favourite recipes for everyday cooking and baking

Loving this simple dish that's kid-friendly, yet perfect for a weeknight family meal if you're looking for something quick and easy to prepare. I love eggs, and especially scrambled eggs . This chicken mince rice bowl is served with an egg crumble, which is made by scrambling the eggs with a pair of chopsticks until it turns into crumbs (of course!). Leftovers also make great lunchboxes for kids the next day. Soboro Don Source: Adam's Big Pot Ingredients 1 tbsp vegetable oil 500g chicken mince ¼ cup soy sauce ¼ cup sake 2 tbsp caster sugar 2 tbsp mirin ¼ cup water 2 cups snow peas, tailed 8 cups steamed short-grain rice, To serve 1 sheet nori, finely sliced, to serve EGG CRUMBLE 4 eggs 2 tbsp mirin 1 tsp caster sugar Method Heat the oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat and add the chicken mince. Fry the mince until it turns white (you don't need to brown it) and add the soy sauce, sake, sugar, mirin and water. Bring to a simmer, stirring occasionally for about 10 m...

Curry puffs are a staple teatime snack in Malaysia and Singapore, along with other tasty favourites such as banana fritters (with chili soy sauce!), sweet potato donuts (and many other deep-fried snacks!). Maybe it's just me, but whenever I'm in Malaysia, I'm constantly eating round the clock - breakfast, mid-morning snack, brunch, lunch, dessert, afternoon tea, evening snack, dinner, snack again followed by supper. Fortunately, there's a wide variety of food to choose from across different cuisines, plus there are different food stalls that operate from early morning till past midnight, and some even over 24 hours. Curry puffs are also known as epok-epok or karipap in Malaysia. I've made various types which you can find here , here  and  here . The recipe below is another version that uses oil and margarine, which gives it a firmer yet crispy texture, and equally delicious. According to my mum, the "makcik" (auntie in Malay) selling curry puff in Malays...

I go through phases once in a while.  When I try a food that I really like and think that I could replicate it at home, I would do tonnes of research on the internet (I can't imagine how that would be possible 20 years ago, thanks Dr Google) and try out different recipes and variations until my mission was complete. To think of those times I had to eat char kuay teow 3 weekends in a row, the different versions of Korean fried chicken I had to go through, and all those swiss rolls and chiffon cakes (the good, the bad and the downright ugly) - I don't know why I do it, but perhaps it's determination, or maybe I just don't know when to stop. This time, I went through a cheesecake phase. Ever since I tried the New York cheesecake from Lorraine's Patisserie , I totally fell in love with its light, fluffy and cloud-like texture. Never mind that the cake was so delicate that it kept falling apart when I tried to slice it. It was like eating cheese-clouds and gingery spiced...

I have a weakness for all things caramelized, golden brown and crispy. Take for example, this Okonomiyaki Pancake-style Gyoza  which was featured in Adam Liaw's Destination Flavour Japan two years ago. How could anyone resist those crispy charred-bottom dumplings doused in Kewpie mayonnaise? Well, certainly not I! Nor could I resist the temptation of the golden crispy dosa that Gary made in his latest cooking show " Far Flung with Gary Mehigan " which started airing on Channel Ten two weeks ago. Dosa is one of my absolute favourite Indian foods, especially crispy paper dosa, which is a very thin and crispy dosa served with sambar and chutney. My trips back to Singapore are never complete without having paper dosa at least once at Little India. And so begins my inaugural attempt at making masala dosa. The most important part of all this is the fermentation of the batter, which mainly made from rice and urad dal. Without adequate fermentation, you won't get the distinc...

I made ricotta cheese. Did you not know you could do that, with only 3 ingredients in less than 10 minutes! And all with curds and whey, I felt like Little Miss Muffet now waiting for a spider to pounce at me. So why make ricotta? Apparently, homemade ricotta gives the cheesecake a fluffier texture, and it did turn out to be light, fluffy and creamy, with a subtle taste of ricotta. I used a gingernut biscuit base just to add some flavour and texture, although you can omit that to make a crustless version. This is not a very sweet cake, unlike your typical New York cheesecake. It's probably closer to a Japanese cheesecake except for the fine graininess of the ricotta. If you like, you can serve it with some berry coulis to satisfy that sweet tooth. I find that the cake tastes best after it has "matured" for up to 3 days in the fridge. The flavours seem to have developed and the texture is somehow creamier too. Ricotta in the making Homemade Ricotta Adapted from Smitten Kit...

I posted a recipe for Ebi Fry  back in February last year (has it been that long??) and I mentioned something about serving the shrimp (or prawn, depending on which country you're from) with thick Japanese curry. Well, it sort of slipped my mind because I was busy trying out other recipes at the time. One year and a bit later, here's the post, and it's still one of my favourite comfort foods, especially now that we're in the middle of winter (Down Under). Crispy and golden panko-crumbed prawns, coated in a thick curry sauce and served with rice, how can anyone resist? Ebi Fry Curry Don Serves 4 You will need: 12 large Ebi Fry (fried shrimp) - click here for recipe 4 serves of cooked short-grained rice 4 serves of Japanese curry (see below for recipe) Japanese curry recipe I used S&B Golden Curry mix  and added chicken, carrots and potatoes. I also added a little honey for a hint of sweetness. Ingredients 2 tbsp vegetable oil or butter 2 medium onions, finely choppe...

When I was little, I used to follow my mum to the Malaysian "wet" market in the mornings, where fresh meat and produce were sold. I have vague memories of those adventures, particularly how "smelly" the place was and I had to hold my breath every time we walked past the chicken section. There must have been hundreds of hens cooped up in their tiny plastic cages, clucking away noisily, awaiting their fate. I would cup my hand over my mouth to "filter" the air so that I didn't inhale any bits of chicken feathers floating around. I was relieved once mum finished her marketing and we could move on to the real purpose of the trip - which was to buy breakfast! There were street vendors outside the market who sold " yu tiao " (deep-fried dough fritters) and " muah chee " (glutinous rice balls with crushed peanuts and sugar) and getting to eat them always made the trip so worth it! I haven't been to a wet market since I came to Sydney. ...