Setty

I made fish cakes last week and porched the fish in milk. It seems an awful waste to pour the milk away so I made some white sauce (Recipe for white sauce). To use last weeks white sauce, I made a fish pie for dinner today.

I called it Pirate’s Fish Pie because the pie resembles a pirate’s treasure chest, it has golden nuggets (sweetcorn), rubies (soft carrot chunks), emerald (peas) and pearls (chunks of white fish). The perfect food for our resintial pirates. Aaarrrrrr! Ethan and Ewan loved it!

The pie has a cheesy mash topping made with potatoes, sweet potato and carrots. Below the mash, there was a layer of cheese, loads of peas, sweetcorn and white boneless fish swimming in a generous serving of white sauce. It is really yummy even with no added salt or sugar, just a small pinch of white pepper…you must try this.

Very healthy and delicious even for a fussy weaning baby and a fussy toddler!
The ‘captain of the ship’ (hubs) has placed an order for another fish pie for next week!

Ingredients

900 mL fresh milk
2 to 4 Bay leaves
37 g butter
37 g plain flour
x g Fish fillets (6 fillets of cod and/or haddock and/or salmon…I used 3 types of fish in a pie as well as one type of fish for variation)
800 g potatoes (approximate weight)
1  large sweet potato
5 large carrots
100 g sweetcorn (tinned)
100 g garden peas (frozen)
1 tbsp chives
1 tbsp flatleaf parsley
5 slices of Diarylea cheese (approx 125 g)
100 g grated cheese
 

 Method…still writting

Hui Lin, this is specially for you. Adapted this recipe to make soft TangZhong bread without any diary products….for those who are not bothered whether its diary free or not, or maybe it is more like “depending on what you have in your pantry/fridge” lol, you can use milk and butter for this recipe.

Using this recipe, I have managed to make pizza bread. Please look at my Making Pizza from Scratch posts (spinach pizza bread and beetroot pizza bread)

Ingredients
140 to 150 g milk substitute for dairy free version (e.g. Water, soya milk, spinach juice, carrot juice, beetroot juice) or use milk for dairy version
1 egg
110 g to 120 g TangZhong (made using 25g bread flour and 125 ml liquid water/milk/ juice etc)
25 ml cooking oil, can use sunflower oil, olive oil, etc. (or 25 g butter for dairy version)
1 tsp salt (optional)
30 to 50 g sugar (if making plain loaf, 30 g is sufficient)
360 g bread flour
90 g self-raising flour
6 g yeast

Method

I used my bread maker to mix and knead prior to first proofing.

For manual method, refer to this post Making homemade bread without a bread make or dough hook.

To prepare the spinach, carrot and beetroot juice, I steam the vege until soft to touch (10 to 20 mins) using my Avent combined steamer and blender. I then drain the water and use to make TangZhong. The blended vege is made to volume with soya milk or fresh milk or water to 150 mL.

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!