Scrambled Eggs – Cooking

Scrambled eggs seem to be an easy egg dish but in reality it is not. Scrambled eggs must be runny and creamy. If it was dry and tough, it’ll be called an omelette, broken into pieces (like most Chinese style dishes eg. bitter gourd egg). To be runny and creamy, it is obvious they there has to be milk. (those recipes calling for JUST eggs, are NOT scrambled eggs recipes!) I didn’t have milk at home so I used cream instead and the outcome exceeded my expectations! I am never cooking scrambled eggs with milk anymore. Cream is the way to go, and the secret to fluffy, runny, soft, creamy heavenly scrambled eggs.

Other than texture, flavour is important. I witnessed Daniel Boulud shaving truffles onto scrambled eggs during the Marina Bay Sands Epicurean Market, hence I had the idea of adding truffle oil. Indeed, it was a good decision. Somehow the truffle flavour goes perfect with scrambled eggs, just like it does with mashed potatoes and French fries.

Truffle oil can be found at certain supermarkets (I saw several brands at Meidi-ya and they are not expensive), or speciality shops like Gastronomia Da Paolo. Note that there’s such thing as truffle flavoured oil, meaning they do not use real truffle to flavour it but create the truffle aroma from esters to flavour the olive oil. These are much cheaper and actually work well. A small bottle goes a long way, since it’s mainly used for flavouring in small quantities, so it is a good investment!

And the last important step in enhancing the flavour was to grate some parmesan cheese! Ready-made powdered ones do not have the same effect. Get a block of parmesan and grate it fresh! It is easy and the block keeps longer in the fridge than powdered ones do.

If you get it right, it’ll be very easy to reproduce the preparation and cleaning up is really minimal. There isn’t any valid reason to pay a premium for scrambled eggs (which may not even taste good) at pretentious brunch places anymore!

Hungry Bird’s Scrambled Eggs

(Serves 1)

Ingredients:

• 3 Eggs
• 6 tbsp Heavy Cream/ Cooking Cream
• 1 tsp butter
• Salt
• Pepper
• 1 tbsp tuffle oil (approximate)
• Parmasen, freshly grated
• Paprika (optional)

Method:

• Crack eggs into a bowl and add cream. Whisk together until homogenous.
• Add salt and pepper.
• Using a non-stick pan (very important to be non stick), heat to medium-low and add butter. The butter should melt really quickly.
• Pour in egg mixture. It should start to set at the bottom really quickly and start scrambling with a wooden spatula or silicone tip heat proof spatula.
• Towards the end, lower the heat to low, or remove pan from heat. Cook till your desired runniness. If you prefer it drier, cook longer.
• Transfer onto a dish and add truffe oil and freshly grated parmasen. Add a dash of paprika is desired for colour.
• Enjoy!

Pancakes – Cooking

Breakfast (or brunch, when eaten at lunch time) food is all in the rage now with plenty of new ventures sprouting all over. The mark up for simple breakfast food is quite unjustifiable to me, especially since it is not difficult to prepare yourself. I happened to have all the ingredients I need so I decided to have it for brunch today!

Hungry Bird’s Pancakes

(Makes 8 Pancakes of about 10 – 12cm in diameter)

Recipe adapted from Martha Stewart

Ingredients

• 1 cup all-purpose flour, (spooned and leveled)
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup milk (choose a good tasting milk. HL is not milk so please don’t use that)
• 2 tablespoons canola oil (or butter melted, or any oil you like)
• 1 large egg
• 1 tablespoon canola oil (for greasing)

Directions

• Whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt and set aside.
• In a large enough bowl, whisk together milk, oil, and egg.
• Add dry ingredients to milk mixture and combine with a whisk until rather smooth. (do not overbeat)
• Heat a frying pan over medium low heat. Grease the pan with oil.
• Spoon batter and cook until surface of pancakes have some bubbles and a few have burst, 1 to 2 minutes. Flip carefully with a thin spatula, and cook until browned on the underside, 1 to 2 minutes more.
• Repeat until batter is used up.
• Serve immediately

Notes:

• Bubbles give the pancakes more character.
• For flavours, you can add chocolate covertures or blueberries immediately after spooning batter onto the frying pan.
• The heat has to be low. About 2 or 3 on the magic cooker is just right.
• I did not re-grease the pan because it was oily enough (the batter is oily).
• Top with whatever you like. I had Bonne Maman Raspberry conserve, Lurpax unsalted butter, fresh strawberries and organic raw honey.
• If the batter is too runny, add more flour. If it’s too thick, add more milk.

 

Updated 25/11/12

I made it again, but this time I had not enough milk so it was about half milk half water to make up the amount. I added a bit more baking powder (I use double acting, because that’s all I have at home) and I forgot to add sugar. I cooked it at an even lower heat. The results are thick, fluffy pancakes, with a slightly hardened surfaced, very different from the soft McDonald styled pancakes as of above. Tweak the recipe to your preference.

Pizza Funghi – Cooking

I was actually intending to have a tortilla wrap for lunch but as I had leftover tomato pasta sauce, leftover mozzarella cheese and leftover white button mushrooms, I decided to make pizza.

Tortilla wrap is perfect if you like a thin crust pizza base. If you prefer a thick bread like crust, you can try pita bread instead. I use whole wheat wrap.

Of course, these methods can’t be compared to real pizza dough, but this is a shortcut which can be prepared in a jiffy! I’d say this is a better alternative to frozen pizza, if you only get to choose between frozen pizza and easy shortcut pizza.

 

Easy Pizza Funghi

Ingredients:

• 1 wholewheat tortilla wrap
• 1 -2 tbsp tomato paste/ tomato pasta sauce
• 6 button mushrooms (or ingredient of your choice), sliced
• Dried or fresh basil
• 1/3 cup mozzarella cheese
• Canola oil (or oil of your choice)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 180˚C on top bottom mode
2. Grease your baking pan with a small amount of canola oil
3. Spread tomato sauce all over the tortilla
4. Scatter half the cheese evenly over the tomato sauce
5. Arrange mushrooms all over the pizza. Remember that mushrooms will shrink after cooking so you don’t have to leave gaps
6. Top with the remaining cheese.
7. Sprinkle on basil
8. Bake at 180˚C in the middle rack of the oven for 20 minutes

Tips:

• Always use fresh mushrooms. Canned button mushrooms will not taste good.
• Shitake is a good choice too. I would have used that if I had it on hand.

 

 

8 Easy & Healthy Lunches under 300kcal – Cooking

*updated version with 3 more healthy recipes below!*

1. Low Fat Yogurt with Granola and Strawberries

Yogurt with granola is perfect for good digestion. Must I add that it is extremely delicious too? I used bitter chocolate (73.5%) to cover my strawberries as studies have shown that dark chocolate is really good for health! Do not worry that the chocolate is too bitter because the sweetness from the strawberries balances it out perfectly.

2. Smoked Salmon & Avocado on Wholemeal Toast

Smoked salmon and avocado is like a match made in heaven. The best part is, both of them are rich in omega 3 and omega 6 fatty acids which is very good for health! No butter or oil is required for this as the salmon and avocado are naturally oily. I used 2 pieces of smoked salmon and half an avocado for this.

3. Grilled Portobello and Tomato Sandwich

Portobello is a very delicious mushroom and is extremely low in calories. I brush some extra virgin olive oil over the tomatoes and Portobello, sprinkle on some salt, pepper and herbs and grill them in an oven at 230⁰C for about 10 minutes. I paired this with some rocket leaves! You could assemble it into a sandwich.

4.
Wholewheat spaghetti aglio olio with sautéed Portobello and scallops

For pastas, wholewheat is a better option if you’re conscious about the nutrition values. Honestly I do not find any nasty taste from it so it’s always my preferred option!

Sauté some chopped (not minced) garlic at low heat, in a preheated pan with extra virgin olive oil. Add some salt, pepper and herbs. Next add some chopped chili padi. The amount is up to your preference. Toss in the al dente pasta. Remember to cook the pasta exactly as the instruction says, and not anyhow, or else you’ll end up with some pseudo horrible pasta that ‘western’ stalls in school canteens serve. Do not rinse with cold water either. When evenly coated, serve it on a plate. Next, sauté the mushroom and scallops with the same pan until cooked and top it on the pasta. You can add a dash of truffle oil for extra aroma.

5. Grilled Chicken & Pineapple Skewers

For this portion I used about 180g of chicken breast. Soak the skewers in water for at least 10 minutes. Cut the chicken breast into bite size cubes and marinate with olive oil, salt and pepper, for 10 minutes. Cut pineapples into small pieces, and assemble it alternating with chicken breast. Brush the skewers with honey. Grill skewers in an oven for about 10 minutes.

The tanginess from the pineapples goes really well with the bland chicken breast.

6. Soba with Roasted Eggplant and Flavoured Egg

My egg is far from perfect but I’m working on it! I love the eggs from ramen so I thought why not make it myself. A boiled egg like this is a healthier option than scrambled eggs or fried eggs which requires a lot of oil. To achieve this, boil a room temperature egg in a pot of just boiling water with salt, for 6 minutes. Put in icy cold water immediately. When cooled, peel of the egg shell. Prepare a marinade with water, soya sauce, brown sugar and ginger (not too much soya sauce as it will be very salty, but do it to your liking) and marinate the egg for 1 – 3 hours in the refrigerator. It is meant to be served cold.

Buckwheat noodles, better known as soba never fails to aid my digestion so it’s a better option than egg noodles. It just needs to be boiled for 5 minutes or as the instruction says. Prepare a sauce with light soya sauce, mirin, brown sugar and crushed garlic. pour it over the soba and toss to get it evenly coated. Garnish with spring onions if desired. 

To roast the plant, simply lay it in an oven toaster and roast until your preference of softness. Top it over the soba and serve with the  flavoured egg.

7. Oven Grilled Salmon with Sour Cream Dill Sauce, Steamed Broccoli and Brown Rice

Preheat your oven and grill pan to 230⁰C, top mode fan assisted. Coat salmon with a little bit of olive oil, salt, pepper and herbs. Grill salmon skin side up for about 5 – 8 minutes, depending on the thickness. Freshness of the salmon is of very high importance. If your salmon is unfresh it will definitely not taste good. Do be careful not to overcook. Try to get your salmon with a wide surface area (never mind if it’s thin) as a thick but narrow portion will be hard to grill on the grill pan. I also do not recommend the tail cut of the salmon.

For the sour cream dill sauce, take ½ – 1 tablespoon of light sour cream and put in in a small bowl or ramekin. Add about ½ tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil and stir quickly until well combined. It should be a stable emulsion and not separate. Add chopped garlic if you like. Add a generous amount of dill to your liking and mix well.

Serve with steamed broccoli and brown rice. I do not add anything to my broccoli, not even salt, because when steamed soft the natural taste of broccoli is pleasant to me. To reduce the calories in this meal I have only about 2/3 of a small bowl of brown rice and 200g (uncooked) broccoli to compensate.

8. Wonton Soup

These are really simple, delicious and healthy. You could add some vegetables to your soup when boiling it. For the filling, you can use the same filling as gyoza. You can use either wonton or dumpling wrappers. About 10 of these are enough to make a meal.

Tangs Cook Off

Hello everybody! Thank you for supporting Hungry Bird’s food blog. I hope my reviews, guides and recipes have been useful to you in some way or another.

If you remember, I posted about my bacon wrap scallop recipe 2 months ago.

I submitted this recipe to Tangs to participate in their Cook Off contest and they have shortlisted this recipe for the Appetizers category!

However I am not in the finals yet and to get there I require votes. I would appreciate if you readers could vote for me!

 

It’s really simple. You just have to:

1. Go to https://www.facebook.com/TANGS.SG/app_263666757042231?ref=ts

2. Click “Like”

3. Click on the Vote tab and vote for the “scallop and bacon dish”

 

I really hope to win this contest and I’ll be able to bake and cook more with the contest prize! I’ll definitely share new dishes on this space in future when I get better apparatus to facilitate it.

 

You could also email me or leave a comment to let me know if you’ve voted so I can thank you personally.

Thanks for reading Hungry Bird once again!

 

Panda Bread – Bread Making

The Gardenia in the background wasn’t intentional!

This is my very first attempt at baking bread, as I was initially put off by how complicated the process seemed. However, I was so inspired by this. The bread looked too cute to resist so I felt I had to do it!

I have no bread maker at home so I did everything manually.

Actually, it isn’t necessary to have a bread maker, other than the fact that without, things will get messy.

To proof the dough, it is rather simple. The weather in Singapore is simply too warm, so it is perfect. Popping the dough in the cabinet under the kitchen stove is even better, as it is really warm in there.

So here I’m unveiling my very first loaf of bread!

The panda bread can be found all over the internet. I’m just posting the recipe I eventually used!

 

Panda Bread 

Ingredients: 

• 3 cups plain flour
• 1 egg yolk
• 1 cup milk
• 2 1/2 tbsp white granulated sugar
• 3/4 tbsp salt
• 1 1/2 tbsp unsalted butter, softened
• 1 tbsp green tea powder mixed with 2 tsp hot water
• 3 1/2 tsp unsweetened cocoa powder mixed with 1 1/2 tsp hot water
• 2 1/4 tsp instant active dry yeast

Method:

1. Mix milk and egg yolk together in a large bowl and place in microwave for 40 seconds until mixture feels warm to the touch.
2. Add butter (it should melt)
3. Add sugar, salt and yeast and mix together
4. Blend in one cup of flour
5. Blend in second cup of flour with spoon, and dough should form.
6. Add a bit more flour until dough starts to come together. Knead into dough ball in bowl and then invert onto countertop and knead for at least 5-7 minutes until the dough is smooth and elastic, adding the remaining flour bit by bit.
7. Divide dough into three pieces two large and one small (small one about a third the size of the one of the other two large ones)
8. Place one plain dough ball in a greased bowl, turning dough to coat and cover.
9. Knead in green food colouring into other large plain dough ball, this may take a while, be patient. Place in greased bowl, turn to coat and cover.
10. Knead black food colour into small dough ball. Place in greased bowl, turn to coat and cover.
11. Place all three covered bowls in a warm place to rise. Let rise until doubled in size, about 1- 2 hours. (The rising time will depend on the temperature.)
12. Arrange the dough like this:

1. Place the finished combination in your loaf tin and allow it to expand, in a warm place, for about 1 hour. It should expand to the full capacity of your loaf tin.
2. Bake in a preheated oven at 190 with fan mode, for 30 minutes.

Tips

1. You can actually use any white bread recipe you like. This is essentially white bread.
2. If you want a square bread, you must use a Pullman loaf pan, it not it will rise to have a dome top
3. Use good quality matcha and cocoa powder. I advise against baking store brands. Get real matcha from a Japanese shop and good quality cocoa powder like valrhona or at least Hershey’s.
4. The amount stated in this recipe is actually too much for the loaf tin I have. For this size, perhaps 2/3 of this dough would be sufficient.

My panda is kind of distorted but given that it was my very first attempt at bread making, I deem this a success! I definitely would want to make more bread so check out this space if you’re interested in bread making.

 

Tiramisu – Dessert Making

My all-time favourite dessert is Tiramisu. I even dedicated category on this blog to hunt the best tiramisu down!

Occasionally, I would make tiramisu myself at home and this is the recipe I like best.

Ingredients

• 4 egg yolks
• ½ cup sugar
• 1 tsp – 1tbsp rum or masala (it depends how alcoholic you prefer it to be)
• 1 cup heavy cream (35% fat)
• 250g mascarpone cheese.
• 18-24 savoiardi
• 1 – 2 cup espresso + 1 – 2 tsp sugar + ½ tsp rum or masala
• 1tbsp cocoa powder

Directions

1. Over steam, whisk egg yolks and sugar until pale. This takes about 5 to 10 minutes. Let it cool.
2. Add masala or rum into the egg yolk custard and mix well.
3. Combine mascarpone into the egg yolk custard.
4. Whip 1 cup of heavy cream till stiff peaks.
5. Fold in the whipped cream. Place the mixture into the fridge.
6. Prepare espresso mixture. While warm, dip the savoiardi on both sides briskly.
7. Lay a layer of dipped savoiardi onto the container. Pour half of the mascarpone mixture onto the layer. Repeat.
8. Cool tiramisu in the fridge for at least 4 hours or best 24 hours.
9. When ready to serve, dust a layer of cocoa powder on the surface.

Tips for a good tiramisu:

• Get good flavouring. Be it marsala, rum, or even tiramisu flavour, as long as your flavour sucks the whole thing will suck. The original calls for marsala but I haven’t been able to get my hands on that yet. You can get rum essence from baking stores for about $3 for 28ml. Shop & Save has matured rum in 180ml for $8.80.
• Make sure the coffee it is soaked in is strong enough, or else the savoiardi would be tasteless and soggy.
• Soak it in warm coffee, not cold, as it will not absorb cold liquid well.
• Soak it just enough. It must be soaked through. Unsoaked savoiardi are not nice to eat.
• Do not follow recipes which call for no eggs because it won’t be rich.
• Some call for egg whites but I have never tried. No comments about that because the idea of raw egg whites put me off.
• I am not pro enough to tell the difference between the different brands of store bought mascarpone and savoiardi so I have no idea. I just get the cheapest. I have no tried making my own yet. The savoiardi I got cost $3.80 for 20 pieces and the mascarpone $6.85 for 250g. They’re from Cold Storage.

Initial colour of the egg yolk and sugar.

Pale yellow egg yolk custard.

Adding mascarpone.

Folding in whipped cream.

A layer of soaked savoiardi.

Cocoa powder dusted onto the surface.

Slice and serve!

Da Paolo Gastronomia

 

The concept of this outlet is more like a deli, where they have ingredients, condiments as well as ready made chilled food for takeaway like cakes, desserts, salads, soups, pasta sauces, lasagne etc. They have a deli counter which sells cheese, pastries and other typical Italian antipasti. They also sell bread, cupcakes, dried homemade pastas, pizzas and wines. It’s more of a shop rather than a café, and prices here are nett. The service is rather non existent as well.

Salmon & Avocado in Ciabatta – $13.00

I ordered this sandwhich because I didn’t see that they sold pizzas by slices as well. I would have tried pizza if I could choose again, but this sandwich was rather good. The bread was coated with olive oil, and the filling was generous with mixed salad. The amount of smoked salmon and avocado given was not stingy either. The ciabatta was indeed crispy but it can get a bit hard over time. There’s an option for a softer bread, for those who prefer that. This sandwhich is very filling so I guess it’s worth the money.

Tiramisu in cup – $7.50

Even though I was full from the sandwich I was determined to try their tiramisu after hearing that Da Paolo has good tiramisu. They sell it in a cup ($7.50), small ($11) and large ($18?).

It’s quite ugly in the cup, because when you remove the lid the cocoa powder layer comes off.

Pardon my unsightly photo of the half eaten tiramisu but I had to share that this is indeed one of the best tiramisu!

The sponge later was thick enough and thoroughly soaked, although maybe it could be a little less wet. But what was really good here was the mascarpone layer! It was very rich in flavour, yet not too dense in texture! As seen from the photo, you can see a mousse like texture. That gives it a light in texture feel so you won’t feel that you’re just scooping cream. The flavour of the mascarpone layer was one of the best I’ve had around! This should be the closest to authentic tiramisu.

Do note that this tiramisu is the dessert type and not the cake type. (I think cake type typically adds gelatin to firm up the mascarpone.)

Even though the staff was very unhelpful, I still bought some homemade squid ink fettuccine ($3.75) and truffle flavoured olive oil ($16.00) home to cook for dinner. I asked him how do I cook this and he was totally unprepared for an answer. He even gave a patronising ’10 minutes?’. Luckily I did not believe him, as my pasta turned al dente by 4 – 5 minutes! So if you are getting the squid ink fettuccine from Da Paolo, cook it no longer than 5 minutes.

Squid Ink Fettuccine Aglio Olio

• 1 portion of Squid Ink Fettuccine
• Medley of cherry tomatoes (I love how happy my medley of cherry tomatoes look! You can get a pre mixed packet of that from NTUC)
• 5 button mushrooms (better if there’s Portobello)
• Chopped garlic
• Chopped chilli padi
• Olive oil
• A dash of truffle oil
• Salt, black pepper, Italian herbs

 

1. Boil the pasta in a pot of 1L boiling water, with a pinch of salt and some olive oil, for 4 – 5 minutes until al dente.
2. Strain out the pasta. Do not rinse. The starch layer should be preserved on the pasta.
3. In a frying pan, heat up olive oil.
4. Sautee garlic and chili, and add in sliced mushrooms and cherry tomatoes until cooked.
5. Add in salt, pepper, and herbs.
6. Add in the pasta and mix well.
7. Pour some truffle oil above everything.

Fettuccine may not be the ideal choice for aglio olio but I like my pasta to be thick and flat, hence I chose this. The squid ink fettuccine itself was very nice. The texture was so much better then supermarket brands! It was springy as though it was elastic. I will definitely try other pastas they have, next time!

Salted Egg Yolk Prawns – Cooking

I once tried this dish in a buffet restaurant and fell in love with it. I did not post about this restaurant because the rest of the food was terrible, but for $18 and an unlimited supply of freshly cooked prawns (and exposure to such a delicious dish), it was worth it. I was never a fan of salted eggs but this is an exception.

Ingredients:

• 350g prawns
• 1/2tsp salt
• 1tsp soya sauce
• 1 egg white
• 1tbsp corn starch
• cooking oil
• white pepper
• 50g corn flour
• 2 tbsp butter
• 4 salted egg yolks
• 1 sprig curry leaf
• 1 chili padi, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, chopped

Directions:

1. Peeled, wash and pat dry prawns and mix prawns with salt, soya sauce, egg white, corn starch and pepper and marinate for 1 hour.
2. Steam and mash the salted egg yolks
3. Coat prawn with corn flour thoroughly.
4. In very hot oil in a deep frying pan, fry the prawns until crispy. It should take less than a minute.
5. Discard the oil and set prawns aside on a plate.
6. Sauté chopped garlic, chili and curry leaf in butter until fragrant.
7. Add salted egg yolks and stir constantly to prevent it from burning.
8. Stir until it disintegrates to become like a paste.
9. Add deep fried prawns when paste has bubbled and stir fry to combine.

Bacon Wrapped Scallops and Asparagus – Cooking

Here’s another very simple, fail proof, fool proof and delicious recipe. Anything with bacon can’t really go wrong!

Equipment:

• A good oven
• Grill rack
• Deep dish tray
• Skewers or toothpicks
• Aluminium foil

Ingredients:

• Streaky bacon
• Asparagus
• Frozen Japanese scallops
• Black pepper (optional)
• Dried thyme (optional)
• Dried oregano (optional)
• Dried basil (optional)
• Olive oil

Directions

1. Wash and dry scallops, and sprinkle herbs if desired
2. Cut and wash asparagus into thirds and set aside.
3. For the scallops, cut the streaky bacon into half horizontally. Wrap half bacon around each scallop.
4. For the asparagus, grab a small bunch and wrap with bacon, halved vertically.
5. Use 2 skewers to hold the bacon wrapped scallops and asparagus in place. You can place 2 or 3 pieces in each skewer. Use 2 skewers to hold it firmer. Brush the exposed surface of scallops and asparagus with olive oil.
6. Place the grill rack into the deep dish tray lined with aluminium foil and place it in the highest level of the oven.
7. Preheat oven on top mode at 230⁰C.
8. Take the grill rack tray out of oven and place the skewers onto the rack. Return the tray to the oven and grill with the door ajar.
9. Grill 10 minutes for asparagus and 15 minutes for scallops.
10. After 5 minutes have passed, flip all skewers to the other side for even grilling.
11. Remove the skewers and serve.

Tips:

• Soak the skewers in water for 30minutes to avoid burning of the skewers when baking.
• Line the deep dish tray with aluminium foil because there will be a lot bacon fat dripping and the residue may be difficult to remove.
• If you do not have a grill rack, you can simply grill it on your wire rack that comes with the oven, with a tray on a lower level.
• The grilling time may vary so stop the cooking when you feel it is suitable.
• You could have grilled tomatoes too. I cooked them together.
• You do not need to add salt as bacon is very salty.
• You could use many other ingredients too like enoki mushrooms, quail eggs, prawns, etc.