Cookbook Recipes

Durian is my favourite fruit. To many, like my husband, they wonder why. They find it smelly and soft and some durian is even bitter. But for durian lovers, they will surely love this durian cake recipe. Please try to choose sweet durians so that you don’t have to add sugar to the durian puree.

One 9″ vanilla sponge cake

Ingredients for cream:

1 cup of durian puree (Remove flesh from pulp and place in the blender and blend until smooth. Add sugar if it is not sweet enough.)

600ml whipping cream

Just whip the cream and when it is firm and can hold its shape, add the durian puree and mix well.

Cut the sponge cake into three horizontally. Spread cream in each layer and cover the whole cake with the delicious durian cream.

*During durian season when durians are abundant, cheap and good, I will use 2 1/2 cups of durian puree and between the layers of sponge cake, I will just spread about 1 cups of the durian puree so as to maximize the durian taste. I will use about 300 ml of whip cream, whip it and then mix with the remaining durian pureee and cream the sides and top of cake.

Make a basic 9″ chocolate sponge cake.

Ingredients:

1 can black pitted cherries
20 gm cornstarch
60ml (4tbsp) kirsch
600 ml whipping cream
100 gm chocolate rasp or curls to decorate

Method:

Strain the syrup from the pitted cherries. Boil the syrup with the cornstarch until thick. Set aside to cool. Add kirsch. Place the cherries back into the syrup to coat the cherries with the kirsch syrup.
Cut the cake into three horizontally.

Place a layer on a turn-table or a flat plate. Spoon some syrup onto the cake layer. Be careful not to put too much syrup as the sponge may turn soggy.

Whip the cream until firm and can hold its shape. This is important because if the cream is not whip till firm, it will be hard to cream the cake as the cream cannot hold its shape. If it is over-whipped, the cream will turn into butter. (Always chill the bowl and whisk attachment before whipping the cream.)

Spread a thin layer on top of the soaked sponge. Place 1/3 of the cherries on top of the cream.

Repeat with the layers of sponge, syrup and cream.

Top with the third cake round and spoon over some kirsch syrup. Please make sure the sponge is not too moist or it may become soggy.
Spread a thin layerof whipped cream around the sides and top of the cake. Press some chocolate curls on the sides of the cake and sprinkle some in the middle of the cake. Decorate the top of the cake by placing some cherries around the top of the cake.
The picture below is a cake I have made but instead of placing whipped cream around the sides and top of the cake, I put chocolate coating on it as my husband and I are chocolate lovers.

To make the chocolate coating, Chop 125gm of bittersweet chocolate and place in a stainless steel bowl. In a small saucepan, heat up 15gm butter with 90ml thickened cream. When it boils, pour over the chocolate. With a handheld whisk, stir until incorporated. Put the cake on a wire rack and place some baking paper under the wire rack to catch any chocolate dripping down the cake. Pour the chocolate coating onto the center of the cake and using a large spatula, spread all over the cake and creat a even coating. Transfer the cake to a serving platter and chill at least 4 hours.

To make a delicious cream cake, I have always feel that the sponge cake make the difference. Everything else can be right but if the sponge is too dry or hard, it spoils the whole cake.

To make the perfect sponge, you need the right recipe. You also need to know your oven well so that the cake is not too dry or too wet. Please also use the right cake pan. The folding in of flour and butter is very important so that the cake won’t be flat.

My journey in looking for ways to make the perfect sponge has been quite trying. I don’t really like premix as I don’t like the texture and flavour. The only brand of premix that I find satisfactory is Prima. I tried many sponge recipe and they are just not right. Some instructions are so vague that the cake just don’t turn out right.

The following sponge recipe is my favourite and quite easy to make. I have taken some pictures so that you can visualize the process better. Once you master the perfect sponge, you can check out my different cream cake recipes so that you can decorate and make different types of cake. They are delicious.
The following is the recipe for vanilla sponge cake. If you want a chocolate sponge cake, just reduce the quantity of plain flour by 50gm and replace with 50gm of cocoa powder.

Ingredients:

100g (4oz) butter melted
6 eggs, room temperature
225g (8oz) caster sugar
125g (5oz) plain flour
1/2 tsp vanilla essence

Method:

Grease a 9 inch (23 cm) cake pan. Line with greaseproof paper. Preheat oven to 180C.
Put the eggs and sugar into a large bowl and whisk until thick enough to leave a trail on the surface when the whisk is lifted. Usually with an electric mixer, it takes about 5 - 7 mins.

Sift the flour. Gently fold half the flour into the egg mixture. When it is well incorporated, fold in the other half. Add the vanilla essence and fold into the mixture.

Place 1 cup of the batter into a bowl with the butter and using a handheld whisk, whisk the mixture to lighten the butter. After that, fold the butter mixture into the batter.
Turn the mixture into the prepared tin.

Bake for about 40 mins or until a toothpick is inserted in the middle will come out clean. Remove from oven and allow to cool. Invert the cake onto a wire rack and remove greaseproof paper.

When removed from oven.

When cooled, it looks a little wrinkled.

Invert the cake so that now the top becomes bottom. Slice the cake horizontally to cream it.

*The pictures features a chocolate cake.

Ingredients:

4 racks of American-style pork spare ribs 1.5kg

Honey marinade:
1\4 cup (90g) honey
1\2 cup (125g) Kecap Manis
2 tsp sesame oil
2 star anise
3 cm fresh ginger grated finely
1 clove garlic crushed

Method:

Make honey marinade by combining all the ingredients in a small bowl.

Pour 2\3 of the marinade into a large shallow dish or large resealable bag. Add pork spare ribs and refrigerate for 3 hours or overnight, turning occasionally.

Preheat oven to 150C.

Drain ribs from marinade, discard marinade. Line 2 baking dishes with foil to prevent the honey mixture from burning onto baking dishes. Place wire racks in each dish. Place pork ribs in a single layer on the racks. Roast uncovered about 45 mins, turning halfway through and brush it with the remaining 1\3 marinade until well browned and cooked.

Cut racks into individual ribs before serving.

Serves 6.

This is a healthy accompaniment.

5 large potatoes

1 tbsp olive oil

1 tbsp fresh rosemary leaves

Preheat oven to 180 C. Make 1 cm cut in each potato, slicing about 3 quarters of the way through. Combine potato with oil in a large baking dish , sprinkle with salt and pepper. Bake for about 1 hour, increase oven temperatue to 200 C and bake for another 15 mins or until potatoes are tender and browned. Sprinkle with rosemary.

This meatloaf is yummy. In Singapore, it can be hard to find minced veal so you can simply use minced pork. Fresh sage is also hard to get so I substitute it with 1 tsp of dry rosemary or thyme. The jelly glaze for this recipe is very important as it add sweetness to the loaf and also improve the look of the dish. Try it and your family will love it!

Ingredient:

2 tsp olive oil
1 small brown onion 80g, chopped finely
2 cloves garlic chopped finely
1 trimmed celery stalk 100g chopped finely
1 medium green apple grated coarsely
500g por and veal mince mixture
1 cup (70g) stale breadcrumbs
1 tbsp fresh sage chopped coarsely
1 egg lightly beaten
10 thin streaky bacon rashers
1 small green apple cored and sliced thinly
2 tbsp apple or redcurrant jelly
Method:

Heat oil and fry onion, garlic and celery. Cook, stirring until onion is soft. Add grated apple and cook until mixture becomes dry.

Preheat oven to 180 C.

Combine onion mixture, mince, breadcrumbs, sage and egg in a large bowl. Mix well.

Transfer mince mixture onto a large sheet of plastic wrap. Use wrap to roll mixture into a 8cm x 24cm log. Discard wrap. Wrap bacon around log, alternating extra apple slices with bacon.

Place meatloaf onto an oiled oven tray. Brush all over with half the warmed jelly. Roast, uncovered, in moderate oven about 45 mins, brushing with the remaining jelly halfway through cooking. Meatloaf should be cooked through and bacon browned and crisp. Serve with mustard.

Serves 4

Babies are usually given solid food starting at 4 months but I think it is safer to start them at 6 months. This is because many babies are not ready to eat at 4 months and it can be frustrating trying to feed them solids.

To start them on solids, cereal is an ideal choice as it is easy to swallow and digest. You can mix cereal with breast milk or formula or boiled water to produce a thick consistency.

Weetbix can be crushed and mixed with breast milk, formula or boiled water to produced a desired consistency and given to babies too.

As your baby began to show more interests in eating solid food, you can start cooking porridge. You can use rolled oats. Mix it with water (1 tbsp oats to 3 tbsp water) and boil and then simmer for a few minutes. Puree with enough breast milk or formula to produce the consistency suitable for your child. Oats are more nutritious compare to white refined rice. I sometimes would puree some bananas and mixed with the oat porridge. It makes it sweet, more tasty and also more nutritious.

Stewed fruits are very good for babies too. Peel, core and slice 1 apple, peach or pear in a small pan with 2 tbsp of water. Bring to boil, reduce heat and simmer until soft and pulpy, adding more water as required. Puree with a little boiled water to make 1/2 cup of stewed fruit.

You can combine rice cereal with stewed fruits or mashed banana. Add some breast milk or formula to achieve a soft but not runny cereal.

For older babies, mix baby cereal, stewed fruits, baby yogurt and breast milk to produce the desired consistency.

For older babies, you can try the following combinations of puree, they are yummy for most babies. Always puree using breast milk, formula or boiled water.

Mashed advocado and cottage cheese.

Sieved tomato and advocado. First, blanched tomato in hot water to make the skin peel off easily. Then remove the seed and press them through a sieve.

Pureed apple, pear and banana.

Pureed papaya.

Pureed pumpkin and potato.

Pureed vegetables and cooked fish.

This version of cheesecake is slightly lighter considering that one one 250g pkt of cream cheese is used. You can have change the base of the cake too. Instead of using digestive biscuits, you can use muesli biscuits, chocolate chip biscuits, walnut biscuits etc. You can also top with sliced fruit, chopped nuts and drizzle chocolate on it. Since this is a no bake version and raw eggs are used, it is better to use grade A eggs and clean the eggs before using it.
Crust:

100g chocolate digestive biscuits, crushed (Put biscuits in a plastic bag and crushed with a rolling pin.)
50g melted butter
Filling:

225g cream cheese
100g castor sugar
2 eggs separated
100g plain chocolate, melted
2 tsp gelatine powder
150ml double cream, whipped
For decoration: 150ml double cream, chocolate curls, icing sugar

Method:

Mix biscuit crumbs with melted butter and pressed onto an 18cm springform tin. Chill until firm about 10-15mins.

To make filling, beat cream cheese until smooth. Add sugar, egg yolk and melted chocolate . Dissolve gelatine in 2 tbs of hot water and add to the cheesecake mixture. Whisk the egg whites until stiff and fold in with a metal spoon. Finally fold in the cream. Pour into tin and chill to set.

Unmould cheesecake onto a serving plate. Whip cream and pipe a border around the top edge of the cheesecake. Decorate the centre with chocolate curls and sprinkle with icing sugar.

This recipe looks difficult due to the long list of ingredients. But once you manage to get all the ingredients, the recipe is very easy to cook and worth cooking too. I tried buying ready made green curry sauce but none is as authentic and nice as home made ones like this. On top of that, the paste can be stored in the freezer for up to 3 months. You can make more paste and keep them in portions in the freezer and then use it whenever you need it!
Ingredients:

Curry paste *This quantity is for 2 portion of green curry. Half is to be stored in freezer for next use.
1/2 tsp cumin seeds, toasted
1 tsp coriander seed, toasted
1/4 tsp white peppercorns
5 fresh coriander roots
3 tbsp chopped fresh galangal
10 fresh long green chillies, chopped
1 stem lemon grass, chopped
6 red Asian shallots, peeled
3 cloves garlic, peeled
1 tbsp shrimp paste
1 tsp grated kaffir lime rind
2 tbsp peanut oil

1 cup (250g) thick coconut cream
500 g chicken fillets sliced
2 cups water
125 g snake beans cut into 2 cm lenghts
150g broccoli cut into small florets
1 tbsp palm sugar
2-3 tbsp fish sauce
5 tbsp fresh corriander leaves

Method:

Place cumin seed, coriander seed and peppercorn in a spice grinder or mortar and pestle and grind into fine powder. Blend in a food processer with the remaining paste ingredients and add 1/2 tsp salt until smooth.

Place coconut cream, water, chicken , half of the above curry paste, and boil and simmer for about 5 mins. Then add broccoli and snake beans and simmer for another 5 mins or until chicken and vegetables are cooked. Add fish sauce, palm sugar, coriander leaves. Best served with steamed rice.

There are few basic steps for cooking the perfect steak. First, use the right cut. Second, meat preparation and cooking method. The followings are guides to cooking times and touch testing. Soon, you will learn if a steak is cooked to your liking by feeling the steak with the back of tongs and by its appearance. After cooking, allow steak to rest for 2-3 minutes.

RARE
Cook each side for 2 mins, turn once only.
Description : Internal very red, moist and with red juices.
Touch test: very soft to touch.

MEDIUM RARE
Cook each side approx 3-4 mins. Turn once only before pink beads of moisture appear on top surface of each side.
Description: Internal lighter red colour, moist, pink juices.
Touch tests: Soft and springy.

MEDIUM:
Cook 4-6 mins each side. Turn only once.
Description : Internal pink red colour, moist, clear to pink juices.
Touch test: Firm and springy.

WELL DONE
Cook 2-4 mins each side, then reduce heat and cook further 4-6 mins.
Description: Internal stone grey colour, dry, clear or no sign of pink juices.
Touch Test: Very firm to touch.