Life, Parenthood, Recipe, VFood

Beat the Haze with Chrysanthemum Wolfberries Jellies

Had a bad week battling the haze and inflammation thus I decide to make some desserts for the family.

Recipe: Chrysanthemum Wolfberries Jellies

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Konnyaku Jelly Powder, Wolfberries, Honeycomb Sugar, Chrysanthemum & Birdnest

 

Ingredients:

  • Konnyaku Jelly Powder 120gm
  • Chrysanthemum Flowers
  • Honeycomb Sugar
  • Wolfberries 10gm
  • Ready-to-drink Birdnest x 2 Bottles

Instructions:

  1. Boil a pot of water (~1litre) and when the water started to boil, put in the Chrysanthemum Flowers and the Honeycomb Sugar. [I would remove the Honeycomb Sugar if I’m pouring in Birdnest as I prefer it to be less/ not too sweet.]
  2. Let it boil for 15 minutes under low fire.
  3. Off the fire and remove the Chrysanthemum Flowers.
  4. Put in the Wolfberries, let it simmer down for 15 minutes.
  5. Pour in the Konnyaku Powder, stir and mix the powder under low fire for 10 minutes.
  6. Pour the Birdnest in. [You may skip this step if you are not a fan of birdnest.]
  7. Off the fire and prepare the molds.
  8. Pour the mixture into the molds and put it in the fridge.
  9. Let it sit for 6 hours. [I actually put this into the freezer for 1 hour and then shift it to the fridge to cut short the time.]
  10. Serve while it’s chilled. 🙂

The girls had helped me with the above and it seems fund as a bonding activity over the weekends. 🙂

Benefits of the Chrysanthemum Wolfberries Jellies:

Chrysanthemum is cooling and is used to treat respiratory issues, high blood pressure, and hyperthyroidism and was said to reduce inflammation and calm ones’ nerves. Wolfberry is high in antioxidants and in Traditional Chinese Medicine, it is good for tired eyes. Bird’s Nest boost better immunity, more energy, better sleep, good complexion, and good virility. Also, regular consumption of Bird’s Nest helps prevent colds and flus.

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Life, Rants, Recipe, VFood

[VFood Review] Warung Ijo – Authentic Indonesian Vegetarian Cuisine

Warung Ijo (4.8 out of 5☆)

Address: 337 Beach Rd, Singapore 199565 (Google Maps here)
Contact No: +65-88578600 | Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SGWarungIjo/
Payment: Cash, GrabPay (Not sure if they accept NETS/ Visa (Please FB/ Call them to find out)
Operating Hours: Tuesday to Sunday from 11.00am to 09.00pm. Closed on Monday. Except 1st & 15th day of the Lunar Month & Public Holidays. Closed on the next day.
Vegan’s Notes: Vegan options available here. Please inform when ordering.


Warung meant “Place/ Hut” and Ijo meant “Green” and Warung Ijo, in my own guess, meant “The Green Place” or the owner is trying to bring out the meaning of a place that embraces green food (vegetarian).

Warung Ijo is the new kid on the block that serves authentic Indonesian vegetarian cuisine. I know the difficulties to hunt for yummy Indonesian vegetarian cuisine in Singapore that won’t break the piggy bank and fits the local taste buds and finally, we have Warung Ijo to curb our Indonesian food cravings.

I first chanced upon this from a friend’s Instagram when she posted pictures of the insta-worthy place and aesthetically good looking food and I googled further on the place and ta-da, here I am.

Location wise.

It’s ~ 10 minutes walk from Nicoll Highway (CC5) MRT Station. You can walk via the bridge to City Gate Commercial & Residential development from the Nicoll Highway MRT Station then cross over to the shophouses where Warung Ijo is located.

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Otherwise, one can park at open-air Aliwal Street Carpark (limited lots) or along the roads near Baghdad Street.

Ambiance wise.

Chic and hip. They have baby seats for the young ones and I feel it’s quite kid-friendly. Outdoor and indoor seatings available.

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Food wise.

It was indeed an authentic Indonesian that fits into the local taste buds, a little tad spicy but for non-spicy eaters like me, I still can accept the taste. We ordered quite a few items on our first visit. There seem to be limited choices (maybe due to the fact that they just open their doors) but it was good enough for the varieties. There is a photo-wall near the counter that showcase the majority of the items on the menu. The only keynote is there is no kids menu available. I just managed to get hold of the Team @ Warung Ijo. THERE IS KIDS MENU available however it’s not stated in the Menu itself, one had to order via the counter. On the kids’ menu — there is Olive Fried Rice and Egg Fried Rice.

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Warung Ijo – Food Menu
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Warung Ijo – Drinks Menu
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Photo Wall @ Warung Ijo
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I call this, “The Drinks” bar.

The food that I’ve ordered:

  • Khalasan Fried Chicken
  • Nasi Lemak Fish
  • Fried Gyoza
  • Orh Luak
  • Kombucha Hibiscus Kiss
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Khalasan Fried Chicken
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Nasi Lemak Fish
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Orh Luak
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Fried Gyoza
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Kombucha Hibiscus Kiss

The portion was just nice for me. The Orh Luak was a little less crispy but the texture is smooth and soft. Chilli for Ork Luak is good. Same for the Fried Gyoza. It was crispy on the outside and fulfilling within. The main dishes were good. Spicy yes but within the tolerance level of mine, after all it’s authentic Indonesian cuisine. 😛

Service wise.

Superb. I think the lady boss (WQ) is the one serving over at the counter (my personal guess). Super chirpy lady and she speaks Indonesian. OMG. Super humble and nice peeps.

Costs wise.

I find it reasonable for authentic Indonesian cuisine. 🙂 It cost us S$44.50 for the items above. There is no GST & Service Charge at the moment. GrabPay accepted which is a plus for me.

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Improvements wise.

  • More choices for the non-spicy eaters and perhaps more soup-based dishes. 🙂

Ratings wise.

  • Overall I would give them a 4.8/ 5.0 stars. 🙂 Their nasi dishes did/ will not disappoint and 0.2 for rooms to improve.

UPDATES (27 Aug, 06.00pm):

I made a return trip on another day with my BFF. This time round, we ordered different food from the first trip.

The food that I’ve ordered:

  • Nasi Lemak Fried Chicken
  • Lontong Sayur
  • Rendang Fried Rice
  • Satang Padang
  • Orh Luak
  • Gyoza Soup (6 Pieces) with 1x Nasi (We didn’t manage to take a picture of this)
  • Cold Brew Gryphon Tea: The Pearl of Orient with Lychee
  • Kombucha Lemon Lime & Mint (Decide to try another flavour)
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Rendang Fried Rice
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Lontong Sayur
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Nasi Lemak Fried Chicken
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Satay Padang
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Orh Luak, again. LOL.
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Kombucha Lemon Lime & Mint and The Orient with Lychee Cold Brew Tea

We didn’t manage to snap a picture of the Gyoza soup but I understand it was that day’s special and not on the menu itself. Finally! A non-spicy and soup-based dish. And to my surprise, I realized they sell out their Lontong Sayur quite fast. We went on a Friday evening around 6.15pm for dinner and were told that there are only 3 bowls left. Being a typical Singaporean, I ordered one to try. The soup was thick and flavoury. I can taste the freshness of the coconut milk and the ingredients that they used. Spicyness is within the control. Both the Rendang Fried Rice & Nasi Lemak Fried Chicken did not disappoint us and the taste is soooooo good. The Satay Padang is not spicy, crunchy and soaked with the unique thick gravy (which I still couldn’t figure it out…) To my surprise, the Orh Luak on that day was crispy and flavourful.

Special mention for the Cold Brew Gryphon Tea – The Pearls of Orient with Lychee. LOL. Nothing can go wrong with Lychee. HAHA

The BFF mentioned that Indonesian cuisine is always stronger in taste and a little salty (Because I dislike sodium to the max. Less oil, less salt, less seasoning and no sugar theory.) True that but it was acceptable on my sodium scale for all of the above.

One should really check this place out for the savory authentic Indonesian Vegetarian cuisine. Reservations can be done prior via Facebook PM or a phonecall (See above for info) and do note on the operating hours mentioned too!


Updates (01 Sep, 11.45am): I’ve got in touch with the team and they will progressively introduced more dishes. Do CHECK OUT and LIKE their Facebook page for more updates!~ They will announce new dishes via Facebook. I heard that they are launching MEE SOTO soon! YAY for all soup-based dish lovers.

On another note, after the dinner, one can get their bubble tea fix over at Nine.Tales.Tea @ City Gate. Please support my primary school friend on his venture. #SupportLocal

P.S: This is not a paid review. I paid for my own food. Photos taken using Huawei Mate 10 Pro & Huawei P20 Pro. 🙂

Life, Parenthood, Rants, Recipe

Recipe: Melt in Your Mouth Pineapple Tarts

I am always intrigued by the creative flair that all my makers and bakers possessed. As a fan of handmade and artisanal crafts, I will try to make it a point to practise what I pitch and create items from scratch. LOL, this is actually a throwback post where an archive was saved in the folder to ensure that I remember this recipe as this is the best that I’ve replicate thus far.

After googling through many versions of pineapple tarts, I settled down on Sonia’s recipe, the #meltinthemouth version!

The long process is hard earned and I had raves about it after a whole day of scalding myself, because I made the filling all by myself and the hardwork paid off~ Will be baking the next batch soon and I had wrote down the whole recipe.  It’s super simple and nice based on the first attempt at it! 🙂

And sharing is caring. Along the way, I will share some insights as I bake.

pineapple tarts

PINEAPPLE TARTS (MELT-IN-THE-MOUTH-VERSION) 凤梨酥

Homemade Pineapple Fillings:

Ingredients:
2 x Near-to-Ripe Pineapple
250gm of Sugar (300gm if you like it sweeter)

See *** Notes below for other options.

I bought my pineapple from NTUC and this is the first time in my life that I had to hand pick a pineapple on own and being a noob, I googled on spot at NTUC on how to pick a good pineapple and finally got a near to ripe pineapple via this link. LMAO. Because NTUC don’t have Morris Pineapple for sale, I bought the whatever is available. If you have Morris Pineapple as an option. Just grab it! The taste will turn out sweeter and smoother.

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Normal Pineapples from NTUC
Methods:

  1. Cut away the leaves. Skinned and sliced the pineapple. Retain the middle fibre because this is the essence of the whole paste.
  2. Put the pineapple into the food processor/ blender. DO NOT ADD IN WATER.
  3. Blend the sliced pineapple. Please do not blend until it become pineapple juice. But of a texture that it retains its pulp.
  4. Heat up a frying pan/ wok. Pour the pineapple together with the juices in. Cooked over medium fire until majority of the juices got evaporated and dried out. Stir every now and then to avoid it getting burnt.
  5. Add in sugar and cook over low heat until it becomes a thick paste whereby when you scoop/stir the paste, it should drop like a more solidify state instate of a watery type.
  6. Scoop and put it aside to cool.
    ***Notes: You may add on to its fragrance by putting in 1 cinnamon stick and 3 clovers before you add in the sugar. But I just like to retain the pineapple fragrance thus would strongly abide by sticking to 2 of the ingredients.

It took me near to 1 hour and half to complete the paste and throughout as I need to take care of the 3 girls, I did a “lazy-way” out, that’s to simmer the pineapple pulp over big fire and once it starts to boil, lower it down to low heat”. But I will check the thing out every 2 minutes, to stir and ensure that it does not get burnt.

Patience is the key to good food.

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The pineapple pulp and juices over big fire.
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When the juices started to evaporate off and to add in sugar.
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Stir and cook until you get this texture.

Now for the tarts~~~

Ingredients:
2 egg yolks
510gm of plain flour/ all purpose flour.
350gm of butter
100gm of condensed milk

Ingredients for the Egg Wash:
1 egg yolk
1 tablespoon of milk (I use fresh milk)

Methods:

  1. Preheated your oven at 200 degrees for 10 mins.
  2. Put in the butter and condensed milk. Beat and mix it well.
  3. Add in the egg yolk one at a time. Ensure it mix well. Beat until it combines.
  4. Add in the flour. Mix it well until you gets a soft but not a sticky dough.
  5. Roll the pineapple fillings into a ball shape (a size of the old 50 cents) coin.
  6. Roll the dough into a ball shape, slightly smaller of the pineapple fillings. (Normally, people will roll the dough bigger than the filling but my family preferred to have tarts that’s full of fillings so I switch the “dimensions”.)
  7. Flatten the dough and place the filling in the middle. Bring the edges together and press lightly to seal. Roll it in between the palm to shape it nicely into a ball.
  8. Use a butter knife to cut some lines on the top of the pineapple balls to make the pineapple pattern.
  9. Apply egg wash on the surface of the pineapple ball.
  10. Place the parchment paper on the baking tray. Apply the parchment paper with eggwash.
  11. Place the pineapple balls on the parchment paper and bake it in the preheated oven at 170 degrees for 23 mins or until it turned golden brown.
  12. Cool completely before storage.
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SUCCESS!

Ok, apparently, I will try Morris Pineapple for the next round. 🙂 And all the items I got for the above baking session is NTUC. 🙂

 

Life, Pregnancy, Recipe

Recipe (During Confinement): 做月必品 – Ginseng Brown Rice Ginger Tea

I kind of forget that this is my all-time favourite during confinement and decide to pen it down in case I can use this for who-and-who’s confinement. Afterall, sharing is caring.

注: 请用 <<泡参>> instead of 人参 as 人参 will reduce milk supply if you happen to breastfeed.

Ingredients:
1 x Ginger
1 x Bottle of North American Ginseng
1 x Bag of 2.5kg of Brown Rice

Note:
You can get the North American Ginseng from Hock Hua Group that cost $20.00 for one small bottle. Normally I use up half bottle of the North American Ginseng for half packet of the 2.5kg Brown Rice. And also, you can use more Ginger(s) if you like some “spicy-ness” in the drink.

Steps:
1. Pour out half packet of the Brown Rice from the 2.5kg bag.
2. Rinse it over tap water and sun it to dry. (Normally I sun it for 1 – 2 days).
3. Slice the Ginger into thin pieces.
4. Then heat up the wok, put all the Ginger in.
5. Fry the Ginger until it’s dry.
6. Pour the Brown Rice in.
7. Stir fry over big fire for 10 mins.
8. Then continue it over small fire for 15 mins.
9. Add in the North American Ginseng.
10. Stir fry it over big fire for 10 mins.
11. Stir fry over small fire for 30 mins.
12. Then, wait for it to cool down before putting it into a container.

For Consumption:
1. Boil some water until it reaches the boiling point.
2. Take 3 Table Spoon of the Ginseng Brown Rice Ginger Mix into the Thermo Flask (approx 1.5litres)
3. Pour in the boiling water.
4. Keep it aside for at least 30 mins before consumption.

Ginseng Brown Rice Ginger Tea
Ginger will repel the wind from the body and Ginseng is to boost one’s energy. Ginseng Brown Rice Ginger Tea is said to reduce water retention, help one to boost one’s energy and quench thirst. And also, after confinement, one can do away with the Ginger to make it an everyday drink. 🙂

Note: One can also add in Red Dates or replace the Ginger with Red Dates (after the Confinement) to serve as a daily drink. 🙂