Canapés and Ravioli

Canapé is a small, prepared and usually decorative food, held in the fingers and often eaten in one bite. Australians are starting to call them Onebite.

Because they are often served during cocktail hours, it is often desired that a canapé be either salty or spicy, in order to encourage guests to drink more. A canapé may also be referred to as finger food, although not all finger foods are canapés. Crackers or small slices of bread or puff pastry, cut into various shapes, serve as the base, often topped with a “canopy” of savoury food.

Assorted canapé

with scramble eggs

with crab sticks, sausages and sliced cucumber

salmon with mayonnaise

Ravioli with tomato concasse

Steaming

Today’s topic is about steaming. Steaming is the best and the healthiest way of cooking method. There is no oil required and it is definitely nutritious. In fact, steaming is better than boiling. I love steamed food. Every weekend, Dad enjoys steaming fish for the both of us. Whenever I insist to do it, he will say ‘Papa cho’ (means Daddy will do it in Hokkien). Since I have gone through today’s lesson, I guess I have a better reason to steam for him next time.

Today, we cooked chicken rice, steamed and baked vegetable with white sauce and grated cheddar cheese and cawan mushi (savoury cup custard) for lunch, using the steaming method. We even made the chilli garlic sauce for the chicken rice from scratch. It is the most nutritious meal I have ever had after 5 weeks of studying here *grins* and I seriously like the cawan mushi. Let me share with you the recipe here as I find it very simple to make.

Cawan Mushi

CAWAN MUSHI INGREDIENTS (make 4 to 5 small bowls)

30gm of chicken meat (cut into cubes)

Some shiitake mushroom (soaked in warm water till soft and sliced)

3 crab sticks

1/4 tsp of soya sauce

1/8 tsp of sugar

2 whole eggs (slightly whisk)

1 1/2 cup of chicken stock

A pinch of salt

METHOD

1. Marinate chicken meat and mushroom then put them into small bowls.

2. Whisk eggs and chicken stock. Make sure your chicken stock is cool enough before adding it into your beaten eggs mixture.

3. Pour the mixture into the small bowls by going through a sieve.

4. Cover the bowls with plastic wrap/aluminium foil and place them on a hot steamer.

5. Steam at high heat for 1 to 2 minutes.

6. Turn low the heat and continue to steam for 15 minutes until the egg mixture is set.

Chicken Rice

Chilli garlic sauce for chicken rice

Steamed and baked vegetable with white sauce and grated cheddar cheese

Fish and Chips and Prawn Cocktail

We learned about appetizer and main meal today. We made prawn cocktail for appetizer and our meal was fish and chips. We even made our own mayonnaise, cocktail sauce and tartar sauce! Haha.

Fish & Chips with homemade tartar sauce

Tartar sauce is a combination of mayonnaise with chopped gherkin, chopped onions, chopped hard boiled eggs, some lemon juice, salt and pepper to taste.

Prawn Cocktail with homemade cocktail sauce

Cocktail sauce is a mixture of mayonnaise with tomato sauce and chili sauce.