Easy Salmon & Scallop Creamy Mixed Vegetable Fusilli with Brown Mushroom & Broccoli

Easy Salmon & Scallop Creamy Fusilli with Brown Mushroom & Broccoli

Ingredients:
1 pkt of mixed vegetable fusilli ( you can use normal fussilli if you want or any other types of pasta if you want)
Abt 200 gm of Salmon fillet (cut into cubes)
Abt 100 gm of scallops
10-12 cloves of chopped garlic
1 bottle of Alfredo Sauce (350 gm)
2 cups of fresh milk
A bowl of broccoli florets
Some olive oil
black pepper, dried mixed herbs and sea salt to taste
some chopped spring onions

Some sliced red bird eyes' chillies for extra spicy. (optional)


Methods:

1) Boil the pasta in boiling water with added a lil olive oil in it till the pasta is cooked. Drain and set aside.

2) Blanch the broccoli florets in boiling water with a lil olive oil added to it for 1 minute and drain & set aside.

3) Heat the saucepan, add few tablespoons of olive oil and sautee the chopped garlic till fragrant. Then add the cubed salmon and scallops and fry for abt 1-2 minutes and pour the Alfredo sauce over it and the 2 cups of milk. Add the sea-salt to taste, mixed dried herbs and some black pepper. Stir the sauce slowly for a few minutes and turn off the heat. Throw in the chopped spring onions in the sauce.

Serve:

Pour the cream sauce over the cooked pasta & blanched broccoli and serve hot. Super easy and so delicious.

Easy 3 minutes Hersheys Dark Chocolate Mousse

This rich Dark chocolate mousse recipe is so easy to whip up and taste heavenly. You will definitely impress your family or friends when you serve them with this dessert. It only takes about 3 minute to prepare this simple dessert.

Hersheys Dark Chocolate Mousse

Serve 5 wine glass.

Ingredients:

150 grams of semi-sweet Hersheys chocolate chips
150 ml cream
100 ml milk
1 egg

Methods:

1) In a saucepan, heat the cream and milk to almost boiling for about a minute.

2) In a blender, pour the chocolate chips, egg and the heated milk & blend in maximum speed for about 1 minute. Pour the mousse into wine glass and refrigerate for half an hour to 1 hour. Serve cold. I love topping my mousse with whipping cream and cherry. Enjoy this fuss-free dessert!

Health Benefits of Dark Chocolate

Dark Chocolate

Dark Chocolate contains many properties which are essential for good health.
It is rich in flavanoids which act as antioxidants. Antioxidants slows down aging process & protect the body from aging caused by free radicals, which can cause damage that leads to heart disease. Dark chocolate contains a large number of antioxidants (nearly 8 times the number found in strawberries). Flavonoids also help relax blood pressure through the production of nitric oxide, which helps to protect the heart. Chocolate also helps in the production of  endorphines, a feel good hormones  which gives a feeling of pleasure. It also contains serotonin, which acts as anti-depressant. You can read more from the link below to read more on the health benefits of dark chocolate, http://longevity.about.com/od/lifelongnutrition/p/chocolate.htm.

Photo credit: Istockphoto

Fish Tempura Soup Noodle

Fish Tempura Noodle Soup


Ingredients;

1 kg of rice noodle ( Boil with a lil olive oil for a 10-15 minutes till cooked, drain and set aside)
1 pkt Dory fillet (slice into cubes)
2 cups of tempura flour
1 cup cold water for the batter
1 cup soybeans
A handful of anchovies (ikan bilis)
2 tbspn of sesame oil
3-4 cloves of garlic - crushed
some sea salt to taste & white pepper
2-3 jug of water for the soup
a bunch of Chye Sim (sawi)

Olive oil for frying

For extra spicy:

Red bird eyes chillies
some light soya sauce

Methods:

1) Add a pinch of salt & some pepper to the cubed fillet and set aside. Mix cold water slowly into the tempura flour till the batter becomes smooth. Make sure it's not too watery.

2) Heat up the olive oil in a non-stick pan. Dip the fillet into the tempura batter and fry the fillet till golden brown and crispy. Set aside.

3) Prepare the fish soup broth. Pour 2 jugs of water abt 3 litres into a pot, add the soybeans, anchovies, crushed garlic and sesame oil and boil them for about 1/2 an hr to 1 hr. Add more water if the broth is too little.  Add sea salt & pepper to taste. Sieve the soup for a clear broth.

4) Blanch the Chye Sim in boiling water with a lil olive oil added to it for a few seconds and drain them.

Serve:

Serve as shown in the picture below.

Easy Sticky Toffee Date Pudding

Easy Sticky Toffee Date Pudding

This is my family's favourite dessert. They're so easy to make and taste heavenly. Hope you'll love them.


Make a dozen


Ingredients:

180 gm self-raising flour
3 large eggs
120 gm soft brown sugar
120 gm butter
100 ml water
150 dried pitted dates
1 tspn vanilla essence
1 tspn baking powder

Toffee Sauce;

120 gm light brown sugar
250 ml cooking cream
50 gm butter



Methods;

1) Make the sauce. Heat the cream in a pan with the sugar and butter until the sugar dissolves. Bring to boil and keep stirring until the sauce becomes rich and caramelize.Set aside to cool.

2) Put the dates in a small pan together with the water and boil for about 3-5 minutes till the dates becomes pulpy. Using a fork, mash the dates a lil and set aside.

3) Beat the butter, sugar and vanilla essence till creamy. Then add the eggs and beat further. Next add in the flour and baking powder and beat for about 2 minutes. Lastly, add the pulpy dates and stir well.

4) Pour the mixture into  2 1/2inch diameter cupcake moulds and bake in a pre-heated oven at 190 degrees for about 30-35 minutes until risen and firm to touch.Leave to cool slightly and remove from the mould and serve as shown in the picture topping each cake with the toffee sauce. You may add your favourite fruit to garnish.

Easy Guacamole Dip

Guacamole

 Guacamole is an avocado-based dip that originated with the Aztecs in Mexico^. In addition to its use in modern Mexican cuisine it has also become part of American cuisine as a dip, condiment and salad ingredient. ( Source:wikipedia). Avocados are an excellent source of many nutrients, including vitamin C, vitamin K and folate. They are a very good source of vitamin B6, pantotheinic acid, and potassium, and a good source of niacin, riboflavin, and many minerals.
Avocados are high in monounsaturated fat, a heart-healthy oil which may have other health benefits as well. Avocados are also rich in phytonutrients, including lutein and other carotenoids, which can help protect cells from damage.(Source: About.com)


Easy Guacamole Dip

Ingredients

2 ripe avocados - get the flesh
1 coarsely chopped red onion 
1 coarsely chopped garlic
1 red chilli- de-seed & coarsely chopped
A handful of corriander leaves
2 tbspn of lemon juice
1 large coarsely chopped tomato
some sea salt and pepper to taste

 Method;
  
1) Throw all the ingrediants into a food processor together with the lemon juice and sea salt and pepper and process the ingredients into a thick coarse paste. Add a lil water if necessary. Done. It's super easy. I just had my breakfast of toast with sunny side up egg and guacamole dip. It's so good. Happy trying!

Sotong Masak Hitam ( Black Squid Gravy)

This is one of my favorite Malay dish which I love to eat with Basmati rice and stir-fried spinach and sambal belacan! Learned to cook this dish from my late-grandma. It's so good even my MIL asked me for the recipe and I'm sharing it with you. Hope you'll love it.


Sotong Masak Hitam ( Black Squid Gravy) 

Ingredients:

1 kg of medium large squid ( clean & slice them into thick rings- keep some of the ink for the gravy)
2 stalks of lemongrass  
Some olive oil  
sea salt to taste

For the gravy;

6-7 green chillies
3-4 green bird's eyes chillies ( optional-if you want it spicier)
2-3 large red onions
4 cloves of garlic
1 1/2 inch of ginger 
1 1/2 inch of tumeric
1 cup of water for blending

Methods:

1) Blend all the ingredients for the gravy into a smooth paste.

2) Heat the olive oil and fry the lemongrass for a while then add the paste and fry for about 5 minutes till fragrant.

3) Add the squid together with the ink and with a wooden ladle, keep stirring till the gravy changes color as shown in the pix. Cook the squid for about 20 minutes till the texture of the gravy becomes thick and the squid tender.

4) Serve with hot piping rice & stir-fired veg of your choice & sambal belacan! Yums! Happy trying!

All about Eggs.

Eggs.


Eating more eggs is a fantastic way to give yourself a health boost. Eating whole eggs is vital: the goodness of eggs is found in the yolk (containing over 90 percent of an egg’s calcium and iron) and the white (containing almost half the egg’s protein). If you’re not eating eggs regularly, here are five reasons why you should. Read: 5 reasons to eat more eggs ,http://www.besthealthmag.ca/eggs

I love eggs & had poached egg and salmon on toasted baguette spread with cream cheese & side salad for breakfast earlier. Took me less than 10 mins to prepare this simple nutritious brekkie. I love poached eggs especially on warm toast! Here's a video (one of the best) I've taken from youtube showing how to poach an egg. To have best results, make sure you use really fresh eggs. Let the egg boil for about 2-3 minutes.  Happy trying!

Poached egg.

Nadia's Berries Yoghurt Parfait

Nadia's Berries Parfait.

Made these super easy nutritious parfait for the family earlier for snack and they're a hit! My family simply loves having yogurt for dessert or snack.


Ingredients:

A pkt of 1 ltr plain yogurt
some chopped strawberries
some blueberries
2 bowls of wholemeal cereal ( I used Great Grains Crunchy Pecans)

Methods:

1) Using glasses as shown in the pix, arrange starting with the cereals, followed by the berries and top with yogurt.

2) Repeat the steps till you have what is shown in the last pix. It's super easy and so yummy!