Refreshing Lemongrass Drink

I made my favourite Lemongrass drink to go with cupcakes last Saturday.

This time, I sliced the lemongrass into small pieces so it's quicker to release its flavour.  I also added mint leaves, juice of 2 calamansi and sugar to sweeten it a little instead of using honey.

Now I can have one more cupcake. ;)

Sour Plum and Calamansi with Sprite

I haven't been well lately, low blood pressure and some other old (wo)man ailment.  Age's catching up.  I have been feeling dizzy and nausea. And this weather is not helping either!

I have been drinking honey with calamansi juice and lots of ice! But today, I just want a cold frizzy drink!

So here it is!

Ingredients:

• 2 Sour Plum
• 30ml Hot Water
• 200ml Sprite
• 2 - 3 teaspoon Calamansi Juice
• Ice cubes!

How to do it:

1. Soak and soften sour plums with hot water in a tall glass.
2. Add the calamansi juice.
3. Pour over the sprite.
4. Serve with ice cubes.

Mango Jello with Sago

I'm back for a while for an update. Had been a very busy 2014 for me so far.

With the school reopening for the new term, both kids are in the morning session. I get to do some exercise after sending them to school. No weight fats lost yet. What a bummer! :/  After that, it was busy busy time with spring cleaning for CNY. Then my mother was hospitalised on the 2nd day of CNY.

I visited her in the mornings while the kids were in school then rush back to prepare lunch as well as dinner; in between picking the kids up for after school classes. It didn't help that my husband was away on business trip. So please don't come telling me, life is easy as a SAHM. Trying being a daughter, mother, wife and maid (and sometimes father too) all at the same time.

Anyway, my mother has been discharged for more than 2 weeks. Life is pretty much back to normal. But I have grown too lazy to blog. :P Hopefully I will wake up my lazy bones and resume updating soon.  I will probably do back-dated posts first.  You can check out my Instagram to find out what I 'busy' with.

Meanwhile, here's a sweet treat for you for staying with me. ^_^  Have a good weekend!

Ingredients:

• 2 Mangoes, 1 1/2 puree and 1/2 diced
• 250ml Mango Juice (I'm using Peel Fresh)
• 2 tablespoon Gelatin Powder
• 1 1/2 - 2 tablespoon Sugar
• 100ml Water
• 50g Sago
• Evaporated Milk to serve

How to do it:

1. Rinse sago and drain.
2. Add sago to about a litre of water.
3. Bring it to a gentle simmer.
4. Reduce heat and continue cooking.
5. Stir frequently to prevent the sago from sticking together.
6. If the water gets to starchy, drain it, add in more water and continue cooking till all the sago turns transparent.
7. Pour into a sieve and run the sago in water till it's clear from the starchy residue.
8. Drain and set aside.
9. Meanwhile, sprinkle gelatin powder on the water and set aside for it to bloom/expand.
10. Warm 200ml mango juice with sugar (if using) but do not simmer or boil. Just hot enough for the sugar to melt.
11. Add in half the mango puree and mix well.
12. Add in the gelatin mixture and mix well.
13. Pour into cups and chill to set.
14. You can add some mango cubes to the mango mixture if you like.
15. Mix the remaining puree with the remaining mango juice and set aside to chill.
16. If you wish to un-mould the mango jello, just have a bowl of hot water ready.
17. Sit the cup of mango jello in the hot water for a while; about 10 secs.
18. Turn it over to a serving bowl to let it drop.
19. To serve, pour over the additional mango puree, add some sago and some evaporated milk.

Note:

• Fill the mango jello mixture to almost the rim of the cup if you wish to served it un-mould in a serving bowl.
• The texture for this is melt in your mouth not the usual pudding texture.
• Replace 100ml Mango Juice with 100ml Whipping Cream for a more milky taste to the jello.

{ Breakfast : Pancakes }

As mentioned in my last post, I don't have a habit of taking heavy breakfast and won't be able to finish what I prepared for the kids.  I'm having mini bite-size pancake. It's about 2 palm size pancakes here. I have it with a small bowl of salad with shredded ham and a glass of juice.

I'm using Morinaga Pancake Mix but a added a tablespoon sugar, half teaspoon yeast and baking powder to the batter and let it rest while I make the kids' breakfast.

The pancake turnout really airy and fluffy. I drizzled my pancake with a little maple syrup and chocolate sauce and served it with some fruits.

Pancakes with Strawberry and Cream 草莓鮮奶油煎饼

This is another recipe that I did for the Bosch recipes using the Bosch ErgoMixx Hand Blender MSM67160.

It is the kids' all time favourite. You can use premix pancake or hotcake mix to do this. You can also make it from scratch as all ingredients required are very common and easily available.

The fruits can be replaced with bananas, peaches, kiwi, etc, whichever is in season. You can also simply serve it with pancake syrup or chocolate sauce.

Ingredients for pancake:

• 100g Top Flour or All Purpose Flour
• 1 tablespoon Corn Flour
• 1/2 tablespoon Baking Powder
• 3-4 tablespoon Icing Sugar
• a pinch of Salt
• 1 Egg
• 100ml Fresh Milk
• 1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
• 1 tablespoon Melted Butter

Other Ingredients:

• 6 Strawberries
• 100ml Non Dairy Whipping Cream
• 1 tablespoon Icing Sugar
• a handful Blueberries (optional)

How to do it:

1. Sift all the dry ingredients in a bowl and set aside.
2. Crack the egg in another bowl.
3. Add milk and vanilla extract to the egg.
4. Attached the beating whisk attachment and set speed to 8.
5. Whisk the mixture well.
6. Add the dry ingredients 1/3 at a time to the egg mixture.
7. Using the same beating whisk attachment, set the speed to 5, whisk till the dry ingredients are incorporated to the egg mixture.
8. Repeat until all the dry ingredients are blended into the egg mixture.
9. Pour in the melted butter and give a quick whisk to just blend it in to the batter.
10. Heat a non-stick pan on low heat.
11. Pour 2 tablespoon of batter to the pan and cook until bubbles appear.
12. Turn it over and continue to cook until the bottom side has browned.
13. Repeat to make 4 pancakes or until all the batter has finished.
14. Set the pancakes aside to cool.
15. Haul all strawberries and slice 4 strawberries.
16. Set aside.
17. Pour Non Dairy Whipping Cream into the measuring beaker.
18. Attached the beating whisk attachment and set speed to 10.
19. Whisk until the cream becomes stiff.
20. Either spread whipped cream on a pancake or pipe it out using a star nozzle.
21. Arrange sliced strawberries on the whipped cream.
22. Spread another layer of whipped cream before placing another piece of pancake over.
23. Scoop some whipped cream to the middle of the pancake and place a strawberry on top.
24. Dust with icing sugar and serve with additional blueberries if you like.

Note：

• If you prefer a sweeter whipped cream, you can add a tablespoon of icing sugar to the non-dairy whipping cream to whip up the cream.

Fruit Popsicles 水果冰棒

I was requested to come out with recipes that were suitable for toddlers or children for the Bosch recipes using the Bosch ErgoMixx Hand Blender MSM67160. This was one of them.

A super easy treat, now made easier with the help of kitchen gadget. My idea was to make it look like a 'slice of' watermelon. What do you think of it?

Ingredients: (makes 4 popsicles)

• 300g Watermelon, chopped into chunks
• 50g Blueberries
• 1 Kiwi

How to do it:

1. Place watermelon in the universal cutter and set to speed 6.
2. Give it a few pauses.
3. Scoop 1 ½ tablespoon of blended watermelon into ice cream moulds.
4. Add 2 to 3 blueberries to it.
5. Cover the ice-cream mould top.
6. Freeze it for 20mins till a thin layer of the blended watermelon has set.
7. Remove the universal cutter from the mixing beaker and cover it with lid provided.
8. Refrigerate the blended watermelon until it is ready to be used again.
9. Repeat step 3 to 6 until almost reaching the rim of the mould.
10. Meanwhile, blend the kiwi with the mixing wand in the measuring beaker until smooth.
11. Scoop 1 ½ tablespoon of kiwi puree into the ice-cream mould to top as the last layer.
12. Freeze overnight.
13. Serve frozen.

Mango Pudding with Mango Ice Cream 芒果布丁

Mango Season is here again. I bought 5 mangoes for under $5 which makes it less than a dollar each. The last time when it was in season, I made homemade mango ice-cream.

This time, I using it to make the very popular, Mango Pudding. I'm serving it will a cheat mango ice-cream done using vanilla ice-cream, with the texture like milky shaved ice.

You probably have your own recipe but if you don't, you might want to try mine out.

Ingredients:

• 2 Mangoes, 1 1/2 puree and 1/2 cut into cubes
• 100ml Mango Juice (I'm using Peel Fresh)
• 100ml Whipping Cream
• 10g Gelatin Powder
• 50ml Water

How to do it:

1. Sprinkle gelatin powder on the water and set aside.
2. Warm mango juice but do not simmer or boil.
3. Pour it over the gelatin mixture and mix.
4. Add in the rest of the ingredients and mix well.
5. Pour into cups and chill to set.
6. Best served chilled with condensed milk or a scoop of ice-cream.

Note:

• I did not add any sugar as the mango I used was sweet and I added mango juice to it as well. In addition to that, I served it with a scoop of ice-cream.
• If you prefer it a little sweeter, melt some sugar with the mango juice in step 2.
• You can replace the mango juice with water.
• However, you will have to add sugar for sweetness.
• Melt about 50g sugar or to taste when warming the water before adding to the the gelatin mixture.

For cheat ice-cream:

1. Mix 500ml vanilla ice-cream (I'm using Nestle) with half of a mango chopped into bits.
2. Add in 3-4 tablespoon of mango puree if you like too.
3. Do not stir the mixture vigorously. Use a fork to gently stir a little to make it airy.
4. Return to the freezer and repeat every half an hour till the ice-cream is frozen again.
5. The end results of the ice-cream will look rough and messy. Almost like granules sticking together.
6. To scoop, you can loosen it with a fork or bring the ice-cream out of the freezer for a minute before scooping.

Refreshing Lemongrass with Lemon Honey 香茅柠檬蜜清凉饮

I made this last week when the weather was unbearable. Usually, I'll just boil the lemongrass and sweeten it with sugar but I wanted the kids to drink it so I used honey instead this time.

Personally, I prefer sweetening it with sugar or rock sugar as honey sort of mask the smell and taste of the lemongrass.

My suggestion is, if you have a sore throat or suspect you are going to have one, you might want to use honey. It help soothe it. Use sugar instead if you just want to make yourself a refreshing drink,

Ingredients:

• 7 stalks Lemongrass, cleaned cut into 3 sections
• 1 litre Water
• Half a Lemon, slice
• Sugar, Rock Sugar or Honey to taste

How to do it:

1. Smash lemongrass to help release flavour during boiling.
2. Place lemongrass in a pot of water and bring to a boil.
3. Reduce heat to a simmer and continue to simmer for half an hour.
4. Drain and discard the lemongrass.
5. Sweeten with sugar, rock sugar or honey.
6. Serve it warm or chilled with lemon slices.

Note:
If you prefer a more tangy drink, squeeze some lemon juice before serving.

Grilled Sea Bass with Thyme and Garlic Butter

My husband is away on an overseas business trip for the past week (meaning less cooking :p)

Usually I will eat whatever leftover from the kids' dinner. However, I had a piece of Seabass in the fridge that I wanted to clear, so I made a simple dinner for myself yesterday instead of having leftovers.

I had the sea bass grilling in the oven while I worked on the sides. This also means less cleaning up. You can pan-fry it too. You can have to watch over it so it will burn.

Ingredients for Grilled Sea bass:

• 1 slice Sea bass
• 1/4 teaspoon Garlic Powder
• 1/4 teaspoon Onion Powder
• 2 sprig Fresh Thyme
• Salt and Ground Black Pepper to taste

Ingredients for Zesty Garlic Butter:

• 2 clove Garlic, minced
• Zest of 1 Lemon
• 1 tablespoon Butter

Ingredients for Mashed Cauliflower:

• 230g Cauliflower, cut into florets
• 1/3 tablespoon Butter
• 1 tablespoon Parmesan Cheese (optional)
• Salt to taste

How to do it:

1. Clean and pat dry sea bass.
2. Mix herbs and spice ingredients for sea bass together.
3. Rub all over the sea bass and set aside for 15 mins.
4. Meanwhile, prepare the zesty garlic butter but mixing all ingredients together.
5. Spread half of the butter on the skin side of the seabass.
6. Grilled the sea bass on rack in preheat oven at 250C for 8 mins, longer if you want the skin browned.
7. Turn over, spread the remaining butter and continue to grill for another 8 mins.
8. While the sea bass is grilling in the oven, prepare the cauliflower.
9. Steam the cauliflower florets for 10 mins. You can blanch them too.
10. Drain well and pour into a blender.
11. Add the butter and half of the parmesan cheese.
12. Blend till smooth.
13. Add salt to taste.
14. Scoop out onto a plate and sprinkle the remaining parmesan cheese.
15. You can bake it in the oven to brown it if you like.
16. Remove sea bass from oven and serve together with the mashed cauliflower.

 

Sweet Pan Roasted Chestnut 炒糖栗子

This was in my draft folder since January this year! :P I might have thought that I have published it and this could be a duplicate. O_o

Roasted Chestnuts has always being my favourite and my sister's too I think. I couldn't resist buying if I see or smell it. I will follow the aroma to get to it! However, you don't get to see roasted chestnuts very often.

These homemade one can't beat those roasted with those small burned stones which help roast the chestnuts evenly. Nonetheless, this will do till I get my hands on the "professionally" done ones. ;)

Ingredients:

• 400g Raw Chestnut, washed, cleaned and dried
• 1 tablespoon Cooking Oil
• 100ml Water 
• 1-2 tablespoon White Sugar

How to do it:

1. Slit chestnut carefully with a sharp pointed knife to prevent 'explosions' during cooking.
2. Pan toast the chestnut on medium low heat for 5 mins to dry them.
3. Remove and toss chestnut in oil to coat evenly.
4. Return to pan and roast for 15 mins covered.
5. Remove the cover and stir regularly to prevent burning.
6. Meanwhile, melt sugar in water by simmering it.
7. Add sugar solution to the pan.
8. Continue to let the chestnuts to cook for 5-7 minutes, stirring regularly to prevent burning (like me :P) until the water evaporates and the chestnuts are tender.
9. Peel and eat while it's hot!

Fruit Salad with Citrus Vinaigrette 柑橘香醋水果沙拉

A few days ago, someone send me a message asking for a fruit salad suggestion. We exchanged messages on it and I couldn't stop thinking about it after that.

I think the fruit salad with the dressing I suggested should work but I had to try it out just to make sure. Cannot 'sabo' people right? :P Later, it taste horrible, how? :P

Since I had all the ingredients for the dressing and lots of fruits (that I'm trying to clear), I went ahead to try it.

Everything was ok except the dressing smelt a bit strong of the apple cider it had. So I added mint leaves. It helped only a bit but it wasn't as bad when it's added to the salad. It actually goes well with the fruits.

Was a relief for me after that. :P So, note to self, no more kaypo-ness suggestion from me unless I have tried it. :P

These are what I have in the salad bowl:

• Lettuce
• Alfalfa spouts
• Cherry Tomatoes, halved
• Seedless Red Grapes, halved
• Blueberries
• Rock Melon, scooped using melon baller
• some Orange sacs, optional

The ingredients for the Vinaigrette Dressing, to be chilled before use, are:

• 1/2 tablespoon Olive Oil
• 2 tablespoon Orange Juice (either freshly squeezed or store-bought)
• 1/2 tablespoon Apple Cider
• Juice from 1 Lime Juice
• Fine sugar to taste 
• 5 Mint Leaves, crushed (removed before serving)

 

Minty Cranberry with Apple Drink蔓越莓加苹果清饮

It was extremely hot last month and I kept making drinks for my family and this was one of them.

This is something I learned from a magazine many years ago. Unlike most fruit juices, which are usually thick  and rich in flavours, this is very light but refreshing. Not too heavy. I love it's pretty colour too, which came from the cranberry. No artificial colour used here.

But the plants in the background is artificial though. ;P

Ingredients:

• 5 tablespoon Dried Cranberries
• 1 Red Apple, cored, peeled and sliced thinly
• 1 sprig Mint, use leaves only (use more if you like it more minty)
• 1 tablespoon Extra Fine Sugar or to taste
• 400ml Freshly Boiled Water

How to do it:

1. Put all ingredients except sugar in a preferably in coffee press. A jug works fine too.
2. Make sure you crush the mint leave a little.
3. Let it stand for a hour.
4. Press to let the flavours from the ingredients release. If you are using a jug, use a large spoon to do the pressing.
5. Stir in sugar to taste.
6. Make sure sugar is totally melted.
7. Filter and chill till ready to serve.

Mango Pavlova and Soda芒果帕芙洛娃与苏打

I had cravings for something (real) sweet and decided to my favourite dessert, Pavlova. I don't bake much because I really bad at it. It takes lots of patience and I hate the washing up the most. In addition, my family doesn't eat much either, except for cookies.

I prefer Pavlova that's crunchy and not marshmallow-like inside, so I baked it a little longer at a lower temperature. I can store it longer this way too. I'm serving it with Mango. You can served it with other fruits for the Pavlova too.  I had enough mango so I blended some into puree and used it to make Mango Soda too.

To those with sweet-tooth, this is for you. ;)

Ingredients:

• 4 Egg Whites (from 60g Eggs at room temperature)
• 140g Extra Fine Sugar
• 1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract or Essence
• 1 teaspoon White Vinegar
• 1/2 tablespoon Corn Flour, sifted

How to do it:

1. Beat egg whites till soft peaks.
2. Add in sugar gradually, in small amount (a tablespoon at a time) each time.
3. Beat on high speed till sugar has dissolved and the meringue is stiff peaks and shiny.
4. Beat in the vanilla extract.
5. Add in the vinegar and sprinkle the cornstarch over the meringue
6. Fold in to the meringue gently.
7. Place in a piping bag or zip-loc bag with or without a noozle.
8. Pipe meringue into a well like shape (see left photo at the bottom of this post)
9. Bake in preheated oven at 110C for 1 1/2 hours.
10. Leave the oven door ajar for 15mins to cool in the oven.
11. Remove to to cool on the rack before storing in air-tight container.

To make Mango Pavlova:

1. Pipe in some butter cream into the Pavlova 'well'.
2. Top to diced mangoes.
3. Serve.

To make Mango Soda:

1. Scoop some Mango Puree to the bottom of the glass.
2. Pour in Sprite or 7-up.
3. Add in some ice cubes and mint leaves, if you like.
4. Serve.

 

Pavlova Shells

 

I used the remaining meringue to make Meringue Cookies

Minty Calamansi with Preserved Sour Plum 薄荷酸梅酸酐汁

This is one of my favourite drinks, especially one a hot day. I love to make this and have it when we are having fried or greasy food too. Great to serve it really cold!

Ingredients:

• Juice of 4 Calamansi
• 300ml Water
• 3 tablespoon Sugar or to taste
• 5 Mint Leaves, teared and crushed
• 2 Preserved Sour Plum

How to do it:

1. Mix and melt sugar in water. It will be easier to do it using extra fine caster sugar rather than regular caster sugar.
2. Squeeze in calamansi juice.
3. Chill till ready to serve.
4. To serve, add in crushed mint leaves and preserved sour plum to the calamasi water.
5. It taste better to have the preserved sour plum sit in the drink for a while.

Konnyaku Coconut Jelly 蒟蒻椰子果冻

Weather is scorching hot today and I happened to be at Giant to buy eggs. I decided to get 2 coconuts as well. I had wanted to drink it but changed my mind and used it to make jelly instead.

I always make coconut jelly using gelatin. I decided to change and tried using konnyaku jelly powder since I have a packet at home.

If you like it more firm, you will like konnyaku jelly version. I still prefer the gelatin, soft, smooth and squishy. However, it's much easier with the konnyaku jelly as you just need to follow the instruction as printed on the packaging, replacing the water with coconut juice.

Whichever jelly you like, it's a refreshing dessert to have especially in this hot weather. If you would like to try out the gelatin version, hop over to this post. And if haven't read my post on how to crack the coconut on your own (in case you bought it that's not cracked), it's here.

Ingredients:

• 1 packet of 10g Konnyaku Jelly Powder
• 950ml Coconut Juice, approximately the juice of 2-3 coconut with additional water
• Sugar to taste

How to do it:

1. Crack the top of the coconut using the back blade of your chopper by hitting it.
2. Pour the coconut juice out to a bowl.
3. Scrap off the meat.
4. Discard meat if it's hard. Only retain the soft and tender ones.
5. Dice the meat and set aside.
6. Bring coconut juice and water if any to a simmer.
7. Stir in sugar to taste.
8. Gradually, stir in the konnkayu jelly powder.
9. Keep stirring till it has totally dissolved.
10. Return the dice coconut meat to the coconut jelly mixture and mix well.
11. Pour the mixture in the coconut shell, cup or mold.
12. Refrigerate it to set.
13. Serve cold.

Note:

• The instructions of different brand of konnyaku jelly may differ from one another. So you may have to make your own amendments.
• The recipe I'm sharing is based on the adjustment of the instructions on the packet of konnyaku I'm using.
• Basically, you will just need to replace the water needed with the coconut juice.
• You can top up with water if you don't have enough coconut juice. 
• Sugar is added according to taste.

Home Made Mango Ice Cream 自制芒果雪糕

I had an old recipe that I posted sometime back on my home-made ice-cream which required more steps and more ingredients.

This time I tested it with just using whipping cream (cos I happened to have one) and it works well too! You will be surprised to know how easy and simple it can be. :)

Mangoes are somehow in season now (didn't remember they were in season during this part of the year) and are always on offer. I can't resist it and bought 5 there other day and kept two for this recipe.  You can use other fruits instead but Mango is always a favourite. You just can't go wrong with Mango.

I'm sharing this recipe first as I have a high number of requests for it after I post it in my Facebook. If you are waiting for my other outstanding recipes, I will post them as soon as I have time to do it.

Meanwhile, I hope you enjoy this recipe. Do check out my recipe for Home-made Chocolate Ice-cream too.

Ingredients:

• 2 ripe Mangoes
• 200ml Whipping Cream
• 5 tablespoon Icing Sugar or to taste

How to do:

1. Stone and skin mangoes.
2. Puree 350g of the mangoes (about 1 1/2 mangoes) and dice the rest.
3. Mix or blend the mango puree with sugar and whipping cream.
4. Add some diced mangoes too if you like to the blended mixture (I did though you can't see it from the photo). It's really nice to be able to bite into bits of mango when you eat the ice cream.
5. Pour the mixture into a container.
6. Place a piece of baking paper on it and freeze till frozen.

Note:

• Add sugar according to your taste, taking note that after adding the whipping cream, the mango mixture will be less sweet.
• If you remove every hour to stir with a fork and repeat for 5 to 6 times or till it set. It will helps keep it more creamy and less crystallize-like.
• I use the baking paper to prevent any water droplet from getting to the ice cream, which will cause the ice-cream surface to crystallize.

Oven Grilled Salmon with Dill 莳萝叶烤三文鱼

This is my husband all time favourite fish dish and the only (cooked) salmon dish I take. It's another easy dish to make.

My husband has been reaching home past 9pm lately. I just had this prepared beforehand. When he is back, I let the oven do the cooking while he takes a bath. When he is out, it's ready and it's till a hot and 'fresh', not reheated supper dinner. Most importantly, minimum cleaning required. ;)

I'm reposting the recipe I posted a few years ago, with minor adjustment, for easy reference.

Ingredients:

• 1 slice Salmon
• 1/2 teaspoon Garlic Powder
• Zest of 1 Lemon
• 1/2 tablespoon Dill, chopped
• 1/2 teaspoon Olive Oil
• 1/3 teaspoon Salt
• a dash of Ground Black Pepper
• A wedge of Lemon

How to do it:

1. Rub salt and pepper on salmon and set aside.
2. Mix the rest of the ingredients together except lemon.
3. Spread the herb mixture on both sides of the salmon, more on the top.
4. Grill in oven at 220C for 15 minutes or till cooked.
5. Squeeze lemon juice on salmon and serve immediately.

Orange Slices Agar Agar 柳丁菜燕

I first started making these Orange Agar Agar in 2006. It was about then when I started to pick up cooking. :P

Recently, I bought a carton of orange juice that noone wants to drink (cos I bought the wrong brand) :P. I decided to make this dessert to use it up. At least, my son like it. ;) As usual, my 'fruit hater' daughter, won't even want to touch it. :/ Waste my effort remaking them into these orange slices.

I re-posting the recipe here for convenience to those who are interested to make it too.

Ingredients:

• 700ml Orange Juice (either freshly squeezed or store bought)
• 300ml Water
• 100g Sugar (depending on how sweet you want)
• Clear Agar Agar Powder

How to do it:

1. If you are using fresh orange juice, wash the oranges and cut it into halves.
2. Squeeze the juice out. Be careful not to damage the orange skin.
3. Scoop out the remaining orange pulp.
4. To make the agar agar, boil water required as instructed on the pack. Mine requires 1 Liter of water but I'm using 300ml of water.
5. Set aside 700ml of orange juice (un-chilled) to mix with the agar agar mixture.
6. Stir in the sugar into the 300ml and agar agar powder in low heat till dissolved.
7. Turn of heat and add in the orange juice.
8. Pour the orange juice agar agar mixture to the orange cups or dessert cups.
9. Sit the orange cups on cups or bowls so it doesn’t topple when you pour the juice in.
10. Chill till the agar agar sets.
11. Cut the orange agar agar into 3 slices if using orange cups and serve.

Note:

• Do not cook the orange juice otherwise it will turn bitter.
• Combine both both freshly squeezed orange juice and store bought orange juice.
• If you are using store bought orange juice, remember to bring it out of the fridge first. If you add cold orange juice into the agar agar mixture, it will turn lumpy.

Agar Agar in served cup, with orange pulp and a teaspoon of freshly squeezed orange juice

Strawberry Ice Blended 草莓冰沙

Christmas is around the corner and one of my best friends suggested if having a Christmas 'Party' at my place this year. (We used to have random makan sessions at my (old) place.)

It wouldn't be a party, just a get-together with a few of my very good friends. Incidentally, they were also my bridesmaids too, all three of them. ;) It's going to be my 13th Wedding Anniversary soon. Hence, you might have guessed that our friendship must be longer than that. The longest being 26 years? I don't know them all at the same time but during some time of my life. However, it's great that they somehow became friends themselves too. :)

Oh! There's a torn among the roses (other than my husband) too. He is my husband's ex-co-worker, who also become all the gals' friend somewhere in time. He was also one of my husband's best-man too. In case, he reads this and I didn't mention him, he will think he is not invited to the get-together. Actually, I bet he is secretly hoping that I will forget about him. LOL

Anyway, being a kiasu, I'm already thinking what to cook and trying them out to reduce blunders on that day. No more BBQ & Steamboat this time. One of the dishes will be an Oven Roasted Maltose Ribs (more on that next time). I'll be making this very easy Strawberry Ice Blended for after meals. I can make this a day before and blend it on the day itself so there is lesser things to do and lesser clean up. I love the colours! Very Christmassy. :)

I'm looking forward to the Xmas Makan Session, that is after our makan session next week! LOL. And like what my husband said earlier today, hopefully my food wont be burned. :P

Ingredients:(serves 2-3)

• 1 punnet of strawberries (abt 450g), hauled
• 1 tablespoon Golden Granulated Sugar or regular sugar or to taste
• 2 glasses of Ice Cubes

How to do it:

1. Blend strawberries till smooth.
2. Blend in sugar with the strawberries paste.
3. Add in the ice cubes and blend till ice cubes are crushed and smooth.Serve immediately.

Note:

• I'm using very small ice cubes; abt the size 15mm x 15mm. It makes blending easier.
• The amount of sugar depends on how sweet/sour your strawberries are, so adjust the sugar contain on your own.
• I prefer Golden Granulated Sugar but regular sugar works fine too.
• If you intend to make it a day before, you can use water instead of ice cubes. After blending, put the mixture into ice cube tray and freeze it. You can blend the strawberries ice cubes the next day.
• Please use a blender that is able to cut ice to do it in order not to damage the blade.