New York Cheesecake

This New York Cheesecake recipe is from Kitchen Queen in Allrecipes. I was very happy how my New York Cheesecake turned out. It was fast and easy to make. I wanted to baked in the water bath  but some how I only remember after I put it in the oven.. hahah... ohh well.. it still does turned out very good!!! There was no crack on top and turned out very smooth. Both of us really like it. Yum-Yum :)

Here are some changes I made to the recipe: Instead of using graham crackers crumbs, I used cornflakes crumbs/sugar/butter as the base. I was out of sour cream, so I used blueberry pie filling & topping and whipped cream instead.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups graham crackers crumbs

1/4 cup white sugar

1/3 cup butter, melted

3 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, room temperature

4 eggs, room temperature

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

1 cup white sugar

1 tsp cream of tartar

Top layer

1 pint sour cream

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 cup white sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C)

Mix together the cracker crumbs, sugar, and butter in a bowl until evenly moistened. Press into the bottom and 1/2 inch up the sides of a 9-inch springform pan.

In a large bowl, mix together the cream cheese and sugar with an electric mixer until smooth. Blend in the eggs, 1 tbsp of vanilla, and cream of tartar. Pour over the pie crust.

Bake in preheated oven until the center is set, about 50 minutes, Allow to cool on the counter for 5 mins.

Mix together the sour cream, 1 tsp vanilla, and 1/2 cup sugar in a bowl until smooth; carefully pour over cheesecake starting from the sides of the pan and working your way to the center.

Return to oven for another 5 minutes. Allow to cool in pan to room temperature. Refrigerate for at least 6 hours before serving.

Notes:

• Professional pastry chefs bake cheesecakes in a water bath. This method bakes the cake very gently so that it does not darken, curdle, or crack. A springform pan is the best choice for baking cheesecakes because you can remove the cake from the pan easily.
• To prevent water from seeping into the removable bottom of the springform pan, wrap aluminum foil completely around the bottom and halfway up the sides of the pan. Place the cheesecake into a jellyroll pan (or any baking pan with sides) and place the pans into the oven. Use a teakettle to fill the outer pan with hot water. Cheesecakes usually bake for about 1½ hours, so check the bath after the first hour and refill if necessary.
• Because cheesecake is very soft, it can be difficult to judge when it is done cooking. Turn off the oven and leave the cheesecake in it for an additional hour to ensure that it sets completely.
• For a seamless look, you can smooth the sides of the cheesecake with a hot, wet knife.

Kickin Chicken

A recipe that I found from Better Homes and Gardens. Hubby loves it.  Served it over rice and fried cabbage on the sides.  Fast and easy dinner.. hehe... :))

Ingredients:

Non-cooking spray

8 chicken drumsticks

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp black pepper

2 cloves garlic, minced or 1 tsp bottled minced

2 tsp cooking oil

3/4 cup bottled BBQ sauce

1/4 cup ketchup

1/4 cup orange juice or water

2 tbsp brown sugar

2 tbsp light molasses or maple-flavored syrup

Lightly coat 15x10x1 inch baking pan with cooking spray. Skin chicken. Arrange chicken in prepared baking pan. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Bake in a 375 degrees F oven for 25 minutes.

For sauce, in a medium saucepan, cook garlic over hot oil medium heat for 30 seconds. Stir in BBQ sauce, ketchup, juice, brown sugar, molasses and if desired add hot pepper sauce. Heat throughly.

Carefully brush chicken with sauce. Turn chicken and brush additional sauce. Bake 20-25 minutes more until chicken is no longer pink (180 degrees F). Reheat any remaining sauce, drizzle over chicken.

My simple Keema (Indian-style ground meat)

Originally the word Keema is ground meat. It is typically made using ground mutton but can be made with any meat you prefer. I always used ground beef with potatoes and peas. This meat dish taste delicious over plain rice, bread, naan, prata or even chapatti. It could also be used as samosa fillings.

Ingredients:

500g ground beef (you can use any ground meat you prefer for this recipe)
2 tbsp vegetable cooking oil
1 medium-sized onions chopped fine
1 garlic clove, minced
1 tsp each of ground coriander and cumin, and chilli powder
1 tbsp garam masala or curry powder
2 potatoes, peeled and diced
150g frozen peas
100ml beef stock or water
Salt to taste
chopped fresh coriander (I used spring onions since I'm out of coriander)

Fry onion with garlic in vegetable cooking oil over a medium heat for 3 minutes or until softened. 

Stir in ground beef and diced potatoes. 

Add ground coriander, cumin, chilli powder and garam masala/ curry powder and cook, stirring, for 1 minute. 

Add beef stock or water. 

Season, cover and simmer for 13 minutes or until the potato is tender.  

Add frozen peas and simmer for 3 minutes. 

Serve sprinkled with chopped fresh coriander, accompanied by warmed naan or over plain rice.
 

Chicken chop - Mamak Style

Another favorite Indian Muslim food (also known as Mamak food)... Mutton Chop. I looked at my recipes books, unfortunately no recipe for mutton chop. I was surprised, I couldn't find many website for the mamak mutton chop recipe too. However, I found a blog that has mutton chop recipe. YAY!!! It would be nicer to have mutton but I cant get mutton so I used chicken breasts instead and I made a little changes. 

You'll need:

chicken breasts (used two)

chilli paste

tomato paste

tomato sauce 

sweet soy sauce

light soy sauce

brown sugar (can also use regular sugar)

ground coriander seeds

potatoes (wedges/fries)

peas

fried egg

lettuce

slices of tomato

*I do not have the exact measurement for this dish, its all estimation. 

I cut the chicken breast into bite-sized. Marinate the pieces with sweet soy sauce and light soy sauce for about 30 mins. Heat the oil in the large wok, fry the chicken. Remove and leave some of the oil in the wok. The secret to make a good chilli sauce for the dish is using the oil that was used frying the chicken. Then combine, chilli paste, tomato paste, tomato sauce, sweet soy sauce in the wok and sprinkle some brown sugar to taste. If you want it hot, add more chilli paste; more sweet, add sugar and soy sauce. When the sauce have simmer down, add a dash of ground coriander seeds. Just before you turned off the heat, mix the chicken together with the sauce. Serve with peas, fries, fried egg, lettuce and slices of tomatoes.

My chicken chop is served with steamed peas, baked diced potatoes and sweet potatoes and fried egg. I do not have lettuce and tomato in the refrigerator. I think I'll use the beef the next time... Have a good Thursday yall!! :)) 

Rojak

ROJAK.. I like Rojak, even a simple Yu Char Kway Rojak.. The term "Rojak" is Malay means “wild mix” or “combination of ingredients”. A popular dish in Singapore and you can find it anywhere in Singapore. 

Rojak is also used as a colloquial expression for an eclectic mix, and in particular is often used to describe the multi-ethnic character of Singaporean and Malaysian society. 

There are Malay, Indian and Chinese style. Malay and Chinese rojak are almost similar. They are built on a vibrant assortment of fresh fruits and vegetables, which may include pineapple, cucumber, sweet turnip, water spinach, green apple, bean sprouts, water apple, green mango, guava, slivers of lime zest, and shredded ginger bud. Except for Chinese Rojak, toasted Yu Char Kway (a crispy length of deep fried flour) and toasted Taufu Pok (bean curd), cut into bite-sized, are added to the fruit salad. The sticky prawn paste is mixed with a little lime juice or tamarind juice and some sugar. Chilli paste may be added for some spice. A dusting of ground peanuts gives further texture. The paste is then mixed thoroughly. Once it is well mixed, the mixed vegetables and ingredients are added. Finally the mixture is garnished with a dash of finely cut ginger flower. 


Indian Rojak is an assortment of potatoes, eggs, fried greens, steamed fishcakes, bean curd, prawn fried in batter. The Indian version is also tossed in peanut sauce, although this version has an added red flavoring and color for that tinge of spiciness.

The picture here is my Yu Char Kway Rojak. I did not add any fruits or vegetables because, I just preferred to have plain Yu Char Kway. ;)

I used the whole bag of frozen Yu Char Kway. You can get at any Asian store in the US. To make the paste: mix 4 tbsp sticky prawn paste, 1-1/2 tbsp lime juice, 1/2 tbsp lime rind, 5 tbsp sugar and some grounded peanuts. Mix thoroughly. Drizzled the sweet sour sauce over the bite-sized Yu Char Kway. Garnish with extra crushed peanuts. 

Rojak is often served as a side dish, appetizer or as a main meal. I cant wait to go back to Singapore and have me some Singapore ROJAK!!!! *winks*