Black Sesame Seeds Swiss Roll

   

   

 

We can make many versions of Swiss roll - pandan, strawberry, chocolate, vanilla, orange, matcha, etc and fill it with whatever filling that we like - chocolate ganache, cream cheese, fresh cream, strawberry jam, kaya (egg custard), red bean paste, marmalade and many more. Whatever flavour or fillings that we use, the Swiss roll which is a type of sponge cake is light, soft and moist. It is good especially for tea time.

This round I decided to experiment with black sesame seeds in the batter. While baking the smell was fantastic and permeated my whole house. The Swiss roll turned out as expected - light, soft and moist. I filled it with whipped cream and a bit of sugar. 

Ingredients:

For the Meringue
4 egg whites (Size - Grade B / Weight of egg is 65 g with shell)
1/4 tsp cream of tartar
60 g castor sugar

For the Batter:
4 egg yolks
20 g castor sugar
1/4 tsp salt
45 g oil (I use corn oil)
40 g whole milk
1 tsp vanilla essence
65 g cake flour
7 g milk powder

15 g black sesame seed

For the Filling:
120 g whipping cream
20 g powdered sugar


Method:

Making the Swiss Roll Batter:

• Put a tray of hot water (for steam bath) into the oven (below the rack on which you put your baking tray). Pre-heat oven to 160 degrees Centigrade. (Adjust according to your oven.)

• Line a rectangular pan (10 inch x 14 inch) with a good quality parchment paper. (This is to ensure that the cake will not stick to the parchment paper.)

• Wash the sesame seeds and toast them in a pan without oil. Let them cool down. Then grind them, the fineness according to your preference. Set aside.

• In a mixing bowl, whisk the egg white with a hand mixer over low speed. (Please ensure that your bowl and beaters are dry and have no traces of oil otherwise the egg white will not rise.)

• Once large bubbles are formed, add the cream of tartar.

• Whisk till small bubbles are formed.

• Add sugar gradually in 3 batches.

• Whisk the egg white till stiff peak.

• Once stiff peak is achieved, set the meringue aside.

• In another mixing bowl, add in the egg yolks, sugar and salt. Whisk until they are creamy.

• Add the oil and continue to mix until they are well combined.

• Add the whole milk and vanilla essence. Whisk to mix them well.

• Sieve the cake flour and milk powder.

• Mix the ground sesame seeds with the cake flour and milk powder. Mix till they are evenly combined.

• Add the flour, milk powder and ground sesame seeds to the egg yolk mixture.

• Mix until they are well combined and the batter is smooth.

• Take 1/3 of the meringue and add to the batter. Use the whisk to mix the meringue with the batter gently, taking care not to deflate the meringue.

• Add another third of the meringue into the batter. Gently mix it with the batter.

• Add the remaining meringue and gently fold it into the batter using a spatula.

• Pour the batter into the baking pan and spread it evenly with a spatula.

• Drop the pan onto the counter-top from about 1 foot high to break out any large bubbles. Repeat this 2 to 3 times.

• Bake in the oven at 160 deg C for 20 minutes until the cake surface is golden brown. Do not over bake or the cake will crack when you roll it later.

• Once the cake has baked, remove the pan from the oven.

• Drop the pan from 1 foot high onto the counter-top to prevent shrinkage of the cake.

• Remove the cake from the pan onto a wire rack.

• Put another sheet of parchment paper on the cake and invert it to remove the parchment paper below.

• Let the cake cool down completely on the wire rack.

• While waiting for the cake to cool down, whip the cream with the powdered sugar till it is stiff. (Test for sweetness. Add more sugar if the cream is not sweet enough for you.)

Filling and Rolling Up the Swiss Roll:

• Cut 3 shallow slits (about 1 foot apart) at an angle across the cake at the end from which you will start rolling the cake. (This is to aid in the rolling of the cake i.e. to ensure that it does not crack when you start rolling it.)

• Spread the cream evenly on the cake.

• Roll the cake and wrap it in the parchment paper. Put the roll into a plastic bag or cling wrap it to prevent dryness.

• Keep the roll in the refrigerator for at least 3 hours.

• After 3 hours, remove cake from the refrigerator.

• Remove the plastic bag or cling wrap and parchment paper and slice the roll.

• Serve chilled.

Buns with Red Bean Paste Filling

     

     

I bake all sorts of buns - plain ones, those with savoury fillings like chicken cocktail, sambal ikan bilis, dried potato curry and sausages and those with sweet fillings like chocolate chips, red bean paste, mung bean paste and pineapple jam to name a few. As a result, my children are never bored with home-baked buns. And the buns run out so fast. This gives me the inspiration to bake often and to experiment baking with different types of fillings.

The red bean paste is exactly the same as that used in pau. You can buy it from shops selling baking ingredients. However, I prefer to make it as I can be assured of its purity.

Ingredients:

Red Bean Paste: (Note: there will be a balance after using the paste for the buns as I usually do more to make other things like pau.)

• 200 g red beans
• 1 litre water
• 150 g sugar or to taste
• 35 g cooking oil (preferably corn oil)
• 20 g glutinous rice 
• 4 tbsp water          
• 1/2 tsp salt

Buns:

• 325 g bread flour
• 30 g sugar
• 7 g yeast
• 1 egg
• 7 g salt
• 1 egg
• 160 g milk
• 50 g butter

Method:

Red Bean Paste:

• Wash and soak the red beans overnight.

• The next day boil 1 litre of water in a pot and add the soaked red beans to the pot. Check constantly to ensure that the water does not dry up. Top up the water if required. Boil the red beans till they are soft. (I use an electric pressure cooker to cook the red beans.)

• Wait for the red beans to cool down.

• Use a blender or grinder to blend or grind the red beans until it is thick, smooth and free of any lumps.

• Sieve the blended red beans. (I did not as I have a very powerful electric grinder which grinds the red beans till very smooth.)

• Transfer the puree to a non-stick pan.

• Mix the glutinous flour with water. Stir and ensure that the flour is dissolved.

• Add sugar, oil, glutinous flour solution and salt to the pan. Stir till all the ingredients are mixed evenly with the puree.

• Turn on the fire and cook the puree over medium heat. Stir the puree all the time to ensure that it does not burn.

• The puree will be reduced as it is cooked.

• The paste will be ready when it becomes smooth and shiny and it can be kneaded into balls.

• When cool, weigh and knead the paste into balls. (My bun dough weighs around 60 g and my red bean paste balls weigh 30 g each. If you prefer more filling, then you may increase the weight of the balls.)

• Keep the balls in the fridge till they are required.

Buns:

• Put all the ingredients into the bowl of a stand mixer.

• Knead till a smooth dough ball is formed.

• Add butter to the bowl.

• Continue to knead till window pane is achieved so that your buns will be soft.

• Transfer the dough to a clean greased bowl. Cover the bowl with a moist towel.

• Let the dough proof till it is double in size.

• Once the dough has doubled in size, transfer it onto a counter top.

• Punch out the air from the dough.

• Knead the dough back into a round ball.

• Divide the dough into the number of buns you want. Roll each piece into a dough ball.

• Flatten each piece into a flat round dough.

• Put red bean paste ball in the centre of the dough.

• Bring the dough up to cover the red bean paste ball. Pinch the edge of the dough together to seal it.

• Roll the dough again into a smooth ball and place it on a cup cake liner. Place the cake liner on a baking tray

• Repeat till all the dough balls have been done.

• Cover the baking tray with a moist towel.

• Let the dough proof till double in size.

• Once the dough has doubled in size, apply egg wash (1 egg plus 1 tbsp of water) to the dough.

• Bake the dough in a pre-heated oven at 175 deg C for 18 min or till the buns are golden brown.

• When the buns are done remove them immediately onto a wire rack to be cooled down.

 

Garlic Butter Green Onion Bread (Flower or Loaf)

    

    

    

The Cheesy Garlic Butter Green Onion Bread looks very pretty just like a flower; it can be a good gift for relatives and friends. Besides the look it is one of the most delicious bread; it is both sweet and slightly salty, with the flavour coming from the garlic butter, green onion and cheese. Besides using a round pan to shape it like a flower, we can shape it into a loaf.

Ingredients:

Dough

• 325 g bread flour
• 30 g sugar
• 7 g yeast
• 1 egg
• 7 g salt
• 1 egg
• 160 g milk
• 50 g butter

Filling

• 25 g green onions
• 30 g butter
• 15 g garlic

Method:

• Put all the ingredients into the bowl of a stand mixer.

• Knead till a smooth dough ball is formed.

• Add butter to the bowl.

• Continue to knead till window pane is achieved.

• Transfer the dough to a greased clean bowl. Cover the bowl with a moist towel.

• Let the dough proof till it is double in size.

• While waiting for the dough to proof, prepare the fillings:
• cut the green onions into 0.5 cm length,
• chop the garlic,
• mix the green onions and garlic with butter,
• set the fillings aside.

• Once the dough has doubled in size, transfer it onto a counter top.

• Punch out the air from the dough.

• Knead the dough back into a round ball.

• Divide the dough into 16 pieces. Roll each piece into a dough ball.

• Flatten each piece into a flat round dough.

• Put a teaspoon of filling in the centre.

• Bring the bottom half of the dough to almost the top of the flat dough (like a semi-circle).

• Bring both sides of the semi-circle together. Pinch them together to seal them.

• Place the dough into the centre of a greased 8-inch round pan. (I use a pan with removable base.) (Work from the centre outwards.)

• Repeat this till all the dough balls have been used up.

• Cover the pan with a moist towel.

• Let the dough proof till double in size.

• Once the dough has doubled in size, apply egg wash to the dough.

• Bake the dough in a pre-heated oven at 175 deg C for 18-20 min or till the buns are golden brown.

• When the buns are done remove them immediately onto a wire rack to be cooled down.

    Or

• If you want to bake the dough into a loaf, after the 1st proof, punch down the dough to let out the air.

• Roll out the dough into a rectangle.

• Spread the fillings onto the dough.

• Cut up the dough into small rectangles to fit an 8 inch x 4 inch loaf pan.

• Stack the rectangular dough on top of each other.

• Transfer the stack into the loaf pan vertically.

• Cover the pan with a moist towel.

• Let the dough proof till double in size.

• Once the dough has doubled in size, apply egg wash to the dough.

• Bake the dough in a pre-heated oven at 175 deg C for 18-20 min or till the loaf is golden brown.

• When the loaf is baked remove it immediately onto a wire rack for it to cool down.

• Note: If you want a cheesy bread, just sprinkle grated cheese on top of the dough just before you bake or you may add the grated cheese to the filling.

Steamed Old Cucumber Stuffed with Minced Pork

    

Old cucumbers, also known as old yellow gourd or Lou Wong Kua, are cucumbers which have been left on the vine to harden and mature. According to Specialty Produce, they are excellent source of fiber to stimulate the digestive tract and are a source of iron to build the protein hemoglobin to transport oxygen through the bloodstream. The cucumbers also contain calcium to strengthen bones and teeth, vitamins A and C to reduce inflammation and boost collagen production, and vitamin B6 to ensure a healthy metabolism and central nervous system. In China, Old cucumbers are believed to contain anti-aging properties and are consumed to improve skin complexion.

We usually cook soup with the old cucumbers with pork bones, red dates and dry squids. However, it seems that they can also be braised, stir fried and pickled.  One day I ran out of ideas on what to cook for my family and looking at what I have in my fridge I decided to try steaming the old cucumber that I was gifted with minced pork. The dish turned out to be very flavourful.

Ingredients:

• 1 small pc old cucumber
• 100 g minced meat
• 1 pc Shiitake mushroom
• 1 pc 2-inch carrot
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 tbsp light soy sauce
• 1/2 tsp pepper powder
• 1 tbsp sesame oil
• 3 cloves garlic
• 1 tsp corn flour/tapioca flour
• Cooking oil
• 1 stalk green onions

Method:

• Clean the old cucumber and slice it into 1-cm rings. Use a teaspoon to scrape out the seeds. Arrange the slices onto a steaming plate.

• Soak the Shiitake mushroom till soft. Mince it and set aside.

• Remove skin of carrot and mince it. Set aside.

• Chop garlic and saute them till fragrant and golden brown. Set aside.

• Wash and cut the spring onions into 1/2-cm pieces. Set aside.

• Add the minced pork into a mixing bowl.

• Add the Shiitake mushroom and carrot to the bowl.

• Add the seasonings - light soy sauce, salt, pepper and sesame oil.

• Add corn flour.

• Mix the minced meat with all the ingredients till they are well-combined.

• Stuff the old cucumber rings with the minced meat mixture. Pack the meat tightly.

• Boil water in a steamer.

• When the water is boiling, put the plate of stuffed old cucumber to the steamer.

• Steam for 20 minutes or till the old cucumber slices are soft and the meat is cooked.

• Top the the steamed old cucumber slices with sauteed garlic.

• Sprinkle the green onions on top before serving.

Bubur Gandum / Bubur Terigu / Wheat Porridge

We like to have some dessert after lunch, be it just fresh fruits, traditional kuih, cakes and the likes, or tong sui (any sweet warm soup) like red bean soup, green bean soup, bubur cha cha, sweet potato soup, etc. One dessert that I used to eat but which I have forgotten about is the bubur gandum or bubur terigu. Recently a Facebook friend cooked it and it reminded me of those olden days. Once reminded, I have cooked it very often for my family to enjoy. I usually cook a very big pot so that every one of us can have double or triple helpings.

Ingredients:

• 450 g wheat pearls (for 5 pax with double servings)
• 2.25 litre water
• 1 can (425 g) cream corn
• 400 ml santan
• 1/2 tsp salt
• sugar, to taste
• 8 pandan leaves

Method:

• Wash wheat pearls and add them to a pressure cooker or normal pot.

• Add water to the pot.

• Close the cover of the pressure cooker or pot.
• For pressure cooker, Setting: Beans, Time: 30 minutes.
• For normal pot, check the water level every now and then. Add water as required.)

• For pressure cooker, allow the pressure in the pot to dissipate before opening the cover. Transfer the wheat porridge to another pot. (If a normal pot is used, skip to the next step.)

• Add the pandan leaves, cream corn and santan to the pot and allow the porridge to boil.

• Add salt to the pot.

• Add sugar according to taste.

• The bubur gandum is ready to be served.

Tomato Egg Drop Soup

 

My elder daughter has mentioned many times about the Tomato Egg Drop Soup. She loves tomatoes and wanted to cook this soup herself. However, she is very busy with her work. So, I took it upon myself to cook it for her. After all, it is one of the simplest soups to make. The ingredients are simple and are available at home. I am sure these ingredients can be easily found in most kitchens too. Furthermore, it only takes about 10-15 minutes to cook up this soup. So if you are hard for time, this is the soup to go for.

Ingredients:

• 3 tomatoes, about 340 g
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 2 cloves garlic, chopped
• 6 inches of spring onion, cut into 0.5 cm length, separating the green part from the white
• 1 tbsp cooking oil
• 1 1/2 cups water or chicken stock
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp light soy sauce
• 1/2 tsp white pepper powder

Method:

• Cut the tomatoes into small cubes.

• Heat up a pan with cooking oil.

• Saute the garlic till fragrant.

• Add tomatoes and white part of spring onion to the pot.

• Fry the tomatoes till they are soft and mushy.

• Add water or chicken stock to the pot.

• Let the water or chicken stock boil.

• When the water or chicken stock is boiling, stir it round and round.

• Add the beaten eggs to the pot, stirring the soup gently it round and round 

• Season the soup with salt, light soy sauce and pepper.

• Sprinkle the green onion on top.

• The egg drop soup is ready to be served.

Pandan Koo Kuih with Mung Bean Fillings

 

   

Nowadays, most people are very health conscious and try to avoid unnatural colouring in their food.  Thus, juices from fruits, vegetable and flowers have been used instead to add colour to their food, for example, green from pandan or spinach, red from beets or red dragon fruits, orange from orange sweet potato, purple from purple sweet potato, black from black sesame seeds and so on.

Pandan Koo Kuih is made from adding pandan juice to the glutinous rice flour to form the dough for the skin. It is the most aromatic of all the koo kuih. However, most koo kuih that we see in the market are red. The sweet filling is usually made from mung beans for the red koo kuih and coconut flakes cooked in palm sugar for the pandan koo kuih. However, I prefer to have the mung bean fillings for my Pandan Koo.

The ingredients and steps for making the Pandan Koo Kuih are as follows:

Ingredients:

For the base:

• banana leaves
• some cooking oil

For the fillings:

• 200 g mung beans
• 100 g castor sugar (Can be reduced to 80 g for those who do not want to take too much sugar.)
• 2 - 3 pandan leaves
• 100 ml water
• 4 - 5 tbsp shallot oil

For the dough:

• 300 g beige sweet potatoes
• 250 g glutinous rice flour
• 1 tbsp rice flour
• 150 - 160 ml water
• 11 pcs pandan leaves for dark green or 8 pcs for lighter green

Method:

For the base:

• Cut the banana leaves according to the size of your mould. My mould measures 6 cm x 6 cm so I have cut the leaves into 7 cm x 7 cm sq. - approximately 60 pieces (30 pieces to be used prior to steaming and the remaining 30 pieces for changing the leaves after steaming.
• Wash the cut banana leaves and wipe them dry.
• Grease the banana leaves with cooking oil so that the dough does not stick onto the leaves.

For the fillings:

• Wash and soak mung beans for about 3 hours.
• Put the mung beans into a metal plate.
• Wash and cut the pandan leaves into 2-3 inches length.
• Place the pandan leaves in between the mung beans.
• Bring water to boil in a steamer.
• Place the metal plate in a steamer and steam the mung beans for an hour or until the beans are soft.
• Once the beans are soft, transfer them into the food processor.
• Blend the beans with water, sugar and shallot oil until the beans are smooth.
• Pour the beans mixture into a non-stick pan and fry them until it becomes a thick paste which can be rolled into a ball.
• Remove from the fire and let the mixture cool down.
• Once the mixture has cool down, shape them into balls. The weight of your fillings depends on the size of your mould. With my 6 cm x 6 cm size mould, I made the filling  into 12 g so that when it is wrapped inside the dough, the whole dough ball with the filling will fit nicely into the mould. So, you have to experiment a bit before deciding on the weight of your filling.
• Once the fillings have been shaped into balls of the size that you want, cover them with a damp towel and set them aside until you need to use them.
• Note: You can make these one day in advance. Keep them refrigerated if you do so.

For the dough:

• Wash and cut the sweet potatoes.
• Place them into a metal plate.
• Bring water to boil in a steamer.
• Once the water has boiled, place the metal plate of sweet potatoes into the steamer.
• Steam until the sweet potatoes are soft.
• Remove the sweet potatoes from the steamer and mash them while they are hot.
• Put the glutinous rice flour and the rice flour into a mixing bowl.
• Put the mash sweet potatoes into the mixing bowl. Use a spoon and mix the sweet potatoes and the flours until well combined.
• Juice the pandan leaves and water. Strain to obtain the pandan juice. Add in pandan juice, bit by bit, until the dough can be shaped into balls. To fit my mould, the weight of my dough ball is 24 g. So, you have to experiment to get the weight which can fit into (with the filling wrapped inside) the mould nicely.

• Note: If your dough is too soft, the pattern on your dough may disappear.

Assembly:

• Take a piece of dough ball, flatten it and put the filling onto it. Slowly bring the flattened dough to cover the filling and roll it back into a ball.
• Dust the mould with glutinous rice flour.
• Place the ball into the mould and press it down to cover the mould nicely. If there is any dough higher than the mould, it means that the dough is too big. So, you have to adjust accordingly.
• Knock the wooden block of the mould on a table. The dough will easily drop off if you have dusted the mould well.
• Place the moulded dough on the greased banana leave.
• Repeat this until all the dough balls and filling balls are finished.
• Bring the water in the steamer to boil.
• Once it has boiled, place all the moulded dough onto the steamer rack.
• Steam the moulded dough over high heat for 4 minutes. Open the steamer cover, quickly brush the dough with some cooking oil. Once completed, cover the steamer and continue to steam the dough at high heat for another 4 minutes. This process will help to maintain the design of the kuih.
• Remove the kuih from steamer and let them cool down completely.
• Remove the kuih from the banana leaves and place them onto fresh ones. Cut the banana leaf according to the kuih.
• The pandan koo kuih are ready to be served.