BLACK DATES & BEAN DRINK

This nourishing drink

is particularly beneficial

to new mothers 

Black dates are rich in iron
 &
 helps to replenish loss blood

Black bean
promotes bowel movement

If need to sweeten the drink

dried longan may be added
But 
usually this is not necessary

200g black dates

100g black beans

some sliced ginger

1.5L water

1) soak black beans until soft, about 1 hour

2) strain the beans

3) rinse black dates & score them

4) put all ingredients into a pot & let it boil

5) when it boils, lower heat & simmer for at least 2 hours

6) serve warm

TURMERIC PORK CHOP

Turmeric
 is commonly used in Indian Cooking

Owing to its medicinal value

many have started using Turmeric 

As DAYS OF CONFINEMENT put it:

Turmeric 
helps in the healing of wounds

and 

strengthens the immune system

Turmeric, 

when cut, 

gives out sticky juice

that sticks to everywhere including your fingers

So, it is a mess to clean up!

And for this reason
many people use Turmeric powder instead

How about try cooking
Pork chop, spare ribs or chicken wings
With this yellow powder

TURMERIC PORK CHOP

300g pork chop/spare ribs/chicken wings   

Marinate with   
     60g ginger, minced

     1 Tbsp sesame seed oil

     2 Tbsp soya sauce
     2 tsp turmeric powder
     2 tsp brown sugar
     1 tsp corn flour
      Salt to taste

1) marinate pork chop for at least 1 hour

2) heat some cooking oil in a wok 

3) add marinated meat & fry over medium heat until cooked 

4) dish out & serve 

DOUBLE CHOCOLATE BUTTER CAKE

Double Chocolate Butter Cake

is 

Butter Cake 

with 

Cocoa & Chocolate

This recipe is inspired by Jeannietay's 

Orange Butter Cake

It is spongy and moist

with the much desired butter aroma

and

 intense chocolate flavour

If you are a lover of butter & chocolate

this is a good recipe to try

Double Chocolate Butter Cake

A) 225g self-raising flour

      25g cocoa powder

      1/2 tsp double action baking powder

B) 4 large eggs

      100g castor sugar

    

C) 250g salted butter

      50g castor sugar

     

D) 20-50g  fresh milk, if necessary

       200g -250g chocolate chunks

1) Sift together dry ingredients in (A), leave aside

2) whisk eggs & sugar in (B) until ribbon stage, leave aside

3) cream butter & sugar in (C) until light & fluffy

4) add 1/3 egg mixture into butter cream, mix well

5) gently fold in 1/3 dry ingredients

6) repeat 1/3 additions until run out of egg mixture & flour

7) stir in fresh milk if batter is too thick. Mix batter until smooth
8) stir in chocolate chunks and pour batter into a lined 7" square pan

9) bake in preheated oven of 160'C for 60 min until cooked

MOONCAKE FESTIVAL

 Mid-Autumn 

or

Mooncake Festival

is

widely celebrated in Asian Countries

Mooncakes 

are baked to mark this special occasion

A piece of traditional mooncake

can be sold for RM80 

or more

in Hongkong & Singapore

Kelly Yip

my Facebook Friend

gave me this bag full of 'Sam Yee"

A pink bag with

2 Traditional Mooncakes

2 little piggies

and 

a Shanghai Mooncake

means so much to me

你的心意
十分感動
多謝

SHI CHUAN DA BU TANG

Shi Chuan Da Bu Tang

十全大補湯

consists of 10 herbs

'brewed' with duck or chicken

as a health tonic or soup

for the whole family

My grandmother
 usually boiled a very big pot 
whenever she knew we were coming back to Sitiawan to visit her 
so big that we could not finish at one go

Often times she would cook mee sua
to eat with it too

Instead of a chicken
she would cook with a very big white duck
which she reared in her backyard

We really enjoyed the big big bowl of chunks of duck meat in black soup
the taste is beyond description

Childhood is always the best time
as it brings back fond memories of place, food and people
every thing is so so good

1 pkt Shi Chuan Da Bu Tang

1 chicken, chopped

1) rinse herbs & put into a slow cooker

2) pour boiling water into the cooker, and put on HIGH

3) when boils, add chicken & continue boiling for another 2 hours

4) serve hot

GINSENG CHICKEN SOUP

GINSENG

泡參

originates from America

Wild Ginseng

野生泡參

Cultivated Ginseng

種植泡參

The number of lines across the roots
represent the age of the ginseng

As seen in the picture
the wild ginseng has many lines across

whereas
the cultivated ones have less
but still 
the batch above is more than 5 years old 

Cultivated ginseng 
must be at least 5 years old
to have its medicinal value

Wild Ginseng 
has higher potency
compared to the cultivated ones

That contributes to the reason
why the price of wild ginseng is 4 - 5 times higher 
than the cultivated ones

Ginseng Chicken Soup

1 chicken thigh

10g ginseng roots, sliced

5g wolfberry (optional)

1) rinse wolfberry

2) all ingredients into the double boiler bowl

3) add enough water for one person

4) double boil for 3-4 hours

5) serve warm

COPYCAT JENNY BUTTER COOKIES - melt in the mouth

Jenny Cookies

a hit among the cookie lovers
who queue long hours for a box of this famous cookies
in Hong Kong's Jenny Bakery

I stumble on this recipe 
and 
tried baking it

Nice
fragrant
melt in the mouth

Jenny Cookies come in 2 flavours
butter cookies
&
Coffee

The creaming of butter with icing sugar gives a crumbly texture
And 
Part of the plain flour has been replaced with corn flour
To create the melt in the mouth texture

Here is the recipe if you are interested

COPYCAT JENNY BUTTER COOKIES

A) 100g salted butter, cold but softened

     25g icing sugar

B) sifted together dry ingredients:

     25g rice flour

     30g bread flour

     45g plain flour

1) cream butter & icing sugar until pale

2) fold in dry ingredients until just combined

3) put mixture into a piping bag & leave in fridge for 5 minutes

4) pipe out on lined baking sheet

5) bake in preheated oven 160'C for 15 min until brown at edges, rotating half way

COPYCAT JENNY COFFEE COOKIES

A) 100g salted butter, cold but softened

     30g icing sugar

B) sifted together dry ingredients:

     25g corn flour

     30g bread flour

     45g plain flour
     
C) 1 Tbsp instant coffee granules dissolved in 1/2 tsp boiling water

1) cream butter & icing sugar until pale

2) fold in dry ingredients until just combined

3) put mixture into a piping bag 

4) pipe out on lined baking sheet

5) bake in preheated oven 160'C for 15 min, rotating half way

Note:
1) For Coffee Variant, I have replaced the rice flour with corn flour.
2) rice flour and corn flour are interchangeable & it does not affect the texture

BAKED QI DAN KOU

Steamed Qi Dan Kou

is well known among the Chinese
because
it is easy to make
and
nice to eat

Recipe 
handed down for generations
is
1 cup egg + 1 cup sugar + 1 cup flour 

Now
sugar has been reduced for health reasons


As for me
I can never get it right
no matter how many times I tried the above recipe

Ann Low has come out with this Baked Egg Cake recipe

I find the texture to be  
light & fine 

Moreover
with added cocoa on top of the cake
it is more pleasing to the eye
and taste good too

If you are interested:

BAKED QI DAN KOU 

3 eggs, separated

1 whole egg

65g icing sugar

50g corn oil

65g self raising flour

1 Tbsp cocoa powder

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1) beat together whole egg & egg yolk, add corn oil, vanilla extract & mix well

2) sift in self raising flour, mix well

3) whisk egg white until bubbly, slowly add sugar & whisk to stiff peaks

4) mix 1/3 meringue into egg yolk mixture to loosen egg yolk

5) pour all egg mixture into meringue and mix well

6) pour into lined 6" square pan, leave 2 Tbsp to mix in cocoa powder

7) drizzle cocoa mixture on top of the plain batter & create a pattern

8) bake in preheated oven 170'C for 35 min

9) overturn cake once the cake is out of the oven

5 HERBAL TONIC SOUP

5 herbal tonic soup

is widely used

to increase energy level

strengthen immune system

and

stimulate appetite

It is suitable for people of all ages

young & old

healthy or weak

5 herbs are:

huang qi or Astragalus Root黃芪 (yellow-brownish slice)

Dang Shen党参 (cylindrical roots)

Huai san淮山 (thick white root sheet)

fu san 茯苓 (irregular white sheet)

and

wolf-berries or goji berries or commonly called kei chi

There is no fixed ratio

when combining these herbs

If you do not like the huang qi taste

feel free to put just 1 or 2 slices.

As for fuk san a small piece will do.

Dried longan can be added as it has the following benefits:

These are extracts are from rawforbeauty.com

1/2 chicken or pork ribs, chopped

15g wolfberry

15g huai san

15g Dang Shen

10g Fu san

8g huang qi

6 longan

salt to taste, optional

1) clean chicken, blanch in boiling water

2) rinse herbs and put into a pot

3) add enough water and bring it to a boil

4) add chicken and bring it to a boil again

5) lower heat & continue simmering for 2 hours

6) serve hot

DANG GUI CHICKEN SOUP

Dang Gui 

or 

Angelica Sinensis

is 

regarded 

as 

'female Gingsing' 

It nourishes the uterus 

and 

helps to regulate female hormones

also 

helps to correct 

mild cases of anaemia

Dang Gui

could be quite 'heaty'
so
it is advisable to start with the minimum

Black dates 
helps to introduce some sweetness to the soup

1 chicken thigh

10g Dang Gui

2-3 black dates, snipped half

1) clean chicken thigh & remove fats, blanch & drain

2) put all ingredients into a double boiler bowl 

3) add enough boiling water to cover ingredients

4) double boil for 3 hours

5) serve hot