Christmas Bread Pudding

A Christmas recipe that is 3 months late... Where do I begin? I had always had a love hate relationship with bread pudding. It always look so yummy to me but when I do taste it, it always disappoint. Always!! I don't know if it's the mushy texture or mish-mash of separate taste that just does not go well with me. But everytime I see it served (usually at buffets) I always think to myself. Maybe this time is different. Maybe this one is nice. Then of course each time I am wrong and I will ask myself, how many times must I knock my head on the same brick wall before I learn to stop.

Well after tasting this bread pudding from my boss Mae, I can finally say... The wounds will be healed and my head is saved!! This one is different!!

The most important difference between this bread pudding recipe and the other mundane ones is that it uses croissants instead of plain old tasteless bread. It does up the fat quotient but it is so yummy that it's worth doing extra sets of crunches later. It also assembles in a jiffy and is a very good potluck or gift item.

Firstly grease your rameskin with some butter, spread a thin layer of raisins and top with cut croissants.

Mix the milk, eggs and sugar and pour into the rameskin dishes.

Bake and viola! It is best eaten warm and can be reheated in the oven nicely.

Bread Pudding

1 tbs Butter
200ml Fresh milk
120gm Raw sugar (I used around 90-100gm as its too sweet)
4 Eggs (I use 3 eggs and it sets just fine)
2 Large croissants cut into pieces
Raisins – 2 or 3 small boxes

In a large bowl, beat eggs, sugar & pour 200ml of fresh milk until all the sugar is dissolved.

Grease a large rameskin (I used a few small ones) entirely with butter. Spread a thin layer of raisins on the rameskin(s). Slice the croissants & place a few pieces into each rameskin.

Pour the egg mixture into the rameskin containing the croissants & ensure that the rameskin should be ¾ filled. Press down the croissants lightly so that you could fill up the bowl. Put the remaining raisins on the top of bread. (Remember the more raisins you put, the sweeter it is so you should base this on your own preference).

Put your rameskins on a tray if it is not already on one and pour water into the tray to about halfway up the sides of the rameskins.

Bake in an oven of 180 degree for 45mins. The bread pudding is fully set when a toothpick inserted comes up clean.

You can sprinkle icing sugar over as decoration but I find it too sweet and skipped that part.

All the Things that go Bump in the Night...

It's been a long time because I was busy. But no matter how busy I am, there is always time for bento-ing. Especially on my favourite holiday. Halloween!! So here it is, my Halloween bento of rice, sweet potato salad, spicy chicken... And maybe something more...

The pumpkin is made of mashed sweet potato. It is like mashed potatoes with mayonaise and such only that it is made from sweet potatoes. I added some fried bacon to add some texture and so that the mash is not too sweet. My sister in law felt that it was a surprise taste and gave it the thumbs up.

The green Frankenstein is colored with sushi coloring from Daiso. The color turned out lighter that I expected but there is a slight pandan fragrance which was quite nice. I added some tomato ketchup as blood on the face.

Mousy Little Mushroom Bento

It's been a long time since I last updated. Mainly because I was lazy and also because my friend TK came from Hong Kong and we spent some time eating and going around so I had no time to cook or plan to cook anything. But after the long break, it is time for Bento again. Today I made a Bento with Sesame Seeds coated Chicken, stirfried Shimeji Mushroom with Carrots, Broccoli and two Quail Egg Mice. I also spread furikake and sesame seeds on half of the rice.

My two mice are wearing a baseball cap and a ribbon pick that my friend TK helped be buy from Hong Kong. There are 4 in a set which also includes a sun hat and a cone hat. I can't wait to use those in a bento soon.

And now a little intro on what TK and I did in with our lovely sisters for her Singapore trip. What else but eat, eat and eat!! We had all of her favourite Singapore specials. Yakun Kaya Toast, Tiong Bahru Chwee Kueh, Butter Crab Noodles which taste more like Herbal Crab from Don's Pie, Roti Prata and finally Chicken Rice!! Next time we shall go to Melban ok?? Wait for TK to come to Singapore again.

Crunchy Murukku

Every culinary adventure of mine always begins with my ocd need to learn to make something from scratch. After that, it is off to search the internet for recipes and methods so that I know roughly what is needed and what should be done. Today's Murukku adventure began when my young nephew began to take a liking to the snack. Due to my need to feed him wholesome things, I quickly put Murukku on my to make list.

After going through countless sites, I decided to start with a recipe I found on Sharmis Passions. I used the word started because due to various reasons (eg. missing ingredients or I forgot the steps etc) I usually will adapt the recipe to suit the situation as you can see later. Quickly jotting down what I need, I went to Mustafa to hunt for the ingredients. Despite searching high and low at the flour section, I could not find the Urad Dhal Flour which is actually the flour made from black gram. I asked someone for directions and she gave me a puzzled look. Finally I was directed to the dried goods section and I understood why she looked puzzled. I could only find packs labelled Urid Dhal Flour. So which one to buy?

Then I saw my answer... Premix Murukku flour!! Mustafa truly has everything!! Not only does it saves me from the need to buy many different ingredients and only using a little of each, it also saves me time to mix stuff together. The only thing is, the taste may not be satisfactory and you may need to add additional spices and salt to it. I added 1 tbs whole sesame seeds, 1 tsp of cumin seeds and half a tsp of curry powder to mine. My butter was melted coz I forgot the instructions and thought it had to be melted but it worked the same. You will also need a Murukku press for this. I bought mine at Little India for S$14.90.

How to make Murukku

2 cups Murukku Flour
2 tbs Melted Butter
1 tbs Sesame Seeds
1 tsp Cumin Seeds
1 tsp Curry Powder
Suitable amount of Water to make a pliable dough

First mix the melted butter into the flour. After that, gradually add water a little at a time until you get a moderately stiff dough. I also forgot that the original recipe calls for warm water and used regular temperature water instead and it did not affect the results much. It should come into a ball but it is not elastic since it is made of rice and dhal flour. Break off some of the dough and put it into the press.

Time to pipe the Murukku!! It was quite tricky at first. You need to turn the handle of the Murukku press to get the dough out and you have to twirl the dough to make a spiral at the same time. My nephew Kayden helped out too. He made a mess of course. Luckily he got tired of it after a while and ran off to play.

After a few tries, I got the hang of it and manage to make pretty swirls. Then it is off to deep fry it until it is golden. It tasted just like store bought and very crunchy!!

Mummy's Special Noodles

It's Saturday night. Family night for my family. Usually my mom will cook a huge dinner for all of us but now that we have 2 small boys at home, it's getting harder and harder for her to cook. This past week, my boss gave us some Mee Pok noodles from her cousin's factory and my mom bought some garnishing ingredients and cooked us her special noodles. She topped each plate of noodles with fried garlic which made it fragrant and crunchy. Yummy!!

The high quality Mee Pok noodles and store bought Char Siew up close. It remains bouncy even after I left it untouched for a while.

Sausages & Eggs

Every Monday my parents are not at home and when I don't have to go to class, I can will either get takeouts or cook something simple for dinner. Simple for me means making a satisfying meal with minimal work done. It also means that I will cook haphazardly and use whatever it is that I can find in the fridge. This past Monday, I found some sausages in the fridge and some potatoes in the kitchen so naturally I put one and one together to make a simple yet satisfying meal of Sausages & Eggs.

I remember when I was young, my parents would bring us out for western dinner on special occasions and in those times, western always mean Sausages & Eggs, Fish & Chips and Campbell Mushroom Soup. All of us will eat happily and feel so privileged to have western food. Fast forward to today and western food is not as simple as old times. However Sausages & Eggs still brings comfort to me especially on a blue Monday.

I made my special Bacon Potatoes today which is my Brother's favourite way to eat potatoes. Just listening to the sound of the sizzling potatoes in the oven and the heavenly aroma that fills the whole house while you prepare the rest of the stuff makes me happy. It's a bit more fancy than the regular fries we always have with the sausages but oh so good!!

Buzzy Beetle Bento

It's Sunday again and what does that mean?? Bento time of course!! Today I made a sushi beetle bento with sides of gyoza and fried fritters with sweet sauce. The beetle is my first attempt at making panda sushi that went horribly wrong. So in the end I made them into a beetle instead.

Today it seems that everything that can go wrong went wrong. Other than my freak panda turned beetle sushi, I discovered at the last minute that my mom had used the cabbage that I bought for my gyoza for something else so in the end I made my gyoza with onions instead.

How to Wrap Gyoza

Gyoza is quite easy to make. Use store bought gyoza skin, put the filling on one side of the circle and wet the sides with water. Then fold up and press only the centre to seal. Then fold one side of the gyoza skin towards the centre and press to seal. Do the same on the other side. The folds on both sides should face the centre as below. Then its done!!