Sausage & Cheese Savoury Pancakes

Love pancakes to death, but I just can't have only sweets for breakfast...but pan frying eggs, bacon and all the savoury frills would be too troublesome for my lazy ass. My lazy solution is...to throw savoury bits in and make savoury pancakes ^_^

These may look like ordinary sweet pancakes...

Wait 'til you get to see what's inside...

Recipe
- 1 cup self raising flour
- 2 tbsp sugar
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp chicken stock powder
- 1 tsp dry mixed herbs (thyme, rosemary, oregano, sage)
- 1 egg, beaten
- 1 cup milk
- 2 tbsp vegetable oil (or melted butter)
- 1/2 cup chopped sausages (I used Maid brand cheese cocktail sausages)
- 1/2 cup grated cheddar cheese

Mix all dry ingredients in a bowl, wet in another. Make a well in the middle of dry ingredients, add wet ingredients, mix well, add chopped sausages and grated cheddar cheese. Heat up a non stick pan to medium heat, pour a ladleful of batter, (butter/oil isn't necessary for non stick pan) pan fry until you see bubbles and the edges dried out a little, flip, let cook for a bit and transfer to a plate. Repeat until all the batter's done. Serve with butter and if you like sweet-savoury flavor combo, maple syrup ^_^

Fluffy pancakes with savoury bits...

My kinda weekend breakfast ^_^

The sausage pieces are only visible from the butt of the pancakes :D

Have a great weekend, everyone!

Weekend Breakfast - Pancakes with Canadian Maple Syrup

You know I'm too lazy to post stuff on weekends...but this time it's an exception.
I've been wanting some pancake breakfast forever, ideally from McDonald's (yes, my standard is pretty darn low), but since McD is one train station away from here...which means that I'd have to get out of my PJs and put on some decent clothing to go...then no.

Why don't I make my own pancakes at home?

Ya, ya...have been too lazy to do that too. Until I received this beautiful bottle of Canadian maple syrup from sweet sweet Jason (please visit his yummy blog Life as a Bon Vivant , full of gorgeous pics of deliciousness from all around HK and beyond!)

It's been a while since I've made my own pancakes. This time, I didn't do anything crazy, no oreo/chocolate/peanut butter/charsiew pancakes. Just a stack of simple good ol' pancakes.

Recipe (adapted from allrecipes)
1 cup all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons white sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
a dash of cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 egg, beaten
1 cup milk
a dash of vanilla
2 tablespoons vegetable oil

Mix all dry ingredients in a mixing bowl, mix all wet ingredients in another bowl. Make a well in the middle of dry ingredients, pour wet ingredients in and mix well. Heat up a non stick frying pan to medium heat (if you're using non stick, you don't even have to grease it as we've added vegetable oil in the batter), pour a ladle of batter, fry until you can see bubbles, flip, let cook for a bit and set aside. Keep doing it until you've done all the batter.

Serve with butter, good maple syrup and I like mine with unsweetened coffee.


I also wish that I was not too lazy to fry up some bacon and hash browns...I love starting everything with something savoury.

I can think of so many wonderful savoury treats we can do with the maple syrup...coming soon!

Martabak Manis - My Tower of Shame

Imagine a Hollywood movie trilogy.
The Martabak Manis (Thick Indonesian Pancake) Disaster Series - by Mochachocolata-Rita
I. Martabak Manis: Thin & Burnt - yet Delicious (published and was quite a hit)
II. Martabak Manis the sequel: Thick, not Burnt - yet NOT yummy (not published, went straight to recycle bin)
III. Martabak Manis the triquel: My Tower of Shame (now showing)

My tower of shame? Why?

This is my third attempt, and I've been given the ultimate deliciousness martabak manis recipe, complete with tireless online guidance (thank you sooo much, Lidia! ^_^), and I still managed to f*cked it up. Un-freaking-believable!

Ehm well, I had only myself to blame. Let me summarize my failures:
First Attempt
What happened: did not follow recipe properly, set the heat too high, and left the pancake unattended (surely, a recipe for disaster)
Result: thin pancake, burnt bottom (doesn't look as sexy as it sounds)

Second Attempt
What happened: trying a good recipe, skipped hand mixer, just used a whisk to beat the heck outta the batter, frying was done using IKEA non stick pan
Result: batter didn't raise as high as it should've, texture was all wrong, disgustingly soft, tasted off

Third Attempt

What happened: trying the good recipe again, used a hand mixer, frying was done using IKEA non stick pan, I didn't know when I should stop cooking (!!!)
Result: the batter raised beautifully, towering all high and proud, the texture and taste wasn't bad (but not that good), and again, the ever so unsightly, unsexy burnt bottom!!!

What have I learnt from my multiple failures? What's my next action plan?
- Contemplate never to try making a martabak manis again. Like, ever
- Buy a proper pan with a thick bottom. That thin and cheap IKEA pan just won't work
- When back to Indonesia, get an internship with a martabak manis vendor
- Failing that, flirt outrageously with him to get the recipe
- Failing that, propose marriage to a martabak manis vendor
- Try to import a martabak manis vendor into Hong Kong
- Heck, just have Aphin Martabak Manis phone number on speed dial and order every night before going back to Hong Kong

I am anything but persistent, eh? Duh, this trilogy is so not a blockbuster material.

Griddle Cakes, Peanut Butter and Plum Jam: All Homemade!

I've never fancied myself to be so absolutely domestic...pranching around the kitchen (and not tripping) producing home made everything. Nonono. If I could get away with something store-bought, I would.

However, after I started this low-iodine cooking...which require most food to be prepared at home to avoid forbidden ingredients (e.g. iodized salt, dairy products, yolks, soy based products, etc), it got me hooked. At first I couldn't imagine orchestrating 3 meals per day at home. It's just ridiculous and almost impossible to execute with a full time job, hobbies such as blogging and shopping, obligation to exercise regularly, and other addictions such as Top Chef, Jamie's at home, America's Next Top Model, etc.

But once I started...I couldn't stop! It's crack-like addictive! I kept blurting homemade goodies out of my kitchen like how I blurt stuff I should not have said in girls-only gossip night. Hehe! These holiday season, I even ignored my "underground" cupcake supplier, didn't order a thing! I felt that I should be able to make them at home, and not only that, increase the challenge and make them low iodine! HAH!

The recipe book from www.thyca.org helped me a lot. Those who had gone through this experience shared that breakfast is the most challenging meal to prepare. Hell yeah! When we think of breakfast...we think milk, cheese, eggs, and all sorts of yummy goods with high iodine. Check out some of my favorite low iodine breakfast treats. Take extra care, it's gonna be a rough ride.

Homemade Peanut Butter

Peeling the skin of the nuts was kinda theurapeutic. It tested our patience and persistence!


The beautiful scent of roasted peanuts made us feel better.

Recipe
(from www.thyca.org), halved
- 2 cups unsalted peanuts
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/8 cup granulated sugar
- 1/4 cup vegetable oil
If nuts are not roasted, preheat oven to 180C. Place peanuts in a single layer on baking sheet
and place in oven. Cook until peanuts are toasted, approx. 6-8 minutes. Shake pan a couple of times
for overall browning. Remove pan from oven.
Place roasted peanuts in food processor (they can still be warm from roasting). Add salt and sugar.
Turn on processor and drizzle in oil. Process until smooth.
(Contributed by Kim S. of New Jersey)

This is soo easy to make, absolutely delicious and it multi tasks! It's not only fantastic accompanying home made bread and cakes for breakfasts, it can be turned into muffins, cookies, and sauces!

Homemade Plum Jam

Look at the sparkles of ruby reds...how gorgeous!

Recipe
- 2 cups of plums (remove core, cut into sections)
- 2 cups of caster sugar
Process plum in food processor, pour into a pot, add sugar, cook on low heat until the color goes deep red and it's thickened, transfer into sterilized jars.

A pot of bubbling gorgeousness.

This baby also multi tasks. It's not only perfect with homemade bread, cakes, or paired with home made peanut butter, it's perfect for glazing grilled meat (chicken, pork, beef), as sauce for stir fry dishes, or even dilluted in water or soda as drinks (hot or cold)!

Homemade Griddle Cakes

Recipe
(from www.thyca.org)
Beat:
- 2 egg whites with
- 2 Tablespoons sugar
Add
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
Stir in:
- 1 cup flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon vegetable oil
Then add:
- 1/2 cup water (more as desired for batter
thickness)
Stir until the batter is the consistency of thick cream. Spoon batter onto hot griddle which has been
greased with a bit of vegetable oil. Excellent hot with homemade jam or real maple syrup. Freeze leftovers and pop in toaster. Also excellent with breakfast sausage recipe.
(Contributed by Susan L)

Phew! It's almost the end of sous chef's low iodine diet, I'll just have to spill all my low iodine beans out ^_^

As for holiday snap of the day...

This was taken in front of Prince's Building, Central, Hong Kong. They have one of my favorite Christmas tree ornaments this year.

Now, I must go and catch up on my last minute Christmas shopping...the list goes longer and longer, as always ^_^

A Quick Hello from KL

Look at those overflowing mountains of goodies! I just wanted to dive, with mouth wide open, into those divine hills. Munch, munch, munch...and that was just the beginning! Not considering the vast array of tasty treats on the streets, there are also soooo many food outlets which I've missed but couldn't find in Hong Kong. Call me silly, but I was ooohing and ahhhhing at the sight of Wendy's, Dunkin Donuts, JCo Donuts, Cinnabon, Auntie Anne's and Karl Junior!

Naturally, I couldn't resist but started to buy some (not a lot, please believe me) goodies from the supermarket...and fell in love with the vintage-inspired packaging of these chocolates:

Cute!


Adorable!


Kinda creepy? Hehe

But I was suchhhhh a good girl, turned out I still have a teeny tiny bit of will power in me. I didn't buy any of those chocolate boxes, no matter how muchhh I love 'em. Hmmm, maybe I'll buy them tomorrow HAHA!


...and you'd think that this is a fab breakfast...but I had it at 10 something at night HAHA! It's from Pancake House, at Sunway shopping mall, it's a fast food outlet from the Philippines. Talk about all day breakfast! The cheese bits inside the pancake made the pancake perfect, but I was not crazy about the dry egg and the dry bacon.

I am now regretting my crazy idea of bringing a small luggage in an effort to look cool. I must buy those yummy looking instant noodles, snacks, cakes, sodas, curry spice packs...arrgghhh!

Double Chocolate Pancakes

I've never posted anything mocha, so at least I tried posting more chocolata, even if I don't know how to bake (I promise to start learning soon ^_^). Why the heck my blog name is Mochachocolata-Rita then? Ehm...it's a phrase from Lady Marmalade:

Gitchie, gitchie, ya ya da da
Gitchie, gitchie, ya ya here
Mocha Chocolata ya ya => change to Mochachocolata Rita
Creole Lady Marmalade.....

How cheesy is that? ^_^

Please don't mind my amoeba-shaped pancakes, after few hundreds of practice, I might be able to handle hello kitty-shaped pancakes later ^_^ (just buy the mold?). Out of 8 pancakes, there were only about 3 which are quite nicely round...the ones which you can't see below are more amoeba-esque hehe

Ingredients
- 1 cup of self raising flour
- half cup of cocoa powder
- half cup of chocolate milk
- 2 tbsp cooking oil
- 2 eggs
- 2 tbsp sugar

Mix eggs, oil, and chocolate milk, mix flour, sugar and cocoa powder in a separate powder, make a well in the middle, pour egg mixture, whisk until you get the desired consistency, it should be a bit runny, add milk if you find it too thick. Grease a small frying pan with butter, pour the mixture, fry on low heat until you see some bubbles, turn, serve with anything you like...

...for me, that means more Chocolata? YAYA!