed together till it is quite fine and form a paste. put them in the muslin cloth.
3. Pan fry the oxtail till brown all side, leave the cinnamon stick in the oil too.
4. Put the oxtail, cinnamon stick and the paste in muslin cloth in the pot (I uses the pressure cooker). Add in the water. Boil for 2hours. I boil mine on high for 15mins and low fire for another 15mins. If you using chilli, add in now too.
5. Add in the potato, carrot and tomato and cooked for another 2hours (mine another 20mins).
6. Season before serving with salt and top with the rest of the ingredients.

Buckwheat Cupcakes

Bought a bag of buckwheat flour to make soba but gave up caused it needs to be fresh otherwise it will break. So, decided to try turn it into cupcakes.

Made two version with the same cake batter, top with dark chocolate chips and the other is shredded cheddar cheese.

Ingredients:

• 155g soften butter (unsalted)
• 3g baking powder
• 100g self raising flour
• 100g buckwheat flour
• 50g yogurt
• 100g sugar
• 2 large eggs
• toppings (mine was dark chocolates and cheddar, choose what u like)

Steps:

1. Cream the butter and sugar till light and fluffy. Add in egg and mix well.
2. Then mix in the self raising flour and buckwheat flour and baking powder. Mix it well.
3. Finally add in yogurt and stir well.
4. Scoop on the cups and top with the items you like. Bake for 15 to 20mins at 180c. I used air fryer and that requires 12mins at 160c.

Kimchi

A friend had just requested for my kimchi recipe, which I totally forgot to blog about and hope that I don't forget the steps and the ingredients yet.. :p

Ingredients:

• 1 head of chinese cabbage/napa (roughly 1-1.2kg)
• 1 cup of coarse salt
• 1 sink of water or a big pot of it
• 6-7 pieces of korean anchovies (it is big and a lot more flavourful then the normal ikan bills)
• 3 cups of water
• half an apple - cut to small pieces
• a small piece of ginger (roughly 3cm x 1cm) - cut to small pieces
• half a big yellow onion - cut to small pieces
• 3-4 pieces of garlic - cut to small pieces
• 1/2 cup cooked rice
• 2 pieces of raw squid, cleaned and cut to small pieces
• 1/4 cup of salt
• 1 to 1.5 cup of korean chilli flakes
• 3 tablespoon of sugar (i used brown ones)
• 1 leak - cut to 3cm length
• 1 carrot, julienned
• a bunch of spring onion - cut to 3cm length

Steps:

1. This first step need to be prepared a week in advance or you may buy ready made fermented shrimp (cencaluk) or fermented squid. Mixed the 1/4 cup of salt with the raw cleaned squid in a container. Leave it to ferment in the fridge for a week.
2. Cut the napa to small pieces of roughly 3x3cm size. Seasoned the sink of cold water with half the cup of salt. Next layer a layer of napa in it, sprinkle with the balance of the salt, another layer and sprinkle and repeat till all the napa is soaked in the cold water. Used something heavy to press it down. Soaked for at least 2-3 hours till the leaves are all lifeless and soft.
3. Rinse the napa off the salt water (at least three rinse) and dry it. You may keep the water to wash veggie or fruit instead of wasting it.
4. Boiled the 3 cups of water with the anchovies for at least 20mins. Leave it aside to cool.
5. Place the rice, apple, squid (if using shrimp, no need to do this step), ginger, garlic, onion with a little of the anchovies stock in the blender and give them a blitz till it is all smooth.
6. Stir in the mixture into the chilli flakes and sugar till even. If too thick add a little more of the stock. If using shrimp, add in now.
7. Mix the leak, carrot and spring onion into the chilli paste.
8. Now prepare your container to store the kimchi. I used a big container, you may do it in few small one.
9. Rub the chilli paste on the napa leaves evenly, piece by piece and layered it on the container. When you are done with all,  pour in all the stock to the chilli paste, mix it well and pour it over the leaves.
10. Leave the kimchi to ferment a day at room temperature before transferring it to the fridge to store. The longer it is outside, the more fermentation will take place.

Cheat Curry Fish Head

I bought a big fish recently and got the fish monger to cut the fish to half for us and hubby requested for fish curry. So, I cooked up this cheat version so that I don't need to get so many ingredients and spent to much time (I have a baby and a 6yo to attend to).

So, this is the fish head curry...

Ingredients:

• one fish head, roughly 600g
• a big handful of frozen okra (no fresh one available since mine is last min decision to cook and shop for ingredients)
• 4 pieces of taufu pok
• 1 tablespoon of shredded coconut
• 2 tablespoon of onion
• a few leaves of curry leaf
• one chopped tomato
• 2tablespoon of nyonya sambal (bottled from asian grocer)
• 2 tablespoon of baba's fish curry powder
• 1cup water
• 0.5 cup milk
• 1 tablespoon oil
• salt to season

Steps:

1. Clean the fish head, season with a little salt and air fried it at 180c for 15mins. 
2. At the last 5mins, add in the taufu pok to air fry too.
3. Heat up the wok and add in the oil. Saute the curry leaves and onion till almost brown.
4. Stir in the water, curry powder and sambal.
5. Then add in the okra, taufu pok, tomato and fish head.
6. Simmer for 7-8mins for each side of the fish and turn and simmer another 5-6mins.
7. Finally, add in the milk and shredded coconut and let it thicken a little.
8. Season before serving.