We were over at Mom’s on Saturday for a visit and she decided to entice me with fluffy and crusty cornmeal bread rolls she baked the day before. I was just starting to cut down on my rice and breads.. 妈,这是对的吗?!!!

The planned 2-hour visit stretched till 8pm that night cos she enthusiastically took out all her barang barang and started to give me a step-by-step tutorial there and then! Seriously I never expected the steps to be so simple.. all you need is time for the dough to rise. Baking in the oven took all of 15 minutes. So technically you spend an afternoon producing this but only spend maybe half an hour for the work?

We used a total of 500g flour (400g bread flour, 100g plain flour). Mom also added wholemeal (the grain, not the flour) but it’s entirely optional. You can add chia seeds if you want and that’s what I’m gonna do when I bake it again. For the crispy crusty effect on the surface, dust some cornmeal (also widely sold as corn ‘polenta’) on top just before sending the bread rolls into the oven. Reminds me of English muffins, which are also dusted with cornmeal before baking. Delicious!

p/s- There are two types of cornmeal/polenta: the fine powdery type or the coarser type also called corn grits from brands like Bob’s Red Mill. Use the powdery type – we got it from Phoon Huat. But if you can only find the coarser ones, just grind them further in the food processor till fine. Here’s the label of what we used (Mom repacked this into a container):

The beautiful thing about this recipe is that once you get the base right, you can start adding your favourite ingredients like chocolate chips, raisins, oats, etc etc. I prefer mine just like this, served with cold butter or kiap-ed with roast beef (true story. mom made some roast beef that day to go with the rolls LOL)

Mom packed about 15 rolls for me to take back home.. they were still soft after 4 days. To get the crispy/crusty surface again, preheat your oven or airfryer to 180C, switch off the oven, and toast the rolls using the residual heat for 5 minutes. Watch the video (yes that’s cbb fussing at the end.. she wouldn’t even let me take a video in peace lol!):

This recipe yields 20-25 bread rolls (about 40-45g dough per roll). Of course you can shape them however you want! Enjoy with cold butter or jam (with a cup of coffee!), or make ham and egg rolls with them. Have fun!

The post Soft and Crusty Cornmeal Bread Rolls – step by step tutorial! appeared first on Budgetpantry | Singapore Mummy Blog on Food, Recipe & Baby.

What do you do with a loaf of bread with a ‘Use by’ date of tomorrow? Make fun food!

It is always funny to me how a slice or two of bread for a casual snack sounds excessive (at least to me), but transform them into a dessert and it becomes a snack that just disappears from the plate (into my tummy) within seconds! I had a few slices of bread which were just starting to go stale. The expiry date was the next day and there was no way we would be able to finish it. I sometimes toast them and make bread crumbs to coat my chicken fillets with, but most of the time I’m too lazy to do it.

So in order not to waste food, I made French Toast Nutella Rolls with the bread yesterday! Ok I didn’t exactly use Nutella, but I used Ovomaltine, which I bought from Candy Empire for $10.80 and later found in Sheng Siong for $6.90.

It’s really simple: choose your fruits (I used strawberries and bananas), spread a layer of Nutella or Ovomaltine on your bread, arrange the chopped fruits at the edge of the bread, roll it up and lightly press the seams down on your plate or work bench. Dip in beaten egg and fry in a little olive oil. Rotate all sides with a pair of tongs till they’re just turning golden.

My aunt and I had two flavours each and Jason polished off the last one. Leftover bread? No problem! This would be a fun activity to do with your kids or nieces and nephews. If you’re not into strawberries and bananas, you could also use blueberries, blackberries, apples and even cheese (chocolate and cheese is super yums)! Have fun rollin’!

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Bread pudding is one of the easiest desserts to make. Anyone can do it! I remember baking this a few years ago for the two old ladies at home. They love their liquor in rum cakes and fruit cakes, so it wasn’t a surprise to me that they love this.

While watching a Taiwanese programme a few days ago, Ah-mm saw the host introducing bread pudding at a cafe and asked me if this was what I baked for them before. Yeah, I got her hint. She is quite good at this. Sometimes she will see on tv that KFC came up with something new, then she will ask, “Hmm.. don’t know nice or not?” Then the next day I will go and buy. Or she will see the Go-Chef commercial and comment how good it looks, then she will miraculously receive it as Mother’s Day gift the following week.

Bread pudding is basically bread baked with custard. Eggs, butter, sugar and milk combined in liquid form and baked til set. Most people also normally add raisins to bread pudding, but I’m not a fan of dehydrated fruits. For this recipe, I added Fuji apples and hazelnut Baileys. I always have Baileys and wine in the fridge.. I like a drink or two at home, and Baileys is really good for cakes and pudding-type desserts.

If you like, you can also use sliced bananas instead of apples, or add chopped pecans to the apples. Because I was making a Bailey’s version today, I left out the pecans as it would have been a very confused pudding, I think. You can leave out the Baileys of course, and if you do, replace it with the equivalent amount of fresh milk (i.e., instead of 350ml fresh milk and 150ml Baileys, use 500ml fresh milk). Add those pecans if not using Baileys!

I made a short video just for fun to show you how easy it is to put this together:

First, layer the bread, then top with apples, then bread, then pour in the liquid mixture, and bake. Easy or what? You can use any kind of bread.. regular white bread, thick cut bread, or even baguette.

Many bread pudding recipes call for a butter sauce to drizzle on top after the pudding is done. I skipped that because it would mean an additional one stick of butter and even more milk and sugar, and I cannot do this. The next best thing? Chocolate chip ice cream! A small scoop is better, calories wise, than all that butter.

Bread pudding ranks right up there as one of the most budget-friendly desserts ever. Whenever I make a cake, I end up spending close to $10 to buy all the butter, fruits and nuts. I spent about $4 for this entire dish of bread pudding enough to feed the whole family. This recipe is totally fuss-free and the entire thing is so quick to put together, you have to try it!

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The husband is one who doesn’t really try new food if he had a choice. I can’t even begin to tell you how many times my creation has been met with, “很奇怪。。。” (“that looks really strange..”) before he’s even had a taste of it. But too bad for him, in my kitchen, he doesn’t really have a choice. Eat it or eat instant noodles, or starve. (but now he can cook a few yummy dishes like chicken chop and most recently, carrot corn pork rib soup which the whole family loved! He don’t need me liao la!)

Actually, before I present him with a ‘strange’ creation – which most of the time is really normal in other people’s kitchen – I already know if it is something he can accept. Like I wouldn’t expect him to eat and like avocado cookies sans butter (I used avocado in place of butter as the main fat), but this avocado egg mayo? TOTALLY LEGIT. He’ll love it.

The trick is to serve him something familiar in another form, or with one or two ‘strange’ ingredients added for him to try out.. then go full fledged. Of course, he’s never eaten avocado before. He gave me a face when I told him what was for breakfast.

Him: “很。。” (“It’s very..)
Me: “很奇怪对吗？” (“It’s very strange, right?”)

‘Try it,’ I told him. ‘You’ll love it.’

A while later, he posted this on Facebook:

你不知道的事可多了咯。That was in January. I made triangle sandwiches, and served them with a side salad, some fruits, two nitrate-free bacon slices and a begadil (hehe). I made this again today but without the frills. The ingredients are really simple. Just avocado, eggs, mayo, spring onions, yellow onions, sugar and optional salt.

I like to eat it reallyyy cold, on its own or simply wrapped in lettuce. Because avocado is already creamy, you don’t need as much mayo as you would without it. I don’t recommend using Japanese mayo with this. Japanese mayo uses egg yolks instead of whole eggs, and has a too-strong vinegar flavour to me PLUS it has MSG. My favourite mayo brand is actually Best Foods Real Mayonnaise but I read recently that they’ve changed their recipe. Seriously, the only reason I’m using Heinz now? It’s a squeezable bottle. I buy my ketchup, mayo and mustard only if they’re in a squeezable bottle packaging. What is your favourite mayo? I might be shopping around for a new brand!

If you’re out of breakfast or brunch ideas, here, use this one! It also makes an awesome picnic food!

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If you’ve never heard of Shakshouka, you’re in for quite a treat!

Shakshouka is dish of tomatoes, onions, peppers and spices topped with poached eggs, cooked in a skillet over the stove top, and usually served straight from the pan.

According to The Book of New Israeli Food: A Culinary Journey quote in Wikipedia, “Shakshouka is a staple of Tunisian, Libyan, Algerian, Moroccan, and Egyptian cuisines traditionally served in a cast iron pan or tajine with bread to mop up the sauce. It is also popular in Israel, where it was introduced by Tunisian Jews.”

What I’ve read is that while Shakshouka is commonly served as a breakfast meal, it is also often eaten at dinner time in Israel. The dish is very easy to make, but the flavours by no means reflect that. I’ve had the chance to eat this dish on my travels, in Middle-Eastern type restaurants in Europe (I’ve never been to the Middle East and North Africa), but this is my first attempt at cooking it.

You need very basic ingredients: canned tomatoes, a yellow onion, garlic, green or red peppers, spices (black pepper, paprika, cumin and cayenne pepper if you so wish) and salt and sugar to taste. Let the stew simmer for a bit, then crack 5-6 eggs on top before covering briefly til the whites form.. til the eggs are half cooked and still runny.

Jason and I love this dish because it is both hearty and healthy. You can choose to make an all-vegetarian version, or add some chicken or beef sausages for even better flavour. I used pretty minimal olive oil for this, and if you leave out the meat, this dish is all about tomatoes, aromatics, spices and eggs. I served mine today with crusty baguette from the neighbourhood bakery (so good!), but you could leave out the bread if you’re cutting down on carbs.

If you have half an hour (including prep time!) to spare, cook Shakshouka. I bet you’ll fall in love with it like I did!

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