TAIWAN CASTELLA CAKE

Taiwan Castella Cake 

Is a very soft and fluffy cake.

Recipe is from Cynthia’s Kitchen Adventures

Yields a 10” square cake

Ingredients:

100g cake flour, sifted

100g unsalted butter

100g fresh milk

6 eggs, separated

100g castor sugar

Vanilla essence

Method:

1) warm milk & butter on low heat until butter is melted

2) add sifted flour, mix well

3) add egg yolks & vanilla essence, mix well

4) prepare a very hot water bath for baking & preheat oven to 150’C

5) whisk egg whites till frothy, add sugar & beat until stiff peaks

6) fold in 1/3 of the meringue into yolk batter to loosen the batter

7) gently fold in the remaining meringue into the batter

8) pour the batter into a lined cake pan, smooth top with a spatula

9) put the cake pan onto the hot water bath 

10) bake for 60min @ 150’C

TAIWAN BRAISED PORK RICE

A bowl of white rice

filled with the fragrance of braised pork,

juicy and shinny (meat fats)

is one that is popular and often served in Taiwan

This is simply called

'Lu Rou Fan'

or

Braised Meat Rice 

in direct translation

I have adapted this recipe from Kenneth Goh's 

Lu Rou Fan

(A) 200g minced pork
       some pork belly, shredded
       some pig skin, boiled & cut into strips

      2 shiitake mushroom, soaked overnight & shredded

(B) 5 shallots. sliced thinly

      5 pips of garlic, shredded

      5 slices ginger, minced

Seasoning:

combined together

1 Tbsp light soya sauce

1/2 to 1 Tbsp dark soya sauce, depends on the colour you are comfortable with

1/2 Tbsp oyster sauce

1/2 tsp 5 spice powder

1/2 tsp sugar
1 Tbsp cooking wine

Thickener:
1 Tbsp peanut butter

mix together 1.5 Tbsp corn flour & 1 Tbsp water

Method:

1. Heat up 1-1.5 Tbsp cooking oil & 1 tsp sesame seed oil in a wok

2. add (B) and fry until fragrant, then add (A) & seasoning

3. when the meat starts to shrink, add 1 cup water to simmer 15-30min

4. add salt & pepper if necessary (optional)

5. thicken the gravy with thickener to required consistency

Serving Ideas:

the following can be added

a) braised hard boiled eggs

b) pickled vegetables e.g. Daikon/sweet Takuwa

c) blanched leafy vegetable

TAIWAN TAI YANG BING

太陽餅

Flaky Tai Yang Bing

cut in half

Freshly baked Tai Yang Bing

waiting to be cooled

Tai Yang Bing 

looks like 

Lao Po Bing

but 

these are pale looking

These are sweet 

stuffed pan cakes

in traditional flaky outer shell

It is famous in Taiwan

If your friends come back from Taiwan

they will surely give you a box or 2

The following recipe is adapted from

Alex Goh's Tai Yang Bing

Flaky Crust

A) Water Dough

      1/4 tsp maltose

      50g hot water (added to maltose to dissolve it)

      110g superfine flour

      15g caster sugar

      45g shortening

B) Oil Dough 

      75g superfine flour

      45g shortening

Filling:

20g maltose

1/2 Tbsp hot water (added to maltose to dissolve it)

80g icing sugar (can be reduced if do not like sweet)

25g superfine flour

20g butter

Method:

1) combine ingredients in 

      water dough, 

      oil dough & 

      filling SEPARATELY

2) divide each dough into 8 portions & roll into balls as follows:

3) flatten water dough & wrap oil dough inside
4) flatten ball lengthwise with palm of hand
5) roll out dough flat into rectangle
6) roll up as in swiss roll

8) press to flatten swiss roll, & roll out into rectangle again

9) roll up as in swiss roll one more time

10) fold swiss roll in half & press with palm

11) roll flat into round to wrap filling

12) seal the edge & place on parchment paper

13) bake in preheated oven 200'C for 12-15min

Notes:

1) Tai yang Bing in Taiwan is pale looking

     If you prefer the light colour you need to tent the biscuits

     5 min after baking i.e. before it turns brown!

2) If you like the golden colour:

    glaze with egg yolk + 1 tsp water before going into the oven