Apple and Cucumber Salad

I  am really not sure what title to give this dish. Maybe it should be called Apple and Cucumber salad in Oriental salad dressing :-)

This is my own creation after looking into the fridge and I found some apple and some calamansi fruit , hence I came out with this dish

We had this Apple and cucumber Salad with Roast Pork (refer to my previous post) and rice for lunch today

What you will need

30 - 40 ml calamansi juice*

10g calamansi skin, cut into fine strips* 

1 small onion, cut into fine strips too  

1/2 cucumber (local/Malaysia) or 1 Japanese cumumber , cut into 2cm x 2cm strips

1 red apple, cut into 2cm x 2cm strips

Seasonings

3 tablespoon of light soya source

1 teaspoon of sesame oil

Method

1. Cut both the cucumber and apple into same size. You can keep the skin of the apple too.This not only

    make the dish look nice, it also will taste better

2. Mix the seasoning and calamansi juice together (you may increase the seasoning according to your

    preference)

3. Put the apple strips , cucumber strips, calamansi skin strips, small onion strips into a large bowl

4. Pour 2 into 3 and toss well. Serve chilled

Note:

calamansi juice can be replaced with lemon juice

calamansi skin can be replaced with lemon peels

Roast Pork 烧肉

Roast Pork  烧肉

Today is a Public Holiday here in Singapore - It's Diwali

Diwali is also known as the festival of lights. A festival celebrated by the Hindus.  I would like to take this opportunity to wish all my Hindus friends Happy Diwali.

Since it is a Public Holiday, I will usually try to cook some special dish. So today the special dish is again one of our favourite Roast Pork  烧肉!!!

The pork will need to be marinade for at least 2 days before cooking.  This will allow the pork to dry and also the pork will be nicely marinaded with all the seasonings.

This is very easy to achieve as I did not cook my roast pork in an oven.

I cooked it in a deep big pot over low fire on a normal gas stove! By using this method, the pork taste juicy and not as dry as the oven cooked.  Also it will save time as you do not have to clean a greasy oven and waste electricity



Prick the skin all over with a sharp skewer




Rub and massage the Dry Rub seasonings on the meat and only salt on the skin



Put the marinated pork in a contain uncovered for at least 2 days to dry

Low fire



Roast Pork on the cooking/roasting



Nice brown colour



Serving by cutting the roast pork to small pieces

What you will need

500g  pork belly
1 tablespoon salt (I used sea salt)

Dry Rub seasonings

1 tablespoon garlic power
1/2 tablespoon five spice powder
1 tablespoon white pepper

Method

1.  Wash and pat dry the meat with kitchen tower
2.  Prick the skin all over with a sharp skewer
3.  Rub only salt on the skin
4.  Rub the Dry Rub Seasonings generously onto the meat until all the meat is well covered, if the seasoning
     is not enough, increase the quantity
5.  Place the pork in a container, uncovered.  Place the container in the fridge and let it dry overnight.  Turn
     the pork a few time to ensure both sides are dry
6.  Use a big deep pot and place it over a gas stove on low fire.  When the pot is heated up, place the meat
      into the pot. Use a pair of tongs to make sure that the meat is really in contact with the pork.
7.   Do not try to turn the pork too soon.  Press on the top side of the pork.  This will make sure that the 
      meat is constantly in contact with the pot.
8.   Turn the meat over to cook the other side when the initial side has turn brown. I took about 12 - 15
       minutes on each side
9.   Remove the pork from the pot and place it on a plate
10. Pour 1 table spoon of olive oil into the pot.  Place the pork back into the pan with the skin down and
      give the skin a quick deep fried for about 1 minute
11. Remove the pork and place it on a plate that is laid with kitchen towers.
12. To serve, cut into smaller pieces.  Roast pork goes well with rice!

Bangkok Jam, Thai Restaurant

Bangkok is the capital of Thailand

It is true that the traffic in Bangkok is really bad! Always jam!

If you are visiting Bangkok, do consider taking the sub-way or stay at a hotel near the shopping malls. This will really cut down your travel time

I miss Bangkok... shopping...food... massage...

I recently had lunch at Bangkok Jam, a Thai Restaurant located in Wheelock place, Singapore

Nice and interest decoration, but to me, the taste of the food is so so only.

Table top

Wall deco

Coasters

Pomelo & Prawn Salad

Tomyum Soup, the serving bowl is nice... the soup is tastless



Phad Thai



Fried Rice

Spaghetti in coconut cream.  The coconut is too MUCH

Fried Tempura Banana

Jiang Nan Chun Chinese Restaurant, Four Seasons Hotel

We have some visitors visiting the office.

Thank God for His blessing that I was included in the welcoming dinner for them.

A six course dinner at Jiang Nan Chun, Chinese Restaurant of Four Seasons Hotel Singapore

Below are the photos of the food we eat that evening.

I have included the menu for you to reference what we had eaten that evening  :)

The food and the company were great!



Appetiser





Soup





Dessert



Ice Cream Cake

For the period from October to December, there will be lots of Birthday celebration in my family.

Birthday cake will show up in the house almost every other week until we all are so "afraid" of eating another cake.  But of course, we enjoy singing the "Happy Birthday" songs , taking photos of the person boy/girl and blowing candlers.

Because of all these reason, I have decided to make a Ice cream birthday cake for my child and not an ordinary cake.  This is my second attempt of making Ice Cream Cake.  You will have to make this cake at least two days before you decorate it and serve it 



The Ice-Cream Birthday Cake!



( ^  -  ^ )



After 30mins in the freezer





Loosening the soften Ice-Cream



  

What you will need

Cookies* 150g

Unsalted butter 35g (room temperature)

A rolling Pin

A  big plastic bag

Detachable base cake tin**

Ice-cream 700g (Any flavour of your choice. I used strawberry cheesecake from walls)

Method

making the base

Put all the cookies in the big plastic bag

Hold on to the opening of the plastic bag and smash the cookies with the rolling pin until the cookies become fine crumbs

Pour the cookies crumbs out and mix well with the soften unsalted butter in a large mixing bowl

Pour the cookies mixture into the tin and press it down firmly and freeze it for 20-30 minutes

(If you immediately pour in the ice-cream, the cookies will absorb the ice-cream and become soft )

Ice cream

When you buy the ice-cream back from the supermarket, place it in the fridge where you usually put your food. We need the ice-cream to be soft

or if you have bought the ice-cream before hand, take it out from the freeze and place it in the fridge at least 1/2 hour before making the ice-cream cake.

Loosen the soften ice-cream with a pair of chopstick

Scoop the ice-cream into the cake tin and fill it up to the bream

Lift the cake tin up to about 10cm above the table, and  gently drop it onto the table

Repeat this step a few times. This is to allow the air bubbles to escape, so the ice-cream would be even

Cover the pan with aluminium foil and freeze the ice cream for at least 2days.

Decorating the cake

Remove the cake from the detachable pan and place it on a nice serving top,

Decorate it with treats you kids like such as candies, marshmallows, chocolate chips.

You can also wrap a nice ribbon around the side of your cake 

Note

*I used chocolate cookies. Use cookies without any cream.

** I used a heart shape tin.

You will need to work very fast when decoration the ice-cream cake if you are doing it in hot weather like Singapore

To cut the ice-cream cake, soak a pair of metal knife in a cup of hot water for about 10mins before you use it to cut the cake. The heat on the knife will do the work for you without having to use strength.

Calamansi Juice

Calamansi is a small green citrus fruit. It is inexpensive and are usually sold by weight as it is too small to charge by per piece :)

Calamansi is also a very versatile fruit. The juice of a calamansi can be added to BBQ or Grilled Seafood, Chicken wings, Fried Glass Noodles, Fried Rice Noodles.  The juice can really do the magic and give the food a different flavour and also could cut out the grease in grill and fried food.

The juice of calamansi can also be made into a nice and refreshing drink

It is very easy to find Calamansi in Singapore.  The weather here has been very hot these few weeks which it shouldn't be the case for the period of the year. So a cup of home made Calamansi Juice will really quench your thirst.

What you will need

Calamansi * 500g
Sugar 200g
Water 150 ml

Ice (To serve)

Method

Wash the skin of the calamansi clean and dry it a with kitchen towel
Cut all the 500g calamansi into half
Squeeze the calamansi juice into a large bowl over a sieve to prevent the seeds from falling into the juice, set the juice aside
In a small pot, bring the 150ml water to simmer, add in the sugar and off the fire
Stir with a wooden spoon until the sugar dissolved, set aside to let the sugar syrup cool down

To serve

Add the sugar syrup, calamansi juice and cold water and adjust the quantity of sugar, juice and water according to individual taste. Best served cold with ice!

Note (*)

When choosing Calamansi, try to pick those that are firm and big. Those that are soft usually are no longer fresh.  Bigger fruit will cut down your time of cutting and squeezing more of the smaller calamansi

You can replace the calamansi with lemon, orange (if you happen to buy orange that are sour), or lime

Bread collection

I have decided to do a post on the bread that I have made that are of different flavour, shapes and sizes

And, One day, when that one day come, I will post the recipe :)

Or if any of you ask for it ok?