Carrot Cake

Ingredients

    1 cup castor sugar
    1 cup plain flour
    1½ cups grated carrots
    2 eggs
    ½ cup olive oil
    ½ teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
    ½ teaspoon baking powder
    1 teaspoon cinnamon powder
    Walnut and raisin (optional)


Method

1. Preheat oven to 180°C (350°F).
2. Line a standard loaf tin or oblong cake tin with baking paper.
3. Place all ingredients into a bowl and mix well.
4. Pour mixture into cake tin.
5. Bake for approximately 45 minutes until a skewer inserted into the cake comes out clean.
6. Remove the cake from oven and allow to cool.

Tips

1.  Add some chopped walnut and raisin to improve the texture of the cake.
2. Although this recipe is not too sweet, sugar can be reduced some more to 3/4 cup, just a hint of sweetness.

Potato Pancakes

I tried this last week. Quick and easy recipe. The only time consuming part is the shredding the potatoes and onion.  Most important of all, Iggy wolf it down quicker than I can make for him ...

Ingredients

	2 large potatoes
	1 yellow onion
	1 egg, beaten
	2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
	salt and black pepper to taste
	vegetable oil for frying

Directions

1. Finely shred potatoes and onion into a large bowl. Drain off any excess liquid.
2. Mix in egg, salt, and black pepper. Add enough flour to make mixture thick, about 2 to 4 tablespoons all together.
3. Turn oven to low, about 200 degrees F (95 degrees C).
4. Heat oil in the bottom of a heavy skillet over medium high heat. Drop two or three tablespoons mounds into hot oil, and flatten to make 1/2 inch thick pancakes. Fry, turning once, until golden brown. Transfer to paper towel lined plates to drain, and keep warm in low oven until serving time. Repeat until all potato mixture is used.

Blanched Spinach

Lately, I am into Korean food. I found that some of the Korean food really suit my taste. I especially like their banchan, those small side dishes served with rice. Here is my attempt to make Korean blanched spinach.

Ingredients

	1 bunch of green spinach
	1 tsp minced garlic (optional)
	1 tbsp sesame oil
	salt and sugar to taste
	sesame seeds (optional)

Directions

1. Clean and blanch the spinach. Drain and squeeze out excess water gently.
2. Transfer spinach to a large bowl. Add in minced garlic, sesame oil, salt and sugar.
3. Mix gently, sprinkle with sesame seeds and serve

This recipe is very flexible. If you like crunchy spinach, cut down the blanching time. If you don't like garlic, no problem, dismiss the garlic.

Tips

1. Sugar is not the usual part of this type of recipe. However, adding a pinch of sugar will lift the taste and add the sweetness to it.
2. Toast the sesame seeds to bring out the its wonderful smell. I use both black sesame seeds and white sesame seeds. I also toasted them together until the white sesame seeds are lightly brown.

"If Yan can cook, so can you" - not necessarily ...
"If Pauline can cook, so can you" - definitely!!!