Cookies & Cream (Oreo) Cheesecake

I was looking for a recipe to use the cream cheese that I had sitting in my fridge. I decided to make this to bring to church for afternoon tea. I have been wanting to make a cheesecake with Oreos for a long time... and I had a packet of Oreos in my pantry for that purpose :)

(Adapted from Taste)
250g chocolate ripple (or Oreo) biscuits, halved
150g Oreo biscuits or cream-filled chocolate biscuits, roughly chopped
100g butter, melted
500g light cream cheese, softened, chopped
3 eggs
2/3 cup caster sugar
extra Oreo biscuits to decorate (optional)

Process 250g halved biscuits in a food processor until it resembles fine breadcrumbs. Add butter and process until combined. Press mixture over the side and base of a greased 20-cm springform pan. Refrigerate it for 30 mins to set (or freeze it for 15 mins).

If your food processor is not big enough (like mine), you may process the biscuits in a few batches. Place all the processed biscuits into a bowl and add melted butter and mix until it looks like wet sand.

In a mixing bowl, whisk cream cheese and sugar until smooth. Add eggs, one at a time, whisking until combined. Fold in 150g chopped biscuits. Pour mixture into refrigerated pan. Place pan on a baking tray and bake for 50 mins to 1 hour at 160C or until just set (cheesecake will wobble slightly in the centre).

Turn off oven. Cool cheesecake in oven and leave the oven door ajar for 3 hours. Refrigerate overnight. Decorate with extra Oreo biscuits. Slice and serve.

Some extra tips:
How to line the base of a cheesecake pan
How to make the perfect cheesecake base
How to cut a cheesecake

Butter Chicken

I thought cooking butter chicken from scratch was not an easy feat. I suppose ever since Jimmy became one of the Masterchef contestants, some people's opinion of curries has changed. This recipe is from him. There were no long cooking processes or long cooking times. Quite a number of ingredients and spices go into it. You decide if it is worthwhile making this from scratch but I reckon this is a healthier option to the pre-prepared sauce in the jars.

I have substituted some ingredients. I am not sure if the final result differs greatly from that of the original recipe, but you know what? I am very happy with the result and so were my 'guinea pigs' (my in-law family).
1) Coriander powder instead of coriander.
2) Dried mint instead of fresh mint.
3) Low fat greek yoghurt
4) Light thickened cream
5) Butter instead of clarified butter
6) Chilli powder instead of chillies
7) Accidentally added 1/2 cup more passata

The only thing I will do differently in my next attempt is to dice the onions finely.

Recipe is taken here.

Stewed Pork Ribs in Orange Juice

I thought this was an interesting recipe, cooking pork ribs in orange juice. Quop and I love pork ribs, especially when they are so tender that the meat falls off the bone. Apparently the orange juice tenderises the meat. I should have cooked it for a longer time though. It was not as tender as I would have liked. But it was good enough for us to enjoy. The gravy goes very well with rice.

Recipe can be found here.

Cola-Glazed Chicken Wings

This recipe only requires a couple of ingredients and a couple of simple steps to cook. I did not add the jalapeno chillies. The result was very sastifying. You cannot tell that the chicken wings were cooked with cola. They were simply sweet and tasty. This is certainly a recipe to keep and try again.

Recipe can be found here. Substitute lemon juice for lime juice if you cannot find limes.

Chicken, Mushroom & Pumpkin Risotto

1.25L (5 cups) chicken stock

20g butter

1/4 cup olive oil
1 brown onion, finely chopped
500g pumpkin, peeled and diced
440g (2 cups) arborio rice
1/2 tbsp fresh thyme leaves
1/4 cup dry white wine
3 chicken thigh fillets, cut into 1cm pieces
100g button mushrooms, cut into 1cm pieces
2 garlic cloves, crushed
3/4 cup finely grated parmesan

Bring the stock just to the boil in a large saucepan. Reduce heat and hold at a gentle simmer.

Preheat oven at 180C. Place the diced pumpkin onto a tray lined with baking paper. Spray lightly with oil. Bake for about 20 minutes or until they are soft.

Heat butter and 1 tablespoon of oil in a heavy-based stockpot or large flameproof casserole dish over medium heat. Add the onion. Cook, stirring, for 5 minutes or until soft and translucent but not coloured. Add the rice and 1 tablespoon of thyme. Cook, agitating but not stirring, for 1 minute or until the grains appear slightly glassy.

Add the wine to the rice mixture and cook, stirring, until the liquid is absorbed. Add a ladleful (about 125ml or 1/2 cup) of the simmering stock to the rice and stir constantly with a wooden spoon until the liquid is absorbed. Continue adding the stock mixture, a ladleful at a time, stirring constantly and allowing the liquid to be absorbed before adding the next ladleful, for 20-30 minutes or until the rice is tender yet firm to the bite and the risotto is creamy.

Heat remaining oil in a large frying pan over high heat. Add the chicken and stir-fry for 5 minutes or until chicken just starts to brown. Add the mushroom and garlic. Cook for 2 minutes.

Add pumpkin, chicken mixture, parmesan and remaining thyme to the risotto and combine. Season with salt and pepper to serve.


Quop has not really liked risotto in the past but he loved this so much that he licked everything off the pot and could not stop complimenting me on how good it was :)

A Kiwi A Day Keeps The Doctor Away

The golden kiwi is in season!

Quop and I love golden kiwis. They are sweeter than its more common cousin - the green kiwi. I will buy them from Coles or Woolies whenever they are not more than A$6/kg. My mum bought them for S$1 each in Singapore and they are exactly the same ones that we get from here. Golden kiwis are imported from New Zealand.

This little fruit is jam packed with vitamins and I believe this is part of the reason why Quop and I did not fall very ill last winter. We probably only had very mild cold. We ate one every 2-3 days. Since this has been cheaper these days, we eat one of this fruit almost every second day. This is one of my favourite fruit - both for its taste and its nutrition.

Roast Pork (a.k.a. Siew Yoke, Shao Rou, Shio Bak)

This is my mum's specialty. This is a dish that everyone in my extended family rave about. I tried replicating this a couple of times but only my first and this recent try were fairly successful. Every other attempt in between did not work out well and I am not too sure why. The skin of the pork did not crackle, which is the all important attraction of this dish.

I used a xue di zi to make this. But you can try the oven. I have heard successful stories of some who used the oven.

(estimated measurements)

1kg pork belly

2-3 tsp chinese five-spice powder

2 tsp salt

Score the skin of the meat with a sharp knife. I found it rather difficult to make the diamond-shaped, criss-cross pattens so I just made parallel incisions across the width of the piece of meat.

Place the meat on a metal rack and into the sink (or a tray), skin side up. Pour hot boiling water onto the meat. You will see the skin shrinking a little and exposing the fat beneath the skin. That is what we want to achieve. Using a paper towel, pat dry the meat, paying special attention to the skin to ensure that it is dry.

Marinate the meat with spice and salt. Place the marinated meat covered in the fridge for at least 2 hours. I like to marinate it for at least 12 hours or overnight. You may marinate this 2-3 days in advance too.

Preheat the oven at 190C. Allow the meat to come up to room temperature (about 30 minutes) before placing it in the oven, skin side up on a metal rack. Cook it for about 45 minutes.

Using a fork, poke the skin of the pork several times. Increase the temperature to 225C and cook it for about 15 minutes or until you are happy with the crackle on the skin. You may test it by using the fork to gently tap on the skin and it should give you a slightly hollow sound.

Allow the meat to rest for about 20 minutes before cutting into bite size pieces to serve.

Note:

Try to buy a piece of pork belly that has both a good amount of fat and meat. Some that are sold in supermarkets tend to have more fat than meat. I reckon patronising an asian butcher would be a safe bet. For your info, I bought this for $9.99/kg from Hauff's Butchery.

Apple & Sultana Puffs

This is something I improvised from an apple turnover recipe.

3 sheets frozen puff pastry, thawed

400g can apples, diced

1/3 cup sultanas

1 Tbsp brown sugar

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1 egg, lightly beaten

icing sugar, to dust

Preheat oven to 200C. Cut the squares sheet of puff pastry into 16 small squares per sheet.

In a bowl, combine apples, sultanas, sugar and cinnamon. Place about 1/2 to 1 tsp of the apple filling onto one small square and cover it with another small square pastry sheet. Press the edges together to seal the filling in between 2 small square pastry cut-outs. Using a fork, press it around the edges of the puff.

Place the puffs onto a tray lined with baking paper. Brush them lightly with beaten egg. Bake for 15-20 minutes, until golden brown.

Dust the puffs and serve warm or at room temperature.

Soy-Braised Pork (a.k.a. Tau Yew Bak)

(Recipe from "Singapore Cooking" book)

2 Tbsp oil

2 Tbsp fine granulated sugar*

600g pork leg*

6 cloves garlic, lightly bruised

2.5 cups water

5 Tbsp thick dark soya sauce*

1/2 tsp salt

1 large walnut-sized knob of galangal or ginger, peeled and bruised

Heat oil and sugar together in a wok over medium heat, stirring frequently. Keep a close watch to ensure that it does not burn. When the sugar has melted and caramelised into little brown globules, add the pork (the caramel will splutter) and stir vigorously.

Add all remaining ingredients, bring to a boil, cover and simmer for 1 hour, stirring occasionally or until the pork is fork tender. Serve hot.

*Treacly dark soya sauce is the best to use for this dish, but if you cannot get it, use regular dark soya sauce.

Passionfruit Mille Feullie

I had my first mille feuille in Jakarta (yes, Indonesia!) a few years ago. My friend brought me to a restaurant where they served her favourite dessert.

I made a simplified version, recipe taken from Taste. I brought this to my friend's place as a dessert. As a finishing touch, she requested that I add some frozen blueberries that she had. It turned out real good! This is one of the desserts that Quop likes (he usually likes savoury food) :)

There is a short-cut version to it - buy ready made custard from the supermarket. That means you only need to bake the pastry sheets and make the passionfruit mixture. All that is left is assembling and plating up.