Fruity Home-made Pizza

Sunday lunches are always a mad rush for us as the 2 girls have their swimming / Chinese enrichment and keyboard lessons all on Sunday between 11am and 3.30pm.

Hence, we usually have simple, quick to prepare and eat lunches at home, after the swimming lesson, before we rush out for the next lesson. Yesterday, the girls wanted pasta. I cooked the cute safari animal pasta with store-bought tomato pasta sauce. See the pictures of the pre-cooked pasta, they are so cute, right? Not only good to see, they are nice to eat too.

With the 1/4 bottle leftover pasta sauce, I decided to make pizza for dinner tonight, since it has been a long time I last made pizza.

Both girls dislike onions, olive and pepperoni. Usually when we have pizzas at pizza hut, they will carefully pick these toppings out and eat with "care" in order not to accidentally swallow any of these items. Hence, eating pizza outside if not a total enjoyment for them. To allow them to enjoy their pizzas, I do not add these items and instead, I always add my secret weapon, one that make many can't associate it with pizza. That is, Rambutan, not the fresh fruit but the canned rambutan that comes with pineapple in syrup. It may sound weird but the rambutan toppings make the pizza tasted sweet and appetizing, very appealing to kids, and adults too :)

Here is my recipe for the Fruity Home-made Pizza:

Pizza Dough Ingredients

• 1 packet Active Dry Yeast
• 3/4 cup warm water (60 deg C)
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 3/4 cup all-purpose / bread flour
• 1 tsp salt

Pizza Sauce Ingredients

• 1/2 cup tomato paste
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 tsp dried Italian herb

Preparation for sauce: mix all ingredients together, leave in fridge for about 30 min before use.

(Note: I usually make my own pizza sauce with the above ingredients but i simply used the left over  pasta sauce this time)

Pizza Topping Ingredients

• 1/4 can Rambutan in syrup
• 1/4 can Pineapple in syrup
• 1/2 can button mushroom
• Chicken ham
• Taiwan chicken sausage (low fat)
• Cherry honey tomatoes
• Shredded cheese

Preparation for toppings: discard the syrup, slightly squeeze the rambutan and pineapple to dry away the syrup, slice all the topping ingredients, except the shredded cheese

Methods 

1. Whisk yeast, warm water, sugar and olive oil in a bowl. Let sit for 3 min
2. Whisk flour and salt together
3. Mix yeast mixture into the flour until combined and dough barely hold together
4. Turn dough out on a dusted surface and knead the dough until smooth and elastic, about 10 min
5. Place the dough in a oiled bowl, cover with tower and let rise until it doubled in size, about 1-2 hours
6. Punch dough down and divide into 2 equal pieces. Knead each slightly to form a ball, set aside and cover with tower for 30 min
7. Roll dough into 10-inches diameter, about 1/2 inch in thickness
8. Brush a layer of tomato sauce / pasta sauce, add cheese, then the toppings, followed by another layer of cheese
9. Bake in the oven at 240 degree C for 10-12 min

Enjoy the fresh home-made pizza with a hint of sweetness from the rambutans and pineapple toppings  :)

This is for Aspiring Bakers #5 : Fruity March (March 2011) hosted by Jess @ Bakericious.

Apple & Blueberry Cake, Take 2

After I posted my last Apple & Blueberry Cake on my Facebook, a few colleagues who saw it left comments on my Facebook to "place order" . Since we had another farewell session [yes, another farwell for a close colleague :( ] in the office yesterday, I baked this Apple & Blueberry Cake the night before for the  farewell tea party for them to try it.

This time, I baked it as a ring cake and it took a shorter time of only 35 minutes to came out ncie and golden from the oven.

The cake was gone after a short while and all who managed to get a piece of the cake gave a thumb up to the moist and crunchy (because of the apple slices) cake. The main lady of the farewell session had 2 pieces herself!

Here is the refreshed recipe of this Apple & Blueberry Cake:

(adapted from Piggys' Cooking Journal)


Ingredients:

• 140g unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 80g castor sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 145g self-raising flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 2-3 tablespoons low fat yogurt
• 1 apple, peeled, cored and cut into slices
• 40-50 blueberries (I just throw in the whole package of the berries)

Baking Steps:

1. Preheat oven to 170 deg C. Grease and spread some flour over the base and side of a ring pan (with removable base)
2. Beat butter and sugar with an electric mixer until pale and fluffy. Beat the eggs into the batter, follow by vanilla extract. Mix until just combine
3. Mix in yogurt, sieved flour and baking powder. Mix until the flour just disappear from the batter
4. Add in blueberries and mix slightly to combine
5. Transfer the batter into the  pan. Arrange apples slices on top, press slightly into the batter
6. Bake in the pre-heated oven for 35 minutes, or until a skewer inserted in the center of the cake turns out clean. Remove from oven, let the cakes cool in the pan for around 10 minutes before lifting it up and cool on wire rack.


I am linking this post to Sweets For Saturday #10

Ayam Percik

Cooked this Ayam Percik  and a Chocolate Swirl Cheesecake on Sunday for dinner at mum's place as a surprise birthday celebration for dearest mummy.

All at home enjoyed this Malaysian-style grilled chicken very much. The marinate mix has done a great job to make the chicken meat juicy, tender and....yummy-licious. It's also very easy to assemble and cook, in comparison with some complex and time-consuming Malaysian dishes.

Ayam Percik Recipe

(adapted from My Kitchen Snippets with slight modifications)

Ingredients:

• 3 chicken thighs and 10 mid-wings
• 2 tsp tamarind (Assam) paste
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1 packet (200ml) low fat coconut milk
• 2 tbsp light soya sauce

 Spice:

• 6 pieces buah keras (candlenuts)
• 8 cloves of Garlic
• 3 tbsp sambal chili paste
• 2” ginger, sliced
• 3 stalks lemongrass – sliced thinly

 Cooking Steps:

1. Clean the chicken and pat dry with paper towel
2. Blend the spice ingredients in a blender till paste form
3. Mix the spice paste with the rest of the ingredients together in a mixing bowl
4. Add the chicken and marinate for at least 3 hours
5. Place the chicken pieces in a roasting pan lined with aluminium foil, pour half of the marinates over the chicken pieces
6. Roast for 20 minutes at 200 deg C. Turn the chicken pieces over and bast them with the remaining marinates
7. Bake for another 20 minutes or until the chicken pieces are cooked and turned golden brown
8. Serve hot with rice

And, this is the Chocolate Swirl Cheesecake, decorated with fresh strawberries. Recipe adapted from Bakericious but I halved the quantity.

 



Mushi-Pan (Steamed Green Tea Cake)

I feel very sorry for the Japanese kids when I read this news article in TODAY paper - Students left waiting in school for parents who may never turn up. Many of these young elementary school kids are still waiting in their school for their parents to bring them home. There is no electricity, heating or running water and food. I sincerely hope that all the aids and food supplies will reach them soon and most (if not all) of them can be re-united with their parents eventually.

This post is dedicated to these kids - Japanese Mushi-Pan / Steamed Cake.

 

Ingredients

(yield 6 soufflé paper cups)

(A)
1/4 cup sugar
2 eggs

(B)
50g canola oil
135ml low fat milk

(C)
150g self-raising flour
1 tsp green tea powder

Steps 1. Beat (A) with an electric beater until double in size.
2. Add (B), whisk to combine.
3. In another bowl, sieve (C) and mix to combine them.
4. Sieve (C) again, into the wet mixture. Mix until incorporated.
5. Pour into soufflé paper cups and steam on high heat for 15 minutes.

 This is best eaten when it is still steamy warm but will remain soft even on the next day.

Apple And Blueberry Cake

This is my bake for the weekend before we go away for our short family holiday on early Sunday morning. It's school break, Hurray!!

I like to bake with fruit. Especially apples, blueberries, bananas, mangoes and peaches. This is clearly reflected from my baking posts - most (if not all) are fruit related. After all, fruit add moist and provide natural sweetness to the cakes and allow me to reduce the butter and sugar used in my baking. This Apple & Blueberry Cake is no exception. The sweetness of apple and blueberries, the crunchy-ness of apples add characteristics to this cake. 

This is for Aspiring Bakers #5 : Fruity March (March 2011) hosted by Jess @ Bakericious.

Apple & Blueberry Cake Recipe

(adapted from PiggysCooking's Nectarine & Blueberry Cake, I doubled the portion for a 23 cm loaf pan)

Ingredients:

• 140g unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 50g Fruit Sugar (or about 100g castor sugar)
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 144g self-raising flour
• 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 3 tablespoons low fat yogurt
• 1 apple, peeled, cored and cut into slices
• about 40 blueberries

Baking Steps:

1.  Preheat oven to 170 deg C. Grease and line baking paper in a loaf pan
2. Beat butter and sugar with an electric mixer until pale and fluffy. Beat the eggs into the batter, follow by vanilla extract. Mix until just combine
3. Mix in yogurt, sieved flour and baking powder. Mix until the flour just disappear from the batter
4. Add in blueberries and mix slightly to combine
5. Transfer the batter into the loaf pan. Arrange apples slices on top, press slightly into the batter
6. Bake in the pre-heated oven for 50 minutes, or until a skewer inserted in the center of the cake turns out clean. Remove from oven, let the cakes cool in the pan for around 10 minutes before lifting it up and cool on wire rack.

Enjoy the moist cake!

Banana Cake with Sour Cream

Finally, I tried out the Banana Cake with Sour Cream recipe which I’ve seen in Precious Moments, j3sskitch3n and Tested & Tasted.

The result? Super-delicious! Not only that its texture is moist, it tasted differently from the usual banana cakes that I have baked in the past too. The sour cream has really done wonder to the cake. Brought some to share with the colleagues in the office and the cake was a hit! I already promised some of them that I will make another one to share with them on the coming Monday morning. J

I never like to eat Banana on its own but I always buy bananas for the family. Every time when there are left over ripe bananas hanging there, I will be very happy in my heart, as I get to keep them in the freezer for my next batch of banana cake. I simply like banana in my cake J

I am submitting this to Aspiring Bakers #5 : Fruity March (March 2011) hosted by Bakericious.

Here is my recipe for this Banana Cake with Sour Cream which I have made slight adjustments from the originals:

Ingredients:

•  2 ripe bananas, mashed (as usual, I used my frozen bananas, just defrost, skin them and mash them with a fork. My younger girl likes to help me with this chore)
• 110g unsalted butter + 40g canola oil, as I ran out of butter [instead of 150g butter]
• 180g castor sugar [instead of 230g]
• 50g ground almonds [instead of ground hazelnuts]
• 2 eggs, lightly beaten
• 175g plain flour
• 1/2 tsp salt [instead of 1 tsp]
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 133g sour cream

 Baking Steps:

1. Grease an 18 by 7 by 8 cm deep loaf tin and line with baking paper
2. Sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside
3. Preheat oven to 170 degree C
4. Cream butter and sugar till light and fluffy
5. Add in ground almonds and followed by eggs. Add in canola oil. Mix well
6. Add in flour mixture and mix well together
7. Mix in the sour cream and finally add in the mashed bananas. Lightly mix to combine (I used hand-held mixer to mix at low speed after addition of each ingredient)
8. Pour into the baking tin and bake for 30 mins or more till done

 Notes: I covered the top of the cake with aluminum foil after 20 mins to prevent the top from over baking and continue baking it for another 15 mins, until a knife inserted in it come out clean.

Chocolate Chip Mint Cookies - the lizard likes them too!

I baked this Chocolate Chip Mint Cookies over the weekend at the request of my daughter who has finally fully recovered from her bad cough. This is a reward for scoring full mark in her maths test. Good job, girl!

This is the second (oh, in fact third time, see the story below) I baked this cookies using the recipe from 101cookbooks (original source: David Lebovitz's Great Book of Chocolate Recipe).

The first time when I baked the cookies two months ago, we did not get a chance to taste them before the  the lizard did!  I had left the warm cookies in the box half-covered to let them cool down while we went out for dinner. After dinner, the girls were so eager to get home for the cookies. While I was still closing the door behind me, the younger girl had jumped up the dinning chair to reach out for the cookies, then she screamed "There is a big lizard in the cookies!" And, indeed, there was a big lizard laying cosily in the bed of warm cookies, taking a rest after having its  big feast?? I quickly poured the entire box of cookies together with the lizard, into a trash bag and threw it down the rubbish chute. :( The girls were so upset and kept blaming the lizard for depriving them of the cookies. To comfort them, I baked them another batch the very next day.

This third time, I tweaked the recipe by adding mint essence as elder daughter has been asking for mint cookies for a while. They loved these very much, and brought some to share with their school friends on Monday morning too. Now the box is empty again, waiting for me to replenish with more cookies.

Here is the adapted recipe for Chocolate Chip Mint Cookies:

(for original recipe: 101cookbooks )

• 120 grams raw sugar
• 115 grams unsalted cold butter cut into small pieces
• 1 egg at room temperature
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon mint essence
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 175 grams all-purpose flour
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 150 grams Hersheys' mini semisweet chocolate chips

1. Beat the sugar and butter together until creamy and smooth
2. Mix in the egg, vanilla extract, mint essence and baking soda
3. Stir together the flour and salt, then mix them into the batter
4. Mix in the chocolate chips
5. Scoop the cookie dough into 1 tablespoon balls  and place on  the baking pan lined with baking paper. Space out the cookies (4 inch apart) to allow room to spread. (About 18 cookies)
6. Bake in preheated oven at 150 degree at the top tier of the oven rack, for 18 minutes or until the cookies turn into pale golden brown colour
7. Remove from the oven and cool them on a wire rack before storing them in airtight container

PS: The cookies are very tempting to the lizards, so make sure you keep them safely :P