Pumpkin Seed Wholemeal Loaf

 

    

  

It is good to experiment - using different flours and different ingredients - to come out with different breads for the family. Since I have both ground and whole pumpkin seeds at home (my hubby always toasts and grinds the pumpkin seeds for his overnight soaked oats) I decided to add the ground pumpkin seeds into my bread. In the first round I added too little of  it resulting in the bread not having any taste of the seeds. In the second round I doubled the amount of the seeds to give my bread. The bread stayed soft till the third day. I cannot say about the fourth day as the bread had been finished by then. But what I can say is that it is a very delicious bread.

Ingredients:

• 300 g wholemeal flour
• 125 g bread flour
• 4 tbsp ground toasted pumpkin seeds
• 2 tsp yeast
• 2 tbsp sugar
• 1 tsp salt
• 220 - 230 g milk
• 30 g butter
• Decoration - 15 pcs pumpkin seeds

Method:

• Add wholemeal flour, bread flour, ground pumpkin seed, yeast, sugar and salt to the bowl of a stand mixer.

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

• Add milk to the mixing bowl slowly. Feel the dough; you may not need all the milk. If the dough is dry, add more milk a spoonful at a time.

• Knead the dough till it becomes a round ball.

• Add butter and continue to knead till window pane is achieved.

• Transfer the dough to a greased bowl. Turn the dough to ensure that it is covered with oil.

• Cover the bowl with cling wrap or wet towel and let the dough proof for an hour or till it doubles in size.

• Punch the dough down to let out the gas.

• Roll the dough out into a long rectangular shape (horizontally).

• Fold the dough into 3 by bringing the right part onto the centre part followed by the left.

• Then roll the dough out again into a long rectangular shape (vertically) and fold into 3 again.

• Do this process at least 6 times (alternating between vertical and horizontal roll-outs).

• Once done, roll the dough into a rectangle using your pan to determine the length of your dough. (Pan size is 8 inch x 4 inch x 4 inch.)

• Roll up the dough, pinch the edges to seal the dough and place it into the pan seam-side down.

• Let the dough proof a second time till it doubles in size.

• Bake in pre-heated oven at 175 deg C for 30-35 minutes.

• When the bread is done, remove it immediately from the oven.

• Transfer it to a metal rack for them to cool down immediately before slicing it up.

Deep-fried Pork Belly (Roast Pork Marinade)

 

Delicious; deep-fried pork belly is as delicious as roast pork belly (having been marinated with the same ingredients; it is also as crunchy as roast pork. Deep-fried pork belly is easier to make as compared to roast pork belly.

Ingredients:

For marinating:

• 350 g pork belly
• 2 pcs preserved red bean curd and 2 tsp of the bean curd sauce.
• 1/2 tsp white pepper powder
• 1/2 tsp 5 spices powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tbsp sesame oil
• 1 tbsp Shao Hsing Hua Tiao Chiew
• 1 tbsp oyster sauce

For coating

• 2 tbsp wheat flour
• 4 tbsp potato flour or rice flour (Potato flour gives the pork belly a better crunch.)
• Water, enough to make a slightly running paste

Instructions:

• The marinade. Mix the preserved red bean curd, white pepper powder, 5 spices powder, salt, sesame oil, Shao Hsing Hua Tiao Chiew and oyster sauce into a bowl. Mix them up well and set aside.

• Remove the skin of the pork belly, wash and cubed it.

• Add the pork belly pieces to the marinade. Stir till all the pieces are coated with the marinade.

• Let the pork belly sit in the refrigerator overnight.

• Mix the flour and water in a bowl into a batter.

• Heat up a kuali with cooking oil.

• When the oil is hot, dip the marinated pork into the batter and add to the kuali, piece by piece.

• Deep fry each piece till they are golden brown.

• Dish the ready ones onto a plate with lined with kitchen towel.

• Transfer them to a serving plate.

Stir-fried Beansprouts

    

       

Bean sprouts are a vegetable grown by sprouting mung beans. Firstly, the beans are washed. Then they are placed in a container with holes (for water to drip through) which has been lined with a cheese cloth. The container is then placed in a dark place. An important step in sprouting the beans is to water them daily till the roots grow out.

Bean sprouts is a popular vegetable in our region. They can be stir-fried to be served with rice, deep-fried into fritters, added to fried noodles (white flat noodles, bihun or yellow mee) or added noodle soup. They can also be used in salads. In stir-frying, bean sprouts are usually fried with tau kwa and tofu puffs. In some cases, chives are added to them. The dish is then sprinkled with bits of deep-fried salted fish. Bean sprouts are usually served with chicken rice. In this case, the bean sprouts are blanched and drizzled with fried shallot oil and sprinkled with fried shallots and green onion. I usually like to stir-fry bean sprouts with deep fried tau kwa, tofu puffs, Shiitake mushrooms and tri-colour peppers. These ingredients add sweetness and colour to the dish.

Whichever way they are used in, bean sprouts, according to WebMD, are an excellent source of antioxidants which protect against cell damage and may reduce the risks of cancer and heart disease.

Ingredients:

• 350 g bean sprouts
• 2 pieces of tau kwa, sliced and deep fried
• 1 piece of Shiitake mushroom, soaked and sliced thinly
• 2 cloves garlic, chopped
• 4 pieces of tofu puffs, soaked and sliced
• 1/3 red capsicum, sliced lengthwise
• 1/3 green capsicum, sliced lengthwise
• 1/3 yellow capsicum, sliced lengthwise
• 5 tbsp cooking oil
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 tbsp light soy sauce

Method:

• Heat up kuali with cooking oil.

• Fry the sliced tau kwa till they are golden brown.

• Dish up the tau kwa and set them aside.

• Add Shiitake mushroom slices to the kuali.

• Fry till the mushrooms are fragrant.

• Add chopped garlic to the kuali and continue to fry till they are fragrant.

• Add bean sprouts and tofu puffs to the kuali.

• Fry till the bean sprouts are half cooked and the tofu puffs are soft. (Add some water if necessary.)

• Add the capsicum.

• Fry till the bean sprouts are cooked while the capsicum are half-cooked and are still crunchy.

• Return the tau kwa to the kuali.

• Add salt and soy sauce to the kuali.

• Give the ingredients a quick stir.

• Dish them onto a serving plate.

Steamed Soft Pandan Cake

I am really thankful to Ms Soo Rachel from Johore who had generously share her recipe of Steamed Soft Pandan Cake. Ever since she shared it in the year 2017 I have made it endless times for my family, my relatives and my friends. All of them love it so much as it is soft, not too sweet and very fragrant. Soo Rachel made it as 1 cake but I used cup cake liners to make it into small little dainty cakes; her recipe yields 8 cakes and whenever I wanted to make more I just double or triple the ingredients. And since I grow lots of pandan plants in my garden I only use pure pandan juice to make it.

Ingredients (A):

• 3 eggs
• 110 g sugar
• 100 g pandan juice
• 50 g corn oil

Ingredients (B):

• 150 g self-raising flour
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp baking soda

Method:

• Add Ingredients (A) to a mixing bowl.
• Use a whisk to stir and mix up all the ingredients.

• Add Ingredients (B) to another mixing bowl.
• Use a whisk to mix up these dry ingredients.

• Add Ingredients (A) to Ingredients (B).
• Use a whisk to mix them up till a smooth batter is formed.

• Sieve the batter.

• Either pour the batter into a 7-inch pan or 8 cup cake liners in a muffin tin.

• Boil water in a steamer.

• When the water has boiled steam the batter for 30-35 minutes over high heat. (Cover your steamer cover with cloth to prevent water from dripping onto your batter.)

• Remove the cake from the pan or muffin tin immediately after it is cooked onto a metal rack.

Fried Udon with Prawns & Fish Balls

Udon are chewy Japanese noodles made from wheat flour, water, and salt, typically served in a simple broth which is made of dashi (stocks used in Japanese cuisine), soy sauce, and mirin. It is usually topped with thinly chopped scallions. However, I like to fry it rather than cooking it in soup. Usually I will add a mix of some of the following ingredients in my fry - long cabbage, cai xin, carrot, Shiitake mushrooms, prawns, fish balls, chicken slices and fucuk (bean curd sheets). Fried udon is smooth, chewy and tasty when fried the Chinese way.

Ingredients (2 servings):

• 200 g udon
• 2 long cabbage leaves
• 2 pieces Shiitake mushroom
• 6 prawns
• 4 pieces of fish balls
• 3 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 tbsp sesame oil
• 1 tbsp cooking oil
• 2 tbsp light soy sauce
• 1 tbsp dark soy sauce
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp pepper powder
• 1/2 tsp chili flakes
• 1/2 cup water

Method:

• Wash and cut long cabbage leaves into thin strips, width-wise.

• Soak Shiitake mushroom till soft. Then, slice them up.

• Wash the prawns, remove the shells and de-vein them.

• Wash fish balls. If they are too big, cut each of them into 2.

• Heat up sesame and cooking oil in a kuali.
• Add Shiitake mushroom slices to the kuali. Fry them till they are fragrant.
• Add chopped garlic and fry them till they are fragrant.
• Add long cabbage strips to the kuali.
• Fry till the long cabbage strips are cooked.
• Add water to the kuali.
• Season with light and dark soy sauces, salt, pepper and chili flakes.
• Let the sauce simmer for about 5-7 minutes.

• At the same time boil a pot of water using the other burner.
• When the water is boiling, add udon to the pot.
• Gently use a fork to loosen the udon.
• Once they have loosened, pour them immediately into a colander to drain off the water.

•  Add udon to the kuali and fry it for a short while.

• Ladle the udon onto a plate and serve hot.

• You can serve it with a topping of chili padi, fried shallots, fried onions or scallions.

Chocolate Cake Bread

        

            

I love eating cakes and I also love eating breads, especially those sweet ones. So what better way to satisfy my palate for both than to bake a loaf of cake bread. This is the first time I have made this combination - chocolate cake and bread. It turned out to be super soft (still very soft on the 3rd day). I will be making this again soon as it is so yummy. This success will spur me to create other combinations...perhaps orange cake and orange bread or chocolate orange sweet potato bread...the list goes on.

Ingredients:

• 375 g bread flour
• 30 g milk powder
• 200 g water
• 30 g sugar
• 7 g yeast
• 2 g salt
• 1 egg
• 30 g butter

Method:

• Add all the ingredients to the mixing bowl of a stand mixer except butter.

• Mix and knead them till a dough ball is formed.

• Add butter and continue to knead till window pane is achieved.

• Transfer dough to a clean greased bowl.

• Transfer the dough to the bowl and turn it around so that it is coated with oil. Cover the bowl with a cling wrap or a wet towel.

• Let the dough proof till it doubles in size.

• Transfer the dough to a lightly flour table top.

• Roll the dough into a rectangle.

• Fold the dough into 3 by bringing the right part onto the centre part followed by the left.

• Then roll the dough out again into a long rectangular shape (vertically) and fold into 3 again.

• Do this process at least 6 times (alternating between vertical and horizontal roll-outs) to get the "peeling effect".

• Roll up the dough into a log and place it into a loaf pan (9 inch x 4 inch x 4 inch).

• Cover the loaf pan with a cling wrap or wet towel and let the dough proof a second time.

• Meanwhile, prepare the batter for the cake.

Ingredients:

• 125 g butter
• 125 g castor sugar
• 2 grade A eggs
• 75 g self-raising flour
• 35 g cocoa powder
• 25 ml milk

Method:

• Sieve flour and cocoa powder twice. Set aside.

• Cream butter and sugar till the batter is light and creamy.

• Beat in the eggs, one at a time. Make sure that you beat each egg well before adding  the next.

• Add the sifted dry ingredients, a third at a time, until they are well combined.

• Add in the milk. Mix well.

• Pour the batter into the loaf pan with the bread dough and bake them in a pre-heated oven at 175 deg C for about 40 minutes.

• Unmould the cake bread immediately after it is cooked and let it cool down on a metal rack. (For easier unmoulding, you may line your loaf pan with parchment paper.)

• Slice the cake bread after it has completely cooled down.