Post Exam Baking :D

Just had my one and only Jan exam yesterday, finally I could have some rest time after some intensive revision the past few days. Could have done better in the exam but oh well, it's done and dusted. I shall not think about it anymore and enjoy my little break before uni starts again. Yesterday, as soon as I got home after exam, I did a big clean up in my room since I hadn't had time to keep to my cleaning routine during exam period, but now, it's all nice and shinny and smells of the signature Dettol fragrance! haha! AND, finally, I got to do some baking:) I have been longing to bake especially when I was revising. ( I swear I am not the only one who just finds everything else other than revision so much fun when I revise for exams!) Since there were a few apples that had been sitting in my kitchen for quite a while now, so I decided to make apple crumble with it! While my sister was here during the Christmas holiday, I let her made plum crumble for me and my flatmates for the first time, it turned out to be quite easy to make and so it was a great success and we all enjoyed it a lot. So, I decided to try it out myself this time using apples instead.

You will need:
(4-6 servings)

6 red apples
~70g sugar
some cinnamon
1/4 cup of water

For the crumble:
200g plain flour
120g butter
60g sugar

Method:
1. Peel and dice the apples, heat and stew on medium heat in a saucepan. Add also the sugar and water along with some cinnamon, These ingredients can be adjusted depending on personal paste, feel free to taste along the way as you cook. Take it off the heat until the apples are soften and let it cool.
2. Meanwhile, mix in the sugar and plain flour, add in the butter in small chunks and then with your hands, melt the butter and mix it until they become crumbs, you can also put pressure to the crumbs to create slightly larger crumbs.
3. Preheat the oven to 150C. Spread your apple mixture on a baking tin or gratin dish, then sprinkle your crumbs on top. Place it in the oven until you see the crumbs turn golden brown. This should take about 30-45mins.
4. Take it out of the oven when it is done and allow to cool. Serve with ice cream/ custard/ cream. (Ice cream and crumble is my fav combo:P)

       

                                                                                          

I shall share the recipe for the plum crumble as well.

Ingredients:
(4-6servings)

~ 600g riped plum
~60g of sugar
1/4 cup of water

For the crumble, please refer to above mentioned.

Method:
1. Dice the plum and mix in the sugar with 1/4 cup of water , spread it directly on a baking tin or gratin dish.
2. The crumble can be made as mentioned above in the apple crumble recipe. Preheat the oven 150-160C and bake for 45mins.

Korean Street Food - Rice cakes 떡볶이

While my sister was with me last week, the last night before she left for university. We made korean style rice cakes! Spicy and filling food that is perfect for the winter!



























You will need:
(2-3 servings)

2 handfuls of rice cakes
3 fish cake sticks ( usually it is in a flat sheet form, but I only found the ones in long stick form from my local asian groceries store, which works equally fine.)

We also added some assorted chinese fish balls, homemade dumplings, and a pack of instant noodles to give more variety.

For the sauce:
1 tbsp of hot pepper flakes
1tbsp of sugar
1.5 big spoonfuls of korean hot pepper paste
4-5 cups of water
some spring onions and sesame

Method:

Note: If your rice cakes are frozen, defrost it at room temperature, and then wash it under cold water. Do not cook directly from frozen, as it will be hard to fully cook the inside. Defrost any other frozen ingredients as well in room temperature.
1. In 4 cups of hot water, add in the hot pepper flakes, sugar and hot pepper paste and bring it to a boil.
2. Add in the rice cakes, fish cakes and fish balls and let it cook till soften.
3. Meanwhile, fry the dumplings on a seperate and also cook the instant noodles. It is best to cook the noodles separately then add it in at the end to the main, since the noodles will be hard to cook as the sauce starts to thicken, but if you add too early before it thickens, it will become soggy for leaving it cooking for too long.
4. As the sauce starts to thicken, taste it and adjust the sauce accordingly, If the consistency becomes too thick, add a bit of water.
5. Finally add in the dumplings and noodles, and add the spring onions on top and some sesame which is optional.
6. Grab your cutlery and dig in!!

Made a little edit on instagram :P