A Little Bit of Plum Leaf 李葉

Steamed Barbecue Buns

2011-12-26T14:55:00.001Z

Hi!

I've not disappeared! Just enjoying time as a mum and watching little "leaf" develop into a funny little, cheeky, lovable chappie! So I apologise for not keeping you all posted!

Minh's first birthday has come and gone and I will have to load up some photos of his grand day. We decided to get caterers for the food but I made all the desserts. This was a mighty affair! We had: Lemon Cheesecake; Blueberry Cheesecake; Fresh Fruit and Cream Gateaux; Tropical Fruit salad (ok, this one was bought in!) and Minh's crowning glory, a 3-tier birthday cake! Tiers were: lemon with homemade lemon curd, vanilla with homemade jam and to top, a gluten-free carrot cake with lemon butter icing! I also made iced biscuits for the children's party bags! Yes! It was hard work especially as cakes cannot be made too far in advance! Can you understand why we had caterers in now?

Just thought I'd share a Steamed Bun recipe - it's a favourite of mine as it uses baking powder as the raising agent - not yeast which I find can taint the taste of steamed buns. (I'm sure I'd promised to share the recipe?) Little Leaf and Daddy Leaf enjoyed the buns and its lovely to see them sat on the bottom step opposite the door to the kitchen sharing a bun. (Little Leaf doesn't eat the filling - he's a bit funny like that!)

Steamed Barbecue Buns

Ingredients:

Bun Dough

250 g (2.5 cup) Special Bun Flour (I use chinese bun flour as the UK supermarket flour makes an off white dough and doesn't result in a white fluffy bun)

18 g (3.5 tsp) baking powder

45 g (3 tblsp) caster sugar

30 g (2 tblsp) white vegetable fat (Trex) or vegetable oil (or lard)

120 ml (1/2 cup) water (approx)

1/2 teaspoon white vinegar

Method:

Sift flour and baking powder into a bowl add sugar and mix, rub in the vegetable fat/lard with your fingertips until evenly distributed. (If using oil, just add oil with the vinegar and water.)
Add water and vinegar together and knead until a fairly soft dough.
Shape into a ball and let it rest, covered, for 30 minutes.

To make the buns

Divide the dough into12 portions.
Mould each into a smooth ball.
Roll each out on a lightly floured surface to a circle about 4 inches across.
Put a heaping teaspoon of filling in the centre and gather the edges inward, folding and pleating to make a neat join.
Twist dough to seal.
Put each bun, join upwards, on a flattened paper cake case, in a steamer.
Cover and steam for 15 minutes.
Serve warm.

The filling for today's buns was Barbecue Pork - I'm fortunate enough to have a supplier for this - also known as my mum, "Mrs Plum". Here's how I made my filling:

Barbecue Pork Filling:

160 g barbecue roast pork (thinly sliced into 1cm sized pieces)

1 shallot (very finely diced)

100 g water

1.5 tsp Lee Kum Kee “Char Siu Sauce”

1 tsp oyster sauce

15 ml water

1 tsp cornflour

Fry shallot in a little oil, add finely sliced barbecue pork and fry gently for 2 minutes. Add water, char siu sauce and oyster sauce. Simmer for 3 minutes. Thicken with cornflour/water mix. Taste sauce for seasoning. Allow to cool slightly before using as bun filling.

Recipe adapted from www.recipezaar.com/11087

I will upload some piccies of the steamed buns later - the buns have disappeared so quickly I'm off to make another batch!

I hope you are enjoying the festive period and are enjoying time with friends family and some great food!

Lemon & Blueberry Macarons

2011-05-19T00:53:00.001+01:00

Macarons are still all the rage in the baking world. These little beauties look so cute but are difficult to master! There are many recipes and blogs out there teaching you the basics but I think its something you probably need to see and feel to know you are getting it right.

My first attempt was laughable. More like an almond gooey cookie. See I took some photos of shame - they are at the bottom of this post, Macaron Madness.

My second attempt I thought were great until I tried to peel them off the paper. Hmmm...wet bases. Also, they were rather flat.

You can just about make out the green tea mac's atthe back. I split the batch and made two flavours.

Attempt number 3 was lemon macarons. I need to practice the piping too!

Filled with lemon butter icing and a lemon curd centre - lemonicious!

Attempt number 4 was blueberry. These were filled with fresh blueberry coulis and lemon butter icing. These macaron shells I managed to cook perfectly but forgot to push in the 'tails' on my blobs. These had an amazing chewy texture, the warm fruity gooey blueberry centre and a refreshing lemon flavour! Oh my! I can understand how people get addicted to these! :D

Blueberry & Lemon - these were soo good! Again lemon butter icing but with a fresh blueberry coulis.

When I tasted the lemon one I thought, "Hmmm....nice." After my teeth sank into the chewy macaron shell of the blueberry one and my mouth was filled with taste and texture sensations, a slow smile spread across my face. "Yeah! This is what macarons are all about!" I've still yet to try a bought macaron. They don't do them here in my town - I'd have to go to the food hall of Selfridges or Harrods in London I think. But for now, these will do! ;)


Aren't they just cute?

Rhubarb Crumble Cake

2011-05-18T11:35:00.000+01:00

I took Minh to a local farm last weekend as I'd been up since 8am and even though it was approaching lunchtime, Daddy had not surfaced. The farm grows its own food to sell and use in the cafe and also to feed the animals on the farm. The animals provide meat for sale in the farm shop and cafe too.

We had a lovely walk around (well, Minh did - he was in the baby carrier hanging off my shoulders!). I wish I'd put on proper footwear that morning as flip-flops were not the best choice for a walk!

Anyway, I saw some lovely red rhubarb stalks in the farm shop - all grown on site. I bought them thinking I'd make a crumble. They sat at home for a week before I put them to good use. I wanted something cakey but with a juicy rhubarb filling. I came up with a Rhubarb Crumble Cake.

Sponge Base:
125g unsalted butter (softened)
125g caster sugar
2 free range eggs
125g self raising flour (sifted)
1 tsp vanilla extract

Rhubarb Topping:
200-250g rhubarb (about 2-3 stalks)
3 tblsp sugar (or to taste)

Crumble:
100g plain flour
75g butter (cold and cut into small cubes)
30g caster sugar

A little demerara sugar to sprinkle (optional)

Wash the rhubarb stems and chop into 1 inch/2 cm pieces. Place in a saucepan with 2 tablespoon of water and 3 tablespoons of sugar. Stir as the water boils then cover and simmer for 5 mins. The rhubarb should be beginning to soften but you do not want it all to be mushy. Taste and sweeten if necessary. If too sweet, add a squirt of lemon juice. Cake is sweet and so is crumble so a little tartness is ok, but not mouth-puckering!! On to cake making!

Preheat oven to 180c/350f/gas 4.

Grease a 7x7 inch square non-stick baking tin (I'm sure a 8 inch round will be fine) with buttery paper. Sprinkle some self raising flour in then tip the flour to coat the inside of the pan before banging the excess out.

Beat the butter and suager together until it is soft, light and fluffy. It gets lighter in colour the more its whipped and gives the cake a lovely light texture.

Add the vanilla to the bowl. Crack in one egg, add a tablespoon of the (measured) self raising flour. Mix until just combined. Add in the remaining egg, another tablespoon of flour and again, mix until just combined.

Change to a large metal spoon (so you don't bash out that lovely air you created when beating butter and sugar), tip in half the flour and fold in. Then tip in remainder and fold in.

Spoon mixture into the tin and using the spoon spread the mix to cover the base and a little way up the sides (to keep the rhubarb in).

Blob in the rhubarb covering the surface as best you can. There will be gaps don't worry! If you put too much rhubarb in, you may get a very soggy cake!

Tip the plain flour in a bowl, add the cold cubes of butter in and rub with your fingertips until it forms crumbs. Stir in the sugar. Use the crumble topping to cover the rhubarb. Sprinkle the demerara sugar on top.

Place in oven and bake for 35-45 minutes. The edges of the cake will be brown and test the centre by poking a skewer in the middle. There shouldn't be any sloppy cake mix sticking to the skewer.

Leave to cool in tin for 10 minutes before turning out to cool on rack. To turn out, loosen edges of cake with a palatte knife. Place a plate over the tin and flip over the cake tim onto the plate. The cake should plop out onto plate. Remove the tin, place rack on the bottom of cake and flip back to right side.

And Taaa-Daah! :)

I used double the quantity as I made one for my neighbours too. The cake went down well with my hubby (Mr Leaf) and he has been taking chunks of it to eat at work!

Princess Doll Cake

2011-04-20T04:16:00.000+01:00

I think I may have bitten off more than I could chew when I took on this cake order. My friend asked me to make a pink & girly cake after seeing my Two-Tier creation and I jumped at the chance! I suggested a Fairy Mushroom, Castle or Princess Cake. The Princess won.

I've never made such a thing before but have seen a few on the internet. Had no idea how I was going to 'dress' the doll so this was all off the cuff. There are imperfections but by and large I'm glad I completed it. It did take a staggering 4 hours to decorate!

I hope my friend is happy with the cake for her daughter!

As for me, well, I'm absolutely shattered so I bid you all goodnight!

Swiss Buttercream

2011-04-19T23:07:00.001+01:00

Apologies for lack of posts....now Minh is getting older he demands more of my time and attention. (It doesn't get any easier!!) I can't always put him down and leave him to play as he will turn around, see I'm gone and cry. Such a sad unhappy cry too. It breaks my heart & I have to rush back to give him hugs!
I also found that I couldn't leave him on sofa anymore as he would lean over too far and roll off. Too many times I've heard a Thud! 2 second silence. Waaaah! WAAAAAAAAAAH!! He has rolled off bed too! He is far too active! :0)

Anyway, since my last birthday cake (for my niece) I've received another cake order. This time for my old school pal. Her daughter will be 4 later this week and I've been asked to make a pink and girlie cake. I've come up with a Princess Cake as I've wanted to make one. Only thing is, there is a special bell shaped tin called a Tiffin' tin that is used for the dress shape. I can't justify buying a tin for every shape and size so I thought I'd use a stainless steel mixing bowl. Shape wasn't quite right. I used a pound cake recipe (4 eggs) and it's not enough to fill the bowl. Hence a flat slightly domed shape. Like a bump rather than a dress. Only way round it is to imagine the Princess is seated and the dress is fluffed out around her. Well. I can't disappoint an old school friend! As I'm quite new to making cakes for orders I need to make sure each one is of a relatively high standard if I am to attract new customers and future orders. So I was out today to buy a pudding basin.

Cake is a better shape and is cooling right now. I plan to sandwich with jam and buttercream, cover with buttercream and partially cover with rolled fondant icing. My two-tiered cake used a French Buttercream which was buttery and rich. As I used my own free-range eggs from my hens, the buttercream was lemon coloured. I want a pale cream colour so decided to try Swiss Buttercream. It is easier as there is less faff with boiling sugar syrup to certain temperatures and the result is light, fluffy and a pale colour.

Wendy (Table for 2) has a great tutorial on Swiss Buttercream here. I found her site a great source of information but I decided to use something a little more simple as I don't have to work with tropical heat and humidity here. I used this recipe here.

Buttercream is chilling in fridge and excuse me while I finish putting the cake together. I PROMISE I will share with you the details of this Princess Cake (making it up as I go along really) and also the Mango & Strawberry Flower Cake I made as well as the Two-Tiered Birthday Cake!

Hope you all have a lovely Easter & don't eat too many chocolate eggs!

Birthday Cake - Mango & Strawberry Flower

2011-03-06T02:33:00.001Z

I've just finished making the birthday cake for my niece's 2nd birthday. The celebration will be tomorrow. Technically, in around 12hrs time, but I always call it tomorrow if it's the early hours and I've not had my sleep yet.

I'll try and remember to take pictures of the yummy Vietnamese food my SIL & her auntie will prepare, but I often forget!

Here's the finished cake!

Don't even ask me where I'm going to put the candles!!!!

As you can see, I'm quite glad I didn't put the candles in yet as the cake only j-u-s-t managed to fit into the fridge!!!!

I took plenty of photos whilst cake making - including the errors I made and I'll do a post soon of how I made this cake.

Happy Virtual Feasting!

Quick Dinner - Roast Chicken

2011-03-04T23:36:00.001Z

Last Friday I was in hospital for an operation to my right ear. I have been suffering from hearing loss in that ear since my twenties and it is getting progressively worse. It's now considered severe hearing loss. Tinnitus, humming and buzzing noises in my ear, are also what I have to put up with. It can be a common problem in women after childbirth.

When I was first diagnosed with this problem a few years ago, I was not a mother. It was unusual for a healthy person of my age to have such problems, especially as it had been giving me dizzy spells and vertigo on occasion. In fact, it was because it had made me feel so unwell that it prompted me to go see my doctor. After several hearing tests and even a scan (to rule out any tumours causing my hearing problem), I was diagnosed with Otosclerosis. Hardening of the Stapes bone in the ear. The Stapes bone is the smallest and thinnest bone in your body and it's job is to vibrate sounds up into the Cochlear (the snail shaped shell) in order for the brain to hear. There is no explanation why I have this condition only that it is hereditary, although, I'm not aware who in my family has hearing problems.

It's not something that will get better, only worse unfortunately. What may help is surgery to remove the Stapes bone and replace it with a plastic prosthesis.

I am recovering from surgery now and as a result need quick and easy dinner solutions. Seeing Elin's recent post on Simple English Buttered Roast inspired me to make it for our dinner. I had half a free-range chicken in the fridge needing to be cooked so it was a perfect opportunity. I teamed the chicken up with roast potato & sweet potato wedges and cauliflower cheese. Something simple for me to knock up in the kitchen and pop in the oven to feed Mr Leaf and myself. I even mashed some of the cauliflower and cheese for Baby Leaf's dinner! Thank you Elin for an inspiring and tasty dish! Don't forget to visit her blog to see how the chicken was roasted!

I haven't been baking cakes or bread whilst recuperating but today is our niece's 2nd birthday and I've promised my SIL to bake a cake for the birthday girl. It will be a fruit and cream decorated chiffon so nothing too strenuous. Will post the creation when it's made.

Peach Upside-Down Cake

2011-02-20T22:48:00.004Z

Thought I'd try post while the is cake still warm! Makes a change - usually the post is well after the event and you'd be lucky if there is any cake left!!!

This is very similar to the ubiquitous Fruit Pastry Cake which I have made several times. I love adding a mix of fresh fruit like raspberries, peaches and kiwi. Blueberries are really good too! I find it's great for sharing at work as you can make it in a large tin and cut it into squares - enough to go round! If you google Fruit Pastry Cake you will find enough recipes floating around.

Nicely browned and risen after baking

There is a reason why the base of the tin should be lined!

The original recipe calls for peaches and I had nectarines at home - to me they are the same except they are fuzz-free. I tweaked the recipe a little as this is my second time baking it and although the original is good, I didn't see the point of baking this with brown sugar as it made the cake look a murky brown colour and not very appetising. Also it calls for 250g sour cream. This I found was far too much and it made the cake heavy and dense - hubbs (Mr Leaf) still liked it as it was moist.

If you dust enough icing sugar on it no-one will see the patches!

Peach Upside-Down Cake (adapted from "cakes & bakes from my mother's kitchen" ~ Linda Collister)

4 fresh nectarines (original recipe calls for large peaches)
125g unsalted butter, softened
185g caster sugar (changed from light soft brown sugar)
3 eggs, separated
185g self-raising flour
90g greek natural yoghurt (reduced from 250g of sour cream, I had yoghurt in fridge so used that)
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar (the original recipe does not include this)
icing sugar for dusting

17cm / 7" square tin (23cm springform cake tin, base lined and lightly greased)

Preheat oven to 180C / 350F / gas 4.

Score the nectarine into quarters and twist the fruit to open. Remove the stone and arrange the quartered fruit on the bottom of the prepared cake tin and set to one side.

Put the butter and sugar in a large bowl and beat until the mixture is light and fluffy. Add the egg yolks 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Fold the flour and yoghurt in 2 batches.

In a separate grease-free bowl, whisk the egg whites until they are foamy. Add the cream of tartar and continue to whisk until they form stiff peaks. Using a large metal spoon, fold the egg whites into the cake mixture in 2 batches. Spoon the mixture over the fruits and bake in the preheated oven for 40-50 minutes, until the top is golden and the centre springs back when gently pressed.

Leave to cool in tin for 10 minutes, then carefully turn out and peel off paper. Dust with icing sugar.

Don't forget to line the base of your tin with paper! I omitted this step and found parts of the cake stuck to the tin! Being non-stick, I did manage get them out and lay them back on the cake where they came from - a liberal shaking of icing sugar and if you won't tell, no-one will know!!!

Wonderful served warm from oven with vanilla ice-cream or a dollop of softly whipped cream!

Found some photos from when I first made this in October 2010 (I did mean to blog it!).

I didn't have enough peaches (only 3) so I cut them into 1/6 to fill the pan.

See, the cake is quite dense and not a very attractive shade of butterscotch. I think it would look more appealing if it was a golden yellow cake. I was disappointed with the outcome as I felt it too heavy. When I follow a recipe book I expect the results to be good. I decided that if I were to make it again I would make it like Fruit Pastry Cake which always turns out well.

Ice cream goes down well with most cake - think I was out of vanilla here and had Ben & Jerry's!

Meringue Roulade - (Flourless so gluten free!) Recipe included!

2011-02-18T00:55:00.002Z

Each week there is a coffee meet with mum's and babies that I go to when I can. It started with three of us who met at Aqua-Natal. After I gave birth to Minh, we arranged to meet for coffee and it stemmed from there. Slowly the group has grown from adding a few more aqua girls, then people adding friends with new babies too. Although this is nice, it does mean that it can be difficult to catch up with those you really want to. Have you considered how much room us mums and babies take up? Some of the mum's walk to the coffee meets so there are always lots of baby buggies!

Well, four of us aqua girls decided to have a mini-gathering earlier this week and one of us offered their home as a venue. She said she would make us soup for lunch so I said I'd bring cake. I don't need much persuasion to get into the kitchen to bake really! I had intended to bake the night before the gathering but had spent longer at the airport seeing Mr Plum off (returning to Hong Kong). Dad's flight was cancelled and he was transferred to the next flight which was 3 hours later. Mum & me (oh and Minh) kept Dad company to while away the time. It was late when I got home and Mr Leaf was in bed asleep (oops! we didn't have much of a Valentine's Day together!!!) so it meant no baking until the morning.

The host I learnt, is wheat-intolerant. A bit of a bother when it comes to cakes but there are a few recipes that are flourless. Over Christmas I treated myself to a cookbook, The Great British Book of Baking. I remembered admiring a cake in the book thinking how delicious it looked and vaguely recollecting it was flourless.

It was surprisingly easy to make, light and delicious! Very melt-in-the-mouth!

I made a few tweaks here and there but essentially, it's from the book. The photo isn't great as we were so looking forward to enjoying the cake I almost forgot to take a picture!

~~I'll post the recipe later as it's late here now.~~ I'll just let you drool over the picture! Heh Heh Heh!

Raspberry Meringue Roulade (adapted from The Great British Book of Baking)

Meringue
4 medium free-range egg whites at room temperature
1 teaspoon lemon juice (I didn't bother but used 1/4 tsp cream of tartar)
225g caster sugar
1 teaspoon cornflour (mine was quite heaped)
2 tablespoons flaked almonds (a small handful)

Filling
250ml whipping cream, well chilled (I used a 284ml pot of Emlea double cream, dairy cream alternative )
250g fresh raspberries (or other prepared fruit) (shop didn't have raspberries so I used handful of blueberries and handful of sliced strawberries)

Finish (I didn't have time to do fancy bit - would be a nice touch if serving as a dinner party dessert)
250g fresh or frozen raspberries
1 teaspoon lemon juice
4 tablespoons icing sugar or to taste

20 x 30cm Swiss roll tin brushed with oil and lined with baking paper - not greaseproof paper (I just lined my tin without the oil - makes washing up easier)

Heat oven to 150 C / 300 F / gas 2. Put egg whites and lemon juice into a spotlessly clean and grease-free bowl and whisk with an electric whick, a large mixer or rotary whisk until they form stiff peaks when the whisk is lifted from the bowl. (I put the whites into the bowl of my stand mixer and whisked until large bubbles formed - like washing-up bubbles. I then added the 1/4 tsp of cream of tartar and continued to beat until the stiff peak stage.) Mix the sugar with the cornflour and whisk into the egg whites a tablespoon at a time, to make a stiff and glossy meringue. (The addition of cornflour helps get that chewy toffee texture in the meringue.)

Transfer the mixture to the prepared tin and spread evenly. Scatter the flaked almonds over the top of the meringue (I miss-read the recipe and sprinkled flaked almonds on the base before adding meringue. I guess the almods would become nice and toasty if I put them on top as directed!) and bake in the heated oven for 45 minutes, until risen, golden brown and firm to the touch - the centre will still be slightly soft. Turn the meringue out on to a sheet of non-stick baking paper and lift off the tin. (Using the paper, I lifted the meringue out of tin, carefully laid it face-down and peeled off paper, then laid it back on the paper to cool completely. Didn't want to waste paper.) Leave to cool for 10 minutes, then gently peel off the lining paper. Leave until completely cold before filling.

When ready to finish, whip the chilled cream until very thick. almost to stiff peak stage - if the cream is too firm, though, it will be difficult to spread. Spread the cream evenly over the meringue (remember you want to spread the side with no almonds as that will be presentation side, my presentation side was the bottom as I put almonds on wrong side!) and top with the raspberries. Roll up the roulade from one long side, using one hand to guide the meringue into shape and the other to use the paper to support the meringue and pull it into shape as it rolls up. Once the meringue has become a roulade, use the paper around the roulade to hold it in shape by wrapping it firmly. Chill for an hour before serving. A good accompaniment is some fresh or frozen berries whizzed up with lemon juice and icing sugar to make a thick sauce or puree. The roulade can be made several hours in advance, but is best eaten the same day. To serve, cut the roulade into thick slices and spoon over a little of the raspberry sauce.

Us girlies didn't chill the roulade as we didn't have time. After baking the meringue, I cooled it for an hour by an open window then transported it in its tin to my friend's house. Once there, I whipped up the cream until fairly stiff but softer than you would use if you were piping it. Slathered the meringue with the cream and topped with blueberries and chopped strawberries. Rolled the meringue so the long sides met one another then we sliced straight away. It was heavenly! Not overly sweet but was so light and melt-in-mouth! Really beautiful! Looks impressive but easy to prepare!

Hakka Steamed Radish Dumpling ~ 蘿蔔粄 (Law Pet Ban)

2011-02-16T22:26:00.000Z

Both my parents are Hakka descendants and when we were little wewere taught to speak our parents' mother tongue, Hakka. As we grew older, English quickly became our preferred language as we were surrounded in English language through school, television and our friends. We still had to speak Chinese at home to our parents though and we even went to Chinese School to learn how to read and write in Cantonese. Nowadays, we mainly speak Cantonese at home.

Mealtimes were almost always Chinese meals and often Hakka specialities. Sometimes mum would make Hakka snacks, one of these were Radish Dumplings 蘿蔔粄 (Law Pet Ban).

It has a soft dough that almost sticks to your teeth without being tough and chewy and is filled with shredded radish which is seasoned with lots of white pepper, sweetened with dried shrimps with ground pork and Chinese mushrooms for added flavour.

She made these back in November (I've been meaning to blog about so many things! I have a backlog building up!) and although I wanted to help her - the technique she used to roll the dough skin seemed tricky. She was precise with the dough skin, it had to be a certain thickness and if it wasn't right she would scrunch the dough up and start again.

Here you can see her rolling the dough around an orange. This is so it will have the 'cupped' shape which is then generously filled.

Stuffed and steamed ready for sampling! Mmm! Reminds me of my childhood days!

Two-Tier Stacked Cake - 1st Birthday Cake

2011-02-15T23:09:00.000Z

Not very good with posts this year. Being up to lots of kitchen hi-jinks recently and finding the time to blog them is hard. (Maybe spending my baby free-time on facebook is not constructive!)

Anyway....last week I was busy making a special birthday cake for my friend's daughter. It was her 1st birthday on Saturday 12th February. I was honoured that my friend had asked to make the cake and I was lucky enough that my friend had no specific requests for the cake. It had to feed 20 people and it was to be a vanilla flavoured cake with fondant icing on it.

I decided that I would make a stacked cake so there would be more than enough cake to go round. I made a 6" chocolate cake sat atop an 8".

All in all, I was pleased with the outcome. I had some hiccups towards the end and learnt some valuable mistakes. Most of all, my friend was overwhelmed with the cake and her friends and family all ooh-ed and ahh-ed. Even the waiting staff at the restaurant admired the cake!

Chinese New Year 2011

2011-02-02T15:28:00.000Z

Welcome in the Year of the Rabbit!

I wish you all a Happy Chinese New Year!!!

Wishing you good fortune, good health and your wishes come true!

恭喜發財，

身體健康，

心想事成！

Dim Sum Delights - Imperial China (Watford)

2011-01-15T01:51:00.000Z

I luuuuurve Dim Sum! Yum Yum Yum in my Tum! It was one of those treats I remember as a kid that we had every now and again in Chinatown. I think I've probably been FOUR times in the past month as my Dad is over from Hong Kong for a while. I'm not complaining though! :0D I often drool at blogs where people review their dim sum treats and the restaurant they visited. Well, I'm not a dim sum connoisseur by any means but I thought I'd engage in some photo posting to make you all droooooool over your keyboards! Heh Heh Heh! Mean aren't I?

Baked Shredded Turnip Pastry '千絲蘿蔔酥'

Here's what we ate at Imperial China (Watford) 15 December 2010.

Cuttlefish Cakes with Coriander '香莤墨魚餅'

This was the first dim sum outing I took Dad to. I was excited to hear of a new Chinese Restaurant opening in Watford, Hertfordshire. Even more so when it was a restaurant with dishes aimed at Chinese people, not western palates! It does dim sum too!?!?! RESULT! It has a sister restaurant in London's Chinatown and I've yet to sample the fare there but I've read that it's good.

Imagine my horror when I discover the Watford site has a two-tier pricing policy!?!? Monday to Friday is the first price banding and not cheap either for that matter! Weekends you will be expected to pay around 40p-80p more on your dim sum dishes! Making a list of items we would normally order if having dim sum (just myself and Mr Leaf), it worked out we would spend £10 more if we ate there at weekends!

Crispy Dough Cheung Fun '蔥花炸兩腸'

Luckily, Mr Leaf gets a 20% reduction on his bill by working in an office near the new restaurant. It brings the bill in line with what we pay at our regular dim sum venue. On our visit there, Mr Leaf was particularly pleased as after I submitted the dim sum tick sheet, I gave him a call and he took that as his cue to leave the office. He took his lunch break and joined my dad, (Mr Plum) and myself for dim sum lunch. This means less of his lunchtime is taken up by waiting for food to arrive. Cunning.

Steamed Pork Buns '蜜汁叉燒飽'

There is a good selection of dim sum delicacies on the menu (a laminated picture sheet with letters by each dish as well as Chinese and English names). The tick sheet is two-sided. English on one side, Chinese on the other. All items correspond with the lettering on the photo menu too. Here's a link to their menu so you can have a good drool there too! :0p

Steamed Pork Dumplings '上海小籠飽'

Food wasn't too slow to arrive and was tasty enough. The skill in making the Baked Shredded Turnip Pastry '千絲蘿蔔酥' was good and the filling was nice but perhaps lacked a certain oomph. It was served lukewarm and was a bit oil-laden. It should be described as Deep-Fried, it was no way oven baked. The Crispy Dough Cheung Fun '蔥花炸兩腸' was served with soy sauce separately - a nice touch I thought. The dough stick was crispy but did taste of old oil.

Prawn Dumpling with Chives '鮮蝦韭菜餃'

Pork Dumplings with Vegetables '菜甫鮮肉菜餃'

My absolutely favourite dish was Pork Dumplings with Vegetables '菜甫鮮肉菜餃'. One bite into these cute dumplings (I think they were supposed to look like Green Pak Choi!) revealed a juicy filling. I tasted dried shrimp, Chinese mushroom and some preserved radish. So flavoursome and memorable!

Steamed Rice with Spare Ribs and Chicken Claws '鳳爪排骨飯'

I would visit again but only on a weekday and with Mr Leaf so we could get the discount too.

*** NOTE:
...and I won't blog about such tasty delicious dim sum delights at silly o'hour as it's made me hungry and I REALLY crave dim sum right now!

Boxing Day Delights - Crispy Roast Belly Pork (Siw Yuk) & Steamed Taro Cake (Woo Tau Goh)

2011-01-15T00:07:00.000Z

*** APOLOGIES: I started this post with the intention of finishing it after Boxing Day and posting it. I was worn out from the festivities and totally forgot this was in my Draft folder! ***

On Boxing Day we revert to Chinese dishes and we usually have crab/lobster in spring onion and ginger sauce as well as other luxurious goodies. This year we also had steamed scallops with bean thread noodles and garlic. Last year (2009) I made a contribution to the meal as I thought seafood was off-limits for me as I was pregnant. I now realise that most seafood is okay if cooked thoroughly and served hot (with the exception of large fish like shark, marlin and limited amounts of tuna as they can contain high levels of mercury.). I decided to make Chinese Crispy Roast Pork as I (thought) couldn't eat the prawns in tomato sauce, or lobster we were having. As that was so well received I thought I would do the same again this year (2010). Only half of the skin puffed up so it was light and crunchy. The otherside was dry and crisp but not that light bubbly crunch. Still, it was yummy!

I also made steamed taro cake. First time I had made this and it was okay. Not particularly outstanding. I think I will make steamed radish cake in the future and make sure it has plenty of tasty bits: dried marinated pork belly strips, dried sausage, dried seafood, dried mushroom. I'll fill it with so many goodies they will be no room for radish and rice flour!

I was thoroughly worn out after my manic Boxing Day baking, roasting and steaming! As soon as Mr Leaf was back to work I had a peaceful, lazy day with me and the baby and enjoyed a nap (?!) from 5pm to 8pm one evening! Hubbs saw we were both asleep when he came home from work and didn't wake me. He had to get his own dinner - he had instant noodles! (I had to make myself a baked potato when I woke up!)

Christmas Cakes

2010-12-26T15:42:00.001Z

I haven't made Christmas cakes for a few years. My family find them too rich, dense and sweet. When I enquired whether Mr Leaf liked them he told me they were "too fruity".

I've been baking more this year and as a result of having this blog, taking pictures of my makes and bakes and sharing them (if not here, facebook). I sometimes bake cakes and take them into work. I like to try new recipes occasionally and when there's only me and Mr Leaf there's only so much cake two can eat. We now have a Baby Leaf but there's no chance of him sampling cake for a while.

One of my work colleagues asked if I made Christmas Cakes and if so, would I make one for her. (She insisted she pay so I wasn't to argue.) I agreed and the above photo shows her finished cake.

I enjoyed baking the cake, simmering the fruit in orange juice and brandy - it smelt sooo good! I whipped up another batch (different recipe this time) and made one square cake and two smaller round cakes. The square was halved to make two bar cakes. The Frosted Holly Cake above is for one of our neighbours.

These two Polar Bears and Presents are for our neighbour on the other side of us. They have two young children so I thought they'd like all the presents!

This cute scene, Snowball Fight with penguins and snowman was really fun to make! I like the innocent penguin building his snowman unaware that his 'friend' is about to attack him with snowballs! He eveb has a little supply of balled up snow ready as ammunition!

This little cake is for my friend who will be celebrating their first Christmas with their daughter who will be 10 months old.

Boxing Day Bun Bakery

2010-12-26T13:58:00.001Z

Was woken early by the "Boss" (also known as Baby Minh) so I thought I'd might as well get on with baking the buns I'd prepared the night before.

Tuna mayo buns are a favourite of mine from hols to Hong Kong so I recreated them at home.

Sausage buns were a childhood favourite so I'm reliving some memories. Although they were mainly just rolled around the sausage - a bit like a mummified sausage.

Had to make some Char Siu Chan Buns too!

Tray of buns ready to take to my parents house later.

** I did this post in a hurry & have now included links to the recipes where available.

Merry Christmas!

2010-12-25T02:11:00.000Z

Wishing all you lovely people a very happy Christmas however you choose to celebrate it! Christmas doesn't have to mean turkey and the trimmings, exchanging gifts. Celebrate how you choose to. Eat great food, share laughter with family and friends and create happy memories to look back on.

Best wishes to you all and may the new year bring with it much happiness, peace and love to you all!

Snow, Snow Go Away, Come Back Another Day

2010-12-20T22:10:00.082Z

Our front garden is a carpet of white snow!

Britain is covered under a blanket of snow. It is causing havoc with transport in the country as airports are closed. No flights landing and minimal flights leaving. We don't cope very well with snow in this country and only a thin sprinkling of snow is enough to cause disruption to transport links.

I usually spend Monday's at my parent's home and we had planned to go to a Chinese Supermarket to stock up on goodies for Christmas. Mum makes Chinese soup every week and at Christmas time she makes one with exotic roots and tubers. Well, exotic to the natives here but I've grown up seeing them so not weird and wonderful to my eye! This soup would have the following: 粉葛 Arrowroot or Kudzu (I would pronounce this 'fun goht' in Cantonese, I believe it may be known as 'fen ge' or 'ge gen' 葛根 in mandarin);

蓮藕 Lotus Root ('leen ngow')

馬蹄 Water Chestnut ('mah tai')

It would also have things like pork bones, carrots other goodies to make it flavoursome and sweet. I had suggested we go buy these last week but noooooo parents wanted to leave it to the week before Christmas. Personally, I though getting it two weeks before the event will hopefully mean less crowds. Parents obviously wanted it last minute as possible so it would be fresher. Well. With the snow that we had and the chance of more in the afternoon it totally scuppered the idea of me leaving my house to get to them (they only live 25 miles away 35-45 minute drive normally). So, Chinese supermarket trip has not been made and the likelihood of having this yummy soup is slim.

Chickens are snowed in!

I am hoping that the weather doesn't worsen as we always spend Christmas with my family. My older brother brings his family over and stays at my parent's house and the house is a hive of fun as me and my younger brother play and entertain my niece (she will be five soon!). Was having depressing thoughts of being snowed in at home and spending a quiet time just me, Mr Leaf and the baby.

Although I have some more material to blog and pics to show you (foodie ones too!), I'm going to take this opportunity to wish you all a very Festive Christmas - may it be merry and bright! Best wishes for 2011!!!

Cute Curvy Coin Purse

2010-12-20T22:00:00.000Z

Hi, well I remembered to use my newly made bag to my work's Christmas Karaoke and even made a matching coin purse. We went to a Chinese All-You-Can-Eat Buffet and wore a blue Cheongsam. My colleagues were too busy admiring the dress to notice my bag!

Christmas Karaoke at a Chinese Buffet - Can you spot me?

Ah well......I'm so pleased that they remembered to invite me and we did have a very good time! I also delivered my first Christmas Cake to a friend as she'd asked me to make one for her - she was pleased! (I'll show you pics of all my Christmas Cakes later!)

Coin purse has same matching hot pink lining as the Loop Handled Purse

Sew Again - Loop Handled Purse

2010-12-03T22:59:00.000Z

I've bookmarked this purse tutorial for a while now and even bought the hardware for it. I had an idea of what fabric I wanted to use too but I heard it's tricky to use as the edges are prone to fraying.

I love Chinese Brocade fabric. Maybe it's the oriental in me? I'd like to think it's silk, but I think I just have the polyester type. As it's so smooth, slinky and shiny, I thought a similar lining fabric would be appropriate. So I opted for polyester lining material. Another slippery contender which frays at a mere stroke.

Cutting the material wasn't too difficult as the pieces aren't large. I took my time as this was going to be a Special Going Out Bag. :0) I decided I would try prevent too much fraying by using some fusible interfacing on the wrong side of both the brocade and lining. Idea being 'cos it's stuck to something the edges won't fray? Worked on the lining and the brocade still frayed a little - might just be the loose strands though. The pattern uses heavy sew-in interfacing as well which makes the bag lovely and slightly padded. It means it can be an absolute @*$% to sew 'cos it gets thick in places!

Still. It's finished and ready for it's first night out next week. Am impressed that I'm not working on it minutes before I plan to use it. I'm rather chuffed with my bag.

Sew Crazy - Reusable Groceries Bag

2010-11-17T00:05:00.001Z

Strong padded handles - no cutting into hands

I haven't blogged for two weeks! It's not through lack of material. I could tell you about the Peach Upside-Down Cake that I've baked (TWICE!) and not shown you; or the Cherry Cake that I baked last week 'cos that is what I fancied; the Christmas cake that I baked and fed with brandy as a cake order for a work colleague and even the Hakka Dumpling (? not really sure what they would be called in English) with the shredded white radish filling that my mum made....

There is always so much I want to do...to make...to bake... Even though I'm still on Maternity Leave, it's hard finding time to do these things. I stay up rather late to do Minh's 1st night feed at around 1am, so inevitably I sleep in (where I can) until around 9:30am - 10:00 if we don't need to be anywhere that morning. Still, that leaves me part of a morning and an afternoon before the evening sets in and I need to think about making the evening meal. Time flies extremely quickly when you're a mum. I only manage to slot in little snippets of time to myself in between Minh's naps. These days he's spending more time awake and wants entertainment. When he was younger, it was more frequent feeds, now he can go four hours, sometimes five but he's not always sleeping in between these feeds. Sometimes it's the time when I think "Right! Better get fed myself. Or, let's do the washing up." It can be a weary task but you are paid back in sweet smiles and chuckles of laughter that take your grumpiness away.

After dusting down the sewing machine to finish the baby quilt for our niece, I set to work on my first bag. I've been following Lisa Lam's blog - U-Handblog for a little while now and have bookmarked some projects to make. I even splurged on some wonderful goodies from her online shop in the Summer with the intention of making something before the baby arrived. I thought I might get bored waiting you see - no chance of that!

I was pleased to complete this for my mum on Monday.....

Plenty of room for your shopping

Handy trolley token

It's one of Lisa's designs for a reusable groceries bag but I made mine with a square base opposed to her curved gusset. I figured it'd be easier to sew and the shopping might stand up better in the bottom of the bag. I used thick cotton fabric - I think it's probably curtain material so I should've made the bag cosy a bit bigger. I also included a supermarket trolley coin - I hate it when I need a coin to get the trolley from the trolley park and I've run out of £1 coins! These trolley tokens do just the job.

It was simply to put together even for a total newbie like me - her instructions are clear and plenty of photos to show you the steps. I've got quite a few of her bags bookmarked to make all I need is the peace to do them!

Baby's first Halloween!

2010-10-31T23:53:00.001Z

It's still Halloween (just) here! Halloween is becoming big business here in UK - even the shop assistants in the supermarket were dressed for the occasion on Saturday! There are Halloween outfits for children, adults AND babies, but I thought it too cruel to dress Minh as a pumpkin - I mean what if it gives him a complex for the rest of his life?!?!? lol

Anyway, decided I will buy a pumpkin to carve into a lantern for him - not that he'll understand mind, it was something I wanted to do. Funny thing being a parent - makes you do the most daftest of things! Never had inclination to make a pumpkin lantern before and there I was thios afternoon carving one for my (almost) 3 month old son! Crazy!

Funnier still was going outside to see what the lit lantern looked like from outside and taking a snap of it from outside. Durrrr....why not just take a picture indoors!?!?!?!? lol


This ghostly Lantern has arms and a body!! It's my reflection silly!

Minh - Pampered Prince

2010-10-31T13:41:00.000Z

In the mornings, the little man wakes at around 08:45 to 09:15 and cries in his cot which conveniently is next to the double bed where I'm sleeping. I used to think he was hungry and crying for milk. I would run downstairs to fetch him some milk and make sure it was not too cold.

He would just refuse the bottle, turning his head to dislodge the teat from his mouth or clamping his mouth shut. Funnily though, he would settle happily in my arms and as I would often still be tired at that time I often snuggled him in he middle of the double bed next to me so we could both get some more shut eye.

He's settled in the bed now and as I'm up and in blogland, I thought I'd make sure he was okay. He's tucked up so well and propped up on so many pillows so he doesn't fall down - he looks just like a pampered prince! Sometimes at silly o'hour in the morning when I'm running upstairs and downstairs for milk as he's crying I feel like that. Especially when I've fetched the milk and he doesn't want any. I guess it's nightmares they must have. I wish I could tell the difference between a night time, "I'm hungry!" cry to a "I'm having a bad dream" cry. They both sound like something is biting his leg off!

The smallest person in the house surrounded by a pile of pillows to suport him in a double bed all to himself! Pampered or what? lol But you can't help but love him!

Sewing - Baby Quilt

2010-10-31T01:17:00.000Z

My niece was born March 2009 and to mark her arrival I thought I'd make a baby quilt. I'd only made one the previous year in blues, greens and yellows (didn't think to take photos of my creations back then) for my friend's new baby son.

With this quilt I thought I'd use some pretty pink satin ribbon to give it a different texture. Hadn't anticipated how difficult it would make sewing. It's smooth silky and slippery and doesn't feed into machine very well. Hence wobbly sewing! Out of frustration I abandoned the project for over a year and have completed it this weekend! Phew! Finally!

I want to start a new sewing project but had to finish the quilt. I have far too many half started craft projects I couldn't stand to have another!

Bun Bakery - Char Siu (BBQ Pork) Bun 叉燒餐包, Pineapple Bun 菠蘿包 & Custard Bun 奶黃包

2010-10-31T01:18:00.003+01:00

PlumLeaf Bakery with four trays of buns ready for the baking!

Had a crazy bout of bun bakery this weekend! I doubled the quantity in EEWIF's Sweet Bread Dough recipe as I intended to give some buns to my brother and his family who are visiting my mum whilst my niece is on half-term holiday.

Char Siu Piggy hiding next to the Pineapple buns!

Piggies fighting in oven?! Out of place ears and snouts!

Custard Filled Hedgehog

Tray of Custard Buns

We always loved Char Siu Buns as kids and sometimes Dad would buy buns from Chinese Bakery in Chinatown as treats. I also tried some different toppings and fillings. My bro' likes Bor Lor Bao ~ Pineapple Bun 菠蘿包 so I thought I'd try recreate that one. There are several different recipes for pineapple topping floating around the internet but I like the sound of this one from Bao/Bread and as it was enough for 6 buns it gave me opportunity to whip up a batch of custard filling as my third bun flavour.

Char Siu buns had more room on tray at front - ugly ones at back of queue!

I must remember to space out my buns better as I had Char Siu Buns that had merged into one another (like my red bean ones did a few weeks back). Instead of being beautiful burnished domes of porky bun goodness, it resembled burnt honeycomb. Not a good look. Had fun making a couple of Char Siu Pigs though! Those two had slightly more filling than the rest (only 5 g extra) so I thought I'd make fat pigs out of them! They did swell out - looked almost ready to burst!

Custard Buns

Have still yet to make my Hong Kong favourite - Tuna Bun 吞拿魚包. Also got to dream up of some more tasty fillings! Yum Yum! Am loving this recipe so much! I have to thank Everybody Eats Well In Flanders again for sharing an excellent recipe!

Macaron Madness!

2010-10-27T18:09:00.001+01:00

Bite-sized tea-time treats

I'm obsessed with the baker's arch enemy - The Macaron! Notice the spelling - one 'o'. The single 'o' spelling of macaron is normally used to describe the french confection of two meringue and almond discs sandwiched together with buttercream, ganache or jam. Macaroon, however is known in England as a coconut or almond small baked confection.

You do get more than that in each pack, I've just eaten half the pack!

It appears that these dainty and colourful creations (french macarons like Lauduree or Pierre Hermes) are popular in blogosphere at the moment as well as being a hit outside in major cities all around the world. They are made from sugar, icing sugar, ground almonds and egg whites and are exceedingly difficult to get right. I've gone through a craze of sitting up late at night reading blog after blog about macarons, the best recipes, different fillings, flavours, what went wrong...... Now I've never even eaten one of these pretty pastel coloured confections but I must make some! I tried. I failed.

I heard Waitrose were stocking these in packs of twelve to buy (where I heard that I forget now, too many blogs, too many sites!), so off I popped to the shops yesterday (it was wet and drizzly too) in search of these little treasures. Nope. My local didn't have these on offer but I did find the English equivalents, both the Coconut and Almond Macaroon.

Soft chewy centre full of almond flavour

Moist sweet coconut - for the exceptionally sweet-toothed!

My fave has to be the Almond Macaroon. Looking like a crunchy cookie it's deceptive as you bite into that crisp exterior that gives way to a soft chewy centre with a flavour reminiscent of marzipan but less dense. It's usually has a thin edible rice paper sheet lining it. The coconut cousin however, is a much, much sweeter affair. A rough, rocky lump of lightly browned coconut which is very slightly moist in the middle, like eating a Bounty Chocolate bar without the thick chocolate covering. I now recall making these coconut delights when younger. My mum said I was never to make them again as they were far too sweet. Afterall, it consisted of mixing egg white, sugar and desiccated coconut together before dropping rough heaps on a tray to bake.

Dense chocolatey gooeyness

So, what went wrong with my macarons? Well, I saw a chocolate macaron recipe and thought the bitter chocolate would take away the sweetness of egg whites and sugar. I anticipated a fail and so split the recipe in thirds. On mixing the meringue with almonds, cocoa and sugar I knew something was wrong. The mixture was far too dry. So I quickly whisked up another egg white to combine with the mixture. Maybe I got my sums wrong when scaling down the recipe? I checked if I was being a scatter brain. Nope. I guess it may be down to the eggs being on the small side (they're from our own hens) or me getting the method wrong. The mixture still seemed thick and it didn't make me think of flowing magma like other blogs described. I won't use the words I thought the lumpy brown mix looked like, never-the-less, I dropped blobs on a baking sheet to bake anyway and wished for a miracle to happen. Hmmm....well, they kinda cooked. They aren't right at all. It's deep dark and chocolaty but not crisp and chewy. Just moist and gooey. Actually, I think I've invented chocolate flavoured marzipan as that what it reminds me of. Ho-hum. Back to the drawing board and I will summon up the courage to try making these elusive babies another time.

Minh Update - 11 weeks

2010-10-27T15:35:00.001+01:00

For a change, the sun is shining and it always makes for a better photo. I've taken these photos not because Minh has changed much in appearance but just for your viewing pleasure! Minh has started to babble more now, sometimes his cries can sound like "Mere, mere...." which sounds like he's speaking french as that's the word for mum. Hubby (Mr Leaf) tells me that's the Vietnamese word for mum too. Other sounds are "Gurr, gurr, gurr." No idea what that is. Funny how they repeat their words/sounds.

Minh makes me laugh when I'm talking to him as it sounds as if he's answering to me. I often speak to him in English (living here so long it comes second nature) occasionally I remember my Chinese roots and speak to him in Hakka - my mother tongue. He replies with "Hair, hair, hair." Sounding like Hakka for "Yes". Makes me smile!

Here are today's snapshots for you to coo over!

"Where's the camera?"

"Well Helloooo There!"

"Say Cheese? That's silly! I don't eat cheese!?!!"

"All that posing makes me zzzzzzzz........"

...and a rare appearance from yours truly.

Paella

2010-10-23T15:49:00.000+01:00

The great thing about going on holiday is sampling the local fare. No, haven't been on hols recently, neither likely to in near future :0( We like to recreate our favourite dishes at home - I guess it's to relive the fun had in sunnier climes when there was nothing more important than, "What shall I wear today?" or "Where shall we eat?"

Paella packed with squid, scallops, prawns and chorizo

Our first holiday together was almost six years ago when hubbs took me away to Spain for a week. Neither of us had visited Spain so it was a first on many counts. A popular dish is Paella. It has several variants; true Valencian Paella (where dish originates) includes rabbit, chicken, beans, seafood or snails. Seafood is just a mix of prawns, mussels, clams, langoustine and crab. There is even one made with squid ink! At home, I make a mixed paella which contains, chorizo (cured, smoked pork sausage which contains spices and paprika), chicken and seafood.

This is how I make mine at home - although I may change the seafood each time I make it the basis is the same.

Scallops halved and squid cut into rings.

Paella

1 onion, chopped
3 chicken wings, jointed then each joint cut in half, tips discarded
150 g chorizo, 1cm cubes, or 0.5cm slices cut in half
paella rice (I measure in a jug up to the 8fl oz mark)

Cooked Tiger Prawns that I used as garnish instead of mussels

1 pepper, red for colour but not essential, cut in small strips
handful of peas
few saffron threads
1 fish stock cube
raw seafood: scallops, prawns, squid, mussels - any mix of your choice,

Chorizo is richly flavoured with paprika which gives it wonderful colour and flavour

The bright sunny colour from just a few strands of saffron

Soak the saffron threads in a little hot water to infuse. Leave aside for later.

Keep close eye on the chorizo - don't let it frazzle like I did!

Put the chicken pieces and chorizo in a deep frying pan (I use a non-stick pan so I don't even worry about heating it up first and make sure pan is large enough as everything is cooked in it). I don't add oil as there will be oil from the chicken wings and the chorizo is fatty too. Fry lightly so the chicken begins to go golden and the chorizo browns lightly. Remove the chorizo and keep aside for later. I take it out now because I don't like it to get too hard and crispy.

Add the chopped onion and continue to fry gently until beginning to soften, about 3 minutes. Tip in the rice and stir to coat all the rice grains in the fragrant chorizo-infused oil. Keep stirring and frying over a low heat for 1-2 minutes

Dissolve the fish stock cube in 1 pint of water and add to the pan. Pour in the saffron threads and water. Turn the flame up to bring the liquid to boil, then turn down to simmer.
Return the chorizo to the pan and simmer gently for 5 minutes then scatter the pepper strips and peas over the top. Continue to simmer for another 5 minutes or so until the water begins to fall below the level of the rice.
If the rice grains are not plump enough, add a little more water to the pan - they won't be fully cooked at this point as it will continue to absorb liquid and will steam through later.

Add the seafood to the pan. I nestle the halved scallops into the rice and mussels if I'm using them. The squid and prawns cook easily so these are just sprinkled on top.

Cover the pan with a lid and continue to cook for a further 5 minutes on a low heat. It doesn't matter if you get a little golden brown toasty rice on the bottom as it's made like that (bit like clay-pot rice you get in Hong Kong Dai-Pai Dong.). The steaming should make the rice lift off the bottom of the pan.

If you don't have a large enough lid, cover with square of foil and twist corners - it makes the foil tighten and form to shape of pan

Turn off fire and leave covered to steam through for 5-10 minutes and serve. It's usually served with lemon wedges but we don't find that necessary.

Taa-Daa! Looks good with mussels too!

This is a polite sized serving - I ate more than this! :0)

This amount makes enough for three hungry people sized portions (that's me, hubby and his lunchbox) or four polite appetites.

Minh Update - 10 weeks old ~ Little Poser!

2010-10-21T18:35:00.002+01:00

(* Edited - as I typed 10 months in the title instead of 10 weeks!?!?!!? I know babies become a part of your life very quickly but still!)

Got camera snappy yesterday - although am wishing I used hubby's posh camera - his Canon Digital SLR. I mainly use his Fuji Finepix - especially when snapping whilst cooking and my hands are far from clean and dry!

Anyhow, he had a bath yesterday afternoon after a messy nappy change and he just loves the hairdryer! Couldn't resist the urge to capture his movements! Then once dressed he was ready for his milk and looked positively adorable - like butter wouldn't melt! When he locks his deep dark eyes on you whilst being fed - that's what makes me melt! Hope he doesn't remember that trick when he's older and been mischievious!

Do you think this is my best side?

Yeah! I win!

Gimme cuddles!

After Minh had dried off (and stopped posing in the warm currents from the hairdryer!) it was time for an afternoon snack. Still feeding every 3-4 hours, sometimes even 5 hours! He only gained 6.5 oz in 11 days when he usually puts on around 7-9 oz in a week. His dad is now trying to fatten him up by increasing his milk from 5 oz to 6-7 oz. Will take him for another weigh-in next week so we'll see how Minh is then.

I'm off to attempt to make some macarons - the fancy fiddly french ones. Don't ask me why - just feel I need to try (and probably fail) these! Personally, I blame it on far too much blog-surfing and stumbling upon these devillish delights! How can you not resist after that?!? Wish me luck, I hear they are notoriously difficult to get right!

Minh Updates - 10 weeks old ~ Breakfast Time

2010-10-20T12:51:00.003+01:00

Thought I'd change the scenery here a little today and show you some photos I took this morning. It's my favourite time because despite being-groggy eyed, it's when Minh is at his cutest. It's also precious me 'n' him time - no-one else with us and I've not yet decided what we're up to for the day.

He usually wakes me up (yes, can be several times in night/morning) at around 9am. It's not neccessarily feed-time. It's his cuddle-time. He's a good boy now and does sleep in his cot at night. He used to hate it but once he turned 7 weeks he slept in it happily - no unnecessary fuss, crying or tantrums. Yes, so, he cries and it wakes me up, I pick him up and he is instantly soothed. We have a double bed right next to the cot (where I sleep so I can tend to his demands) and as I'm ususally still tired, I bring him right in. He loves it! It doesn't matter how tired and heavy my eyes are, one smile and chuckle from him and the tiredness just falls away. (I'm just a sucker really!)

Here's some photos that I hope brighten your day as much as they brighten up mine!

".....there were two in the bed and the little one said, "Rollover, roll over," so they all rolled over and one fell out....."

"Hey! Where is everybody?!"

"OK, time for milk!"

"So, where's the milk then?"

"Bring me milk or I'll punch ya!"

"Mmm....nice breakfast in bed!"

"That's better. Fully fed."

"Hi there!"

"Heh heh heh! Your jokes are the best!"

"See you later, Alligator!"

Too cute to be cheeky!

Steamed Sticky Pumpkin Dumplings

2010-10-18T23:57:00.001+01:00

I saw these whilst blog-hopping at the weekend and thought they were great! I saw them here at Precious Moment. I tweaked the recipe a little as I wanted to make savoury pumpkins. My mum loves pumpkins and sweet potatoes so I often bookmark recipes with pumpkin in them. Today was the first time I'd actually made something pumpkin related from a blog.

Our not very orange pumpkins!

I actually ended up using Butternut Squash. I have seen small squashes in the supermarkets right now but I used Butternut Squash as its easier to peel - less knobbly bits I suppose. The squashes are fascinating as they come in different shapes and colours - must take a sneaky snap next time. The great thing about them is they are smaller than pumpkins so are easier to cut through and to use up. We had squash braised with belly pork slices today for dinner at mum's - delish! (Sorry no snaps of that one!) Love Mondays, that's dinner at mum's day & it was great 'cos as I helped her do the prep for dinner I was prepping the ingredients for these Pumpkin Dumplings and mum also cooked the filling for me.

Anyway, this is what we did:

Pumpkin Dumpling

300 g butternut squash, peeled and in 1 inch cubes
150 g glutinous rice flour
100 g rice flour
150 g minced pork (any other meat will be acceptable too)
2 shallots, finely diced
1 small carrot, finely diced
50 g butternut squash finely diced
1 spring onion, finely chopped (only as I cut up too many for dinner!)
seasonings: salt, pepper, sugar, soy sauce, sesame oil
cornflour paste to thicken
1/2 cup water

Steam the squash until tender. (As I was at mum's and she always makes soup, I put the squash in a sieve and put it in the soup pot for about 10 minutes or so until soft.)
Mash the squash thoroughly with a fork. Ideally until no lumps left.
Mix in the flours in several batches. Mine seemed on the dry side and I began to doubt whether it would come together, but with some kneading, it soon became a dough.
Fry the shallots in some in oil until fragrant. Add the minced pork and continue to mix breaking up the meat as it colours.
Add the carrot and squash and fry for 1 minute before adding the water. Season according to taste. The seasonings mentioned are basics to what my mum uses and what our palate is accustomed to. You can adjust it how you like with chilli, curry powder, spices, herbs etc.
Cook for a few minutes before thickening with cornflour paste. You want any sauce to coat the fillings and not be runny or you will encounter problems when wrapping.
Pinch a walnut-sized piece of dough and roll between your palms until smooth. My dough felt dry and was cracking (maybe the squash isn't as wet as pumpkin mash?) so I put a drop of oil in my palm and kneaded the dough to make rolling easier. Flatten with your fingers into a 2 inch circle, place 1 teaspoon of filling in the centre and wrap to enclose the filling. Flatten the ball slightly to resemble a squat shaped pumpkin and mark ridges with the back of a knife.
Use a small strip of pumpkin peel to resemble the stalk and place in the centre of the dumpling. I used some of the peel from the dark green squash we had at dinner. Cloves make a good substitute stalk.
Place on a greased steaming rack and steam over a moderate heat for 10-15 minutes.

Think we made too much filling as this is what's left over! Or I was too stingy with the filling!

My pumpkins were rather yellow/green in colour as the butternut squash wasn't very deeply yellow/orange in colour. Perhaps the butternut squash was picked too early in the season and deep orange colour hadn't developed yet? It looked liked cubed mango before I mashed it! My younger brother complained that the dumpling skin was too thick and he didn't get enough filling to eat! As the dough was on the dry side it wasn't so pliable and was prone to cracking. This made wrapping tricky and probably why the skin was thick. Next time I will add flour slowly and stop when the dough is wet enough. I'd probably add 1 tablespoon of oil whilst mixing the dough to make it easier to work with.

The filling can be changed to suit your mood. Crisp water chestnut pieces would be nice, Chinese mushroom will give it a meaty fragrance, dried shrimps will give it a pleasing sweetness too.

I shared a dumpling with my brother but almost chomped it all before I remembered to take a photo!

We made 16 dumplings from this batch of dough and had far too much filling left. Maybe next time I would halve the quantity of meat. Now, what shall I make with the left-over cooked meat filling?

Garden Harvest

2010-10-18T00:01:00.003+01:00

What I gathered from the garden....

Not particularly a good garden harvest this year but that is down to little effort, little gain. This year I haven't paid much attention to the garden - flowers or vegetables. Some of this is down to being pregnant throughout the growing season (my tum was growing too!). I didn't know how big I was going to grow and wanted to take it easy as this was my first pregnancy and not being very young anymore, (put it this way, I'm born in Year of the Tiger and I'm no longer in my twenties - let you work that one out!) didn't want to over exhort myself and regret it later. Some of it is also down to enjoying card-making. Last summer I started going to card-making workshops and I really enjoy the classes. Not only do we make beautiful cards, it's a lovely chance to relax and chat with some very lovely ladies.

Anyway, despite my lack of efforts we have had some courgettes this year. A Lebanese variety, hence the paler green colour than what is sold in the supermarkets and it (should have) has a slightly bulbous base. Okay, this one is a little backward! I blame it on being probably the last one of the season. The plant is still slowly growing but less vigorously now. I can see fruit-bearing flower buds at the tip but with the absence of male flowers these fruits not only will not grow larger, they will wither and rot. Maybe I should grow a variety that doesn't need pollinating. That will ease the suspense of will it grow or will it rot?
I only had the one courgette plant this year. Will definitely plant more next year as it is tormenting waiting for that one courgette to grow larger before you pick it! In our first year here I had 4 courgette plants and had courgettes coming out of my ears! Well....you know how the saying goes! I had plenty to share amongst family and friends and this year it was take it in turns to give courgettes out as there were never enough to go round in one hit!

I grew onions again Stuttgarter - wanted an easy crop that didn't need any looking after from me. Might be the reason why the onions are as small as gobstoppers! I actually pulled these out of the ground during my confinement month when I was supposed to be resting! They have spent the past 4 weeks drying in the shed. I tidied them up by removing the loose papery skins and excess stalks. Weeny looking onions but they sure are strong! My eyes don't water when peeling chopping onions because I find wearing contact lenses protect my eyes from the vapours. These little powerful little marbles are the exception! Won't be eating these raw in a salad!

I usually grow potatoes too. Another easy to grow crop and the best bit is harvest time. Scrabbling around on your hands and knees in the dirt looking for buried treasure - or so it seems to me! I love seeing the pale glint of skin in the dark earth and it feels as if I've struck gold! I grew these in potato bags. Black polythene sacks with a few drainage holes in the bottom. The varieties I grew were Red Rooster potatoes and Charlotte. Roosters are available in the supermarkets and I like them for roasting as they are slightly floury and roast up well. They don't disintegrate on boiling either. Charlottes are a lovely, creamy waxy salad potato. Great in cooking when you don't want them to disappear to mush.

Curry - Chicken & Vegetable with Clove Scented Mushroom Rice

2010-10-17T23:37:00.001+01:00

If you look carefully at the top left of the picture, you can just make out the drifts of steam coming from the curry

Having a lazy day today. Only doing the minimum amount possible. That means cooking meals rather than food for fun. Also means too lazy to do cleaning or any other housework. Wanted to cook a roast today after seeing a poster for pork shoulder joint on special offer - just my luck they didn't have any! Meant to go to shops to buy something but as I was being lazy, I had to raid the freezer.

Last week, I made a vegetable curry from scratch - no jars or pastes. It kind of came out of my head after reading a few recipes here and there. It was rather good! I didn't make note of what I put in it though! It was an accompaniment for a chicken biryani which I made from paste in a jar. I deeply regretted not writing the ingredients down! Sometimes cooking is a bit like that, you get an idea, see what's in the cupboards and throw whatever you have in.

Seeing as there is nothing planned for dinner, I thought I'd try make a curry from scratch again. Not following any recipe or guidance I've muddled my way through to make something we can eat. It wasn't too bad either! Made sure I took notes this time! I also made some mushroom rice to go with the curry - it was quite nice as it had the scent of cloves.

Chicken and Vegetable Curry

2 teaspoons whole cumin seeds
2 teaspoons whole coriander seeds
6 green cardamon pods
1 medium onion, chopped
2 shallots, sliced
50 g peeled ginger, grated (2 tablespoons)
2 garlic cloves, grated (1 teaspoon)
1 teaspoon turmeric powder
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
4 large chicken thighs, skinned, de-boned, sliced
2 medium potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks
1/2 head of cauliflower
handful of green beans
2 tomatoes, quartered
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
salt & pepper
1/2 pint water (or can use stock - veg/chicken)

The onions, shallots and potatoes are from the garden

In a dry pan over a low heat, roast the cumin, coriander seeds for 3-5 minutes until they begin to darken and the aroma from the spices are released. Tip into a mortar. Split the cardamon pods and tip the seeds into the mortar. Grind with the pestle until the seeds have turned to powder.
Sweat the onion and shallot in a large saucepan over a gentle heat for 10 minutes. The onions and shallots will have begun to turn brown.
Add the ground spices, turmeric, cayenne, grated ginger and grated garlic and continue to fry gently for 3 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.
Turn the heat to medium and add the chicken to the pan and fry until it begins to colour. Add the water and potatoes and allow to boil before turning heat down to simmer. Place lid on pan and cook for 10 minutes.
Add the cauliflower florets, bring to boil, cover, then simmer for 5 minutes.
Add the beans and tomatoes and simmer for a further 5 minutes. Thicken sauce with cornflour paste if necessary. Check for seasoning. Serve with your favourite rice or breads.
I would have liked to sprinkle fresh chopped coriander on the curry but didn't have any. I'm sure the flavour would have been lifted by the fresh aromatic herbs.

I made some rice to go with this dish, I had wanted to make a pilau style rice but didn't want to make it in a pan. I was looking to make it in the rice cooker so I didn't have to watch the heat. I made a clove-scented rice and added mushrooms and onion for flavour.

Clove Scented Mushroom Rice

300 g basmati rice (2 rice cooker cups)
480 g water (up to 2 marker on my rice cooker) * or however much water you feel is enough to cook the rice
6 whole green cardamon pods
2 bay leaves
12 cloves
1 medium onion, chopped
6 medium sized mushrooms, sliced
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
salt & pepper

Wash the rice in cold water until the water is relatively clear. Place in the bowl of the rice cooker and add enough water to cook the rice.
Add in the spices to the water and cook the rice.
Fry the onion and mushroom in a little oil until soft. Season mushroom and onion mixture and place on top of the rice when all the water in the rice has been absorbed. Replace lid and leave to steam for 10 minutes. Fluff the rice with chopsticks and incorporate the onion and mushroom at the same time.

Cod Fish Cakes & Crab Cakes

2010-10-15T19:50:00.000+01:00

Fish is good for you and we should aim to eat 2-3 portions a week. That's what is drummed to into us and so I have tried to lead a healthier lifestyle - after all, it means you can treat yourself and be naughty once in a while! As I see my mum most Mondays, we get our first fish portion then. Mid-week I need to make sure we have something seafoody and Friday is another fish-day. (Tonight hubby will be buying fish and chips on his way home! Yum! Yum!) Wednesday, I attempted to make both crab & fish cakes.

My mother in law was a good cook. Or so I gather. I never had the opportunity to meet her as I didn't meet my husband until she had passed away some years previously. My husband tells me about the things she used to make and cook from scratch, however, when I ask him how it was made he often hasn't any idea. He was too busy playing to be helping his mum in the kitchen and sadly all her recipes are gone too.
One of the things she would make was cuttlefish cakes - like the ones you eat at dim-sum (we always order those - hubbs favourite). Hubbs tells me he'll make them for me. Am still waiting.

Anyway, I had a large fish fillet of cod to use (500 g) and if I still lived at home, I'd make a fish pie. Hubbs isn't a fan - so scratch that idea. I thought I'd try making fish cakes - not the western style which is cooked flaked fish mixed with mashed potato, but the bouncy Chinese ones.
Fish cakes I did make, bouncy? No. Maybe its the wrong type of fish, maybe it doesn't have a gluey past- like quality to it that is needed for the bounce. Maybe it wasn't beaten enough.

Not having a food processor, I skinned the fish fillet, then realised I should've just scraped the flesh off the skin and muscle with a spoon. I did as best I could to break up the meat before mincing it with a large cook's knife. I then placed the fish into the bowl of my mixer and added 4 Chinese soup spoons of water, some salt, white pepper and 1 tablespoon of cornflour. I turned the mixer on to beat it for 10 minutes. It turned into a smooth looking paste. Next was 2 tablespoons of chopped dill and another mix. The mixture was formed into small patties and fried in shallow oil until golden on both sides. It wasn't too mushy, but it wasn't bouncy either.

For the crab cakes, I had a vague idea of what I was doing from a Rick Stein episode (I can't recall which series) where he was making Maryland Crab Cakes. Basically it's crab meat, crushed crumbs, lemon juice mayonnaise and seasoning. I had a tin of crab meat, drained it (100 g) and to it, added 3 crushed cream crackers. I seasoned and squirted about 1 tablespoon of lemon juice and a tablespoon of mayonnaise. To make it more interesting I chopped up some spring onions and threw them in too. A good ol' mix before leaving in fridge for 30 minutes to firm up. Then they were simple formed into patties and gently fried until golden.

We ate our fish & crab cakes with new potatoes and salad. Simple and that was our fish quota for the day.

White Farmhouse Loaf - traditional method

2010-10-15T00:01:00.004+01:00

I was pleased with the bread - light, airy and a great chewy texture.

I was baking again. Yup, bread. There's something about that white, soft, texture that is comforting. Whenever I have an attack of the munchies - there's always good ol' bread to turn to. I have 1001 things I could be doing with what time I manage to get between my baby son's feeds, but I choose to blog-hop. It's whilst doing that when I stumble upon a beautifully risen, golden crusted loaf in The British Larder. That's done it! I have to go bake me one! Well, you gotta eat!

It's quite a simple recipe and with the aid of trusty ol' Kenwood Mixer, nothing is too difficult! The blog recipe makes 2 x 600g loaves and mixes and kneads by hand. My version uses the mixer for making and kneading the dough - with a crying baby to attend to I find using the mixer a great help. Hubbs isn't a bread fiend like me, so one loaf will suffice.

I've tweaked it a little, but this is what I used:

375 g strong bread flour (white)
7 g fresh yeast
7 g salt (bit too salty for my liking, I'd reduce to 5 g next time)
260 g warm water (it is cold in UK now, so I thought warm water would help things along)
15 g butter (I remember reading butter improves taste and helps the bread remain moist)

Rub the yeast into the flour with your fingertips until the yeast is incorporated into the flour.
Stir in the salt.
Add the warm water and with the dough hook attachment, turn mixer on to mix until a dough is formed.
Add the butter and continue to mix until a smooth and elastic dough is achieved. There should be no sticky dough left at the bottom of the bowl.
I left the mixer on speed 2 for 10 minutes and checked the dough. It was sticky and like chewing gum, not a great stretch.
I turned the mixer back on and kneaded for 10 more minutes. This time the dough was more stretchy and resembled bubble gum. I was able to pull it fairly thinly before it broke.
I turned the dough onto a board and covered with greased cling film for 1 hour to double in size.
I pressed and patted the dough into a rectangle and folded the sides in. I guess this is to tighten the surface of the dough so it will rise upwards rather than outwards. I kept tucking the sides of the sausage shaped dough in underneath the dough so I had a smooth long sausage shape to put into my greased loaf tin.
The dough was left for 2 hours under a clean dry tea-towel to prove.
I baked the loaf at 220C, gas 7 for 30 minutes. I turned the dough out and the base sounded hollow when tapped so I left it to cool on a rack.

I did slash the loaf after rising along the length but I guess I was too scared to do it deeply enough! Oh, and a farmhouse loaf is usually floured before baking - forgot that step too!

The bread is wonderfully moist and soft. It has a lovely chew about the bread but is a tad too salty for my palate. That said, when buttered, you don't taste the saltiness but I would still reduce the salt content next time. All in all, I was impressed with the results especially as it wasn't complicated or needed any starter dough, sponge dough or pre-ferment dough. The slices of bread are still moist and soft now after 8 hours! I'm keen to find out what it's like in the morning!

1 Box Tofu Two Ways ~ Tofu With Mushrooms & Chicken

2010-10-14T19:25:00.001+01:00

Inspired by Elin's post on her mushroom dish, I made sure I bought some fresh oyster mushrooms when I paid my weekly visit to my mum. In my old hometown, there is a ethnic food store that sells oyster mushrooms as well as both green and white pak choi as well as Filipino branded goods and Polish groceries. I was glad they had the mushrooms in as I was seriously craving a mushroomy dish seeing as its the season for all things 'shroomy right now!

I still had half a box of fresh tofu in water to be used up and I really fancied some mushroom goodness. I teamed up the fresh oyster mushroom with another exotic mushroom - fresh shiitake! Fresh shiitake is expensive - 1 box cost me £1.69 and I saw a box of oyster mushroom reduced to £0.89 I was tempted by the discount but I already had those and I really wanted the deep savoury yumminess from shiitake.

I used chicken thigh for my dish as its a juicier cut than using breast meat but sometimes I opt for the meaty chew of chicken breast in curries. I sliced the meat and marinated with soy sauce, sesame oil, white pepper and cornflour. After browning the meat I added the shiitake mushrooms and a splash or two of water to ensure the meat cooked through. A splash of sherry, shake of fish sauce, drizzle of soy and a blob of oyster sauce were the flavourings for this dish. I added the tofu slices (no pre-frying this time) to heat up and the oyster mushrooms last minute. If added too early they overcook and turn to a slimy slippery goo. I thickened with cornflour paste and this dish was saucier than the previous tofu dish two nights ago. Nice on a bed of plain rice to soak up the juices. My fresh mushroom fix satiated!

1 Box of Tofu Two Ways ~ Tofu with Mixed Vegetables

2010-10-14T17:02:00.000+01:00

I've mentioned before that hubbs likes to eat tofu. I like it too. Did I mention that hubbs has been promising my mum to make her some tofu since...hmm.....about 6 years now. After finding out that his mother would make tofu when he was younger, mum said she'd love to try some. "OK, it's easy my husband says." Well, since that day, we got married, bought a house and have even started our family. Tofu? Well, it's still in its raw state! I bought him the soy beans, I even got gypsum powder to coagulate the tofu. He says he needs a food processor to grind the beans. I keep telling him you can use a blender but it's falling on deaf ears. My brother laughed and said the only chance mum will get to eat fresh home-made tofu is from her grandson! Ermm....the boy is 2 months old. Lets not too much pressure on him!

Anyway, I bought a box of fresh tofu from the market and some green pak choi - or Shanghai pak choi my mum calls it. We ate this Sunday evening for our dinner, I had some marinated pork steaks in the freezer and the tofu vegetable dish I created accompanied it.

I fried the tofu slices in some oil in a hot wok. I hadn't realised how incredibly smoky it gets! I scooped out the tofu and drained them on paper towels. Next went in the carrot slices and soaked, chopped shiitake mushrooms. I added some bamboo shoot slices (from a jar) - I just love that crunchy texture! In went some of the mushroom soaking liquid to cook the vegetables before adding the green pak choi and the Chinese leaves. For seasoning, I added a splash of fish sauce (keeps the Vietnamese part of my hubby happy), a splash of soy sauce (that's a nod to my Chinese roots), a blob of oyster sauce and a sprinkling of white pepper. After making sure the seasoning was as I liked it, I slipped the tofu slices back in to mingle with the flavours before thickening with cornflour paste.

The pork steaks are flavoured with char siu seasoning from a packet (Red Roast Pork, Lobo brand) and were grilled for around 6-8 minutes each side until beginning to char. I drizzled with honey and turned off the heat. I served with plain rice and the pork juices dribbled over.

Best bit? Hubby loving his dinner! I even made enough for a rice-box lunch for him too! I am much too good to him!

More Buns...

2010-10-14T12:44:00.000+01:00

I'm hiding the bun's ugliness round the other side of the bun!

I was so pleased with the BBQ Pork Buns (Baked Char Siu Buns) that I thought I'd expand a little and try out some more fillings. Hubbs likes Red Bean Filling and when I first tried making buns from my Alex Goh book, he pointed at the Matcha Red Bean Buns but I had decided to make the Butter Coconut Buns - I said I'd make them next time and he's still waiting as that next time hasn't come round for him yet! As EEWIF has such a great sweet bun dough recipe I thought I'd make a batch and fill with red bean. I have a can of red bean paste and my mum gave me a can of whole red beans (from Tesco). I thought I'd combine the two so I would get a paste with more texture - a bit like the Japanese filling but less dry. It kinda worked - but some of the canned whole beans are a little too hard. Perhaps they could do with being cooked a little longer? Or maybe mashed a little?

I split my dough into 16 pieces this time instead of 10 and filled half with the red bean paste. I then wrapped and transported it to my mum's to finish off. I figured that they'd still prove in their 35 minute journey to mum's. As it turned out, they didn't travel that well as they stuck to one another and didn't look like the flower shapes I wanted them to be. I still baked them and they were the most ugliest buns ever! Not round as I'd cut the edges to replicate flower petals and besides, they were pretty close neighbours with one another and some were beginning to merge as one! So I'm blushing with the memory of their misshapeness! The inside of the bun looked okay though!

Wanted a photo with steam coming out of the filling. I guess I'd have to grab a steaming hot bun and be standing in a walk-in freezer to get that shot!

With the other half of the bun dough I decided to make ham and cheese buns as in EEWIF blog as I thought they looked so good. These I thought were very tasty (although I didn't do the cheese & mayo topping) and I really love that bread dough recipe! It's really, really good! I think it's as good as from a Chinese Bakery!

This was my breakfast a few days ago, see the airy bubbles in the ham 'n' cheese bun? The other is a toppled over nutella & almond spiral - I ran out of ham 'n' cheese.

I still want to make Tuna Bun as these are my fave buns from Hong Kong Bakery! So deliciously soft and savoury! My older bro' likes Bolo Bao (Pineapple Buns) so I guess I'll make those too in a couple of weeks when he visits my mum. There is a half-term holiday at the end of October and he usually spends a few days with mum so she can get to see her granddaughter Sophie.

Baked Char Siu Buns, 叉燒餐包

2010-10-09T08:41:00.004+01:00

Hot, fresh out of the oven.

I had intended to bake these buns at the beginning of the week after being inspired from Everybody Eats Well in Flanders blog on sweet bread dough. However, I delayed until yesterday evening/this morning.

The recipe I used is an Alex Goh recipe from Everybody Eats Well in Flanders. It's unusual as 1/5 of the flour content in the dough is made with boiling water, then refrigerated for 12 hours. This gelatinised dough allows the starch grains to swell and absorb more water resulting in a softer, moist bread. SeaDragon talks about this in his Corner Cafe blog too.

Sweet bread dough made with first prove - ready for dividing, shaping & filling.

The recipe for the sweet bun dough is here and here is a slightly different version. I used the former.

With char siu given to me from my mother, I set about in making a filling for my buns. I didn't think to weigh the char siu first but I had 1 & 1/2 strips of meat. I chopped a red onion and fried in oil until soft before adding the sliced char siu. I continued to fry gently and when the edges of the meat began to brown I added about 75ml of water and 1 dessertspoon of Lee Kum Kee's Char Siu Sauce. I thickened with cornflour paste and set aside to cool. The prepared filling was 475g.

Trying to show how I 'walk' the dough with my fingers bringing it to the thumb to be pinched together.

My dough came to 950g so I divided this into 10 x 95g balls. I flattened each ball with my fingers to a 3 inch circle (approx) and placed 45-50g filling before pinching the edges together to pleat and seal the dough. The filled dough ball was placed seam side down on waxed paper. As I didn't start making the sweet bun dough until quite late in the evening, I decided I would place the shaped and filled buns in the fridge overnight to prove.

Night-night buns, time to tuck you into bed (fridge to prove).

The buns were all filled and placed in the fridge by 1am. Sleep time for me now!

The first batch has been 'painted' with it's tan & bake (egg wash) & ready for baking!

I was unfortunate enough to have my baby son wake me several times in the night (2:30am, 4:00am, 6:00am) and after getting up for the third time, I decided it was time to bake the buns! By this stage, they'd been left to prove for five hours and despite being put into a cold environment, the yeasted dough had done its magic and the buns had swollen up nicely. I brushed with egg wash and baked at gas 5 for 25 minutes on the middle shelf. The middle of my oven isn't as hot as the top and I cooked longer than suggested as I fear uncooked dough.

The buns puffed further during baking and I was rewarded with the sight of shiny, golden brown buns!

Shiny and golden ready to be eaten!

I'm not sure how they taste yet as I'm waiting for hubbs to see them first before they get ~~demolished~~ eaten! For now, I think I may go back to bed!

Chocolate & Date Sandwich Cake

2010-10-07T13:16:00.001+01:00

Being on Maternity Leave means I have time to catch up with friends for lunch. You would think I should have all the time in the world - somehow time flies even quicker with demands of a baby to pander to. Anyhow, I love to bake, have done since I was little. So, with the offer of lunch at a work colleague's house, what better excuse to put the pinny on and whip up a cake?

Woah! Oozy cream and chocolate spread escaping!

This cake is from: 200 cakes and bakes ~ Hamlyn all colour cookbook

Chocolate & Date Sandwich Cake

This is what the hubbs left but subsequently ate for lunch!

150 g (5 oz) ready-chopped dried dates
150 ml (1/4 pint) boiling water plus 6 tablespoons
50 g (2 oz) cocoa powder
150 ml (1/4 pint) sunflower oil
3 eggs
175 g (6 oz) caster sugar
175 g (6 oz) self-raising flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

150 ml (1/4 pint) double cream
150 g (5 oz) fromage frais
3 tablespoons chocolate spread
5 bought chocolate truffles, halved

Simmer dates in a saucepan with the 150 ml (1/4 pint) boiling water, covered, for 5 minutes until softened. Gradually mix the cocoa powder with the remaining 6 tablespoons boiling water until smooth. Leave the dates and dissolved cocoa powder to cool.

Add the oil, eggs and sugar to the dissolved cocoa powder then whisk together until smooth. Add the flour and baking powder then whisk again. Stir in the cooled dates and any cooking liquid and mix well.

Divide the mixture evenly between 2 x 20 cm (8 inch) sandwich tins, greased and base-lined with oiled greaseproof paper and spread the surfaces level. Bake in a preheated oven, 180 C (350 F), Gas Mark 4, for 20 minutes until well risen and the cakes spring back when gently pressed with a fingertip.

Leave to cool in the tins for 5 minutes the loosen the edges, turn out on to a wire rack and peel off the lining paper. Leave to cool completely.

Whip the cream until softly peaking then fold in the fromage frais. Put one cake on to a serving plate, spoon over chocolate spread then half the cream. Top with the second cake and spread with the remaining cream. Decorate with the halved chocolate truffles.

I used 7 inch shallow sandwich tins so managed to bake three cakes. Two of which were used to make the cake and the other just cut in half and sandwiched with chocolate spread and cream to make a half moon shaped cake. This was for my hubbs. He likes cake and especially chocolate ones! I had some home-made choc & mint truffles in the freezer that I got for my birthday so these were defrosted and used for the cake.

Sorry about the disposable plate - it was for transportation to friend's house!

Orange Chocolate Chip Bread 香橙巧克力麵包

2010-10-02T12:53:00.005+01:00

I've not yet baked this, but those who've read the previous posts on bread will understand 70% of this bread dough is started 17 hours ahead and left to prove in fridge. (Edit: bread baked 03 Oct ~ photos and comments added below.)

Orange Chocolate Chip Bread 香橙巧克力麵包

Pre-ferment Dough
bread flour          70%          462g
water                  40%          264g
fresh yeast           2%            13g
sea salt                1%            7g
skim milk powder 2%           13g

Dissolve the yeast in water. Add bread flour, sea salt, skim milk powder and knead until soft. Cover the dough in cling wrap. Refrigerate to let it prove for 17 hours.

Dough
bread flour            30%          198g
skim milk powder     3% 20g
sea salt                 1%          7g
sugar                   10%           66g
water       2%    13g (I didn't bother with the water as it's only a small amount)
egg                           6%           40g
orange marmalade 24%    158g (Mine was an Orange & Tangerine Marmalade)
fresh yeast             1%           7g
unsalted butter       8%       53g

Filling
100g chocolate chips (I used dark chocolate chips)
2 pc grated orange zest or glace orange peel (I had a tub of whole candied clementines I'd bought from France a few years back. I chopped one clementine for the bread (50g). Next time I would double this as it disappeared in the loaf.)

Cut the pre-ferment dough into small pieces.
Knead all ingredients together (except the butter, chocolate chips and the orange zest). Add pre-ferment dough piece by piece. Knead after each addition until soft and smooth. Add butter, chocolate chips and the orange zest. Knead until stretchable consistency
Put the dough into a big bowl. Cover with cling wrap and let it prove for about 25-30 minutes. (I left mine in a mound on a board and covered with oiled cling film.)

Looking just swell.

Divide the dough into thirty-six small equal portions. Flatten to drive out the air. Roll them into balls. Set aside to rest for about 20 minutes. (The weight of my dough came to approx 1550g. I rolled 15x50g balls to fit in one loaf tin and hand squared 8x100g pieces of dough to fit in the other tin.)

Flatten and roll them round again. Place nine dough balls into a square tin. Cover with cling wrap. (The author used 4 small square tins that she called mousse tins. I used the two 1lb loaf tins I have.)

Let it prove again for about 40-45 minutes or until the dough has risen to 80% of the depth of the loaf tin. (I added egg wash on the top of my breads before baking for a shiny finish.) Bake in a pre-heated oven at 170-180 deg C for about 30-35 minutes.

Puffed and proven, ready for the oven. The rolls on right look like fat sausages!

Notes
Baking chocolate can stand high heat. It doesn't melt in the baking process.

This is the recipe from Kin's book, Natural Breads Made Easy. (天然麵包香 ~ 獨角仙@藍色大門.) I am in the process of making this and will finish the post with my results tomorrow including any findings and photos. :0)

Natural Breads Made Easy. (天然麵包香 ~ 獨角仙@藍色大門.)

Bread Bake Off Update:

I made a couple of boo-boos (a silly error - or in my case, THREE boo-boos,) when making this bread. Firstly, when I had incorporated the pre-ferment dough to the dough mix, I thought the dough was too wet and sticky so I added a tablespoon of flour. Then another and another. I still had a sticky chewing gum type mass in the bowl - not elasticy and stretchy at all. Then I realised I'd forgotten to add the butter, choc chips and candied orange! The addition of butter usually makes the dough less sticky and easier to work with. The fear of adding too much flour is that the ratio of flour to water is altered and can result in a tough, drier bread.

My second boo-boo was not greasing the loaf tins properly. One has a non-stick finish so no probs there. The other tin was probably not greased carefully enough and the sides of the bread stuck to the pan!

Now, I'm not entirely sure what I did wrong but the bottom of the loaves are indented. It looks like the dough did not touch the bottom of the tin. I don't know whether that was me not putting the dough in very well into the tins or whether I took the bread out to early to see if it was ready. I baked as instructed for 30 minutes and tipped the longer loaf out to tap the bottom. I was surprised to see the bottom of the dough did not touch the bottom of the pan and so was soft and spongy. A hollow sound when tapped indicates the bread is cooked. The breads were already looking rather browned on top so I lowered the shelf and turned down the heat a little. I baked for a further 15 minutes. This time I checked the shorter loaf tin. This bread was stuck to the sides. (Did I forget to grease this?) Again it had a puckered base. Into bake again for a further 15 minutes. They looked finally ready although the bases still hadn't recovered fully. Have not seen this before and not sure what had caused it. Still sliced and tasted lovely. Love the dark choc chips in the loaf but I'm not sure where the candied clementine went? I would add another candied clementine next time and go easy on adding more flour. The bread has a good chew to it may be a result of the flour I was adding. Maybe you'll do a better job than I did!

My blog friend Everybody Eats Well In Flanders made this in tandem this weekend as I posted the ingredients and recipe before I completed the loaves so she could bake it too. Her hand-held mixer died on her in the process but she still made an excellent loaf. Her version she called Orange Marmalade Loaf as she omitted the chocolate chips.

Bread is slightly over fired but it gave it a nice crunchy crusty top.

Not sure what I did wrong but the base of the bread is puckered.

Despite my errors, the bread does have minute bubbles running through it.

Munch Munch....Mussel Spaghetti

2010-09-29T23:43:00.002+01:00

Ever too ~~hungry~~ greedy to take photos of your kitchen creations before it's eaten? Err...that's me. Especially when its dinner. Baking cake or bread is a different matter. They aren't wolfed down immediately.

I fancied Seafood Pasta for dinner today. Dinner usually is where I rustle things without referring to a recipe. I may get an idea here and there but when it comes to the creating of the dish it's all heat of the moment and can be a dash of this here....splash of that there....no idea of quantity but what I think looks right at the time.

I saw a net of fresh mussels in their shells in the supermarket and decided dinner was going to be Mussel Spaghetti. They are Scottish Mussels which I think are rope-grown, ie farmed or cultivated as opposed to wild. (Just checked the packaging - they are from Loch Roag, rope-grown in the Outer Hebrides.)

I didn't stop to think of taking photos so I could blog this - it's only whilst I was chomping my pasta and got some appreciatory nods and "Well done dear." from the hubbs that made me think......should've taken photos so I can blog this dish! You will have to make do with the small portion in a tub which will be hubbs lunch-box for tomorrow. Hardly very artistic I hasten to add!

If you want to know what I did, read on, amounts are a guesstimate as I don't measure what I create for dinner - baking is more of an exact science so they are often measured.

Mussel Spaghetti

1kg net of mussels
4 shallots - sliced
1 garlic clove, minced
knob of butter
handful of parsley, chopped
50ml sherry (should be white wine, but had Amontillado Sherry to hand!)
4 small tomatoes, roughly chopped (I like on the vine tomatoes)
100ml double cream
Spaghetti for 2 persons

First clean the mussels. (I placed them in a bowl of cold water to wash them and I pulled off the hairy beards. I discarded any that had a cracked broken shell and any that were open and didn't close when I squeezed the shell shut. Then I placed them in a colander.)
Cook the spaghetti according to pack instructions. (I used linguine and simmered for 9 minutes before draining and returning to the pan.)
Whilst the pasta is cooking, melt the butter in a large saucepan, add the shallots and garlic and fry gently for 2 minutes until they soften and begin to colour.
Tip in the mussels, add the sherry and place lid on pan. Shake occasionally so mussels can cook evenly. Let the mussels steam for 4-6 minutes until they open. (I didn't want to overcook them so they turn tough as they would be cooked again briefly.)
Tip the mussels into a colander and reserve the cooking liquor. Pick out the mussel meat from the shells and keep aside in a bowl.
Clean out the large saucepan and pour the reserved liquor back into the pan but leave the last little bit of liquid as it may contain sand or grit. Add the drained spaghetti to the pan and warm through, tip in the mussel meat and pour in any juices that may be in the bowl - again leave last bit of liquid behind in case of any grit.
Add the chopped tomatoes and cream, stir and cook for a minute.
Stir in the parsley, remove from heat and serve. Lovely with crusty bread to dip in the juices. If the spaghetti looks too dry for your liking, add a splash or water or milk to the pan and heat through before serving.

The recipe is basically the same as for Moules Mariniere but with added cream and tomatoes. The cream adds richness to the sauce but it is classically made with white wine. I liked the addition of tomato as it not only provided colour but I think it gave a little sharpness to the finished dish. Fresh parsley always tastes refreshing in a dish too. It may not be text-book correct but it's what I made and it was enjoyed by my hubbs and myself.

Earl Grey Tea Milk Loaf 伯爵奶茶麵包

2010-09-23T18:40:00.006+01:00

White Toast

Been playing around with flour and yeast again today. I needed a break from cake making as I've made ummmm.... ~~five~~ six cakes in the space of a week? I had a trial run for a sponge baked in a roasting dish (wanted a shape that can be portioned easily) that ended up being a mango & cream filled sponge for Mum's b'day (belated as I was still "In Confinement" and wasn't allowed to go out and see her); a fruit pastry cake to take into work place to show off baby (I'm still on Maternity Leave); carrot cake for some friends that were visiting; a fruit filled sponge; chocolate chiffon filled with berries and cream (both sponges for my son's Full Month Celebration,) and another sponge filled with cream and fresh fruit for my "Uncle" (long-standing friend of my dad's who is like an uncle to us). Good job I wasn't eating them all I'd soon look as if I was pregnant again!

I made a batch of 17 hour pre-ferment dough (it makes enough for two 1lb loaves) and I used half to make White Toast (I still couldn't help adding extra flour to the wet sticky dough!) the other half was turned into Earl Grey Tea Milk Loaf. I changed it very slightly as I forgot I was making half the quantity in the book and made the full amount of Earl Grey Tea Milk Concentrate (7 tea bags steeped in hot milk). As I was out of eggs (can you blame me after the marathon cake-a-thon the past week has been?!?! Actually, the chickens out in the back garden have some - it was too wet and rainy this morning to go out just for 40 g of egg!?!!) I just used double the amount of milk tea concentrate and skipped the egg part. I guess it would result in a more intense tea aroma to the finished bread.

The recipe is again from Kin's Book, Natural Breads Made Easy. (天然麵包香 ~ 獨角仙@藍色大門.)

Looks like wholemeal bread but the colour comes from the brewed tea

The finished loaf was beautifully moist and airy. The scent of bergamot is apparent but is lost on eating. However, there is a delicious - almost malty taste to the bread. Certainly is different and I'm pleased with how it turned out.

See the little bubbles in the bread?

The White Toast dough

Cutting the pre-ferment dough in small pieces

Adding the pre-ferment dough piece by piece

Adding butter

Butter kneaded until dough is of a stretchable consistency

Earl Grey Milk Tea Bread 伯爵奶茶麵包

Pre-ferment Dough
bread flour             70%   464g
water                    40%   265g
sea salt                   1%   7g
skim milk powder    2%   13g
fresh yeast              2%   13g *

Dissolve the yeast in water. Add bread flour, sea salt, skim milk powder and knead until soft. Cover the dough in cling wrap. Refrigerate to let it prove for 17 hours.

* Author forgot to quote yeast in the book - I'm assuming it is 13g here based on her other recipes.

Dough

bread flour              30%   199g
skim milk powder      4%   27g
sea salt                      1%   7g
sugar                        12%   80g
egg                           12%   80g
milk tea concentrate   12%   80g**
fresh yeast                  1%   7g
unsalted butter           10%   66g
ground Earl Grey tea leaves 2%   13g

**Milk tea concentrate: 133g milk, 20g Earl Grey tea leaves (I used 7 Earl Grey tea bags). Heat milk and put in tea leaves. Leave to brew for 15 minutes for thorough infusion. Strain and take the amount required in recipe. (I heated milk, added tea bags,, stirred with a spoon and left it to brew whilst I did the weighed the ingredients. I squeezed the bags to extract the tea concentrate.)

Cut the pre-ferment dough into small pieces.

Knead all ingredients of dough together (except the butter). Add pre-ferment dough piece by piece. Knead after each addition until soft and smooth. Add butter. Knead until stretchable consistency.

Put the dough into a big bowl. Cover with cling wrap and let it prove for about 25-30 minutes.

Divide the dough into six small equal portions. Flatten each portion with your hands to drive the air out. Hand square it and cover with cling wrap. Set aside to rest for about 20 minutes.

Flatten each piece of dough with your hands to drive the air out. Roll each out into a rectangular sheet with a rolling pin. Fold about 2cm from both sides towards the centre and roll it out again. Roll the dough up (the width should be the same as the loaf tin) and put them into the mould. Cover with cling wrap.

Let it to prove for about 40-45 minutes or until the dough has risen to 80% of the depth of the loaf tin. Close the lid. Bake in a pre-heated oven at 170-180 deg C for about 30-35 minutes.

Double Celebration - Minh's Full Month Party & Our 5th Wedding Anniversary

2010-09-20T11:06:00.003+01:00

The little guest of honor - Minh

Yesterday was a day of Double Celebration in the Diep Household. We were holding a Full-Month Banquet for out little "Junior" and it coincided with our Fifth Wedding Anniversary! Yes, sentimental ol' me picked the date in advance of Junior's birth and decided that would be the day to hold his party. Recently, I have heard these parties called Red & Ginger parties as they are eaten at these events. Red is an auspicious colour for chinese and vietnamese alike and the egg symbolises fertility. Ginger is considered good for the new mum as it dispels wind from the body.

Minh is exactly 6 weeks old tomorrow and he was was the guest of honour at his party. We had a small banquet at a Chinese restaurant for family, relatives and a few close friends. It was a fun affair as there were several children present -all under the age of seven - so it certainly was lively! Minh did not mind being passed out for hugs and cuddles amongst the guests and it was great! Some mums are very protective towards their children and seem happy to hug and hold them all the time. Don't get me wrong! I love my hugs and cuddles with my son but as I can get that anytime at home I'm more than willing to share him out for hugs whenever there are friends present!

We certainly had a food feast and I was too busy eating to take photos! I missed the first three dishes of: Red Eggs & Ginger; Seafood & Tofu Chowder; Braised lobster on a bed of noodles (now, this was a delicious dish and I'm glad I didn't miss any lobster chomping and noodle slurping time by snapping photos! Heh heh heh!);

Sweet and Sour Sea Bass Fillets;

Steamed chicken with Ginger and Spring Onion;

Yam coated Prawns (yummy!);

Seafood Rice;

Stir-fried Scallop and Asparagus in Noodle Nest;

Braised Chinese Mushrooms with Pak Choi

and Pork fillets in Chinese Style Sauce;

Dessert was a platter of Ice-Cream, Mango Pudding and Toffee coated Banana Fritters. I also made two sponge cakes. One was an Orange Sponge filled with white-flesh nectarine and mango cream, topped with a mango rose and strawberry starflower. The other was a chocolate chiffon with a filling of berry cream and finished with blackberry, strawberry and blueberry.

Mango Rose & Strawberry Starflower

Berry Nice Chiffon

It was a fabulous afternoon which went quickly in the company of good friends and family. It was worth the past two weeks of stressing over guest lists and seating plans and the nervousness of decorating the cakes the night before the event!

Mya & Minh

Lastly, I got the most beautiful gift from my husband, a pair of diamond encrusted entwined heart earrings, and 18 long-stemmed red roses. My gift to him? A beautiful baby boy!

My favourite - Red Roses

Another one of my favourites - Sparkly Things!

Butternut Squash and Sunflower Seed Loaf 南瓜葵花籽包

2010-09-18T17:52:00.002+01:00

After the success of my White Toast, I thought I'd try another of Kin's recipes from her book "Natural Breads Made Easy". (天然麵包香 ~ 獨角仙@藍色大門.)

It's supposed to be pumpkin but I have a butternut squash sitting in the kitchen waiting to be peeled chopped and something done with it. In all honesty, it's probably been sitting there for at least two months when I had the intention of turning it into a butternut squash soup. Butternut squash does keep well - I guess due to it's hard exterior but I do think the longer you leave it, the more dehydrated the flesh becomes.

Pumpkin and Sunflower Seed Loaf 南瓜葵花籽包
Pre-ferment Dough
bread flour                   70%          411g
water                           40%          235g
fresh yeast                    2%           12g
sea salt                         1%           6g
skim milk powder         2%          12g

Dissolve the yeast in water. Add bread flour, sea salt, skim milk powder and knead until soft. Cover the dough in cling wrap. Refrigerate to let it prove for 17 hours.

Dough
bread flour                    30%     176g
skim milk powder          3%            18g
sea salt                          1%              6g
sugar                             10%          59g
egg                                3%            18g
fresh yeast                     1%          6g
water                             7%         41g
unsalted butter                7%           41g
cooked pumpkin puree   23%       135g
julienne pumpkin            15%          88g
roasted sunflower seeds 10%          59g

Steam half a pumpkin with skin on until tender. Then peel seed and mash. Julienne the remaining half of the pumpkin.

Roast the sunflower seeds in an oven briefly. Leave them to cool.

Cut the pre-ferment dough into small pieces.

Knead all ingredients together (except the butter, sunflower seeds and the pumpkin julienne). Add pre-ferment dough piece by piece and knead after each addition until smooth. Add butter, sunflower seeds and the pumpkin julienne. Knead until stretchable consistency.

Put the dough into a big bowl. Cover with cling wrap and let it prove for about 25-30 minutes.

Divide the dough into two equal parts and hand square each. Set aside to rest for about 20 minutes.

Flatten the dough with your hands to drive the air out. Roll the dough out with a rolling pin into a rectangle. Fold both ends inwards (the two long sides) and roll it out once more. Roll the dough up to about the same width of the loaf tin. Spray water on it and coat the dough with sunflower seeds. Place the dough into a loaf tin. Cover with cling wrap.

Let it to prove for about 45 minutes or until the dough has risen up to 80% of the depth of the mould. Bake in a pre-heated oven at 170-180 deg C for about 30-35 minutes.

I substituted pumpkin for butternut squash as that is what I had at home. I also found the dough mix very wet and sticky and I ended up adding a further 250 g of strong bread flour just so I could work with it. I was anxious not to add too much as it will result in a tougher and drier loaf and may not keep as well. As my dough had increased I ended up making 3 loaves from this batch each weighing just over 500 g each. I gave each of the loaves away to friends and family so didn't get to sample my hard work!

It's All in the Yeast! Basic White Bread 白吐司

2010-09-12T23:44:00.006+01:00

Every now and again (whilst growing up) I've always wanted to make a big, white, soft, fluffy but chewy loaf of bread. I've baked Hot Cross Buns which turn out like stones and loaves of bread like house bricks. I always thought it was because I wasn't very good at kneading the dough.

Right! No excuse now! Hubbs bought me a Kenwood Mixer with dough hook attachment - that will earn it's keep and do the kneading for me! OK, bread has improved. Have found if I mix a wet, sticky dough I can get a moist feeling loaf - but it does ooze over the time if over-filled. I've got photos of dough hanging over the sides like an overweight person spilling over jeans 2 sizes too small - ewww? You're right. Not attractive. Yet, the bread its still grey brown in colour and the texture looks holey in a good way but after 2 days more resembles a cellulose sponge and is fit for nothing but toast albeit a crisp and airy kind of toast.

I bought some fresh yeast last week after spotting a bread-making book in the local library. OK, not a-n-y- ol' book, but it's Chinese with English translation! (Yippee! As my Chinese reading and written is rather rusty these days!) What better way to start than with the basics? Labelled White Toast - it's in essence a sweetened white loaf. Result? Oh My Word! A WHITE loaf! Yes! It really is white like a supermarket-bakery bought loaf! It's the same brand of flour that gave me the off-white loaf last month (see here next to the jar of jam.) Pleased? I punched the air with delight!

The secret to my successful loaf is in a 17-hour low-temperature pre-ferment dough. What?!?! I hear you cry!   70 % of the dough is kneaded and but in the fridge to prove for 17 hours. As most of the dough has been proved once under the low-temperature, the final proving time is greatly reduced and the final proving gives a major raise in the dough. The pre-ferment dough helps give the bread a moist, chewy loaf with a yeasty flavour.   This technique is explained in Kin's Book, Natural Breads Made Easy. (天然麵包香 ~ 獨角仙@藍色大門.) I've googled her name and here is her blog.

It is a process I've never come across before especially as she talks about Baker's Percentage. For example, the amount of flour used in a recipe is 100%. Other ingredients are measured by their weight in relation to that of flour. Total always add up to over 100%.
So, what she is saying is:
Flour = 100%     (1000g)
Sugar = 3%         (30g)
Egg    = 20%       (200g)
Salt    = 1%         (10g)
Yeast = 3%         (30g)

This is her recipe:

White Toast 白吐司

Pre-ferment Dough
bread flour          70%          480g
water                  40%          274g
fresh yeast           2%            14g
sea salt                1%            7g
skim milk powder 2%           14g

Dissolve the yeast in water. Add bread flour, sea salt, skim milk powder and knead until soft. Cover the dough in cling wrap. Refrigerate to let it prove for 17 hours.

Dough
bread flour          30%          206g
sea salt                1%            7g
sugar                   10%          69g
water    29%    199g
fresh yeast          0.5%          3g
unsalted butter    10%          58g

Cut the pre-ferment dough into small pieces.
Knead all ingredients together (except the butter). Add pre-ferment dough piece by piece and knead after each addition until smooth. Add butter and continue to knead until stretchable consistency.
Put the dough into a big bowl. Cover with cling wrap and let it prove for about 25-30 minutes.
Divide the dough into six small equal portions. Flatten them with your hand to drive the air out. Hand square them. Set aside to rest for about 20 minutes.
Flatten the dough with your hands to drive the air out. Roll the dough into a rectangle. Fold both sides towards the centre and roll again. Roll it out again until its width is similar to that of the loaf tin, but don't close the lid tightly. Cover with cling wrap.
Lastly leave it to prove for about 45 more minutes or until the dough has risen up to 80% of the depth of the loaf tin. Close the lid. Bake in a pre-heated oven at 170-180 deg C for about 30-35 minutes.

To fill a 450g loaf tin all the way to all top corners, you need 650 to 660g of dough. You may fit one to several pieces of dough into a loaf tin.
The quantity listed in the recipe is enough to fill two 450g loaf tins.

*Notes
Hand squaring is where you flatten the dough into a rectangle shape with the heel of your hand. Then starting at the top, roll the short end up tightly on itself like a swiss-roll.

Driving the air out relaxes the gluten in the dough, redistributes the yeasts among other ingredients and evens out the temperature throughout the dough.

The author uses 3 squared pieces of dough to fill her loaf tin before proving.

The author uses a pullman loaf tin which has a lid so the resulting bread is perfectly square when sliced. I used a regular loaf tin.

I made half this recipe to try it out and didn't think to take photos of each step as I did so. Apologies. Wasn't expecting the bread to turn out so well! I am planning on making a Pumpkin and Sunflower Seed Loaf tomorrow so I will try and take photos along the way, although the 17 hour pre-ferment dough is already doing it's business in the fridge!

Sticky Moist Ginger Cake

2010-09-09T15:49:00.000+01:00

A deliciously moist cake - surprisingly light too!

I woke up and I fancied ginger cake. Strange thing to want - not for breakfast though I hasten to add. I just fancied baking. I hadn't been in a cake baking mood for a few weeks. I guess waiting for Junior to be born put me off!

Anyway, new Chinese mothers are encouraged to eat ginger after the birth of a baby to dispel any wind in the body. (I have no idea why and do as I'm told - to a degree!) So with that in mind I thought of making a gingery cake.

I made a cake with dates once and it was lovely soft and moist and well....datey! I thought that it'd be nice if it was flavoured with ginger. Until now, I never got round to making it into a ginger cake.

Ginger & Date Cake

Ingredients
300ml water
200g pitted dates
60g butter softened
175g dark brown sugar (muscovado)
1 tbsp ginger syrup ( from jar)
1 tbs golden syrup
2 eggs
200g self raising flour
2 tsp ground ginger (* I would've liked a stronger ginger flavour so I'd probably add 1tbsp next time)
60g crystallised ginger
60g stem ginger in syrup (I used 3 blobs)
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda

Method
- Preheat oven to gas 5. Line tin with parchment. (I used a 8" square tin).

- Boil water in a saucepan. When water boils, remove from heat and add the dates. Leave dates to soak for 10 minutes.

- Chop the crystallised and stem ginger into small pieces (about 1cm cubes), dust with a little of the flour to absorb some of the sticky syrup. Leave to one side.

- Put the butter and sugar in a bowl and cream until smooth.

- Stir in the syrups and add the flour and ground ginger. Mix well to combine.

- Break the eggs into the bowl one by one and stir well after each addition. Stir the chopped ginger into the mixture.

- Add the vanilla extract to the date mixture. Blend to a smooth pulpy consistency with a hand-held blender.

- Add the bicarbonate of soda to the date mixture then pour into the flour batter. Beat well to ensure well mixed.

- Pour into the lined pan and bake in oven immediately. Bake for 35-40minutes until well risen and springy to the touch. Remember to check the centre with a skewer to ensure the cake is cooked. Leave to cool in tin for 5 minutes before turning out onto a wire cooling rack to cool. Delicious cold on own, or serve warm with a drizzle of ginger syrup and a scoop of vanilla ice-cream.

I baked chocolate brownie for hubbs to take into work after his paternity leave and also some of this ginger cake. One of his colleagues commented how he liked the ginger bits in the cake. I personally would have enjoyed a stronger ginger hit to the cake and will probably put 1-2tbs of ground ginger in next time. I might increase the amount of crystallised and stem ginger in too.

See the juicy chucks of stem ginger and small pieces of crystallised ginger in the cake?

Butter Coconut Buns 椰子麵包

2010-09-07T01:57:00.002+01:00

As mentioned in earlier blog here is the recipe for Coconut buns that I made the day before Junior was born. It's from Alex Goh's Baking Class - Bread.

Ingredients

One portion of basic sweet bun dough

Filling
60 g butter (softened)
150 g sugar
1 egg
150 g desiccated coconut

Method

- Prepare filling: Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add egg and cream until smooth. Add desiccated coconut and mix until well blended.

- Shape filling mixture into 30g balls and set aside. (This gave me enough for 25 balls.)

- Divide the basic sweet bun dough into 60 g portions, mould into balls and leave to rest for 10 minutes. (I managed to get 30 balls from my dough.)

- Lightly roll them flat. Put the coconut filling on the sweet bun dough.. Wrap them up.

- Roll the dough flat to 14cm round, fold into half moon shape then in half again.

- Using a knife cut an opening in the middle of the round edge. Then pull the opening apart gently and make a v-shape. Carefully open up the inner face so you can see the filling. Place onto a greased pan.

- Leave to prove for 45 minutes or until they double in size.

- Brush with egg wash and bake at 190C for 12-15 minutes or until golden brown.

Basic Sweet Bun Dough ~ Sponge and Dough Method

2010-09-03T22:44:00.004+01:00

This recipe is taken fron Alex Goh's Baking Class - Bread. In his book, Alex has three different sweet bun dough recipes. According to Alex, this method produces a softer, bigger loaf which keeps longer.

Basic Sweet Bun Dough ~ Sponge and Dough Method
Ingredients

(A)Sponge Dough
2 tsps Instant Yeast
2 tbsps Water
420 g Bread flour
1/2 tbsp Sugar
220 ml Cold water

(B)Main Dough
120 g Plain flour
60 g Bread flour
1 tsp Instant yeast
110 g Sugar
10 g Salt
20 g Milk powder
40 ml Cold water
1 Egg
60 g Butter

Method
For the sponge, mix instant yeast and water and set aside for 10 minutes. Add the remaining ingredients (A) and knead to form dough.

Cover the dough with clear film and let it prove for 2 1/2 hours. Then, add the sugar, salt, eggs from the main dough ingredients (B). Mix till well blended. Then add flour, instant yeast, milk powder and the water.

Mix all ingredients till well blended. Knead to form a dough.

Add the butter and knead to form a smooth and elastic dough.

Mould it into a round and cover it with clear film. Let it prove 10 minutes. Then it's ready for use in making bread or buns.

Baby Diep Finally Here!

2010-09-03T22:13:00.001+01:00

I am pleased to announce that our little Tiger has arrived to join his Mummy and Daddy Tiger! 'Junior' made his entrance into the world 3 days later than his expected date - I can only assume he wanted a memorable birth date of 10/08/10!

"Hello!" Minh's first photo

My last blog entry was a quick one as I was due to go into hospital for some ante-natal checks. They were concerned with protein detected in my urine because if my blood pressure was rasied it could indicate I had pre-eclampsia. I did not have pre-eclampsia or high blood pressure but there was still protein present in my urine. As a result, they decided to admit me into hospital that evening and my baby would be induced. (Labour started artificially.)

Minh in his hospital cot

It was rather scary as I did not expect to have to stay in. I had even driven myself to hospital that morning as well! It was a saving grace that my hospital bags were packed and in the boot of my car! In fact, they had been in there since the end of July in anticipation of Junior's early arrival! I even called hubbs at work telling him to finish work early as I was going to be induced that evening. The reason why he didn't accompany me to hospital is that this was my second visit for such tests. The previous week, my midwife detected protein in urine and also raised blood pressure an referred me to hospital. I called my hubbs who came home and took me in. We spent the whole afternoon there with me being strapped to fetal heartbeat monitor for some of the time. My blood pressure was fine but I still had protein in my urine so blood was taken for testing. I went home but they rang me the following day to say they wanted to repeat the tests after the weekend. I did wonder if it would be necessary as Junior was due on the Saturday. The weekend passed with me feeling pretty much the same and I knew Junior was too comfy to move. So I did some baking on the Sunday!

Minh would not settle in his cot at night so midwife put him in my bed with me

The induction was carried out by inserting a pessary tablet. I had a tablet of prostatin administered at 7pm this was after an internal examination and a sweep as the tablet has to go in between the membrane and cervix. All I can say is that it was very uncomfortable and unpleasant! Good news for me was my cervix was soft enough to insert the prostatin tablet and was at 1cm dilation. By around 11pm that evening I was experiencing some pain in my lower abdomen, it was waves of pain similar to when you have a bad tummy ache. It was bearable enough. I closed my eyes trying to sleep but found my brain still awake. This is the problem I have in a strange bed. At 01:45am the pain was irritating. Each time I drifted asleep the pain would snap me out of it. I asked for painkillers and had some paracetamol and codeine. This is what I needed and managed sleep through to 06:00am.

Dressed and waiting for Daddy to come take him home

I felt shattered the next morning and looked as I'd done 10 rounds with Tyson! At 09:45am I had my second dose of prostatin. It was less painful but extremely uncomfortable! She was not the most delicate of midwives! After having the prostatin, you have to stay in bed for at least 1 hour as they strap you to the fetal heart beat monitor so they can see how baby reacts to the prostatin. This was fine as I had my nose in a book. Unfortunately for me, the pads were not picking up the heartbeat very well and so I had to stay longer on the machine. The waves of pain increased in intensity at mid-morning. Lying on my back was not so comfortable anymore. It seemed to be easier laying on my side but it didn't help the pads detect baby's heartbeat. I gave up trying to read as the pain was too uncomfortable. I found it soothing and relaxing to have the small of my back rubbed. The warmth in the massage helped to ease the pain. As you can imagine, it again doesn't help the pads pick up baby heartbeat. Midwife was far from impressed with me. I took a break from the machine and from lying in bed all day at 12:30pm. I found the pain distracting and it put me off my food despite my hubbs telling me I needed to eat. 2 forkfuls of salty cottage pie is all I could face.

Enjoying a cuddle in my dressing gown after a feed

I asked for painkillers in the hope it would take edge of pain. The paracetamol and codeine had no effect and still I needed to be strapped to machine. All I could do was close my eyes and try to ignore the pain. I asked hubbs to keep eye on monitor to ensure it continued to pick up baby's heart beat. 45 minutes later and I tell my husband I'd had enough. He obediently undid the straps and pads and helped me to my feet. I began to feel hot and agitated. I knew where this would lead to, I was beginning to feel very irritated and restless. I decided to get on all fours and rest my head on the raised end of the bed hoping that being off my back would help ease the pain. I was not shy in exclaiming "Ow! Ow! OW!!!" when the waves of pain overtook me. The midwife suggested soaking in a hot bath to help ease the pain. I misheard her and thought she was off to get me a hot water bottle. She came back 5 minutes later to tell me bath was ready. My hubbs helped me to the bathroom and I was horrified to see a raised bath with steps to get into it. Anything that involved moving against my will seemed like a mountainous task! Anyway, I clambered in and yes, it was hot and it didn't help me when I was already feeling hot and sweaty but the pain seemed less long and less intense whilst I was soaking. Poor darling hubbs did his best to cool my face by fanning a towel. He dabbed at the sweat pouring down my forehead and in all honesty, I wanted to push the towel away and just say, "Just wipe it! Don't dab it delicately!" but bless him, I knew he was trying to help and secondly, I couldn't find the energy to complain at him! I found that turning on my side in the bath and resting my face on the cool porcelain bath soothing and stayed there for some time.

Peaceful slumber in his carrycot

Little did I know but 2 hours passed whilst in the bathtub. I was still exclaiming "OW!" when necessary but strangely, I started experiencing new pains. Not only did I get the waves of pain under the bump, I had strange heavy, downward pressure feelings under my bump and in my bowel area. It was extremely uncomfortable to say the least! After a while I decided that maybe if I push when I had the pressure feeling it would pass. I thought it was trapped wind. I pushed a couple of times and felt small amounts of water being expelled. During one push I grunted loudly and the midwife heard me and knocked on the door. She asked if I was pushing and I responded with "I'm trying not to." She said if I was pushing I would need to get out of bath and be examined. I stalled her by saying "In a minute." The thought of moving was too much to bear. I tried not to push when the urge came and found myself whistling to prevent pushing. A couple of times it was just too much and I had to push. Hubbs thought my waters had gone as he saw something brownish in bath water. I told him waters are clear. He left me to call a midwife. They said it was membrane and pulled the plug on my bathwater. They told me I needed to get out as baby would be born in bath otherwise. I was feeling far from co-operative and all I could say was "I don't mind." It took them a few minutes to get me to get out of bath as it seemed to me that if I moved, the pains returned. Every time they told me to move (they were very nice and extremely patient) I replied with "In a minute, it hurts." They tempted me by saying "The drugs are downstairs. That's where the good stuff is." I eventually got out and sat on a chair and was wheeled back to my bed. They examined me and before I knew it, they were wheeling my bed down the corridor, into the lift and down the next corridor to the delivery suite. I was still naked and wet with nothing but a sheet to cover my modesty. My eyes were still shut and I was long past caring whether I was clothed or not! All the while, I was trying to resist the urge to push and was either whistling rather loudly or pinching great folds of skin from my poor husband's side!

"Yawn! It's tiring being a baby!"

Once in the delivery suite, I needed to move onto the other bed. I was not impressed by having to move. I rose onto all fours and wondered how I was going to make it across the gap. Roll over they told me. Umm..not likely I thought - I have a big bump in front of me! Anyhow, with hubbs support I made it onto the other bed and laid on my side. They checked me and confirmed they could feel baby's head and I could start pushing. I heard my hubbs asking about what pain relief I could have. "It's too late for that," they said, "The baby's coming." So I pushed with all my might and as loudly as my vocal chords would allow! I grunted and I even heard myself howl!?!?!? Exactly as when you watch birthing programmes on TV!!?! A whoosh of hot wetness and a lump gushed out and the baby was born! Junior's lungs certainly worked as we heard the loud cries of a baby!

A hot heavy weight was placed next to me and the midwife said to me, "It's your baby!" "Eurgh! It's disgusting!" I replied. My eyes were still shut and I was commenting on the wet yukky mess that I felt between my legs. I opened my eyes and there was a little wrapped up bundle looking at me. When I thought how I might react at this point I thought emotion would overcome me and I would be crying. But no, I was in awe at the little being next to me. That it was mine. That I had to take it home with me and look after it. It was a strange feeling! Oh, and I did ask my husband what we had and he confirmed it was a boy! It was as our scan indicated back in March! Silly surgery midwife putting doubt in my head telling me the heartbeat sounded like a girl's!

He weighed 8lb1oz (3.66kg) at birth and the time was recorded as 16:24pm. Labour was documented as being 2 hours 32 minutes. I guess that was from the time I went into the bath to the time that Junior arrived as at no point during the morning was I examined to see how far dilated I was. In a way I'm glad, I would hate to be suffering in pain only be told that I was only 4cm dilated! Was rather surprised at myself for going through it without pain relief. I didn't count the paracetamol in the morning because lets face it - they did not make any difference at all. I did get to have some gas and air as I was unfortunate to have suffered a second degree tear and needed stitches. We spent the night in hospital and were finally discharged the following evening.

Here are some recent pictures.

Minh's favourite pasttime - drinking milk!


Minh at 2 wks+3 days

Bun in Oven and Still Baking!

2010-08-09T01:47:00.001+01:00

Coconut Bun 椰子麵包

Those who don't know English slang, having a "Bun-in-the-oven" means you are pregnant. I am officially overdue - well, not me as such. Junior is. Estimated Due Date is was Saturday 7 August. I guess Junior doesn't fancy that day as it's birthday and so is waiting until their lucky number comes up!

I don't mind too much, I've had it fairly easy throughout my pregnancy. I'm finding the swollen feet and ankles annoying as it makes walking a little more sore and having a big bump in front of you certainly slows you down and gets in the way when you drop something (which is ALL the time!).

Anyway, I digress. Thought I'd check out the other new kitchen toy that hubbs bought - the Food Mixer. For some unknown reason I wanted to bake my own bread. I tell you, it certainly was quick and easy when there is a machine that does the messy mixing and kneading for you!

The Kenwood in action!

Well.....why stop there at one loaf I heard a voice in my head. I love to blog-surf and have bookmarked many a recipe with the view of trying them out. Some of the recipes I find are just going around the blogosphere from one blogger to another. Others try out recipes they've read from books and I thought I'd do the same. I ordered this book along with some others and have yet to try any recipes out. (Personally I think I just collect books I like the look of - especially baking books!) It's from "Alex Goh's Baking Class - Bread" and I know bloggers have been raving about his cakes and bread and I thought I'd put the Kenwood to some good use!

Afternoon Tea anyone?

Seeing as I had a machine that was going to do the hard work I decided to choose the Sponge and Dough Method to make the Basic Sweet Bun Dough. His reasoning is that it produces "...a softer, bigger loaf which keeps longer". Time is not of the essence with me today and in all honesty I'd prefer a loaf or buns that stayed soft and obviously kept well. There's only the two of us at the end of the day and although I'm sure I'll give some buns away to my mum, there's only so many buns you can gorge yourself silly on!

I had a crazy day in the kitchen and in the end this is what I've made...........

Mountain of Coconut Buns and some Cinnamon & Raisin Buns (ran out of coconut filling)

I think I might have got a bit carried away! At least I know how many buns are made out of a portion of Alex's Basic Sweet Bun Dough!

I also made 4 jars of Three Berry Jam (Raspberry, Blueberry and Blackberry) - I decided to make room in the freezer and these frozen berries were taking up too much room! Home-made jam is so much tastier than store-bought, Somehow there is an intensity of fruit flavour that I don't get from a shop-bought jar. These berries were just on special offer at the time and found their way into the freezer for jam-making. Haven't been picking any raspberries from Mum's garden this year.

I was going to buy a loaf of bread from the bakery yesterday but seeing as hubbs had bought a new toy - we'd thought we'd make our own. I like my toast in the morning - hubbs is seems is not a big bread lover.

I'll post up the bread and buns later on separate posts. Too tired now!

Another New Kitchen Toy! - Kenwood Food Mixer

2010-08-08T18:28:00.001+01:00

Not only was I lucky enough to get a halogen oven, I also got a food mixer too! It has a stainless steel bowl and comes with a beater (for cake mixes), whisk (meringues and cream - will be handy for chiffon cakes!) and a dough hook. Always wanted something that would do the hard job of kneading for me!
Saying that, I did bake a loaf of bread last Sunday and make a batch of Chinese Sweet Bread Buns - one half was Cocktail Buns, the other half was Sausage Buns.

Today, I'm making a loaf of bread again and am trying out a new recipe for Chinese Sweet Bread Dough.

Dough is proving for my loaf and I'm glad I had the mixer to knead the sticky dough! I hate it clinging to my fingers in a gooey sticky mess!

Will post the results later!

New Kitchen Toy - Halogen Oven

2010-08-07T23:04:00.001+01:00

This alien looking unit is our new kitchen gadget - a halogen oven

Hubbs came home yesterday bearing gifts - well new kitchen toys! We've talked about getting a Halogen oven - which is basically an extremely large glass bowl with a powerful halogen heat source in the lid unit. I'm not sure why this came about but our toaster has recently gone kaput after 4-5 years. One of the heating elements on the toaster wall has broken so it no longer works. Doesn't bother me as the grill toasts my morning bread quickly. Hubbs likes to use the toaster bag and pops a sausage roll or samosa in the toaster to warm up. We also have a George Foreman grill - well it was hubbs way of cooking dinner before he met me. George is a bit unreliable and has a dodgy power lead which sometimes turns him off. His non-stick plates are also wearing out in places too. Hence, we've talked about a halogen oven. They are supposed to be quite energy efficient and also very quick to cook food. I think it's similar to a fan oven in the sense that hot air is blown around the glass bowl cooking the food. That is why things are placed on the racks provided to ensure heat and air circulation.

So, we gave the strange spaceship contraption it's first trial tonight. We decided to buy a chicken to roast for dinner. According to the instruction manual, a 1.6kg chicken will take 40 minutes to cook at 200 deg C.

Following the instructions I pre-heated the oven and placed my chicken on the lower rack and pit some potatoes around the meat. Listening to advice on websites from other halogen oven users I added a cup of water to the glass bowl. That way any fats and cooking juices don't burn and stick to the bowl making washing a nightmare.

It emits a very bright light when it's cooking

Our chicken was 1.3kg so I started the timer for 30 minutes. The strange thing about the halogen oven is that it will switch itself off for a second every now and again when it reaches optimum temperature before turning itself back on again. I was beginning to think the chicken would never cook!

When 30 minutes was up the chicken was a pale golden brown. It doesn't say to flip the chicken over but I did anyway to see if the underside was cooked. It looked rather anaemic and raw to say the least. I drained the pink juices from the cavity, placed the chicken breast side down and cooked for a further 10 minutes.

It was a beautiful golden brown and I gave it several pokes with a skewer before deciding it was definitely cooked. Looked good and smelt it too!

The cooked chicken - doesn't look too bad

The roast potatoes however, were looking pretty insipid. I changed to the taller rack (I figured the reason why the potatoes and chicken probably didn't cook that well was it was too near the bottom of the glass bowl. With the water on the bottom it probably prevent much air and heat to circulate around the food.) and put the potatoes back in for a further 10 minutes. They turned out a lovely brown colour.

These looked super crunchy!

The result? The chicken was just cooked and so deliciously moist! The bones on the carcass look a bit pink but as I'm not chewing those I don't mind! The breast meat was so tender and juicy! Delicious! I struggle to recall when I last had chicken that tasty! I will definitely cook it this way again but on the higher rack and it will be interesting to see if the chicken needs flipping over to cook the back. The potatoes looked good but weren't crispy crunchy as a proper roast potato. They were soft and fluffy - "Like baked potatoes." commented hubbs. I think they had too much of a steaming having spent 30 minutes millimetres away from the water. Maybe I could cook them on a tray with a drizzle of oil next time?

Roast chicken dinner with tenderstem broccoli and roast potatoes

Crispy Pork II

2010-08-07T14:33:00.000+01:00

Well yesterday we had our Crispy Slow-Roasted Belly Pork with mashed potatoes and steamed greens. Hubbs wanted the pork for lunch (I had no ideas for lunch anyway) so I steamed some white rice, stir-fried some iceberg lettuce and warmed up yesterday's left-over pork.

See how the skin has puffed up compared to yesterday?

The pork puffed up beautifully under the hot grill and as a result has an addictive light crunch to the skin! Yum Yum!

Simply served on a bed of rice, some cooked greenery and some 5-spiced soy. It's rather delicious! What's good is that I don't even have to make a trip to Chinatown for this!

Crunchy, Crispy, Crackly Pork

2010-08-06T22:24:00.000+01:00

Crispy and crunchy crackling!

One of my favourite dinners has to be roast pork. Now, I'm not fussy whether it's British Roast Pork or Chinese Crispy Roast Pork. Either way it's got to have that lovely crunchy, crisp light bubbly crackling! When I see it on a restaurant/pub menu I am often tempted to order it and salivate in eager anticipation. Last time I saw slow roast belly pork with crackling on a pub menu, yes - I did succumb and order it. To be honest, I shouldn't have bothered. The crackling was chewy tough leather. I didn't finish the dry fibrous pork either. Disappointing. So, my rule is now, if I want to eat Roast Pork I have to get in the kitchen and cook it myself. With the exception of buying the Chinese Crispy Pork though. Have never had a bad one.

Had to drive hubbs to work a couple of days ago as his car was still at the garage for a service. Hubbs is a programmer for Costco UK and so it was an excuse to go wandering in for Coffee and Danish - I mean to look around the warehouse! I haven't been to Costco for a while and they do have good quality meat there at reasonable prices. Problem usually is that it's faaar too much for the two of us and I'm too lazy to portion and freeze the excesses. That and I ought to clear room in the freezer too!

I was having a good ol' browse and nosey and saw a slab of belly pork. I was actually looking for some pork ribs as hubbs wanted them for dinner when we took my mum out for dinner on Monday. The place we went to had a bit of a long queue so we turned tail and ran. Hubbs didn't get his rib fix either. I got a reasonable sized piece 1.2kg not too big for the two of us and the skin looked like it should roast and crisp up well. (Mum has taught me not to go for the pale and flabby looking skins that despite all your efforts will not crisp and puff up for roasting.)

I finally got round to preparing the pork for dinner today. Now I would normally prepare this at least a day in advance to allow the skin to dry out in fridge - essential in my book for crisp crackling. I only remembered at 1:30pm to prep my pork! OK, now, do I want to keep it plain like I would for a Roast Leg of Pork English style? Or aromatically flavoured with Chinese 5-spice flavour? Couldn't decide so I did both!

I slow roasted the pork on a moderate heat in the oven so the meat would be tender - belly meat can be a bit chewy otherwise. I think the slow-roast enabled the fat to render out too. Last part of the cooking process was to blast the skin so it would crisp up. It wasn't puffy like the Chinese crispy pork, but still had a satisfactory crunch to it.

Here's what I did:

Crunchy Slow-Roasted Pork Belly

1.2kg belly pork (with skin and bone)
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp sugar
2 tsp Chinese 5-spice powder
1/2 tsp rock salt
1/4 tsp coarse ground black pepper
1 tsp dried oregano
1/2 eating apple (I used braeburn)

I didn't have time or inclination to bone out the rib bones so I just scored a deep (1.5cm) cut alongside each of the rib bones on the flesh side of the pork. This creates channels in which you rub the flavouring into.

Using a very, very sharp pointed knife, I scored the skin of the belly pork as close as I could all over. The scoring just went in one direction, no diamonds, no cross-hatching. My mum used to stab the skin with a multitude of small pin-prick holes using a skewer and quite frankly, I didn't have the tools or time. I think that's the Chinese method. I use the English way of scoring and it works fine for me. I put a small cooling rack into the empty sink then put the pork skin-side up on the rack. I then poured 1 pint of boiled water over the skin of the pork. This is a Chinese trick I think to prepare the skin - I think it helps it dry out for better roasting. After that I patted the pork dry with kitchen paper. The hot water opens up the skin slightly anyway and you can see the score marks.

I put the pork skin-side up on a plate uncovered into the fridge until I was ready to roast. Usually I would leave it overnight.

Half an hour before roasting, I took the pork out of the fridge. Turning the meat onto the skin side, I mixed 1/4 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp sugar and 2tsp 5-spice powder in a small dish and then used this to sprinkle into the grooves of the meat. I gave the grooves a good rub to distribute the flavouring evenly.

I used a pestle and mortar to grind the salt pepper and oregano to powder and flipping the pork back so it was skin side up, used this to rub into the skin of the pork. I left it under a food umbrella next to an open window.

After 30 minutes, I patted the skin dry with kitchen paper. Salt on the skin draws out excess water before roasting so you get a good crunchy crackling.

I sliced the apple (removing any core) and laid it on the bottom of a roasting tray. The pork sat on top of the apple slices and I roasted this at gas mark 5 for 1hr 30minutes.

When the time was up, I drained the meat juices and fat into a jug for later. I cranked the heat up to gas mark 7 and put the pork back in for a 30 minute high heat blast. This is my sure-fire way of getting the crunchy crackling I adore. It saves having to put the pork under the grill and toasting the skin to puff it up (which I inevitably burn!).

I strained the fat off the roasted juices and used the remainder along with the mashed apple slices to make a roast gravy.

This half is tomorrow night's dinner
- I plan to serve it Chinese Style with plain rice,
spiced soy sauce and some vegetables.

On serving I showed restraint and only carved half the meat (I was feeling greedy and wanted more!) for the two of us for dinner and serve it along side mashed potato and steamed shredded greens.

Oh, and home-made apple sauce! I find the jar stuff too syrupy sweet and not appley enough. It's simple enough to peel core and dice a bramley apple, plonk in a small pan, splash some water add 1-2 tbsp sugar and cook slowly 'til it's as mushy/lumpy as you like it. I like it mashy with apple chunks and a nice sweet sharp tang! I made my apple sauce from 1 small bramley and ate it all myself! Hubbs is not keen on fruit with savoury food.

This is hubbs dinner - see? No apple sauce for him means all the more for me!

This is my plate - see the big dollop of tangy apple sauce? Mmmm!

Our Roasted Pork Dinner for two!
(& left-overs for tomorrow's dinner!)

Peanut Butter Cookies

2010-07-30T17:06:00.001+01:00

This is a cookie that I've tried making several times over the years and there must be 1001 recipes out there. I like my cookie to be crisp, crumbly and nutty. This cookie ticks two of my boxes but it's not quite got that nutty hit for me. It's a good little cookie though - quick and easy and makes a decent sized batch so great for mass bakes where you want to split your goodies amongst friends and families. I think after having made Chinese Peanut Cookies for Chinese New Year, nothing quite else hits that nutty spot!

I would make this again and would probably incorporate some ground roasted peanuts in for added fragrance and aroma and I would switch to using grams (I've gone finally gone metric now I have digital scales!) rather than faff with cups.

The recipe (once again) isn't mine (do I really spend that much time blog-surfing?). It's the excellent photography from here: Peanut Butter Cookies that motivated me to make these. I have packaged a box to take with me to craft class, boxed some for my brother and also for my cousin who will be visiting from Hong Kong. (Needless to say I have also put some away for hubbs - can't forget him now can I?)

Gooey Chocolate Brownie

2010-07-30T16:48:00.001+01:00

This is my third attempt at making Brownies and this is certainly a gooey one! The first one I made was by melting chocolate (milk as I'd run out of plain) and butter together - it was gooey but I didn't like it. The second recipe I used used cocoa powder and I cooked this one a bit longer so it was more cakey than gooey. It had a good deep dark chocolate hit.

I made these Brownies as a result of seeing them here The Squidgiest Brownies You Ever Did Taste. They looked really good and so warranted a try.

I tweaked the recipe to my liking as I didn't use the 70% cocoa solids plain chocolate. Mine was only 48% so I couldn't justify needing as much sugar that the recipe called for. I wasn't so sure on needing the brownie to be chewy so opted to half the strong flour for plain. I decided to toast the nuts in the oven first to give them that little bit extra flavour to them other than that, everything was followed pretty much to the 'T'.

The result was a good chocolatey brownie - sweet enough and chocolatey enough too. It probably would've been deep dark and sinful if I'd used chocolate with a higher percentage of cocoa solids, but that is what was in the cupboard at the time.

I took some to my craft class with me and it went down a storm! Remembered to save some for hubbs and judging by the way he was guarding the cake tin - I'd say he liked it too!

Quick & Easy Chinese Dinner - Dishes from my Childhood

2010-07-23T15:05:00.000+01:00

Growing up in my mother's kitchen she has always been a great source of inspiration and when we were younger, we were lucky to have a WAHM. It meant that she was always there for us when we finished school and would cook us all kind of goodies. We are older now and have our own homes and families and I can't wait for the day she retires so she can spend more time again in the kitchen trying out new recipes and snacks and all sorts of good things to eat!

Many of the chinese dishes I attempt now are influenced from my childhood and are things mum would cook for us to eat as our one plate meals. We'd often have a one plate meal where we have our own bowl of rice and it'd be topped with a stir-fried dish of meat and veggies. Simple cooking and often eaten in front of the TV! We'd only sit around the table and share multiple dishes when dad was at home or if we had guests. Now, as mum still works (not at home anymore), when she has her day off from work she still likes to cook various dishes that we sit at the table and share - even if it's only 2 or 3 of us.

My hubbs likes courgettes and I don't mind them but have had a few from the supermarket that are bitter to eat. No idea why so I only buy them in the summer months (am growing them in garden at the moment too!). I have found that my half vietnamese/half chinese hubby seems to enjoy the oriental style dishes that I cook. Some of the dishes he suggests cooking (or what he used to cook for me before we were married) are very similar to what my mum cooked. The only difference I find is that he tends to use fish sauce in cooking whereas my upbringing would be to use soy sauce.

Courgettes are bountiful in the supermarkets now and I cooked these dishes for our dinner on Wednesday:

Stir-Fried Courgette with Pork

150g sliced pork (I had spare rib chops again but chicken will work well or even beef)
2 medium sized courgettes, halved lengthwise then sliced
1 shallot, sliced
2 small garlic cloves, minced
dash of white pepper
few drops of sesame oil
splash of soy sauce (1tsp)
splash of chinese wine (1 tsp)
1/2 tsp cornflour
2 tsp squid sauce
2 tsp oyster sauce
1/2 cup water
cornflour and water mix

The pork was mixed with pepper, sesame oil, soy sauce, chinese wine and the cornflour and left to sit in a dish whilst I prepared the vegetables.
I heated 1 tbs of oil in a work and then slid the pork in. Leave to fry for about 1-2 minutes before turningthe meat over to brown slightly. Add the shallots and stir.
Add the sliced courgettes and garlic and fry for 2 minutes before adding the water, squid sauce and oyster sauce. Leave to cook for 3 minutes.
Check the sauce for seasoning, thicken with cornflour and water mix.

Mum would often cook us tomato, egg and beef. She says it's full of vitamins and nutritious. I once cooked it for hubbs and he didn't like it. Said it was neither beefy or tomatoey! As I wanted another dish for dinner, (I usually cook enough so I can pack a ricebox lunch for hubbs.) I decided to try tomato and egg (minus beef this time). It seemed to go down with no complaints this time!

Tomato & Egg

3 medium sized eggs (my babies eggs are only around 55-60g with the shell)
3 medium sized ripe tomatoes (I only buy vine ripened ones as the flavour is more superior than regular salad toms) quartered, or cut into 1/6ths
1 shallot, sliced,
1 spring onion, white part sliced in thin rings and the green parts shredded
1/4 cup of water
2 tsp tomato puree (mum uses tom ketchup)
1/2 tsp sugar
cornflur and water mix

Heat 1 tbs oil in a wok and add the eggs (you can beat them up first or just scramble lightly in the wok). Don't bash them up too much as you want large enough pieces of egg to eat later. Put aside on a plate for later.

Add the tomatoes, shallot and the white part of the spring onion to the wok and let sizzle for 30 seconds or so. Add the water and let the tomatoes cook a little. If the water evaporates too quickly (my gas flame isn't particularly powerful) add a splash more water. Add the tomato puree and sugar.

Tatse the sauce, it should be tomatoey and not too sharp - add more sugar if necessary.

Add the spring onion greens, add in the cooked egg and thicken sauce with the cornflour and water mix.

We loved this dish as kids and mum still cooks it occasionally now but she's not a beef fan so she sometimes cooks it with spam batons, fish cake slices or small minced pork patties.