Snow Fungus Dessert with Red Date, Longan and Ginkgo 白果银耳红枣龙眼糖水

天气热，来，一人一碗，别客气！

I made this snow fungus or white fungus dessert for my family as the daily weather here easily hit 47C , you can serve this dessert warm or cold. We believed that the snow fungus can strengthen the stomach and expels dryness. I also added red dates, dried longan, ginkgos, wolfberries and lily bulbs in this dessert.

The ginkgo used here is the pack-form fresh ginkgo which already seeded. 

(Made 6 serving)
Ingredients: 
15g white fungus, soak and remove its stems 银耳
2g wolberries 杞子
12 pieces ginkgo 白果
8 slices lily bulb 白合
12 pieces red date 红枣
18 pieces dried longan 龙眼
some cane sugar (to taste) 黄冰糖
1.5 Litre water 水

Method:

1. Rinse wolberries, ginkgos, lily bulbs, red dates, dried longan. Soak white fungus to soft and remove its stems. The white fungus will expand, cut into small if necessary.

2. Pour water into stewing pot/ soup pot, add all ingredients. Cover and cook for 20 mins on high heat and turn to medium low for another 40 mins. Serve warm or with ice cubes as desire.

Japanese Condensed Milk Bread 日式练乳面包

Every times my bakes are always out of time, far too late! This round hope I am on time :) yes, I have lot of bread flour to clear before I leave for summer. Saw this hot Japanese Condensed Milk Bread on May's blog then Eileen's blog, they said it is hot on Facebook and the way the bread is baked attracted me, it is like the pull-apart bread sometimes ago which I missed to bake as well. So I just jump into the baking wagon and bake it! Today saw Jozelyn also posted hers! 

I used 17cm chiffon pan.

Note:
1. The proofing time for this bread is far longer than the usual bread. I took about two hours for the first proofing even it was done in the pre-heated oven! The bread second proofing was done overnight. As it was very late, I cover the dough and let it sit in the off heat oven overnight.

Recipe from May (original from Winnie)
Ingredients for bread:
200g bread flour
15g condensed milk
120g milk
20g sugar
3g dry instant yeast
3g salt
20g butter

sticky sauce:
20g condensed milk
20g butter
* mix well

decoration:
some almond flakes
some pistachio, crashed 

egg wash: 1 egg, lightly beaten 

Method:
1. Mix all ingredients for bread in the mixing bowl (except butter), knead the dough using the cake mixer with dough hook to form rough dough, add butter and knead until smooth elastic film.

2. Cover the dough and proof it until double in size.

3. Punch out the air in the dough, flatten the dough to a rectangle size 12" x 8"

4. Apply a layer of sticky sauce on the dough, cut into four strips. Stack up the dough and cut into eight portions.

5. Place the dough, straight side up in the lightly grease chiffon pan. Let it proof to cover the whole chiffon pan. 

6. Brush the top of the dough with egg wash, sprinkle some almond flakes and crashed pistachio on top.

7. Bake at 165C for 25mins. 

I'm linking this post to Little Thumbs Up (June 2014 Event: Butter) organised by Zoe of Bake for Happy Kids and Mui Mui of My Little Favourite DIY and hosted by Jozelyn Ng of Spice Up My Kitchen

Wu Pao Chun Champion Toast 吴宝春金牌吐司

Finally, I come to meet up with the famous Wu Pao Chun Champion Toast recipe!  It has been baked by Aunty Young, Victoria Bakes, ccm2poco, Baking Taitai and Nasi Lemak Lover. I baked my Yellow River Buns the same day with this Wu Pao Chun Champion Toast, can imaging how busy I was! 

I didn't know who Wu Pao Chun is until I google about his bread. He is a Taiwanese who has won a few European style bread champion, his winning breads were Taiwan Longan with Red Wine Bread and Millet Wine with Dried Lychees Rose Petal Bread. More about his bakery is here.

This straight dough bread is really soft, see my bread can do yoga ^^ The 1 tsp salt in the bread to me is just right, you will hardly notice it. This bread is lovely to eat even plain! Bake at 170C for 25 mins.

Notes:
1. All measurement using cup measure.
2. The dough divide into 2 portions.
3. The second proofing done in a preheat oven at 50C and off the heat. Let the dough (with cover) sit in the warm oven to get the 80~90% full dough. This ensure the toast come out beautifully square.
4. The different type of flour absorb water differently, make sure to add the milk/water gradually. Add in about 180g (cup measure) first, let it knead for a while and slowly add more. Use hands to feel the dough texture is important. 
5. Grease the bread tin with a bit of butter, when you brush the butter on tin, make sure it is in upward stoke (my habit), then lightly flour the tin.
6. Bread tin size: 7.5" x 4" x 4"
7. Make sure don't over baked! 

Oh my! I should invest in the bread cutting gadget! 

Recipe adapted from Victoria Bakes with minor change

Ingredients:
300g bread flour
24g sugar
1 tsp salt
15g butter
3g dry instant yeast
135g water (omitted)
69g milk (210g milk) note: milk has to add in gradually

Method:

1. Add all in the mixing bowl (except milk has to be gradually add in and butter), knead until the dough form rough dough. Add butter, knead until it form smooth and elastic film.

2. Cover and let the dough proof for 45 mins or until double in size.

3. Punch out the air, divide into two portions. Roll into round balls and let it rest for 10 mins.

4. Flatten, and roll up the dough. Let it rest for 10 mins.

5. Repeat step 4. Spray some water on the dough, let the dough sit in baking tin and cover. Let it proof for second time or until double in size. About 50 mins.

6. When the dough is 80% full. Cover the baking tin lid. Bake at 170C for 25 mins. Remove from the tin immediately after baked.

I'm linking this post to Little Thumbs Up (June 2014 Event: Butter) organised by Zoe of Bake for Happy Kids and Mui Mui of My Little Favourite DIY and hosted by Jozelyn Ng of Spice Up My Kitchen

Yellow River Buns 黄河面包

A pack of bread flour was discovered yesterday and I swing into action to make this Yellow River（黄河面包) one of Alex Goh famous magic bread. This is the first time I used the new place oven to make bread and I can see the oven temperature is at the hot side! I baked for 12 mins at 170C.

My bun name should be Yellow River Football Buns...Haha! As I prefer my bread to be shape round instead of oval. This bread is really yummy with black raisin in it and I top it with garlic butter which I need to clear. The fragrance of this bread is so intense, the garlic butter on top does the wonder! 

Yield 10 buns. The bun is heavy, about 100g each.

Fried Beef Meatballs (with bamboo shoots)

I have more than a week to clear my fridge and pantry before I leave for summer! 

Making this beef meatballs or meat patties using the minced beef in my fridge with the bamboo shoot slices that I chopped into small. The minced beef I used has some fats in the meat, the bamboo shoots in the meatball create a better texture and love the intense flavour from the beef meatballs. For sure this is better than chicken nuggets!  

I bought the bottle sliced bamboo shoot from FFC (Family Food Centre at Al Rayyan). 

Ingredients:
300g minced beef (with some fats)
100g sliced cooked bamboo shoot, chop into small
1 egg
1 tsp heap of minced ginger
1 tsp heap of minced garlic
1.5 tbsp oyster sauce
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tbsp cornstarch 
1 tsp mirin
1 tsp sesame oil
a handful of coriander, finely chop
a pinch of freshly ground black pepper

cooking oil for deep fried
extra egg (beaten) to coat the meatballs
100g bread crumbs 

Method:

1. Combine minced beef, minced ginger, minced garlic, oyster sauce, salt, egg, mirin, sesame oil, ground black pepper and cornstarch into a big bowl. Stir the mixture until it turned sticky. Add chopped bamboo shoots and chopped coriander, stir to mix well.

2. Use hands to make meatballs. Use hand to dip the meatballs into the extra egg (do not coat too much), then let the meatballs roll over the bread crumbs.

3. Deep fry the meatballs in a small deep saucepan over medium heat. When the meatball turned into golden brown, scoop it out and drain the oil on a kitchen paper. Serve hot.

Chicken and Potato Stew

A cooking done in my old place. This dish is the all time favourite in my house. It is simple and easy to cook too. I love to have gravy in this dish as it is yummy to go with steamed white rice. With only this dish on the table, my son can finish his plate. 

Bak Chang 2014 (咸肉粽 aka Zongzi / Savoury Rice Dumpling)

This year I made the Bak Chang a few days after the Dragon Boat Festival, I was too busy with shifting, unpacking and lot of others need to settle (Anyway, still very busy now as has to start packing to go back for summer holiday soon). This year making Bak Chang is not so easy as the previous year because all the ingredients like bamboo leaves, dried chesnuts, dried mushrooms, dried shrimps, salted eggs are not able to find over here. Thanks for a friend advised, I brought them from Melbourne! 

When buying the bamboo leaves or Bak Chang leaves, make sure you get a big wide leaves not long and thin leaves (like what I compared in the photos) As this will help you wrap a neat bak chang and make the wrapping task easier one. 

A Lunch Gathering

I went to a friend's place for a lunch gathering, as the mission was to "Cook Up and Out", everyone brought a dish so to clear a bit of our pantry before we leave for summer. It was an awesome morning, catch up with friends that we hardly see everyday. The food was amazing too! These ladies over here can create whatever they want to eat!! Of course most of the ingredients we brought from our home countries. 

That morning was my first time shooting food with so many people around me...all these while I done my food photos with myself alone at home. I was not able to concentrate, not taking good and right angles and...I couldn't do a good job without the tripod!! The shot on people was badly done! Shaky and not clear! Oh...I wish you can see how the ladies cooked up the storm in the kitchen! Anyway, it was still an awesome morning for me! Sorry, I can't share their faces without their permission and the photos on people was not clear so...lets feast with your eyes! ^_^

Stir Fried Celery with Roasted Cashews

A simple vegetables dish that loved by my family. We always love this simple dish because of the roasted cashews in it, able to munch on the crunchy celery while taste the flavourful aroma roasted cashews make this dish stand out. Is my first time roasting the cashew nuts and the experience is awesome! It is delicious! As the cashew nuts is roasted with butter, I'm linking this post to Little Thumbs Up month of June.