SerenityBakes&Cooks

Isn't it amazing and yet scary how social media is able to collect data about your likes and dislikes, and then send you recommended posts on travel destinations, food recommendation, fashion advise etc when you open up your apps like Facebook and Instagram?  One day, I was scrolling through my FB app when I saw a post on Tian Qi ("Notoginseng) which is purported to help your child grow taller. Intrigued (read: alert for Kiasu Mommy), I went to search online for more information about this wonder herb and found many articles and recipes relating to this. Some main benefits of Tian Qi that I have gathered in brief are: It helps to relieve pain by promoting blood circulation It helps to stop bleeding It aids in physical growth during puberty ( Ding Ding! ) It is a suitable remedy for women after childbirth (due to its ability to stop excessive bleeding) It is beneficial for preventing and treating heart disease I asked around and lo and behold, those that...

Nasi Lemak is an aromatic rice dish usually accompanied with an array of side dishes such as deep fried chicken wings/fish, eggs, fried anchovies, peanuts and otah plus sambal chilli which is a sweet and spicy chilli paste. The rice, is cooked in coconut milk diluted with water and some pandan leaves to give it a most fragrant aroma. It seems like there is a lot of food preparation involved if you want to have home made nasi lemak, look at what I have prepared for our nasi lemak dinner. Fried chicken wings, hard boiled eggs, achar (pickled vegetables in spicy peanut sauce) and sliced cucumbers. Will you believe it when I tell you that I didn't do much for this dinner? :) Fried chicken wings were purchased from our favourite breakfast beehoon coffeeshop stall, the delicious achar was also bought. I simply cooked the rice, hard boiled the eggs and sliced a cucumber. Delicious dinner in a jiffy, with my cheat version! :p You can do it too, with your favourite side dishe...

Fancy some Red Velvet Brownie Cheesecake for afternoon tea? You can make it yourself with this very yummy recipe, which I have tried and tested. It sounds like such a decadent and sinful cake, but in reality, it is a moist and cake like brownie which is so light. The cheesecake is not heavy and is a great compliment to the chocolatey brownie. Best of all, it is not too sweet! You might just find yourself cutting pieces of it and popping them in your mouth, and it will all be gone too soon! As a mom with 2 growing boys and having to pack school snacks for them everyday, this is a great addition to the snack box. And also a welcome change to the fruits or plain biscuits/cereal that they normally get. Please find the recipe here  Red Velvet Cheesecake Brownie  with detailed instructions and picture illustrations. Some baking tips to share: If you like a pretty swirl, it's advised that you put smaller dollops of brownie batter. As you can see in my picture, my ...

Today's recipe is Ayam Pongteh, a Peranakan dish of chicken and potato stew. I make this dish rather often, but with pre-made paste which is easily available at wet markets and supermarkets. When my sister goes to Malacca with her family, I will ask her to buy packets of the readymade paste for me too. Fast and delicious one pot dish. I usually cook it in the afternoon and the chicken will absorb all the flavours of the sauce by dinner time, making it extra delicious!! Why not make my own from scratch, I thought to myself. The recipes I looked at online seemed simple enough, I had everything in the kitchen: garlic, shallots, even gula melaka (thanks to Sister from her last Malacca trip!). Only item missing was Tau Cheo which is a fermented soya bean paste, which is the essential ingredient that gives this dish its umami and unique flavor. My picture above doesn't do justice to the Ayam Pongteh, apologies that I did not take a better photo when dishing it out. I snapped...

Black beans have a variety of health benefits. It is good for maintaining healthy bones, lowers blood pressure, helps to support heart health due to the fiber, potassium, folate, vitamin B6, and lack of cholesterol contents in the bean. Black beans aid in digestion due to its high fiber content, which in turn also helps in weight loss.  Today's recipe is a double boiled soup that uses organic black beans. Why organic? Simply because there is no soaking of the bean required before you use it, and it apparently softens easily compared to the non organic beans. I am not sure if this is true, as I have only used organic black beans for this soup.  This soup tastes very pleasant, despite the scary looking black colour. And it is so nutritious and good for our bodies! Do give it a try! Double Boiled Organic Black Bean Soup (Serves 4) Ingredients: 1/2 cup of organic black beans 3 red dates (pitted) 10-12 medium sized dried scallops 200g pork ribs 1 ...

I found a recipe for Basic White Bread on a baker's blog and decided to try it out last night. I have made several white breads in my bread machine before, but was never satisfied with the result. This looked simple enough and worth a try, plus I did not have anything for the 2 boys' breakfast. It was well past midnight when I took the freshly baked loaf out from the machine. Left the loaf to cool overnight, and I headed straight to bed immediately after! This morning, I cut a thick slice of the bread, toasted it and spread peanut butter on top. I love the taste of this bread. It doesn't taste yeasty and it is made with 100% fresh milk, full of calcium and free of preservatives! This recipe is a keeper! Goodbye, Gardenia bread! Please find the recipe here, complete with step by step pictorial instructions :  Basic White Bread Some additional tips of my own: Warm fresh milk and butter in the microwave (Heat at medium power for 1 minute). Warming the...

I made Kinoko Gohan for dinner yesterday. This is cooked in a rice cooker, and so simple to make. Kinoko Gohan means Mushroom Rice in Japanese, and simple seasonings: light soya sauce, mirin and cooking sake, are added to the rice for flavor. About once or twice a week, I add a multi grain mix to white rice or substitute 1/4 cup of white rice with unpolished rice, since the Health Promotion Board has been encouraging Singaporeans to eat more unpolished or brown rice, to combat the rising numbers of Diabetes. If you are thinking of doing the same, this recipe is a great way to get started as you can hardly taste the nutty grains in it.  I served the Kinoko Gohan with oven baked salmon teriyaki and pan fried gyoza and it complimented the rice perfectly. :)  Kinoko Gohan (serves 4) Ingredients: 1 pack of Shimeiji mushrooms 1/2 carrot (peeled, and thinly sliced) 2 cups Japanese rice (washed and soaked in enough water to cover the rice for 1/2 hour) 2...