Leche Flan with Strawberry and Cream
Topic: Desserts
Actually, my original plan was to make Leche Flan only but when I inverted the first cooked leche flan into a platter, some part of it sticked to the molder, so the outside texture was a little bit rough, it doesn't look good, lol! I don't want to serve it to my hubby since he is very particular with the food's look. According to him, when the food looks good, then definitely it tastes good too. I am different because I will taste the food first before I judge (but sometimes I was also like him, lol). So back to the topic, since the surface was not so smooth, I decided to cover it with the all-purpose cream and strawberries, hmm sounds good, so that's what I made. I cut the strawberries into 4, then microwave it for 5 seconds to make it soft and easy to bite, then I placed it over the cream. My hubby is not fond of very sweet foods but when I served it to him late at night while we were watching movie, he ate all the one you saw in the picture below and he asked me on the next day if we still have it, lol!

Ingredients:
6 egg yolks
1 whole egg
1 1/3 cup condensed milk
3/4 cup evaporated milk
1 tbsp.vanilla
1 c. brown sugar
Fresh strawberries, sliced into 4
All-purpose cream

Directions:
1. Put all the first 5 ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth.
2. Caramilezed sugar on the molded tin
until its golden brown.
3. Pour the mixtures on it and steam for 40 minutes.
4. Invert the lechen flan in a plate and refrigerate until cold.
5. Cover the wbole surface with all-purpose cream.
6. Microwave the sliced strawberries for 5 seconds.
7. Top the cream surface with the strawberries and serve.

Spicy Semi Stir-fried Beef and Soup
Topic: Beef
This dish was cooked almost like the Soup and Stir Fried Squid that I posted few weeks ago, the cooking procedure involved 2 parts, first part was to soften the meat and the final part was to semi stir-fry it. One thing I like in this type of cooking is we can have a soup while we were also having a taste of stir-fried dish in one.

Ingredients:
500 kg beef sirloin, sliced into thin strips
1/4 tsp. turmeric powder

For the Soup:
1 medium onion, sliced thinly
1 tbsp. grated ginger
1 small ripe tomato, sliced thinly
1 tsp. whole peppercorns
3 tbsp. cooking oil
salt to taste
5 cups water

For semi stir-fry:
3 cloves garlic, crushed
1 medium onion, sliced thinly
1 medium tomato, sliced thinly
1 small bell pepper, sliced into strips
1/3 cup mixed vegetables (optional)
1/4 cup soy sauce
3 tbsp. oyster sauce
2 tbsp. tomato ketchup
2 tbsp. cooking oil

Directions:
For the Soup:
1. Mix turmeric powder and meat.
2. Heat oil in a pot, saute onions, ginger and tomatoes until tender.
3. Add meat and peppercorns, stir for few minutes.
4. Add water, let it boil, remove scums as it rises, cover the pot, lower the heat and simmer for 1 hour or until tender.
5. Season with salt.
6. Take out the whole meat from the broth. Reserve the soup.

To stir fry:
1. Heat oil in a pan, add the drained meat and stir fry for few seconds, add garlic, onions and tomatoes. Mix thoroughly, stir until the spices are tender.
2. Add all the remaining ingredients except oyster sauce. Mix well and stir for 1-2 minutes.
3. Turn off heat. Drizzle with oyster sauce. Transfer to a platter and serve. Now you have stir-fried beef and soup.

See also:
Improptu Beef Stir-Fry
Beef with Ground Roasted Coconut
Beef Rendang Curry

Donna's Strawberry Gelato
Topic: Desserts
It's been a long time that I did not able to update this blog since my Aunt borrowed my camera few weeks ago, I used my cellphone to take photos of the dishes that I cooked few days ago but I was not satisfied with the outcome, not so clear. She just returned it the other day. The recipe that I am posting now was not mine, it was from Donna's collection of recipes. She showed it to me few months ago and when I saw the strawberries at home, I remembered that she has a recipe for Strawberry Gelato, that's why I asked her to make one. We both tried to make the recipe, she prepared the strawberries while I was mixing the other ingredients. As you see in the picture, the color is not pink like the usual strawberry gelato since the recipe calls for a red food color but we didn't had it at home that time, the only food color left at home was green so that wouldn't be possible. I also added chocolate syrup on top when I served it and it was really good.

Ingredients:
3 cups cut-up strawberries
6 cups milk
1 1/3 cups sugar
12 egg yolks, beaten
Several drops red food coloring

Directions:
1. Place all the cut-up strawberries in a blender container, cover and blend until smooth.
2. Combine 3 cups of the milk, sugar and egg yolks in a large saucepan. Cook and stir over medium heat until mixture coats a spoon.
3. Remove from heat. Stir in the remaining milk, the pureed strawberries, and food coloring.
4. Cover surface of mixture with cling film. Refrigerate 8 hours or overnight until chilled.
5. Freeze mixture for 4 hours. Serve.

Tuna Mackerel Stew
Topic: Fish
I always cooked this at home but I always forgot to post it here, anyway here is it now...

Ingredients:
500 g tuna mackerel, cut into small cubes
1/4 tsp. turmeric powder
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 onion, sliced thinly
1 ripe tomato, sliced thinly
1 thumb-sized ginger, sliced into strips
1 bell pepper, cut into strips
2/3 cup frozen corn kernels
1 cup water
1/3 tsp. black pepper powder
Fish sauce to taste
2 tbsp. light soy sauce
1 tbsp. worcestershire sauce
pepper to taste
2 tbsp. cooking oil

Directions:
1. Sprinkle turmeric powder into the fish cubes. Mix well.
2. Heat cooking oil in a pan, brown garlic for few seconds, add onions, ginger and tomatoes and saute until tender.
3. Add fish cubes, corn kernels and water, let it boil, lower the heat then add black pepper powder.
4. Add the remaining ingredients and simmer for 5 minutes. Serve.

Fruitty Muffin
Topic: Breakfast Recipes
I prepared this muffins late last night for our breakfast this morning, actually I was experimenting again since that was my first time to make one and fortunately it was really good. My hubby and our little Azhfaar devoured it last night while we were watching TV, LOL! Fortunately, there were still some left for our breakfast today. I ate it with noodles, weird? lol...:) This is also great for snacktime.

Ingredients:
2 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 (8 oz) can fruit cocktail, drained and reserve syrup
2/3 cup white sugar
1 1/2 tbsp. baking powder
1 pinch of salt
3 tbsp. milk powder
1 egg, beaten
2/3 cup cooking oil

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 190 degrees C. Grease muffins tins, or line cups with paper liners.
2. In a large bow, whisk together flour, baking powder, sugar, salt and milk powder.
3. In a separate bowl, combine fruit cocktail syrup, oil and beaten egg. Mix well.
4. Now, mix the dry and wet ingredients together, add the drained fruit cocktail. Do not over mix.
5. Fill muffin cups 2/3 full with the batter, bake for 20-25 minutes.

See also:
Raisin Muffin with Chocolate Chips
Chocolate Muffins