SerenityBakes&Cooks

This is the first time that I baked a whole fish in the oven and I was pleasantly surprised that despite the high heat, the fish remained tender, moist and juicy!  My 2 boys didn't like the taste and asked me to steam it with soya sauce next time! ;p So lucky for them that I served the fish with carbonara and some roasted sweet potatoes or they would have had to go hungry. Ho Ho... The hubby, who is generally hard to please when it comes to food, polished off his fish and all I saw of his plate was fish bone and head (He had one whole fish to himself). Yay to that! Oven Baked Whole Sea Bass (serves 2) Ingredients: 1 whole sea bass (cleaned and dried with paper towel) Sea salt 2 sprigs of fresh rosemary 1 lemon (thinly sliced) Light olive oil Chicken rotisserie seasoning powder (optional, I added in some on a whim) Method: Pre-heat oven to 200deg C, top and bottom heat Line your oven tray with aluminium foil, followed by baking paper Make diagonal slit...

Zachary looking forward to his dinner While looking for some chicken drumsticks to cook ABC soup for my boys who fell sick on Monday, I saw some Kurobuta minced meat on offer, buy 1 get 1 free! I am a sucker for such sales, and the meat looked so good I just had to try it, and think about how to cook it later. Kurobuta is like a pork version of wagyu beef. If it is on offer, just grab right? So, I started to look for recipes online and found Chicken Soboro Donburi ( Recipe Here ). I made some changes to suit what I had in the fridge but the seasoning for the meat remains unchanged. When cooking the meat, my older boy kept saying: "Mmmm, what's that smell?" He couldn't wait to start dinner, and polished off every bit of rice in his bowl. :) Another new found recipe for keeps, which I just have to share with you. One dish meal Pork Soboro Donburi (Serves 4) Ingredients: 225g ground pork (you can use ground chicken too) 1 Tbsp sugar 2 Tb...

According to Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), Cordyceps is believed to have a variety of benefits to our body when consumed such as increasing our immunity, having anti-aging effects, fighting respiratory infections, and improving liver function. For those who do not know what Cordyceps is, you can read up more about it and its benefits here ( More About Cordyceps ).  Was blessed by my in-laws with some cordyceps which sat in my freezer for the longest time, because I had no idea how to cook it. Thankfully, I had my 2nd aunt to the rescue who taught me what to do and for those who will like to cook a nutritious double boiled cordyceps soup for yourself and your family, but are unsure of how to do it, here is a simple 3 ingredient method to start off with. Just 3 ingredients: Chicken, Wolfberries and Cordyceps Double Boiled Cordyceps Soup (serves 4) Ingredients: 1 deskinned chicken breast 12-20 cordyceps (wash away the dirt from the cordyceps gentl...

For those of you who take taxis regularly, do you notice how our Singapore taxi drivers love to chat? I suppose being stuck in their cars all day, the only way they can converse on the job will be to talk to their passengers! During one such encounter with a chatty driver a few years ago, I learnt a very valuable cooking tip! This particular driver was sharing his meal plan for the day and omelettes must have been part of the menu because all I remembered of that ride was of him telling me that OYSTER SAUCE is the key to a very delicious omelette! He was so enthusiastic about it, that I obligingly replied that: "Yes, I will give it a try next time!" Well, it was only in the past year while preparing to cook a minced meat omelette, that I remembered this driver's "secret" ingredient. So just to see what it will taste like, I took his advice and added oyster sauce. This was advice well taken indeed! I have since dropped my method of using soya sauce an...

Chicken wings are a weekly feature on our dinner table. Baked, stir fried or braised and sometimes deep fried when the Hubby decides to take over the kitchen on a weekend! =) Today, I am going to share a Baked Honey Miso Chicken Wings recipe. It is not only tasty, but no washing up required! How awesome is that... Ok ok, maybe just a small bowl and spoon to prepare the marinade, but absolutely no pan to wash after cooking! I found this recipe from the internet a few years ago, and simply scribbled down the ingredients. My apologies for not being able to provide the source. Baked Honey Miso Wings (serves 4) Ingredients: 16 mid wings or drumelettes 1 tablespoon miso paste 1 tablespoon light soya sauce 1 tablespoon water 1/4 cup honey or golden syrup Method: Mix miso, soya sauce, water and honey/golden syrup in a bowl till it forms a watery marinade. It is ok to have small lumps from the miso. Place wings/drumlettes into a bowl or ziploc bag. Pour marinade over the ...

The boys were offered a food sampling of Yakiniku Pork at Cold Storage supermarket and to my surprise, it was so delicious that my little one Z chomped down his share happily. And by chomping down, I mean that he chewed and swallowed everything! This 5 year old of mine finds pork and beef meats tough and he often spits them out after chewing them. I still give him a tiny portion at mealtimes though, to get him used to eating them! So guess what, that day, I picked up a pack of frozen Iberico pork collar and a bottle of Yakiniku sauce to give it a try at home. And this has become one of my favourite items to cook, just because it is so quick and easy! You should know by my recipes posted so far, I simply love Quick and Easy!! =) Yakiniku Pork (Serves 4) Ingredients: 1 pack of frozen sliced pork collar or pork belly  1 pack of enoki mushrooms (cut and washed well) 1/2 brown onion (sliced) Yakiniku sauce (any Japanese brand will do, you can refer to the bra...

A small portion of Teriyaki Salmon can cost easily over $10 if you eat it in a restaurant. With $10, you can serve this dish to a family of 4! But first, you will need to invest in 2 very important condiments often required in Japanese cooking - Mirin and Cooking Sake. Teriyaki sauce is made up of soya sauce, mirin (a sweet rice wine), cooking sake and sugar. The basic ratio that I use is 2:2:1:1 in the above order mentioned. So if you are cooking a thin salmon fillet (approx 150g) for one person, the amount of condiment will be as follows:- 1 tbsp soya sauce, 1 tbsp mirin, 1/2 tbsp cooking sake and 1/2 tbsp sugar. That's all it takes to make your teriyaki sauce. Teriyaki Salmon Ingredients: 1 piece of fresh salmon fillet with skin on, approx 300g (make sure to remove any bones in it if you are cooking this for kids) 2 tbsp each of soya sauce and mirin, 1 tbsp each of cooking sake and sugar (mix well in a bowl) A little sea salt (optional) Method: Wash salmon fi...