Curry Puff

Adapted recipe from 我的厨房笔记.

I still have some filling left from the Layer Curry Puff so I made half of the recipe and yield only 4 curry puffs. Instead of shortening, I used margarine (run out of butter).

Layer Curry Puff

Recipe

Ingredients
Water dough:
140g plain flour
1/2tbsp sugar
85g water
1/2tbsp shortening
1/4tsp salt
1tsp lemon juice

Oil dough:
115g plain flour
60g shortening

Filling:
350g potato (diced)
120g minced chicken meat
1/2pc onion (diced)
15g curry powder (mixed into paste with 2tsp of water)
1/2tsp sugar
1/2tbsp soya sauce
some salt

2 hard boiled eggs cut into 6 wedges each.

Steps:
Filling:
1. Heat up some oil in a pot, fry Filling until cook and fragrant. (Seasoning according to individual taste.)
2. Dish out and set aside to cool.

Water dough:
1. Sift flour and salt together into a big bowl.
2. Dissolve sugar into water.
2. Mix in the shortening, lemon juice and water into the flour mixture. (Add some water at a time.)
3. Knead to form a soft dough. (If dough is sticky, add some flour.)
4. Cover and rest for 30mins.

Oil dough:
1. Sift flour into a big bowl.
2. Knead in the shortening to form a soft dough. (If dough is sticky, add some flour.)

Shaping of dough: (refer to the slide)
1. Dust your work top with some flour.
2. Roll out the water dough, place oil dough in the centre and wrap it up.
3. Flatten the dough and roll it into a rectangle.
4. Fold in two ends by overlapping one another.
5. Give a half turn and roll out the dough into thin sheet.
6. Roll in the dough like swiss roll.
7. Divide roll into twelve pieces with the two edges smaller than the rest.
8. Knead the two uneven edges together and set aside.
9. Flatten each piece, pinch some dough from Step8 and place it at the centre of the dough.
10.Roll out the dough, put the filling in it.
11.Damp the edge, fold in the other end.
12.Seal it by pinching the edge and fold in, press half the folded and fold in again.
13.Fry the puffs in hot oil until golden brown and serve.

Peanut Butter Macarons

Recipe

Ingredients (Swiss Meringue)
80g egg white (at room temperature)
65g caster sugar

80g ground almond
140g icing sugar
brown colouring powder

Filling
butter cream
peanut butter

Steps:
1. Line 3 to 4 baking trays with silicon sheet.
2. Use a round cookies cutter, press it into some cocoa powder or flour.
3. Use the cookies cutter to make some round imprint on the silicon sheet and set aside.
4. Sift icing sugar and almond together and set aside.
5. Pour sugar and egg white into a heatproof pan and place it over a saucepan of simmering water.
6. Stir constantly until sugar has dissolved and the mixture is warm to the touch (about 55C).
7. Pour the egg white into the mixing bowl with the whisk attachment and beat on medium-high speed until soft peaks then add in the powder colouring.
8. Continue to beat until medium stiff peaks (but not dry).
9. Gently fold in the sifted mixture in 4 portions into the meringue. Do not over fold. (Batter should be slightly thicker then cake batter.)
10. Spoon batter into a piping bag and pipe it within the round imprint which had made earlier on.
11.Let the macarons to rest for 30mins.
12.Preheat oven to 150C.
13.Bake a tray at a time for 20-25mins, depend on individual oven. (For my table top oven, I switch to bottom fire with fan mode so my macarons are bake properly without any crack. After baking the 3rd tray, I leave the door of the oven eject for a while then I put in the 4th tray. This allow the temperature to drop slightly.)
14.Remove macarons and cool on a wire rack.
15.Pipe the butter cream around the macaron and then pipe some peanut butter in the centre.
16.Sandwich with another macaron together.
17.Keep in the fridge to let the filling firm.

Rainbow Sago Kueh

Recipe

Ingredients
175g sago
50g grated coconut
75g sugar
1/4tsp salt
40g coconut milk
any food colouring of you choice

150g grated coconut
1/2tsp salt

Steps:
1. Mix grated coconut and salt together and steam for 10mins.
2. Leave to cool.
3. Soak sago for 15mins and drain well.
4. Mix sago, grated coconut, sugar, salt and coconut milk together.
5. Stir until well combined.
6. At this stage you can separate the sago mixture into difference portions and add your choice of colouring.
7. Fill greased mould with sago mixture until 3/4 full.
8. Steam in a preheated steamer at high heat for 15-20mins.
9. Leave to cool then remove kueh from mould.
10.Coat with steamed grated coconut and serve.

Tag Me

I was tagged by Kitchen Corner to write 7 facts about myself. Here come my problem. If ask me to cook or bake, I will say 'Yes' but ask me to write '???'. I have to spend few hours to draft it out. But once I get started, things just flow in. I think this is a good way for me to self-reflect. :)
And here it go:

1. I lead a busy life. 365days service for my family.
2. I love to bake. once I get started, I don't feel like stopping.
3. I learned my baking skills through trial and error (self-learn skill). I hope to take up baking lesson but my time can't fit into their schedule.
4. In baking I don't ask for perfection but I ask for satisfaction.
5. I love to eat foods that has filling in it. e.g. Xiao Long Bao (my favourite), Wan Ton, dumplings, etc..
6. I cherish what I have at present and looking forward to what should I bake for tomorrow. 知 足 常 乐
7. Life is full of up and down. I learned from each and bond even closer to my family.

I just start my blog recently so I don't have many buddy to tag on.
1. My Humble Arts
2. Those who like to join in, you are most welcome to tag along. :)

Sweet Tau Sa Piah (甜豆沙饼)

I still have some more Mung Bean filling left from my Ang Ku Kueh as I had made extra. I was thinking of using it to make something difference. The filling is dry and this gave me an idea to make Tau Sa Piah. I took out my 'Mid-Autumn Mooncake' recipe book by Khoo See Yew and started to search for a pastry for Tau Sa Piah. I have found two recipes but not sure which is the best. So I compared both the ingredients used and photos. Finally, I picked the one which said 'Crispy Mooncake'.

This is the first time I am using a 'Water and Oil dough'. So I don't expect a perfect result for my first try. Fortunately, everything turn out very well. The pastry is very crispy. :)

Recipe

Ingredients
Water dough:
100g plain flour
20g icing sugar
35g water
40g shortening

Oil dough:
100g plain flour
40g shortening
10g corn oil

Filling:
200g mung beans
1/3cup corn oil
1/3cup sugar (may adjust to suit individual taste)

1 egg yolk mix with 1tsp of water
some white sesame seed

Steps:
Filling:
1. Soak mung bean overnight and steam for 35 to 40mins until soften.
2. Blend until fine bread crumb.
3. Heat a wok and fry blended mung bean, sugar and oil until sugar dissolved. (If it is too dry, add some oil.)
4. Dish out and leave to cool. (You can prepare this in advance and keep in fridge.)

Water dough:
1. Sift flour and icing sugar together into a big bowl.
2. Rub in the shortening and water into the flour mixture.
3. Knead to form a soft dough.
4. Cover and rest for 10mins.

Oil dough:
1. Sift flour into a big bowl.
2. Rub in the shortening and oil to form a soft dough.

Shaping of dough:
1. Roll out the water dough into long strip and divide into 12pcs.
2. Repeat step 1 for oil dough.
3. Flatten water dough and wrap the oil dough into the water dough.
4. Flatten the dough, use a wooden rod and roll the dough into a rectangle.
5. Roll in the dough, just like swiss roll and repeat the step again.
6. Flatten it then roll into round shape.
7. Grab some filling and wrap into the dough.
8. Seal the opening and place it on a greased tray.
9. Brush with egg yolk and sprinkle sesame seed on top.
10.Bake in a preheated oven 180C for 20-25mins.
11.Remove and cool on a wire rack.

Ang Ku Kueh (红龟糕)

This recipe is shared by one of my neighbour. I call this Yi Long Ah Ma's secret recipe. She can make a lot of delicious Traditional Chinese Kueh. However Ah Ma's recipe don't have exact measurement for ingredients, everything is agak-agak. So I have to figure it out by myself. Luckily, she came over to my place and helped me. This Ang Ku Kueh is very soft and chewy. :)


Recipe

Ingredients
Dough:
300g glutinous rice flour
100g sweet potato (steamed and mashed)
250g water
1tbsp oil
red food colouring

Filling:
300g dried mung bean
200g sugar (suit individual taste, may add more or less)
3tbsp cooking oil

banana leaves (scalded and cut into 20 small pieces, must be bigger than the cavity of the mould.)

Steps:
Filling:
1. Soak mung bean overnight and steam for 35 to 40mins until soften.
2. Blend immediately until fine paste.
3. Heat a wok and fry paste, sugar and oil until sugar dissolved and slightly dry.
4. Dish out and leave to cool. ( You can prepare this in advance and keep in fridge.)
Note: I didn't blend the filling immediately after steamed, so mine is quite dry. So I just added in some water during the frying process. As long the filling can be bind into a ball then it still can be used.

Dough:
1. Mix all the dough ingredients together and knead to form a soft dough. (For water, try to add 1/2 of the among first and then add some at a time. You may need more or less water, it depend on your sweet potato and flour.)
2. Wrap the dough up and rest it in the fridge for 1 to 2 days. (This allow the flour to absorb the liquid.)
3. Thaw, and knead the dough again before use. (If dough is dry add some water, if wet add some flour.)

Shaping the kueh:
1. Grab some dough weigh about 28g and roll it into a ball.
2. With your thumb, make a hollow in the dough and shape it into a bowl.
3. Grab the filling about 14g, wrap into the dough and seal opening.
4. Place the kueh into a greased mould and press it to set the shape. (Must grease the mould every now and then.)
5. Knock out the kueh and place it on a greased banana leaf.
6. Arrange the kueh in a lined with banana leaf steamer tray, allow gap in between the kueh.

Steaming:
1. Heat up the steamer, water must be boiling.
2. Place the tray on the steamer, lower the fire to medium-low and steam for 5mins. (Depend on individual stove.)
3. Open the lid to let the steam out for a while, wipe the lid and cover it. (This allow the kueh to cool off a bit.)
4. Steam for another 6 to 7mins until the kueh changed colour and soft. (Kuehs will expand and shrunk when it cold. If kueh expand too much, it will be out of shape.)
5. Remove tray and quickly brush some cooking oil on the surface of the kuehs. (This allow the skin to absorb the oil while it hot and will give a shine to it.)
6. Remove kuehs and cool on a wire rack. (The print will be obvious when the oil has been absorbed into the skin when it cold.)

Pandan Apom

Adapted recipe from 'Steamed Cake & Kuih Muih' by Mrs Ho and Karen Tan. I used half of the recipe and replaced pandan juice with water. After proving I divided the batter into two portions. One portion I added Yam paste while the other I add Pandan paste. It yield about 8 kuehs. This kueh is best eaten while it hot, it rather hard and dry when cold.


Recipe

Ingredients
1tsp instant yeast
1tsp sugar
50g warm water

115g cake flour/ plain flour
1tsp double-action baking powder
140g rice flour
200g thick coconut milk
140g sugar
70g water
20g pandan juice

Steps:
1. Mix yeast, sugar and water together and set aside to prove for 10mins.
2. Boil sugar, water and pandan juice together until sugar is dissolved and leave to cool.
3. Sift flour and baking powder together and set aside.
4. Mix syrup and coconut milk together.
5. Stir in the rice flour and sifted flour into the liquid until smooth batter.
6. Lastly add in the yeast mixture and stir until well combined.
7. Leave to prove for 1 1/2hrs until double in size.
8. Spoon the batter into a greased mould about 90% full.
9. Steam in the preheated steamer at high heat for 25mins.
10. Remove kueh from mould and leave to cool on a wire rack.

Yam Apom

Steamed Black and White Butter Cake

For this cake I used Steamed Soft Chocolate Cake recipe. I made some adjustment here and there. I didn't use baking soda and the air holes were smaller. This time half way through the steaming process, I sprinkled diced almond on the surface to cover the air holes and gave the cake some crunch. Actually, I intended to make a Marble Cake however I was in a rush to fetch my son. I quickly pour a lay of plain batter and top it up with the chocolate batter and used a knife to swirl around. So I name it 'Steamed Black and White Butter Cake'.


Recipe

Ingredients
95g unsalted butter
100g sugar
2 egg
110g cake flour
1tsp double-action baking powder
75g evaporated milk
2 1/2tbsp Horlicks
1/2tsp vanilla essence
pinch of salt

1tsp cocoa powder
1/4tsp chocolate emulco (optional)

some diced almond

Steps:
1. Sift flour and baking powder together, set aside.
2. Mix evaporated milk, Horlicks and vanilla essence together, set aside.
3. Cream butter, salt and sugar until light and fluffy.
4. Slowly beat in egg until well combined.(If batter curdle add in some flour.)
5. Fold in flour and milk mixture alternately until well combined.
6. Do not over mix.
7. Scoop out 1/3 of the batter, mix in cocoa powder and emulco.
8. Spoon some plain batter into a lined and greased 7" round tin.
9. Spoon some cocoa batter on it and repeat the step.
10. Then use a sharp knife and swirl around the batter.
11. Cover with aluminum foil.
12. Steam over high heat for 45mins, remove aluminum foil and sprinkle some diced almond on top.
13. Cover and continue to steam for another 45mins, if skewer comes out clean when inserted into the cake then it done.
14. Remove cake and cool it on a wire rack.

Potato Patties

Recipe
- Steamed and mashed two potatoes.
- Mix in some minced meat, chopped spring onion, chopped carrot and seasoning.
- Marinate for 30mins and shape it into individual patty.
- Keep in the fridge for few hours or overnight so that the patties will be slightly harden.
- Coat the patties with some flour, then with beaten egg and lastly coat it with the bread crumb.
- Deep fry in hot oil until golden brown.
- Dish out and serve.

Oat and Chocolate Chips Cookies

Recipe

Ingredients
70g butter
50g caster sugar
15g light brown sugar
1/4tsp salt
1 egg
1/4tsp vanilla essence
75g plain flour
1/4tsp baking soda
85g Quick-Cooking oat
50g chocolate chips

Steps:
1. Preheat oven to 180C.
2. Cream butter, salt and sugar until light and fluffy.
3. Slowly beat in the egg and vanilla essence until well combined.
4. Sift the flour and baking soda together.
5. Fold in the flour, oat and chocolate chips into Step 3.
6. Scoop the cookies dough and drop it on a greased tray.
7. Bake in a preheated oven for 15-20mins until firm.
8. Cool on a wire rack and keep in an airtight containers.

Peppermint Macarons

Assorted Buns

Kaya Bun


Pork Floss Bun


Hotdog Buns


Ham and Cheese Buns


Coffee Buns

Trying out a Sweet Bun Dough recipe which I had learned from recent Bun Class. This recipe uses Bread Softener and Bread Improver, in which it help in the dough proving process and yield a softer bread. :)

Cheddar Cheese Mochi Bread

Apricot Mochi Bread