Ning pasta with tomato vegetables sauce

Recipe:

3/4 cup ning pasta
1 shallot (chopped finely)
1 clove of garlic (chopped finely)
2 cherry tomatoes (halved)
1 cup of spinach leaves (roughly chopped)
2 stalks of celery (chopped finely)
1 Tbsp coconut oil

(1) In a steel place, arrange the pasta (unattached from each other). Sprinkle some water and coconut oil and steam for 15 minutes or till soft. Remove from steamer once done and set aside.

(2) Put all ingredients to steam for 8 minutes, or till soft except tomatoes and spinach. Add in tomatos and spinach in the last 3 minutes.

(3) Mix ingredients with pasta and serve warm.

Side dish - steamed carrots (cut long)

Results: The texture of steaming pastas will not be as good as boiling the pastas.

Steamed mushroom chicken drumstick

Recipe:

1 chicken drumstick (chopped)
2 shitake mushroom (chopped)
1 brown button mushroom (chopped)
handful of shimeiji mushroom
handful of chopped parsley
2 Tbsp natural yogurt

(1) Marinate chicken drumstick with parsley juice for 10 minutes.
(2) Put mushrooms around chicken drumstick, cover sides and top.
(3) Steamed chicken for 15 minutes. Once done, stir in yogurt and put parsley on top. Cover for 5 minutes before removing from steamer.


Side dishes - steamed celery and bitter gourd

Steamed banana blueberry muffins

 

Recipe:
1/2 cup whole wheat flour + 1Tbsp wholewheat flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 Tbsp coconut oil
1 egg
2 small to medium size banana
handful of blueberries (halved)

(1) Beat egg till foamy, mash in bananas, add in coconut oil.
(2) Sieve in flour, baking powder and baking soda.
(3) Fold slowly till all mixed.
(4) Stir in blueberries.
(5) Steam in preheated steamer for 15 minutes.

Yields: 5 muffins

Results: This is an attempt to make a different variety of banana muffins ie banana blueberry muffins following the success of banana muffins previously. The outlook appearance shown the blue dyed colour due to the blueberries. For future, will try to put blueberries on top, last instead of stir into the batter for better outlook appearance.

Steamed brown rice chicken balls

Recipe:
1 small piece chicken breast (chopped, minced)
4 red dates (chopped finely)
2 xiu bak choy leaves (chopped finely)
a pinch of corn flour
2 cube chicken radish soup stock

(1) Soak brown rice overnight.
(2) Steam brown rice with soup stock for 30 minutes or till soft.
(3) In a bowl, mix minced chicken, minced dates, green leaves and corn flour. Set aside.
(4) Once the brown rice cooked, mix the rice with all ingredients in no.3. (Remember to discard any excess water or liquid.) Immediately, roll into a ping pong size ball using slightly wet hands.
(5) Put the rice balls formed back to steamer, and steam for 8 minutes. Leave to cool for 2 minutes before removing from steamer. Serve warm.

Yields: 8 rice balls.

Results: The taste is sweet due to the red dates - with green leafy aroma. Brown rice on the other hand provide a healthier choice for the little one, nevertheless the cooking time is longer.

There is no secret in forming the rice balls. However, a little flour can help to bond the rice balls - removing excess liquid and allow time for the rice balls to cool down too helps the rice balls stay intact.

Cheese naan with basic darka dhal

Recipe

Cheese Naan
1 cup whole wheat flour
2 cup all purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 cup warm water
3 Tbsp natural yogurt
2 tsp dry active yeast
1 tsp brown sugar
estimated amount of unsalted butter
estimated amount of olive oil
handful of chopped fresh parsley
handful of sliced mozzarella cheese & cheddar cheese

(1) Fill a bowl with warm water, sprinkle in yeast and let stand for 10 minutes. Stir in sugar and mix well, it should turn frothy in few minutes. Add in yogurt and mix well.
(2) In a mixing bowl, mix flour, baking powder and baking soda. Add in mixture above slowly, and knead till form a very soft dough. Dab the dough and bowl with oil and leave to proof till double it size, around 1 hour.
(3) Gently punch and knead the proofed dough for 1-2 minutes. Divide into small round dough, about 1.5 ping pong ball size. Press flat about 1/4 inch thick (naan dough should be slightly thick), and leave to proof for another 15 minutes.
(4) Spread cheese on top of dough. In a hot skillet, add small cube of butter and bring a piece of naan to toast for 1-2 minutes. Sprinkle some fresh parsley on the cheese (on naan). Once bubble form, flip the dough over. Brush with more butter if needed. Once the dough is cook, remove it from skillet.
(5) Serve warm to cold, with dhal.

Yields: 20 pieces cheese naan

Basic Darka Dhal
2 Tbsp organic red brown lentil
2 shallots (chopped)
3 cloves garlic (chopped)
1 small piece ginger (sliced thick)
Pinch of turmeric powder
1 Tbsp dry fennel seeds
2 knobs unsalted butter
1 tsp cumin powder
7 cherry tomatoes (chopped)
5 Tbsp of natural yogurt
estimated amount of warm water

(1) In a sauce pan, bring lentil to boil, once it turns slightly thicker, add in turmeric and 1 knob of butter.
(2) Cover and let it simmer gently till 90% cooked. Set aside.
(3) In a frying pan, toast fennel seeds till sparkling brown and fragrant. Set aside.
(4) Using the same frying pan, heat up another knob of butter, in sequence sauté garlic, shallots, ginger and tomatoes. Immediately pour in the lentil cooked earlier and give a good stir. Add some water if too dry. Add in toasted fennel seeds and cumin powder and mix well. Add in yogurt and bring to simmer for 5-10 minutes. Add some water (second time) if too dry.
(5) Once the lentils are completely soften, remove dhal from heat. Serve with cheese naan.

Yield: One adult soup bowl of dhal

Adapted from:

For naan
http://www.halfbakedharvest.com/homemade-naan-step-step-photos/

For dhal
http://www.jamieoliver.com/news-and-features/features/lentils-and-basic-tarka-dhal-recipe/

Steamed dual layer banana sponge cake

Recipe:

Banana cake layer

2 big banana (pisang berangan)

1 tsp baking soda

3 eggs

1 Tbsp molasses sugar

100g superfine flour

1 tsp baking powder

1 Tbsp coconut oil

Sponge cake layer

2 eggs

1 tsp molasses sugar

3 Tbsp natural yogurt

65 g pao flour

1/2 local lemon (juiced)

P/S: Using a 7" baking pan

Banana cake 

(1) Mix banana and baking soda, set aside.

(2) Beat eggs till foamy, add in sugar and continue to beat till ribbon stage.

(3) In sequence, mix in: sieved flour, baking powder, banana mixture in no.1 and oil. Fold till all mix.

(4) Steam in preheated steamer for 15 minutes. Once done, remove from steamer and set aside.

Sponge cake 

(1) Beat eggs till foamy, add in sugar and continue to beat till ribbon stage.

(2) Add in yogurt and lemon juice. Sieved in flour and fold till all mix.

(3) Pour the batter on top of banana cake and further steam for another 15 minutes.

Results: 

The banana cake layer is very soft and fluffy. 

However, for the sponge cake layer there were few things that took place. First - i have replaced the original recipe that calls for milk to yogurt. Second, during steaming - after pour in the batter on top of banana cake layer, towards the end, the cloth wrapping the lid cover touches the top part of the cake as it rises thus might have affected it to collapse after rises. Thirdly, i have reduced the sugar to only 1 tsp. These pointers shall use as reference for future improvement.

Adapted from :

http://auntyyochana.blogspot.com/2008/04/steamed-soft-banana-cake.html
http://honeybeesweets88.blogspot.com/2010/01/strawberry-muffins-and-steamed-moist.html

Spaghetti Aglio Olio

Recipe:

3 cloves garlic (sliced)

3 small cube of cheddar cheese (shredded)

Handful of parsley leaves (chopped finely)

Estimated amount of spaghetti

Side dishes

-steamed japanese cucumber

-steamed cherry tomatoes

-steamed russet potatoes with natural yogurt sauce

(1) In a frying pan, stir fry garlic till fragrant, set aside.

(2) In a sauce pan, bring about 3 cups of water to boil, stir in some olive oil and put in spaghetti to cook.

(3) Once cook, drain the spaghetti and toss in 1 tsp of olive oil. Stir in shredded cheese and mix well. Lastly, toss in parsley leaves, and serve warm.