Sunday, March 28, 2010

Lemon Soy Cheesecake

Lemon Soy Cheesecake on 365 Project

Lemon Soy Cheesecake a vegan cheesecake!

Ingredients:

Crust:
  1. Mc Vities Lite Digestive Biscuits crushed and then mixed with 2 tablespoons of margerine (quantity to use depends on how high/ thick you want your crust to be)
Filling:
  1. 4 table spoons of Lemon juice
  2. 600g White firm tofu
  3. Soy yogurt (original flavour) one whole small tub
  4. 3 tablespoons Vegetable oil
  5. 4 tablespoons of Soy milk
  6. 1 cup  caster/ white sugar
  7. Grated lemon rind about 2 teaspoons.
Directions:
  1. For Crust: Crush the biscuits, then add in margerine to form a biscuit/pastry-ish consistency, then using the bottom of a glass, press crushed biscuits into the your baking pan of choice. Bake for 10 minutes @ 180 degree Celcius. Remove and cool it.
  2. For Filling: Blend all the ingredients above using a blender (advisable to blend tofu first then slowly add in the oil and soy milk) it should be quitea thick consistency looking just like cream cheese.
  3. Then pour the blended tofu into the cooled crust, and bake in the oven for 1 hour @ 180 degree Celcius or until it  is quite firm. Once done, remove from the oven to cool then refrigerate at least 6 hours before consuming in oder to allow it to firm up a little. You can add lemon rind or mint leaves as garnish and eat with orange slices !
Bon Apetit!!

Saturday, October 24, 2009

Julia Child and Omelette...

Hey, there...I'm Stefie

the other blog author of this bloggie...

well, I cook as well..and will be contributing recipes, be it Asian, Western and etc (esp desserts)...and I welcome any type of new recipes to try out...the ones that you dont seem to get it rite...I'll try to make it right as I find cooking relaxing & satisfying...especially when you accompany it with a good bottle of wine and some nice music...obviously without a doubt....good company as well!

Just to share...



hmm...so aren't you inspired to make omelettes now? Eggs are known to be the complete source of protein! So...heat up your pans!

Sunday, October 18, 2009

Flavor

My personal complaint is that these days, we depend TOO much on flavor, spices, and sauces to make good food.

Yes, in many cases, spices and sauces brings out or enhances the natural flavors of the main ingredient.

However, have we relied too much on these flavor enhancing elements that we have neglected to appreciate the real natural flavors of the main ingredient.

My personal mantra, as well as the mantra of many fine dining chefs is that the dish should be kept AS SIMPLE AS POSSIBLE! We must appreciate every single element in a dish, and we must enjoy it to the core of its REAL flavor.

To rely too much on element enhancing flavors, we totally give up our real connection with the natural taste of the ingredients on the plate.

Well, i guess it is safe to say that our earliest ancestors enjoyed the most natural flavors in their cooking. Sometimes, being slightly primitive in cooking is GOOD!

Thursday, October 15, 2009

A Slightly "Different" Taste of Home.

As most of you may or may not know, I come from a small island in Malaysia called Penang. This island that I am proud to call home could be referred to as the foodie's paradise. People travel from all over Malaysia, and even Singapore to come to Penang to eat. In Penang, there is NO limit for how much you can eat.

Since I am so far away from home, I have concocted this dish, with a twist to reflect only a small part of the original dish called Penang Prawn Mee. (Mee = Noodles) I call it "Shrimp Soup with Udon Noodles"

Ingredients:
1. Raw Shrimp (Tiger Shrimp, Normal Shrimp) or Lobster (for those who have the $)
2. Udon Noodles (preferably fresh udon, but packaged Udon is also ok)
3. Dried Japanese Seaweed Flavored with Sesame Seed

Preparation:
Soup Base:
1. Peel and de-vein raw shrimp (DO NOT throw away heads and shells)
2. Slow boil shells and heads for a relatively long time until essence of shrimp from shells and head has infused with water
3. Add anchovy stock powder to taste
4. Add chili powder for added spice if desired
**If using lobster, use lobster head as the ingredient for the soup base (DO NOT peel shell off lobster, only peel off head)
***Usually the soup is quite ready when the color of the soup base is a light orange (color from the shrimp heads and shells)

Shrimp Garnish:
1. Halve the peeled and de-veined shrimp
2. Boil the shrimp until cooked (do not overcook shrimp to preserve tenderness; do not under cook as well to prevent illness)

Udon:
1. Boil udon noodles in boiling water (do not boil in cool water for better consistency)
2. When udon noodles are cooked, rinse in cold tap water to prevent noodles from sticking to each other

Serving:
1. Put udon noodles in a bowl and top off with the boiled shrimp
2. Pour a generous amount of shrimp soup onto udon noodles
3. garnish the soup with dried Japanese seaweed flavored with sesame seed for color

PS: This is a reminder, that this recipe is NOT Penang Prawn Mee. This is one of my fusion dishes, designed to remind me of a little taste of home, while utilizing different ingredients from the original. Living abroad from Malaysia, it is difficult to find all the original ingredients, therefore, sometimes, it is wise to compromise and do your best with what's offered. I hope this recipe is tasteful and gives you a very slight taste of what Penang is like; seafood-y and savory with a slight touch of fusion!

Fusion

Many people ask, what exactly is fusion food?
Its actually simple... most of what we eat these days are fusion food, except for traditional cooking of course.

Did you know that Italian pasta is actually some form of fusion?
Answer: The idea of the Italian spaghetti is actually noodles, that originated from China. The concept of the noodle was imported from China to Italy and that was when spaghetti was made. (I am not referring to other types of pasta like the rotini or shell pasta, etc.)

Anyway, my aim is not only to simply cook traditional food or simplistic food that reflect one culture, but one of my many goals is also to cook fusion food to represent an array of cultures.

Fusion may be different and daring, but hey, we all must take that one daring step to explore what's beyond us! That step for me, is to explore different ways, techniques or tastes of different foods and combine them to come up with something new and exciting!

Meatball with Essence of Chicken Soup

**This is still an experimental recipe!! Comments, criticisms always welcome! Comments on the timing would be a great help!!

Ingredients:
1. Ground Pork (can substitute with ground chicken)
2. Dried Scallop or Fresh Scallop
3. Chicken Bones
4. Multi-Purpose Flour
5. Cilantro

Preparation:
Meatball:
a. Soak dried scallops in warm water until soft
b. *if using fresh scallops, ignore step a.
c. roughly chop dried/fresh scallops
d. mix ground pork and scallops and add a little multi-purpose flour for consistency
e. finely chop ground pork and scallop mix until very fine and uniform
f. roll pork and scallop mix into a ball shape (size is up to you)

Cooking:
Soup Base:
a. boil chicken bones in a slow cooker until essence of chicken is totally extracted from
bones (10 to 12 hours?)
b. add salt and ground white pepper to taste (optional: add chicken stock cube if desired)

Meatball:
a. boil the raw meatball in normal water (DO NOT boil meatball in chicken soup base!)
b. make sure meatball is cooked throughout (raw meat can be a health risk)

Serving:
a. put meatball(s) into small bowl
b. ladle chicken soup base onto the meatball (amount of soup is up to your liking)
c. top with chopped fresh cilantro as desired
d. serve and enjoy while its hot!

***Notes:

This dish is meant to be VERY basic. It reconnects us to the basic roots of simple and natural cooking. No extra sauces or condiments are needed to enjoy the very essence of the chicken soup and the natural sweetness of the meatball enhanced by the scallops.

Wednesday, October 14, 2009

Welcome!

Dear Guest,

Welcome to my food blog!

This blog is to share some of my creative food creations with you.

However, do not hesitate to share your food creations with me or anyone else who visits this site too!!

Hope you have a blast cooking and enjoying the food creations in this blog.

PS: If you want to comment or critic a recipe you tried out, do not hesitate to be truthful!