• Ice
• 3 ounces vodka, any flavor
• 1/2 to 1 ounce ginger syrup, recipe follows
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly squeezed lime juice
• Twist of lemon or lime

• 1 lemon
• 2 cups coarsely chopped fresh ginger with peel, about 8 ounces
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 cups water

1. Fill a cocktail shaker or small pitcher with ice. Add the vodka, ginger syrup, and lime juice. Cover and shake vigorously, or stir, until combined and chilled, about 30 seconds. (In general, by the time the shaker mists up the drink is ready.) Strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Add twist and serve.
2. Remove the outer peel of the lemon with a vegetable peeler, taking care not to include too much of the bitter white pith. Finely chop the lemon peel and ginger in a food processor.
3. Transfer the lemon-ginger mixture to a medium saucepan, add the sugar and water and bring to a boil. Reduce heat, and simmer, partially covered, for 15 minutes. Strain the mixture and cool. Cover and refrigerate for up to 1 week.

• 1 cup Bisquick baking mix
• 1 cup fine corn meal
• 1/2 Tablespoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 eggs -- separated
• 2 Tablespoons heavy cream plus milk to moisten
• 1 Tablespoon butter -- melted

Directions :

1. Mix all ingredients except egg whites, adding enough milk to make the consistency of pancake batter. Beat egg whites until stiff and fold into batter. Bake in pre-heated waffle iron when ready to serve. Be sure to spray iron with vegetable oil.

Seasoning :

• 1 ½ tablespoons light soya sauce
• 1 tablespoon dark soya sauce
• 1/3 teaspoon of white pepper powder
• 1 teaspoon salt

Directions :

1. Fry shallots in oil till golden brown. Remove fried shallots and set aside. Remove oil separately into a bowl.
2. Bring a pot of water to boil and add belly pork. As the water starts reboiling, remove scum from surface till no more scum appears. Remove pork and allow to cool. Cut the pork into small pieces (just like the mushroom strips), retaining the fat.
3. Heat up 2 tablespoons of the shallot oil. Add pre-soaked mushrooms and stir fry for 2 minutes. Add pre-soaked dried prawns. Continue stir-frying for another 2 minutes or so till aromatic.
4. Add belly pork strips and stir well for about 2 minutes. Next, add pumpkin and continue stirring for another 2 minutes. Add a little shallot oil if combined ingredients are drying up.
5. Add pre-soaked rice followed by seasoning and stir till ingredients are mixed well.
6. Remove combined ingredients and place into a rice cooker. Add the water previously used to soak mushrooms and dried prawns to cover the rice mixture completely with about 1 cm above the surface of the rice. Switch on the rice cooker and allow it to cook till done.
7. If you are cooking in the pot / wok, add water to cover the rice mixture, reduce heat to low, cover and allow it to cook slowly, stirring occasionally to prevent burning. Cook till rice is fully cooked.
8. Serve with a sprinkle of fried shallots.

Seasoning :

• 2 teaspoon sugar
• Salt to taste

Directions :

1. Heat oil in wok and saute onions till fragrant. Add sarawak laksa paste and stir well for 30 seconds. Add sotong, lime juice, kaffir lime leaves, water and seasoning whilst stirring. Sotong is cooked when it curls up.
2. Serve with plain white rice or coconut rice.

• 35g wheat starch (tang mein fun)
• 100ml freshly-boiled water
• 200g glutinous rice flour
• 300-350ml water

• 100ml UHT milk
• 15g cornflour
• 20g custard powder
• 45g castor sugar
• 1/8 tsp salt
• 150ml hot water
• 10g butter
• 100g puréed sweet corn paste
• Ginger syrup
• 130g mature ginger
• 80g brown sugar
• 20g palm sugar (gula Melaka)
• 100g castor sugar
• 1.2 litres water
• 5–6 screwpine leaves, knotted

1. To prepare the custard, combine milk, cornflour, custard powder, sugar and salt in a saucepan. Stir in hot water and mix well. Cook the mixture over a low heat, stirring continuously until it thickens.
2. Remove saucepan from heat and add butter and puréed sweet corn paste. Keep stirring until well mixed. Dish out and set aside to cool completely.
3. Refrigerate before use.
4. To prepare glutinous rice ball dough, put wheat starch in a bowl and pour in boiling water. Stir well with a pair of chopsticks until a soft dough is formed.
5. Combine glutinous rice flour and the cooked dough in a large mixing bowl. Stir in water and knead to form a soft dough. Divide dough into small balls. Flatten each ball into a thin disk. Spoon a little custard filling in the centre and wrap up to secure the filling.
6. Repeat with the rest of the dough. Bring a pot of water to the boil; drop in the prepared balls of dough. When the balls float, remove with a slotted spoon and place in cold water for 10 minutes. Serve tong yuen in hot heavy ginger syrup.
7. To prepare ginger syrup, grate ginger and set aside. Bring water to the boil with the three types of sugar. Put in the grated ginger and simmer for 15 minutes. Strain the syrup and set over a gentle low heat to heat up.

Dressing :

• 1/2 cup lemon juice
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/2 cup sugar

Directions :

1. In a bowl, combine the lemon juice, water and sugar. Stir until the sugar is dissolved.
2. Peel the banana and slice thickly and add to the dressing straight away to prevent discoloration. Add the orange wedges and toss well.
3. Combine the grapes, watermelon, honey dew, strawberry and kiwi in a large glass bowl. Add in the orange and banana mixture, and stir to mix well.
4. Cover with cling film and refrigerate until ready to serve.

• 200g peanuts (can use 200g ready-ground peanuts, dry-frying it yourself gives it a better taste)
• 200g plain flour
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 100g icing sugar
• 1/4 tsp + a small pinch more of salt
• 50-100g coarsely chopped peanuts, dry fry in a wok till fragrant
• 100g groundnut oil, plus more if needed
• 1egg for wash

1. Preheat oven to 165C.
2. Dry fry the 200g of peanuts in a wok over low heat, stirring continously, until fragrant. This will take about 5-10mins. Let peanuts cool completely, rub off skin and grind them into a powder. I used a food processor to do this but I think a coffee grinder or blender would work as well. I also added the salt into the grinder so that it gets evenly distributed into the ground peanut mixture.
3. In a large bowl, mix the flour, baking powder and icing sugar. Add in the ground peanut and salt mixture, and the caosrsely chopped peanuts and mix well.
4. Add in oil and mix with your hands until a pliable dough forms. You may need to add a little more oil to get the dough to come together into a ball.
5. Pinch off little bits of dough and roll into balls. If you desire a uniform button shape like in the picture above, use a small bottle-cap, line the hollow bit with cling wrap, and press the dough into the cling-wrapped cavity. Lift the cling-wrap to release the dough and place onto a baking tray.
6. Using a pastry or paint brush, gently brush the cookies with the egg/milk wash.
7. Bake at 165C for 20mins until golden brown.