Japanese lunch

I bought a lot of bento tools recently, all in preparation for making my baby some cutsy bento lunch box. Well, he just turned 1, so there's still some time to go before I can make use of them to prepare his meals. So I had a trial run the other day, and made us a Jap theme lunch.

see the car shaped egg on the top left corner? Haaa.....

High class sandwich

Made some fancy grilled sandwiches today with a few variations.
Ham with cheese and sauteed mushroom.
Toasted with cheese and tomato, a taste I aquired on my Italy holiday.
my portion..served with truffles from italy.

the mr.'s portion...

egg & tofu custard

I made this for my baby actually. It started off as a really simple receipe, just egg & tofu but along the way I thought "hmm..why not add this, and this and oh..that too" and tata...I created my own egg & tofu custard receipe which I have to say, is really quite good. I kept stealing it from my baby as I fed him...bad mommy.

It is a very nutritious receipe, full of goodness, perfect for baby and great for adults too.

egg & tofu custard

1 egg

1/4 block of organic tofu (or normal ones if you like)

florets of broccoli, chopped

1 tbsp of chopped carrots

2-3 peeled and chopped cherry tomatos

1 tbsp minced chicked ( i used fresh sakura chicken)

2-3tbsp of water

1. mashed tofu

2. beat egg well and mix in water

3. add tofu, broccoli, carrots, tomatos and chicken to egg in a glass dish

4. steam over very low heat for about 20mins.

ps: for adults version, add salt and pepper to taste before steaming.

My first ever steamed fish

I have been cooking for the longest time but never once did I steam any fish. It's primarily because I have never like fish. I think I got it from my Dad. None of us like fish in the family, with the exception of my sis, and that is only because of my bro-in-law's love for fishes which rubs of on her after many years of dating.
I only started eating fish on a regular basis after I got pregnant (brain food for the baby) and now, because I am breastfeeding the little one.
So anyway, did my first steamed fish over the weekend and I am pleasantly surprised by how good it is. Very simple dish with very simple taste. Very good after days of heavy eating. I particularly like the steamed tomatoe. Soft, and acidic.

Chinese-style steamed fish
1 fish, cleaned.
shredded ginger
1 tomato, cut
tofu (I used frozen organic tofu left over from my son's porridge. Read from Superbabyfood that tofu can be frozen but texture may changed. She's correct, it tasted like beancurd sheets)
1 1/2 tbsp of soya sauce
sprinkle of dried parsely (cos I don't have any fresh ones)
garlic powder

Place some ginger at the bottom of a plate and stuff some into the fish.
Rub soya sauce all over the fish and place tomatos and tofu cubes around the fish.
Sprinkle dried parsely and garlic powder all over.
Steam for 10mins.

Served with rice or porridge as the teochews like.

Ugly Mud Choco Cake

My first attempt at making my own chocolate cake. Baby was asleep so I could manage to bake this on a Sat morning. I'm calling it Ugly Mud Choco Cake cos it's rather obvious it doesn't score very high on the pretty side. I so need to work on decorating cake. I am no where near some of the masters.
Freshly baked from the oven. The top middle part didn't look very good. I wonder why. It had happened exactly the same the past few times when I tried baking cakes. Anyone can tell me what went wrong? Someone told me it could be that the heat was not evenly distributed in my oven.
Coating it with chocolate frosting. Yum... it tasted quite good. Moist and heavy with the frosting, the way I like my chocolate cake. Me think it even resemble abit of the famous Lana cake. ahahaha....

Chicken Curry with Prata

Homemade curry with my mum's secret curry/chilli paste. My hubby's favourite dish.
Instead of serving it with rice, I decided to eat it with roti prata. Not the best pairing as my curry's more on the dry side but still delicious! I'm quite impressed with these frozen roti prata from the supermart. Can't remember the brand, but it's really not bad. When served hot from the pan and pan fried till crispy, they are nice to eat even by itself or as a tortila wrap. It's good to have this in the freezer at any time.

Tuna Sandwich with Coleslaw

Inspired by everyone likes sandwiches , I decided to make my own version of tuna sandwich for lunch today. I used the left over coleslaw from yesterday and came up with a very fuss free meal!
On a whim, I decided to add in a sprinkle of mixed french herbs and the result was really fantastic! The tuna sandwich was such a winner. It's different from the version I always make. Have to write it down so I'll rememeber how to do it the next time round.

Tuna spread
1 can tuna in brine.
2 (very) generous tbsp of garlic mayo
Dash of pepper to taste
Sprinkle of french herbs
a handful of chopped chives
1/2 onion, chopped

Mix well.

Eggs Benedict

Ever since my stay at the Taj Exotica Maldives, I've this obession with Eggs Benedict. I had been dying to make my own for the longest time but never did until yesterday cos I kept thinking making the sauce is quite a chore. But since I had a few days off from work, I thought why not whipped out my favourite breakfast item. Making poached eggs is definitly not easy. I read from Gordon Ramsey's method and he said to swirl the hot boiled water before slipping in the egg. Didn't really work for me. Tried just slipping the egg in and I got better result. 2 out of 4 eggs were failure. The one above is my best work.
Note: I added salt instead of vinegar.

Japanese Dinner

Never liked Japanese curry cos it's sweet rather than spicy (which is how I like my curry) so wonder what made me decided to buy it. I'm guessing it's because it promised a quick, fuss free meal. The instructions said to serve over pasta, noodle or rice and serves one but I decided to serve it with plain roasted chicken instead.
It taste quite good! Not too sweet. Will buy the other flavours to try soon.I was also inspired to make cold tofu.
Didn't realise that the curry and tofu are Japanese dishes until hubby exclaimed "Wah...Japanese theme tonite ya!"

Organic Sweet Basil Rice

Bought this from Cold Storage at Vivocity and thought it would be interesting and good to go with any roast. I was expecting something fragrant with lots of flavour, looking at the colour of the rice, but I was sadly disappointed. I couldn't taste much of any basil and honestly, it was rather bland. The instructions said to cook as per normal rice and to add any vegs as desired. I added fresh button mushrooms which helped to perk up the flavour by a tiny bit.

I paired it up with my favourite roast chicken and top it with a grilled mushroom. Hubby actually thought it was normal plain brown rice. Verdict: Totally not buying it again.