Easy Chocolate Cupcakes

That day my friend craved for chocolate cakes(due to PMS) but I was not. After a week, my turn to crave for chocolate cakes. So I searched around for easy to make chocolate cake that no need to use electric mixer(because I'm lazy, ha!) and this is the recipe I followed(I used half of the ingredients):

(adopted from Martha Stewart recipe)

Ingredients:(make 15 small cupcakes)
1/3 cup (36g) unsweetened cocoa powder
3/4 cup (82.5g) all purpose flour (I used cake flour)
3/4 cups icing sugar (I used 1/2 cups=60g)
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/3 tsp baking powder
1/3 tsp salt
1 egg
1/3 cup (80g) warm water
1/3 cup buttermilk (I used low fat milk + 1 tsp white vinegar)
1 1/2 tbs safflower oil( I used vegetable oil)
1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract (I used vanilla essence)

Method:
1. Preheat oven at 175 degree C.
2. Sift all dry ingredients: cocoa powder, flour, sugar, salt, baking soda and baking powder in a big bowl.
3. Add egg, warm water, milk, oil and vanilla essence, mix well and stir till smooth, about 3 minutes.
4. Pour mixture in piping bag and fill cup 3/4 full.
4. Bake for 20 minutes, till tops spring back when touched.
5. Transfer to a wire rack , let cool completely.

Verdict: I like it not too sweet and the heavenly chocolate aroma, it really reminds me of awfully chocolate cake. It definitely fulfilled my craving and I am happy now. ;)

P.S: no frosting for me, so I added some almond slices as decoration and give some crunch.

Not sure if this recipe passed this month Aspiring Bakers: enjoy cupcakes! Criteria, I still try and submit this post to Aspiring Bakers #13: Enjoy Cupcakes! (November 2011) hosted by Min of Min's Blog.

Lemon Yuzu Cupcakes

Recently I bought a packet of Marigold Peel Fresh Yuzu juice. And thinking I can substitute lemon juice with Yuzu juice (both are from citrus fruits) if i am baking lemon cupcakes. So I adopted recipe from 爱丝特 and modified from there:

Ingredients: (make 15 small cupcakes)
100g margarine
60g caster sugar
2 eggs
120g top flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
Pinch of salt
1/2 potion of lemon peel (fine chopped)
1/2 tbsp +1/2 tsp Yuzu juice

Method:
1. Beat margarine till smooth.
2. Add half potion of sugar each time, till mixture turn slightly pale.
3. Add egg, pour 1/4 potion each time till mix well.
4. Add sifted top flour, baking powder and salt. Use spatula to mix well.
5. Add lemon peel and Yuzu juice, mix well.
6. Fill 3/4 cup full and put in preheated oven at 160 degree, bake for 20 minutes.
7. Cool on rack and ready to serve.

I go less with sugar(adopted recipe use 100g), and substitute with 1/2 tsp more Yuzu juice(adopted recipe only use 1 tbsp of juice), in hope of "borrow" the sweetness from the juice.
I like the fluffy texture! Also each bite With lemon peel bits. Yuzu juice does give a hint of yuzu flavour to the cake, and it complimented the lemon peel bits and gave out a nice citrus aroma.

I have contributed this post to Aspiring Bakers #13: Enjoy Cupcakes! (November 2011) hosted by Min of Min's Blog.

Rice Wine Prawns 烧酒虾

我和另一半都喜欢吃虾。我尤其喜欢吃好到吮手指的烧酒虾；他则特别喜欢麦片虾。最近在“吃饭皇帝大”节目中学到如何煮烧酒虾，原来并不难。我以厨房有的材料加以变化，味道还真不错。食谱如下：

材料：
虾 15个
米酒 3大匙
姜 2-3片
蒜 1-2个（拍扁）
枸杞子 2小匙 （先泡水软化）
盐 少许

方法：
⒈ 先将洗净去肠的鲜虾用盐和胡椒粉腌过。
⒉ 在平底锅内烧热米酒。
⒊ 待酒烧热后，加姜片和蒜片，继续烧至散发香气。
⒋ 加枸杞子，并把虾放入。盖上盖子小火焖煮1至2分钟。
⒌ 开盖，虾翻面，煮熟。
⒍ 最后加点盐。试味。不够的话，可加多一点。
⒎ 加点葱花点缀，趁热上桌即可。

Fruit Tea Cupcakes

After baking banana cupcakes, i have more confidence in baking more cupcakes, and try out new recipes, this time i adopted recipe from 爱丝特 and modified from there:

Ingredients: (make 15 small cupcakes)
2 Fruit tea teabags
30g low fat milk
1 egg
50g Caster sugar
50g vegetable oil
100g top flour
1 tsp baking powder

Method:
1. Remove tea leaves from teabags. Soak tea leaves in milk for 10 minutes or more.
2. Beat egg and sugar till smooth and slightly pale.
3. Add milk with tea leaves and mix well.
4. Add sifted top flour and baking powder, mix well.
5. Add vegetable oil and mixed well.
6. Fill each cup 3/4 full. Put in preheated oven at 160 degree for 20 minutes.
7. Cool on rack and ready to serve.

I used fruit tea instead of Earl grey tea as I have a box of fruit tea teabag in my kitchen cabinet that's still not opened. And also this is my first time using tea in cupcakes, I want to see how well it turned out. Surprisingly, it turned out quite well, very spongy and has very nice berry aroma. I don't like to add frosting on top as i find frosting too sweet, so I sprinkled some mixed seeds instead.

I have contributed this post to Aspiring Bakers #13: Enjoy Cupcakes! (November 2011) hosted by Min of Min's Blog.

Banana Cupcakes

Before baking these banana cupcakes, I actually encountered a few failure, either the top part was too hard or the centre part sunken in. Thanks to this month aspiring bakers theme: enjoy cupcakes! I give myself more reason to challenge cupcakes. And thanks to min(the host for this theme)and her encouragement, I give myself target to come out with at least 1 good entry to participate.

This time I adopted recipe from abbymonster and replicated from there:

Ingredients: (make 10 cupcakes)
100g top flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 egg
60g caster sugar
1 banana (equivalent to 120-130g)
60g vegetable oil
30ml low fat milk
1/8 tsp salt
Chocolate chip for decoration

Method:
1. Use fork to mash banana.
2. Sift top flour and baking powder.
3. Beat egg and sugar till smooth and slightly pale.
4. Add mashed banana, milk and salt, mix well.
5. Add sifted flour and baking powder, mix well.
6. Add vegetable oil and stir well.
7. Fill each cup 3/4 full. Top with chocolate chips.
8. Put in preheated oven at 180 degree and bake for 20 minutes.
9. Cool on rack and ready to serve.

These cupcakes turned out well! soft texture and nice banana flavour! It gives me confidence to bake some more cupcakes! thanks to abbymonster's reliable recipe!

I have contributed this post to Aspiring Bakers #13: Enjoy Cupcakes! (November 2011) hosted by Min of Min's Blog.

Egg with Chive, Cai Bo and pork floss

I had some chives（韭菜）in the fridge, so I decided to use chives, and some dried radish（菜脯）to fry egg. Once the egg was done, I sprinkled some pork floss on top. As I used 3 ingredients for this egg, I called it a 3 star egg.
it was a very easy comfort home cooked food, can eat it on its own or serve with porridge or rice.

Ingredients:
2 stalks of chives (chopped)
2 eggs
1/2 tbs Cai Bo (wash and soak for 5 min)
1 tbs pork floss
A little Soy sauce and pepper

Method:
1. Beat egg in a bowl. Add chopped chive and Cai Bo. Stir well with fork.
2. Add pepper and some soy sauce to taste.
3. Heat pan with vegetable oil. Once hot, pour egg in.
4. Swirl pan and let egg set.
5. Lower the heat, Turn egg over and cook well.
6. Serve on a plate and top with pork floss.

Red Bean Soup

I like my red bean soup with a hint of dried orange peel taste and fragrance. The Cantonese way. So I decided to make my own -- with more punch of dried orange peel.
You can omit dried orange peel if you don't like it.

Ingredients:
90gm red bean (washed)
5 cups of water
5 slices of dried orange peel(washed)
70gm of rock sugar
Some pandan sago (for slight pandan flavor)

Method:
1. Put red bean, dried orange peel and water into a rice cooker. Set to "cook" mode, Cover lid and simmer.
2. Simmer for 1 hour, Stir occasionally. Cook till red bean soften and break apart and soup turn reddish.
3. Add 1 cup of water and rinsed sago and rock sugar. Stir well and continue to boil till sugar dissolved and sago turn transparent.
4. Put to "warm" mode. Cover lid and continue to simmer.
5. After 15 minute it's ready to serve.

Luncheon Meat Fried Rice

对飞机餐没有太大的期望，也就没有太大的惊喜和期待。最近，坐了目前生平最长的一次飞机，来回长达56小时！一趟27小时，就吃了5次飞机餐！因为知道到了美国一定餐餐吃西餐，所以在飞机上全程选中餐或亚洲餐。其中一餐我只有两个选择：烤鸡或炒饭。乘上桌的炒饭没有其他配菜，只有杂菜和蛋炒的饭。凭卖相，本以为淡而无味，但却出乎我意料的香。我一口气吃完，这也是我在飞机上这56个小时里吃过最好吃的飞机餐！

回来后，还对SQ的炒饭念念不忘，想再重温当时的味道，所以去NTUC买了冷冻杂菜包，希望能够炒回当时的味道。（看以下食谱）
对这次的炒饭非常满意！之前都炒不出这样的水准！而且跟我在飞机上吃的炒饭是一摸摸一样样！（我还加料：午餐肉）太好吃了！下次我要煮给妈妈吃。在此也希望跟你分享这份喜悦！

Recently I flew to US by SQ, to and fro on the plane for almost 56 hours, and had a total of 10 meals! On my way to US, I asked for fried rice. When served, the main was just mixed veg fried rice with egg and nothing else. I thought it will taste bland, but to my surprise it was quite fragrant and tasty! And it was the best meal among all plane food that I had during that 56 hours.
It was so unforgettable and I wanted to bring back the same flavor when I came back to Singapore. So i bought mixed veg from NTUC and cooked luncheon meat fried rice.

Ingredients:
2 tbs of mixed veg
1 slice of luncheon meat (diced)
2 bowls of cooked rice
1 egg
1 tbs oyster sauce
A pinch of garlic powder, white pepper and some fish sauce to taste

Method:
1. Fried egg to just cook, set aside.
2. Boil mixed vegetable in water with a pinch of salt and olive oil, till soft and cooked. Set aside.
3. Fried luncheon meat dices till crispy.
4. Add mixed vegetable and fried with garlic powder and oyster sauce till fragrant.
5. Add rice and fried egg, stir well.
6. Sprinkle white pepper and fish sauce and stir fried till fragrant.
7. Ready to serve.

I am so proud of myself! because this is exactly how SQ fried rice tasted like, with added ingredient:luncheon meat! Will cooked this again for my mom.