4 December 2013

BBC Good Food Vegetable Ragu

Do you have days when you just don’t feel like touching and eating any meat? Yesterday was one of those days for me. While I do love poultry and meat, I do occasionally feel like a good vegetarian meal such as Vegetable Ragu.

This year I started learning to make my own pasta sauce. Not only are they surprisingly easy, they also taste fresher and healthier. This vegetable ragu recipe from good old BBC Good Food is a gem as it is so cheap and easy to make.

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Since recipes aren’t set in stone, I omitted celery and red lentils in my version. I added dried basil and cayenne pepper to spice it up a little. And I’m currently in love with balsamic vinegar so I was rather generous with it too. As it cooked on the stove, the ragu was bursting with sweet smelling vegetables – the perfect healthy comfort food on a cold day.

This is to me the fun part about cooking – not restricting yourself to whatever the recipe calls for and taking initiative to tweak it to your preference.

3 December 2013

Jamie Oliver's Roast Chicken Recipe (half-arsed)

Today I tried out a Jamie Oliver's recipe – Perfect roast chicken. I do find myself avoiding recipes from celebrity chefs because 99% of the time their recipes are just far too fancy and complicated for my liking. However, this recipe has proven otherwise.



I tweaked the recipe by spreading herb butter under the skin of the chicken and added some dried thyme with the bunch of fresh rosemary and lemon in the chicken’s cavity.

The result is a crispy-skinned chicken that’s really juicy on the insides. Jamie Oliver didn’t lie about that!

So why did I call it half-arsed?

I got tired in the evening from walking around the Christmas market and couldn’t be bothered to make roast potatoes. I would have put in the extra effort if I had mint sauce, the magic that makes roast potatoes taste heavenly, to go with them. Taking the easy way out, I threw some garlic bread in the oven to serve with the perfect chicken roast.

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Seriously, this recipe is amazing! Give it a go if you have the time!

30 November 2013

BBC Good Food Recipe Books

I used to dominate the kitchen because I loved to. However I had to minimise my time in my territory ever since we found out about Bao who’s not very cooperative when it comes to standing or walking for an extended period of time. Therefore, I very willingly assigned some cooking responsibilities to Daniel.

A few months back, my sis-in-law gave us a couple of BBC Good Food recipe books as part of our birthday presents. I can’t tell you how much I love their recipes. They are easy to follow, tested by others and so reliable. You can even find many mouth-watering recipes for free on their website! These books came in handy for Daniel who isn’t quite the experienced cook.

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Each recipe comes with a well taken photo of the dish together with its full nutritional breakdown. I love how they aren’t too fancy and are actually extremely easy to follow.

Here’s what we’ve tried so far.

Italian-style Beef Stew, perfect on a cold wintry day. We served it with mash for dinner and pasta for lunch the next day.


Thai-style Beef Patties which was like a time & travel machine that transmitted us to Thailand the instance we bit into them. The original recipe asked for minced pork but last minute shopping on a Saturday evening in Germany pretty much guarantees that we won’t get everything we want.



Chicken noodles soup is another of my favourite on days when I want something gingery, warm, spicy and just plain simple. A very healthy meal!

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We do cook almost everyday since it can hurt the pockets to eat out daily. There are days when I miss living in Singapore where I can just walk to the coffeeshop and be spoilt for choice. However, I learnt that cooking for ourselves is a lot healthier and it can be a really fun activity to do together too.

Now that Daniel has learnt a few tricks in the kitchen (and he has done more than what I’ve shown you above), I feel so much more at ease about the arrival of Bao. We won’t have family nearby to help us, neither is there the concept of a confinement lady who cares, cook and wash for me & Bao (thank God I won’t have one anyway!), but seeing Daniel putting in all his effort to sort everything out at home without me lifting a finger is really comforting. At least I know Bao and I are well taken care of.

10 September 2013

Salmon Linguine with Lemon Juice

Salmon tastes so good when seasoned with black pepper and chilli flakes. I baked them at 190 degrees Celsius for 15-20 minutes. To give it a refreshing taste, I squeezed half a lemon over the fillets before baking.

Before watching tutorials by Jamie Oliver, I never put salt in boiling water when cooking pasta. It makes such a difference! However I only do so if I’m NOT making a sauce based pasta. Very seldom do you find me adding salt in my cooking for health reasons. After boiling the pasta, I stir fried it (briefly) in a pan with olive oil, basil, chilli flakes, juice from half a lemon and seasoned with black pepper.

It’s a really simple dish that I’ve made for dinner a few times and we really like it. Fish… I want to eat more fish! Guess what? We’ll be visiting family in the UK soon so we’re looking forward to fish & chips! FIIIIISSSSSH!

24 August 2013

Easy Scones Recipe

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An intensive, vigorous 60-minute Body Fit workout left me crawling home on Friday afternoon with zero appetite. Wasn't exercise supposed to make you feel hungry later? Or does that apply only to swimming? I spent 4 precious hours pondering what to have for lunch as I read my crime novel. It wasn't until 4.30pm that I decided to make some scones. We might as well call that tea time.

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Ingredients for 6 scones
225g self-raising flour
25g cold/chilled butter
Pinch of salt
15g caster sugar
50g sultanas
150ml cold milk
1 egg beaten with a little milk (for brushing later)

Method
1. Heat oven to 230 degrees Celsius.
2. Sift flour and salt into a dry mixing bowl.
3. Add the butter and use your fingers to quickly rub it into the flour until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs.
4. Add the sugar and sultanas. Mix well.
5. Make a well in the centre and stir in the milk to make the dough. If the dough is too sticky, sprinkle some flour.
6. Transfer the dough onto a floured board and knead it lightly until smooth and then roll it out to about an inch thick.
7. Using a large cookie cutter, cut the dough. Place them on a well floured baking sheet.
8. Brush with the beaten egg and milk mixture. (Lightly will do or it might turn out quite brown like mine)
9. Bake in the oven (middle shelve) for 20 minutes or until golden brown.
10. Cool on a rack before eating.

I didn't have clotted cream at home so I used only strawberry jam. As they're packed with sultanas, these scones are surprisingly good on their own too! Crispy on the outside, light on the inside. Just the way I like my scones.

6 August 2013

Flammkuchen

Apart from taking photos, I’ve been trying to take more videos lately too. While photos are able to portray an expression or event captured at a specific moment, videos are able to show the sequence of events which can be quite fun. I found an app known as Magisto on the App Store and it’s quite a cool video editing app.

Here’s a video of how I made Flammkuchen. Unfortunately, I’m not able to view the video on my iphone or ipad directly on YouTube but it works perfectly fine on a PC or laptop. Must be some silly Flash requirement and I’ve emailed Magisto asking if they’re planning to change that. These days people surf the internet ON THE GO. It’s just really silly to produce something that isn’t suitable for certain platforms. That would be a major MINUS point when using Magisto. But overall, I still had fun with the app. Funnily enough, the YouTube video works just fine once “embedded” in a blog post.



Alternatively, try to watch it via this link!

http://www.magisto.com/video/KU4RZ10VRi80WkRgCzE

Ingredients (depending on how generous you want to be)

  • flammkuchen base which I got from the supermarket
  • Crème fraîche (2-3 tbsp)
  • 1 red onion
  • cherry tomatoes, halved
  • bacon bits
Method

  1. Preheat oven at 220 degrees Celsius
  2. Spread Crème fraîche on the base followed by onion, cherry tomatoes and bacon bits.
  3. Bake in the oven for 15-20 minutes
  4. Serve while it is hot

31 July 2013

Meatless Mondays

Starting next Monday, I'll be taking on a new mission also known by many as Meatless Mondays. As the name suggests, it simply means not having meat on Mondays. 

I do love eating meat. However, I'm not a fan of handling huge slabs of raw meat. Also, I'm trying to have more fruits and vegetables to ensure that I get the necessary vitamins. 

Meatless Mondays is also a good way for me to look for proteins and iron in other sources of food. I'm sure I'll be sharing some vegetarian recipes soon! And if you know where to find excellent vegetarian recipes, please do let me know. 

27 July 2013

Yorkshire Pudding

Living abroad in a foreign land can be frustrating when you have no access to your favourite home-cooked delicacies. It’s not too bad in Frankfurt as we’re spoilt with a good variety of restaurants and supermarkets. But occasionally I’ll find myself scratching the walls, dying to have something Singaporean or British.

I’ve learnt to cook a few Chinese dishes and I’m really proud of myself. It really does cure homesickness especially when I’m a foodie person. Thankfully Daniel isn’t a fussy eater and he loves Chinese food too. However a couple of days ago I realised I don’t really know how to cook anything British (and I don’t mean just frying sausages or bacon). Hence I attempted to make a Sunday Roast.

When it comes to cooking something I’m not familiar with I believe in taking baby steps. So I tried to make our own Yorkshire Puddings. Much to my surprise, the recipe calls for only 3 ingredients! And I assure you it’s really simple to make too. The recipe was originally from BBC Good Food but I made a quarter of it.

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Ingredients (Makes 3-4 average sized Yorkshire Puddings)
35g plain flour
1 egg
50ml milk
Sunflower oil for cooking


Instructions
1. Heat the fan oven to 230 degrees cels. Drizzle sunflower oil evenly into a Yorkshire Pudding tin or muffin tin. As I haven’t got either of them, I used a mini-cupcake tin which works fine too. This is why I had 8 mini Yorkshire Puddings even though the recipe claims to serve 3-4. Heat the tin in the oven for a good 15 minutes at least.

The trick to having really fluffy, puffed up Yorkshire Puddings is to ensure that the tin is sizzling hot!
2. Mix the flour and egg in a bowl till smooth. Gradually add in the milk and beat till it’s lump-free. Season with salt and pepper.
3. To make it easier for you to pour the batter into the tin, first pour the mixture into a jug. Remove the heated tin from the oven and pour the batter evenly into the holes.
4. Bake them for 25 minutes or until they’re golden brown. Remove from oven and serve while they’re warm.

Do not open the oven door when cooking Yorkshire Puddings if you want them to rise!

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I wondered why my Yorkshire Puddings weren’t sunken in the middle. I reckoned the tin was too small and it didn’t allow the batter to spread horizontally. However it didn’t affect the taste at all. This October we’ll be back in England for a holiday so I’m definitely getting my hands on Yorkshire Pudding tins!
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The taste was simply marvellous. I love how fluffy it turned out to be although I must admit I was shocked and worried why they didn’t look like the frozen ones.

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And so may I now proudly say that I can make one of Britain’s favourite and most popular dishes!

22 July 2013

Mango Salsa

Sweet and delicious honey mangoes from PakistanIt has been really hot, humid and sunny in Frankfurt for the past couple of weeks. Temperatures are rising well above 30 degrees Celsius and according to the weather app I have on my phone, we can expect 36 degrees Celsius on Saturday! Many say I should be used to the heat since I’m from Singapore. Unfortunately I rely a lot on air-conditioning. It is possible to not drop a sweat in Singapore. We don’t have air-conditioning in our apartment but again, who does in Europe? It’s usually cold anyway apart from a few weeks in the summer, and that’s if we get a summer. And I don’t think it’s necessary for us to get a fan for a couple of weeks. Thank goodness our apartment doesn’t trap that much heat.

If you’ve read my Aglio Olio post, you would know that I am trying to think of recipes for this blistering hot summer. I’ve been having lots of fruits to cool myself down and I was so excited to know that Yuan Fa Asian Supermarket at Konstablewache sells honey mangoes from Pakistan. I love mangoes and they are one of my favourite fruits. It’s pointless trying to get mangoes from German supermarkets because they just don’t taste as sweet.

I’m a mango fanatic. I finished an entire box of them by myself and got another box over the weekend. Daniel doesn’t have much of them because they’re really sweet (honey mangoes…duhzzz) and for some reason reminds him of durians! As a hardcore mango and durian eater, I assure you these mangoes taste just exactly like mangoes.

sliced mangoes
They were extremely juicy. Let you in on a secret – I was slicing and sneakily eating the mangoes in the kitchen. Couldn’t resist the urge to feast on my favourite fruit!

With my second box of mangoes, I decided not to be selfish and share them with Daniel. I had to think of how to make the mangoes taste less sweet so that he’ll have some of then.  I don’t know how but I thought I would use either lemons or lime to make the fruit less sweet. Hell knows what I was thinking but I decided to make Mango Salsa based on an indian salad I made years ago.

Mango salsa, an easy and quick to make side dish on a hot summer day

Ingredients (serves 4  as a side dish)
  • 3 small mangoes, peeled and diced (they must be very ripe and sweet)
  • half a cucumber peeled and diced
  • 2 tbsp of jalapeno chillies diced
  • half a red onion diced
  • juice from 2 limes
  • a handful of fresh parsley, chopped
  • a handful of fresh mint, chopped
  • salt and black pepper
Instructions
  1. Combine all the ingredients together and season with salt and black pepper to taste.
Isn’t this just a piece of cake? It’s so easy! This fruity salsa has a tinge of spiciness to it and is sure to add excitement to whatever you’re serving it with. It reminds me so much of Thai cuisine which sometimes has a mixture of sweet and spicy tastes to it. Mango salsa is the perfect summer appetizer or snack and I do recommend you to try it if you haven’t.
So, what is your favourite summer dish that you enjoy in this boiling heat? Do feel free to share in the comments below!
I’m just going to sit out in the balcony and have my Mango Salsa now. Excited!!!!

20 July 2013

Aglio Olio

It has been really hot lately and I can’t bring myself to have anything too hearty – like stews, or anything too heavy and creamy. And so here’s a recipe for aglio olio which is a little zesty – perfect in the summer!

Ingredients (serves 2)
160g spaghetti
1 tbsp salt (for boiling spaghetti)
8 cloves of garlic chopped (I love them!)
1 lemon (for zest and juice)
8 – 10 fresh basil leaves, chopped
8 fresh mint leaves, chopped
1 tbsp mixed dried chilli & black pepper seasoning
2 tbsp olive oil

Instructions
1. Cook spaghetti in salted boiling water (follow packet instructions).
2. Drain spaghetti but keep about 3 tablespoons of the liquid.
3. Stir fry garlic in olive oil till golden brown but do not let it burn.
4. Add basil and mint and mix well for a couple of minutes. Turn the heat down to low.
5. Add cooked spaghetti, dried chilli & black pepper mixture and lemon zest. Mix it well.
6. Add lemon juice and the reserved pasta water to spaghetti.
7. Turn off heat. Stir well to ensure that spaghetti is evenly coated. Serve while it’s hot.

I love the zesty taste of the pasta. I’ve never had lemon zest in my aglio olio before (not even in restaurants) until I chanced upon Jamie Oliver’s recipe.

I bought pots of basil and mint yesterday as I really want to try to use more fresh ingredients in my cooking. It’s amazing how the kitchen just smells so much more refreshing with these herbs sitting beautifully by the window sill.


And here’s the chopped mint.


Unfortunately I couldn’t get fresh chilli from the supermarket so I used dried chilli which is just as good, I reckon. Probably not as spicy which is fine by me.

If you have a special aglio olio recipe too please do share with me in the comments section below.


8 July 2013

Steamed Double Chocolate Cupcakes

Copyright Yoyo's Kitchen Adventures
I didn't grow up with an oven. It just wasn't popular in Singapore among my parents' generation. They didn't grow up with one either. But that didn't stop us Chinese from having cakes. How did we make cakes then, you might ask. 

We use a steamer. A steamer is an essential kitchen tool in a Chinese family. We use it to steam vegetables, seafood, eggs, buns, dumplings and cakes. I prefer steaming food to frying simply because it usually doesn't involve using oil and it's healthier. 

Here's a photo to show you what a traditional, old-fashion Chinese steamer looks like. This is the upper layer. It's 28cm wide which is a good size since I can fit my largest bowl in it when I need to. 
Copyright Yoyo's Kitchen Adventures

As I'm feeling a little guilty for the lack of exercise today, I'm going to share with you a non-traditional, but healthy double chocolate steamed cupcake recipe! The basic recipe is similar to making traditional chinese steamed cakes. Are you ready for it?

Ingredients

  • 75g all-purpose flour
  • 1tsp baking powder
  • 2 tbsp cocoa powder
  • 1 egg
  • 3.5 tbsp milk
  • 1 tbsp sugar
  • 2 tbsp vegetable oil
  • 4 tbsp chocolate chips
Instructions (Makes 6 cupcakes)
  1. Fill a steamer with water and bring it to boil.
  2. Sift the flour, cocoa powder and baking powder in a large bowl.
  3. In a separate bowl, whisk the egg, sugar, milk and vegetable oil together.
  4. Add the egg mixture to the flour mixture and mix them together well.
  5. Add the chocolate chips to the mixture and mix well.
  6. Fill each cupcake holder half-way. (I used silicon cupcake holders. Do not use paper ones!)
  7. Place the cupcake holders in the steamer. Cover it and steam for 10 minutes.
  8. The cupcakes are cooked when a skewer comes out clean.
  9. Serve when cupcakes are warm or at room temperature. 
Tips

I find steaming cakes a lot more hassle free and easier than baking. But a huge pull factor is that I don't have to use that much butter and sugar that a traditional chocolate cupcake would usually call for.

Copyright Yoyo's Kitchen Adventures
As you can see, the cupcake is really moist, fluffy and light. The cupcakes weren't too sweet so if you have a sweet tooth, you might want to double the sugar needed. I personally like it as it is and would prefer to taste the actual chocolate chips instead. I am really interested to make variations of steamed cupcakes since this was such a success. What other flavours do you reckon you'll experiment with?

4 July 2013

Cumin Burgers

I love burgers. Not fast food burgers, but actual homemade beef burgers. I'm really skeptical when someone tells me a restaurant serves THE best burger in town. I've taken those advice plenty of times only to find myself disappointed at the end of the night. Most places freeze the meat, which is understandable. However, freezing those burger patties means they lose the natural, flavourable juices which make your burger very tasty. That's why MOST restaurant burgers are dry and taste mediocre.

I started making my own burgers at home in 2007 by following a recipe. After 6 years I have made enough burgers to change its taste as and when I like. One of my favourite burgers is Cumin Burger. It has a slight tinge of spiciness and the cumin adds fragrance to the burger. 
Copyright Yoyo's Kitchen Adventures
Here's the recipe for it.

Ingredients (Serves 2)


  • 150g minced beef
  • 1 small onion, diced
  • 1 small carrot, finely shredded
  • 1 egg
  • 1 tsp cumin spice
  • Half tsp cayenne pepper
  • Half tsp dried rosemary herbs
  • Half tsp black pepper
  • Salt (just a little sprinkle)
  • 2 tbsp of oil
  • Grated cheese
  • Iceberg salad
  • Burger buns
  • Jalapeno (Optional)
  • Sunnyside ups (optional)
Instructions
  1. Mix the minced beeg, onion, carrots, cumin spice, cayenne pepper, rosemary herbs, black pepper and salt in a bowl.
  2. Add the egg and use your hands to combine it well.
  3. Divide the mixture into 2 equal portions and flatten them. Make sure they are about the same thickness (and not too thick).
  4. Wrap the individual patties separately in cling film and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
  5. Heat the oil in a frying pan at high temperature. Put the patties in when the pan is sizzling hot. 
  6. Fry each side for 3 minutes and then lower to medium-low heat.
  7. Continue frying on medium-low heat for 5 minutes on each side.
  8. Sprinkle some grated cheese over the patties and turn off the heat.
Tips

I always put some vegetables on the bottom half of the burger bun before placing the patty on it. This is so the bun doesn't get all soggy from the meat juices (yum! yum!). I love eggs so I always fry a sunnyside up to go with my burgers too but this is optional. If you like your food to be a little spicy, feel free to add some jalapeno to your burger. Go easy on them though!




3 July 2013

Chewy Oats & Raisins Cookies

Copyright Yoyo's Kitchen Adventures
To me "tea" was just that black, brown, green or yellow liquid that we drink. So when my mother-in-law, who is British, asked "What would you like for tea?", my response was "Oh, no thank you". I remember thinking to myself "What other tea has she got apart from PG tips AND I'm still drinking from the cup she made me minutes before!". 
 
Probably taken aback slightly by my response she asked again, "Are you sure you wouldn't like tea?" to which I responded while pointing to my half-filled tea cup "I still have some left", a little embarrassed by my lack of tea-drinking speed. 

That was when my husband, Daniel, intervened to explain what "tea" my mother-in-law was offering. She was not referring to drinking tea, of course. Instead, she was referring to "tea as a meal" which is a light meal consisting of cakes, crisps, cookies, finger food and sandwiches. That was one of my first British Culture 101 lesson.

To create the feeling of "Britishness" at home, I do make tea occasionally. Last weekend, I made some lovely Chewy Oats & Raisins cookies which I found on BBC Good Food. These cookies are meant to be slightly chewy and go really well with a hot cup of tea in the afternoon. Here is an adaptation of the recipe and I hope you will like it.


Ingredients list:  
  • 100g butter 
  • 70g caster sugar 
  • 100g all-purpose flour 
  • 160g porridge oats 
  • 100g raisins 
  • 2 tsp cinnamon powder   
  • 2 tsp baking powder 
  • 2 eggs 
Instructions (Baking time - 16 minutes)
  1. Heat the oven to 180 C. Grease a large baking sheet. 
  2. In a large bowl, use an electric whisk to mix the butter and caster  sugar together until soft.
  3. Add the eggs and cinnamon powder and mix well.
  4. In a separate bowl, mix the flour, oats, baking powder and raisins together. Make sure they are well mixed before adding it to the butter mixture with a spatula.
  5. Scoop tablespoonfuls of cookie dough onto the baking sheet and bake for 16 minutes (the cookies should be slightly browned, so do keep an eye on them).
  6. Remove from oven once they are cooked but DO NOT remove cookies from tray. Give the cookies a couple of minutes to cool slightly and settle before moving them to a cooling tray to cool completely. 
Tips

I reduced the amount of sugar in the original recipe because the raisins I use are already very sweet. Some people who tried this recipe said that its texture was more like a cake rather than a cookie. Well, it is meant to be a little more on the soft side. So if you are looking for a crispy cookie recipe, this would definitely not be your cup of tea. (Note to self: bake more cookies)
It could be my oven, but baking for 10-12 minutes as per the original recipe definitely was not long enough for my cookies. They were slightly undercooked. Also, baking them a few minutes more will give you a more crispy texture.



26 June 2013

Little Coffee Cakes

Happy midweek everyone! Hope you have had a smooth first half of the week and are looking forward to a great weekend wherever you are.

To kick start my weekend (I do start early, don't I), I found a really good Little Coffee Cakes recipe. These mini cakes are really moist and rich in flavour. They are incredibly delicious and I can’t promise you that you’ll stop after one little cake!
Copyright Yoyo's Kitchen Adventures
There is no bitterness to these little cakes and they are surprisingly light too. This is the first time I've succeeded in making proper icing however I still need to work on swirling it properly so it does not taste only yummilicious but also looks fabulous!

Copyright Yoyo's Kitchen Adventures

It does look devilish, doesn’t it? The recipe was superb. Even Daniel, who isn’t a fan of icing, finished two little coffee cakes at once! Here's the adapted recipe for these wonderful little cakes.

Ingredients

  • 50g golden caster sugar
  • 70g butter, softened
  • 2 large eggs
  • 70g self-raising flour
  • 1 tbsp instant coffee mixed with half tbsp water

For the icing


  • 100g butter, softened
  • 80g icing sugar
  • 1 tsp instant coffee mixed with half tbsp water
  • 25g plain chocolate, melted
Instructions (Baking time 17 minutes) 
  1. Heat oven to 170C. Line 18 holes in 2 bun tins with fairy cake cases. 
  2. Beat the sugar with the butter until light and creamy. 
  3. Beat in the eggs, one by one, adding 1 tbsp flour at the same time. Beat in the rest of the flour along with the coffee. 
  4. Spoon into the cake cases and bake for 17 minutes. Cool on a wire rack.  
Instructions for Icing
  1. Beat the butter until pale, then gradually beat in the icing sugar, followed by the espresso and the melted chocolate.
  2. Decorate the little cakes with icing when they have cooled.
Tips
Unless we're really desperate to wake ourselves up, we don't drink espresso. That hardly happens so I don't have any at home. I didn't see the point of spending a few Euros on a bottle when the recipe calls for less than 2 tablespoons of espresso so I used oridinary coffee powder which works just fine. As with all the recipes you'll find here, I always put less sugar than what's stated in the original recipes. 

If you could resist digging into these little coffee cakes immediately, I recommend chilling them for a couple of hours before serving. The icing would have set a little more by then. Unlike some cakes which get dry after refrigerating them, these stay moist even after keeping them for two nights. 
 

23 June 2013

Midsummer Swedish Kladdkaka Cake

Happy Midsummer everyone!

Actually I’m not sure what people say to each other on this day. Midsummer is celebrated in Europe (particularly in the Scandinavian countries) and it takes place around the same time as summer solstice. As Singapore is a tropical island located near the equator, we have pretty much quite the same number of daylight hours throughout the year. In Europe, summer solstice occurs on the day when we have the longest daylight hours.


Source: Robert Nyman’s website
Before living in Europe, it was hard to imagine that it would still be bright at 10pm in England. I thought Daniel was trying to impress me (who knows why this would be impressive?) when he told me this fact years ago. But I don’t remember him telling me about the long, dark winters. CHEATER BUG!!!

Here’s a BBC picture of the Brits mark summer solstice at Stonehenge.

 
Source: BBC News 
And since I love the summers in Germany (on days that actually feel like summer) I looked up online on how to bake Kladdkaka which is a Swedish chocolate cake with a gooey centre. I baked it today and I must say it is officially my favourite chocolate cake. It’s soft in the centre which melts in your mouth when it’s warm.
Copyright Yoyo's Kitchen Adventures
If it’s your first time baking this cake you might wonder if it’s actually cooked through. Unlike most cakes, if you poke a stick through its centre it will NEVER and SHOULD NOT come out clean. It is meant to be gooey, sticky... NOT DRY.

Copyright Yoyo's Kitchen Adventures

Here is the brilliant recipe from it from All Recipes

Ingredients
  • 60g all-purpose flour
  • g unsweetened cocoa powder
  • 1g sale
  • 2 eggs
  • 240g white sugar
  • 15ml vanilla extract
  • 115g butter, melted
Instructions (Baking time - 35 to 40 minutes)

  1. Preheat oven to 150C. Lightly grease an 8 inch tin.
  2. Sift together the flour, cocoa powder, and salt. Set it aside. 
  3. Stir the eggs into the sugar until smooth. 
  4. Add the flour mixture, and stir just until combined. 
  5. Pour in the vanilla extract and butter. Stir until it is well combined.
  6. Pour mixture into tin.
  7. Bake in the lower tray of the oven for 35 to 40 minutes until the center has slight set.
  8. Allow cake to cool before serving.  
Tips
This recipe has been tested by many and received a high rating overall. I followed the recipe exactly (word for word) and it worked out really well for me. The only thing I might change on hindsight perhaps is to reduce the amount of sugar used since I sprinkled icing sugar on the cake before serving.

Don't worry if this cake doesn't rise just like other ordinary cakes. It is meant to be a little flat and dense. But I assure you, it is DELICIOUS. 


Copyright Yoyo's Kitchen Adventures
So, here we are wishing everyone a good week ahead and Happy Midsummer!

14 June 2013

Habitual Saving

You don't need to be in dire need of financial help to start budgeting. In fact, it is essential to know the importance of budgeting to ensure that you're aware of your finances and plan for the future. A lot of us have legitimate reasons to complain about inflation, rising costs of housing etc and we worry what will become of us in 35 years. Many people try to save but fail to do it on a regular basis thanks to the ease of swiping credit cards. It's not so much the determination to set aside a fixed amount monthly but rather a habit that we need to get into when it comes to saving money. So, the question is how can we get into the habit of saving?

1. Know your spending habits
You need to know what you're spending on. It sounds simple, doesn't it? Most of us could probably give a good estimate of how much we spend monthly. However this mission gets difficult if we were asked to break it down into categories such as clothes, food, leisure etc. I started taking note of what we were spending on by looking through bank statements, bills, any direct debit set up and keeping receipts for at least a month. The whole point of this is to look at the generic spending patterns you have and know where the money is going.

You’ll realise that there will be recurrent expenditures such as (but not limited to):
 • bills (electricity, gas, water, internet, phones)
 • council tax (if applicable)
 • rent
 • transport fees
 • food

Once you’ve added them up, hopefully the outgoing is less than the incoming!

2. Identify things you enjoy
Set aside 15 minutes one evening and write down a list of things you enjoy doing or like. Next is to identify the things you don’t care about but spend out of habit and the things you truly care about. A friend of mine was spending €1.90 from Mondays to Fridays on coffee. Assuming there are 22 working days a month, his monthly allowance for work coffee was €41.80. He decided that it was more than what he would like to spend on coffee. Hence, he stopped having his daily coffee treats. He decided that buying a coffee was something he did out of habit and not something he really enjoyed. It was merely a routine he got himself into.

I’m not suggesting that we all give up coffee and be anti-social. On the contrary, I believe that we can still keep up with our social lives without compromising our budget. If you’re one of those who needs a good coffee on a daily basis, why not bring your own coffee to work? Most workplaces provide a good pantry/kitchen where you can heat up your lunch or make drinks these days. Instead of having a total “makeover” of your spending habits you could start by taking baby steps. Treat yourself to coffee three times a week and not five. Soon you’ll break out of the habit.

3. Be realistic
After you’ve paid for the essentials, look at the amount you have and determine what a realistic amount to set aside each month is. To me, a realistic amount is one which still allows me to enjoy my day to day life without breaking the bank. I’m not particularly fussed about dining at restaurants every other night. In fact I am capable of surviving an entire week without eating out. But that’s because I enjoy cooking and have the luxury of time to do so. I understand that saving is such a personal thing and it does require you to make changes to your lifestyle (whoever who tells you otherwise is talking nonsense). But you have the last call. You decide for yourself if you’re willing to make those minor changes and save the money you need for better purposes.

4. Set a goal
Don’t we all need a goal to be motivated? Well, I do anyway. There must be a reason for you to want to save and I call it a “goal”. I have long term and short term goals when it comes to saving. Long term goals could be a deposit for a house, retirement, investments (generally goals that I’ll achieve in 5 years time or more). Short term goals could be the ability to go on frequent holidays, shopping for shoes (I love shoes and I really don’t have enough of them!), home deco etc. Once you know your specific goals, it will not only motivate you to save for them but you will also have a better idea how much you want to put aside monthly.

Be careful not to “borrow” from yourself to achieve short term goals. If you see a pair of shoes that costs €100, I’m sure you’re able to put it on credit or just pay immediate cash for it. The “if you won’t be broke, just spend it” mentality is the precise cause of one’s failure to save. Didn’t our parents teach us to save our pocket money to buy our favourite doll/ transformers or sweets when we were little? It’s the same concept. Getting a pay cheque doesn’t mean we go absolutely crazy and buy every pretty thing in our way.

5. Pay yourself
Once your employer has paid into your current account, the next thing you should be doing is pay yourself in your savings account. This isn’t a new trick but setting up a standing order would be a great start. It’s best time to pay yourself is a couple of days after you’ve been paid (taking into account public holidays and weekends). As your savings build up they should grow faster too (only if bank interest rates aren’t this low now!). On transfer days, I check that the money has been successfully debited into the savings account and that’s it. However small an amount you’ve set aside, give it a couple of months and you’ll be surprised at how much you’re actually saving in the long run.

These are the exact five tips that I use to help me get into the habit of saving. Saving isn’t something we do for a couple of months and then stop. It is a habit that we need to get into to make our dollar stretch further. On my money saving journey, I’ve also learnt more about myself and others. I know what I value more these days and things that I couldn’t care less about. If you have additional tips that you would like to share, please comment below. I would love to know what else works for you guys.

7 June 2013

10 Tips to Reduce Your Grocery Bill

You've had a blast at university and landed yourself a great job but student loans are eating your pay cheques. Maybe you've just moved in together in a rented house/ flat and are saving for the 10-25% deposit of your first home. Maybe you're saving for the big day. Maybe you're planning on having a little addition to your family and want to have more financial security. Or, you just want to save some extra cash for your annual summer holiday. 

You've scratched your head real hard (sacrificing a few strands of hair), done the maths and wondered if you could possibly reduce food expenditure without compromising on the quality of food. Of course the answer is "YES"! 

I’ve gathered some tips which I follow that might help you save money and still enjoy your food. Hopefully these little tips will help you change your spending habits in the long run. However, I can't emphasise enough how important it is to still enjoy your food, eat healthy meals and not buy something that's cheap (but horrible) just for its price.

1. Be your own chef
It is indeed romantic to dine out. An evening dinner for two with drinks comes up to an average of €30. Not too bad, you might think. Now, make that twice a week, 8 times a month, 96 times a year and the final bill is a whopping €2880!

Despite wanting to save more money, we’ll still need to live our lives and socialise. So I’m not suggesting that we become hermits and bury ourselves at home. It’s all about striking a balance. 

Eating in can be fun. Plus you’ll get to show off your culinary skills! For the inexperienced, it’s time to get some practice in the kitchen. It doesn’t need to even be a fanciful 3 course meal; it’s the thought that counts. Being your own chef also means you can make healthier meals – less fat, salt, MSG and sugar. Why not invite some friends over on a weekend for a potluck party? 

Whenever I eat out I consciously choose dishes which I can’t cook at home. I mean, why pay €10 for bolognese (with all due respect to the REAL chefs out there) when you can easily cook something similar for less than half the price for two servings? Decide for yourself if it’s going to be money worth spending. 

To ensure that we stretch the Euro further, we’ve cut down on eating out to once a week. This makes the night out a more cherished one as it feels a lot more like date nights. It’s the one day of the week when we have no washing up to do.

2. Plan your meals
I’ve been guilty of roaming down the aisles of supermarkets with an empty trolley wondering what on earth to cook for dinner. The end result – overloaded trolley, hefty bill and an aching back from lugging the grocery bags home. 

It helps knowing in advance what you’re cooking and buying only what’s necessary. Every Friday I “brainstorm” on what’s for dinner for the following week. Why Friday? It’s because everything closes on Sundays in Germany and we do our shopping on Saturdays.

Planning your meals in advance means you do not succumb to emotional needs at the supermarket. You’ll no longer pick stuff just to fill the trolley only to find out later that you haven’t really got the essential ingredients to whip up something healthy and delicious. 

I used to spend an average of €45-60 per week on unplanned shopping. More often than not, there was food wastage because I bought too much fresh food which we didn’t consume in time. Now that I plan meals, my weekly shopping has been reduced to €30-35 a week to feed two of us. This includes breakfasts and dinners for both of us and lunches for me. A savings of €15 a week works out to €780 a year. That’s pretty impressive. 

3. Make a shopping list
Now that you’ve got a weekly meal plan, you should have a concrete idea on what you actually need to buy. Make sure you have the quantity written down. Remember, buy what is only necessary!

A shopping list keeps you focused and saves time too. I used to spend an hour or so roaming around the supermarket picking random items to fill my trolley. But now, I’m done in 20 minutes or less.

4. Eat your veggies
It’s generally cheaper to eat vegetables than meat. And it’s definitely healthier. This doesn’t require you to change your diet. All it asks of you is to have a “Pro-Veggies” day. There are plenty of vegetarian recipes online which are very tasty. It’s only a day, you can do it!

5. Waste less food (stop over eating!)
I used to buy 250g mince instead of 180g because they cost only a few cents more. I thought I was getting more value out of it. The true story however is, we could never finish 250g mince! Even when we did, we felt horrible for gorging down too much food. All it did was made me worry about my already disappearing waistline. 

As shoppers we need to change our mentality. If we’re not eating that much, we might as well pay less for the smaller packaging. There will be less food wastage and more pennies (and probably a slimmer waistline too).

6. Set a weekly budget
Firstly, you’ll need to know how much you’re spending each week on grocery shopping. Secondly, know how many meals need to be paid for. Once you’ve figured that out, think about how much you’ll want to save. Be realistic about it. It is very important that as we save our pennies we do not compromise on our quality of life and the quality of food we consume. Oh, and stick to the budget!

My tip is to give yourself a trial period of a month or two to change your shopping habits. Collect all your supermarket shopping receipts (however small the purchase is) and keep them on your fridge. At the end of the month calculate how much is spent and have a think whether you would like to save more or if you’re being too harsh on yourself. 

7. Use what you have
How often do we really do an inventory check of our kitchen cabinets? I almost never did till I decided I need to be more careful with my spending. 

Much to my surprise I had tins of tomato sauce, pasta sauce, half opened packs of flour etc. They added to the collection of sauces I bought on previous occasions sitting on top of the fridge. Yes, what a disaster! I was buying stuff I already had.

Such products have a long shelf life, but surely I should only be getting ingredients that I don’t have in the kitchen. It wasn’t as though I was stocking them up because they were on sale. Sad to say, they were items I bought to fill my trolley. 

I suggest having a look at what you already have (check the expiry dates!) and finish them before stocking up.Look for recipes which use up those cans of food first before buying more.

8. Shop at different places
I am utterly pampered by British supermarkets. The food looks fresh and I always have an excellent shopping experience. When I moved to Germany the arrogant me within refused to shop at Lidl, Penny Markt and Aldi. Even Rewe wasn’t impressive but I knew I would be crazy to shop at Galeria or Karstadt frequently. 

However after a long discussion with my husband on how we can get more value from the money we have, we decided to check out Lidl. I had a list of things to buy and knew how much they cost at Rewe. A lot of items (same brand, same item) were cheaper at Lidl compared to Rewe and sometimes up to €1 less. 

Be careful of brand loyalty. Sometimes cereals of a different brand taste just as good. We bought a 750g pack from Lidl for €1.99 when a 375g pack at Rewe was selling for €2.95. It tasted just as good so yes, we’re switching brands. 

For many people, convenience is of the highest factor to consider. You might like getting all your necessities from one store and call it a day. If you’re lucky to have 4 different supermarkets just a 5 minutes walking distance from where you live (I’m the lucky one), I suggest popping into all four and do a price comparison. You’ll be surprised to know how different places price the same items differently.

9. Eat your fruits
A 1litre fruit juice (not the horrible concentrate stuff…eeewww) costs approximately €2.95. We usually finish it in 2 days which means we spend an average of €44.25 a month on juice itself.
While it is definitely important to get those essential vitamins in our body to fight off colds, €44.25 can be better spent on eating the REAL fruits. Why not make yourself a fruit salad which can be kept in the fridge for a 2-3 days and serve that for dessert? If you really need a drink, there’s always water. Do I need to get into the health benefits of drinking 8 glasses of water a day?

10. Stay away from the stores
There’s no such thing as “just browsing” when it comes to grocery shopping. You’re bound to get something (even if it’s tiny). Once you’re done with your weekly shop and got everything you need, stay away from supermarkets. Whenever you see beautiful flowers or dark purple seedless grapes on sale at the entrance of supermarkets, tell yourself this "It's a trap!".