gracephua.blogspot.com Open in urlscan Pro
2607:f8b0:4006:81c::2001  Public Scan

Form analysis
0 forms found in the DOM

Text Content

LIFE CAN BE SIMPLE

"Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication." ~Leonardo da Vinci~




NUFFNANG







SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 2016


MISO SESAME SQUASH & TOFU


The past few weeks have been really busy with travelling for leisure, work and
many other things that came up. I have also been taking up some painting for
leisure which is something that I have always wanted to do but never thought I
would be able to do. However, I took up that personal challenge and so glad I
did it. I really found so much serenity in doing this :)


Finally I found sometime to make this. I have been missing quite a few weeks
with I Heart Cooking Clubs who have already begun to cook with Heidi Swanson.
This week's special is squash. I've always love butternut squash so it is a
delight to cook this with Heidi. See my modifications in blue.


Ingredients:


2 pounds delicata butternut squash (~3), halved, seeded, and cut into 1/2-inch
inch thick piece
2 tablespoons toasted sesame oil
2 tablespoons molasses (I omitted this)
1 teaspoon tamari or shoyu (I used light soy instead)
2 tablespoons pure maple syrup (I used organic brown rice syrup)
1 heaping tablespoon white or yellow miso 
1/4 cup freshly squeezed orange juice
1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice 
1/4 teaspoon grated lemon zest
5 tablespoons water
8 ounces organic extra-firm tofu, pressed, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
Various toppings: toasted sesame seeds, chopped arugula, basil, basil flowers,
lemon wedges


Method:

 1. Preheat the oven to 425F / 220C 180 degrees celsius, with a rack in the
    middle.
 2. In a large bowl, toss the squash with 1 tablespoon of the sesame oil. 
 3. Spread the squash on a parchment-lined or well-greased baking sheet in a
    single layer and roast for 40 minutes, turning over with a fork after 20
    minutes. Or, until golden on both sides.
 4. In the meantime, in a medium-size bowl, whisk together the molasses, tamari,
    maple syrup, miso, orange juice, lemon juice, lemon zest, water, and the
    remaining tablespoon of sesame oil. Add the tofu, toss to coat, and set
    aside.
 5. When the squash is deeply golden on both sides, remove from the oven.
 6. Transfer the squash to a 2-quart baking dish. Pour the tofu mixture over the
    squash, and gently toss. 
 7. Bake, uncovered, for 30 minutes, or until a good amount of the marinade
    boils off. Toss a couple times along the way. Finish under the boiler if you
    like, or if you like a bit of extra color on top. Remove from the oven, and
    season with salt, if needed. 
 8. Finish with some toasted sesame seeds, chopped arugula, and/or herbs, and
    serve immediately with lemon wedges on the side (to squeeze on top).





I love how caramelized the butternut squash is. It really blends quite well with
the tofu. I decided not to add too much additional toppings for 2 reasons -
sometimes to buy some ingredients and then not use the rest of it is like
wastage to me since I don't cook everyday and also, I like to eat it as it is
without too much frills. And yes, this dish is as good as it looks even without
the frills.


I also made some mushroom garlic quinoa to go with it.





I never expected a vegan dish like this to taste pretty good. I think this made
me look at other Heidi's recipes. But of course, the truth is, we ate all of
these with a roast chicken leg each. It completes our meal for us. Very yummy
and filling for sure.


I'm submitting this post to I Heart Cooking Clubs.




at 6:58 AM No comments:
Email ThisBlogThis!Share to TwitterShare to FacebookShare to Pinterest
Labels: cooking, I Heart Cooking Clubs



SUNDAY, OCTOBER 30, 2016


CHOCOLATE POUND CAKE


It has been sometime since I last baked a chocolate cake and then I realised
hey, Donna also bakes pretty decent cakes apart from Nigella. Oops!! And then I
found this chocolate pound cake recipe from Donna. Apparently it has very good
reviews so why talk further??


Let's check out this recipe from Donna.


Ingredients:
 * 1 cup (100g) cocoa powder, sifted
 * ⅔ cup (180ml) boiling water
 * 250g unsalted butter, softened
 * 1 cup (220g) caster (superfine) sugar
 * ⅔ cup (120g) brown sugar
 * 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
 * 5 eggs
 * 1 cup (150g) plain (all-purpose) flour

Chocolate glaze
 * 100g dark chocolate
 * 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
 * ¼ cup (60ml) single (pouring) cream

Method:
Preheat oven to 160°C (325°F). Place the cocoa and boiling water in a bowl and
mix until smooth. Set aside. Place the butter and both brown and white sugar
together and beat on high speed for 6 minutes or until light and creamy.  Add
the vanilla extract, eggs and cocoa mixture and beat until well combined. Add
the flour and mix until just combined. Pour the mixture into a lightly greased
21cm x 10cm loaf tin lined with non-stick baking paper. I do without the
non-stick baking paper to avoid drawing and cutting the paper and it works just
fine. I'm probably the laziest baker around :P Bake for 1 hour 10 minutes or
until cooked when tested with a skewer. I baked it for 1 hour.* Cool in the tin
for 5 minutes before turning out on to a wire rack to cool completely. To make
the chocolate glaze, place the chocolate, vanilla and cream in a small saucepan
over low heat and stir until smooth. Cool slightly before spreading over the
cooled cake to serve.

*Tip: Remember not to overbake chocolate. When you remove the skewer from the
cake, the cake crumbs should still be a tad wet and the skewer should not be
totally dry. The reason is because the chocolate will still continue to cook
inside the cake even if it is out of the oven.




Now does this even look delectable to you? Honestly even the crumbs taste so
good that I cannot even stop myself from slicing it immediately just so I could
taste 1 slice of it. However, I thought the glaze could have been better if I
had more time :P Yes I was doing the glaze just before going to work. Oops!!


So a few days later, I baked this same chocolate pound cake upon the request of
one of my girlfriends. 





Forgive me for the lighting but trust me, apart from that, the taste has not
been compromised at all. It is very scrumptious. I'm definitely going to bake
this every now and then whenever I crave chocolate :):)


Needless to say, Mr G told me to 'keep it coming'. HAHA!!


I'm submitting this to I Heart Cooking Clubs October Potluck.






at 8:31 AM 1 comment:
Email ThisBlogThis!Share to TwitterShare to FacebookShare to Pinterest
Labels: baking, I Heart Cooking Clubs



SUNDAY, OCTOBER 2, 2016


PIRI PIRI CHICKEN


When I saw Curtis Stone's Piri Piri chicken recipe, it gave me an inspiration.
However, I decided to do it in a whole chicken version instead of skewers like
his so we can eat it with our bare hands since I know it would be fingerlicking
good.


Generally, I use the ingredients he used but different proportions. It works
fine for me :)

Ingredients:


10 to 15 dried chillies (I rehydrated them with hot water and then cut into 1
inch pieces each)
2 tbsp red wine vinegar
5 to 10 garlic cloves
1/4 to 1/2 tsp salt
50ml olive oil
juice of 2 lemons
1-2 tsp dried oregano
1 spring chicken, innards all cleaned


Method:


 1. Blend the dried chillies, garlic cloves, olive oil and dried oregano
    together. Then add red wine vinegar and lemon juice.
 2. Clean and pat the chicken dry. Cover the chicken with the marinade. Don't
    forget the cavity as well.
 3. Marinate it for at least 4 hours and best, overnight in the fridge.
 4. Preheat oven to 180 degrees celsius.
 5. Put the chicken in the roasting tin and coat some of the leftover marinade
    on top of the chicken. Bake it for about 80 minutes.
 6. At every 20 minute interval, turn over the chicken and add more marinade to
    make the chicken moist.



All Mr G needed to say was, please make this again soon. I knew it was
everything that he liked - moist chicken, spicy flavours. If these are also what
you are looking for, try this too. So easy you need not spend the whole weekend
in the kitchen just prepping this for dinner.

To recap, I have made several dishes with Curtis Stone during his stay with us
at I Heart Cooking Clubs.





Chicken cacciatore





Cider-Dijon Pork Chops with Roasted Sweet Potatoes and Apples 





Quinoa bowl with roast pork belly, brussel sprouts and butternut squash





Curry wings


It was sad that due to personal reasons this time round, I could only make 4
dishes with Curtis. However, I have also made some other dishes with Curtis
previously below too. You may be keen to make some of them too.





Sticky Chicken Drumsticks





Look at the banana bread!!





Peanut Butter Cookies with Chocolate Chunks





Oven-roasted Salmon with Cauliflower and Mushrooms





This chocolate bread pudding!! I cannot resist it for sure.





Grilled Ginger-Sesame Chicken salad





Roasted chicken and asparagus with rice pilaf





Panfried salmon with broccolini and orange reduction


Having seen so much pictures of Curtis Stone's food, do you actually have an
idea about the type of food he loves to cook? It is like a genre of music
literally but this being, a genre of food he does. To me, the food he does
spells every bit about home. Perhaps it could be because Curtis is a father of
two now. He will usually cook for them when he is home. That said, I also hope
to continue doing a lot more cooking or baking at home not just to satisfy the
hungry tums but also to bring smiles to the faces :)

I'm submitting this post to I Heart Cooking Clubs as we are bidding farewell to
Curtis Stone before we welcome Heidi Swanson.


 

at 7:55 AM 12 comments:
Email ThisBlogThis!Share to TwitterShare to FacebookShare to Pinterest
Labels: cooking, I Heart Cooking Clubs

Older Posts Home

Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)



RECIPE INDEX

Bread/Rolls Banana Bread (Curtis Stone) Nigella's Banana Bread Banana Cake
Banana Macadamia Nut Bread Banana Nut Bread Chocolate Bread Pudding Gruyere
Brioche Bread Rosemary Buttered Rolls Breakfast Breakfast Muffins Char Koay Kak
Char Siew Pastry or Asian Pasties Lao Po Bing or Wife's Cake Oaty Hotcakes with
Caramel Bananas Yam Cake I Yam Cake II Cakes Almond Crusted Butter Cake
Apple-Walnut Mosaic Coffee Cake Banana and Macadamia Nut Chiffon Cake Banana
Cake Black and White Cake Butterscotch Cream Roll-up Butter Banana Cake Castella
Cake Camomile Chiffon Cake Chocolate Almond Souffle Cake Chocolate Fudge Cake
Chocolate Guinness Cake Cranberry Pecan Orange Cake Dark Chocolate-Almond Cake
Dense Chocolate Loaf Cake Essence of Orange-Chocolate Wafer Cake Flourless
Chocolate Cake Ham and Cheese Chiffon Cake Honey Bee Cake Honey Vanilla Pound
Cake Japanese Cheesecake Lemon and Almond Streamliner Cake Lemon Syrup Cake
Lemon Velvet Squares Lovelight Chocolate Chiffon Cake Madeira Cake Mango Mousse
Cake Maple Pecan Chiffon Cake Lemon-glazed buttermilk bundt cake No Bake
Blueberry Cheesecake Old Fashioned Chocolate Cupcakes Old Fashioned Pound Cake
with Chocolate Chips Orange Yoghurt Cake Orange-Frosted Sponge Cake Peach Almond
Coffee Cake Pound Cake Red Velvet Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting The RVC Rich
Marble Pound Cake Rosemary-Lemon Polenta Cake Shoo-fly Whoopie Pie Sour Cream
Chocolate Loaf Sour Cream Marble Cake Steamed Pandan Cakes Strawberry Shortcake
Sweet Corn Chiffon Cake The Pink Cake Tiramisu Cake Cookies Almond Cranberry
Cookies Brownie Drops Chocolate Brownie Cookies Chocolate Chip Cookies #1
Chocolate Chip Cookies #2 Chocolate Chip Cookies 1.0 Chocolate Chip Cookies 2.0
Chocolate Chunk Cookies Chunky Lola Cookies Cocoa Tuiles Earl Grey Tea Cookies
Marbled Butter Cookies Melting Moments 1.0 Oatmeal Raisin Cookies Orange Blossom
Honey Madeleines Peanut Butter Cookies Peanut Butter Cookies with Chocolate
Chunks Pineapple Tarts (enclosed version) Pistachio Cookies THE Totally
Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies Vanilla malted cookies Cupcakes, Muffins &
Brownies Applesauce Spice Cake Awesome-est Blueberry Muffins Banana, Macadamia
Nut and Choc Chip Muffins Banana Muffins with Chocolate Chips Berry Yoghurt
Muffins Breakfast Muffins Brownie 2.0 Brownie 3.0 Celebration Cupcakes Chocolate
Banana Muffins Chocolate Orange Cake Chocolate Guinness Cupcakes with Cream
Cheese Frosting Jam Doughnut Muffins Mississippi Mud Cupcakes with Fudge
Frosting Old-fashioned Banana Walnut Cupcakes Desserts (Others) Baked Fudge
Chilled Caramelised Oranges with Greek Yoghurt Harum Manis Sticky Toffee Pudding
Strawberry Tarte Tartin Drinks Pandan Lemongrass Drink Eggs Gruyere Cheese
Souffle Perfect Scrambled Eggs Red and Green Frittata Main dish - Vegetable
Asian salad Creamy Coleslaw Grilled ginger-sesame chicken salad Lemon and
Rosemary Roast Potato salad Pasta Salad Roasted Pumpkin with Garlic and Thyme
Spinach Ohitashi Sweet and Spicy Roasted Vegetables Stir Fried Cabbage with
Fennel Seeds Vinaigrette in a Jar Main dish - Poultry/Meat/Seafood Baked Chicken
Curry Baked Beef Curry Beef stew in red wine sauce Beer Butt Chicken Braised
Pork Ribs with Pumpkin Budae Jijae Chicken Cacciatore Chicken Baked with 30
cloves of garlic Chicken in milk Chicken in vinegar Chicken with leeks and lemon
Coq Qu Bordeaux Curry Beef with Candlenuts Curry Squid Dakbokkeumtang Dak Galbi
Dakjjim Simple Goan Fish Curry Grilled Chicken Kebabs Gulai Ayam Japchae Keralan
Fish Curry Malaysian Curry Chicken Maple Chicken 'N' Ribs Mirin glazed salmon
Miso chicken Oven-Roasted Salmon with cauliflower and mushrooms Pan fried salmon
with broccolini and orange sauce Pork Tenderloin with Apples and Onions Pork
Vindaloo Roasted Chicken and Asparagus with Rice Pilaf Roasted Chicken with
Mustard and Garlic Roasted Yoghurt Marinated Chicken Saturday Night Beef Stew
Sauteed Chicken with Garlic Parsley with Pasta Singapore Chilli Crab Sticky
Chicken Drumsticks Sweet and Sticky Ribs Thai Roast Chicken Curry Main dish -
Rice/Noodles Japanese Pork Curry Donburi Japchae I Meatzza Nasi Goreng Okayodon
Paella Pasta Salad Pumpkin Pork Rice Roasted Chicken and Asparagus with Rice
Pilaf Rudolph Pie (Christmas Shepherd's Pie) Sauteed Chicken with Garlic Parsley
with Pasta Singapore Hokkien Mee Thai Mussels with Coconut, Chilli and Lime
Yakisoba Pies/Tarts Chocolate Tart Rudolph Pie Shepherd's Pie Shepherd's Pie 2.0
Rice/Noodles Japanese Pork Curry Donburi Lemon Rice Okayodon Starter/Sides Asian
Chicken Livers Crisp and crunchy onion rings Glazed sausage bits Grilled
ginger-sesame chicken salad Japchae Roasted Garlic Mashed Potatoes Pasta Salad
Prawn Cake Stewed Pork Rice Vermicelli or Beehoon Thai Minced Pork Omelette
Soups Tom Yum Soup



FACEBOOK BADGE

Grace Phua

Create Your Badge



SEE ME ON INSTAGRAM!





FOODIEBLOGROLL