High Fidelity

Banana sticky toffee pudding

Banana sticky toffee pudding, originally uploaded by yongtze.

I saw this recipe from Gordon Ramsay's Kitchen Heaven and thought it would be nice for winter - moist, warm dessert with banana.

I did not have soft brown sugar so I substituted it with raw sugar. Also, I did not follow the recipe for the sauce because I did not have double cream at home. Instead I make a simple butter-caramel sauce. Fortunately it still turns out to be quite delicious.

Serves 4-6:

• 170g unsalted butter
• 180g soft brown sugar
• 2 small eggs
• 180g plain flour
• 12g baking powder
• 200g chopped banana

For the sauce:

• 250g soft brown sugar
• 140ml double cream
• 65g unsalted butter

1. Preheat the oven to 180 degree Celsius. Cream butter and sugar together. Then beat in eggs and fold in flour and baking powder. Mix in chopped bananas to the mixture.

2. Grease 6 moulds and sprinkle caster sugar at the bottom and sides (I did not have so many moulds so I used a small bread tin and increased the baking time a bit). Divide the mixture into the moulds and bake for 10 minutes.

3. Turn down the heat to 150 degree Celsius and continue to bake for 1 hour and 20 minutes.

4. When the pudding is almost done, place sugar, cream and butter in a pan and bring to boil. When all sugar is dissolved, remove from heat and pour it over the baked pudding to serve.

Chinese roasted pork

Chinese roasted pork, originally uploaded by yongtze.

Chinese roasted pork is my favourite pork dish - It is simple but unbelievably tasty, with its crisp skin and juicy tender meat. I seriously don't mind eating it everyday. I can eat this at home and even when I eat out in Chinese restaurants, often twice a day!

I especially love the crisp, crunchy skin. It is not hard to achieve as long as the rind is completely dry before it goes into the hot oven. For this you need patience and time, which is not hard because you are just leaving the pork to dry out in the fridge when you can do whatever you like in the mean time.

Serve three or four with rice:

• A whole piece of pork belly (about 1kg)
• 1.5 teaspoon sugar
• 1.5 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon five-spice powder
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• More salt
• Vegetable oil

1. Mix sugar, salt, five-spice powder and minced garlic. And rub this mixture into the meat side of the pork, the bottom and sides of the meat. Dry the rind with kitchen paper. Place the pork rind side up in a dish.

2. Now use a very sharp knife to score the rind in many small diamond shapes (two sets of parallel lines). Rub salt into the rind evenly, about 1 to 2 teaspoons. Place the dish of pork uncovered for at least 4-5 hours (or overnight) in the fridge to dry out the rind.

3. Preheat the oven to 200 degrees Celsius. Take out the pork from the fridge, bringing it to room temperature. With a pastry brush, brush the rind with some vegetable oil and place the pork on a rack and roast for 25 minutes.

4. After 25 minutes, turn the broiler of your oven on high and place the pork about 20cm below the heat element. Broil for about 20 minutes with the oven door slightly open. Check from time to time to make sure that the skin doesn't burn. Once the crackling has gone bubbly you need to watch carefully for burning.

5. Remove the pork from oven and leave it on its rack to rest for about 10 minutes. Cut the roasted pork into pieces shown in the picture above and serve with steamed rice.

Garlic Naan bread

Naan bread, originally uploaded by yongtze.

I was planning to bake some fresh Turkish bread to accompany the grilled Turkish chicken thighs for dinner. However, there is no more olive oil left in my kitchen. Sigh. Luckily I still have plenty of clarified butter and Greek yogurt left. So I decided to make some Naan bread as an alternative to Turkish bread (I know they are QUITE different) and it turned out that it is actually quite delicious and goes well with the grilled chicken.

I had fun making Naan bread because I wasn't actually 'baking' it. Instead, I was cooking the bread directly on a hot heavy-bottomed skillet, just like making pancakes! This garlic-flavoured Naan bread is best served hot.

- Makes 8 small pieces

• 1/4 cup clarified butter
• 1 teaspoon white sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon active dry yeast
• 2 tablespoons yogurt
• 2 cloves garlic
• 2 cups flour
• 2/3 cup warm water

1. Whisk the warm water with the yeast and sugar until the yeast is dissolved. Let stand in a warm place for 5 - 10 minutes until the mixture is frothy.

2. Combine flour, salt, the yeast mixture, half of the clarified butter, and yogurt in a large bowl. Mix into a soft dough then knead on floured surface for about 10 minutes or until the dough is smooth and elastic. Place the dough in a large greased bowl, cover and let stand in a warm place until the dough's volume has doubled (about 1 1/2 - 2 hours).

3. Meanwhile, peel and mince the garlic. Once the dough has doubled in volume, punch it down. Knead in the minced garlic and continue to knead for 5 minutes. Divide the dough into 8 balls. Let them stand for another 30 minutes.

4. To cook the Naan bread. Heat a heavy-bottomed skillet (I used a cast-iron skillet) over medium heat. Roll out dough until it is thin and brush it (I used a silicone brush) with some melted clarified butter. Then put it directly into the hot skillet. Cover and cook for 1-2 minutes at medium heat. Check to see that it is not burning. Once nicely browned, flip it over and cook the other side. The bread will puff a little and try not to overcook it as to let the centre of the bread remain soft. Once done, flip it out and start with another dough.

5. Serve hot.

Crème caramel

Crème caramel, originally uploaded by yongtze.

I have to say I am a crème caramel man. Crème brûlée might be fancier but crème caramel with its sweet smooth caramel and silky soft custard is always irresistible to me. The recipe is from Gerard Depardieu's 'My Cookbook', which he developed together with his head chef, Laurent Audiot.

Serves 4:

• 15g butter
• 500g milk
• 2 vanilla pods (I used 1 teaspoon of vanilla essence)
• 4 eggs plus 1 egg yolk
• 50g sugar

For the caramel

• 2 Tablespoons water
• 10 sugar cubes (I used 10 teaspoons of caster sugar)

1. Preheat the oven to 200 degree Celcius. Grease 4 ramekins with the butter.

2. For the caramel: Boil water with the sugar in a thick-bottomed saucepan until it forms a pale golden caramel. Divide the caramel between the ramekins, tilting them in all directions to coat the base and sides. Leave to cool.

3. Heat the milk gently with the vanilla pods, split in half, in a large saucepan, simmering for 5 minutes. Remove the vanilla pods, scrape out the seeds and add them to the milk.

4. Beat the whole eggs, the extra yolk and the sugar in a large bowl until white and frothy, then pour in the heated milk in a thin stream, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon. When the mixture is combined, strain through a fine sieve and pour it into the ramekins.

5. Prepare a bain-marie by filling a deep roasting tin two-thirds full with boiling water and setting ramekins in it. Bake in the hot oven for about 20 minutes.

6. Remove the ramekins from the oven while the custards are still slightly wobbly in the centre and leave them to just warm or completely cold. Serve them in the ramekins or turn them out onto individual serving plates, like this:

Crème caramel, originally uploaded by yongtze.

Dong'an Chicken

Dong'an Chicken, originally uploaded by yongtze.

This is a dish originated from the province of Hunan. The city of Dong'an, the reputed birthplace of this dish, is on its southern border. It is like a milder braised version of the famous Sichuan's Chicken with Chillies. It is spicy, salty, sweet, and sour: a delicate concoction of chicken flavoured with chillies and rice vinegar. Serve with rice.

Serves 4:

For the sauce:

• 1/2 cup chicken stock or water
• 1 and 1/2 tablespoons light soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon black vinegar
• 2 teaspoons chilli oil
• 1 tablespoon sugar

• 450g boneless chicken thighs, cut into 2cm cubes
• 1 tablespoon dark soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon cornflour
• peanut oil for deep-frying
• 3/4 cup chopped spring onion
• 1 red chille, sliced (or more if you want if spicier)
• 1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger
• 1 tablespoon minced garlic
• salt
• Sichuan peppercorn, crushed

1. To prepare the sauce, stir together all the ingredients listed for the sauce in a small bowl and set aside.

2. Combine chicken pieces, dark soy sauce, and cornflour in a bowl and mix well. Marimate for about 15 minutes.

3. Pour the oil to a depth of 2.5 cm into a wok or frying pan and heat until very hot (about 180 degree C). Carefully slide the chicken into the oil, stir with wooden chopsticks to separate the pieces. Fry until golden brown, about 1 1/2 minutes. Transfer to a rack placed over a plate to drain.

4. Pour off all but 2 tablespoons of the oil, return the wok to high heat. Add spring onion, chillies, ginger and garlic and stir-fry until fragrance, about 30 seconds. Return the chicken to the work and stir-fry over high heat, mixing all the ingredients, about 30 seconds.

5. Pour in the pre-mixed sauce and stir over high heat until well mixed, about 10 seconds. Reduce the heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer gently for about 4 minutes. Season with salt and crushed Sichuan peppercorn.

6. Transfer to a serving plate and serve at once with rice.

Yorkshire pudding

Yorkshire pudding, originally uploaded by yongtze.

I have been wanting to make Yorkshire pudding since the weather turned cold. This was my first attempt as you can see from the picture two out of three rose beautifully but the one at the back did not rise as high. I can't figure out why, probably the porcelain ramekin wasn't heated up hot enough.

The exterior is crispy and the interior is surprisingly soft and light - a nice contrast of texture. We had these puddings with roast chicken, they are great to soak up the gravy. If not, you can eat them as dessert too, just pour over some honey, golden syrup or even better is the home-made honey butter caramel sauce I just made a few days ago.

Traditionally beef dripping is used for Yorkshire pudding but I used peanut oil. I guess unless you are eating it with roast beef otherwise any oil with high smoking point will do.

Below is an adapted Brian Turner's recipe from Recipezaar, everything is measured by volume and conveniently they are all of the same volume. This makes adjusting serving size a no-brainer.

Makes 6 puddings:

• 1 cup plain flour
• 1 cup egg
• 1 cup milk
• half teaspoon of salt

1. Preheat the oven to hot 230 degree C. Put a teaspoon of oil in each of several muffin ramekins and place them in the oven until the oil is very hot and begins to smoke. Meanwhile combine the rest of the ingredients and beat to form a batter of the consistency of double cream. Leave it to rest.

2. Before adding the batter into the ramekins, beat again for about 10 seconds. When the oil is smoking, quickly add the batter into the ramekins. Fill each ramekin to about half or two-thirds full, do not over fill because the puddings will rise and puff up.

3. Bake for about 18-20 minutes by which time they will be puffed up and crisp.

Orange soufflé

Orange soufflé, originally uploaded by yongtze.

It's always a magical moment to see a soufflé puffing up in the oven! Light and fluffy but full of orange flavour - This orange soufflé is easier to make than it seems.

Makes 2 soufflé

• 1 orange
• 170ml orange juice
• 100g sugar
• 1 tablespoon Grand Marnier
• 2 egg whites

For the orange strawberry sauce

• 120g strawberries
• 1 teaspoon Grand Marnier
• 2 teaspoons sugar

1. Section the orange, leaving only the juicy part - no seeds, skin, white pith, and membranes. In a medium saucepan, heat the orange juice and two thirds of the sugar until the sugar is dissolved. Add the sectioned orange, simmer for about 5 minutes. Leave it to cool for a bit.

2. Measure 45ml of the orange juice mixture and put it in a food processor to blend - this forms the base of the soufflé. Work in the Grand Marnier. Return the orange juice mixture to the saucepan.

3. For the orange strawberry sauce, hull the strawberries. Purée them in a food processor with the Grand Mariner, sugar, and 1 tablespoons of the reserved orange juice. Chill for serving.

4. Heat the oven to 200 degree C. Butter two ramekins (250ml each) generously and chill them for 10 minutes in the freezer. And butter them again. Set them on a baking sheet.

5. Whip th egg whites with a teaspoon of the remaining sugar until the whites hold a stiff peak. Add remaining sugar and stir with a spoon until the whites are glossy and form a long peak when the spoon is lifted.

6. Heat the orange juice mixture until the edges start to bubble. Take it off the heat and add a quarter of the egg whites, stirring until well mixed. Add this mixture to the remaining whites and fold together as lightly as possible.

7. Transfer the mixture to the ramekins, filling them to the rim and run your thumb around edge of the mixture to detach it from the ramekin so it rises in a "hat". Bake the soufflé until puffed and brown, about 12 - 15 minutes.

8. Once done, rush the soufflés to the table because they will start collapsing once out of the oven. Poke a hole in the centre and pour in some cold orange strawberry sauce to serve.

Recipe adapted from Anne Willan's "A Kitchen in Burgundy".

An 'English' croque-monsieur

Melted cheddar cheese and bacon on toasted white sourdough, originally uploaded by yongtze.

A croque-monsieur usually has ham and gruyere cheese but I had none so I came up with this very English version of croque-monsieur - Bacon to replace ham and cheddar cheese to replace gruyere cheese. It is nonetheless still a very tasty and satisfying snack. I won't put the recipe here because there is a great video clip that shows how it is done: "How to make croque-monsieur".

Sweet potato soup

Sweet potato soup, originally uploaded by yongtze.

Sweet potato soup is one of a few things that I remember eating when I was a kid. It's kind of like a dessert but not necessarily served after a meal. The sweet and gingery soup and the sweet potatoes will warm you up on a cold day. And it's absolutely dead simple to make.

Serves 4:

• 2-3 sweet potatoes
• palm sugar
• one big knob of ginger

1. Peel and cut the sweet potatoes into about 4cm pieces. Slice ginger into slices.

2. Place the sweet potato pieces and ginger slices into a pot, and add enough water to cover them or a bit more. Start cooking over medium heat. Once the water is boiling, add enough palm sugar for the soup is sweet enough to your liking. Cook gently for about 15-20 minutes. Serve hot.

Shanghai fried noodles

Shanghai fried noodles, originally uploaded by yongtze.

We love the thick Shanghai noodles very much so we decided to try making the classic Shanghai fried noodles at home. This is a simple recipe in terms of ingredients and preparations, nothing fancy but that's how we like it. Fried noodles is not hard to make but it is not easy to perfect. Here are just a few suggestions/tips for cooking fried noodles:

- Cook in small batch (ideally 1 serve a batch,  all the noodles should be touching the hot wok at all time; good fried noodle should have a faint seared-in-the-wok taste)

- Be generous with the oil (or your noodles ending up sticking together or sticking to the wok)

- This might be a personal taste: If possible, add small cubes of fried pork fat when you are heating the oil. The best-tasting fried noodles in Malaysia is always cooked with fried pork fat.

- Mix all the sauces before cooking (high heat, small batch way of cooking requires you to cook quickly so you won't have time to measure and add all the sauces individually when you are cooking)

serves 2:

• 250g Shanghai noodles
• 200g lean pork meat
• 150g Chinese cabbage
• 4 dried Chinese shitake mushrooms
• 5 cloves garlic
• sugar, corn flour, and soy sauce

for the sauce:

• 1/2 teaspoon Chinese Shaoxing wine
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 2 teaspoon soy sauce
• 2 teaspoon dark soy sauce
• 1 teaspoon sesame oil

1. Soak mushroom in boiling water for 20 minutes. Cut them into thin slices. Add a bit of oil and sugar, steam for 10 minutes. Set aside.

2. Cut pork into thin strips, marinate with 2 teaspoons of soy sauce and half teaspoon of corn flour.

3. Cut Chinese cabbage into strips. Chop the garlic finely.

4. Cook the Shanghai noodles according to the instructions on the package. Drain and rinse with cold water until the noodles are completely cold. Drain the water. Set aside.

5. Add about 2-3 tablespoons of peanut oil into the hot wok. Add garlic and fry gently for 30 seconds. Add the pork strips, stir-fry quickly for 1-2 minutes or until cooked. Once the pork is cooked, dish it up, together with the garlic, set aside.

6. Add a bit more oil into the wok again, throw in the sliced Chinese cabbage. Stir-fry for 1 minute. Then add the cooked noodles and stir-fry over high heat for another 1 minute. Add cooked pork and steamed mushroom and continue to stir-fry for about 1 minute or so. Add the pre-mixed sauce and stir-fry about another 30 seconds and the noodles can be served immediately.