Main Course - Chilli squids

Ingredients
500 grams squids, cleaned and sliced
2 tablespoon sweet chilli sauce
1 tablespoon belachan chilli paste
3 garlic, minced
3 onions, minced
thumb sized ginger, minced
1 tablespoon oil

Method
1. Fry minced garlic, onions and ginger in oil till fragrant.
2. Add squids and chilli and stir fry for 2 minutes, add 1/4 cup water and stir fry another 3 minutes. Serve hot

Dessert : Apple Crumble with Nutmeg and Hazelnuts

Apple Crumble with nutmeg and hazelnuts

Ingredients (filling)

4 apples, cored and sliced nto thick wedges

1 teaspoon brown sugar

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1 teaspoon butter

1/4 cup water

handful of blueberries, raspberries and blackberries

handful of rasins

icing sugar, for dusting

ground nutmeg for dusting

Ingredients (crumble)
100 grams butter, softened
120 grams flour
80 grams hazelnuts
80 grams sugar

Method
1. Prehead oven to 180 degree C
2. Cook apples with brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, water and butter until softened
3. Portion the apples together with the berries and rasins into 6 ramekins, filling them about 3/4 full, leaving space for the crumble.
4. Pound hazelnuts in mortar and pestle.
5. Combine hazelnuts, flour, butter and sugar. Using fingertips, rub all the crumble ingredients until mixture is crumbly. Alternatively, with a food processor, pulsed all the crumble ingredients until they are crumbly. (When using the food processor, there is no need to pound the hazelnuts.)
6. Spoon crumble over the apples/berries/raisins.
7. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes.
8. Sprinkle icing sugar and nutmeg and serve warm.

Iused baking paper to line 4 of the ramkins as I wanted to pack them as gifts. When serving them at home, there is no need to line the ramkins.

Dessert : Mango Mousse Cake

Mango Mousse Cake

Ingredients for Sponge Cake

8 eggs

100 grams olive oil

500 grams optima flour

2 tablespoons water

2 tablespoons ovalatte

Method

1. Mix all ingredients together except olive oil, beat a low speed until combine, then increase speed to high.

2. When mixture double in volume, fold in the olive oil and mix well.

3. Grease the square cake tin and dust with flour before using.

4. Bake at 180 degree C for 25 minutes

Ingredients for mousse filling :

500 grams mango juice
500 grams fresh whipping cream
4 tablespoons gelatine (mix with warm water till dissolved)

Method
1. Add the gelatine mixture to the mango juice
2. Whip the fresh whipping cream and fold into the mango/gelatine mixture.

To assemble
1. Trim sponge cake to desire size (about 1 cm smaller than the angular setting ring.
2. Place 1st sponge cake at the bottom*, cover layer with the mousse, top with mango slices
3. Repeat with the second layer.
4. Leave to set in fridge for at least 3 hours.

*wet your hands before handling the sponge cake. It is much easier to handle when your hands are wet.

Happy 18th Birthday Min-keekee!

Min requested for a sago pudding birthday cake that will really test my ability. The sago is still setting in the fridge. I am excited to see how it will turn out tonight when we get back from dinner.

She loves mango cake too, so I made a mango mousse cake just in case the sago pudding didn't turn out well. I have not made mango mousse cake for the longest time - I used to make them when we were staying at Eng Kong. The sponge base turned out slightly dry but the mousse should hold up. The cake is now in the fridge, and I hope that it'll set nicely.

Main Course - Chilli Crabs

Ingredients

Sauce

3 tablespoons chilli sauce

4 tablespoons light soya sauce

3 tablespoons sugar

4 tablespoons white vinegar

1 tablespoon sesame oil

1 bottle tomato ketchup

600 ml water

Seasoning

10 cloves garlic

20 shallots/small onions

1 piece (mid-sized) ginger

Thickening sauce

4 tablespoons cornflour

8 tablespoons water

2 tablespoons oil

2.5kg crabs, cleaned and cut into pieces*

8 eggs

Method

1. Mix the ingredients for the sauce together in a bowl.

2. Pound the ingredients for the seasoning together in a pestle and mortar to a fine paste**

3. Blend the cornflour and water together for the thickening sauce.

4. Heat the oil in a wok and fry the seasoning ingredients until fragrant. Add the crabs and fry until the crabs just turns red.

5. Add all the sauce and stir-fry until everything is combined.

6. Cover with a lid and simmer over low heat for 10 minutes without removing the lid.

7. Add thickening and stir well. Add beaten egg, mix throughly with the crabs and remove to a serving plate. Serve immediately.

*Remember to crack the claws

**If ground or blended in a food processor, it will taste different/unauthentic

(I am very lucky to inherit Mother's pestle and mortar which has not failed me all these years, it is one of the best which I doubt is available now)

Ever since we had lunch at the little cafe at Kangaroo Island some ten years ago, I wanted to own a cafe in a quaint countryside when the girls are independent and Vincent is retired. I had even decided on the name : Bread & Butter.

Min and Jer have been asking me to compile all my recipes, thus this blog is created. I will post my recipes plus those from Ma, Mother and friends. And since it would be a long way before the dream of the cafe could be fulfilled, I decided to name this blog Bread & Butter.

For a start, Chilli crabs, since I cooked this for Kelly and Ant on Thursday.