Cold Tofu (Hiyayakko)

Chanced upon this at a friend's place. An avid Japanese cook, she never fail to impress me with her creativity and energy. In this day and age where mothers are often busy and distracted, you hardly meet many young mothers who are dedicated to the children and kitchen all at the same time. Janet is one such gem.

Inspired by her, I went in search for the necessary ingredients to make this quick sure-won't-go-wrong dish.

Went to j-Mart at Star and bought a pack of bonito flakes. I even went as far as to call Unicurd to check out their tofu range and to make sure they are safe to be consumed raw and cold. Of course, the organic tofu would be better for anything raw I reckon. And it'd be doubly-best if I can get my hands on their Yakko Tofu. Unfortunately, they are not readily available at all supermarkets. So I settled on Extra Smooth Silken Tofu.

I like it. Boys love it. Man is cool about it (eyeballs roll skyward). Boys been asking for it and wanted more -- after they have reconciled the savory taste with a cold tofu. Took them two mouthfuls to 'register' the chill because they were half expecting a warm dish, liken a 'tau hwei'.

Here's what you'd need:

* 1 block of Silken Tofu (I used Unicurd Extra Smooth Silken Tofu)
* Spring onions (diced to small bits)
* Grated ginger (small amount; optional)
* Bonito flakes
* Soy Sauce (use a good one, Kikkomann Soy Sauce is recommended)

This is what I did:

1. Remove Tofu from the box*. Rinse and cut to size (one piece per person per bowl)

2. Place cut tofu on a serving bowl. Drizzle some soy sauce over it.

3. Place grated ginger on it, and sprinkle diced spring onions over.

4. Top with bonito flakes.

5. Serve with a sweet Japanese doll smile.


Psst psst... * ok how to do you remove tofu from box in one perfect block?!
i. Slice away the top plastic cover
ii. Run the box under running tap water, at the same time, open up the 4 sides and let water run into box.
iii. Off tap. Turn the box upside down onto your palm and lift box away from tofu. Perfect.

Muah Chee

Brings back so much childhood memories.

I thought muah chee is a real toughie thing to make. Only now then I realise, it's a piece of cake really. Thus I shan't yak too much here. Let's get down to making it.

Here's what you'd need:

200gm Glutinous rice flour
250gm water
2 tsp granulated sugar
Shallot oil / cooking oil

Ground peanuts
Sugar
(ratio of peanuts : sugar is 2:1)

This is what I did:

1. Mix flour and sugar together with water. Stir and mix till there is no lumps.

2. Steam for 15-20mins till cooked. Test the centre with toothpick to be sure it's cooked through. Remove from steamer and brush some shallot oil / cooking oil on it. Let it cool completely.

3. In the meantime, prepare the peanut powder. Mix peanut powder with sugar. Taste and adjust sugar accordingly to taste.

4. When ready to serve, scoop small piece of muah chee with a fork and cut them in the peanut powder mixture. Serve.

Psst psst... To store, keep the leftover (uncut) muah chee tightly in a container (or wrap a clingwrap tightly over the steam pan) in the fridge. Bring to room temperature before cutting and tossing in peanut powder mixture. I find it doesn't keep well beyond two days, one day is the max it should go.

Dinner Rolls

It just occurred to me that this is my first post of the year. Oh my oh my!...

I wasn't loafing around for sure. This year has been a hectic one I must say. My helper left in Feb, and since then I have been managing the chores mostly on my own. It sure was a h*ll of a ride. No wonder I lost my password, and my mind along with it; no wonder I haven't had much chance (or time) to try out new recipes / dish, lest to talk about blogging them here.

Now that I have recovered my lost memories, (it feels like I have emerged from some black hole really), I better put this down as fast as I can.

Dinner rolls!... Love them? I do. I loved the warm small tear-apart buns. Soft and fluffy. Warm and nice. Love it in the mornings, in the afternoons, I love it in the evenings, under the moon*... on its own, with butter, or with stew. They are really your best best friends once you master them. Cross my heart.

This recipe is a sure keeper. It cuts away the proofing and 2nd proofing and trust me, all's done in less than an hour.

All I had to do was the dump the shaped dough into a preheated oven for 15-20mins.

Really, you should give this a shot.




Here's what you'd need:

* 3/4c milk
* 60gm butter
* 3/4c warm water (warm enough for you to retract your fingers from the heat)
* 4 tbsp sugar
* 1 tsp salt
* 1 sachet yeast (I used active dry yeast)
* 4 - 4 1/2c plain flour

This is what I did:

1. If you have a microwave, heat up the milk and butter together. Or boil the mixture over low fire to melt the butter in the milk till it is bubbling slightly. Turn off the fire and remove saucepan from the heat.

2. At the same time, preheat your oven to 75degC (ie. gas mark 1/2)

3. Into your mixer bowl with the dough hook, add in the toasted milk/butter mixture, warm water, sugar, salt and 2c flour. Mix on low for a minute.

3. Add in the sachet of yeast and mix it further for a minute.

4. Add in flour a cup at a time, mixing the dough as you go. Once the dough starts to pull away from the bowl and is no longer tackily sticky, you have added enough flour. (I used about 4 1/2c flour).

5. Knead on medium (KA speed 5) for another 5-8 mins (h o l d onto your precious KA; it can walk!)

6. Use a cloth or cling wrap to cover the bowl for a minute. This is to trap the heat and at the same time, allowing the dough to rest.

7. Take dough out on to your lightly floured worktop and cut the dough into portions. I manage to cut 20 portions of 50gm each, or 30 portions of 30gm (ya, I know it doesn't add up. Plus and minus a bit here and there. Uniformity is not a rule here.)

8. Shape them into round balls and place them on the roasting pan about an inch apart; barely touching each other.

9. Place pan into the oven at 75degC for 15mins, till the dough has risen and doubled in size.

10. Without removing the pan from the oven, turn the heat up to 180degC for 20mins. This 20mins include the time it takes for the oven's temperature to rise.

my little baker @ work

11. When the buns are nicely browned, remove pan from oven and brush butter onto the bread buns to given them that healthy, glowy, glossy finish (see see see the gloss!!!)

12. Let it cool and serve. Curtsy!

Psst psst... I tried substituting 1/2c plain flour with cake flour. And the result was a batch of ever fluffier buns. Lovely.

My newly found blog: Jamie