in my studio | category | in my kitchen

Mar
25
2014

carrot soup

When my dad brought out his carrot soup over the weekend when we had dinner at their place, I thought I wasn’t going to like this. I was wrong! I loved it. I think its the suttle spices that are sauteed that make it so flavourful. So I decided to make this for dinner tonight, the perfect entree to our ‘vegetarian dinner night’. Dinner was spinach & ricotta lasagne which is another favourite of mine.

RECIPE FOR CARROT SOUP
Recipe from my dad
Serves: 4 entree bowls

Ingredients
1/2 medium size onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, diced
400g carrot, roughly chopped (about 5-6 carrots)
1 tsp cummin powder
1 tsp coriander powder
1 tsp turmeric powder
3-4 cups liquid stock (I use homemade veg stock)
salt & pepper to taste

Method

1. Saute onions and garlic in some oil until soften but not burned.
2. Add in spices then saute until aromatic for about a minute or two.
3. Put in the chopped carrots and stock then cover, bring to a boil.
4. Put stove on low, seasoning well with salt and pepper. Leave to cook for another 15minutes
5. Turn off stove and leave to cool for an hour. Once cooled, blend mixture in a blender.
6. Return soup to saucepan and bring to a boil. Serve hot with some bread.

1 lovely comment
Category: entree, halal, in my kitchen, soups, vegetarian

Mar
02
2014

blueberry lemon buttercake

Every Saturday, I try to make an effort to bake with my eldest daughter who is nearly 4 mashallah. So this morning we made a buttery blueberry lemon pound/loaf cake. Its very soft and moist, absolutely delicious! Dare I say much better than bought ones!

I love mine with a cup of tea but my husband thinks its better with a glass of milk. What do you think? A slice with tea or milk?

RECIPE FOR BLUEBERRY LEMON BUTTERCAKE (POUND CAKE)
Adapted from this recipe
Makes: 1 loaf
Bake time: 60 mins

Ingredients
1 cup fresh blueberries
113 gram butter (1 stick)
½ teaspoon salt
1 cup caster sugar
3 large eggs
2 tablespoon lemon juice
¼ teaspoon baking soda
1 ½ cups plain flour (all purpose)
½ cup sour cream (or yoghurt)

Method

1. Put the berries in the freezer for about 30 minutes to freeze – this will help keep them from staining the batter.
2. Preheat oven at 325°F (160 degrees fan forced)
3. Spray a loaf pan with cooking spray and lined with baking paper.
4. In a stand mixer with the paddle attached, cream the butter and salt.
5. Slowly add the sugar and continue beating for another 3-4 minutes.
6. Add the eggs one at a time letting the mixer go for 30 seconds after each egg. Scrape sides of bowl often.
7. Add the lemon juice.
8. Scrape sides of bowl and add baking soda. Stir well.
9. Add flour and sour cream (or yogurt) alternately to batter, stirring until blended. Remove bowl from the stand, toss the frozen blueberries in the remaining batter.
10. Spoon the batter into the prepared loaf pan.
11. Bake the cake for 60 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre of the cake is clean.
12. Set the cake on a rack to cool for about 10 minutes.
13. Turn the cake from the pan and let cool completely.

No comments
Category: cake, desserts, halal, in my kitchen

Feb
12
2014

brownie butter cake

I love designing. But it is really hard to get that time alone to sit in front of a computer when I have 3 little ones at home. I tried a few times, with my 18month old switching the power to the computer off! So I never, ever work while the kids are around. And you wonder how did I get this post up? Well my eldest is in kinder, my middle child is having her afternoon nap, and here I am rocking my 2 month old baby to sleep in the swing while I type on my Macbook beside him…ahh the joys of a SAHM :)

So anyway, I guess for now my love has shifted towards baking. As my eldest is nearly 4, she loves helping me in the kitchen. Lately we’ve made blueberry cheesecake, carrot cake, banana cake, chocolate cake and this yummy brownie butter cake. I actually came across this recipe via Rasa Malaysia on Facebook and it looked absolutely delicious that I just had to give it a go, and boy was I glad I did. This is by far the best butter cake. Its so soft, buttery and the brownie is moist & chocolately -two of my favourite ingredients, butter and chocolate. You can’t go wrong there!

RECIPE FOR BROWNIE BUTTER CAKE
Adapted from Rasa Malaysia
Makes: 1 loaf

Bake time: 55 mins

Brownie:

140g (5oz) Dark Chocolate (broken into pieces)
50g (¼ cup) Butter
50g (¼ cup) Brown sugar
1 Egg
35g (¼ cup) Plain flour

Butter cake:

120g (½ cup) Butter
100g (½ cup) Sugar
2 Eggs
120g (1 cup) Plain flour
2g (¼ tsp) Baking powder
50ml (3 ½ Tbsp) Fresh milk

Method:

Grease and line a 10cm x 20cm (4×8-in) loaf pan with aluminium foil.

Preheat oven to 180C/350F.

To make brownie, melt chocolate and butter over low heat. Remove and leave to cool slightly. Stir in brown sugar until blended.

Add in egg, mix well. Fold in flour, mix until well combined. Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake in preheated oven for 15 minutes. Remove.

To make butter cake, beat butter with sugar until creamy. Add in eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.

Fold in sifted flour and baking powder, alternately add in fresh milk, mix to form batter.

Spread the butter cake batter over brownie, bake in oven at 160C/320F for 25-30 minutes or until cooked. Insert a cake tester in the middle to check doneness.

No comments
Category: cake, chocolate, desserts, halal, in my kitchen

Sep
11
2013

middle eastern rice + fish

I’m married to a Lebanese, but I’m embarrassed to say that I don’t really cook Lebanese food. Maybe because its not spicy enough for me? Though, this would have to be my favourite Lebanese dish. I tried it once at tayta’s (grandmother) and I absolutely loved it. I love fish, so this goes down really well. The Lebanese eat it with yogurt, but being the malay that I am, I have it with sambal! I think you can use any fish you want really, I made this with spanish mackerel and trevally, and both are nice.

RECIPE FOR LEBANESE SAYADIEH (FISH & RICE)
Adapted from Tayta and my Mother-in-Law
Serves: 4
Cook time: 45 minutes

Ingredients for sayadieh

2.5 cups uncooked long grain rice (I use basmati)
500g fish
2 tsp cummin powder
1 medium onion (diced)
2 tbsp pine nuts
Salt to taste
Yogurt (to serve)

Method for Sayadieh

1. Marinate fish with a bit of salt and turmeric and deep fry. Then de-bone and tear into into small pieces-set aside.
2. In a medium pot, saute onions in some of the leftover oil from the fish. Saute until onions are crispy and brown then add cummin powder.
3. Meanwhile, wash the rice and then add it into the pot along with the fish pieces. Cook for about 45minutes until rice is done.
4. In a small saucepan, lightly fry the pine nuts in a bit of oil until golden brown and set aside.
5. Once the rice is cooked, topped with pine nuts and serve with yogurt.

2 lovely comments
Category: fish, halal, in my kitchen, rice, seafood

Sep
03
2013

chocolate, kit kat & M&M cake!

Oh-do I feel like a child again!

Over the weekend, my inlaws threw a surprise farewell party to my Sister in Laws daughter-who is only 8-and going to Dubai! I was so excited to be given the task to make a Kit Kat cake as I’ve always wanted to make something like that but did not want it to make it for no reason. I have to admit, it was so hard resisting myself from eating the kit kats and M&Ms whilst I was constructing the cake, I felt like a kid!

Of course, this chocolate cake recipe never fails me. I have used it many times, my sister uses it many times…in fact its the only chocolate cake recipe we use! It was given to us by our lovely Aunt Nola (love her to bits Mashallah!) and it has always impressed many consumers :)

I apologize that I do not have a photo of the cake cut so you can see what its like on the inside. It was gone by the time I even had a chance to take a photo!

RECIPE FOR CHOCOLATE CAKE WITH VANILLA BUTTERCREAM
Chocolate cake recipe adapted from my Aunt Nola
Serves: 12
Prep time: 30 mins
Bake time: 1 hour
Assembly time: 20 mins

Ingredients for chocolate cake

2 cups plain flour
1 tsp bicarbonate soda
1 tsp baking powder
3/4 cup cocoa powder
2 cups caster sugar
1 tsp salt
1 cup milk
1 cup vegetable oil
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla essence
1 cup hot coffee (made from 1 tsp coffee)

Method for chocolate cake

1. Preheat oven to 170°c.
2. Line the base and sides of a 20cm diameter springfoam tin with baking paper.
3. Sift all the dry ingredients into a large bowl.
4. Pour all the wet ingredients into another large mixing bowl. Beat with an electric mixer until combined.
5. Then gradually add the dry ingredients into the wet bowl. Fold until well combined.
6. Pour batter into the cake tin and bake for 50-60 minutes until a skewer inserted comes out clean.

Ingredients for vanilla buttercream
Adapted from my own memory and taste!

250g softened butter, at room temperature
3 cups icing sugar (powdered sugar)
2 tsp vanilla essence
3 tbsp milk
1 tbsp cream

Method for vanilla buttercream

1. Using a stand mixer, whisk the butter and sugar until well combined and smooth.
2. Gradually add in vanilla essence, milk and cream.
3. Whisk on medium to high for a few minutes until silky smooth.