ayonecan-cook

I have tried very hard to like strawberries because they are such pretty little things but I can't. T hat's why you will find few recipes with strawberries on this blog. I always find them tart and not at all sweet. Having said that, they were at the least ..juicy. I bought strawberries with the original intention of making financiers with sliced strawberries on the top like here. I thought they would look very pretty. But that didn't happen. This did. Because I did not want the strawberries to go to rot.  I used the same recipe as Sweet Potato Cinnamon Rolls but added dried cranberries and fresh strawberries instead. Then I placed the dough into cupcake liners and 3 mini loaf liners, scattered flaked almonds and sugar nibs that Sarah from Siliconemoulds had given me sometime ago on the tops. I made buns. They were very moist because of the sweet potatoes and fruity because of the cranberries and strawberries. Strawberries out.... next time.  The recipe is here . Just a...

Today is sweet potato day. I've just made some sweet potato cinnamon rolls that are the moistest, softest, cushiony-est, sweet potatoe-iest buns I've ever made. This recipe is one that I concocted. There was a lot of vacillating between cake, buns or onde-onde.  But finally ...a decision. And more importantly ....action. And these rolls are here to stay. You just have to make them. Have to make them. Have to make them. I used Japanese Sweet Potatoes....the purple skinned kind. The smooth inside kind,   the yellow inside kind,  the non fibrous kind...yes I did. Things may turn out differently if you were to use a different kind ~  I know you know that ~ I'm just saying ~ :) The large proportion of grated sweet potatoes gave the buns so much flavour, moistness ans richness. I'm so soo pleased. It was a hit at home. You must try. I must declare too that those sweet potatoes were steamed, drained and sat in my fridge for the longest time. Like a week. Or more? I mus...

Here's a fictional bau story and a true recipe. A Bau Story ~ (or skip it) ~ It's hard to picture bau on a plate and Dad on a chair together, face to face. But curry was a different matter altogether. He had to have it everyday. Like water. Especially a fish curry. So if Mom asked (which she would do almost everyday) what she should cook with this or that, accompanied by a plagued and tired look on her face, Dad would simply answer "curry" without flinching, without looking, without thinking. You would think that that would be the end of Mom's problems. But no. That was her problem. Was that why she left him? We often wondered. Because right after she did she abandoned curry and went for bau. Bau this, bau that, it was bau, bau, bau.  Finally, exasperated, Janna asked her one day after school  "What's with the bau Mom? "  "This is the one thing your father hated. Bau. And I hated all that curry. Everyday. To cook, to eat, to cook, to eat. Why d...

I thought I could s'nail' this since arts and crafts has always been my forte but these flower or snail buns were quite a challenge. And chignons I have never made. Unlike Terri. So perhaps that explains why I was struggling. I almost didn't post these. Some of them looked ridiculously laughable. These were the best of the worst. N looked at me with a question mark on her face. But I think they taste good. I'll know by sunset. I will have to re-heat them though. These are best eaten warm. I have always loved Chinese steamed buns but especially buns with a spicy curry meat filling. Yes.... you cannot take the Malay out of me but there's always room for Chinese. And chocolate. And ice cream. These would be good soaking up a curry I made last night. Oh. My. Yum.  Terri was spot on with the recipe. I used exactly 200 ml of water and  I didn't need to add a drop more. I kneaded the pau dough in the machine until it didn't stick. I had no sticky problems. The ...

These Brioche made the Top 9 on Foodbuzz today 30th April 2011. Thank you to the Foodbuzz community! Happy Buzzday :) I used Sarah-Jane's brioche moulds from siliconemoulds.com. to make the brioche. They came out adorable with little buns on their heads. I thought it was quite funny when I picked one up and the little bun-head rolled off almost immediately. But it was only the one.  How comic it would have been if all of them had rolled off. These were the silicone moulds from siliconemoulds.com that Sarah had mailed me. As always nothing could be easier than un-moulding from a  silicone mould.  Effortless.  A tip I had learnt so that the tops are perfectly middle when they finished baking was to depress the base dough in the middle right to the bottom with your thumb before brushing egg yolk and placing the bun-head on top. Generally, it worked except for a few. But lopsided or not they were delicious, soft, buttery and adorable. What more does one need in a bun....

Thank god the thyme and the Italian parsely I had bought in 2 little packets 5 days ago have not wilted to a day over useless. To quote (with a twist) season 10  Idol judge ST. Finally I got down to making this fantastic looking cheese bread that I spotted at the lovely Sugar and Everything Nice by Jo . It looked incredibly irresistible I had to make it. It was one of the most savoury quick 'breads' I have ever eaten. The pepper, the saltiness, the slightly chewy sun dried tomatoes and the parmesan cheese added soo much flavour. I loved it. So good for breakfast as I am simply not into sweet breakfasts.  I thought the flavour of the spring onions was quite Asian and it instantly reminded me of cucur udang or prawn fritters. Moist pink minced prawns played havoc on my mind. I imagined a shrimped, hot peppery, herb-y, cheesy quick bread. Wow. No? Wow yes. The recipe.......... Very much like a muffin in method and texture. I omitted the olives though because olives are not a sta...

I made and ate such a beefy Jamie Oliver burger that I was cleaning the house the whole afternoon. Upstairs and downstairs and in my master's chamber. I dusted, I swept, I mopped and I sweat. I must remember never to have Jamie's burger for lunch ever again. It just gave me too much enthusiasm, excitement and passion ~ for all the wrong things. I need rest. Rest is what I need. Rest is best. Being petite I struggled to eat this big fat thick dolloped-with-curry-mayonnaise-and-piled-high-with- caramelized-onions burger. Heck, I even struggled to clamp it between my two little paws. I had mayonnaise and crumbs smeared within a 2 inch perimeter of my mouth and yet I missed biting down on the beef patty. I must remember that I am not a troll.  I made these burger buns yesterday and 'painted' them with flour. I thought they looked pretty neat. I cut out a small piece of plastic grid that my super duper DIY husband has around the house amoungst a host of other puzzling...

This baby made it to the TOP 9 on Foodbuzz today, 31st May 2010. Happy Buzz Day ! Thank You to the Foodbuzz community :) A thunderstorm lashed the sky, dense, grey sheets of rain pummelled the ground, the television went blank, the house morphed into dark, gloomy and small, the wind swept through gaping windows and quivering doors and a fine spray of rain caressed an arm with chilled drops......... a cold quiver settled inside of me and I could think of little else but Wuthering Heights and Jane Eyre, Heathcliff's unresolved passions and Mr. Rochester's brooding misery.... what did I do? I made bread. I should have made "lunatic mugs with smiling faces" ...but I made bread. Had it been a little colder I would have lit the fireplace, if I had one, or a wood oven if I had one too. Black thunderstorms are a haunting pleasure. I love them. When I'm happy. I was.... so I made a rosemary infused bread embedded with flecks of sundried tomatoes baked to a crust on the o...