Cheesy Whole Wheat-Wholemeal Buns

 

I am trying to bake buns which are not only soft but which can remain soft till the 3rd or 4th day. I have been experimenting in my kitchen. Using my basic recipe for buns I modified the ingredients (adding and reducing) in the recipe. I did this recipe three times to get my end result; the Cheesy Whole Wheat-Wholemeal Buns were very soft up till the fourth day.

Ingredients:

• 210 g whole wheat flour
• 60 g wholemeal flour
• 70 g bread flour
• 6 g yeast
• 3 g sea salt
• 20 g brown sugar
• 22 g olive oil
• 55 g egg
• 200 ml whole milk
• 10 cubes of Mozzarella cheese,15 mm x 15 mm x 15 mm each

Method:

• Add whole wheat flour, wholemeal flour, bread flour, yeast, salt and brown sugar to the bowl of a stand mixer.

• Start the mixer on low speed to mix the ingredients.

• Add the olive oil to the mixing bowl.

• Crack an egg into a bowl. Whisk it lightly and add it to the mixing bowl.

• Add milk to the mixing bowl slowly. You may not need all the milk depending on your flours.

• Knead the dough till it becomes a round ball.

• Transfer the dough to a greased bowl.

• Let it proof for an hour or till it doubles in size.

• Punch the dough down to let out the gas.

• Divide the dough into the number of buns that you want. Roll them up into balls.

• Flatten each dough ball and put a piece of cheese onto it.

• Bring up the sides of the dough ball to seal it.

• Roll it into a ball again and put it onto a cake liner.

• Repeat till all the dough balls have been completed.

• Let the dough proof till double in size.

• Bake in pre-heated oven at 175 deg C for 20-25 minutes.

• When the buns are baked, remove them immediately from the oven.

• Transfer them to a metal rack for them to cool down immediately.

Sweet and Sour Pork Ribs

My son is my food critic. If my food is good he will say so and if it is not up to his taste he will not hold back his opinion. I have some spare ribs in my freezer. At first I thought of steaming it but then I had the various colours of capsicum. So what better way to cook these ribs than the sweet and sour way.

Ingredient:

• 300 g pork ribs, cut into 2-inch length
• Marinade:
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp black pepper powder
• 2 tbsp corn flour
• Cooking oil
• 20 g red capsicum, cubed
• 20 g green capsicum, cubed
• 20 g yellow capsicum, cubed
• 1 small onion (about 50 g), cubed
• 3 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 tbsp chili sauce
• 2 tbsp tomato sauce
• 1/4 - 1/2 cup water
• 1 tbsp light soy sauce
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tbsp sugar

Method:

• Wash and pat dry the ribs. Marinate with salt and black pepper powder for about 30 minutes.
• at the ribs with corn flour.

• Heat up the kuali with cooking oil.

• Fry the ribs till they are cooked. Remove and set them aside.

• Remove cooking oil from the kuali leaving about 2 tbsp behind.

• Saute the garlic till fragrant.

• Add the onions and fry them till they are translucent.

• Add chili sauce and tomato sauce to the kuali.

• Add water, light soy sauce. salt and sugar.

• Let the sauce boil.

• Add the ribs back to the kuali.

• Let it simmer till the sauce has thickened.

• Add the capsicum and fry for the short time (to maintain the crunchiness).

• Dish out and serve.

Potato Omelette

Potato Omelette was suggested by my husband who told me to just grate the potato, mix it with eggs and seasonings and fry like any other kinds of omelette.  It turned out to be so delicious that I made it two days in a row. I am sure that most of us have potatoes and eggs in our pantry. Potato Omelette can be easily dished out within 20 minutes.

Ingredients:

• 2 small potatoes
• 2 large eggs
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tbsp light soy sauce
• 1/2 tsp pepper
• Cooking oil

Method:

• Peel potatoes and grate them to obtain about 200 g of grated potato.

• Heat up a kuali / frying pan with cooking oil.

• Add the grated potato to the kuali / frying pan.

• Fry them till they are soft and cooked.

• Break the eggs into a bowl and beat them lightly.

• Add salt, light soy sauce and pepper to the eggs and stir to mix them up.

• Ladle out the cooked potato into the egg mixture leaving any excess oil in the kuali / frying pan. Mix the cooked potato up well with the egg mixture.

• Pour the potato mixture into the kuali / frying pan. (Add some cooking oil if there is little left in the kuali / frying pan.)

• Use the ladle to spread out the mixture evenly.

• Cook till the bottom of the mixture turns golden brown.

• Flip the omelette over to brown the other side.

• Dish out and serve with rice.

Lemon Poppy Seed Cake

I love eating the Lemon Poppy Seed Cake; it is soft, moist, tangy, not overly sweet and has a nice crunch when biting into it. It is a simple and easy butter cake to make. Besides breakfast, it would be great for afternoon tea. It would make a good birthday cake; just frost it with cream cheese and fresh cream or lemon cream cheese or just lemon glaze made from lemon juice and icing sugar.


Ingredients:

• 225 g butter
• 150 g sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla essence
• 1 tbsp grated lemon zest
• 270 g all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 40 g poppy seeds
• 60 g milk
• 4 tbsp lemon juice

Method:

• Grease a 7-inch baking tray and line it with parchment paper.

• Pre-heat oven to 175 deg C.

• Add butter and sugar to the bowl of a stand mixer.

• Cream butter and sugar till pale and fluffy.

• Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.

• Lower the speed of the mixer and add vanilla essence to the batter.

• Add the grated lemon zest to the batter.

• Remove bowl from the mixer.

• Sieve all-purpose flour, baking powder and baking soda.

• Add salt to the flour.

• Add poppy seed and combine well.

• Add flour mixture to the butter-sugar mixture, 1/3 at a time. Mix well using a spatula.

• Add milk to the batter. Mix well.

• Lastly, add the lemon juice.

• Transfer the batter to the prepared tray.

• Bake for 50 minutes.

• Check that the cake is cooked by inserting a wooden skewer into the cake. It should come out clean.

• Let the cake cool down completely before cutting.

• Serve.

Chicken Mustard Green Rice

One-pot meals usually come to the rescue when we are short of time or we know that we are going to be busy the next day or we are simply too lazy to cook. The ingredients can be prepared way in advance. And best of all, there is going to be very little washings after cooking and eating.

When we cook 1-pot meal with rice as one of the ingredients, the rice will soak up all the sauce and juice from the chicken making it very delicious. I have been cooking Chicken Mustard Green Rice whenever I can get a hold on the mustard green. It is savoury and a complete meal with carbohydrate, protein and greens (packed with vitamins, minerals and fiber).

Ingredients:

• 350 g chicken breast meat
• 2 tbsp sesame oil
• 1 tbsp dark soy sauce
• 2 tbsp light soy sauce
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp black pepper powder

• 3 pcs shallots
• 5 tbsp cooking oil
• 3 pcs Shiitake mushroom, soaked and sliced
• 3 cloves garlic, chopped
• 750 g mustard green, washed and cut up
• 2 cups uncooked rice, washed
• 2 1/2 cups water

• 2 stalks coriander or green onions, chopped
• 3 pieces chili padi, chopped

Method:

• Marinate the chicken meat overnight:
• Wash and slice the chicken breast
• Marinate the chicken slices with 2 tbsp sesame oil, 1 tbsp dark soy sauce, 2 tbsp light soy sauce, 1/2 tsp salt and 1/2 tsp black pepper powder.
• Leave the chicken overnight in the refrigerator.

• Prepare the shallots:
• Peel and slice the shallots.
• Heat up the wok with cooking oil.
• Fry the shallots till golden brown.
• Remove the shallots and set aside.
• Remove some of the oil from the wok leaving about 2 tbsp in it.

• Saute the Shiitake mushroom till fragrant.

• Add the chopped garlic and saute it till it is fragrant.

• Add the marinated chicken to the wok. Fry them till they are almost cooked.

• Add the mustard green to the wok. Fry it together with the ingredients in the wok.

• Add the uncooked rice to the wok. Fry it until it is fragrant.

• Transfer all the ingredients to the rice cooker.

• Add 2 1/2 cups of water to the rice cooker.

• Let the rice cook.

• Once cooked, sprinkle the fried shallots on top of the rice.

• Sprinkle the chopped coriander or green onion on the rice.

• Serve with chili padi.

Pandan Huat Kuih

2017

2020

 

We usually see housewives making Huat Kuih for prayers on the first and fifteenth day of the month in the Chinese calendar. Huat in Hokkien means to prosper. Thus Huat Kuih is Cake of Prosperity. The belief is that the more open up or bloom the kuih is the more prosperous one will be. And vice versa.

Huat Kuih can be made from rice flour and leavening agent like Eno fruit salt or from all purpose flour or cake flour and baking powder. Nowadays, there are many versions of huat kuih. Besides green (juice from pandan leaves) ones, there are pink ones (food grade colour), brown ones (Gula Melaka or dark brown sugar), orange/yellow (pumpkin or banana or orange sweet potatoes) and so on. Some people even add santan to their huat kuih.

I first made this kuih in 2017 with the recipe provided by a friend staying in Singapore. I have not made it since then until now. And I modified the recipe slightly to cater to someone who does not consume butter and would like the kuih to be less sweet.

Ingredients: (Recipe was from a friend from Singapore.)

• 250 g self-raising flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 250 ml water
• 5-6 pandan leaves
• 150 g sugar
• 50 g butter, melted 
• 1 egg, beaten

Ingredients: Modified

• 250 g self-raising flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 250 ml water
• 10-12 pandan leaves
• 125 g sugar
• 50 g corn oil
• 1 egg

Method:

• Blend pandan leaves and water. Sieve to obtain the pandan juice.

• Boil sugar in juice until fully melted. Let it cool down.

• Sieve flour and baking powder into a big bowl.

• Pour pandan juice and melted butter/oil into the flour.

• Break the egg into a small bowl. Lightly whisk it. Sieve it into the flour.

• Using a whisk mix all the ingredients until a smooth batter is formed.

• Pour batter into cupcake liners and steam over medium heat for 20 min. The batter must be filled up to 90% of the cups for the kuih to bloom nicely.