huat kueh

Made this today. doesnt look very nice as it shrink a little, maybe because of steaming it for too long. I steamed it for 25 minutes instead of 15 minutes cause the batter look quite thick to me. The recipe was from a cookbook belong to my mum. Will not post the recipe unless someone request for it. :)

char siew pau

made char siew pau yesterday. still stay soft today, i used blue key pau flour instead of hong kong flour because it is cheaper.

used the recipe from auntyyochana:
http://auntyyochana.blogspot.com/2006/11/simple-char-siew-pau.html

Ingredients for dough:

300 g Hong Kong flour
60 g castor sugar
2 tsp Instant Yeast
2 tsp double-action Baking Powder
35 g Shortening
120 ml water

Fillings:

250 g Char Siew (diced)
1 Onion - diced
1 Tbsp Oyster sauce
1 Tbsp Soya Sauce
1 tsp sesame oil
150 ml water (combined with cornflour)
1 1/2 Tbsp. cornflour
Salt and sugar to taste
oil for frying

Dough:
Sieve flour and baking powder into a mixing bowl.
2) Add in sugar, instant yeast and shortening and beat with a 'K' beater for awhile to mix, then pour in water and knead till a dough is formed.
3) Change into a dough hook and continue to beat till it is non-sticky or you can knead with your hands for about 15 mins.
4) Remove dough from mixer bowl and let it proof for about 30 mins.
5) Weigh and scale into small dough of about 30 gm. each.
6) Wrap with fillings and seal tightly. Place onto greaseproof paper and leave to proof for another 30 mins.
7) Steam over high heat for 10 mins.

Fillings:

1) Heat up oil and fry the diced onion until fragrant.
2) Add in Add in char siew and the rest of the ingredients.
3) Cook till thick.
4) Leave to cool before wrapping.

Ma Lai Ko (hong kong style)

made this today, very light and fluffy. comparable to chiffon cake texture when just out of steamer. my mum said she used to like this during her childhood, and told me to make this instead of some funny stuffs....hahaha.

recipe from:
http://auntyyochana.blogspot.com/2007/07/hong-kong-style-ma-lai-koh.html

Ingredients:
(A)
200 gm. castor sugar
5 eggs
(B)
120 gm. corn oil
130 gm. fresh milk
(C)
280 gm. plain flour
25 gm. custard powder
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. bicarbonate of Soda
1/4 tsp. salt

1) Whisk (A) till sugar dissolves then add in (B) and mix till smooth. Add in (C) and mix well. Rest for 25 to 30 mins.
2) Pour batter into any plastic moulds and steam at high heat for 15 mins. or until cooked.
Remove ma lai koh immediately from mould while it is still hot.

satay

recipe from:
http://www.rasamalaysia.com/2006/09/recipe-chicken-satay.html

Ingredients:

4 chicken legs and thighs or 4 chicken breasts (deboned)

Seasoning Paste:

1 teaspoon of coriander powder
2 stalks lemon grass
6 shallots (peeled)
2 cloves garlic (peeled)
4 tablespoons of cooking oil
1 teaspoon of chili powder
2 teaspoons of turmeric powder (kunyit)
4 teaspoons of Kecap Manis (ABC brand from Indonesia recommended)
1 spoon of Oyster Sauce (Lee Kam Kee brand recommended)
Bamboo skewers (soaked in water for 2 hours to avoid burning)
1 cucumber (skin peeled and cut into small pieces)

Method:

Cut the chicken meat into small cubes. Grind the Spice Paste in a food processor. Add in a little water if needed. Marinate the chicken pieces with the spice paste for 10-12 hours. Thread the meat on to bamboo skewers and grill for 2-3 minutes each side. Serve hot with fresh cucumber pieces.

otah bun (otak bun)

Made this using the otah i made previously. Stay soft until next day since i used sponge and dough method. To get bread soft for a few days, you must use sponge and dough method or bread improver. Im not good at using bread improver so i make bread with the sponge and dough method for almost every recipe.

yield : 5 buns

ingredients

filling:
otah (about 4-5 sticks)

sponge and dough method)
sweet bread dough:
sponge
100g high protein flour (bread flour)
20g sugar
1 1/2 tbsp milk powder (omit if using milk instead of water)
3/4 tsp yeast
100ml water
1) mix all ingredients together until a soft dough is formed.
2) proof for 2-3 hrs.

dough
50g high protein flour (bread flour)
1/2 tsp salt
15g butter/ shortening
1) add in the 50g flour and salt into the sponge.
2) add in butter/ shortening and knead until smooth and elastic or use the bread machine to knead (about 10-20minutes by hand.)

3) divide into 5 equal pieces and rest the dough for 15 minutes.
4) wrap the otah in the dough and proof until double (about 30 minutes).
5) bake for 15 minutes at 200C.


note:
if you prefer the straight dough method, just mix all ingredients together and knead until smooth and elastic by hand or bread machine. proof until double the first time, divide into 5 pieces and rest for 15 minutes. shape and proof until double and bake for 15 minutes at 200C.




-good for snack, breakfast etc.

ang ku kueh (红龟粿)

made this for fun, not for festival or anything. didnt add the red colouor since it was not for festival, i like the natural colour of sweet potato more :). literally translated as 'red tortoise cake' as tortoise is suppose to be an auspicious animal. shall not talk more about this. this time round i think it was abit soft, would reduce the sweet potato next time.
skin recipe from:
http://roseskitchen.wordpress.com/2007/05/23/ang-ku-kueh-ii/

Ingredients for skin:
300g glutinous rice flour
150g sweet potatoes
2 tbsp sugar
2 tbsp cooking oil
250-300ml water (i used the whole 300ml, i would suggest 290ml)
1/8 tsp red colouring or some red powder

Banana leaves in squares or circles about the size of your mould.

1) steam the sweet potato until soft (whole or cubes)for about 10-15 minutes, mash and leave to cool.
2) mix the glutinous rice flour, mashes sweet potato, sugar and cooking oil.
3) add the colouring to the water and pour into the flour mixture.
4) knead or stir until not sticky (add more water if too dry, flour if too wet.)
5) rest for 20-30 minutes.

Peanut Filling:
300g ground, roasted peanuts
150g caster sugar
some water

1) mix peanuts and sugar together and add water until it form a paste. (not wet)
2) form into small round balls for filling.
3) divide the skin dough to fit your mould. (you can take a piece of dough to see whether it is enough.)
4) wrap the peanut filling with the dough.
5) grease the mould with oil and shape the dough. knock over a hard surface to dismould the kueh and stick onto a banana leaf.(need to be very oily to prevent sticking)
6) steam on high heat for 5 minutes, open the lid to release the steam and then steam for another 5 minutes.
7) remove from steamer and brush with oil to prevent sticking together.

note:
- you can use other filling if you want such as red bean paste (adzuki paste) or kaya etc.

otak otak ( otah )

recipe from:
http://loykee.blogspot.com/2005/03/otah-thats-good-enough-for-me.html

made this otah to use a my bread filling. taste okay but was taste was not equally distributed because i didnt mince my fish fine enough. will try using fish paste next time.

ingredients:
200g mackerel or oily fish (i used whatever i could find, giant snakehead fish aka toman)
3 tbsp cornflour
3 tbsp sambal ingredients (the instant type, also known as sambal chilli, curry paste)
1 tsp oyster sauce
some cooking oil (i use about 1 tbsp)

1) preheat oven to 230C / 450F
2) mince the fish very finely until fish paste is obtained. (buy fish paste if you want to skip this step)
3) add cornflour, sambal ingredients, oyster sauce, cooking oil and mix well.
4) place about 2 tablespoon of the mixture onto banana leaves and wrap with toothpick. [i skipped this one, just flatten onto baking sheet and bake :) ]
5) bake for about 10 minutes at 230C, remove and check every 2 minutes after baking for 8 minutes. it should be done when the fish does not come apart and is firm, abit brown on the sides.

- can be use for side dishes, appetizer, omelette etc.

garlic bun

recipe referred from:
Happy Home Baking

Quite nice with a bit of garlic smell. I edited the recipe to my liking and substitute basil leaves for parsley as i got a big basil plant growing outside. Instead of 6 large buns, i made 12 small ones.

Ingredients:

Bread:
200g bread flour
15g caster sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp instant yeast
130g milk
15g butter

Filling:
20g butter/ margarine, soften room temperature
2 cloves of garlic smashed)
1 basil leaf finely chop into small pieces.

1) Place all ingredients except butter into bread machine and knead until smooth and elastic and add butter after 8 minutes of kneading. (i knead by hand so, dissolve yeast and sugar into water, add in flour then salt, combine and add in butter to knead until smooth and elastic about 15minutes.)
2)proof for 80 minutes or until double.
3) knead a few times to remove the air and divide into 12 equal pieces (or 6 pieces if u prefer bigger ones)and rest for 15 minutes.
4) shape the dough into round or into hot dog buns.
5) proof on greased baking pan for 30 minutes. (i proof for 1 hr for bigger and softer buns)
6) brush with egg wash (one beaten egg) and cut slit lengthwise with a sharp knife. (i soak the knife in water for smooth cut)
7) prepare filling by mixing all the ingredients together.
7) pipe filling on the slit and bake in preheated oven at 180c for 15 minutes.

wholemeal bread (pullman)

Made this pullman loaf today, second time I used the pullman loaf pan. This loaf is really soft as i used sponge and dough method. Didnt like those commercial wholemeal bread because i feel that it produce a weird smell....maybe it was just me.


Can see the bread crumb?





After kneading until smooth and elastic.

Yield a 400g loaf.

Sponge and dough method
Ingredients A:
50g bread flour
100g wholemeal flour
150ml milk at room temperature
4g yeast
25g sugar

Ingredients B:
100g bread flour
50ml milk
1 tsp salt

25g butter

Part A - Sponge
1) add together ingredients A until mixed together.
2) cover and proof for 2 hrs.

Part B - Dough
1) stir milk into the sponge in part A.
2) add flour and salt until combine then add in butter and knead till smooth and elastic. (you can use a breadmachine for this)
3) cover and proof for another 1 hr or until double.
4) punch out air, divide dough into 3 equal size and use the rolling pin to flatten the dough.
5) roll up each piece (like a swissroll) to fit into the greased pullman loaf pan.
6) proof the dough until 80% of the loaf pan. (took me 1 1/2 hrs)
7) cover the lid and baked in preheated oven at 200C for 30minutes.
8) unmould and leave to cool before slicing.

Straight dough method (not as soft)
Ingredients:
150g bread flour
150g wholemeal flour
200ml milk at room temperature
4g yeast
25g sugar
1 tsp salt

25g butter

1) dissolve yeast and sugar into the milk.
2) add in wholemeal and bread flour follow by salt.
3) add in butter and knead until smooth and elastic.
4) cover with a towel and proof for 2 hours or until double.
5) knead a few times to punch out the air and rest dough for 15 minutes.
6)divide dough into 3 equal size and use the rolling pin to flatten the dough.
7) roll up each piece (like a swissroll) to fit into the greased pullman loaf pan.
8) proof the dough until 80% of the loaf pan.
9) cover the lid and baked in preheated oven at 200C for 30minutes.
10) unmould and leave to cool before slicing.

polo bun, pineapple bun

recipe got from this website:
http://www.xici.net/b1008226/d74490906.htm
http://gracekitchencorner.blogspot.com/2008/08/polo-bun.html

Made polo buns with this recipe for quite a few times, always got the same result. Never really taste a real one before but i think this satisfied me enough.

yield 4-6 depend on size.
Ingredients:
-bread
150g Bread flour (high protein)
1 tbsp Milk powder (omit if using milk)
1/4 tsp salt
30g sugar
1 tbsp lightly beaten egg
1 tsp yeast
70g water (or milk if not using milk powder)

1) dissolve yeast, milk powder, sugar and egg in water (or milk if using).
2) add flour into the liquid then add salt.
3) knead on a lightly-floured surface until smooth and elastic (pass the window plane test)
4) proof the dough in a warm place for about an hour (until 2.5x the original size)
5) punch out the air, shape into balls and rest for 15minutes. (i divided it into 5)

-biscuit layer (pastry)
50g cake/ all-purpose flour (low protein)
25g icing sugar
a pinch of salt
1 tbsp lightly beaten egg
1/2 tbsp milk powder
30g butter

1) cream butter and icing sugar together.
2) add egg and stir until well-mixed.
3) add salt and milk powder into the mixture then follow by flour.
(if this is too sticky, refridgerate for 30 minutes.)
4) divide in 4-6 equal pieces.

shaping:
somehow the website show something about putting one ball of dough in one hand and another ball of pastry in another hand. then push the bread dough into the pastry dough until the top it cover. (for me, i just flatten the pastry dough and cover it on the bread dough)

1) after putting the pastry and bread dough together, brush the top
with egg glaze (just beaten egg)
2) using a sharp knife, slash lines top of the pastry dough and proof until 2.5x in size. (i didnt slash my pastry, instead i just let it proof and bake and it crack on its own)
3) bake at 180c for about 15 minutes.

Baguette

This photo was taken about 2 months back, up till now i still used the same recipe. This recipe was very easy and you can get a baguette in less than 2 hours. xP Got it from http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/French-Baguettes/Detail.aspx.



make one loaf:
1/2 cup water
1 1/4 cup flour
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 tsp yeast

1) add all ingredients into bread machine and knead until smooth and elastic
or knead by hand:
-dissolve yeast in water
- add flour to the water and follow by salt
- knead for about 8-10 minutes on a lightly floured board until smooth and elastic

and do the window plane test.

2) proof in an oil-greased bowl for 30-45minutes until double in bulk in a warm place.

3) punch down and shape in a long stick. (for me, i simply knead abit instead of punching down because i wanted the uneven holes.)

4) proof for another 45minutes and bake in a 200c oven. (i placed a water dish on the bottom and spray the baguette continously during baking to obtain the crispy and thick crust.)

5) cool in oven for 10minutes before putting on the rack to cool completely.



window plane test:
generally take a small piece of dough and stretch. you should be able to obtain a somewhat transculent membrane before breaking.