Coffee Chiffon Cake

This cake is extremely light, healthy and bursting with coffee. It uses only corn oil, no butter. Great for those who want to cut down on saturated fat and yet still able to have his/her cake. I use Nescafe instant coffee granules dissolved in hot water. You can choose the amount of coffee granules or replace with your favourite cup of espresso. This recipe uses 3 tbsp of instant coffee granules and it's just right for me, a coffee lover. Recipe is posted here. Try baking it and share your comments with me. Or you can always ask me to bake one for you to try ................ 

Cranberry Chocolate Nuts Cookies

It's been a long, long time since I last baked cookies, not counting those Chinese New Year goodies. I have been baking mainly cakes and it's nice to get back to baking cookies. I have only baked double chocolate chip, oatmeal raisin, peanut butter and coffee crunch cookies so far. Not so many varieties compared to my cakes galore.

Yam Fried Rice

Yam is a root vegetable. There are so many ways to use yam in our cooking. Teochew yam paste (or-nee), yam mooncake, chinese yam cake, baked yam cake, fried yam batter, ........ Last but not all, yam fried rice. This is a very simple and delicious one-pot dish, good for bringing to potluck party. I found this recipe from Kitchen Snippets and modified it a little to suit my taste. I added dried shrimp, chinese sausage and a portion of the fried shallots to bring out more frangrance from the rice. My family loves mushroom and I added more too. Make sure you get very fresh yam too, one that is fluffy and melts in your mouth when you eat it. Serve the rice with a sprinkling of the fried shallots, spring onion and parsley. It's yummylicious.

Recipe

2 cups rice, washed and drained

250g yam, cut into 1/2 inch cubes

8 pcs dried mushrooms - soaked and diced into cubes (reserve water)
1 Chinese sausage, sliced thinly
2 tbsp dried shrimps, soaked in water (reserve water)
2 cloves garlic, chopped
5 shallots, sliced thinly
3 spring onions, cut small

Seasoning:
2 tbsp oyster sauce
1 tbsp light soya sauce
1 tbsp sesame oil or shallot oil
½ tsp sugar or to taste
3 cups chicken stock/water from soaking dried mushroom and dried shrimp
1 tsp of black soy sauce
Salt and pepper to taste

1. Heat about 1/4 cup of oil and fry shallots till golden and fragrant. Remove shallot crisps and set aside. Using the same oil, fry the yam cubes until lightly brown. Remove and set aside.

2. Sauté garlic and dried shrimps until fragrant and lightly brown. Add in the mushrooms and chinese sausage, and stir-fry for a minute. Add rice and seasoning. Stir-fry well.

3. Dish rice mixture into an electric rice cooker. Add water chicken stock/water and yam and cook rice as usual. Stand rice in cooker for 10 to 15 minutes before dishing out to serve.

4. Serve rice with a sprinkling of shallot crisps, parsley and spring onion.

Durian Puff

Can you smell the aromatic and yet pungent durian in the air? Durian season is here again. I love the creamy and buttery 猫山王 aka Cat Mountain species. I love my durian bitter with a little sweetness. When you get to eat a really good durian, a few is enough to make you euphoric and satisfy your insatiable craving. I like to patronize this stall called Combat Durian at Balestier. Though it may be a little more expensive, you never get disappointed. I also realize that not all D24 durians are the same. The taste and texture of the cheaper ones are not as good as the more expensive ones. I guess there's different grades for D24.

Faubourg Pave

This fanciful french name, Faubourg, is named after Faubourg Saint-Honore, the exclusive neighbourhood surrounding the original Lauduree, and its shape is that of a pave, or paving stone, usually baked in a loaf pan. This was the first cake Pierre Herme baked when he took over the kitchens of the legendary Lauduree in 1997, Paris's oldest patisserie.