Chocolate Marble Cake

Mum bought a $2.15 "marble cake" last weekend. How could it be so cheap? The ingredients were flour, eggs, oil and many other flavourings and colourings. And the marble look was on the surface of the cake only. Sigh, told mum that she should have just let me know that she wanted to eat some cakes and I would have gladly make some for her. But she seems to enjoy eating that $2.15 cake because it was so cheap...

The homemade one, though costs slightly more, is definitely healthier than the one that uses a lot of flavourings and colourings.

I came across a marble cake recipe at All That Matters and adjusted it to use whatever ingredients I have in my cabinet, ie top flour and brown sugar.

It's a learning experience for me. I realised that I could not whisk the egg white and brown sugar to a soft peak as required by the original recipe.

So here is my recipe:

Ingredients

200g butter
160g brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla essence
3 eggs
2 tbsp of low fat milk
200g top flour
1 tsp baking powder

1 tbsp cocoa powder
2 tbsp low fat milk
(mix thoroughly)

Method

1. Beat butter, sugar, vanilla essence until light and creamy

2. Add in one egg at a time and beat until creamy. Add in milk.

3. Fold in flour and baking powder

4. Spoon half of the mixture into a separate bowl. Add in cocoa mixture and stir well.

5. Drop alternate spoonfuls of mixtures into a pan. Use a chopstick to pull backwards and forward through the mixture.

6. Bake cake for 40 minutes in oven of 170 degree Celsius or when the skewer comes out clean. Turn the cake onto the wire rack to cool.

Roasted Lemongrass Chicken

Saw this recipe by Mrs Forrest Leong while searching for more lemongrass chicken recipes.

Ingredients

4 chicken thighs
3 stalks lemongrass, bruised (to be used for brushing thighs with oil)
2 Tbs cooking oil

Marinade

4 stalks lemongrass, ends trimmed and bruised
1 Tbs dark soy sauce
1 Tbs light soy sauce
2 Tbs oyster sauce
1 Tbs fish sauce
125ml water

Garnish (optional)

Cooking oil for deep-frying
2 stalks lemongrass, ends trimmed, finely sliced and fried

Method

1. Prepare this dish a day ahead or least 3 to 4 hours before serving.

2 Chop lemongrass finely. Heat a saucepan over medium heat. Add lemongrass and ingredients for marinade and bring to a boil. Remove from heat, cover saucepan with a lid and leave until completely cool.

3 When marinade is cool, transfer to a mixing bowl. Place chicken in to steep in the marinade. Leave for 3 to 4 hours or overnight in the refrigerator.

4 Preheat oven at 220 deg C.

5. Arrange chicken thighs on a baking tray. Dip bruised lemongrass stalks in oil and brush chicken thighs. Place thighs in preheated oven for 12 to 15 minutes.

6. Meanwhile, prepare garnish if desired. Heat oil for deep-frying, then deep-fry finely sliced lemongrass until crisp and golden brown. Set aside to drain well.

7. Remove chicken thighs from oven and place on a serving plate. Drain drippings from baking tray and serve as a dipping sauce. Serve immediately, garnished with deep-fried lemongrass, if using.

This article was first published in The Straits Times on September 30, 2007.

(Source: http://www.soshiok.com/articles/9602)


It's Yummy

Cooked this dish on Sunday. Mum said it is more fragrant than the one I did last week. Could be because I've marinated it overnight. Shall be cooking it again.

Grilled Lemongrass Chicken

I just want to smell the sweet-smelling aroma of lemongrass in this simple and easy-to-make dish. H said it smells good. Taste good too because H ate most of it. Well, I will see if there are better recipes around as I still have another 3 stalks of lemongrass.

Ingredients

6 pcs of chicken thighs
1 stalk of lemongrass (cut into 1.5inch in length and smashed)
3 tbsp of maple syrup
3 tbsp of dark soya sauce
3 tbsp of light soya sauce
2 tbsp of oyster sauce

Method

1. combine all the above ingredients and marinate for a couple of hours

2. grill the chicken thighs in a bread-toaster or oven for 30mins (turn over the chicken thighs after 15mins)

3. remove the chicken thighs and transfer to a plate.

4. pour the excess marinade and juice from grilling the chicken into a pan and bring to boil to reduce the quantity (cornstarch mixture may be added to thicken the sauce)

5. remove the sauce from the heat and pour it over the chicken thighs and serve.

Steam Radish Cake

It's 人日 today (everybody's birthday)!

I'm into my 3rd attempt over the last 3 weeks to make the steam radish cake, which is our breakfast over the next few days. The original recipe was extracted from Precious Moments. It's easy to make. It's delicious. It tastes even better if it is pan-fried till it's crispy on the surface and eaten with chilli sauce.

I have a 750g radish and I like dried chinese mushroom, so I've adjusted the recipe a bit:

Ingredients

750g radish (shredded & strained)
40g or 1 pc of chinese sausage (finely sliced)
30g dried shrimps (soaked & finely chopped)
30g dried chinese mushrooms (soaked & diced)
500ml liquid (from radish, water from soaking dried shrimps & dried mushrooms)
2 cloves of garlic (finely chopped)
1 tbsp oil

Seasoning:
2 tsp salt
1/2 tbsp sugar
pepper

Batter:
220g rice flour
1.5 tbsp tapioca flour
400ml water

Method

1. Fry the garlic with oil till it's fragrant.

2. Add in dried shrimp, chinese sausage and dried mushroom to stir fry still fragrant.

3. Add in shredded radish, water, seasoning and simmer over low heat for 10-15 mins.

4. Lower the heat and add the batter

5. Stir until the mixture thickens.

6. Pour the thickened mixture into a tray.

7. Steam on high heat for 45 minutes to 1 hour or until the chopstick comes out clean after inserting into the cake.

8. Cool thoroughly before cutting.