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.

Jam/Nutella Crostata (Baked Dessert Tart)

Ingredients:

300 g all purpose flour
150 g butter, chopped
100 - 120 g sugar
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
2 egg yolks
1 tsp vanilla extract or lemon zest (optional)
150 - 200 g of fruit Jam or Nutella chocolate

Method:

Preheat oven to 190 °C.

Lightly grease a 22 cm cake pan, dust bottom and side of pan with flour and tapping out excess; set aside.

In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking power, salt and butter pieces.

Mix with fingertip to form crumbs.

Add-in egg yolks and knead lightly into combined dough.

Flatten the dough into disc, cover with plastic wrap and chill for 30 minutes.

With fingertips, press 2/3 of the dough into the prepared pan with slightly height on all edges as wall.

Spread-on enough Jam and fill-in all over the curved surface.

Roll the remaining dough into 1 cm wide strips and arranges them in a crisscross pattern or any of your preference pattern over the Jam.

Bake the crostata for about 40 minutes or until fragrant and golden.

Rich Chocolate Brownies

Ingredients:

300 g dark chocolate, chopped
150 g butter
1 ½ cup brown sugar
1 cup plain flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/3 cup cocoa powder
1/4 tsp salt
3 egg, lightly beaten
1 tsp vanilla extract (optional)

Method:

Preheat oven to 180 °C.

Lightly grease a 20 or 22 cm square pan, dust bottom and side of pan with flour and tapping out excess; set aside.

With double boiler, melt chocolate (I used 200 g of 70% dark chocolate and 100 g of standard dark chocolate) over low heat till smooth (about 10 minutes).

Add-in butter, stir to form smooth batter.

Remove from heat and stir-in sugar till dissolves fully; set aside.

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

Add the dry ingredients into the chocolate batter, stir well to mix thoroughly.

Beat-in eggs solution till the batter become thick and glossy.

Pour batter in the prepared pan.

Bake in the preheated oven for 25 - 30 minutes (not to over bake, toothpick inserts into the middle of brownies NEVER comes out clean).

Yield 28 squares.

Lamb/Beef Rendang (Dry Malaysian Meat Curry)

Ingredients:

1 kg lamb/beef, cut into inch cubes
1 tbsp salt
1 tsp pepper

Blend Ingredients

2 lemongrass, sliced (white part only)
10 fresh red chili (add-in some dried chili for better spicy)
1 bulb garlic, chopped
1 knob (1 inch) ginger, sliced
1 knob galangal, sliced
1 knob fresh kunyit/turmeric or 1 tbsp turmeric powder
15 shallots or 4 large red onion, sliced
80 mL water

1/2 cup cooking oil
some turmeric leaf
2 tbsp cumin powder
2 tbsp fennel powder or coriander powder
500 mL thick coconut milk
1 cup water (add more if gravy dried up)
1 cup dry-tossed dessicated coconut
3 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper

Method:

In a large mixing bowl, marinate lamb with salt and pepper for at least 30 minutes; set aside.

Blend together all the blend ingredients with some water to form paste; set aside.

In a wok or pot, dry fry the blended paste over medium heat for about 5 - 10 minute till almost dry with bubble holes.

Pour-in oil and sauce the paste till aroma and separate from oil.

Add-in turmeric leaves, cumin powder and fennel powder, stir to toss for short while.

Pour-in coconut milk and water, bring to boil over high heat.

Add-in meat and bring to boil again (stir-occasionally to avoid burn at the bottom).

Let it stew over low heat for about 30 minutes to reduce the gravy to half.

Stir-in dessicated coconut and continue simmering (stir-occasionally) till gravy is thicken.

Seasoning curry with salt and pepper.

Best serve hot with steamed rice or bread (taste better to cook a night in advance and reheat right before serving).

Tuna Quiche

Ingredients:

Base

230 g puff pastry (pasta sfoglia)

Filling

6 (80g) canned tuna, drained
1 onion, chopped, boiled and mashed
3 egg, lightly beaten
3 tbsp mayonnaise
1 tsp garlic powder
salt to taste (canned tuna is salty)

Method:

Preheat oven to 190-200 °C.

Roll out puff pastry together with the provided parchment paper on a lightly grease pie pan ( 28 cm in diameter); keep in refrigerator till use.

In a large mixing bowl, add-in all the filling ingredients and stir well to incorporate fully.

Spoon the filling mixture into the prepared pie case.

Bake in the preheated oven for 40 minutes, or until filling is lightly set or till surface is browned as prefer.

Best serve warm or at room temperature for party.

Steamed Pork Ribs Dim Sum

Ingredients:

250 g soft bone pork ribs, cut to bite size

1 tbsp black bean sauce
2 clove garlic, minced
1 tbsp minced ginger
1 tbsp light soy sauce
1/2 tsp sugar
1 tsp oyster sauce
1/4 tsp white pepper
1 tbsp shaoxing wine

1 tsp tapioca starch or cornstarch
1 tbsp sesame oil for sprinkling

Method:

Mix pork with the remaining ingredients except cornstarch and set aside to marinate for at least 30 minutes.

Add-in cornstarch and mix well to incorporate.

Steam with boiling water over high heat for 8 minutes.

Dish-up and sprinkle with sesame oil.

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.