All posts filed under: Baking

Gluten Free Peanut Butter Granola

Published by Lydia Wong

How are you holding up so far this week? I am looking forward to soaking up some sun later on our balcony, reading my book and to enjoy spending some quality time with my family: no home office, home schooling or blogging! Just us hanging out, playing board games, eating etc. And we have a mutual agreement that we will always have breakfast together in the weekend, which is always nice and enjoyable. Talking about breakfast, one of my favourites is granola, especially when I am hungry and don’t want to spend too much time cooking in the morning. I always make my own granola, it is cheaper than shop bought ones and I know exactly what’s in it, adding different flavour each time as I wish. So today, I will share my favourite way to make granola, this Peanut Butter Granola is definitely one of my favourites; again see this recipe as a guideline and don’t worry too much if you have not had all the ingredients stated (see notes for variations), just throw …

Roasted cauliflower with red pepper tapenade recipe

Roasted Sumac Cauliflower Steak served with Herb Millet and Red Pepper Tapenade

Published by Lydia Wong

Ok I know there are probably thousands of Cauliflower steak recipe on the internet already, but I am still very happy to join in and share my own creation with you. Every one of those recipes available online or in cookbook is unique in someway and my one is no different. I like to pan sear the cauliflower ‘steak’ first in the pan to get it nicely charred, then finish cooking it in the oven with some smoky spices. I know it is one extra step, but searing the cauliflower allows it to caramelise which brings out its natural sweetness; in addition to the smoked paprika, sumac and seasoning, then perfectly cooked to ‘al dente’ in the oven, this humble piece of vegetable is about to turn into something extraordinarily delicious. Serve the cauliflower steak with the creamy pepper tapenade, and the herby millet, you will definitely look at cauliflower in a whole new way, I promise you! Notes: 1. To cut the cauliflower into ‘steak’, I first cut the whole thing in half and then cut …

Sweet Potato Fries with Thai Mango Curry Dip recipe

Baked Sweet Potato Fries with Thai Mango Curry Dip

Published by Lydia Wong

Sorry for being absent for the last two weeks. I was busy working on a photoshoot for Ajinomoto Germany’s new marketing campaign. The photoshoot took place exactly a week ago but there were much preparation leading up to the actual shoot. A lot of hard work but it was so much fun at the same time. I can’t wait to tell you more and show you some pictures (I have been showing few on my Instagram account). Anyway, there are still follow-up work to do but I am delighted to be able to write up a simple yet absolutely delicious recipe with you this week. This Thai mango curry dip was one of the recipes which I created for the latest Ajinomoto’s campaign. This sauce/dip is so versatile, you can use it for many different dishes: sweet potato fries (like this recipe here), grilled chicken or prawn skewers, spring rolls or gyoza which I have done for the photoshoot. It consists of only 5 ingredients, so easy to make, it is rich, spicy, umami. Try …

Brazilian Cheese Bread – Pão de Queijo

Published by Lydia Wong

These Brazilian cheese bread are crispy on the outside, cheesy and gooey on the inside, almost elastic, such texture reminds me a little of Mochi (a type of Japanese rice cake which is made with glutinous rice flour), one of my childhood favourites. Technically, they are not really ‘bread’ as it requires neither yeast, nor proofing which normally a must for bread making. The recipe calls for just a handful of ingredients and it takes about half an hour to three quarters of an hour to make. These little fluff balls are light as feather, freckled with golden brown spots from the cheese, are best served warm straight from the oven. Slather a couple of them generously with velvety butter and a pinch of flaky sea salt, that’s exactly the way I like to eat them! Alongside with a cup of warm matcha latte and a good book (or a Netflix series!) would be a real treat for me. I imagine it will be absolutely delicious if served with a hearty soup or stew where …

Baba Ganoush with Pink Peppercorns

Published by Lydia Wong

I didn’t intend to be absent from the blog for so long, I had planned for a mere three weeks break but it turned out to be an ongoing journey of self- (re)discovery, and somehow I didn’t want it to stop. During the break, I returned to my drawing board, literally, and my sketch book, doing sketches of all kinds; things that surround me, people who passing by, or even just ideas in my head. And I realised that I have forgotten how much I enjoyed drawing when I was growing up. I also spent a lot of the time reading novels and writing short stories, and I met some amazing people through a fiction writing class. I hope I can share some of the stories with you soon. I haven’t stopped cooking though, as you know if you are following my Instagram account, and can’t wait to share the recipes that I have created during the break. All in all, it has been a relax and inspiring time for me and I am glad that I had made this decision. …

Almond Maple Plum Cake

Published by Lydia Wong

This cake is moist on the inside with hint of vanilla, top of the cake is slightly crunchy flavoured with soft tarty plums. The sponge cake is shy of sweet which allow the maple saturated fruit to shine. Plum is sold in abundance at this time of the year, it is delicious both raw and cooked. In its raw form, the firm but juicy flesh is pleasantly sweet, it carries a floral note and sweet like honey. Its smell mirrors its wonderful taste and lingers on your fingers long after you held one. When cooked, sweetness turns into a nice tarty taste. It is almost unbearable to not take the advantage to include plum in your everyday menu, some days I wake up craving for a juicy plum with yogurt and homemade granola, or other days, I scatter them on salad and then topped with toasted nuts, or stew them quickly in vanilla syrup and serve warm with ice cream for dessert. But bake plum in cake is definitely one of my favorite ways to enjoy these late summer …

Baked Aubergine served in Dashi Broth – Almost Agedashi Nasu

Published by Lydia Wong

Tender aubergine half bathed in a light warm broth, garnished with chopped spring onions and grated ginger. The flesh of the fruit which has saturated with the rich umami flavour from the broth just melts in the mouth. While the green young spring onion is providing a few fresh crunches, the grated ginger adds a raw, spicy excitement to the whole dish. It is how I remember its taste, the Agedashi Nasu (deep-fried aubergine served in dashi broth) which I first tasted in a Japanese restaurant a few weeks ago. It made such an impression to me that, by the second I left the restaurant, I decided to recreate it at home. Note: as I have been trying to avoid deep frying food as much as I can, so the cooking method I use here is baking rather than the traditional deep-frying. It means less oily and less messy. Just brush enough oil on both sides (and the skin) of the aubergine slices, and they are good to go. Score the skins on the end-slices so it cooks …

Maple Strawberry Galette

Published by Lydia Wong

There has been a constant flow of mouth-watering photos of pies, galettes and tarts going on Instagram lately, it makes me realise summer is in fact the best time to bake. Markets are abundant with local summer berries, plums, apricots, peaches, rhubarb, cherries etc., they are fresh and sweet as they are, but flavour intensify after going through treatment of heat. Especially when these fruits passed their prime, simply bake them in the oven, or stew them on the stove with a little sugar or natural sweetener, turn them into something rich and luscious. I was given two kilos of strawberries the other day and as much as we love strawberries and cream, we wouldn’t have managed to finish them before they rotted away or before we got tired of the sight of cream and strawberries. Luckily with all the inspiring pictures on social medias, I decided to make a gluten-free strawberry galette which I have been wanting to try for a while. To make a light and buttery gluten free pie crust (without the additional of special binders such …

Baked Pork Filet with Port Wine Portuguese Style recipe

Baked Pork Filet and Fennel in Port Wine, Portuguese Style – served with Olive Rice

Published by Lydia Wong

Eating out on weekends were always the highlight of the week for us when we were small. My father was a food enthusiast and he loved to try out different restaurants in and around Macau city. He loved fine dinning especially, so we quite often dined in the exclusive Portuguese restaurant inside the hotel Pousada de São Tiago, a former fortress originally built by the Portuguese in the 17th century against the local pirates and other European countries (who wanted to invade Macau, which was a lucrative trading port in the far east at the time). The hotel is situated in the south west corner of the Macau Peninsula, overlooking Macau city and the Pearl River Estuary. It was always excited for us children to walk proudly into the fortress through the glass door, like princesses and princes in our beloved fairy tales, and knowing that a sumptuous meal which we had been looking forward to all week long, would be waiting for us to feast on. I remember the redolence of olive oil and freshly baked bread filled the …

Gluten Free Rhubarb and Apple Crumble

Published by Lydia Wong

The curious rhubarb, powerfully sour when raw but when cooked with enough sweet element (such as sugar, maple syrup and honey), it balances pleasingly between sweet and tarty, silky and almost additive. I know this lanky vegetable is not everyone’s cup of tea, its intense tanginess (without cooking it right) is somewhat off-putting. My friend’s mother whom I dined with last week, while we were devouring this rhubarb apple crumble I made, told me that she never likes rhubarb because it is too sour, but she was impressed by this dessert, particularly, the combination of apple and rhubarb. She has even asked me for the recipe. This recipe is adapted from the British classic rhubarb crumble recipe I came across on Jamie Oliver’s website. Though the addition of apple is purely spontaneous, since I had two Gala sitting on the kitchen worktop for a few days and needed to be eaten urgently, so I didn’t hesitate to add them to the dish. I was almost certain that they would give an extra fruity note to the dessert. It turned out that the sweetness of the apple …