Simmered Meatballs With Mushrooms

I loves to eat balls.  Noooooo..............what I meant is meatballs!  Be it beef balls, fish balls, prawn balls or meatballs, I like to try out  these recipes.  Usually when making meatballs, we will have to mince up the meat and add in other ingredients and thereafter forming into a ball. And meatballs I am sure is always a welcome to children and the elderly because it is easily chewable to digest in.

Recently I have came across a few bloggers posted some delicious meatballs and of course, I am going to make it at my soonest too.

Simmered Meat Balls With Mushrooms

Ingredients (A) :

200g minced pork

60g sweet turnips (chopped) (I used two medium size Water chestnuts)

½ egg

1 tbsp corn flour

Marinade:

½ tsp salt

½ tsp sugar

½ tsp pepper

½ tsp sesame oil

Ingredients (B) :

10 Chinese mushrooms (soaked)

1 stalk spring onions (sectioned)

10g carrot slices

4 ginger slices

½ tsp chopped garlic

200 ml water

Seasoning:

½ tbsp oyster sauce

½ tbsp light soy sauce

1 tsp sugar

½ tsp pepper

½ tsp sesame oil

1 tbsp Shaoxing Wine

1.  Mix Ingredients (A) with marinade, then form the mixture into meat balls.  

     Deep fry in the hot oil at high heat till golden in colour and cooked.  Remove, drain well and keep

     aside.

2.  Leave 2 tbsp oil in the hot wok, fragrant ginger slices and chopped garlic, add in mushrooms, carrot

     Slices and seasoning, stir fry until aromatic.

3.  Pour in water and bring to a boil.  Cover, simmer at low heat for 5-7 minutes, then add in the

     Meat balls, continue to simmer for further 10 minutes.

4.  Lastly, add in the spring onions, toss well.  Thicken with a little cornstarch solutions, remove from

      heat.  Serve hot.

Tish Boyle's Plainly Perfect Pound Cake

I am not bragging about this but this Tish Boyle's Plainly Perfect Pound Cake is really delicious; and at this post, this is already my third time baking it. 

When Rima posted and mentioned that this pound cake is so delicious, it just tempted me to go ahead to bake it,  And she is right, it is better than Orange Sicilian Cake! You thought it is just plainly a pound cake but wait till it goes into you mouth.  It is so moist and with the citrus zest in the cake makes the cakes taste ....... orh.....I speak no more but you have to bake it to find out yourself.

I gave a few slices to my neighbour and she commented the same too.

Tish Boyle's Plainly Perfectly Pound Cake

adapted from Rima of Bisous A Toi & Shirley of kokken69

Ingredients :

200g Plain flour
1/4 tsp Baking powder
1/4 tsp Salt
227g Unsalted butter (softened)
250g castor sugar (I added only 200g)
4 Large eggs
1 tsp finely grated lemon zest
1 tsp grated orange zest
1 tsp vanilla extract
80ml Heavy cream

Method :
1. Preheat oven to 170C.
2. Sift flour with baking powder and salt and set aside.
3. Cream butter in a mixer at medium high speed until creamy. Add sugar gradually and
    continue beating for 4 mins until light and fluffy.
4. Reduce the mixing speed of the mixer to low and add eggs one at a time mixing until well
     mixed.
5. Add the citrus zest and vanilla extract.
6. Add flour mixture in 3 additions, alternating it with cream (added in 2 additions).
7. Pour into 2 lined 3"x 7" pound cake mold and bake for 60-70 mins or until the cake turns 
    brown and a testing skewer comes out clean.

It does lives up to that name; it's plain but perfect.....pound cake !!

Liebster Blog Award........

Liebster is German and translates to

the English word “dearest”or” favorite”. It’s meant for up-and-coming blogs with less than "200 followers".

I was pleasantly surprised when Cosy Bake share her blog award with me. Yes me too, I was surprised as I never knew many bloggers who knew about my blog as I created this blog just to document all my food that I have baked and cooked and wouldn't expect much more from it.

This award was presented to me before by To Food With Love in December 2011 but I was not well that time and could not link back to others.  

This award is simply a way of giving recognition to newer blogs or those that have fewer than 200 followers, which is a wonderful idea. The recipient of the award then has to select five other such blogs to pass the award on to and here are my selection to : 


Lulu's Sweet Secrets

Simply Anne's

Hearty Bakes

Amelia's De-ssert

From My Lemony Kitchen


Here are the rules:

• Thank your Liebster Blog Award presenter on your blog.
• Link back to the blogger who presented the award to you.
• Copy and paste the blog award on your blog.
• Present the Liebster Blog Award to 5 blogs of 200 followers or less who you feel deserve to be noticed. (Some say just 3 or more blogs of less than 200 followers each).
• Let them know they have been chosen by leaving a comment at their blog.

Kumquat Almond Tea Cakes

I have gotten so addicted of the yummy Kumquat after my last bake of Orange Cheesecake with Kumquat Compote and I even have used the Kumquat puree to bake a pound cake (unfortunate I didn't have the time to take photos of it).

I really have to give thanks to Wendy again posting all her Kumquat recipes, and this Kumquat Almond Tea Cakes is soooooooo delicious!

Wendy, if we could easily get hold of this Kumquat 365 days, how nice it would be so I can bake this Almond Tea Cakes every alternate days!  I could eat the whole 18 pieces at one go!!! (Ha...how silly of me)  Maybe we can use some other fruits puree??

Kumquat Almond Tea Cakes

fully adapted from Wendy's - Table for 2....or more

Ingredients
35gm all purpose flour
50gm ground almond
½ tsp baking powder

60gm butter
50gm caster sugar (reduced to 2/3 of original ratio)
2 eggs (grade B)
60gm kumquat puree (recipe below)

18 pcs poached kumquat halves (recipe below)

1. Prepare 18 2 inch tart tins or 12 3 inch tins. Grease the tins with butter. Preheat oven at 150(fan)/170C
2. Sift flour and baking powder. Mix with ground almond, set aside.
3. Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
4. Beat in eggs one by one, beating well after each addition.
5. Put in (2) in 2 additions, mixing well after each.
6. Mix in kumquat puree.
7. Divide batter equally into prepared tins and top with a kumquat half
8. Bake for 12 mins (2 inch) or longer for larger tins.

Kumquat compote
20 kumquats
Sugar
Water

Weigh kumquats and prepare equal amount of water (in weight) and half amount of sugar (ratio: 2:2:1, kumquat:water:sugar, eg : 200gm:200gm:100gm)

Half kumquats and remove seeds. Put cleaned kumquats, sugar and water into a saucepan and cook (on med heat)until the kumquat looks glossy and soft. Remove 18 pcs of halves and puree the rest with some of the syrup. Unused puree can be eaten like jam.

Please do hop over to Wendy's Blog for more clearer details.

Delicious Kumquat Almond Tea Cakes!!