Pears Pudding with Sweet Milk Caramel

Ingredients

1 big pear
750 gm sugar
100 gm rock sugar
1 screwpine leaf
1/2 teaspoon red dye

Caramel Ingredients
1/4 can sweetened condensed milk
1 can evaporated milk
1 egg yolk
250 water
1 tea spoon vanilla essence

Methods
1. Peel off the skin of the pear.
2. In a pot, put in sugar,rock sugar,water and screwpine leaf until cooked.
3. Add the pear and the red dye. Cook until tender. Transfer to a sieve annd let it dry.
4. To make the milk caramel, add all ingredients and stir in a low heat until simmer.

5. To serve, shape the red pear pudding into a desired shape, and pour the milk caramel on top of it.

*Serve 1-2 people

Black Sticky Rice Pudding

Do try this sweet pudding that is usualy taken on tea time. Can be eaten hot or cold!


INGREDIENTS
1 cup of Black Glutinous Rice
5 cups water
2-4 cinnamon sticks (optional)
1 pandan leaf
pinch of salt
1 tea spoon vanilla essence
200 grams palm sugar (or brown sugar)
400ml tin of coconut milk
1/3 cup fresh or dried coconut (optional)
1-2 mangos, sliced (optional)


METHODS
1. Soak rice in 2 cups of water for 6-12 hours
2. In a saucepan, add 3 cups of water, cinnamon sticks, pandan leaf, vanilla essence and salt.
3. Add pre-soaked rice and cook on a medium high heat for approx 40 minutes (or until rice is soft) stirring often.
4. Remove pandan leaf and cinnamon stick. Add coconut milk and palm sugar and simmer for 20 minutes (until palm sugar is dissolved)
5. Serve with some fresh coconut milk on top, mango or fruit puree (optional)

*Serve 2-4 people

Fresh Mango Juice

Fresh Mango Juice is fast and easy to make. It's healthy and delicious and is very good for digestion. It's creamy like testure and sweet taste will linger in your mouth for quite some time. Best taken just before serving! Try!

INGREDIENTS
2 small (600g) mangoes

1/3 cup (80ml) lime juice

2 tablespoons sugar syrup

1½ cups ice cubes

Sugar syrup

½ cup (110g) caster sugar

½ cup (125ml) water

METHODS
1. For the sugar syrup, combine sugar and water in a small pan. Stir over a low heat until sugar is dissolved. Transfer to a screw-top jar and let cool.

2. Before serving, blend the mango flesh with juice, syrup and ice until ice is crushed.

3. Serve in glasses.

*Serve 2 people

Punch Cocktail

This punch cocktail recipe will always be on the table on any function that we have at home. The main ingredients remain the same but we sometimes add a few different fruit cocktails to give some differences. Sometimes we would add lemon or orange peel, or simply add half a can of mixed fruit cocktails to give colours and taste. Anyway, if you make a reception or even a birthday party at home, do try this one!

Ingredients

1/2 cup rose syrup

1/2 cup orange juice

2 cups soda

1/2 can mixed fruit/lemon/orange peel (depending on your preferences)

2 cups of ice

Methods

1. Mix all the ingredients together in a small punch or jug and serve in a good glasss! Easy but yummy!

Tomato and Honey Chicken

Locally known as Ayam Masak Merah, this dish is suitable to be eaten with briyani or tomato rice. There are a few ways to cook it, but I will share with you my recipes which has honey and tomatoes in it.

Ingredients

1 whole chicken, cut into 8 parts (coat with tumeric powder and salt)

Oil for frying

1 cinnamon stick

1 star anise

6 cloves

4 cardamon pods

2 tbsp chilli paste

4 fresh tomatoes, cut into four

1 small can tomato soup/puree (depending on availability in your area)

2 tbsp meat curry powder

3 tbsp honey

2 strands curry leaves

salt

Pounded Items

3 garlic

1 inch ginger

1 big onion

Methods

1. In a hot pan, fry the chicken which has been coated with tumeric powder and salt.

2. When the chicken is cooked, transfer them to a dish.

3. In the same pan, scoop out excess oil and leave about 4 tbsp oil.

4. Add pounded items together with cinnamon stick,star anise,cloves and cardamon pods. Stir well until the ingredients turn golden brown.

5. Add curry powder and cook until the oil emerge on top. Then add chilli paste and fresh tomatoes.

6. When the tomatoes are tender, add tomato soup/puree. Cook for another 3 minutes.

7. Then add curry leaves and honey.

8. Add salt to taste.

9. Cook for another 3-5 minutes untill all ingredients are coated well with the tomatoes.

10. Serve in a serving dish with rice.

*Serves 3-6 people

*picture credit rasa

How To Make the Basis For Soup

Great ideas for soup

Soup is one of the tastiest meals that is easy to prepare. Tastier if you cook the broth in a slow heat for a long duration of time until all the ingredients just mix and blend together giving you full nutritions. I picked up a few tips on how to make the basics of soups that I found on the telegraph uk and would like to share it with you.

Just remember that starchy vegetables can be substituted for the potato, but non-starchy ones, such as spinach or mushrooms, should be added as well as the potato in the basic recipe, unless it's a very thin soup you are after.
Beetroot and cardamom Cook the seeds from 3 cardamon pods with the leeks, and use peeled beetroot (350g) instead of the potato. A squeeze of lemon juice at the end improves the flavour of beetroot soup.
Sweet potato soup with Angostura bitters Sounds unlikely but it's a magic flavour combination. Use about 350g sweet potato instead of the regular potato and finish the soup with a few drops of Angostura bitters.
Butternut squash and harissa Cook the leeks as above, then stir in half a teaspoon of harissa (Moroccan spice paste). Cook for a minute, then add 1 large butternut squash, peeled and cubed (seeds removed) instead of the potato. Add more harissa to the finished soup if you like.
Jerusalem artichoke and hazelnut Use Jerusalem artichokes, peeled and cubed, instead of the potatoes. Liquidise the soup with 1 tbsp hazelnuts (toast them lightly first in a dry frying pan).

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Soup Basics

A simple basis for countless soups.

Ingredients
2 fat leeks, sliced and washed
2oz/60g butter
Salt and pepper
2 medium floury potatoes, peeled and cut into small cubes
1½ pints/850ml pints water (or stock)

Methods
1. Cook the leeks slowly in butter until soft, but without letting them colour. Season lightly with salt and pepper.
2. Add the potatoes, stir until they are well coated in butter and cook for a minute or two longer.
3. Pour in the water (or use a light stock if you prefer) and simmer for 20 minutes or so, until the potatoes are soft.
4. Purée the soup. Liquidise, pass through a mouli-légumes, or leave it chunky if you prefer.
5. Taste and check the seasoning. Reheat and add a little cream, chopped herbs or a dollop of pesto before serving, if you like.

*Serves 2-4 people

ideas from xanthe clay, telegraph uk

Chicken Rice

This is one of the simplest recipes yet very tasty to eat! There are a few ways to cook or prepare this rice but I will tell you the simplest and fastest way to do the dish. Suitable if you need to cut your cooking time, provided that your chicken is already thawed! Try!

Rice Ingredients

2 cups of rice, cleaned and drained

3 garlic, finely chopped

1 inch ginger, finely chopped

4 cups of chicken broth **

1 cinnamon stick

salt, to taste

Soup Ingredients **

3 garlic

1 big onion, cut into half

1 inch ginger

Half chicken

salt and pepper, to taste

Chilli Sauce Ingredients ( All to be blended)

2 garlic

5 red chillies

2 tbsp sugar

2 tbsp vinegar

salt, to taste

Chicken Ingredients (optional)

1 tbsp soy sauce

1 tbsp oyster sauce

1 tbsp sesame oil

Methods

1. First prepare the soup/broth**. In a pot, pour 6 cups of water (or as required) and add garlic, ginger, big onion and chicken. Let the ingredients to boil. Add salt and pepper. Cook until the chicken is tender.

2. When the chicken is tender, take it out, cut it into two parts and put them on a plate. Cover the chicken with soy sauce, oyster sauce and sesame oil. Put aside.

3. Then cook the rice. Put the rice in a rice cooker. Scoop 4 cups of chicken broth** and add into the rice cooker. Add garlic, ginger, cinnamon stick and salt. Cook until rice is tender. Leave some of the soup/broth for serving.

4. When the rice is cooked, put it in a plate together with the chicken, the soup** and the chilli sauce.

*Serve 2 people