Siew Bao (Jan 2014) (Baked BBQ Chicken Buns 烧包)

In Doha there are lot of coffee morning meeting mainly for ladies, there is a special one called Asian Coffee Morning (ACM) mainly for Asian ladies. The founder of ACM told me that she started ACM 6 years ago with the hope of building a sense of community and connection for Asian ladies living in Doha. It is a potluck gathering, I think hard about what to bring as I don't have any baking stuff with me, finally went to buy a made in India rolling pin and baked this mini siew bao (Baked BBQ Chicken Buns) 

First time making siew bao in such a bulk, I made 90 pieces in two day. (old people can not stand too long. Lol!) Oh yes, I totally forgot about the sesame seeds.

No where I can find the solid vegetable oil shortening (not yet explore Carrefour) so I used butter. There is no Top flour as what we have in Singapore, so I tried on Marriage's brand finest plain flour for pastry (Bought from MegaMart). The end result is good, the dough is able to seal up and with lesser filling in the bun, gravy leakage case is lesser too. After so many times of baking these siew bao, there is yet thing for me to learn. I discovered that to make sure you get the flaky puff pastry, you just need to make sure the water dough is soft and wet enough, and the oil dough is able to roll up into a rough soft dough, this will make sure your siew bao 100% flaky because no torn dough during rolling and flattening! easy huh!

Note: 
1. Is important to rest the water dough so the dough got time to bind together. 
2. The size of mini siew bao is small, it is not so easy to wrap in the filling, due to that I wrapped in lesser filling. I prefer the normal size siew bao because when you bite on it, you can have more meaty and juicy gravy. 

Please click here, here, here, to see more on my Baked BBQ buns.

I changed my previous recipe a bit because I don't have char siu sauce and I go on to explore a new way of doing it. 

Ingredients for filling:

500g chicken, sliced into small cubes

150g mixed vegetables

1 tbsp of minced garlic

2 tbsps sesame oil

3 tbsps sugar (to taste)

2 tbsps cornstarch

4 tbsps of HP BBQ sauce

1 tbsp of dark soy sauce

1 tbsp of oyster sauce

3 tbsps cooking oil

150ml water

Method:

1. Marinade all the ingredients (except water and cooking oil) for an hour.

2. Heat wok, add cooking oil. Add the marinade chicken. Stir-fry the mixture for 2 mins, add water and let it simmer until cook and the sauce thickening, about 8 mins. Set aside to cool completely.

Ingredients for pastry (enough for 90 mini buns):

water dough:

400g plain flour

100g butter
2 tbsp sugar

180ml water

oil dough:

400g marriage's brand finest plain flour for pastry

160g butter (make sure the oil dough can come together to form rough dough ball, if not you need to add a bit more butter, and the dough should be easy to handle not sticky)

Glazing:

1 egg

1 tsp golden syrup

Method:

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 in fridge for 30 mins. (When you take the water dough out from fridge, it should be soft and bouncy when you press on it)

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 the portions as you wish respectively in my case is 90 pieces.

4. Flatten the water dough, wrap the oil dough in it. Flatten the dough ball with rolling pin, roll up swiss roll style. Cover and let it rest for 15 mins. Flatten from the long side, roll up swiss roll style. 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.

Homemade Pineapple Tarts and Jam 黄梨酥

Hi! I'm back just to post this delicious melt in mouth homemade pineapple tarts and jam. I had tried a few recipes for the pineapple tarts before and this is the first year I'm making my own pineapple jam, what I want to say is I think I'll start making my own jam in future, it is not as difficult as what we think it is, but for sure it needs lot of time to prepare the pineapple jam. I didn't separate the pineapple juice with its fiber but cooked them together as I believe the sweet juice should go into the jam. It is with less sugar, no preservative, is the best of best, right?!

This is my best pineapple tarts I ever made because there is a story behind the making of it. I just moved into my new place and my whole kitchen stuff still somewhere in the ocean. I rely on a medium size pot and a medium size saucepan, an oven and a microwave to do all my daily cooking. In this situation I was indecisive on whether I want to make my own Chinese New Year cookies, anyway, I went ahead to buy four big pineapples from Geant Hypermarket then to realize I forgot totally that I don't have a blender with me!! Thank God for a new friend who is willing to lend her blender to me. However, by the time I get hold of the blender, the four pineapples were no longer in good condition to make the jam. Then I went to Spinneys (a premium supermarket here) and bought five boxes of cut pineapples. Just for your information the price for the initial four pineapples is equal to one box of cut pineapples (about QR12.90 per box, can you imaging how expensive it is!) 

Come back to pineapple jam making, there are many versions out there but for me this is what my family love. My hubby popped in many pieces and thumbs up for the lovely pineapple filling. The pastry for the pineapple tart is so crumble and just melt in mouth!! The best part was the pastry dough is very easy to handle. I'm using back the previous recipe for pineapple pastry.

人在异乡要吃家乡的华人年饼是难上加难，幸好排除万难黄梨塔终于出炉了！在这预祝大家：               

新年快乐，年年顺心！

身体健康，万事如意！

Wishing you and your family a prosperous Chinese New Year! 

Ingredients for pineapple jam (~enough to make 170 pieces):

1.5kg of pineapple puree (Blend the cut pineapple, no separation of pineapple juice with fiber)

2 tbsp of ground cinnamon

1 medium size lemon (Blend the lemon together with skin)

300g fine sugar (to taste, as some pineapple is very sweet and some may be a bit sour)

Method:

1. It is best if you have a big wok because the juice in the pineapple can dried off easily but if you don't have the wok then you can use a deep big pot to do the job. Mix the pineapple puree with lemon puree and add ground cinnamon. 
2. Cook the pineapple-lemon puree on high heat until it is boiling, continue to cook for 30 mins before turning the heat to medium low. Add sugar and continue the cooking for another 75 mins or until the juice dried off and the pineapple jam turning stiff. Remember to stir the pineapple jam once in a while to prevent burning at the bottom (As my pot is not big enough, I cooked the puree into two batches)  
3. Cool down complete before keep in fridge for a day.
4. Roll into small balls, set aside for later use.

Note: 
1. the cooking time may vary (mine is about 1 hour 45 mins) as it is depends on the size of your pot/wok and the juice contains in the pineapple. 
2. The pineapple jam is not mean for spreading so the texture is a bit stiff so it is able to roll into a ball for the enclosed pineapple tarts. 

Ingredients for pastry (enough for 54 pieces): 

250 g QBB (Ghee)

50 g icing sugar 

2 egg yolks

1/2 tsp vanilla essence 

350 g plain flour

50 g corn flour

Glazing:

1 egg yolk
1 tsp water 

1 tsp honey 

Method:

1. Use a hand whisk, cream QBB and sugar until light. Whisk in egg yolks one at a time until well combined. Add essence and whisk until fluffy. 

2. Sift plain flour and corn flour together and fold into the QBB mixture to form a soft dough. 

3. Divide dough using a teaspoon and roll into balls. 

4. Flatten a piece of dough and place a piece of the roll pineapple jam in the middle. Bring the edges of the dough together and press lightly to seal. Roll it in between your palms to shape it into a ball. 

5. Place the pineapple dough on baking tray lined with parchment paper. 

6. In a small bowl, mix the egg yolk, honey and water together for the glaze. 

7. Brush the glaze on the pineapple rolls with a brush. 

8. Bake in preheated over of 180C and bake for 20-25 mins or until it turned golden brown. 

9. Cool on wired rack before store in airtight container.

I'm so happy to see this pineapple tarts, how about you?

                       This post is link to the Bake-Along hosted by Joyce, Lena and Zoe.