Cheese baked corn tuna pasta recipe

This comfort food is one of my boys' favorite! It's extremely easy to cook. We always involve our children in cooking. Not only is this fun and educational, it also allows the children to spend some time bonding with us, learn how to do housework, as well as appreciate how food is prepared.

Ingredients

1 can 160g Ayam Brand Tuna Mayonnaise

300g dry penne/spiral/macaroni pasta

1 onion, chopped

1can of Ayam Brand corn kernels 

1/2 cup Lady's Choice mayonnaise

1/2 cup Emborg shredded cheddar

1 cup Emborg mozarella cheese

2 tablespoons Emborg butter

1cup milk

1cup Emborg cooking cream

10g Tao Kae Noi original crispy seaweed- cut into strips

Salt to taste

Serves 6

Preheat oven to 180degrees C.

In a large pot with boiling salted water cook pasta until al dente. Drain.

Take off heat, add tuna mayonnaise and set aside.

To make the sauce, in a medium saucepan melt the butter or margarine over low heat. Saute the chopped onion, and minced garlic.  Gradually add milk, cream and cheddar cheese. Continue stirring until thickened. 

Combine cooked pasta, sauce and tuna mayonnaise. Pour into a glass casserole dish. 

Add the cup of grated Mozzarella cheese to top the mixture.

Add TKN seaweed strips on top.

Bake uncovered in preheated oven until cheese on top is melted and brown, about 20 minutes. Serve warm.

Enjoy!

Healthy Bubur Cha Cha Recipe

The classic Bubur Cha Cha calls for the lovely trio- yam, orange sweet potato and purple sweet potato dessert- with heaps of sugar and lots of coconut milk.

But our version is much healthier and simpler. Still we were able to enjoy the delicious and nutritious root vegetables.

Ingredients

 100 grams Purple Sweet Potato

 150 grams Orange Sweet Potato

100grams Yam, Taro

 100 grams Sago, Tapioca pearls

Evaporated milk

4-6 Screwpine leaves

Melted Gula Kabung- to taste (can be omitted)

Peel and cut all vegetables into small cubes.

Instead of steaming them separately in the classic manner, I just chucked all of them in enough water to cover the cubes work the screwpine leaves then boil them over medium heat for 5-10 minutes until they just cooked.

In another pot of boiling water, cook tapioca pearls until they are at least half cooked. By that time, the water will be fairly starchy. Strain the pearls then exchange with a fresh pot of boiling water. About half an hour is needed to cook the pearls.

Assemble the dessert.

Enjoy it with an equal amount of evaporated milk with or without Gula Kabung! Gula Kabung is sugar made from palm trees which gives the dessert a distinct fragrance besides sweetness. Sinfully sweet but worth the try!

You can also add some tapioca balls. The recipe and tips to cook tapioca pearls/sago can be also found in my previous post here.

Lazy Keto Banana Bread Recipe

We just can't get enough of the goodness of organic bananas grown by our cousins living in the village area. We are very blessed to have a generous amount of fresh fruits and vegetables delivered by my in laws on and off, enough to last a month.

Besides banana milk shakes, one of the must try recipes call for some low carb, low GI, lazy keto banana bread.

500g Loaf  (8 slices)

Ingredients

1 cup mashed ripe bananas (about 4 large bananas)

1 large egg

50ml water 

1 1/2 cups bread flour (195g)

1/4 cup whole meal flour (30g)

1/4 cups coconut flour (30g)

3 tablespoons sugar

1 tablespoon butter or margarine

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon bread improver

2 teaspoons instant yeast (I use Mauripan)

1/3 cup chopped pecans, toasted (or raisins)

Place all ingredients in the listed order into the bread pan. 

Be very careful to separate the yeast from salt, sugar and liquid.

Bread in progress!

Set to wholemeal bread program, 500g loaf, light crust.

Wait for the bread machine to deliver a fresh loaf of banana bread!

Enjoy it with peanut butter, cream cheese or chocolate spread.

Tips: 

Leave the bread to cool on the rack at least to room temperature before cutting to avoid crumbling.

If you are adding coconut flour to a gluten-free flour blend or substituting it for flour in a regular recipe,  substitute coconut flour for up to 20% of that blend. The liquid and/or fat combination needs to be increased by about 20% (fat preserves the long term moisture of the final baked product). 

Coconut flour typically call for a lot of eggs. Every 1/4 cup (30.8g) coconut flour typically requires one egg for both moisture and structure.

When storing coconut flour, it’s best to keep it airtight and refrigerated since coconut flour absorbs moisture.

Lazy Keto Pan Mee Recipe

Pan Mee is definitely one of our cravings during MCO. It's a great comfort food so we made it lower carb, lower GI and lazy keto. It's equally tasty and more filling with higher protein content when coconut flour was added to the dough!

Ingredients

Dough

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

1/4 cups coconut flour

 2 eggs

 1/4 cup water

Soup

1 cup dried anchovies, heads removed

 1/2 cups preserved turnip 大头菜

Chicken bones from 1/2 chicken

 8 cups water

Toppings

 1 cup dried anchovies, heads removed

 1 bunch Asian spinach

 1 clove garlic, finely minced

 4 oz ground pork

 4 dried shiitake mushrooms , soaked in water and stems removed, cut into strips

1 tbsp soy sauce

1tsp corn starch

1tsp water

Immerse preserved turnip in filtered water for 30mins then chopped coarsely.

Pan fry anchovies thoroughly and set aside.

Wash the chicken bones thoroughly and scald them with some hot boiling water. 

Cook the clear broth in Russel Taylors pressure cooker using the soup setting. Prepare at least 2 hours before meal time.

Do not add salt as the preserved turnips are fairly salty.

Prepare the dough by combining all the ingredients in Kenwood BM250 bread maker and turn on to preset 9- pasta dough. Cover with a damp cloth and rest for an hour.

Caramelized minced garlic, stir fry with chopped Shitake mushrooms, minced pork. 

Braise for about 5 minutes or so. Add the cornstarch and water mixture to thicken up the sauce. Dish out and set aside.

Prepare the remaining anchovies by frying with some oil. Make sure the anchovies are perfectly fried until golden brown in color and crispy. Set aside the fried anchovies.

Bring a pot of water to boil while you prepare the dough. 

For the peace of mind, I use a pasta machine to roll out the dough with the machine and cut to fettuccine shape. 

Cook the noodles in the boiling water until they float to the surface or completely cooked. Dish out using a colander.

Assemble the cooked noodles, soup and toppings.

Enjoy while hot!

Tips: 

If you have excess batter, you can refrigerate a ball of dough overnight in an airtight container to avoid drying.

If you are adding coconut flour to a gluten-free flour blend or substituting it for flour in a regular recipe,  substitute coconut flour for up to 20% of that blend. The liquid and/or fat combination needs to be increased by about 20% (fat preserves the long term moisture of the final baked product). 

Coconut flour typically call for a lot of eggs. Every 1/4 cup (30.8g) coconut flour typically requires one egg for both moisture and structure.

When storing coconut flour, it’s best to keep it airtight and refrigerated since coconut flour absorbs moisture.

Taiwanese QQ Ball Dessert Soup Recipe

Life needs more colors and chewy Taiwanese ball dessert! These are as popular as boba teas but healthier using natural ingredients and much less sugar. I made them with my boys for some messy fun!

Ingredients

300 g taro/sweet potato/pumpkin

300g tapioca starch/corn starch (100g if use sweet potato or taro as they contain less water)

Sago

Screwpine leaves

Sugar (1/4cups) can replace with sweetener

Each 100g dough equals to 1 serving.

Cut the pumpkin and then steam with high fire for 15 minutes until soft. Peel the skin off. 

Smash pumpkin well, mix in sugar when the taro is still hot. Add tapioca starch in after the mixture cooled to room temperature.

Knead to form a soft ball, add water if needed. Add more flour if your mixture is too wet and more water if the mixture is too dry (start cracking while rolled).

Then divide the dough into 4 equal portions, shape each one into thin long log (around 1.5cm in diameter). Then cut into small dices. Dust some tapioca starch to avoid them from sticking together.

To cook the pumpkin balls,

Bring a pot of water to a boil, and then gently lower the balls in. Add 2 tablespoons of cold water when the taro balls floats. Then continue cooking for 2-3 minutes. Strain the liquid. 

Make sure the water is already boiling before adding the balls, otherwise they disintegrate into a pot of glue. After adding the balls, slightly stir them to prevent them stick to the bottom of the pot. 

These pumpkin balls can be frozen well. Dust the balls with a thin layer of starch to keep them separated. Then cook directly for next serving. They can be frozen up for 1 or 2 months.

Similarly, use the method to cook 1/2 cups of sago. 

Prepare the sugar syrup by boiling screwpine leaves with sugar and 4 cups of water for about 10 minutes.

Serve the balls immediately with the warm/cold sugar syrup and add some evaporated milk for extra creaminess!

Lazy Keto Seafood Savoury Pancakes Recipe

Enough of sweet stuff. Tonight's dinner is calling for savoury pancakes which is low carb and low GI. Time to clear off home grown, organic long beans in the fridge. And also to sneak some nutritious fresh ingredients into my picky eaters' plates.

Ingredients

Filling

1medium brown onion, sliced

1 cup well-fermented napa cabbage kimchi, chopped 

1/2 cups Enoki mushroom, chopped

1/2 cups long beans, chopped

1/4 cups squid

Batter

1/4 cups squid

1/2 cup unbleached all-purpose flour

1/2 cup wholemeal flour

1/4 cup coconut flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon sugar

1 1/2 cup milk

3 large eggs

2tbsp sunflower oil

Yields 10 pancakes 

Fillings

Caramelize onions in pan using 2tbsp of sunflower oil.

Add in and stir fry Enoki mushroom.

Dish half of it up. Add in long beans and stir fry (Kids version)

Add in squid, kimchi and half of the onions and mushroom then stir fry (Korean/adult version).

Batter

Mix all the batter ingredients in  Philips food processor until smooth.

Refrigerate for 30 minutes or up to 1 day; stir for a few seconds before using.

Lightly coat  a skillet with oil on medium heat.

Quickly pour 1/4 cup batter with 1/4 cup of the filling (Kids/Adults) into center of skillet, tilting and swirling pan until batter evenly coats bottom.

Cook until pancake is golden in places on bottom and edges begin to lift from pan, 1 to 1 1/2 minutes.

Flip the pancake over. Cook for another 45 seconds or so.

Enjoy!

Tips: 

They don't taste as good when left to cool. But if you have excess batter, you can refrigerate it overnight.

If you are adding coconut flour to a gluten-free flour blend or substituting it for flour in a regular recipe,  substitute coconut flour for up to 20% of that blend. The liquid and/or fat combination needs to be increased by about 20% (fat preserves the long term moisture of the final baked product). 

Coconut flour typically call for a lot of eggs. Every 1/4 cup (30.8g) coconut flour typically requires one egg for both moisture and structure.

When storing coconut flour, it’s best to keep it airtight and refrigerated since coconut flour absorbs moisture.

Lazy Keto Chinese crullers

This has always been one of my favorite teatime-- You Tiao aka Chinese crullers. But it's also very sinful-- deep fried with lots of goodness of the gluten. To enjoy it in a slightly healthier way, I have mixed coconut flour to give it lower carb/GI. 

1 3/4 cups (200g) all purpose flour

1/4 (40g) cups coconut flour

1 1/2 teaspoon (4g) baking powder

2 eggs (120g)

25ml milk

25ml water

2 teaspoon vegetable oil

1/2 teaspoon salt

oil for deep-frying

In a stand mixer, add all the ingredients together and then knead with hook on low speed for 7-9 minutes until the dough is quite elastic. Shape into a ball and then cover with plastic wrapper. You can set aside in fridge overnight. Alternatively, cover dough and proof for 4 hours before use. 

In the next morning, bring the dough outside and set aside for around 2 hours until it is returned to room temperature.

Slightly dust your operating board and then shape the dough into a long log and then further to a rectangle. Cut the rectangle into strips around 3cm wide. Lay one stripe over the other one and press a mark in the center (lengthwise).

Heat the oil to around 200 degree C. Then hold the two ends and slightly stretch the strips to around 18cm (or slightly adjust the length according to your frying wok). Press the two ends so they can stick together.

It really needs a lot of oil for the crullers to have time and space to expand nicely. At least 1kg I would say.

Enjoy while hot!

Tips: 

They don't taste as good when left to cool. But if you have excess batter, you can refrigerate it overnight.

If you are adding coconut flour to a gluten-free flour blend or substituting it for flour in a regular recipe,  substitute coconut flour for up to 20% of that blend. The liquid and/or fat combination needs to be increased by about 20% (fat preserves the long term moisture of the final baked product). 

Coconut flour typically call for a lot of eggs. Every 1/4 cup (30.8g) coconut flour typically requires one egg for both moisture and structure.

When storing coconut flour, it’s best to keep it airtight and refrigerated since coconut flour absorbs moisture.