Orange Chiffon Cake

I have been wanting to try to make some chiffon cake. Last weekend I finally bought a chiffon cake mold. It wasn't very cheap so I am hoping to make more chiffon cakes to get a faster ROI. :)

I attempted my first orange flavor chiffon cake with some orange zest and orange juice. Well, it wasn't a successful attempt because my cake didn't 'rise' as high as it should be! It was disappointing but I think I'd figured out the reason behind it. I believe that I might have put too much liquid in my cake batter! From doing some research online, I should only use a few tb of liquid next time. You will see this type of cake a lot from me! Regardless of its shape, the cake actually tastes very good! It was very moist and flavorful! Yum!

Dark Soy Sauce Chicken with Tofu

There is a lot of chicken dishes lately from our kitchen! We bought a big pack of chicken drumsticks and wings last weekend. That's why I have been cooking chicken lately just to finish it up.

For this dark soy sauce chicken dish, I added some organic soft tofu from Trader Joes. It was a good combination with tofu. Tofu soaked up the sauce and tasted so good!

Malaysian Curry Chicken with Potatoes

Curry time again! I have been using this type of curry powder for my curry cooking recently. I actually got it from our Oriental market in Chandler, not from home. From the manufacturer's package, the curry powder was made in Singapore. Well, even though the label is Malaysian Curry, but it was made in Singapore. Who cares as long as the taste is good right?!

For this curry dish, I used some chicken drumsticks and wings with yellow potatoes and carrot. It was such a great combination!

Steelhead Trout with Mushroom Gravy

We got about a lb of fresh Steelhead Trout from Sprouts the other day. I decided to make some mushroom gravy to go with the fish to add some flavor to it. I started cooking the fish by marinating it in some salt and pepper. Before I fried the fish in some (little) cooking oil, I patted it with some corn starch. It helps to prevent the fish from sticking at the bottom of the pan and also to 'hold' the shape of the fish. For my mushroom gravy, I just used some regular brown mushroom and some flour to thicken the sauce. Enjoy!

Fried Radish Cake - Char Kueh Kak

With the left over from my steamed radish cake, I made a stir fry radish cake dish with some vegetable. I chopped up some dry salted radish, carrot and Kai Lan vege for this dish. I also added three eggs in it! I like my stir fry in a rich color so added some dark soy sauce. It was very delicious!

Hawaiian Loco Moco

Hawaiian loco moco usually consists of white rice topped with a hamburger patty, an over-easy egg and some brown savory gravy. I had my first Loco Moco about two years ago when J and I went to Oahu with his parents for Thanksgiving. It was a great experience!

We tried to create this dish at home for brunch with our home-made hamburger patty left over from yesterday's BBQ grilling. We made the hamburger patty with some ground beef from Sprouts, chopped mushroom and some yummy apricot Stilton cheese from Trader Joe. We also got some fresh cage free organic chicken eggs from Scottsdale Farmers Market a week ago. I made my brown gravy with some button mushrooms and onion. My secret ingredient of my gravy was some while truffle olive oil! The dish was great with all these fresh ingredients! It was definitely a good way to start our Sunday!

Radish Cake - Chai Tao Kueh

Radish cake (chai tao kueh) is a type of savory common breakfast or snack in Malaysia. You can get it from the wet market or from a kueh (snack) cart by the roadside at all times.

I had been wanting to try my hands on making this cake a while ago but didn't get all the right ingredients. The recipe was so simple! Yesterday I made my first batch of radish cake with some roasted pork, minced garlic and rice flour. It was so delicious! A typical radish cake usually called for minced dried shrimp or/and some hongkong style sausage. I didn't go for the dried shrimp recipe because J is not a fans of it! Without dried shrimp, this cake is still wonderful to eat with some sweet and hot Maggie Chile sauce.

Pineapple Upside-Down Cake

I made this pineapple upside-down cake per J's request last month. This is a great cake infused with tropical flavor. I sliced and arranged the pineapple at the bottom of the cake and then poured the batter on top. The outcome was delicious!

Seafood Cioppino

J and I first tried the seafood Cioppino about a couple of years ago. As seafood lovers, we love the strong, intense and rich flavor of this seafood stew - with fish, clams, crab, squid and sometimes lobster in the tomato based broth. Ever since our first taste of this delicious dish, we always try our best to order this dish when we traveled to seafood places such as California - San Francisco in particular.

We made this dish at home back in January! It was a great yummy dish to go with some plain bread!

Moist Cinnamon Rolls

I was craving for cinnamon rolls a couple of weeks ago (no reason, don't ask me why... ;P). I went on Allrecipe.com and found this awesome recipe. The method of making is so easy with only few key ingredients. The original recipe called for chopped walnut. Since I didn't have it on hands, I added some chopped pecan from my pantry. ;) I also added some raisins for the sweet bites to the rolls.

The rolls was amazing when it first came out of the oven! It was warm, soft, moist and sticky with caramel sauce at the bottom! ;)

Jalapeno Cheddar Corn Bread

This is another dish inspired by the Southwest living. I have been wanting to try my hands on some corn bread since I had my first bite a few years ago in Arizona. This version of corn bread mixed with some chopped jalapeno, cheddar cheese and cilantro! It came out very moist and rich with cheese. Let me know if you want the recipe. :)

Lemon Roasted Chicken with Potatoes

We like to make this simple dish on Sunday nights. It is easy and delicious. For this recipe, I added lemon halves and some fresh thyme inside chicken cavity. I also pre-boiled potatoes before I baked it with the chicken.

My new cookbooks!

Do you know that I actually read cookbooks during my free times? ;) I added 3 new cookbooks to my humble collection since we got some cast irons pots. Two books are related to cooking with cast irons and the other one is cooking using braising techniques. So many yummy recipes to try out! Too little time on hands recently since I have been busy at work.

Squash with Salty Ham Hock Soup

Didn't I tell ya that I was addicted to my new love - squash?! LOL This is another favorite dish of mine made of squash. We just recently added 3 new heavy cast iron - Le Creuset pots to our kitchen collection. I have been trying out some stew with braising technique using this cast iron pot. I will share more in my next few postings. ;)

This soup was made of two types of squash - Banana Squash and Kabocha Squash with salty ham hocks. It was actually very simple to do. I pre-cooked both squash in the oven for 20 minutes before I cut them out for soup. You can also sautee some shallots and garlic with olive oil before you add the mashed squash with chicken soup. Add ham hock last and stew for a couple of hours! Remember, the longer you stew, the better it tastes! :)

Steamed Kabocha Squash Mushroom Bacon Rice

It was squash season a couple months ago! I was so addicted to this new found love of mine - steamed squash (kabocha or acorn) shitake mushroom bacon rice. The recipe of this rice is actually very simple. You just need to pre-sautee rice with your favorite ingredients (with squash of course!) before you cook it in a regular rice cooker. I added one teaspoon of sesame oil in the rice cooker just to add some tasty aroma to it.

This rice is good to have by itself or with some poultry dishes. It is very high in nutrient as well! Give it a try! If you need exact recipe of it, let me know. ;)

Nasi Lemak with Spicy Shrimps Sambal

Oh my favorite dish! I made this Malaysian traditional dish a couple of months ago at home. Nasi lemak is made of coconut milk, panda leaves, salt and rice. I paired this delicious rice with some spicy shrimps and some fresh green squash. Very refreshing!

You might notice that my pictures are actually better from now on! That's because of my new camera, a wedding gift from my hubby! :) Thanks J!

Pulled Pork Sandwich

We love BBQ pulled pork sandwich! I actually had made it twice in the last few months. Once is for J and I. The other time was when my family from Malaysia came visit us to Arizona. They loved this simple dish too! Let me know if you need the recipe. I am very behind in posting my recent food pictures and blogs. Catching up time! :)