Kitchen: Easy Comfort Food

Simple comfort food which hits the spot every time. 

Plain rice porridge (or congee, they're the same I think) with sides:

I only have this at home and our little spread usually includes pickled cabbage, fried Spam, canned black bean fish, salted eggs and the green stuff in the jar is actually shredded olive. Super delicious.

A dish which I have discovered recently and really like is the Baked Sushi Rice from Cocobella Ballerina:

Very easy to put together, I forgot the spring onion but it was still delicious. Not heavy at all and so so addictive! Everyone in the family loved it. Success!

Another recipe which I came across (also on Cocobella Ballerina) was the Shepard's Pie which I modified a little..

The mince was made with a recipe I always use for sloppy joes or bolognaise, but the mash was made as per the link above. I've never had cauliflower in my mash before and now I don't think I will make it without ever again. It was really good and I liked the different textures in my mash, a mix of smooth potato and bits of crunchy cauliflower. Yums! Plus, more cauliflower = less carbs as well, WIN! :D Thank you for sharing your recipes, Lisa!

I'm a sucker for one-pot-wonders and I have a folder of recipes (cut-outs from magazines as well as saved from blogs/websites online) which I have yet to attempt. Minimal prepping, easy to make, everything goes into one pot/dish, less cleaning up.. what's not to like?

Hoping to have some time this weekend to make another recipe I've been eye-ing.. Chicken Rice! The recipe I've saved has instructions for everything, from the chicken to the rice and even the tangy, pungent, chilli sauce. Mmmmmm. Getting hungry thinking bout it.

On a side note, I only have one more week to complete the Kyoto Ancient Walk paper structure! Eeeps!!

Kitchen: Freshhhhhh

Fresh produce! The colours are enough to make my tummy growl...

Veggies from the market, rosemary from our garden, and fish caught by my Papa!

Been eating fish on the regular as Papa has rekindled with his fishing rod.. it's a win-win situation for us. Oven baked barramundi with butter and lemon; and fried barramundi garnished with shallots, garlic, some ginger and soy. YUM!

The potatoes were delicious, the best I've ever eaten and made using Jamie Oliver's method here. Not too fussed with the flavour combos he mentioned, I omitted vinegar and just used olive oil, butter, some salt and rosemary.

So good.

Kitchen: Earl Grey Tea Crumble Butter Cake

A friend made this for me during my visit to Melbourne, it was so delicious and easy to make that I had to get the recipe off her.

I've made numerous butter cakes in the past, but this is the first time it's the *perfect* texture. Simple to make and so good with a cup of tea (or not). Everyone loved it!

Looking at these pictures make me want to make one tonight!

Thank you YJ for baking this awesome cake.

Recipe here. Enjoy!

Peanut Butter Cookie Cups

Recipe from Nouvelle Daily, I made do with whatever ingredients available at home: 

I layered the cookie dough too thick, resulting in a cake-like thing instead. Was yummy both warm and cold but I would use less peanut butter and stick to milk chocolate chips the next time.

Been bitten by the kitchen bug these days, am hoping to try out one new recipe a week at least.

Please do share any easy kitchen favourites which you may have!

Hello Kitty Pasta

I am a sucker for packaging and this pasta pack tugged at my heart-strings the moment I saw them at Cold Storage.

If there isn't one close to you and you absolutely must these Hello Kitty Pasta Shapes, you can buy them here.

Pan fried some bacon, stirred in some cheese, cream and and egg for an easy and light carbonara.

Could be better with some onions or garlic but I couldn't be fussed. No pictures of completed dish, I was too busy devouring my meal.

Simple and tasty!

Pies & Cake

Simple ingredients, easy to put together and so delicious.

Bacon & egg pies, egg hearts for Choko

Bacon & Egg pie with cheese, cracked pepper and rosemary

(Need: Bacon, bread, eggs, cheese, butter- the rest optional)

1. Butter/Grease a muffin tray, line with bread or pastry sheet

2. Add a rasher of bacon, crack an egg into it (there may be excess egg white, keep aside for egg hearts)

3. Sprinkle some cheese, cracked pepper and rosemary

4. Shove into oven and bake for about 15 minutes

5. Eat!

Egg hearts

1. Whisk remaining egg whites from above and pour into moulds (no butter if serving to furry friends)

2. Bake until set

3. Serve to friends, family or even doggies!

Different colours of cake batter

Pink ombre butter cake with cream cheese frosting
(Need: Butter, flour, cream cheese, food colouring, sugar, vanilla pod/essence, eggs)
1. Use a butter cake recipe of your choice and whip up batter
2. Separate batter into 4 bowls, add food colouring (a little goes a loooongg way)
3. Bake cake layers
4. Once done, wrap in clingwrap and refrigerate overnight
5. For frosting, use a firm cream cheese recipe so it holds shape
6. Layer away!

*Tip: Frost your cake layer by layer and refrigerate at least an hour before adding next layer of cake. This prevents the top layers from "sinking" to the bottom.

I used a mixture of Betty Crocker's Cream Cheese frosting + normal cream cheese + confectioners sugar to make my frosting. Never again will I use store-bought frosting! It tastes so much better made with 100% real cream cheese and vanilla.

I will attempt this cake again because I wan't happy with neither the taste nor texture.

Any ideas what to do with the remaining 1.5 tubs of Betty Crocker cream cheese frosting?

Kitchen: Roast lamb & Potatoes

Made roast for the family last Sunday...

Polished clean in under 30 minutes.

So satisfying! Juicy and flavourful too. I managed to pick up some New Zealand lamb shoulder at ISETAN's FoodMarket for a good price. Approximately MYR 58 for 1.3kg of meat which serves 4-5 people. Score!

One more chunk of meat sitting in the freezer, which means one more round of roast coming up!

Red Velvet from scratch!

Finally, a non-beauty related post! Aside from makeup, I also enjoy cooking and baking very much. One of my favourite cakes to eat is the Red Velvet- a moist buttermilk cake with a hint of cocoa and a cream cheese frosting. YUMS!

Having tried many Red Velvets from the usual raved-about spots in KL, I still have yet to find one which I like. My issues with the cakes: too dry, not enough cream cheese, too much cocoa powder, bland.. and the list goes on.

I'm not very picky with my cakes (most of the time a Secret Recipe cheesecake satisfies my cravings) but even I found it rather disappointing that there was not ONE which I wanted a second piece of. None of them tasted like the ones I've had in Melbourne! Little Cupcakes, how I miss you so!! And it's not just the taste, it's also the texture which didn't cut it for me. That said, if anyone in KL or PJ knows of a good Red Velvet bakery, please do share.

So I took matters in my own hand.. imported ingredients are aplenty at B.I.G so I always shop there whenever I want to cook/bake. 

Cake batter

Baked cake, set overnight and filled middle with cream cheese

Attempted to decorate it, looks small but its a 9" cake

Time to eat! Speckled bits are from the vanilla pod I used.

Wonky insides

The Red Velvet I made was a success, I loved it and so did everyone in the family. Even my sister who's a Red Velvet cake aficionado. 

It's relatively easy to make this, I am actually craving for a slice as I look at the pictures. I tweaked the recipes found online and used most of the things I had on hand. The cake was moist but not oily or chewy, the frosting was delicious- vanilla pods all the way; its more expensive compared to vanilla essence but so worth it. And the ratio of cake to frosting was perfect, I was worried initially there might be too much frosting but it worked out.

It's sorta obnoxious to say that I enjoy my own cooking/baking.. but I really do. However, I am still up to trying out Red Velvets sold in restaurants; having to wait a day before I can dig in is a bit tormenting. I like to have my cake and eat it (pronto!). So, any suggestions?

Cooking: Beef & Asparagus Tomato (Ketchup) Fried Rice

One of the things I really enjoy doing is cooking! If I could find the time to cook everyday, I most definitely would. The dishes I cook are usually fuss-free and fail proof, but come out tasting pretty good. I might have said this before, but I'll say it again.. I sometimes crave for my own cooking! Haha am I the only one?

Here is how I make one of my favourite meals:

1.Stir-fry Aspargus with garlic and butter, remove from pan and set aside..

2. Cook marinated minced beef with garlic and butter as well..

3. Once browned, throw in cooked rice and mix well in the same pan.

4. Add in as much/little ketchup as you like and stir the rice again, I used almost half the bottle. Heinz is my choice of ketchup but you can use any brand..

5. The rice should not be soggy (too much ketchup), then put the Asparagus back in and stir again..

Voila! So easy and tasty! Not to mention there is not much to wash up after :D