Homemade Char Siew

Char Siew ~ I don't think I need any further introduction of this delicious roast meat.

Homemade Char Siew

Recipe sourced from Chef and Sommelier

Ingredients

1 kg Pork (Shoulder or Collar)

2 tablespoons oil

1 cup water

Marinade

1 teaspoon salt (To add later)

1 teaspoon light soya sauce

1 teaspoon white pepper

2 tablespoons maltose

2 cubes red fermented bean curds

2 tablespoons sugar

2 tablespoons oyster sauce

1 tablespoon chinese wine

1 tablespoon peanut oil

Method

Clean and pat dry the pork.

Mix all the ingredients for the marinade (except salt) and marinate pork over night.

Next day, add the salt to marinated pork 30 minutes before cooking.

In a medium wok, heat peanut oil over medium heat. Brown pork on all sides. Add marinade and water. Simmer over low heat for about 45 minutes until marinade thickens to form sauce. 

Meanwhile, heat up oven to 250C on grill mode.

Brush the meat with the sauce and remove from wok. Remove excess oil and further thicken the sauce if required. 

Grill pork in oven until the sides are nicely charred, about 5-10 minutes each side.

Remove and let Char Siew rest before slicing and serving.

With this Char Siew, it is easily go with rice, wantan noodles, or make your favourite Char Siew Pau, or Seremban Siew Pau, Char Siew Soh, etc. etc.

Char Siew Rice

Delicious!!

I'm linking this post to the Little Thumbs Up 'Soy Bean' event organised by Doreen from my little favourite DIY and Zoe of  Bake for Happy Kids, hosted by  Mich of  Piece of Cake.

Korokke (Japanese Croquette)

Croquette ~ is my all time favourite.  I always remember croquette because my mum used to make this for her children but her version is usually very simple in ingredients only.

KOROKKE (Japanese Croquette)
Recipe sourced & adapted from Nami - Just One Cookbook 

Ingredients:
4 russet potatoes, boiled and roughly mashed
1 large onion, finely diced
1 small carrots, finely diced
2 Shiitake mushrooms (optional)
Some chopped spring onions
2 Tbsp. oil
450g ground meat (beef/chicken/pork)
1 egg
1 tsp. salt
¼ tsp. white pepper
Freshly ground black pepper
2-3 eggs, lightly beaten (put into a shallow plate)
2 cup Panko/breadcrumbs  (put into a shallow plate)
½ cup flour  ((put into a shallow plate)
Oil for deep frying 

In a large skillet, heat oil on medium high heat.  Put in the onion and sauté until soft.  Add
carrots and Shiitake mushrooms and cook until they are soft. 

Add the meat and break it up with a wooden spoon.  When the meat is cooked, add salt, 
white pepper and black pepper. Turn off the heat. 

Add the meat mixture to the mashed potatoes and mix all up well together with the 1 egg in.  Let it rest to cool down a little so you have worked with your hands later on. 

As the mixture is still warm, start making your Croquette balls.  You can form it into a balls and flatten it or make it in a longer shape.  Any shape to your desire. 

Dredge each croquette balls into the flour - egg - breadcrumbs. 

Deep fry the croquette till golden brown only.  Transfer Korokke to paper towels and let the oil absorbed in the paper. Serve immediately with Tonkatsu Sauce*.

* If you want to make your own Tonkatsu Sauce, please go to Nami's site to view her Tonkatsu Sauce

YUM!!

 “I am submitting this post to Asian Food Fest #1 Oct 2013 : Japan), 

hosted by Alan from Travelling-foodies 

Jian Dui 煎堆 (Deep fried glutinous rice balls / Sesame seed balls)

There was a time my sister and I went to a Taiwanese Restaurant here in JB and after we finished our meal, came the dessert.  I never knew there was a dessert included in our meal.  And it was "Jian Dui" (fried glutinuous rice balls coated with sesame seeds).  It has been ages and I can't remember when was the last time I had this snack.  It was so yummy and delicious.

During my young time, it just never occur to me why this snack is called Jian Dui. To translate it from Cantonese, "Jian 煎" means fry, "Dui 堆" is pile or could be lots or batch ~ so it is "frying in a pile".

It was not too long ago, well more than one year ago, Sonia (NasiLemakLover) made this Jian Dui and had bookmarked it since then.  So, today I made my Jian Dui.  

Jian Dui煎堆(Deep fried glutinous rice balls / Sesame seed balls)
(recipe source & full adapted from Sonia of NasiLemakLover

A) Dough
30g Tang Mien flour (Wheat starch)
75ml water

Method
1. Warm Tang Mien flour over a pot of simmering water.
2. Boil the water and pour and mix with flour, combine well.
3. Cover and set aside.


B) Syrup
120ml water
40g sugar
A pinch of salt

Method
1. Add sugar and salt with water in a pot.
2. Boil water till sugar melted, set aside.


To make dough
150g glutinous rice flour 糯米粉, sifted
3tsp baking powder, sifted ( or replace with 1tsp double action baking powder)
1tbsp cooking oil

Method
1. Add glutinous rice flour and baking powder in a mixing bowl.
2. Slowly add in the warm syrup (B), mix it.
3. Add cooking oil and Tang meng dough (A), and knead till smooth (count 75 times or about 90 seconds), cover and to rest for 10mins.

Filling & Coating
200g red bean paste or Lotus paste
Sesame seeds

Method
1. Divide red bean paste into small round ball (10g each).
2. Divide dough into small round ball (15g each), cover with cloth from time to time.
3. Flatten the dough and wrap red bean ball into round ball. Repeat the rest until finished.

    (wet your palm from time to time as the dough will dry up quickly)
4. Spray water on the ball, roll it on the sesame seeds.
5. Deep fry over low heat till puff up and golden brown.

There is this Video to demonstrate how to make this Jian Dui. 

                             I have made half portion with red bean paste and half in lotus paste.

 

I don't know why few of the Jian Dui, the filling burst out while frying.  I think I did not press hard to release some air out.

                                           Come "Yum Cha" at my home......

Japanese Potato Salad

Isn't this great for a light lunch?
 

Japanese Potato Salad
Recipe sourced from Nami of Just One Cookbook with slight changes

Ingredients 
2 Russet potatoes
½  tsp. salt
1 egg
2 ½ inch carrot
2 -3” cucumbers
2-3 tbsp cooked scrimps
1/3 to ½  cup Japanese mayonnaise
Salt
Fresh ground black pepper 

Method

Peel potato skins and cut into half or quarters.  Put potatoes in a large pot and add water until it covers all the potatoes.  Boil the potatoes and cook until a skewer can goes through the potato smoothly. Drain the water from pot and put the potato back on the stove again.

Mash the potatoes but leave some small chunks for texture. Sprinkle salt and transfer it into a big bowl and let it cool on the kitchen counter. 

Meanwhile prepare to boiled egg. Remove the shell and mash the egg with a fork in a small bowl. Set aside.  

Cut carrots into quarter (or half) and then slice it thinly. Put them in a microwave-safe container and cover it with water. Microwave for a few minutes until a skewer goes smoothly through the carrot (don’t overcook). Drain water and cool down.

Peel the cucumbers (leave some skin on to create stripe pattern) and cut into quarter. Then slice it thinly.

Add the cooked scrimps and veggies into the mashed potato bowl. Grind some pepper over and mix well.

Add mayonnaise and mix until incorporated.  Add boiled eggs and mix a bit but don’t over do it. Let it cool and keep in the fridge till you are ready to serve.

                           Make this in the morning and pack it to office for lunch if you want a 
                           light meal.  

 “I am submitting this post to Asian Food Fest #1 Oct 2013 : Japan), hosted by

 Alan from Travelling-foodies 

Okonomiyaki

Simple Okonomiyaki ~ Japanese Pancake

OKONOMIYAKI 
Recipe sourced from Food For Four 

Ingredients

1 ½ cup plain flour
1 cup water
2 eggs
2 cups packed cabbage (shredded)
½ cup carrot, grated
1 cup zucchini, grated
1 green onion (chopped)
½ cup prawn (but you can also use chicken or bacon)

Oil for frying
Okonomiyaki sauce / Tonkatsu Sauce *
Japanese Mayonnaise
Bonito fish flakes
Seasoned seaweed sheet

Method 
In a large bowl, mix the flour, water, egg to form a batter. Add cabbage, carrot, zucchini and spring onions.

Heat some oil in pan. Fry the meat until cooked.

Pour in 1/4 of mixture into pan. Cook on medium heat until golden brown on both sides.

Once cooked removed from pan and onto plate. Top with okonomiyaki sauce, mayonnaise, bonito fish flakes and seaweed. 

* I made the Tonkatsu sauce from Nami of Just One Cookbook

I didn't spread alot of mayonnaise for my okonomiyaki but I absolutely love the Tonkatsu sauce, so flavourful and also the Bonito Fish Flakes!  Taste absolutely yummy.

 “I am submitting this post to Asian Food Fest #1 Oct 2013 : Japan), hosted by

 Alan from Travelling-foodies 

Steamed Custard Bun ("Nai Huang Bao" 奶黄包)

I have never even heard or eaten of this buns before until I saw Tze of AwayofMind Bakery House posted her Steamed Custard Bun sometime back. She mentioned that her custard buns was being made after watching a video on Youtube by Irene Chan.  But her video does not indicate the proper measurement of the ingredients; only showing how to mix the ingredients and steaming the custard.

Subsequently I tried searching in the web to search whether she has a blog and at last I found hers, but the site was in Chinese.  So, those ingredients that I am not familiar what it was, I have to ask my elder sister to translate it for me.

And here, Steamed Custard Buns or in Chinese "Nai Huang Bao"

Steamed Custard Buns

Ingredients for custard filling:
60g custard powder
40g milk powder

100g caster sugar (I used only 75g, but still can cut down to 60-50g)

130g coconut milk
80g evaporate milk
2 eggs, lightly beaten first
30g  melted butter

Method:
Place the custard powder, caster sugar and milk powder in a bowl and mix to combine.

Using a whisk, add in the coconut milk and evaporated milk and whisk till the sugar dissolved.  Add in the egg, stir until combine, and lastly add in the melted butter.

Sieve the liquid and pour it into a lightly grease pan and steam high for 8~10 mins.

Remove the custard out from steamer and mash the custard with a potato masher.

(Irene Chai’s video showing she knead the custard using hand till till the custard smooth; I didn’t do it this way.  I just continue using the masher to mash for 5 minutes).

Divide the custard into small balls; about 20g-30g to your preference.

Recipe source from Irene Chan

And thanks to Tze of Awayofmind Bakery House, that I came to known of this Custard Buns when she posted hers recently.

As for the buns I'm using back the same buns I made for the red bean buns previously.

Steamed Buns
(makes 12)

Ingredients:

300g Hong Kong pau flour
3g baking powder
3g instant yeast
30g caster sugar
160ml water
15g vegetable oil

Custard Filling 

Method 

Sieve Hong Kong pau flour and baking powder into a mixing bowl. Add yeast, caster sugar and mix well.

Make a well in the centre of the flour mixture, add in water and mix to form a dough. Transfer dough onto a lightly floured work surface. Knead dough until it becomes smooth (about 5 mins). Knead in the vegetable oil and continue to knead for another 10-15 mins or until the dough becomes smooth and elastic.  Take a piece of dough  (about the size of a table tennis ball) and stretch it, you should be able to stretch it  to a fairly thin membrane without tearing off easily, if not continue to knead for another 5 to 10mins.

Roll dough into a smooth round, place in a lightly greased mixing bowl, cover with cling wrap and let it proof for about 1 hr or until it doubles in bulk.

Punch down the dough and give a few light kneading to release the trapped air bubbles.

Divide the dough into 12 portions (about 40g each). Roll each portion into a smooth round. 

Flatten each dough into a small disc with your palm or a small rolling pin, make the edges thinner and the centre portion thicker. Wrap each dough with 20g of custard filling. Pinch and seal the seams. Place dough seam side down on a square piece of parchment paper. Cover loosely with cling wrap and leave buns to proof for 20-25 mins.  

Place buns in a steamer and space them apart so that they do not touch one another. Steam it medium to high heat for 12mins (make sure the water is already boiling before steaming). 

When ready, remove the lid carefully to prevent water from dripping over the buns. Remove immediately and serve warm. Keep any leftovers in fridge (covered with cling wrap or store in airtight containers) and re-steam till hot before serving.

 I didn't use hands to knead the custard (like what Irene Chan did in her video.  Instead I just continue to mash, mash, mash with the masher.  Lazy me lor.....)

Nasi Lemak With Sweet Sambal

Let's spice up life with some spicy food instead of sweet cakes today ~ Nasi Lemak With Sweet Sambal!  

Being a Malaysian, I am sure this is everyone's favourite, right?  We can almost have this for every meals; we usually have this for breakfast, but the same goes for lunch too, for afternoon tea break, or dinner and even for supper too!  What a marvellous dish this is.

And yes, this sweet sambal is the sambal I am looking for.  Just love the sweetness in it.

Easy Sweet Sambal with Gula Melaka
(recipe source from NasiLemakLover with some changes)

Ingredients
15g dried chili (trim and cut into 2-3pcs, boil in hot water and drained)
2 fresh red chilies
3 large onions (I used 2 large onions for blending only and 1 onions thinly sliced for frying into the chilli paste)
a small knob of belacan (shrimp paste)
50g Gula Melaka (palm sugar)
1pc tamarind peel (asam keping)
1 cup cooking oil
½ cup water
salt to taste

Method
1. Blend dried and fresh red chilies, onions and belacan (with little water) till fine paste.
2. Heat cooking oil in a wok, deep fry 1 cup of ikan bilis (anchovies) till golden brown. 

    Remove fried ikan bilis and keep aside for later serve with nasi lemak.
3. Add in blended chili paste into remaining oil, sauté till aroma.
4. Add in gula Melaka, tamarind peel and salt, continue to sauté over low flame for 30mins. 

    Cook till half way, paste will become thick, add in water and continue cook.

    Lastly, add in the balance chopped onion slices, cook till it soften.  Dish up.
5. Serve with coconut rice and other condiments like fried ikan bilis (anchovies), cucumber 
    slices, hard-boiled eggs, fry peanuts or any other condiments to your preference.

Nasi Lemak (coconut rice)
Recipe adapted from NasiLemakLover

Ingredients
4cups rice (I use Thai fragrant rice)
150ml coconut milk
550ml water
5pcs pandan leaves (screwpine leaves)
1 and 1/2 tsp salt or to taste
1” ginger, shredded

Method
1. Place washed rice, salt and knotted pandan leaves in an electric rice cooker.
2. Pour coconut milk, water,ginger and salt over the rice and leave to soak for 30mins

    (make it more fluffy).
3. Cook the rice. Once button auto switched to “keep warm” button, fluffed up rice with a 

     fork or chopsticks.
4. Leave it warm in the rice cooker before serve.

                                       East sweet Sambal.....I love this sambal better those 

                                                                   previous recipe.

                          My Nasi Lemak is missing something.   You know what is that?

 Have a wonderful day!  Cheers........

Pandan Layer Cake

I have made this Pandan Layer Cake few times already and even posted twice in my blog here. 

I made this cake the other day for my dear friend Crystal as I have promise her to bake some cakes for her.  I have asked her what cake she would like, and she just gave me the answer, any cakes I made, she sure like.

I thought of giving this Pandan Layer Cake a miss to post this again in my blog, but Little Thumbs Up September month event is Pandan which is hosted by Joceline of Butter, Flour & Me, so I just made my submission to participate the event.

Pandan Layer Cake

Adapted from Agnes Chang - I Can Bake cookbook with slight changes

Ingredients for the cake:
250 gm. Optima flour or sponge cake mix flour
4 eggs
3 Tbsp. Pandan juice
a little green pandan paste or green colouring  (I omit this)
3 Tbsp. Thick coconut milk (I omit this and replace with water)
1 1/2 Tbsp. cornoil

Ingredients for Pandan Kaya:
600 ml. Coconut milk
400ml pandan juice
9 Tbsp. Hoen kwee flour / green pea flour
1 Tbsp. Instant Jelly Powder
1/2 tsp. salt

140gm sugar
a little green colouring  (I omit this)
a little pandan paste  (I omit this)

50 gm. Dessicated coconut for covering cake
 

Method for the Sponge Cake:
1.  Beat sponge mix flour and eggs till light.
2.  Add pandan juice and continue to beat till fluffy.  Add in green colouring if necessary.
     Mix in water (or coconut milk) and corn oil till well combined.

3.  Pour into a lined and greased 9” round baking tin and bake in a preheated oven at 170C
     for about 35-40 minutes, till cooked.

4.  Remove the cake from the oven and leave to cool.  Slice cake horizontally into 2 or 3 
     slices. 

Method for the Pandan Kaya:

1.  Put all the ingredients into a pot and mix well.
2.  Using medium heat, stir with wooden spatula and cook till mixture has slightly
      thickened.  Remove.

3.  Keep mixture hot by putting the pot in a pan of hot water to prevent it from setting

      too quickly.  (I didn't do this way but I quickly divided the kaya into 2 equal
      portions and quickly assembly the cake).

To Assemble : 
Place a 9” cake ring on a cake board, put 1 slice of cake into the cake ring, making sure there is space all around for the pandan kaya.

Put one portion of the kaya to cover the cake and sides.  Repeat the same way till the last layer is covered with pandan kaya. 

Leave aside to cool and set before chilling in the fridge for at least 4 hours, best over-night before removing the cake ring.

Next day, decorate the sides and top of the cake with dessicated coconuts before serving.

 
Once the mixture thickened, off the heat.  Assemble the cake in reverse technique.   And lastly, decorate the cake with dessicated coconuts to your liking.....

The sponge cake can be divided into3 layers but I still prefer to just have 2 layers so the pandan kaya can be equally about the same  height of the sponge cakes.  I have tried in 3 layers, but the pandan kaya after spreading seem to be thinner.

The first time I baked this Pandan Layer Cake was in 3 layers (view here).

 

I am submitting this post to Little Thumbs Up September - Pandan hosted by Joceline @ Butter, Flour & Me, organized by Zoe@ Bake For Happy Kids and Mui Mui @ My Little Favourites DIY.

Light and Creamy Japanese Cheesecake

I have been craving for cheesecake for weeks;  trying to look for which cheesecake shall I bake and finally when I bookmark one, off I go to supermarket to look for sour cream ~ going in an out to almost 3 to 4 supermarkets in town, I can't believe it myself that there is no sour cream on their shelves!!  And I have the shelf out the idea to bake a cheesecake till now.

I chosen Fern's recipe of this light and creamy cheesecake.  I know I will never be able to bake as beautiful as hers even though I keep my fingers crossed while keeping a close watch as the cake risen.  Well, as the clock ticking minute by minute, I can see that the side of the cake is slowly cracking away and my heart felt the disappointment already. 

I did tent the top with foil but still can't help much to prevent the crack.  

Light and Creamy Cheesecake

Recipe fully adapted from To Food With Love

Ingredients

Crust:

3/4 cup (about 100g) finely crushed Digestive biscuits (or other sweet biscuits)
3 tbsp (50g) butter, melted


Filling:
250g (8oz) Philadelphia cream cheese, at room temperature
2 tbsp fresh milk
1 cup light sour cream
1/2 cup + 3 tbsp caster sugar
1/2 tbsp lemon juice
3 egg yolks
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 tsp cornflour / cornstarch
3 egg whites

Method

Preheat oven to 160°C (325°F). Grease and line the base of a 20cm (8 inch) non-stick springform cake tin with non-stick baking paper. Prepare another pan (either roasting tin/cake tin etc is fine) with some boiling water (about 1 inch deep) which you will need to put in the oven later together with the cake. This provides moisture in the oven when the cake is baking and help prevent cracks from forming on top of the cake.

In a small bowl, mix the ingredients for the crust with a spoon until evenly combined. Press the mixture firmly into the base of the prepared cake tin.

Using an electric mixer, beat cheese with milk on medium speed until smooth. Beat in the sour cream, 1/2 cup sugar, lemon juice, yolks and vanilla extract until well combined. Beat in the cornflour.

In another bowl, whisk egg whites to soft peaks, and then add the remaining 3 tbsp sugar. Continue to whisk until they just reach stiff peaks. Gently fold the egg white mixture into the cheese mixture above until well combined.

Pour into the cake tin over the crust. Place the pan of boiling water (step 1 above) in the lowest rack of the oven. Place the cake on the middle rack, and bake for 50 minutes or until lightly golden brown. The top of the cake will still have a slight wobble when you move the tin. Turn off the oven. Let the cake sit in the oven for 1 hour with the oven door closed. After that, you can leave the door ajar with a one-inch gap and let the cake cool for another 2-3 hours. You can leave the door closed too if you want (it will just take longer to cool!). While the cake is cooling, the top of the cake may start to come down slowly. That's fine. The top of the cake will be flat and level, and shouldn't collapse if you let it slowly cool down in the oven.

While the cake is cooling, the sides will start to shrink and come off the side of the cake tin. At this point, you can remove the cake from the oven and run a sharp knife around the edge of the tin. Quickly put the cake back in the oven and close the oven door (or leave it 1 inch ajar).

Once the cake has completely cooled (if it's just a little warm, it's okay too), remove from the oven and refrigerate for 4-6 hours.

Remove the cheesecake from the pan. Cut into slices with a hot sharp knife. Dust with icing sugar and serve with strawberries and cream if desired.

Fern..... "the cheesecake gods" didn't come to visit me while I was baking this cheesecake but nevertheless, this cheesecake taste absolutely so delicious!  

It doesn't matter it was not perfectly baked, I love it.

Usually I like to have my cheesecake with some strawberry sauce to go with it.... taste so yummy and I already had two big slice to stop my craving for weeks now.  

And...and....I'm going to be called Fat Mel soon...... lol  :-)