Tiramisu - traditional

I always love the smooth almost ice cream texture and taste of a Tiramisu cake, today I decided to whip one just to satisfy that craving of mine. There are alot of great Tiramisu recipes around but sometimes you just wanna take control of the flavor and just have to tweak the taste to your liking :D

1000g of Mascarpone Cheese ( available in ColdStorage IKANO )
170g of Custard Sugar
25g of water
200g of egg yolks
150g of egg whites
1 whole lemon zest
1 standard little bottle of Coffee Kahlua ( can be bought at any confectionery stores )
1 standard little bottle of RUM ( can be bought at any confectionery stores )
60g of Gelatin Powder ( can be bought at any confectionery stores )
12 to 20 sticks of bakery ladyfingers breadbiscuts ( can be bought at any confectionery stores )
3 table spoon of Instant Coffee ( no sugar no cream )
5 table spoon of unsweetened cocoa powder


First you need to dissolve about 20g to 25g of water with about 150g of sugar on a saucepan with low heat. Bring the solution to a slight boil and pay attention not to let the sugar solution brown and become too burnt or else it might just crystallize on you :P
Now while its steadily been brought to a slight boil in low heat , you pour the egg whites into a bowl and add the rest of the sugar into it and gently whisk it to dissolve the sugar completely.
Now once both the water sugar and egg whites sugar solutions are ready, just pour the egg whites solution into the water sugar solution and continue boiling it with a low heat. Always remember to keep stirring the combined solution continuously to prevent the egg whites from cooking and the solution burning at the bottom of the pan. Switch off the heat once boil further 6 mins or so.

Now empty the Mascarpone Cheese straight from the fridge into the large mixing bowl. Take special note that the cheese need not or recommended not to be at room temperature as these cheese are so light they start to turn into milk when left outside the fridge :P Add in the egg yolks and ONLY use a hand whisk to slowly and gently whip the cheese and the egg yolks together to get a off light yellowish cheese. Take special care Tiramisu is a about patients and tender loving care. The gentle slow whipping of will produce very nice thick creamy cheese mixture that will be easy to spread later into the 9 inch Spring pan. Once the creamy cheese mixture is achieved, add in the Coffee Kahlua and RUM to taste with the Gelatin Powder. Continue to slowly slowly whip the creamy cheese mixture now until all the Coffee Kahlua and RUM is well mixed.

Finally combine the previously prepared Egg whites , sugar and water solution slowly into the creamy cheese mixture little bit by bit and until to taste. Some people like it just light on taste while others want it brute flavored as while so its up to you. Just remember to slow blend by hand only ( no machine please ! or the cheese will melt and the egg yolks and egg whites will bloat ) until all mixed up and tasting great !

Now prepare a strong coffee mixture with warm water. Next prepare the spring pan and place the Breadbiscuts in it so that the whole bottom is lined. After that take a tablespoon and slowly scoop the strong coffee mixture over every piece of the breadbiscuts to have it all soaked in the coffee. Next scoop enough of the Tiramisu creamy cheese mixture to cover the coffee soaked breadbiscuts.

Now on top of that first layer of Tiramisu, you will repeat the same coffee soaking breadbiscuts technique again. Once done just scoop the rest of the thick creamy cheese into the spring pan.

Now place the whole Tiramisu into the fridge and chill overnight or 8 hours or so. Check if the Tiramisu is nice and set before opening the spring pan. Sprinkle the Cocoa powder over the cake which ever way you like it and serve immediately ! Have Fun !!

Steamed Sliver Cod in Teow Chew Bean Paste

This is the 2nd chinese dish I prepared :D.
Those of you who love fish like me would really love this timeless favorite :P
Its really really easy and all it takes from start till end is just 30mins !!! heres now you make a bad ass steam fish :P

300g - 500g Silver Cord or any fish you like :D
50g chopped old ginger
30g chopped shallots or small onions
10g Chopped Chilly padi ( yeah baby ! we talking spicy ! )
10g Garlic cloves chopped
50ml of Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Seasoning
1 table spoon or 2 table spoon of Teow Chew Bean Paste
1 table spoon of Light Soya Sauce
1 table spoon of oyster sauce
1/2 teaspoon of salt or to taste
1 table spoon of White wine
Sugar to taste
1 table spoon of cornstarch or tapioca flour

250ml of water

Heat up the water in a steamer pot or just a deep sauce pan with the stainless steel support grills in the middle. Once the steam starts to build up, place the fish on top of a bed of chop sticks suspended over a shallow plate. The reason is that I dont want the smelly juices that steam out of the fish to be bathing the steamed fish with it the whole time.

Now cover the whole thing up to steam for no more then 7mins tops. Now after that drain off the smelly juices collected under the suspended fish on the the chopsticks and set the fish aside on the serving plate.

Start by heating up a deep sauce pan with a little bit of olive oil, once its heated up drop in the garlic and the ginger and let it simmer up in medium low heat settings. Once the aroma is coming off add in all the other spices and the chillies. Now when it gives of the spicy aroma which could be just 20 secs of cooking add in the white wine and all the seasoning. Also at in like 1/2 cup of water or 200ml to 250ml. Now add more salt or sugar for taste.

Pour the whole paste thats piping hot over directly into the steamed fish and serve immediately :D Happy cooking and eating !!!

Herbal Soup with Vegetarian Mutton

This is something that is easy to cook and very nice to have.. its a kind of herbal tea soup.
Usually they cook it with real spare ribs or chicken. I decided to use vegetarian glutton for my cooking. I prefer to use the vegetarian mutton, as its made of primarily Chinese mushroom fibres so it would not just disintegrate after a couple of hours of boiling...... the thing about Chinese herbal soup... you boil for up to 8 hours :P

5 large bowls of water
1 pack of Chinese chicken herbal soup herbs ( you can get them at local shopping malls )
1 pack of 350g of vegetarian mutton glutton.
some salt


Boil the water for about 20 mins. Add in the herbal mixture into the water. Boil the water for 30 mins with the herbal. Now if you are using real meat, please make sure there is bones with it but you can get rid of the skin. And you need to rinse through the real meat with boiling hot water before adding into the boiling herbs.

But since i am using vegetarian mutton, I just have to dump them in. By now the liquid with the herbs would be boiling for 30mins or more, turn down the heat to the lowest setting and let it slow boil for up to eight hours. If you had about 1 litre of water to start with in a large bowl it should be enough.

Now its 8 hours already and you just have to add salt to taste and serve it up ! Happy drinking ;D

Seafood Pasta in heavy cream sauce & Japanese Wild Mushrooms

This has got to be the most commonly loved Pasta selection around KL I think :) Now to share with you a secret .... its also to easiest to cook yourself ! The best thing is you can put as much seafood as you like !


400g of any Pasta ( cooked for 15mins in Salted boiling water )
200g of fresh Salmon with no skin
200g of shrimp with no skin
200g of mussel with no shell
200g of sliced Japanese Wild Mushrooms
1 table spoon of dill
1 table spoon of basil
1 table spoon of fresh mashed thymes
1 table spoon of freash mashed parsley
1 table spoon of salt
1/2 cup of white wine
1 table spoon of black pepper
1/2 cup of powder Parmesans cheese
4 cups of heavy cream
1 1/2 table spoons of chopped garlic
1/2 cup of Extra Virgin Olive Oil

First you need to heat up the oil in the deep sauce pan, next add in the garlic and let it sizzle for 1 min or 2 mins in medium low heat. After the garlic has turn brown with a nice aroma coming from the oil add in the Mushrooms and stir fry them till some juices comes out. Thats usually takes about 4 mins or so. Now Chopped up the salmon into little cubes and add them to the pan , together with the shrimps and mussels.

After about 1 min, add in the dill , pepper , thymes , basils , parsley and half of the salt.
Now after another 1 min of tossing ans stir frying the contents add in all the white wine and let it simmer for about 2 mins. Now add in the heavy cream and bring everything to a slow boil.

Once the sauce is nice and hot add salt to taste, and then the cheese to taste too. You can increase the taste as much as you like with the salt and cheese.

Now put in the boiled Pasta and make sure you stir and coat the pasta in the rich sauce !
Serve the Pasta with sprinkles of cheese to the ones you love ! enjoy !

Light Yogurt Cheese Cake

The other day one of my cheese loving friend made a remark that totally got me into a spin, she said that I might be decent on cooking pasta and stuff but how come I havent done any deserts ! I tried defending myself, claiming that I was trying so hard to watch my weight, of cause she scoff off my attempts with a leering smile haha ! Next thing you know I made this sexy beast of a cake and stuff it in her mouth !

500g Ricotta Cheese
200g Cream Cheese
1/2 cup of butter
2 table spoon of Lemon Zest
1 1/2 table spoon of Pure Vanilla extract
3 cups of sugar
4 cups of Fruit yogurt
5 egg whites
1 whole egg

First you let the cheese warm up to room temperature. Use a deep mixing bowl and put both of them into it and start whipping them together. Take care not to whip too fast. Now after the cheese are well into a milky and creamy texture, slowly add in 1 whole egg and then followed by the rest of the egg whites. Add them in 1 egg at a time too. the sugar to taste 1 cup of sugar at a time. The reason is you have to taste the mixture to make sure you like how sweet the end cheesecake would taste like. I myself stoppped at 1 1/2 cups only. Next pour in 1/2 cup of yogurt into the mixture, plus the 2 table spoon of Lemon Zest and 1 1/2 table spoon of Pure Vanilla Extracts.

Now it all depends if you like to have some kind of biscotti at the bottom layer of the cheesecake, I personally dont really like the change in texture, but if you like to make it rich then do it like me, I use Oreo Cookies minus the cream in the middle for any cheese cake biscotti. Just buy a packet of Oreo Cookies, divide them up and scrap off the cream and just crush em up in your hands to the bottom of the spring form pan. Of cos before you do that always prepare the spring form pan with a good brushing of butter.

After the spring form pan is ready, empty the cheese mixture into the spring form pan and bake it for 45 mins in an oven pre heated to 350 degrees F or about 175 degrees C. After that lower the temperature to 300 degrees F or about 150 degrees C and bake further for 15 mins or untill the center is set. I usually keep baking it till I can see the top part of the cake turns a little light brown.

Next prepare a mixture of the rest of the fruit yogurt in a bowl. Add sugar to it till taste of your choice. Next add in 1/2 cup of roasted almonds and mix it in well. After which pour the mixture on top of the cheese cake. Next we put the cake back into oven and bake it for 20 mins with the oven set by at 200 degrees F or 110 degrees C. After that let the cake cool to room temperature and put into a fridge over night.

Serve with a sharp knife dipped in hot water. Enjoy !!!

Gnocchi

I was going through some really old cook books and that's why i found this baby ! its an Old Australia recipe and its called Gnocchi, the unique thing about this pasta dish is that you get to make your own pasta ! And that my friend is where the real fun is !

500g of Minced meat ( for this time I picked chicken breast )
300g of potato
4 whole tomatoes
3 table spoon of Tomato paste
1 whole large yellow onion
2 cloves of finely chopped garlic
2 cups of self rising flour
1 egg
2 cubes of chicken stock
2 cups of white wine
1/2 tablespoon of dill
1/2 tablespoon of basil
2 teaspoon of pepper
2 teaspoon of red chili flakes
1 teaspoon of salt
1 cup of warm water
3 table spoon of unsalted butter
3 table spoon of powder Parmesan cheese

First melt the butter in a deep saucepan, once the butter is brought to a simmer, add in the garlic and finely diced onions. Stir fry the onions and garlic till you see some juices. Now add in the minced meat with with the minced tomatoes , tomato paste, the salt , chopped chicken cube stock , basil and dill. Next add in the White wine and bring all that to a nice steady boil. Boil it for about 20 mins on low medium heat and add in the pepper and red chili flakes to taste. Boil until its a nice thick sauce, you may add warm water if you like your sauce a bit more fluid.

Now peel all the potatoes and cut them up into cubes, boil them in salted water until well done. Now take note to leave them to cool down to room temperature before you mash them up. Best way is to do them a day ahead and put them in the fridge and thaw it while you were cooking the sauce. Now put all the mashed potato into a large mixing bowl and add in the flour and a lightly beaten egg. Mixed it all together and add a little bit of salt to taste. Now knit the mixture into a dough and leave it there for 15 mins to 20 mins

Now take a table spoon and start plucking 1 tablespoon of the dough and press it into a oval shaped mini pan cake shaped pasta. Repeat for the whole dough. Now boil some water in a deep pot with salt and a little bit of oil if you like. The uncooked Pasta would sink first to the bottom of the pot and the cooked once would float to the surface. Rinse the cooked ones and put them aside on a large plate to let them dry and cool off.

Now before serving, bring the sauce to a simmer again and add in the pasta and stir lightly. Make sure the sauce coat most of the pastas surfaces. Now before serving, sprinkle some of the cheese on top. There you have it , good old fashion Australian Gnocchi !!

Enjoy !! :D

Baked Salmon in Grape Fruit butter sauce

One night I came home feeling rather hungry :P didn't know what to eat outside so I thought to myself, whats fast and nice :) so I decided to cook off the other half of the Salmon I bought from my last cook out :)

The recipe is really very simple,

200g of Fresh Salmon with skin
5 table spoon of butter
3 table spoon of fine flour
1 cup of full cream milk
3 table spoon of grated Parmesan Cheese
1/4 cup of Extra Virgin olive oil
1/4 cup of Table white wine
1/2 table spoon of sea salt
1/2 table spoon of black pepper
1 teaspoon of Dill
1 teaspoon of Basil
1 whole Grape Fruit
Aluminum foil

Preheat the Oven to 200 degrees Celsius or 400 Faher

Place the aluminum foil over a baking pan, next sprinkle some olive oil over the foil, next sprinkle sea salt and pepper over it, not too much cos you don't want the Salmon to become to salty.

Next slice the whole piece of Salmon into 2 equal piece. Now place the 1st half on the foil with the skin facing down. Now season with Grape Fruit Zest ( the grated skin of the Grape Fruit ) then add seasoning of Dill & Basil. Now place the 2nd half over the side of the 1st half and start to do the same to that slice.

Now cut 2 slices of the Grape Fruit and place it over the top of the Salmon.

Once the Oven has been preheated, lower the temperature to 150 degrees Celsius or about 300 Faher. Put the baking pan with the foil and Salmon in it and bake it for about 30 mins.

Once the Salmon is done leave it a side to cool.

Now the Grape Fruit sauce is really simple, heat up a deep sauce pan and drop in the butter.
Use low medium heat to slowly melt the butter and once its all done just slowly add in the flour and stir it all together with a wooden ladle.

Once the flour is all in and well mixed with the butter, add in the warm milk ( you can microwave the milk first or boil it first ) all at once. Slowly continue stirring the now sauce. Once its well thicken add in Parmesan cheese, and season with salt and pepper to taste.

Once all that is done, juice that Grape Fruit for its juices into a cup and slowly pour the Grape Fruit juices into the sauce. You will be delightfully surprise as you slowly add in the juice from that Grape Fruit, the sauce turns from white to Pink !!!

Now continue stirring for about 2 mins and then leave the sauce to cool.

Now you may either serve the Salmon and the Sauce together on a large serving plate or separately with the Grape Fruit Pink Sauce in a serving bowl :D

Enjoy !!

Pasta Squared in Olive oil, herbs and Chili Flakes Dressing & Zucchini

This is my favourite pasta, I did some modifications to it and added some spicy red Chili Flakes to it :P, that way some of my friends would feel more at home with this dish as its has a unique flavour that is very fresh and clean tastes.

Ingredients :

200 grams of Fresh Zucchinis

400 grams of any type of Pasta

1 table spoon of Red Chili Flakes

2 table spoon of finely chopped garlic

2 table spoon of coarsely chopped Fresh Basil Leaves

1 tea spoon of table salt

1/2 cup of Extra Virgin Olive Oil

1 table spoon of black pepper

1 teaspoon of Dill finely chopped

1 teaspoon of thymes finely chopped

1 teaspoon of parsley finely chopped

If anyone is asking where I got my fresh herbs and spices, you can find all of them at COLD STORAGE supermarket at IKANO the CURVE.

First clean the Zucchinis with running water. I bought the combo set which has both the Yellow and the Green Zucchinis. Next chop off both ends. Next slice along the whole Zucchini so that the thickness of each strips of skin is deep enough to have some of the crunchy parts with as much skin as possible. Try to cut as long as fine strips as you can manage but not cutting too deep till you see the seeds. This is to ensure that some times the seeds makes a bitter after taste to the strips. If you done it right, you should be left with just the body of the Zucchini with almost all the seed packed center parts to dispose off.

Now season the strips of Zucchini with salt and pepper and steam all the strips for 2 mins or so. This is just to make them crunchy.

Bring a deep bowl of water to a boil with a bit of table salt and olive oil. Once the water is boiling just add all the pasta in. Cook for 10 mins and rinse in cold water and drain. Next store it aside.

Now pour all the olive oil into a deep sauce pan, next bring it to a simmer and add in the garlics. Turn down the heat to medium low and bring the garlics to a golden brown. Once that is done, add in the chili flakes and the finely chopped herbs first. Immediately turn off the heat and add in the Basil Leaves and all the Zucchinis and the Pastas.

Toss the whole mixture of Zucchinis , Pastas , herbs and spices nicely, while the sauce pan and the oil is still warm. Then add salt , pepper and more Chili Flakes to taste of your choice.

Serve them up warm ! Enjoy it hehehe its lovely and easy to cook !

Oven Baked Lemon Zest Salmon with herbs & Spices

Hi ya guys and gurls, hoped you had a wonderful weekend :), before last weekend, a friend of mine made a request to me. She had been dying for some salmon :) and some Pasta in French dressing. Therefore I set out to cook for them :) after they heard that I was cooking, they recommended to come to my place to swim first then eat hearty hehe..

Ingredients :

400 grams of fresh Salmon with skin,
1/2 Table Spoon of Sea Salt
1/2 Cup of Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1 Table spoon of grated Black Pepper
3/4 pounds of Coarsely Chopped Basil Leaves.
1/2 Table spoon of Lemon Zest
1 teaspoon of Dill
1 teaspoon of Sage
1 teaspoon of Parsley
2 large 5 mm thick slices of lemon
Aluminum foils for baking.

First you need to spread out the Aluminum foil over a flat wide surface. Make sure you got lots of room to work with. Then sprinkle the surface of the foil sparingly with Olive oil , pepper and sea salt shaken on top. Dont need to coat it all inch by inch, just a 2 to 3 good shakes of pepper and salt will do just fine.

Next cut the Salmon in to 4 thick long slices of 5 cm to 6 cm thickness. Make sure its across the grin with one end is thicker then the other. Now lay piece by piece on 1 side first.

Next again 2 t 3 shakes of Sea salt again with pepper over the pieces, next take a few pinches of all the spices like the parsley, dill , sage and thyme leaves and sprinkle over them. Now take a Lemon Zest and also sprinkle over that side of the salmon. Repeat for all the other 2 slices.
Note not to over sprinkle the Sea Salt, else the meat becomes a little bit too salty hehe.

Now make sure you place the salmon with the skin under them touching the aluminum foil, the skin is better as it will not burn and stick to the foil while baking. Finally sprinkle a little of olive oil again over their tops.

Now place the 2 large slices of Lemon over the meat top, and fold the aluminum foil over them .

Preheat the oven to 150 degree celcius or about 300 degree Fahrenheit. Next place the whole aluminum package into the oven and bake for 20 mins.

Remove and serve on a warm plate.

Salmon has the highest level of sources for Omega oil which is great for health :) Bon Appetit !