Session 1 - Acar (recording will be available later this week) and Fa Sang Wu (peanut sweet soup), inspired by Annie making the same. Session 2 - Fridge Clearout Session: a) using leftover boiled eggs from my corporate event, I made Chocolate Mousse, Mayonnaise, and I fried some to add to a vegetable curry b) using leftover Laksa Soup, I tweaked it with some curry paste and turned it into a vegetable curry using leftover vegetables - carrots, cabbage & snake beans. Thanks to all the participants esp. Jenny & Cathy who gave ideas on how to use up the hardboiled eggs; the chocolate mousse in particular was so good everyone else now wants to have a go at it. I also made some Kaya using my shortcut of baking the blended ingredients before transferring back into the blender (my Thermomix) to blend to a smooth texture at the end. I've included a photo of how it looked when it came out of the oven, and also how it looked post-blending. The kaya was was for some orders placed by my family members, as was the acar, fyi.

This morning’s Cookalong was all about clever shortcuts. Jackie showed us how to make Achar using some leftover spices and other ingredients from her catering gig the day before. Great way to use up ingredients and still get that lovely tangy flavour. I was making Fah Sun Wu (Chinese Peanut Paste Sweet Soup Dessert). I used the Thermomix Cookidoo recipe for Zhi Ma Hu, but swapped the black sesame seeds for roasted peanuts. I had made Fah Sun Wu last year and it turned out nice, but I thought it was a little too pale. This time I roasted the peanuts for an extra 5 minutes and that did the tricks, much better brown colour this time round. When Jackie heard that I was making Fah Sun Wu, she decided to make it too since she had lots of roasted peanuts left over from catering. My Fah Sun Wu turned out really nice — sweet and creamy with a lovely nutty fragrance. We had it for dessert after lunch and it went down a treat.

Hi guys, on this week's Zoom sessions, I'll be making Acar and Kaya and I'll be trying to come up with creative ways to use up a bunch of boiled eggs left over from my gig earlier today. See you then!

ONDE-ONDE Last night night’s Cookalong had the regular gang all busy in their kitchens. Jackie was doing a freezer clear-out and found some fish cutlets she had forgotten about. She fried a few & turned some into Ham Yue (salted fish). At my suggestion, she diced a piece of Ham Yue into very small pieces and fried them with rice. She said the rice turned out really good. Jenny was busy prepping for her gathering — Passion Fruit Curd, a tray bake cake and a crumble dessert. I cannot remember what was the filling in the crumble 😝. And Cathy was making Pasta Sauce for her mum. Everyone was on the go! I was making Onde-Onde for a lunch gathering we had been invited to. Since it was for next day, I took Jackie and Cathy’s advice and froze them on an open tray first. Early the next morning, I boiled them, then rolled them in desiccated coconut. They turned out beautiful — soft, chewy and the gula Melaka sugar filling just burst & melted in the mouth. They disappeared fast! Thank you Jackie and Cathy for the advice 🩷.

I didn't take any photos but here's what I made in our two most recent Zooms on Friday evening/Saturday morning - - squid rings with kam heong sauce - squid rings with salted egg yolk sauce - squid rings with kam heong sauce again, but without first drenching the squid in flour and flash-frying them (turned out different, like a saucy pseudo curry; tasted fine but I won't be making it again) - homemade salted fish (using old fish fillets I dug out from the freezer) - fried rice using the salted fish - yong tau foo Recipes to follow for the kam heong sauce and salted egg yolk sauce seafood