Singapore Restaurants – Imperial Treasure Fine Dining
National Day in Singapore has just passed, and since my in-laws were visiting, we surely had a lot of fun discovering – or re-discovering – the major food attractions in the city. From the very first time I visited Singapore, the Imperial Treasure Fine Chinese Cuisine in Marina Bay’s Shopping area has been a restaurant that made an impression. For Singapore National Day we headed there to enjoy their dim sum menu, exclusively available during lunch hours. You could say that Imperial Treasure left us longing for more, as we headed there again on Friday evening for dinner, when we indulged ourselves in experiencing their Peking duck and other traditional staples of Chinese cuisine. Continue reading “Singapore Restaurants – Imperial Treasure Fine Dining”
Bird’s nest – a Delicacy from South East Asia
Last Saturday we were invited by the lovely fellow foodie Sayuri to partecipate to a foodie event in Singapore all dedicate to bird’s nest. As the Italian half of Blender and Basil, I actually had never heard of bird’s nest, so I had to do some research to find out what it was all about. My friends and fellow foodies understood that I was talking about bird’s nest drink, which is very popular in Singapore and described it as a very sweet, very refreshing tonic with some gelatinous bits inside that makes its texture interesting. But when I visited the World of Birdnest Museum on Saturday, I soon found out there is a lot more to bird’s nest than just a derivative drink.
Continue reading “Bird’s nest – a Delicacy from South East Asia”
Pine nut and aubergine mezzelune
You know we are obsessed about homemade and we already shared with you our homemade pasta recipe. Pick that one up and once you get the hang of it, you’ll soon realise there are so many things you can do with it, including inventing your own filling for pasta, like we did with these mezzelune. Continue reading “Pine nut and aubergine mezzelune”
Chocolate Chip Biscuits (Gocciole)
In Italy, biscuits are an easy snack, like everywhere else in the world. But they are also an essential when it comes to consuming breakfast at home. Together with the famous combination of jam croissant and cappuccino, biscuits dipped in caffe latte are the definition of what Italians eat in the morning. In London I had it easy, and especially in the North-East, where the Turkish shops have a marvellous variety of Italian products on their shelves.
Tofu and Sweetcorn Soup – a Chinese Recipe
When you’re not feeling 100% or just want a light soup to start your summer meal, this tofu and sweetcorn soup is perfect – it’s so simple to make, and still nutritious. You can also stir in an egg (just beat it and stir it in right at the end, pouring while stirring so that it forms strings in the soup). There are only two main ingredients: sweetcorn and tofu. I prefer soft tofu for this, just because the texture goes down a lot easier, but firm tofu does make the soup look nicer, because you’ll get more even cubes! Continue reading “Tofu and Sweetcorn Soup – a Chinese Recipe”
Prawns, Sweet Peas and Strawberries Stir-Fry
There are plenty of delicious sweet recipes with strawberries, but savoury recipes with strawberries are harder to find, usually in the form of strawberry salads. That’s partly because while other fruits such as apple and pineapple have made the crossover, strawberry changes taste so quickly when cooked. Just 15 seconds in the pan increases how sour it tastes by one fold, it seems! Continue reading “Prawns, Sweet Peas and Strawberries Stir-Fry”
Roasted Peppers in Olive Oil
The temperatures are as hot in London as in Singapore and it is that time of the year everywhere when fresh veggie recipes come to mind. Also, peppers are in season, which means they are sweet and tasty, what better time to use them than for a simple summer lunch? In Italy we do conserves where we put roasted peppers in jars and fill them with oil so they can be used during the rest of the year. Continue reading “Roasted Peppers in Olive Oil”
Double Layer Milk (Shuang Pi Nai)
Chinese desserts are relatively few and far between, but there are a few special ones that can be hard to get in the shops, and this double layer/skin milk is one such dessert. The recipe dates back to the 1850s, and comes from the Canton region.
The key ingredients are full fat milk and egg whites – so it will give you plenty of proteins! It is also very easy to make, and the prep time only totals around 5 minutes, with a cooking time of roughly 20 minutes. However, there are quite lengthy cooling periods in between. You can also make it the day before and keep it chilled in the fridge! Continue reading “Double Layer Milk (Shuang Pi Nai)”
Scrumptious Cocoa Cake – The Tale of a Fail
This chocolate cake recipe is inspired by Giallo Zafferano’s Scrumptious Cocoa Cake. In the Italian household of Blender and Basil, the hubby has a soft spot for chocolate. So when his birthday comes along I usually make a chocolate treat to celebrate – this year I made a more elaborate birthday cake than usual. The base of this cake contains dark chocolate and bitter cocoa, and I added less sugar than the amount suggested: this gave it a mildly sweet, mature and charged flavour. Continue reading “Scrumptious Cocoa Cake – The Tale of a Fail”
Chinese Steamed Pork with Couscous (Fen Zheng Rou)
This steamed pork with couscous recipe is both traditional and modern – in that it uses couscous instead of broken rice, but the taste is so similar to what you’d traditionally eat that it’s very difficult to distinguish between the two. Traditionally the broken rice is made from chopping rice (or whizzing it quickly in a blender) before it’s cooked, so that each bit of the broken rice is roughly the size of a grain of couscous. We chose to use couscous for this because it’s already the right size, and a bit healthier than white rice – or for an even healthier alternative, use wholegrain couscous! Continue reading “Chinese Steamed Pork with Couscous (Fen Zheng Rou)”
Blender & Basil 