Asian Crab Salad with Rice Crackers

We had the privilege of having some fresh crabs the other day. Sometimes it's a chore to pick out all the crab meat from the shell, but it's worth the effort I say! The flavour of the crab cannot be replaced by anything else! There are so many things that you can make with crab, but one of it is a simple asian crab salad. 

You'll need some finely chopped shallots, spring onions, few drops of sesame oil and a squeeze of lemon juice to give it that zing. But don't be too generous with the shallots cause you don't want it to overpower the crab that you painstakingly picked out from the shells. Season with some salt and pepper.

Just mix the ingredients with the crab meat and enjoy it with some toasted bread or with a rice cracker. You could also add some sesame seeds on the top.

There you have a simple crab salad that can be served as orderves too! (:

Xiao by crustz

Recently, we had a chance to try these beautiful creations by Xiao by crustz. So what is Xiao by crustz? It is a new online based pastry shop that brings you cakes, chocolates and pastries and such to your tingling taste buds. They offer sweet services to customers from beautiful customized gifts and boxes which is their specialty and even customized dessert tables for any occasion! {about}If you have a sweet tooth, Xiao by crustz is your solution! It's not just for your tummy, but eye candy too! Beautiful and edible.   

First up we have for cakes is Passion. Passion is not your typical cake as it doesn't actually have cake in it. The bottom layer is a biscuit base, followed by a light milk chocolate ganache. The orange layer is a tangy mango and passion fruit jelly. The tanginess gives this light but rich dessert a lovely freshness. Last but not least, the layer that holds everything together is the light yoghurt mousse.

Xiao by crustz has other cakes available too, Carrot Cake and Dark Haven.

 Lemon Mint Chocolates

These chocolates are not your everyday chocolates. When I first popped this into my mouth, I had a pleasant surprise! Handmade with care by Xiao, a dark chocolate shell coats a lemon jelly infused filling with a hint of mint. The sourness from the lemon jelly compliments the dark chocolate and the mint gives it a refreshing touch.

Xiao by crustz has a variety of macarons to choose from! Lemon Passion, Chocolate Crunch, Green Tea and Raspberry Rose.

The Lemon Passion has a passion fruit infused milk chocolate ganache with lemon macaron shells. The Chocolate Crunch has a thick chocolate ganache filling with a feuillitine ((fo-yer-teen) a praline textured with small pieces of crispy, oven baked pancakes) to give it it's crunch. This rich and flavorful macaron is a must try! The Green Tea macaron is necessity for green tea lovers as it's not too sweet and rich with green tea. Lastly, the Raspberry Rose macaron has a rose flavoured shell with a raspberry jam filling that gives it its sweet tangy flavour.

Drop on by to Xiao by crustz to fulfill your dessert needs!

Contact details:
Ms Koh Xiao-Ly
Tel: 016 2110 932
Email: kohxiaoly@gmail.com
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Mango with Sticky Rice

Thailand is one of the countries that is popular for it's food with all their street foods. Every direction you turn you are sure to spot a food stall. But we're not here to talk about street food but their desserts, which are truly sublime! Mango sticky rice, thab tim krob (red ruby) and luuk chuup (a mung bean dessert shaped into miniature fruits).

Mango sticky rice is always accompanied with a coconut cream sauce with a touch of salt, which gives this dessert it's richness. The slightly sour mango cuts the sweetness from the sticky rice and the coconut cream. Basically, this dessert has a great balance of the sweet, salty and sour.

Don't forget the rule that you MUST finish off your meal with a sweet ending! Another excuse not to skip dessert ;)

Soo Kee Restaurant at Sea Park

We've been regulars at Soo Kee for a long time now. We love how it's a family run restaurant and that the food there is just delicious. They sell chicken hor fun which is one of our favourite things to eat.

Chicken hor fun is originally from Ipoh and well, you don't need to travel so far for a good bowl anymore! The hor fun is silky smooth and the soup is full of flavour with some chopped chives and deep fried onions. The steamed chicken is is amazingly tender. There are a few essential side orders when eating hor fun, which is tauge (bean sprouts) and their prawn wantans! Their prawn wantans are made with whole prawns and there's a slight crunch when you bite into them.

We usually order the hor fun and chicken separately.

Prawn Wantans with vegetables.

Even if the food here is a little pricy, you still have to give it a try cause when the older generation love it, it's gotta be good! :)

Restoran Soo Kee

33, Jalan 21/17,

Sea Park, Petaling Jaya.

Banoffee Pie

My first introduction to banoffee pie was at Delicious and I was so impressed by the flavours that melded together so nicely. My friend and I actually attempted to make it for a dessert cooking competition in school as the theme was fruits. (We didn't win though!Guess it was a little too simple huh?) It doesn't even require baking in the oven but it sure is a dessert I know many would just love!

As I was saying, it's really simple to make! Bash some digestive cookies and add some melted butter to it. We used salted butter to help balance out the sweetness from the toffee. However, remember that you do need a loose bottom cake tin, or detachable tart tin!

 The toffee is very simple with just 3 simple ingredients: Condensed milk, brown sugar and some butter.

 We decided to add a little twist to this recipe. We added some peanut butter to give it a little kick and richness.

 Ingredients: 

• 3/4 a bag of digestive biscuits (base)
• 150g of melted butter (base)
• 2 tbsp of butter (toffee)
• 250g of condensed milk (toffee)
• 3 tbsp of brown sugar (toffee)
• 8 small bananas (or as much as you need to cover the base)
• 250ml of whipped cream
• 3 tbsp of peanut butter (Optional)

Instructions:

1. Crush the digestive biscuits till there are no large lumps of biscuits left. Pour the melted butter into the biscuit crumbs and mix well.
2. Press the crumb mixture into your tart tin. Make sure you pat it down tightly so that it wont break off when you cut into it. You could use the back of a spoon to smoothen out the crumbs. Refrigerate the base while making the toffee.
3. Pour the condensed milk into a saucepan and add the butter and brown sugar. Put it on the heat until the sugar melts and the mixture is smooth. The longer you leave it on the heat, the browner it gets.
4. If you're adding the peanut butter, put the peanut butter into the microwave until melted. But do be careful as the peanut butter can burn. Spread the peanut butter onto the chilled base. Spread it fast as the heat from the peanut butter will start melting the butter in the base. Chill in the fridge.
5. Slice the bananas and arrange them onto the base. 
6. Pour the toffee over the bananas.
7. Whisk the whipped cream till stiff and spread. (We cheated cause we had whipped cream from the tin. But I do not recommend the tinned ones)

It's so much easier than it looks like! Give this recipe a try. You won't regret it! :)