Chicken in Creamy and Spicy Tomato Sauce

Thanks to all my readers, my blog has crossed the 10,000 page view on Saturday. Though this blog was opened last year, it was only May this year that I started active blogging. So being able to cross the 10,000 mark in such a short period of time (about 3.5 months) feels remarkable and I am sincerely humbled and touched by all the support from all of you. Especially seeing successful attempts of my recipes by readers keeps me motivated to continue blogging.

A big THANK YOU to all of you! Muaks!

Wanted to do up a sweet and innovative huat kueh to celebrate but the end product was rejected by my chief tester, the hub...sob! 

So today, I decided to cook up something to spice up our lunch since the hub is on leave at home and he was especially nice yesterday. He volunteered to look after the kids for the whole day and asked me to go pamper myself. Love him to bits!

Since I bought some boneless chicken thighs, I decided to make this dish. It is a tomato-based stir-fry chicken with a spicy feel to it. Previously I have always cooked this sauce with prawns but wanted to try it with chicken. The milk added gives the dish a creamy feel and helps in thickening the sauce.

End results - the hub and son gave me thumbs up. The hub finished up the whole thing till the last drop. He even asked if I need to take a picture of the empty plate! LOL!

Please do adjust the chili sambal amount according to your intended level of spiciness as I was cooking for the kids as well so I didn't want to make it too spicy.

Here's the recipe...

Chicken in Creamy and Spicy Tomato Sauce (Serves 4)

2 pieces of boneless chicken thigh (approx 400g), cut into 1-inch thick pieces.

1 red onion, sliced

1 clove garlic, minced

4 tbsp tomato sauce

3 tbsp full cream milk

1 tbsp mirin

1/2 - 1 tbsp sambal chili (I used bottled sambal chili)

Directions

Heat up a wok and add a little oil. When oil is heated up, add garlic and onion and fry until fragrant.

Add chicken pieces and stir well, letting the chicken to be cook.

Add in tomato sauce, chili and and mirin and mix well. Let chicken simmer for a few minutes. At this point, if the sauce is not enough, you can add a little water or stock, 1 tbsp at a time as too much sauce will dilute the taste.

When the chicken is almost cooked, add in the milk and milk well. Allow to simmer until chicken is fully cooked.

Serve with rice.

A very simple and fast dish that you can serve with rice. Hope you will enjoy this dish! Happy Cooking!

Kopi Huat Kueh

The hub has some very nice colleagues who has rendered help to him at various occasions. So last nite when I wanted to de-stress myself from the pressure of upcoming tests (both my son and my students), I decided to make some huat kueh for them to show my appreciation. Also to ask them to be my guinea pig...haha

I wanted to try new flavours and since the whole bunch of them love their coffee (including the hub), I decided to experiment with instant coffee mix.

Now the basic recipe is not something new. I have feedbacks from some readers who attempted my previous huat kueh recipes and went to further research on other's recipes so that I can obtain that moist texture without having the sticking to the teeth situation. I adapted my recipe from the Sunkist Huat Kueh that Sophia Tan of Baking Corner (Facebook). The original recipe can be found here.

This is a relatively simple recipe with a few ingredients but the aroma of the coffee is simply heavenly. The kueh is moist but does not have the usual sticky feeling that sometimes happens in rice flour huat kueh.

For this round, I used the Owl brand coffee (brown sugar flavour). You can choose an instant coffee mix of your choice.Now, I would suggest here that you use good, strong coffee and not those coffee that have very light coffee taste. It will make a difference in the taste in the kueh!


Here's the recipe...

Kopi Huat Kueh (Makes 6 big muffin-sized kueh)
Recipe Adapted from Sophia Tan of Baking Corner (Facebook)

250g self-raising flour
1.5 packet instant coffee mix (can increase to 2 packets if you prefer a stronger kopi taste)
220ml hot water
85g raw sugar
50g cooking oil
1 tsp baking powder


Directions

In a bowl or large cup, mix the instant coffee mix and water until all dissolved. Set aside to cool. You can do this step first before measuring the other ingredients so that the coffee will be cooled more or less by the time you are ready to proceed to the next step.

When coffee is cooled, mix the coffee and sugar in a large mixing bowl until all the sugar is dissolved.

Add in the oil and mix until combined.

Sift in the flour and baking powder and mix well.

Transfer the batter into pre-lined cups and steam in a pre-heated steamer or wok for 20 mins over high heat. The water must be bubbling hot when you put in the cups.

When the kueh is done, off the heat and leave in the steamer for about 1 min for the kueh to set.

A nice breakfast or tea-time snack for those who love their coffee and anything made with coffee. For people like me, who are very sensitive to the effects of coffee, try not to have this too late in the day in case of sleepless night. It happened to me...so you have been warned! :)

Next up, I shall be experimenting with another special huat kueh flavour to commemorate 10,000 views for my blog, maybe during the weekend. Something sweet to thank the readers for their support. Stay tuned!

This post is linked to the event, Little Thumbs Up organised by Bake for Happy Kids and My Little Favourite DIY, and hosted by Diana from the Domestic Goddess Wannabe

Apricot Oats Milk Loaf

Went grocery-shopping during the National Day weekend and saw these juicy dried apricots. Now if you know me well, you will know that I don't fancy taking dried apricots on its own. But my children love it the moment my mum introduce this snack to them.

Having said that, I'm ok when it is cooked/baked with other ingredients. So I decided to buy some apricots for my children 'cos it's really a nutritious snack, packed with many benefits.

Apricots are available both fresh and dried form and are equally nutritious in their content. Apricots are a rich source of antioxidants which are essential in aiding the body's natural functioning. 

So I was thinking of what bread to bake today for tomorrow's breakfast and the idea of using the apricots that I bought came to me. I was dicing the apricots when my son came into the kitchen and asked what I was doing. When I explained that I was dicing the apricots for bread, my son gave me a hug to thank me and promptly went to announce to everyone the new bread that I was making. Aw....

This recipe is very similar to my Honey Oats Milk Loaf that I did last week, with some slight modifications.

Results - Soft, sweet bread with refreshing fruity taste. The apricot bits and rolled oats gave the bread some texture. Mmmm....taste good, feel good.

Looking forward to the kids' verdict in the morning.

Here's the recipe...

Apricot Oats Milk Loaf (Makes a 450g loaf)

Using Donlim Bread Maker

220g bread flour

30g cake flour

75g dried apricots, diced

30g rolled oats

30g butter

5g instant yeast

100ml full cream milk

2 tbsp milk powder

2 tbsp honey

1/8 tsp salt

1 egg

Directions

First put the milk, egg and honey into the bread machine container.

Add in the rolled oats, milk powder and flour, making sure they cover the wet area completely. In the centre of the flour pile, make a small well and add the yeast.

Set the bread machine to menu function 1 (white bread function) and set the loaf weight and how well you want the bread to be. In my case, I selected 450g loaf and medium done on my bread. This whole cycle takes about 2 hours and 53 mins.

After 5 mins into the cycle, add in the butter and the salt.

After about 10 - 15 mins into the cycle (timing may differ with other brands of bread machine), the machine will beep for you to add any nuts or other ingredients to the dough. Add the dried apricots in at this point.

When bread is done, transfer the container to cooling rack, inverted. When cooled, remove loaf from container. Sliced loaf to thickness as desired.

Hope you will enjoy this bread!

This post is linked to the event, Little Thumbs Up organised by Bake for Happy Kids and My Little Favourite DIY, and hosted by Diana from the Domestic Goddess Wannabe

Tasty Honey Oats Milk Loaf

It's time for the bread machine again. Been doing quite a bit of cakes recently and the hub asked if I'm going to make anything on the bread machine this week.

Since I'm feeling a little tired today, decided that the bread machine is just perfect for me. Just dump the ingredients, go out for my tuition and when I'm back, bread is done! :)

Pardon me if the pictures this round looks a little blur as I had just changed a phone while my original one goes to repair. I'm still trying to get use to the phone so the pictures may look erm....blur. Plus I need brushing up on my food photography skills. The other blogs that I read, I always envy their pictures. They just seem so good! Sigh, sometimes I feel that even my son takes better pictures than me!

Anyway, back to the topic. This recipe is again another simple recipe using the bread machine. The sweetness of the honey plus the wholesome feel of the rolled oats, makes this bread hearty and healthy!

Here's the recipe...

Tasty Honey Oats Milk Loaf (Makes a 450g loaf)
Using Donlim Bread Maker

220g bread flour
30g cake flour
5g instant yeast
30g rolled oats
30g butter, room temperature
100ml full cream milk
1.5 tbsp milk powder
3 tbsp honey
1/8 tsp salt
1 egg (large)


Directions

First put the milk, egg and honey into the bread machine container.

Add in the rolled oats, milk powder and flour, making sure they cover the wet area completely. In the centre of the flour pile, make a small well and add the yeast.

Set the bread machine to menu function 1 (white bread function) and set the loaf weight and how well you want the bread to be. In my case, I selected 450g loaf and medium done on my bread. This whole cycle takes about 2 hours and 53 mins.

After 5 mins into the cycle, add in the butter and the salt.

After bread is done, transfer the container to cooling rack, inverted. When cooled, remove loaf from container. Sliced loaf to thickness as desired.

I couldn't wait to try the bread, so once I'm done slicing the bread, I quickly took a slice. This bread is already nice on its own and when I spread on some jam, it taste equally great! The sweetness from the bread is not overpowering which is good for me as my family don't like their food to be too sweet.

Do give this recipe a try if you have a bread machine at home and wondering what bread you can make with it.

Happy bread making! :)

This post is linked to the event, Little Thumbs Up organised by Bake for Happy Kids and My Little Favourite DIY, and hosted by Diana from the Domestic Goddess Wannabe

Cheese Nestum Cereals Muffins

I am making myself try to make time to bake and cook more for the family. It helps that the "supporters" try to encourage me by giving huge compliments. But with my tuition work and tests are around the corner again, I tend to go for those that are easier and faster to make for breakfast/ snack - Muffins!

I'm trying a new flavour today as I am trying to use up the Nestum cereals at home before it expires. As usual, the children and the hub are always partial to anything that has cheese. So mixing this two together seems the right thing to try out.

This time round, the hub was around to watch me bake and he commented that it seems so easy that he can bake the muffins himself! Ha, I do hope so then I can have more ME-Time!

The muffins smells lovely and it's like melt in your mouth. The golden brown muffins simply to enticing! I had to stop myself from stealing another piece!

My elder son started smiling the moment he saw the muffins. So school snack settled. Great.

Time to think about the next bake...

Meanwhile, here's the recipe...

Cheese Nestum Cereal Muffins (Makes 7 muffins)

150g self-raising flour

70g cooking oil or melted butter

100ml full cream milk

1/8 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp vanilla essence

60g raw sugar

25g Nestum cereals

3 slices cheddar cheese, shredded into small pieces

2 eggs

Directions

Pre-heat oven to 180 degree Celcius.

In a large mixing bowl, add sugar, egg, oil. Use a hand whisk and whisk until combined. 

Add in the shredded cheese, vanilla essence and milk and mix until combined.

Sift the flour and baking soda into the mixture and add in the nestum cereals. Mixed until combined. It is usual to have lumps in the batter. Do not over-mix.

Line the muffin tray with paper cups and transfer the mixture into the cups.

Bake for 20 mins or until inserted toothpick comes out clean.

A very simple muffin recipe that is perfect for that busy morning breakfast or as a snack for your children's school break.

Hope you like it as much as I do, Happy Baking!

This post is linked to the event, Little Thumbs Up organised by Bake for Happy Kids and My Little Favourite DIY, and hosted by Diana from the Domestic Goddess Wannabe

Super Moist Chocolate Huat Kueh

Had some praying to be done today so decided to make some Huat Kueh for the praying, in addition of preparing for son's school snack for the next day.

Wanted to try something new so went and search my bucket-list and found Victoria Bakes recipe. This is something my son will definitely like 'cos he is a huge fan of anything chocolate. Also the niece and the nephew are around so this is something they will like too.

Did a little modifications to the recipe. Instead of using cocoa powder, I used my dark chocolate drink mix to attempt this recipe. In addition, due to me using the drink mix, I reduce the amount of sugar.

Final product - a super moist and chocolatey Huat Kueh that is oozing with the goodness of chocolate!

Thumbs up by my tasters!

Here's the recipe...

Super Moist Chocolate Huat Kueh (Makes 5 muffin-size kuehs)
Recipe adapted from Victoria Bakes

1 packet of Dark Chocolate Drink mix (35g)
125ml full cream milk
30g raw sugar
70g rice flour
1 tsp baking powder
30g chocolate chips


Directions

In a large mixing bowl, sift in the rice flour, dark chocolate drink mix and the baking powder. Add the sugar. Whisk and ensure that there are no lumps in the mixture.

Add in the milk, and mix until well combined. Add in the chocolate chips.

Lined the muffin tray with liners and transfer the batter to the cups.You should fill the cups until almost to the brim.

Steam in the steamer using high heat for about 15 mins or until a skewer comes out clean. Off the heat and leave the kuehs in the steamer for about 1 min before transferring to a rack to cool.

I certainly enjoyed the kuehs and it was wonderful seeing the children enjoying them too!

Hope you will enjoy this recipe as much as I did!

Black Sesame Bread Loaf

Ever since I started using my new bread machine, I have been racking my brains to try to come up with creative, new flavors that will impress my kids and erm....the hub. When I announced to the hub that I was going to buy the equipment to "help lighten my load" and bring healthier food to the table, he was skeptical and predicted that it would be another white elephant. I was so determined to prove him wrong!

Fast forward to a few loaves later, the hub is seriously impressed and looks forward to my weekly loaves of bread. Of course, that has a consequences as it would mean I have to constantly try new flavours so that we have more variety (as promised by me.... >_<  ) Ah...the woes of a home cook!

This black sesame bread loaf was one of those experiment that I did and I was pleasantly surprised by the outcome. Sweet but not overpowering taste of the black sesame and the bread was soft and moist even till the next day! Even my elder son, who do not like to eat anything black sesame, took a taste and declared it nice! Such great compliments from him and it really made my day!

This bread is not overly intense in flavor and is nutritious as sesame has many known nutritional benefits like cholesterol-lowering effects, prevent high blood pressure, protect liver from oxidative damages, supports vascular and respiratory health etc. So let's introduce more sesame to our diets for a healthier lifestyle!

Here's the recipe...  

Black Sesame Bread Loaf (Makes a 450g loaf)
Using Donlim Bread Maker

100ml full cream milk
1 egg (medium)
30g butter
50g raw sugar (castor sugar can also be used)
3g salt
15g milk powder
250g bread flour
30g black sesame powder (I used the black sesame drink powder from Taiwan - found in cold storage)
4g yeast


Directions

In the bread machine container, add the ingredients in the order stated above, making sure that the salt is at one end of the container and the sugar is on another end.

After adding the dry ingredients, make a well in the flour pile and add the yeast.

Using menu function 1 (standard white bread function), choose the loaf weight and how well you want the crust to be. In my case, I select 450g loaf with medium done crust. This whole cycle of the loaf will take about close to 3 hours.

After the bread is done, transfer the container onto a cooling rack, inverted. When cooled, remove bread from container. Sliced to thickness as desired.

The bread is nice enough to be eaten on its own, especially when it's fresh out from the bread machine. However, you might like to spread on some butter or cream cheese spread and it will taste just as wonderful!

Hope you will enjoy this recipe!

Happy bread-making!

This post is linked to the event, Little Thumbs Up organised by Bake for Happy Kids and My Little Favourite DIY, and hosted by Diana from the Domestic Goddess Wannabe