Lava Queen

Weather has been crazy lately; extremely hot in the afternoon and thunderstorms in the evening. Bought a bottle gourd to boil soup to help 'clear heat'. This time I've chosen to boil this melon soup with corn silk and pork bones. The reason why it is called 'melon' soup is because all the 3 main ingredients; papaya (木瓜), bottle gourd (葫芦瓜) and chayote squash (佛手瓜) are called 瓜 (meaning melon) in Chinese. This soup is said to be suitable for those with dry skin as chayote can help to enhance skin condition and beauty, and those who suffer from poor circulation from prolonged hours of sitting as corn silk and bottle gourd can help to relieve edema. It is also good for those who suffer from constipation, high blood pressure and high blood sugar. Love how refreshing and naturally sweet the soup is :D The 3 瓜 aka melons :) As I have mentioned before, corn silk are very nutritious as it can help to promote diuresis, dispel heat and improve the function of gall...

My long-delayed project: The Ogura Cake. I've been wanting to try baking this but never got the time, or the mood (Lol!) til today. This recipe was shared by a lady in the cooking group I'm in. Quite a few have tried and succeeded - you could call it a fail-proof recipe :P. I followed the recipe almost exactly, except changing a couple of stuffs and baking for an extra 5 minutes longer. The end product is super fluffy and soft, kinda similar to my Fluffy Egg Sponge Cake (The recipe for this is here ), but with an additional mild banana milk fragrance. LO kept stealing it while I was taking photo, so I'm guessing it's good haha. Hope you guys like it too :) Fluffy and soft, with a mild banana milk fragrance. Gonna try with Honeydew milk next time :) Ingredients: 5 egg yolks 1 whole egg 45g virgin coconut oil (or any flavorless vegetable oil) 70g Banana milk 100g cake flour ( Note* : I substituted with all purpose flour + corn starch) 1/4 tsp salt 5 e...

This is the simple version of the Chinese arrowroot soup (Also known as 粉葛湯 'Fun Kot Tong' in Cantonese). Our family love drinking this soup. It is tasty and cooking it with pork bones and dried squid makes it sweet and refreshing. Some people who like boiling arrowroot together with lotus roots or peanuts, and my mother-in-law usually boils it on its own and drink as 'cooling' tea. Naturally sweet and tasty. If you don't like seafood, you can choose to omit the dried squid. This is how the Chinese arrowroot looks like.  The arrowroot is a type of root plant similar to taro, potato or tapioca. However, it is harder in texture and incredibly starchy. When it is cut up, it has patterns that looks like the ages of a tree trunk. It is usually made into powder and used as thicken agent in cooking. The arrowroot is high in protein and fiber which is very beneficial to our body. Ingredients: 1 medium-sized Chinese arrowroot (Approx 700g) 10 red dates, ...

Another soup that's good for the ladies! :P This soup can help to calm the nerves, protect the heart and womb, and nourishes Yin. It is, of course, suitable for the whole family too. Chinese Yam can help strengthen the stomach/spleen and nourish the kidneys, while white fungus can help to nourish the lungs, expel heat and improve metabolism. As I mentioned before, white fungus is also known as the 'poor man's bird nest' as it is rich in phyto-collagen which can help to keep skin youthful :D This soup is also suitable for those after childbirth or who had just undergone a surgery as white fungus can help to speed up recovery. A soup that can help to brighten and moisturize the skin :D Ingredients: 1 tael (Approx 37.5g) Dried Chinese yam 5 maces (Approx 18.9g) gojiberries 5 maces (Approx 18.9g) dried longan 5 maces (Approx 18.9g) white fungus/snow fungus 10 red dates, pits removed 1 black-bone chicken, skin removed and chopped into pieces 2500ml water ...

Came home late today and needed a quick fix for dinner. The one pot tomato rice went viral like a couple of years ago. I haven't cooked it for quite some time and decided to cook it tonight since it's fast and easy. On top of that, it's delicious, healthy (no oil) and cheap too! LO kept asking for bunashimeji, so I've used the brown beech mushrooms instead of fresh shiitake. Now, let's see how much the ingredients (excluding rice, water and sauces :P) cost for tonight's version: Tomato: RM 0.29 Long beans: Approx RM 0.55 (Bought a pack for RM 1.31 and used 3) Bunashimeji mushrooms: RM2 (Bought a 100g pack for RM 4 and used 1/2 of it) Chicken whole leg: RM 4.46 Carrot: Approx RM 0.65 Total: RM 7.95 , for a wholesome and yummy dinner which is more than enough for 2 adults and 1 toddler. Totally worth it, isn't it? Hehe. Fast, easy, healthy and yummy! Ingredients: 1 1/2 cup uncooked rice, washed 1 tomato 1/2 a large carrot, cut into cubes 3...

The latest hype here in KL is the simple homemade old-fashioned egg sponge cake. Original Cake , a Taiwanese bakery famous for its fluffy egg sponge cakes,  has opened in Sunway Velocity Mall, KL. There's nothing fancy to it - classic look and using the most essential ingredients for cake: flour, egg, milk and sugar, yet people queued for 2-3 hours just to get one. I have not tasted it myself (couldn't bother to queue >.<) but one of my friends tried and said it's light, airy, not too sweet and has a pleasing taste of egg. That very same friend then showed me a video recipe recently on this egg sponge cake. She tried baking it and said it turned out pretty similar to the classic one from Original Cake , so I wanted to try it too. My first attempt failed though. The cake came out looking like it had two layers. Not sure what went wrong... Perhaps it's because I used butter instead of oil (didn't have vegetable oil at that time)... No idea *Shrugs* But I decid...

Pig trotters with vinegar and ginger is a traditional confinement dish which can help to warm the body and replenishes blood. Confinement period is a golden opportunity for women to recuperate and rebuild her body constitution after giving birth. Of course, it can also be consumed by the whole family during ordinary days. As for me, I simply love the sweet and sour taste of the vinegar (I actually prefer drinking the soup more than eating the trotters itself :P)  Though I like eating this dish, I've never tried cooking it in the past before because it seemed kinda complicated. I've heard and read some recipes that require mixing two different types of vinegar to get the right taste >.< I usually order this dish in restaurants but it's quite hard to get nice ones. It's either too sour, too watery or comes with dried chilies. That was til a little while ago that I found out about this nice black vinegar from the cooking group I was in. A lady from the same group w...

I think Omurice, or Japanese omelette rice, is pretty well-known and popular in Asian countries. In Japan, Omurice is considered yōshoku (Western food). The rice is usually pan-fried with ketchup and chicken, then wrapped in a thin sheet of egg omelette - blending Western omelette and Japanese fried rice. Traditionally, it’s made exactly like an omelette and the chicken rice is wrapped in the thin sheet of egg.  However, in the recent years, there are places that ditched the thin papery egg for a luscious blanket of soft scrambled eggs on top. Sweet, sour and savory fried rice packed with crispy vegetables makes it a good single plate meal to prepare whenever there's leftover rice :) The omelette and sweet tomato-flavored rice complements each other well :) Ingredients: The main ingredients. 1 cup cooked rice 1 drumstick, deboned and cut into cubes 1 shallot, finely chopped 1 tbsp cubed carrot 1 tbsp fresh corn kernels 1 tbsp cooked edamame beans 1 tbsp ...

Sriracha sauce - It's said to be the No. 1 hot sauce around and it makes everything taste good! Unfortunately, I've never tried it before... Last week, there was a small competition organized by a Facebook cooking group that I'm in and coincidentally, one of the prizes is THE famous Sriracha sauce! For the fun of it, I joined. This is the first time I join this kind of competition coz most of them are themed or needed a slogan, and I really SUCK at slogans >.< This one was simple; just post a home cooked dish or meal together with a #hashtag... The next thing I knew, I won! Lucky me!! :D And so my prize arrived today. I am eager to try the Sriracha sauce but haven't thought of what to cook with it yet. Then I thought, how about making a drink with it, just for a change? Ta-dah... I present to you my Strawberry Sriracha Margarita: A nice cocktail with a hint of hotness! Do take note that the alcohol intensifies heat, so be careful with the amount of hot sau...

I simply love the earthy taste of tempeh. Love eating it in Gado-gado (an Indonesian salad) but preparing the ingredients and making the peanut sauce is too much for a lazy person like me :P Been craving for tempeh, so when I saw it at the supermarket 2 days ago, I decided to buy it. Was wondering if I should just fry and eat it as it is <Lazy mode> but that would end up more like something to snack on. Then I remembered seeing a post on a homemade sambal recently which looked so gooood (I was literally drooling when I saw the pictures)!! I told myself "Yeah, I will try making that.... SOMEDAY... when I'm not lazy." Haha... And after thinking hard for some time, I thought, why not change that 'someday' to 'today'? Of course, mine is a simpler version, basically just pounding everything together. You can choose to use the food processor, which makes the work much easier, but I felt that pounding makes it more authentic :) You can also add more chil...

Note: NO sharks were harmed in the making of this soup! 👅 Nothing beats a warm bowl of light and healthy soup on a rainy night :D Shark fin melon is a type of squash and it's a popular ingredient used in Chinese soups. As you may have guessed, this melon is called shark fin melon because its flesh breaks apart into slivers resembling shark’s fin when cooked. According to Wikipedia , it is said that eating this melon can help people with diabetes, due to its high D-Chiro-Inositol content.  This is how the shark fin melon looks like. The skin looks a little like watermelon . The whole melon is huge, so we normally buy a 1/4 of it, or 1/2 if it's a slightly smaller one. Some say the seeds are soft and edible after cooking but I prefer to remove them. The taste of the soup may be mild at first but as you simmer, the flavor of the melon, dried scallops, carrot, honey dates and pork bones really do come together, creating a sweet yet savory taste. M...

You know how parents sometimes treat you like a kid even when you are a full grown adult? Well, my dad thinks I'm still the kid who likes eating chocolates, so he likes buying them for me. I used to like them when I was in Australia but not anymore after coming back (The weather here is just too hot and I get heaty quite easily -_-). Though I've told him that I don't really eat them anymore, he will still say, "Dark chocolates are good for health" and then leave a bar or 2 in my fridge every time he comes over. Lol...  Thus, what to do when I have chocolate bars sitting in the fridge and I don't wanna let them go to waste by throwing them away after the expiration date? I use them to make cakes or pies! That way, I can share them with neighbor, friends, and hubby can bring to work to share with his colleagues too :D  This choco-nana bread that I made today is rich, moist and tender (You could call it a cake, if you like, but the texture is more dense). I re...

Made these orange mini cupcakes for teatime. This has got to be the simplest and quickest recipe ever! All you have to do is dump everything into a blender (or a food processor - I didn't have one), blend, pour and send them into the oven - all within a few minutes! :P You can decorate them with some icing/frosting/cream <I was lazy. Oops, sshhh...>,  or simply add a bit of orange peels for some extra chewy texture like what I did :D  These orange mini cupcakes are so soft, moist and delicious!! Ingredients: (Makes 9 mini muffins) 1/2 cup all purpose flour 1 tsp baking powder 60g unsalted butter, softened 50g brown sugar (Lesser if your orange is very sweet) 1 egg 4 tbsp freshly squeezed orange juice, sifted 1 tbsp orange zest Orange peel, thinly sliced (Optional) Preheat oven to 180°C and line a mini muffin tray with paper cups. Put all ingredients ( except orange peel, if you are adding. Stir them in right before pouring the mixture into paper c...

Hubby met up with his ex-colleague after work, so dinner tonight was just me and my LO. Bought some kimchi mandu (dumplings) from Village Grocer 2 days ago and I thought of cooking them tonight, but I had to make something non-spicy for LO too. Then I remembered I had some glass noodles left, so I started digging to see what other ingredients have I got in the fridge and YES, they were enough for me to whip up some Japchae to go with the dumplings. Japchae, or Korean glass noodles, is a very flavorful and nutritious dish that can be served as a main meal, snack or appetizer. The glass noodles ("Dangmyeon") used are made from sweet potatoes. They have a unique and pleasant texture, and don't feel heavy like flour-based noodles. I didn't have the Korean ones, so just had to make do with the normal ones that I have at home :P LO doesn't eat bell peppers/capsicum, so I've omitted them and I didn't have spinach, so I used boy choy instead. Mine is a meatless ve...

These chicken wings are surprisingly delicious, considering that it only involves 4 ingredients. At first I was kinda worried if they would turn out too 'mustardy' but they were tasty, not 'mustardy' at all! And when hubby opened the door, he said, "Wow, something smells GOOOOD!" :D It's simple, quick and GOOD! Gonna try it on ribs next time :) Ingredients: (Adapted from a recipe online) Approx 400g chicken wings 1 tbsp light soya sauce 3 tbsp Dijon mustard 1/4 cup brown sugar Roasted sesame seeds, for garnishing (Optional) Mix light soya sauce, Dijon mustard and brown sugar together in a bowl. Place wings in a resealable bag. Pour marinade over wings and coat them well. Seal and marinade wings for at least 2 hours. Preheat oven to 180°C and line a baking tray with baking paper. Remove wings from resealable bag and transfer them to the prepared tray. Save marinade liquid for basting. Bake in the preheated oven for about 30...

This is one good soup for nourish & rejuvenate oneself. American Ginseng Root Fibers or Yang Sheng Xu . American Ginseng Root Fibers (Known as Yang Sheng Xu in Chinese) are low-quality fibers taken from the rootstock of the Panax Quinquefolium (American Ginseng) plant and are one of the cheapest types of ginseng you can find in the market. Some call them 'Beards' as its Chinese name 洋参 (Yang Sheng) 须 (Xu) literally translates to American Ginseng 'beards'. They are fine fibers, which are the very ends of the ginseng roots, having a bittersweet flavor and aroma typical of ginseng, and are used as a nutritional supplement in order to support neuro-physical and organ health. A well known property of this ginseng is that it is cooling and can help to reduce heatiness in the body. Some people like boiling them in water for 10-15 mins and add a pinch of salt before drinking but I prefer double boiling them for a couple of hours to really bring out the lovely herby...

Guinness ribs is one of the few pork ribs dishes we usually see in most Chinese restaurants. If you love stout, you definitely have to try this out. Hubby loved these ribs. The marinade laced with Guinness tenderizes and adds wonderful flavor to the ribs. Yes, you can still taste the distinctive malty flavor of Guinness but the bitterness of the stout is mellowed down by the brown sugar in the marinade and sauce :)  It's one awesome pork ribs dish with bold flavors! These ribs are finger-licking good! Ingredients: Approx 400g spare ribs, cut into small individual pieces  1 can of Guinness stout Light soya sauce: 1/2 tbsp for marinade and 1 tbsp for sauce Brown sugar: 1/2 tsp for marinade and 1 tbsp for sauce 1 tbsp tomato sauce A dash of white pepper powder A pinch of salt Oil, for pan frying Roasted sesame seeds, for garnishing (Optional) Marinade the spare ribs with 1/3 cup of Guinness stout, 1/2 tbsp light soya sauce, 1/2 tsp brown sugar, white...

I haven't baked anything in a while. Due to teething, LO was a lil cranky... She refused to drink water, refused to finish her milk most of the time and even refused to finish her favorite soups. I gave her more fruits instead so she won't become dehydrated or become too heaty in this hot weather. After two days of on and off fever, both her upper second molar popped out at the same time >.< Since she's back to her usual self, I figured I would start out with some chocolate brownie muffins. Made them for teatime today, and served with strawberries, currently one of her favorite fruits, besides mangoes :D  Best served warm, with ice cream or coffee! You can also try baking them for a shorter time (8-10 mins) and they become like molten lava cake :D Ingredients: (Makes 4 brownie muffins) 75g unsalted butter, softened, and some extra for greasing  1/4 cup  + 2 tbsp caster sugar 5 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder 1 egg 1/2 cup all purpose flour 1/2 tsp ...

This Shanghai-style Braised Pork Belly (Known as Hong Shao Rou in Chinese) is one of the most popular dishes in China. The texture of the pork is soft and it has a perfectly balanced savory and sweet flavor. You could spice it up a little bit by adding some dried chillies but my LO can't take spicy at all, so I've omitted it. It is usually cooked and served in a clay pot, but since I didn't have one at home, I just used my usual non stick wok :P  It was so tender, almost melting in the mouth! Serve with a bowl of hot rice.... Yumzzz! Ingredients: Approx 300g pork belly 1 tbsp crushed rock sugar 3 slices of ginger 1 star anise 1 bay leaf 2 tbsp Shao Xing wine/Chinese cooking wine 1 tbsp light soya sauce 1 1/2 tbsp dark soya sauce 2 cups water Oil, for stir frying Cut the pork belly into 1-inch pieces.  Cut into 1-inch pieces. Blanch them in boiling water for a few minutes to remove any impurities. Rinse and set aside. Heat oil in a pan over...