Vegetable Steamed Buns ("Choy Pau" 菜包)

This is my 2nd attempt making the pau dough.  The first time I made is Char Siew Pau and confidently thought after steaming everything will turn out as to be white pau.  

I thought pau only mah.....what so difficult, knead, add filling, send it to steam, that's it.  But OMG, after I lift up the steamer cover, the paus are all full of yellow spots!  But I have already make sure I dissolved well the baking powder....sigh, it is still not well done.

So I make it again,  but this time is Vegetable Buns.  Before I lift up the steamer cover, I just cross my finger,  at least this time is much better though there are still little yellow spots around.  Hmm.... maybe my third time be more better?  Well, we learned better each time after we tried and tried, isn't it?

Vegetable Steamed Buns  ("Choy Pau" 菜包)
Recipe adapted from My Kitchen &   Minty's Kitchen

Dough Ingredients

150g Hong Kong Flour

50g wheat starch

30g icing sugar

4g instant dry yeast

80ml lukewarm water

¼ tsp white vinegar or lemon juice

15g vegetable oil or shortening

5g baking powder

5ml cold water

Dough

1. Sift the flours and icing sugar together in a large mixing bowl and make a well in the

    middle.

2. Fill well with lukewarm water, vinegar and yeast. Use a spatula, gently stir the water to

    dissolve the yeast then slowly bring together flour mixture.

3. Add in the oil and knead for 10-15 minutes until soft dough is formed. It should be

    smooth on the surface.

4. Cover dough with damp cloth and let it rise for 30 minutes or until it is doubled in size.

5. Dissolve baking powder in cold water – (make sure it is really well dissolved to

prevent yellow spots on the finished buns), sprinkle over dough and knead until

well combined.

Divide dough into 7 or 8 (I made 7) equal portions and flatten with a rolling pin into

circle. Then place a heaped teaspoon of filling in the middle, wrap and pleat the dough

to seal. Place it on a ~6cm square piece of baking paper.

6. Preheat the steamer over a pot of rapidly boiling water. Spray water mist over buns,

     and place into the steamer basket and place the lid on for 12 minutes. Remove buns

     from steamer and cool on rack to prevent soggy bottom.

Filling Ingredients
250g jicama (yam bean), juliened
25g dried shrimps, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced

Seasonings (to your taste)

Salt, white pepper, 5 spice powder (abt ¼ tsp), sugar
Some water

Some oil
 

Heat oil and saute the garlic and dried shrimps until aromatic.

Add in jicama, seasonings and some water and fry until soft.

Set aside to cool. 

Well, making pau at home is always more economical and healthier, isn't it.  So it doesn't 

matter it doesn't look perfect.

Rainbow Lapis Legit

Whenever I wanted to bake any cake that I have never baked before, I always start off reading the recipe carefully to avoid blunder later and sometimes after reading numerous times, it end up failure upon completion of my baked.  Well, even in baking, true to the facts that "practice makes perfect".

When Rima of Bisous A Toi posted this Lapis Legit Rainbow, I was so full of admire with the layers as well as the rainbow colours of the Kek Lapis!  I believe you will too!  I have never bake a kek lapis before because I was so 'scare' of the layers by layers that you need to attend to it.  And Rima has made me brave myself to go ahead to bake this for my first time as well as using such vibrant colours in my bakes.

Rainbow Lapis Legit

Recipe adapted from Rima

Ingredients

(A)

700g eggs (about 12 eggs)

450g sugar (I add in only 420g)

18g emulsifier

½ tsp vanilla extract

½ tsp milk paste (I don’t have this, so I put another ½tsp vanilla extract)

(B)

325g cake flour

(C)

400g margarine

300g butter

(D)

½tsp spekkeok powder

Prunes (I didn’t add in)

Colouring : purple, blue, green, yellow, orange, red

Method

Grease and line the bottom of pan only.

Whisk butter till creamy, and set aside.

Whisk ingredients (A) till fluffy.

Add ingredients (B) in and beat again till well blended.

Add ingredients ©, and beat till combined and blended.

Weigh batter, divide into 13 portions (number of layers).

Part 1 : (7 layers) – add spekkoek powder in.

Part 2 : (6 layers) – add the colors.

Once ready, pour about 156g spekkoek batter to baking pan (1^st layer).  Bake it for 10 minutes, then change it to grill mode.

Pour in the 2^nd layer (purple color).

This is how the layers should be :  plain, purple, plain, blue, plain, green, plain, yellow, plain, orange, plain, red, plain.

Add the prunes (if you are adding it) to last layer and bake it using grill mode for 5 minutes before changing to bottom heat for 5 minutes.

If you have baked kek lapis before, I believe you know how tasty and delicious a "Kek Lapis" (Layers Cake) is.   This is why to buy Kek Lapis is very costly. 

I nearly couldn't make it to the last layer, because my 8" pan is not deep enough.... Sigh....if I were to bake this again, looks like I have to get another baking pan..... my pantry no more space to put.......

See the top layer..... so thin layer.... 

Ooh.....I am so tired now........  only 13 layers I am calling tired.....Imagine to those who bake for 20 over layers!!

                       I am submitting this post to Malaysian Food Fest , 
                      Sarawak Month hosted by Sharon of Feats Of Feasts

Sweet Potato Rice Donuts

I've just made this Sweet Potato Rice Donuts for my afternoon tea break right after I was browsing through some food blog sites and the deep fried balls caught my eyes. 

Since I have some sweet potato in my kitchen and decided to make a small batch of it.

I remember many years ago when I am still in my secondary school, I attended a church camp in Cameron Highlands.  All of us are to choose which events/hobbies which we want to go during the 5 days trips.   As usual I will choose cooking session and hence, that session teach us to make "Australian Fritters".  This is sweet potato rice donuts are more or less the same only is without the sweet potato.  Instead of the usual donuts/hole in the centre, we shape it into a balls and deep fried it.

SWEET POTATO RICE DONUTS
Desserts snack adapted from Beyong Kimchee

Ingredients

150gm sweet potatoes,  boiled and mashed

1 cup glutinous rice flour

1/4 cup all purpose flour

1/4 cup sugar or less

½ tsp salt

1/4 tsp baking powder

1/2 cup hot milk

Oil for frying

For the sugar coating

1/4 cup granulated sugar

½ tsp ground cinnamon

Directions

Combine flours, sugar, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl.

Add the mashed sweet potato to the flour mixture and rub together until the flours become fine crumbs.   Slowly add hot milk little by little  to the mixture and mix together with a spoon first, then using hand bring the dough together to form a ball shape. The amount of milk depends on the moisture level of your potatoes. It should resemble the bread dough consistency.

Make them into 1" balls with the dough. Set aside and cover with a towel.

Heat oil in a wok or fryer over medium low temperature. Drop a few dough balls and start rolling with a metal utensil to brown them evenly, about 5 minutes. Make sure your oil is not too hot. About 145ºC is ideal temperature.

Transfer the donuts to a plate lined with paper towel to remove extra oil on the surface. Roll them in cinnamon sugar to coat evenly all over. Serve warm or at room temperature.

    Sweet and "Q" "Q" in texture!

Bubur Cha Cha

I've some taro left from my yesterday Fragrant Taro rice.   So instead I use the leftover taro  to make Bubur Cha Cha, one of my favourite dessert.  

I guess everyone know how to make this Bubur Cha Cha as it is easy to make. 
And if you are allergic to taro, you can always substitute with tapioca.

Bubur Cha-Cha Recipe

Ingredients:

100g    Orange Sweet Potato
100g  Yam (Taro)
10g     Sago (Tapioca pearls)

Tapioca flour jelly

50g   Tapioca Flour
¼ cup Boiling Water (pour bit by bit first)
Red/purple coloring

1 liter water
½ cup Thick coconut milk
60g Sugar or palm sugar
1 Pandan leaves
Salt to taste

Method:

1) Peel and cut potatoes and taro into cubes. Steam until cooked.

2) To make tapioca flour jelly, place the flour in mixing bowl. Pour in boiling water. Mix

     the flour and water until well incorporated. Add in some colouring and knead till well

     blended. When the dough is cool, roll it out evenly on a well floured surface and cut

     into cube or roll into small balls.

3) Boil the 1 litre water, add in coconut milk, sugar, salt, pandan leaves and cook over

     low heat.

4) Pour in all the ingredients, together with the sago, tapioca jelly into coconut milk base

     and mix well. Serve hot or cold, as you like.

I like my bubur cha cha serve warm.  What about you?

Fragrant Taro Rice 芋头饭

Fragrant Taro Rice芋头饭

Serves 6

400g white rice

500ml water

200g diced taro (yam)

50g diced carrot

5 mushrooms, soaked and diced small

50g dried shrimps, soaked for 5 minutes

200g pork belly or lean meat

Marinade

1 tbsp oyster sauce

½ tbsp light soy sauce

½ tsp salt

1 tbsp dark soy sauce

½ tbsp sesame oil

Pinch of pepper

Method

Cut pork/meat into strips and marinate for 1 hour.

In a frying pan, add 1 tbsp oil and stir fry dried shrimps till fragrant.  Put in the pork meat and stir fry for a while.   Add rice and stir well.  Pour everything into rice cooker.

Add water and turn on the rice cooker.

Once the rice starts to boil, add in the diced carrots, taro and mushrooms.  Cook till done and serve.

Ginger Milk Pudding

I like to eat desserts; be it cold or hot, sweet or savoury!  Since I loves to eat desserts so much, you must have thought that I must be a fat lady!  Well, I am not, I am skinny as a bamboo stick!  Hee.... lol...

Some time months ago, I watch a food show on TV and came across this dessert, Ginger Milk Pudding.  It does seem to be easy to make; you don't need gelatine, "agar-agar" powder or jelly powder to makes this pudding set firm.  Funny how it just goes with 3 ingredients in it, ginger juice, milk and sugar and after awhile, the pudding will set by itself like the "Tofu fah".

 

Ginger Milk Pudding

I half of the recipe from TasteOfHongKong

Ingredients

125ml ( ½ cup) fresh milk

1 tbsp ginger juice

1 tbsp sugar

Method

Wash and peel ginger. 

Grate ginger and juice it by pressing it through a fine strainer until you collect 1 tbsp ginger juice.

Stir well the ginger juice and pour to your serving bowl.  Set aside.

Heat milk with sugar over the lowest flame in pan. Swirl to dissolve sugar. As you feel heat from the milk (or any time earlier if you find it easier), place your kitchen thermometer into the milk. As the temperature reaches 80 degree C, remove from heat. 

Right before the milk is removed from heat, give the ginger juice a good stir first. Then immediately pour milk from about 10cm above to fill no more than 70% of the bowl, or the milk will easily spill out. 

After the milk is added to the ginger juice, DO NOT move or even shake the bowl. Wait for 5 minutes or more, and the milk ginger mixture will be curdled. Serve immediately.

.......... tick tock tick tock............ 

waiting patiently....... and here goes, let me put in the spoon to test....... (I always don't have much confident when things like this, and I don't put much hope for it.... and was prepare to tell myself that I might need to do it again!)

And....psst.....actually I don't have a thermometer to check on the temperature of the milk...I just based on my instinct only.  (When I see the bubbles forming at the side of the pan,  so this is it!).

 So I let little "Pooh Bear" sit on the spoon to check for me........... yeah !!  I did it !!!

If you intend to make this Ginger Milk Pudding, do hop over the Taste Of Hong Kong to get a better info on it.

    This is the type ginger and the graters that I used..........

Mango and Passion Fruit Smoothie

You might have known the goodness and nutrition in mango and passion fruits.  Both are full of Vitamin C.  Passion Fruit are not only rich in Vitamin C, they are rich in Vitamin A and potassium as well.


Care for a smoothie for breakfast today?

Mango & Passion Fruit Smoothie

Ingredients

1 medium size ripe mango, cut to pieces

1 cup passion fruit puree or juice

½ cup fresh milk

2 tbsp honey (or more if you prefer more sweet)

some ice cubes

Place all the ingredients in the blender and process till smooth.

Serve & drink immediately.

           

        A refreshing drink..... delicious and yummy!

Passion Fruit Chiffon Cake

Aaah...... you will see more passion fruits posting this few days!  I still have some passion fruits left and today is Passion Fruit Chiffon Cake!  

Passion Fruit Chiffon Cake

Ingredients

(A)

6 egg yolks

75g sugar

82g passion fruits juice ( I added in 1 tbsp passion fruit seeds)

20g water
4 tbsp vegetable oil

150g self raising flour

1-2 tbsp poppy seeds (optional)

(B)

6 egg whites

60g sugar

¼ tsp cream of tartar

Method:

1.  Prepare the egg yolk batter: In a mixing bowl, combine egg yolks and sugar.

     Hand whisk till the sugar dissolved. Add in oil, passion fruit juice and poppy

     seeds (if added). Stir till well combined.

2.  Fold in flour until it forms batter and no lumps left. Set aside for later use. 

3.  Prepare the egg white foam: In another bowl, beat egg whites till it form soft peak.

      Gradually add in sugar till it finished. Add in cream of tartar and continue beating at

      high speed until frothy and stiff peaks form.

4.  Pour batter into ungreased 9" (22cm) chiffon pan and bake in a preheated oven at

      170C for 30-40mins or until it is cooked.

5.  Remove from oven and immediately invert cake onto table until it is completely

      cooled before unmould it

The sugar content in this recipe is just right for me not that sweet or bland ...... so don't reduce it anymore as the passion fruits usually are tart.

Orange Passion Fruit Mousse Cake

It has been quite awhile I have not bake any cake lately eventhough I have few cakes I have bookmarked earlier.   Sometimes just have to wait for any special occasion or if I am in craving for cakes and cream then I will get my hands up and going.

Last weekend lovely lady Amelia's De-ssert called me saying that she has gotten me some passion fruits.  All this happened is one day I text her to ask her where she buy the passion fruits as I have not able to get it anywhere my area here and she has been so kind enough to get me one BIG bag full of passion fruits.... and more with some of her freshly baked and steamed tapioca kuihs.  Hop over to check out her delicious tapioca kuih that she posted recently.  So delicious and yummy!

I've bookmarked this Orange Passion Fruit Mousse cake for quite awhile now.   This mousse cake was made out from the inspiration from Tish Boyle's Meyer Lemon Mousse Cake !  I have used her recipe and modify it to become Orange Passion Fruit Mousse Cake.

 

Orange Passion Fruit Mousse Cake

The cake inspired from Tish Boyle's Lemon Mousse Cake

Genoise:

100 g sifted cake flour

1/8 teaspoon salt

4 large eggs

80g caster sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

57g unsalted butter, melted and cooled

Ginger Syrup:

160ml water

80g caster sugar

½” piece fresh gingerroot, peeled and thinly sliced

Orange Mousse:

60ml water

2  tsp powdered gelatin

1 cup freshly squeezed orange juice

1 tbsp finely grated orange zest

180g caster sugar

6 large egg yolks

1 tsp vanilla extract

360ml heavy cream

Passion Fruits Jelly:

2 tbsp water

1 ½ tbsp powdered gelatin

4-5 passion fruits

80g caster sugar

280ml water

 

Make the genoise:

1.  Position a rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 180°C. Grease the

     bottom and sides of a 9” round cake pan. Dust the pan with flour and set aside.

2.  In a medium bowl, sift together the cake flour and salt. Whisk to combine and set

      aside.

3.  In the bowl of an electric mixer, whisk together the eggs and sugar by hand. Set the

      bowl over a saucepan of simmering water, making sure that the bottom of the bowl

      does not touch the water. Heat the egg mixture, whisking constantly, until the eggs

      are warm. Transfer the bowl to the electric mixer stand and, using the whisk

      attachment, beat on high speed until the mixture has tripled in volume, about 8

      minutes. Reduce the speed to low and beat in the lemon zest and vanilla extract.

4.  Resift one-third of the flour mixture over the batter and gently fold it in with a rubber

      spatula. In two more additions, sift in the remaining flour mixture, again folding in

      gently. Have the melted butter in a small bowl. Scoop about 3/4 cup of the cake batter

      into the bowl and stir until blended. Fold this mixture into the remaining cake batter.

      Scrape the batter into the prepared pan.

5.  Bake the cake for 18 to 22 minutes, until the top springs back when lightly touched

     and a tester inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool the cake in the pan for 15

     minutes. Invert the cake onto the wire rack and cool completely.

Make the Ginger Syrup:

1.  In a small saucepan, combine the water and sugar and bring to a boil over medium

     high heat, stirring occasionally just to dissolve the sugar. Remove the pan from the

     heat and add the ginger slices. Let stand at room temperature until ready to use.

Make the mousse:

1.  Pour the water into a medium saucepan and sprinkle the gelatin over it. Let the

     gelatin soften for 5 minutes.

2.  Whisk in the orange juice,  zest, sugar, and egg yolks. Place the pan over medium heat

      and cook, whisking constantly, until the mixture thickens and reaches 80°C on an

      instant-read thermometer. Pour the mixture through a fine-mesh sieve into a

      medium bowl. Stir in the vanilla extract.

3.  Set the bowl containing the orange mixture in a large mixing bowl filled one-third of

      the way with ice water (be careful that the water doesn’t splash into the orange

      mixture). Stir the orange mixture frequently until it is completely cool, about 10

      minutes.

4.   In the bowl of an electric mixer, using the whisk attachment, whip the heavy cream at

       medium-high speed to firm peaks. Fold the orange mixture into the whipped cream.

       (The cake can be assembled now.)

Make the Passion Fruit Jelly:

(Please only makes this Jelly only when the cake has been assemble and the mousse has been set in the fridge after 3-4 hours)

1.  In a small bowl,  pour in the 2 tbsp water and sprinkle the gelatin over and let the

     gelatin soften for 5 minutes.

2.  In a small saucepan, bring all the rest of the ingredients and bring to boil for about

      2-3 minutes.  Once comes to a boil, pour the mixture through a fine sieve into another

      small saucepan and put back to the heat on and pour the soften gelatin in.  Keep

      stirring the mixture for about 1-2 minutes.

     *  I add in one tablespoon of the passion fruit seeds in that been sieve out

        earlier.

3.  Let it cool.

Assemble the cake:

Cut the genoise cake horizontally into 2 layers. Arrange a cake layer, cut side up, in the bottom of a 9” springform pan, centering it so that the gap between the cake and the side of the pan is even all the way around. 

Generously brush the cake with half of the Ginger Syrup. Scrape half of the mousse on top of the cake and, using a small offset metal spatula, spread it into an even layer, letting the mousse fill the gap between the cake and the side of the pan. Arrange the remaining cake layer, cut side up, on top, centering it.

Brush the cake with the remaining Ginger Syrup. Scrape the remaining mousse on top and spread it into an even layer as before. Refrigerate the cake for at least 3 hours until set.

Once the Cake has been set, (do the Passion Fruits Jelly now).

Once the Passion Fruits Jelly has been cooled, slowly pour in the jelly on top of the mousse cake and refrigerate the cake for at least another 3-4 hours.

Serve the cake:

Run a sharp, thin-bladed knife under hot water and wipe dry. Run the knife between the cake and the side of the springform pan, reheating it as necessary. Remove the side of the springform pan. Use a small metal spatula to smooth the mousse on the sides of the cake, if necessary.  Refrigerate the cake if not serving immediately. 

Absolutely delicious...... full of citrus flavour and the passion fruits just taste heavenly! 

   Forgotten to smoothen the sides of the cakes!