Mee Siam

Mee Siam is a popular dish in Singapore and Malaysia.. A  dish of thin rice noodles(vermicelli) in spicy, sweet and sour light gravy. Mee Siam is often served with dried or fried bean curd, boiled egg, lime, sambal and garnish with Chinese chives and spring onion. Some people would add taugeh (beansprouts) mixed in the thin rice noodles but I do not like the taugeh so I always omit taugeh in my cooking..

I called my mom to guide me because I only like the way she cooked it. My Mee Siam was simple, just boiled egg and chopped chives. Although my gravy had the spicy, sweet and sour taste, I think there was something missing. Since it was my first time, I think it was a good try. As my hubby do not usually eat spicy food, he said my Mee Siam was too spicy. He only had a little serving of my Mee Siam so I had to finish the Mee Siam myself... Lucky I did not cooked a lot, if not, Mee Siam would be my food for the week.. Lol!!

I am sorry that I am unable to share my Mee Siam recipe but here are some links that I found on the internet.

Singapore Mee Siam
MalaysiaFood.net 
Big Oven

Mocha Cheesecake

This lovely recipe is from my friend in VA. She said she and mocha have something in common... LMAO!!!!

My hubby drinks a lot of coffee and this cheesecake is good for him. When he came home for lunch today, I just had to let him try the cheesecake before he goes back to work. So... after he takes the first bite, he gave me, thumbs up and said "bake this cheesecake from now on..."  I was so happy that he likes it.

But initially... After I took out the cheesecake from the oven, I thought I had baked it too long, that's why there were some cracks. It also rose high, then I left it to cool down and later, when I checked on it again, it already shrunk.. lol.. I thought my cheesecake won't be any good.. It was funny too because, I didn't take the first bite, I let hubby do the honor. Lol!!(dont tell him, he is my "guinea pig" to try all my cookings.. just kidding hun... but I guess he already know... hehe). Then I took my first bite and I really think the mocha cheesecake is so yum yum delicious!!  It tasted like the store cheesecake or perhaps even better than the store cheesecake.. Lol!!! Although the top is not pretty as the ones at the stores, the taste, was superb. We really enjoy a good cheesecake!

Many thanks Zee.♥♥♥  I'll bake one for you when you come visit..;)

Mocha Cheesecake

Crust

2 cups chocolate wafer crumbs (about 32 wafers) (I used vanilla wafers and add 2 tsp of cocoa)

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup butter, melted

Filling

3 packages (8ounces each) cream cheese, softened

1 cup sugar

3 tablespoons all purpose flour

4 eggs

1/3 cup heavy whipping cream

1 tbsp instant coffee granules

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 cup (6 ounces) miniature semisweet chocolate chips, divided

In a bowl, combine crumbs and sugar; stir in butter. Press onto the bottom and 2 in. up the sides of a greased 9-in. springform pan; set aside.

In a mixing bowl, beat cream cheese and sugar until smooth. Add flour and beat well. Add eggs, beating on low speed just until combined.

In a small bowl, combine cream and coffee; let stand for 1 min.

Then add to the cream cheese mixture with vanilla; beat just until mixed. Stir in 3/4 cup choc chips. Pour into crust. Sprinkle with the remaining choc chips.

Bake at 325 F on the middle rack for 50 mins or until center is almost set.

Cool on wire rack for 1 hr. Refrigerate overnight. Removes sides of pan let stand at room temperature for 30mins before slicing.

Notes:

1. If you want to bake this cheesecake, I would advise to bake it one day earlier since you need to bake and keep it in the refrigerator for few hours (at least) or overnight before you finally slice the cheesecake.

Let's use Fabric shopping bag

I strongly recommend you to check out, Green Bag Lady if you want to eliminate plastic bags. Teresa, the Green Bag Lady who started this project  in early 2008, gives out free handmade fabric shopping bags at the Green Bag Lady events. I got my bag at Nashville Farmer's Market when they had their event there. I used it right away but did not take picture with the bag. This is my recent picture after our groceries shopping @ Walmart.

You can also get the pattern if you gonna make it yourself. I have some extra fabrics but no sewing machine. I am still waiting for hubby to get me Elna sewing machine then I'll make a few more fabric shopping bags.. Yay!!!

Thank you, Teresa for the bag and I will always put it to good use!

Let's Go green, live green and stay green! ♥♥♥

Roti Prata

Roti Prata is a pancake bread. This is a Singaporean and Malaysian (In Malaysia is it known as Roti Canai) Indian dish, an all time favorite suitable for breakfast, lunch, dinner or supper. Roti means bread in  Malay and Indian languages, while Prata means flat. Many Indian food outlets, serve not only plain prata or egg prata but many flavorings such as banana, chocolate, cheese, ice-cream, onion and a lot more. Roti prata is commonly served with curry or you can just have it with sugar, if you do not like curries.

After many unsuccessful attempts making roti prata, today, yess.. today, I managed to almost get it right. I need more practice to get that right texture and taste. It takes a lot of practice to be like a skilled prata man to transform the small, elastic dough ball into a paper-thin sheet prata. I don't think I can easily master the flipping and throwing part.. haha.. I found this roti prata recipe online. It was simple and easy to follow. Thanks Mama FaMi for posting the recipe. :)

Roti Prata/Roti Canai ( Mr. Niceghost33 from forum cari. com. my)

3 cups flour

1-1/2 cups water

1 tbsp margarine (I used butter)

salt to taste

2 tbsp condensed milk

1 tbsp cooking oil

extra margarine

1. Mix water, salt and condensed milk.
2. Sift the flour in a large bowl and make a well in the center. Add the liquid mixture bit by bit if kneading manually or pour the whole amount into the flour if using machine.
3. Then add the cooking oil and margarine.
4. Knead to form a soft dough. Leave it covered with a damp cloth for 30 minutes.
5. Divide the dough into 10 portions and mold into balls.
6. Coat the balls all over with margarine so that the dough won't stick to each other. Leave to rest for 2 hours (minimum).
7. Spread one ball at a time on a smooth greased surface to form a very thin layer. Fold the four sides into the middle, flatten and fry on a hot pan with a little bit of oil. ( The picture above is not a flatten roti prata with folded sides. What I did was.... flatten the dough, pull the sides to get a thinner sheet, then rolled or bring the sides to the center to form a long dough, hold upwards and swirl the dough and flatten it again.) 

You can also check out Mama FaMi website for this recipe and step by step pics for Roti Prata. Since, I have to wait a few hours for the dough to rest, I should make more roti prata, save it in the freezer for future bites.. hehe.. I had this roti prata with fish curry. I will post on the fish curry tomorrow. :-)

Enjoy!!! ♥♥♥


here some kuih I made last Sunday. Made them in the morning to have them for lunch......

Telur Masak Kicap (Fried Egg in Sweet Soy Sauce)

This is the easiest dish to make... If you do not mind the soy sauce, try it.. hehe.. A lot of Singaporean and Malaysian loves to use Habhal Kicap Manis (Sweet Soy Sauce), I think  this is the best brand for Kicap Manis. I brought one bottle Habhal Kicap Manis to US but unfortunately, even after I wrapped the bottle with bubble wrap and lotsa newspapers, it got broken in my bag that I checked in. Unable to save any drops and all my things soaked with soy sauce!! :(

If you do not have the sweet soy sauce then mix light soy sauce and dark sauce and some sugar, I used more light and less dark one. No need salt at all..

Ingredients:
4 eggs,
1 small onion - slice
1 garlic - slice
1 green chilli - thinly slice
light soy sauce
dark soy sauce
sugar
sambal

1. Fry the eggs. Set aside.
2. Mix together the abt 1 tsp sambal, light soy sauce and dark sauce together in a small bowl.
3. Heat a little oil (I used the oil from frying the eggs). Add in garlic. Fry till fragrant.
4. Add the onion and green chilli. Fry till slightly soft.
5. Pour in the soy sauce mixture and 1 tsp sugar and stir for a while and remove from heat.
6. Pour the sauce onto the eggs.
7. Sprinkle some chopped spring onions and ready to serve. 

Here is hubby's plate. He put the food on his plate nicely and told me to take a picture of his plate.. :)

Besides the fried egg in sweet sauce, I also made my teriyaki ginger chicken.

 

Just a side track a bit... A picture of family and friends from Singapore that I miss so much..

I am gonna add more pictures on this wall...  hehe..