Cantonese char siu belly pork

I chose this recipe from Rasa Malaysia because it uses belly pork and more importantly, nam yu and rose wine which I had bought specially for the recipe. Most other char siu recipes either use hoi sin sauce - which I can accept - but the most egregious are those that just use store bought ready made char siu sauce (usually Lee Kum Kee!) I really reduced the amount of sugar she used from 8 tbsp to 8 tsp because there were already so many sweet ingredients inside!

Ingredients
500g pork belly, skinless (I left the skin on)
4 garlic cloves, skinned and minced
2 pieces of nam yu
1 tbsp maltose or honey
1 tbsp light soya sauce
1 tbsp thick dark soya sauce (I used cooking caramel)
1 tbsp oyster sauce
1 tsp 5-spice powder
¼ tsp ground white pepper
8 tsp sugar

Method
1. In a disposal bag, mix the marinade and let the pork belly sit to marinate for 4 hours or best, overnight.
2. Next day, drain and reserve the marinade. Pat dry the pork belly with kitchen towels.
3. Place the pork belly on a wire mesh (skin down down) over a baking tray and roast for 15 minutes.
4. Brush the marinade over the meat and flip over to the skin side to roast for another 15 minutes. Check that the meat is done, if not, continue roasting until cooked.
5. Either crank up the oven and char grill until slightly charred or toss it on the barbecue skin down down to grill for some char.
6. Strain the sauce of garlic bits and microwave or cook in a small pot and reduce till thickened. Serve the sauce on the rice with the char siu on the side.

IP Bak ku teh from scratch

I've always relied on bak ku teh spice packets bought from the shop but since it became difficult to go to the Asian shops, I decided to make my own. After some research, I found that there are two styles of BKT, Msian style which is darker, more herby, and Hokkien influenced, and S'pore style which is lighter, more peppery and taste of spices rather than herbs. I've always liked the latter.

I found this recipe from the Burning Kitchen. It consists of mostly spices.

All the soup had been sucked up by the rice!

Ingredients
2 star anise
10 cloves
½ stick cinnamon
2 tsp white pepper
1 tsp black pepper
12 cloves of garlic, smashed and paper removed.
1 kg pork ribs (I used prime ribs)
2l water
½ tsp dark soya sauce
2 tbsp light soya sauce

Method
1. Parboil the ribs for 10 minutes. Discard the water and wash the ribs. This step is necessary if you want a clear soup.
2. Toast the pepper until aromatic.
3. Bruise all the spices. If the peppers are pound very finely, the soup will be very peppery. Pour the spices into a spice packet.
4. Add the spice packet to the water and the pork bones. Add the smashed garlic, dark and light soya sauce.
5. Set the IP to cook on Meat for 40 to 50 minutes. Allow to naturally depressurise.
6. Serve with you tiao and sauce of red chill slices in 5 tbsp of dark soya with 3 tbsp of light soya.

Recipe feedback
It doesn't 100% taste like my favourite brand of pre-mix BKT which I can't find here, it I had cheated and added fennel seeds, which gave the soup a very earthy and 'homely' taste that was nice for the unusual cold autumn nights we'd been having. However, the taste was pretty close and certainly worth making again.

IP Cai tow kway (black and white)

Recipe verbatim from FB by Sally Choo

Recipe for cubic noodles (chai kuih kak or chai tow kuay)

Top box was covered but bottom box
 was left loosely covered to facilitate checking of doneness.

Ingredients (makes 2 containers of 17*10cm)
110g rice flour
2 tbsp tapioca flour (or cornflour)
1 tbsp wheat starch

1/2 cup cold water1 1/4 cup boiling water1 tbsp oil1/2 tsp salt

Method
1. Combine rice flour, tapioca flour, wheat starch, and salt.
2. Stir in cold water. Mix well. Stir in oil.
3. Pour boiling water into the batter and stir until batter is smooth.
4. Pour into the 2 containers suitable for IP. Pour in 2 cups of water (1 cup evaporated after 15 mins). Cover. Steam on high pressure for 25 minutes. Alternatively if steaming on the stove, pour into 17cm round pan, cover and steam over boiling water for 25 to 30 minutes. In either case, steam until skewer inserted comes out clean.
5. Cool the rice cake thoroughly before cutting into cubes. 

White
Ingredients
2 tbsp chopped pickled radish (chai poh)
3 cloves garlic, minced
bunch of garlic chives (optional)
2 eggs
a few sprigs of chinese parsley or chives
beansprouts (about 3 handfuls)
oil

Seasoning: (to taste)
2 tbsp light soya sauce
1 tsp fish sauce
Dash of salt and pepper

Method

1. Soak the chai poh in hot water for 10 minutes. Rinse and drain. Taste, it should not be salty. If it is, continue to soak, wash, and drain.
2. Stir fry the pickled radish and garlic until aromatic.
3. Pan fry the kway until golden brown. 
4. Push kway to the side of the wok then crack eggs into the centre and scramble until egg is just set. 
5. Pour in seasoning. Combine well. 
6. If using, add in beansprouts and garlic chives. Toss until well combined and heated through. 
7. Garnish with parsley and serve immediately.

Black 

Ingredients
2 tbsp chopped pickled radish (chai poh)
3 cloves garlic, minced
bunch of garlic chives (optional)
2 eggs
chives
oil

Seasoning: (to taste)
2 tbsp caramel dark soy sauce
1 tbsp light soy sauce
Dash of salt and pepper
2 tsp Oil

Method

1. Same step as above regarding chai poh. Mix the caramel and light soya in the oil otherwise the caramel is very sticky.

2. Stir fry the pickled radish and garlic until aromatic.
3. Pan fry the kway until golden brown. 
4. Push kway to the side of the wok then crack eggs into the centre and scramble until egg is just set. 
5. Pour in seasoning. Combine well. 
6. If using, add in beansprouts and garlic chives. Toss until well combined and heated through. 
7. Garnish with parsley and serve immediately.

Radish cake (萝卜糕）

I first tried a radish (also called big carrot or turnip) cake recipe probably around 2005. It was a lot of work and involved stir frying stuff, which I hate as it greases up my kitchen. I wasn't satisfied with the outcome either because it used only rice flour. I found it very dense. When I brought it to work, my cheffy staff told me that I should add corn flour. I have since done some research and found that wheat starch is a common addition.

Bear Naked Food: Uses corn flour as an addition and makes 2x20cm square trays

The recipe that I'm trialling here belongs to Christine because she uses wheat starch which I specially went out to buy. Wheat starch seems to be the magic 'softener' ingredient in many Chinese dim sum pastries including char siew pao so it felt like a worthy investment. Christine uses a round 20cm (8inch) cake tin. Christine also has an IP version (comes with video) of this recipe but the steaming time isn't very much reduced. While the regular wok steaming takes 45 to 60 minutes, the IP version takes 40 minutes. Considering I don't have the correct cake tin or pyrex to fit into the IP, it hardly seems saving the 5 minutes of steaming time. Christine's recipe also seems closest to the traditional Cantonese recipe that my late Kao Mo used to send over ever so often. My adaptation because I was lacking in a few ingredients.

Ingredients 

1kg of radish/turnip, shredded
4 to 5 dried shitake, rehydrated and cubed (reserve the soaking water)
55g dried shrimp, rehydrated and finely chopped (omitted because I ran out and I never did like it in my radish cake anyway)
60g salted radish (I don't normally see this but I'll give it a try. I did have to soak in hot water and throw away the water to reduce the salt.)
2 chinese sausages (lap cheong), cubed
1 tsp chicken stock powder
¾ C reserved water used to soak the mushrooms (more water may be needed depending on how fresh the radish is, see below)
Pinch of white pepper
170g rice flour
4 tbsp wheat starch
4 shallots, thinly sliced (I didn't have this)
Pinch of salt to taste.


Method
1. Mix the two flours in a bowl.
2. Saute the lap cheong, salted radish, and dried shrimp until fragrant. Set aside.
3. Saute the shallots. Add the grated turnip and stock and cover to cook until tender and translucent. (I needed another ½ C of water to cook because the water quickly evaporated.) Taste and add salt if needed. Remove from heat.
4. Add the flours and mix well to combine into a thick batter (see video for an indication of how thick the batter should be). It is just until all the flour has been moistened and no dry flour spots. It shouldn't be drippy. (I needed another 2 tbsp of water) Add back the lap cheong et al. and stir until combined.
5. Transfer the batter into an 20cm (8inch) square tin (which I find easier to cut into regular rectangles later). Steam for 45 to 60 minutes until a skewer inserted comes out clean. (It took me the full hour with a water top up halfway even tho my radish was only 770g)
6. Cool down and refrigerate.
7. To serve, cut up slices and either re-steam to heat up or pan fry. Some recipes coat with tapioca starch and fry up with lots of oil for the added crispy layer.

Recipe feedback
- Definitely a winner! The wheat starch made all the difference, it wasn't dense.
- Even though my radish was only 770g, it was just enough flour to bind everything together. I wonder how the recipe's 1kg of radish will hold up, will 170g rice flour be enough?
- A 20 inch square tin holds more volume than a 20 inch round tin. My cake was very flat, about 1.5 inch thick. Perhaps enough if I just want to fry up? More crispy edges. But certainly much thinner than my late aunt's. But if it were thicker, then I'd need to double the cooking time, no?

Update #1: This is an IP version of the recipe. I'm skeptical how she got such a big foil tray into the IP and also how 12 minutes is really enough (given my experiences with the IP chai kway). It's also not very delicious how everything goes in without frying. 
http://www.myinstantpotlife.com/turnip-cake/?fbclid=IwAR3U6xSpwz_RMAxE_rLC1iudK9dQYuW-xbH8jgje7D0P0n7zz5Efj9sIOEM

Update #2: I tried using the IP. Basically used the same recipe above except used 1 chinese bowl of rice flour, 4 tbsp wheat flour, and 2 tbsp corn flour. IP in 2 trays for 15 mins and 15 minutes de-pressurise.

Result? It was too rubbery! The addition of corn starch isn't a good idea, it makes it too gummy and dry, the bits were falling apart. It was probably also over-steamed. While the original IP says 12 minutes, 15 minutes with max 10 mins depressurise should be the max. When fried up it was still very dry and not any more or less crispy compared to the above non-IP recipe recipe.

Update #3

This time I also used the IP but I used my glass containers, covered with foil. The radish was particularly juicy and exuded a lot of water so I used 3 rice bowls of rice flour with the 4 tbsp of wheat starch, and another ¾C of soaking liquid to cook the other ingredients. IP in the two glass 1 litre containers, steam for 20 minutes with natural release for 10 minutes. It came out just a bit overdone (dry) so next time 18 minutes with natural release 10 minutes.

After air frying for 10 minutes at 210 deg C (turning halfway), it came out slightly crispy at the edges but not as pretty golden brown as panfrying. A healthier alternative to frying but not as good of course!

IP Chu hou and spiced beef brisket

Been searching around elusively to recreated my mom's thinly spiced beef shin, served cold. I think it's probably closest to Christine's spiced beef shin because she doesn't use chu hou and uses sichuan peppercorns. The recipe by China Sichuan for braised beef shank is a lot more complicated as it involves a lot more aromatics (leek, green onion, shallots, ginger), spices (bay leaf, sichuan peppercorn, cumin, fennel, black and green cardamon) and also uses beef stock. No doubt delicious but also not the kind of spices I have handy.

Since I had Chu Hou, I decided to follow Omnivore's recipe because it uses the IP. Here's my adaptation. She cut up the meat to reduce cooking time but I prefer to leave it whole so I can serve it cold and thinly sliced. While I also blanched the beef to remove impurities, I didn't bother with the separate blanching ingredients. I don't normally blanch but this time I did and I'm glad I did because boy, the blanching liquid was so smelly! She uses it in her braising liquid later and even suggests keeping the remainder but I found my liquid too smelly. Maybe it was because my brisket was thawed, who knows.

Ingredients
1 to 1.2kg beef brisket
2 cinnamon sticks
4 star anise
2 cloves garlic, smashed
2 thick slices ginger
¼C shaoxing
2 tbsp dark soya sauce
4 tbsp light soya sauce
2 tbsp rock sugar
1½C water

Method
1. Bring water to a boil. Blanch the meat for 10 minutes. Drain in a colander and wash off as much impurities as you can. At this point, I smell the water, if it's too smelly, I throw it out. If not, I skim off the impurities and set aside.
2. In the IP, turn on to Saute. With about a tbsp of oil, saute the cinnamon, star anise, garlic, and ginger until fragrant (about 2 minutes)
3. Pour in the shaoxing and deglaze the pot by scraping up all the brown bits of goodness.
4. Put the beef back.
5. Add the dark soya, light soya, rock sugar, and water.
6. Bring back to a boil and again, skim off any impurities and oil that floats up.
7. Switch to Meat/Stew and pressure cook for 1 hour (1kg) to 1 hour 10 minutes (1.2kg).
8. Allow the pressure to naturally release.
9. Best to let the beef steep in the braising liquid overnight.
10. Next day, skim off the fat that has congealed and slice the beef thinly. The sauce can be reduced to serve with or used for something else (e.g., cooking vegetables). Serve with steamed rice.

Soaking overnight in the braising liquid

Recipe feedback
It is very close to my childhood tastes except my mom liked it a lot sweeter. I kinda like this less sweet version. I find it strange however that cloves weren't use. For proper Chinese 5-spice, cloves are needed. I'll add a few next time.

Traditional Hokkien steamed egg cake (Fatt gou 发糕）

This is the Hokkien version which has a smile and is often seen as an offering for alter prayer. I've chosen this recipe based on this comparison. Even though it's not as Cantonese because it seems to use carbonated soda rather than pure beating, it might turn out less dense and require less steaming time. Original source is Monica's Kitchen but she only has a video and not transcribed. As Monica uses a 6" bamboo basket, I've transcribed the recipe and also adapted using Christine's recipe because she uses a 8" cake tin.

Ingredients
5 eggs
220g sugar (reserve 2 tsp for sprinkling)
250g cake flour
105g soda drink (e.g., 7UP or Fanta Orange)
Pinch of salt
1 tsp vanilla extract (optional)

Method
1. Prepare a 8" cake tin lined with baking paper.
2. Reserve 2 tsp of the sugar (for sprinkling). Add a bit of the sugar to the eggs and beat until incorporated. Continue to beat by adding sugar a bit at a time until all the sugar is used up.
3. Beat until pale and fluffy, ribbon stage.
4. Sift flour in several batches. Gently fold after each incorporation.
5. Slowly pour 7UP and fold in to incorporate. Batter will be quite thin.

6. Pour into prepared tin.
7. Sprinkle on sugar in a cross on the top to create the 'smile'.
8. Steam for 35-40 minutes until a skewer inserted comes out clean. Ensure that the cover is covered with a cloth to prevent the condensation from dripping onto the cake and spoiling the 'face'.

Recipe feedback:
- The cake needed another 10 minutes, 5 minutes to 'rest' after switching off the fire, and another 5 minutes because the skewer came out wet. So in total, 40 minutes steam with 5 minutes resting.
- Cake came out slightly dense and rather dry. I may not have reached full ribbon stage.
- As can be seen from the photos, the sugar cross didn't help it to rise at all.
- The slightly fizzy taste and the orangey Fanta taste was discernible.
- The cake may also have come out wet after 35 minutes precisely because of the unmelted sugar at the bottom.
- The cake wasn't sweet enough but where the sugar sank to the bottom, it was super sweet.
- In future, I'd omit the sugar cross and simply beat it in with the rest of the sugar. I'll also go for 40 minutes steaming and 5 minutes resting.
- I would also try reducing 75g from the flour to make it less dense and hopefully it wouldn't collapse
- I don't need the 'smile' that you find in Hokkien Fatt Gou but if I did, then I'll put in 1 tsp of baking soda to interact with the Fanta.

Comparisons of Chinese steamed egg cake (kai tung gou)

This is a continuation of this comparison post started in 2013. It stated Little Teochew and Bits of Taste (both links are dead links now) who both used cake flour, and a third blogger whose ingredients aren't dissimilar to my original recipe. This 2012 post also suggested a recipe from a now dead link which uses baking powder, baking soda, evaporated milk, brown sugar and beater in a 10 inch pan. Sounds more like malay cake so I'm going to ignore that.

This is my favourite egg cake that my late Kao Mo used to make. Her original recipe has been lost and even her children don't know her recipe. I used to have an old recipe but it was dense and also took very long to steam, nearly an hour!

Here are six more links and their comparisons:

1. Chinese grandma
- bamboo steamer wrapped with paper
- only baking powder, no bain marie beating
- Beater
- Cake flour and baking powder
- 8" cake tin and steam for 25 minutes
- came out spongey and thick and slightly undercooked

2. Christine's steamed egg cake - Chosen ingredients. Trialed here.
- 10" bamboo lined with paper or 8" greased tin and steamed for 30 minutes
- no leavening at all, only beater

3. Katherine Kwa's traditional steamed pandan cupcakes
- No leavening with beater
- Steam for 20 minutes

4. Katherine Kwa's traditional steamed version (Hokkien huat gou)
- 7" rattan basket steamed for 35 minutes
- isotonic drink
- Beater

5. Monica Kitchen's traditional version - Chosen method. Trailed here.
- Uses cake flour
- Uses 7Up and beater
- 6" rattan basket steamed for 30 minutes
- Sprinkle sugar over the top to create the smile

6. Quizzine's improved method (same blogger as my old recipe)
- Uses Fanta and beater
- Bamboo basket lined with "glass paper" (size not specified) steam for 60 minutes

7. My Kitchen 101 steamed egg cupcakes
- Baking powder
- Oil
- Beater, beat in bain marie (genoise method)
- Steam for 8 - 9 minutes (because these are cup cakes)
- Seems similar to Japanese steam egg cakes (mushipan)
- Chinese grandma commented that the genoise method yielded the driest result but her recipe had no oil unlike this recipe

8. Christine's baked egg cupcakes - just for comparison
- cake flour
- uses meringue method (beater)
- bake at 180 deg C for 25 minutes

From above, it looks like the two common methods underpinning the traditional Chinese egg cake either have no leavening with a lot of beating or uses carbonated soda but still has beating. Based on the above, I'm keen to try the versions with carbonated soda methods because I've already tried the no leavening with beater only method and it didn't work out. The problem is, I don't have a bamboo basket so I wonder if steaming in a cake tin means that it's not rising as it should and also why it takes so long to steam.

Chocolate madeleines

Followed the same recipe and method as last time https://simmetra.blogspot.com/2019/05/cake-like-matcha-madeleines.html except I baked for 15 minutes this time (higher followed by lower temp).

Ingredients (makes 20)
113g butter, melted and brought to room temp + 2 tbsp melted butter for coating (28g)
⅔ C sugar (133g; can be reduced to 130g)
1 C flour (120g)
1 tsp baking powder
1 tbsp cocoa powder
Pinch of salt
1 tbsp milk, at room temp
2 large eggs, at room temp

Method
1) Take eggs and milk out of the fridge and let them come to room temp. Melt the butter and allow to cool to room temp. 
2) Combine the sugar and egg. Whisk until pale and fluffy.
3) Sieve the flour, baking powder, salt, and cocoa powder until well combined. Sift twice or three times if necessary. Sift into the egg mixture and fold carefully to avoid knocking out the air. I used the whisk to fold the flour in.
4) Add the milk and carefully blend.
5) Add in half of the melted butter and blend, and continue adding slowly and blending carefully.
6) Cover with cling film and put in the fridge to rest for more than 30 but up to 60 minutes otherwise the butter hardens. 
7) While waiting for the batter to chill, preheat the oven to 180 deg C. Brush the moulds with plenty of melted butter. Dusting with sifted of flour is not necessary as it can get claggy.
8) Fill each mould about ⅔ full, with 1 level tbsp of batter (using the measuring spoon). No need to smoothen out the top as it will spread out and flatten.
9) Bake at 177 deg C (no higher as it can burn on the outside but leave the inside raw). Baking time is 13 minutes, although watch carefully in the last 2 minutes or it can burn.
10) Use a fork to release each and leave to cool on a cooking rack. Alternatively, invert the entire madeleine tin over the cooling rack.
11) Leave to cool slightly for 3 minutes and eat immediately while the edges are still crispy. It looses its crispiness after 10 minutes (!). Best eaten with 24 hours. Store the cooled remainder in an airtight box at room temp for up to 4 days.

Recipe feedback
- I accidentally let the temperature go up to 220 deg C and then had to bring it down gradually to 170 deg C after 10 minutes, so I swapped the trays and set another 5 minutes to ensure that the insides were cooked. This seems closer to the 190 deg C I've seen some recipes use. When it came out, they were perfect! Still crispy but cooked inside.
 - They looked a bit burnt but that could also be because they're chocolate so it's hard to tell. 
- The hump wasn't very high or rather, they were uneven. Those on the bottom shelf rose higher and more uniformly than those on the top shelf.
- Speaking of chocolate, the taste wasn't strong enough so I might need to put another tbsp of cocoa the next time.
- Next time going to increase the proportions by 1 egg to make a third more.
150g butter, melted and brought to room temp + 3 tbsp melted butter for coating (38g)
177g sugar
160g
1⅓ tsp baking powder
2 tbsp cocoa powder
Pinch of salt
1⅓ tbsp milk, at room temp

3 large eggs, at room temp

Chicken mu (radish pickle)

This pickle is traditionally eaten with Korean fried chicken. The first time I came across Maangchi's recipe, I had eaten the fried chicken but had never eaten the pickle that came with it. I later found out that the so-called Korean fried chicken that I had been eating was actually a Singaporean joint that was making Korean-style fried chicken. It wasn't Korean at all! Since then I've had chicken mu and I agree with Maangchi. It is delicious but oh so little and so expensive! As I had a bit of lingering daikon (can't find real mu or Korean radish here), I thought I'd give it a try.

Ingredients
1 pound radish, preferably Korean (choose something that is round and has a lot of green part, skin is shiny)
⅓ C sugar
⅓ C + 1 tbsp white vinegar
3/4C water
1 tbsp salt

Method
1. Chop the mu into 1cm cubes.
2. Mix the pickle ingredients until the sugar has dissolved.
3. Add the mu to the pickle ingredients and store in a clean sterilised container.
4. Leave to marinate for at least 12 hours.