Siew Bao 2 (Baked BBQ Chicken Buns) 烧包

I plan to bake the Siew Bao for my parent when I go back Penang next month, therefore lot of practise is needed. I find the pastry dough in my previous baked was a bit dry, it resulted the Siew Bao didn't close well on the top. This time I went through Carol's steps on how to make a good pastry and strictly followed every steps and tips. The pastry dough is soft and smooth throughout my rolling, even until the final process. I managed to get a better result, the pastry puffed well and there is hollows and crips feeling when you touch it! This make me really happy! 

I used butter instead of oil, managed to make 14 instead of 12 Siew Bao.

Tips to get a good Siew Bao pastry:

1. Don't roll the dough too long or too thin, this will ensure the oil dough and water dough doesn't leak into each others and ensure you get flaky pastry.

2. Don't press the dough too hard while flattening it.

Lovely flaky pastry with juicy chicken filling.

Ingredients for filling:

250g chicken breast, sliced into small cubes
some mix vegetables
4 cloves garlic, chopped
2 tbsps sesame oil
a pinch of salt
1 tbsp sugar
2 tbsps cornstarch
2 tbsps oyster sauce
1 tbsps dark soy sauce
3 tbsps cooking oil

Steps:
1. Marinade all the ingredients (except garlic and cooking oil) for an hour.
2. Heat wok, add cooking oil. Stir-fry garlic for 2 mins, add the marinade chicken. Stir-fry the chicken until cook, or about 8 mins. Set aside to cool completely.


Recipe adapted from Jane's Corner
Ingredients for pastry:

water dough:
200g plain flour
50g butter
1 tbsp sugar
90ml water

oil dough:
200g top flour
70g butter

Steps:
1. In a bowl, mix ingredients for water dough (except butter), slowly add in water. Knead into a rough dough, add butter and knead to a smooth dough. Cover and set aside for 30 mins.
2. Mix ingredients for oil dough. Use butter knife to cut the butter and use fingertips to lightly rub the butter with flour until mixture look like fine breadcrumbs. Lightly press together the oil dough. Cover and keep in fridge for 30 mins.
3. Divide water and oil dough into 14 portions respectively.
4. Flatten the water dough, wrap the oil dough in it. Flatten with rolling pin, roll up. Cover and let it rest for 15 mins. Flatten from the long side, roll up. Cover and let it rest for 10 mins. 
5. Use finger to pull up two end of the dough and press into middle. Flatten the dough into circle and stuff filling, egg wash and sprinkle with sesame seeds.
6. Bake at 210 C for 30 mins.

Chilli Crabs

I cooked this dish last Friday to celebrate WT finally has a break to stay in Singapore for two weeks! Cooking Chilli Carbs really not an easy task, you need to have live crabs, the frozen one is not advisable. In this post I'll share with you on how I put my crabs into "sleep" before it goes under the chopper. 

Angku Kueh (Red Tortoise Cake/Steamed Glutinous Rice Paste with Mung Bean Filling)

Angku Kueh is a kind of Chinese Nyonya kueh usually serve during religious event or auspicious occasion such as baby's full moon or birthday. Still remember the days when I was young and lived with my grandma in Penang, we often received Angku Kueh from relatives on occasion such as child birth. People give Angku Kueh together with yellow glutinous rice and curry to relatives to inform them of the arrival of newborn. The relatives will know whether the baby is a boy or girl by looking at the shape of the Angku! If there is round Angku in the gift box, it means the baby is a boy. In Hokkien Angkoo or Angku means Red Tortoise. Kueh means Cake and tortoise symbolizes longevity.

The filling for the Angku can be mashed potatoes/sweet potatoes, or sometime mung bean. Recently I saw Lena posted her beautiful Purple Sweet Potato Angku, however, I've run out of purple sweet potato I decided to used beetroot, an ingredeint used in ReeseKitchen's Angkoo. This is my first Angku and I'm very exciting about the result, thanks ReeseKitchen for the recipe! 

I pureed my beetroot. It was bright red, after mixing it with the glutinous rice flour, the mixture turned pink. The Angku was pinkish before steam, when it is hot it was orange, then it turned red when the Angku has cool down.

Beetroot

The colour in different stages.

I'm submitting this to Malaysian Muhibbah Monday Event hosted by Test With Skewer.

Recipe adapted from ReeseKitchen

Ingredients for pastry:

200g beetroot puree (cooked, mashed and blended)

300g Glutinious flour
1 tbsp Rice flour
2 tbsp Sugar
3 tbsp Cooking oil
200ml Water (gradually add in, I used ~80ml)


Ingredients for filling:
250g Split Mung beans
140g Sugar
4 tbsp Cooking oil

Steps for filling:
1. Soaked the Mung beans overnight.
2. Steam the beans for 45-1hr, with pandan leafs on top if desire.
3. While its still hot, add in oil & sugar, blend till fine. (I mashed my mung beans)
4. Make into small balls.

Steps for pastry:
1. Mixed all ingredients by hand.
2. Make into a dough, leave for 20-30 minutes.
3. Grab a portion (as the mould using) then wrapped in the paste(ball)
4. Dust the mould with some rice flour or oil before pressing in the dough.
5. Knock out & place on the cut & oiled banana leafs.
6. Brush a bit of oil on top of the cut banana leafs before placing the dough on top.
7. Use a steamer, steam on medieum heat for 8-10 minutes.
8. When its done, brush oil on top of each kueh to prevent sticking together.

Chocolate Green Tea Bao/Bun (with red bean)

I have lot of red bean paste leftover from my mooncakes making, what should I do? Lot of ideas cross my mind. To me, Bao/Bun making is easy and fast with less cleaning up, as no machine required. I made these buns in 1.5 hour using Straight Dough Method! (I've  mentioned so many times, still I need to say, I love Gelatinized Dough Method)

Cocoa powder and green tea powder are used to create double tones on the bao skin, but as you can see the green is subdued. May be you can share with me on the type of green tea powder to be used for getting the beautiful green. I'm referring to 爱生活，爱厨房 to make mine baos.

Chocolate Purple Sweet Potato Two Tone Toast (Gelatinized Dough Method 汤种）

Weekdays means WT needs to fly again, sigh! This week is challenging because Gabriel is down with runny nose and coughs, this means many times of vomitting and cleaning up, sigh! Emotionally I'm a bit tire.

"Come to me, all of you who are tired from carrying heavy loads, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke and put it on you, and learn from me, because I am gentle and humble in spirit; and you will find rest. For the yoke I will give you in easy, and the load I will put on you is light." ... Matthew 11:28-30

Chocolate Purple Sweet Potato Roulade

I could feel the breeze on my face, it was bending branches in the trees. I woke up to my amazed to see the rabbit dressed and had a watch, ran by at full speed, muttering "I'll be late!". There were colourful flowers in the countryside, a sleepy-looking caterpillar laid on a giant toadstool, a cat curled up on the tree's branch.

The Queen of Hearts ate the log with purple swirl without hesitating! What?! ...yes, you are in the Wonderland.

Manage to get a copy of 孟老师's roulade recipes from Kinokuniya, swing into action as I have been long wanting to bake her roulade. For the sponge I'm using the recipe for Chocolate log that used France Style Egg Separation Method 法式分蛋海绵蛋糕。As the filling I'm using her method for Yam Swiss Roll as it doesn't require to whisk the whipped cream, this really save me time on cleaning up :)   

The texture of this roulade is difference from my previous roulades because of the method and almond powder used. The sponge is soft and dense, the taste is better with almond. Oh, dear! time to wake up from my wonderland.  

Steamed Creamy Purple Sweet Potato Custard Bun (紫薯奶黄包）

It has been a while since my last making of bao/ bun. I made these Purple Sweet Potato Custard Buns, WT was around to help me taking care of Gabriel that afternoon. I packed the bao as dinner, we were in a rush to attend the Moon/ Lantern Festival celebration at the Singapore Zoo and we have friends help sampling food too :) Actually it is my first time asking friends to sample my bao.

It was in a hurry to make these buns, I used the straight dough method instead of the usual gelatinized dough method which I preferred. The texture of the bun is still soft when I consumed it the second day, it could be because of purple sweet potatoes added.  

Purple Sweet Potato Snowskin Mooncake: purple obsession

Gabriel brought home a piece of small yellowish snowskin mooncake, he told me "teacher made it!" the smell of the snowskin is ...yuck! too much shortening used! (Don't misunderstanding me, the snowskin mooncake he brought home was placed with his unfinished snack in his snack box, the mooncake was made in class to strengthen the students knowledge on mid-autumn festival, so as a mum you wouldn't let your kid eat this too) and I threw it to rubbish bin straight away. The story didn't end because after lunch my son asked me for the mooncake he brought home! He insisted to have it back, I shown him the rubbish bin and promised to help him make a nice one.

My purple obsession started when I baked Thousand Layers Yam Mooncake, then I saw Wendy's purple sweet potato chiffon and then again Lena's purple sweet potatoes angkoo kuih, so I couldn't get rid of the purple and come out with this Purple Sweet Potato Snowskin Mooncake! This round no food colouring used, is natural romantic purple :)

Thousand Layers Yam Mooncake (Teochew Spiral Mooncake 芋头酥)

Mid-Autumn Festival is around the corner, I'm making this Thousand Layers Yam Mooncake or Teochew Spiral Mooncake for an old friend. Please go to Carol's blog to see the method in making yam paste and the flaky yam mooncake.  

I'm submitting this post to Aspiring Bakers #11: Mid-Autumn Treats (September 2011), hosted by Happy Home Baking.

Penang Tau Sar Piah/ Mung Bean Biscuits 豆沙饼

Ghee Hiang and Him Hiang are the two oldest shops in Penang which is famous for theirs' Tau Sar Piah or Mung Bean Biscuits. I ate this quite often when I was young because the Ghee Hiang shop is just opposite my father working place :) 

After baking my first Siew Pow, I've more confidence in baking my own Tau Sar Piah. I refered to Jane's Corner and My Kitchen Snippets recipes and found that they have some differences in the ingredients, Jane used peeled mung beans and Gertrude used dried mung beans and vineger, both creations were beautifully done. At the end I used Gertrude, My Kitchen Snippets recipe because she didn't use shortening. However, as I don't have dried mung beans, I used mung beans and ...that's really lot of time in preparing the filling, it took me nearly 4 hours in the kitchen just to make these Tau Sar Piah, while two boys rushed me to go picnic with them in West Coast Park! I think this is a good excuse why I forgot to peel the mung beans :) My filling end up in frightening....grey greenish.     

Update on 11 April 2012: Please hop over to my latest Tau Sar Piah to see the photos illustration on how to make the flaky pastries.

Recipe adapted from My Kitchen Snippets

Oil Dough:

175 gram Flour
100 ml vegetable oil


Water Dough:
345 gram Flour
180 ml vegetable oil
135 ml water
¾ tsp vinegar (omitted)


Filling:
50 ml vegetable oil
2 shallots - thinly sliced (used 5 shallots)
150 gram sugar
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp white pepper
400 gram dried mung beans (used 300g mung beans)

Steps:

1. Soak the beans overnight, steamed for 40 minutes or until soft, then Mashed. Add In the sugar, salt and pepper and mix well.

2. Heat up the oil and fry the shallots until lightly brown and fragrant. Add in the bean mixture. Stir and fry until the mixture is slightly dry and you are able to form it into a ball.

3. Remove and divide the filling into 65 small balls. (I made 34 medium balls) Set it aside.

Prepare the dough:

1. Mix ingredients for oil dough until it form into a smooth dough. If the dough is too dry add a bit more oil. Wrap dough with cling wrap and set it aside to rest for 30 mins. Divide into 65 pieces.

2. Mix Ingredients for water dough together until it form into a smooth dough. Wrap dough with cling wrap and set it aside for 30 mins. Divide into 65 pieces.

Please refer to My Kitchen Snippets to see how to assemble the biscuits.

 

Soak the mung beans overnight, steam for 40 mins. then mash.

Add salt, pepper, fried shallots and mix well.(as I forgot to peel the mung beans, the mixture is grey greenish)