Baked cheese cake

Finally got a bigger oven! Yeah! **Happy** I could bake more and more cakes and cookies. This means that there will be more recipes to be posted. I baked this cheese cake in order to celebrate Mother's day as my mom loves cheese cake. Though she loves Secret Recipe High Fibre Cheese Cake, I thought that making one myself will be more meaningful. :)

You need:

For crust :

160g Mc Vites Biscuits or Marie biscuits

1/2 cup rolled oats (optional)

50g melted butter

3 tbsps fresh milk

For mixture :

500 g cream cheese, leave in room temperature for 1 hour

160g castor sugar

3 eggs

100ml whipping cream

30g yoghurt

1tsp vanilla essence

1 orange & lemon zest (optional)

1) I use Mcvites Digestive biscuits instead of marie biscuits to create the high fibre texture for the crust.

2) Crush the biscuits by using a bag with a wooden roller.

3) In a mixing bowl, mixed crushed biscuits, rolled oats and butter. I've reduced the amount of butter to make it less greasy. Instead, I substituted it with fresh milk or chocolate milk. Another low calorie secret. Hehe... Add in milk till you feel that the biscuits are just enough to stick together.

4) Then, line and grease a round baking tin. Line baking tin evenly with the biscuits mixture. Press firmly. Put in fridge till set.

5) In a new mixing bowl, beat cream cheese and sugar. Then add in eggs one at a time.

6) Next, add in whipping cream, yoghurt, vanilla essence and zests. Beat mixture till smooth.

7)Pour batter over refrigerated crust. Slightly hit the baking tin to force out the air that was trapped in the batter.

8)Bake in a preheated 180 degree celcius oven for 1 hour.

9) After an hour, take out the cake and leave it cool under room temperature. The cake might crack on the surface. This is normal. No worries, but doesn't look good though.

10) After cake cool, refrigerate it in chiller overnight for best results. There you have your baked cheese cake. You could make it as marble cheese cake by just dividing the cake mixture into 2 portion. Pour one portion over crust. Mixed another portion with 30g melted chocolate. Pour second mixture on top of the first. Using a toothpick, swirl mixture for marble effect.

Happy Mother's Day!!! Cheers! :)

Gasoline Station @ S. Pyramid

We came across this cafe on the top level of Sunway Pyramid's new wing, Asian Avenue. It was newly opened and we decided to give it a try since the whole theme of the cafe was quite interesting.



The outside of the cafe looks normal, but not till we enter into it. We was amazed by how it's design was. The coozy yet private partitions for every dining tables were special. We like it as it provide privacy to customers. But we were somehow confused about their theme, was it a Pirate theme or Japanese theme? As their seats were like japanese restaurant that we would sit on small cushions on the wooden floor. Oh yeah, Please do not wear skirts if you are planning to visit gasoline. No no!!



The foods and drinks they offer are basically similiar as Kim Gary, Hong Kong style + Malaysian style. Prices are reasonale, affordable by students though. There were hundreds of choices to choose from.

Their drinks were special but expensive though. A watermelon juice will cost around RM 5.90. Hmm....The one in the middle was Ice lemon Tea which cost around that as well.

This one ordered was kind of special instead, just RM 6.90, you can get this huge cup of ice blended shake. I forgot what does the real name called, but sure of something related to plum and apple jelly on top. Highly recommanded! Really tasted good! There were some sort of ice cream mixed in it. Thick yet delicious! 5 stars given

This is fish fillet with milky beehoon soup. Recommanded for those who like ginger. The ginger taste were too strong but acceptable. But, No No to the layer of oil I found on the soup. This was caused by the deep fried fish fillet. Ate with guilt! 3 stars given

This is Baked Chicken Chop with Cheese. According to them, it tasted like pizza. Hmm...may be it was the cheese. 4 stars given

Blackpepper Mushroom Beef Steak. Looks good huh? Yeah, it tasted good as well! Reasonable price and surprisingly big portion compare to those staeks out there. The steak was marinated thoroughly and was so tender. 5 stars given

This is another special dish called Sha Cha Chicken Chop. It is quite popular in taiwan as they use tea based sauce for the chicken. But not everyone's favourite. 2 stars given

These 2 dishes below are butter chicken and marmite chicken. The portion looks big right? Nope, they don't, in real. For those who are really hungry and are looking for filling meals at gasoline, please do not order the rice dishes. There were only a few bite size chicken served with rice. Doesn't worth the money. The taste was common as well. 2 stars given

Steam Glutinous Rice with Chicken

Suddenly came across this recipe and decided to give it a try. As always wanted to eat one of those 'lor mai kai' you get out there but it's so so oily, so I decided to make one huge one myself... Advantages: Less Oil (most important), Much much lower ingredient costs, and easy to cook.

You need:

500g chicken fillet, trimmed

500g glutinous rice, soaked for 1 hour and drained,

2 cloves garlic, chopped finely,

Chinese mushrooms, soaked till soft,
1 large red onion, finely chopped

Seasoning for chicken:
3 tbsps oyster sauce 2 tbsps rice wine (optional)
1 tbsp ginger juice 1 tbsp light soy sauce 1 tsp sesame oil 1tsp sugar 1 tsp cornflour
2 tsps water

Sauce (combined):

3 tbsps oyster sauce

2 tbsps sesame oil

2 tbsps light soy sauce

1 tbsps fine sugar

1 tsp thick black soy sauce

1 cup water

1) Marinate Chicken with above seasoning ingredients for 1 hour. Soak glutinous rice as well for 1 hour.

2) Steam soaked glutinous rice over hot boiling water for 45 mins. Set aside till ready to use.

3) Stir fry garlic for 30 secs. Add mushroom and stir fry for 1 min till soft. Remove and set aside.

4) Lightly grease 10 to 14 rice bowls with vege oil. Or you can substitue with one large steam bowl. Arrange mushrooms and marinated chicken on the bowl.

5) Saute onions till fragrant, add steamed rice and pour in the sauce. You can also add in the extra sauce from the marinated chicken. Not to waste :) Stir-fry till sauces are fully absorbed by the rice. Note: Not to stir-fry till too dry.

6) Fill the bowl with stir-fried glutinous rice and press firmly into bowl.

7) Steam over rapid boiling water for 40 mins. Flipped or turn over the steam bowl with a plate and serve.

Normal price sold for one small lor mai kai will be around RM 2.50 to RM 3.00. This homemade lor mai kai which can serve 5 people will only cost less than RM 10. And most importantly, it's much more healthy and tasty than those you bought at stalls!!!

A Must in Penang - Assam Laksa *Farlim Shell Station Branch*

Whenever you came to penang, you must eat laksa. It's a must, i don't know why. So during last long weekend, some friends were in town. Once again, we "must" go for laksa. The most famous laksa stall in Penang is at Ayer Itam, near Kek Lok Si. Even you never eaten before, i think you sure heard of it before. But the stall i went was another one , because one of my friend don't want to expose under the sun. It is branch from the one opposite the Farlim Shell Station, which also very famous among penengites.

I forgotten how to go there as i'm following other's car. I remembered it's located at shop lots of a taman, near to a padang and surrounded with few cybercafes.

This is the only map that i can found.
http://wikimapia.org/6582451/Farlim_Shell_Station_Laksa

This is the signboard. It written Farlim Shell Station. Quite a lot of people eating there during 4 in the afternoon and the stall situated at Ayer Itam too.

First,a sweet Qing Bu Liang a.k.a Leng Chi Kang to cool us down. This is delicious, as it really cool you down and not that sweet. *ratings: 4 star*


Look at the picture first, is this attractive?


*Slurp...!*
Okey, here you go. The Laksa!(RM3.00) This is superb. Eventhough it is not the Kek Lok Si original, but i gave 2 thumbs up for the taste. The soup is really thick and with generous amounts of shreaded fish bits in it.Can you see it? A whole Kembung Fish laying on top the laksa. The rice noodles is perfect Q. The combination of spicy and sour is just nice and mild. You can get laksa anywhere, but you really can't get the original taste as Penang. This laksa is sweeter compared to others as they add prawn paste "har kou / heh kor"inside and pineapples too. The Kek Lok Si one is more to spicy and sour type. I'm a typical penengite, and i love Laksa of course. This one i give 5 star! *****


Oh! A special thing about this laksa is, they eat the laksa with popiah. You can dip the popiah into the soup and it taste unique. This popiah is crispy but quite small. This plate is a portion of 3 rolls of popiah (RM0.80 each roll).
I give 3 star for the popiah, 4 star for the popiah dip with the soup!

Overall, this laksa is good. Personally recommand to all of you.



p/s: I'm so hungry after writing this post. More penang foodies coming after this!

Low Calorie Pan Mee

After eating the Kung Fu Smooth Pan Mee, someone suggested to make our own thick pan mee. Due to ingredients shortage, Gan ma made use of what was in her fridge and came out with her own style of healthy pan mee.

To make pan mee dough,

500g sifted plain flour,
1/2 tsp salt,

2 eggs,

2/3 cups of water,
starch powder / flour for dusting.

1) In a mixing bowl, make a well in the middle of the flour. Add in eggs, salt and water. Knead the flour into a stiff dough. Let dough rest under wet cloth for at least one hour.

2) After an hour, cut a small piece of dough, roll it into flat piece of dough. You may use those flattening machine if you had it at home.

3) Then, cut it into desired pieces. You may roll the flat dough and cut it into thick pieces like below. You will have your own thick pan mee. Or you can just tear it into bite-size pieces, you'll get "Mee Hoon Kueh".

4) Bring a pot of water to boil, add in dough. Let it boil for around 5 minutes till cooked, depends on the thickness of the dough. Drain and let it run under cooling water to avoid noodles to stick.

5) To prepare stock, you may prepare your own stock or instant stock. You may include anchovies(ikan bilis), scallops, salt and pepper. Let them simmer for at least 2 hours to get the rich taste of stock. If you have time constraints, you may use "Tumix" or "Maggie" chicken powder stock and a dash of pepper for the soup. Note: Taste differs if instant stock powders are used. Then, add in whatever ingredients and vege you have in your fridge to the stock. Lastly, add in cooked noodles. Serve.

Voila, your own healthy low cal pan mee. :)

IF you would like to make normal pan mee like those selling in hawker stalls, basically the ingredients for dough and stocks are the same. On the other hand, you need meat sauce and deep fried anchovies to be sprinkled on the noodles. To make meat sauce,

500g minced pork,

sliced mushrooms,

2 cloves of garlic,

Flavourings: Soy sauce, sugar, black soy sauce, chicken stock, a dash of pepper, water and cornflour+water to thicken

Saute the chopped garlic with oil, add in minced pork and stir fry till pork for 3 minutes. Add in mushrooms and 1/2 cup of water. Add in the flavourings according to individual taste. Some may want it more salty or less salty. Cornflour+water to be add last to thicken the gravy. Easy job!!! You will have at least 5 servings of pan mee. Try it yourself at home or with your friends.