Cookbook Recipes

My family loves tiramisu and I can make different type of Tiramisu. Tiramisu is specially addictive for coffee lover as it has strong coffee flavour. I love the taste of liquer, cheese and eggs in it too. This recipe is the easiest to make, however, very tasty. Most Tiramisu has raw eggs in it so it is not advisable for pregnant woman to eat them. I have a recipe for pregnant mum though but I’ll share it in another post.

Ingredients:

60g sugar

100ml strong Kahlua Liquer (can substitute with Marsala)

16 sponge fingers (available at cold storage)

3 eggs separated

pinch of nutmeg (optional)
250g mascarpone cheese

60g grated chocolate

Method

Add 30g sugar to coffee and stir until dissolve. Add liquor.

Beat the egg yolk with nutmeg and remaining sugar until mixture has thicken. Stir in mascarpone.

Beat egg whites until stiff and fold the mascarpone mixture into the egg whites. Pls fold gently in clockwise direction, be careful not to burst the air bubbles in the whites.

There are many ways to assemble this dessert.

You can dip half the sponge fingers in the coffee mixture and arrange them in a 20cm serving dish. top with half the mascarpone mixture. Dip the other half of the sponge fingers and arrange on top of the mascarpone mixture and then cover with the remaining mascarpone mixture and decorate with grated chocolate. Chill for at least 4 hours before you serve.
The above way is lovely but I find that it can be a little messy when I serve. So I prefer to arrange the sponge fingers in nice individual cups or dish or even tall wine glasses. You can get pretty nice cups or dish in Ikea. When you dip the sponge fingers into the coffee mixture, it becomes soft. So I usually break it or shape it to fit into whatever base I have and then top with mascarpone mixture. Then dip the sponge fingers again and top with the mascarpone mixture again and
top with grated chocolate. Chill for at least 4 hours.

Yummy sweet chicken wings with garlic bits!

12 chicken wings (use middle portion only)

3/4 tbsp oyster sauce

2 tsp dark soy sauce

1 1/2 tbsp honey

1 tsp ground black pepper

3 tsp fresh ginger juice (grate ginger and squeeze the juice)

3 cloves garlic chopped

4 tbsp olive oil

spring onions and chilli to garnish

Method:

Marinate chicken with oyster sauce, soy sauce, honey, pepper, ginger juice and garlic. Set aside for 10 mins.

Preheat oven at 180 C. Meanwhile, heat oil and fry chicken until it turns light brown over medium fire.

Place chicken on baking try. Bake for 20 minutes. Reserve the marinate.

Heat the reserved marinate in a pan over low heat until it becomes thick.

Once chicken is ready, brush the marinate over the chicken and serve immediately. Garnish with chilli and spring onions.

This dish is very simple to make. When I am very busy and need to cook a nice meal, I will do this dish. It is thai but resembles our local char kway tiao.

Ingredients:

500g kway tiao or rice noodles

2tbsp oil

2 eggs

500g flank steak thinly sliced

3 tbsp of kecap manis (This is a thick sweet soy sauce, can substitute with soy sauce mixed with a little brown sugar.)
1 1/2 tbsp light soy sauce

1 1/2 tbsp fish sauce

200g bean sprouts

1/4 tsp pepper

lemon wedges to serve

Methods:

Heat oil over med heat, add 1tbsp oil and fry eggs. remove and slice.

Heat oil over high heat and add 1 tbsp oil; and fry beef until brown. remove and set aside.

Reduce heat to medium and fry noodles for 2 mins. Combine Kecap manis, soy and fish sauces. Add to the noodles with bean sprouts and pepper. Stir fry for 2 mins. Return egg and beef to the wok and cook for another 3 min. Serve immediately with lemon wedges.

This curry noodle is lovely. I would say it’s a cross between curry and mee siam. The gravy has lovely curry flavour but not as thick as curry and it has very nice lime taste to make the dish very special! The best part is it is very simple to make. Try it and you’ll love it.

Ingredients :

250g thin egg noodle
2tbsp oil
6 shallots, chopped
3 cloves garlic, chopped
2 small chilli, chopped
2-3tbsp curry paste (I use Chng Kee’s curry paste)
350g chicken fillet cut into slices
2tbsp fish sauce
1 tbsp grated palm sugar
3 cups coconut milk
1tbsp lime juice
1c chicken broth (I love heinz chicken broth)
Spring onions and coriander for garnish

Method:

Heat wok over high heat and fry garlic, chilli and shallots for 2 mins. Stir in curry paste. Add chicken and fry until it changes colour.

Stir in fish sauce, palm sugar, coconut milk, lime juice and broth. Simmer for 5 mins, do not boil!

Cook noodles in boiling water. Drain and divide noodles into 4 bowls and spoon in chicken mixture. Garnish with coriander and spring onions.

Above is a picture of the Thai noodle.  I use Kee’s curry paste. The original recipe requires red curry paste but I couldn’t find it in any supermarkets so this is a good substitute. I also find it hard to get palm sugar so I use this orange-coloured brown sugar as substitute.

Combine:

* 12 ounces of tomato paste
* 1 cup water
* 6 ounces dry wine
* 3 TBSP minced garlic
* 3 TBSP olive oil
* 1/2 TBSP oregano & basil OR pizza spice

Mix ingredients and simmer for 20 min or more.

2nd recipe, works for me and taste hawker authentic.

For 2 to 4 pax

1) Peel the shell off the prawns and fry the shell in a small dash of oil. Add 4 cups of chicken stock or water after you smell the rich fragrance of the prawns. Leave it to boil to extract fully the essense of the prawns. Should be rich reddish brown in colour.

2)Cook yellow noodles in boiling water, after the noodle is cooked, wash it over with cold water and put aside.

3) Fry 2 eggs. Just throw in the egg to the wok and scramble it. Then when fried, leave it aside.

3) Fry garlic and sambal chilli(omit if you hate spice but i guess being Singaporeans, spice is not a prob). After garlic is a little brown, throw in noodles and fry. Mix well. Sprinkle a little bit of Thai Fish sauce and you should get a nice steam coming out. Throw in the other ingredients (prawns, sotong, chicken, egg etc) and fry with the noodle. After frying for a while to mix all the ingredients with the noodles, pour in the stock until you are happy with the wetness of the noodles. Mix it well and then cover it.

4) Wait for it to steam and you are ready to serve when the steam comes out. Open the cover and it will smell really good. The key is in the stock. If the stock is really rich, then the noodles should taste really good.

My well-used recipe - always requested during family gathering.

Fresh prawns - boil till just turned red - don’t worry if a little uncooked. Peel heads and shells, separate and put both aside. Leave the stock boiling

Streaky pork - rub with salt generously, best left overnight. Throw in piece of streaky pork into stock, until just cooked, again don’t worry if a little uncooked. Cut to small slices. Leave aside.

Take a piece of belacan (about size of 2 sugar cubes), grill until smoky, break up belacan to powder. Heat up wok, add garlic to oil. Do not brown too much otherwise it turns bitter. Thrown belacan powder, prawn heads and shells into work, fry till shells and heads are dry and crispy. Sometime I pound the crispy heads and shells, sometimes I put into blender, then pour in the stock used for boiling prawns and pork. Boil for half an hour until all taste from prawns heads and shells are extracted. Add salt and fish sauce to taste. Remove and throw away the shells, keep stock aside.

Heat oil with plenty of chopped garlic (I like), throw in yellow noodle and thick beehoon, fry thoroughly. Add stock and cover for 3 minutes. Add more stock if neccesary. Add in a few beaten eggs. Add prawns and pork. Lastly add bean sprout. Fry until right liquid consistency and starchiness. Serve with belacan chili and squeezed lime juice.

You don’t even need any MSG, believe me, it’s that good. And it taste authentic, simply because it is. My reverse engineering.

In this present day, there are still some gullible people falling for such scams.

This scam has been around since those days whether instead of prospecting via spam, they actually do mass faxing and slotting the scam letter into letterbox.

It was particular rampant in Sim Lim Square in the 90’s where they target mainly the business owners there.

Nowsdays, the one that gets swindled are those that are new to the Internet that does not know the amount of tricksters and cons on the net. (where the men are the women and the women are the men..)
June 13, 2006

One con artist arrested, sentenced to three years’ jail; others still at large

By Elena Chong

BUSINESSMAN Ng Yong Ngee responded to an e-mail that sounded too good to be true - a 30 per cent share of US$8.5 million (S$13.6 million) for his help in transferring the money out of Britain.

The 30-year-old owner of an interior design firm parted with about $48,000 - and became yet another victim of Nigerian con artists.

Yesterday, Nigerian undergraduate Ronald Emmanuel Emeka, 30, cried as District Judge Bala Reddy packed him off to jail for three years for conspiring with one Dr Kenneth and others to cheat Mr Ng in March.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Hwong Meng Jet said Mr Ng responded to an e-mail in March seeking help in transferring the US$8.5 million.

The author of the e-mail claimed to be 26 and said the funds belonged to his father, who was killed by business partners in Africa.

After communicating with a man over the Internet, Mr Ng was told a British ‘diplomat’ would bring the US$8.5 million to Singapore and that Mr Ng would receive 30 per cent as his commission. All he had to do was pay US$8,500 in administrative fees to the ‘diplomat’.

The ‘diplomat’, Dr Kenneth, contacted Mr Ng and said he had brought the money, and an assistant would come by to collect the fees.

Mr Ng met the assistant, Emeka, at a Geylang hotel on April 3, and handed over $13,650, the equivalent of the sum asked.

Dr Kenneth then visited Mr Ng’s hotel room and showed him a safe containing black paper. He took out three pieces, washed them with some solution, and they were revealed as US$100 notes.

Dr Kenneth and Emeka then spun a web of elaborate lies over the next couple of days to con another $33,780 out of Mr Ng.

Most of the cash, they said, was needed to rent a machine to process the black notes into US currency.

Mr Ng scrambled to meet the men’s demands, borrowing $2,000 from his mother and $3,000 from one of his friends. He also withdrew $26,000 from his account.

The same day, Dr Kenneth told Mr Ng the money had been cleaned but that he had to cough up another &pound40,000 to verify the funds were legal.

Mr Ng said he had no money, and soon after suspected the deal was a scam. He went to the Commercial Affairs Department on April 6. Emeka was arrested when he turned up to collect the money. Dr Kenneth remains at large.

Mr Ng is the latest in a string of Singaporeans and other victims worldwide who have been conned in similar scams.

Five people lost sums ranging from $900 to $300,000 last year when they sent varying amounts in response to e-mail messages, in the hope of receiving a share of millions purportedly in dormant bank accounts.

Nearly all the cases started with an e-mail that would say something like: ‘My father left me US$40 million but I need to bribe a government official to release the money. ‘Wire me US$10,000 and I’ll give you US$20 million in return.'’

In 2004, seven people lost between $1,000 and $30,000, and in 2003, five people lost close to $2 million.

About 15 con artists have been dealt with by the courts here for such scams since 1997. Most were Africans who flew in to meet their victims.

Globally, more than US$5 billion has been swiped in such scams, which are believed to have originated in Nigeria several years ago.