Satisfying my Old Chang Kee cravings.....(An easy/lazy curry puff recipe)

I hate too leychey cooking/baking.....and making curry puffs the traditional way is probably right at the top of my "leychey-to avoid" list.

But lately, owing to some discussions with my fellow overseas SGPoreans, I have been getting strong cravings for curry puffs. Damn!

So being my usual lazy self.....I set out to make curry puffs the easiest way that I can possibly think of.

I boiled, peeled and chopped up one big potato into tiny pieces. For the meat, I used a CAN (ya, can you believe it!) of chicken rib meat which has already been cubed and cooked.

For spices, I used a ready cooking sauce as shown below, some curry powder and salt. And that was it!

For the filling, all I did was to chop 1/2 onion finely and stir fry it in some oil till translucent. Then I added the cooked potatoes and chicken to the wok. Next, I added a few tablespoon full of the cooking sauce, some curry powder and salt. I don't know how much....just taste it as you slowly add the seasoning. You don't have to cook the filling for long since everything is already cooked....the whole idea is to just mix all the ingredients and seasonings together with a little bit of heat. And then you are DONE! Oh ya, you don't want the filling to be too wet....'cos you ain't making a curry cream puff!

I like my puffs with eggs. If you do too....just boil a couple of eggs (depending on how many puffs you are making). I cut each egg into 6 segments. Now the curry puff skin.......you could go through the tedious process of measuring your flour, ghee (yes, i like to use ghee!), water.....mix and knead the dough till your arms ache.....after which you'd sit and wait for hours for the dough to proof before making your curry puffs......or you could.......

......use the ready made frozen pie crusts like I did!! The Pillsbury one is my favorite......you need only to thaw it to room temperature (about 15-20min since mine was not in the freezer) and then you can unroll and use the crusts.

I used my biggest cookie cutter to cut out little round shapes from the pie crusts.

To assemble, just place 1 egg segment and a small spoonful of the filling in the middle of the round pastry and fold it in half. Then pinch the edges and do the "twists" to seal the curry puff. 'Cos my cookie cutter is quite small (~3.5").....my curry puffs are little itsy bitsy-s....good bite size. Sorry, no photos to demonstrate the assembling process 'cos my hands were too busy and oily/sticky.

And finally, you heat up a wok (I used my cast iron dutch oven) and add oil to it (you need to have enough oil for deep-frying). When the oil is sufficiently hot, slowly lower the curry puffs into the oil to cook. Do not overcrowd the wok (I do it 4-5 at a time). Keep turning the curry puffs in the oil to make sure that they are evenly browned. It doesn't take long to cook the puff skin....you need to keep your eyes peeled as you don't want to burn them. When they are nice and brown...just pick them up and place them on a piece of paper towel.

And then.....you eat......nom nom nom nom nom nom nom nom nom........

Ok, not to boast or anything......but the puffs taste SO GOOD (I was totally shocked!). I swear Old Chang Kee probably uses the Pillsbury pie crust too :P

Ring pin cushion.....

I saw this cute little ring pin cushion in Martha Stewart's magazine recently and I thought that I could get it for myself for Xmas. A pin cushion that you can wear on your finger....HOW COOL IS THAT (ok, you'd probably only think it's COOL if you are a SEWer like me)!!

Anyway, I did a quick price check for such pin cushions and the price range is between USD10-20++ (excluding shipping). Well....I'm sure it's worth all that money as it takes time/effort to make those cute little things.....but I figured it won't be too hard to make one myself especially when I already have most of the materials. Afterall, a penny saved is a penny earned.

So I gathered a plastic bottle cap, some scrap fabrics and a small bunch of poly-fil stuffing....and with my needle and thread, I made this while watching a house-hunting episode on HGTV.

Ta-da......might not be as pretty as those for sale online but it'd serve my needs very well.

To give you an idea of the actual size of it (see photo below). I made it slightly bigger 'cos I use TOO MANY pins...haha!
I bought an adjustable ring with a flat plate from etsy(it's making its way to my PO Box right now)....on which I'd glue my itsy bitsy pin cushion. The cost breakdown of my ring pin cushion:

Fabrics from scrap bin - FREE

Plastic bottle cap - FREE (courtesy of Florida orange juice)

Small bunch of polyfil - $0.0000001 (since I paid only USD4 for the 32oz bag)

Adjustable ring - $0.75 (inclusive of shipping)

GRAND TOTAL came up to $0.7500001...and I do my teeeny part in recycling plastic and fabric. Not bad at all.

Sewing a plushie toy (Pictorial tutorial)

I've been trying to sew stuffs to give away as Xmas presents....and while I'm at it, I thought that I may as well do some tutorials, which hopefully, could help other fellow SEWers :)

So the first step to making a plushie toy is to sketch out how you'd like your plushie to look like. If you are new to sewing.....go for simpler and more streamlined designs. My sketch pad is a mess.......

As I had settled for a very simple design, I drew the outlines (main body and hand) freehand using a thick marker on brown paper. If your design is more complicated, you can use a photocopier to blow up your drawing to the desired size and then trace it onto the brown paper. Cut out the designs.
Pin the brown paper onto your chosen fabric(s) and cut 2 pieces for the main body & 4 pieces for the arms. I used a thick colorful fleece fabric for my toy. Choosing the right fabric(s) is probably half the battle won.
I wanted a facial expression on my toy so I cut out little strips of black felt and pinned them onto my main body fabric (on the right side). You can also use other kinds of embellishment i.e. buttons, ribbons etc for the eyes/nose/mouth. But if the toy is meant for a young child, do avoid small decorative parts that could come loose.
To attach the "eyes" & "mouth", I used an applique stitch...... This is how the stitch would look like....
There you have it.....a smiley face!
Next I moved on to the arms. Pin 2 pieces of the arm fabric right side facing.....
Sew all around the "arm" except the base with a regular stitch......

From the base opening, slowly turn the "arm" onto the right side. BE VERY PATIENT.....if your arm is small and skinny...then it's gonna take more effort. Try poking around with a thin but blunt object.
Now that the arm is on the right side.....start stuffing it. I used poly-fil. After the arms are done, start piecing the main body fabrics and arms together as shown below. The right side of the fabrics should be facing inwards. The arms are to be "sandwiched" between the 2 main body fabrics.

And then piN, pIN & PIN all around the circumference of your plushie!!!! You'll need to leave a small gap for turning the fabric right side up as well as for stuffing. I decided to leave the gap at the side for easy sewing.

See the gap.....it shouldn't be too big (otherwise you'll have lots to sew by hand) nor should it be too small (otherwise you'll have problems turning the fabric over or with the stuffing).

Flip your plushie right side out through the small gap. Again, please be patient and very gentle.
Woooohoooo, we are almost done. Plushie is looking good but flat!
Start stuffing your plushie up! Try to fill those awkward corners (i.e. ears/feet) first.....keep stuffing until you get the desired "feel".
Ok now your plushie is a little fatty.......let's deal with the HOLE now.
Using a slip stitch (refer to video link in my earlier scarf tutorial)....close up the gap. See, the slip stitches would be hardly visible.
At this point, you are DONE. But if you are still in the mood for more work.....how about dolling up your plushie a little? I cut 2 flowers off a piece of fleece fabric and sewed them onto my plushie for a tropical girly look. You can do whatever you please to give your plushie more character!
And finally......presenting Little Miss Psychedelic.....
Have fun designing and making your plushies. I'd love to see your creations. Feel free to leave me a message if you need help with your plushie.

East meets West - Burlap meets Brocade

I've always liked the rustic look of burlap (aka gunny sack).....so when I saw that some bags of potato chips were sold in small burlap sacks....I immediately grabbed a handfull of them :P

Burlap is not the easiest material to sew as the coarse fibres are very loosely woven and frays like mad! My easy solution was to iron a piece of fusible interfacing on the wrong side (the one without prints) of the burlap. I also W stitched the edges just to be doubly sure that the burlap is not gonna disintegrate while I'm sewing it.

I wasn't really sure what to do with my burlap.....and then I saw the bright red piece of brocade that was still sitting on my sewing table from my scarf making project. And I thought to myself that it'd be so interesting to marry the two very different fabrics together. Think about it, the burlap is so coarse/sturdy/western............. ..........whereas the brocade is so silky smooth/delicate/chinese. It's the ultimate east meets west combination don't ya think?!
So I put the 2 fabrics together and turned them into a soft container for my sewing supplies. I absolutely love it.....to me, it's not just a pretty and functional item... but it also symbolises the east-west dichotomy! On yet another level, it also hints at deep-seated asian roots inspite of the very western exterior - ME!! (how apt that the burlap was actually a potato sack. "Eat potato" (jiak kan dang) = Being westernised)
Heh heh heh.....ok think I'm reading too much into it. Anyway, here's how my burlap container looks from another angle.
I just happened to have a small crate of clementines lying around (they are absolutely delicious...and tiny, so I eat like 5/day!).....I filled up my new burlap container with them....doesn't it just remind you of CNY??!!
Now I need to think what else can be made from the remaining 3 small burlap sacks!

My life in 2010 according to Facebook......

A FB application that compiles all your statuses in Year 2010. Kinda interesting looking through the nonsenses that I had posted.......

My new year resolution for 2011 - post even MORE crazy status updates on FB.... hahahahaha.....

Handsewn scarves as Christmas presents

I was agonising over what to give to our neighbors - Mr & Mrs A......as they seemed to be the sort who have everything. I figured my best bet is to show up at their doorstep with either something home-cooked or handsewn. I decided on the latter.

I do not have the time to sew anything too elaborate.....so I thought I could make them HIS and HERs scarves - since the weather is turning cold!

A simple scarf is like one of the easiest things to sew! I got 3 different types of fabric from Jo-ann - one brocade (bright red for the lady), one suit material (grey for the gentleman) & one polar-fleece (black). The black fleece is going to be the base material for both scarves.

First I cut out 2 fleece pieces of the following dimensions L73" x W15". Then I cut the red brocade and grey suit fabric into L73" x W6" each. I happened to have very long fabric pieces hence was able to cut a single long piece of L73". But if you do not have such long fabric....you can always join the pieces together to yield the required dimensions....no biggie! You can vary the length and width of your scarf to suit your needs.

It's such a simple project that I decided to do a tutorial to show you how easy it is. Any beginner to sewing should be able to pull it off!

Here, I'll be demonstrating how to make the man's scarf - which is in grey (suit material) and black (fleece). I know the color combi looks kinda boring but I decided to play safe with a more conservative formal look as my neighbour is a mature gentleman who works at a top-notch research institution.

As the grey suit material is kinda thin.....I decided to iron on a layer of fusible interfacing on the wrong side of the fabric. You can omit this step if your chosen fabric is quite heavy.
Line the long edges of the fabrics together, with the right sides facing.

Pin the fabrics together to hold them securely for sewing.

Feel free to use as many pins as you wish to secure the fabrics.....there's NO SHAME in using pins!! :)

Leave 0.5" gap from the edge of the fabric and start sewing in a straight line down the entire length of the fabric. I'd usually back-stitch at the start and end to secure my stitches.

As my suit fabric seems to fray......I decided to sew the fabric edges with a "W" stitch which is available on my sewing machine.

Moving the needle to the edge of the fabrics.....I started sewing down the entire length. The W stitch is good for preventing the fabric edges from fraying. You can omit this step if your fabrics don't fray.

After you are done sewing one edge of the 2 fabrics together.....do the same on the other edge. Place the right side of fabrics facing and edges lined up.....sew and do the W stitch.

As I hadn't cut my fabrics properly (bleeah!), I needed to trim the ends a little. I drew a straight line with my chalk on the fabrics...leaving a small 0.5" gap from the edge.

Then....I pin, pin and pin to secure the fabrics in preparation for sewing. I'd sew straight across the entire width using the chalk line as guidance.
Here it is.....then I trimmed off the excess fabric but leaving some allowance to do my W stitching again.

See how the W stitches are actually "holding" the edges to prevent further fraying?

Do the same on the other end of the scarf......but this time, leave a gap in the middle of the width of the scarf. The gap should be big enough for you to slot your hand in.

Ok....now the fun and exciting part! Put your hand into the gap and push the entire length of scarf up your arm until your fingers can reach the other end. Pinch the other end with your fingers and slowly pull the fabric through the gap.

Pull gently and slowly to avoid ripping your stitches....do not rush the job!

After you've pulled the entire scarf onto the right side....you are now left with the gap.....

...fear not, you can hand-stitch it close with a slip-stitch using needle and black thread. If you don't know how to do a slip stitch.....refer to http://www.5min.com/Video/How-to-Sew---The-Slip-Stitch-140618098

The good thing about using a slip stitch is that it will not be visible. And then you are DONE! If you'd like, you can iron the scarf (make sure the iron temperature is suitable for your scarf fabrics) for a neater look. Finally, SHOW IT OFF!

Here are my scarves for Mr & Mrs A....ready to be wrapped and gifted.

Took me very little effort/time to make these. Think I probably spent less time making the scarves then I took writing this tutorial! Try it and do share with me your creations.