Food Review: Hong Ji Herbs Bak Kut Teh @ Marsiling

Alright, I love Bak Kut Teh also! When I was younger I loved pig trotters but now, I'm more weight conscious. Reason why I'm saying this is because my mum used to buy bak kut teh and pig trotters but I did not really like bak kut teh. Now, I found this bak kut teh and it is just super awesome.


The soup is not super "herby" and not bland. It is just nice. The meat is tender, slightly chewy but not to a point where your mouth hurts. I tried another famous stall at Balestier before, and the meat was so tough; I'll post a review on that shop next time.


They serve quite alot of dishes as well. They have Bak Kut Teh with just the ribs, Bak Kut Teh with internal organs, pig trotters, braised peanuts, salted vegetables, You Tiao, meatball soup and braised belly pork. I might have missed out some but it is fine, better for you to head down and try! :)


Price wise, it is $5 for one claypot, which is more than sufficient for one person.


Address is 19 Marsiling Lane, Teo Chap Bee Eating House.


Here are some pictures. Extremely sorry for the horrible pictures. Was kind of crowded.

SimpleMakan

Food Review: Mei Xiang Black & White Fish Soup @ Jln Berseh Food Centre

THIS IS THE BEST FISH SOUP EVER, PERIOD.


Okay, I know, I'm exaggerating. But seriously, I loveeeeeee fish soup. I try my best to give most fish soup stalls a try to find out if they are good, but usually they are just so so, but this stall is by far the nicest I have tasted.


This place was introduced to me by a friend during my army days. Honestly, the fish soup seemed to taste better that time, which is almost 2 years ago, but still, when I tried it recently again, I felt it was good.


Price wise, they only have two types of orders, $5 or $7. Each set comes with fish soup, rice and chilli. Any additional item, you will have to pay for it, including the chilli (which is one of the best chilli I have tasted).


Address of this place is 166 Jalan Besar, Jalan Berseh Food Centre.

They are only open on weekdays, from 10.12am to 3pm or if all their stock finishes earlier, they will close as well. They do not do take away, so if you really want to take away, you will have to bring your own containers. I know some of you might be wondering about the weird opening time. My only guess would be "feng shui". This might be the "lucky" time they feel they should be opening everyday for good business. :)

Here are some pictures.

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Recipe: Low Fat Chocolate Banana Cake

Ingredients for cake
- 225g self-raising flour
- 3 tablespoons fat-reduced cocoa powder or just cocoa powder
- 115g light muscavado sugar or just brown sugar
- 2 tablespoons golden syrup
- 2 eggs
- 4 tablespoons skimmed milk or just milk
- 4 tablespoons sunflower oil or any vegetable oil
- 2 large ripe bananas (I used 2 but I feel I could use 3 instead)


Ingredients for icing
- 175g icing sugar, sifted
- 6 teaspoons fat-reduced cocoa powder or just cocoa powder
- 1-2 table spoons of warm water


Instructions for cake


1. Preheat oven to 160 degrees celcius and grease a 20cm cake tin.


2. Sift flour into mixing bowl with cocoa. Stir in sugar.


3. Make a well in the centre and add golden syrup, eggs, milk, oil.


4. Mash bananas thoroughly and stir into the mixture until well blended.


5. Pour cake mixture into tin and bake for 1-1.25 hours or until the centre of the cake springs back when lightly pressed.


6. Remove cake and leave on wire rack to cool.




Instructions for icing


1. Put aside 50g of icing sugar and 1 teaspoon of cocoa powder.


2. Make a dark icing by beating the remaining sugar and cocoa powder with enough warm water to make a thick icing.


3. Pour it over the cake and spread evenly.




I didn't try making the icing but I think with it, it will be quite nice. I personally quite like this cake because it really tastes less rich and much healthier than normal cakes. If you realised, there was no butter used! That is why it is "healthier". Haha! I say that because, even if it is healthier, it does not mean you can eat the entire cake alone! :)


Some pictures of the cake.

SimpleMakan

SORRY!

I am so so so so so so so so so sorry for neglecting my blog for so long. I did try a couple of new stuff BUT I just did not put the recipes up. I promise to put them up within this week. :(


I am so sorry people! :(


SimpleMakan

Recipe: Chocolate Lava Cake

A friend gave me this recipe. Tried it out and I have to say, it is definitely a super moist and awesome cake. My cake's chocolate centre was not super flowy as I would have liked but I think I know what should be done. :) Anyway, here's the recipe. Try it! Very delicious!


Ingredients


- 100g dark chocolate (70%)
- 100g unsalted butter
- 2 eggs
- 50g caster sugar
- 20g self-raising flour


Instructions


1. Melt dark chocolate and butter in a double boiler


2. In a large bowl, use an electric whisk the eggs and sugar till the mixture turns pale and frothy.

3. Allow the chocolate and butter mixture prepared in step 1 to cool down properly and then pour it into the egg mixture prepared in step 2. Stir in the flour. Use a spatula to mix everything evenly. (The cooling part is very important, so as to prevent the heat from cooking the eggs prematurely.)

4. Grease your ramekins with some melted butter or vegetable oil. Fill the ramekin almost 3/4 full with the chocolate mixture and bake in a preheated oven of 180C (356F) for about 10 minutes. If you over-bake it, you will get a super moist chocolate cake which is yummy too.

5. When it is baked, remove ramekin from oven and let cool for 1-2 minutes. Use a spoon to gently loosen the edges. Carefully invert the cake onto serving plate.

6. Serving suggestion: Use a sieve to dust icing sugar over the cake. Serve a scoop of vanilla ice cream and some berries at the side.

My pictures are not that good. Sorry about it! Anyway, I know that chocolate lava cake needs to be more flowy, and mine is not very flowy. I'll experiment again and update next time. But do try this as well, it is still as awesome. :)

Some newer pictures. I tried this many times already and it is getting better and better! Love this cake!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I realised that you simply need bigger ramekins or cups so that cooking it at the same timing I gave will allow the middle to remain flowy while the exterior is cooked fully as it is suposed to be.

SimpleMakan

Recipe: Light Japanese Cheesecake

I KNOW! IT HAS BEEN QUITE SOME TIME!


I am really sorry for not updating my blog for sooooooo long. Please forgive me. I'll be trying out some other new recipes soon and I will be more diligent then. :)


Ingredients
140g caster sugar
6 egg whites
6 egg yolks
50g butter
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
250g cream cheese
100ml milk
1 tablespoon lemon juice
60g plain flour
20g corn flour
1/4 teaspoon salt


Instructions


1. Preheat your oven to 160 degree celcius


2. Melt cream cheese, butter and milk over a double boiler.


3. Cool the mixture and mix in the lemon juice and egg yolks.


4. After that, fold in the plain flour and corn flour.


5. Whisk the egg whites with the cream of tartar until stiff. Add in the sugar and whisk till soft peaks are formed.


6. Fold in the egg white mixture 1/3 at a time to the cheese mixture. The more gentle and slowly you carry out this process, the more foamy and light your cake will be. Make sure you fold in evenly.


7. Pour into an 8-inch round cake tin which has been greased or lined with parchment paper.


8. Put this 8-inch tin into a bigger 10-inch tin and fill the 10-inch tin with water to about 3/4 the height of the 10-inch tray. This is like a water bath to allow even cooking of the cheesecake.

9. Bake for 60 minutes.

Sorry for the poor quality pictures. I seriously loveeee this cake because I always wanted to try making this on my own. And now that I have tried it, I'm very happy because it tastes super good.

SimpleMakan

Food Review: A&A Muslim Restaurant @ Yishun

Been some time since I updated my blog. Very sorry!


Alright, AYAM PENYET. I always liked ayam penyet but never found any place which serves good ayam penyet. It was always normal. Like in Changi Village. Nothing special about it. But at A&A, which is located at Yishun, it is AWESOME!


Ok wait, to some, you might not know what is ayam penyet. It is basically chicken with rice and the chicken is actually "hammered" with a wooden mallet to flatten it a little.


Although they call this place a restaurant, it is more like a casual makan place. Nice and simple. Good and fast service.


Now with regards to the ayam penyet. Over here, the chicken is extremely crispy on outside and the flesh is super juicy and tender. I really can't describe it, you got to try it to find out. And the best part is, I have eaten this over and over and over again and to me at least, the quality and taste has not changed. It is always awesome. Now for the rice, I really can't believe how fragrant and tasty the rice is. The soup is also superb. I have no idea whether they use alot of MSG but I really love the ayam penyet and I am very happy with it.




Next is this Oyster sauce steamed fish with fried garlic. My good friend Jason, wanted to treat me to this because it was my birthday. Guess what time was it? It was freaking 1am and I had to wake up for school at 6.30am and he wanted me to eat this. Idiot! anyway, thanks! Haha! The fish was really really fresh and the sauce was good. No regrets but it was too big for both of us. Haha!


Here are some pictures. :)

SimpleMakan