Nasi Lemak Lover

I just bought some oranges to support LTU event, at the same time I can try out this recipe which I have bookmarked in a cookbook long ago. This is perfect to serve during breakfast, full of vitamins and a healthy breakfast.

Orange Sauce and mini fluffy Pancake 柳橙醬和鬆餅

To make orange sauce
100ml fresh orange juices
1/2tbsp orange zest
10g butter
1tbsp honey

Method
Melt butter in a small saucepan, add in orange juices, orange zest and honey.
Cook till boil for few minutes, set aside to cool.
To make mini fluffy pancake
75g Self raising flour
25g Sugar
A pinch of salt
55ml milk
½ egg
1/2tbsp Corn oil

Method
1. Mix flour, sugar and salt in a mixing bowl.
2. Add in egg, milk and corn oil, use a hand whisk to stir well. Rest for 10mins.
3. Spoon small dollops of batter onto a non-stick pan (without oil) and pan fry over low heat until golden brown on both sides.

To serve- mix mini pancakes with fresh orange segments and banana slices, then pour orange sauce on it and serve immediately.

Orange sauce recipe adapted from cookbook café brunch 星期天的料理時光, pancake recipe using old recipe, by Sonia aka Nasi Lemak Lover

I'm sharing this post with Little Thumbs Up April 2014 Event - Orange organised by Bake For Happy Kids and My Little Favourite DIY hosted by Anncoo Journal

When we went to The Louvre the first time (8 years ago), it was free admission. There was coincidently that we went there on the first Sunday of the month. But I heard nowadays not all months has free admission, you can check details in their website. Anyway, kids were entered free (even my daughter 17years also free entrance).

Since we were on free and easy, have to use public transport, so I chosen a hotel which near to metro station. We were stayed at Hotel Choiseul Opera (their room is quite spaces, less than 5mins walk from Opera metro, tiny lift which only accommodate two adults at one time, breakfast is ok but can't continue eating there as they serving the same things everyday, easy to find foods as nearby there were many restaurants, cafes and bakery shop)

And The Louvre is quite near to hotel, so we walked from hotel to The Louvre. Below are what I captured during our walk...

La Madeleine church, Paris

Inside the church

On the way, we saw Laduree (my daughter's favourite shop ^_^) but we didn't enter as we were planning to visit their shop located at Champs-Élysées.

We should have buy macarons from here as later we realized that the shop located at Champs-Élysées had long Q..

Then we reached to The Tuileries garden

We stopped by at Amorino for their famous flower shape of gelato (ice-cream)

You can choose many flavours that you want, and they will shape them to look like a flower.

Lovely flowers during Spring time

Pyramid of The Louvre

As usual, long Q to enter

Look outside from inside the Pyramid

I like this!

The famous Venus de Milo. Nice to see him second times.

From behind Venus, sexy right ? ^_^

The Mona Lisa, actually this painting was rather small..big crowd in front.

after squeezed in, then only can see her clearly, she was awesome!!

Another famous painting,The Coronation of Napoleon .

After exit from The Louvre, we had our lunch nearby..

Every restaurant will serve free baguette or bread..

Finally I have a chance to try this French food that I have bookmarked long ago- Duck Confit 油封鴨

My kids ordered burger instead

We also ordered a plate of escargot..

I couldn't recall that I have seen this "Lock of Love" bridge when I visited Paris 8 years ago. After watched the Hong Kong drama, then only I knew this ordinary bridge over the River Seine that has attracted many couples writing love message on a padlock and locked it here, read more here. The other day, I read one article in newspaper saying that this bridge may collapsed one day as the weight of the locks is over burdening. So I better quickly visit this bridge ^_^

This bridge located over the River Seine, beautiful surroundings..can see Eiffel Tower too.

After crossed over this bridge, we made our way to Notre-Dame Cathedral..

We didn't enter to this church 8 years ago, again this time we didn't enter too as the Q was way too long (can't afford to stand after the long Q at The Louvre). We just admired this beautiful church from the outside and imagined the hunchback up in the tower.

The centre of Paris, peoples believed that when stepped on this mark, you will return to Paris again ^_^

After long hours of walking, we opted for Metro to go back hotel.

Since we have six peoples, purchase carnet (Euro 13.70 for 10 tickets, kids half price) save money than purchase individual ticket cost at Euro 1.70 each.

Everyday, we passed by this beautiful Opera which just near by the hotel we stayed

I never know combine duck and orange can be tasted so nice, until I found the answer in Paris trip. We asked the staff from the hotel where we stayed to recommend a good restaurant for dinner. He were suggested us to a restaurant just located nearby. And we had this most yummy orange duck breast in this restaurant (will update in later travel post).

Lets see how to cook this French food. First i bought a big duck (3kg) , ask the worker to debone the breast.

First time cooking with cast iron pot in the oven..

I like to use this peeler from Ikea to get thin julienne strips, no bitter white part is attached..

Thanks to a blogger friend given me this mini measurement cup, so useful !!

prepare the orange sauce

grill cooked duck breast till golden brown..

Before enjoy, I sprinkle this French hand-harvested sea salt " Fleur de sel " that bought from the trip. This salt is not salty and best to use on sprinkle but not for cooking..

Lets enjoy!

Canard à l'orange ( Duck breast in Orange sauce) 法式香橙鸭胸

2 duck breast ~560g, rub with 1tsp sea salt, marinate for 2hrs
1 medium carrot, cubed
1 yellow onion, sliced into 4 cubes
1tbsp Olive oil

Orange sauce ingredients
50ml fresh orange juices
100ml duck stock
2tsp Cointreau (orange liquid)
2tp red wine vinegar
1tsp sugar or to taste
1/4tsp salt or to taste
1/2tsp oyster sauce

1tsp corn starch ( to thicken the sauce)
Some orange thin julienne strips

Method

Drizzle olive oil in a cast-iron pot, place duck breast in the pot, then put in carrot and onion. Cover the pot, place in a pre-heated oven and cook at 180C for 45mins (To test the doneness, pierce the duck breast with a fork. If juices run clear (not pink), then it is cooked).
Remove duck breast from the pot, set aside. Pour the stock into another bowl, skim off the fat on top, keep the duck stock for orange sauce.
To prepare the orange sauce, add orange sauce ingredients in a saucepan, cook for 1-2mins.
Mix the corn starch with one tablespoon of cold water in a small bowl until smooth. Stir it into the orange sauce and cook for 1-2 minutes more, stirring regularly until the sauce is thickened and glossy.
To pan fry cooked duck breast till golden brown over low heat. Before serve, pour orange sauce over the roasted duck breast, sprinkle some orange julienne strips, enjoy with mashed potato, rice and vegetables.
Largely adapted from this recipe at 750g website, by Sonia aka Nasi Lemak Lover

I'm sharing this post with Little Thumbs Up April 2014 Event - Orange organised by Bake For Happy Kids and My Little Favourite DIY hosted by Anncoo Journal

I received few readers asking me whether they can use Golden sponge cake to decorate with whipping cream as they scare whether or this light sponge cake can accommodate the weight from the cream. To find out the answer, I decided to bake this cake again and decorate with orange and passion fruit curd which using leftover oranges that bought the other day ,and last minutes also decided to add in passion fruit which my sister sent over for me.

At the same time, I also can tried the lemon curd recipe from 英式柠檬蛋糕 (English Lemon Gateau) that shared by Crystal earlier. And i feel the curd is matching with golden sponge cake which both also contain butter.

Orange and Passion fruit curd ingredients

Since the orange used was sweet, so the curd taste sweet with a bit of sour taste only. I think totally use passion fruit or lemon will be better, need to try next time.

Yes, I can slice this Golden sponge cake but please handle with care..

I feel the curd a bit too thick, so i added more passion fruit juices, but wrong decision, resulted the curd became too runny..Anyway, I can prove that this golden sponge cake can be used to decorate with whipped cream.

Orange and Passion fruit Gateau 香橙百香果蛋糕

One golden sponge cake, refer recipe here

Orange and Passion fruit curd
2 eggs (A size)
60g caster sugar
40ml orange juices
35g passion fruit flesh
1/2tsp orange zest
45g butter

Method

Mix all ingredients together except butter, stir well.
Cook the ingredients over a pot of simmering water, stir it all the time till fluffy.
Add in butter, cook till melt and mix well. Set aside to cool. If you feel the curd is thick, then you can add the extra passion fruit juices to adjust the thickness.
Decorate sponge cake with whipping cream (non-dairy), and pour the orange and passion fruit curd on top. Refrigerate before serve.
Modified the curd recipe from Crystal ‘s English Lemon Gateau, original lemon juices used is 65g, by Sonia aka Nasi Lemak Lover

I'm sharing this post with Little Thumbs Up April 2014 Event - Orange organised by Bake For Happy Kids and My Little Favourite DIY hosted by Anncoo Journal

My family are big fan of chocolate. We bought many chocolate related products from London the other day. One of the snack caught my attention was the small cubes of brownies, it shape like chocolate cubes, but taste like brownie (of course taste like brownie, LOL)..After a week, all snacks have gone and my son keep asking me to buy more chocolate for him. So I was thinking to make some chocolate snack for them, and remind this whoopie pies that I seen many bloggers did earlier.

I halved the original recipe, but some how I wrongly add 1 egg instead of half egg. Luckily the cookies still turned out great, taste like dry sponge cake..

As for the chocolate ganache, this is the best ganache I had so far, so smooth and good!

I adapted the recipe from Bake for Happy Kids, but I have to made few adjustments due to we are living in difference climate. How long I beat the chocolate mixture, it wouldn't turned thick, so I have to place it over a bowl of iced water, then very fast it turned thick and fluffy. Anyway, you have to store this chocolate ganache in the fridge, because it melt very fast in our hot weather here. Also I changed semi sweet chocolate to milk chocolate as i found the cookies are less sweet..

Whoopie Pies 巧克力无比派
*makes about 15 filled pies
115g plain flour ( I use cake flour)
37g cocoa powder
1/2tsp coffee powder
1/2tsp baking powder
1/8tsp baking soda
A pinch of salt
85g unsalted butter (room temp)
1/2tsp Vanilla extract
35g dark brown sugar
35g white sugar
1 large egg
30ml buttermilk (I replaced with 30ml milk + few drop of lemon juices, stand for 15mins)
20ml milk
For chocolate cookies
Preheat oven to 180 degrees C (fan forced) and and place oven rack in the center of the oven. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
In a large bowl sift together the flour, cocoa powder, coffee powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
Beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the egg beating well. Beat in the vanilla extract.
With the mixer on low speed, alternately add the flour mixture and buttermilk and milk, in three additions, beginning and ending with the flour.
Drop heaping tablespoons (can also use a small ice cream scoop) of the batter onto the prepared baking sheets, spacing about 2 inches (5 cm) apart. With moistened fingers or with the back of a spoon, smooth the tops of the cookies.
Bake for about 10-12 minutes or until the tops of the cookies, when lightly pressed, spring back. Remove from oven and transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
Chocolate ganache
*enough to fill more than 15 pies
113g milk chocolate chips (I use Hershey’s chocolate)
1/2cup dairy whipping cream ( 113g)
Method
Place chocolate chips in a mixing bowl.
In another saucepan, bring cream just to a boil over medium-high heat.
Immediately pour over chocolate, lets stand for 5mins.(don't stir - doing so will cool the ganache too quickly, making it grainy).
Stir with a spatula till shinny and smooth.
Place the mixing bowl with chocolate mixture over a bowl of large mixing bowl that filled with iced water.
Beat it with a mixer on medium-high speed until pale and fluffy, take about 5mins.
Transfer to a disposable pastry bag with a large opening and use it as a filling for whoopie pies.
Cookies recipe adapted from Joy of Baking, with changes. Chocolate ganache adapted from Bake for Happy Kids with changes

I'm linking this post to Little Thumbs Up (May 2014: Milk) hosted by Tze of Awayofmind Bakery House

Usually I prefer to cook simple and quick dish during lunch time, example Chinese fried noodles, fried rice, pasta and etc. One of them is this Spanish Tortilla, which only need few ingredients. The taste is great with sweet onions and nice egg aroma.

How to prepare..

Spanish Tortilla 西班牙烘蛋
*serve 3-4 pax

2 medium US Russet potatoes, slice into 0.1cm (I use mandoline)
1 yellow onion (medium), slices

Egg mixture ingredients
4 large eggs
4tbsp UHT whipping cream (heavy cream)
1tbsp Parmesan cheese powder
1tsp sugar
1/2tsp salt
freshly ground black pepper

Method

Pre-heat oven at 190C.
Mix egg ingredients in a mixing bowl, stir to well combine, set aside.
Use a baking pan or cast iron dish (which can be used for baking and cooking), drizzle olive oil, heat it up. Switch off the heat before add in onion slices.
Arrange potato slices then pour in egg mixture, give a gentle shake to let egg mixture evenly distributed. Then heat it up over medium heat for 1-2mins or until you smell nice onion aroma.
Transfer baking pan to oven and bake for 30mins or until golden brown.
Invert the Tortilla, then slice and serve with sausages and salad (or your choice), enjoy!
Cookbook reference: café Brunch and Winnie, re-twist by Sonia a.k.a Nasi Lemak Lover

I didn't visit Sacre-Coeur Basilica the first time. So it was excited to visit this place than any other places in Paris for this trip. Basilica Sacre Coeur is a Roman catholic church that is located at the summit of the de Montmartre, which is the highest point in the city.

Weather were good, we have a good time here to enjoy the amazing view of the city..

My son Desmond with few kids at the playground area..

Beautiful flowers in this Spring time

Nice view of Paris city from here

Local artists in one of the squares

You can view Eiffel tower from here too

The other day I told my cooking buddies that I am planning to bake some Brioche. They forwarded to me few recipes to try. And they also told me there are two version of Brioche, Rich version and Poor version. I told them that of course I want to make Rich version (contains of more butter, so it will taste more buttery). While I searching for a final recipe to try. I just recalled I made Brioche few years back ( at that time I wasn't know much about Brioche. I even blamed to that magazine provided a wrong recipe which required so much of butter, sorry..) Anyway, when I re-visited the same recipe, realized that the amount of butter is equal to flour, and more eggs are using. I know I wouldn't handle this type of wet dough well. Finally I settled with another recipe which requires only half of the butter to flour. At the end, my version ended up with Middle class version, LOL!

I wasn't satisfy on the first batch. I can't get the perfect hat on top and no nice golden brown, and the taste was not sweet enough. Furthermore it turned out very dry the next day..

I made the second batch, increased the amount of sugar, checked the correct way to shape the hat, and adjusted the oven setting. This time it came out with right sweetness and colour, and it turned slightly dry the next day but still soft..

You can refer to my videos in youtube to view how to shape this brioche..

some of them were out of shape !!

Parisian Brioche法式布里歐修麵包
*makes 10

250g bread flour
30g caster sugar
1/4tsp salt
1tsp instant yeast
3 eggs (A size)
115 unsalted butter, room temp

Egg wash-1 egg yolk + 1tbsp milk

Method

Mix bread flour, sugar, salt and yeast in the mixer bowl.
On low speed, mix the dry ingredients.
Add in egg one at a time at low speed, then increase speed to medium (KA mixer 3-4) and mix for 6mins.
At the same speed, add in butter, mix for about 10mins until smooth and glossy.
Place dough into a large clean bowl, cover and rest for 1 hour in the refrigerator.
Flour the worktop, remove dough from refrigerator, divided dough into 10 equal portions (~54g). Form balls with each piece of dough by rolling them into the palm of the hand, repeat shape the balls till finished.
Using index finger, roll into a small knob of dough (smaller knob get nicer hat, about 1/4 dough), look like a bowling pin. Make a hole at the larger dough, then push the small knob of dough from bottom over the hole. Place in a greased muffin mould or tart mould, and press the topknot in by the “neck”.
Set aside to proof, covered, until doubled in size(about 1hr), at room temperature.
Brush the top with egg wash and bake in a pre-heated oven at 170C (fan forced at middle rack) for 15mins.
Reference: old Flavour Lifestyle magazines, with my own twist, by Sonia aka Nasi Lemak Lover

I save two of the Parisian brioche that I made the other day, so I can use them for making this bread pudding. It was buttery and milky while I was enjoying this pudding while hot.

Anyway, I can only made two of this as my family not so keen on milky pudding..

Brioche bread pudding 布里歐修麵包布丁

*makes 2 ramekins

2 Parisian brioche, refer recipe here
230ml milk
45g sugar
2 eggs (lightly beaten)
1/2tsp vanilla extract
Raisins and/or nuts of your choice
Method
Tear the brioche into small pieces and put in ramekin. Top with raisins.
Add milk, sugar and vanilla extract in a saucepan, heat up milk till sugar dissolved, half-boiled.
Pour the warm milk over the eggs and continue beating until all the milk is added.
Strain the egg mixture equally into the ramekins and evenly over the bread until all the liquid is added. Press the bread down into the custard and set it aside for about 5mins to allow the bread to absorb the custard.
Set the ramekins inside a larger baking pan. Pour about 1 inch of hot water into the larger baking pan. Bake for about 30 minutes or until the top becomes golden brown and the custard set. Serve while hot.
Recipe adapted from Chef and Sommelier with minor changes

I'm linking this post to Little Thumbs Up (May 2014: Milk) hosted by Tze of Awayofmind Bakery House

When I saw Jozelyn made this stained glass cookies, just inspired me to bake some for my son's coming Birthday party.

Both recipes I have seen also use FOX's candy, but the colour is not so outstanding, so I bought another brand (BON BON) candy to try out.

I find roll the dough into thin sheet then only refrigerated is quicker than roll it after refrigerated.

Never know the glass candy just so simple to make by just using candy only ^_^
Try not to make hollow cut centre too big, otherwise the candy couldn't spread to entire centre and result incomplete glass effect, or take time to spread out and resulted cookie over baked (These tips learnt from my 1st attempted)

These were using BON BON candy, colour was outstanding..

This was using FOX's candy, actually look nice thought, it has pastel colour and see through effect..

My children were so impressed with these cookies, and they said it tasted nice too..

Stained Glass Cookies 玻璃曲奇
*makes about 80pcs (depend on the size of cutter)

200g unsalted butter, room temp
110g caster sugar
2tsp lemon juices
324 cake flour
24g corn flour
1/2tsp baking soda
Fruity candy (FOX or BON BON brands)

Method
Sift cake flour, corn flour and baking soda, set aside.
Beat butter and sugar till light and fluffy.
Add in lemon juices and flour mixture, mix well.
Use a rolling pin, roll the dough to a thin sheet (~4mm), keep in the fridge (30mins) to harden for easy handling.
Use cookie cutters to cut dough into desired shapes. Transfer cookies to prepared baking sheets.
Using a smaller cookie cutter or a knife, cut shapes into centers of cookies, reserving these center bits to add into extra dough.
If cookies will be hung as ornaments or decorations, poke a small hole in the top of each cookie before baking.
Bake at pre-heated oven at 160C for 10mins. Remove the tray from the oven.
Cut candy to ½ or 1/3, place it into the hollowed-out centers of the half baked cookies, try to keep the candy within the centers. Any candy specks that fall on the cookie will color the cookie.
Continue to bake for another 7-8mins, the candy should be melted and bubbling.
Remove baking tray from oven and place on wire racks to cool. When cookies are completely cooled, remove and store in an airtight container. String with ribbon if you want to hang as an ornament.
Recipe inspired by Spice up my kitchen and The Kitchen 70’s

Last week I was so busy organized my son's 10th Birthday party. This time I planned a Birthday party with a theme: Blue Ocean. My son Desmond like sea animals eg killer whale, whale & etc. I started this party planning few months back, google for some blue ocean party ideas, then later have to shop the related party items (need time to shop items that related to blue), planned what foods to be prepared. On the beginning of last week, started to bake cookies, made pop corns, handmade invitation card & food tags, handmade banner and made the Birthday cake which my son said must have the Killer whale on the cake. I didn't disappointed him with a 3D killer whale on top of the cake.

I still using the preferred swiss meringue buttercream to frost the whole cake. I bake three chocolate butter cakes. As for the black buttercream, I just added a lot of dark cocoa powder with swiss meringue buttercream . And for white cream, I use shortening and icing sugar (2:1 ratio) as to get white effect.

Handmade invitation card. Thanks to my son Lucas design the pattern.

Lucas also helped me to make this jelly fish !

Thanks to my daughter who helped me to make the banner..

On the Birthday, my mother, sister and my daughter's best friend (Thanks to Yi Yuan) came over to help me on the preparation. The preparation of the foods were quite tedious, because I requested them to make into fish or star fish shape ^_^

Lets see what we had prepared for that day..

~Chinese traditional red eggs during Birthday~

~star fish shape of pizza~

~Sea animal jelly~

~caramel pop corns~

~fish shape of pancake~

~Octopus sausages~ (This was the most received item by the kids)

~fish shape of sandwiches~

(cheese and ham )

~gold fish cookies~, this was store-bought

~fish shape of Onigiri ~

(I use salted salmon mixed with Japanese rice, light soy sauce, mirin and roasted sesame seeds)

~deep fried fish~

~Shark watermelon~

My hubby responsible to make this, look real right ^_^

~Blue Ocean water~

( At first, we have hard time to get blue effect (even this one also look more to purple blue) . I was thinking to mix blue pea flower (bunga telang biru) with soda drink, but the drink turned out to be purple pink. Also we tried lemonade with this flower, same result it turned pink too. At last, I mix with barley drink, then it turned out like this deep purple blue, closer to blue ocean colour and it was all natural ingredients, better this way)

Kids were excited to drink this blue ocean water ^_^ In fact, my daughter's friend said this drink taste nice..

No time to cook the main dish, so I ordered from outside the Nasi lemak and Assam laksa.

My son Lucas also helped me to organize few games for the kids. The kids played until don't want to go back home, hahaha..

These were the games:-

1. Memory game

2. Torch musical pass

3. Charades

4. Simon says

5. Shark tail

And these were the prize for the winner, fighting fish in a fish tank ! no wonder all of them were so excited ^_^

The winners, see they all so excited !!

Birthday presents from his friend

I also made these stained glass cookies for the kids to bring home

Happy 10th Birthday Desmond!! Stay healthy and be good !

with his best friend ^_^

Before the party, i checked with my son what he would like to have in his Birthday party. He requested this caramel popcorn. When I making this popcorn, remind me of an invitation came to me few years back as to invite me to appear in a TV morning program to teach how to make popcorn. I was shy at that time, so I turn down the invitation ^_^.

I still refer to the old recipe, but this time I reduced water as I found the caramel sauce was a bit watery

Not the first time doing popcorn, but i still feel excited to see this popcorn after opened the lid.

It is not difficult to make popcorn at home, but we just need some time to bake the popcorn as to let them stay crispy..

Homemade Caramel Popcorn 爆玉米花

300g Corn Kernels
6 tbsp corn oil

300g sugar
110g butter (salted)
150ml water

To pop corn kernels
1. Pour corn oil into a wok, coat entirely the wok.
2. Heat oil over medium flame.
3. Add in corn kernels, stir fry to mix well till corn kernels start to expand.
4. Once you see it start to pop, immediately over the wok with lid, you start to hear popping sound.
5. From time to time, slowly move the wok to keep the popcorn from burning in spots.
5. When the popping slows down to the point that you don’t hear much pop, off the flame.
6. Take off the lid, and pour popcorn into large bowl, remove unpopped kernels.
7. Spread onto the prepared baking sheet and set aside.

To make caramel popcorn
1. Add sugar in a clean wok/saucepan over medium flame, cook till melted and become syrup.
2. Add in butter and water, keep stirring till become slightly thick caramel.
3. Let the syrup cool slightly, then drizzle over the popcorn. Toss the popcorn carefully using spoons.
4. Bake at preheated oven at 150c for 30-45mins, stir them once.
5. Once done, remove from oven, stir the popcorn, and in airtight containers once cooled down.

Recipe: modified from old recipe, by Sonia aka Nasi Lemak Lover

When my daughter enjoying this dish, she keep saying this is tooooo yummy and non-stop eating..Maybe due to she likes lychee a lot ^_^. Anyway, I have to agreed with her, this dish is full of flavours, sweet, sour and savoury, something like sweet and sour pork. And love the juicy lychee hide inside the pork balls. Lychee is in season now, it is cheap and fresh, quickly to get some to try this out.
Lychee pork is a famous traditional Hokkien dish, especially Fu Zhou peoples like to cook it. A thin slice of pork to wrap with fresh lychee, to reassemble like a lychee shape ( you can use canned lychee but prefer to use fresh lychee). Sometime, people also replace lychee with pineapple or water chestnut.

Lets see how to cook this famous Fuzhou dish..

The thin slice of pork to cut like checkered pattern, so after deep fried, it look like lychee skin..

There is a special ingredient in this recipe which Fuzhou use a lot, red yeast paste 红酒糟 . If you couldn't find it, it should be ok to omit as I found there was no evidence of this taste (while hot I can taste it, but after cool can't detect anymore) , more to give the nice red colour to this dish and to reassemble like lychee look.

Lychee Pork 荔枝肉
280g pork loin
10 fresh lychee or you may replace with canned lychee, halved and remove the brown part
Marinate:
2tsp red yeast paste
1/2tsp salt
1/2tsp Chinese Shaoxing wine
½ egg yolk
1tbsp water
1tsp tapioca flour
2tsp potato starch

Sweet and Sour sauce:
1tsp red yeast paste
1/2tsp dark soy sauce
1 clove garlic, chopped
½ spring onion, sliced
1tbsp sugar
1/2tsp salt
1/2tsp Chinese Shaoxing wine
1tbsp white vinegar
1/2tsp sesame oil
4tbsp tomato ketchup
1tsp tapioca flour
4tbsp water
Method
Thinly slice the pork loin into 2mm-3mm slice.
Slice pork diagonal with a sharp knife but not all the way through, to create a checkered pattern.
Add marinate ingredients with pork slices, mix well and marinate for 30mins.
Lay a piece of pork slices (checkered pattern at the bottom), then place a piece of lychee on the pork, wrap and form into balls, look like a lychee fruit.
Deep fry pork balls in a wok till golden brown. Place fried pork balls on a serving plate.
To prepare sweet and sour sauce, mix all sauce ingredients in a bowl, then heat 1tbsp cooking oil, sauté garlic and spring onion, pour sauce into the wok and stir well.
Pour the sauce over the deep fried lychee pork balls and serve hot.
Inspired by a TV HHD program, Recipe by Sonia aka Nasi Lemak Lover

Lets continue with the Paris and London trip update. Actually I still have many outstanding trips yet to post, Hanoi, Kelantan, Taiping, Tokyo & Hokkaido and Cameron Highlands, not sure I can finish update or not..
This is Arc de Triomphe, we just have a short visit only.

Champs-Élysées- a street with luxury branded shops, restaurants, café &etc

Stopped by here for a quick lunch..nothing to shout out..

continue our walk

Paul, a famous bakery shop

my daughter happily took a photo in front of Laduree shop. Her dream now comes true..

Long Q...surprised that my daughter said don't want to wait and she suggested go to PH macaron instead. Actually we already had both Laduree and PH macaron during Tokyo trip. She actually not that excited now..

Galaries Lafayette, just nearby the hotel we stayed. A nice shopping place!

Luxury deco..

We had a nice dinner at this restaurant just nearby our hotel

We had this very nice Canard à l'orange ( Duck breast in Orange sauce) , you can check my recipe here.

Pierre Herme shop

Giant size of Ispahan, Euro 60 for each, anyone? definitely not for me (My daughter told me she saw the price was Euro 17, i am sure which price is correct )

A small garden opposite the PH's shop

I guess many peoples enjoyed PH macaroons here, see so many PH's stickers on the bench, hehehe..

PH's Isaphan, a heavenly macaron, even I am not a sweet person, but this is the most yummy sweet that I have ever had !!! I wish I can have this Isaphan on my own! I just curious how they make the small dot water on the rose petal, amazing!

PH's macarons has many difference creation of flavours, so creative!

This was second time I visited Palace of Versailles, same blue sky but it was a tired trip. We spent nearly 3hours to get inside. I don't think I will visit here again for the third time...

My son waited until don't know what to do, just laying here..

After we spent 1hr to purchase the tickets, we still have to Q to be entered the inside, pity my hubby helped us to Q on behalf..

Nothing to do while waiting, simply snap few photos..

very tiring to see this long Q (I remembered previous trip about 8 years ago, this place was not so crowded !)

still not our turn yet, simply snap photos again , LOL..

Phew!! we managed to get inside after waited for 2 hrs.

Hall of mirrors..a must visit place if you come to Versailles..

The Queen's bedchamber

In fact, we just have a quick walk through as there were too many tourist inside. What a breeze when seeing this beautiful garden after came out..

Our lunch again duck confit..

Nice duck confit, not too salty and oily, and love the creamy mashed potato.

I have been looking for a good plain bread recipe that using direct dough method rather than overnight sponge dough, tangzhong, 17hrs dough & etc which requires ahead planning ( actually I have made this bread 3 times in a row). For time being, I don't think I will make all other methods of bread that I have tried out earlier. This bread was super good, stay soft till next day, and my family can't stop eating this bread. And this recipe just requires few basic ingredients and using less butter. This recipe came from the famous Taiwan's Master Baker Wu Pao Chun.

I like the taste of this bread, slightly high amount of salt is using, making this bread tasted more flavourful!

Lets see how to make this bread..

Last add in butter when you see the dough is smooth and well combined

usually I proof the bread near to window (warmer area).

Dough is fully proof, usually take about 30-45mins

And this dough is so smooth and easy to handle..

I still can't achieve the full square loaf, have to increase a bit of the ingredients next time.

My family favourite way of enjoy plain white bread, spread with butter then sprinkle sugar !

This recipe remind of the earlier au lait (milk in French) bread, which using only cold milk. Using cold milk, it will slow down the fermentation and resulted more flavourful of bread.

Check back this old post, just realized that my little son ( he was naked upper body when taken this photo) has grown up so fast ^_^.

I have modified this recipe to suit my Pullman tin. After checking through, just realized that the original recipe requires to use more water and less milk. And my blogger friend Aunty Young changed it to use all milk. I guess she made the right choice ! With so many changes made to the original, so I can't call this bread is from Wu Pao Chun anymore...

Plain White Loaf 金牌土司
*for a 11cmx20cm (internal), non-stick Pullman tin

375g bread flour
30g sugar
3/4tsp fine salt
20g butter (salted)
1tsp instant dry yeast
240g milk ( I use cold milk from fridge)

Method

Mix bread flour, sugar and yeast in the mixing bowl, mix well.
Add in salt and milk, mix into a dough using low speed, then use medium speed to knead it into a shiny and smooth texture.
Add in butter, then knead it using medium speed until it forms dough that shinny and smooth ( I use KA mixer, took about 20mins).
Proof the dough until double the size. (Final dough weight around 660g).
Divide dough into 3 equal balls, then allow to rest for another 10 minutes.
Flatten the dough into a rectangle shape and roll it up or just roll into balls, then place it in the Pullman tin (if using ) or baking tray, go for final proofing for about 60mins. Let it rise till about 90% full ( I waited to almost full tin).
Cover the Pullman tin, bake in a preheated oven at 190C (fan forced ) for 30mins.

Recipe inspired by Lite Home Bake, original source from ccm2poco, with minor changes

This post is linked to the event, Little Thumbs Up organised by Zoe of Bake for Happy Kids and Doreen from My little favourite DIY, hosted by Tze of Awayofmind Bakery House.

The other day my sister sent me few home grown passion fruits. First I used few fruits to make the orange and passion fruit gateau. The balance I used to make this crepes with passion fruit sauce. I eaten a similar crepes in a café at Ho Chi Minh five years ago, can't forgot the nice taste.

Crepes with passion fruit sauce 百香果蜜汁可丽饼

To make Passion fruit sauce
4 passion fruit, remove the flesh
1/2tbsp sugar
1tbsp water
1/2tbsp corn starch + 1tbsp water

Method

Mix passion fruit flesh, sugar and water in a saucepan, bring the mixture to boil, and cook for 2-3mins.
Add corn starch with water, then pour into mixture to thicken the sauce. Keep aside to cool.

To make crepe batter
3 eggs (A size)
200ml milk
1tbsp sugar
A pinch of salt
1/2cup plain flour (75g)

Method
1. In a mixing bowl, whisk all ingredients together. Strain it through a fine sieve or metal strainer, to ensure there's no lumps in the batter.
2. Heat a lightly oiled non-stick frying pan over medium high heat. Pour or scoop the batter onto the pan, tilt the pan with a circular motion so that the batter coats the surface evenly.
3. Cook the crepe for about 2 minutes, until the bottom is light brown. Loosen with a spatula, turn and cook the other side.

To serve- place crepe on a serving plate, pour passion fruit sauce on top, place some fruits on top (banana, mango & etc) and also serve aside with cream or vanilla ice-cream.

Recipe by Sonia a.k.a Nasi Lemak Lover

Next time, I must remember to remove the passion fruit seeds, feel not so nice when bite the seeds..

This post is linked to the event, Little Thumbs Up organised by Zoe of Bake for Happy Kids and Doreen from My little favourite DIY, hosted by Tze of Awayofmind Bakery House.

I have to clear the store-bought puff pastry and dairy whipping cream before they expired. So I try made these easy version of Portuguese tarts instead of the earlier version. Using store-bought puff pastry to make the case, it was a breeze and so quick can enjoy this yummy Portuguese egg tarts at home.

See these simple steps!

make sure the dough is seam side up!

The egg custard was so good, sweetness just right, and love the caramel and burnt on top!

The outer case was crispy but inside was slightly wet ( I guess due to wet egg custard has penetrate the pastry)

After this post, we are going to visit this place which famous for their Portuguese egg tarts ^_^. See you all in one week time.

Easy Portuguese egg tarts 简易葡式蛋塔
*makes 6 egg tarts

50g egg yolks (about 3 eggs)
25g sugar
60g full cream milk
100g dairy whipping cream
1/4tsp vanilla essence ( I replaced with Cointreau)
1 sheet store-bought puff pastry 10”x10”, thawed (I used Pampas brand)

Method

Mix all ingredients together, stir to mix well. Strain the mixture.
Roll up puff pastry like a swiss roll, equally divide into 6 pcs.
Place the pastry on the prepared muffin pan, seam side up, slow press the pastry to fill the whole cavity.
Pour egg mixture into pastry case (about 90% full).
Bake in a pre-heated oven 180C for 30mins, then increase to 190C ( top heat only) for 5-8mins until caramelized.
Recipe adapted from stepwongkitchen

This post is linked to the event, Little Thumbs Up organised by Zoe of Bake for Happy Kids and Doreen from My little favourite DIY, hosted by Tze of Awayofmind Bakery House.

We just went to Macau for few days short visit. It was a last minutes plan, booked quite a low air fares but later only realized that the hotel rate there was quite high. Anyway, we were enjoyed many nice foods there but also tasted some foods that we don't like. This time, I have a chance to try this famous cake in Hong Kong and Macau, paper wrapped cake or cupcake 紙包蛋糕. The first one I tried actually not as nice as expected. Anyway, I found a good one at an old Char Chan Teng (local coffee shop) which they bake freshly paper wrapped cupcakes daily. Their cake was light, fluffy and full of egg aroma.

After I saw my friend Jane did this cake earlier, I also quickly got myself few of these special flower shape metal cups (梅花盏 ) and I also got the 牛油紙 or parchment paper (Also Thanks to my Hong Kong blogger friend who helped me to get the cups and paper) . Anyway, after two years then I only started to use this cups ^_^.

I follow an easy way to line the paper in this metal cup.

I chosen the egg sponge cake 烤鸡蛋糕 recipe that popular amongst Chinese bloggers. This cake recipe is similar like making chiffon cake except this recipe only use eggs but no other liquid is added. Ya I made the right choice, this cake is almost taste exactly like that nice one I tasted at Macau.
Furthermore, the cake didn't shrink after cool down.

Chinese paper wrapped cupcakes 紙包蛋糕
*makes 7 standard flower metal moulds

3 egg white (large or A size)
65 icing sugar, sifted (or you may replace with 65g caster sugar and 5g corn starch, mix together)

3 egg yolk (large or A size)
1 whole egg
50g corn oil
65g self-raising flour (or you may replace with cake flour + 1/2tsp baking powder)

Special flower metal cupcake cases or you may replaced any cups that is suitable for baking
Parchment paper or 牛油紙

Method

Mix egg yolks, 1 whole egg and corn oil in a mixing bowl, use a hand balloon whisk, beat till light.
Sift in self-raising flour, stir to mix well till a smooth thick batter.
Use a electric hand mixer, beat egg white till foamy, then gradually add in icing sugar, beat till stiff peak formed.
Add 1/3 of meringue with egg yolk batter, stir till light. Then fold in the rest of meringues, fold to well combine (you can use hand balloon whisk at last if you still see meringue not fold well).
Line the metal cupcake case with baking paper, fill the batter with piping bag, then pipe the batter into cupcake case.
Bake at a pre-heated oven at 170C (middle rack, no fan) for 30mis.
Remove from the oven, immediately remove cakes from the case, and lay them on wire rack to cool down.
Recipe source: as seen at Eileenblogspot, original recipe from Facebook

Orange Sauce and mini fluffy Pancake 柳橙醬和鬆餅

The Louvre, The Tuileries Garden, Paris 2014 巴黎自由行

Pont de l'Archeveche "Lock of Love" bridge, Notre-Dame Cathedral, Paris 2014 巴黎自由行

Canard à l'orange ( Duck breast in Orange sauce) 法式香橙鸭胸

Orange and Passion fruit Gateau 香橙百香果蛋糕

Whoopie Pies 巧克力无比派

Spanish Tortilla 西班牙烘蛋

Basilica of the Sacré Cœur de Montmartre, Paris 2014 巴黎自由行

Parisian Brioche 法式布里歐修麵包

Brioche bread pudding 布里歐修麵包布丁

Stained Glass Cookies 玻璃曲奇

Blue Ocean Birthday Party

Homemade Caramel Popcorn 爆玉米花

Lychee Pork 荔枝肉

Arc de Triomphe, Champs-Élysées, Laduree, Galaries Lafayette ,Pierre Herme, Paris 2014 巴黎自由行

Palace of Versailles, Paris 2014 巴黎自由行

Plain White Loaf / Champion Toast 金牌土司

Crepes with passion fruit sauce 百香果蜜汁可丽饼

Easy Portuguese egg tarts 简易葡式蛋塔

Chinese paper wrapped cupcakes 紙包蛋糕