Gurung Bread (Nepali bread ) 尼泊尔式面包

When i was trekking in Nepal on the last two weeks, at first I didn't know there was such a simple and yummy bread served at the tea house. After i knew this bread, I ordered this gurung bread on every morning at each tea house ( we trekked difference village on each day, so we stayed difference tea house on each night).

Ondeh Ondeh Swiss Roll Christmas Log Cake 班兰椰香蛋糕卷

My friends said this cake is seriously good, and requested me to take order. I told them i have no time to make, let me share the recipe here then they can try out. But they still want me to make, Lolz ^_^ The fresh grated coconut decorated on this swiss roll, look like snow on a Christmas log cake, nice!

Homemade Pineapple Jam 自制黄梨酱

My best melt-in-mouth pineapple tarts is one my family top choice of CNY cookies especially my younger sister who is super love my pineapple tarts. But I always have to make this cookies very last minutes as the tarts will get bad less than 2 weeks. Partly due to low sugar and no preservatives are added. Recently i learnt two tips on how to make the jam preserved longer with natural ingredients.

Poached fish with Onions and Limes dressing 青柠洋葱水煮鱼

This is a very nice fish recipe that i learnt from my mother. The method of cooking this fish is using poaching method. Simmer the fish in hot water instead of the usual way of steaming it. This method resulted moist fish texture if compare to steaming method ( the flesh tasted dry if over steamed or not enjoy it immediately).

Wholemeal Loaf_Natural Yeast 天然酵母_全麦土司

A basic wholemeal loaf that using natural yeast _sourdough starter , wholesome and healthy home baked bread for my family. Even it has to wait long hours to complete a loaf. But with better planning, you can still doing many tasks while waiting.....furthermore it didn't taste sour at all.

Homemade Ginger Candy 自制姜糖

My SIL's friend shared this recipe with her. A good homemade ginger candy use good Bentong ginger to make. Always nice to have warm or hot ginger drink especially when we are travelling in the cool weather's countries. What you need to do is just drop a cube inside the hot water, it will melt in hot water then you could enjoyed and warm your body quickly.

Bear wholemeal Pull-Apart bread_Natural yeast天然酵母_小熊小面包

My bread baking journey has begun with natural yeast, i guess it is quite hard for me to use back instant yeast to bake bread. There is nothing wrong baking bread with instant yeast, at least still homebaked bread. Since i have natural yeast, and i need to keep it active and alive, so i have to bake more often with it. Furthermore it has more nutritious than normal bread.

Pain de campagne_natural yeast 天然酵母_乡村面包

When I travelling in Europe, i like to enjoy their sourdough bread especially in Germany where they have good sourdough breads. And also admiring on those bread and promise to myself that i have to bake this type of real bread in one day. Finally with my natural yeast, now i could enjoying homebaked sourdough bread at home which is healthy as no sugar and oil are added, simply use flour, water and salt (good to consume by diabetes patient). After made quite a number of sourdough breads, now i start to understand how to control the sourness of this bread, so my family also started to accept this type of healthy bread.

Sourdough Pita bread 天然酵母_口袋面包

Once my new batch of natural yeast ready, first i removed some to make this Pita bread. I am so glad that the bread nicely puffed and has big pocket that we can fill up with anything, roast meat, pulled pork, vegetables, pickled vegetables and etc. My chidlren also like to spread with Nutella and banana.

By the way, baking with natural yeast, you need to have two P (Passion and Patience) ^_^.
Here are the benefits of Sourdough bread:-
Easier to Digest
Natural Preservatives
Blood Glucose Regulation
Better Absorbtion of Vitamins
Better Absorbtion of Minerals
 *extracted from a piece of information that my friend forwarded to me

Making Natural Yeast (Sourdough starter) 自制_ 天然酵母 (面粉和水）

This is not my first time dealing with natural yeast. The first time i made natural yeast with apple. I didn't continue to bake with the first natural yeast as that time i was a busy working mom (it was 4 years back) and also has limited information of maintaining a natural yeast (the first natural yeast cookbook i bought was in Japanese, Lolz). Until few months back, i met two new friends and now became lost sisters ^_^, Jennifer and Elvina. Jennifer has been baking with natural yeast whereas Elvina love to eat sourdough bread (she is expert in eating very rusty sourdough bread which taste sour , hard and thick crust ^_^). Slowly i was influenced by them and start back to make my own natural yeast with the consultation by Jennifer and few of my Instagram's friends. This time i made Sourdough starter just using flour and water. There are many ways to get natural yeast, Asian way usually used dried fruits or fresh fruits to make yeast water then add flour to make the starter. This time i prefer simple way of natural yeast using sourdough method, just need flour and water, which are easily obtain in my kitchen. Some of you might already know the benefits of baking with natural yeast, if you not, please google for the answers as i am not the expert to tell you the benefits. Some of you may ask me will the bread using sourdough starter tasted sour? If you are making a rustic country bread, yes, it taste sour because of long fermentation. If you using it to make Asian sweet buns,even you can make into bao or kuih-muih, you will not taste sour because the short fermentation and the way of keeping the starter (will share later).

Getuk Ubi Kayu 炸木薯球

Nowadays hardly see Getuk Ubi selling at kuih muih stalls (have not seen it at my area). One of the old-school snack.

Homemade Chicken Luncheon Meat 自制鸡肉午餐肉

A very easy homemade luncheon meat recipe that with only one ingredient i.e Chicken meat and seasonings, bake it and you can have tasty and healthy chicken luncheon meat at home.

Bingka Ubi / Baked Cassava Cake 烤木薯糕

This morning saw some nice and cheap tapioca / cassava in the pasar besar (market), could not resist to buy some to bake a cassava cake.

Baked Salted Egg Yolk Custard Mooncakes 咸蛋奶黃月饼

This was one of the mooncake recipe that i didn't expect to be nice, so i made a small batch. But it turned out nice and less sweet. The pastry turned soft very fast, only took overnight to become soft. Anyway it was quite difficult to handle the soft custard filling while shaping. Hopefully i can improve this recipe if i make again next year ^_^.

Snowskin Mooncake with Mung Bean filling ( without shortening ) 綠豆蓉餡冰皮月饼

I am happy to find out this snowskin recipe that didn't using Gao flour (cooked flour ) and shortening . After my friend Jane tried out this recipe and she said the taste is nice and dough also easy to handle, I also immediately try out after her good comment ^_^.

My recipes in "Tasted and Approved" Cookbook

Thanks to Marshall Cavendish giving me an opportunity to share my humble recipes in a new cookbook titled " Tasted and Approved" together with few other bloggers. Few of my tasted recipes that some of you requested earlier (via my Instagram @sonianll ) are included in this cookbook that will be published soon. Prior to official cookbook that will be available at the bookstores in Singapore, Malaysia and countries around the region, now you can get special pre-order copy with 20% discount . To place the order, please email to booksorder101@gmail.com. This pre-order offer ends on 10 Oct 2016.

Green Tea Baked Mooncake 绿茶烤皮月饼

My children all are green tea or matcha lover, so nice to bake some green tea mooncake for them. The best thing about this mooncake is you don't need to egg wash the mooncake, much easier to make.

Nyonya Kuih Pie Tee / Top Hats 娘惹小金杯

After the last attempted of Pie Tee, i didn't attempt again until now. When my friend said she wants to make Curry Kapitan for the potluck gathering at her house. Immediately i think of to make this Pie Tee since both are also Nyonya foods.

Matcha Sponge Cake ‎抹茶海绵蛋糕

My daughter is a big fan of everything that includes matcha! I made this matcha cake for her Birthday.

Black Sesame Chiffon Cake 黑芝麻戚风蛋糕

A nice Black sesame chiffon cake that i baked few weeks ago..

Nangka Ji 椰絲糯米丸

The other day I saw this interesting recipe in Comfort Food Recipe Astro show. Look at the ingredients used, I know this will be a nice dessert as it has coconut and palm sugar aka Gula Melaka . Why is it called as Nangka Ji,  i guess the shape look like Jackfruit's seed , Nangka (Jackfruit in Hokkien) and Ji (seed in  Hokkien). Actually this dessert is made of glutinous rice ball that wrapped with coconut gula Melaka filling, then served with coconut thick paste.

About me~Sonia aka Nasi Lemak Lover

I am just an ordinary Hokkien gal who grew up in Selangor in the 70s.  Back then, our home kitchen is the soul of the family and is a more popular hangout place than kopitiams. I love to help mum prepare her favourite dishes and I usually get the simple chores like chopping garlic and shallots.  

As a little girl, I love to play 'masak masak' using empty cans and pretend to cook while my other girlfriends played dress up with paper dolls.  I have always been a curious girl and like to ask all sorts of questions about a particular dish especially the ones I like.  

Cooking and baking has always been my hobby but I never really got the time to hone this passion as I was busy working and building my own small family, like most working mothers.  Despite not having time to cook I still collect recipes from my mother, the vegetable seller, the meat seller, my friends’ mothers, grandmothers, watch TV cooking shows and from recipe books and anyone willing to share.  For those where I cannot get the recipes I would be thinking about it day and night and would try to replicate the dish in my mind and add to my recipe collection. I am always fascinated with different taste and texture of food. 

My passion was revived when I lost my job some few years ago. As I was spring cleaning my house one day, I came across the little recipe book with all my collection of recipes from many years.  My heart skipped as if I have just bumped into my first love after many years.  

I've never attended any cooking or baking classes nor learned from any cooking sifu. I like to experiment with recipes on my own and self teach.  I am happiest when I see friends and relatives enjoying my cooking.  So I started cooking, baking and blogging to inspire the younger generations to eat healthily and live well. 

My followers are my best teachers.  I love to hear from my followers, be it positive or negative comments. This way, I can be better.  Whenever they have any problem I will try to help them solve it despite my limited experience especially in baking. I share their disappointment whenever their cake or bread turns out below expectations but I never stopped improving. 

Besides, baking and cooking, hiking is my other love.  Whenever I hike at a new place, I always check out the specialities of that area with my hiking friends. As there are a few of us, we can taste more varieties of food.  

I hope that by sharing all my simple tried and tested recipes, anyone can cook.  And yes, Nasi Lemak  has always maintained its top spot on my favourite food list. This is my humble story – Nasi Lemak Lover.  

我是一个在七十年代，生长在雪兰莪州的平凡福建女子。那些年，我们的厨房就是家里的精神所在，是比咖啡店更为出色的地方。我喜欢帮忙妈妈在厨房里和她一起准备（我们）喜欢吃的菜肴。通常我都做些轻松的打杂工作如切蒜米和葱头。

当我是小女孩时，我的其他女孩在玩纸公仔时，我就喜欢用空罐头玩“家家酒”，把自己变身成为一位厨师，还常常好奇的追问所有关于如何烹煮一道特别菜肴的问题。

虽然烹饪和烘焙一直是我的爱好，却从来没有真正的有时间去投入我对烹饪和烘焙的那份热情。因为当时，就如多数的职业妇女一样，要忙于工作和组织我自己的小家。 就算没有时间烹煮，我还是向我妈妈、菜贩、肉贩以及朋友们的妈妈祖母们收集和很多的食谱以及向他们学习烹饪的方法。我也收看电视里的烹饪节目里，阅读烹饪书籍，我还向那些肯分享她们的食谱的太太们学习烹饪呢。如果我没能取得那些食谱，我就会日思夜的尝试模仿那些菜肴，煮出一道心目中同样味道的菜肴。我就是这样被食物中的口感和不同的味道迷惑着。

有一天，当我在大扫除时，我看到那些我收集了很多年的食谱，我对烹饪和烘焙的热情复活了 ！我的心，好像在很多年以后和初恋情人重逢般的跳动 ！

我从来没有上过任何的烹饪和烘焙课程，也从来没有向任何的烹饪师傅学习烹饪。我喜欢用自己的食谱来做实验，也自学烹饪。看到亲戚朋友喜欢我吃我煮的食物，我就会非常的高兴。从此以后，我开始我的烹饪、烘焙和撰写部落格的路程，希望鼓励年轻的一代，可以吃得健康，活得自在。

我的部落格追随者也是我的导师。我喜欢听取她们不管是正面的或反面的评语，因为这样我才能做得越来越好。虽然我有限的经验，但当他们遇到任何困难时，我将会尽我所能来帮助他们，尤其是关于烘焙的问题。我也和他们分享他们蛋糕或面包上的缺失，但我从来不会停止改善烘焙上遇到的问题。

除了烹饪和烘焙，爬山是我的另一个钟爱的活动。当我和爬山的朋友去到一个新的地方，通常都会和他们品尝当地出名的美食，我们好几个人都会点不同的食物来吃。

任何人都可以开始动手烹饪。 我希望和你们分享我全部简易而且试煮过的食谱。还有啊，我的椰浆饭就时常是我好吃食物排行榜的第一名哦 ！这就是我谦逊的故事 --- 一个爱吃椰浆饭的人。

Liu Sha Bao (Salted Egg Yolk Custard Bun) 黃金流沙包

Liu Sha Bao is one of my daughter's favorite dim sum, so i try my hand to make it at home. Liu Sha Bao is a one of the popular bao in dim sum restaurant. For a good Liu Sha Bao, the salted egg yolk custard must flowing out like lava when you first bite it. Anyway, my first Liu Sha Bao's didn't achieve the flowing out filling, but the custard filling tasted was so yummy, exactly like that one served in dim sum restaurant. Even i couldn't achieve like the real Liu Sha Bao, i still sharing this recipe here, as i know some of you might not like the flowing lava filling ,feel it a bit messy when eating it , then you can try this recipe.

Nyonya Nasi Lemak 娘惹椰浆饭

I couldn't resist any nasi lemak since i am Nasi Lemak Lover, LOL ^_^. When i saw this recipe in the Astro Comfort food recipe show, immediately thinking to try it out. And it turned out so yummy ! Nyonya Nasi Lemak served with sambal belacan which is one of the accompaniment that not found in the usual nasi lemak.

Hokkaido Milk Loaf 北海道牛奶面包

Turning my new favorite bread (Hokkaido soft milk bread) into loaf form, so my son can slice it to enjoy with his favorite peanut butter ^_^.

Coconut bread buns 椰丝面包

Nowadays it is quite hard to get coconut buns at the bakery shop. After made the Hokkaido soft milk buns, immediately think of to bake some coconut buns, old schooled buns but taste nice! This bun smell so good as i wrapped it with pandan leaves!

Hokkaido Soft Milk Buns (with cheese and sugar topping) 北海道牛奶小面包

Just knowing a new friend in my neighborhood, great that she also like to do baking especially baking bread with her homemade natural yeast. The other day, she gave me to try this bread, immediately i asked her to share recipe with me as these buns were so soft, light and fluffy.

Crispy Deep Fried Niangao with Sweet potato and Yam 酥脆番薯芋头炸年糕

Sandwich Nian gao or Chinese steamed sticky rice cake with sweet potato and yam then deep dry is one of the most popular snack during or after CNY in old days. When i was young, my mother always prepared this snack for us. My mother only used the simple plain flour batter. But this time i am sharing this recipe using many type of flours to create a crispy crust of Nian Gao. I tried this recipe as it just happened that i have all these flours on hand.

Korean Buttercream Flowers Cake 韩式奶油裱花蛋糕

I also followed the latest trend to make a popular Korean buttercream flowers cake for my elder sister's 50th Birthday. I didn't attend any buttercream flower class but instead i learnt by myself through many videos shared in Youtube.
What is Korean buttercream flowers? according to this Chinese website, Korean buttercream flowers are derived from the basic Wilton buttercream flower and re-created by Korean housewives. As most of them have no time to take the time consuming Wilton buttercream courses, hence they just used the basic buttercream flowers technique and improved the colour variations and made changes on the nozzles, and created their own version of buttercream flowers.

Carrot Bread Loaf 红萝卜面包

I got this idea of baking this carrot bread loaf after i spotted a similar bread selling at a bakery shop near my place.

Prune Lapis Legit 干梅子千层蛋糕

After made my elder sister's Birthday cake, i have left with many egg yolks as i made a buttercream flowers cake using Swiss Meringue buttercream which use many egg white. So it was a perfect time to bake a cake Lapis ( layers cake) which i hardly bake one since it requires many egg yolks.

Nestum Prawns 麦片虾

This dish is buttery, sweet and savory, and crunchy from the Nestum cereal and fried garlic, who can resist this dish, especially kids love it!

Chiffon Loaf Cake 长条戚风蛋糕

The challenge of making a chiffon cake using a normal bread loaf pan is how to minimize the shrinkage as there is no tube at the centre like normal chiffon cake pan, to support the cake batter to climb and rise. With my knowledge of baking chiffon cake and sponge cake, i used few methods to minimize the shrinkage of my new creation of baking chiffon cake in a bread loaf pan.

Japanese sandwich bread buns 日式三明治面包卷

After baked the very buttery and soft butter bread rolls, immediately i was thinking to use the same recipe to bake into this type of cute olive shape of Japanese sandwich bread buns. And this plain sandwich bun is versatile, you can just fill it with any of your preference filling. You can enjoy this bun during breakfast or serve during lunch.

Steamed Fish with Preserved Radish 菜脯蒸鱼

This is a simple Chinese home cooking dish, steamed fish topped with aromatic salty and sweet preserved radish (Hokkien we called as Chai Poh ), can have extra bowl of rice!

Butter bread rolls 咸奶油面包卷

To make my favourite's croissant is a challenging bread making in our hot weather here. But make normal bread rolls to look like croissant is not that difficult, furthermore it still taste buttery and the bread texture is soft and good, perfect to serve for breakfast.

Huat Kueh (Tapai Steamed rice cupcakes) 答拜米发糕

I always see my friend Jane made Huat Kueh (steamed rice cake) using Tapai (fermented rice) , was thinking to make but every time also can't make it happen because the Tapai need few days to fermented. So to make this Huat Kueh using tapai, you need to plan at least 1 week ahead. And this Huat Kueh also has QQ texture and winery aroma like that one i made with Toddy version, so nice !! Furthermore you don't need to add yeast or baking powder to make it rise and create crack effect.

Germany Free and Easy trip 德国自由行_Apr 2015

Just to record here for my trip to Germany last year...(but sorry, i have no time to write the details..)

All photos posted here are original photo, not edit using any software, so this was the true awesome colours of Germany.

Easy Matcha Castella Cake (cold eggs method) 抹茶蜂蜜长崎蛋糕 (冷全蛋打发)

I have very long did not bake a Castella cake, since i still have some leftover matcha powder, so use it to make a Castella cake. I still prefer the easy recipe which using cold eggs method and no SP (Ovalette) is added . It turned out nice, moist, not greasy as no oil is added, QQ texture and less sweet.
** These pictures were taken using iphone..

Zebra Patches Bread Loaf 斑马花紋土司

After made the giraffe patches bread loaf and leopard patches bread loaf , last i also made this Zebra patches pattern to have a complete full collection of animal patches bread loaf ^_^

Teochew Vegetarian Rolls / Kwang Chian 潮州灌腸 /光煎

This was a vegetarian dish that I cooked during CNY. Usually we practise full day vegetarian meal on CNY day 1. And i always just cook Loh Hon Chai to enjoy through out the day. But this year, i cook an extra new dish, a Teochew traditional snack called Kwang Chian after i saw a recipe in Chinese newspaper. I have never had this snack before, after tasted it, i just simply like this snack, taro and Chinese five spices nice fragrance, crispy beancurd skin after deep fried, nice aroma of peanuts, yum yum.

Japanese Cheesecake 日式奶酪蛋糕

Japanese cotton cheesecake by Diana's desserts recipe is very popular in online community. Earlier i don't bother the look of this cheesecake, you can see my old post here, shrunk and cracked top. After Dr. Leslie Tay shared his modification version, his beautiful bake is attracting more bakers to try out his recipe.

Baked Zucchini & Ham Frittata 烤夏南瓜及火腿蛋饼

Love this simple egg-based Italian dish, perfect to prepare for breakfast or a quick lunch. A very balance of dish which have egg, meat, cheese and vegetables.

Mango Swiss Roll 芒果蛋糕卷

I don't know how long that i did not bake a Swiss Roll. Today just thinking to make one. Since i only have mango, so just use it to make the filling.

Chinese style Braised Orange Duck 香橙焖鸭肉

This was one of the dish that i cooked during CNY, even brought to a family gathering. I just simply twisted from the French cuisine orange duck breast to this Chinese version. I am glad that it turned out good especially the gravy has a bit of tangy flavor from the oranges used.

Sweet and Sour Pork 咕嚕肉

Gu Lao Rou a.k.a Sweet and sour Pork a classic Chinese dish. Every Chinese mother have their own version. This is my version of sweet and sour pork. Personally i prefer to use pork belly for this dish, more tender and nice taste of fat after deep fried, yum yum. Also try not to omit pineapple in this recipe too, it give fruity sweet and add colour to this dish.

Pineapple-Shaped Tarts 凤梨酥_2016 CNY cookies 年饼_金猴报春

This pineapple tart is still using the same old recipe, my best melt-in-mouth pineapple tarts. But this time i changed from sweetened creamer to real stuff -F&N full cream condensed milk . Also shape them like a pineapple fruit.

Stir fried Mixed Vegetables with Fresh Lily bulb_ 缤纷百合_2016 CNY dish_金猴报春

We can easily get fresh Lily bulb from the market during this time (CNY). I like to just simple stir fried it with mixed vegetables, it taste crunchy and sweet.

Traditional Kuih Kapit (Love Letters ) 传统鸡蛋卷_2016 CNY cookies 年饼_金猴报春

My first ever traditional Kuih Kapit a.k.a Love Letters. I am not sure how many of you willing to try out this traditional Kuih Kapit which bake over charcoal grill, as it was really not easy task. Anyway, I still want to keep this traditional recipe on my blog here as to pass down this traditional recipe to younger generation.

Nut-Hugging Bear Cookies 小熊抱杏仁饼干_2016 CNY cookies 年饼_金猴报春

When i first see this cookie, immediately bookmark to make them because they are so adorable. It was shared by a Japanese chef Maa . Before i can make them, i have to get the cutter first.Later i realized that not just any bear cookie cutter is suitable to make them, some are too short and some are tall.