Blueberry Cupcake

blueberry cupcake, originally uploaded by pearlyn83.

blueberry cupcake with cream cheese frosting, originally uploaded by pearlyn83.

Krystal enjoys surfing food blogs in her free time. She’ll go from one blog onto another and so on and so forth. Then she’ll come tell me how good the food looks and bug me to make. Recently, she had this thing for cupcakes. So, we made this batch during the weekend.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup unsalted butter, softened
• 2 cups sugar
• 4 eggs
• 2 3/4 cups plain flour
• 1 1/2 tsps baking powder
• A pinch of salt
• 1 cup milk
• 2 tsps vanilla essence
• Blueberries

Frosting:

• 250 gm cream cheese
• Icing sugar, according to taste
• Double cream

Method:

• Preheat oven to 180C.
• Beat butter with electric beater. Add sugar gradually. Beat until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time.
• Sieve flour, baking powder and salt together.
• Slowly mix into egg mixture. Add milk and vanilla essence. Fold blueberries in lightly. Mix well.
• Spoon into cupcake papers. Bake until set. Remove from oven and leave to cool.
• Whisk cream cheese with icing sugar. Add double cream bit by bit to form smooth cream cheese frosting.

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Passionfruit Soufflé

passionfruit souffle, originally uploaded by pearlyn83.A friend told me soufflé was really hard to make so I thought being a “first-time-failure” mine would flop. I got really excited when I saw mine rise nicely – exactly as described in the recipe. But because I wasn’t done decorating the serving plates, I turned the oven heat down as I didn’t want it to burn. The next thing I know, my soufflé had sunk! I was so disappointed…. :(Anyway, I attempted it a second time when we went to a friend’s place for dinner. I brought all my gear there and made it there on the spot. This time, learning from my first failure, I prepared my serving plates and all when I saw the soufflé start to rise. Just when it’s reached the right look, I removed it and voila – perfect rising – no sunken soufflé anymore! :pIngredients:

• 1/3 cup passionfruit pulp
• 1 1/2 tbsp caster sugar
• Lemon juice
• 2 tsp cornflour
• 1 1/2 tsp water
• 3 egg whites
• Icing sugar
• Vanilla ice cream

Method:

• Preheat the oven to 180C. Grease 4 ramekins with butter and place on a baking tray.
• Place the passionfruit pulp, sugar and lemon juice in a saucepan over low heat. Stir until sugar dissolves. Increase heat and bring to a boil.
• Combine cornflour and water and mix to form a smooth paste. Remove from the heat and whisk in the cornflour mixture.
• Return to the heat and whisk for a further 30 seconds. Refrigerate it until cold.
• Beat egg whites until soft peaks form. Gradually add sugar and beat until glossy.
• Gently fold the egg white through the passionfruit mixture.
• Spoon into ramekins and bake till it rises and turns golden.
• When the soufflé has risen and is golden, scoop ice cream onto serving plates. Remove ramekins from oven, dust the soufflé with icing sugar and serve immediately with ice cream.

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Prawns & Scallop Sambal

prawns & scallop sambal, originally uploaded by pearlyn83.

Nasi Lemak is CY’s favourite dish. This sambal recipe is the product of my experiment and has since become a favourite of CY. I use the same base for all my sambals and modify the taste accordingly. Whenever I make this, I’ll make a lot and bottle them up. Hence all I need is open the fridge and we can have sambal whenever we want some.

Ingredients:

• Shallots
• Garlic
• Red chillies
• Chilli padi (baby chillies)
• Belacan (shrimp paste)
• Lime juice
• A pinch of salt
• Prawns, remove the shells
• Scallops
• Red onion, sliced thinly

Method:

• Peel and halve ingredients. Blend them together with a food processor or if you have a mortar you can pound them to form a paste.
• Heat a pan with oil. Add a spoonful of the ingredients and fry till fragrant, then add the sliced red onions.
• Add in prawns and scallops. Be careful not to overcook the seafood. Adjust taste accordingly with sugar and salt. Add in a little bit of water to give it a bit of gravy.
• Dish up and serve with plain rice or nasi lemak (coconut rice).

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