Glutinious Rice Roll

Today is the 5th Day of the Fifth Moon following the Lunar Calender and today is the day of the 'Chung/Rice Dumpling Festival'.   I had wanted to make  some 'chung'  but due to unforeseen circumstances was not able to make some - excuses - excuses!!!  But...... since i do have leftover Law Mei Farn which is a very good filling for these Rolls.  These rolls are so much easier and faster to make and I am pleased that i have kept half the tradition by having glutinious rice served today but in another form.  You can follow any pau dough recipe or follow the one below.




 Ingredients:

Pau Dough:

2 cups pau flour(if all-purpose flour is used - add more water to make into a soft dough)
3/4 cup wheat starch
2 tsp baking powder
3/4 cup powdered/confectioner's sugar
1 1/2 tbsp shortening/lard
1 tsp instant yeast
2/3 cup water(adjust according)
1/4 tsp vinegar

Filling:

1/2 recipe of Law Mei Farn

Method:

To make pau dough:

Put flour, wheat starch, baking powder, powdered sugar and yeast in the food processor and pulse a few times to mix ingredients well..

Add in shortening/lard and pulse until well mixed.

Add vinegar to the water and pour into flour mixture with the food processor on,  Mix until a soft ball forms - water has to adjusted, adding more a little at a time, to make dough into a very soft and pliable dough.

Remove from food processor and knead until smooth, then leave to proof until double it's size.

To assemble:

Roll the 'law mei farn' into a 2 inch log.

Punch down the pau dough and roll into a rectangle that is big enough to wrap the law mei farn log.

Wrap the law mei farn log with the pau dough rectangle and pinch the seam well.

Cut the log into 1 1/2 inch pieces and put a piece of greaseproof paper underneath every piece. Leave rolls to proof again before steaming.  Pau dough should feel puffy and if touched lightly, the dough should not spring back and the dent remained)

Bring the water in the steamer to a very high boil and steam pau rolls for 8 - 10 minutes.

Serve hot



Serves
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Law Mei Farn/Stir-Fried Glutinous Rice

This is a simplified version of the classic moulded dome of rice served in dum sum restaurants.  At the restaurants, this dish is usually steamed whilst at the home-front, the traditional method of cooking is adopted - stir-frying and it faintly resembles how Italian Risotto is cooked. This stir-frying method is tedious, 1/2 cup of water is added to the rice, stir and cover and cook in low fire to prevent burning.  Cook until the rice is moist but with no liquid.  I have used the microwave and this way i know i will not burn the bottom.    



Ingredients:

2 cups glutinious rice
8 cups of boiling hot water to scald the rice
3 tbsp lard/oil
1 1/4 cups stock
1 cup lap yoke/chinese bacon - diced small
1/2 cup lap cheong/chinese sausage - diced small
1/4 cup dried shrimp - soaked in hot water for 20 mins, drained before using
4 dried shitake mushrooms - soaked until soft and dice small
2 tbsp light soya sauce
1 tsp thick dark soya sauce
Pepper and sesame oil to taste
Chopped green onions, cilantro, fried shallots and roasted peanuts for garnishing.


Method:

Place rice in a large bowl and ladle hot boiling water over it until all the 8 cups of water is added.  Stir rice with a pair of chopsticks or wooden spoon and then drain.  Spread  the rice in a strainer in a thin layer, leaving a hole in the middle so as to fasilitate the draining better.  Place strainer over a bowl and let the rice drain for 30 - 45 minutes.

Heat wok with 1 tbsp lard/oil and fry the lap yoke until fragrant.  Dish out and leave aside.

Fry lap cheong until fragrant and dish out.  Leave aside.

Fry the dried shrimp until fragrant and dish out.  Leave aside.

Fry the shitake mushrooms and dish out.  leave aside.

Add 2 tbsp lard/oil and when oil is shimmering, add rice and stir to coat rice with the oil. 

Add in 1.2 cup of stock and transfer rice and stock to a big microwave-safe bowl, cover the bowl and microwave on high for 2 - 3 minutes. until the stock is absorbed.   Stir with a pair of chopsticks and add in another 1/2 cup of stock, cover and microwave on high for 2 - 3 minutes.  Repeat with the rest of the stock, cook and stir.

Add in all the fried lap yoke, lap cheong, dried shrimps and shitake mushrooms and mix well.  Cover and microwave for 5 minutes to finished cooking and the rice is cooked through.  If the rice is not thoroughly cooked add in more water/stock and cook further.


Top with green onions, cilantro, fried shallots, peanuts, a dash of pepper and sesame oil to taste..


Serve warm.





 Serves
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Hong Kong Egg Tarts

I love Dim Sum and would love to go 'Yum Cha' which is our term for having a meal in the Dim Sum Restaurant, in any cities i visit.  Egg Tarts are one of the favorites to order.  The Egg Tarts served in most Dim Sum Restaurants are made with flaky pastry and they are so well baked with perfection, the pastry so light and flaky, the custard is smooth and sweet..  I have tried baking them but found it very challenging.  Have not been happy with my results and am still trying.  And, until i make some good flaky pastry egg tarts,  these Hong Kong  Egg Tarts which has shortcrust pastry, were accepted with glee by Renee,  she ate these in Hong Kong and loved them.






Ingredients:

Crust:

8 ozs all-purpose flour
2 ozs powdered/confectioner's sugar
a pinch of salt
4 1/2 ozs chilled butter - cut into 1/2 inch cubes
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1/4 tsp vanilla extract

Custard Filling:
3 large eggs
4 ozs fine granulated sugar (take away 1 tbsp for lesser sweetness)
225 ml  hot water
3 fl ozs evaporated milk
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2 drops of yellow yolk food coloring

 
 
 
 
 

Method:
 
To Make The Crust:
 
Put all-purpose flour, powdered sugar and salt into the food processor and pulse to mix.
 
Add in chilled cubed butter and pulse until fine breadcrumb like.
 
Add vanilla extract to beaten egg and then add into flour mixture with the machine running and stop machine as soon as the dough is formed.  Do not overmixed.
 
Remove and wrap dough with plastic wrap and leave in the fridge for at least 30 minutes before using.
 
To Make the Filling:
 
Put sugar and water in a microwave-safe bowl and cook on high for 1 to 1/2 minutes and stir until sugar dissolves.
 
Add in evaporated milk, food coloring and vainlla, stir well.
 
Beat eggs lightly and add in to the above.
 
Pass through a very fine sieve, then fold a piece of kitchen towel into a strip and then run it over the top of the egg mixture to remove the bubbles.
 
Leave aside while you prepare the tarts.
 
To prepare the tarts:
 
Grease the tart moulds lightly.
 
Remove chilled dough, knead lightly and divide into small pieces(for my tart moulds, i use 3/4 oz).
 
Form dough into a tiny disk that will fit the base of the mould, then using the thumb, press dough so that it comes up the side of the mould.  Dough can be slightly higher than the mould but not too much - higher will allow more room for more filling but if too high, it will form a lip as this dough recipe is very soft.)
 
Repeat until all the tart moulds are formed.  Formed tart moulds can be kept in the fridge well wrapped until you need to bake them.
 
Preheat oven to 450 f and put the rack to the lowest rung of the oven.(Friends at sea-level can bake @ 400f)
 
Fill the formed tart moulds with egg filling to slightly lower than the rim, do not overfill.
 
Bake @ 450f for 10 mins and then lower the lower the heat to 400 f(sea-level @ 375 f) for another 15 minutes.  Baking time differs from the size of the tart moulds, so visual monitoring is important.  The crust has to be browned and the custard should not be overcooked.  The custard will puff slightly - yes slightly, then it is a sign for doneness,  you might have to remove some of the tarts which will cook faster than the rest as there are hot spots in most oven.  If  the custard puffs up and the crust is not brown enough, the oven door can be opened and left ajar for a while to lower the temperature in the oven, then it can be closed to finish the baking) 
 
Good luck and enjoy.
 
 
Serves


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Sesame Balls

It is the most delightful moment when a recipe is successful and i can't wait to share.  This will not be possible if i do not have generous friends who have shared many of their tested recipes and tt from Playing With My Food is my 'sifu' who so graciously emailed me this recipe.  Thank you, tt, they were the best, with all the tips provided by you, these balls puffed up so well and they tasted umpteen times better than the dim sum restaurants.  The family prefers the red bean filling and the restaurants strangely make them with either lotus or mung bean paste, so i had to make red bean filling.





Ingredients:


454 g glutinious rice flour
3 tbsp rice flour
2 tsp baking powder
200 g sugar
450 g water
1/2 tsp salt
2 tbsp oil
1/2 cup potato flakes (the kind used to make mashed potatoes)

Filling:

1 cup red bean
1 - 1 1/2 cups sugar
a pinch of salt

Method:

To prepare the filling:

Wash the red beans and put in the pressure cooker with enough water to cover the beans.

Cook uncovered for 10 minutes, then drain away the water.
Put the drained parboiled red beans back into the pressure cooker and add in 3 cups water.

Close the lid and pressurized for 30 minutes.  Release pressure before opening the lid.

Using a sieve or a slotted spoon, remove the beans into a large microwave-safe bowl.

Add sugar and cook in the microwave on high until mixture is paste.  Start with 5 mins at a time, stirring after every interval.  Reduce the time as the mixture gets drier.

Cool before using.

To prepare the dough:

Mix together glutinious flour, rice flour and baking powder.

Bring water  with sugar, oil  and  salt to the boil, add potato flakes. Stir to dissolve the potato. Immediately pour the hot mixture into the flour and mix until the flour absorbs all of the water.

Rest dough until it's cool enough to handle, then knead to make a smooth dough.(Dough is less pliable if it is kept for later use, perhaps it is only a problem for me cos of where i am - no humidity and i would advice that all the dough should be wrapped)

To make the balls:

wet your hands with water and take a piece of dough.

Wrap the filling and roll in sesame seeds.

Fry until golden,  The frying time should take at least 15-20 mins, if it cooks faster then that the oil is too hot and your balls will not be hollow and will be soft as soon as you take it out of the oil. Press the balls against the wok with the ladle and it will puff up and keep stirring the balls for even browning.



Serves
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Layered pau

Another pau which is layered but not as much as the Thousand Layers Cake, this one has only 4 layers of pau and 3 fillings.  The color of the filling is so vibrant as it has so many egg yolks and the custard powder bring it to another level.  Try making this, it is not as tedious but just as or rather more delicious.



Ingredients:

Filling:

6 egg yolks
1 cup dessicated coconut
7 tbsp sugar
3 tbsp rice flour
3 tbsp custard powder
3/4 cup milk

Dough:
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp yeast
1/2 tsp baking powder
2 tbsp sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup milk
1 tbsp oil
Topping:

Wofberries/goji/kee chee(optional)



Method:

Mix filling ingredients together in a microwave-safe bowl and cook on high one minute at a time stir well after every minute, until mixture has thickened(it was thickened in 3 minutes in my 900 watts microwave, so if you are having a higher wattage microwave oven, you could use 3/4 power or stop at 2 minutes).  Divide into 3 equal portions.

To make the dough:

Knead dough. let dough rise until it is double in bulk.

Divide dough  into 4 portions.

Roll out each portion of dough into 7 inch square (Roll the first portion and if it resists, let it rest and roll the second, repeat rolling and resting for all 4 portions)

Spray or grease a 7 inch cake pan with non stick butter spray and line with parchment paper.

Place  on piece of rolled portion on the bottom and spread a portion of the filling on top, level filling with an off-set spatula.

Top filling portion with another piece of rolled dough, press down to release trapped air. 

Repeat with filling and topping with another piece of rolled dough, ending with a piece of rolled dough on top.
Press wofberries/goiji/kee chee on top in a pattern.

Brush top of dough with oil to prevent drying out.

Let it rest for 30 - 45 minutes and in the meantime, bring the water in a steamer to the boil.

When dough has rested and risen, put into steamer and steam on high heat for 35 minutes until a skewer comes out clean when pricked into the middle of cake.

Let cake cool before cutting into bite-size portions and serve warm.





Serves
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Pak Thong Koh

This is one of the classic of chinese snacks.  It is not my favorite snack to eat but somehow the quest to make a soft and tasty one has been going on for quite awhile.  Have tried a few recipes, easy ones and tedious one but all the results went to the Culinary God.  This recipe was from Claire, a dear friend and is by far the best of all that is why i am sharing it.  Thank you Claire for typing out the recipe and sharing.


Ingredients:

1 cup long grain rice (i wonder if jasmine fragrant rice will do)
1 1/2 C. sugar
1 1/2 C. water
2 tsp. instant yeast

Method:

Wash the rice-8-10 times in cold water and leave in a clean tupperware container with 2 inches of water over the surface for 2 days. Change the water daily.

Mix yeast with 1/2 c.tepid water(85 f to 100 f)  and add 1/4 C. sugar. Cover and place in a warm place when you do the next step.

Liquify the soaked drained rice with 1 c. water at high speed till rice is liquified and mixture is smooth (it's going to take 10-12 minutes depending on the power of your blender.....we know it's ready when the powedery film of rice is easily scaped down with a spatula in the blender). Next add 1 1/4 c. sugar and blend on high for 2-3 minutes. Add yeast mixture and blend on low for 30 seconds. STRAIN mixture and put in a warm mixing bowl, cover well with cling/plastic wrap and leave in a warm place until mixture is bubbly and almost double in bulk (1.5 to 2 hours)

Steaming:

Bring water to high boil. 

Put the greased 8 inch cake pan and warm it for a few minutes.

Lightly stir batter and pour half the batter into  the greased pan.

Steam for 12-15 minutes.

Cool completely.

Lightly rub a little oil to give it a glossy appearance.

Repeat steaming for the other half of the batter.





Serves
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Stuffed Sweet Peppers ala Peng

The name given to the Capsicum fruits varies between English-speaking countries.  Read about it under Synonyms and common names at Wiki.  To know the names may be of great help especially now that there are so many recipes online and it could be from anywhere on this earth.  When i was asked if i knew how to cook Chili, i answered that, yes, i do use chilly to cook and due to my ignorance, my answer must have been  perplexing,  just as the question was intriguing to me.

How did i get to use these 'sweet peppers' which are so good for stuffing?  They are not spicy but sweet and the colors are so vibrant that they are too pretty to eat.  Peng, a very dear friend who i am destined to meet and can be considered as my  GIANT cooking partner(according to Renee, my grand daughter, who wrote an essay in class about 3 reasons to keep a giant in the house, and, one of them is that the giant can be my cooking partner).  Yes, Peng, is my giant, not only is she an excellent cook, she is an excellent teacher and an authority in chinese and malaysian cooking.  Any of you readers who are residing in Colorado Springs can attend her cooking classes which i can attest to that you will be able to cook up a storm after learning from her. I too learned alot from Peng,she is my GIANT consultant with a  GIANT heart.  She bought me several bags of 'sweet peppers' from Cosco and now i am hooked on these colorful peppers.  Thank you, Peng for your generousity and all the valuable gifts you gave me which are most appreciated.  Thank you again



Ingredients:

1 pound medium-sized shrimp


Seasoning:
¼ teaspoon white pepper
½ teaspoon salt
1 tsp soya sauce
1 tsp fish sauce
2 tablespoons cornstarch/tapioca starch
1 egg white
a dash of sesame oil

Sweet Peppers of all colors

Sauce:

1 tbsp oyster sauce
1 tsp soya sauce
1 tsp cornstarch/tapioca starch mix with 1 tbsp water
1/2 cup stock
1/4 tsp white pepper
A dash of sesame oil
Spring onions for garnishing

Method:

Shell, devein, and rinse shrimp. Drain thoroughly and wipe very dry with kitchen towel.
Add shrimp to a food processor, using the metal blade, process for a few seconds, until shrimp is pasty, add in seasonings and process until paste is well mixed. . Set aside while you prepare the sweet pepper for stuffing.

Use a paring knife and make a slit on all the sweet peppers, then stuff the peppers with the shrimp paste.

Heat a little oil and pan fry the stuffed peppers with the shrimp paste down touching the oil and fry until brown.  Do not crowd the pan, fry in batches.

To make the sauce:

Put the stock, oyster sauce and soya sauce in the wok and bring to the boil.  Thicken with the cornstarch/tapioca starch solution.  Add in pepper.

Put the cooked stuffed peppers into the sauce and cover the wok to finished cooking the shrimp paste.

Remove cover and sprinkle with sesame oil.

Garnish with spring onions before serving.




Serves
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Pleating Pau

I have been watching this Pau Pleating Video for umpteen times and still not able to pleat as pretty.  The saying is true - Hard to teach old dogs new tricks.  These pictures showed that i tried and perhaps i will have to make more than 360 paus to really pleat well.





Serves
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Hup Toh Sou/Walnut Crisp

These Hup Toh Soh is a cookie but this recipe results a very crisp and crunchy cookie, sort of like a Biscotti.  If you like crisp and crunchy, then give this recipe a try.  Strangely, this cookie is called Walnut Crisp/Cookie (hup Toh is cantonese for walnut) but there is no walnuts in the dough.  I top the crisp with a piece of walnut just to justify the name.  Could it be that the appearance of the baked crisp/cookie, with all the cracks, looked like a walnut????  

 In traditional Chinese medicine, walnuts are associated with the Lung, Large Intestine and Kidney meridians, and have sweet and warm properties. Its functions are to tonify the kidneys, nourish the blood, warm the lungs and moisten the intestines. Typically, walnuts are used to treat pain and weakness in the knees and back, aid in digestion, and relieve asthma. Recent evidence suggests walnuts may play a role in lowering blood cholesterol levels, thus reducing the incidence of some forms of heart disease. Science provides a slightly less mysterious explanation: walnuts have been found to be rich in omega-3 fatty acids, an essential nutrient for the human brain. Incidentally, dont you think that the walnut flesh looks like the brain ?



I believe that a sweet sticky chewy walnut/dates confection was eaten during ancient times in China , in the hope that family bonds will remain as strong as these sweet, sticky candies. How on earth did the ancient Chinese know that????  This recipe i will try to locate, in the meantime, enjoy eating these cookies..


Ingredients:

2 cups bleached all-purpose
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp ammonia powder
1/8 tsp salt
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup lard/shortening
1 large egg (beaten)
Walnut pieces
Egg yolk for glazing


Method:

Put the flour, baking soda, ammonia powder, sugar and salt in the food processor and pulse a couple of times to mix ingredints well.

Add in the lard/shortening and pulse until flour mixture becomes breadcrumb like.

Add in the beaten egg and pulse until a tiny piece of dough can be pressed together to form a dough.(mixture will look crumbly but can be pressed tiogether).

Using a 1 oz ice-cream scoop, scoop dough out and roll dough into balls.

Sprinkle some flour on to baking sheet and place balls on it. Flatten the ball slightly, press a hole in the middle with your thumb, glaze with egg yolk and top with a piece of walnut in the hole.

Bake in preheated oven 250 f for 10 minutes and then increase the oven temperature to 300 f and further bake for another 10 minutes.

Cool cookies on cake rack and when it is cooled, serve or pack into air-tight containers.





Serves
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Oyster Sauce Char Siew Pau

I was very surprised and happy that my Miss Picky Eater, ate 2 char siew paus, filling and all.  Usually she would just eat the pau and leave the filling.  She must be getting older and eating alot more, variety that is, like green leafy vegetables and fish.  I will go to any lengths to make or cook the food she likes to eat and looking at her devout that 2 paus made me go looking for this recipe which has been with me for more than 30 years.  I had been lazy and depended on the premixed cos pau flour is not readily available here and i have even asked the dim sum restaurants to sell me some of their stock but the reply is that they are always short.  Anyway, the bleached all-purpose flour and wheat starch made pretty good paus - perhaps not as fluffy or perhaps it is not the flour, it is that i do not have the expertise to make them as fluffy.  Even the folding of the paus, has an important part to play when it comes to making them smile.  I noticed that more dough should be on top of the pau and don't be like me, leaving the knob behind.  I must remember to break that knob away.









Ingredients:

Yeast Dough:
300 g pau flour/260 g bleached all-purpose flour and 40 g wheat starch
1 tsp instant yeast
150 ml water




To make pau dough:
150 g pau flour/130 g bleached all-purpose and 20 g wheat starch
3/4 tbsp double action baking powder
130 g sugar
1/2 tbsp lard/shortening
1 tbsp water
1/2 tbsp ammonium bicarbonate
2 tiny drops kan sui

FILLING:

300 g char siew(recipe is here
1 tbsp minced garlic
1/2 cup water
1/2 tbsp soya sauce
2 3/4 tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp dark thick soya sauce
1 tbsp oyster sauce
1 tbsp waterchestnut powder diluted with 2 tbsp water
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
2 tbsp roast sesame seeds
1 tsp sesame oil


Method:

To make YEAST DOUGH

Mix flour yeast, yeast and water together.  Knead well and leave for at least 15 hours.

To make FILLING

Cut char siew into tiny dices.

Heat wok with a little oil and add in the minced garlic.  Saute until fragrant and add the diced char siew and the water and sauces.  Mix well and thicken with waterchestnut solution.  Cook until sauce comes back to the boil.

Add in chopped cilantro and roasted sesame seeds and drizzle with sesame oil.

Leave to cool.

To make pau dough after 15 hours:

Sieve the baking powder with the flour.

Mix ammonium bicarbonate, kan sui and water and mix until ammonium bicarbonate is dissolved.

Tear up the yeasted dough into small pieces and place in an electric stand mixer bowl,, add in the sugar, lard and the ammonium bicarbonate solution.  Using the dough hook, knead until well mixed,  Add in flour and knead the dough until it is smooth.

Remove dough and spread dough out into a rough rectangle.  Mix 1/2 tsp of baking powder with a little water and spread it over the rectangle.  Roll it up and knead until smooth and not sticking to your hands.

Divide dough into portions (i like to weigh them 35 gms each).  Line the divided dough up.  Start from the first portion, cup the dough portion with your palm and round it.  Repeat with the rest of the portions, lining them up in order.

While making the paus, fill steamer pot with water and bring to the boil.

Roll the first rolled portion dough out into a circle and fill with a tablespoon of cooled filling.  Pleat the circle up and seal well.(i roll the circle bigger, so that i can have more dough on top of pau.  I find that more dough is good for the pau to smile.  Remove the last pinch from the top).  Put a piece of paper at the base of pau and leave in a steamer rack, covered with a damp cloth while you prepare another 6 more paus.

Make sure water is in a rolling boil before putting the steamer rack with the prepared paus to steam for 10 minutes(if you are making bigger paus, then steaming time will be longer).

Continue to wrap paus with the char siew filling and steam.

These paus cannot be consumed yet as they stink from the ammonium bicarbonate.  A second steaming of 10 minutes is required to allow the ammonium to dissipate.

Enjoy the paus warm.





 Serves
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