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 !!!