Tuesday 19 May 2020

Soy bean curd recipe (Smiliar to Lao Ban style)

If you enjoy Lao Ban beancurd, this recipe is somewhat similar to it. Not exactly close, but in my opinion, good enough. I've included the brand choices used, with most being found in NTUC Fairprice. Instant jelly powder was purchased from Phoon Huat. Soya bean curd powder is recommended to be Polleney brand, but I can't find it anywhere. Bought another brand instead, Happy Grass which comes in 80g pack.

Ingredients

This recipe yields 3 full Lao Ban bowls.

Ingredients
60g soybean powder (Happy Grass brand)
30g Instant organic soya milk powder (Unisoy)
20g sugar 
30g Coffee creamer (Nestle coffeemate)
13g Instant jelly powder (Red man)
700ml of water

Steps
1. Mix soybean powder and soya milk powder into a pot. 
2. Pour in 700ml of water.
3. Place the pot on the stove over low fire. 
4. Whisk the mixture to ensure that the powder mix is fully dissolved. Do Not bring to boil. 
5. Add in sugar and coffee creamer. Keep whisking and keep the mixture hot without bringing to boil. Move to the next step once you see steam.
6. Add in the instant jelly powder, and stir quickly without whisking. Stir for about a minute or two. Turn off the fire.
7. Sieve/strain the mixture into in large cup/jug.
8. Use an oil sieve (hot pot usage) to sieve another round when pouring into smaller cups/containers.
9. Allow them to cool before refrigerating about 2 to 3 hours. 

This is a reduced sugar recipe. You may up sugar to 30g if you like it sweet to Lao Ban's style. It is also possible to double the portion to make more bowls, just be careful in maintaining the right consistency and controlling the heat.

If you didn't fill the bowl to near brim, you will be able to make more bowls.

Whisking the powder mixture

Almost ready for set

Dessert is ready!


Friday 15 May 2020

Tiramisu Recipe

I find sharing recipes on blog seem more organised than on Instagram, so here we are sharing some makes and bakes we've been using to keep our home time relatively occupied. First up, Tiramisu. A long time recipe our neighbour, shared with us. Our kids' all time favourite! Alcohol is optional of course.

This is one recipe that requires no flour and no bake. Just need more patience to savour it, as it needs to sit at least 4 hours (or overnight) in the refrigerator. 


TIRAMISU
Ingredients
4 pasteurised eggs (separate the whites and yolks)
500g mascarpone cheese
5 tbs fine sugar
60ml rum (or kahlua)
1 cup espresso (room temperature with a little sugar) 
Ladyfinger biscuit (200g per pack)
Cocoa for dusting

Steps:
1. Whisk egg whites till stiff peak. Set aside.
2. In another large bowl, whisk egg yolk and sugar till pale yellow
3. Add mascarpone cheese. Whisk till incorporated.
4. Mix in rum.
5. Add the whisked egg white into the yolk mixture. Set aside.
6. Pour espresso onto a plate, wide enough to half dip the ladyfinger biscuits.
7. Half dip the non-sugar side of the ladyfingers and assemble the ladyfingers as base in a transparent casserole, about 6 to 7cm deep. Sugared side upwards.
8. Pour in a layer of the liquid mixture (about 1 to 1.5cm) over the assembled ladyfingers. Depending how deep and wide your casserole is.
9. Dust off with cocoa powder.
10. Repeat steps 7 to 9. You should be able to repeat 2 cycles of the same layers. The top layer ends with the dusting of cocoa powder.
11.  Refrigerate for at least 4 hours or overnight.

This portion fits well for a 17 by 8cm rectangular casserole. You may also cut the ladyfingers biscuits to fit the size of dessert cups/containers you are using.

You may portion the liquid mixture into half, for alcohol and non-alcohol. And have them poured into smaller casseroles to set.

Tiramisu

Here's the lovely part about spending kitchen time with kids. We can use these baking moments to connect with our child. I schedule individual bake and cook duties with each child throughout the week. It is a strategy to spark more conversations between each child and me. Children are more likely to share and talk when we are doing something together. It can be a play session, a ride in a car, building something or even through baking. Be sure that no one is rushing, but only enjoying the process of baking and connecting.

Best conversations can actually take place while something else is happening. Instead of the usual sit down sessions.

Have a wonderful time bonding through food creation.

Thursday 14 May 2020

5 Simple Activities for Your Preschooler this Circuit Breaker

We hope the home bound days have been kind to you this far, mamas. It's not an easy time being so stuck with little kids in the house, who need to be constantly fed and played with. Hope these activities will add a some fun to your little one during this circuit breaker.

Here are 5 fun and easy activities for your little one to explore.

1. Ladle and Soup
Just ladle. No hands of course, soup is ‘hot!’ Challenge your child to be really careful with scooping and not make a spill on the table. And the pot, is one that's used in the real kitchen.

Ladle and soup

2. Trace the shadow 
A sunny day activity by the window, where the sun shines upon. Place some animals or any small standing figurines on a paper and trace their shadows. If your child is older, you may even explain how different time of the day give form to the different heights of shadows. 


Animals shadow

3. Egg drawing
Save the egg shells used from cooking and baking for this drawing purpose. Poke a hole with chopsticks at the bottom of the shell, to release its content. Wash, dry and the shells are good for art fun. We used permanent markers for drawing. Put on an art apron if your child needs one. 

Egg drawing

4. Chopsticks skills
Chopsticks and poms poms make great fun. And if your child is really good with chopsticks, try the small beans. Pick away!

Chopsticks and pom poms

5. Roads and cars
Draw roads, tracks and traffic lights on a flattened box, then bring in the toy cars to play away. You may even bring in blocks and lego to spice up the fun as buildings, petrol kiosks or attractions.

Road works in progress

Have a great time of play!

Friday 8 May 2020

8 Crabs - Food Review

It's lots of cooking and food takeaways during this circuit breaker. How are meals settled in your home? Though we do lots of home cooking, we take occasional kitchen breaks with food deliveries too. Mums need their well deserved break.

Just this week, we had a hearty feast with 8 crabs during one of my lazy to cook days. 8 crabs' fast and convenient delivery is certainly an option to curb crab craving without having to leave home. It promises to deliver within an hour.

Not happy with bro snitching a bun

Too much food!

Here's what you need to know about crabs:
Crabs naturally travel about 500m every night and prefer to live alone. However, crab farmers breed many crabs in a confined space in order to be profitable. This causes the crabs to get stressed very easily in captivity as many farms cannot replicate their natural habitat. When stressed, crabs produce ammonia, which is a sign of decomposition of seafood.

Here's what you need to know about crabs from 8 Crabs: 
1. 8 Crabs is the only company in Singapore using grade AAA premium Sri Lankan sourced wild crabs. This is graded by the most experienced crab graders in the trade
2. This means that their crabs are meatier, tastier, bigger and less watery.
3. To ensure freshness, these crabs are caught, flown, prepared and delivered to us within 12 hours.
4. Their award-winning chefs prepare and cook these fresh crabs daily to guarantee the best flavour and taste.
5. They also have a one driver to an order policy across their 12 kitchens island-wide so that they may uphold the promise of one hour crab delivery.

Not a crab eater? There are other dish choices if there are non-crab eaters among the family. Here's what we ordered for our meal:

Black pepper crab - Large ($68)
Chilli crab - Large ($68)
Prawn paste chicken - Large ($22)
Gravy Hor Fun - Large ($18)
Mee Goreng -Large ($18)
Fried Man Tou - 5 pcs ($6)

Feast!

Their 'L' sized crab weighs about 750g while alive, and about 500g after cleaning, gutting and cooking. 'XXL' crab weighs about 1.2kg, and 800g after cleaning, gutting and cooking. I'm sure there's bigger satisfaction in larger crabs, but we happily settled with crabs 'L.' 

There are 3 cooking styles for their crabs - Black pepper, chilli and the non-spicy, salted egg crab. It's wonderful that there's a non-spicy option for the spice adverse taste buds. Though I think more cooking variations would be perfect. The crabs were fresh with meaty and firm flesh. Well cooked and coated in tasty sauce and gravy too. Truly Singapore's black pepper and chilli crab taste.



Remember to get man tou to go with the generous amount of chilli gravy!

The large dish portion feeds 6 to 8 people fairly well. It was definitely more than enough for us. Hor fun was good too, but definitely needs more gravy for takeaway. The man likes chilli Mee Goreng, which I ordered specaially for him. He enjoyed it! 

And so did we, with the rest of the dishes. Burp...


DELIVERY
Here are their delivery charges:
Express one hour delivery: $ 18.00
Same or next day delivery: $ 8.00
FREE DELIVERY if you spend $120 and above.

Mother's day is only a day away. 8 crabs is definitely one feast option for consideration.


8 CRABS 
Website: https://8crabs.com/
E-mail: hello@8crabs.com
WhatsApp: +65 8725 0725 (No calls)
Facebook: @8crabs
Instagram: @8crabs

Order online through website


Disclaimer: Sponsored food. All photos and opinions are solely ours.