5Feb, 2024
Cream of Pumpkin Soup 忌廉南瓜汤 – Eat What Tonight

Cream of Pumpkin Soup 忌廉南瓜汤 – Eat What Tonight

Back in July last year when I was putting up at my friend’s place in countryside Australia to experience a different kind of life they were leading as compared to Singapore, I thought I had the best Cream of Pumpkin Soup ever which was made by my Aussie friend. The taste was very in-depth and rich and it tastes just so good that when I came back, I desperately wanted to re-create one for myself again.

That being said, it’s not difficult to make this soup and I even prepped extra portions of it as this soup freezes really well and it can be readily enjoyed with some toasts. The type of pumpkin used in this case played a huge part in the taste of this soup and I must agree that the Butternut Squash Pumpkin from Australia makes the best Cream of Pumpkin Soup so far. The soup is deliciously creamy and I loved that it is very rich in taste too.

21Jan, 2024
Egg Tofu with Spinach & Shrimps in Pumpkin Sauce – Eat What Tonight

Egg Tofu with Spinach & Shrimps in Pumpkin Sauce – Eat What Tonight

Literally all that you can find in this one-plate meal. If I were to re-create a dish for Chinese New Year, I think this homely dish is sure to bring joy as the pumpkin sauce accompanied with the fresh shrimps and spinach are commonly found ingredients that most of us will stock up during the Lunar New Year. In addition, the colour of the dish is bright and delicious looking enough to make one salivate.

A little more than usual steps to create this dish as the pumpkin and tofu has to be managed separately before they can be used in the cooking, but otherwise all is smooth as breeze once the actual cooking begins. Do bookmark this recipe as it is highly recommended if you love pumpkin !

20Jan, 2024
Sardine & Egg Fried Rice – Eat What Tonight

Have extra sardines tins sitting around ? Fret not, simply incorporate them into an egg fried rice and a whopping plate of sardine & egg fried rice is set to keep you bellies satisfied. This serving for one recipe uses only 1/2 a bowl of cooked rice but incorporates 3 whole eggs to cook it, so you can imagine how eggy and fragrant this fried rice will be. Quick, effortless and pretty brainless that makes a good home-cooked meal especially when you are tired and yet not desiring to consume take-outs.

On a side note, I’m working pretty hard here to update as much of the backlog recipes as I can. More often than not, my IG has always been a more instantaneous sharing of recipes as I can do that quickly from the mobile. But this blog has been with me since day one and it is also from here that I feel I am “truly at home” despite the influx of various social media channels over the years. Traditional as it may seem, I see this as my own cookbook which I only refer to if I need to search for a past recipe to be made and not through any other medium. I hope the tradition of reading blogs, akin to reading books will never be replaced by any other mainstream media though I know it can be difficult too considering the highly digital society we are in now.

Regardless let’s continue to salivate on more home-made food for now and leave what’s to think for the future for the future.

20Jan, 2024
Coconut Almond Muffins – Eat What Tonight

Coconut Almond Muffins – Eat What Tonight

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                Recipe adapted from ~ <Easy Muffins and Cupcakes> by Kelvin Chai                  

[Makes about 12-13 standard size muffins]

 

Ingredients :

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230g unsalted butter

230g caster sugar

230g plain flour

                              4 eggs                                

1/2 tsp salt

2 tsp baking powder

20g coconut powder

30g dessicated coconut

60g almonds, chopped

(I use sliced ones instead)

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Method :

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees C. Place paper baking cases in muffin tins.

2. Combine butter, sugar, eggs, flour, salt, baking powder and coconut powder in a mixer. Beat until smooth and pale, about 2 to 3 minutes.

3. Stir in dessicated coconut and almond. Spoon batter into the cases. Bake for 20 minutes or until cooked.

4. Remove tins from oven and cool for 5 minutes. Then remove the muffins and cool on a rack. 
Note : The original recipe was meant to be a cupcake, but I have decided to do without the icing frosting in the end. 

 

 

5Jan, 2024
Fish Fragrant Braised Cabbage 鱼香包菜 – Eat What Tonight

This is a little twist from the usual Eggplant dish which similar ingredients are used except for the core vegetable that’s being replaced by cabbage which is more commonly acceptable. I do know of some people who absolutely hate eggplants to the core liked how I used to feel, but having know how to cook eggplants now, I actually quite fell in love with this vegetable.

Incorporating the 鱼香茄子 idea into this cabbage dish eliminates the need for blanching the eggplants in hot oil, instead this step is replaced by braising the cabbage till tenderness in the sauce till it’s fragrant and soft. A very delicious and awesome recipe that goes on perfectly with a bowl of rice.

5Jan, 2024
Mee Tai Bak Noodles in Mushroom Thick Soup with Meatballs – Eat What Tonight

Although Christmas is not here yet but I am sure many of us, especially the old folks have started to stock up for Chinese New Year. That said, meatballs that are purchased off the shelves are a common sight in many of the Asian households as I would say they are quite an essential when we have hotpot during the festive.

And every year without fail, excess stock up tends to happen as the older generation feels that the fridge need to be pack to the brim in order to enjoy a “prosperous” Lunar New Year. My favourite brand of meatballs, without the exception of homemade from scratch ones are often these Lion Dance brand of meatballs. Since I always have extra of these, I decide to cook them in a thick and luscious mushroom and pork bone soup broth which is a little similar to the Taiwanese Oyster Vermicelli kinda texture of soup base but of course without oysters in this case and adapting more on a mushroom flavour.

Topping it with lots of fried garlic before serving gives the soup a really good aroma. Of course you are free to replace the meatballs with other options such as pork belly slices too.

5Jan, 2024
San Lou Hor Fun 三捞河粉 – Eat What Tonight

San Lou Hor Fun 三捞河粉 – Eat What Tonight

Always love a good Hor Fun but it can be quite challenging to cook this at home because of the lack of “wok hei” or 锅气, the typical charred-ness required of Hor Fun to be considered it tasty as the flame of heat from our stove at home is weaker than the one at the commercial stores. However this San Lou Hor Fun is slightly different as it does not necessary need the Hor Fun to be “charred” to be tasty. The gist of this dish comes from the “San Lou” which I believe it involves the cooking of the 3 ingredients separately – the Hor Fun, the beansprouts, the fish cum the gravy of the dish before coming together as a one-dish.

I used Toman fish slices for this dish though you can replace it with other types of white fish. I also choose the option of cooking the beansprouts separately instead of cooking it with the gravy so that they remains crunchy at the end when enjoying the dish. This dish is pretty quick and easy to beef up and taste absolutely tasty. While I hope there can be smaller servings of Hor Fun being sold since there isn’t so many mouths for me to feed, the smallest I can find in our local supermarket is a 1kg one, which can probably serve 4 pax.

5Jan, 2024
Stir Fry Glass Noodles with Mushrooms & Minced Meat – Eat What Tonight

Happy New Year 2024 ! Time flies during Covid and times flies even faster after Covid. Felt pretty unproductive in cooking and baking in 2023 as was too occupied in checking off my bucket list during the year. Nevertheless this year shall be better as I have decided to just take things slow and focus more on what I love to do most, and this is one of it.

Glass noodles, our so-called Tang Hoon in Hokkien dialect or 冬粉. It has a chewy and smooth texture after cooking and I would address this dish as a hybrid version of the Thai Style Glass Noodles with the Korean Japchae because it comes with several kinds of vegetables such as cabbage, spinach, carrots along with dried shitake mushrooms and added some minced meat as well for extra proteins.

Ingredients used

The gist of this dish will be the seasoning that comes together that make the noodles extra tasty. Definitely a dish that you will re-create again because it’s so versatile that everyone in the family will love it.

English Carrot Cake – Eat What Tonight

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (180 degrees C) and place rack in center of oven. Butter or spray two – 9 x 2 inch (23 x 5 cm) cake pans and line the bottoms of the pans with a circle of parchment paper.  

2. Toast the walnuts for about 8 minutes or until lightly browned and fragrant. Let cool and then chop coarsely. Peel and finely grate the carrots. Set aside.

3. In a separate bowl whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and ground cinnamon. Set aside.

4. In bowl of electric mixer, beat the eggs until frothy (about 1 minute). Gradually add the sugar and beat until the batter is thick and light colored (about 3 – 4 minutes). Add the oil/melted butter in a steady stream and then beat in the vanilla extract. Add the flour mixture and beat just until incorporated. 
5. Fold in the grated carrots, chopped nuts and raisins. Evenly divide the batter between the two prepared pans and bake 25 to 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.   

6. Remove from oven and let cool on a wire rack. After about 5 -10 minutes invert the cakes onto the wire rack, remove the pans and parchment paper, and then cool completely before frosting.  

7. To assemble: place one cake layer, top side down, onto your serving plate. Spread with about one third of the frosting. Gently place the other cake, top of cake facing down, onto the frosting, and spread the rest of the frosting over the top and sides of the cake. Decorate the top of the cake with marzipan carrot (I used sugar candy carrots instead!)

Cream Cheese Frosting: In bowl of electric mixer, beat the cream cheese and butter, on low speed, just until blended with no lumps. Gradually add the sifted powdered sugar and beat, on low speed, until fully incorporated and smooth.  Beat in the vanilla extract.

Note : This is the standard recipe adapted from the website. However, I divide the cake recipe into half and had it made in two 7-inches cake tins for 2 layers. However, the cream cheese frosting quantity remains the same as half of it seems too little for me and the standard quantity is just nice for additional piping on the cake.

5Jan, 2024
Banana Sponge Cake – Eat What Tonight

Banana Sponge Cake – Eat What Tonight

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There was a pitfall when baking this cake. I remember vaguely during class that slices of extra bananas can be placed on top of the cake before baking for decorative purposes, so that the cake does not look so plain. Yet forgetting that this is a sponge texture and not a butter cake texture, the banana slices sink during baking. And to make things worse, as I have some leftover pieces of poor quality parchment paper during the last bake, I used them to line this baking tin. Sad to say poor quality is really poor ! The skin of the cake sticked to the paper when I was tearing them off ! Argh ! Fortunately I manage to salvage one good piece for photo taking. Yet the cake tastes equally good as the one made in class, soft and light, but with enhanced moisture due to the additional banana slices. 

 

Recipe adapted from PA Richard Goh’s Baking Class Stage One

(half recipe of original version)

 

Ingredients :

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3 eggs

  150g sugar

200g banana

150g plain flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp soda bi-carbonate

100g oil

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Method :

1. Preheat oven to 160 degrees C. Grease and line a deep 8 inches square baking tin with paper.

2. Whisk eggs, sugar and banana for 10-15 minutes at maximum speed until stiff.

3. Add sifted flour, baking powder and soda  bicarbonate and fold well by hand.

4. Add in oil and mix well.

5. Pour into baking tin and bake for about 40-45 minutes or until cooked.