One Pot Pasta - Cream of Corn and Chicken Pasta

Cream of Corn Pasta with Chicken and Vegetables

A photo posted by Dawn Ng (@juzdawn) on Aug 21, 2015 at 5:21am PDT

Adapted from Campbell's Kitchen: Easy Chicken and Pasta

Ingredients (Makes 2-3 portions)

1 piece of chicken breast
4-6 tbsp of Campbell’s Cream of Corn and Chicken Soup 
1.5 - 2 cups of milk+water
Mixed herbs (I used Dried Sage and Simply Organic Citrus A'Peel Blend)
2 cups of vegetables (Carrots, Onions, French Beans)
Minced Garlic
Handful of Mushrooms
1.5 - 2 cups pasta 
2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese (optional) 
Oil/Butter


Preparation

Cut chicken breast into bite size pieces and rub herbs on it.

Slice mushrooms and cut vegetables into bite size.

Mix milk, water and campbell soup. 


Method

Heat oil and fry the chicken till slightly browned. Dish out.

Fry onions in butter till translucent. Add mushrooms and garlic. Fry till mushrooms are half-cooked. 

Then, add pasta and the hardier vegetables and the soup mixture. Ensure soup mixture covers pasta. Add more water/broth+milk (1:1), if necessary, to the pot until it barely covers all the ingredients. Bring to boil. 

Lower to a simmer and cover. Cook for 10 minutes (or longer, depending on the pasta packaging instructions)

As pasta cooks, check on it every now and then and add milk if it dries up too fast.

Add the chicken and remaining vegetables 5 minutes before pasta is done. Cover and simmer. (If there is too much liquid at this time, let it cook uncovered)

Uncover when vegetables is almost done and stir and let sauce evaporate a little till desired consistency. Sprinkle with cheese if desired.

Airfryer Honey Citron Chiffon Cake (Yuzu Chiffon Cake)

I love yuzu and chiffon cake. This recipe was a godsend. I modified it from Foodagraphy though. All credits to Foodagraphy!

They were happily eaten up before I could take any photos.

For the air fryer, it's advisable to use the smaller cake tins rather than the AF baking tin as the rising in the middle may not be as pretty. 


Ingredients: 
Makes about 3 mini cakes (5 inches cake tin)
2 egg yolks
20g yuzu tea mixture
32 ml (2 tbsp + 1/2 tsp) neutral tasting oil (I used olive oil)
32 ml (2 tbsp + 1/2 tsp) bottled yuzu drink/juice (Alternative: Mixture of yuzu tea mixture and warm water)
52g plain flour, sifted
3 egg whites
38g sugar


Method:
1. Preheat Airfryer to 170C.
2. Beat the egg yolks and yuzu tea mixture in a bowl with an electric mixer till thick.
3. Add the olive oil and yuzu drink and whisk to combine.
4. Sift in the flour in 2-3 batches, whisk to combine.
5. In a separate clean bowl, using an electric beater, beat the egg whites. When it is at foamy stage, gradually add in the sugar, with the beaters mixing constantly. Whip till stiff peaks to form meringue stage.
6. Fold in the egg whites in three batches into the egg yolks mixture. If you are lazy like me, just use the mixer on the slowest speed.
7. Put a long strip of baking paper across the cake tin (to help you remove the cake easily after it's done)
8. Pour into cake tin. Fill tin to no more than halfway mark and cover with aluminium foil (important as browns the top too quickly) and bake for about 20-30 minutes (depending on mold size). 
9. Check at 20min mark to see if the cake looks done. Stick a toothpick in the middle to check. If it comes out clean the cake should be about done. Remove the foil and continue to AF for another 2-3 min just to brown the top a little. This step is optional. If you prefer your cake with a pale top, cover and continue to AF until it's done. Usually another 2-3 minutes after the toothpick comes out nicely.
9. Remove from AF, invert immediately and leave to cool completely before removing from tin.

Paprika chicken wings

I wanted to contribute to a New Year's Party and was flipping through the Airfryer recipe book for some finger food I could bring. In the end, I adapted the recipe for barbecued chicken. It turned out too good not to share. The boyfriend said it was good enough to appear on a restaurant's menu. That made my day. In fact, it was so good that we devoured the thing before I remembered to take a picture. :/

A point of caution though. I found it a little more troublesome to clean the basket as compared to other dishes I've made in the fryer. It gets worse when you substitute sugar with honey. It might be a good idea to line the basket with baking sheet or foil. Just make sure you poke some holes through it to encourage circulation. 

Ingredients

Marinade: 

1 clove of garlic, minced

1/2 tbsp mustard (I used dijonnaise mustard)

2 tsp sugar

1 tsp chilli powder

Dash of freshly ground pepper

1 tsp smoked paprika

1 tbsp olive oil

8 drumlets/winglets or 4 drumsticks

Method

1. Mix all the powders of the marinade. Add garlic and mustard. Stir to combine. Add olive oil. Stir till combined into a thick paste.

2. Rub paste all over the chicken and refrigerate for at least 4 hours. Best overnight. Use a ziplock bag with air pressed out to ensure that the marinade covers the chicken.

3. When ready to cook, remove from refrigerator. Preheat airfryer at 200 degrees Celsius.

4. Air fry chicken at same temperature for about 15 to 20 minutes. Flip midway. 

5. Serve and enjoy!

Matcha Cupcake

I've always been a great fan of Matcha. Matcha Latte is one of my favourite drinks. Having tried several types of flavour of tea in my cupcakes, it was natural to try Matcha cupcakes.
The recipe is the same as the one for Earl Grey Cupcakes, except I replaced the earl grey tea with matcha powder. Here it is again for your reference. This recipe made 15 tiny cupcakes.

Ingredients:

100g butter

95g caster sugar

1.5 small eggs 

82g self-raising flour

Pinch of fine salt

1/4 cup fresh milk

2 drops of vanilla extract (optional)

8-10 teaspoons of matcha powder (best to just eye-ball it. You want a pale but obviously green batter)

Equipment:

Stiff cupcake liners (important that they are the stiff ones if you use the air fryer).

Air fryer / oven

Electronic Beater (unless you are an expert with the whisk)

Method:

1. Leave butter and eggs to thaw to room temperature. The butter should be a little soft to touch (like the fleshy part below your thumb). Cut it up into loose chunks. 

2. Stir the dry ingredients (including the matcha powder) together and set aside.
3. With a beater, cream butter for a while to make it creamy. Cream butter and sugar into a nice pale, yellow, creamy consistency. Add eggs a bit at a time, beating after each addition. Add vanilla essence if using.

4. Mix in dry ingredients alternately with milk, starting with the flour mixture and ending with the flour. I used the mixer on the lowest speed to do this. But if you want to ensure it is very fluffy, fold in with a spatula instead. The mixture should be a nice pouring consistency (but not too watery). 

5. Bake for 20-25 minutes in the Airfryer at 160 degrees Celsius. Use a tooth pick to poke the cupcake in the middle after 10 - 15 minutes to allow the air to "escape" a little as the Airfryer cooks it pretty fast. It should still be wet in the middle at this point. 

6. Cupcakes should be about done when it shrinks from the side a little after 20 minutes. Test with toothpick again. It should come out either clean and dry or with nice crumbs. If the top hasn't brown at this moment, turn up temperature to 180 and bake for another 3-5 minutes. Check regularly to prevent charring it. Note: If you use an oven, the proposed setting and timing is 175 degrees Celsius for 40 minutes.

Paprika and Thyme Beef Stew

I miss my stews and I miss my beer. So I just had to try this recipe after stumbling upon it at The Pioneer Woman, I decided to make it for my work lunches for the next few days. Oh, the goodness of melt in your mouth beef and that thick and deep flavour in the sauce. 

Originally from: http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2011/01/beef-stew-with-beer-and-paprika/

Ingredients

2 Tablespoons Canola Oil

400g beef stew meat (I used chuck)

1 whole Medium Onion, Diced

2 cloves Garlic, Minced

1/2 can Beer

500ml cups Water + 1 Beef cubes

1-2 tbsp Worcestershire Sauce 

1-2 tbsp Tomato Sauce

1/2 teaspoon Paprika (or less, depending on your tastebud)

Dash of thyme (about 1/8 of a tsp)

1/2 teaspoon Salt

1 teaspoon Sugar

1 whole Carrot, roughly sliced

2 whole White Potatoes, quartered (smaller if potato is big)

Method

1. Cut beef into bite size. Pat dry with kitchen towel and toss in about 1 tbsp of flour so that the beef gets a light dusty coat.

2. Heat oil in a pot over medium-high heat. Brown meat in two batches, setting aside on a plate when brown. Set aside.

3. Add diced onions to the pot. Stir and cook for two or three minutes until softened, then add garlic for another minute. Pour in beef-cube-water, then add Worcestershire, tomato paste, paprika (add half if you are not sure of the taste), thyme, salt, pepper, and sugar. Add beef back into the pot. Stir to combine. 

4. Once water boils, bring to a low simmer. At this point, taste and adjust taste by playing with the seasoning. 

5. Transfer to slow cooker and cook on high for about 2 hours. Leave cover open after it reaches a low bubbling simmer so that water will reduce. 

6. Add carrots and potatoes after 2 hours, then cover and cook for an additional hour. Taste and adjust seasonings as needed.

7. Skim off the thick layer of oil that comes from the meat before serving. 

Note: Depending on the meat you bought and the size you cut it, the time it takes to stew it differs. I bought the chuck meat which cooked fairly easily but tends to be oily. The timing above is based on the chuck meat I bought. Do adjust timing if you managed to get proper stew meat or the tougher cuts. This can be done stove top too. See original recipe at The Pioneer Woman for stove top timing. 

Silver Moon Tea Cupcake

Thanks to my colleague Masnidah's fervour for the Silver Moon Tea by TWG, I decided to try and infuse them into cupcakes after a fairly successful attempt of Earl Grey cupcakes. I think I am going to try more flavours from now on. Any other tea / coffee / fruity flavours you think might taste marvellous in cupcakes?

Here's the recipe for the Silver Moon Tea Cupcakes. TWG should pay me commission! LOL

Ingredients:
(Makes about 20-24 mini cupcakes)
170g unsalted butter (near room temperature, should be a little soft to touch)
200g caster sugar
3 eggs (beaten till there are bubbles)
1/8 tsp vanilla essence
1/2 cup milk
200g self-raising flour + 1/4 tsp salt (sifted together)
2-3 TWG teabags of Silver Moon tea

Method:
1. Warm milk till hot but not boiling and infuse the teabags in the milk. Let it steep for at least 30 minutes until it comes down to room temperature. Squeeze the teabags well to maximise flavour.

2. With a mixer, cream butter and sugar, until pale yellow and well-combined.

2. Add vanilla extract and eggs, few tablespoons at a time, beating (on low) after each addition.

3. Sift in about 1/3 of the flour mixture. Beat till well-combined. Add in about 1/2 of the tea-flavoured milk. Beat until well-combined. Repeat process, ensuring you end with the flour mixture. You should get a dripping but not watery consistency. (Slightly thicker than your pancake mix)

4. Bake for 20 min at 160 degree Celsius or airfry at 160DegC for 20 min.

Homemade Peanut Cookie (Fah San Pang)

I've been on a baking roll (pun unintended) and thought I'll try my hands at some Chinese New Year goodies. These were so good that I abandoned all attempts at photographing them after this shot. I brought some to work as promised and my colleagues were so intrigued and I have inspired a few more to make their own! *beaming with pride*

Peanut cookies were one of my favourites since I was a child. I used to gorge on them so much that I'll fall sick after Chinese New Year. And sometimes, I'll secretly hide one bottle away from the eyes of visiting relatives, much to the chagrin of my parents then.

I used the recipe at Sam Tan's Kitchen but made some adaptation and also noted the amount of oil used. It was easy, fuss free and so yummy. Rope in the little ones in the house with the rolling part and it becomes a family bonding activity!

I cheated on the peanuts by buying ready salted ones; you know, the ones we typically snacked on? But you could always buy unroasted ones and toasting them in the toaster yourself. Either way, they blend well, so no worries there. The advantage of roasting your own is that the cost is way lower. So it's your call.

Here's the recipe!

Ingredients
200g roasted salted peanuts
200g plain flour
100g icing sugar (Caster sugar will not give that fine a texture. Avoid replacing.)
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp of salt (more if you used unsalted nuts)
150ml of oil
egg  wash - 1 beaten egg yolk diluted with 1 tsp of water (optional - I skipped these in mine)

Note: Sift your flour, icing sugar, baking powder and salt into a big bowl.

Method
1. Preheat oven at 160 degrees Celsius. Grease baking tin.
2. Blend the peanuts in a chopper till very fine. Almost as powdery as your icing sugar.
3. Add the peanut powder to the flour mixture. Stir to mix well.
4. Pour half the oil into the mixture, and knead into a dough, adding more oil bit by bit if the mixture is too crumbly. Knead until you get a sticky dough. The key is to be able to roll little balls from it without it crumbling. If it's too "wet", just add flour and sugar.
5. Roll into tiny balls and place them on greased baking tray, glaze with egg and press half a peanut into the centre, make sure it is somewhat pressed in. The balls will flatten themselves the rest of the way in the baking, so try not to press down too hard either.
6. Bake at 160 degrees Celsius for 20 - 25 minutes.
7. Cool and store in airtight containers. Try not to finish them before Chinese New Year.

General Tips:
1. Try to avoid getting the dough too wet such that you need to top up on the flour as that changes  the consistency. 
2. For best results, use the unroasted nuts for the piece you press into the balls as these get baked too. Salt them first to get that extra kick you get when using ready ones instead. Best of both worlds.
3. Airfryer users can use the removable base of a cake tin to bakes these. I made mine with airfryer. Same temperature at approximately 15 minutes. Start checking from the 10th minute to make sure they don't burn and remember that they brown a little more even after you take them out (residual heat!).

Happy Snake Year everyone! Wishing everyone good health and prosperity in the year ahead.

Hershey's Brownies

Suddenly had an afternoon free and decided to make brownies based on Hershey's recipe which apparently had rave reviews from many culinary blogs. 

Crusty on the outside, crumbly but not too dry on the inside. And so chocolatey that you feel like you went to chocolate heaven. The house was filled with that nice chocolatey aroma for a long time after these were packed and gone. :)

I made mine in the Philips Airfryer and used my silicon cupcake molds instead of a cake tin. Easy to divide them up this way! And I can delude myself into thinking I'm eating Chocolate Lava cake at the same time. Those baking with the airfryer might want to use a slightly lower temperature. I started with 160 and only increased it to 170 after 10 minutes.

Recipe can be found at Hershey's Best Brownies.

I added walnuts in mine though I think the die-hard chocolate fans might wanna add semi-sweet chocolate chips for that extra chocolatey goodness. For those who want it more fudgy, you can try this trick someone taught me once - fold chocolate rice into the batter. 

Strongly recommend Brown Eyed Baker's webbie for those who love to bake. She's got lots of innovative recipes. :)

Enjoy! I'm going to enjoy mine now. :)

Update: For those who like a fudgier version (which goes velvetly well with ice cream), try this version I found at the Little Teochew.

Little Teochew Best Cocoa Brownies

Earl Grey Cupcake

What can be better than a nice cup of earl grey tea with yummy cupcakes? Earl Grey cupcakes.

I have been wanting to test the Philips Airfryer baking capabilities for a long time but I didn't want bake something and let it go to waste. I finally stumbled upon a great recipe on the Little Teochew. 

Here's my version of it. Makes about 15.

Ingredients:

190g butter

200g caster sugar

3 small eggs 

165g self-raising flour
1/4 teaspoon fine salt
1/2 cup fresh milk
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract 
2 teabags of fine earl grey tea (I used Dilmah which is easily found in NTUC.)

Equipment:
Stiff cupcake liners (important that they are the stiff ones if you use the air fryer).
Air fryer / oven
Electronic Beater (unless you are an expert with the whisk)

1. Leave butter and eggs to thaw to room temperature. The butter should be a little soft to touch (like the fleshy part below your thumb). Stir the dry ingredients together and set aside.

2. Warm up milk (do not boil) and steep 1 teabag of Earl Grey tea for about 10 minutes. (Add 1 more if you want it to have a strong Earl Grey fragrance).  Let milk cool to room temperature. (Tip: squeeze the teabags before you remove to get more out of the teabags!)

3. With a beater, cream butter and sugar together. Cream the butter for a few seconds just to break it up. Add sugar a little at a time and cream until totally mixed into a nice creamy mix. Add vanilla essence and eggs. Add eggs one at a time, beating after each addition.

4. Mix in dry ingredients alternately with milk, starting with the flour and ending with the flour. I used the mixer on the lowest speed to do this. But if you want to ensure it is very fluffy, fold in with a spatula instead. The mixture should be a nice pouring consistency (but not too watery). 

5. Fold in the other bag of tea leaves now. Don't "over-mix". (For those who don't like having the tea leaves in the cake itself, you can infuse everything into the milk.)

6. Bake for 20 - 25 minutes in the Airfryer at 160 degrees Celsius. Use a tooth pick to poke the cupcake after 10 - 15 minutes to allow the air to "escape" a little as the Airfryer cooks it quite fast. It should still be wet in the middle at this point. Cupcakes should be about done when it shrinks from the side a little after 20 minutes. Test with toothpick again. It should come out either clean and dry or with nice crumbs. If the top hasn't brown at this moment, turn up temperature to 180 and bake for another 3-5 minutes. Check regularly to prevent charring it.

Note: If you use an oven, the proposed setting and timing is 175 degrees Celsius for 40 minutes.

Tip: If you already have silicon cupcake molds (see photo below), you can use the paper liners placed within these to bake in the airfryer. Put the cups and liners in the fryer first before scooping the mixture into the cups. Fill up to slightly more than 2/3 full. (NOT full, as they will expand!)

Salmon with Mushroom and Broccoli

My fiance's dad bought a Happycall pan and we decided to try making the usual oven-baked fish using the pan. This was the result. I much prefer the baked version but this pan is still a good way to make your pan fried delicacies as it pressure cooks the food and seals the juices in. Here's a look at the oven baked version. I find it more flavourful.

Salmon with Mushroom and Broccoli
 
Ingredients
2 portions of Salmon (really up to you how much you want)
Spice Mix
1-2 tablespoon Olive Oil
Roughly chopped garlic (about 2-3 pieces)
Handful of brown mushrooms. Sliced.
Broccoli
1 tablespoon of Oyster Sauce


Spice Mix:
Lots of ready-made ones in the supermarket.
I recommend:
1. BBQ Steak Spice from NTUC FairPrice Finest (Green cap and label. Comes with a built in mill)
2. Good old black pepper and pinch of salt mix. Throw in some oregano for extra fragrance.


Method:
1. Wash the salmon and pat dry. You can choose to remove the skin or not. I usually keep it on.
2. Mix the olive oil and the spices until you get a nice pasty mix.
3. RUB the spices onto the salmon. Wrap in aluminium foil and let it marinate for at least 30 minutes in the fridge. Preferably overnight.
4. When ready to cook, remove from the fridge and RUB about 1/4 of the chopped garlic over the fish. Wrap it back in the foil. Set aside to let it "thaw" to room temperature.
5. Prepare the broccoli. Wash and cut the broccoli to bite size.
6. Mix oyster sauce with 2 tbsp of water.
7. Preheat your oven toaster for about 3 - 5 minutes. Once hot, pop the aluminium packet in and baked for 10 minutes with heat from below. Then turn to heat from the top for another 5 minutes. (Special notes below on the use of oven toaster)
8. Check the salmon. Should be pink in the centre but not raw.
9. Turn off the oven but keep the salmon inside to keep warm.
10. Pan fry the garlic. Throw in the mushrooms and the broccoli. When broccoli is almost cooked, throw in the oyster sauce mix. Let the water evaporate a little.
11. Serve with the salmon.


Note on the oven toaster: How long to cook it, really depends on your oven and how thick a slab you have. So, you've got to do a bit of trial and error for this. The timing stated above works well for a piece that is between 1.5 to 2 inches thick. Also, avoid chopping the garlic too finely, as they may char during baking. Ideally, if you are not too lazy, flick off the garlic bits from the salmon. Or if you are lazy like me, you can skip the garlic and just throw in more spice if you are worried about the fishy smell.

Baked version of the vegetable:
Wrap the vegetable in foil.
Drizzle 1 tbsp of water over the vegetable before wrapping it up.
Pop in the oven and bake till cooked. Timing depending on your preference on doneness.
Stir in 1 tsp of butter while the vegetable is hot. Add dash of black pepper or any other preferred spice.
(For a healthier version, skip the butter and just dash on black pepper and oregano. Just as yummy!)