3-Ingredient Sponge Cake

I found a 3-Ingredient Sponge Cake and thought that it may be a good idea to make some so that I can bake it smaller amount in the airfryer.  I read that by refrigerating or freezing the cake batter, I can safely keep it for a couple of days or up to several months.  But should I do that?  These are some of the points I picked up about storing batter from Recipe FAQ:

-cake volume is related to the air that has been incorporated into the batter.
-the results will be better if the cake batter is used soon after it has been made.
-cake batter can be stored in the fridge for up to 48 hours before it is used.
-however, too much air will escape if the batter kept past a couple of days.
-leavening agent like baking soda or baking powder will lose its effectiveness much sooner.
-the texture and rise of the cake will be affected if the batter is stored in the fridge for several hours.

Since sponge cake relies on beaten eggs for leavening, it will not become light and fluffy if air has escaped over time.  If I do not want my sponge cake to be dense and flat, I should use the batter straight away. 

I found a "3-Ingredient Sponge Cake" recipe shared on Easy Home Cooking Facebook page.  These are the ingredients required:

- 4 eggs
- 1 cup (200g) granulated sugar
- 1 cup (120g) all-purpose flour

I found another recipe at Savor Easy Youtube channel which provided optional flavouring ingredients to add.  It requires an extra egg to bake it:

-5 large eggs or 4 extra large eggs
-1 cup sugar (200g)
-1 cup all purpose flour (125g)

I think I will go for this recipe as it requires a smaller quantity of ingredients to make the batter:

-4 eggs
-150g (3/4 cup) granulated sugar
-90g (3/4 cup) all-purpose flour

You can see the optional flavouring ingredients that I found from Savor Easy on this recipe card I prepared.

Shortcut to Cooking Speghetti

To make your speghetti dish, you need to boil a pot of water to cook the noodle till it is al dente first.  Then you need a pan to fry the ingredients to flavour it.  By baking it, you cut down these two processes so you will have less utensils to wash too.

Here is the recipe for it from Feel Good Foodie.  I like it that Yumna shared her recipes with lots of photos.

I first discovered this recipe on "I love Recipes" Facebook page.  I like it better as there are lesser ingredients required to cook it.  Except for Oregano, they are ingredients which I often use in my kitchen. 

Braised or Pulled Pork to the Rescue

As I boil soup almost on a daily basis, now and then, there are meat on leftover soup bone that no one wants to eat.  I will use them to make a braised pork dish with the following ingredients:

I discovered that it is alright to even use the soup bone from boiling Lotus Root soup.  Do not discard the sauce from braising this dish.  You can add the soup bone from the soup that you will be boiling the following day to continue braising it.  Just add additional sauces to taste if you have to add more water to cover the meat to braise.

Here is another way I made use of the meat from the soup bone. I remove the meat from the bone and break it up with a fork.

I used that to cook my own version of pulled pork:

I can serve it by topping it over my Baby Zhong Cheng, which I buy from Lotus on a weekly basis.  I usually receive them in the condition as shown on their website.

I prepare it by cutting each bunch in half after washing them.  I then cook it in one of the following methods:

-in a pot of boiling water (my preferred choice). 

-placed on a plate with 1 to 2 tablespoons of water to microwave for 1-2 minutes.

-steam over a pot of soup I am boiling for the day.

You know they are ready when the leaves are limp and have turned dark green. Removed them from the receptable and drain as much of the water as you can before mixing them with the above Asian flavour sauce mixture.  As the vegetable is already wet from steaming or boiling, I do not have to add water or soup to the sauce: 

1/2 Tbsp Sugar

1 Tbsp Soya Sauce
1/2 Tsp Oyster Sauce

Dash of White Pepper

However, if you have been too heavy handed with the sauces, you can dilute it by adding a tablespoon of hot water/ABC soup. 

From the following article I read, I discovered other ways I can serve my pulled pork:

36 Ways With Leftover Pulled Pork

I also learn from it other ways to flavour and cook pulled pork.  These are some that I would like to try making one day:

I found this recipe for pulled pork that I can cook with a slow cooker a day ahead.  It is great for days when I have to leave the house earlier than usual.

I like eating Banh Mi so I am glad to find Lemongrass Pulled Meat recipe to go with it.

I actually have a shortcut for preparing the pork to go with it.  I will prepare and marinate the meat the way I have shared earlier for making my sweet and sour pork. Once they are pan fried, I will cut them into strips to eat with the bread.

Do you have a breadmaker?  If you look at your manual, you will discover that you can make meat floss with it.   This is the instructions for making meat floss with my breadmaker.

Meat floss being a dried product can be stored in an airtight jar. You can read how you can store and make use of it by reading Chinese Pork Floss is the Salty-Sweet Addition Your Pantry Needs shared on Foodnetwork.  But I think Beryl Shereshewsky taste test of dishes made with pork floss will help you to decide if this is something that you would like to try.

How to Cut Up a Whole Chicken to Store

How should you cut a whole chicken and store it in the fridge?  The best instruction I have seen so far is from Walk To Eat because other than photos, the blogger had also shared a video of the process.  However, before I proceed, I will do what my mother taught me to do and that is to give the whole chicken a good rub down with coarse salt first before I wash it off.  The salt can kill some bateria, so it will remove any smell there is on your chicken.

If you follow through with his instructions, this is how your chicken will be parted.  I have drawn red lines on the parts to show how I would cut them up into smaller portions for my soup or dishes.  

I will cut each drumstick and wings into three sections and the carcass into two sections.  These are parts from the chicken that I will pack together in a container for boiling soup with:

1) chicken feet
2) the bony parts of the chicken, like the stumps and wingtips

3) the joints from the drumsticks 
4) the carcass

By storing them together, it will be easier to take them out from the freezer when it is time for me to boil my soup.  You can see from his video for making Basic Chicken Soup that the blogger used a whole chicken to make it.  This was exactly how I used to boil soup which is wasteful for a small family if you do not eat the chicken meat.

You can learn how I make my ABC soup which is rather similar to what he is making, except that I prefer to use pork soup bones to flavour my soup.  

The reason why I steam the frozen pork over the soup is to:

-save time on thawing it.
-get rid of the scum.

The Chinese traditional way to get rid of the scum is to pour hot water over the soup bone.  However, I discovered that once it is boiling in the soup, more scums will appear which I will have to remove. 

This is how I would like my pork soup bone to look like when it is ready to be added to the soup to continue boiling.

Marinating the soup bone with salt before boiling it in the soup makes it tasty.  So, the meat on it will more likely be eaten than discarded.  You can read about the additional ingredients I used in making this soup to change its flavour or use it as a soup stock to cook other dishes at the following link:

Do you like soup? If so, what is your favorite soup?

One Pot Rice

Let's learn from a chef who has retired how to cook claypot rice.

If you do not have a claypot, you can also use a rice cooker to cook it but it may not be as flavourful.

You can also cook this one pot meal with glutinous rice.  Here is a tip the cook shared for people who, after eating glutinous rice, may have a nauseous feeling like they have overeaten.  She suggested that 1/2 cup of white rice be added to 1 cup of glutinous rice to cook it.  She cooked the ingredients in the rice cooker before removing them to cook the rice without washing the pot.  The cooked ingredients are then added to the cooked rice to mix in.

Here is another method to prepare this one pot meal.  You can marinate the ingredients used for cooking it in the claypot or rice cooker.  However, instead of adding them raw into the claypot or rice cooker with the rice, they should only be added on top the rice once the water in the later is reduced and bubbles can be seen on top of the rice.  The heat as the rice continues to cook in the rice cooker will cook the raw ingredients well.  I would prefer to use boneless chicken to cook it as I do not like the idea of bitting into bones when I eat the rice.

Shortcut to Cooking Nasi Biryani

Don't you agree that we, Malaysians, are very lucky? Most restaurants operated by Indian Muslims (Mamak) here serve Nasi Biryani (or Briyani). We can eat it anytime of the day because some Mamak restaurants operate 24/7. 

Other than that I can also buy meal ready to eat (MRE) Nasi Briyani. My go to brand for MREs is currently Brahim’s. That is because they used to be the appointed caterer for Malaysia Airlines.  They supply it with chicken or mutton included.

MREs are great for days when I ran out of ingredients to cook or when I have to leave the house early.  It is easy to prepare to eat because I can heat it up by steaming or boiling the package in a pot of water for 8 to 10 minutes. I usually steam it over a pot of soup I am boiling for the day. I can also pour the rice with the meat into a bowl to heat up, covered, in a microwave oven for 1 1/2 minutes.

This is how it is cooked if you prefer to make it from scratch and serve it with chicken. 

You can also cook it in a rice cooker.  But, just like when you cook chicken rice in it, you should switch the power off as soon as it is cooked to avoid browning the lower layer of the rice.  Look at the number of ingredients you need to cook the rice.  I wonder if I will consider cooking it from scratch.

 These are the ingredients and steps for cooking the chicken.

I can also buy Brahim's Nasi Briyani paste to cook it with my prefered Thai white rice.

Based on the video I watched, I wonder if I will be able to use the paste to cook the chicken instead of rice.  I can cook it just like how I use their paste to cook Ayam Percik in my airfryer as follows:

I will let you know if it works.

Leftover Rice

Recently, I came across the following article shared at Matha Stewart.

How to Store Cooked Rice Safely—and the Best Way to Reheat It, According to Experts

It is noted there that cooked rice should be discarded if it has been left at room temperature for more than two hours as eating it will pose a food safety hazard, especially for those with compromised immune systems.

I do not think that Asians who eat rice on a daily basis will do that. In fact, we boil enough rice for the day so that we can eat it for lunch and dinner.  When it is time to eat, we scoop the rice, right out of the rice cooker, to serve.  Any leftover for the day will be scooped into a container with cover and stored in the refrigerator.

The important thing to note is that you should not add more water than is required to cook your rice as it can spoil more quickly due to high moisture content. I (most Asians) have been taught to use my finger to make sure that I add the right amount of water.  To do that, I put my index finger right above the rice in the rice cooker.  The amount of water I poured in should reach the first knuckle of my finger.  You can read more about that at The Spruce Eats.  They even shared a video of the procedure.

All rice cookers are supplied with a measuring cup.  I find it easier to add 1 cup of water for every cup of rice I cook.  I have been buying Thai white rice and I noticed that it turns out better if I add about 3/4 cup more water to it.  If the rice is not cooked fluffy enough, I can sprinkle 1 to 2 tablespoons of boiled water over the rice and let it cook further.  The only way you can save a soggy pot of rice is to make porridge with it. Been there, done that.

When I was young, we do not have a refrigerator at home.  We kept leftovers at room temperature in a kitchen cabinet with netted doors for ventilation.  We placed a ceremic cup under each leg of the cabinet.  The cups are specially made.  It is like a cup within a cup to hold water.  The cabinet leg is inserted into the inner cup and water is place in the outer circle of the cup.  This photo of a bed bug trap or interceptor will give you an idea what I mean.  The water placed at the "outer pitfall" noted in this photo prevented ants and insects from crawling in to contaminate our food.  The ceremic cups also prevented the legs of the cabinet from getting rotten by water being splashed on the floor when we washed the area. 

I managed to find a photo of a Chinese cabinet on Pinterest that closely resembled what we had, except that the legs were longer on ours and there is an extra compartment at the bottom for storing our crockery.

When my mom started using the rice cooker, she would leave the leftover rice in it till the following day.  There was a general rule that we must all follow.  We were not allowed to fluff up the cooked rice to loosen the grains as stiring it could make it gooey and spoil it sooner.  The next day the leftover rice will be scooped into a bowl.  After the pot from the rice cooker had been washed, rice for the day will be cooked in it.  The leftover rice will be poured in to be heated up when most of the water had evaporated and bubbles had started popping above the nearly cooked rice.  

Do Asians have stronger constitution?  My grandma lived to a ripe old age of 101 years eating leftovers that were considered not properly stored.  She taught me to pluck the molds off stale bread before eating it.  I noticed that my former Western colleagues will not eat bread after a day even though the loaf had not passed its expiration date.  They used to joke that I ate ants with my bread.  I guess there must be some ants hiding inside the bread after I removed what I could see on the outside before eating it.

Nowadays, we store leftover rice in a container with cover and put it in the refrigerator.  Unless you are making porridge, I will not suggest heating leftover rice in a pot on the stove as there will be wastage as the grains will stick to the pot.  You will also have to watch over it to prevent it from burning.  These are ways I prefer to reheat my leftover rice.  By:

-boiling it up in a pot with leftover soup or water to make porridge.
-heating it in a mini rice cooker (at my bike shop) with 1 to 2 tablespoons of water or leftover soup or sauces.

-making fried rice with it.

-steaming it in a covered bowl over a pot of boiling soup (not when boiling lotus roots soup).
-microwaving it 2-3 minutes in a covered bowl with a tablespoon of water added to prevent it from drying out.  

It is true that you should reheat just the amount of cooked rice you want to eat.  Any leftover reheated rice should be kept in the fridge once it is cool but you are not to mix it with the other leftover rice already in the fridge.  Rice that has been reheated too many times can go stale easily.  If you have to reheat the same bowl of rice again, take it out of the fridge to reheat only when you are about to eat it.

Some people will consider buying mini rice cookers to cook just enough rice for the day.  The one that I have is large enough to boil 5 cups of rice.  It has been with me for more than 20 years.  Instead of boiling just enough for the day, I usually boil up to 4 cups of rice each time as I think that it is a great way for me to save time, water and energy cooking it.  That is enough plain rice cooked to feed us for 4 to 6 days.  

To make sure that it will be safe to eat after so many days, I make sure that:

-I do not add more water than is required to cook my rice.  
-the scoop I used for the rice is clean.
-the rice is not warm when I store it in the refrigerator.
-I store the rice in a container with cover.
-the leftover rice to be stored are not stained with sauces or ingredients.
-uneaten reheated rice are not be mixed with the rest of the leftover rice stored in the refrigerator.

Knead your Dough with a Ziplock Bag

If you do not have a hand or stand mixer or a breadmaker and you do not like the idea of using your hands to knead sticky dough, you can prepare it in a ziplock bag.  I agree with Left Brain Craft Brain that it is a fun way to initiate a kid to cook anything that requires dough prepared. 

Watch this video for making Fried Dough Balls" and you will get an idea. 

You can also use the same method to prepare dough for baking bread.  This baker is able to shorten the resting time of the dough by microwing a glass of water for 2 minutes.  She then put the dough in the ziplock bag to rest for 30 minutes in the microwave oven with the glass of heated water.

 

I first came across this idea on Cookrate Facebook page for making Ham and Cheese Bun.  If you are going to use a breadmaker to prepare the dough, you can add the ingredients "3" to "10" in the order I have written it in the following table. 

Cheese Naan and Cheese Bread

I love eating anything with cheese in it.  

I first discovered cheese naan at a Mamak stall, near SMJK Yu Hua Kajang and the MPKj office.  I did not like it as much when I tried it at other stalls.  I think it has to do with the cheese used.

I found a recipe for it on KL Foodie done local mamak stall style and I wonder if I can make it just the way I like it.  This is the recipe.

I found another recipe on Youtube.  

It requires 12 ingredients.  I think I should be able to use my breadmaker to prepare the dough if I use the method shown in the video.

This is a simpler version which requires only 6 ingredients.  It is called Cheese Bread.

Baking powder is used instead of yeast.

My Fried Rice Paradise

My fried rice can put me in a place of exceptional happiness and delight.  And it is not because mine is better than the one served in restaurants.  I used to pack fried rice for my daughter to eat in school.  I thought nothing about my fried rice till she shared some with her classmate.

I discovered last night that my daughter's friend still enjoy eating my fried rice.  So, I decided that I should teach it.  I hope that I will one day get to eat my daughter's or her friend's fried rice and be able to praise them for their efforts; which will lead this teacher to another of her fried rice paradise realm.

This is another variation of the fried rice with additional ingredients included.

Receiving thumbs up for my fried rice, made me feel that all my efforts to learn how to make it taste better have not been wasted. There is a Chinese idiom, “活到老，学到老”. It means one is never too old to learn. So, no matter your age, you will always be a student, exploring life experiences to learn new things.  I hope that I will always be able to share something useful or interesting or new in my writings. 

For someone who hates to see food wasted, let's start with this suggestion. When you attend wedding dinners, bring home the last dish served which is usually fried rice with sausages. By the time it is served most of the guests at your table will already be too full to eat it.  Moreover, it will be followed by dessert which most would prefer to end the event with. 

When it is time for you to heat it up to eat the next day, add white rice and an egg into it as they tend to be salty.  Use your flair to make it "up to your taste".

Braised Pig's Small Intestines & Braised Pork Bell

I love eating braised pork.  The idea for braising is to cook till the meat falls off the bones and the sauce has been reduced and thickened.  You can see how it is done from this video for braising intestine with pork belly.  

I would prefer to use pork ribs or pork butt or pork shoulder for braising.  If I plan on cooking this dish, I will use pork ribs to boil in my Bak Kut Teh.  I can remove the pork ribs and intestine before they become too tender.  It is alright if I want to add extra pork ribs when boiling my soup as it will enhance its flavour.  I like it that I will require less time to braise the meat if they are already boiled in the soup I cooked for the day.  

This dish will taste just as flavourful braised without the rice wine. I only need a few bits broken off the star anis and the required sauces.  I do not fry the star anis either. I prefer to use a pot to braise as I will not require more liquid to cover the ingredients.  When braising, always check the sauce level.  It is ready to be served once the meat and intestine in the dish is tender enough and the sauce is flavourful. If the ingredients braised are not tender enough I can add water to boil further. If the sauce is not flavourful enough, I will simmer it further to reduce the liquid.

Do you have an easier way to braise a dish?

Soup the Catonese Way

I am Hainanese and the type of soup my family members boil are very basic with just meat or seafood and vegetables.  My mother-in-law (MIL) was a Hakka but she often boiled soup the Cantonese way.  So, her soups were more flavourful compared to what were served by my side of the family.  You will understand by looking at the additional ingredients she used in boiling her ABC soup compared to only the basic ingredients we use to boil ours.

When I boiled the ABC soup my MIL way, my sister who is the cook in the family, said that it is too fishy for her taste.

My MIL was also very good at boiling herbal soups which my family do not fancy drinking.  These are some of the ingredients she used in her herbal soups.

So, I am expected to be able to take care of my family's health by boiling nutritious and nourishing soups.  But instead of buying the herbs in large quantities separately, I tend to buy prepackaged Chinese herbal soup mix from herbal shops or from the grocery. 

When my children were younger, my favourite soup to make was Bak Kut Teh because it is herbal and a great all-in-one meal.  I will serve it with rice and fresh lettuce.  If I boil it the way my MIL boiled it, it will take 2 to 4 hours and require about 15 herbal ingredients.  You can see how it is done by watching this video by Grace of Nonya Cooking.

I tend to use pre-packaged Bak Kut Teh sachets.  One of the brands I use is A1.  All prepackaged Chinese herbal soup mix comes with cooking instructions printed on the packaging. This one is from A1 Bak Kut Teh. 

Ten bowls of water is about 1.8L but I would rather use less and add accordingly after tasting the soup.  It is suggested that the soup be left to simmer for 30 minutes after the water is boiling.  This is because the herbs in the pack have been grinded into powder form. The other brand I prefer is from Mo Sang Kor as not all the herbs in the pack have been grinded. You do not have to follow the instructions to a tee.  You can boil it further if it is not tasty enough or if the meat is not cooked tender enough.  You can also add water if you think that the soup flavour is too herbal for your liking. You can apply this principle to any soup you boil. 

You can refer to the list of ingredients and useful tips shared by Grace on her website for boiling Bak Kut Teh.  These are the ingredients I like to add when I use the pre-packed herbs.  

I was taught to use a whole garlic to clean the intestine but I prefer to smash it first before inserting it through.  You can watch this video to see the cleaning process.

The intestine boiled in the soup, can be removed to cook another dish.  My favourite way to cook it is with:

-garlic oil
-soya sauce
-dark soya sauce

-sugar
-white pepper

I cook it with 2-3 tablespoon of water till the sauce is reduced and thickened, because the sugar has  caramelized, to coat the intestine. 

As I made the soup to serve 4 in the family, I added 4 boiled eggs to it.  You can add as many as you want as it will not affect the flavour of the soup.  Just make sure that there is enough liquid to boil the additional ingredients you added to the soup.  Take note that too much liquid added will reduce the flavour of the herbal soup mix.

There are many ways to boil Chinese soup.  You can find many more techniques and useful tips from The Chinese Soup Lady.  Their information are very clear as shown in this chart the Tong sisters shared. 

Cooking with Watercress

When I am at the wet market, I am drawn to buying watercress if I noticed that there are no yellow leaves on the bunches for sales.  I will usually buy about 500g to 600g of watercress.  I will choose some young shoots with thinner stems to be stir fried and served as a vegetable dish.  The ones with thicker stems will be used to boil soup with.

You should wash watercress by soaking it in a pail of water with two tablespoons of salt added.  After a while, you will notice baby snails climbing to the top of the bunch to get away from the salt water.  So always give your watercress a good shake in the water to remove any dirt or critters still on it.  Soak it again in a pail of fresh water to remove any salt residue.  When you remove the watercress from the pail, the water should look clean.  If it is not, give it a good shake in the water and soak it one more time in fresh water.

Once it is clean, I will remove the tips of each shoots and the leafy greens from the stems.  

The tips from the young shoots can be kept for stir frying. If I am using their stems too, I will break it up about 2 inches in length.  I will not break up any of the thinner or thicker stems kept aside for boiling soup as we will not be eating them. They will be removed from the soup before I add the tips of the shoots and leafy greens.  I turn the cover from my pot upside down so that I can placed them on it to remove.  This is how the stems looked like after boiling them for an hour.  

This is how the watercress soup should look like when it is ready to be served.  This time I added dates and chicken feet to enhance its flavour.

Here are the steps for preparing and stir frying watercress.  If I have enough greens to cook the dish, I will not include the stems. 

This is how you can boil watercress soup.  Note that any leftovers from the stir fried dish and its sauce can be added to the soup when it is ready to be served.  Do not let it boil too long after adding as it is already cooked.

Deep Frying Chicken with Cream Crackers

Would you like to cut down visits to KFC with your children?  Stock some cream crackers at home.  I used to buy them when my children were younger.  I can crushed them up to coat marinated sliced meat to deep fry.

I was taught by a former colleague to marinate the chicken with MSG but I think this recipe from Heavenly Rice is better.  

Check out how I make it for my children.  For a start, I do not use wine in my dishes as it can cause my skin to itch.  You can replace chicken with thinly sliced pork.  I usually cook with pork loin.

You can save on oil when the meat is sliced thinly because you can just pan fry it.

I was taught to marinate the meat with MSG only but you can skip the marinating process because the cream crackers will make the meat taste salty enough after deep frying.  I often add this pan fried meat to my sweet and sour dish.

I usually marinate my pork in advance with the following ingredients:

1) Garlic Oil

2) Soya Sauce and/or Oyster Sauce

3) Sugar

4) Cornstarch

If you like your meat crispier, you can dip the meat in egg, then cornflour (as I was taught), egg again before coating it with the crushed cream crackers.  Since I have already marinated my meat with cornflour, I just dip it in egg followed by cream crackers.  The deep fried chicken or pork will taste just as good, in the way I was taught, without shaoxing wine or sesame oil.  If you run out of cream crackers you can dip the meat in egg, then cornflour and repeat with egg then cornflour before you deep frying it.  

Other than the cream crakers, I have also tried coating the meat with:

-breadcrumbs (my son bought a pack and used it only once)
-potato chips (I like onion flavored chips)
-cornflakes (because what we have in stock have gone soft)

You can discover other coating ingredients you can use from this article:

The Best 30 Breadcrumbs Substitutes 

You can use the measurements provided for ingredients by Heavenly Rice as follows: 

A New Discovery

Do you teach your children to cook too?  If you do, you are actually teaching your children something even more important.

It is nice to know that my children will have happy memories of me when they are serving their favourite dishes to their loved ones.

Shepherd’s Pie

Recently, I came across a video on Pinterest on how to cook Shepherd’s Pie by Lil’ Luna.  It has been a while since I cooked it and her video inspired me to make it again.  

There are 26 ingredients used in her Shepherd’s Pie.  As I do not cook Western dishes often, I have to modify the recipe because I am not willing to buy ingredients that I may only use once in the recipe.  I found another video on YouTube that is similar to the way it is made on Lil’ Luna. However, in this video the onion and carrot are saute first before the meat is added to cook, which is the way I prefer to prepare the filling.

Since I need meshed potatoes, I decided to make it when I boiled ABC soup.  Check out how I made my Shepherd’s Pie with only 17 ingredients. You can see clearly, the adaptations I have made to the recipe in this chart I have created:

I made a discovery on Pinterest that I can use the press we have at home to make it easier to mesh up the cooked potatoes.