Category: Cooking

Hubs been craving for this cake for weeks. He kept bugging me asking if I could squeeze in my busy daily routine to make this cake, lol. So I finally gave in and made him one. It was gone in one sitting. Very soft, moist and yummy.

Ingredients
2 eggs
120 g brown sugar (I use unrefined brown sugar)
20 g custard powder
100 g self-raising flour
50 ml milk
4 tsp cream soda (you can use 7-up, sprite)
3 tsp baking powder
50 g melted butter or 50 mL cooking oil (I tried using one or the other and it worked, so whatever you have)

Method
1 . Beat the eggs at high-speed for about 3 minutes
2 . Add sugar slowly into the egg and mix at high-speed for a total of 5 minutes
3 . Add custard powder and mix carefully for about 30 times
4 . Add milk and mix carefully for about 20 times
5 . Leave aside to rest for 2 hours, covered with cling film
6. Get the steamer ready with boiling water
7. When the steamer is ready, mix soda water into baking powder, stir quickly and add into the batter and  mix for about 7 times.
8 . Add oil/butter into the batter mixture. Stir carefully and evenly for about 10 times.
9. Pour into lined cake tin and steam. Cover the lid of the steamer with cloth to prevent water condensation dripping onto your cake.
10. Steam for 30 minutes and best enjoyed whilst it is warm.

Soy bean pudding or soy bean curd desert also known as douhua, tafu fa , etc is traditionally made with calcium salt (gypsum) to coagulate the soya milk. I found this recipe on the WWW using gelatin to curdle/solidify the soya milk (instead of gypsum) by chance, made it a few times as the boys loves it. I have made this lovely pudding with homemade soya milk using dried soya beans, carton soya milk and even chocolate flavored soya milk, quite enjoyable. Putting the title as chocolate tofu fa may throw a spin on this traditional soya milk pudding.

Here is the recipe (originally from the aunty from Wantanmien).

Ingredients
1 L soya milk (homemade or carton soya milk, can also use choc flavored soya milk etc)
40 g sugar (optional)
9 g gelatin (I have also used up to 18 g gelatin, it is obvious or perhaps not to some :P, the more you use, your pudding will be ‘more solid’)
75 ml of cold water (if adding up to 18 g gelatin, I used 100 ml cold water)

Method
1 . Sprinkle gelatin into a bowl or cup containing 75 mL of cold water. Place the bowl or cup into a water bath to melt the gelatin for about 10 minutes. Do not stir.
2 . Place sugar and soya milk in a pot, gently simmer the liquid to dissolve the sugar. Do not boil.
3 . Remove soya milk from the fire, stir the gelatin and slowly pour into the milk whilst stirring or whisking. Ensure the gelatin is mixed well.
4 . Return liquid to the fire and simmer to dissolve the gelatin. Stir continuously.
5 . Pour the milk into a container through a sift   
6 . Remove froth or bubbles
7 . Leave to cool down
8 . Place a piece of cloth on the lid, cover the pudding and let it set overnight in the fridge.

 There you have it! Easy Peasy!

Ethan’s breaky!

Picture of Spot from one of Eric Hill’s book (pic taken from Wiki) …ok Spot hasn’t got brown ears, but it stands out!…..

This loaf of extremely soft (and cute) bread  was made using recipe from my previous post – Making Hong Kong Pai Bao …with slight modifications of course. OK, I must come clean as this bread was not meant to be Spot, but it’ll have to be Spot for now….a pretty good ‘Spot’ if you ask me 🙂 Ethan’s happy! Pretty cool eh!

I was thinking of what to cook for dinner one day and thought of Quiche. So I made quiche…simple 🙂 

1) Very easy to make and absolutely tasty (at least that’s what my boys tell me)
2) I have a little sous chef who was more than happy to cook dinner
3) It’s absolutely easy to make – even a 3-year-old can do it
4) Minimal preparation
5) Required basic ingredients

So this is how Ethan made his tomato, spinach, chorizo and bacon Quiche.

Ingredients

For pastry
400 g plain flour
200 g butter (cold cubes)
a pinch of salt
an egg yolk
less than 100 mL cold water

For pastry filling
6 pieces of thick bacon
100 g shredded Gruyère
100 g shredded cheddar (you can use any hard cheese)
200 ml creme fraiche (we have made without this, still tasted lovely)
200 ml fresh cream (single or double)
3 eggs well beaten
a pinch of nutmeg (made with and without it, still tasted great)

Method

For pastry

 Place the flour, butter, salt and egg yolk in a food processor and mix for 20 seconds. Using a food processor is better than using hands as it does not melt the butter. The mix should look like breadcrumbs.

Pour it out into a mixing bowl and mix with hands with a little water at a time to make the breadcrumb mix into a dough. Cover with cling film and rest in the fridge for at least 30 mins.

Roll the pastry with some flour sprinkled on the surface to fit your tray. Place on baking tray and trim the pastry (pastry will shrink, so leave some extra sticking out of your tin. Prick the pastry with a fork.

Place a piece of foil (shiny side down) and pour baking beads on the foil to weigh the pastry down.

Bake the pastry blind in a 180 degrees C fan assisted pre heated oven for  15 minutes, remove the beads and bake for another 5 more minutes until the pastry is slightly brown or golden.

Your pastry is ready for its hidden treasures.

For pastry filling

oops….still writting

2 coloured Milky Spinach Silver Thread / Flower Roll Steamed Buns

A healthy treat for my little 6-month old (nearly 7 months now) and my little 3-year old, I decided to make milky spinach steamed buns. I made wheat grass buns before (both baked and steamed), but they tasted raw (tasted like grass – cow’s food as Hubs commented) not the most pleasant. After that episode I was a bit reluctant on using greens to make buns.

These milky spinach steamed buns are inspired by cousin Polly.

As these buns were meant for my little-lings, I used baby formula milk (was tempted to use mummy’s milk but decided against it). You can use fresh milk or semi skimmed milk powder.

Milky Spinach Silver Thread / Flower Rool Steamed Buns

Recipe is similar to my previous post on making steamed buns with ‘Old Dough’. The changes I made to the original recipe is to substitute 160 ml of fresh milk with baby formula milk for the white part of the buns and used spinach juice plus semi skimmed milk powder for the green buns. For your convenience, here is the recipe again.

Ingredients for Old Dough

50g plain flour
150g self raising flour
110 ml water
1/2 tsp instant yeast

Ingredients for Man Tou
160 ml fresh milk*
* or baby formula milk
* or spinach juice from 100 g of spinach plus 2 tbsp milk powder

2 Coloured Milky Spinach Steamed Rolls

100g plain flour
200g self raising flour
30g sugar (I used unrefined Demerara, 30 g when making for kiddies, 70 g for adults)
1 tbsp oil
70g’old dough’ (1/4 of the portion made earlier)
5g yeast

Method
To make Old Dough: Add the dry ingredients in a big mixing bowl, make a well and pour the liquid slowly into the well in 2 portions. Mix with a spoon until a dough is form and knead with hands. Divide the Old Dough into 4 portions and freeze until required. Can be frozen for a couple of months (I must admit, I used my breadmaker to make the dough).

To make Man Tou

I mix the ingredients with my breadmaker set at ‘dough’ function or you can do it the traditional way – using elbow grease.

1. Add the dry ingredients in a big mixing bowl, make a well and place the old dough in the centre (make sure the old dough is fully defrosted if kept in the freezer). Press the old dough down.
2. Pour the milk (or spinach juice) slowly into the well in 4 portions. I used my Philip Avent Combined Steamer and Blender to prepare the ‘spinach juice’. The spinach was steamed and blended making 160 mL of spinach juice.
3. Mix with a spoon until a dough is form and knead with hands.
4. Cover with a wet cloth and leave to proof for 30 min to 45 mins (until dough double in size).
5. Divide the dough and shape. Cover with wet cloth and proof again for 30 minutes and steam.
6. Steamed and cooled buns can be frozen.
7. To reheat, steam for about 20 minutes from frozen. Ensure buns are piping hot and enjoy!
    
   

Today, I made 3 lots of buns. The first two lots were 2 coloured buns containing baby milk and reduced sugar for the kiddies. Both boys loved it!

The 3rd lot contains spinach juice and 70 g of sugar for Hubs and myself. I must say, they are quite pleasant, tasted nothing like my wheat grass buns. Give it a go!

It’s Sunday and it’s snowing today…so we stayed in and I did some’ heavy duty’ food prep…made Man Tou and duck with hoisin and spring onion Pao, bread for Hubs lunchs this week, braised mushrooms, fried rice, ABC soup and Bakkwa (thought I will try this ‘new’ recipe thanks Jane for sharing the recipe).

Bakkwa (means dried meat in Hokkien or Yok Gon in Cantonese or Rou Gan is Mandarin = 肉干) is my all time favourite. Alson known as ‘loong yok’ or dragon’s meat, I used to bring loads of Bakkwa from home with me when I went to Uni. Pity we can not bring meat products into most countries including UK anymore…oh well nevermind, I’ll just have to make my own and oh bygolywolk they are extremely addictive. It’s not only easy and cheap to make (a far cry of only 2.50 GBP for 500 g of mince meat compared to RM 40 (or 8 GBP) for 500 g of Bakkwa from Malaysia).

My first batch (pork Bakkwa) was so yummy, they were gone before lunchtime and I am making another batch for tomorrow (beef Bakkwa).

Comparing Jane’s recipe and the other recipes on the www, I made a few adjustments.

Ingredients
500 g mince meat
1 tbsp fish sauce
140 g sugar
1/8 tsp five spice powder (I have made Bakkwa without it still delicious)
1/8 tsp white pepper
½ tbsp cooking oil
1 tbsp sherry or port or plump wine (use sweet strong alcohol)
1 tbsp soya sauce
¼ tsp salt
¼ tsp paprika powder (for colour and some spice – note it’s not spicy ‘hot’ at all)

METHOD:
1) Place all the ingredients in a mixing bowl and mix IN ONE DIRECTION with a pair of chopsticks or a spoon (or take the easy option and mix using a food processor)

2) Cover and marinade in the fridge for at least 3 hours preferably overnight.

3) Cover a baking tray with oiled aluminium foil. Use slightly oiled hands flatten or press the meat onto the oiled foil. You may use a rolling-pin, but I find using hands much faster and easier most important, it works.
4) To cook you have 2 options.
You can bake the meat in a preheated oven at 170 degrees C for about 10 mins, cut them into squares and further grill the meat until they are cooked (for the charred effect) OR
Cook the meat entirely in the preheated oven without grilling it. For this option bake the meat in a preheated oven at 125 degrees C for 20 mins then at 170 degrees for a further 20 to 30 mins until the ends are slightly charred (keep a watchful eye as it burns easily at the later stage). Cut into pieces and enjoy.

Grilled Bakkwa

Since my last post on how to make Chinese Buns, my cousin enlightened me giving me a recipe using ‘old dough’. The texture of these buns using ‘old dough’ as a starter is different compared to those made with the recipe from my last post. These buns are slightly softer with a tint of elastic texture. Quite enjoyable. Thank you Polly for sharing. As the recipe is to make Man Tou it makes smooth buns and not the ‘explosive top bao’. Very good for making ‘Silver Thread or Flower Rool Man Tous’.

Ingredients for Old Dough
50g plain flour (I find using normal plain flour gives better texture than superfine flour or Pao flour)
150g self raising flour
110 ml water
1/2 tsp instant yeast

Ingredients for Man Tou
160 ml fresh milk
100g plain flour (normal, not superfine flour will do)
200g self raising flour
30g sugar (for savory buns or 70g sugar for sweet buns)
1 tbsp oil
70g’old dough’ (1/4 of the portion made earlier)
5g yeast

Method
To make Old Dough: Add the dry ingredients in a big mixing bowl, make a well and pour the liquid slowly into the well in 2 portions. Mix with a spoon until a dough is form and knead with hands. Divide the Old Dough into 4 portions and freeze until required. Can be forzen for a couple of months.

To make Man Tou

1.  Add the dry ingredients in a big mixing bowl, make a well andplace the old dough in the centre (make sure the old dough is fully defrosted if kept in the freezer). Press the old dough down.
2. Pour the milk slowly into the well in 4 portions.
3. Mix with a spoon until a dough is form and knead with hands.
4. Cover with a wet cloth and leave to proof for 30 min to 45 mins (until dough double in size).
5. Divide the dough and shape. Cover with wet cloth and proof again for 30 minutes and steam.
6. Steamed and cooled buns can be frozen.
7. To reheat, steam for about 20 minutes from frozen. Ensure buns are piping hot and enjoy!

Variations:
You can put fillings into the Man Tou (pork, beef, duck, Nutella, peanut butter, lemon curd, custard, aduki bean paste, kaya etc)
Substitute white sugar with brown or demerera sugar

We have finally arrived in Malaysia, staying with mum and dad. After a few nights of rest (or rather few days of rest as we sleep in the day and are wide awake in the night due to jet-lag), I have been summond to make bread, after all the hoo haas and pictures posted on facebook and on this website (mum and dad have been following my posts…..bless), mum and dad are eager to try my bready experiments.
As kaya is one of my all time favourite especially on toast with butter, I have decided to make kaya buns.
My eldest syster in law (PP) brought her new gadget so we can make kaya and bread (the bread maker I bought for mum will be transported by hubs in 2 weeks time,….yes all the way from UK).
The kaya and buns from this post are made using sister in law’s Thermomix (I will provide a review on Thermomix later).

This recipe is quoted by dad, from my late uncle who was a Hainanese. My late uncle’s family used to own a cofee shop that sells amazing Homemade kaya toast.

Ingredients for Kaya (aka coconut egg jam or coconut egg custard)
1 cup eggs (or 4 medium eggs)*
1 cup caster sugar (or 200 g)
1 cup coconut milk (or 200 g)
3 pandan leaves (or use 1/4 tsp pandan paste)

*substituting one of the chicken egg with duck or goose egg will make your kaya smoother.

Method for making Kaya

1. Take and keep a table spoon of sugar for later. Cream the rest of the sugar with the eggs until the sugar has dissolved.
2. Place the mixture on a double boiler stirring continously.
3. When the mixture is hot, pour the mixture through a sieve (optional but this will make the kaya smoother) and return to the stove on the double boiler.
4. Add coconut milk whilst beating the sugar and egg mixture.
5. Knot the pandan leaves and place into the kaya.
6. Cook the mixture on low fire using a double boiler with continous stirring….this is the labourious step, the more you stir, the smoother is your kaya….at this stage stiring and cooking can take 1 to 2 hours. The longer you cook, the longer you can store the kaya.
7. Caramelise  the table spoon of sugar (set aside from Step 1) in a saucepan about 30 minutes before the kaya is cooked and pour the caramelised sugar into the kaya mixture stirring quickly and evenly. The caramelised sugar will provide a rich brown colour and depth in flavour. It also adds fragrants.

To make the buns please refer to previous post on Making Hong Kong Sweet Buns (Pai Bao).

Today we will experience the shortest day and longest night, it is winter solstice after all. Winter solstice occurs exactly when the axial tilt of earth’s polar hemisphere is farthest away from the sun, this officially marks that winter is here. As a child, I always look forward to winter solstice as mum would always prepare Tang Yuan (or Tong Yuen) and makes effort to cook everyone’s favourite dishes. When eating Tang Yuan, mum would always say that we are now a year older and wiser.

Traditional Tang Yuan is made of glutinous rice flour. These days Tang Yuan can be prepared with various fillings ranging from brown sugar, palm sugar, black sesame paste, red bean paste and peanut paste.

It won’t be the same if I do not prepare this desert for my family today, so I rampaged to the Chinese Supermarket to get some glutinous rice flour (even though it’s extremely busy with scary grumpy Christmas shoppers everywhere).

When preparing Tang Yuan, I noticed that my mum and hub’s mum tends to take ages mixing and blending the dough (or perhaps I was impatient and like to be hands on rather than being on the sideline watching), but for me, when I prepare my Tang Yuan it takes me a few minutes. This may be because I make a ‘wet paste’ to allow the flour to ‘hydrate’ stepwise. I find the traditional Tang Yuan which contains only glutinous rice flour a little blend in texture so I added a little twist to enhance the texture and make my Tang Yuan bouncier. Here is how I make my Tang Yuan dessert.

Ingredients
For Syrup
Water
Brown or palm sugar to taste
A few slices of fresh ginger

For Glutinous Rice Balls
2 ¼ cups glutinous rice flour (I used pandan glutinous rice flour)
¼ cup plain flour (I used self-raising flour as that was all I had)
1 tbsp castor sugar
1 cup water
Food colouring as required (I tend not to bother with this)
Palm or brown sugar (filling, you can use other fillings, e.g. peanut butter, sesame paste etc.)

Method

To prepare the syrup, just put everything in a pot and boil and simmer for 30 min.

To prepare the glutinous rice balls

1)      Place a cup of water in a big clean bowl.

2)    Slowly, add a cup of glutinous rice flour and mix well with a spatula ensuring there are no lumps and to allow the flour to hydrate. This paste will be quite runny in consistency.

3)     Place sugar, ¼ cup of flour and another cup of glutinous rice flour into the paste and mix well. Gently knead the dough.

4)    Cover the dough and place it in the fridge for 30 minutes. This will allow the flour to soak up moisture.

5)     Divide the dough into several portions and add different food colouring into each portion (if required).

6)    Divide the dough into small bite size and make the dough into balls (Ethan made some worm-shaped, telephone-shaped, banana-shaped Tang Yuan).

7)     To place the filling, flatten the ball with your palm and place the filling in the centre of the ball. Seal and roll to make a ball.

8)      To cook the balls, place the balls in a boiling pot of water. As soon as the balls float, transfer the balls into the syrup water. Enjoy.

This recipe will make slightly harder, bouncier and chewy Tang Yuan (as it contains flour) and crunchy center (if you are using a lump of palm sugar). Try it and tell me if you like this recipe.