Chicken and Winter Melon Soup

This soup soothes the body and clears it of heatiness. The chicken gives it the nice brothy taste, while the winter melon works to soothe the body.

Chicken and Winter Melon Soup (serves 2)

1-2 pieces chicken breast or drum stick
1/2 winter melon (the size of about 15 cm in diameter)
6-8 red dates
1 table spoon of wolfberries
2-3 pieces dried scallop

Preparation
1. Wash and clean the chicken, getting rid of the skin and fats
2. Wash and cut winter melon into cubes
3. Soak and wash red dates. Remove seeds
4. Soak and wash wolfberries
5. Soak dried scallop in water. Save water for later

Cooking steps
1. Blanch the chicken with boiling water to rid of odour and oily fats
2. Place chicken, winter melon, red dates, wolfberries and dried scallop (including the water it was soaked in) into a pot
3. Put enough water to cover the top of the ingredients
4. Put on high and bring to a boil, before turning down to medium to simmer for 1-2 hours
5. Serve hot in individual soup bowls, with chicken and winter melon for a soothing sweet soup

Pork Ribs and Sweet Corn Soup

This soup comes out light and tasty. The sweet corn gives it the unique flavour, while the pork ribs provide the richness.

Pork Ribs and Sweet Corn Soup (serves 2)

4-5 pieces pork ribs (preferably with a bit of meat)
2 -3 sticks sweet corn
1/2 stick carrot
6-8 red dates
2-3 pieces dried scallop

Preparation
1. Wash and clean the pork ribs
2. Wash and cut sweet corn into halves
3. Wash and cut carrot into cubes
4. Soak and wash red dates. Remove seeds
5. Soak dried scallop in water. Save water for later

Cooking steps
1. Blanch the pork ribs with boiling water to rid of odour and oily fats
2. Place pork ribs, sweet corn, carrot, red dates and dried scallop (including the water it was soaked in) into a pot
3. Put enough water to cover the top of the ingredients
4. Put on high and bring to a boil, before turning down to medium to simmer for 1-2 hours
5. Serve hot in individual soup bowls, with pork ribs, sweet corn and carrot, for a nice clear soup

The Invincible Iron-Goddess

It has been a long while since I am up in this space. It is a bit different now that I am officially a 'Mrs'. No more living like a princess but guess what? I became an invincible Iron-Goddess!

Well, what I mean is that I iron shirts like a breeze now. Throw me a pile and I can zip through them in a jiffy. Bearing in mind I have the TV switched on in front of me and often enough, I have 2 eyes on the TV and none on the iron! Imagine how far I had came till today - I had started off taking almost an hour to iron just one shirt!

To help my fellow sisters achieve the Iron-Goddess status as well. I found some useful tips on how to iron clothes in a jiffy. These videos are useful. Check them out.

How to iron a shirt: http://www.videojug.com/film/how-to-iron-a-shirt
How to iron trousers: http://www.videojug.com/film/how-to-iron-trousers

Steamed Banana Walnut Cake

Following my first attempt a week ago, I know I can do better. So I kept thinking how else I can play with the ingredients so that the cake will taste better. A colleague talked about having a banana cake recipe and the idea stuck in me. With some googling, I managed to find a recipe for steam banana cake.

After reading the recipe and more brain-work in process, I realised I should just modify from the earlier steamed chocolate cake recipe and incorporate banana and walnut into it. My recipe goes like this:

Steamed Banana Walnut Cake

1/4 butter (250g type)
1/2 can full cream milk
1 cup caster sugar
2 eggs, beaten
1 1/2 cup flour
1/2 tsp Baking powder
1/2 tsp Baking soda
1/2 tsp Vanilla Extract or 1 tsp Vanilla essence
1 bag walnuts, crushed slightly
3-4 bananas, mashed slightly

1. Combine castor sugar,evaporated milk,vanilla extract or essence and butter in a saucepan, stirring over low heat until sugar and butter is dissolved. Turn off the fire and keep warm.


2. Add the beaten eggs into the slightly cooled mixture and stir till well mix.


3. Sift the flour, baking powder and baking soda into a large mixing bowl then pour the eggs mixture over the flour and stir till well mix (cake batter should be runny). Add in the mashed bananas and crushed walnuts.


4. Heat up the steamer. Lined and greased a 8 or 9 inch baking pan.


5. Pour the batter into prepared pan and place the pans into the steamer and cover the top of the pan loosely with a piece of aluminium foil.


6. Steam over medium heat for 45 mins.


7. Cool the cake in pan before turning out for further decoration.

The cake came out very fragrant and the banana smelt was all over the kitchen. The cake was moist and soft, and the crunchy feel of the walnuts made the perfect complement to the cake. If the bananas were more coarsely mashed, you can also taste the soft bits of banana too!

Steamed Moist Chocolate Cake

I chanced upon this recipe and decided to make this my first attempt to domestic goddess-hood as it does not require baking (I don't have an oven at home). All I need to do is to steam it and it is supposed to taste as nice as the infamous Lana Chocolate Cake, which I had not exactly tasted before.

Woke up on a fantastic Sunday morning and got ready to get my hands on making the cake. I followed the recipe, word for word, line by line. Honestly, I was abit 'horrified' at the amount of butter, eggs and cream milk that goes into a cake. Imagine the calories! I could almost feel a surge of nausea coming up as I see 3/4 of the butter melting into the mixture. I thought to myself, the next attempt shall be a healthier recipe or at least a healthier version of the cake.

After getting the cake into the steamer, I went on to make the chocolate fudge topping. I did not have corn oil, and the smart aleck in me told me to use olive oil instead. Should be ok, since both are oil. Then the olive oil could not make up the required quantity, so I added peanut oil to top it up. I was crossing my fingers as I mix the oils in. Will someone die eating my cake?

After a 45 min wait, the cake was out of the steamer, extremely beautiful and fluffy. The chocolate topping turned out a bit too thick, hence it was extremely tough spreading it round the cake. And it also had the lingering smell of olive oil - thanks to my ingenuity! I topped it with walnut, such that at least it can look presentable. The verdict - the cake was soft and fluffy with strong cocoa taste. Steaming it was as good as baking. Texture was just as soft. Yummy!