Midnight Indulgence

In anticipation of one of my fav persons in the world's visit tomorrow, I baked a simple yet delish coffee cake. And my oh my, was it delish or what?! It was soft and light and the crunch of the streusel complemented the cake perfectly. Thankfully I had most of the stuff needed except sour cream, so I replaced it with buttermilk instead, and an hour after I got started, this is what came out from my oven:


Look at that toasted walnuts, Hershey's milk chocolate chips and cinnamon sugar goodness on top of the cake..



15 minutes later.. one piece went missing



and ended up on my plate!



Recipe from Joyofbaking. Think I'll warm this up tomorrow and drizzle some milky chocolate ganache and caramel syrup for the chocolate lover. Hmmm.

Meatball Sauce

Almost the same as baby's recipe, just add more tomatoes, hot chili or paprika and some puree for the strong red colour!

Mild Chicken Curry

Here's step by step pix of Chicken Curry I made for Nia last week, before we go on to the pix, Here are the ingredients list:

• 100gm of chicken pieces, preferably filleted and sliced thin
• 1 shallot, sliced thin
• 1 clove garlic, sliced thin
• 1 clove
• 1 star anise
• 1 2" cinnamon stick
• 1 cardamom pod
• 1 tbsp meat curry powder
• 1 tbsp tomato puree
• 1 small potato, skinned and diced
• 1 small tomato, diced
• 3 tbsp milk
• coriander leaves for garnish
• butter

Method:

1. Heat a little butter in a small pot, add the spices (clove, star anise, cardamom and cinnamon), then the garlic and onion. When the onion is translucent and the mix is fragrant, it's a good idea to remove all the spices to save the trouble from picking it up from your child's plate later! (I hate accidentally biting into cardamom or cloves - YuCk!)
2. Now add the chicken pieces and potatoes (or any other root vege you are using) then stir in the curry powder, milk, tomato puree and top with some water to cover the ingredients in the pot and let it simmer on moderate heat. Tomato puree helps the curry retain a nice colour while making it so mild and tasty.


3. For more gravy, add more water. Once it comes to a boil, throw in the coriander leaves and remove from heat. Coriander actually adds an exotic aroma and taste that only coriander can, that's why I love coriander in my curries as compared to curry leaves. But then again, there are no hard & fast rules about it, if at all you can't get any, use curry leaves by all means!

One of Nia's favourites so far. I make that judgement on what's her favourite and what's not based on how much she finishes at one sitting and when she doesn't mind having the same thing again for dinner or the next day. My little one is quite the demanding princess when it comes to food, she won't generally eat the same thing for lunch and dinner! I served this with butter rice and steamed carrots & broccoli.

Easy Peasy Fish Paella

Nia loves her rice but her mummy sometimes run out of ideas for dishes so on Saturday she took a short cut and made paella instead with whatever she could find in the fridge!

Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup long grain rice, soaked for a bit
• 1/2 a small eggplant, diced
• 1 tbsp frozen mix vege
• 1 small tomato, diced\
• 1/4 of a red capsicum, diced
• 1 large white mushroom, sliced thin
• pieces of deboned fish (any kind, I used Kurau, I think it's threadfin in English - but I stand corrected)
• 1-2 tbsp tomato puree
• 1/3 of a lemon
• 1 clove garlic, chopped fine
• 1 shallot or half a small onion, chopped fine
• 1/2 cup chicken stock
• butter
• pinch of pepper
• herbs

Method:

1. Heat butter in a small wok or pan, add the fish pieces and cook through, this will take about 2 minutes. Remove the fish and set aside. In the remaining butter add garlic and onion then add all the veges, mushroom & capsicum.

2. Add in the drained rice, chicken stock, tomato puree, top with enough water to cook the rice and finally squeeze the lemon juice and stir to mix them all up. Reduce fire and let the rice cook for a few minutes

3. Before removing from fire, add the pepper (optional) and throw in some herbs, add the cooked fish and cover the pan/wok. I let it sit until the bottom of layer of the rice is a little burnt - that's the best part of paella!- and it's ready to go!
Believe me, this takes less than 10 minutes to prepare, something I'd usually make when I'm in a hurry or when I can't think of anything else to cook. I served this with some steamed carrots that I could distract her with.

Oh yes, we are now at the stage where feeding time is becoming tricky! Nia insists to feed herself but would end up feeding the carpet, the floor, the tv, her clothes, her daddy and at rare occasions, her mummy. So, instead of creating stress for both of us by denying her the independence that she's trying to exert, which sometimes turn into a crying match - first Nia followed by mummy - I found a way to work around it! I now have steamed vegetables like carrot, potatoes and brocolli ready to keep her busy while I feed her. Problem solved. Nia gets to feed herself, mummy gets to feed her too! No crying, no fighting, best of all no more having to clean the whole house after every lunch and dinner!

Mutton Varuval anyone?!

Oh, I know it sounds so sinful, but I finally got the recipe to make this from a cabbie, last Friday on the way home from work. As we were in Malacca by friday midnight, we went to the market near Melaka Sentral first thing Saturday morning to get some fresh ingredients for an aromatic platterful of high cholesterol dinner to be served that night! MiL was so impressed she asked me to write down the recipe for her! So here are all that you need to know;

Ingredients

• 1 kg of mutton, cut into small pieces (as it will cook faster)
• 2 cinnamon sticks
• 2 tablespoon cumin
• fresh ginger about 4 inches (more if you like)
• 5-6 cloves garlic
• 15-20 dried chilies (15-moderate hot, 20-HOT!)
• about 10 shallots sliced
• 1 star anise
• a few cardamom pods
• 1 cup yogurt (I used the Indian version called Thairu)
• 2 tablespoon thick soya sauce
• curry leaves
• salt

Method:

To make the marinade, first boil the dried chilies in water to soften. Remove as much seeds as you can by draining the chilies in a colander a few times, under running water. Pound 1 cinnamon stick and 1 tablespoon cumin in a mortar & pestle (lesung) until powdery. Don't try to use a food processor unless you have a dry mill small enough!

Meanwhile, peel garlic & ginger, chop coarsely and put in a food processor/blender. Add the drained dried chilies and cinnamon & cumin powder and process for a few minutes into a thick paste, add a little water if necessary. Or, better thing to do is to add some yogurt to get the processor going.

Put the washed and drained mutton pieces in a large bowl, add the spice paste, a bit of salt, and the rest of the yogurt and mix well. Cover with a cling film and leave it to marinate in the fridge for at least 4-5 hours. (I put mine in the fridge at 10.30am and took it out at 5pm).

Meat in marinade

Heat 2 tablespoon of oil in a wok, add shallots, cinnamon, star anise and cardamom seeds (you need to pop the cardamom open to take out the little seeds from them), I also added few pieces of dried chilies just for aesthetic purposes. When the shallots are translucent, add the marinated mutton pieces and cook, uncovered, on moderate fire. Stir at random intervals.

When the meat is almost done (there will be some oil bubbling around the meat and no liquid left), reduce fire to low, sprinkle salt to taste, the rest of cumin and the thick soya sauce. Give it a good stir to mix them all up and finally throw in some curry leaves to finish. It smells just so heavenly.

Honestly, I'm not so much of a mutton person, but this was just fantastic! No, I'm not gloating, all credits to the real nice 'uncle' from Supercab!

I actually took this shot AFTER everyone had dinner as I forgot to do it earlier. Hehe. But don't they look so very good, nevertheless? I just thought they weren't black enough as they are in Indian restaurants, perhaps the next time I should add more soya sauce.

We also got some really nice Gula Melaka from the same market and I intend to use them for Sago Gula Melaka. Need to make it in the next few days for hubz preggie colleague, Kim. Will post immediately after!

Nia's Fried Rice

Ingredients:

• 1/2 a cup slightly overcooked rice
• 1 small fillet of chicken, sliced thin into bite size pieces (baby's bite size, not yours!)
• few pieces of ikan bilis soaked in water and chopped up
• 1 tbsp frozen peas, soaked
• 1 small cauliflower, diced
• 1 tablespoon tomato puree
• dash of sweet soya sauce (kicap manis)
• dash of ground white pepper
• 1 shallot sliced
• 1 clove garlic sliced
• sesame oil

Method:

Heat wok, add sesame oil, shallot & garlic and stir for a minute, add pieces of chicken, ikan bilis, peas and cauliflower, reduce fire and cook chicken through. The chicken will turn whitish when its cooked. Add the rice, tomato puree, pepper and soya sauce, mix them well on high heat. There you have it! Fried rice that looks fantastic, smells heavenly, and is ready in no time! For the first time in many weeks, Nia actually cleaned up her plate! I should be making more of this.

You can get creative and replace the veges with your baby's favourites and substitute the chicken with freshly made fishballs cut into small pieces, it will taste just as great.

Rice Risotto with Celery and Egg

Ok, this one is on request from a friend who saw Nia eating this for lunch last Saturday. I love making risottos, they are so easy to make and so yummy. Even hubz devoured this! (sorry no pic)

Ingredients:
1/4 cup long grain rice, soaked in water for 10-15 minutes and drain
1 clove garlic, smashed
half a stalk of celery sliced thin
1 tbsp tomato puree
1 egg beaten lightly
1 cup of unsalted chicken stock
bit of butter

Method:
Bring rice, celery, garlic, butter & chicken stock to a boil, reduce fire and let the rice cook. Do add boiled water or stock if the liquid dry up too fast. When rice is almost done to the consistency your child prefers, add tomato puree and stir in the egg. Ensure the egg's cooked through before removing from fire. Cool it a little and it's ready to go!

Note: Feeding babies uncooked egg exposes them to salmonella infection, so do remember that everytime you intend to feed your baby egg.

Easy Risotto

Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup rice washed and drained
• a knob of butter
• 1 clove garlic, sliced thin
• 1 small onion or shallot, sliced thin
• chicken stock or soup (that was made for babies with no salt whatsoever)
• vegetable of any kind - carrots, potatoes, tomatoes, white radish, peas, broccoli, cauliflower etc.

Method:

Combine all the ingredients in a pan, cook on low heat till rice is cooked through (according to your baby's liking - for younger baby you can cook it longer). If the liquid dry out before rice is cooked, add more soup/ stock or just plain boiled water. Serve warm.

To make cheese risotto, skip the chicken stock or soup, just use plain boiled water. You can even opt to not add the vege (but I think veges should be fed to babies at every meal) and instead add 2 tbsp of mild shredded cheese before the rice is done and stir to combine. No picture for now, but I will take one the next time I make this.

Hazelnut Toffee Pudding

Food for hubz soul ;o))

I know, I don't think this picture does any justice to the delectable sticky sweetness of this pudding - AND- I should've used a plain plate coz that blue flower is distracting! I made it just according to the recipe without cutting out sugar like I usually would, knowing very well that I wouldn't even want to taste this, so for once, I did not hear hubz complaining :oPP Oh, but the smell of it was just delightful, although the wait was quite painful! It took 1 1/2 hrs to steam!

Hmmmm... Anyways, here's the recipe that has been cut into half so that I got only a small pudding, about 5" in diameter on top and around 7" at the base. For full recipe, just double it. If you are toffee lover like my hubz, double or triple the toffee recipe - the stickier the better ... ermmm... at your own risk however

Ingredients for toffee:

• 1/4 block of butter
• 2 tbsp lemon juice (if you do not have lemon, lime (limau nipis) works fine too!)
• 4 tbsp full fat milk

Ingredients for Pudding:

• 1/2 cup flour
• 1/8 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup soft brown sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1 tbsp lemon juice
• 90g of butter (slightly more than 1/3rd of a block)
• 1/2 cup roasted & chopped hazelnuts

Method:

Prepare toffee by combining all the ingredients in a small pan on low heat and stir until smooth, set aside.

Prepare a heat proof dish for steaming the pudding by greasing it all over, then pour half of the hazelnuts in. Pour half of the prepared toffee over the nuts and swirl it to coat the dish as much as possible. In a mixing bowl, beat butter and sugar till light & fluffy then add egg and beat to combine. Sift flour, baking soda, powder & salt and fold them into the egg mixture, add the lemon juice and mix in the remaining nuts. Spoon the mixture into the prepared dish. Cover with baking paper with a pleat in the middle, tie with a kitchen string. Steam for about 1 - 1 1/2 hours till pudding is set.

When the pudding dish is cool enough to handle (erm I didn't wait for it to cool coz hubz was starving!) invert onto a plate and pour the remaining toffee on top and dig in!

Mini Meatball Pasta

Mini Meatballs with Tagliatelle

On Saturday Nia had meatballs for the first time, although I have made beef kebabs for her before and fed her pasta on many occassions, I never really got around to do the balls & pasta thing for her, so here you go:

Ingredients:

• 200gm lean steak minced ( I TRY not to use the minced meat as they may not be all meat, you know what I mean?)
• some herbs & spices (I used oregano, thyme, ginger powder, garlic powder, cinnamon powder and bit of paprika for the colour!)
• 1 tsp cornstarch
• 2-3 ripe tomatoes
• 1 small carrot cut into thin strips
• 1 clove garlic, chopped fine
• 1 small onion/shallot chopped fine
• 1 tbsp unsalted butter

Method:

In a bowl, mix the mince with the herbs and cornstarch, shape into little balls and set aside. Heat half of the butter in a pan, put the mini balls in and cook them through, You may want to roll them at intervals so that they will be browned evenly on all sides.

Skin the tomatoes by first cutting a small "X" at the bottom of the tomatoes, dip them into boiling water for about 30 seconds, run them under cold water and you can see where the "X" is the skin will be peeling off. Chop the peeled ones coarsely, set aside. Easiest way to cut carrot into thin strips is to use a vegetable peeler then chop them into smaller pieces.

Heat butter in pan, add garlic & onions, saute for a minute, add in the carrots & chopped tomatoes and cover. Reduce heat and let it simmer to a sauce consistency, add in the mini balls let simmer for a couple of minutes more.

Serve this with any type of pasta that is slightly overcooked so that your baby can actually "chew" them. I used Tagliatelle which cooks in 7 minutes and is soft enough for babies.

*Notice the sauce is orangy in colour, if you want it red, add 1 tsp of tomato puree.

Yummy Baby's Frittata

Ingredients

• 2 eggs (if u have kampung eggs, use 3-4 as they are usually much smaller)
• 1/2 cup chopped onion
• 1 large ripe tomato, chopped
• 1 medium potato, chopped into thin bits
• 2 tbsp unsalted butter

Method:
Heat butter in a pan, add potato bits, cook through (this may take several minutes). Push them to side of the pan, add chopped onion, saute then add tomato. Mix in the potato, spread them pan-wide. (If your pan is too large, you can do this in a wok)

Break the eggs in a little bowl, beat slightly to mix the yolk & white part of the eggs and pour onto the cooked vege mix in the pan. Reduce heat and cover the pan to allow the eggs to cook through, you may turn the omellette over to cook the other side as well, if you prefer not to wait too long. Cut into wedges and serve. (You can serve the leftovers to the hubz or eat it yourself, but be forewarned, there ain't any salt in the recipe, so do sprinkle some if you want to have it for yourself)

I fed this to Nia for lunch, she devoured one wedgie and came back for more!

* I do not add any salt or sugar in anything I make for Nia at home. According to childcare professionals children below the age of 12 months should not be fed any salt at all as their kidneys aren't able to process execessive salt unlike adults'.

What do kidneys do?"After your body has taken what it needs from the food, waste is sent to the blood. If your kidneys did not remove these wastes, the wastes would build up in the blood and damage your body. Your kidneys measure out chemicals like sodium, phosphorus, and potassium and release them back to the blood to return to the body. In this way, your kidneys regulate the body’s level of these substances. The right balance is necessary for life, but excess levels can be harmful." National Kidney & Urologic Disease Information Clearing House

The daily recommended maximum for children depends on their age:

• 0-12 months - 1g salt a day (0.4g sodium)
• 1 to 3 years - 2 g salt a day (0.8g sodium)
• 4 to 6 years - 3g salt a day (1.2g sodium)
• 7 to 10 years - 5g salt a day (2g sodium)
• 11 and over - 6g salt a day (2.4g sodium)

Most pre-packaged baby food including baby formula as well as breast milk already contain some amount of sodium, so it really is not necessary to add anymore salt into their food. Besides, if your baby is already trained not eating salt, they will not miss it, which is a good thing, no?

Finally, a recipe!

We enjoyed this past weekend so much and managed to get quite a lot of things done that we've only been talking about for a few weeks now. We managed to go up to Bukit Tinggi to the Rabbit Park and took loads of pictures, (pictoblog will be duly updated) we ordered Nia's Pocoyo birthday cake, sadly though, our cake lady can't make 3D pocoyo & friends, so we settled for drawings instead :o( *sigh*; we checked out the birthday venue and surprisingly it was quite impressive; and we've ordered the food for the party except few more "loose items" from different suppliers!

Hubz made fantastic chicken rice yesterday, I call it Chicken Rice with a Twist! As instead of having the usual roasted chicken, he decided to make Beggar's Chicken, and OMG did it take ages?! But the outcome? Succulent, juicy chicken that just melts in your mouth! Unfortunately, by the time the chicken was ready all of us were starving like hell that I forgot to take the pictures! hahahaha You wouldn't want to see the picture of chicken carcass now, would you? I thought not :oPP

Baby Food Recipe
I also made different stuff for Nia throughout the weekend as her nanny was compalining that she doesn't want to eat her rice porridge any more, she wants what the adults are having, so I on Saturday I made Leek and Cod in milk. It goes very well with either soft white rice, toasts, plain bread or just on it's own. For dinner I mashed up the fish mixture and shaped into patties, dipped them in egg and rolled them in babies' oats and pan fried them. So that Nia didn't think she was eating the same stuff that was fed to her at lunch! :oP Yesterday I made her Chicken Brocolli dumplings, which was modified from the Steamed Chicken & Brocolli I made for her Sunday dinner - recipe at the bottom. Unfortunately I have no pictures of these! Will remember to take some the next time I make them.

Leek and Cod in Milk
Ingredients:

• 1 leek
• 1/2 of a large slice of cod fish
• 2 oz - 3 oz baby's formula
• 1 clove of garlic, chopped
• 1 tbsp unsalted butter

Directions:

1. Prepare leek by washing and slicing it up, put aside.
2. Wash and cut up the cod into small bite sieze pieces, put aside.
3. Heat butter in a pan, throw in chopped garlic, saute for a minute then add leek, saute again for another 2- 3 minutes (or longer if your baby prefers softer vege).
4. Add the fish followed by the formula, (add more formula if you want it soupy) and cook till fish is done which would only take 2 -3 minutes. If you are using a shallow pan the liquid may dry up faster so have some warm water handy.
5. Scoop em up and feast!

Steamed Chicken and Brocolli

Ingredients:

• Half a chicken breast, cut into bite size pieces
• 1 small brocolli florette, cut into bite size pieces
• 1 small potato, sliced into small pieces
• 1 small sweet apple chopped up
• 1 tbsp unsalted butter
• a drizzle of sesame oil (for dumpling)

Directions:

1. Mix all ingredients in a steaming dish, steam for about 1/2 an hour until the apples are mushy and chicken pieces are cooked well and serve.
2. To make dumplings, add sesame oil to the mix, put a heaped teaspoon into the dumpling skin, pinch and seal. You can either steam them or pan fry in very little oil , they taste just as good.