Japanese Cream Bun(with mexico topping)

Been making this delicious bun for many times, I'm using the same recipe to make curry bun and BBQ pork bun as well (without mexico topping). So pleased with the results. 

Adapted from : Frozen Wings

(makes 16  with 60 gm per bun)

Ingredients A

120 gm bread flour
85 gm boiling water

Ingredients B

380 gm bread flour
75 gm sugar
6 gm salt(I'm used 3 gm only)
8 gm instant yeast

Ingredients C

120 gm cold milk
100 gm whipping cream
1 cold egg

Ingredients D

40 gm butter

Mexico topping

A  60 gm butter
     50 gm sugar
B  1 egg
C  65 gm flour
     1/4 tsp baking powder

Method:

1. Add the boiling water from A into flour, mix until well blended to form dough. Cover and set aside to cool. Keep it refrigerated for at least 12 hours.
2. The next day, mix B until well blended. Add in C and knead to form rough dough. Add in A and knead until well blended. 
3. Add in D and knead to form elastic dough.(I'm used bread maker for all the kneading)
4. Let it proof for 40 minutes or until double the size. Divide dough into 60 gm each ,  mould it round and let rest for 10 minutes.
5. Place onto greased pan ( I'm used two rectangle pan- 8 buns per pan) and let proof for another 50 minutes or until double size.  Bake at 190 C for 15 minutes.(I'm bake at 170 C(fan) for 20 minutes)

Method for mexico topping:

1. Cream A until well blended.
2. Add in B and cream until smooth. 
3. Lastly, add in C and mix until well blended.
4. After the 2nd proof, pour in a pipping bag.
5. Pipe the topping onto the buns just before baking.

Notes:

If use this recipe to make another type of buns like curry buns without mexico topping, need to brush whisked egg on surface of buns before baking.

Mini pizza

Summer holiday is over, so busy and tired. My monsters love pizza to the top, been making many times already but in the summer time we make the pizza with egg frying shapes mould. The monsters so enjoy it and they can spend at least one hour to roll, shapes and adding the topping. Good activities on summer holiday.

Adapted from: Sainsbury's food magazine

(minor changes from monsterandsharkkitchen)

(makes 2 pizzas or 12 mini pizzas)

1 teaspoon active dry yeast

1 teaspoon sugar

2 tablespoon olive oil, plus extra for greasing

1 teaspoon fine sea salt (I'm used normal table salt)

400 gm bread flour, plus extra for kneading

100 gm semolina flour

A carton of chopped tomatoes in tomato juice 

A pack of mozzarella, thinly sliced 

Some mild mature cheese, shredded 

Ingredients for topping: ham, onion, red pepper, sweetcorn, mushroom and etc.

Method: 

1. In a large bowl, combine the yeast and sugar with 330 ml warm water and stir to blend. Let the mixture stand for about 5 minutes until foamy. Stir  in the olive oil and salt. 
2. Add the flour, a little at a time, stirring until the dough forms a ball. Knead on a floured work surface until elastic. If necessary, add extra flour to stop the dough from sticking.(Note: I'm used bread maker to make the dough, added the wet ingredients followed by the dry ingredients).
3. Knead the dough into a ball shape. Place the dough in a large bowl, lightly greased with little olive oil. Cover and set aside to rise in a warm place until doubled in size (around 1-2 hours).
4. While the dough is rising, prepared the sauce by putting the tomatoes and juice into a pan and simmer until reduced to a thick sauce.
5. When dough doubled in size, punch the dough down and divide in two. If making two pizzas, put half of the dough aside and cover with damp tea towel while prepared the another half. If just use for one pizza, wrap the remaining half of the dough in clingfilm and chill in the fridge(the dough will keep for 2 to 3 days)
6. Preheat the oven to 220 C or 200 C (fan).
7. Stretch the dough or use a rolling pin to roll. If making mini pizzas, stamp with your shapes mould. 
8. Spread over the tomato sauce. Top with mozzarella slices.
9. Put on the topping ingredients and last top with shredded cheese
10. Bake for 10 minutes or until the crust is golden and the cheese has melted.

Simple Biscuits

Little monster birthday on summer holiday, she order me to make some biscuits to give away to her friend before end of the school term. Then I'm just think to make something simple and cute like this simple biscuits with Winnie The Pooh cookies cutter and stamp with alphabet cookies stamp all of her friends name on every biscuits. So easy and is for the family play time together. All the kids, even the parent love it because is special. The kids love to have a biscuit with they name on it. The parent ask me a question " Where do you get it from"

Adapted From: Stork

200 gm Stork packet or any other brand butter
250 gm plain flour + extra for dusting
1 teaspoon baking powder
100 gm caster sugar
2 large egg yolks


Method:

1. Cut the butter into small pieces.
2. Sieve the flour and baking powder into a large bowl.
3. Add the sugar, egg yolks and butter and mix with a wooden spoon, hand mixer or cold hands quickly into a stiff dough (don’t mix for too long!). Wrap the dough in clingfilm and leave to rest and chill at least 30 minutes in the fridge.
4. Preheat oven to 190°C, 170°C fan oven, Gas mark 5.
5. Dust the work surface with a little flour and roll out the dough until it is about 5 mm thick.(if the dough too sticky add more flour but not too much, little by little)
6. Cut out shapes with a sharp knife or cookie cutters and place on the baking sheet lined with baking paper. Fold the dough scraps together, roll them out and cut out more shapes.(can use any shape of cookie cutters)
7. Bake in the preheated oven for 15-20 minutes until cooked and lightly browned. Leave the cookies to cool on the baking sheet.
8. Dust the cookies with icing sugar.(I'm omit this step)

Notes:

Can top up the eye, nose and mouth with melt chocolate with piping bag.

Make it more adorable, use your own imagination.

Kueh Lapis(Steamed Layer Cake)

Kueh Lapis or nine layer dessert, one of the delicious kuih muih in Malaysia. We can choose whatever colour we like to make this dessert look fantastic. The children love it because they can peeling each layer with different coloured. My monster request to have more layer to peel next time like 15 to 18 layer.

Adapted from: Nasi Lemak Lover
(with minor changes of the colour layer)

400 ml water
70 gm coarse sugar
5 pandan leaves, knotted
400 ml coconut milk (I'm not using fresh coconut milk, just from can)
180 gm rice flour
120 gm tapioca flour

Red food colouring
Green food colouring

Method:

1. Boil water, sugar, pandan leaves and coconut milk until sugar dissolved. Discard pandan leaves and set aside to cool completely.
2. Add in rice flour and tapioca flour, stir to mix well. Strain the batter.
3. Grease a 7" steam pan with a little oil. Place the pan in a steamer and steam until hot. 
4. Divide batter into 3 portions, measure by scale to make sure all the portions is even.
5. Add in food colouring to 2 portion. The last is plain batter.
6. Pour 1st layer with green batter into steam pan, and steam for 3 minutes over medium high heat.(around 120++gm for each layer)
7. Pour 2nd layer with white batter into steam pan, and steam for 3 minutes.
8. Pour 3rd layer with red batter into steam pan, and steam for 3 minutes.
9. Repeat until all 8 layers set. Add a drop of red food colouring to let red batter to become dark pink batter and steam for 15 minutes.
10. Leave the kueh to cool completely (take about 6 hours) at room temperature before cutting (use a plastic knife to cut).

Prawn Cheong Fun

Another traditional dim sum, Prawn cheong fun is a must order dim sum when we visit dim sum restaurant. Been making this cheong fun on every Saturday. They can have it how much as they like.

Adapted from : Soul Recipe

Batter

150 gm rice flour
1½ Tablespoon Wheat starch flour or Tapioca flour
2 Tablespoon Corn flour
1 Tablespoon Oil
450 ml Water
1/2 teaspoon salt (I'm used 1/4 teaspoon)

20 pieces peeled, cooked prawn (cut to halve)

Some dry fried onions

(can substitute with any other ingredient like dried shrimp, BBQ pork(char siew) or yau tiew.)

* I'm used half the ingredient to make 10 rolls of cheong fun 

*Can use round or rectangular pan but must be non stick. I'm used 2 prepared pan to quicker the process.

Sauce from monsterandsharkkitchen

2 tablespoon soy sauce
1 tablespoon of vegetable oil

2 tablespoon water

1 tablespoon sugar

1 teaspoon sesame oil

Method for batter:

1. Mix the rice flour, wheat starch and corn flour together.
2. Add water slowly and stir continuously.
3. Add the oil and salt and mix thoroughly.
4. Set mixture aside for at least an hour.
5. Prepare your steamer. Place an oiled pan or plate onto the steam tray.
6. When the water is boiling, ladle and spread a thin layer of batter(just to cover the pan) onto the preheated & oiled non stick pan or plate. Steam for about 3 minutes or until set.
7. Remove the pan or plate from the steamer, let cold down for 1 minute and use a flat spatula to loose the rice sheet from pan and place the cooked prawns.
8. Roll up and transfer to a oiled plate.
9. Cut and sprinkle with dried fried onions 
10. Serve with your favorite sauce.

Method for sauce:

1. Just heat the ingredients together on a small pan or wok on low heat.

Sau Bau

Time to celebrate my sister birthday, last year I'm make a bunch of roses for her and this time is her favorite sau bau with lotus filling.
Bun recipe same as my plain mantou  and the filling from my shanghai mooncake lotus filling but need to cut the quantity of the lotus to half.

Method:

1. I'm prepared the filling one day before and keep in the fridge. When ready to use get it to room temperature.
2. I'm used 15 gm for each filling and 30 gm for each dough. Make 20 bun.
3. Take some dough to mix with green food coloring for the leaf.
4. Divide dough into equal portions and flatten with a rolling pin to make a circle. Then place a filling in the middle, wrap the dough to seal. Place it on square parchment paper, seal side up.
5. Use a knife, smoothly make a line on the middle of the bun. Don't press it too hard, the bun will crack when steaming. (like some of my bun is crack because I'm press it to hard)
6. Roll out the green dough and stamp out the leaf. If doesn't have stamp just cut the shape of leaf with knife.
7. Spread some plain water on dough to stick with the green leaf on both side.
8. Make the leaf line with knife.
9. Pour some red food coloring in a bowl and use a toothbrush to sprinkle to the bun.
10. I'm used the cookies alphabet stamp to make the Happy Birthday word on the bun. You can use your own idea to decorate the little sau bau for the special person birthday.
11. Arrange buns into a steamer, leave about 1” gab in between buns. Spray water mist over buns, and steam in a preheated steamer on high heat for 12 minutes. Remove buns from steamer and cool on rack to prevent soggy bottom.

1. 

Sago Coconut Pudding

Coconut milk is a good friend with sago, they is a good match. Thanks for the recipe.

Adapted from : Happy Flour
(make 8 yields for small mould)

Coconut layer

20 gm rice flour
20 gm green pea flour (I'm used corn flour)
225 ml concentrated coconut milk 
150 ml water
50 gm sugar(I'm used 40 gm)
1/8 teaspoon salt

(I used a can of coconut milk(400 ml)- 50 ml for sago layer and 350 ml mix with some water to get total 375 ml for coconut layer)
(I'm omit the pandan leaves because recently doesn't went to chinese grocery shop, the result coming out still very good)

Sago layer

80 gm pearl sago
2 blades pandan leaves
half pot of water

70 gm palm sugar (chopped)
15 gm sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
45 ml water
2 blades pandan leaves 

50 ml concentrated coconut milk

Method for coconut layer:

1. Mix all the ingredients together in a pot until well-blended. 
2. Cook over low fire until it thicken and bubbles appeared, stir at all time.
3. Remove from fire.
4. Spoon coconut mixture into mould and lightly knock it on the table top to even out the surface.

Method for sago layer:

1. Boil half pot of water and pandan leaves together.
2. Discard pandan leaves and add in the pearl sago.
3. Cook until sago appear clear, remove from fire and drain.(remember: all the sago must transparent)
4. Boil palm sugar, sugar, salt, pandan leaves and water until sugar dissolved.
5. Strain syrup into pearl sago. 
6. Add in the coconut milk and stir well.
7. Return it to the fire and bring to a gentle simmer for a while.
8. Once it started to boil, remove from fire.
9. Spoon sago mixture into the half filled mould.
10. Leave it aside to cool then chill them in the fridge.