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.