Crystal Flakes Pan Fried Dumpling

Today I'm gonna teach u all how to make special pan fried dumplings which has the shape of ice crystal flakes surrounding them.

This is an extremely simple dish which everyone can make at home. It takes about 10 minutes to get the dish done. I used the frozen dumpling bought from supermarket. You don't even have to defrost the dumplings so a lot of time can be saved. 

First step is to pour some oil in the pan and heat it up. Then switch to small fire and assemble the dumplings like a flower in the pan. It takes around 6 dumplings to make the shape. Stick one of the edge of the dumpling in the middle of the pan to form a circular shape. Then switch to medium fire and let the bottom of the dumpling to be fried until light golden colour. It should take around 1-2 minutes.

Then make a mixture of water and flour (or cornflour) with the ratio of 10:1. Pour the solution into the pan until half of the dumplings are soaked. Then cover the pan and let it boiled under small or medium fire. This process takes about 5 minutes. You can pour more solution and let it heat longer if you scare the dumplings will not be cooked. 

Lastly, open up the pan and see if the flour water is almost dried up with the golden crystal flake crisps on the pan. When the water is completely dried up, invertly pour the whole thing onto a plate. 

 

This should be how it looks like. The top layer is crispy with nicely steamed dumpling underneath. Overall a great success :)

When Toasts Meet Milk

Ok first of all, the haze is killing me. My house is like a big oven with smokes smell here and there and everywhere. My respiratory system is dying! I wonder when will this annual event of forest fire be stopped cos everyone in the countries affected are getting sick. Such terrible polluted air.

Anyway, i was actually in the mood of making some scones just now but i couldn't do it because i dun have enough butter/margarine at home. This sucks! Anyway, will try to get some soon or i'll just bake something which use oil instead of the butter. I wonder if frozen oil can be used hmm. Will let you guys know when i try haha.

Today, i'm sharing with you my pleasant surprise last night when i was hunting for supper. Wasn't so hungry to eat instant noodle so i look for biscuits/ bread. Anyway, i toasted 2 piece of breads and start looking for the chicken floss but apparently it was finished already. So i was so disappointed as i already pour a glass of milk to pair with my toasts. Since i have no butter at home too, i thought, maybe dipping the toast into the milk can be nice. Like how people dip oreo biscuits into milk right.

It was fantastic! As the bread was toasted to become crunchy, it kinda tastes like newly baked pastry. And because all the water was gone during the heating process, the milk easily bind with the toast and therefore it's crunchy and juicy. Unlike biscuits, bread structure is much hollow so it was very easy to absorb the milk, within seconds. I finish my toasts so quickly and by the time i finish, my milk was half glass gone already.

Well, this might not apply to low fat milk as what you need is a good glass of milk to spice up the toasts. However, chocolate or strawberry flavoured milk might be able to work. I dunno haha.

2nd Year Anniversary In SG

Today is my 2nd year anniversary dinner with my bf and we celebrated it at One Rochester, singapore. We never make any reservation and still were able to get the table. 

Foie gras with salads and crunchy bread stick. The foie gras was superb. 

Main course baby chicken which is their signature dish. Needs 30 minutes time to prepare which is just nice for us as we both have small apetite therefore need time to digest. The meat was tender and the potato cubes were good too. But I would probably prefer a more crunchy potato or French fries instead. 

Aglio olio spaghetti with king prawns and tomato and asparagus. Love the asparagus, very nicely cooked and provide a refreshing taste as the spaghetti is quite spicy. Prawns were fresh and delicious too.

Strawberry frozen margarita. Little bit too sweet so I think the classic version could be better. Also it melted really fast and I end up having a warm margarita lol. 

I also had the dessert which is the freshly baked soufflé. However, I was so eager to eat and therefore didn't take any picture of it haha. I had the hazelnut soufflé with vanilla ice cream. It is exactly the same as the one I ate in Australasia, Manchester but different flavor. Also it didn't provide any sauce to pour into the soufflé compared to the passion fruit soufflé I had in uk. But, the ice cream was good if u love milky stuff. I love it haha. 

The atmosphere is overall great. We sat outdoor which has a shelter so won't get wet if the rain pours. They have different area of outdoor seats so one area will have approximately 2-4 tables or sofas. Also they have a few big fans that make minimal sound. My bf find the fake waterfall sound very soothing and calming haha. 

That is all the updates I got for now. Hope you guys enjoy! :)

Dishes From Last Week

I'm happy that i was managed to improve my cooking skills in last week. And today, i'm gonna just give a recap on my everyday meal for the past week hope you guys enjoy =)

Sesame sauce udon with vegetables and meatballs, garnished with chilli flakes and herbs.

Pork porridge with shredded cabbage and carrot.

Toasts with scrambled eggs and mushroom soup.

Omurice - Soy sauce base fried rice with corns and anchorvy.

Chicken soup base linguine with meatballs and cabbage, garnished with wakame.

Linguine with sesame dressing, japanese egg roll and mushroom soup.

Honey and korean wine pork.

Japanese egg roll, korean kimchi and stir fry pork with shredded cabbage and carrots.

Snap beans with spicy vegetarian dried shrimps, dumplings, pickled lettuce and fried eggs.

That's all the stuff that i cooked last week, so proud of myself! Well, hope my dad enjoyed too since he hasn't said a word about my cooking skills yet haha.

SS: Easiest Way of Making Omurice

Good day people! I'm so excited as i just made a real perfect Omurice for lunch =) So ya, i'm gonna talk about my victorious attempt on making Omurice hahahah. It's actually not as difficult as it might look if u follow my tips lol.

The fried rice can be done in whatever way u like. I don't really like tomato base so i switch it to soy sauce with pepper. 

And for the egg, it is quite similar to making scramble eggs, but without the milk. Whisk the eggs and pour ALL into the pan under low fire. Then quickly scramble the eggs using the whisk, when it is 60-70% scrambled, leave it for few seconds for the base to form. Then, fold the egg into half with a spatula. Then slowly move the egg to the side of the pan by knocking on handle of the pan. It also help to slightly flip the egg. Lastly, when you think the omelette is nicely formed with no broken "skin", slowly pour the egg onto the rice. 

In japan, they will cut open the egg by gently drawing a long horizontal line with a knife. In my case, i cut the egg using the spoon, which achieve the same goal too.

I'm so proud of myself of making this dreamy omurice hahaha. Always wanted to eat a perfect omurice with nice fluffy eggs and here it is! 

SS: Japanese Egg Roll With Normal Round Pan

Hey people, I'm feeling kinda low today. Called the company i applied for and they told me the director is on leave so can't proceed my application, wtf. Therefore, i start calling to ask for part time jobs around my area. Which makes me feel kinda suck as my bf keep asking me to be piano teacher cos the job earns more. Well, i really don't like applying job just looking at the pay, if i can't enjoy the job, i feel like crap. Oh well, i can't talk much at this moment as i havent got any of the job. Waitress/sales assistant job is easy, just need to go there and get interview. Only the piano job needs further communication as i'm not sure how it works.

Oh well, end of the bad mood and let's start talking about the dish i'm sharing today.

Yes, another egg dish. Japanese egg roll! It looks so similar to the one selling in restaurant, this makes me feel proud as i used the normal flat pan instead of an egg roll pan to make it.

The steps were easy. I used 2 eggs with pinch of salt for flavour. Japanese sometimes also do sweet egg rolls so depends on what you like actually.

Pour 1/3 of the eggs into the pan under low fire. when it's 50% cook with some egg liquid on top, start folding the egg using the spatula. Gently fold it with the residue egg liquid as the glue. If you afraid it will be totally cook, you can remove the pan from the fire when you folding it. After you get a roll, pour in another 1/3 of the eggs and lift the egg roll at 45 degree to let the egg liquid go under the egg roll, then repeat the folding process. Lastly pour in the remaining eggs and repeat the process. When the roll is done, you can let the egg roll stay in the pan for a while to make the top looks a bit brownish as well as to double confirm the egg roll is cooked.

When serving, cut the egg roll into few equal portions so that you can eat it in easily. As the pan i used was round, both ends of the egg roll are relatively more flat than the middle part.

Another tips is to incorporate enough air into the egg liquid during the whisking process. This will make the eggs more fluffy.

And yes, i really love eating eggs therefore i love making egg dishes.

SS: 5 Minutes Perfect Scramble Eggs

Hola! Today i'm going to teach a very simple way of making scramble eggs, which takes only 5 minutes to make it.

As i love scramble eggs so much, i've been experimenting the best way of making it including trying out the Gordon Ramsey's method which is relatively tidious but nice. I mean, you won't go wrong with a Michelin chef right.

Anyway, i made scramble eggs for my brunch yesterday and i would love to share the recipe as the result turns out real good. What you need is 2 eggs, 1-2 tablespoons of milk (i substitute it with soya milk as i have no milk left) and seasoning including salt and pepper.

First, break the eggs and add in the milk and little pinch of salt for seasoning. Then, whisk the eggs vigorously to incoporate air so that the final product will be fluffy. However, be careful not to overdo and produce too much foam.

Heat the pan and put some butter or oil and turn to low fire. When the pan is not that hot, pour in the eggs. If the pan is too hot, the eggs will be cooked too fast and become omelette instead of scramble eggs haha.

Ok, COOKING TIPS! Straight away use the WHISK to scramble the eggs by gently stir clockwise/anti-clockwise. This will produce very nicely scrambled eggs. Also, the eggs will not stick to the whisk compared to a wooden spatula. Therefore, easy cleaning process =)

Serve the eggs when they reach the texture you desire with pinch of pepper on top.

I made toasts and mushroom soup as well! Toasts can be done by oven since i have no microwave at home. 200 degree celcius for 3-5 minutes will make perfect toasts =)

SS: 15 Minutes Dinner - Stir Fry Udon with Sesame Sauce

So, i cooked dinner for my dad last night. Fried udon with sesame sauce.

The ingredients were extremely simple, which include udon pack, the vegetables leftover from lunch, frozen meatballs, Japanese roasted sesame dressing, pepper and salt/soy sauce for the taste.

And this, is the final product. Looks colourful right? It's really easy to cook this dish, you just need about 15 minutes to get it done.

So first, what i did was to defrost the meatballs by putting it into the water and cut half when it is defrost. This will help the meatballs to get cooked evenly in a faster way. Then i cut the garlic and onions to small pieces. The amount is dependable on personal flavour. I don't exactly like garlic and onions so i just put a considerate amount to flavour the noodles, which is around 1 clove of garlic and half an onion.

So, pour oil when the pan is hot and put in the garlic and onion. Stir fry until the garlic turns golden and the onion starts smelling nice. Then, put in the meatballs and continue to stir fry the mixture. Then pour in some water to sort of simmer the meatballs to speed up the cooking process. When the meatballs are 80% cooked, pour in the udon noodles. I will advice to separate the noodles after taking out from the pack as they normally tend to stick together in the pack. You can also separate it after putting into the pan but that will be more difficult to achieve evenly cooked noodles.

When the udon noodles are almost cooked, put in the vegetables and 1 or 2 tablespoon of the sesame dressing. Also, little bit of pepper plus soy sauce (or salt) to flavor the noodles. Gently stir fry for few seconds and off the fire. If the noodles start sticking to the pan during the process, add in more water to separate them.

And that's done! As the vegetables are already cooked, you don't need to spend much time on cooking them. Lastly, put some garnish on top e.g. herbs and chilli flakes.

Well, my dad didn't say if it is nice or not, but he did finish all so i guess it tasted ok haha. Tomorrow, i'll let you all know what i cooked today =)