Kaya Spread (Improved Ver.)

I have posted a kaya recipe before back in 2012, and after testing and improving it, I have modified the recipe to make it more delicious and smooth. The improved version is so good that I find my myself opening the fridge to steal a small teaspoon of it every time I walk by the kitchen! Some tips to read before starting out on your home made kaya:

Tip 1: The thickness of the coconut milk determines how long your kaya takes to cook. Coconut milk that is more watery takes longer to cook [about 60-70 mins]. Whilst, coconut milk of thicker consistency will take a shorter time to cook [about 45 -50 mins].

Tip 2: After cooking the mixture for 45 minutes, open the lid and wipe the moisture on the lid. Make sure that the moisture does not drop back into the bowl. The mixture will take longer to cook if moisture drops back in.

Tip 3: The kaya will further thicken after cooling and putting it in the fridge. Kaya must be stored in the refrigerator.

Tip 4: The colour of your kaya will depend on the amount of pandan juice added in. Lesser pandan juice will cause the kaya to be of a lighter colour and more pandan juice will cause the kaya to be of a darker colour.


Enjoy and leave me a comment on how you like it!

Ingredients:

12 -15 pcs pandan leaves (It should squeeze out to be about 1 tablespoon of juice)
5 eggs (about 260g after removing egg shell)

100 g sugar

150 g coconut milk

Method:

	Cover	Time	Temp°C	Speed
1)  Turn speed dial to 10, then put pandan leaves(hands holding the stalk side) through the hole on the lid to grind till all cut.  Squeeze out the juice from the powdered leaves and set aside. Wash and dry the TM bowl.	-	-	-	10
2) Place eggs, coconut milk and sugar into TM bowl to mix.  After mixing, sieve mixture out and pour it back into TM bowl.	Yes	30 seconds	-	4
3)  Add in pandan juice. Place butterfly into TM bowl to cook the mixture.	No	45 minutes	90	2
4)  Use a spatula to scrape bottom of the pot so that the kaya does not stick.  Check if kaya is thick enough by putting a spoon in. If the kaya coats the back of the spoon thickly, your kaya is done. If not, continue cooking and repeat step 4 until kaya coats the spoon well.	No	5 - 20 minutes (Depending on how watery your kaya is at the end of 45 minutes.)	90	2
5) Cool it and its ready to be spread on your homemade bread

Char Siew Roast Pork

I LOVE to eat char siew. That taste, that smell.... it feels like I am in heaven each time I eat it. Before Thermomix, it is very difficult to make it. Roasting it in the oven takes so much time, and you have to really watch your meat else it gets burnt. Furthermore,  the oven gets very oily after that, and cleaning up is really a chore. Making it now with Thermomix is so easy, I can make it any time I get the crave to eat it, which is pretty often!

*You can substitute pork for chicken with the same amount of seasoning.


Ingredients:

Marinate 1 kg of pork belly with:
1 tablespoon oyster sauce,
2 tablespoon light soy sauce,
2 tablespoon sugar,
1 tablespoon honey,
1 tablespoon rice wine,
1 teaspoon 5 spice powder,
5 shallots and 5 garlics blended,
a little dark soy sauce,
a little salt and pepper

Method:

	Cover	Time	Temp°C	Speed
1)  Marinate the meat for at least half hour.
2)  Place marinated pork into TM bowl	Yes	25 mins	100	Stir/ Reverse
3)  Continue cooking pork in the TM bowl	No	20 mins	Varoma	Stir/ Reverse
4) Cut and serve	-	-	-	-

If you prefer your char siew shining golden brown, place the char siew in the oven after Step 3 on grill for a few minutes till your pork is shining brown. It should look something like this below:

Brown Rice Porridge

Today I will be introducing one of my favourite dish, Brown Rice Porridge. It may look and sound simple, but the taste is so good I can eat this any time. The recipe is so easy, and thus it became my lazy day meal. If I cannot decide on what to eat, I will turn to this porridge.

These basic ingredients are what you can usually find in your fridge. Ingredients I list are not conclusive, and you can add in whatever you like in your porridge. Consistency of your porridge will depend on individual's lifestyle, you can adjust the time and water if you prefer harder or softer porridge. My porridge are cooked till the brown rice is soft and porridge consistency is thick.


** If you prefer white porridge, please adjust rice to water ratio 1:4, and time to cook the porridge is about 20-25 mins.


Ingredients:

1 Carrot (Roughly chopped)
200 g Brown Rice
1200 g Water
200 g Meat (Seasoned with a little soy sauce and tapioca flour)
1 Egg (Roughly Beaten)
1 Salted Egg

Method:

	Cover	Time	Temp°C	Speed
1)  Place carrots in TM bowl	Yes	3 sec	-	5
2)  Scrap down sides and add brown rice and water	Yes	60 mins	100	1 Reverse
3)  Set time on Thermomix first, then add pork through the hole on the lid bit by bit. At the last 1 min, add egg and salted egg from the top.	Yes	6 min	100	2 Reverse
4) Let the porridge rest for 10 mins before serving	-	-	-	-

Green Marrow and Leek Soup

Hi all! 

The sky's been pretty grey these few days and I have been craving for something warm to fill my tummy. The key word's soup, but what soup should I make? I had wanted to try a zucchini and leek soup, but zucchinis are not easily found here in Singapore. Cracking my brain for a substitute, I decided to substitute zucchini to green marrow, one of my favourite vegetables.

Green marrow, or we Chinese call it as 毛瓜, is low in calories and has no fat nor cholesterol. It is also commonly found in the supermarkets in Singapore. Not only is it affordable, it has high amounts of vitamin A, vitamin C, dietary fibre, calcium and iron! Talk about hitting two birds with one stone.

This soup is light and quenching, perfect for a cool day. Try it out, and let me know in the comments below how you find it!

Ingredients:

75 g Leek (Roughly chopped)

500 g Green marrow (Cubed)

500 g Water 

10 g Oil 

40 g Cashew Nut, Lightly roasted

1/2 tsp Salt

Method:

	Cover	Time	Temp°C	Speed
1)  Place leek in TM bowl	Yes	3 sec	-	5
2)  Scrap down sides and add green marrow and water	Yes	15 mins	100	1
3)  Add oil, salt and cashew nuts to blend	Yes	1 min	-	10
4) Serve with black pepper	-	-	-	-

I AM BACK!

Hello all!

It's been a long time since I last updated my blog, I sincerely apologise. There is so much to do and I have so much to share but I didn't have the time. I always forget to take pictures and write down the steps. My daughter, Yi-Lin, has promised to help me update this blog with more recipes and to keep it alive.  She is passionate about using Thermomix to cook all sorts of yummy dishes and will join me in doing this business.

Yi-Lin and I have come up with and tested many dishes, and together we will document it here for all to share. We will try to make it easy for all to follow the recipes; using videos, pictures and simple words.

Cooking with Thermomix is really easy and fun, so stay tune for more recipes coming up!

Regards,

Mei and Yilin

Fried Bee Hoon

 
Hello my friends,

A thousand apologies! I have been super busy and could not find the time to update my blog. Nevertheless, here I am again with another recipe! Since some of my friends have been requesting me to upload a recipe for fried bee hoon, I shall do just that!

Having used Thermomix for 3 years now, I normally cook without weighing the ingredients and seasoning first and use my 'gut feel' instead. For people who seldom cook or have never cooked before, this might be a bit of a challenge at first (e.g. How much salt and pepper to add or how much vegetables to put).

Hence, I will put some quantity to each ingredient here. However, these quantities are just a rough guideline. Taste is a personal thing and it all depends on your preference on how salty/oily, how much vegetables you prefer. I normally prefer my fried bee hoon with 3/4 of the dish being vegetables and 1/4 being bee hoon. Some might prefer it the other way around. Whatever the case, it all depends on your personal preference and you can adjust the ingredients accordingly. So have some fun with it!

Ingredients :

200 g Bee Hoon (Rice vermicelli) - Soaked in water for 20 mins or till soft

150 g Cabbage (Cut in strips)

80 g Carrot (Cut in strips)

30 g Chye Sim (Optional)

2 pcs Dried Mushroom (Soaked in warm water till soft then cut in strips)

2 cloves Garlic

Seasonings:

When the bee hoon is soft, drain away the water and season with the following:

1/2 tbsp Sesame Oil

2 tbsp Light Soy Sauce

1/2 tbsp Dark Soya Sauce

Dash of pepper

Directions:

1)  Place garlic into TM bow to chop - 6sec/speed 6

2)  Scrape down the garlic and add mushroom and some oil to saute - 3min/V/R/speed soft stir

3)  Add cabbage and carrot to fry - 2.5min/V/R/Speed soft stir

4)  Add chye sim, seasoning and bee hoon to fry while using spatula to stir - 4min/V/R/Speed soft stir

Note: Some bee hoon are more coarse, this can cook for 4 min.  Some bee hoon are finer (e.g. Organic bee hoon) these can cook for just 3 mins.

Enjoy!

Green Tea Raisin Loaf

I have always loved anything that has green tea in it. Be it ice cream, bread or chocolates, i love them all! Most of the time though, when we eat green tea ice cream or green tea loaves, we can hardly taste the flavour of the green tea as it is mainly made from colouring and artificial flavours. So naturally, I decided to try my hands on this favourite ingredient of mine.. with real green tea powder!  Today, I am going to share with you how to make a green tea loaf with raisins in between (You can alternatively use red bean paste instead of raisins). It is absolutely delicious and have made this many times for my family. Everyone around me has been asking for the recipe so I decided to put it up on my blog. Cheers! :)

Ingredients:

140 g milk

1 egg

25 g caster sugar

1 tsp yeast

40 g butter

280 g bread flour

2 tsp green tea powder

½ tsp salt

Raisins

Method:

	Cover	Time	Temp°C	Speed
1)  Place all ingredients except raisins in TM bowl	Yes	10 sec	-	3-6
2)  Knead the mixture	Yes	5 mins	-	Knead
3)  Place dough on a pastry mat and knead manually into a tight ball and wrap it up tightly.	-	Let it grow till double in size	-	-
4)  Roll dough out into a rectangle shape, length to be the same as length of your loaf tin.  Lightly oil and flour the loaf tin.	-	-	-	-
5)  Spread the raisin over the rectangular dough and roll up dough tightly, pinch the edge to seal. Place it in loaf tin with edge facing down.	-	Cover loaf tin and let dough rise for about 1 hour	-	-
6)  Place it in cold oven to bake for total of 35 mins		30 mins w/ cover, last 5 mins w/o cover	180 deg