Mango Coconut Muffins

This is a light summery version of my T&T muffin recipe.  I used fresh mango in this recipe.

Ingredients (makes 12 medium size)
1 cup diced mango flesh

½ cup desiccated coconut

1 ½  cup self raising flour

1 egg

¾ cup castor sugar

¼ cup vegetable oil

½ cup yoghurt

¼ cup milk

Method

1.          Preheat oven to 170C fan force.

2.          Sift flour into a large bowl.

3.          Add sugar and coconut.

4.          Stir in lightly beaten egg, yoghurt and oil.

5.          Add in the diced mango, set aside 12 pieces to decorate the top.

6.          Add milk as required. The mix should reach a drop consistency.

7.          Spoon into muffin tin, top with the reserved piece of mango, and bake for 15 mins in a 170C oven.

Coming Up In February

My sincere apologies to my followers for a long no post hiatus. A combination of factors have prevented the cooking and blogging. My camera died, my mixer went caput, and I developed carpal tunnel syndrome in both hands. DH has bought a new close up lens while the other one is still in hospital. I bought a new mixer. My hands are no better but I'm surviving by improvising in minimizing stirring and mixing.

I don't have any idea what the cooking plans are for the month. It's going to be a "see how I feel" month I'm afraid, please bear with me.

Belly Pork Braised in Soy Sauce (Tau Yu Bak)

This is another of mum’s specialty. Mine can never get close to hers, I wonder what secret ingredients she left out telling me. I love the tofu braised in this sauce more than the meat. Admittedly mum doesn’t use dark soy sauce in hers, she prefers the lighter colour for the sauce. I use both thin soy sauce and the thick dark soy sauce for its caramel characteristic.

Ingredients

2 strips of belly pork (about 800g), I asked the butcher to pick lean cuts for me

2 cm chunk of ginger

5 cloves of garlic

2 star anise

5 cloves

1 stick of cinnamon

1 tbsp whole peppercorns

¼ cup of light soy sauce

3 tbsp of thick dark soy sauce

2 tsp of five spice powder

2 tsp of cracked pepper

3 cm lump of rock sugar

1 cup of water

1 tbsp cooking oil

6 pieces of hard tofu(I used fried soft tofu in this)

4 shelled hard boiled eggs

Method

1.          Marinate the meat (leave them in full strips) with five spice powder, cracked pepper and dark soy sauce for at least 30minutes.

2.          In a heavy based casserole pan, heat the oil and sear the meat on all sides without colouring them too much.

3.          Add in the garlic (skin on is fine) and the ginger, sauté slightly without colouring them.

4.          Then add all the spices, soy sauce and water.

5.          Bring the water to the boil, skim off any impurities on the top.

6.          Reduce the heat, cover with a lid, and simmer the pork for about 45 minutes.

7.          Add in the tofu and the hard boil eggs and simmer a further 5-10 minutes with the lid off.

8.          Cut the meat into 1cm slice and serve with steaming white rice and the sauce over it.