Kimchi Tofu Soup 韩国泡菜豆腐汤

A simple and easy to prepare no-meat vegetarian soup. Although the ingredients are rather ordinary, the flavourful kimchi was sufficient to infuse great taste and add nice colour to the soup 🍜😋

Ingredients

1 packet of Korean kimchi, 150g

1 box of pressed tofu, 250g

A small bundle of sweet potato noodle, soak in hot water
1 shiitake mushroom, soaked & julienned*

1 slice ginger

1/2 onion, julienned

2 stalks white scallion

5 cm carrot, cut into slices

Seasonings

1 tbsp Hua Diao rice wine

1 tsp Korean seasoned soy bean paste

1/2 cube chicken stock

Salt & sugar to taste

Dash of sesame oil

250~300ml water

Leftover mushroom water

Leftover kimchi sauce

Garnishing

Some cut green scallions

* Keep the water after soaking the shiitake mushrooms

Directions

1. Squeeze dry the kimchi slightly. Keep the kimchi sauce for later use. Easier to bring out the fragrance of the kimchi during stir-fry if the kimchi is drier.

2. Heat up about 2 tsp of olive oil in a pot, stir-fry the ginger, onion and white scallions till fragrant.

Add in the shiitake mushrooms, then followed by the carrot slices.

Next, stir in the kimchi. Stir-fry till fragrant.

3. Pour in the Hua Diao rice wine and continue to stir-fry for a while.

4. Add in the mushroom water, kimchi sauce, water, and Korean seasoned soy bean paste. Cover the pot and bring to a boil.

5. When most of the ingredients have softened, add in sugar, salt and chicken stock cube.

6. When the soup starts to boil again, trim the sweet potato noodle into shorter length, and add to the pot. Let it simmer till soften.

7. Arrange the cut tofu above the rest of the ingredients, and bring to a light boil. Off the heat, cover with a lid, and let the ingredients simmer for about 5 to 10 minutes.

8. Add dash of sesame oil to the soup before serving.

Add some cut green scallions as garnishing. Serve warm with warm rice 🍚😋

Palm Sugar Coconut Milk Jelly 椰糖椰浆杯子冻

After making a few rounds of coconut-agar agar jellies, I somehow seem to be addicted to this type of coconut jelly prepared in pudding bottles. As the jelly is held in the bottle, I can afford to give it a softer texture. I adopted a lazy method - just pour the 2 different flavoured jelly mixtures into 2 separate layers.  Other diligent cooks may take the time to make them into multiple layers, but not me 😝  My excuse - I want to save time and save energy, hehe 😬 Anyway, these coconut jellies were equally delicious to me 😋

Ingredients

For the palm sugar layer
30g palm sugar
100g water

For the coconut layer
100g coconut milk
20g palm sugar

For the agar agar mixture
5g agar agar strips
430g water
1 blade pandan leaf
30g raw sugar

Directions

1. Separate one chunk of palm sugar into 30g and 20g.

Dissolve the 30g portion of palm sugar in 100g of hot water.

Stir to dissolve. Cover and set aside.

2. Measure 100g of coconut milk in a cup and add about 1/8 tsp of salt to it. Set aside.

If you're using this brand of refrigerated coconut milk, you may want to sieve the milk before use if you want a smooth pudding. This brand of coconut milk seems to have a small amount of coconut fibre in it.

3. Soak 5g of dried agar agar strips in water for about 15 minutes.

I collected 26g of soaked agar agar strips and trim them into shorter length to facilitate it to dissolve during cooking.

4. Bring 430g of water and one blade of pandan leaf into a light boil. Cover the pot to minimize water loss to evaporation.

Add in the soaked agar-agar strips, cover, and stir occasionally.

Boil till the mixture become smooth and clear.

5. Dissolve 30g of raw sugar into the agar-agar water.

6. After all the raw sugar has dissolved, remove the pandan leaf and pour 220 to 230g of the agar-agar water out.

Pour in the palm sugar solution from Step 1 through a sift to catch any impurity.

Divide and pour the palm sugar mixture into 4 pudding bottles.

Refrigerate for about 15 to 20 minutes, or till the top formed a film.

7. Add 20g of palm sugar to the remaining agar-agar water. Stir to dissolve.

Sieve the palm sugar agar-agar water before adding in the coconut milk from Step 2.

Stir to mix well.

Divide and pour the coconut milk mixture into the 4 pudding bottles.

8. Let the agar agar jellies cool down to room temperature before refrigeration.

9. Enjoy the jellies cold 😋

Butter-Choco Marble Cake 牛油巧克力大理石蛋糕

Added melted chocolate to the butter cake for a better aroma :)

Pan size: 20x10x6cm silicone loaf pan

Ingredients

All ingredients in room temperature

20g whipping cream/fresh milk
20g condensed milk
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

110g unsalted butter, softened
100g fine sugar

110g top/cake flour
15g milk powder
1/2 tsp baking powder

15g cooking chocolate
5g whipping cream

3 eggs

Directions

1. Mix whipping cream, condensed milk and vanilla extract in a cup. Set aside.

2. Mix and loosen top/cake flour, milk powder and baking powder in a mixing bowl. Set aside.

3. Melt cooking chocolate with whipping cream into a smooth paste in a small bowl. Cover and set aside.

4. Beat the eggs for a few minutes using a hand whisk.

5. Loosen the softened butter using a hand whisk, then add in the fine sugar.

The butter is soft but not glossy on the surface. If glossy, return the butter to the fridge for a few minutes.

Whip the butter till it becomes pale. It takes about 5 to 10 minutes using a hand whisk.

6. Slowly add in the beaten egg and blend well.

7. Sieve in the flour mixture from (2), and mix well. Avoid over-mixing.

8. Mix in the milk mixture from (1).

Give the batter a thorough mixing using a spatula.

9. Scoop about 2 tbsp of batter to mix with the chocolate mixture from (3).

10. Pour the chocolate batter into the butter batter. Use a spatula to mix briefly. Do not over-mix, or the batter will loose the swirling pattern

11. Pour the batter into a greased baking pan. Lightly bang to level up the batter.

12. Bake in a preheated oven at 160 degree Celsius, at middle rack of the oven for about 50 to 55 minutes, or till an inserted cake tester came out clean.

13. Transfer the cake to a cooling rack to cool down for about 5 minutes, before inverting out the cake.

Cover the cake with a paper towel to minimize lose of moisture from the cake.

After the cake has cooled down, cut and enjoy :)