favourite recipes for everyday cooking and baking

It was a bright and sunny Sunday morning. I was riding in the car when this song started playing on the radio:   Whatever I said, whatever I did I didn't mean it, I just want you back for good, (Want you back, want you back, want you back for good...)   Does that sound familiar? Well, Take That! Listening to the song evoked memories from my 21st birthday which I celebrated with my college friends. I still have photos from that day, when I had my first go at ice-skating and ended up with cuts and grazes from constantly breaking my fall with my bare hands. A couple of my friends had brought a guitar along and made a notable attempt to serenade me with " Back For Good ", which is why hearing the song again made me feel quite nostalgic. Like music, food can sometimes trigger feelings of nostalgia too. Back in my childhood days, before my cousins and I grew up and went our separate ways, we used to come together during festivities and celebrations, like Chinese New Year, birth

    Have you ever tried salmon with black bean sauce before? Honestly, I never knew salmon could be prepared this way until I found out from some friends that it is a common Chinese dish. I uusally cook salmon with either miso or teriyaki sauce, but with black beans? It actually turned out really good - sweet, salty, smoky (from the beans), with a hit of chilli in there. These flavours are just perfect with a bowl of steamed white rice, and it's all you really need for a satisfying meal. Of course, to make it complete, serve it with a plate of stir-fried asian greens like bok choy or snow pea sprouts. I used fermented black beans that came in a jar, and not the dried ones that come in a packet. You should be able to find them at the Asian supermarket at the aisle where all the sauces and jars of pastes are. I've never tried the dried version before, so I'm not sure if they are any different. The flavours should be similar though. If salmon with black bean sauce is new to yo

I'm thrilled to be writing a post ( sponsored by Nuffnang ) reviewing the newly released DVD, SBS Cooking Titles - " Exploring China - A Culinary Adventure ", featuring Ken Hom and Ching-He Huang . SBS is my go-to for all foodie programs, with my favourite being Food Safari. Showcasing the best in local & international cuisines, SBS is home to a who's who of the food scene – along with Luke Nguyen, Peter Kuruvita, Maeve O'Meara, Tetsuya, Matthew Evans, Adriano Zumbo and many more.  Ken Hom is just one of the SBS chefs and personalities whose wonderful shows are available on DVD. Click here to watch the trailer .    " Exploring China " is a new series which was aired on SBS early this year, and comprises four episodes where Ken and Ching cook their way across China in a visually rich culinary journey. If you missed the premiere of this new series, don't worry because you can now get them on DVD - all four episodes in one! Read on to find out h

  A few weeks ago, I posted a recipe for Mutter Paneer  on my blog, and if you saw the last photo in the post, you would have noticed a plate of unidentified crumbed stuff next to the mutter paneer. Well, I can now reveal that the foreign object that was the subject of curiosity was really crumbed oyster mushrooms! Deep-fried curry-crumbed oyster mushrooms, to be exact. And the things you learn about oyster mushrooms when you're trying to find some inspiration to write about them. Did you know that oyster mushrooms  may be considered a medicinal mushroom since it contains statins which work to reduce bad cholesterol? Wow, that puts eating deep-fried oyster mushrooms into perspective. More for me please! The latin name for oyster mushroom is Pleurotus ostreatus ,  which literally   means "sideways oyster", and refers to the oyster-like shape of the mushroom, plus the fact that the stem grows sideways relative to the cap.   These crumbed fan-shaped mushrooms are crispy wi