Before March end..

I must record this before March end.... so that I remember I made this very first cake with so called "frosting" for my elder boy's birthday, his 8th birthday on 12 March. I had asked him in advance whether he wants a chocolate cake or something else. He wanted a chocolate cake. :)

I have collected a few chocolate cakes recipes in my file. However, since I have no confident in sponge cake, I opted for this "Steam Moist Chocolate Cake". Look easy and straight forward to me. Best of all, steam one! This cake recipe has been around quite sometimes ago. It received many good reviews from many blogger.

True enough, this was the best chocolate cake! It was very soft and "super super moist"! :) Everyone who tried it gave their thumbs-up! :)

I'd "frost" the cake with "chocolate fudge topping". As it was my very first time using chocolate, I didn't know whether the consistency is correct or not. I spent nearly an hour "cooking/stirring" the chocolate. Occasionally, I cheated a bit, using medium/big fire to speed up the process! :(

I tried to slice the cake into half, but with my clumsy and lousy skill, the cake became lopsided...! After that I tried to drizzle the cake with the "chocolate fudge", but the chocolate kept dripping down the cake board! Now, how to transfer the cake to another clean cake board? Any suggestion from you?

However, due to the high oil content, I'll only make this once a year or even longer. You see, originally recipe uses 250gm + 125gm butter or corn oil in a 9 inch baking pan or 2 x 9" sandwich pan!! I made a half recipe using an 8" cake pan and I chose corn oil. But still the oil content is on a high side. I felt guilty after making this cake..... :( Guess, ONCE a while is fine....

Recipe is available at Yochana's Cake Delight.

Dim Sum Bao - 2nd Attempt

I made another attempt to make this bao the other day. This time round I omitted the "ammonia powder" entirely. I read around the web and came to know that this ammonia powder actually made the baos "split or smile". Once the baos are steamed, the ammonia smell will evaporate.

In my first attempt, all my steamed baos came out very well and without any trace of ammonia smell. However, a few bloggers encountered the presence of ammonia smell in their steamed baos, strange!

Back to my second attempt. Having heard so much of how stinky this ammonia was, and partly out of curiosity I open the bottle cover and sniffed... Gosh!!!! So I decided to omit it entirely, after all it only make the bao split, not a problem to me as long as the baos are soft and fluffy, right? Well, I was quite disappointed and stunned when I open the wok!


All the baos STILL split but not as pretty as my first attempt! It was not fluffy at all, though it was still soft but not as soft! :( On a closer look, these baos resemble a picture in a "pau flour" available in our supermarket. ;)

Well, at least I learned something (but through the hard way): Nothing venture Nothing gain.

For this batch, since I didn't have enough "Hong kong flour", I substituted some with "Cake flour" also a low-gluten flour.

For the fillings, I used the same char siew recipe from Gina of KC. This time I bought the char siew pork from a different vendor and used the same seasonings. The taste was real fantastic! Very similar to "Tiong Bahru Pau" fillings! :))


Though the baos were not as soft and fluffy as the previous attempt, my two kids love them any way. They commented that my baos were very tasty! :D They could gobble up 2 pcs at one go!

This bao definitely will not stick in your teeth! :) I believe how you knead the dough determine the texture of your final product, just like bread. :) For your info, this bao remained soft after several hours in my wok, with cover on, a pleasant surprise to me when I had a bite in the late evening... :)

After rounds of baos pleating, I think I can pleat better now. Thanks to my husband who loves to watch food related programmes. In fact, he was the one who show me roughly the technique to pleat. :)

Dim Sum Bao - Hongkong Style

This was my first attempt making a smiling bao.

Original recipe is a 12 hours Pau skin from Rusti of KC. However, instead of letting the dough proved for 12 hours, I proved it for 8 & 1/2 hours.

I made the starter dough at 10 pm the night before and the next morning at about 6.30 am the dough looked like this:


For the starter dough, after mixing the dough was very very sticky. The next morning, it would double and when you touched it, it would be soft and "moist".

The good thing about this dough is that there is no additional time to prove the dough after the fillings are done. Simply steam immediately. And within 10 minutes you have piping hot bao for breakfast. :D

When my timer sound, I was very worry and excited to lift up my wok cover. ..... To my greatest joy, the six buns (and subsequent three batches) were ALL smiling happily at me! :D The texture of the bun was very soft and fluffy, just like from a dim sum restaurant! :D



I'm glad that from now on I'm able to enjoy this type of bao right in my own home early in the morning. :)

Recipe as follows:

Starter Dough:
110g tap water
185g Hong kong flour
1/2 tsp Double Acting Baking Powder
1/8 tsp instant yeast

Mix everything together and leave to prove in a plastic container for 12 hours. (I proved for 8 & 1/2 hours, in a mixing bowl, covered with wet towel, left it in my oven - power off, door closed.)

Skin dough:
375g Hong kong flour
200g sugar
23g shortening
75g tap water
20g double acting baking powder
5g ammonia
1/2 tsp vinegar

Add all the above ingredients to the starter dough. Using a dough hook, mix on Kenwood speed 3 for 6 minutes. (Mix till the dough is not sticky and form a ball.)

Take out dough and scale to 30g each. (I used 40g each, the size was just right to me.)
Shape each piece into a ball before rolling.
Fill with chilled meat filling and steam immediately. (I steam at high heat for 10 minutes.)

Note:
1. Maximum proving time for starter dough is 14 hours. Over fermenting will make your baos sour.
2. This recipe will yield 30 buns if you scaled to 30g each.
3. When rolling dough, keep the edges thinner and the centre portion slightly thicker.
4. For char siew baos, steam for 10 minutes.
5. For baos with raw meat fillings, steam for 15 minutes.
6. If making big chicken/meat baos, steam for 20 minutes.
7. Prepare the fillings after you have made the starter dough and leave it in the fridge. (Chilled fillings is easier to handle.)

For the fillings, I used a char siew fillings recipe from Gina of KC. The fillings was equally good and yummy! :)

The char siew fillings recipe as follows:

Ingredients:
300g Char siew pork, chopped finely (buy from hawker stall)
3 tbsp roasted sesame seeds
4 shallots, diced finely

Seasonings:
120ml water
2 tbsp light soy sauce
1 tbsp oyster sauce
1 tsp dark soy sauce
3 tbsp sugar **
1 tbsp tapioca flour (I omitted)
1 tbsp corn flour (I use 2 tbsp since I didn't have tapioca flour on hand.)
1 tsp plain flour

Method:
1. Mixed the seasonings together in a bowl.
2. Stir fry onions in the wok.
3. Add seasoning into wok to stir fry. Fry till it becomes thick and sticky.
4. Add diced char siew pork and continue to stir fry.
5. Lastly, blend/mix in the roasted sesame seeds.
6. Turn off heat, remove to cool completely before using.

Note:
** For me, I found my char siew fillings on a little sweet side. I suspect it could be the char siew I bought, so please adjust the sugar accordingly.

大牌档菜, 好好吃！

These were a few dishes that I whipped out for dinners recently. I don't remember whipping out several dishes from just one cook book! Gosh! all the recipes I tried out were very good and well-received by my family. :)

Take this "kai lan" for example. I rarely buy this vegetable because of its "greeny" taste, if you know what I mean (青涩味). However, this chef used a mixture of salty preserved olive (橄榄菜) and minced meat to bring out the crunch and sweetness of "kai lan". The "greeny" taste was reduced to the minimum. Splendid!

I was initially quite sceptic whether my kids would eat this. But after seeing them enjoying the dish (吃的津津有味) I was very delighted. :)

The next dish was "Fried Minced Meat & Tofu with Salted Fish".


Tofu and salted fish are best match (绝配): one plain and one strong taste. Fry it with minced meat, smell and taste heavenly! My kids requested me to cook this again! :)
I still have a few "tofu" recipes to try out from this book!
I cooked this "Steamed Herbal Chicken" yesterday for our dinner.

Using simple ingredients: dang gui, qi zi, salt and shaoxing wine (I used cooking wine). Very tasty & sweet! Must use "sweet" dang gui otherwise it will taste bitter.
Original recipe used six chicken wings. Since my kids didn't know how to eat the wings, I use one whole junior chicken. (Sorry! the picture above showed the leftover chicken pieces). However, my younger boy still haven't acquired the taste of "qi zi". He prefers the gravy than the chicken!
All recipes can be found at 好好吃！大牌档菜 作者：郭子仁
Now, I can Cook Like A Chef! Oops! :)

7 facts about me

I'd been tagged by Happy Home Baker to do a "7 random facts about myself".

Here are the rules for tagging:

1. Link to my blog (tagger) on your blog.
2. Give seven facts about yourself.
3. Tag another seven bloggers by leaving a comment on their blogs and letting them know they were tagged and listing them (and their blogs) on your blog.

Here it goes:

1. My zodiac sign is "Cancer" - the crab!

2. During my twenties till I got married, I was "quite" adventurous. I'd scaled a few "mountains" with groups of friends. The first mountain was "Mt Ophir" in Malaysia. The most memorable one was the climb up Mount Kinnabalu in Sabah. You see, there were these 2 guys who thought there were the fittest among all (commandos). In the end, because of acclimatization they almost couldn't make it to the top!

3. I remembered my first travel by airplane in my mid twenty was to... Nepal - an unforgettable experience. I hope I can visit this country in future with my kids and husband.

4. I love trekking and backpacking very much. I'd visited countries such as: Vietnam, Sabah & Sarawak, New Zealand (self-drive with four friends), Europe, Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia. Then, I could travel with a backpack, t-shirt & sandal and off I went. Now.... with two kids in tow, I can't do that any more! :(

5. We don't own a car. Most of the time, we commute by public transport.

6. I've a big family with total seven siblings. If my father & granny were still alive, we would have ten members (一家十口)!

7. I don't watch any drama serial. I like to watch cooking programmes. :)

Hope the above are not boring you. I don't have any one to tag since some had already been tagged. So I'll just let the tag ends here. Sorry!

Brown Rice Milk Buns

If you have a copy of "孟老师的100道面包"，you will find this recipe familiar: 糙米饭鲜奶面包. Who would have thought of using brown rice to make bread? Do you? :)

The original recipe is a plain bun with 50g of 松子(pine nuts?) and wheat germs as decoration. Since I didn't have these two ingredients on hand, I made a bold decision to change it a savoury buns, incorporating chicken cheese sausages. Sausages are a favourite among my kids and husband. So, if my buns didn't turn out well, there would be three more mouths to help me finish them! (My husband hates brown rice! )

I did not cook the brown rice just to make these buns. But rather it was our lunch (me & my 2 kids). I just reserved 50g of the cooked rice as my tangzhong starter.

I was very doubtful initially:

1. whether my tangzhong starter was cooked correctly or not?
2. whether the dough was easy to handle or not?

Luckily, everything turned out well. The dough was rather easy to handle and the dough was proofing normally thereafter.

Once the buns had cooled, I was very anxious to test the texture of the bun. Well, needless to say, it was very nice: soft & fluffy. It tasted just like a normal bun but with the goodness of brown rice. :)

I had tried a number of recipes from 孟老师and most of the times it turn out very good. She has a couple of unusual bread recipes which I hope to try one of this day. This is one of them. :) Next round I'll make it plain. May be as a burger bun?

My Vanilla Yogurt Ice Cream

If you're a yogurt lover, you may like this ice cream. This is unbelievable simple. No eggs and cooking are involved. Simply: mix, whisk, pour and freeze.

Recipe courtesy from Gina of Kitchen Capers. Since I didn't have any fresh peppermint on hand, I changed it into a vanilla flavour one. Here's my version:

Ingredients:

2 cups plan yogurt (I used "Pauls" set yogurt 500g -$4.60/tub)
1 cup whipping cream (I also used non-diary)
120g caster sugar (I used 10g less: don't think is significant)
1/2 tsp salt (I used extra fine sea salt)
1 & 1/2 tsp vanilla oil (or essence) [Add slightly more if you want stronger taste. ]

Method:
1. Whisk yogurt, cream, sugar, vanilla oil/essence and salt in a mixer until well blended.

2. Pour into container and freeze till set. (Between 4 t0 6 hours) **

3. Top with chocolate chips/rice or whatever cross your mind. Enjoy!

Note:
1. After 2 days, I noticed that the ice cream became very hard to scoop. So I checked with Gina of Kitchen Capers. Her advice was to whisk it a few times and put it back to freeze. (When you take in and out of the freezer, condensation will happen and water vapour turns into ice.)

2. Was wondering whether one should whisk a few times when the ice cream is semi-set. (Just like those ice cream with eggs & cooking involved). Is it the same or??? Anyone out there have better ideas?

Anyway, this is a very refreshing dessert with the warm weather out there. Taste wise, it has a bit of the sourish taste from yogurt. Think next time will stick to the 120g castor sugar called for.

My two boys were the one who enjoyed the ice cream most. They love yogurt. They were very happy that mummy can make ice cream from now on ! :)