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!)

Still not quite as white and cloud-like as restaurant buns but tasty all the same :)

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!

Hot steamy action!

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

My two taste-testers!  If the son & hubbs approve it must be good! :D

Dim Sum Delights - Imperial China (Watford)

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!