马来糕 Ma Lai Koh (Steamed Cake)

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My transport mate was sharing with me that she liked the pau recipe from "Delightful Snacks & Dim Sum" by Agnes Chang. I told her that I also had this book and likes her recipes too. So this evening, when I decided to do a steamed cake, I thought of this book almost immediately. And so, I chose this Steamed Cake, 马来糕.

This recipe is very simple, and the result was a light, fluffy and custardy steamed cake. It was really nice.

Recipe for 马来糕, Steamed Cake, adapted from "Delightful Snacks & Dim Sum" by Agnes Chang

Makes a 8" round basket.

Ingredients:

(A)

120g Bread flour, sifted

90g Plain flour, sifted

1 tbsp Custard powder, sifted

(B)

200g Caster sugar

120g Liv Unsalted butter, melted

3 Eggs, mixed with 1 tsp vanilla extract, beaten lightly

180g Whole milk

(C)

3 tsp Baking powder

1/2 tsp Dark soya sauce

Some sunflower seeds (or other nuts)

Method:

1. Sift ingredient A into a big mixing bowl.
2. Add in ingredients B and mix thoroughly.
3. Add in ingredients C and mix well.
4. Pour into an 8" round basket lined with baking paper.
5. Sprinkle some sunflower seeds on top.
6. Steam with high heat for 35mins until cooked.
7. Cool, cut into pieces and serve.

Durian Puffs

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About five years ago, dad started organising a family gathering for all his siblings and their children at his place. It is usually after the seventh month of the Lunar calendar. During the first party, I made durian puffs from the leftover durians that he had given me. Since that year, every year, I will make durian puffs for his party. My relatives, big and small, all loved the puffs. However, I wasn't consistent. Every year, I used different recipe for the choux pastry. 

Perhaps my relatives who only had it once a year at the party, were full of praises for the durian puffs. I supposed it was mainly due to the quantity of good durians I have in the puffs. However, my siblings, being more picky, preferred one of the year where the puffs were very light. So I deduced that the best choux pastry I ever made was from that recipe which used more egg whites. And this year, I decided to use that recipe that produces a light and thin pastry puff. I didn't have the chance to try the puffs as two trays were snapped up in minutes. In fact, many of my relatives remembered dad's party for my durian puffs. ^~^

Therefore, here is the best choux pastry for you - Rose Levy Berandaum's Cordon Rose Cream Puff Pastry.

Recipe for Durian Puffs
Makes approx. 110 mini puffs

Choux Pastry, adapted from Rose Levy Berandaum's "The Pie and Pastry Bible".

Ingredients:
236g Water
113g Unsalted Liv Butter
1 tsp Sugar
1/2 tsp Salt
142g Plain flour
(240g) 3 large Whole Eggs + 3 Large Egg whites (I used 60g eggs with shell and came out to be approximately 258g, and I used them all.)

Method:

1. In a medium saucepan, combine the water, butter, sugar and salt and bring to a full rolling boil.
2. Immediately remove the saucepan from the heat and add the flour all at once.
3. Stir with a wooden spoon until the mixture forms a ball, leaves the sides of the pan, and clings slightly to the spoon.
4. Return the pan to low heat and cook, stirring and mashing continuously, for about 3 mins to cook the flour.
5. Without scraping the pan, empty the mixture into a mixing bowl.
6. Turn on the k-beater, and add whole eggs one at a time, followed by egg whites, beating them to incorporate after each addition.
7. The mixture will be smooth and shiny, and should be too soft to hold peaks when lifted with a spoon. If it is to stiff, add a little extra water.
8. Prepare a tray with baking sheet or silicon mat.
9. Fill a pastry bag, fitted with Wilton 1M nozzle, with the mixture.
10. Pipe puffs about 1 inch in size, and 1/2 inch apart from each other onto the sheet.
11. Bake for 10mins at preheated fan oven of 220C. 
12. Then lower the temperature to 180C, and continue baking for another 15mins or until golden brown.
13. Remove from the oven and leave it on the rack to cool completely.
Durian Fillings
200g Whipping cream
800g Durian pulps

Method:

1. Whipped the whipping cream till soft peak.
2. Add in the durian pulps, and fold to incorporate.
3. Use a handheld blender and blend the mixture till smooth.

White Chocolate Decoration
60g White chocolates, chopped finely

Method:

1. Melt the chocolates. If too dry, add some cooking oil, and mix well, till smooth.
2. Set aside for later use.

To fill the puffs:

1. Slit the bottom of the puffs with a small sharp knife.
2. Fill a pastry bag fitted with Wilton #6 round tip with the durian filling, and put it through the slit hole.
3. Gently pipe in the fillings and move the tip out as you feel the fillings being filled in the pastry.
4. Fill a paper silicon cone piping bag with white chocolate. Cut the tip.
5. Decorate the durian puffs with white chocolate and serve.

Charcoal Chiffon Cake

Baking is contagious, especially so when you are connected to baking friends on your Facebook, or baking groups. When I saw Veronica with her charcoal zebra cake, it reminded me that I have still have charcoal powder to be used.

So here is my Charcoal Chiffon Cake. It's really light and fluffy, tasted sweet, with a hint of sesame. Can't taste the charcoal though.

Recipe for Charcoal Chiffon Cake.
Makes an 8" Tube pan

Ingredients:
4 Egg yolks
20g Caster sugar
50g Cooking oil
55g Whole milk
80g Self-raising flour
1/2 tsp Charcoal powder

4 Egg whites
1/2 tsp Corn flour
65g Caster sugar

Method:

1. Beat egg yolks with sugar in a bowl. Add cooking oil, mix well, followed by milk, then mix.
2. Sieve flour and charcoal powder into the mixing bowl. Mix till incorporated. Set aside.
3. Mix the cornflour into the sugar. In a separate mixing bowl, beat the egg whites till foamy.
4. Gradually add in the sugar.
5. Beat till just before stiff peak.
6. Take one third of the egg whites and gently fold them into the egg yolk batter.
7. Then pour the egg yolk batter into the egg whites and fold till incorporated.
8. Pour the batter into a 8" tube pan.

9. Bake it in a preheat fan oven of 160C for 45mins.
10. Remove from the oven and invert the cake into a bottle until it is completely cooled.

Ube Buns

I was in Philippines during the long Ramadan and National Day holiday. My Filippino-Chinese friend arranged a fully packed eight days Philippines holiday for us. It was truly wonderful holiday, from volcano watching, to dolphin watching, to snorkelling and eating balut. Okay, I'll have to admit, the balut part wasn't really enjoyable, but it's an experience. And the food was really nice too! As my friend knows that I like ube jam, she bought a tub for me.

Ube is purple yam. I'm suprised it's so common in Philippines even though I read that many countries have them too. With its precious one tub, I decided to make buns with it, replacing yam recipe with ube since they are from similar family. The bread was soft and chewy, it was really good.

Recipe for Ube Buns, modified from 孟老师的100道麵包.
Makes 20 mini buns

Ingredients:
(A) Water Roux
40g Ube paste/jam
20g Bread flour
100g Water

(B) Dough
420g Bread flour
40g Caster sugar
6g Instant yeast
1/2 tsp Salt
190g Water
30g Liv Unsalted butter

(C) Fillings
300g Ube paste, divided into 15g each

Method:

1. Water Roux: Place all the ingredients in (A) in a pot and mix well. Place it on the stove and cook over low fire until it becomes a paste. 
2. Transfer the paste into a plate, cover it with cling wrap and put it into the fridge for about 60mins.
3. Dough: In a large mixing bowl, place the water roux (A) and mix in all the ingredients in (B), except butter. Mix until smooth, then add in the butter to continue mixing for at least 15mins or until dough is very smooth (my dough was still quite wet when I left it to proof).
4. Cover it with cling wrap and let it proof for 80mins.
5. Divide the dough into 20 pieces. Let it rest for 10mins.
6. Using a rolling pin, flatten the dough, place the ube paste (C) into the centre of the dough, then wrapped it tightly. Flatten it, roll it up like swiss roll, then roll it together and place it into the paper cup. Continue doing it for the remaining pieces.
7. Let the doughs proof for further 45 mins in the cups.
8. Preheat fan oven to 170C.
9. When the doughs are ready, brush them with milk and sprinkle sesame seeds on top.
10. Bake them for 15mins or until browned on top.
11. Let it cool before serving. Enjoy.
P.S.: If you are interested to go Philippines, I can share my experience with you. :)

Classic Chocolate Chips Cookies

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I have always love to watch Anna Olson's baking show on Asian Food Channel (AFC). However, on AFC website, it's not easy to look for her recipes episode by episode. The better site is through Food Network, which are categorised accordingly. What I tried today was her Classic Chocolate Chips Cookies. It was really easy to make, without even having to use the mixer. I am always fazed by how she just used wooden spoon or whisk to do the creaming and whisking. Her cookies turned out to be very evenly round, whereas mine is truly a homemade version! Heehee...

Recipe for Classic Chocolate Chips Cookies, adapted from Anna Olson's Drop Cookies Series.
Makes approximately 53 one inch cookies

Ingredients:
1/2 cup (113g) Liv unsalted butter, at room temperature
5/8 cup packed Brown sugar
1 large Egg, at room temperature
1 tsp Vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups Plain flour
1 tbsp Cornstarch
1/2 tsp Baking soda
1/2 tsp Fine rock salt
1 1/2 cups Chocolate chips

Method:

1. Cream the butter with the brown sugar using a hand whisk until light. Beat in the egg and the vanilla.

2. In a separate bowl, sift the flour with the cornstarch, baking soda and salt. 
3. Add this to the butter mixture and stir until blended. Stir in the chocolate chips.

4. Using a teaspoon, scoop spoonfuls of dough, shape them into a ball (I wasn't able to get balls) and place onto a parchment lined baking tray. 
5. Chill the scooped cookies for at least an hour, or once chilled, the cookies can be frozen for baking later. (I left it in the chiller overnight).

6. Preheat the oven to 170C. 
7. Arrange the chilled scooped cookies onto parchment-lined baking trays, leaving 1 inch between the cookies. 
8. Bake for 15 minutes, until browned. Cool the cookies on the baking tray.
9. If baking cookie dough that has been frozen, arrange the frozen cookies on the baking tray and let them thaw for 20 minutes at room temperature before baking as above.


"This chocolate chip cookie dough has 2 secrets to success. The first is the addition of cornstarch, which holds in moisture to guarantee a soft-centred cookie. The second is to chill the cookies before baking – this ensures they all bake to the same size and don’t spread too much while baking."-Anna.
This recipe is a keeper. My children simply loves them!

Baked Pasta and Cheese

The best macaroni and cheese I had was when I was in New York some years back. It was only a side dish to the meat platter we ordered. In fact, it was in that restaurant that I had the best mac & cheese, and apple cinnamon. I had been missing the mac & cheese for a long time. It's rare to find a good mac & cheese. I decided to embark on trying out this recipe. The recipe looks simple, but I can assure you, it's not that easy to make a moist, cheesy and soft mac & cheese.

As I do not have elbow pasta, I used other pasta instead. Although my baked pasta and cheese turned out nice, but it was not moist enough. I would like it to be more moist. In future, I'll add more milk. Don't be deceived by my pictures, it didn't do much justice to the taste. It was pretty good. Fortunately my family members like it.

Recipe for Pasta & Cheese, modified from Alton Brown's Mac & Cheese.
(Makes a full 13 x 11 x 3" tray)

Ingredients:
500g Any Pasta (or elbow pasta)
3 tbsp Liv Unsalted butter
3 tbsp Plain flour
750g Whole milk
1 large Egg
500g Shredded Cheddar (I used a mix of red cheddar and white cheddar from Cold Storage. A packet of 150g cost $2.99)
1 tsp Salt
Fresh black pepper

Optional Addition:
3 tbsp Olive oil
2 punnets fresh button mushrooms, sliced
1 Red capsicum, chopped
1 Red onion, finely chopped

Topping:
3 tbsp Liv Unsalted butter
8 slices White bread, trimmed the sides
150g Mozzarella cheese, shredded

Method:

1. In a large pot of boiling, salted water cook the pasta to al dente.
2. While the pasta is cooking, in a separate pot, cook the vegetables. Add in the olive oil, followed by onion. Cook the onion till soft and fragrant, then add in the red capsicum, followed by mushrooms. Cooked till soft. Remove from the pot, set aside.
3. Drain out the liquid from the pot, add in the three tablespoon of butter. Whisk in the flour and keep it moving for about five minutes. Make sure it's free of lumps. Stir in the milk and simmer for a few minutes.
4. Pour the hot milk into the egg in a separate bowl. Temper the egg and pour it back into the pot and stir well.
5. Stir in all the cheddar cheese. Season with salt and pepper. Fold the pasta into the mix and pour into the prepared tray. Topped with mozzarella cheese.
6. Melt the butter in a saute pan and toss the bread to coat. Place the buttered bread on top.
7. Bake in a preheated fan oven of 160C for 30 minutes. Remove from oven and rest for five minutes before serving.

I served my pasta & cheese with grilled vegetables, meatballs, salmon gravlax and gougere cookies. Grilled vegetables include 2 large yellow zucchini, 3 japanese cucumbers, a quarter pumpkin and 3 medium brinjal. Slice them, toss them in olive oil, salt and pepper and fresh dill. These were what I served to a group of 16 people. Meatballs and salmon gravlax are store-bought. Just some ideas for you if you are having guests over.