無奈阿....

原來無奈就是這種感覺吧！

Healthy Baked Crispy Chicken

I DO NOT like deep frying anything at home for 2 reasons: 1. If I don't cook healthy food at home, why do I even bother eating at home when I have a McDonald steps away from my house! 2. I just can't get myself to dump out half bottle of oil after 1 use! And to be honest it will be pretty disgusting if I keep and reuse that kinda stuff! So what to do when I still love crispy chicken?! After trial and error, I found a great way of making delicious Crispy Chicken without frying. When in doubt, oven is always the way to go!

Healthy Baked Crispy Chicken ~ with an Asian twist~




8 Pieces of boneless, skinless chicken thighs
1 cup of Korean Kalbi marinade
1 cup of flour
2 large eggs
1 cup of Japanese Panko bread crumb

What to do??
1. put 1 piece of chicken thigh in a big clear plastic bag at a time, pound the chicken evenly until it is about 1 cm thin

2. Marinade all the pounded chicken in Korean Kalbi marinade for at least 30 minutes (preferably a few hours for stronger flavor)



3. form an assembly line with 3 bowls: 1.Flour 2.beated eggs 3. panko bread crumb

4. Take the chicken thigh out of the marinade and piece by piece coat it with a thin layer of flour. Dip it in egg, and lastly coat it generously with panko.

5. Place them on a sheet of baking tray and bake it at 400 degrees F for 15 minutes. Lastly, turn the oven to broil and broil the chicken for 5 minutes.



There you have a very tasty but healthy Crispy Chicken!!

*Later on I learned another trick to make it even crispier!! Before you bake the chicken, use PAM (cooking oil spray) to spray and moisten both sides of the chicken, and THEN bake it! I heard it will look and taste just like fried chicken!!!! I am totally going to try that trick next time I make it!*

《小廚娘筆記》薄荷巧克力馬卡龍 Mint Chocolate Macaron!!

前幾年某個聖誕節我去上了一堂馬卡龍的課 @ The Dirty Apron Cooking School，　Ａ到了一個餐廳級的馬卡龍食譜．　整個聖誕節下來，　我做了不下５０個馬卡龍！！真是太幸福了～ 大家一定要切記, 每個步驟都要很小心的做, 畢竟馬卡龍真的是一個很精緻的甜點, 很容易失敗 ><.

薄荷巧克力馬卡龍

材料：
85g    很細的杏仁粉
150g  糖粉
90g    室溫的蛋白. 切記一定要室溫這樣才會成功唷
65g    砂糖
5ml    薄荷精, 或是如果不喜歡薄荷口味也可以用香草精
少許食用色素

巧克力醬夾心
100 g   黑巧克力
100ml  鮮奶油

過程：

1.預熱烤箱到３５０度Ｆ

2.準備一張烘焙紙 (半透明的) 在一面畫上幾個大約直徑3-5公分的圓圈 (你想要馬卡龍的size再小一點點), 圓圈和圓圈中間要隔至少2公分唷!
3. 用篩子篩過杏仁粉和糖粉
4. 在另外一個碗中用打蛋機將蛋白和砂糖打到蛋白泡泡可以站立, 不會倒下 (stiff peak)


 

5. 分3 次輕輕的將杏仁糖粉拌入蛋白泡泡中, 千萬不要扮的太忘我, 這樣會把好不容易打到很鬆的泡泡都消氣了 (我頂多不會拌超過一分鐘).
6. 等到杏仁糖粉和蛋白完全融合之後, 加入薄荷精和色素.
7. 大約再拌10次
8. 將混合好的蛋白挖入擠花袋中, 請用圓形的擠花頭.




9. 用擠花帶擠出一個個圓形的餅狀 (就是擠在#2畫好的烘培紙背面!)
10. 全部擠完之後輕輕敲烤盤, 讓馬卡龍餅中間太多的空氣跑出來.
11. 現在最重要的步驟.... 讓它們在室溫等著...至少15 分鐘. 這個步驟是要讓馬卡龍的表面乾掉, 這樣烤起來, 馬卡龍才會只有長高, 不會長胖然後表面龜裂.
12. 大約烤10-17 分鐘. 這個步驟也是成敗的關鍵點. 由於馬卡龍真的是一個很delicate 精緻的一個甜點, 每個烤箱溫度不一定一樣, 要自己慢慢找到對的時間. 我幾乎過了前5分鐘後, 每兩分鐘都會再去檢查一下. 如何知道烤好了呢? 就要烤到上面殼變脆了, 而且下面可以蠻輕易的移開烘培紙 (蛋白液都被烤熟了)
13. 拿出餅乾後, 等放冷了就可以夾入內餡了!

巧克力醬Ganache
1. 將鮮奶油用中火熱到滾
2. 倒入切碎的巧克力中, 攪拌均勻變成液體狀. 放涼.
3. 等到巧克力凝固成醬之後, 裝入擠花袋中

將巧克力醬以螺旋狀擠在一片馬卡龍餅乾上，然後輕輕的用扭轉的方式將另外一片馬卡龍餅乾黏在巧克力醬上。就這樣甜蜜的馬卡龍就完成了唷！

《英文全食譜》

Mint Chocolate Macarons

Ingredients：
85g Fine Ground Almonds 
150g Icing Sugar
90g Egg whites (room temp) 
65g Berry Sugar or Granulated sugar 
5ml Mint Extract 
Dash of food color 

Ganache
100 g Chocolate 
100ml whipping cream 

1. Preheat your oven to 350F. 

2. Prepare a parchment paper and draw circles with about 3-5 cms and each circle should be at least 2 cm apart. 

3. Sift together ground almond and icing  

4. In a separate bowl, beat egg white and Berry Sugar to stiff peak.

5. In 3 batches, slowly fold in the powder mixture into the egg white. DO NOT over mix, just do it enough so it is not super lumpy. I don't mix for over 1 minute. 

6. Add peppermint extract and a few drops of the food coloring.

7. Fold about 10 more times so the color is fully mixed. 

8. Fill the fixture into a piping bag with the round piping tip. 

9. Use the drawn parchment as a guide, pipe the mixture on the back of the parchment paper.

10. After piping all the macaron cookies, tap the pan about 5 times to get rid of excess air/bubbles.

11. MUST leave the macarons sit out in room temp for at least 15-25 minutes. You need this step for the top of the macarons to harden a bit and dry out. This way when you bake the macarons will rise and create *feet*, instead of cracking.

12. Bake for 10-17 minutes. Really depends on your oven's true temperature. Due to the delicate nature of Macarons, you really have to test out your oven and see how long it takes for your macaron to set. I tend to check after the first 8 minutes, and then every 3 minutes. It is done when the top part hardens, and it is easy to remove from the parchment paper (cooked so it does not stick to the paper).

13. Take out of the oven and allow it to fully cool before adding the filling

Chocolate Ganache

1. In a small sauce pan, bring whipping cream to a boil.

2. Turn off the heat and add chopped chocolate into the mixture. Mix until fully incorporated. 

3. Let cool to room temperature and then put it in fridge for about 30 minutes to make the ganache pipable. 

To Assemble the Macaron, pipe the ganache on one cookie and twist another cookie on gently. There you have the perfect and elegant Mint Chocolate macaron!!

Chocolate Covered Strawberries

Strawberry dipped in Chocolate is one of the easiest thing to make, yet one of the most elegant sweet treats thanks to Godiva! Instead of buying 3 dollar for A strawberry dipped in chocolate, why don't you just spend no more than 10 dollars and make a batch of 15-20 strawberries! They are so simple and upgrade any dessert!

What you need

5 Baker's bittersweet Chocolate (or more depends on how many strawberries or how big one strawberry is) 

15 strawberries

1 Baker's white chocolate (for decoration drizzle)

Food coloring (optional)
parchment paper/wax paper

How do you do it?

1. Thoroughly wash the strawberries, leave the leaves on the strawberries as you will need to hold on to them to dip the strawberries into chocolate.
2. Thoroughly dry the strawberries (I used paper towels to triple dry the strawberries. *Make sure your strawberries are dry before you dip them, or else you will end up with those pretty chocolate dipped strawberries, but all the chocolates fall off after first bite!*)

3. Use a double boiler and melt the bittersweet chocolate. *I highly recommend using baker's chocolate since it is made to be used for baking or cooking. This will lower the chance of the dipped strawberries sweat when stored*.

4. Dip the strawberries into well melted chocolate, and let it sit on the prepared parchment paper. After all strawberries are dipped, put them in the fridge to set for about 15 minutes.

5. Meanwhile, microwave to melt 1 oz (1square) of Bakers white chocolate. Fill it in any small plastic bag. I used a ziploc sandwich bag. 
6. Take out the set strawberries, and cut a tiny whole on one end of the sandwich bag. Start piping some patterns on the dipped strawberries. 


7. Optional: I saved half of the white chocolate and added a drop of red coloring to make the white chocolate pink and pipped half of the strawberries with pink stripes and half with white stripes!



** A side note, you mostly won't be able to finish piping all the white (pink) chocolate, so this is a good chance to pipe different pattern on the parchment paper and save it future decoration. Great to put on ice cream or cakes!!

Dirty Apron

For our anniversary my darling took me on one of our best dates ever! EVER! Instead of a regular dinner anniversary date, he brought me to a cooking school called Dirty Apron. Dirty Apron is a high end cooking school with a variety of courses. There are many classes with different focuses: Meat, seafood, Italian, Japanese etc. We did the 4 hour hands-on classes that focuses on Meat dishes. Our class starts off with Olive Sun dried Tomato Tapenade Lamb chop, moving on to elegant Pork Wellington topped with Grainy Mustard white sauce, and last but not least,  ending with grilled Rib-eye steak covered in red wine sauce.

They welcome you with  glass of wine and your recipe and apron

They used to provide you with the apron for the night and the night only! But after many people's feedback on it, they changed the policy and now we get to keep ours! Even though they did downgrade the let-you-take-home aprons, they are still very nice!

Too bad I don't eat lamb, but the crust looks to die for! I will definitely try the sun-dried tomato and olive tapenade crust on some other type of meat dish!

This cooking class is such a treat! They prepare everything for you, all the measurements for the ingredients are done and put in  a nice plastic container, so all you have to do is to pretty much assemble them! $150/ 4 hours class might be  a little pricy for regular days, but I do highly recommend this cooking school for a special occasion/date!

My dear, Happy Anniversary!

Time Sure Flies!!!~~~ I can't believe it's already 2 years since becoming a Mrs! 2 years ago today we had our very first wedding in Taiwan, and shortly after the wedding we went to most people's dream honeymoon destination: Maldives!!

Let's let pictures take us down our memory lane~~

Singapore Airline's Honeymoon gift to us!

Bathroom in the hotel is even bigger than my current bedroom!

It's still part of bathroom!!!

Waiting for Sun Rise

週末美食

今天這個, 純粹是想要來愛現加上分享一下我們禮拜五晚上吃的好料!


日式Friday!!

沒錯...就是..我.....做.....的!!!!! 當然要感謝M&M 贊助的一大塊生魚片鮭魚!!! 鮭魚握壽司, 鮭魚壽司捲, 辣鮭魚壽司捲, 最後來碗魚丸味增湯收尾拉!


這次沒有食譜, 不過有幾個小撇步可以跟大家分享!


1. 壽司飯要先煮飯, 等飯煮好了馬上加入壽司醋, 這樣飯才會入味 =>
2. 握壽司的飯要很黏, 可是要如何不讓半鍋的飯都黏在手上 ( 像我第一次失敗的時候 >"<) ? 答案很簡單, 在握飯之前手心和手指上沾點水就不會黏了唷!!


所以, 只要買到生魚片等級的魚, 就可以自己在家做高級日本料理囉!!

Cake Pops!!

My love with the cake pop idea stem from a picture I saw 8 years ago. It was a picture of a dozen colorful mini donuts that's sticking on a lollipop stick. Back then when there's MSN, I used the picture for my profile for the longest time!! Lately I decided to challenge myself and make cake pops from scratch. With big thanks to The Kitchn I successfully made my first batch of Cake Pops!

Cake Pops

What do you need?

*TIME!* Making the cake pops take a long time!!! It's the waiting to cool time that really makes it harder. First you need to wait till the cake cools down completely, then after you mix everything you need to wait till the mixture is cold enough that is can make a firm cakeball! You need at least 5 hours or prepare some parts the night before!

1 batch of  Dark Chocolate Cake

1 pack (8 ounces) of cream cheese, softened

2 cups icing sugar

4 tablespoons butter

1 tablespoon milk

2 bags of Candy Coating

60+ Lollipop Sticks

How do you do it?

1. Break the cooled chocolate cake into crumbs. I used a fork to "dig" my way through the cake.

2. Use a mixer to mix together the cream cheese, icing sugar, butter and milk until smooth. (Make sure the mixture is FULLY smooth, I was too rushed so I ended up with little chunks of cream cheese in some of my cake pops >_<)

3. Mix the creamy mixture with the cake crumbs until fully incorporated.

4. Cover the mixture and refrigerate until it is firm and will stay in ball shape (I let it sit overnight)

5. Once you take it out, roll the mixture into ball sizes. I made 60 cake balls from the batch. Make it as round as you possibly can!! Once again, I didn't think it will matter after the candy coating, BUT IT DID!! I put half (30) cake balls in the freezer for future use. 

6. Stick the lollipop stick halfway into the cake balls, and return it back to the fridge to let it SIT another hour or so (this step helps it firm up the ball around the lollipop stick)

7. Melt the candy coating in a double boiler or by microwave (bought it from Michael's along with the lollipop sticks) - Side note, never buy stuff from Michael's without a coupon! They have coupons EVERY WEEK!!!

8. Dip the cake pop in the melted candy. The trick to get smooth exterior look (took me 2 batches to finally figure out) is to dip it in, lightly bang the lollipop stick against the side of the bowl to let excess candy drip off the cake ball. REMEMBER, lightly tap the lollipop so the cake does not break off the stick. Once it is thinned out, turn the cakepop around to where it was dripping off excess previously, gently tap twice to smooth out the uneven part. TADA! there's your smooth cake pop!!

9. I used an upside down egg carton and punctured tiny holes to serve as my cake pop stand as it dries. But best tool would be a big fat styrofoam to hold up your cake pops.

Enjoy!! Everyone loved these Cake Pops, they taste very moist and fudgy due to the moist cake and cream cheese mixture :) 

Ahi Tuna

I have been very lucky~ my in-laws constantly have fresh supplies of seafood and will always share with us! When they brought over a ginormous piece of sashimi grade Tuna, the first thing I wanted to make was my fav Seared Ahi Tuna!! Seriously, for such a elegant dish, I did not expect it to be so easy to make!

Lightly Seared Ahi Tuna

What do you need:

FOOD:

A piece of sashimi grade tuna

Dash of Salt and Pepper (I used Rose salt~~ Gourmet salt enhances the flavor!!) 

1 cup of grated Daikon

1/8 cup of Soysauce

1/8 cup of Mirin

1 Teaspoon of Sugar

GADGET:

Preferably a non stick pan

A Sharp Knife

How do you do it?!
1. Grate 1 cup of Daikon, use 1/2 cup for plating and 1/2 cup for Sauce

2. Sauce: Mix thoroughly 1/2 cup of grated daikon, soysauce, mirin and sugar, put aside.

3.  Sprinkle dash of salt and pepper on all sides of Tuna

4. I actually don't have non stick pan, so I used a regular frying pan instead. *Here's the trick* to make regular have non stick quality, first you have to make sure you heat the Pan very very hot before you add oil. Test the heat by dropping a drop of water to the pan, if it evaporates instantly then you are good to go! When you add oil, you can see that Oil actually slightly floats on the super hot pan, and then put in the tuna. I seared each side for about 30 seconds!

5. After searing the tuna, wrap it in tin foil and put it in the Freezer for 15 minutes to tighten the fish so it is easier to slice!

6. After taking it out, slice the fish with a very sharp knife to make sure it stays in 1 full piece and not crumble to flakes

7. Plating suggestion: spread out the grated daikon on the plate, layer the slices of Seared Ahi Tuna on the daikon, lastly, drizzle the sauce on the tuna slices, TADA!!~~~ There's your super simple yet professional looking Ahi Tuna!!

Fast and delicious Chocolate Cake

I get a little obsessed when it comes to food. When I'm in the craving state of mind, I would literally have a whole night of light sleep and wake up at 6AM to bake, just to satisfy my craving. It got to a point where I am unsure if I am craving for the food itself or that I am craving for the process of making it!

So my challenge for myself last month was the famous Cake Pops!! I spent 2 weeks researching for the perfect recipe. I looked at Bakerella, whom seemed to have started a trend of Cake Pops, looked at Joy of Cooking, my Bible for almost everything edible, and searched everywhere online. Bakerella calls for boxed cakes which I am not a fan of because it doesn't give me that sense of satisfaction when I am done making it... this leads back to the point again, maybe I am just craving for the process after  all and the food was all just a big disguise. Joy of Cooking's sponge cake turned out a bit dryer than what I wished for. Online I was lucky and found The Kitchn which provided me with an AWESOME Chocolate cake recipe as the basis for my Cake Pops! 

According to The Kitchn, this recipe was originated from Hershey's. It is a very moist cake with shiny pretty exterior, so if you are planning to make a cake without frosting it, this would be a good GoTo cake. :)

Delicious Chocolate Cake - Adopted from The Kitchn


makes 1 9-inch round spring-form cake, or two 9-inch round 1 layer cakes, or 1 13 x 9 inch pan


What do you need?
2 cups of Sugar (white or I used Cane sugar)
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup cocoa powder - I used Dutch Processed Dark cocoa powder. Remember to get unsweetened! The better the cocoa powder the better the cake will be.
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1 cup milk
1/2 cup vegetable oil - I used Grapeseed Oil since that's the only oil in my Pantry at the time
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup boiling water


HOW?
1. Pre- Heat oven to 350°F. Grease and flour the baking pan(s)
2. In a mixer bowl, stir together sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
3. Add eggs, oil, milk and vanilla into the bowl and beat at medium speed until evenly mixed. About 2 minutes. 
4. Add in the boiling water and gently mix until even. Note that the batter will be pretty runny. 
5. Pour the batter into the pan and bake for about 30 min to 40 minutes depending on type of Pan used. Best way to test is to insert a wooden stick or a knife through the middle of the cake and it comes out clean.
6. Let the cake cool to room temperature before attempting to remove from the pan. Let the cake cool completely before frosting. 

The "New" Toy!

March 16, 2012 - this date may sound familiar to those of you out there that is somewhat tech savvy!

That's right!!!! We got it!!!!

The resolution on this iPad is unbelievable!! Even the tech dummy me can tell the difference!!

Super Easy Stir Fry Asparagus

We were hosting dinner this weekend and I made a full on Chinese meal to spice things up! We did everything Chinese style, with 5 assorted dishes, 2 meat, 2 veggies and 1 tofu with a big bowl of soup to end the meal! This dish is SUPER easy and fast, it can be done within 15 minutes.

Stir Fry Asparagus

What do you need:

5-7 slices of bacon

about a bunch of asparagus  (I used about 20 spears)

How do you do it:

1. Cut the asparagus at an angle (prettier and soaks up more sauce!)

2. Cut the bacon slices to about 2 cm chunks 

3. Pan sear the bacon until it release most oil, and starting to turn a little golden. If the bacon is very fatty, pour out some oil.

4.Add the cut asparagus into the pan, pan fry the asparagus and bacon at medium high heat for about 3-5 minutes until the asparagus is tender. 

5. Scoop them into a pretty dish and you are all set!! (No salt is needed for this dish since the bacon is already salty and flavorful)