Chicken BBQ Pau & Red Bean Pau (Steam Buns)

This was done at home, using the same recipe from the class. Smooth filling was not self made.

As I was saying in my previous post, I took a day off to attend a baking class in Damansara Heights. There were numerous class for me to choose from but in the end, I settled on pau making class instead of pastry pro class. I reckon I will never venture to make a puff pastry since frozen ones are easily accessible. As for sweet pastry, I've done that countless times. I made the right decision because I got to learn how to make pau and the filling from scratch. Yes, from deboning the chicken meat to cooking the red bean filling from the red beans. It was very unfortunate that I couldn't eat the very own chicken BBQ pau I made because I'm still on a vegan marathon. Errr.... I tasted the gravy though coz I know I'll never sleep that night without knowing how the BBQ filling taste like. It sure smell wonderful to my nostrils.

Wholemeal Chicken BBQ Pau made in the class.

Okay, I know the pau looked kinda hideous but it was my very 1st time making pleats to the pau instead of just a boring round shape. I gotta perfect this skill and that means more practice. My next pau will be a vegetarian pau. When? Well... soon. Sooner than you thought.

The wholemeal pau. The one behind was yam pau (flour with yam) with red bean filling

Yes, unsightly pleated but hey this is just the beginning. It's my 2nd attempt anyway

As per request from a friend, here's the recipe.

Ingredients for pau :

1 tsp instant yeast

1/2 cup lukewarm water

1 tbsp sugar

3/4 plain flour

3/4 wholemeal flour

1 tsp cooking oil

1 tsp double action baking powder (I omitted this entirely)

Ingredients for filling :

300g chicken pieces, skinless, boneless, cut cubes, marinated in 1/4 tsp of salt and pepper

3/4 cup green peas

1 onion, chopped

2 cloves garlic, chopped

1 tbsp cooking oil

1 tbsp hoisin sauce

1 tbsp oyster sauce

1 tsp sesame oil

1 tsp cornflour

Method : Pau

1. Mix instant yeast, sugar and warm water and let it stand for 5 mins.
2. Mix all the ingredients together and knead the dough for about 15 mins until it forms an elastic ball.
3. Cover with damp cloth and let it rest for about 30 mins

Method : Filling

1. Heat up oil and fry the garlic and onion.
2. Add in chopped onions, peas and chicken cubes.
3. Add in the hoisin sauce, oyster sauce and sesame oil.
4. Mix cornflour with a little water and thicken the filling.

Method : Wrapping filling in pau

1. Divide dough to about 8 portions. If you prefer pau to be smaller, divide to 10 or 12 portions. Roll them into balls.
2. Flatten each dough and make the edges thinner.
3. Scoop a spoon full of filling into the centre and pleat to seal.
4. Place pau on a piece of greaseproof paper. Repeat for remaining dough.
5. Cover the pau with damp cloth and leave it to rest for 45 mins.
6. Steam over high heat for 15 mins. Serve hot.

My cooking tips : The double action baking powder serves to proof the dough faster. To ensure dough is well knead for proofing, pull the dough. If it's quite elastic and doesn't break so easily, then dough is well knead.

My team mates in the class. Starting to make the pau shape.

 

Kneading the dough for proofing later on.

My One Pot Vegetable Pie

I bought the 50% off baking voucher a month plus ago and registered for this Pau making class. Instead of posting pictures of the pau I made during the class, I was however eager to show off my easy peasy vegetable pie. What triggered this sudden impulse was all because of the chicken pau I made in the morning class. The chicken filling smell so darn good but I could only taste the gravy all because I'm still on vegetarian (and will be for the next 2 months). It was agonizing enough not to touch meat of any sort (minus the fainting spell) but the pure agony of all was to watch hubby wolfing down the brownish reddish crispy fried chicken the other day at this Melur Discovery. Seriously, at this rate, I'm gonna cracked very soon. I clamped  down on my temptation today and that meant I didn't get to eat the chicken pau I made.

To compensate, I decided to modify the filling to a vegan filling, subsituting the chicken with all the vegetables that could go with it : shitake mushroom, green peas, carrots, celery and capsicum. Naturally it didn't taste as good without chicken meat but that'll do for the meantime. The filling could go very well with rice or instant noodles but since I have 2 tiny sheets of puff pastry in my fridge, I thought it was time for my remekins to make its appearance. And so I had a vegetarian pie for dinner and nice juicy papaya for dessert. What? Hubby? As long as he is eating at home with me, he has to eat what I cook. Period.

Filling (chop to small cubes for all vegetables) :
Shitake mushroom
Carrot
Celery
Green Peas
Green Capsicum
Red Capsicum
Big onions 1
Garlic 3 cloves
 Hoisin sauce 1tbsp
Oyster sauce 1tbsp
Sesame oil 1tsp

Other Ingredients :
Puff pastry
Beaten eggs as egg wash

Method :

1. Heat up oil and saute onions and garlic together till fragrant.
2. Stir in shitake mushroom and saute. Once mushrooms become slightly softer, add in the rest of the vegetables.
3. Stir in the sauces, with sesame oil coming in last.
4. Turn off fire and transfer filling into remekins.
5. Brush a little beaten eggs on sides of the puff pastry and place the side with beaten eggs downward to cover the remekin. Pull it slightly to stick to the edge of remekin to make it taut. Repeat same process with 2nd sheet. You may add another sheet (total 3 sheets of puff pastry) of puff pastry if you like. Brush and top with  puff pastry with beaten eggs and bake in a preheated oven for about 15 mins at 190 - 200C.

My cooking tips : Subsitute the filling with  chicken by removing mushrooms, capsicum and celery. This filling can be used to make chicken pau.

Black Sesame Mantou (Steamed Buns)



Steaming hot mantou, just out from the wok.


This is my first attempt on mantou. I was suddenly inspired to try it out because of the picture of mantou I saw in my sis in law's (SIL) baking book. I borrowed the book on behalf of my mom because my mom is also into making pau. The book was in chinese and I for one was totally clueless on what was being written on it. I had to ask my SIL to translate the recipe for me. She's a pro in making bread, pau and mantou. Generally anything that uses yeast, she's an expert.

The mantou has risen again after shaping. It's ready to be steamed.

I've never been so happier with the way the dough turned out the be. It had double its size in an hour's time. By that time, the dough was so soft, so fragile that it made my heart sang because I smell success. Afterall, it's not often I can get my dough to the right consistency. Hubby is not a fan of mantou or bread but he ate 2 anyway. I ate most of it while sharing some with my in laws and friends. I'm contemplating to replace the thin layer of sesame spread with red bean or lotus paste. Think I should try that out sometime soon?

The recipe is upstairs and it's in hardcopy. Please leave a comment if recipe is needed.

Oh yea.. I know the pictures were not well taken because all food pictures were taken by me and I can't handle the DSLR as well as hubby. Been trying to polish my skills on it but... hrmmpp....... guess I lack of the passion.

Ingredients :

(A) Water           260g

       Yeast           5g

      Medium Protein Flour (or wheat flour)     350g

(B) Medium Protein Flour (or wheat flour)      150g

      Sugar                           60g

      Corn oil                        5g (or 1 tsp)

      Black sesame seed       25g

(C) Black sesame powder  25g

      Icing sugar                   15g

Method :

1. Mix (A) with spatula in a bowl. It will be sticky. When well mixed, cover with damp cloth and let it proof for 1 hour.
2. Mix (B) together. Mixture will be dry. Mix it well. Then take the mixture (A) which has proofed and mix together with mixture (B). Knead it on a floured surface till well blended and dough is smooth and no longer sticky. Leave it to rest for 10 mins.
3. Take a rolling pin and roll the dough into a large rectangular shape. Brush the top of dough with a little bit of water. Then mix (C) and sprinkle on top of the slightly wet dough. Sprinkle it well and evenly.
4. Slowly and gentlly roll the dough up (ie like rolling a swiss roll cake). Ensure there is no empty space when you roll the dough. Once done, hold each end of the long dough and slowly pull it to make it even slightly longer. Cut it into 16 portions and place each portion on a small piece of baking paper. Let it rest for another 25 mins. Steam it for about 20 mins.

My cooking tips : I replace half of the sugar with organic molasses which gives a better taste plus it is healthier. However, the mantou will be slightly brownish reddish due to color of molasses. Corn oil can be replaced with melted butter.

Fried Beancurd with Satay Sauce Dip

I came home from work with a pleasant surprise. Mom had actually made a satay sauce from scratch without the help from the instant packet which most people will conveniently get from the hypermart. Unfortunately, I wasn't at home to witness the entire procedure. Apparently, she made this several times in Singapore and Sydney and it was a hit with everyone. The sauce was meant as a dip for the fried beancurd and freshly cut cucumber. Of course, you may use it as a 'salad' sauce where you drizzle it over smaller cut fried beancurd, shredded turnip, shredded cucumber and shredded carrot. Sounds like a rojak, eh? We all love the sauce, hubby and myself. We couldn't get enough of it and had to glean off the very last drop from the bowl. 

The recipe? Yeah.. the recipe is in her grey matter. I hadn't got a chance to ask her before she left for Singapore. Will get it from her soon.

Red Bean Soup with chunky Sweet Potatoes

There was this miserable packet of organic red bean tucked away in my larder for quite sometime. I still have 3 purple japanese sweet potatoes left in the basket which were shrinking at an incredible speed and so I thought it would be great to cook the red bean together with little chunks of the sweet potatoes. That way, I could get rid of both items at the same time. So I soaked the beans the night before and the following day, I came back home during lunch hour to put the red bean into the slow cooker so that I could have it for dinner. Of course I didn't deliberately come back just for that sole purpose. I just didn't want to have lunch in office, in my pathetic cubicle, facing the computer and having people swinging by my desk and asking me about work related matters or worse, passing the phone calls to me when I'm having my mouth full of food. Hey, it's my lunch hour. I need to get away from office and the only place I can find sanctuary in that 1 hour is my humble abode. Somehow, I had this profound need to rest and 'restore' myself. So off home I went.

The red bean was only ready to be served at half past nine. We had it as a dessert, as part of our dinner. I was only using the following ingredients to cook this lovely sweet dessert  :

• Organic red bean
• 6 pieces of pandan leaves
• 1 big piece of dried tangerine skin
• 10 dried longans
• 2 japanese sweet potatoes (because 1 had shrivelled beyond recognition) - cut into some chunks
• Rock sugar honey

I shared this with a few of my colleagues the following day coz Cousin Soo was too busy to pop over for collection. Not fated this time but I'm sure there'll be another time (soon).

Chocolate Swiss Roll

I was bogged down with so much work in office that I practically worked like a robot this entire week. With the cycling activity which usually lasts till midnight, I barely have enough time to sleep and replenish my energy. At office especially in the morning and right after lunch, I was desperately wishing to take forty winks but of course that was wishful thinking. Well, having grumble so much on insufficient sleep and feeling lethargic, I was surprised at my enthusiasm to rush home to bake a chocolate swiss roll. My brain was telling me to bake but my body was issuing signals to me and telling me to forget about baking. In the end, my brain won. I left office on the dot yesterday and started baking this chocolate swiss roll by using the green tea swiss roll recipe I had. I was short of one egg but I couldn't care less. I substituted the green tea powder with cocoa powder and the results? Unsatisfying. I detest it when things go wrong because that means time and energy wasted. The cake was partially dry and not chocolaty enough. Besides that, I didn't do a good rolling job. Well, it's ok, I'll try it out again next time but before that, I'll need to search for another good recipe.

Cousin Fern wanna have a look at my swiss roll even though I've said it didn't taste good. Since the cake was far from good, I shall refrain from posting the recipe.

Chocolate Banana Cake

My 1st encounter with Chocolate Banana Cake was at La Manila. That was a decade more ago and during that time, sinking my teeth in this cake was a total indulgence to me. I never thought that a decade later, I would be able to try my hands out on this cake. It was a tedious affair to make this cake as it involved baking the sponge cake, getting the cream ready and making the chocolate ganache. To make things simpler, I used a sponge cake premix to start on. The baking of sponge cake requires 30 - 40 mins, depending on your tin size and oven. When the cake was fully cooled, slice the cake twice to spread the chocolate fresh cream on it. Next, I sent the cake to be chilled in the fridge before pouring the chocolate ganache on top and decorate it with the simplest decorations. I'm proud to say that the cake tasted really really good. Even hubby who doesn't have a sweet tooth, was devouring the cake with 'genuine' interest  (besides the chilled cheesecake). I think I need to try this cake out soon again to perfect it... or rather to ensure that 1st attempt was not just pure luck :) I wished I had more bananas to add into the cream.

Please leave a note if you are interested in the recipe because it's pretty long and I need to type it out :D

Here's the recipe which I got from Madam Ooi.

To Make Chocolate Sponge Cake.

• Just get a packet of chocolate sponge cake premix. Follow the instructions stated on the packet.
• Let the cake cool. Slice across 1/3 of the cake and then make another 1/3 slice across it.  This is for spreading of chocolate cream later on.

To Make Chocolate Cream :

Ingredients:

30g     Melted dark chocolate

15ml   Full Cream Milk

150ml Whipped Cream

Method :

1. Bring the milk to a boil, add in chocolate.
2. In another bowl, whip the whipping cream until foamy. Beat in medium speed.
3. Add the melted chocolate and whipped cream together, stir until well combined. Then set aside.

To Make Chocolate Ganache:

Ingredients:

125g   Dark chocolate

125g  Whipping cream

15g     Butter

1 tbsp Honey

Method :

1. Cook the whipping cream and honey to a boil.
2. Stir it into the chocolate until the chocolate is melted.
3. Then add in butter, mix well.

Assembling the cake :

1. For me, I left the cake in the cake tin with a removable bottom. You have have 3 slices of the sponge cake. Remove 2 slices out and leave 1 slice (bottom layer) on the pan.
2. Place the sliced bananas on the cake, then take a slab of chocolate cream and gently put on top of the cake (yes, with bananas on top). Please estimate the cream as you will need to leave some for another layer. You do not need to spread the cream evenly. What I did was place a 2nd layer of cake on top of it and press the cake down. This will spread the cream across. Not that evenly but it will do just fine.
3. Repeat no. 2. Then send the cake to the fridge to chill (for an hour or so)
4. When the cake is chilled, pour the chocolate ganache on top and let it flow to the side till the entire cake is fully covered with the ganache. Chill the cake again. If  you have extra ganache left, pour a 2nd time on the cake. More chocolate glazing means the cake will be sweeter but this 2nd coat will give the cake a nice rounded coating. Chill the cake and you're ready to dig in anytime.



Pan Grilled Mackerel in Banana Leaf

Recently I had the chance to get acquainted with Chef Muluk during an event. Over dinner we made small little chat and needless to say, our topic was about food and cooking. When I asked him for little tips to whip up fast meals, he generously shared some valuable tips with me without reservation. One such recipe is to bake or pan grill mackerel (or any fish). Ideally, I would have marinated the fish with a little salt and a packet of instant tomyam paste. Unfortunately, I was forced to discard my one and only tomyam paste simply because it has expired. What a shame. Anyway, all's good coz I got to follow the marinates given by Chef.

It was just :

• salt,
• a teeny weeny bit of tumeric powder, 
• a little chilli powder (my own idea),
• pieces of sliced tamarind (I had those wet type and so I mixed a little water with it and rub on the fish)
• slice onions

I didn't marinate it for long before I wrapped it nicely with a big piece of banana leaf and then with the aluminium foil. I removed the foil after I pan grilled for approximately 8 mins because it seems like I was taking forever to get the fish cook. You see, I was running a little late for dinner. Frankly speaking, I prefer my fish to be fried because I love fried stuffs. A little unhealthy but yeah, I still prefer that way. Perhaps the fish would be properly infused with the aroma of banana leaf had I not removed the foil. But then again, hubby and I had a feast of banana leaf rice with pan grilled fish in banana leaf and of course, with 2 other dishes. Hubby was happy that he has 2 less plates to wash. He was more than happy. He was elated.