Oatmeal Cake aka Porridge Fingers

It is breakfast time again! With mummy not working today,  let's explore another variations of oat based brekkie. This time round we tried a soaked oatmeal version.

Oatmeal Cake

Ingredients

5 tbsp of rolled oat/baby oats (I tried 3 tbsp rolled oats & 2 tbsp oat flour)

5 tbsp of fresh milk

Handful of blueberries

Mix the above ingredients in a bowl and let it soak for about 5 minutes.

Press the mixture down firmly into the bottom of the bowl and bake at 180 degrees  for 10-15min until it turns into a firm little cake.

Once cooled, cut it into wedges or fingers.

On hindsight, I may try another version with all or mainly oat flour as my toothless LO seems to find some difficulties with the texture. 

Having said that, she finished most of it after a while Hahahha. But first, all the blueberries were targeted !

Stir fry Shiitake Mushroom with Vegetables

A simple "meaty" dish and healthy dish that is done within 15 min.

Stir Fry Shiitake Mushroom & Vegetables

Ingredients 

3 shiitake mushrooms (chopped)

Handful of xiao bai cai

Some carrot (shredded)

1/2 small onion (chopped)

1 clove of garlic (chopped)

Some water 

Oil

Method 

Add garlic and onion to heated oil and stir fry till it is fragrant. Add in mushroom and carrot and a little water to soften the mushroom. Mix well and when the mushroom is almost done,add in the xiao bai cai and stir fry till everything is well cooked. Add more water while cooking if it turns too dry.

Serve with rice for a simple yummy meal. The garlic, onion and shiitake mushroom creates a nice rich flavour that requires no seasoning at all.

Broccoli Yoghurt Pasta

Lil Sunshine loves yoghurt based pasta so here's her dinner with organic veggie pasta.

Broccoli Greek Yogurt Pasta

Ingredients

2-3 tbsp veggie pasta

1 tsp olive oil

5-6 broccoli florets (chopped )

1 clove of garlic (smashed and chopped finely)

4 tbsp homemade veg/chicken stock

2 tbsp greek yoghurt

1 small onion (chopped)

1/8 tsp basil

1 bay leaf

Black pepper

Method

Cook veggie pasta and set aside.

Pan fry the garlic, onion and bay leaf with the olive oil till fragrant. Add in the broccoli and give it a good toss and cook for another 1 -2min. Add in stock to soften the broccoli and leave it at medium heat for 5 minutes.

Once broccoli is soften, reduce heat and add in greek yoghurt. You may choose to add in flour if the consistency is too watery. Using a handheld blender,  give the mixture a few pulses till desired consistency.

Add a pinch of black pepper and basil and serve with pasta.

 Super Messy but she enjoyed it lots

In case you are wondering what pasta I gave.

Baked Oat Crusted Cod

Came home pretty late tonight so had to whip up a quick meal for lil sunshine while I prepared our spicy and rather unhealthy dinner of dried chili kangkung, deep fried ikan kuning and sour & spicy pork. Hehehe

Since the oven is the only equipment available, I decide to bake an oat crusted cod which is really simple!

Baked Oat Crusted Cod

Ingredients  

1 cod fillet

1 tbsp oat flour/baby oats

1 tbsp cheddar cheese (grated)

1/8 tsp dried basil

Pinch of black pepper 

Oil

Method 

Mix the oat, cheese, basil and pepper in a bowl.

Place the fillet on a baking tray and spray a little oil over it. Coat it with the oat mixture.

Bake at 180 degrees for 15-20 min, depending on thickness of fillet.

My LO enjoyed it tremendously and finished everything in a jiffy!

Pumpkin & Cinnamon Rice Sticks

Several mummies were sharing their pictures of yummy rice sticks so I thought I will jump onto the bandwagon and have a go.

I made mine slightly thicker and softer as LO is still toothless at almost 13 months (spy a cute tiny tooth emerging though, yippie!). Did these the night before so that LO can have it for breakfast.

Pumpkin & Cinnamon Rice Sticks

Ingredient (makes 8 )

5 tbsp pumpkin puree

5 tbsp cooked rice 

1/8 tsp cinnamon 

1 tbsp water (omitted, see note below) 

Note: I'm using japonica/pearl rice which is naturally more moist. And also my puree was really quite moist too hence I omitted the water in the original recipe.

Method 

Blend the rice and puree in a processor till well mixed. Pour mixture into a pipping bag or plastic bag (snip one corner) and pipe out the desired length or thickness.

Bake for 15 - 25 min at 180 degrees based on your preference. The longer baking time will result in crispy sticks.

Enjoy!

cheeky girl with her rice sticks and pau

Rosti Salmon Cake

It has been some time since I made fish cakes so I decided to look around for some variation and the Rosti Salmon Cake from Annabel Karmel seems fun And I love rosti! Crispy on the outside and mushy on the inside.

Rosti Salmon Cake (makes 8)

Ingredients 

1 salmon fillet 

1 egg yolk

Some Carrot (shredded)

2 potatoes 

1 tsp basil

1/3 cheddar cheese

1  small onion (chopped finely)

Black pepper (optional)

Method

Cook 1 potato for 20 min and set aside to cool. Shred it once cooled.

Cut the salmon into bite size and mix in the carrot, potato, egg yolk,  basil and onions. Season it with black pepper.

Peel and grate the uncooked potato and  squeeze out the moisture. Form patties with the salmon mixture and press each fish cake into the raw grated potato to coat on both sides.

Pan fry the salmon cakes until golden brown.

Serve hot.

Another satisfied baby <3

Steam pumpkin pau

Another midnight cooking while everyone is asleep. The pau itself is so yummy and fluffy that LO and myself enjoyed it tremendously. The pumpkin I bought was really sweet so I may just skip the sugar in my next attempt.

The pau recipe was adapted from this website:  Happy Home Baking 

Get your arms ready for some serious kneading! I did about 30 min of that.

Steamed Pumpkin Pau

Ingredients

300g Hong Kong pau flour

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp instant yeast

30g caster sugar

160ml water

1 tbsp vegetable oil

300g pumpkin paste (see below)

Method

Sieve Hong Kong pau flour, baking powder and add in yeast, sugar and mix well.

Make a well in the centre of the flour mixture, add in water and mix to form a dough. Transfer dough onto a lightly floured work surface. Knead dough until it becomes smooth (approx 5 mins).

Knead in the vegetable oil and continue to knead for another 10-15 mins or until the dough becomes smooth and elastic. 

Take a piece of dough  (about the size of a table tennis ball) and stretch it, you should be able to stretch it  to a fairly thin membrane without tearing off easily, if not continue to knead for another 5 to 10mins.

Roll dough into a smooth round, place in a lightly greased mixing bowl, cover with cling wrap and let it proof for about 15 mins.

Punch down the dough and knead a bit to release the trapped air bubbles. Divide the dough into small balls. 

Flatten each dough into a small disc with your palm , make the edges thinner and the centre portion thicker. Wrap each dough with pumpkin paste. Pinch and seal the seams. Place dough seam side down on a square piece of parchment paper. Cover loosely with cling wrap and leave buns to proof for 20-25 mins.

Place buns in a steamer and space them apart so that they do not touch one another. Steam at medium to high heat for 12 min.

Remove immediately and serve warm. Keep any leftovers in fridge (covered with cling wrap or store in airtight containers) and re-steam.

Pumpkin Paste

Ingredient 

300g pumpkin (steamed) 

30g sugar 

1 tsp corn flour

Method

C ook mashed pumpkin,  Sugar and corn flour till it thickens. Form into balls and chill till time to use.

For my version, it was too wet despite using 2 tbsp corn flour so I was not able to form into balls. I just wrapped the pau with the liquid filling .Hehehhe

Steamed Chicken with Pear & Wolfberries

Here's another simple fruit marinate that sweetens the chicken and makes a healthy dish for lil sunshine. 

Picture of crystal Pear for info

  Steamed Chicken with Pear & Wolfberries

Ingredients

1 Chicken drumstick 

1/2 Crystal Pear 

Handful of wolfberries

Dash of sesame oil

Method 

Cut the crystal pears into chunks and mix it with the chicken drumstick and keep it refrigerated for 1-1.5 hours for the malic acid to work on the chicken.

Once the chicken is well marinated, add in wolfberries and sesame oil and steam for 25 minutes. The steaming time is dependent on how much chicken you use so do adjust accordingly .

Serve immediately after steaming.

Meal started and she Ate with so Much enthusiasm

   Gone in a jiffy and bowl totally cleaned out  

 So mummy gave the remaining drumstick for her to nibble while the family continues with dinner

nom nom nom

And yes,this LO is still toothless!

Pan Fried Salmon with Lemon Yoghurt Cream

Lil sunshine loves nourish dishes so I decided to make her a lemon yoghurt sauce to go with her salmon. As expected,  she absolutely loves it and what was meant to be OUR lunch became HER lunch. Hahahha 

Pan Fried Salmon with Lemon Yoghurt Sauce 

Ingredients

1 clove of garlic 

1/2 onion 

1 potato 

1 piece of salmon

1 tsp lemon zest (outer covering of Lemon) 

rin1 tbsp lemon juice

2 tbsp greek yoghurt 

Unsalted butter

Basil

Oil

Method 

Boil the potato and mashed it,  adding some butter and basil to season it. Set aside.

In a pan, heat some oil and pan fry the salmon till it is cooked.

Concurrently, in a sauce pan, saute the onions and garlic till fragrant.  Lower the heat to medium and add in greek yoghurt, lemon rind and lemon juice. Give it a quick stir and turn off the heat.

Pour the lemon cream sauce over the salmon , add in the buttery mash and a yummy lunch is done.

Avocado Yoghurt Sandwich

Breakfast once again and for this morning, I wanted to make a sandwich for LO and since I have some avocado in the fridge,  shall mix it with her fav greek yoghurt.

Avocado Yoghurt Spread 

Ingredients

1 Avocado 

1 tbsp greek yoghurt

Method 

Mash the avocado and stir in the yoghurt.

Tamago Boro (旺仔小馒头)

Ever since I chanced upon the Tamago Boro recipe in one of the FB group, I have been tempted to try it out and what's best is that there is a sugar free version! And I have just received a few formulae milk samples, how perfect!

How does it compare with the commercial tamago boro? Well, it is not exactly melt in your mouth due to the lack of icing sugar and baking powder but I still like the crunch it gives and the healthier snack option for lil sunshine. May be when she is older, I will try the original version but for now, this suits us fine!

Here is the original recipe  which shows several variation for toddlers or adults which includes icing sugar etc and pictures.

So here's my version:

Tamago Boro (Egg Biscuit)

Ingredients (makes 80-100)

1 egg

120g potato starch (sifted)

65g milk powder (sifted)

Method 

Beat the egg and add in potato starch and milk powder in 2 steps,  one at a time.

Mix the batter well until it is pliable dough.

Roll out the dough and cut into smaller pieces (approximately the size of a soybean) and roll into balls.

Bake for 15-20min at 170 degrees.

Cool and start snacking!

Papaya Mango Yoghurt

What does one do with teething rusks that LO has gotten tired of?  Mix in with yummy yoghurt to add extra crunch and a new texture!

Papaya Mango ! Yoghurt 

Ingredients (makes 2)

1/2 cup papaya

1/3 cup mango 

1/3 cup Greek yoghurt 

2 teething rusks

Method 

Blend the teething rusks and set aside.

Blend the papaya,  mango and Greek yoghurt till desired consistency.

Assemble and it's done!

Snack away!

Easy Banana Yoghurt Oatmeal Biscuits

Was surfing the web and chanced upon Racheal Ray's oatmeal cookies and had to try it out.  I just love her simple recipes.

Here is the original recipe which I adapted.

Decided to make 2 versions,  one for baby so texture must be mushy and Greek yoghurt is my choice.  For hubs, he loves choc so that's an obvious combination too!

Banana Yoghurt Oatmeal Biscuit (makes 12)

Ingredients 

2 Bananas (mashed)

1 cup rolled oats 

3 tbsp Greek yoghurt

 Method 

Put the rolled oats in the food processor and grind it till it is oat flour .

Mix in the mashed bananas and greek yoghurt.  

Scoop the batter onto the baking sheets and bake at 160 degrees for 25 min or until Brown.

Note: For the chocolate chip version, just replace the greek yoghurt with 1/4 cup chocolate chips and bake for 15 min.

Both are equally yummy and I can't stop sneaking into the kitchen to grab some.

Stew Vegetable Millet & Chicken

Stew rice is one of my favourite easy dinner since I can just put in whatever vegetables and meat I have in the fridge and steam it while I prepare the more complicated dinner for the family. Much easier than porridge. 

So here is today's version. Not exactly a recipe since I did not measure the vegetables. 

Stew Vegetable Millet & Chicken 

Ingredients (serves 2)

2 tbsp millet

1 tbsp rice

1 cup of stock

1 Chicken drumstick (cut into small pieces)

1 chuck of carrot (diced)

1 chunk of zucchini (diced)

1 chunk of pumpkin (diced)

Handful of baby spinach (rough chopped)

Handful of wolfberries

Method 

Soak millet in water for 30 min (optional)

Rinse the millet and rice well and mix all the ingredients, covering it with stock. The amount of stock varies based on the amount of vegetable used and the desired texture  but the rule of thumb is to ensure the stock covers the entire mixture. 

Steam for 25-30min until chicken is well cooked. 

Serve warm. 

Mummy,  I am tired from self feeding training!

Grape Marinated Chicken with Steam Vegetables

This has to be one of the easiest dinner I have prepared and the chicken
 is so tender and juicy from the grape marinate that my LO finished it all.
 No seasoning needed!

Grape Marinated Chicken

Ingredients

Chicken breast 

Grapes (about 10)

Unsalted butter

Method

Peel the skin off the grapes and mashed them. Marinate the chicken breast in the mixture for 30 min or longer if you desire.

Heat unsalted butter over medium heat and pan fry the chicken till it is brown.

Serve with steam vegetables.

Yes, she is happy!