Dreamy Midsummer Cheesecake

Welcome to the dreamer's magic. This cheesecake is full and rich of flavors, yet it contains reduced fat whipped cream and use 1 package of cream cheese. Many versions of cheesecakes, that claimed to be richy and 'dreamy' uses a lot quantity of dairy products, mainly the cream cheese and / or the sour cream, whipping cream and sometimes includes the yoghurt. Now this recipe I've obtained from my favorite cooking book, what a great cookers might like to have. The book has a good quality of illustrations, making it the first in choice for the cookers in doubt. If I have to make a quick choice when looked at the book at first place, I'll choose it. No matter the recipes inside are easy to follow, with a full description of recipes.
Ok, I don't have enough time to mention about the book alot, but I might introduce it to you the title of the book. Its called "TESCO COOKERY COLLECTION - Cheesecakes". It has a smaller size, handy to use in the kitchen with a hardcover skin.

Here I'll try to include the recipe I've just followed, and there may have be a copyright against it, but this is just the way I want to show you what I've cooked in the past, and how did I cooked it!


Dreamy midsummer's cheesecake



Serves 8

For the base:
50g (2 oz) margarine or butter, melted
50g (2 oz) caster sugar
100g (4 oz) ratafias or macaroons, crushed

For the Filling:
15 g (1 1/2 oz) sachet powdered gelatine
3 tbls water
225g (8 0z) full fat soft cheese
2 eggs, seperated
100g (4 oz) caster sugar
grated rind of 1 orange
a few drops of almond essence
142 ml (5 fl oz) carton double or whipping cream (I'm using the Emborg brand, which contains around 35% of cream)

To decorate:

225-350g (8-12 oz) mixed strawberries, cherries or raspberries and redcurrents(I've used dragon fruits, strawberries and some mangoes)
3 tbls redcurrent jelly
1 tbls strained orange juice


Grease a loose-bottomed or spring-form 18-20 cm(7-8 inch) cake tin.
Mix the melted margarine with the sugar and ratafia crumbs. (However, I've omitted the sugar for this part, and used the marie biscuits instead). Spoon into the greased tin and press evenly over the base. Chill the biscuit base in the refrigerator while making the almond-flavoured filling.
Sprinkle the gelatine over the water in a heatproof bowl and leave for 2-3 minutes until spongy. Stand the bowl in a pan of hot water and stir until the gelatine has dissolved. Set the liquid gelatine aside to cool slightly.
Beat the cheese in a bowl until softened. Beat in the egg yolks, half the sugar, the orange rind, almond essence and cream. Stir in the liquid gelatine. Leave the mixture until it is on the point of setting.
Whisk the egg whites until stiff, then whisk in the remaining caster sugar. Using a large metal spoon, fold lightly, but thoroughly, into the cheese mixture.
Turn the mixture into the prepared tin and gently tilt and tip it to level the surface. Chill in the refrigerator for 3-4 hours, or until set.
Run a round-bladed knife around the sides of the cheesecake. Melt the jelly with the orange juice in a small saucepan over low heat; cool slightly, then brush or spoon over the fruit. Transfer the cheesecake to a serving plate. Allow the glaze to set before serving the cheesecake well chilled.

Well done, do let the cheesecake to completely set before serving, as this need the usage of refrigerater even after the cheesecake has been served, and being eaten! This is because of the humidity differences, the temperature changes and also the ingredients type that may differs across a countries or regions. For example, I am using the Emborg Whipped cream, which contains 35% cream only, unlike the others that available in Malaysia, like President or Anchor, which may contain more cream. This should also taken into account when baking, because you may/may not get surprised when you saw your final product get melted into the plate after leaved for too long outside the refrigerator, and this is what happened to my very last piece!

Almond Streusal Bundt Cake with Coffee Glaze

Alright, there you goes.. waiting for almost a decade for my next episode..

Actually, there is a big schedule for me to manage my daily life and activities, plus there is a one trial-and-error interview that I had to canceled at last minutes just because of my healthy problems. There is a less hour left for me to plan what to cook, even at the weekend, I have to accommodate my office too. Just because of this hourly packed humanity period of the election day, I have to become a back-up citizen for most of my officemates.

After a long 'vacation', I have came out with a mouth-watering dessert product that could fit almost all of your daily meals, be it breakfast, lunch or dinner. The cake is quite rich, packed and contains full of nuts, oats and cinnamon flavor. There is a layer of streusal at the center, where it combines most of the ingredients like what to be in a granola, the oats, nuts, brown sugar, and butter. This is added with a little of coffee powder, to make it produce well blended herb aromas, lead by the authentic tastes of the cinnamon.

First of all, I would like to note that I've got this recipe from the internet, which the site is www.RecipeLand.com. At the time I was looking for the recipe which has the combination of the nuts, preferably almonds, oats, and some other cereal. At last I found this - luckily it match my searching criteria, although I didn't use any ingredient filter or any other kind of advanced search. Just look at it, and it comes by. Pretty nice? Awesome!

Ok., here is the recipe:

Almond Streusel Bundt Cake and Coffee Glaze


Submitted by: anonymous

(Categories: Almonds, Baked Goods, Bundt Cakes, Cake, Desserts, Oats, Sweets and Desserts)


Prep. Time: 60 minutes
Cook Time: 60 minutes
Total Time: 120 minutes


Ingredients:

-------------------------------------streusel----------------------------------
1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
1/2 cup almonds, chopped, toasted
3/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/3 cup oats, old fashioned
1 1/2 teaspoons instant coffee
1/4 cup butter, chilled, cut pieces

---------------------------------------cake------------------------------------
3 cups cake flour, sifted
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 cup almonds, whole, toasted
3/4 cup butter, unsalted, room temp
1/2 cup almond paste
1 2/3 cups sugar
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
1 cup milk
6 large egg whites, room temp

--------------------------------------glaze-----------------------------------
1 cup powdered sugar
1/4 cup heavy whipping cream
1 teaspoon instant coffee
1/3 cup almonds, sliced, toasted


Directions:

FOR THE STREUSEL: Mix all but butter in a small bowl. Add butter and rub in with fingertips until well blended. Set aside. FOR THE CAKE: Preheat oven to 350~.

Butter and flour a 12-cup Bundt pan (I've used a normal pan instead, as I don't have any bundt family of pans in my house). Mix flour and baking powder in a small bowl. Finely grind almonds in processor.

Using electric mixer, beat butter and almond paste in a large bowl until blended.
Gradually beat in 1-1/3 cups sugar. Continue beating until fluffy. Beat in extract.Stir in dry ingredients alternately with milk.Mix in ground almonds.

Using electric mixer fitted with clean dry beaters, beat egg whites in another large bowl to medium peaks.Gradually add remaining 1/3 cup sugar and beat until stiff but not dry.Fold meringue into batter in 2 additions.

Transfer half the batter to prepared Bundt pan. Sprinkle streusel over. Spoon remaining batter over. Bake cake until tested done, about 1 hour.

Cool in cake pan on rack for 20 minutes. Turn cake out onto rack and cool completely.

(Cake can be made 1 day ahead; cover and let stand at room temperature.)

FOR THE GLAZE: Stir powdered sugar, whipping cream and instant coffee powder in a small bowl until well blended. Drizzle glaze over cake, allowing to run down sides.

Sprinkle cake with sliced almonds.

(Copyright: http://www.recipeland.com/)

A Good And Tasty Raw Seafood

This is was when my family, my relatives and I went to one of the 5 star Japanese Restaurant, named Agehan Japanese 'All You Can Eat' Restaurant, located at level 3, Blue Wave Hotel, Shah Alam. This time, I'm having my best time celebrating my 28th birthday, along with my relatives who is celebrating theirs too.

At this restaurant, I've had a wide range of Japanese cuisine, including a yet hot bunch of known Japanese dip, called 'Wasabi', which has a strong and mild flavor, but its hot flaming feeling will feels your throat, up to your nose, if you don't careful. This is my good delicacies starter at the beginning, yet it brings me through while making me addicted for more and more spicy foods until now, and now I'm hunting for Sarawak Laksa, Nyonya Laksa and some other Nyonya cookings as it has the similar asian tastes, and quite localish, with a bit of chinese taste, i.e the noodles like the one used in Japanese cookings.

These asian cookings has the similar taste in sense of smells, aromas and flavors, which uses a lot of spice and herbs, take it as a comparison with two 'twin' cuisine, a Japanese and Chinese noodles. It has a same texture, same styles, same method of making, and quite a same name. For example, we can found both Japanese and Chinese uses a 'Ramen' for its main noodle dish. All these makes me feels like pulling myself more to the east, with a bunch and taste of herbs. Yes, herbs makes the foods better, yet tasty. You can also blames for the spices, for it too makes the same results for the Western foods for examples, take a look at the Italians.

When all these spices are blended, the result is the authentic tastes which suites your tasty buds nicely. The tasty buds may vary in difference places as well, but this times I feel my loves taking me to the east. I can say that this Japanese threat is the starter, but I'm still wondering, if there are still the others. Maybe we are still after the Raya season, where our local spices are still in the memories, although the newly Japanese welcome may be the hints. Well, until now(it's about 3 days past, we are having our celebration last Saturday), I'm still feels my buds dreaming of a well cooked noodle cuisines, with a bunch of herbs, spices, and a local cuisines, which has a sweet, sour, spicy, and a good blend of turmeric aromas. So, guess, what it would come? Haha.. A bountiful Nyonya cuisine, which include some of its famous laksas and curries, where I've just looked up at web some of its recipes - Ayam Kari Kapitan, Nyonya Laksa@Nyonya Curry Laksa, Lai Fun, Kari Ketam (Crab Curry), and some infos about the Nyonya decendants.

So, I'm still thinking what I would be cooking next, perhaps the Nyonyas, perhaps the Japanese, or perhaps the local Malay desert - I'm proud to have this one first if I could - the most important as I'm a Malay! Anyway, I'd like to have a variety of tastes, whereas my buds doesn't stick to what I am, where I am, or what I like at most. My taste always change, according to place, current events, or even the popularity of a current culture or some attraction activities of some groups about foods and something like that. If the season is about the Japanese, so there will I go! No matter how difficult to get the ingredients, I'll try. Don't think that I'm unable to find the Wasabi, cause I've found on the net on how to make it at home! Just after a few days!

More or less, I'll decide that I want to start something similar to Nyonya's favorite this week, if not being able to cook myself, I'll try to stop at Laksa Shack and try some Sarawak Laksa soon!

Today I've added some of the known fellas who have the skill cooking and preparing many of my favorite dishes, including this newly borned favorite in my life - the Nyonya style! I've added it at the left side. Happy visiting!

Focaccia with Onion and Rosemary

Hello there! This time I'm having my time with a fellow cook specialist from my own country through his cookbook, entitled ' Tea time threats with Chef Wan'. He has been known as the Ambassador of the Asian Food, where he has been on the TV programs hosted and videoed from around the world! Ok, for now, I'm just alone in my kitchen, but, there is a helper from my book, a good book, with a spirit of the cooker's too! What a nice book, a full colored pages, with a nice appearance of texts. I bought this for just RM 59.90 from a Popular Bookstore and it worth a value.

Ok. For today, actually tonight, I've been baked some of my first ever home-made bread, which is known as Focaccia, an Italian style bread, made with a pizza base like dough, topped with the onions, garlics, olives, tomatoes, chillies, or even nuts. I could call this a simple version of a pizza, as it sounds well, looks and tasty like a pizza too, except it has a less toppings. The basic dough is quite the same, and you can vary your topping to fit the taste and cuisine as well, be it sweet, savory, hot or spicy. There are a history of this kind of bread, where I just only learned it, well, you and I can check it out at Wikipedia to find it more. It is a kind of Italian style bread, where it may have been a twin to a pizza, if I'm not wrong.






Ok. Let's not waste the time, and here I'll will show you the original recipe that comes from my book, but, again, this recipes has a copyright. Please use it exactly!
Note: I have change a bit for the topping, where I've substituted the olives with a half tomato, walnut with the almonds, and the olive oil with a vegetable oil as I don't have this things in my kitchen at the time.

Here is the recipe:

Focaccia with Onion and Rosemary

Ingredients:

Dough:
2 1/2 teaspoons active dried yeast
1/2 cup UHT milk, preheated to 40C and 46 C
1 1/2 tablespoon olive oil
1 cup water, at room temperature
500g all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons salt

Topping:
1/4 cup walnuts, roasted and chopped
2 large red onions, sliced and fried with olive oil
10 black olives, chopped
1 teaspoon fresh rosemary, chopped

Method:
1) Dissolve yeast with a milk until foamy. Add olive oil and water, set aside.
2) Add the salt to the flour. Make a well in the center, pour over the yeast mixture. Mix and knead for 10 minutes. Cover dough and let inside the greased bowl to rise for one time the size for 2 hours.
3) Punch the dough and divide into two. Shape into balls and flatten a little.
4) Add all the topping on top of the flatten dough, let the dough to rise more for another one hour before baking.
5) Bake into a preheated oven at 200 C for half an hour or until well cooked.

This is my first time bread baking, so the result is not as good as what it should look, feel open to feel at what I got in my pictures:)

Instant Fried Maggie

Welcome fellow cookers! This time I have tried my own new menu based on my taste experience. This recipe was invented through my estimation and assumption from a variety of taste of the similar menus, whereas the basic ingredients has been in my thought at first. This include the simple and yet instant to prepare dinner recipe, where I found a part of the ingredients has been in the package at first. The instant noodle, as we know, usually comes with its own taste and flavor pre-packed in its own packages. This could make the late-stayers easily prepare up his/her wonderful dinner with a big taste within a minute. No long written recipes, or even a long list of kitchen ingredients. Just require a sachet or two, provided inside the noodles' package, and you'll keep up the rest. Amazing and fascinating, I show you my home-made fried instant noodle, or in Malaysia, the folks just simply calls it 'Maggie Goreng'. You can have this at the Mamak stall, but this time you can try to pick up the art yourself at home! Note: This recipe has a bit of a threat of a Mamak taste, which is a bit spicy, but not too hot. Try!

Maggie Goreng Segera (Instant Fried Noodle)

Ingredients:

1 packet Instant Noodles, usually Maggie, Mamee, or any other good brand.
2 segments of Garlic, chopped
1/2 Onion, chopped
2 cili padi (small size chillies), chopped
a chunk of leftover fish or chicken or any meat dish, washed and chopped (you may used the fresh boiled ones)
An egg
Soy sauce
Tomato or Chilli Sauce
Salt and Pepper to taste
1/2 tomato, cut into cubes.
about 1/3 cup vegetable oil for frying


Method:
1) Prepare the instant noodle, empty the noodle from the sachet and soak in a hot water for about 1-2 minutes or according to the instruction on the package.
2) While the noodle is soaked, prepare the oil in the frying wok or large pan. Heat the oil until gentle hot, around 1-2 minutes.
3) Place the onion, garlic and chillies in the pan, stirring slowly until the smells raise and the onion is lightly browned.
4) Take the flavor sachets from the noodle package, empty both or more(if the package has more than one or two, use all of them) into the pan, keep stirring until combined.
5) Put into 2 tablespoons of soy sauce, 1 tablespoon of chilli or tomato sauce into the pan and keep stirring.
6) Place the drained soaked noodle into the pan, stirring and mix as quickly as possible to let all the sauces mix in with the noodle. Keep stirring until the sauce begin to dry.
7) Make a well in the centre, then break an egg on top of it and quickly stir all the mixture together until totally blended. Keep stirring to avoid the mixture dry too fast.
8) When the egg mixture has set, then it is ready. Transfer the fried noodle onto the plate and serve hot immediately. Garnish with a cubed tomato.

Hot Vochlle, For Instance?

Hey..this morning I've woke up and make up my breakfast with this instant hot cocoa drink in a minute - in no time. I just can't have a time for any breakfast meal as I've to hurry for my regular appointments, and I just took for approx. 5 hour for the last night sleep - slept at 5 am and woke at 10.30 am. Is that crazy? Crazy no more. Just a skidded time of work.

So, what I prepared in the kitchen is simple, but I can show you what I have. Just a cup of cocoa drink, made with the Vochelle instant drinking cocoa powder, mixed with a powdered milk and creamer, and a plus of instant oat, it'll gives you the extra ummph of starting energy.

I used milk powder instead of fully creamer because I know that it's a breakfast, and I need something to feed me up because it's already 10.30, and I'm still feeling quite drowsy and need some simple menu to take along with the drink. Added with some oats, this will energize you better when accompanied with a milk.

I may ended up with a teaspoon of vanilla to give the extra aroma, if desired.

This is my drink recipes:

Hot Vochelle with Oats

Ingredients:
1 1/2 teaspoon Vochelle instant drinking cocoa
2/3 tablespoon sugar (depending on taste)
1 tablespoon creamer (Nestle coffeemate, or others)
1 tablespoon milk powder
2 1/2 teaspoon instant oat (depending on thickness)

Method:
1) Add all ingredients in a mug and add hot water (80C) until near the top. Stir until blended and ready for enjoy!

Sandwich ayam merah..?

Ok, last two nights I've been found a good yet nice products that would suit your tasty buds and the feels of culture in our place, like the title goes.. which read it as 'Chicken in Red Sauce Sandwich' in English. This ideas pops into my minds expressly and without any doubt it came into my thoughts thoroughly. What happens at first is I'm busy finding the perfect ingredients to make a so called 'Mexasian' dishes (I'm sorry this terms doesn't yet exist so I created on my own) - where the tastes binds together to create the superb of the two nations together - Mexican and Asian.

How did the ideas came? Firstly, it took me some while where I'm quite thinking of what to have for a dinner that day as both of my parents went out for the outside dinner. After I realized what had left in my refrigerator, I sped up my thought to get almost fit ever dish that could accompany me that only night. When I opened up my fridge, what I first saw is a bunch of tomatoes, a leftover small cube of cheese, a quarter cut of a local long bread (a kind of french stick but this ones is soft - made by federal bakery, sold by the rotimen) and a bowl of a so called dish - 'Ayam masak merah' where in English it reads Chicken in Red Sauce. This dish is hot, so I manage to take almost all of it, mixed in the diced tomatoes and cheese, where firstly sprinkled with an oregano and salt to taste. Note that for the chicken I took out from it sauce first and shredded it a bit, then re-mixed it again with its sauce. After that, I mixed it with the chopped tomatoes and cheese. There it goes, a spicy Mexasian taste for a layer of sandwich fillings. I then took the bread and split it into halves and spread some margarine inside it before spreading over it with the ready made fillings. After resembled the top part of the bread, I baked in my small toaster. What happens next is the topmost part of the bread went burnt as it touches the toaster's internal elements. After I realized the smoke than I suddenly cut off the circuit and I quickly removed the bread and I got shocked of it has been totally burned, but I didn't throw it away but I just took it out and remove some part on its top and have it half cooked. The inner fillings doesn't completely ready, but the cheese seems to be getting melted, and this can make me satisfied a bit if not so much of the other parts of the fillings, as to my thought, if it could take any longer, the other ingredients would blend well, and turns out together perfectly with the molten cheese.

Ok, I will give you the complete recipe below, where this time no copyrighted provided! This time this recipe comes from me myself!!


Chicken in Red Sauce Sandwich (Sandwich Ayam Merah)

1 bowl leftover chicken in red sauce dishes(at least a medium cut of chicken in it)
A quarter of a block of cheddar cheese (approx. 75 g - you can use whatever kind of cheese you prefer)
1 tomato, washed and diced
Oregano and pepper, to taste
A medium size of any sandwich bread or buns(you could use a french stick, but this one quite harder)
butter or margarine to spread.

Method:

1) Dice a cheese into small cubes, mixed with a diced tomato. Sprinkle over with the oregano and pepper to taste, set aside.
2) For the chicken in red sauce, prepare the chicken by removing it from the sauce first and then shred it a little with a fork or knife. You could wash the chicken first to remove the extra sauce that sticks to it.
3) Remix the chicken back with its sauce, and then mix it with the cheese and tomato mixture.
4) Check the taste, if you require more spice, add some more pepper, chillies or garlic.
5) Spread it on the buttered bread, cover with another halves of a bread.
6) Place the bread in the toaster or if you have a bigger oven, just place it inside it as it could be too small to place the unbaked sandwich into the toaster. If you concern about the fillings for being dropped out while baking, wrap the sandwich with a foil before baking.
7) Bake for at least 5 minutes in a moderate oven or longer, depending on the size and how far you want it to be cooked. The sandwich is ready when the cheese is melt.
8) Have your say, watch your taste!


This don't goes well that night as I just used a small cut of bread, where the fillings goes upward and this got stucked into my toaster oven. So, what I did after it is proceed with another simple one-step bowl of Maxasian dishes, where it consists of the remaining tomato( I just use half of the medium sized ones for above recipe), and some other cuts of cheese mixed together in one small bowl, and finally poured over by a dollop of hot local chilli sauce(the chilli is a cili api type, where it is a small ones with an extra hot flavor), and there it goes. I think I should microwave it to get the cheese melted a bit and then add some cubed toast. What do you think?

Ok, I will still give you this recipe to try, enjoy!

Spicy one-bowl Mex Chilli and tomato snack

Half a tomato, or a quarter just fine
2 medium sliced of cheese (I used cheddar)
A dollop of Malaysian Hot Chilli Sauce (I used Wanis brand, or you could also try Aminah Hassan)
Some pinch of Oregano or pepper, you may also need a salt.
A slice or two slices of toasted bread, diced.

Method:

1) Combine the tomato and cheese in one small bowl, sprinkle over the spices.
2) Add the sauce, mix well. You can also try the tomato paste, but I recommend the chilli paste. There are a lot kind of chilli paste available in Malaysia, where there are chilli boh - a kind of thick paste available at local supermarkets, but you can try by blend the chilli yourself at home.
3) Put the bowl into the microwave and go for high for about 10 secs, or if the cheese haven't melted yet, give an extra second until melted slightly.(No need to melt too much, or it will be stuck within your spoon and bowl upon eating it).
4) Take out from the microwave and add the cubed toast. You may also add some other salad ingredients, like the corn, salads, or whatever you like. Try it hot!