Candy Cane 'Buns'

A-c-t-u-a-l-l-y... I have never eaten a single candy cane. I have seen them all over candy shops, especially during Christmas... But no one ever gave me one. Sob*. And whenever my children receive them in their goody bags, I quietly, secretly, discreetly... ahem... throw them away.

Because I think they are not good for health. They must be very sweet, right? Ever heard of sugar-rush? I do not like the idea of a bunch of high-on-sugar boys ruining my day or life.

Till I saw these by Wendy and I said to myself, why not? I have to try and make it. So, I made about 16 candy canes! Divided the dough into 4 portions and mix in 4 different colourings. Red, Orange, Green and Blue. And they turned out BEAUTIFUL!

Quite instantly, my kitchen worktable was transformed into a kaleidoscope of colours. Everyone who walked by my table cannot help but exclaimed how beautiful these colourful candy canes are! I packed them individually in clear wrapper and gave them away as Christmas treats. Instant hit!

Tastewise, they are really so-so. They are just very simple steamed buns. But if you ask me, I love buns. LOL. A friend commented that it took her a while to identify with the taste. She had expected to bite into a cane of sugar, only to be greeted by a plain bun.

Nonetheless, this is sure one creative way to twirl and make your mantou! And Wendy was right, this is definitely a lot healthier than the real candy cane.

Ingredients:

1tsp instant yeast
125ml water
Pinch of sugar

250gm plain flour
50gm sugar
13gm shortening (I used unsalted butter)
1tsp baking powder

Food colouring: Red, Orange, Green & Blue

Here's what I did:

1. Mix yeast with water and sugar. Stir and set aside. It should become frothy in about 10 minutes time

2. Mix plain flour, sugar and baking powder together. Put in butter and yeast mixture. Knead till a rough dough is formed.

3. Divide dough into 4 equal portions about 110gm each. Add teeny weeny drop of colouring to each part and knead until a smooth dough is formed. Cover and proof for about 30mins.

4. Make 15gm dough for each colour. I yielded about 15-16 of each colour.

5. Roll each ball into a long strand. Twirl with another colour. Place on a baking paper.

6. Complete all the twirling and twisting.

7. Let shaped dough cover and proof for another 45 mins.

8. Steam on high heat for 10-12minutes. Cool and serve. Some people like it hot, but I find it nicer warm.

(Sunken) Fruit Cake

Boys bugged me to make a fruit cake... "... Fruit cake never spoil because insects always eat it when it's rotten..." so said Grannypillar in the Hermie & Wormie's Fruit Cake Christmas cartoon.

So we went on a Fruit Cake recipe hunt. They even agreed to stay home to make it; refusing and declining all my suggestions for an outdoor play! Such was their resolution to have a fruit cake. They even suggested baking the cake and bring it to their uncle's Christmas dinner on the Eve,... "so Mom, we need to bake and try if it is nice to bring" they reasoned.

(how can my cake not be nice, come to think of it!!)

So a fruit cake we baked. I didn't want to add any of those traditional rum and liquor since this is for KIDS. And I didn't want to add any sort of nuts since this, again, is for KIDS. Thus, after much deliberation, I settled on my favorite pound cake and throw in Fruits Mix. Da daaa!!! A fruit cake is born!

What I should have done instead was to chop up the fruits mix! And because I didn't do so, the fruits sunk to the bottom of my cake during baking... Hence the name, Sunken Fruit Cake. *LOL*

Aesthetically, it sure need some improvements. But taste-wise, it's un-beatable!!! Quite unsurpassed! Wahahahahahaha... I am so happy. It tastes better than those I bought in bakery; those are somehow too sweet with a strange metallic after-taste (yucks).

My folks like it. My boys like it. Now it's up to Man to try it.

Will I bake this for my BIL's Christmas Eve dinner? Ya, perhaps. I have still a list of Christmas bakings to do. Shall see which emerge a winner -- to be decided by a jury of Boys.

Ingredients (1 loaf tin):

3 large eggs
3 tbsp milk
1 1/2 tsp vanilla essence
150gm sifted cake flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
150gm white sugar (I cut down to 120gm here)
185gm butter (melted)

Here's what I did:

1. Lightly combine eggs, milk and vanilla essence in a clean small bowl. Set aside.

2. Mix flour, baking powder, sugar and salt together in the mixing bowl.

3. Add butter into flour mixture and half of egg mixture.

4. Mix at low speed till the dry ingredients are moist.

5. Increase speed to medium and beat for 1 minute.

6. Reduce speed to Low, add in 1/2 of remaining egg mixture. Beat for 30 sec.

7. Add in all of remaining egg mixture and continue beating for another 30 sec.

8. Add in chopped fruits mix. Lightly combine them into batter. Pour into base-lined loaf tin.

9. Bake at 175degC for 60 mins. (check cake 3/4 way into baking. If top appears brown enough, tent it lightly and continue its remaining bake time.)

10. Insert toothpick into centre of cake to check its doneness. Once done, let it sit in the tin a short while before overturning it out to cool completely on a rack.

Before all these, pre heat your oven of course. 175degC.

...

Steamed Tau Pok

Ever read a food blog without pictures? Guess this will be it... at least for this while. So, please bear with me. *sob

Or use square tau pok

This dish is a real easy peasy lemon squeezy. Season minced pork, add in fish paste, cut in chopped chives, stuff into halved tau pok, steam on high for 15-20 mins, serve. What's so tough?!

It's such a no brainer, I wonder if I should even post it. But it's been nagging me to! It wants to be on the blog coz it's a WINNER at my table. LOL. Really, there is absolutely no reason why you shouldn't give this a try. It's healthy, it's easy, it's tasty.


Ingredients:

* Tau pok
* Minced pork
* Fish paste (optional)
* Chives (cut small)


Here's what I did:

1. Cut tau pok into half. Gently slice an opening for stuffing later.

2. Season minced pork with pepper, soya sauce, sesame oil and pinch of cornstarch.

3. Add in fish paste (half of minced pork portion)

4. Add in chives (chives is a must in this dish).

5. Stuff mixture into tau pok.

6. Lay them lying down on a steam plate, add water to the plate (ample to soak the tau pok slightly; you MUSTN'T miss this step of adding water!)

7. Steam on high for 15-20 mins till stuffing is cooked. Serve.


psst psst... Pardon me if my description is not so clear above. I have the photos in my Apple. Am trying hard to retrieve.

psst psst 2... yeah!!! I found my photos!(photos uploaded on 31 Dec '11)

Vegetarian Claypot

Once in a while, I will whip up this vegetarian dish, and serve it alongside a simple meat and soup. Yup!!! So that my diners will have no choice but to eat all the veg in this clay pot since there is no other available dish! Wahahahahahaaa

But, behold! This is very yummy, okay. Not totally new, nothing fanciful, just a simple claypot of fiber goodness. *smug smile*

Ingredients:

2 - 3 stalks of celery (sliced slant)
1/2 carrot (cut half length-wise, sliced thinly)
Sweet peas
Baby corn (sliced slant into 3 or 4 pieces)
Soup mushroom (cut in half)
Onion (cut chuncks)
Garlic
Salt to taste
Corn starch mixture (half tsp cornstarch, mix with water in a soup spoon)
Tofu (optional; get those for frying)
Capsicum (optional, red, yellow & green, sliced long)

Here's what I did:

1. In a heated wok with oil, fry garlic and onion till fragrant.

2. Add in capsicums, fry till fragrant.

3. Add in celery, carrot, peas and baby corn. Fry till fragrant.

4. Add in salt. Give wok a slight stir.

5. Add in 1/2 soup spoon of soya sauce. Stir fry quickly.

6. Add in soup mushroom. Continue to stir fry slightly.

7. Add in water, and a corn starch mixture. Let it simmer for a short minute.

8. Transfer into claypot and let it simmer a bit longer with the cover on.

9. Serve.

psst psst... 
* if you don't have a claypot, don't fret. It can be served in a bowl like always.
* if you like to add in tofu, then you deep-fry your tofu coated with plain flour. Set aside. Add into dish at the last stage during the simmering.
* if you like to add in a meat, you may... try prawns. Remove shells and devein prawns, add in after capsicums and when cooked, remove and set aside first. Add into dish at the last stage during simmering (this is to prevent the prawn from being overcooked).

Apple died

Never knew it can be so devastating. And I thought modern technology is supposed to enhance your life! I feel rather enslaved by IT.

I have to live my days without Chat, without emails, without online shopping, online news etc etc etc... I felt so handicapped. And I had to beg Man to repair it quickly. Had to rely on this iPad to blog / check mails / shop / read but realized it's super unfriendly! The trouble one has to go through urgh...

I hope my Apple will come back quickly! Silly dumbo me, didn't do the last backup... And I had all my foodie photos in there! WAIL!

What am I to doooooooooo?!?!?!!! I miss my apple.

Pork Ribs Salmon Belly Soup

Another one of my boys' favorite soup, because 1) they love celery, 2) they love salmon, 3) they love porky,... basically, 4) they love soup.

This soup is power-packed with all imaginable goodness. Read the ingredients and you will know what I mean.

Ingredients:

Pork Ribs
Salmon Belly
Celery (diced, 2 stalks)
1 Carrot (diced)
1 Tomato (diced)
1 Potato (diced)
Pepper corn (handful, crushed slightly, packed into soup stock bag)
Ginger (sliced)
Salt to taste
Tofu (optional)

Here's what I did:

1. Blanch the pork ribs, and cook a pork rib soup (I cooked this early in the morning in my thermal pot, and set aside till ready to prepare dinner).

2. Rinse salmon belly and descale them. Cut away sections of salmon belly with fins / bones. Do not discard these. Put them into a soup stock bag with sliced ginger (This is prevent the bones from going into the soup during boiling).

3. Add diced celery, carrot, tomato, potato into soup. Add in the pepper corn stock bag, and salmon belly bones' stock bag.

4. When the soup is boiling, add in the salmon belly. Add salt to taste.

5. Bring soup to a boil and simmer in low fire for 15mins. Ready to serve.

Sweet & Sour Pork

One of my favorite dish at Zi Char store, and now it has become a regular family dish at my table :)

I always wonder how did the store make the pork so sweet, so succulent, so yummy... whilst those that I have tried at home just couldn't make it! I tried with those from the Supermarket labelled "sweet & sour pork", but failed. It turned out... ermmm... just not there -- not as tender as I would like it. Then I decided to experiment with a different type of pork - Pork Fillet and diced them for this dish.

Viola! I got it right!!!! So proud of myself!

Pork Fillet (aka yao1 rou4)... according to my Mom, is the best part of the pig. It's the most tender of all; so far, she has been right (how could I ever doubt her?!). I love pork fillet fried with sliced ginger and garlic with sesame oil -- one of those regular confinement dish.

PF is so versatile! I simply love it *wink*


Ingredients:

Pork Fillet (cubed; about 2cm)
A>> Sesame oil
A>> Soya sauce
A>> Dash of pepper
A>> Corn starch
A>> Plain flour
A>> 1 egg
Onion (cut to chunks)
Garlic
Red, Yellow & Green peppers (cut to chunks)
1 soup spoon Tomato ketchup
Water
Sugar to taste


Here's what I did:

1. Season cubed pork fillet with A. The end mixture with the inclusion of the egg should be rather wet and starchy. When you lift up a piece of pork, the flour mixture should be nicely coated onto it.

2. Deep fry the pork till golden brown. Set aside.

3. In a wok, heat up oil, fry garlic and onion till fragrant.

4. Add in red, yellow and green peppers. Fry till fragrant.

5. In a separate bowl, add water to tomato ketchup (ratio 2 to 1) and add sugar to taste. Pour mixture into wok and stir.

6. Add in fried pork and mix them together till well coated with sauce. Add in water as required to reach the right consistency -- slightly thick sauce.

7. Serve.



psst psst...
* My friend asked if I can (kindly) include the proportion of my ingredient on the blog. For an amateur like herself, that will be most useful. I know I know... but the thing with me is, I cook and marinate my dish according to my 'gut feeling'. I don't have strict measurement to follow. Believe me or not, I never taste my dish before serving. They are based on judgement. But ok, ok... I will try to make notes next time.
* Zi char store surely did not use PF ok. Their trick is to use baking soda while marinating the meat to make them tender and soft. For my home cooking, I simply change the meat, else use baking soda.

......

Cinnamon Bread Roll

I never liked cinnamon. I find the smell... mmm... how should I describe... to say the least, repulsive. Its too sweet-smelling for my liking; I always walk away when I smell it in the store / bakery / cafe.

Yet, magic happened! It actually happened to me!

I saw some very enticing cinnamon bread bun in some blogs. HappyFlour, Happy Home Baking,... and I was tempted to try. No looking back since! I LOVE it! And I figured it was because, as with anything home baked, you are IN CONTROL - of the ingredient, the quantity, the proportion!

The key lies in the amount of cinnamon you use. And ahem,... I use just enough to get the taste... far from overpowering. Man says I can afford to go a bit heavier on the cinnamon since he can't taste it. *roll eyeball*

For the sweet bread roll, I adapted from Table for 2  Sweet Bread & Bun, but less the Milk Powder, and made some fine adjustments.



Ingredients:

500gm Bread Flour
80gm Sugar

11gm Yeast
220ml of water
pinch of sugar
1 egg

85gm butter
1/2 tsp salt

Cinnamon Filling:
1 tbsp ground cinnamon
2 tbsp brown sugar
Butter (for spread)

Here's what I did:

1. Following the order of my breadmaker, I set the machine to Dough and let it knead and proof.

2. Take out the proofed dough from maker, on a lightly floured surface, punch down and knead for a further 1min.

3. Roll the dough into a rectangular piece as thin as possible (about 5mm thick, estimate only). With a butter knife, I spread butter on it.

4. In a clean bowl, mix cinnamon and brown sugar. Sprinkle cinnamon filling and brush them on the buttered dough. Roll it up swiss roll style.

5. Cut into 1 - 1.5inch long. Lay them swirl side up, close to each other on the bake tray.

6. Cover and let it proof for another hour till double (the rolls should be sticking to each other by now). When ready to bake, do an egg wash on the surface and sprinkle some cinnamon filling on top.

7. Bake in preheated oven at 180degC for 20 mins until golden brown.

psst psst...
* I have some leftover dough and can't squeeze them into the bake tray anymore, so, I use my muffin tray and have about 2-3 rolls in each pocket.
* I use disposable HomeProud aluminum bake tray.
* Since Man said I can afford to put more cinnamon, I will try 3tbsp cinnamon + 4tbsp brown sugar the next time. :)