This vegetarian recipe is simple, healthy and delicious. If you want it to be totally carbs free, you can replace with almond flour. You can also replace zucchini with yellow squash or carrot.
This recipe is developed based on my favourite sauce usually people would be given when they order HK style BBQ and another green onion chicken dish. Use boneless chicken thigh instead of whole chicken as Mr Large doesn’t like chicken with bones.
Taiwanese night market snack food is my all time favorite. This chicken is easy to make and healthy.
台灣鹽水雞 Taiwanese Salty Chicken
份量 Servings
準備時間Prep Time
烹調時間Cook Time
難易程度Difficulty
2
20 mins
20 mins
★★
材料 INGREDIENTS：
❑ 去皮去骨雞腿肉兩塊；2 pcs Skinless and boneless chicken thigh
❑ 西蘭花，玉米筍（或你自己喜歡的蔬菜）；Broccoli, Baby corns (or any kind of vegetables that you like)
做法 DIRECTIONS：
雞腿先用一湯匙鹽、一湯匙五香粉、少許胡椒粉、麻油和米酒先醃製一晚 Marinate the chicken thighs with 1 tbsp salt, 1 tbsp five spices, a little of pepper, sesame oil and rice wine over night
燒開水，加少許鹽和麻油，蔬菜先燙熟 Boil some water. Add some salt and sesame oil. Add vegetables. Wait till the water is boiled. Cook for 1-2 mins.
燙熟的蔬菜放入冰水 Put the cooked vegetables in ice water
再燒開一鍋水，加薑、蔥、洋蔥、鹽，加入雞腿肉， Boil another pot of water. Add ginger, scallion, onion and some salt. Add chicken thighs.
等水再燒開，煮5分鐘，蓋上鍋蓋，關火燜5分鐘 Wait until the water is boiled again. Cook for 5 minutes. Cover the pot with the lid and turn off the heat. Keep the lid on the pot for 5 mins.
備一碗鹽水，鹹度要比一般能接受的鹹度鹹一點， Prepare a salt water (slightly saltier than normal).
把煮熟的雞腿肉放進鹽水泡15分鐘 Put the cooked chicken and soak for 15 mins
雞腿肉剪大塊，加入蔬菜，加入少許煮雞腿的雞湯，拌勻，試一下味，不夠鹹可以加鹽胡椒調味 Cut the chicken thighs into pieces and mix with the vegetables and chicken soup. Season with more salt and pepper if needed.
About Me
Hi, I’m Joyce. I’m originally from Hong Kong, passionate about food, cooking, and travel. Thanks for visiting! 我是Joyce，來自香港，熱愛美食、烹飪、旅遊，謝謝你瀏覽我的網頁！
Cauliflower has become one of my favourite type of veggie. This Indian vegan recipe is absolutely delicious. Healthy and yummy!
花椰菜成為了我最愛的蔬菜後，現在是我飯桌上的常客！這個印度素食料理絕對會驚艷你的味蕾，健康又美味！
I love using spices in my dishes especially turmeric! Turmeric has very good health benefits. It’s a kind of natural inflammatory medicines. Add a little of black pepper will help bring out the benefits more. Have been making a few Indian dishes at home. This vegan dish is absolutely delicious and healthy. I tried to cook cauliflower in instant pot but found it too difficult to get the crunchy cauliflower I like. This has to be cooked on stove top. Don’t over cook it. Make sure it’s cooked and slightly soften but still crunchy!
Finally! Finally! I successfully challenged cookies. I would call it a “big success” this time. When Mr Large just first looked at the cookies, he said “Wow! You made it this time!”. After he tried the first bite, he further said “hmmmm….quite good. This is what peanut butter cookies should taste like”. This is the kind of sense of achievement I am always looking for when I take on a challenge. You have overcome something that you were told to give up or no one believed (even yourself) that you would be able to make it!
Honestly speaking, since I was told to give up on cookies, I have not really given up. I have research and studied different recipes and the experiences shared by other people. Besides, as I shared last time, accurate measurement of ingredients is particularly important when making dessert. I have got myself a kitchen scale finally. One of the dessert guru shared that sometimes the cookies tase too “cakery” is because we have put too much flour using measurement cup to measure. It is totally worth it to wait for 2 weeks for the kitchen scale. Having a more precise and accurate measurement, the texture of the cookies I made this time is totally different. It’s the more crunchy outside but soft and chewy inside type!
Traditional peanut butter cookies have two special features – 1) wrap the cookies with some white sugar before baking; 2) use a fork to make a fork mark on the cookies. Apart from this, another key skill I learn about making cookies is to put the cookie dough in the fridge for about 30 mins before baking. This will help you to form a round shape cookies more easily and to ensure similar sizes of your cookies. Here to share the recipe that I used. I have followed mostly the recipe except that I have cut down the white sugar used. It’s still very much sweet enough. Talking about sugar, another learning I have from my research is the difference between brown sugar and white sugar in making dessert. Brown sugar will give more moist in your dessert and thus I think it’s a better option for cookies.
花生醬曲奇 Peanut Butter Cookies
份量 Servings
準備時間 Prep Time
烹調時間 Cook Time
難度 Difficulty
17-20塊pcs
30 mins
10 mins
★★★
材料 INGREDIENTS：
黃油 Butter
140g
花生醬 Peanut Butter
140g
黃糖 Brown Sugar
135g
白糖 White Sugar
25g（或者不放 Or skip it at all)
雞蛋 Egg
1
香草精 Vanilla Extract
1/2 tsp
麵粉 All Purpose Flour
185g
玉米澱粉 Cornstarch
1 tbsp
蘇打粉 Baking Soda
3/4 tsp
鹽 Salt
3/4 tsp
做法 DIRECTIONS：
先把放至室溫的黃油和花生醬、黃糖、白糖混合好 Combine room temperature butter, peanut butter, brown sugar and white sugar and mix well
加入放至室溫的雞蛋和香草精混合好 Add egg (room temperature) and vanilla extract and combine well
用另外一個碗，把麵粉、玉米澱粉、蘇打粉和鹽混合好 Mix well flour, cornstarch, baking soda and salt in a separate bowl
慢慢分批把麵粉放進花生醬部分，慢慢攪拌均勻 Gradually stir the flour mixture into the peanut butter mixture and combine well
把曲奇團用保鮮膜蓋好放進冰箱30分鐘 Cover mixing bowl with plastic wrap and place the cookie dough in the fridge to chill for 30mins
預熱烤箱350F，在烤盤放上烘焙紙 Preheat oven to 350F. Put a parchment paper on the baking try
用湯匙弄成球形，裹一層白砂糖，放在烤盤上，用叉壓兩下 Use a spoon to scoop the cookie dough. Roll the dough to ball shape and roll thoroughly some granulated sugar. Place the cookies on the baking tray. Use the tines of a fork to gently make a criss-cross pattern
350F烤大概10分鐘直到曲奇周邊有點金黃色，裡面還是軟的，拿出來放涼就可以啦 Bake on 350F for about 10 mins. Edges should be a little golden brown but still soft inside. Take them out and let them cool.
剛剛烤好是這樣，放一會兒就會比較好看 This is how the cookies look like right out from the oven
我這個份量大概做了17片曲奇（大概4-5寸大），如果覺得太大，可以做小一點，但相信烤的時間也可以縮短到9分鐘左右。Based on this recipes, I have made around 17 cookies with a diameter of around 4-5 inches. You can make it smaller if you want and perhaps only need to bake for around 9 mins.
這個曲奇西人大愛，一直停不下來吃，成功挑戰了這個傳統的曲奇，下次是時候再試做巧克力曲奇了！敬請期待！Mr Large loves this cookies and couldn’t stop eating it. I’m already thinking my next challenge of another traditional cookies – chocolate chips cookies!
About Me
Hi, I’m Joyce. I’m originally from Hong Kong, passionate about food, cooking, and travel. Thanks for visiting! 我是Joyce，來自香港，熱愛美食、烹飪、旅遊，謝謝你瀏覽我的網頁！
Theme of last week is Wings Night. Wings are a classic bar food. When we were in Shanghai, we often go to some American Bar to enjoy the so called “Wings Night” which is basically again “buy one get one free”. Most of the wings you eat outside are deep fried which make this dish even more unhealthy. When you do it once in a while at home, you can bake them in the oven. Marinate the wings with olive oil, salt and pepper. Put them on a rack (with a tray underneath to catch all the oils coming out from the wings when baking). Bake for around 30-35 mins at 400F. It will taste like deep fried while slightly more healthy as all oils is gone.
There are many choices of sauce when it comes to wings. I’ve made Parmesan Garlic this time. Heat up butter in a small sauce pan butter and then stir fry the garlic. Then, add parmesan cheese. You can add as much butter, garlic and cheese as you want. Season with some salt, black pepper and dried parsley. Pour them over the baked chicken in a big bowl and stir well.
Since I came here, I have cooked more western food than Chinese. However, I would insist to make Chinese dinner at least 2 times a week. My “HK Stomach” is missing my home town food so much! This week, I have made this Lettuce Wrap with Minced Pork which Mr Large said there is such a dish in the Chinese restaurant here too. I have shared a more traditional recipe of this dish before. However, since I can’t find some the ingredients I need, I have decided to westernised this dish a little. Add onion, carrot and cucumber and also Hoisin sauce which I found quite a lot of Western Chef will use when they cook Chinese dish here. This makes this Chinese dish a little “western” (I miss Soy Sauce Western food!). I’ve also pan fried the dumplings I’ve made earlier and frozen in the fridge. The bottom of the dumplings is so crispy and delicious.
這週的最後一天還給自己做了最愛的薑蔥蓉雞和粟米湯，完美結束了這一周. On Sunday, I’ve made us another Chinese dinner with my favorite Chicken with green onion and ginger and also corn soup!
I was planning to share my experience of making the Mexican Chili. When we were still living in Shanghai, Mr Large has requested to make this dish. However, it’s a bit hard to get all spices needed. Now, I have all the spices and have tried 2 times. This time I used Slow Cook as requested by Mr Large as an experiment. It’s still pretty good but I would like to master better the dish before I share my experience. Will do so in the coming two weeks!
歡迎訂閱我以下的社交媒體頻道，謝謝支持！Please subscribe to my social media page and channel! Thanks for the support!
I have my own philosophy (what?? so serious!). A lot of people only care about whether they have cooked a delicious dish. Of course, I care about this very much too. However, that’s not everything about cooking.
I care about the process of cooking. Cooking is not just about making delicious dishes to enjoy. I enjoy the process including those failing ones. To me, kitchen is like a science experiment lab. If you fail the experiment, there must be a reason. Ingredients from different origins (or even brands), different cookwares, different stoves….all the differences could be the reasons for failure. Therefore, I do not always 100% follow any recipes. I hope my followers won’t do that with my recipes too. You need to study it through the experience I share. You need to understand the ingredients, stoves and cookware characteristics to see if any amendments are needed. If you fail with the amendment you make, then you learn what cannot be changed. If you succeed, then you have probably innovated a new dish. Without any thinking or amendments while just strictly follow any recipes, you won’t know what’s the critical factors for your failure or success.
Why all of sudden I would like to share my “philosophy”? It’s because I failed two experiments last week. Someone then said “I told you not to change the recipes”….OK, well…will I for sure be successful if I don’t change it?….@^&(*$#*&$@%*($@…no one can tell. The failures including the enchiladas I made on Tue. I put less chicken broth as I used less meat than the recipes and I know I have the tendency to make some dishes too watery. Yet, this time – too dry! The other failure is COOKIES. I have tried multiple times actually. Undercooked for the first time. I think it’s a success the second time with my peanut butter cookies but someone think it’s not authentic enough. This third time seems to be overcooked. Well, at least, I tried to learn what made me fail. I will work harder. I don’t believe that I am not able to make good cookies. Give me some time!
好了，是時候回顧一下上週的成果 Ok, time to review what I have made last week.
After sharing all the “failures”, I actually have made several successful dishes last week (i.e. someone said “yum yum”). This includes the burger we made on Mon. When Mr Large and I was still living in Shanghai, we sometimes go to have Burger Burger Night outside which is basically buy one burger get one free. Fat Cow is our favorite place to go but it’s always a looooong queue on Mon. Since COVID-19, I plan to make some dishes with theme just like we were used to be. Burger Burger night was the theme last week. It’s very easy to make. You only need a few ingredients – ground beef, cheese, onion, tomato, pickle, lettuce or whatever vegetables that you like. To me, most important ingredient is pickle. You only need to season the ground beef with some salt and black pepper. Form a round shape which is slightly bigger than the burger bun. Use your thumb to press the center of the meat. Pan fry it until it’s cooked the way you want. We haven’t made any special sauces. We just used tomato sauce and mustard. It’s SUPER delicious.
❑ 鹽、黑胡椒、喼汁；Salt, black pepper, Worcestershire sauce
❑ 番茄醬、芥末；Ketchup, mustard
做法 DIRECTIONS：
平底鍋，放一點黃油，先把漢堡烤一下 Add some butter in a frying pan. Toast the burger buns.
牛肉餡用鹽、黑胡椒和喼汁調味，分成兩份，做成圓形，比漢堡麵包可以略大一點，牛肉煮熟會縮 Season the ground beef with salt, black pepper and Worcestershire sauce. Divide into two portions. Make it in a round shape slightly bigger than the burger bun. The beef will be shrunken after it’s cooked.
中間用拇指壓一下，放少許油在平底鍋，中火兩面煎，做成自己喜歡的熟程度 Press slightly in the middle of the burger beef with your thumb. Add little oil in the frying pan at medium heat and pan fry the beef to how much you like it to be done.
關小火，上面舖一片車打芝士，蓋上鍋蓋讓芝士融化 Turn to low heat. Put cheddar cheese on top of the beef. Cover with lid to let the cheese melt.
組裝一下，加番茄醬、芥末或自己喜歡的醬汁 Assemble the burger and add ketchup, mustard or any sauce you like.
About Me
Hi, I’m Joyce. I’m originally from Hong Kong, passionate about food, cooking, and travel. Thanks for visiting! 我是Joyce，來自香港，熱愛美食、烹飪、旅遊，謝謝你瀏覽我的網頁！
朋友說每週都要挑戰新菜做不同練習是不是跟自己太過不去？老實說，我並沒有逼自己做什麼，是很自然而然去想下週做什麼好呢？滿腦子都是ideas，呵呵！也許正如股神說的 “Without passion, you don’t have energy”。
A friend said “Is weekly challenge too tough on yourself?” Honestly speaking, I never push myself to do anything. It’s the passion deep inside me that I cannot stop thinking everyday “what to practice or try next week?” Full of ideas in my head. Maybe, this is what exactly Warren’s wisdom said “Without passion, you don’t have energy”.
I thought the week of May 11 wasn’t a very productive one. However, when I list down all my practices, I found that at least half of them worth sharing with you all. Of course, I won’t bombard you guys with everything in this blog. I still need more practices for some of the recipes.
I think the most successful dish last week is Beef Taco. Since I came here, I found that Taco Tuesday is a common practice in a lot of restaurants especially bars here. It’s basically a buy one get one free promotion. Due to COVID-19, I would like to make some dishes to “resume” some of our rituals when we can dine out. Taco Tuesday is one of them.
墨西哥卷有很多種，Taco算是一種，也是我比較喜歡的，相對比較清爽，Taco的組成可以說有三大部分 There are various kind of “Mexican wrap”. Taco is one of them and it’s one of my favourite. It’s relatively less heavy. There are three main parts of a Taco.：
~ 玉米卷 Wrap ~
經典的Taco是用想玉米片一樣脆的Taco Shell做的，但也可以用軟身的餅皮，在美國的超市，你能找到各式各樣的餅皮。脆的Taco Shell，簡單用微波爐熱20秒就可以（包裝上都叫你用烤箱但太麻煩了），軟身的餅皮，我一般就會用平底鍋兩面熱一下就可以。 We usually use hard taco shell (like nachos) in classic taco. There’s also soft shell. All are available in the grocery stores here with many different varieties for you to choose. Hard shell is more our favourite kind. For hard shell, you can simply heat it up in microwave for 20 seconds (they usually recommend you to heat it up in the oven in their package but it’s too troublesome if you want a quick dinner). For other type of soft taco wrap, I usually pan fry both sides a bit on a frying pan.
~ 餡料 Filling ~
餡料的話，經典Taco是牛肉餡，當然你可以做各式各樣的，在很多專賣Taco的店就有很多不同的，雞肉、豬肉甚至海鮮，但我個人還是比較喜歡牛肉餡 As for fillings, ground beef is the classic. Of course, you can make any kinds of style with different kinds of meat – chicken, pork or even seafood. I personally like beef the best!
Beef filling is very easy to make. Chop some onion. Stir fry the onion until it’s slightly soften. Add ground beef. Season with paprika, cumin, garlic powder and chili powder (proportion: 1:1:0.5:0.5). Season further with salt and black pepper. Some recipes would recommend to add some chicken broth. However, both Mr. Large and I do not like the beef filling with too much sauce. Besides, with the onion in the beef, the beef filling won’t be too dry.
~ 配料 Topping ~
組合Taco的時候，經典的配料就是Salsa、芝士Cheese和酸奶油Sour Cream，Salsa醬可以在超市買現成的，我就喜歡自己在家裡做，比較新鮮，個人不是特別喜歡Sour Cream的味道，我一般不放。When assemble a taco, the classic toppings are salsa, cheese and sour cream. You can get salsa easily from grocery stores but I like to make my own at home. It’s much fresher! I do not like much sour cream and thus I usually do not put any.
Salsa的做法也是很簡單，兩個人的話基本上一個番茄、一個牛油果、四分一個洋蔥和少許芫荽就可以，番茄、牛油果和洋蔥切粒，芫荽切碎，加入少許檸檬汁（或蘋果醋）、鹽和黑胡椒拌勻就可以。Salsa is very easy to make at home. For two person, you only need one tomato, one avocado, 1/4 onion and some cilantro. Cut tomato, avocado and onion into dices and chop cilantro. Mix them well with a little of lemon juice (or apple cider vinegar) and season with salt and black pepper.
~ 香料 Spices ~
不管是墨西哥菜或者印度菜，有幾種基本香料是很必須的，所以，你可以一次在超市都買全這些香料，你會發現非常多的菜式都能用的上，這些香料包括：孜然 Cumin，薑黃 Tumeric，蒜粉 Garlic Powder，紅甜椒粉 Paprika，辣椒粉 Chili Powder。
Spices are very important in both Mexican and Indian food. There are few fundamental kinds of spices that I would recommend you to stock up at home from grocery store. You will find them very useful in many dishes. They are: cumin, tumeric, garlic powder, paprika and chili powder.
其實做法很簡單，看似複雜是因為需要的材料有點多，但其實家裡只要備好香料和餅皮，你也可以每週家裡Taco Tuesday！Taco is actually quite easy to make at home. It looks like complicated as it requires quite a lot of ingredients. However, you only need to ensure stocking up all the spices you need and the taco shells. You can also “Taco Tuesday” at home!
歡迎訂閱我以下的社交媒體頻道，謝謝支持！Please subscribe to my social media page and channel! Thanks for the support!
Apart from giving myself new challenges, I decide to keep a journal to record the process and what I have made. I strongly believe that this is going to be a rewarding journey!
5月4日到10日，這週收穫滿滿，做了一些新嘗試，也有在新廚房重複練習做過的菜式，包括一些拿手菜。
May 4 to 10! A very rewarding week. I have made some new trials but also practiced some dishes that I’m good at in the new kitchen
蔥油餅 Scallion Pancake
芝士蛋糕 Cheesecake
奶油燉雞 Butter Chicken
豉椒炒排骨 Stir Fry Pork Ribs with Black Beans and Pepper
烤豬排配芝士節瓜 Roasted Pork Chop with Cheesy Zucchini
乾煎咖喱雞 Dried Curry Chicken
炒土豆絲 Stir Fry Potato Slices
鬆餅 Pancake
薑蔥照燒雞肉片 Teriyaki Chicken with Ginger and Green Onion
蔥油餅 Scallion Pancake
芝士蛋糕 Cheesecake
奶油燉雞 Butter Chicken
豉椒炒排骨 Stir Fry
烤豬排配芝士節瓜 Roasted Pork Chop with Cheesy Zucchini
乾煎咖喱雞 Dried Curry Chicken
炒土豆絲 Stir Fry Potato Slices
鬆餅 Pancake
薑蔥照燒雞肉片 Teriyaki Chicken with Ginger and Green Onion
Since I need to cook 3 meals per day, I am not too aggressive in terms of making new trials. My plan is to have 2-3 new trials on a weekly basis. I think it’s already a pretty good goals (I will end up picking up 24 new dishes in 3 months!). Scallion pancake and Cheesecake are the new trials last week. All others are those I’ve made (or even good at) before and I would like to practice more. Practice makes perfect!
I have shared the recipe of Scallion Pancake in my facebook earlier. Overall I’m happy with what I have made though I think I can be more “aggressive” in terms of putting more scallions and salt. I didn’t put any oil when I pan fried the pancake which should be healthier (yet, not much of nutritional values from Carbs honestly). The biggest reward in making the pancake is that I think I’ve master making the flour dough better this time (which is essential for making different kinds of flour made Northern Chinese food).
If we need to vote (only two votes in total from me and Mr. Large) the best of last week, it would definitely be the cheesecake. Mr. Large has been nagging me to make cheesecake since we’ve go the instant pot. However, I strongly doubt about making cake in an instant pot. Since we’ve moved in the new apartment with a decent oven, I have to keep my promise of learning and making him a cheesecake. I have taken references of several recipes. I found that most of them are similar in terms of the use and portion of ingredients. One biggest discussion is around whether a water bath is needed (basically putting your baking pan in a baking tray with hot water). Putting your cheesecake in a water bath when you bake it will help keep the cake moist in a more humid environment in the oven so that lower chance that the cake will have cracks. Some people think that it’s too troublesome and thus some recipes said “o…actually, you don’t need to”. I have decided to use a water bath. Making cake at home is “troublesome” comparing to buy it directly from a cake shop. The water bath is really simple to make. If you really hate “troubles”, I would suggest that you just buy a cake from a cake shop.
I’m not a cheesecake expert. So, here I’m just sharing the recipe of my “first” cheesecake and also the most important tips I found across different recipes.
我用的是一個七吋的盤，做出來大概也就是盤的一半滿，材料大家可以相對根據你家烤盤來調整。I used a 7 inch baking pan. It’s about half full of the pan. Please adjust the portion of the ingredients based on the size of your baking pan.
餅底材料 Crust Ingredients：餅乾碎+麥皮碎 Graham cracker and oatmeal crumbs 1 1/2 杯 cup，黃糖 Sugar 2 tbsp，溶化黃油 Melted Butter 4 tbsp
把餅乾麥皮碎跟糖拌勻，再加入溶化好的黃油，用叉拌勻 Combine graham cracker and oatmeal crumbs with sugar and stir well. Add melted butter and use a fork to combine
把混合好的餅乾麥皮碎放進烤盤，在盤底和周邊壓緊做成餅底 Pour crumbs into the pan and press firmly into the bottom and up the sides of your pan.
放進烤箱烤8-10分鐘 Bake in the oven for around 8-10 mins
烤箱拿出來後要放涼 Set aside and let it cool
芝士蛋糕做法 Cheesecake Instructions:
烤箱預熱325F Preheat oven to 325F
先把奶油芝士用攪拌機低速攪勻，攪到順滑就可以，不要過度攪拌，過度攪拌會有太多空氣進去 In a mixing bowl, add cream cheese and stir until smooth and creamy in low speed. Don’t over-beat or you’ll incorporate too much air.
加入糖，再攪拌至順滑 Add sugar and stir again until creamy
加入酸奶油、香草精、鹽，繼續攪拌 Add sour cream, vanilla extract and salt, and stir until well-combined.
攪拌機繼續保持低速，續一加入已經略打雞蛋，打到雞蛋融合就可以，不能過度攪拌 With mixer on low speed， gradually add lightly beaten eggs, one at a time, stirring just until each egg is just incorporated.
把芝士餡倒入準備好餅底的蛋糕盤，用鋁紙包好蛋糕盤周邊（不要蓋住），在一個大一些的烤盤放入熱水，再把蛋糕盤放進去，一拼放進烤箱烤60-75分鐘 Pour cheesecake batter inot the prepared baking pan. Wrap the baking pan with alumni foil (don’t cover up the cake). Put the wrapped baking pan in a baking tray with hot water. Bake for around 60-75 mins
蛋糕邊轉成一點黃色和中間輕輕摸起來不濕就代表好了 Edges will likely have slightly puffed and may have just begun to turn a light golden brown and the center should spring back to the touch. This means the cake is ready!
蛋糕要放至室溫才可以放進冰箱，需要在冰箱放至少6小時才可以啊 Let the cake cool down to room temperature and put in the fridge for at least 6 hours.
Water Bath
烤好微黄色 Done!
幾個關鍵要點 Few Key Tips!
所有材料要提早從冰箱拿出來，放至室溫 All ingredients should be taken out from the fridge and sit until room temperature
不要過度攪拌，避免空氣進入蛋糕餡裡 Don’t over-beat. Take it easy! This is to avoid incorporate too much air in the batter
芝士蛋糕放涼也是有技巧，烤好後不要立即從烤箱拿出來，關掉烤箱，半打開烤箱門，先讓蛋糕在烤箱裡降溫，大概一小時後，才拿出來，溫度一下子轉變太大，蛋糕就容易裂 There’s trick to cool down the cheesecake. Don’t take it out from the oven immediately. Turn off the oven and leave the cake inside. Let the oven door half open. Let the cake to first cool down inside the oven. After about 1 hour, take the cake out and further cool it down to room temperature. Sudden change of temperature will make the cake crack.
烤的時候不要總打開烤箱門看，這樣會影響烤箱溫度影響效果 Don’t open the oven when you are baking the cake. This will change the oven temperature
Overall speaking, I don’t think this is difficult (what? you’ve written so much and you think it’s not difficult?) Honestly, if you read through my sharing again and key tips especially, what’s asking you is – BE PATIENT! There’s no special techniques on how to beat the eggs or complex procedures. All you need is TO BE PATIENT. Can you do that?
西人很滿意我這個首次製作的芝士蛋糕，下次要挑戰什麼好呢？Mr Large is very happy with my “first cheesecake”. What should be my next challenge?
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港姐終於有廚房之後，興奮得一直上網看廚具，正所謂先欲善其事，必先利其器，港姐現在毫無興趣買衣服鞋包包，天天看各種鍋，每次西人看到我又再看烹飪視頻或者是鍋的時候，他就會翻白眼🙄說“you are so addicted”，曾經聽到好多人（尤其是年輕人）會問“喂，怎麼可以找到一個讓人非常passionate或者motivated的興趣愛好”，我通常會回應說“喂，真的有興趣，是不需要找，你自然而然就會去做”，就像我停不了看跟烹飪相關的東西，做飯從來不覺得累，早上起床，晚上睡前都在想煮什麼好呢？我真的是addicted。
Since I finally have a kitchen, I have been so excited and kept looking and shopping of all kinds of cookwares and tools online. I’m no longer interested in buying new clothes, shoes or purse. Whenever I’m looking at cooking video or shopping for cookware, Mr Large will roll his eyes and say “you are so addicted”. I’ve heard a lot of people asking about how to find a habit that they will be passionate with. I honestly don’t know but I strongly believe if there’s something you never get tired with, that’s it. I know I’m addicted.
西人說廚房就是我的office，說的一點都沒錯，我一天煮三餐不覺得累，還打算給自己幾個挑戰，1）朋友口中的粵式廚師挑戰北方麵食，2）西式材料做中餐，3）掌握更多西式料理，4）做甜點！沒錯，甜點！我從來都不愛甜食，但耐可西人嗜甜如命，每次吃完飯都會問“what’s for dessert?”，既然現在”office”有個大烤箱，甜點材料在西方國家又是如此便宜和容易買到，港姐當然沒有任何藉口，是時候多學多做甜點了。
My kitchen is my office. This is what Mr Large said. I never get tired even I need to cook 3 meals a day everyday. I’m actually giving myself some challenges in my “office”: 1) as a Southern Chinese to master Northern Chinese flour-cooked snacks e.g. dumplings, scallion pancake, etc.; 2) Cooking Chinese food with Western ingredients; 3) Better master western cuisine; 4) Making dessert! I’m not obsessed of dessert at all. Yet, Mr Large has super sweet tooth. He always asks “what’s for dessert” after dinner. Since now I have a decent oven in my “office” and dessert ingredients are so much cheaper and easily accessible here, I have no excuse not to make more dessert.
The first challenge Mr Large has given me is to make dessert with the apples that we’ve got from the hotel breakfast packs in the last 1 month during the lockdown. It happened that I saw a recipe from facebook of apple galette. It looks like an easy one and I’ve got all the ingredients. I then decided that this is going to be my first homework.
As a beginner of dessert, I would say I pass. Yet, the pastry could be thinner. Presentation is what can be much more improved. One of my girlfriends commented “you can further improve on this crepe”….THIS IS NOT CREPE! Ha!
做法相當的簡單，各位初哥也可以跟我一起嘗試一下。 It’s very simple and easy. Everyone can try even without much baking experience.
派皮材料 Pastry Ingredients：麵粉 Flour 1 1/4 cup, 糖 Sugar 1 tbsp，鹽 Salt 1/2 tsp，黃油 Butter 113g，蘋果醋 Apple Cider Vinegar 1 tbsp，冰水 Ice cold water 1/4 cup
派皮材料混合好，輕輕揉成團，用保鮮膜包好放進冰箱30分鐘 Mix all the pastry ingredients and make a dough. Wrap with plastic wrap and chill for 30 mins
蘋果削皮切片，放進鍋裡加入其它材料中慢火煮直到蘋果變軟 Peel the apples and cut into thin slices. Cook the apple slices with all other ingredients in low medium heat until apples are soft.
將派皮麵團分成四份，擀成圓形 Cut the dough into 4 portions. Roll them into thin round slice
放進蘋果餡後，將邊邊輕輕包好 Put the apples and wrap the sides of the pastry
在派餅邊涂上蛋液，再撒一點點糖 Put on some egg wash along the sides of the pie and some sugar
烤箱425F預熱，烤25分鐘，淋一點蜂蜜和撒上一點肉桂粉裝飾（也可以撒糖分）Pre-heat oven at 425F，bake the pies for around 25 mins. Serve with some honey and cinnamon (or icing sugar)
這週打算烤曲奇，也算是挺簡單的，再練習一下就挑戰蛋糕！This week’s challenge is cookies. It’s also very simple. Need more practice and then I will start baking some cakes!
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MS HK IN THE KITCHEN 