WAFFLE

My new toy

A Waffle Stick Maker

and this is the product:

Waffle

105g plain flour
30g corn flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
6 Tbsp vegetable oil
1 cup milk
1 large egg
1 Tbsp sugar
vanilla extract (optional)

1) sift together dry ingredients & leave aside
2) whisk egg and sugar until pale, beat in cooking oil
3) add milk & vanilla
4) combine wet & dry ingredients
5) pour waffle batter into preheated waffle iron

MAN TOU

Some like it plain

Many like it sweet

and yet many like it deep fried

But everyone likes it soft and fine

Man Tou

120g water

3/4 tsp instant yeast

250g plain flour or pau flour

30g castor sugar

10g vegetable oil

Method:

1) combine water and yeast and leave aside

2) combine sugar and flour in another bowl

3) pour oil into yeast water

4) pour the liquid into flour and knead well

5) cover dough and leave aside for 15min

6) roll dough into 13"x6" rectangle

7) brush top with water & roll up like a swiss roll

8) cut into 8-10 pieces & put on pieces of wax paper

9) leave man tou in steamer for 20min 

10) turn fire to HIGH to bring water to the boil

11) reduce fire to medium (steam total 15min)

12) off fire, and let sit in steamer for 5min before opening cover to remove the man tou

DEEP FRIED CRISPY PRAWNS

To make the prawn straight when fried,

cut a few slashes on the inside of the prawns

Who doesn't like these crispy prawns?

If not for health reasons

who can resist?

10 Large prawns

2 Tbsp (heap) Self raising flour (+some for dipping)

1/2 Tbsp (heap) corn flour

pinch of baking soda (optional)

water

oil for deep frying

1/2 tsp sugar

salt & pepper to taste

Method:

1) remove shell from prawns but keep the tail, cleaned & deveined

2) marinate prawns with sugar, salt & pepper for 30min

3) combine dry ingredients 

4) slowly add water  to make a batter - slightly thicker than pancake batter

5) heat oil in kuali

6) lightly dust prawns in flour

7) dip into batter one at a time, then into the hot oil

8) deep fry until golden, drain

9) serve hot with chili sauce

Note: serve hot 

STEAMED FISH HEAD

Fish is my favourite

and I do not bother much about the fishy smell

My favourite way of cooking fish

is steaming

4-5 pieces fish head

1/2" ginger, sliced & shredded

1/2 chilli, shredded

2 stalks spring onion

1/4 tsp salt

Sauce: 

(mix together all ingredients & leave aside)

1 Tbsp soya sauce

2 Tbsp hot water

1 tsp garlic oil

1 tsp fried garlic

1/2 tsp sugar

salt & pepper to taste

rice wine (optional)

1) marinate fish head with salt

2) place spring onion stalks at bottom of steaming plate

3) add pieces of fish head

4) arrange ginger & chilli slices on the fish

5) steam while cooking rice

6) when cooked, pour away the water from the fish

7) season with the prepared sauce 

Notes:

1) Can replace fish head pieces with sliced fish or whole fish. In this case, care must taken not to overcook the fish. So, better to steam it separately rather than cooking together with the rice in the rice pot.

2) must pour away the water from the dish after steaming to get rid of the fishy smell.

HOMEMADE YOGHURT

If you seem to run out of yoghurt

everytime you need it

why not make your own

& replenish it every 4 or 5 days

To start with

just buy a small tub of plain Greek Yoghurt

feeding it whenver the supply runs low

You need:

120g warm water

30g milk powder
1 heap Tbsp plain Greek Yoghurt

Method:
1) pour 120g warm water to a thick ceramic container with cover
2) dissolve 30g milk powder in the warm water
3) stir in 1 heap Tbsp yoghurt
4) cover & leave aside @ room temperature overnight
5) next day, the yoghurt is formed, keep refrigerated

Notes:
If the weather is cool, rest the ceramic bowl
in a small pot of warm water over night

FOO CHOW YAM CAKE

When we were little boys and girls

our grandmother

would come visit us from Sitiawan
with a big bag of 

deep fried yam cakes

All of us were so excited
   Each one of us would grab a piece
and soon our little fingers were covered with oil

I tried to make some
to bring back the sweet memory

First I need to bring the ingredients together
and steam 1/2 an hour until cooked
Let it cool down before
cutting into 1/2" thick rectangles
and finally deep fried

Ingredients:
6 oz rice flour
2.5 oz green pea flour
44 oz water 
1 tsp salt
5 oz yam, diced
2 Tbsp dried shrimps, soaked & chopped
2 Tbsp oil
2 Tbsp shallots
1 tsp 5 spice powder
1/2 chicken cube
salt & pepper to taste

1) soak flours in water & salt for 1-2 hours
2) heat oil and fry shallots until fragrant
3) add dried shrimp & yam, continue frying
4) add the rest of the ingredients & flavouring
5) pour in the soaked flours with liquid
6) continue stirring while cooking
7) when batter thickens, pour into a steaming tray
8) steam for 1/2 hour, let cool
9) cut into 1/2" thick 2"x3"rectangles
10) deep fried
11) serve with chilli sauce

STEAMED CHICKEN

Another steaming dish

to cook together with the rice

6-8 pieces of chopped chicken

2 mushroom, soaked & sliced (optional)

1/2" ginger, sliced

2 green onion, cut 1/2

1 Tbsp wolfberry, rinsed

soya sauce

some water

salt, pepper & sugar to taste

1) put green onions & ginger slices @ base of steaming plate

2) arrange chicken pieces on top

3) put the rest of the ingredients on the chicken

4) flavour with sauce, pepper, sugar and salt

5) steaming together while cooking rice 

CHEESE SQUARES

Recently I came across http://my123favourites.blogspot.com/2013/10/mini-cheese-bread.html

85g milk

1 egg AA

30g castor sugar

1/8 tsp salt

200g bread flour

1/3 tsp instant yeast

1 slice cheese, cut up

30g butter

Method:

1) everything goes into the bread machine, 

     bread dough cycle

2) let rise until double, roll flat into a square tray

3) cut into squares & leave to rise until double

4) spray with water before putting into oven

5) bake in preheated oven 180'C for 20 min, cool

     

Note:

1) Next time, I will arrange  the squares on the baking tray so that I can get all the 4 sides brown

2) Mini cheese squares should attract little boys and girls, so I will try again

Mini Cheese Squares

baked 30 Oct 2015

FUZHOU BUDDHA JUMP OVER THE WALL

Buddha Jump over the wall
better known as
'Foh Tiaw Chiang' 

This is a Signature Dish
of 

Foo Chow

who 

takes pride in its expensive ingredients

and 

long hours of preparation

Many Restaurants in Fu Zhou, China

 offer this dish 

The price varies

and

it depends on what is inside the soup

These are the basic ingredients:

And the herbs, optional

After days of hard work

and long hours of double boiling

this is what you get
(with herbs)

Besides preparing the dried ingredients, 
the next thing to do is to prepare a clear broth or base soup

Once you have all these
it is just a matter of putting them together to double boil 2 hours

CHOCOLATE SWISS ROLL

Heard that it is not easy to roll up

A Swiss Roll

I confirm so

 especially when I am handling it

for the first time

See the end result?

I need to roll it upside down

The top is spoilt

Thanks to kitchentigress for the recipe

15g cake flour

10g cocoa powder
pinch of salt

15g corn oil

10g water

30g egg yolk

15g castor sugar

70g egg white

30g castor sugar

75g whipping cream, whipped

Method:

1) sift together cake flour & cocoa powder, add salt

2) beat together oil, water, sugar & egg yolk 

3) when sugar dissolved, fold in sifted flour

4) whisk egg white & sugar until stiff

5) fold egg white into egg yolk in 2 batches

6) pour mixture into 10X14" lined pan, level

7) bake in preheated oven @200'C for 10min

8) remove from oven & tap pan on table top

9) peel off parchment & cool on wire rack

10) when cooled, spread a layer of cream 

11) roll up & chill before serving