Oolong milk tea with ice cream and chocolate chip cookies

Recently, Andy and myself have a new craving, all thanks to my best friend, Melanie. She introduced us to Oolong milk tea with ice cream and pearls from KOI Cafe. This drink is delicious!!! We would always get the biggest cup each whenever we are in Ang Mo Kio. Even Georgia has taken a liking to it. Initially she doesn't like the tea as it has a bitter taste but now she loves it as much as we do. I have managed to whip up my own version (not as good as KOI Cafe but good enough to satisfy the cravings) whenever I have the cravings and don't have the time to travel to Ang Mo Kio.


Oolong Milk tea with ice cream

RECIPE
Ingredients
200ml oolong tea without sugar (I get this ready made tea from Yeo's)
1 teaspoon of condensed milk
1 scoop of vanilla ice cream

Method
1. Mix the oolong tea with condensed milk until fully dissolved.
2. Drop the scoop of ice cream into the tea and you're ready to drink it!

Next up is our favourite chocolate chip cookies. These are from Vegan with a Vengence. They taste as good as Famous Amos and they are extremely addictive! I added some other ingredients to make it even more delicious!


Chocolate chip cookies

RECIPE
Ingredients
1 cup butter/margarine, at room temperature
1 1/4 cup unrefined sugar (I used only 1 cup)
1 tablespoon unrefined molasses
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups unbleached all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup of dessicated coconut
2 tablespoons of grounded flax seeds
1 1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

Method
1. Preheat oven to 350 degF or 180 degC.
2. Cream together the margarine and sugar until fluffy. Add molasses and vanilla extract.
3. Add the flour, baking soda, dessicated coconut, grounded flax seeds and salt, and mix well. Fold in the chocolate chips.
4. Drop by teaspoons spaced a little over 2 inches apart onto ungreased cookie sheets.
5. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes, until ever so slightly browned. Let cool on the baking sheets for 5 minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack.

Note: You could refrigerate the cookie dough for about 30 minutes to prevent them from spreading too much during baking.

I'm off to enjoy my afternoon snack while Kieran is taking his nap and Georgia is in school. ^_^

Baking again!

I missed baking so much and have not baked any since the start of my pregnancy till yesterday. So that makes it about almost two years since I've last baked. Yesterday night after Georgia and Kieran has gone to bed, I quickly set about making the vanilla snap biscuits dough so that I can bake them today together with Georgia. Georgia helped to decorate the biscuits with the cute toppings given to me by one of my flickr friend. The biscuits are quite yummy and it's something fun to for Georgia to do. Next time I'll make some icing for her to draw on them. Now I have started baking again, I'll try and squeeze in time to bake at least once a week. Okie gotta go now as Kieran is in need of my attention!


Vanilla snap biscuits

RECIPE
INGREDIENTS
185g (6oz) butter
1 cup caster (superfine) sugar
1 1/2 tsps vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 egg
1 egg yolk, extra

METHOD
1. Preheat the oven to 180 deg C (350 deg F).
2. Process the butter, sugar and vanilla in a food processor until smooth. Add the flour, egg and egg yolk and process again to form a smooth dough.
3. Knead tge dough lightly, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
4. Roll out the dough between sheets of non-stick baking paper until 5mm thick. Cut the dough into shapes using cookie cutters. Place on baking trays lined with non-stick baking paper.
5. Bake for 10-12 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on wire racks.

Mushroom curry

In the past, I do not know how to cook curry and always end up in disaster! I know that it's very easy to cook them but somehow they ended up too spicy or too bland. After countless of trial and error, I managed to come up with a decent curry and I have grown to love to cook curry! Serve the mushroom curry with Basmati rice and it's a good meal for me! Yum!


MUSHROOM CURRY
Serves 2

INGREDIENTS
1 packet of oyster mushrooms (about 150g)
1/4 cup of fresh or frozen corn kernels
1 teaspoon of chopped ginger
1 teaspoon of chopped garlic
2 tablespoons of chopped onion
1 teaspoon of mustard seeds
3-4 tablespoons of olive oil
1/2 cup of water
2 tablespoons of vegetable curry powder mix
1/2 teaspoon of sea salt
1/2 teaspoon of sugar (optional)

METHOD
1. Heat olive oil in pan.
2. Add ginger, garlic and onion. Stir fry till fragrant, about 3mins.
3. Add mustard seeds. Stir fry for about 30 seconds.
4. Add curry powder and water. Mix well.
5. Add the oyster mushrooms and corn. Mix well.
6. Cover and simmer on low heat for about 10 mins.
7. Add sugar and salt to taste.
8. Serve with rice.

You can always use vegetables such as ocra, carrots, potatoes or eggplants instead of mushrooms. Do let me know whether you like this curry! Enjoy! ^_^

Mummy, I want noodles!

Whenever I ask Georgia what she would like to eat for lunch or dinner, she'll always tell me noodles. Always noodles. But of course I'm not going to cook her noodles everyday. I'll get sick of it! I do cook noodles for her at least three times a week. So today I granted her wish for noodles when I asked her what she wants for lunch.

I usually would whip up something quick and easy for our lunch as before that we would be doing some homeschooling, playing, reading and also in between some house work. So lunch has to be prepared and cooked in less than 30 minutes. My family and myself have come to love eating soba more after our trip to Tokyo. We would either have it in soup or stir fry. For today's lunch, I stir fry an easy peasy soba in less than 30 minutes as the little one was telling me she's hungry every few minutes! ( I guess she's all hungry after our morning walk around the neighbourhood ^_^)

I also prepared soup. Our family cannot do without soup. We have to have soup everyday otherwise the man and the little girl would be asking me why I never cook any. I cooked watercress soup today. It's considered a 'cooling' soup and it's especially good for hot weather.

Here are my recipes for the easy peasy stir fry soba and the watercress soup.

EASY PEASY STIR FRY SOBA


For two
INGREDIENTS
A handful of dried soba ( I prefer using the dried ones than the pre-cooked soba)
1/2 cup buna shimeji mushrooms (trim the base)
1/4 cup button mushrooms (fresh or canned), cut into half
1/2 cup broccoli
1/4 cup carrots, sliced
1 small piece of garlic
1 tsp of black sesame seeds (lightly toasted on pan)

2-3 tbsp of olive oil
1-2 tsp of sesame oil
3-4 tsp low sodium soya sauce
1/2 tsp sea salt
1 tsp of vegetarian G powder (optional), you could use 1 tbsp of mushroom sauce
pepper to taste

METHOD
1. Boil the soba in boiling water for about 8-10 minutes until al dente. If too soft, it will stick to the pan during stir fry.
2. Drain soba and soak in cold water for 1 min and drained off water. Keep aside.
3. Add olive oil to cooking pan, then add garlic and stir fry for 30 seconds.
4. Add broccoli and carrots, stir fry and cover for 30 seconds.
5. Add shimeji and button mushrooms. Add a pinch of sea salt and stir fry till well mixed.
6. Remove vegetables and mushrooms and put aside.
7. Heat olive oil in pan and add soba on low fire. Toss around and make sure soba is covered with some oil.
8. Add the soya sauce, vegetarian G powder (optional) and stir well.
9. Next add the vegetables and mushroom and mix them up. Add the sesame oil, sesame seeds and also pepper to taste.
10. Turn off heat, prepare cutleries and you're ready to eat!

NOTE: You can always vary your ingredients like adding pine nuts, cashew nuts or anything you fancy!

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WATERCRESS SOUP


For 2-3
INGREDIENTS
5-6 cups of water
A packet of watercress (trim off the base and washed with water and drained)
A handful of red dates (soaked in water till soft, drained)
1-2 mi zao (these dates are bigger and sweeter than red dates)
2 tbsp of wolfberries (soaked in water till soft, drained)
2 tsp of vegetarian G powder (optional) or vegetarian stock
1/2 tsp of sea salt

METHOD
1. Add red dates, wolfberries and mi zao into boiling water. Cover and cook for 5 minutes.
2. Add watercress and cover. Cook in low heat and boil for 20-25 mins.
3. Add vegetarian G powder or vegetarian stock (optional) and salt. Stir well and turn off heat.
4. The soup is ready to be served!

Have fun cooking!

^_^

I love my pratas!

I love pratas so much that I have to have them at least once a week. Same goes to Andy. Even little Georgia loves pratas!!! We have our favourite prata shop in Casuarina Road. There are two prata shops there, Casuarina prata and Prata House. We prefer the Prata House even though the shop doesn't look modern or appealing. What matters most is that they make great pratas!!! And their vegetable dahl and curry are good too! So when I can't get my fix from there, I'll pan fry ready-made pratas myself. It's from Spring Home and you can get them from any supermarkets. Their pratas are pretty good too. I'll usually pan fried them till they are crispy around the edges. I have yet to master the art of cooking curries and dahl. So for the meantime I'll have my pratas with raw unrefined sugar at home. And also a cup of tea. Mmmmmm yummmmm!


P.S. The mug is a gift from my mum. It's a chinese bride in her traditional wedding costume. It's a couple mug. Andy has his bridegroom. ^_^

My favourite soup

Lotus soup is my favourite soup of all time. This is a vegetarian version. I would like to share my recipe with all of you and I hope that you like it too!

Some information about the ingredients. Lotus root is warming, good for lung ailments and increasing energy. It is also a digestive aid and helps control blood pressure. White fungus is beneficial to the lungs, liver, kidney, eyes. It also contains anti-oxidants to combat free radicals and improves blood circulation as well as calcium absorption capability. Red dates tones the spleen, improves blood circulation and aids breathing. Wolfberries or Goji berries are beneficial to the liver and kidney, promotes increased energy, improves blood circulation and enhances general well-being.
(Source from Chinatown food and Sacfood Coop)

Lotus Roots Soup
RECIPE
Servings 2-4

INGREDIENTS
300g of lotus roots, cut into small discs
10 red dates
A handful of wolfberries
1 medium carrot, cut into small discs
1 1/2 tbsp of low sodium Miso
1 tsp of Organic Vegetarian G powder or Dashi or vegetable stock
2 litres of water

METHOD
1. Pour the water into a pot and bring it to a boil. Soak red dates and wolfberries in a bowl of water to soften them.
2. Once water has started boiling, put in lotus roots, red dates, wolfberries and carrots. Simmer heat and cover.
3. Continue cooking soup till water level drops to 1/4 of the original level which may be about 30-45 minutes. I always like to cook soup on low heat for longer periods so that the broth will be thick.
4. Then add the vegetarian G powder or Dashi or vegetable stock. Stir and simmer for about 5 minutes.
5. Remove from heat and add the miso paste. Make sure miso is completely dissolved in soup.
6. Serve immediately.

I always add carrots to my soup to make the soup sweeter and also carrots are good for the eyes and they have beta carotene! I hope you like the soup too! Enjoy!