The Gourment Collection - Garlic Bread Spice Blend

Noticed this new collection of spices at NTUC and I can't control myself and bought one bottle of the Garlic Bread Spice Blend. According to the packaging, this collection is made in Vietnam with both imported and local ingredients. If I didn't recall wrongly, one big bottle of 170g cost around $6 at NTUC. They also have sea salt, black pepper, and some other blends for pasta.

The suggested recipe is Garlic Bread and so decided to go with it.

The Gourmet Collection Garlic Bread

1) Butter some bread

2) Sprinkle the spice blend generously over

3) Toast the bread in a toaster oven for 5 minutes

4) Serve warm

Verdict:

Interestingly, the spice blend has some dried chili in it, and hence, spicy garlic bread. Not something I fancy. But boyfriend like the hint of spiciness in his garlic bread. And you do have to sprinkle the spice blend generously as the taste is quite mild. Overall was still alright. But I wish the bottle comes with a cover with holes so as to ease the sprinkling. Otherwise I have to pour some into a bowl and use a spoon to sprinkler over the bread. Will try with pasta next time, should go well with it. This is as fuss-free as homemade garlic bread can go if you don't like store-brought garlic butter spread and yet don't wish to chop your own garlic. =)=)=)=)=) (5/5)

xTina's simple Roti-John


Wanting a slightly better breakfast besides toasting the baguettes in the toaster oven, I decided to prepare a simplified xTina's Roti-John.

The baguettes are from Delifrance. Easily available and you can always get the staff to slice it up or half it for you. Fuss-free! =D


xTina's Simple Roti-John

1) Since my baguettes are already 2-day-old, I slightly toasted them on a flat-pan with butter for the baguettes to be slightly crispy. Remove from pan.

2) Beat up two eggs and chop some onions. I used two mini onions.

3) Stir-fry the onions with some butter. Season with a pinch of garlic salt and black pepper, to taste. Remove from pan and add into the eggs mixture.

4) Slice some cheese, can omit if you don't like cheese.

5) Butter the flat pan, mine was 22cm. Remove from heat and pour in all the eggs mixture. Place the cheese apart from each other according to the position of how you want to place your sliced baguettes on the pan.

6) Put the pan back to heat and position the baguettes accordingly to the cheese. Mine can hold 6 slices.

7) Let the egg cook for awhile and turn-over when its less runny. Remove and serve once the egg is cooked.


Verdict:

Though quite a number of steps, but its actually pretty easy! Its really a pretty fuss-free way to prepare a warm breakfast. Pair it with a cup of coffee or Milo if you like. Personally, I like the slight hint of spiciness from the black pepper and the melted cheese oozing out when I bite into the roti-john. Can try adding some ham too. =)=)=)=) (4/5 as you would need to do some preparation but definitely worth the trouble)

Woh Hup Kung Po Sauce

Woh Hup is one of the more popular ready-to-use sauces in Singapore and widely available in supermarkets. Know why I love such stuffs? Because its fuss-free! The bottles of sauces are already jam-packed with favour. Just add in meat and/ or vege and you can easily create a tasty dish for everyone.

First sauce to say 'Hello' to everyone would be Kung Po Sauce.

What I did was cut up two pieces of chicken breast meat to bite size and marinate it with about 3 teaspoon of Kung Po Sauce, some corn flour and sesame oil. I just love sesame oil and adds a little to almost everything I cook. I also like to throw in some sliced onion into bottled sauce + meat dishes, I marinated the onions together with the chicken meat.

Normally I will marinate my stuffs for at least an hour before cooking.

For cooking, I fried around 3 tablespoon of the sauce in oil first before pouring in the marinated chicken and onions in. Added some water too as I didnt want the gravy to be too dry and also not to dry up the meat as I'm using chicken breast.

And tada~ One meat dish on the dinning table done in less than 15 minutes cooking time.

P.s. add some sugar if you find the sauce too spicy.

Isnt that easy?

Verdict:

The sauce is good enough to do without any other seasoning, which makes it super fuss-free. But a tad too spicy for it. The spiciness will starts to well up from your throat after eating. The gravy and onions are good enough for me to go with my plain rice. Overall, something you should buy for a quick and easy dish anytime. =)=)=)=)=) (5/5)

Decent cooking cannot get easier than this.

Chinatown Complex Market and Food Centre


Chinatown is the heart of the Chinese culture in Singapore. Not only is it a blasting little place during the Chinese New Year period, it houses lots of the traditional handmade delicacies. Though I did not grew up there, but my mum used to buy foodie from Chinatown Complex Market and Food Centre for the family. The must-buy list had always been glutinous rice and sweet potato ball. For at least the last 20 years, the taste from these two stalls had not changed. But of course, the list of to-eat-food at Chinatown Complex are much much more than these.

Niu Che Shui Famous Glutinous Rice
Chinatown Complex Market and Food Centre
#02-40

For all the times we went, the queue for this stall is forever growing, till the glutinous rice are sold out. It used to sell for $0.70 per plate and there's a big tea dispenser in front of the stall. Now, its $1.20, $1.50 and $2. But of course, the serving had increased too. According to my mum, this is the traditional Cantonese glutinous rice. And the only stall in Singapore that sells it. Its kinda sad that the uncle removed the tea, but its still as good as ever. Each plate will be piled with a mini hill of the glutinous rice and covered with a layer of crispy stuffs that consist of dry shrimps and garlic. This is something definitely worth waking up early for.

Xiang Xiang Cooked Food
Chinatown Complex Market and Food Centre
#02-68

I hearts their golden balls (sweet potato balls) to the max! Its crispy on the outside and chewy in the inside. Everyone will be waiting for this golden balls at the stall because its always - roll the balls, deep fry, let it cool down, packed into paper bags and gone! Its fleshly made and highly demand. But this is not the only thing that is popular for this stall, EVERYTHING IS! The display is literally empty and every order comes directly from the 'kitchen'.

Stuffs I tried:
Sweet potato balls - 8pcs for $1 (MUST TRY!)

Ondeh Ondeh - 3 pcs for $1 (so-so, had tried better ones. but hot selling too)

Tapioca Kuih - 3 pcs for $1 (Must try too! Texture is good and taste gentle)

Fried Dumpling - $0.60 each (This is another traditional snacks. The plain-type of Chinese dumpling that are yellow in colour are being cut up and coated with a layer of flour before sending it to be deep fried and seasoned with some salt and pepper before eating. Another must try as no one else is selling this)

1950s Kopi and Toast Bread
Chinatown Complex Market and Food Centre
#02-48

My brother highly recommend the 'kopi' (coffee) from this stall. I tried the teh-O (tea with sugar only) and its good! Both sweetness and thickness of the tea is just nice. And there's a fragrance coming from the cup of tea. But the traditional kaya toast that I ordered is kinda disappointing - the butter did not melt at all. Meaning the bread had already cooled down when they place the butter on it. But overall, the drinks are worth queuing up for.


Its pretty nice to wake up super early once in awhile for these traditional breakfast and soak yourself in our grandparents 'playground'. The parents can even do some marketing at the basement level!

Oreo Cheesecake (no-bake)

Im addicted to cheesecake-making. The only tough part is whipping the heavy cream. Thereafter, its pretty simple and fool-proof. However, this is the first time I did the gelatin powder the correct way - soak in water first, then using the double-boil method to dissolve it, cool to room temperature. O ya, and also doing the biscuit base in advance. Besides these, I declared no-bake cheesecake a fuss-free foodie!!


1. the whipped cream 2. dissolved gelatin powder 3. creamy base ready to pour into the tin

Tada~ My end product after chilling it for 4 hours.

Center view, which is better and looks more like an Oreo cake.

Vedict:

Its really an Oreo cheesecake, with only a hint of cream cheese in it. Suitable for those who doesn't really like cheese as the Oreo taste is pretty overwhelming. For future 'bake', will most likely increase the proportion for a 'taller' cake and lessen the Oreo amount to be mix into the 'body'. Overall, a successful attempt and pretty fuss-free! =)=)=)=) (4/5)

Recipe (modified from smallsmallbaker.blogspot.com/2011/05/non-bake-oreo-cheesecake.html)

Ingredients (makes one 6 inch loose-base round tin)

Biscuit Base: (i used 2 share of this)
50g Oreo cookies
25g melted butter

Cream Cheese Filling:
125g cream cheese
20g icing sugar (original called for 15g, but i didnt use any honey, so increased to 20g)
30ml milk
1/2 tbsp gelatin powder + 35g water
130ml whipping cream - whipped till medium peak (dairy or non-dairy)

6 Oreo cookies, blend finely or crush to small pieces (original called for 5, again, because i didnt use honey, hence the increase)

Method

Biscuit Base:
1. Remove the cream from the Oreo cookies. Blend or crush the cookies as fine as possible.
2. Combine with the melted butter. Press firmly onto the base of the cake tin.
3. Chill for at least 2 hours.

Cream Cheese Filling:
1. Measure water into a bowl and sprinkle in the gelatin (without stirring with a spoon). Set aside to allow the gelatin grains to swell (10 mins) before setting the bowl over a pot of simmering hot water. Stir with a spoon and once the gelatin melts, remove the bowl from the pot and set aside to cool to room temperature.
2. Beat cream cheese with icing sugar till well combined.
3. Add in fresh milk and mix till well combined. Add in gelatin mixture and mix well.
4. Fold in whipped cream and divide mixture into 2 portions.
5. Fold in crushed Oreo cookies.
6. Pour the Oreo cream cheese filling onto the set white cream cheese and level it.
7. Put into the fridge to let it set for 2 to 3 hours.
8. Slice and serve chilled.

LeLe Pork Chives Dumpling

LeLe Pork Chives Dumpling

I hearts fuss-free food! Since the time I learn to cook for myself via microwave and mini oven, I had always love feasting my eyes on the rows and rows of frozen food at supermarkets.

The first item to make it to the webby would be frozen dumplings! Theres a few brands in a normal supermarket and I was looking for a smaller packet as these are often left untouched in the freezer after a few times. So here we go...




Decided to cook the dumpling with instant noodles.

Tada~ My end product. Threw in another 2 taiwan hotdog too. (they are my favourite, no matter boiled or BBQ)

Verdict:

LeLe Pork Chives Dumpling: Skin is abit on the thick side. However, this might be the reason why the dumpling is able to survive the boiling and stiring. But the filling is 100% and with lots of chives. A healthy addition to the bowl of instant noodles. Worth having a packet in the freezer. =)=)=) (3/5)

Taiwan Hotdog: Though not the star of this entry, its my personal favourite! =)=)=)=)=)=) (6/5 because Im bais! haha)