Easy Chinese Old Cucumber Soup ~ Slow Cooker Style

It's another soup day.. and it's Chinese Old Cucumber Soup this round. It's another quick and simple recipe that can be prepared easily.

Preparation Time: 10 minutes
Cooking Time: 4 hours
Serving Size: 4 servings

Ingredients
1 piece of chicken breast with bone (you can opt for chicken bones)
1 old cucumber
1.4 liter of hot water
7 red dates
Optional : 1 medium sized dried scallop for extra taste
A dash of salt for taste

Pre-Steps
1. Wash and clean the chicken
2. Boil the chicken in a pot of hot water for about 5 minutes to remove scums.

3. Remove the chicken and pour the water away.

Steps
1. Wash the old cucumber. Note: we will keep the skin

2. Cut the old cucumber into half length-wise. Then using a spoon, remove the seeds.

3. Cut the cucumber into pieces, about 2 cm thickness.

4. Put the chicken, red dates, old cucumber into a slow cooker pot. Add hot water.

5. Turn on the slow cooker in "Auto" mode and cook for 4 hours.

6. Once done, add some salt to taste. Serve while hot.

Easy Chocolate Bread

We see white bread everywhere, but we seldom come by chocolate bread. Hence, why not make our own. 

Preparation Time: 30 mins (excluding waiting time for the dough to rise)
Cooking Time: 25 mins
Serving Size: 1 loaf of bread

Ingredients
3/4 cup of milk (I used Farmhouse fresh milk)
1 whole egg
3/4 tablepoon of butter at room temperature
1 1/4 tablespoon of sugar
1 teaspoon of yeast
1/4 tablespoon of salt
1 cup of bread flour
1 cup of all purpose flour
additional 1 cup of all purpose flour to be used when kneading
1/5 cup of cocoa powder

Steps
1. Add milk and sugar in a mixing bowl. Warm it up in a microwave for 30 seconds until warm to touch.
2. Add yeast and stir the mixture. Let is stay for about 5 minutes.
3. Add butter, salt and egg into the mixture and continue to stir.
4. Add in the bread flour. Stir until it is mixed well. 
5. Continue to add a cup of all purpose flour and cocoa powder and mix.

6. Once the dough the thick, sprinkle some flour for kneading into the working area. Pour the mixture out onto the working area and start kneading, while continuously adding some flour along the way.

7. Knead for about 5 minutes until it is no longer sticky, yet feels elastic.
8. Move the dough into the bowl. Cover the bowl with cling wrap and allow the dough to rise. This will take about 1 hour.

9. Once the dough has doubled in size, move the dough onto the working bench again. (Remember to sprinkle some flour on the working bench first)

10. Continue to knead the dough. Add some flour if the dough turns too sticky. Knead for about 5 minutes.
11. Grease the loaf pan well. Flatten the dough and then roll the dough into the length of the loaf pan. 

12. Put the dough into the loaf pan and cover it with cling wrap to allow the dough to rise again. This will take about 1 hour.

13. At this time, preheat the oven at 180 degrees Celcius. 
14. Once the dough has risen, remove the cling wrap and put the loaf pan into the oven to start baking. This will bake for 25 minutes.

15. Once done, remove the bread from oven and allow to cool (about 15-20 minutes)

16. Once cool, move onto the cutting board. Slice the bread and serve with your favorite bread filling.. butter, peanut butter, the list just goes on and on and on ..

Easy One Pot Chicken, Chinese Sausage and Mushroom Rice

I love the idea of one pot dishes. It's easy to prepare and cook and best of all, less pots to clean up ! It is also a great idea if we are busy but still want to enjoy a good meal. The idea came about when I chanced upon Happy Home Baking's Claypot Chicken Rice. 

Preparation Time: 20 minutes
Cooking Time: Depending on your rice cooker. Mine takes 1 hour

Ingredients
210 gm of chicken pieces (leave the skin and bone attached)
1 piece of chinese sausage
1 piece of carrot
3 pieces of dark chinese mushroom
1 cup of rice (for 2 person)

Ingredients for marinade
3 cloves of garlic (grated)
1 small red onion (grated)
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1 teaspoon of sugar
1/2 teaspoon of sesame oil
1/2 teaspoon of chinese cooking wine
1 teaspoon of light soy sauce
1 teaspoon of dark soy sauce
1 teaspoon of corn starch

 Steps
1. Wash and clean the chicken.

2. Marinade the chicken with ingredients indicated for marinade. Marinade for at least 30 minutes.

                                     
                                      
3. Soak the chinese mushroom. When soft, cut into thin slices.

4. Slice the carrot thinly.

5. Slice the chinese sausage.

6. Wash the rice. Add in slightly less the amount of water you would usually use for 1 cup of rice. The sauce from the marinade will add on to the liquid.

                                     

7. Top the rice with the chicken, chinese sausage, carrot and mushroom. 
Optional: Sprinkle a dash of salt of you prefer saltier rice.

                                    

8. Put the rice to cook using the rice cooker.

9. Once done, serve immediately while hot.

White Radish Soup - Slow Cooker Style

It is great cooking with slow cooker. You do not need to watch the fire or worry that you will run out of gas. You just need to turn it on and it will work magic for you. Today, I have decided to make white radish soup using the slow cooker

Preparation Time: 10 minutes
Cooking Time: 3.5 hours

Ingredients
1 piece of chicken breast with bones (You can opt for chicken bones)
6-7 red dates
1 white radish
1.4 liter of hot water
A dash of salt to taste

Pre-Steps
1. Wash and clean the chicken
2. Boil the chicken in a pot of hot water for about 5 minutes to remove scums.
3. Remove the chicken and pour away the hot water

Steps
1. Wash and peel off the white radish skin.

2. Cut the white radish into blocks of 2 cm thickness

3. Cut the red dates into half. Remove the seed.

4. Place the chicken, red dates and white radish into a slow cooker pot. Add in the hot water.

5. Turn on the slow cooker pot to "Auto" mode. Let it cook for 3.5 hours.

6. Once done, add some salt to taste. Serve while hot.

Mango Pudding

There are some left over pudding powder left from previous batch and I decided to make some mango pudding with it. What a great way to cool down from the extreme hot weather lately. From the local mart, I managed to get 3 normal sized fresh mangoes. 

Preparation Time: 15 minutes
Cooking Time: 10 minutes

Ingredients
3 normal sized mangoes (close to 1kg)
pudding powder (follow the measurement based on your pudding powder. Calculate the amount required for about 1 liter of liquid)
110 gm of sugar (you may need to add more depending on the sweetness and sourness of the mangoes)
800 ml of water 
1/2 cup of milk

Steps
1. Cut the mangoes into cubes. 

2. Take 1/3 of the cut mangoes and puree them. I managed to get 200 ml of puree from it.

3. In a pot, add water, pudding powder, sugar and puree and bring to boil on low fire. Stir continously.

4. Once it starts to boil, add milk and stir for a few seconds until mixed. 

5. Turn off the fire. Add in the cut mangoes and stir.

6. Pour the mixture into jelly moulds evenly. (I managed to get 11 mango puddings using my jelly cup).

7. Cool for 10 minutes before putting into the fridge for another 2 hours.

8. Once chill, remove from mould, and serve. 

Peach Jelly (Agar-Agar)

Fancy a quick and easy dessert with a refreshing taste? Why not make some jelly or also known as agar-agar. It's easy to prepare and a delight for everyone especially during the hot weather. This dessert has sweet and sour taste due to the peach.

Preparation Time: 10 minutes

Cooking Time: 10 minutes

                                     

Ingredients:

1 packet of agar agar powder. (I used the Swallow brand agar agar powder)

1 large can of peach fruit

300 ml of peach fruit syrup (you can get this from the can of peach fruit. Reserve the syrup within)

700 ml of water

110 gm of sugar

a few drops of lemon yellow coloring (optional)

Steps:

1.  Mix the agar agar powder, peach fruit syrup, water and sugar in a bowl.

2. On a low fire, bring the mixture to a boil and the sugar and agar agar powder dissolved. (Remember to stir it occasionally)

3. While waiting for the mixture to boil, cut the peaches into any shapes that you prefer. I cut mine into crescent and cubes. Then place them into jelly mould.

4. When the mixture is ready, add in a few drops of lemon yellow coloring so that the jelly will not be a plain clear color. Boil for another minute. You can skip this step if you do not want to use any coloring.

5. Pour the jelly liquid into the prepared jelly mould.

6. Let it cool for about 10 minutes before putting in the fridge and let it chill for another 2 hours.

7. After 2 hours, remove from mould and serve chill. Delicious :)

Chocolate Chip Cashew Nut Cookie Recipe

My craving for chocolate continues with Chocolate Chip and Nut cookie.. with the adapted version from Chocolate Chip Walnut Recipe here. Instead of making them with walnut, I replaced them with cashew nuts. They are still super yummy, soft and delicious. 

 

Preparation Time: 30 minutes

Cooking Time: 9-11 minutes per batch (depending on the size of the cookie and until it turned slightly brown)

Ingredients

250 gm of salted butter

1/2 cup of granulated sugar

3/4 cups of soft brown sugar

3/4 cups of brown sugar

2 eggs

3 2/5 cups of plain flour (my dough was still sticky even with extra flour..will probably need to add slightly more next time)

2 teaspoons cornstarch

1 1/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1 1/2 cups of chocolate chips (I used mixed milk chocolate and semi sweet - ran out of semi sweet :D)

1 cup of raw cashew nuts

Pre-Steps

Preheat oven at 190 degrees Celcius.

Steps

1. Pan roast the cashew nuts for about 5 minutes on low fire until brown. 

2. Crush the cashew nuts into smaller size and set aside.

3. In a mixer, cream the butter, granulated sugar, soft brown sugar and brown sugar until soft and thoroughly mixed.

4. Add in 2 eggs, beating one at a time at low speed.

5. Add in plain flour, cornstarch, baking powder and baking soda and mix at low speed until thoroughly mixed. (Will need to add in more flour if the dough is still wet)

6. Combine with chocolate chips and cashew nuts using a spatula.

7. Prepare the baking tray and lined it with baking sheet. Roll the mixture into a ball about 1 inch in diameter. Ensure there are space between them as the cookie will flatten out as it bakes.

8. Bake in the oven for about 9 minutes.