Pulled Pork Burger with homemade buns

I love using the slow cooker to cook my meals. My faithful cooker has been with me for a long time. I used to dump ingredients in the morning before I go to work way before when I used to work long hours and come back to a completely cooked meal when I reached home. Or you can put in the ingredients at night before you sleep and hey presto,you will wake up to a nice smelling kitchen in the morning, a meal fully cooked. 

The whole point of using a slow cooker is to get the ingredients into the cooker quickly and then be able to walk away. For this easy pulled pork recipe, just coat the pork shoulder with a dark brown sugar, paprika, cinnamon, minced garlic, then cook it on a bed of chopped onions covered with a can of stewed tomatoes, Worcestershire sauce and BBQ sauce. When you come back six to eight hours later, you’ll have juicy pork that’s ready to be shredded and served alongside coleslaw, french fries or chips. This no-fuss, versatile recipe makes enough to feed quite a few and the leftovers, should you have any  freeze well.

Pulled Pork

Ingredients

1.5 kg of pork shoulder
1 big onion, chopped
2 tbsp chopped garlic
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp chilli powder
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp cajun seasoning
1/2 tsp yellow mustard
1/2 tsp salt
1/8 cup vinegar
1 1/2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1 can of stewed tomatoes
1/2 cup of BBQ sauce
300 ml of chicken stock

Method

Spray the slow cooker with a thin layer of oil.
Lay the chopped onions at the bottom of the cooker.
Wipe the pork dry with paper towel after washing.
Put in a bowl, salt, black pepper, garlic, cajun seasoning, cinnamon, paprika, chilli powder, mix it all up.
Rub the mixture on the pork all over.
Next pat the pork with the brown sugar and press on it.
Place the seasoned pork into the cooker.
Pour BBQ sauce, stewed tomatoes, yellow mustard, Worcestershire sauce, vinegar and chicken stock on the pork.
Turn the slow cooker on high and if possible turn it down to low after a couple of hours when boiling.
If not, just leave it on high all the way for about 6 to 8 hours. 
It is optional if you would like to continue to cook it in the oven at 180 C for an hour.
Take out the meat out to be shredded without putting it into the oven if you think the meat is a good enough texture for you. 
You can thicken the sauce with cornflour over the fire if need be. Season with more salt if necessary.
Mix the shredded meat with the thickened sauce before serving on a nice bun.
You can add lettuce, tomatoes and even cucumbers to the pulled pork and bun.

Note: If you find that you do not have certain dry or spice ingredients, and do not want to buy them for adding so little in, you can omit, but the taste of this meal will not be so robust and tasty. But you cannot omit the wet ingredients. 

Chocolate, Peanut Butter & Cinnamon French Toast

I will make this particular French Toast for my family once in a while whenever I bake Brioche bread. This French Toast goes very well with Brioche bread but of course you can use normal white bread. 

I ate this French Toast with filling as one of the dishes served at a food luncheon party by Australian celebrity chef Curtis Stone organized by a bank at a hotel. It was very delicious. The toast was served with a fruit sauce. 

This is my very own recipe and you can twitch it and fill it with anything you want or feel like it. It is very simple to make and can be a hearty breakfast on a nice Sunday morning.

Chocolate Peanut Butter and Cinnamon French Toast. 

Serves 2

Ingredients

• 4 to 5 eggs

• 4 thick slices brioche bread or normal white bread

• 2 tbsp. butter

• 1/4 c. sugar

• 2 tsp. ground cinnamon

• Peanut Butter spread

• 1/4 cup of meltable chocolate chips, couverture type, (you can use Nutella if you want)

• Honey/Golden Syrup (optional)

• Method
  Using a fork, beat the eggs in a baking dish to blend.
  Apply peanut butter on one side of the brioche/bread, divide and put the chocolate chips/Nutella on the peanut butter. 
• Sandwich with another piece of bread on top.
  Place the brioche sandwiches in the egg mixture. Let stand for 5 minutes or until the eggs are absorbed, turning the brioche to let it absorb the egg mixture.
  Melt some butter on a flat frying pan over medium heat.
  Place the brioche slices on the pan and cook for about 2 minutes per side or until golden brown on the outside and heated through, melting the chocolate chips inside.
  Meanwhile, stir the sugar and cinnamon on a large plate or pie dish.
  Immediately place the hot French toast in the cinnamon-sugar and turn to coat completely.
• Repeat for the other sandwich.
  Drizzle a little honey or golden syrup in a thin stream on the French Toast if desired. 
• 
  

Cempedak Crumble Mini Tarts

It is cempedak season again. Besides durian, this is another highly popular fruit in this part of the world. Pronounced "chem-pe-dak", which is the same genus as jackfruit. It is native to Southeast Asia. The thin and leathery skin of the fruit is greenish, yellowish to brownish in color, and patterned with hexagons. The fleshy, edible arils surround the large, seeds in a thick layer. It is yellowish-white to orange in color, sweet and fragrant, soft, slippery and slimy on the tongue and a bit fibrous. The taste of the fruit is similar to the related jackfruit with a hint of durian. The seeds are flattened spheres or elongated, about 2–3 cm in length.

I had excess cempedak after making ice cream with it, so I usually freeze it up. So I took on the challenge to make my own version of this Cempedak Crumble Tart. I believe you cannot find this in the shops. I am quite proud of myself for this creation. Give it a try if you have an itch to bake something and if you are running out of ideas on what to bake, like me.

Do eat it up fast, these tarts cannot be kept for more than 3 days.

 

Cempedak Crumble Tart (individual mini tarts)
Makes about 15 mini tarts using disposable aluminium mini foil cups.

Ingredients for filling

300g cempedak without seeds
150g whipping cream
2 to 3 tbsp sugar (option to add more if you like it sweeter)

Put cempedak and sugar in the blender and purée, add a tiny tad of water if it helps in the blending.
Put whipping cream in a stand mixing bowl and whip to become whipped cream.
Use a spatula and mix the sweetened cempedak purée and whipped cream together until well mixed.
Spoon it into a large piping bag and put it into the fridge to harden into piping consistency.

Ingredients for sweet tart dough

160g butter (softened)
90g icing sugar
25g ground almond
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 large egg
250g plain flour (sifted)

For making the sweet tart dough, put the softened butter in a mixer bowl, put on the paddle and mix till light and fluffy.
Add icing sugar, almonds, salt, vanilla extract and egg and mix on low speed. Blend well after scraping the sides.
Add the sifted flour in a few additions, do not add all at once.
Switch off the machine as soon as dough comes together. Do not over mix. Divide the dough into two portions. Roll each portion into a ball and wrap with food plastic wrap and chill in the fridge for at least 4 hours preferably. You can store the rest in the freezer if you are not using it. This can be stored for up to a month.
Heat the oven to 180 C, when you are ready to make the tart, cut out a freezer bag or a big clean plastic bag, and put the dough in between to roll out. Cut according to size of the mini tart cups.
Press gently onto the tray and poke holes all over with a fork so that it allows air to go around when baking.
For individual small tart shells, we do not need to use beans for weighing them down.
Bake for 15 minutes at 180 C till golden brown for the small tarts.

Cool the tart shells on a rack and prepare the filling.
 Leave some dough for the crumble, roughly take small pinches of dough and scatter on the baking tray, bake at 180 C for 5 to 7  min or until golden brown. set it aside to cool.
 
Cool the tart shells on a rack and prepare the filling.
 
To assemble the mini tarts

Take the piping bag of cempedak fillings out of the fridge. as soon as it is of piping consisitency, we can fill the mini tart cups. Pipe the fillings into the tart cups in a spiral manner, ending it to a tip. put the prepared crumble all over the filling, making sure it sticks to the filling. There you go, enjoy!
 



Fresh Milk Loaf, super soft.

My family got tired of eating bread from the bread maker, so I have to urgently think of new ideas of what to bake before they even mention buying a loaf of Gradenia bread. I really do not want them to eat bread with full of artifical commercial chemicals in in.

Well, just in time, I saw some bloggers sharing the Hokkaido Milk Bread recipe and in Youtube as well. But lazy as can be, both recipes were the hand kneaded kind, am I going to hand knead? No way definitely. I do not plan to dump the ingredients into the bread machine because it will come out the same shape and my family members are bound to complain again. So, I have to dump the ingredients into the mixer with a dough hook of course.

The mixer can well knead the bread dough till the 'window pane stage', no problem. Well, I am really glad I am born into the convenience of machines era. What am I going to do without my gadgets? I simply love all my gadgets, as long as they can help me reduce my workload, I will continue to use them.

I sort of combined the two recipes I found and adapted from there. I reduced the sugar level because I don't really like my bread so sweet. I also skipped quite a few steps being the lazy me. It turned out fluffy and soft. I used my new bread mould that I just bought to give me that 'Gardenia' look. I like the cube like look of the bread mould, it reminds me of my Montessori Pink Tower, which is exactly  a 10 cm CUBE.

I will not call it Hokkaido Milk Bread because I just used ordinary fresh milk, not Hokkaido Milk to bake this bread. I am not about to go all the way to Meidiya Supermarket to buy just a packet of exorbitant priced milk to bake some bread.

This bread is very good and tasty and I can eat it plain. Or better yet, I spread the bread with my favourite Echire butter.

Recipe was adapted from http://mymindpatch.blogspot.sg/2014/01/hand-kneaded-hokkaido-milk-loaf.html & http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PCzyeyJ6ApQ

Using 2 of 10 cm x 10 cm x 10cm bread mould or pullman tin with cover, 200 C oven, 30 minutes.

Fresh Milk Loaf

Ingredients

260g bread flour
20g cake flour
1/2  tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp honey
1 tsp condensed milk
1 tsp yeast
Half a beaten egg
120 ml fresh milk
60 ml cream

30g softened butter

1. Put all the ingredients except the butter into the mixer with a dough hook and mix it well at low speed and increase to medium speed when all the dry ingredients have come together.

2. It will appear to be a very wet dough at first. But do not be tempted to add in more bread flour.
Be patient, kneading bread dough takes time.

3. It will come together and eventually be a nice smooth dough. Please stand nearby the mixer when you are kneading bread dough to make sure the machine does not move over the edge of the counter.

4. Touch the dough to test that it is no longer sticky, now you can incorporate the butter in.

5. Let the dough hook slap the butter around. Knead till the 'window pane' or 'membrane' stage. It is ready when the dough reaches this stage. It means when you grab a little of the dough between your fingers and stretch it till it is almost trnslucent and it does not tear easily. It does take time to reach this stage.

6. Oil a big clean bowl and store the dough in it, cover with cling wrap and let it proof till double in size for about an hour or so.

7. After it has doubled in size, transfer the dough onto the counter or worktop and punch out all the air.
 8. Weigh the dough and divide the dough into two equal portions.

9. Tug the ends of the dough into two round balls.

10. Put it back into the big bowl, cover with the cling wrap to rest for just 15 minutes.

11. After that, take out one portion, roll it out flat with a rolling pin into a rectangle.

12. Now fold the two of 'length sides' in to meet in the middle, resulting into a narrower rectangle.

13. Use the rolling pin, roll it flat again, now becoming a longer rectangular strip.

14. At this stage, roll up the dough with your hands into a rounded roll just like a swiss roll.

Please go to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PCzyeyJ6ApQ for demo.

15. Put the rolled up dough into the bread mould. Do likewise with the other portion.
If you have a 20 cm x10 cm x 10 cm mould, put the rolled up dough side by side.

16. Cover with cling wrap, put it aside to proof till dough is about 80% to 85% full almost reaching the top of the mould. (leaving about 1 cm of the rim). It takes about an hour or so. You can speed things up by putting the pullman tins in the microwave oven with a glass of hot water beside them to heat up the environment.

17. 15 minutes before, heat up the oven to 200C.

18. When it has proven enough, cover the tins or moulds with the lid and bake for approximately 30 to 35 minutes.

19. Take out the bread from the mould immediately when it is baked and cool it on a rack.

20. Only cut the bread when it is completely cooled.



Cheesecake with Dragonfruit

I honestly like the colour of the dragonfruit very much, I mean the red fleshed one not the white one. The taste of the red dragonfruit is also much more superior than the white one hence the price difference as well. I find that the white one has an after taste which I dislike but not the red one. The red one costs much more too.

Some Malaysian exporters justified the higher cost to its benefits. I read somewhere that eating red-fleshed dragonfruit was reported to increase bone density, prevent colon cancer and ease constipation. This can explained why red dragonfruits cost more as compared to the white fragonfruit . It was also reported that the red flesh variety is believed to be rich in antioxidants and has an exceptionally high content of soluble fiber. It is considered a good source of vitamin C and its vitamin C is more easily absorbed than vitamin C from a pill supplement. Some bloggers swear that it helps to lower blood glucose levels in type 2 diabetes.

 

Well. I bought 3 that day, ate one and decided to make a pretty cheesecake with the other two remaining ones. I love the pink colour it yields. It has just a hint of taste of the dragonfruits, mainly still dominated by the cream cheese.

 

Dragon Fruit Cheesecake

Using 8 inch loose bottom cake pan

Ingredients A :

Biscuits (Digestive) 120g, crushed into crumbs
Butter (melted) 80g

Ingredients B :

Dragon Fruits 2 (Chopped)
Milk 100g

Ingredients C :

Sugar 100g
Cream Cheese 500g
Whipping Cream 300g

 Ingredients D :

Gelatin 2 tbsp
Water 60g

 Method:

1. Mix the biscuits crumbs and butter well and press evenly onto base of cake pan. Freeze it for 10 mins and use as the base.

2. Put chopped dragonfruits in a pot. Cook dragonfruits till hot until it is paste like. Then add 100g milk. Stir well. Let the mixture cool.

3. In a mixer, beat the cream cheese and sugar until fluffy and add in the whipping cream.

4. Mix the cooked dragonfruits with the cheese batter in a bowl and mix well.

 

5. Mix the gelatin and water and double boil until it is dissolved and add into the cheesecake mixture. Mix well.

 

6. Pour the mixture into the cake pan with the prepared base and chill for at least 4 hours in the fridge and serve.

  

   Boil the dragonfruit

Add 100g of milk

 

 

 

 

 

 



Sausage Buns, sweet and soft

Today is my last day of my precious June holidays. I have indeed enjoyed my Greece trip with my darling daughter. Waking up late, shopping and so on. Three and a half weeks passed light lightning and tomorrow I have to go back to work for the preparation of school reopening.

My hands are itching to bake before I get busy again. I did not manage to bake much this holiday. I have a long line up for many recipes and many ingredients waiting for me. Too much things to do but not enough time. That is my usual complain. Even I have time, I do procastinate and spend more time ploughing for recipes than baking or cooking.

Anyway, my last chance today, and I want to do it for my staff. My faithful teachers who are also ending their holidays and going back to work. I have chosen to bake sausage buns for their breakfast, hopefully to bring back smiles on their faces.

Sausage Buns

(makes around twenty buns)

Recipe adapted from Happy Home Baking

300g bread flour

300g cake/top flour

11g instant yeast

100g sugar

1 tsp salt

250ml fresh milk

2 egg
*Tangzhong 3 tbsp

100g butter
20 sausages
A little melted butter for brushing on the buns

Method:

Put all the dry ingredients (1st 5items) in a stand mixer using the dough hook. Mix well.

Add in the milk, eggs and tangzhong. Mix at medium speed for a good 5 minutes at least.

Now add in the butter, and mix until it is no longer sticky.

Testing now and then for the window pane stage.

Take a small piece of the dough and stretch it with your fingers. If it can be stretched into a thin layer without tearing easily, the dough is good. When it has reached that stage, transfer to an oiled bowl and cover with plastic wrap to let it double to twice the size. In tropical Singapore, it takes about one hour.

If doing by hand. Mix all dry ingredients in a mixing bowl. Add in milk, egg and butter. Mix into a dough. Place the dough on a lightly floured work surface. Knead the dough until the dough is elastic, smooth and non sticky. it will take approximately 25 to 30 minutes by hand.    

When it has doubled, take out the dough and punch it out. Let the dough rest for another 15mins.

Make sure the sausages are dry and not wet.

Divide the dough into 60g portions.

Flour the countertop and roll each portion into long round strips with your floured palms. Then roll
the dough tightly round the sausages without leaving any gaps and seal the edges by gently pressing it down. Gently roll the rolled sausages between he palms to bring it to a rounder shape.

Arrange the buns in a greased, lined or silpat pan. Cover with a tea towel or wrap. Rest them for about another 15 to 20 minutes at the max. I don't suggest you rest it longer because if it grows very fat and big, the strips will come apart and will not be pretty.

I did not brush with an egg wash, I prefer to brush with melted butter after baking because it gives a softer crust.

Bake in an 190C oven for about 15mins until golden brown. Brush melted butter on the buns.

*Tangzhong recipe
50gm/ 1/3 cup bread flour
250ml/ 1cup water (could be replaced by milk, or half water and half milk)

Method:

Mix flour in water well without any lumps. Cook over medium-low heat, stirring all the time.
The mixture becomes thick. Once you notice some “lines” appear in the mixture, it is done. The tangzhong is ready. Remove from heat. You can store it in the fridge if you are not using immediately and can last a few days. The chilled tangzhong should return to room temperature before adding into bread mixture.

Cherry Jam (Homemade)

Cherry Jam (Homemade from Fresh Cherries)

This is my first blog in the June holidays. I am thrilled as I came back from my vacation in Sunny Greece. We went to Athens, Santorini and Naxos. It was a good trip, we planned it all ourselves, free & easy and managed to see one of the loveliest and beautiful, postcard worthy islands in the world. Santorini should be one of the places you must go before you die.

As it was in early June, Summer has just started not long. But the weather was HOT, we came back three shades darker (tan). Fruits were aplenty on the roadside stalls and the cherries and strawberries were calling out to me. As you know, cherries in Singapore are SO very expensive. It can go up to S$16 to S$20 a kilogram here in our supermarkets.

The roadside stalls in Athens were selling them for like 4 Euros (S$6.80) a kilogram. We were eating it for snacks every other day. But when we got to the Central Market in Monastiraki, Athens, they were selling it for 1 Euro per kilogram!!! What? S$1.70 for a whole kilogram? That is ridiculous I thought. Singapore is over charging us for everything! I made a plan to go to the market on the day we fly off just to get some cherries to bring home. So true enough, we flew home with 3 whole kilograms of fresh cherries, very happy and satisfied. Other cheap items to buy are saffron and olive oil of course.

Fresh cherries are delicate and on transit, even hand carried, there will be some slightly bruised ones that will not be exactly very pretty to look at but completely edible. What do I do with those bruised ones? Make jam of course! Who would buy cherries from our supermarkets to make your own jam in Singapore? Come on, you and I will never. But in this case, cherries came dirt cheap and I would take the opportunity to make a fresh cherry jam. Further more, I could either use the Thermomix machine or bread machine to make the jam without stirring. Very simple and the end result is a nice, delicious Mason jar of GREEK cherry jam !

Fresh Greek Cherry Jam

Makes 1 Mason Jar of jam
Ingredients:

500g of fresh cherries, pitted but skin intact
200g sugar
Lemon zest from 1/2 a lemon
Juice from 1/2 a lemon
1/2 tsp of Nielson Massey rose water (optional)

Method:

Wash, remove the stalks and pits of the cherries, drain the water and pat dry.
Put cherries, sugar, zest and lemon juice in a non-metallic bowl and mix everything together.
Let it macerate for 1 hour in the fridge.
In a small or medium pot, bring the mixture to a simmer over medium heat. Stir the mixture now and then.
Bring the the mixture to a boil and carefully skim the scum away from the mixture. Turn to low heat and make sure jam does not burn)
Stir gently until the jam is set. (approx half hour to 45 min )
Test for sweetness, if you want it sweeter, add a few tsp of sugar.
You can test by putting a small saucer in the freezer, make sure it is completely chilled and drop a teaspoonful of jam onto the cold plate and put it back into the freezer for 2 minutes. If the jam wrinkles, it means it is set, if not, cook for another 5 minutes.
Make sure you turn off the fire when you are testing, if not your whole pot might burn.
Store the cooled jam in a sterilised jar.

Take note that I never use pectin to make my homemade jam. Be it Strawberry. blueberry or kumquat jam.

ALTERNATIVELY

By Thermomix  
Method

Put all the ingredients and cook for 45 to 60 minutes at 100C, speed 1, with the Thermomix basket on the mixing bowl lid instead of the cup to allow steam to escape.
The last 5 to 10 minutes, I like to turn the heat to Varoma, speed 2.

Bread Machine
Method

Put all the ingredients in the baking pan, press the JAM key.
It will take about 1 hour 20 min in my Zojirushi Home Baker Mini.

Enjoy with any kind of bread, homemade is the best of course!

This is one of the many orange trees in the middle of Syntagma Square, Athens, right in the middle of the city, opposite the Parliament House.

                                                                Rose Water (optional)

Meyer Lemon Tart (2)

 

I simply cannot resist buying Meyer lemons when I see them on the shelves in the supermarket. Likewise I will not be able to not buy the Yuzus when I see them in the Japanese supermarkets during the seasons. I admit I definitely have a penchant for citrus fruits and I will try to make them into desserts of all kinds since I cannot eat certain ones straight. But these are actually sweet enough to eat. Meyer lemons are readily available for a bigger part of the year nowadays compared to one to two years ago where I thought I have to go to Australia to try tasting one when I heard so much about it through the net.

 

They are not as tart as a normal lemon and the fragrance is heavenly to me. It is a cross between a true lemon and a mandarin. The colour of the peel has a tinge of orange in it, just beautiful to me. It can also be kept for quite a few weeks without spoiling.

 

I even tried to plant the seeds but so far I have not gotten any success of course. Well, no harm in trying anything right? Popularity of the fruit climbed further when Martha Steward statrted to feature them in her recipes through her shows. She is one person who is crazy over all sorts of citrus fruits as well. Of course she has the luxury of having a huge greenhouse and her team of staff to experiment with them.  

 

Well, for Singaporeans who cannot find Meyer Lemons, don't despair, you can always make a 1:1 substitution of the juice and zest of various lemons. Meyer lemons are much sweeter and less acidic than normal lemons, so you might want to minus the sugar level in some recipes or vice versa.

 

When I can get hold of Meyer lemons, I always end up with a lemon tart some how. Don't ask me why. You can also find another recipe in my older post. http://foodmaestro.blogspot.com/2014/01/meyer-lemon-tart_5.html

 

Meyer Lemon Tart

adapted from Rick Stein in Delicious Magazine

25cm round tart pan or 35cm x 12 cm x 2.5cm longish tart pan

 

Pastry

200g plain flour

50g ground almond

25g icing sugar

A pinch of salt

150g chilled unsalted butter - cubed then put it back into the fridge

1 egg yolk

1 egg white

1 1/2 tbsp ice water

 

Filling

4 to 5 Meyer lemons to yield 150 ml juice and all the zest (finely grated)

6 eggs - beaten lightly

180g sugar

150 ml cream

Icing sugar to dust (optional)

 

To make the pastry:

1. Sift the flour.

2. Put sifted flour, ground almond, icing sugar and salt into the food processor. If you don't have a   

    machine, you can do it manually, it just takes some effort.

3. Pulse it 2 to 3 times to mix it up.

4. Now add the chilled butter to the mixture and briefly pulse (please use pulse function) till it

    resembles fine bread crumbs. Use your finger tips if you don't have a machine.

5. Add the egg yolk and the ice water and pulse again until the pastry just comes together.

6. Remove and gently knead a few times so it forms a smooth round.

7. Roll the dough out between 2 sheets of big plastic bags (cut sides) big enough to fit

     your tart pan.

8. Poke holes in the dough all over and then store the tart pan in the fridge for 30 minutes.

9. Preheat the oven to 200C or 180C with fan.

10. When you are ready to bake the pastry, line the tart pan with baking paper, fill with beans or

       raw rice and blind bake on a metal baking sheet for 12-15 minutes until the sides are a bit golden

       brown. Take it out of the oven, brush with the egg white  (to seal the pastry) and put it back into

       the oven for 2 minutes.

11. Take the baking sheet with the tart pan on it out and lower the oven to 140C.

 

To make the filling:

1. Lightly beat the eggs and sugar together but do not create foam.

2. Mix in the lemon juice, beaten eggs and cream.

3. Mix well.

4. Sieve the mixture into a jug with a spout.

5. Add in all the zest and give it a good stir.

6. Put the baking sheet with the tart pan back into the oven, partly pull out the oven shelf and pour the

    filling from the jug into the tart pan to almost the brim.

7. Very carefully slide the oven shelf back in and bake for 40 to 50 minutes (140C) until just set. The

     mixture should still be a bit wobbly in the centre but will continue to firm up after it comes out of 

     the oven. 

8. Remove and leave to cool but do not refrigerate just yet.

9. When cooled, dust with icing sugar before serving if you wish.

10. Best served on the day it is made.

 

            

 



Ma Lai Go, Hong Kong style steamed sponge cake

Whenever I go to Hong Kong, I will never fail to go to Tim Ho wan for my dim sum fix. They have to my opinion the best Cha Siew Polo bun and Ma Lai Go. I cannot comment on the Singapore branches as I have never been there.

So, I have done some research and the traditional Ma Lai Go has to be fermented for at least 2 to 3 days. Tim Ho Wan ferment theirs for two whole days.

Although the cake is brown in colour, it has no brown sugar in its ingredients, just normal sugar. When you ferment the batter, it will turn brown while steaming. I find it interesting, although a little yeast was used, there are no taste of the yeast at all in the steamed cake.

It is fluffy, soft and spongy at the same time. I like the result of the cake with the streaky holes! It is like the 'Pak Tong Go' I used to eat when I was a child. You need patience to make this cake if you want it this way because of the fermentation. I figure you can steam the cake on the same day with just a little waiting but I suppose it will have a different effect. Well, more experiments on the way!

My good friend found this recipe in her written book of recipes from some newspaper cuttings and jotted it down.

Recipe adapted from Ms Amy Beh
Steamer with cover
8 inch container
45 minutes of steaming

Starter
160g Hong Kong flour or any low protein flour like cake flour
35g sugar
1 tsp instant yeast
75ml slightly warm water

180g sugar (can add more if you want it sweeter)
35g bread flour
35g custard powder
20g milk powder
5 eggs
50g melted butter
100g canola oil/any tasteless vegetable oil
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
2 tsp alkaline water (optional)

1. First, start the fermentation process by mixing all the ingredients for the starter in a bowl and cover with cling wrap and put it aside.
2. Let it ferment for at least 12 hours without touching it. Mine was fermented for 36 hours. The longer you ferment, the darker will be the colour. The texture and the colour will also depend on how long you ferment it.

3. When you are ready to prepare your cake, sift bread flour, custard powder and milk powder together in a bowl.
4. Place the fermented starter in your mixing bowl and mix it with a beater attachment at low speed.
5. Gradually add the sugar and beat it for a couple of minutes.
6. Now, add in the flour mixture gradually, still at low speed for another couple of minutes until combined.
7. At this moment, change to the whisk attachment in your mixer and add the eggs one at a time at low speed.
8. Turn the speed on medium high and whisk it for 10 minutes more.
9. Scrape down the sides of the bowl half way. Now you will notice that the batter will turn smooth without lumps.
10. At low speed, add in the melted butter and the oil. Mix well.
11. At this juncture, you can either put the batter in a bowl and ferment again in the fridge for 12 hours (I fermented mine for 24 hours) or you can proceed to add on the last of the ingredients and steam it.
12. You can also just ferment it for 2 hours and proceed with the rest of the ingredients. this depends on how impatient you are.
13. When you are ready to steam the cake, or rather fermentation is up, prepare the steamer with a cover and make sure there is enough boiling water.

14. For the pan, I used an 8 inch cake ring and a steaming rack and put baking paper in the cake ring with a single big piece of paper with an overhang for ease of removing the cake later.
15. If you have an 8 inch bamboo steamer, it is all the better and ideal.
16. I suppose you can use a normal round cake pan to steam as well, just make sure you line the pan with a whole piece of baking paper as well for lifting the cake up.
17. Now, add in the alkaline water (lye water) if using.
18. Sift in the baking powder and bicarbonate of soda and mix until just combined.
19. Pour the batter into whichever prepared container you are using to steam the cake, cover and steam at high heat for 45 minutes.

20. Do not be tempted to open the cover for the first 30 minutes.
21. After 30 minutes, you can check whether there is enough water in the steamer. Replenish with hot water to continue steaming if necessary.
22. Let the cake cool on a rack for at least 5 to 10 minutes before removing it from the pan.

Eat it fresh and warm.
Store the rest in the fridge and you can heat it in the microwave for 10 seconds whenever you need a piece!

 

Sourdough Bread

 

 

This post is long due, I have made countless sourdough bread and my bottle of sourdough is already two years old. I have been feeding the dough weekly only because I am too lazy and I do not make sourdough bread all the time. I literally have to discard some dough whenever I feed it.

Sourdough bread is bread which is fermented with wild yeast in the air instead of commercial yeast. Wild yeast is everywhere - in the air, in the flour and on the surface of some fruits. Commercial yeast has replaced wild yeast because it is easier to mass produced and easier for bakeries to use and store and most importantly it proofs our bread quickly. In contrast, wild yeast works much more slowly to proof breads.

So you ask, why do people bother then? Well, for one, I LOVE the flavour and texture that sourdough that is made with wild yeast gives as compared to bread made with commercial yeast. I admit Singaporeans simply love the soft pillowy bread that is sold in every local bakery. We are so used to soft, sweet and easy to chew bread. We are lazy, are we?

But I  love to chew my bread, once in a while. When I am not rushing to work, we will have sourdough bread with dinner and have nice conversation with my family or friends. I also like to dip my sourdough bread in olive oil, balsamic vinegar, some herbs or simply just smear some good butter on it. If you ask me, I will have very soft tangzhong bread in the morning when I have to rush to work but textured sourdough bread in the evening especially in the weekends. A nice balance I would say.

How about a beginner sourdough bread? It is a bread that does not take a whole day to ferment or rise. It takes just about two hours for the first rise and then about an hour for the second rise. As compared to the seven to eight hours for the purist sourdough bread. This bread uses the bubbly sourdough starter along with the commercial yeast to speed things up as you are getting used to working with sourdough.

Don't worry, this bread does not taste sour as you expected it to be. It is subtle and yet still soft on the inside. The strong sour flavour are only developed over a long, slow fermentation ofr a fully sourdough bread. Since we are on a speedy note, we will not get it so sour. Your bread will taste a little more sour if you have not been feeding your starter for more than two weeks at a stretch or if you use a mature starter. If the starter is fairly new, the taste will be mild.

Would you like a change in taste and texture of your bread? Then, make your own. Starting from the starter. Get it at http://www.thekitchn.com/how-to-make-your-own-sourdough-starter-cooking-lessons-from-the-kitchn-47337

Simple Sourdough Bread Recipe

Ingredients:

3 cups bread flour
2 tsp Kosher salt (or 1 tsp table salt)
1 1/2 tsp instant yeast
1 cup water
1 cup sourdough starter

Method:

Put flour, salt, yeast and water in a mixer with a dough hook.
Make a rough dough.
Add the sourdough starter and knead till smooth and dough leaves bowl.
It is a fairly wet and sticky dough.
Either flour your hands well or put a little oil on your hands to take the dough out onto a oiled big bowl and cover with cling wrap. Let it rise to double its size, about two to three hours.
Before the time is up, flour a proofing basket/brotform/banneton well.
If you don't have this, try a bowl! Oil the bowl, flour it very well.
Dump the dough onto the proofing basket, cover with cling wrap again.
The dough should rise to the desired size by an hour or so.
Turn the dough out onto a lined pan.
Better still, if you have a pizza stone, it will be perfect.

Bake it in a preheated 220 C oven for 15 minutes with a pan of steaming hot water at the bottom of the oven.
After 15 minutes, turn the oven down to 180 C to bake for another 15 to 20 minutes. If you want your bread to be a bit more brown, bake it for another 5 minutes or so.