Baked Char Siew Bun (BBQ Pork Bun)

Yup is always good to keep the recipe in a place that is easy for me to revisit and perhaps in future bake again

Happen to know that Aspiring Bakers #31 is calling for Chinese bun entry. Would like to take this opportunity to have this blog submit for Aspiring Bakers #31: Bao Ho-Chiak 包好吃 (May 2013) hosted by Miss B of Everybody Eats Well in Flanders.

I have the recipe from the cookbook title - DimSum Inspirations ( 一点心意）by Choong Su Yin
This cookbook was a gift from a friend in Singapore. Her thoughts is really precious, when she asked her sister to post it to me when the sister on tour in Australia Perth. How sweet to have friend who remember us even when we are far.

So here are the recipe :

Ingredients :

Char Siew Fillings

300g minced pork
300g chopped char siew (bbq pork)
3 cloves minced garlic
1 onion ( cut into small pieces)
100g green peas ( I omit this as I do not like green peas)
1 bunch of coriander finely chop ( I added this as I like the fragrance of this herbs)
1 tsp of corn flour
1 tsp of oil

Seasonings
1Tbsp of oyster sauce
1 Tbsp dark soy sauce
1 tsp salt
2 Tbsp sugar
Adequate sesame oil
Adequate pepper
Adequate chicken powder ( I replace the MSG in the original recipe , this is an option)

Starch solution

1Tbsp of corn flour
5Tbsp of water

Method :
1. Blend minced meat with corn flour and oil.
2. Heat up 4 Tbsp of oil, fry garlic and onion till fragrant . Add in minced meat ,char siew and seasonings. Stir fry evenly. Thicken the gravy with starch solution and sprinkle in coriander. Dish out and set aside to cool

Flarky Dough

Ingredients

600g Flour
75g sugar
190g Oil
1 Tbsp golden syrup
270g water

Method :

1. Dissolve sugar and golden syrup in water.
2. Mix flour and oil, pour in syrup mixture and knead to form a smooth dough.
3. Knead the dough to form a long strips and divide into 70g each


Shortening Dough

Ingredients

150g Shortening
300g Flour

Method :

1. Mix flour and shortening till even .Keep it into freezer and set for 20min . Remove and cut it into each 35g

To make the Char Siew Bun

1. Preheat oven to 170 C .
2. Wrap the shortening dough with flaky dough. Roll it out into long strip . Roll the dough up and once again roll it out into long strip.
3.Fold the dough into 3 layers. Roll  it flat and wrap the char siew fillings shape the dough into pau shape
4. Brush egg wash onto the bun and sprinkle some sesame seed
5. Bake in oven for 20 min or till golden brown.

I share this bun with few good friends. Forget to take the pic of the inside when we ate it. Argh always food over picture.

As my skill of wrapping up the fillings is not that good, the top part of the bun is thicker then those sold outside the Dim Sum cart.

Well for the 1st time making this bun , I would say is not too bad of the result.

Hope the step will not scare you off , is not as difficult as it sound.

Baked Avocado CreamCheese Cake

Is it avocado season again ? Not quite sure, as I seem to see avocado all year round in Aus now and the price is just so expensive that keep me away from getting them.

Avocado is a very rich fruit that provide healthy fat and anti oxidants which is good for health. However given the fat factor ,is best consume in the morning and have whole day to utilize it as energy.
It will be wonderful when a day come we can ate as much as we can and never never put on weight. Yup One day ...

Ok enough of melancholy for the day. One of my girlfriend , happen to grab a bag of avocado with only 0.09 per each !!! Can you imagine the excitement we all have. She bought more than what she can consume ( of course given the price ) . I am so blessed that she gave me $1 ( total 10 piece) of avocado to enjoy. It can be kept  and is too much to finish before it rot. Since I have done a few cake with avocado , I decided to try out by making a bake creamcheese cake .

I can not find any bake avocado creamcheese cake in the net. So using what I knew I have created my own recipe and here is it :

Ingredients

250g Cream Cheese
200g Avocado ( mash into fine and sieve + 1Tbsp of lemon juice)
100g Sour Cream
200g Pouring Cream ( Whipped)
20g cake flour
2 eggs
80g caster sugar
1/2 Tbsp lemon rind

125g Oreo biscuit with cream
30g melted butter


Methods:

1. Preheat oven to 160 degrees C.
2. Crushed Oreo biscuits till fine crumbs.
3.Combine the biscuits and the melted butter well and press evenly into a 8"inch square loose base baking tin.Put in the fridge let it chill and set for later baking
4. Cream creamcheese with sugar till creamy
5. Prepar a chilling metal bowl and whipped the pouring cream till firm soft peak .
6. Mixed the avocado mash with sour cream well then fold in the whipped cream
7. Mixed in the egg one at a time into the avocado mixture.
8. Mixed the cream cheese with lemon rind into the avocado mixture till well combine.
9. Pour the mixture into the oreo biscuit base tin.
10. Steambake the cake in oven for 60min or till is cooked.

The cake is creamy and as usual avocado is not a strong smell or taste of fruit. However it does have slight bitterness taste in the cake. Not sure is it cause by the lemon rind or I might have scrap the outer green part of the avocado when getting the flesh from the fruit.

I share this cake with the girlfriend who blessed me with the fruits. Of course we all love it and enjoy it much. How can one resist a creamy cake.

I do not have a chance to take the picture when the cake was slice to serve. Too tempting and we just engross in talking and forget about my blog updating  :). I should have bake this cake in a smaller tin perhaps 6" tin so the cake will be taller.

If you are avocado lover , give this a try . Is creamy and the texture is soft and light.

Japanese Cream Buns with Pork Floss

Another of my bun moment. I wanted to try out another bread baking experience. I did this back few months ago. Always bake when we will have visitor. Is good to share the baking and one can remind slim afterall sharing is caring. I would like to show my care and love in the food I am baking .

I plan to do a western roasting dinner for the night. Thought of baking some small bun and have it serve before the main. Yup , I still do not quite understand in the fine dinning restaurant , we always been serve some fresh bake bun before our main course come. Perhaps the portion of a fine dinning is always small, so is good to fill your tummy up with some carbo so the end of the meal you will feel full.

My friend recommend me this recipe and told me the result is fabulous and is easy to bake. So here are the recipe from one of my favourite blogger ->Japanes Cream Bun

Ingredients for cook coux ( Tang Zhong)
120gm bread flour
85gm boiling water

Ingredient for bread (A)
380gm bread flour
75gm sugar
6gm salt
8gm instant yeast

Ingredient for bread (B)
120gm cold milk
100gm whipping cream
1 cold egg
40gm butter

1 beaten egg for glazing

Method:
1. Preparing the tang zhong ( cook coux).,add the boiling water into flour, mix until well blended to form dough..Cover with cling wrap and set aside to cool.Keep it refrigerated for at least 12 hours
2.Mix the ingredient for Bread (A) until well blended. Add in all the wet ingredient for bread (B) except butter and knead to form rough dough. Add in the tang zhong and knead until well blended.
3.Add in butter and knead to form elastic dough.that passes the window pane test.
4.Let it proof for 40minutes. Divide dough into 50gm each , mould it round and let rest for 10minutes.
5. Place onto greased pan and let proof for another 50minutes.
6. Brush surface of bun with egg wash
7. Bake at preheated oven at 170(fan)/190C for 15minutes.


I also make some bun into oval shape and prepare to put some pork floss like the pork floss bun I always love for my breakfast next day.

I got the recipe to make the cream to go with the pork floss on this bun.

Ingredient for Cream :

2 Tbsp of Condense Milk
2.5 Tbsp of mayonnaise
200g Pork floss

Method :
1. Mixed the condense milk and mayonnaise together , slice half way down  the middle of the oval shape bun, spread the cream and sprinkle pork floss according to your liking.

The bun is really soft and creamy . It smell really good when baking . Of course my guest love it. I prepare one night before the dinner and have the plain bun heat up in the oven before I serve it. So is like fresh bake bun :)

I will definitely make it again .

Potato Sausage Bun

Well , I have been really into making bread. Why? Honestly I am a very carbo person . I love bread ,especially those Asia sweet bread. Asia bread are more fluffy, soft , moist and sweet compare to the western bread. Which is more heavy and you can said is more filling as well.

When I first got to Brisbane, there is not so many "famous" Asia bakery around. We did try to bake our own bread however given the hassle and I am still not into baking, it really is a chores rather than an enjoyment to me. Maybe my body has been really good and absorbing really well now in take of too much carbo make me "blow" out quite a lot . So I did try to cut down from bread and have a more healthy breakfast.

As I mention , from my last Sydney trip I bought a couple of recipe book so one should try out the recipe book if not what is the point of getting them . Here is another bread recipe from the Taiwan baking teacher -孟老师的100道面包。

Ingredients :

110g Bread Flour
40g  Cake Flour
15g Caster Sugar
1/4 tsp salt
70g ice water
2g ( 1/2 tsp ) dried yeast
18 -20g egg yolk
30g mash potatoes ( steam the potatoes and peel off the skin and mash it )
15g butter
5 sausages

Method :

1. Place the wet ingredient ice water, egg yolk , mash potatoes in the mixer. Follow by dried ingredients bread flour, cake flour and caster sugar. Make a well in the flour and place the yeast in it.
2. Mix all the mixtures with dough hook in slow speed when a rough dough is form and put the butter in and continue to mix it on medium speed till a smooth dough form .
3. Knead to form elastic dough that passes the window pane test.
4. Place the dough in the bowl and cover with cling wrap and let it proof for 60min. ( To fasten the process , put the dough in the oven with a glass of hot water)
5. Divide dough into 5 portion , mould it round let it rest for 10min.
6.Roll out the dough in long rectangle shape, place a sausage in it. Roll the sausage well and seal the bottom of the roll .
7.Shape it according to your liking. Brush with egg wash and let it proof for another 25min.
8.Preheat oven to 175C and place the bun on the tray and bake for 18min.

So here is my sausage bun. I double the portion of the ingredient and have make 10 bun in total. Have it for breakfast and share with some of the friends.

As the bun is not the using the "tang zhong" method is not that soft and moist. However if you have it heat up in the microwave for 20sc before having it , it still remind soft and taste yum.

Do give it a try . I might improvise this recipe using the "tang zhong" method next round when I do it .

Durian Mousse Cream Cake

Is my love birthday on 02 April. Interestingly I do not think I have make a birthday cake for him for the years we have celebrate together. Reason is , he does not seem to fancy any cream cake, not that he is picky , I might have influence him that we always prefer light and fluffy cake.

To ask him what is his favourite cake is another pain . Almost to him everything is great. I guess for a novice baker , I am not good in create just from anything . Is better to have an core ingredients to look out for or even some flavor one prefer. After an argument , I give up and decided a cake I want to bake for him. I guess this will set the precedence for his birthday cake now onwards  ^__*.

I chose Durian Mousse Cream Cake. Is so blessed to be able to find Malaysia frozen durian here. Which is pack in the packet.Though we have durian fruit that is frozen here but is mostly product of Thailand. I still prefer Malaysia durian.

It is such an excitement to bake this cake , not only it has been a long time we have durian but also the cake does not use any durian essence is just pure fragrant from the fruit itself.

Here is the recipe for the Durian Mousse Cream cake. I adapted from the recipe as the link I attached

Sponge Cake ( adapt from Wen Delights)

Ingredients

4 Eggs + 1 egg yolk
 80g Sugar ( I used brown sugar and reduce from original 100g)
100g CakeFlour
100g Butter, melted

Methods:

1. Preheat oven to 160 degrees C.
2. Grease & line 2  8" inches round baking tin with paper.( I am looking to make 2 small layer )
3. Whisk eggs and sugar until stiff. or double in volume. ( Draw a ribbon on the mixture ,it stay on the surface mean is right)
4. Fold in shifted flour by hand using spatula with an upward circulating motion.
5. Take some of the mixture mixed with the melted butter in a bowl, once well mixed pour into the batter and combine well until batter is shiny.
6. Pour into baking tins & bake for 30-35 mins
7. Once bake let it cool for awhile and take it out put on the rack to cool further.

Durian Mousse Cream ( I have 2 recipe mixed and I am totally satisfied with the result )
-> gracekitchencorner & WenDelights

Ingredients :

300g Durian Flesh ( pureed)
200ml Whipping Cream
100g Fresh Milk
2 egg yolks
40g Sugar
5 Tbsp Water
18g Gelatin

 

Method:

1. Place a metal bowl in freezer for used of cream whipping

2. Sprinkle the gelatin onto the water in a bowl , let it bloom . Then place the bowl in a bigger bowl with hot water in it to melt the gelatin

3. In a sauce pan, warm the milk with sugar until the sugar completely dissolved. In a large bowl, mixed the egg yolks then gradually pour the warm milk to the yolks mixed well. Mix in the durian flesh until well combine.

4. Add in the gelatin into the durian mixture and make sure all the gelatin combine well into the durian mixture. Leave it aside to cool down.

5. Take the metal bowl out and whipped the cream till soft peak.

6  Fold in whipped fresh cream into the durian mixture whisk well to combine by using a hand whisk.The durian mousse cream is ready to be used.

 

Assemble :

 

1. Have the 2 sponge cake ready to assemble, place 1st layer into a detachable 8" cake tin, spread the mousse on the cake 

2.Cover with another layer of cake. Press the cake down a bit as it will tend to float up. Then spread remaining mousse.

3. Leave cake in the fridge to set.

4. I mixed another 50g of durian puree with 100g of whipped cream to make some decoration on the cake 

 

 

The egg yolks does help to make the cream yellowish which is close with durian flesh color . Love this cake , as we have another couple join in the celebration , which the husband birthday is just few days apart. They both enjoy every bite of the cake.

Simply love the durian mousse cream. Is rich and creamy , as I used brown sugar in the sponge cake it looks brownish compare to white yellow sponge cake. However I do find the sponge cake is a bit on a heavy texture is not as light and fluffy as the sponge cake would be. 

Surely will bake this cake again, might try different type of sponge cake recipe then.

If you are durian lover , definitely must try this and enjoy the fullest of this beautiful fruit.

Chocolate Semifreddo ( Chocolate Ice Cream)

Is another of my baking journey. I have some friends come over for dinner. He love lamb , so I decided to do a roast lamb. So when the menu set to be more western , I thought I should try something different about the dessert. Instead of doing my "usual" cake , why not try something else.

I happen to use Donna Hay recipe for my roast lamb so I happen to come by her Chocolate Semifreddo recipe. This recipe does not require an ice cream machine to make the delicious and rich frozen treat. It is easy and fast to prepare. Of course you have to prepare one night to freeze it before you serve ^^.

Hereby I shared this recipe with adding a little bit of my own "secret" ingredients, these ingredient when it combine in chocolate is just simply add an omph in it .

Recipe : ( Adapt from Donna Hay magazine Dec 2012)

Ingredients :

3 eggs
2 eggs yolks  extra
3/4 cup ( 165g) caster (superfine) sugar (I used brown sugar)
250 dark chocolate , melted ( used double boil method)
1 3/4 cup ( 430ml) single ( pouring) cream - I used pouring cream
2 tablespoons cocoa powder, sifted
2 tablespoons bailey - optional ( I added this to enhance the chocolate favor)

Method :

1. Place a metal bowl in freezer , for cream whipping used.
2. Place the eggs, extra yolks and sugar into a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of simmering water
3. Using a hand-held electric mixer , beat for 6-8 min or until the mixture is pale and thick and doubled in volume.
4. Gentle fold the melted chocolate and bailey into the egg mixture till well combine
5. Take the metal bowl out and whip the cream until soft peaks form and fold in the cocoa powder. 
6.Gently fold the cream through the above egg mixture, pour into a metal container, cover and freeze for 3-4 hours or until set.
7. Spoon into glasses and serve with fresh berries if desired.


Is such an easy and delight desserts. My guest simple love it though he asked me for the recipe I doubt he will do it himself. For a guy is still a bit too tedious to prepare all this when is more direct for them to pick up a tub from the super market.

Given am not so a chocolate lover , I find this ice cream is creamy and dark chocolate with bailey is just perfect to like a cream on top of the cake for a lovely western dinner night :)

Do try out this easy recipe and get impress yourself .

Pandan Red Bean Mousse Layer Cake

Gosh I only realised I have not update anything yet in Mar 13. March is about to end soon. How time past and flew without us knowing it.

Is the 1st quarter of year 2013. Scary, how I wish the days will not past by so fast and we have time to really pause and enjoy the spring .

I have this cake make for one of my beloved friend birthday. She is indeed a gems for us. She is very selfless and caring to the people around her. She is my leader in our christian fellowship group. Is not easy to lead so many young working adults who has so many opinions of their own . However she is very patience and always see the potential and good from others. Her birthday was in late Feb , I do not have time to post this cake till now . Aghh how busy life can be at time. We have her birthday celebrate in Korean restaurant and we sincerely wish whatever her prayer was on the birthday it will come true soon.

She told me one of her favourite is red bean . I was thinking to make the standard " Matcha and Red Bean Mousse " .After looking through the recipe , I knew Matcha is not her fancy but we all love pandan. I am sure pandan go perfectly well with red bean ( afterall we used to put pandan leave while boiling red bean) . Hence this is another so call my own invention cake with some adaption on other recipe :

Biscuit Base 

Ingredients

100g Digestive Biscuits
70g  melted butter

Method:

1. Crushed digestive biscuits till fine crumbs.
2.Combine the biscuits and the melted butter well and press evevnly into a 8"inch square loose base baking tin
3. Put in the fridge let it chill and set for assemble later


Pandan ChiffonCake ( I used the same recipe as my Pandan Layer Cake )
( I make the cake in square mould instead and slice into 3 layer, this cake only yield for 2 layer)

Ingredients:

4 egg yolks
90g castor sugar
160g Cake flour, sifted
1/2 tsp baking powder, sift with flour
1/2 tsp baking soda, sift with flour

100 ml coconut milk
1 tsp pandan essence
50g corn oil

4 egg whites
60g sugar
1/4 tsp cream of tartar

 

Method :

1.Beat the egg yolks with sugar till pale white, add in the coconut milk mix well

2.Add in the corn oil mix well with whisk, follow by the flour and combine the mixture till well and smooth

3.Beat egg whites and cream of tartar at medium speed with electric mixer until the egg whites are bubbly. Add sugar and whip at high speed until stiff form but not dry.
4.Fold 1/3 of whipped egg whites into flour mixture of Step 2. Then, pour this mixture to the remaining egg whites in the other mixing bowl. Fold lightly to combine both mixtures.

5.Pour this combined mixture into a greased and line 8-inch round cake pan

6.Bake at a preheated oven at 165 deg C for 40-45 minutes until a skewer insert come out clean.

7.As soon as the cake is removed from oven, quickly invert the pan and let it cool.

8.When the cake is completely cool, run a knife around the sides of pan to remove the cake(I remove the line baking paper and tear it carefully).

9.Slice cake into 4 layers.Let it cool before we assemble the cake

Red Bean Mousse (Adapt from mykitchenof love)

Ingredients 

1 Tbsp gelatin

3 Tbsp of water

400g Chunky Azuki Bean ( I bought a tin from store)

360g  Pouring Cream

 As there are sugar contain in the canned azuki bean , I did not put any sugar in this mousse.

Method :

 

1. Put a metal bowl in the freezer for later use to whip the cream

2. Put water in a bowl, sprinkle gelatin powder onto the water and let it bloom.Place the bowl on another bigger bowl of hot water to dissolve the gelatin .

3. Take out the metal bowl from the freezer , using electric mixer to whip the pouring cream till soft peak forms.

4. Pour the Azuki bean in a mixing bowl, slowly pour in the gelatin and mix thoroughly.

5.Genlty fold the cream into the Azuki bean mixture .

Assemble:

1. Take out the biscuit base square tin from the fridge, pour 1/3 of the red bean mousse on top of the biscuit base.Even it with a spatula

2. Place one layer of the pandan chiffon cake on top of the red bean layer. Slightly press the cake down.

3. Pour the rest of the red bean mousse on top of the pandan chiffon cake ( step 2) . Smooth it evenly , place the 2nd layer of pandan chiffon cake on top.Press the cake slightly down.

4. Put in the fridge for an hour to let the mousse set.

My measurement of the red bean mousse in between the cake layer was not that even, so please do according to your preference.

 

As I need to have a nice smooth topping to cover the surface of the cake , I decided to do a Coconut Panna Cotta  layer to pour onto it to finish off my cake .

Ingredient

250 ml Coconut Milk
50 ml  Whipping Cream
60 g White Chocolate
1.5 Tbsp Gelatin
4 Tbsp of  Water

Method

1) Pour 4Tbsp of water in a bowl, sprinkle 1.5 Tbsp gelatin on top of it and let it bloom.
2) In a saucepan, combine the coconut milk and cream. Bring it to a boil and simmer for one minute.
3) Remove the pan from the heat and add the white chocolate and gelatin.
4) Stir the chocolate and gelatin until completely dissolved.

When the cake has set well , pour the Coconut Panna Cotta layer onto the cake. Refrigerate the cake for at least 4 hours. 

Unmould the cake and decorate the surface as you like. I do a neat simple deco on my cake with some chocolate I prepared.

The recipe seem to be long , however you can modify as per your liking. It can start off with the pandan chiffon cake layer instead of the biscuit base.

 

How the cake taste like ?? Oomph.. the combination of pandan and red bean is perfect , top with little creamy coconut is just like the dessert we all love.

 

Hope you will try it yourself