Pan-Fried Stuffed Buns (水煎包)

Ingredients:

Dough

150 g all purpose flour
80 ml water
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp yeast
1/2 tbsp oil

Filling (in excess)

300-400 g minced meat
10 shrimps, shell removed, cleaned & chopped
1 ½ tbsp grated ginger
1 tbsp white pepper powder
1 tbsp garlic powder
1tbsp light soy sauce
2 tbsp oyster sauce
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
1 tbsp sesame oil
1 ½ tbsp cooking wine
1/2 tbsp cornstach
1/2 cup chopped cabbage
1 stalk scallion, chopped

Method:

To prepare dough:

In a large bowl, combine all dough ingredients, knead till soft and smooth.

Lightly greased a container, place-in the dough, cover and let proof till doubled in size (about 1.5 hours).

To prepare filling:

In another large mixing bowl, combine all the filling ingredients except cabbage and scallion.

Stir thoroughly to give sticky texture.

Lastly add-in cabbage and scallion, stir to homogeneously incorporate.

Adjust taste accordingly with salt.

To assembly:

Over a lightly floured surface, punch down the dough and knead again for another 3 minutes.

With floured knife, cut dough into small pieces according to preference sizes.

Sprinkle-on some flour, flatten each small dough and roll out thin into rough sheet.

Place a spoonful filling onto the center of pastry, twist to seal the top and flatten lightly.

Place the filled buns on heavy floured plate with seal side down, cover with kitchen towel and leave to rise for about 20-30 minutes.

Lightly grease a non-stick pan, pan-fry buns to brown one side for about 1-2 minutes.

Flip over buns, sprinkles-on about 1 tbsp water around each bun, cover and steam for about 3-4 minutes to brown the another side and cooked thoroughly.

Once water just dried out, flip over buns, and cook the previous side for about 1 minutes covered again.

Remove buns from heat and best serve warm.

Polo Buns (菠萝包)

Ingredients:

Bread Dough

240 ml plain flour
1/4 tsp salt
30 ml sugar
1 tbsp beaten egg
1 tsp dried instant yeast
70 ml milk
1 tbsp butter

Polo Pastry

2 tbsp butter
25 ml powdered sugar
pinch of salt
1 tbsp beaten egg
95 ml plain flour

Filling (optional)

2 ½ tbsp butter
1 ¾ tbsp sugar
pinch of salt

Method:

To prepare the bread dough:

In a large mixing bowl, add-in all the dough ingredients and mix with fingertips to combine and detach from side wall of bowl.

Knead generously for about 15-20 minutes or till form smooth and soft skin dough.

Set aside covered with wet kitchen towel to proof for 1 ½ hours or till double in size.

Punch down proofed dough to release entrapped gas, divide dough into 4 portions and set aside to rest for 15 minutes or till use.

To prepare the polo pastry:

In a bowl, beat butter, sugar and salt still pale and fluffy.

Beat-in egg till fully incorporated and grassy.

Fold-in flour and mix well with fingertips.

Divide into 4 portions and set aside till use.

To prepare the filing:

In another bowl, beat butter, sugar and salt till incorporated fully.

Chill in fridge till firm then divide into 4 portions and chill in fridge again till use.

To assembly:

Flatten one portion of bread dough and fill-in a portion of filling.

Wrap up, twist edges firmly to seal and ground the sealing tip onto the dough.

With both hands, shape the dough into proper dough ball, set aside.

Flatten one portion of polo pastry.

Gently lift up the flattened pastry and transfer onto the center of hand palm.

Place-on a filled dough and press the dough toward pastry till all the side walls of the dough being covered by the pastry (filling seal side down).

With both hands, shape the entire bun into ball.

With sharp knife, draw chequer pattern on the pastry surface and set aside to proof for about 1 hour or till double in size.

Brush-on egg wash and bake in a preheated oven at 180 °C for 15 minutes or till golden.

Best serves fresh or reheat it in oven for few minutes on the next day before serving.

Chinese Chives Box (韭菜盒)

Ingredients:

Dough

240 ml all purpose flour
80 ml hot boiling water
40 ml cold water

Filling

2 cup diced Chinese chives (about 1 cm length)
1 ½ cup ground pork (not lean)
1/3 cup dried shrimp, soaked and drained
handful of segmented glass vermicelli noodles
1 tbsp shao xing wine
1 tbsp light soy sauce
3 tbsp sesame oil
2 tbsp pepper powder
1/2 tsp salt or to taste
1 tbsp of garlic or shallot flavored olive oil

Method:

To prepare dough:

In a large bowl, add-in flour.

Pour-in hot water and stir with chopstick or fork to form crumbs.

Pour-in cold water and knead to form dough (dough will remain sticky).

Set aside covered to rest for at least 30 minutes.

To prepare chives filling:

In another large mixing bowl, add-in pork and seasoning with wine, soy sauce, sesame oil and pepper.

Stir thoroughly to give sticky texture.

Add-in shrimp, noodles and chives, stir to homogeneously incorporate.

Adjust taste with salt and stir-in the remaining oil thoroughly.

To assembly:

Over a lightly floured smooth surface, knead dough into smooth long log (about 5 cm in diameter).

With floured knife, cut dough into 15 pieces.

Sprinkle-on some flour, flatten each small dough and roll out thin into rough sheet.

Place a spoonful filling onto the center of pastry, fold one side of pastry to the another, press edges firmly to seal and pleat accordingly to shape.

Over a non-stick pan, dry-fry or pan-fry dumplings with little oil over low heat to brown both sides and cooked through.

Best serve warm.

French Crepes

Ingredients:

1 egg
1/3 tsp salt
1/3 tsp sugar
1/2 cup milk
1/3 cup all purpose flour
1 ⅓ tbsp butter, melted

Sweet Filling Options:

Jam/Apple butter/Nutella/Chestnut cream/Butter and sugar/Sliced bananas with chocolate sauce and whipped cream or ice-cream/Fresh berries marinated with sugar and grand marnier/crepes suzette

Savory Filling Options:

Grated cheese/Sliced ham/Egg freshly cooked on crepe/Sauteed spinach/Sauteed mushroom in cream sauce/Mushroom and chicken in cream sauce/Shrimp and shelled mussels in cream sauce/Ratatouille/Cooked sausage/Green salad with vinaigrette

Method:

In a large bowl, beat eggs with salt and sugar till dissolved.

Add-in milk and mix thoroughly.

Gradually, add the batter to flour and beat to eliminate lumps.

Pour-in butter and beat to incorporate.

Place the batter into fridge for at least 40 minutes.

Heat a 18 cm frying pan or crepe pan over medium-high heat and grease it lightly with butter (about 5 g each).

Pour-in 1/3 of the batter to the preheated pan and swirl it quickly to coat on the pan.

Cook for 2-3 minutes or till the crepe light golden brown on the bottom.

Flip it over to brown the other side.

Meanwhile, fill-in with a preference filling and fold accordingly.

Transfer the crepe to a serving plate with the seams on the bottom side.

Repeat for the remaining batter.

Best serve immediately.

Yield 3 crepes.

Chinese Fried Noodles

Ingredients:

200 g egg noodles

4 tbsp oil
3 slices ginger, cut into silvers
3 clove garlic, finely chopped
1/2 cup prawn/diced chicken/diced pork meat (optional)
2 chinese dried mushroom, soaked and thinly sliced (optional)
1 fresh red chili, removed seeds and thinly sliced (optional)
1 cup bean sprouts (optional)
1 stalk spring onion, sliced long

Seasoning Ingredients:

1 tbsp rice wine
3 tbsp oyster sauce
1 tbsp light soy sauce
1 tbsp fish sauce
1/2 tsp sugar
2 tsp salt or to taste
1/2 tsp pepper

Method:

Heat 2 tbsp oil in a wok and fry noodles until crunchy and golden brown.

Boil the noodles according to the package and drain well; set aside.

In a small bowl, mix together all the seasoning ingredients; set aside.

Heat the remaining oil in wok over high heat, stir-fry garlic and ginger until fragrant and starting to be golden brown.

Add-in meat slices and/or prawn, stir-fry for another 1 minute or till almost cooked.

Add-in noodles and seasoning mixture, stir-fry to well-mix the ingredients and seasoning spread out evenly.

Add-in bean sprouts, red chili and spring onion, stir-fry for another 3 minutes or till bean sprouts just right cooked thoroughly (meantime, adjust the taste accordingly with salt and pepper if desired).

Dish-up and best serve immediately.

Yeast Doughnuts

Ingredients:

1 ½ tsp dry instant yeast
1/4 cup lukewarm water

1/2 cup warm milk
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 egg
1/6 cup shortening or butter
3 cup all purpose flour
oil for deep-frying

enough fine sugar for coating

Method:

Dissolve yeast in lukewarm water, leave for 8 minutes or till foamy.

In a large bowl, combine milk, sugar, salt, egg, shortening and half of flour.

Pour-in yeast solution and stir well for few minutes.

Gradually, add-in the remaining flour till non-sticky dough form.

Knead dough well for about 8-10 minutes till smooth and elastic.

Transfer dough into a greased bowl and set aside at warm corner to rise covered with plastic wrapper till double in size.

Over large floured surface, flatten dough and roll out gently to the thickness of about 1/2 inch.

Cut into doughnut rings with floured doughnut cutter or simply with opening part of glass.

Let doughnut rings sit out to rise covered loosely with cloth till double in size again.

Heat oil over high heat or to 175 °C.

Carefully slide doughnuts into the hot oil by the help of wide spatula and fry doughnut till both sides are golden brown (doughnuts are turn-able once it floated).

Remove from oil and drain well on wire rack or absorbent papers.

Dip warm doughnuts into a bowl of sugar to coat.

French Baguettes

Ingredients:

1/4 cup lukewarm water
1/2 tsp sugar
1/2 tbsp dry active yeast

2 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp salt
1/2 cup lukewarm water

Method:

Dissolve sugar and yeast in warm water, leave for 8 minutes or till foamy.

In a bowl, combine flour and salt.

In another large bowl, combine yeast solution with 1/2 of the flour mixture and the remaining water, stir and mix to form a dough; set aside covered to rise for 3 hours or till triple in size.

Gradually, incorporate-in the remaining flour mixture and knead for 10 minutes or till smooth, supple and elastic.

Transfer dough into a greased bowl and set aside to rise covered for at least 1 hour or till double in size.

Knead lightly and divide dough into 2 portions.

Preheat oven to 230 °C.

Shape each portion into a long baguette, place on a baking sheet and set aside at dry corner covered loosely for at least 30 minutes or till double in size.

As soon as the baguettes have been slashed, moisten the surface either by painting with a soft brush dipped in cold water or with spray.

Place a bowl of boiling water into the oven (for obtaining light baguettes with crusty brown skin and soft internal).

Alternatively, rapidly brush baguettes surface with cold water or spray after every 3 minutes of baking for 3 times.

Bake baguettes for about 25 minutes or till golden brown and give a hollow sound once is thumped (Remove the water after 15 minutes of baking).

For shining crust, brush baguettes surface lightly with cold water as soon as it fresh out from the oven.

Cinnamon Buns (Sticky Bread)

Ingredients:

Bread:

200 mL lukewarm milk
1/2 tbsp sugar
1 ½ tsp instant yeast
2 tbsp butter (30g) butter
1 ½ tbsp sugar
1 egg yolk
1 tsp salt
3 cups all-purpose flour

Cinnamon Sugar Filling:

1/2 cup packed brown sugar
2 tsp cinnamon powder

Surface Brushing:

3 tbsp apricot preserves/jam (I use cherry preserves), melted or softened

Glaze:

1/2 tbsp butter, softened
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1/2 tbsp milk

Method:

Dissolve sugar and yeast in warm milk, leave for 8 minutes or till foamy.

In a large bowl, cream butter with sugar till creamy, pale and glossy.

Add-in yolk and salt, mix to homogeneous mixture.

Pour-in yeast solution, stir to incorporate.

Gradually, add-in flour and combine till soft dough.

Transfer dough to a lightly floured working surface, knead dough till smooth and elastic (about 10 minutes).

Transfer dough into a lightly oiled container and turn the dough to coat lightly with oil; set aside covered to rise until doubled in volume (about 2 hours).

Lightly grease a 18 cm springform cake pan; set aside.

With oily hand, punch down the dough and leave to rest for another 5 minutes.

With a well-floured rolling pin and working surface, roll out dough flat into about 36 x 18 cm rectangle with the thickness of 0.5 cm.

Spread-on cinnamon-sugar mixture and leaving a 1 cm border.

Roll up dough sheet tightly (like assembly sushi or swiss roll).

Press roll firmly to eliminate internal air trap.

Pinch seams and ends to seal.

Cut dough roll into 8 pieces, transfer to the prepared pan with cut side up and set aside covered to rise till double in volume for about 1 hour.

Meanwhile, preheat oven to 180 °C.

Bake cinnamon rolls for 35 minutes or until lightly golden brown.

Remove buns from oven, and leave to cool in pan for 10 minutes.

Remove from pan onto wire rack, brush-on apricot preserves and leave to cool completely.

Spread-on glaze mixture.

Torta Salata Pasqualina (Liguria Easter Pie)

Ingredients:

Pastry:

2 cups all purpose flour
2 tsp salt
2 ½ tbsp extra virgin olive oil
2/3 cup water

Filling:

4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
500 g chard, sliced into slim silvers
1 onion, sliced into slim silvers
250 g ricotta cheese
1 cup Parmesan or Grana cheese
2 tsp salt or to taste
1/2 tsp black pepper powder or to taste
1 tsp oregano flakes
3 eggs

Egg Wash:

1 egg yolk
1 tbsp milk

Method:

To prepare the pastry:

In a large bowl, combine flour, salt and oil.

Gradually, pour-in water and mix to homogeneous dough.

Knead dough into smooth and elastic dough (about 10 minutes).

Divide dough into 6 portions and set aside to rest for 30 minutes covered.

To prepare the filling:

Heat oil in a wok or pan over medium high heat, saute chard and onion for 15 minutes or till wilt.

Remove from heat and set aside to cool completely.

Add-in ricotta, Parmesan, salt, pepper, oregano and stir-well to homogeneous mixture.

To assembly:

Line the bottom of 18 cm baking pan with parchment paper; set aside.

Preheat oven to 180 °C.

Over a smooth working surface, roll out a portion of dough into very thin sheet and almost transparent.

Transfer it into the prepared pan and brush the exposing surface all over with oil.

Roll out second portion of dough to very thin, transfer onto the first pastry and brush-on oil.

Again roll out another portion of dough till very thin, transfer onto the previous pastry as third layer but without oil brushing for this time.

Pour-in the prepared filling and spread out evenly.

Make 3 holes in the firm filling and fill-in a whole raw egg into each holes.

Gently cover the filling with another 3 layers of pastries in the same procedures as of the pie basement assembly.

Close the pie by folding-in the wall-sides pastries.

Poke surfaces with fork or knife.

Brush surface with egg wash and bake in the preheated oven for 50 minutes or until golden.

Best serve hot or at room temperature.

Roti Maryam

Ingredients:

1 egg
1 egg yolk
1 tsp salt
2 cups bread flour (I used 1 cup all purpose flour mixed with 1 cup bread flour)
1 tbsp (15 g) butter
1/2 cup lukewarm water
butter for brushing (about 3 g or more for each roti)
vegetable oil for pan-frying

Method:

In a bowl, beat egg and egg yolk together with salt; set aside.

In a separate bowl, add-in flour and make a hole in center of the flour pile.

Pour-in eggs mixture, gradually covered with side flour and stir to incorporate.

Add-in butter and knead to mix fully.

Gradually, pour-in water, knead to smooth and non-sticky dough.

Lightly coat dough with oil and set aside covered to rest for about 3 hours.

Divide dough into 8 portions.

Over a lightly oiled flat surface, via rolling pin roll out each portions covered with lightly greased plastic to very thin and transparent oval sheets.

Brush-on butter all over on the exposing surface.

Gently, pick-up two ends, twist ends in co-current(opposite) direction into a thin log and form to spiral shape on greased working surface (overlap a bit while spiraling to prevent holey roti).

Covered with lightly greased plastic again and flatted spiral doughs with rolling pin to about 0.2 cm thick.

Carefully, transfer sheeted doughs onto a preheated flat pan (over medium flame)/griddle, pan-fry/grill till both surfaces are golden brown (flip occasionally for even browning).

Remove from griddle/heat, brush-on some butter and best serve with curries.

Cheese Filled Naans

Ingredients:

1/4 cup lukewarm water/milk
1 ½ tsp sugar
1 ½ tsp instant yeast

1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking powder

2 tbsp plain yogurt
1 tbsp vegetable oil/butter
1/3 cup lukewarm water

1/4 cup butter/ghee for surface brushing

Filling:

50 g cream cheese, softened
1/4 tsp salt

Method:

Dissolve sugar and yeast in 1/4 cup warm water, leave for 8 minutes or till foamy.

In a large bowl, mix together flour, salt and baking powder.

Pour-in yeast solution into flour mixture, stir to mix.

Add-in yogurt, oil and gradually pour-in water while kneading until dough becomes smooth and soft (about 10 minutes).

Transfer dough into a lightly oiled container and turn the dough to coat lightly with oil; set aside covered to rise until doubled in volume (about 1 ½ hours).

Preheat oven to 250 °C.

In a bowl, mix together cheese and salt, divide into 4 portions; set aside.

With oily hand, punch down the dough.

Divide dough into 4 balls (I divided it into 2 portions, yield to very heavy naans, sure cure empty stomachs for quite sometime, hahaha!).

Flatten each dough balls, fill-in 1 portion of cheese mixture into the center, twist together edges to seal and shape up nicely into balls again.

Dust work surface with flour.

With a well-floured rolling pin, roll out dough balls flat into 1/4" thick

Wet both hands with water, transfer filled naans onto a lightly greased baking tray.

Bake naans for 15 minutes or until lightly golden brown.

Remove naans from oven and brush each naans with butter/ghee.

Mee Goreng Mamak (Mamak's Style Fried Noodles)

Ingredients:

Fritters:

1 cup all purpose flour
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
65 mL water
1/2 tsp finely chopped green chili
1 onion, finely chopped
oil for deep-frying

Sauce:

1 onion, peeled
2 cloves garlic, peeled
1 tbsp chili paste (blend from fresh red chili or commercial chili paste)
1/2 tsp toasted belacan powder (dried shrimp paste)
1 boiled sweet potato, peeled and mashed (yield 2/3 cup)
1 tbsp dark brown sugar
3 tbsp light soy sauce
3 tbsp ketchup
1 tsp turmeric powder
1/3 cup lime juice/lemon juice/tamarind juice (juice of 2 tbsp tamarind paste in 50 mL water)
1 cup roasted peanut, pounded
2 tsp salt or to taste
1 ½ cups water
4 tbsp oil

Noodles Stir-Fry:

350 g yellow noodles
3 potatoes, peeled, boiled and coarsely sliced
homemade fritters' slices
1 egg
3 tbsp oil
1 lime, cut into wedges

Other Garnish Option:

bean sprouts
shrimps with tail's shell on
lean chicken/meat slices
deep fried firm beancurd, cut into small squares
fresh red chili's slices for sprinkling
crisp deep fried shallot for sprinkling

Method:

To Prepare Fritters:

In a large bowl, mix-in flour, baking powder, sugar and salt.

Gradually, pour-in water and knead till smooth dough forms; set aside to rest for at least 1 hour.

Add-in chili and onion.

With floured hands, knead well to mix, shape dough into smooth log (about 3 cm in diameter).

Heat enough oil in wok or pot, deep-fry fritters till golden brown and fragrant.

Drain well on paper towels, set aside to cool and cut into slices with 1 cm thick; set aside till use.

To Prepare Seasoning Sauce:

With a blender, blend-together onion, garlic, chili paste and belacan; set aside.

Heat 4 tbsp oil in wok or pan over medium high heat, saute blended mixture till aroma.

Add-in the remaining ingredients and bring to boil.

Reduce heat and simmer to thicken the sauce.

Remove from heat and set aside.

To Stir-Fry Noodles:

Heat 3 tbsp oil in a wok or pot over high heat.

Add-in meat slices and/or shrimps (if applicable), stir-fry for 1 minute or till almost cooked.

Add-in noodles and seasoning sauce, stir-fry to well-mix the ingredients and spread out the sauce evenly (meantime, adjust the taste accordingly with lime juice, chili paste and salt if desired).

Add-in potatoes, fritters or any other garnish, stir fry for another 2 minutes.

Reduce heat to medium.

Scrape noodles to side, pour egg into middle, stir quickly to scramble the egg, cover egg with noodles and leave for short while (about 1 minute).

Stir-fry for another short while to incorporate all ingredients and dish-up.

Sprinkle-on chili's slices and deep fried shallot if desired.

Best serve immediately with additional juice of lime's wedges.

Golden Mantou/Baozi/Pau/Buns with Curry Mussel Filling

Ingredients:

Filling:

Dry Curry Mussels

Pastry:

5 tbsp warm water
2/3 tbsp sugar
1 tsp dry instant yeast

2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tbsp wheat starch
1/8 tsp salt
1 tbsp vegetable oil
1/4 cup coconut milk
1/2 cup water

1/4 tsp water
1/2 tsp baking powder

Oil for deep frying

Method:

Dissolve sugar and yeast in warm water, set aside for 10 minutes or till foamy.

In a large bowl, mix flour, starch and salt.

Pour-in yeast solution, knead to mix.

Add-in oil and coconut milk, knead to mix again.

Gradually, pour-in water and knead till smooth, soft and elastic dough form.

Transfer dough into a lightly greased container, turn dough to evenly coated with oil, set aside covered to rise till double volume (about 2 hours).

Dissolves baking powder in 1/4 tsp water; set aside.

Punch down the dough, add-in baking powder solution, knead till well-blended.

Roll-up dough into cylinder shape, cut into 8 pieces and shape to balls.

Flatten each piece roundly into 1/2 cm thick, fill-in the prepared filling in the center, twist to seal the top and roll up nicely into balls again.

Place the filled buns on individual parchment papers, cover with kitchen towel or in a covered container and leave to rise for another 20 minutes (not to over rise).

Steam buns covered over high heat for about 15 minutes.

Remove from steamer (best serve warm immediately if prefer soft skin buns).

Heat oil in a pot over medium high heat, deep fry buns till golden brown (turn buns continuously for even browning).

Drain buns on paper towels and set aside to room temperature.

Chinese Fried Rice

Ingredients:

1 cup cooked rice, cooled
3 tbsp oil
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 tbsp grated fresh ginger (1 ½ inch)
1 onion/shallot, chopped
1 egg, lightly beaten
1/2 cup Chinese chives, cut into 1 ½ inch length

Seasoning:

2 tbsp light soy sauce
1/2 tbsp dark soy sauce
1 tbsp Shao Hsing wine or any others rice wine
1/3 tbsp sambal omelek chili paste or to taste
1 tsp sugar or to taste
1/2 tsp white pepper powder or to taste
1 tsp salt or to taste

Sprinkle:

1 tsp sesame oil
1 tbsp crisp fried shallot

Method:

One day before, cook rice and keep in refrigerator covered to prevent sogginess fried rice.

In a bowl, mix together all the seasoning ingredients and set aside.

Heat oil in a wok or non-stick deep pan, saute garlic and ginger till fragrant and start to golden brown (about 3 minutes)

Add-in onion and continue stir-fry until aroma (another 2 minutes).

Add-in cooled cooked rice and stir fry for about 1 minute to spread out rice grains.

Pour-in seasoning mixture, stir-fry till all the ingredients are well incorporated.

Scrape rice to side, pour egg into middle and stir quickly to scramble the egg.

Cover scrambled egg with side rice, sprinkle-on chives, continue stir-fry to spread the egg and till chives just right cooked thoroughly (adjust the taste accordingly).

Dish-up, stir-in sesame oil, sprinkle-on crisp fried shallot and best serve hot immediately.

Spiral Curry Puffs with Sweet Potato Curry Filling

Ingredients:

Curry Sweet Potato Filling:

1 medium sweet potato, diced
1 onion, diced
2 ½ tbsp curry powder
1/2 tbsp sambal omelek chili paste
1/4 tsp sugar or to taste
1/4 tsp salt or to taste
1/4 tsp white pepper or to taste
1/2 cup water
2 tbsp oil

Pastry:

Outer/Water Dough
2 cups all purpose flour
1/6 tsp salt
15 g butter
1/2 cup water

Inner/Oil Dough
1 cup all purpose flour
70 g butter

oil for deep-frying

Method:

Filling:

Heat oil in wok or non-stick pan, stir-fry onion till fragrant and golden brown.

Add-in sweet potatoes cubes, stir-fry for another 2 minutes.

Add-in curry powder and chili paste, stir-fry still fragrant (about 1 minute).

Pour-in water, stir for short while to incorporate.

Add-in salt and pepper, continue stir fry till sweet potato is soften, cooked thoroughly and the gravy is thicken (almost dry).

Remove from heat and leave aside to cool.

Pastry:

Water Dough:

Mix flour, salt and butter in a large bowl, knead thoroughly.

Add-in water and continue the kneading process till form a smooth dough; set aside covered to rest for 30 minutes.

Oil Dough:

Mix flour and butter, knead till dough is smooth and soft, leave to rest covered for 30 minutes.

Assembly:

Roll out both water dough and oil dough into long sausage shape and divide each dough into 6 portions.

Roll out a piece of water dough, fill-in a piece of oil dough and wrap up to form dough ball.

Flatten, roll out flat and roll up into a swiss roll.

Repeat the rolling and flattening process for three times.

For the last roll up into a swiss roll, cut dough roll into two pieces with a sharp knife.

Face the cut side down, flatten and roll out to form a circular pastry.

Place enough filling in the center and fold pastry over to make a half circle, pleat the edges to seal.

Repeat the assembly process for the rest of doughs' pieces.

Deep-fry over high heat until golden brown.

Drain on absorbent paper and best serve warm.

Yield 12 pieces of spiral curry puffs.

Crystal Skin Chives Dumplings (Koo Cai Kuih/韭菜粿)

Ingredients:

Chives Filling:

1 tbsp vegetable oil (I used shallot oil but garlic oil, sesame oil or other cooking oil work fine too)
4 cloves garlic, minced
1/3 cup dried shrimp, soaked and drained
3 cups diced Chinese chives (about 1 cm length)

Crystal Skin Pastry:

1 ½ cup wheat starch
1/4 cup tapioca starch
1/2 salt
300 mL boiling water
3 tsp shallot oil/lard/garlic oil/sesame oil

Method:

To prepare the filling:

Heat oil in a wok or pan over moderate high heat, stir-fry garlic till fragrant and golden yellow.

Remove from heat and let to cool to room temperature.

Reserve 2 tbsp garlic oil for dumplings surface brushing and mix the remaining garlic oil with the rest of the filling ingredients, stir-well to incorporate; set aside.

To prepare the pastry:

In a large bowl, mix wheat starch, tapioca starch and salt.

Pour-in boiling water and immediately stir to mix by the help of chopstick to form dough, set aside to rest for 5 minutes.

Knead dough till smooth and homogeneous texture.

Add-in fragrant oil and knead to incorporate homogeneously.

Divide dough into 18 equal portions and shape to dough balls.

Cover dough balls with moist towel before start to assembly dumplings.

Dumplings assembly:

Lightly grease a surface of large plastic wrapper.

Plate-on a dough ball, flatten with oily hand palm and press outward evenly from center of the pastry to about 3 mm thickness by oily fingers.

Alternatively, cover dough ball with another piece of greased plastic wrapper, rolling out dough ball thin via rolling pin.

Lift up carefully the pastry by the help of greased thin spatula or knife and place-on oily hand palm.

Put-on enough chives filling in the middle of the pastry, fold-up pastry in half, press well all edges to seal and pleat accordingly to shape.

Place the filled dumplings on parchment paper and steam over high heat for about 8 minutes.

Remove from heat and immediately brush-on the reserved garlic oil.

Best serve hot immediately with chili sauce.

Singapore Fried Rice Vermicelli Noodles (星洲炒米粉)

Ingredients:

150 g rice vermicelli (mee hoon)
1 egg, seasoned with 1 tsp light soy sauce and 1/8 tsp pepper, beat and scrambled with 2 tsp oil
2 tbsp oil
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 onion/shallot, finely chopped
1 tsp grated fresh ginger
1/2 cup diced chicken/pork meat
3 prawn, removed shell
2 chinese dried mushroom, soaked and thinly sliced (reserved the mushroom water)
1 fresh red chili, removed seeds and thinly sliced
1 cup bean sprouts
1 stalk spring onion, sliced long
1/4 cup reserved mushroom water

Seasoning:

1/2 tbsp curry powder
3 tbsp light soy sauce
1 tbsp Lea & Perrins Worcestershire sauce
1 tbsp fish sauce
1 tbsp shao xing wine or any rice cooking wine
1/2 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt or to taste
1/2 tsp white pepper or to taste

Method:

Soak noodles in cold water bath until soften (at least 30 minutes) and drain well; set aside.

In a bowl, mix together all the seasoning ingredients; set aside.

Heat oil in a wok or deep non-stick pan over high heat, stir-fry garlic, onion and ginger until fragrant and starting to be golden brown.

Add-in meat slices and/or prawn, stir-fry for another 1 minute or till almost cooked.

Add-in rice noodles and seasoning mixture, stir-fry to well-mix the ingredients and seasoning spread out evenly.

Add-in bean sprouts, red chili and spring onion, sprinkle-on mushroom water, stir-fry for another 3 minutes or till bean sprouts just right cooked thoroughly (meantime, adjust the taste accordingly with salt and pepper if desired).

Dish-up and best serve immediately.

Spicy Fragrant Crostini with Cheese Topping

Ingredients:

2 Italian bread, sliced to 1/4 inch thickness
45 g butter, melted
1 ½ tbsp tomato puree
1 ½ tsp garlic powder
3/4 tsp chili powder
3/4 tsp black pepper powder
1/3 tsp salt
3 tbsp Parmesan cheese for topping

Method:

Preheat oven to 160 °C.

Line a large baking tray with parchment paper; set aside.

In a mixing bowl, mix together butter, tomato puree, garlic powder, chili powder, pepper powder and salt.

Stir well to incorporate the ingredients to give a homogeneous batter.

With a spatula, spoon or knife, spread enough batter onto a side of each bread slices.

Line stuffed bread slices onto the prepared tray.

Sprinkle-on cheese and broil in the preheated oven for 15 minutes or till fragrant and toasted.

Remove from oven and ready to serve alone or along with porridge or soup.

Chocolate Sweet Buns with Feta Cheese Filling

Ingredients:

1 1/2 tsp yeast
1 tsp sugar
30 mL warm water

2 cups bread flour or all-purpose flour
3/4 cup cake flour
1/2 cup (7 tbsp) sugar
1 egg
1/2 tsp salt
2 tbsp milk powder (optional if using milk)
2 tbsp cocoa powder
1 tsp bread improver (optional)

80 mL milk/water
45 g (3 tbsp) butter

8 slices feta cheese, crushed individually
extra butter for surface brushing

Method:

Dissolve yeast and 1 tsp sugar in warm water, leave for 10 minutes or till foamy.

In a large bowl, mix flours, sugar, egg, salt, milk powder, cocoa powder and bread improver.

Pour yeast solution into the flours mixture.

Gradually pour-in milk and knead to form smooth and soft dough.

Knead-in butter till soft and elastic dough.

Divide the dough into 8 pieces.

On floured hands, flatten dough ball with two palms, fill-in a crushed feta cheese in center, twist all edges together to completely seal and roll this filled dough into smooth ball.

Place the filled buns on parchment paper and leave to rise till double in size covered for about 1 1/2 hours.

Transfer the proved filled buns together with parchment paper onto a baking tray and bake buns in preheated oven at 180 °C for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown.

Remove buns from oven, brush buns' exposure surface immediately with melted butter.

Ban Jian Kuih (Peanut Pancake)

Ingredients:

1 cup plain flour
1/4 cup rice flour
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp potassium carbonate & sodium bicarbonate solution
2 tsp oil
1 cup milk/water

Filling:

2 tbsp toasted peanut coarse
1 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp butter

Method:

In a large bowl, combine together the flours, sugar, baking powder and salt.

Add-in potassium carbonate & sodium bicarbonate solution and oil.

Mix well to a smooth batter; set aside covered for at least 2 hours.

Lightly grease a nonstick pan (22 cm in diameter).

Heat the pan over medium heat.

Pour-in all batter, evenly spread the batter via pan swirling or by using ladle.

Once batter turns to translucent (about 5 minutes), sprinkle-on peanut, sugar and butter.

Cook covered for even heating for 15 minutes or till bottom surface become golden brown.

Remove cover, release all sides of pancakes with spatula.

Remove pancake and fold immediately into half; set aside to cool for about 10 minutes.

Cut into triangle shape and serve hot.