[ Breakfast : Easy Peasy Chocolate Chips Cupcakes ]

People who knows me knows I don't really bake (cakes) b'cos I think I sucked at baking.  Yes, I know practise makes perfect but I hardly have cake fans at home.  (I only have one!)  What I really need is a lab rat cake fan which makes it even harder. 

I really hate to see food in the bin.  Hence, no cake baking for me.  Okay, lame excuse.

The truth is my oven is 99% used for cooking.  :P  Well, I do bake, maybe once in a thousand blue moons.  And after a few rejects to my daughter's requests for 12-Cupcakes.  :P

So, this is once of those occasions and I'm so grateful that my daughter cum lab rat cake fan didn't compare my cupcakes with the money making ones.  Maybe she waited too long to have cupcakes so she is happy just to get her hands on any cupcakes, with or without 'numbers'.

My recipe is a super simple and straight forward one, which I have been using for years, requires no prior baking knowledge or skills.  I dare say that b'cos even someone (me) who sucked at baking (cake) could get the cupcakes to be fluffy, I'm sure anyone else can too.

Ingredients:

• 220g Butter, soften
• 200g Caster Sugar
• 4 Eggs
• 220g Self Raising Flour
• 200g Chocolate Chips, more if you like 
• 1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract

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 the vanilla extract and mix well.
4. Add in flour and beat well till mixture is smooth and pale.
5. Fold in the Chocolate Chips till combined.
6. Spoon batter into muffin cup.
7. Bake for 20 minutes in preheat oven at 180C.
8. Cool on rack.

Note:
you can use berries,  nuts or Oreo cookies instead of chocolate chips too.

Steamed Seafood Tofu Balls

This is a easy dish and is quick to prepare and tasty too.

If you have more time, use dry shitake mushroom (dehydrated) instead of fresh shitake for added fragrance.  Seafood is added for texture and extra crunch. 

This is a dish well received by both the adults and kids.

Ingredients:

• 1 tube Egg Tofu
• 200g Fish Paste
• 8 Medium Prawns, shelled and deveined
• 3 Fresh Shitake Mushroom, stem removed and diced
• 1-2 small floret Broccoli, diced
• 50ml water, if using Happy Call Pan

Seasonings:

• 1 teaspoon Sesame Oil
• 1 teaspoon Light Soy Sauce
• a dash White Pepper Powder

Sauce:

• 50 ml Water
• a pinch Chicken Seasoning Powder
• Corn Flour Mixture as thickener

How to do it:

1. Smash prawn with flat part of cleaver or chopper and set aside.
2. Squeeze egg tofu out of the tube.
3. Mix tofu, fish paste, prawns and the diced vegetables together with the seasonings.
4. Oil a muffin tray.
5. Scoop about 1 to 1 1/2 tablespoon of tofu mixture into the tray. Top with a wolf berry if you like.
6. Add the water to the happy call pan and set the tofu mixture to steam for 5 to 7 minutes.
7. Remove the tofu balls with a spoon and set aside.
8. Carefully pour out the juice in the muffin tray into a pan.
9. Add in water and seasoning with chicken seasoning powder and bring to a simmer.
10. Thicken with corn flour mixture.
11. Spoon sauce over the tofu balls.
12. Drizzle sesame oil if you like.
13. Serve immediately.

Note:

• You can replace prawns with squid if you like.
• Experiment using other vegetables instead of broccoli.
• If you do not have a Happy Call Pan, you can steam using the regular way. Remember to lift the muffin tray up so the steaming water will not boil and get into the muffin tray.