Baked Cheesecake

Bonjour,

I've made this classic cheesecake quite a few times over the years and these basic cheesecake recipe so easy to make. Nothing fancy yet the taste was good with the salted caramel sauce on top. I used speculoos cookies for the cheesecake base and I used salted butter in most of my cooking. For me salted butter is much better than non salted butter.

I'm sure everyone can make this easy baked cheesecake and has their own recipe and the taste even better than mine. Perhaps one day I should try another cheesecake recipe.

BAKED CHEESECAKE

Ingredients;

150g speculoos cookies, crumbs
70g melted butter
400g cream cheese/ Philadelphia
100g heavy cream/ white cheese
100g sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanila extract

For the salted caramel;

80g sugar
12cl sour cream/ heavy cream
50g butter
A pinch of salt

METHOD;

- Preheat oven 180° and prepare baking pan.
- Mix evenly melted butter and speculoos crumbs and press the mixture into prepare baking pan.
- Bake for 8-10 minutes and let it cool while preparing the filling.
- Beat cream cheese, heavy cream on a medium low speed and add sugar.
- Add eggs and vanila and mix just until everything well combined.
- Pour the filling into the cooled cookies pan and bake for 30-40 minutes or until the cheesecake are slightly cooked.
- Let the cheesecake cool before refrigerate for at least 4 hours or overnight.

To make salted caramel;
- Heat sugar in a medium saucepan over medium heat until the sugar melted
- Carefully add butter and stir until the butter are completely melted.
- Slowly add cream and let it boil for a minute. Add salt and remove from heat.
- Allow to cool before using.

Pau Sambal

Hello,

July is here, it's our birthday month, how time flies! Summer holiday begins and there are a few other event also this month. We will celebrating Hari Raya or Eid Mubarak next week and like last year, I will not be able to celebrate this year hari raya with my family.

Alors, now lets talk about pau sambal, locally known as Malaysian style burger, where the pau or fried mini buns filled with sambal ikan bilis or chilli anchovies. Pau sambal also one of the popular street snack food in Malaysia. Making these 'pau' not as complicated as many people think, it just need a few steps and a little bit of time while waiting the dough to rise up.

I brought these pau sambal to the art class last week and what can I say, everyone in the class loved it. People like to try new things and new flavors and this asiatique food special made for them. The pau or bun dough so easy to prepare and for the recipe below, I double the recipe.

PAU SAMBAL

Ingredients;

200g flour
140ml warm water
5gm dry yeast
1 tablespoon sugar
2 tablespoon butter
A pinch of salt
Oil for frying

For the sambal ikan bilis;
It's better to make the sambal ikan bilis in advance.

1 onion
5-6 dry chilli, soak in hot water
1/2 cup anchovies, fried
1/2 cup tamarind juice
Salt and sugar to taste

METHOD;

For the sambal.

- Blend onion and chilli with a little bit of water.
- Heat the oil, around 1/4 cup and fried anchovies until slightly crispy. Set aside.
- Used the same oil on a medium heat, fry onion chilli paste and keep stirring until the oil start to separate, about 15-20 minutes.
- Add sugar and tamarind juice. Cook for another few minutes or until the sauce are slightly thicken.
- Taste with salt and sugar again if desire and add fried anchovies, mix well and turn of the fire.

For the Pau;

- Mix warm water, yeast and sugar and let sit for 10 minutes until its bubbles.
- In a mixing bowl, mix flour, butter and salt.
- Add the yeast mixture to the flour and knead the dough until they are not stick in hand.
- Cover and let the dough rise until double, around 40 minutes to 1 hour or more.
- Once the dough rised up, punch down dough and divide into small ball, around 9-10 balls.
- Cover and let the dough rise again about 30-40 minutes.
- Heat oil in a wok on a medium heat and deep fry the dough balls until golden brown on both side.
- Let it cool before slicing.
- Slice the fried bun halfway through and add in sambal and a sliced of cucumber.

Let's enjoy the pau sambal for morning or afternoon tea break...

Sweet and Sour Prawns

Bonjour,

We had sweet and sour prawns for dinner with friends last weekend. What I can tell is this dish was really delish and yet so easy to prepare. Everyone may have their own sweet and sour sauce flavour but for me this one is the good one so far.

Simple and delicious, that's what important for me. For certain kind of food may need some efforts to prepare and it doesn't matter sometimes as long as the food really make someone happy and satisfied.

SWEET AND SOUR PRAWNS

Ingredients;

300g prawns
1 pepperoni, sliced
1 carrot, sliced
1 onion, sliced
1/2 cup pineapple, sliced
1 clove garlic, chopped
2cm fresh ginger, chopped
1/2 cup tomato ketchup
4 tablespoon white vinegar
2 teaspoon corn flour
1/2 cup water
Salt and sugar to taste

METHODS;

- Heat a little oil in pan or wok and fried pepperoni, carrot and onion for a few minutes.
- Add prawns and continued to cook until everything is cook through. Set aside.
- Use the same oil and fried garlic and ginger until fragrant.
- Add ketchup, vinegar and pineapple.
- Mix corn flour and water and add to the ketchup sauce.
- Let the sauce thicken a little bit and taste with salt and sugar.
- Lastly add fried vegetables and prawns and mix until everything well coated.

What a pleasure, bon appetite

Banana Muffins and Banana Bread

Salut,

Banana is one of the fruits that I always have in the house. I often make smooties using banana, to make a cake, muffins, bread or just to make a simple fried banana Malay style like we always did at my hometown.

I've actually tried quite a few different recipe of banana muffins and banana bread and so far these two recipe is my favorite. There are a lot of banana recipes out there that I need to try one day and who knows there is another good one at least for my liking.

BANANA MUFFINS

3 ripe bananas, mashed
1 egg
1/4 cup plain yogurt
1/4 cup vegetables oil
3 tablespoon fresh milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cup flour
3/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
A pinch of salt

METHOD;

- Preheat oven 180° and prepare muffin tin.
- In a mixing bowl, whisk together mashed bananas, egg, yogurt, oil, milk and vanilla.
- Add in flour, sugar, baking soda and salt and mix everything just until smooth.
- Pour the batter in a muffin tin and bake for 15-20 minutes or until the skewer comes out clean.

EGGLESS BANANA BREAD

3 ripe banana, mashed
1/2 cup butter, melted
1/2 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup raisin, optional
A pinch of salt

METHOD;

- Preheat oven 180° and prepared bread loaf pan.
- In a mixing bowl, combined mashed banana and melted butter.
- Add in milk and vanila, mix well.
- Add sugar, baking soda and salt.
- Lastly, add flour and raisin, mix just until everything combined.
- Pour batter into prepared loaf pan and bake for 1 hour or until skewer comes out clean.

Rice Porridge

Hello,

For most of the time in Asia, rice porridge or sometimes called congee are often served or eaten for breakfast. In fact, congee is a simple Asian dish.

While in Asia I don't eat congee in the morning since I'm not a fan of these dish, but now I do eat what called breakfast food at lunch or dinner time. And now I have to admit that how good to have rice porridge some time for dinner. Porridge is a really simple and healthy food and it makes us full enough and satisfied for a long time.

RICE PORRIDGE

1/2 cup rice
2cm ginger, sliced
4-5 cup water
Salt and pepper to taste

METHOD;

- Boiled rice, ginger and water and reduce to a simmer with cover until the rice broken and creamy.
- Stirring frequently and season with salt and pepper.

Porridge accompaniment;
Spring onion, fried anchovies, soy sauce, fried fish or seafood or other side dish according to individual preference.

Bon appétit!