From Liliforberg
Ingredients
200g (approx 1C) raisins
1C (approx 240ml) black tea or substitute with 1C orange juice
⅓ C (70g) brown sugar
1 large egg
1 tsp mixed spice
1 tsp vanilla
80g butter
250g self-raising flour
½ tsp salt
Method
1. Make 1 cup of tea or use 1 C orange juice. Soak 1 C raisins. (use same coffee mug-sized cup to measure)
2. Once the mixture is cool, add in the egg.
3. Add and mix the rest of the ingredients. Fold in the flour.
4. To lined loaf tin, pour in the mixture. Bake in a loaf tin on 170deg C for 47 mins (up to 60 mins depending on oven) until skewer comes out clean.
5. Cool completely before cutting otherwise it gets crumbly! Serve with more butter. Can keep outside fridge in cool weather. Toast to reheat and slather with butter!
Since my earliest attempts to recreate the claypot effect in a rice cooker, and then I tried to cook lor mai gai in the IP (and even bought an IP suitable pot to do so), I could never get the texture of the rice just right or get the chicken correctly cooked (neither over nor under cooked). My suspicion was that the water and oil content exuded from the chicken is a wildcard that is very hard to accurately gauge.
After reading and trying out this method for glutinous rice where the key lay in NOT overly soaking the rice, I decided to try again but this time in a proper upscaled rice cooker. I realised that most recipes that required soaking glutinous rice for 4 hours or even overnight was because they wanted to steam the rice. In a rice cooker, it's immersed in water and boiling in water, so the glutinous rice can easily turn to mush.
I decided not to include in too many elements and ditched the chicken, just working with lap cheong and mushrooms for flavouring. In addition, my rice cooker has a special pot which apparently can re-create the burnt bottom of a clay pot. It was either the Claypot setting or the Firewood setting and I decided to try the latter setting. Success!
Ingredients
2 cups of glutinous rice, soaked for 1 hour only
About a handful of dried shitake mushrooms, soaked
2 tbsp of shrimp skins
1 Chinese rice bowl of water (not all will be used)
1 tbsp light soya sauce
1 tbsp dark soya sauce
2 tsp oyster sauce
1 tsp sugar
1 tbsp Chinese rose wine (to give it a special flavour that goes well with pork)
4 links of lap cheong, sliced
4 cloves of garlic, minced
1 stalk of spring onion
2 eggs, beaten
Pinch of salt
1 tsp sesame oil for garnishing
Method
1. Wash and soak the glutinous rice for 1 hour. At the same time, soak the dried mushrooms in the 1 bowl of water.
2. Prepare the marinade, mixing the soya sauces, sugar, and oyster sauce.
3. Once the mushrooms have softened, remove the stalks and slice if too large. Reserve the soaking water
4. In the rice cooker, drain and add the rice, For 2 cups of rice, use 1⅓ C of mushroom soaking water. If there isn't enough liquid, top up with water.
5. Pour in the marinade and mix well. Set to the Claypot function.
6. After around 5 minutes, place the mushroom slices on top of the rice. Do not mix.
7. Meanwhile, in a pan or wok, fry the lap cheong lightly until the oil comes out.
8. Add the whites of the spring onion, minced garlic, and shrimp skins. Briefly fry until aromatic.
9. Pour the panfried lapcheong etc into the pot on top of the mushrooms. Do not mix or disturb the rice but layer evenly on top. Top up with enough water to just cover the rice (the toppings need not be immersed in water). Leave to cook.
10. Meanwhile, make an omelette with the eggs. Allow to cool then slice into ribbons and set aside.
11. Once the rice is cook, use the Stay Warm function and allow to rest for another 10 minutes.
12. Mix and garnish with the greens of the spring onion, drizzle on sesame seed oil, and top with omelette ribbons. Serve immediately.
Recipe feedback
- Success! The Claypot function worked beautifully and I even had a burnt bottom!
Trying out different skin flavours - blueberry (boiling 1 tbsp of frozen blueberry without water then mashing and using the juice to colour), cocoa, pandan (essence) and red colouring.
Wrapper filling recipe adapted from DessertGirlFirst which uses custard filling with custard powder and egg yolks. While the proportions for this recipe were prefect for 75g mooncake molds, it used condensed milk which I don't have lying around. The previous recipe which was my first trial has a very sturdy skin and also used equal proportions of skin to filling. In this recipe, I try to use less skin to filling. Method is mostly the same.
Ingredients (810g dough makes twenty-three 75g mooncakes)
920g filling
110g GRF
86g rice flour
49g wheat starch or cornstarch
98g icing sugar
455g milk
44g veg oil
⅓C GRF cooked, for dusting
Method
1. Mix the sugar, milk and oil in a large bowl. Sift in the flour. Mix until no lumps.Optional: if adding colour to the skin, make sure to do it before cooking the dough as there will be no further cooking. Check out the tie-dye doughs here with Emily Lu.2. Microwave the dough to cook it. Cover the microwave safe bowl. Microwave in several increments (around 1.5 min, 1.5 mins, 1 min, then 30 seconds; total 4.5 mins full power). Mix each time with spatula until no liquid remains.
5. Allow to cool slightly for 10 to 15 mins then knead with gloves for about 5 mins until oil is fully incorporated. It may be easier to transfer to plastic wrap or bag and work it. If easier, transfer onto a flat surface (not floured!) and knead until dough is smooth and non-stick. The dough is easier to work with when still warm. Cover with clingfilm and chill dough in fridge for between 30 mins to 2 hours. Maximum chill for 4 hours. On a cool day, the dough can also be left on the counter. If the dough is too hard after leaving the fridge, leave it on the counter to come up to room temp so it's easier to work with.
6. While waiting for the dough to rest, portion out the filling into 40g balls. Cover with clingfilm with the plastic touching to prevent drying out and forming a skin. Leave in the fridge for at least 2 hrs to harden or max 2 hrs in the freezer so that it's easier to work with later.
7. Fry the ⅓ C glutinous rice flour until slightly brown for 6 - 7 mins on medium heat. Set aside to cool.
8. Portion out dough into 35g balls. Roll dough balls out into about 3.5 inch diameter (for 3 inch diameter for 50g mould; 4 inch diameter for 100g mould). Either flatten out between 2 pieces of parchment using rolling pin or flatten out between palms. Press around the edge with your finger to thin the edge.
9. Dust the molds well with cooked flour. To really prevent the dough ball from sticking, lightly coat the ball too. (Note that too much flour will blur the pattern). Encase the filling ball in the flattened dough (see videos).
10. Roll the ball into the cylindrical shape and flatten the top with thumb slightly so it doesn't budge out (see video). Place flattened top into the upturned mould and gently fit the dough ball into the mould without forcing it in. Mould the bottom of the cylinder into the mould gently with a thumb so it doesn't bulge out. Place the mould with dough ball right side up on parchment.
12. Ensure to firmly press the mould down onto the parchment before pressing the lever down. Press the lever down until you feel resistance. Press for about 15 seconds to establish the shape. Press down several more times gently to really imprint the design. Release the mooncake and dust off excess flour with a pastry brush.
13. Chill for a few hours and keep stored in fridge. Best consumed within 3 days.
Feedback
- This dough is super soft! It doesn't really keep its shape (as u can see all the misshappen ones)
- 35g dough with 40g filling is just enough dough to cover. However, don't roll too thin and leave it thicker in the centre and thinner at the edges. I find using palms to flatten the ball into a pancake, and then using fingers to flatten the edges to be easiest.
- For the red bean, really works best when fridge cold. So I put in the fridge to harden in order to portion, the took out only a few portions each time to wrap, then after wrapping that batch, I immediately imprinted otherwise the filling starts to go soft and the wrapper isn't stiff enough to hold its shape.
- When using odd shape moulds (see pink dragon and cocoa love lock in the front row), stamp down and do not rock. Make sure to dust both mould and mooncake very well with flour. Stamp down several times but do not rock the stamp, straight up and down. My filing got stuck to the stamp because I rocked it and ruined the imprint.
- It is best consumed after 4 hrs in the fridge and good for up to 1 day after. On Day 2, the skin became hard. On Day 3, the filling (?) started to exude water!
Black sesame filling: https://www.facebook.com/reel/472716605688076
For Tangyuang and Bao fillings which are more flowy (compared to mooncake).
Ingredients
160g roasted black sesame powder
80g glut rice flour
150g sugar
180g water
80g pork lard (would usually be hardened)
Method
1. Mix the black sesame powder, flour and sugar well and set aside.
2. To the water, add the pork lard. Bring to a simmer until the hardened pork lard melts.
3. Pour the liquid lard into the powders. Mix well.
4. Place in the fridge for several hours until it is less runny and roll/portion into desired filling portions.
Recipe feedback - the filling is VERY flowy, making it difficult to wrap. It might be easier to freeze it for a few hours. There was lots of filling left if this bao recipe is used.
Bao skin https://www.facebook.com/watch/?ref=saved&v=1631050780771945
Needs 500 to 600g of filling. Makes 12 to 13.
Makes a very wet dough but requires very little handling. Original video uses partially cooked fatty pork filling. (half cooked pork mince mixed with uncooked pork mince so that the filling is not one whole lump)
Ingredients
300g flour (for starter) + 100g
3g instant dry yeast
1 tsp sugar
20g pork lard
230g warm water
Method
1. Combine ingredients. Use a chopstick to combine by stirring in one direction only. The dough has a high moisture content so no need to knead the dough.
2. Once all the dough has come together and there are no more dry spots, form a ball (with the chopsticks) and cover with clingfilm. Allow to prove until it has doubled in size.
3. Uncover and use chopsticks to stir in one direction to dispel the gas. Pour in a small chinese rice bowl (around 100g) of flour. Use a spatula to mix, scraping down the sides of the bowl.
4. Scrape the dough into an oblong shape and lift out onto a work surface.
5. Form a long rectangular shape gently with your hands. Using a dough cutter, cut into 2 finger wide strips.
6. No need to roll out. Use palms to flatten into a ball and use fingers to flatten the dough into a disc. (If the dough still feels too sticky to the touch, dust hands with flour). Should make about 2 to 3 inch wide bao.
7. Wrap the filling, about 2 tsp full. Ensure to seal well.
8. Place wrapped baos into a steamer rack on top of a wok. Do not switch on the flame yet. Allow to prove the second time until the baos are visually larger. (a trick: put a ball of leftover dough in a bowl of water in the same steaming rack. When the ball floats, all have proved sufficiently).
9. Once sufficient proved, turn on the flame to high, and steam for 15 minutes (from boiling). Turn off the flame and leave it to rest for 2 minutes before removing the cover.
Recipe feedback: The skin is very soft and difficult to work with. It was impossible to seal properly and shape. However because of the high moisture content, the dough was very hard to work with. Further, the filling was so flowy so it kept spilling onto the seam. Once the filing fouled the wrapper, it was impossible to seal to encase the filling, not to mention it mucked up the pristine look of the wrapper.
When I was reading up on this, there are two kinds of orange chocolate cakes. There is the Jeffa cake, which combines the chocolate and orange. The one I want has to split up orange and chocolate components, because I want to taste them differently. So I chose the marble cake from Pies and Tacos. But I do want a granache glaze so I used Smitten Kitchen's recipe which was to suit a 10C bundt cake.
Ingredients (recipe is for 12C but I've downgraded to 10C for my bundt)
398g flour
27g cocoa powder
15g baking powder
¼ tsp salt
236g butter, softened
416g sugar
4 eggs
1¼ tbsp orange zest
1.46 C orange juice
Glaze
1 tbsp butter
1 tsp orange zest
2 tbsp orange juice
¾ sugar OR
Granache (from Smitten Kitchen)
225g semisweet choc chips or chopped choc
120ml (½C) heavy cream
Method
1. Grease bundt.
2. Divide flour into 2 bowls (approx 199g per bowl). Add half of baking powder (7.5g). Add half of the salt (ie about ⅛ tsp).
3. Add cocoa powder to just one bowl.
4. Sift both bowls (separately of course).
5. Cream butter in stand mixer for 2 minutes. Add sugar gradually and keep creaming for 2 - 3 mins until pale and fluffy.
6. Add eggs one at a time and ensure each is fully incorporated before adding the next. Scrape down after each addition.
7. Add orange zest and mix to combine.
8. Weigh cake batter and divide into 2 bowls. Divide orange juice. 0.8C (slightly more than ¾C) for orange batter. Remainder for chocolate batter.
9. Work in each bowl separately. Sift dry ingredients in each bowl.
a. To orange batter, add 0.8C orange juice. Sift in the dry ingredients and whisk to fold in. To avoid curdling, start with flour, then juice. Alternate flour and juice and fold after each addition. Start and end with flour.
b. To the chocolate batter, add remainder of orange juice. Sift in the dry ingredients. Similar to above, start and end with flour by alternating dry, wet, dry until all the ingredients have been used up.
10. To assemble, pour ⅓ of orange batter at the bottom. Top with ½ of choc batter. Top with ⅓ of orange batter. Pour on remaining half of the choc batter. Finish with remaining orange batter.
11. Bake at 175 deg C for 60 minutes (recipe said 40 to 50 minutes, that was so wrong!) Tent if top becomes too brown. Cake is ready when toothpick inserted comes out clean. Cake should spring back when you touch the top with your finger.
12. Remove from oven and allow to cool in pan for 10 minutes over a rack.
13. Make the glaze or granache. If using granache, cake has to be completely cool before pouring on the granache.
14. To make the glaze: put in a small saucepan and combine until sugar is melted.
15. To make the granache, add hot (not boiling) cream to the choc. Allow to stand for 3 minutes before stirring with a metal spoon only!
16. Unmold the cake after 10 minutes in the pan (not too much longer or the cake will stick to the pan) and flip onto the cake rack. If using glaze, brush on the glaze. If using the granache, allow cake to totally cool before pouring on. Only cut the cake when the cake is cool.
I have been searching for a steamed egg cake (kai dan gao) for a very long time because that's what my Kao Mo used to make. I've documented comparison recipes, tried Fatt Gao, Malay cake, and even the real deal 鸡蛋糕. While some were good in their own right (eg malay cake), none really hit the spot. They all use traditional ingredients which can be difficult to find eg Fanta orange. Transcribed recipe from Small Tang Cat reel on FB which uses yeast. Interesting!
This is my adapted recipe which comes out with a chewy but tender crumbed texture like Castella. The original recipe called for 300g normal flour but I only had 200g and substituted cake flour for the last 100g. It works a treat! I've included honey in the recipe (honey) for a tea/coffee time treak else leave it without for a breakfast cake. See feedback note below.
Ingredients
200g plain flour
100g cake flour*
3 eggs
3g instant yeast
30g sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract (optional)
30g honey (thinned in 1 - 2 tbsp of the warm water (below) if too thick)
180g warm water (finger warm)
Method
1. Whisk all ingredients together until a smooth batter emerges.
2. Cover and allow to rise in a warm place for 30 minutes.
3. Remove the cover and whisk to deflate and remove air.
4. Pour into a pre-oiled deep glass container. (I can't tell the size but I'm going to say 8" pyrex cake 'tin')
5. In a bamboo steamer on top of a wok, warm up the water and switch off the flame. The water should not be too hot. Place the glass container in the steaming rack. Allow to rise again for 10 minutes Once the batter has risen about 80 to 90%, it's ready to steam.
6. Turn on the flame on high and bring to the water in the wok to steaming point. (He doesn't seem to have removed the cake tin while waiting for the water to reach boiling point). Steam for 20 minutes.
ALTERNATIVELY
5. Place back in a warm place to rise for 10 minutes until 80 to 90% risen.
6. Pour 1 C water into the base of the IP pot. Cover top of cake tin loosely and tent with foil. Put the steaming rack on and steam for 15 minutes, with 10 to 15 minutes natural release.
I have leftover Korean rice cakes and don't want to eat them as tteokbokki again. Inspired by the following, I decided to make the soya sauce version - Gungjang tteokbokki 궁중떡볶이 which is supposed to originated as royal court food.
Some recipes cook the garaetteok or tteokbokki tteok first and season with soya and oil before stir frying. Then like japchae where it's tossed like a salad, each veg and meat are cooked separately, everything goes into a bowl and tossed with the sauce. Other recipes just soak the garaetteok/tteokbokki tteok for 20 to 30 minutes in cold water, then stir fry with everything. Being lazy, I chose the later method.
Dry fried spicy version
1. Beyond Kimchee Gireum Tteokbokki using only chilli flakes for spice.
2. Beyond Kimchi - uses onion, cabbage, chives, and gochugaru
Non-spicy
1. A Day in the Kitchen - uses beef, garlic, onion, carrot, cabbage
2. KimchiMari - uses beef, mushroom, onion, carrot. Garnish with honey in addition.
3. Korean Bapsang - uses beef, mushroom, zucchini, carrot
Ingredients for rice cakes
Rice cake sauce
500g rice cakes, cylindrical 가래떡
1 tbsp soya sauce
1 tbsp sesame seed oil
Method - cooking rice cakes
1. For dry and frozen rice cakes, soak in room temp water for 30 minutes then drain.
2. For fresh and frozen rice cakes, cook in boiling water until they float. Drain.
3. If cooking in water first, marinate with a bit of the rice cake sauce and sesame oil otherwise the rice cakes will stick together.
4. I decided to cook the rice cakes in the pan (see below).
Ingredients
Marinade
300 beef, sliced into thin strips
3 tbsp soya sauce
1 tbsp mirin or cooking wine
1 tbsp sugar (if not using mirin)
1 tbsp sesame seed oil
½ grated Korean pear
1 tsp sesame seeds (garnish)
Dash of pepper
1 grated garlic clove
Handful of brown or oyster mushrooms (any type).
Rehydrated shitake mushrooms in ⅓ C water (reserve the water)
1 carrot, sliced into matchsticks
1 to 2 zucchini, sliced
¼ napa cabbage, shredded
½ white onion, sliced
For garnish: spring onions, 1 tsp sesame seeds, pine nuts and more sesame seed oil
Method
1. Slice the drained beef into matchsticks. Marinade in 1 tbsp of sauce for minimum 20 minutes or best overnight.
2. Prepare the veg.
3. In a frying pan on medium heat, add oil and sear the beef until ¾ cook. Remove from heat.
4. Add more oil and fry the vegetables in turn until cooked. Add 1 tbsp of the rice cake marinade and toss. Remove from heat.
5. Add the rice cakes and the mushroom water, and any leftover marinade sauce. Add just enough liquid to allow rice cakes be ¾ submerged so it can cook (if not previously cooked). Turn down heat and allow to cook uncovered for approximately 5 minutes or until the rice cakes are soft, turning the rice cakes occasionally. Most of the liquid should have evaporated.
6. Add back the veg, toss to combine. Add back the beef, toss to combine.
7. Garnish with a drizzle more of honey if desired, pine nuts, sesame seeds and spring onions.
I have tried various recipes for jeon but have never really succeeded in keeping the jeon crispy unless I used a lot of oil. For the first time ever, I have garlic chives. Based on Korean Bapseng, I added bacon. Although she uses ready made batter, she also suggests a batter with ice cold water.
Ingredients
¾ C flour
2 tbsp corn starch
2 tbsp rice flour
½ tsp salt
1C icy cold water
¼ medium onion
1 tbsp light soya sauce
3 ounces garlic chives
½ tbsp gochujang (if not using bacon, use 1 tbsp for spicy finish)
4 slices of bacon, sliced
Dipping sauce
1 tbsp soya sauce
1 tsp vinegar
½ tsp sugar
pinch black pepper
Method
1. Prepare the chives by cutting into 2 inch long batons. Slice the onions.
2. Prepare the batter. It should be thin.
3. Add oil. Fry the veg until charred.
4. Pour on the batter. Make 1 big pancake or smaller ones. Add more oil to the sides if required. Press down to char. Flip and repeat 2 to 3 mins each side.
5. Serve immediately.
I have been wanting to cook this for the longest time but never had the wok! So finally here it is. I didn't have fish so had to substitute with prawns and fishballs but everything else is the same.
Inspiration from I Cook I Bake I Blog and Meatman. These are the 'wet' versions. Importantly, both recipes cook the fish slices in stock so that they don't break up. Everything is blanched including the noodles. The stock is cooked with wine and soya sauce, thickened with starch slurry and this gravy poured over the noodles. These look bland - who wants to eat boiled fish?
I am attempting the 'dry' version which the fried prawns, noodles, sprouts and chives are all fried. The main highlight is the fried mackerel which I happened to stumble upon in Coles while looking for white sliced fish!
Ok this is not exactly what I meant by san lor hor fun but it's still stir-fried kway teow!
The difference the char kway teow recipe is:
1. Coat the kway teow only with light soya and dark soya, no cooking caramel.
2. Marinated the pat dried mackerel in Japanese cooking sake for 10 mins. Pat dry and coat with 4 tbsp potato starch mixed with 2 tsp curry powder. Fry for 7 to 10 minutes, turning occasionally.
2. I fried the prawns (coated in corn starch) individually instead of stir frying, removed, then add the egg and scrambled, instead of sort of doing a prawn omelette. This used the leftover oil from frying the fish.
3. When I fried the noodles, I didn't use any extra oil! Just what was available from the noodles itself and also what had been used for frying the fish, oil, and eggs. Added the drizzle sauce (leftover fish marinade, 1 tbsp light soya, 1 tbsp dark soya, tsp of chicken powder).
4. I added bok choy.
