Strawberry Cream Cake

Yay, I made something special for my husband’s birthday this year. Yes, this was his favourite strawberry cream cake. The beautiful sweet strawberries were bought at a special price. They’re nothing less than perfect. My husband once said that strawberries and fresh cream are perfect partners for making any dessert. I couldn’t agree more. The sweet and slightly tangy taste of the berries is just right to balance the flavour of the whole cake.

Instead of making a 20-cm (8-inch) cake, I decided to make a smaller, 15-cm (6-inch) one this time. It’s a good sized cake for two-people celebration. As fresh cream is used, without any preservatives, it’s better to finish the cake as quickly as possible. For convenience, you may use the store-bought sponge cake to whip up your own.

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Pumpkin, Mushroom and Chicken Rice

Pumpkin, mushroom and chicken are nutrition packed ingredient individually. I tried putting them together to make a one-pot rice dish, and it turned out deliciously nourishing. The method I used is quite similar to making traditional Chinese hot-pot rice. As I wanted to easily control the moist level of cooked rice, I stir-fried the shiitake mushroom and chicken in a wok separately, followed by popping them onto the rice. If you have a rice cooker, you may put all the ingredients into it and let the machine do all the job for you for convenience.

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Green Tea (Matcha) Custard Snowskin Mooncakes

The Mid-Autumn festival is just around the corner. What makes the festival unique for me this year is that I can celebrate it with my own brand mooncakes. The customized mooncake mould, engraved with my Chinese blog title, 簡易食譜 (means "easy recipes" in Chinese) was a hearty birthday gift from my loved ones in the family. I treasure it so much. With it, I made these green tea (matcha) snow skin mooncakes with custard filling. The matcha powder was bought from Japan a few months ago when we travelled there. I adjusted all the amount of flours in order to show off its beautiful green colour. The deep and vibrant green colour goes so well with the bright yellowish filling. Do they look similar to those pandan snowskin mooncakes I made before? Although both kinds of snowskin mooncakes are in green and yellow, the texture and taste of both end products are totally different. Which one would you like most? I like both.

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Pandan Snow Skin Mooncakes with Coconut Mung Bean Filling

Mid-Autumn Festival (aka moon festival or mooncake festival, 中秋節) is one of the important festivals in Chinese calendar. I’ve grown up from a family that would have store-brought mooncakes every year. Since I moved to Australia, I’ve been pondering over the idea of making my own mooncakes. After many years, I made some traditional and trendy ones finally.

Coconut milk and pandan juice often go well together in making Chinese dessert. Off I went with this idea and made these mini snow skin mooncakes for our church gathering. The smell, taste and colour of both coconut milk and pandan are very unique, that you hardly find any other things to replace them. Fresh pandan leaves are not common here. I could source some frozen ones though, and was glad that it was a big hit in our gathering.

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Kimchi, Pork and Tofu with Vermicelli Noodles

Kimchi is nutritious and delicious that almost can’t be missed in every Korean meal. Miso is also an essential and healthy seasoning in Japanese cooking. I tried combining both of them in one dish, popped in some thinly sliced pork with tofu, and found the end result so amazing. Whenever I don’t feel like standing in my kitchen too long, this one-pot dish will come up in my mind. No matter the weather’s cold or hot, it’s a saver to me throughout the year.

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Fish in Coconut Soup

Coconut cream or coconut milk is so flavoursome. I love using it to make different dishes to satisfy my family’s appetite, no matter savoury or sweet. A case in point, I simply cooked some fish fillets in the fragrant coconut soup. It turned out a dish full of flavours and packed with nutrients. It’s a no-brainer dish without any hassles at all. You may put any of your own favourite vegetables in it as well. Amazingly, I found that tomatoes go so perfectly well with coconut milk. I chose Roma tomatoes because they are meaty with a just-right tangy taste, which balance all other flavours in the soup. As we are spicy food lovers, I added a long red chilli to add a hot kick, served on steamed rice as a light meal.

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