Non Baked Strawberry Jelly Cheesecake

When I first met this beautiful looking cake was when my colleague bought it for Xmas, so I told myself hmm...It shouldn't be difficult to "bake".

So I did my homework and...here comes my cheesecake. Just love the colour. 红红!

My first "bake" & success!

I made this on 2 January evening and finished the top jelly layer on the 3 January morning.

Cheers to all and have a wonderful new year ahead!

Ingredients (for 24 jelly squares)

For the bottom layer - Crust

300g digestive biscuits

150g melted butter

For the middle layer - Cheesecake

2 bloc Philadelphia Cream Cheese (500g)

1½ tbsp gelatin powder

1¼ cups hot water

2/3 cups sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

12 strawberries (I used Korean Strawberries)

For the top layer - Jelly 

160g strawberry flavoured jelly (I bought Jello)

1½ cups hot water

1½ cups room temperature/cold water

Method

1. Melt the butter using in a water bath over the stove. Remove from heat and set aside.

2. Using a brush, coat a 9x13 inch baking pan.

    *As I don't want to scratch my pan and also for easy removal of the jelly cheesecake, I lined my pan with baking sheet and brush butter on it as well.

3.  Using a food processor, blend the digestive biscuits to obtain fine crumbs.

4. Place the fine crumbs into a large bowl and add the rest of the melted butter. Stir well to combine.

5. Scoop the mixture into the pan and press them down.

    *I used my spatula to press the biscuit butter mixture as evenly as possible.

6. Now once this is done, cover the prepared bottom layer with a cling wrap or if your pan (like mine) has a lid, cover and chill it in the fridge.

    *I let it chill for almost 1 hour in the fridge.

7. While waiting for the bottom layer to solidify and holds in shape, there are a couple of things to prepare.

a) Bring the cream cheese to room temperature and allow them to soften. 

b) In a small bowl, add in the exact amount of gelatin powder and hot water. Stir till the gelatin powder completely dissolve. Set aside and allow it to cool.

c) Remove the green top of the strawberries and wash the strawberries. Set aside for them to dry.

8. Using a mixer, place the soften cream cheese in the mixer bowl, add in the sugar and whisk till its light.

9. Add in the vanilla extract to the cream cheese mixture. Whisk.

10. Add the cooled gelatin mixture a few tbsp at a time into the cream cheese mixture and combine well.

11. Once all the gelatin mixture is incorporated, the cream cheese mixture should be a smooth runny mixture.

      *There shouldn't be any lumps. If there is lumps, sieve the mixture before pouring them into the pan.

12. Bring out the baking pan out from the fridge, using a fork poke holes into the bottom biscuit layer.

13. Pour the smooth runny cream cheese mixture on top of the biscuit layer. Allow it to rest at room temperature for 10 minutes.

14. In the meantime, half the strawberries and cut a v-shape at the top to remove the white portion. This should make the strawberries look like a heart shape.

      *which Mr W failed to make them looks like heart shape. Lol.

15. After the 10 minutes, gently press the halved strawberries into the cream cheese mixture. Space the strawberries 1 to 1.5 inches apart.

16. Cling wrapped it or cover with lid and place it in the fridge for minimum 4 hours or overnight.

17. Using 160g of Jello Strawberry powder, add in 1½ cup of hot water and whisk till the powder dissolve. Add in the room temperature/cold water. Mix well.

18. Bring out the baking pan, using a measuring cup, gently pour the jelly mixture on top of the cream cheese layer. Pour just enough to cover the strawberries.

19. My baking pan comes with a cover & this is how it looks like.

Alternatively you can cling wrapped it before placing it back to the fridge for another 4 hours.

I forgotten to take photos when I cut them. Pretty and delicious jelly cheesecake!!! You can omit the strawberries and jelly and you will have a Tofu cheesecake!

There you have it. It's a easy recipe except time consuming. We need to give each individual layer time to set properly.

For prettier presentation, you may slice away the 4 sides and eat them. Oh remember to pour hot water on your knife, wipe dry before cutting any cheesecake. With each slices, wipe the knife before cutting again.

Give it a try!

Red Bean Barley with lily bulbs

I was thinking of cooking curry and bought all the ingredients. But coming home to a husband who told me his tummy was unwell. I told myself it has to be the medication the doctor prescribe to him that is causing the discomfort. This cervical spondylosis is causing him so much numbness and pain. Now the stomach! 

To worsen matter, he isn't sleeping well at night. Not sure if this constitute to his weak stomach. 

So I decided to brew something nutritious and easy to eat. I came up with Red Bean + Barley + Lily Bulbs.
It is easy to prepare. All you need are
Ingredients

1 cup of red beans
1 cup of pearl barley

A handful of lily bulbs

Honey rock sugar to your liking

3/4 pot full of water

Note: you can adjust the amount of red beans and pearl barley to use. 

Direction

1. Rinse the red beans & barley separately. Pick those bad beans and barley out. Place them in a pot. 

2. Fill the pot with 3/4 full water. Brew the red beans and barley on medium heat. 

3. Rinse the lily bulbs and soak them in a bowl of water. Set aside.

4. Once the water is boiling, lower the heat and add in the rock honey sugar. *depends on your taste level for sweetness. Adjust accordingly.

Brew on low heat for half an hour.

5. Discard the bowl of water and add in the lily bulbs. Continue to let the soup brew till your liking. 

*If u like the beans to be mushy, brew it for an hour. 

Here you have it, a bowl of sweet nutritious soup that my husband eats for his lunch and tea break yesterday. It can fill the stomach and warms it. Give it a try the next time you are feeling under the weather.

绿豆汤 Green Bean/Mung Bean Dessert

Just a little background, my parents-in-law are both Baba-Nyonya. My mom-in-law's style of cooking is very different. Something one cannot find in Singapore. Both my in laws are from Terengganu. Hence I believe her method of cooking Peranakan cuisine has incorporated some of flavours of Terengganu.

I am still trying to find time to learn to cook most of her dishes. Perhaps one day. Perhaps one day.

But there is one which is simple and easy to prepare. Green bean or Mung bean - well this can be easily found anywhere in Singapore and to many, it is very easy to cook. Is it really that easy?

But it is the way to cook it. And for me, I adopted my mom-in-law's way of cooking and introduced a little of my own. A slight difference does make a huge difference in taste.

A dessert that my family loves

Ingredients
1 cup of mung beans
1/2 cup of sago
270ml coconut milk (I use one can of Ayam brand Premium Coconut Milk)
5 cups of water
Honey rock sugar, to taste
Gula Melaka, to taste (I use those bought from Terengganu)
3 to 5 pieces of pandan leaves, tie them into a knot

Directions
1. Rinse the mung beans and pick out the bad beans.

2. Drain all water. Stir fry the mung beans in a pot till you can smell the fragrant of the mung beans and when the beans turns a little brown.

See how green the mung beans are

After frying for a while..it turns a little brown

3. Add in the water and the pandan leaves to the pot and bring it to a boil. 

Add in the pandan leave & water

4. Lower heat and allow it to simmer. Remove the pandan leaves.

While waiting for the mung beans to soften, time to cook the sago. You can always cook the sago before cooking the mung beans or cook them both at the same time. Recipe for cooking sago pearls.

5. Now back at the mung bean that is simmering. Once the mung bean has "broken", add in the coconut milk and honey rock sugar, to taste. Stir well.

6. Allow it cook for a few minutes till the honey rock sugar melts totally. Add the piece of gula melaka to the pot. Stir till it melts.

I use gula melaka from Terengganu

7. Add more honey rock sugar or gula melaka, to taste.

Here you have it. Give it a try at home. You will love this mung bean dessert.

Voila...rich in coconut but it doesn't overpower the taste of mung beans.

Brownies

It was the holiday season. So I decided to bake something.
To tell you the truth, I have not been baking for 3 years. Well...maybe the only thing I have baked every year is Pineapple Tarts. I will share my Pineapple Tarts recipe on another day.
As for today, it will be something rich and moist and well...definitely sinful!
Walnut Brownies!!!

Ingredients
1/2 cup white sugar
2 tbsp butter (I used salted)
2 tbsp water
1 1/2 cup of semisweet chocolate chips dark chocolate chips (*I used Hershey's mini dark chocolate chips)
1 cup of walnut
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
2/3 cup all purpose flour
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt

Preheat oven at 160°C. Grease a 8x8 inch square pan.

Sift the flour in a big bowl and add in the salt and baking soda. Combine well & set aside.

If you are lazy like me, just microwave the sugar, butter and water for 40 seconds. Remove from microwave and stir. Make sure it has melted completely.

Add in the chocolate chips and stir until melted and smooth. Add in the vanilla extract and the eggs.

Stir dry ingredients into the chocolate mixture. Once combined, add in the walnuts and give it a few stir.

Spread the mixture evenly into the prepared pan.

Bake for 25 to 30 minutes in the preheated oven.

Allow it to cool in the pan. Cut them into squares & if you like, sift some icing sugar on top of them!

They are sinfully chocolatey DELICIOUS! Everyone will love it!

Green Bean Barley Dessert

With the heat and the haze, we need to cool the internal heat of our body.
Green bean and barley are known to have lots of benefits. And I am not going to bore you guys up with the lengthy goodness. So I will just go straight into the recipe.

Ingredients
1 cup green beans
1/2 cup of pearl barley
1/4 cup of sago
4 pandan leaves
8 strips of candied winter melons
2 pieces of honey rock sugar
2 to 2.5 litre of water
Directions
Wash the pandan leave thoroughly. There tends to be soil trapped between the leaves.
Once washed, tie the pandan leaves into a knot.
Place this pandan knot in the pot of water and start the heat at high,
Rinse the green beans and pearl barley. Add them into the pot of water
Bring it to a boil.
Rinse the sago in a small bowl. Add some hot water and leave it to soak for 5 minutes.
Drain and pour the sago into the pot.
Lower the heat.
Add the candied winter melons and honey rock sugar. Give it a few stirs.
If it isn't sweet enough for you, add more candied winter melons/honey rock sugar.
Let it simmer til your preference. *I like my green beans & barley fluffy just like in the photo.
Turn off the heat.
You can serve it hot or chill it and serve later.
Cheers!