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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Bee Leng is a co-founder of The
Burning Kitchen, a curated recipes
and cooking tips blog written in an
engaging and easy-to-follow
manner to cater to home chefs of
all abilities.
She started her culinary journey at
the age of 7, and has been
cooking for several decades. She is
passionate about authentic home
cooking and passing down
traditional recipes and long-held
cooking secrets. She is based in
Singapore and has three
daughters.
APPETIZERS
Creamy Mushroom Soup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Fluffy Potato and Squid Salad . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Cold Crab and Avocado Salad . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
MAINS
Rosemary Lamb Cutlet With Mint Sauce . . . . .12
Crispy Roast Chicken with Festive Greens. . . . 15
Roast Crackling Pork Belly with Baked Apples. 18
DESSERT
Moist and Chewy Gingerbread. . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Strawberry Trifle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
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CREAMY MUSHROOM SOUP
SERVES 8 | PREP TIME: 20 MIN | COOK TIME: 30 MIN
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Ing4edients
Chicken Stock, 1 litre
Water, 2 bowls
Fresh button mushrooms, 600 gm
Chopped Garlic, 2 tsp
Celery, 1 stalk
Yellow onion, 1 medium size
Parsley, 1 stalk
Butter, 50 g
Heavy Full Cream, 150 ml
Milk, 200 ml
Salt, ½ tsp (optional)
Freshly Ground Black Pepper
(optional)
Preparation Method
1 Use a soft brush to lightly brush the mushrooms to get rid of the soil. Then
slice the mushrooms thinly.
2 Remove the skin from the onion and slice it thinly.
3 For the celery, break the celery section by section by hand and tear along
the grain to remove the fibres. Wash and cut into thin strips.
4 Wash the parsley, pat dry and cut into ½" lengthwise.
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Cooking Method
1 In a pot, melt in the butter over low heat.
2 Add in the mushrooms and sauté for 2-3 minutes, then transfer to a bowl.
3 In the same pot, melt a little butter and add in the onion. Fry until
caramelised.
4 Add in the chopped garlic and celery and fry for a few minutes until the
celery is soft.
5 Add in the cooked mushroom (leaving about half a bowl of mushroom for
later use), 1 litre of chicken stock and 1 bowl of water to the mixture.
6 Continue to simmer at medium heat for about 10-15 minutes. Then turn off
the heat.
7 Use a hand held blender to blend the soup in the pot until it's smooth.
8 Bring the pot of soup to a boil again over medium heat.
9 Lastly add in the 100 ml of fresh milk and stir well. Turn off the heat
10 Serve the mushroom soup into individual bowls.
11 Add 1 TBsp of heavy cream in the centre of the bowl and top with the
mushroom slices. Garnish with some fresh parsley.
Tips and Tricks
1 Do not wash the mushroom otherwise it will absorb a lot of water and turn soggy.
2 When using butter to fry anything, always turn the heat to low because butter gets burnt very quickly.
3 Do not cut the celery. Instead break the stem and pull it along the grain to remove the fibres, otherwise the soup will
become very fibrous.
4 Do not boil the soup vigorously once the milk is added to the soup, as milk gets burnt easily.
5 Use ready-made chicken stock like Heinz Chicken to save time.
6 Use a hand blender instead of a food processor to save on washing up time.
7 When using a hand held blender, turn the speed to low to prevent the hot soup from splattering. Position the blender
at the bottom of the pot, then start blending and slowly turning the blender around the soup. Blend until the soup is
very smooth. Make sure that you get a hand blender with a stainless steel rod and blade so that you can blend soup
that is boiling hot. Avoid those with a plastic rod.
5

FLUFFY POTATO, SQUID AND CHORIZO
SERVES 6 | PREP TIME:
| COOK TIME:
6

COLD CRAB AND AVOCADO SALAD
SERVES 6 | PREP TIME:
| COOK TIME:
7

ROSEMARY LAMB CUTLET WITH MINT SAUCE
1 Click a picture, and then click the Format
Picture tab to create your own frames and
make picture corrections such as adjusting
contrast and brightness or cropping the
picture for just the right look.
SERVES 8 | PREP TIME: 20 MIN | COOK TIME: 30 MIN
8

CRISPY ROAST CHICKEN WITH FESTIVE GREENS
SERVES 5 | PREP TIME: 40 MIN | COOK TIME: 30 MIN
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ROAST CRACKLING PORK BELLY
SERVES 5 | PREP TIME: 30 MIN | COOK TIME: 2 H 15 MIN
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Ing4edients
Pork Belly, 3 kg
Bay leaves, 12-15
Cloves, 2 TBsp
Coarse Salt, 2 TBsp ( for rubbing the
skin )
Sea Salt, ½ TBsp
Black Pepper, a dash (optional)
A roll of string
Green Apples, 6
Star Anise, 4-5
Bay leaves, 6
Red Capsicum,1
Yellow Capsicum,1
Garlic, 6 cloves
Preparation Method
1 Rub the pork belly with coarse salt both on the skin and the meat. Wash
thoroughly and pat very dry with kitchen towel.
2 Rub 1 tsp of salt on the meat and place the pork belly flat on a square tin
with the skin facing up. Leave it in the fridge for 2 days to dry the skin.
3 When the skin is thoroughly dried, use a very sharp knife to score the
skin width-wise about ½" apart. Turn the pork belly over and place on a
square tray or aluminium foil. Make sure the tray is dry.
4 Spread out the bay leaves and cloves on the surface of the meat. Then, roll
up the pork belly, making sure that the bay leaves and cloves are wrapped
in together with the pork belly. Then tie the pork belly with the string
spacing it about ½'’apart (according to the score line).
5 Preheat the oven to 240°C.
6 Brush olive oil all over the skin, then sprinkle sea salt and black pepper all
over.
7 Wash the apples, capsicum, and pumpkin. Cut the apples into half crosssection.
Cut the pumpkin into large chunks and cut the capsicum into thick
strips.
8 Smash the garlic lightly, leaving the skin on.
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Cooking Method
1 Place the tray of pork belly on the rack and put the rack in the centre of
the oven. Roast for 30 minutes at 240°C. During the first 30 minutes of
roasting, the skin should start crackling.
2 Turn the oven heat to 180°C and continue to roast for another 2 hours and
15 minutes.
3 Half an hour before the end of the cooking time, add in 2 star anise, 5 bay
leaves and 6 cloves of garlic to the bottom of the tray.
4 Place the apples, pumpkin and capsicums alongside the pork belly and
continue to roast for 30 minutes or until caramelised.
5 Once cooked, transfer the pork belly onto a chopping board to rest for at
least 20 minutes before carving.
6 Use a pair of scissors to cut away the string. Then carve the pork belly using
the score lines as a guide.
7 Drizzle the juices of the crackling pork belly over the tray of roasted
vegetables.
8 Present the crackling pork belly and roasted vegetables on a large platter
and serve.
Tips and Tricks
1 Get pre-prepared crackling roast from a gourmet butcher to save on preparation time.
2 If you plan to make it from scratch, invest in a sharp utility knife. Adjust the utility knife to score through just the skin,
not the meat as it will dry up the meat during cooking. It is a lot easier to score the skin when it is very, very dry.
3 Scoring is very important in order for the skin to crackle. The scoring will allow the heat to penetrate through the fatty
layer which in turn forces the skin to crackle. This is why the oven must be at maximum heat for the first 30 minutes.
4 To get a good crackling, the skin on the pork belly must be very, very dry till it turns a little darker coloured. To make
absolutely sure that the skin is dry through, use a hairdryer to dry the skin just before rolling up the pork belly.
5 Do not fret if the skin is burnt, just use a knife to lightly scrape off any burnt bits.
6 Any left over crackling will become rubbery by the next day. To crisp it up again, use aluminum foil to wrap the meat
part, leaving the skin exposed. Toast for a few minutes and the skin will turn crispy again without drying out the meat.
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MOIST AND CHEWY GINGERBREAD
SERVES 5 | PREP TIME:
| COOK TIME:
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