Quinoa Rissotto

these nutty little grains are simply too healthy to resist that i decided to give it a try today.. quinoa is a grain-like crop grown primarily for its edible seeds. the nutrient composition is very good compared with common cereals. quinoa seeds contain essential amino acids like lysine and good quantities of calcium, phosphorus, and iron. this is what i gathered from wiki..

was a simple meal cooked with onions, garlic, shimeji mushroom, butter, milk, stock, quinoa seeds and seasoned with salt and freshly grinded black pepper.

Happy Mother's Day to all mothers out there.
I love you mom! 

Baked Nutella Cheese Cake

Who doesn't love Nutella? hands down! Carefully planned to bake this cheesecake as requested. My sis bought the ingredients and we were supposed to execute this plan on May Day.. But.. being me.. we only managed to do it on Sunday. hee.. So here goes..

What you need :

For the base,
160gm Digestive Biscuits (9 pcs)
40gm Butter

For the filling,
500gm Cream Cheese
80gm Castor Sugar
1 tsp Hazelnut Syrup
1 tsp Vanilla Essence
3 Large Eggs (60gm each)
3/4 cup Nutella
1/2 Cup Light Sour Cream
2 tbsp Cocoa Powder

For the topping,
1/4 Cup Light Sour Cream
1/4 Cup Nutella
1tbsp Milk

What to do :
1 Melt the butter and mix evenly with finely crushed biscuit.
2 Press the biscuit mixture evenly in a lined cake tin, place in freezer while preparing the cake batter.
3 Beat cream cheese (should be left at room temperature to soften) with sugar until creamy and smooth.
4 Add the hazelnut syrup and vanilla essence.
5 Add in the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.
6 Add in the nutella, light sour cream and sifted cocoa powder, continue to beat mixture until well combined.
7 Pour mixture over biscuit base, slam on table top to remove air bubbles.
8 Bake in preheated oven over water bath at 170 degrees for 40 minutes.
9 Leave the cake in the oven with oven doors slightly ajar until cool.
10 Melt the ingredients for the topping over bain marie, stir mixture till smooth.
11 Pour over cooled cheesecake.
12 Refrigerate cheesecake and serve next day.

Enjoy~

Verdict :
Cheesecake was smooth and creamy to my liking. But biscuit base was soft.
Will try to find other ways next time.
Will replace sour cream with whipping cream next time.
And nutella taste was not really obvious.
I like it NUTTY! @_@

Chocolate Cupcakes

Tasted a really nice cupcake baked by sis' friend sometime back.. Kind of missed that taste and smell.. So adapted this recipe to satisfy that craving.. Not too close yet not too far.. Moist and chocolaty texture..

What you need :

100g butter, softened

50g caster sugar

50g brown sugar

2 eggs

¾ tsp almond essence

¼ tsp vanilla essence

1 cup buttermilk

190g flour

¼ tsp salt

1 tsp baking soda

3 tsp baking powder

40g cocoa powder

What to do :

1 Sift flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda and cocoa powder in a bowl.

2 Cream butter, sugars and essences until light. Add eggs one by one and continue beating.

3 Fold in the sifted flours alternating with buttermilk in three batches and beat until smooth.

4 Divide and spoon into paper cases.
5 Bake in a preheated oven at 160C for 15-17 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.

** To make the cupcakes more indulgent, i added some chocolate chips and topped my cupcakes with a teaspoon of nutella each.

Soba Brunch

Lazy Afternoon brunch on Good Friday..

Soba Noodles with Sesame Dressing

Recipe adapted from Anna Phua's "Active Vegetable & Fruit Enzymes"

Serves about 4

What we need :

200g buckwheat noodles (Soba)

shredded cucumber

shredded egg omelette

shredded cooked crab sticks

Seaweed strips

Bonito flakes

Pan-fried sesame seeds for garnish

For the dressing :

180g crushed pan-fried white sesame seeds

150ml japanese soya sauce

180ml lemon juice

25g sugar

40ml canola oil

60ml honey

What to do :

1 Cook the soba noodles in a pot of boiling water until al dente, drain.

2 Transfer the hot noodles immediately to a pot of ice cold water and drain after all the noodles are cold.

3 Mix all the ingredients for the dressing together.

4 Serve noodles with shredded vegetables, crab stick, egg omelette and garnish with seaweed strips, bonito flakes and sesame seeds.

The remaining dressing can used for other salads!

Enjoy~

Chocolate Rice Yoghurt Cupcakes

Came across this recipe while blog hopping.. Quickly grabbed the necessary ingredients and tadda ~

Moist and soft.. YumZ~ Tastes more like muffins to me..

Recipe adapted from Happy Flour
Makes 13

What you need :
80g Unsalted Butter
140g Sugar
½ tsp Salt
2 Eggs
1 tsp Vanilla Essence
220 g Cake Flour
1 tsp Baking Powder
½ tsp Baking Soda
220g Plain Yogurt
100g Chocolate Rice

What to do :
1 Preheat oven to 175C.
2 Arrange muffin cases on baking tray and set aside.
3 Sift flour, baking soda and baking powder together, set aside.
4 Cream butter, salt and sugar until light and fluffy.
5 Slowly beat in egg and vanilla essence until well combined.
6 Fold in flour and yogurt alternately until well combined.
7 Lastly fold in chocolate rice.
8 Spoon batter into the muffin cases until 70% full.
9 Bake in the preheated oven for 25-30mins.

Sushi Making Trials

Tried out sushi making with M on one of the Saturdays.. Was quite fun so did it again the following Saturday.. Surprisingly, was not that difficult.. ;p

What we need :
2 cups sushi rice
40ml sushi vinegar
2 tbsp sugar
1 tsp salt
Seaweed
Tuna flakes in oil
Mayonnaise
pepper

What To Do :
1 Cook sushi rice according to rice cooker’s instructions.
2 Dissolve sugar and salt in vinegar by bringing mixture to a light boil. Set aside to cool down mixture.
3 Transfer hot rice to a dish for easy cooling.
4 Season rice with cooled vinegar mixture tablespoon by tablespoon and fanning at the same time to cool rice.
5 Drain tuna flakes and season with mayonnaise and pepper.
6 We are ready! Use your creativity! Wrap Wrap Wrap..

The Sinful

Brownie

Weekend works in the kitchen. Super chocolatey.. Super sinful.. Recipe adapted from here. Enjoy~