Banana Chiffon 香蕉戚風

The addition of banana has brought this simple chiffon cake to the next level, it is so moist and has a soft cloud-like texture. The banana also gives the cake a hint of banana flavor and it sweetness. I would say I have just achieved the best chiffon cake so far and believe it or not, it is not even hard to make.

Banana Chiffon (one 10" tube pan)
2cups unshifted cake flour
1tbsp baking powder
1tsp salt
1/2tsp cinnamon (optional)
1/4tsp nutmeg (optional)
1 1/3cup sugar
5 egg yolks
1/2cup oil
2 large bananas, mashed
1tsp vanilla
1-2tbsp milk (if needed)
7 egg whites
2tbsp sugar
1/2tsp cream of tartar
1) sift together flour, Bp, salt and spices in a bowl. In another bowl, whisk together sugar and yolks, add in oil, banana and vanilla. Stir in flour mixture. If mixture is too dry to stir, add in a tablespoonful of milk to loosen it up a bit.
2) in a large bowl, beat together egg whites, sugar and cream of tartar on high speed for 5mins, or until stiff peak has formed. Fold beaten egg whites to the banana mixture gently.
3) pour batter into an un-greased 10inch tube pan and bake in 325F preheated oven for 50-55mins.
4) after the cake is done, flip the pan up-side-down and let the cake cool in the pan completely. Run a knife around the side of the pan to take out the cake.

pita bread

I fell in love with pita bread recently. I love how it has a small little pocket which I can stuff whatever I like in it. Great idea with great taste, thats how it stole my soul completely from other bread. Believe it or not, I had pita bread for every single meal in this past whole week. lol, I get obsessed with things every easily and I am sure that I will be sick of it very soon. So, while I still have my love with pita bread, let me introduce you some of the stuffing I used to fill up the empty pocket. 

needless to cook fillings:

salad veggies

cheese

ham

avocado

tomato

need to be cooked fillings:

veg. (eg. mushroom, zucchinis..etc.)

egg

meat

In the mornng, I ususally go for a lighter choice, which I would mix together tomato, a triangle of laughing cow cheese and some lettuces. For lunch, a more hunger-satisfying choice would be ham and cheddar cheese and some veggies. And lastly, I would put all the leftovers in the pita bread for supper.

   

Veggies risotto

Look at the creaminess of this risotto, OMFG! Can you believe this was my first try of making risotto?! I can't even believe myself, lol, I got skills :p by the way, the recipe is really flexible, I didn't include wine in it since I'm making it more kid-friendly. But, really , just do whatever you want as long as the amount is the same. I used water just because I ran out of stock and I also didn't stir in butter at the end as what most people would do because I think the milk already did an amazing job of adding creaminess and richness to the risotto.

Mushroom Risotto (4servings)
3 garlic gloves, minced
2tbsp oil
1 1/2cups arborio rice
2cups chicken stock, hot
2cups hot water
1/2cup hot milk
Cooked veggies: Mushrooms, shitaki mushroom, zucchini
1/2cup parmesan cheese
Salt and pepper
1) in a heavy pot, add oil and minced garlic, fry until golden, about 30sec on medium high heat.
2) quickly stir in rice and toast rice for 3mins until rice is hot.
3) stir in chicken stock slowly and add in other liquid once the rice has absorbed all the liquid. Cover and simmer for 15mins or until rice has cooked through.
3) stir in cooked veggies and cheese. Give it a taste test, add salt and pepper if needed.
4) serve right away. For leftovers, add some water to loosen it when reheat.

Thin-Crust Pizza

Mini bundt cake

Simply good brown sugar bundt cake, very spongy and moist. With the sweetness from the dried fruit, this cake is not overly sweet. However, this cake does require some extra work to make, I created quite a big mess after making these cake. :/


Recipe (6mini bundt cake)
2 egg whites
0.5oz brown sugar
1/4tsp cream of tartar
2.5oz softened butter
3oz brown sugar
2egg yolks
1tsp vanilla
1tsp white vinegar
2oz low fat sour cream
6oz flour
1tsp baking powder
1/2tsp baking soda
4oz low fat milk
2oz dried fruits (dates, raisins..etc)
1) beat together egg whites, sugar and cream of tartar until stiff peak forms, set aside.
2) beat together butter and brown sugar until light and fluffy. Add in egg yolks, vanilla, white vinegar, and sour cream, stir to combine.
3) first whisk together dry ingredients, add it to the butter mixture alternately with milk. Fold in beaten egg whites and dried fruits.
4) bake in 350F preheated oven for 20-25mins. Remove from pan immediately once it's done, let it cool in room temp.

Char Sui Bao 叉燒包

Lawls

Raisin bread loaf 提子包

菠蘿包2號

嘩，經過上兩次失敗的經驗，今次終於都做到完美的菠蘿包了！其實今次都是即興之作，沒有抱太大的期望，想不到出來的成果會意想不到的美味，真的令人鼓舞。順帶一提，今次是第一次嘗試用湯種法去整包包。之前因為怕麻煩，所以都避免用湯種法。但其實製作湯種一點也不費時，用微波爐叮便成了，超方便快捷的。而且用湯種法可以保持包包的軟熟度，超正的啊！

Food Review: Sushi Tei

I have to say this march break was so much better than the past one, at least i went out to eat a lot and enjoyed the food. One of the restaurant i went for dinner is Sushi Tei , the one in Mississauga. I actually went there before for a couple times already, it has varieties of choices to choose from and note that the menu for lunch and dinner would be slightly different. I usually go there for supper, I had lunch there once though. Every time I go there, I would remind myself to take a picture first before I dig in, but well, once the food had arrived, people had gone out of control since no one can hold their hunger against food, moreover, those food are tempting. I did manage myself to take one picture though, that's the best I can do.

菠蘿包

雖然今次的菠蘿包比上次有了大躍進，但我仍在追尋完美的菠蘿包。明顯地焗得太夠，包面黑了點。好在沒怎樣影響味道，只是口感肖為硬了點。下次要記得看好時間，不能過15分鐘。

Stuffed Tuna bread 呑拿魚包

今朝得閒得濟，決定再挑戰整包包！今次整吞拿魚麵包，原因：我係超級罐頭吞拿魚粉絲（笑）！ 而今次的包包真係非常成功，包夠軟，餡夠多。仲要新鮮滾熱辣，一個字~＂正＂！如果平時都有時間整包包就好啦，而家麵包店啲包包縮晒水，又貴又5飽。有時啲包仲凍唒，一啲都5好食。不過朝頭早咁趕，冇理由5買包食-_- 唉，逼住要唒錢。。。

Sandwich Bread

Oreo cheesecake

Am I too late to celebrate the 100th year of Oreo cookies? No。It would never be too late. Let celebrate it with a rich and creamy Oreo cheesecake.

Oreo cheesecake Recipe (make one 8inch cake)

Crust:
1tbsp melted butter
10 Oreo cookies, crushed (no need to take out the filling)

Filling:
2packs cream cheeses, softened
1/2cup sugar
2eggs
1/2cup sour cream
5 Oreo cookies, broken into pieces(may add more, filling included)

*preparation: boil a pot of hot water, line cake tin with parchment paper and wrap the outside with 2 layers of foil.*
1) mix together melted butter and crusted cookies crumbs. Press tightly into prepared cake tin. Refrigerate it while preparing the filling.
2) preheat oven to 350F. In a large bowl, beat cream cheeses and sugar until smooth, beat in eggs one at a time. Stir in sour cream and Oreo pieces. Pour batter into cake tin.
3) bake in a water bath for 50mins. Let it cool completely in room temp. Refrigerate it overnight before serve for best result.

Red bean chiffon 紅豆戚風

Yes, this is my second attempt at making chiffon cake, May be you would be surprised and questioned "didn't you just make one yesterday?" Oh yea, sure i did. And my mom bought it over to her friend's home for sharing. :) I didnt even know that until I woke up in the morning and found that my lovely cake was disappeared. Therefore, I decided to make another one for my breakfast lunch (note that it's march break right now;) K, back to my cake..I have to admit that I still faces some problems since I am a beginner at baking this type of cake.  
Problems:
1) how come it still didn't rise even I remember to add baking powder this time-.- ?
2) how come it had no red bean taste at all even I already added so much red bean paste?!
Hopefully I could figure out a way to solve these problems and bake one little perfect cake :3

Red Bean Chiffon Cake
egg yolks 4
sugar 20g
veg. oil 50ml
water 30ml
sweetened red bean paste (store-bought kind) 160g
cake flour 100g
baking powder 5g
egg whites 6
sugar 40g
cream of tartar 1/4tsp

Chiffon cake 戚風蛋糕

 

 Guess what?! I finally found a perfect chiffon cake pan in the Home Outfitter. It is a 9inch two-piece angel food cake pan, not the non-stick type, cost $25 *(the cake wont rise in the non-stick pan, i bought one before, and i was so mad that i wasted my $ to get a wrong pan) I can finally make my very first chiffon cake at home, I have been waited this moment for so long. However, I had made the stupiest error in my life, I totally forgot about the baking powder. That is why my cake was so flat because it couldn't rise without the fxxking baking powder -.- !! ughh :< But the happiest thing was that the cake was still soft as pillow,, yumyumm :D

Basic Chiffon Cake recipe (one 9inch pan):

5 egg whites

60g sugar

1/4tsp cream of tartar

1/4tsp salt

5 egg yolks

50g sugar

60ml milk

50ml veg. oil

100g cake flour

1/4tsp baking powder

1) beat egg whites, sugar, cream of tartar and salt on high for 7mins or until it forms stiff peaks, set aside and prepare the yolk mixture.

2) with the same mixer, beat yolks and sugar together for a few minutes until sugar has dissolved. Add in milk and oil, mix to combine with a wooden spoon. Sift in flour and baking powder, mix until just combined.

3) fold beaten egg whites into the yolk mixture, be careful not to over-mix. Pour batter into a pan.

4) bake in 350F preheated oven for 35mins. Flip the pan and let the cake cool in the pan completely. 

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