Beef Satay was an excellent choice for Jamie's 3rd birthday this past summer. The beef was marinated in some really simple asian seasoning and it turned out amazing. The meat was flavorful and tender; both adults & kids loved the dish. 
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Satay is a dish of seasoned skewered grilled meat that is serve with a sauce, mainly peanut sauce. Originating from Java, Indonesia, it is also a very popular dish in Singapore at the hawker centers. I remember as children, my brother and I would always ask our late Godfather to get Satay for supper.
These meat skewers are so tasty and easy to prepare, it would be a great dish for parties. You can use beef tenderloin or flanks, although I prefer the former.

Beef Satay
by Miss Crumbs-A-Lot

Recipe
Ingredients
1 1/2 lbs Beef Tenderloin
2 oz Ginger (finely minced)
10 cloves Garlic (finely minced)
3 tbsp Oyster Sauce
3 tbsp Light Soy Sauce
1/2 tsp White Pepper Powder
1 tbsp Sesame Oil
Bamboo Skewers

Cooking Method
1. Cut beef tenderloin into 1/4 inch thick long strips, about 3 inch long.
2. Place beef strips in a Ziploc bag and marinate with minced ginger, garlic, oyster sauce, soy sauce, white pepper powder and sesame oil. Marinate for 4 hours or overnight.
3. Soak bamboo skewers in water for 15-30 min. This prevents the skewers from burning when you grill them.
4. Skewer the beef strips and grill over med/hi heat. You may use your outdoor gas/charcoal grill, or a grill pan over your stovetop.
5. Serve hot with peanut sauce, if desired.

Basil Eggplant (Vegan) for my niece who flew in from Boston to join us in Houston for the holidays. She had recently become a vegan and all of us have been having fun exploring vegan recipes with her over the weekend. We made vegan brownies, cookies, spinach scramble and one of my favorite, which I made today, is Basil Eggplant.
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After a whole weekend of being spoilt and fed extremely well at our friends' Christmas lunch and dinner, a vegan dish on Boxing Day was very much welcomed by all of us. The sauce is so tasty and flavorlful; it may be replicated with other meats and vegetables, if desired.

Basil Eggplant (Vegan)
by Miss Crumbs A Lot, adapted from "Vegetarian Gastronomy"

Recipe
Ingredients
1 Large Eggplant (cut into 2 inch rectangular slabs)
1 Red Bell Pepper (thinly sliced)
1 Yellow Bell Pepper (thinly sliced)
1 Orange Bell Pepper (thinly sliced)
1/2 White Onion (thinly sliced)
1 14 oz Block Firm Tofu (cut into 1/2 inch cubes)
2 cloves Garlic (finely chopped)
1/2 cup Basil Leaves (roughly chopped)
4 tbsp Olive Oil (divided)
4 1/2 tbsp Hoisin Sauce
1/2 cup Soy Sauce
1/4 cup Water
2 tsp Shiracha Chilli Sauce
2 tsp Cornstarch

Cooking Method
1. Prepare sauce by combining hoisin sauce, soy sauce, water, chilli sauce and cornstarch in a bowl and set aside.
​2. Heat 2 tbsp of olive oil in wok on med heat and stir fry eggplant till it is soft, about 10 to 15 min. Remove from heat and set aside.
3. Heat 2 tbsp of olive oil in wok on med heat again and stir fry onions and garlic till soft and fragrant.
4. Add bell pepper and continue frying for a few minutes.
5. Return eggplant into wok and add tofu pieces, stir fry for a few minutes.
6. Add sauce mixture into wok and mix well. Allow sauce to boil and thicken. 
7. Remove from heat and stir in basil leaves.
8. Serve hot with white rice, if desired.

Prawn Noodles for my mom for dinner. She has been here visiting for more than 6 weeks now and while she has been adventourous and enjoying the many different cuisines Houston has to offer, I reckon she would appreciate a nice hot bowl of "Singapore goodness". It is an extremely satisfying meal idea that has amazing flavors with very little ingredients. A wholesome noodles-in-broth dish for shrimp lovers.

The preparation, while simple, is not for the faint hearted. Hawker stall owners in Singapore actually use prawn shells and heads to get that signature full flavored broth. Some stalls have even gone fancy and included other seafood in this classic dish, such as lobster, crayfish and abalone slices, which we most certainly can replicate as well.
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I developed this recipe on my own and based it on how I remembered it to taste like. My Godmother also suggested cooking the broth with "Dang Gui" (Chinese Angelica Root). Don't be disheartened by that ingredient, it can be easily found in most Asian supermarkets and it is also not compulsory, should you decide to omit it.

​Prawn Noodles
by Miss Crumbs-A-Lot

Recipe
Ingredients
1 1/2 lb Pork Spare Ribs (BBQ cut)
1 lb Shrimps
3 cloves Garlic (crushed)
8 cups Chicken Stock
2 slices Dang Gui (Chinese Angelica Root) 
Yellow Noodles
Water Spinach (cut into 3 inch length)
Fried Fish Cake (sliced)
1 tbsp Light Soy Sauce
1 tbsp Dark Soy Sauce
White Pepper Powder
Salt
Fried Shallots

Cooking Method
1. Shell and deveined shrimps, set aside the shrimps and shrimp shells & heads.
2. Blanch cook pork spare ribs and set aside.
3. Heat 2 tbsp oil in a large pot and stir fry shrimp shells & heads and garlic until fragrant, about 5 min.
4. Add chicken stock, pork ribs and dang gui into pot and bring to boil then simmer on low heat for 2 hours. Add light and dark soy sauce. Season with salt to taste.
5. Blanch cook yellow noodles, water spinach and set aside.
6. Bring broth back to boil again. Blanch cook shrimps in broth and set aside.
7. Place noodles, shrimps, water spinach and sliced fried fish cake in a bowl. Pour hot broth over (through a sieve) and include some pork spare ribs.
8. Top with fried shallots and pepper, if desired before serving.

Mango Pudding popped up in my mind when I went grocery shopping for the week just a couple of days ago. The local Asian supermarket had mangoes for sale. They were $5.99 for a box of 12 medium sized mangoes. What an awesome deal! I wanted to get them knowing how much Bella and Jamie love this sweet, luscious and juicy fruit. But 12 mangoes for our small family seems a lot and I didn't want to risk having to throw out rotten mangoes just because we could not finish consuming them. However, I could not bring myself to pass on this deal (I know, silly struggles that I deal with sometimes). So, I decided to still get the mangoes and use some of them to make Mango Puddings as they can be refrigerated for a few of days and still have plenty left that can be eaten fresh.

Mango pudding is a very simple dessert that is commonly found in Chinese restaurants and Dim Sum restaurants in Singapore. This silky and creamy dessert is made from mangoes, evaporated milk and sugar, a very popular choice of dessert that is served cold. My brothers and I would always request to have it, even after a heavy dinner. My youngest brother, who is notorious for not eating any fruits at all, loves this dessert and would even eat the mangoes. Hence, I am almost certain it would be a big hit with the kids!
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I used red magoes in this recipe and that gave the pudding a natural rich color. The recipe is very easy to follow, no artificial colorings needed and it can be made in advance for parties or while you finish preparing the rest of your meal.

Mango Pudding
by Miss Crumbs A Lot, adapted from "Quick & Easy Asian Desserts"

Recipe
Ingredients
4 Medium Sized Ripe Mangoes (approx. 3 lbs)
2 to 2 1/2 tbsp Gelatin Powder (depending on how dense you like your pudding)
1/2 cup Cold Water
1/2 cup Boiling Water
3/4 cup Sugar
3/4 Evaporated Milk
1 tsp Vanilla Extract
Whipped Cream (for topping)
Maraschino Cherries (for topping)

Cooking Method
1. Peel, slice and puree 3 mangoes in a food processor. Cut the remaining 1 mango into 1/2 inch cubes. Set aside.
2. Soften the gelatin powder in cold water then stir the boiling water into the mixture. Ensure that the gelatin is completely dissolved. Set aside to cool.
3. Combine the gelatin mixture, mango puree and mango chunks in a large bowl, ensuring that it is well mixed.
4. Stir in sugar with the evaporated milk until it is completely dissolved. Add vanilla extract.
5. Add the sugar-evaporated milk mixture to the gelatin-mango mixture, stir well.
6. Divide the mixture into dessert bowls and chill for 6 hours or until it is firm.
7. Top with whipped cream and maraschino cherries, if desired, before serving.

Sichuan & Anise Beef Stew a super easy recipe where you just throw in all the ingredients and you will have a full meal in a couple of hours. Sichuan cuisine is mostly known for its Kung Poa (Sweet & Spicy) Chicken and Ma Po (Numbingly Spicy) Tofu, Sichuan cuisine is one of the most well established Chinese cuisine in the many years of food history in China. Many think that Sichuan cuisine is all spicy but that is not so, especially in Singapore. Sichuan restuarants in Singapore often attempt to combine Singaporean flavors with Sichuan variations. And I found this super easy slow cooker recipe that absolutely duplicates that. 

Slow Cooker Sichuan & Anise Beef Stew
by Miss Crumbs A Lot, adapted from "The Slow Cooker Bible"

Recipe
Ingredients
2 lbs Beef Chuck
1 1/2 tbsp Plain Flour
1 Red Onion (thickly sliced)
2 cloves Garlic (crushed)
1/4 cup Tomato Paste
1 cup Red Wine
1 cup Beef Stock
2 Bay Leaves
3 strips Orange Zest (about 1/2 inch wide)
2 Star Anise
1 tsp Sichuan Peppercorns
1 tsp Thyme (chopped)
1 tbsp Rosemary (chopped)
3 tbsp Coriander (chopped)

Cooking Method
1. Trim beef and cut into 1 inch cubes.
2. Place all the ingredients, except for the coriander, into the slow cooker.
3. Cook on high for 3 hours or until beef is tender.
4. Season with salt and/or pepper to taste.
5. Stir in coriander and garnish with the remainder.
6. Serve with rice, if desired.

"Old School" Banana Cake - you might be wondering why I called this banana cake "old school". When I was a little girl, I remember always passing by the traditional local confectioneries and bakeries, while on the way to the markets with my Godmother. They had all sorts of breads, cakes & tarts and I loved every one of them. It was always a treat if my Godmother stopped to get me a slice of cake of my choice.

These confectioneries often baked cakes of different flavors in loaf pans and sold them either by the slice or by the loaf. They had butter cakes, marble cakes, pandan cakes and one of my all time favorites, banana cake.

That was 30 years ago. Fast forward to 2016, Singapore is now considered a highly developed first world city-state. And these traditonal confectioneries seem to be a dying trade, giving way to hipster cafes and French pattiseries. I suppose that is almost inevitable. As society grows and develops, so would their palates.
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The recipe is really easy with a few simple ingredients. But the flavor often brings back memories of my childhood and reminds me of home.

​"Old School" Banana Cake
by Miss Crumbs A Lot

Recipe
Ingredients
2 Bananas (ripe and peeled, approx. 8 oz)
2 tsp Lime Juice
1/2 cup Butter
3/4 cup Fine Granulated Sugar
3 Eggs
1/4 tsp Baking Powder
1 1/4 cups Self-Rising Flour

Cooking Method
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Grease the insides of a loaf pan (approx. 8" x 3 7/8")
3. Mash the bananas and stir in the lime juice to prevent it from browning. Set aside.
4. Beat butter with sugar until light and fluffy.
5. Add eggs, one at a time while beating the mixture. Ensure it is well mixed.
6. Lightly fold in the baking powder and half of the flour with a spatula without over-mixing. Just ensure flour is well incorporated into the mixture.
7. Fold in the mashed bananas, ensuring that it is well mixed but not over-stirred. Fold in the remaining flour.
8. Pour mixture out into the loaf pan and run the spatula or a butter knife down the middle, hollowing it out a little, to prevent it from rising to a dome.
9. Bake for 50 to 60 min or until golden brown and when a  skewer comes out clean after being inserted into the cake. You may place a piece of foil over the the cake while baking the last 15 min to prevent it from burning.
10. Cool cake in the pan for 10 to 15 min before turning it out to cool on a wire rack.

Glamorous Fairy Cakes - It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas! I made these simple little cakes and added a dollop of cream and some berries, turning a basic fairy cake into a chic little delicacy! The colors are perfect for a Christmas afternoon tea or desserts.

Glamorous Fairy Cakes
by Miss Crumbs A Lot, adapted from "101 Teatime Treats" cookbook

Recipe
Ingredients
5 oz Butter (very well softened)
5 oz Golden Caster Sugar
3 Eggs
4 oz Self-Raising Flour
1 oz Cornflour
1 cup Heavy Whipping Cream
3 tbsp Icing Sugar (divided)
1 cup Raspberries
1 cup Blackberries

Cooking Method
1. Preheat the oven to 375 degree F and arrange paper cups into cupcake or muffin trays.
2. Beat butter and sugar until smooth.
​3. Add eggs, flour, cornflour and mix well.
4. Divide the mixture among the paper cups so that they are half filled. Bake for 12 to 15 min or until they have risen and are golden.
5. Whip cream with 2 tbsp of icing sugar until it forms a peak.
6. Cool cakes on a wire rack before decorating.
7. Once cooled, top each cake with a tablespoon of cream, a raspberry or blackberry and a mint leaf. Dust with icing sugar.

Makes 24 Cupcakes

Cekodok Pisang (Fried Banana Balls) is a traditional Malay fritter snack in Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore that is made from flour and then fried.  They are usually round in shape and vary in sizes. There are many other varieties other than bananas, such as anchovies, corn, onions or shrimps. These quick and easy to make fritters can be eaten at any time of the day; you can have it for breakfast, afternoon tea or as a deserts after meals.  

Bananas are always on my weekly grocery list - the family enjoys having this sweet and starchy fruit, particularly for breakfast. However, there will be times when nobody eats them, the bunch of bananas stays in the fruit basket and before you know it, they are now overripe.
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A long time ago, a friend of mine from Singapore had shared this delicious recipe with me that uses ripe bananas and it has always been a go to for me whenever I am left with some.

Cekodok Pisang
by Miss-Crumbs-A-Lot

Recipe
Ingredients
1 cup Plain Flour
1/2 cup Sugar
1 1/2 tsp Baking Powder
A Pinch of Salt
5-6 Ripe Bananas (mashed)
1 tsp Vanilla Essence

Cooking Method
1. Mix all the dry ingredients together and add to mashed bananas. Mix well. 
2. Mixture will be goopy and lumpy, add vanilla essence.
3. Heat oil for deep frying. Spoon little dollops of mixture into oil and fry till golden brown.