Mix Salad ( A Thote Sone)

This is another Burmese typical salad which contain quite a number of ingredients. We normally have this for our lunch once in a while. Despite having many ingredients to work on, preparation time is not as time consuming as what you think. Everything will be ready within 1 -1.5hrs. And I had fun preparing all these.


Below are the items for mixing sauce

• Chili paste
• Tamarind paste
• Ground red chili (I brought it from Burma)
• Ground dry shrimp
• Onion oil ( made it on the day before)
• fish sauce
• Seasoning powder
• Bean flour ( It is not in below pic)
  

Below are the main ingredients

• Rice
• Potato (boiled)
• Glass noodle
• 2 hard boiled Eggs
• Yellow noodle
• Cabbage (finely chopped)
• White fungus
• Bean sprout ( Dip in boiled water for about 3 mins)

Method is extremely simple.First, mix the rice well with chili paste. Then add the rest of the ingredients, mixing sauces and it is done. Fish sauce and tamarind paste need to be adjusted to your taste. To be safe, I recommend to add just a table spoon of tamarind paste and one teaspoon of fish sacue first. Then after mixing with everything, adjust according to your taste. Enjoy!.

My First Marble Bread

This is my first successful bread. In fact,I made 2 batches of bread before, last year. However,both of them turned out to be very bad and registered them as top items on my fail baked list. It did not rise properly and it was so hard (nearly like a stone) to consume. 4 hours of effort were just gone and that happened on my 2nd batch as well. I was almost giving up of making bread again until I found the recipe here . Chocolate swirl and soft texture of the bread really attracted my attention. I told myself " why don't I give it a try again". I made the correct decision and really thank HHB for the recipe!.The bread was really soft and tasty.

My chocolate swirl were not pretty as hers. It was due to my mistake. Being clumsy person, I didn't read the method carefully on making of the chocolate sheet. Instruction stated "need to stir over low fire till mixture thickens and form a thick lump". But I didn't put it onto fire and it was ended up as a little runny chocolate paste instead of chocolate sheet. I still wonder why my paste was ended up so runny, however, I didn't bother to check the instruction again and just proceeded as it is. Glad that my bread turn out to be good even I didn't follow the instruction properly. I will try to make chocolate sheet again soon.

Ingredients

chocolate sheet

• 20g cake flour

• 50g sugar
• 1 egg white
• 80ml milk (warmed)
• 18g cocoa powder
• 10g butter

Bread dough

• 270g bread flour
• 30g cake flour
• 5g active dry yeast
• 15g milk powder
• 40g caster sugar
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 125g fresh milk
• Half an egg
• 75g whipping cream

Method (chocolate sheet)

1. Mix sugar and cake flour into the egg white until smooth.
2. Place milk in a saucepan and heat till just simmering.
3. Add coca powder into the milk and stir till cocoa powder is incorporated into milk.
4. Add egg white mixture into the cocoa mixture and stir over low fire till mixture thickens and form a thick lump.
5. Add in butter and stir till incorporated.
6. Leave to cool. Place in a plastic bag and roll into a square (about 14cm x 14cm). Keep refrigerated before use.

Method (Dough)

1. Place all ingredients in the mixer and knead it for 15mins (my mixer does not include dough function, I just use the dough hook and knead it)
   
2. Remove from mixer and knead again by hand until the dough become very smooth and not sticky. (It took 20 mins for me at least)
   
3. Leave the dough in a bowl. Cover with a cling film and let it proof for about 1.5hrs or until it rises double in volume.
   
4. Remove the dough from the bowl and punch out the gas. Roll out the dough into a rectangle on a lightly floured work surface. Place the chocolate sheet in the middle of the dough. Wrap both ends of the dough over to cover the chocolate sheet completely. Take note that the dough should be rolled long enough for both sides to fold over the chocolate sheet.
5. Fold the dough into 3 folds. If you want more swirl, roll it out again make another 3 folds. Twist the dough and place it in the baking pan. Let it rise again for another 45mins.
6. Bake at 180 degree C preheated oven for about 35 - 40 minutes. Remove from oven and unmold immediately. Let the loaf cool off before slicing.
   

Chicken Feet Salad

I am craving for sour/spicy and purely Asian food these days especially after having the western food for 10 continuous days. I don't mind having sandwiches / pastries or burger for my meal once in a while , but to have all these for all 3 meals (almost everyday) is like a sin ( to me). But I hardly had a choice there. We knew that there are some Asian restaurant out there. But due to our limited time , we didn't have a chance to find the place and we just grab a fast food meal which are readily available.

Thus, when I was back to SG, the frist thing that I did on the following day was cooking spicy and sour Asian food for our luch. Chicken feet salad is the one of the dishes that I cooked. The taste was exactly what I wanted, spicy and sour. I just love it. :D

Here are the Ingredients and method,

• 8pcs of chicken feet
• 1 red onion (thinly sliced)
• 3 cloves of garlic (thinly sliced)
• 1 tsp of garlic oil
• a slice of lime, fish sauce, seasoning powder (all adjust to taste)
• 2 red chili padi (chopped)

Method

1. Boil chicken feet for about 30 mins. De-bone them and slice them into small pieces.
2. Mix with all the rest of ingredients and ready to serve, enjoy.

Red Bean Fritter (Mandalay Pae Kyaw)

I never thought of making this type of fritter until I saw the recipe here. Thanks MoKaungThu for sharing this wonderful recipe. I used to make many different types of fritters (Burmese typical snack) like potato fritter, onion fritter, gourd fritter and etc but not this one. Reason being simply no idea on making these little ones and thought it would be very difficult to make. In fact, preparation steps are very simple and yet it is way too delicious. But only thing, we need them to be deep fried. I agree it is not so healthy . But, should be OK to consume once in a while. **Giving myself an excuse to eat this** :D :D

Ok here are the ingredients and preparation steps.

Ingredients
- 1 Can of kidney red bean
- 2 cups of glutinous rice flour (I used the cup that we normally measure rice.Need to double confirm how many grams. Will get back on this)
- 1 tsp of salt
- 1/2 tsp of seasoning powder

-4 cloves of crush garlic

-1/2 tsp of bicarbonate of soda
- 2 cups of oil

Method

1. Mesh the red bean in a bowl (including syrup)
2. Add in the flour, salt , soda, seasoning powder and mix well.
3. Heat the oil the frying pan. Scoop the batter and deep fry until crispy. Makes about 12 pcs.
4. Serve it hot, Enjoy!

Egg in a bread again for breakfast

This is another overdue post and I made this before I went for holiday. In fact, I made this " Egg in a Bread" before, last month I guess. But the method was slightly different. You can check it out here. For the lasted version, I used only a slice bread instead of two and cheese was omitted. I've got an idea of making this with only a slice of bread after visiting a local bread store .(I have a chance to sneak a look at their preparation for egg in a toast :D :D) Taste was not bad, but I prefer the first version.

Here is the method.

- Make a square in the middle of the bread with knife. Press it down gently (don't let it cut through). Spread some butter.

- Place the egg in the middle square and toast it in 180 degree C preheated oven for about 15 minutes (You can adjust the timing for your preference color and crispiness of the bread).

-Sprinkle with some black pepper and a pinch of salt. Ready to serve. Enjoy!

Holiday Travel

Hi All...I m back!!! You guys wondering where I've been hiding these days, right?..Yeah, I was running away from Sg for 2 weeks and exploring the new place that I've never been before... It was a really nice place and I don't feel like coming back to Sg . I wish I could stay longer.


Though it was a little tiring as we need to rush one state to another within limited time frame, it was a very enjoyable and interesting trip for me. I 've been exposed to different culture, environment, people and etc. Natural scenery made me relax. When I look up, I saw a wide beautiful clear sky which I seldom have a chance to see here. I just love it. With that blue sky and additional cool breeze made me feel really relax. Not so many high-rise buildings and I wonder that may be it makes the sky much clearer.


Ok, that's enough of writing and I shall share with you some pictures . Hope you will like it.

Yes, I was in the "land of Kangaroo" @ Brisbane, Queensland.

And here is the lazy Koalar too.


@Surfers paradise, Queensland. Look at the sky. I've just simply love it.


A view from ferry @ Sydney, New South Wales


A view from ferry. Opera house and Sydney harbour bridge.


"The twelve apostles" @ Melbourne, Victoria


On the way to "The twelve apostles"
@ Bell Beach.

KhaWelThee Kyaw Chet

Finally, finally I can manage to find the name of the veggie that we (me & my sis) cooked in the evening. Even though we know it's Burmese name, we do not have any idea about it's English or scientific name. In Burmese, we call it KhaWelThee. I faced this problem quite often as my English skill is not proficient enough. Yeah, I knew about it. But, finally, with the help of Burmese-English dictionary + Wiki, I managed to find it's English name. Hope it is correct one.

Ok, nvm, be it khaWelThee or Luffa Acutangula, it is quite delicious. That's the most important part. And here is the method.

1) Heat 1 Tbsp of cooking oil in the pan. Add 2 red onion + 3 cloves of garlic (both are finely chopped) and cook till fragrant ~ about 2 mins.

2) Add in 500 grams of KhaWelThee ( peel off and cut about 1 inch long pieces), 20 grams of dry shrimps, 1 tsp of salt, a pinch of turmeric powder, 1 cup of water and cook for about 5mins or till veggie are cooked.

3) Dish out and ready to serve!