Chocolate Chips Cupcakes 巧克力粒小蛋糕

I'm back, finally!

If you are wondering what's with the long absence, we have been busy looking for a new place! Renovation was hell for us as we did not engage an ID or a main contractor. We did all the planning, designing, sourcing, etc, on our own. Hence, we have different contractors for different jobs and we had to oversee and co-ordinate the whole renovation works ourselves. Thank God it's all over now and we have settled in our new home, for just a month.

Hopefully, blogging will be more regular from now, that is, after I find time figuring out all the new changes in Blogger.  Looks like Blogger has undergone a lot of changes too while I was gone. Anyway, all the photos of my posts from 2006 to 2007 have gone missing and I'm not getting any help from Blogger on how to get them back. I guess I have no choice but to upload them again. It's not going to be an easy job cos there are more than 300 photos of them. I have to download them from my backup at another site, one at a time and upload them back here one at a time. -_-|||

While I'm at it, enjoy this simple cupcake. ^_^

Ingredients:

• 220g Butter, soften
• 200g Caster Sugar
• 4 Eggs
• 220g Self Raising Flour
• 200g Chocolate Chips, more if you like (I used raisin for some batter)

How to do it:

1. Cream butter and sugar till light and fluffy.
2. Add one egg at a time and continue beating.
3. Add in flour and beat well till mixture is smooth and pale.
4. Fold in the Chocolate Chips till combined.
5. Spoon batter into muffin cup.
6. Bake for 20 minutes in preheat oven at 180C.
7. Cool on rack.

Glutinous Stuffed Squid 烏賊飯

I had this years ago and have never come across it again. I totally miss it, hence I'm trying my luck to replicate it. This is my second attempt on this dish. It's definitely much better my first attempt. ;)

If you would like try it out, here's how I did it. I soaked about 4 to 5 tablespoon of glutinous rice, which is enough for 2 squids, in water BUT seasoned with a tablespoon of light soy sauce, 1/4 tablespoon each of sugar and mirin. I soaked the rice for 3 hours.

Meanwhile, remove the innards of the squids. When the rice is done soaking, stuff the rice in the squid till 3/4 full. Use a toothpick or skewer to seal the opening. However, be careful not to tear the squid because it will be harder to secure it again and not having it 'explode' while cooking.

Place the stuffed squids in a pot with enough water covering it. Add in 2 tablespoon of light soy sauce, 1 tablespoon Mirin, and a 1 tablespoon of sugar. Bring it to a gentle boil then reduce to a simmer. Continue simmering for 3 hours. Turn the squids around in between cooking. It's alright if the sauce reduced to 2/3. However if it get to thick, add hot water to dilute it.

I used a thermal pot on my second attempt on this dish and I didn't have to add water. I just had to reboil it once. However, directly cooking does make the squids more tasty.

Remove the squids when it's done and let it cool a bit before you slice it. It's a little tricky slicing it. You might want to oil your blade to do it. Meanwhile, turn up the heat and boil the sauce to thicken it a little.

Drizzle some thicken sauce over the sliced squid and serve.


{ This is how it looks for my first attempt on the stuffed Squid; simmering for 3 hours over direct heat, ie, not using the thermal pot. The glutinous rice was plain and bland as I did not season it but the squid was in a deep shade of brownish orange. You can see from the rings that sauce had penetrated into the squid. }