Instant Creme Caramel

Some time back a colleague came to work one day with packs of Instant Creme Caramel to give away. I am most glad to receive them. I didnt get to try them only after recently.


Super simple seriously - Just add milk to the mixture and heat up for a few minutes.


Ingredients

1 pack instant creme caramel mix
500ml fresh milk

Method

Divide the caramel in 4 ramekins.
Whisk the creme caramel mix with milk in a small pot.
Heat it for about 5 minutes.
Divide the mixture into the 4 ramekins and cool.

Minced Meat Baked Pasta

I love weekends because that's like the only time I can prepare food for the family. Today I decided to have pasta! I have already bought the ingredients for Tuna Baked Pasta the day before but mind is thinking of Minced Meat Baked Pasta.

It's really a toss between the two. Tuna Bake or Mince Meat Bake Pasta. I chose the latter. I actually do not have any mince in the freezer and made use of burger patties instead.

Today is special because I let Tihani help me in the kitchen. She loved her time in the kitchen, although all that she did was to help me fry or stir.


Ingredients

250g minced beef, pre cooked with a pinch of salt n pepper (i used 3 burger patties, chopped)
1 onion, diced
1 clove of garlic, diced
a tablespoon of oil for frying
340g ragu sauce (bought off the supermarket shelves)
salt to taste
150g twist pasta
a pot of salted boiling water

Cheese Sauce
a tablespoon of butter
a tablespoon of flour
3/4 cup of milk
100g of cheddar cheese + a handful to sprinkle

Method

Boil the pasta till el dente and drain.
Heat oven to 180C.
To make the ragu sauce, heat oil in a pan.
Add the onion and garlic until softened.
Add in the mince.
Stir in the spaghetti sauce and let it simmer.
Tip in the drained pasta and mix well.
Ensure that pasta is saucy.
Pour pasta in a baking tray.

To make the cheese sauce, melt butter and stir in the flour.
Cook for a minute and then gradually stir in milk.
Lastly stir in the cheese.
Once cheese has melted, pour evenly over the pasta.
Top the handful of cheese on top.

Bake until the cheese on top is golden and starting to brown.

Mince Meat Pasta
Topped with Cheese Sauce

Mince Meat Baked Pasta
I must say the baked pasta was a hit. Tihani had second helpings and Auni gave me a thumbs up when I asked if it was yummy!

Longan Grass Jelly

It's exceptionally hot and humid here in Singapore the past few weeks. Airconditioning has been our best friend. I would definitely like to thank whoever had invented aircon .. like seriously!

And this was what the kids and I had the whole weekend just to beat the heat - Longan Grass Jelly.


Ingredients

Grass Jelly, chopped
Canned Longan
Water
Ice

Method

Pour the chopped grass jelly and canned longan together with the syrup in a big bowl.
Pour in enough water to dilute the sugar syrup.
Throw in some ice and enjoy!

Alternatively, if you've crushed ice, you can place some crushed ice in a small bowl. Top it with chopped grass jelly, some longan then pour some sugar syrup over!

Lychee Konnyaku Jelly

It's been a super long time since I last participated in a blog event. I was blog hopping and chanced upon some events and thought, hey, why not participate in one?

One of them is Sugar High Fridays (SHF). It was first started by Jennifer of The Domestic Goddess. This month, SHF is hosted by Aparna of My Diverse Kitchen and the theme is Bite Sized Desserts.

I havent been too productive in the kitchen of late and so I thought I'd use one from my archives (yes! SHF allows archived posts). For this submission I have to ensure it's vegatarian as Aparna writes a vegetarian blog.

So here's my submission .. Lychee Konnyaku Jelly.


Ingredients

10 gm Konnyaku Jelly Powder
210 gm sugar
950 ml water
12 pcs canned lycees, halved

Method

Put half a lychee in each konnyaku jelly mould.
In a pot, mix the jelly powder and sugar together.
Pour in 950 ml water.
Switch on the flame, stir until the water starts to boil.
Switch off the flame and keep on stirring for about 5 min.
Pour the Konnyaku mixture into the jelly moulds.
Chill to set for about 3 hours.

Click here if you want to read more about konnyaku.

Chicken Quesadilla

I've always loved quesadilla and I didn't know how easy to make them. Just throw in anything you like, cheese, chicken, beef, tomatoes, whatever!

Enjoy it with a side sour creme and salsa!


Here's my super simple version.

Ingredients

Large flour tortilla
Shredded roasted chicken
Grated cheddar/mazzorella

Accompaniment

Sour creme
Salsa

Method

Preheat anon stick pan.
Place a tortilla on the pan.
Take a handful of grated cheese, sprinkle over the top of the tortilla.
Then take a handful of chicken and do likewise.
Fold the tortilla into half.
Ensure cheese has melted and tortilla gets browned.
Remove from pan and cut into wedges.

Sofra Turkish Cafe & Restaurant

My friends and I were in the mood for something middle eastern. Someone suggested Sofra Turkish Cafe and Restaurant and so we went. This wasnt the first time that I came here but the last I came was years back. One thing I like about this place is definitely its ambience.

We had hummus for starters. This mildly spiced mixed cream mixture of chickpeas and tahini with lemon juice is definitely a winner. We also ordered turkish bread to go with it.


Not only do Italians have pizza, Turkish has their own version of pizza called Pide. We had beef pide for main course.


We also tried their Chef Plate. If you're into meat, this is one dish you should try. It consists of doner kebab, izgara kofte (flat meatballs) and a skewer of shish kebab.


Sofra also serves desserts. There's Baklava which we're all very familiar with. We didnt order that though. We ordered 3 other desserts - Turkish Chocolate Pudding, Turkish Rice Pudding and Asure.



I will definitely come back and try the other turkish dishes that Sofra serves. Sofra, I'll be back!

Chocolate Banana Cake

I really cant remember when was the last I baked and I totally miss baking so much.

I NEED to get my baking mojo back!!

Here's my first bake for Year 2010 - Chocolate Banana Cake. I was supposed to bake this on Monday but I was hit by the lazy bug. Then I was hit by the flu bug yesterday. Yikes! Today, I forced myself to bake the damn chocolate banana cake which I had been meaning to bake since the start of the week.

So with the assistance of my ever so helpful little helper, Tihani, we started to bake. Tihani helped mashed the ripe bananas and mixed the dry and wet ingredients. This was rather easy to put together, just like any other foolproof recipes I ever tried.

Well, this was the result - a rich, moist, chocolatey cake with tender crumbed top and subtle hint of banana.


Ingredients

1 3/4 cup self raising flour
1 1/2 cup caster sugar
3/4 cup cocoa
1/4 tsp salt
2 eggs
1 1/2 cup mashed ripe bananas
1 cup warm water
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup canola oil
1 tsp vanilla essence

Method

Preheat oven to 175C. Grease a loaf tin.
In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, cocoa and salt.
In another bowl, combine eggs, mashed bananasm water, milk, oil and vanilla essence.
Pour the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and whisk well till everything is combined. Note that batter will be thin.
Bake in preheated oven for 40 - 50 mins or until a toothpick inserted into centre of cake comes out clean.
Allow to cool.

I actually baked half of the mixture in a loaf tin and half in 6 standard sized paper cups.


Tihani is asleep now and she hasnt tried them. Will put some in her lunch box so she can eat them during recess. Will also bring some for colleagues and see what they have to say about my cake :-)

J's Wok & Grill

I decided to take half day today to fetch Tihani from school. I then brought her to lunch at J's Wok & Grill for lunch.


J's Wok & Grill is actually the defunct Jeewa Restaurant at Joo Chiat (if anyone can remember). It is managed by Jeewa Ltd and in cooperation with Jamiyah Singapore.

The cafe is really nicely decorated with a little touch of class if i might add. They serve both Oriental and Western cuisine. Just outside the cafe, we saw a recession lunch special banner. There're only three items to choose from though - Char Bee Hoon, Kampong Fried Rice and Fish & Chips. The place was quite packed when we arrived.

We chose Prawn Fritters (S$6.90) for our appetiser. It was a generous portion. The prawns were de-shelled, fried with batter to perfection and served with Thai chilli sauce. Oh, by the way, what you see in the picture below is not the real portion. Could not resist eating them before I could even take pictures.


For mains, we ordered from the recession menu. We had the Classic Fish and Chips(S$3.50), which was served with fries, coleslaw and a wedge of lemon.


We also tried the Kampong Fried Rice (S$1.95). I thought that they might skimp on the portion but I was wrong. Portion is standard. Wow!


The fried rice was really nice - spicy and served with fried anchovies, slices of cucumber, tomatoes and sambal belacan. I took the first spoonful and I discovered that this wasn't any plain ordinary kampong fried rice. It has ingredients such as fishcakes, squids and even small chunks of chicken in them. Amazing!


So where else can we expect normal portion food at really dirt cheap price?

The lunch special is served on Mon - Sun from 12 - 3 pm. Only for dine-in and subjected to the prevailing GST and NO service charge.

J's Wok & Grill - Blk 527 Bedok North St 3 #01-514 Singapore 460527

Blic Ice Cream Cafe

It's exam week! Just as I was getting ready to leave home for my exams on Monday, I found myself texting my buddy for ice cream. I just felt a sudden urge for sugar rush and I knew that could possibly be because of a wee bit of stress + anxiety. Urgh .. I totally hate that feeling.

So after my papers, I found my way to this new ice cream cafe at Tampines that my buddy and I chanced upon when we drove past a couple of weeks back.


Blic Ice Cream Cafe - a simple, clean ice cream parlour with orange and white decor and yummy flavoured ice cream to boot!

I swear I could smell that distinct smell of the king of fruit as I entered the cafe. Some may find it repulsive but I totally find that inviting. My buddy and I sampled a few flavours before we settled for our ice cream. Blic serves unique flavours like lychee mint, chunky peanutella and seasalt malt. Classic or premium. You're just spoilt for choice.


I was there for my sugar rush fix and hence I settled for double scoops. Yeah, call me greedy! I chose Double Chocolate and Durian "Mao Shan Wang". I swear by the durian ice cream for it is rich, creamy and oh-so-yummy!

By the way, that's my buddy who had double scoops too - a scoop of Seasalt Malt and Ferraro.

I am sure I will be back for more!

Blic Ice Cream Cafe - Blk 802 Tampines Ave 4 #01-23 Singapore 520802.

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Did I say I will be back for more??

Yesterday, just two days after our first visit to Blic, Has and I went back for more. This time with another friend, Win. As usual, we did our samplings before deciding.

Actually I had already decided what I wanted before I even stepped into Blic :-)


I got myself a single scoop of Seasalt Malt. This is my other favourite. I just do not know how to explain its taste, seriously. That horlick-ey saltish flavour is just way too awesome! Well, at least for me :-)


Has had the Chunky Peanutella. I bet anyone who has a major obsession for peanut butter would be perfectly contented with this.


and Win chose the premium Durian flavour.


Win's verdict "This is even better than Scoopz" and I couldnt agree with him more.


With an ice cream parlour just near home and school, I bet I would be making regular visits whenever I have a sweet tooth craving.

Zac's Middle Eastern and Mediterranean Cuisine

Today, two colleagues and I decided to give our other colleagues a treat. The treat was the for long service awards that my two colleagues received and also for my promotion :-)

So we decided to go to Zac's Cafe for some middle eastern and mediterranean fare. I had been here quite a number of times and had never been disappointed.

Reservations and confirmation of menu for 8 of us were made a week before. For appetisers, we had Mixed Salad with Feta Cheese.

Hummus

with Arabic Bread


The other starter that we had was Foul Madames. This was also served with bread.


For mains, I ordered Arabic Rice.

Rice was fluffy and light and it went well with the thick and rich Lamb Bamiya.

And for desserts, we had Cream Caramel.


And what better way to complement our middle eastern and mediterranean cuisine with Iced Mint Tea. Simply refreshing!

Zac's Cafe - No 17 Jalan Pinang Singapore 199149

M3rNi3 is Still Aliv3

Dear readers

I truly apologise for being on a hiatus.
After almost two years of not blogging, I decided to be back again.

I kept looking at my blog and wondered why'd I stopped.
I swear I miss blogging.

Today on, amidst work and school and life, I will try to blog.
And yeah, nothing's gonna change.
m3rni3 is still gonna be about food, food and more food!

So look out for updates alright!

Yours truly
m3rni3