Karaage 唐揚げ

There are several videos now trending about putting flour in oil when the oil is cold and then putting in bite-sized pieces. Magically the chicken is coated with the flour and deep fried!

The first reel I saw by CookingBoBo involves using only a little oil. Put in 2 tbsps or so of potato or corn starch in enough oil to cover the bottom of the pan. Whisk until combined. Marinate the chicken in ginger, soya, etc (wet ingredients possible). Turn on the fire and cook by continually turning each bite-sized piece. Once the pieces are golden brown, remove. Put in more tbsps of flour and repeat.

Next one I saw by leeszekee is similar by starting with enough cold oil to cover the bottom of the pan and mixing in 2 tbsp of corn starch.

This recipe by YumMakers uses midwings. It starts by placing plain flour in hot oil. Marinate chicken in spice powders (eg salt, pepper, garlic) and some wine. Add oil so that the spices can stick onto the wings. Put all the wings in the hot oil. She put a lot in and didn't seem to stir because the pot is almost full! Somehow the wings 'seem' to cook evenly.

5 black grain mantou

From this FB recipe by MiaoVibe.

Ingredients (makes 12 four-inch wide)

50g black sesame seeds

20g black rice (I substituted with 20g raisins)

20g black beans

20g blackberries (I substituted with 20g frozen blueberries)

10g black goji (I used regular)

10g walnuts

400ml water

600g flour (I used bread flour)

5g instant yeast

1 tbsp white sugar

pinch of salt

1 tbsp lard or butter

Notice the size difference (the bottom 6) of the second batch that had 30 mins extra proofing (due to waiting for the first batch to steam) compared to the first batch

Method

1. Add the grains, walnuts and black fruits to a blender with 400g of water. Using the Soya milk mode, blend. Allow to cool down.

2. Pour the flour on a table. Create a well and add the yeast, sugar and salt (keep salt away from the yeast). Mix well.

3. Pour in the grain mixture. Use hands to knead till no flour is left. Use a scraper to gather the dough if it helps.

4. Place in a bowl and cover. Allow to proof for 1 hr until about it grows to about 1.5x.

5. Turn out of the bowl and deflate. Knead and the longer you do so, the softer the bun.

6. Flour the surface well. Form into a log and cut into equal sized pieces. Form a ball with each. Makes about 12 (approx 108 to 110g of dough each).

7. Place directly in the steamer and place over a wok of warm water to proof for 15 to 30 mins. 

8. Remove the steamer and turn on the fire till it starts boiling. Put the steamer back on the wok and steam on medium high for 30 minutes. Leave covered for 10 minutes after switching off the flame.

Recipe feedback

- Overall a very wet dough. I didn't use mixer and mixed by hand throughout.

- The second batch that had an extra 30 minutes of proofing while waiting for the first batch to steam came out so much fluffier! A definite must-do if time permits.

- So far, those recipes that I used bao flour here and here and here all using KA have been most successful. They have been easy to shape too but the issue is that their 'face' never comes out smooth and they always tend to flatten and crawl out sideways. 

- If only this recipe's dough wasn't so wet and difficult to work with, it would have been great for wrapping bao. Their 'faces' and shape came out smooth and round!

Lazy chocolate caramel gateau

The original recipe by Ann Coo involves using a small 6 to 7 inch pan, Valrhona chocolate and baking at 170 deg C for 20 mins. She said this was a lazy recipe and she's right, because this is only my 2nd recipe blog post in 2025, I ain't got time for using and washing up a mixer! Further, I decided to go all in and change up the pan size and pan all in once without trialling along the way! I expect this to go horribly wrong but what the heck, I don't have time to experiment and try. As such, all proportions have been increased by ⅓ (aka added an extra egg) to account for the bigger pan size (I used my 8inch round). 

Ingredients 

180g (1 bar) hopped baking chocolate (Valrhona if possible, I only had Cadbury)

40g caramel chips

120g sugar

1.5 tsp vanilla extract

3 large eggs

120g butter

pinch of salt

52.5g plain flour or 80g cake flour

Method

1. Melt butter and chocolate using double boiler. Allow to cool down.

2. Separately, hand whisk eggs and sugar until dissolved. Combine with melted butter and chocolate.

3. Sieve in flour and fold in.

4. Pour the mixture into 8 inch round pan and bake 170 deg C for 30 to 35 mins. (After 30min with good temp control, the top was still wobbly so I switched off the oven and left it inside for a further 5 mins until skewer insert comes out clean.)

5. Let it sit in the pan for 10 minutes then invert onto rack to cool. Serve warm or totally cooled with more granache.

Receipe feedback

By happy accident, my choc bar was only 180g so I topped up with what I thought was meltable choc chips. They turned out to be caramel chips and the result is amazing!

Thankfully I had also cut the sugar otherwise it would be too sweet.

In the end, it was a bit on the sweet side (imagine if I hadn't remove the sugar!) but not cloyingly sweet.

The texture was very fudgey chewy with slight papery crispy top, overall similar to brownie.

I honestly think maybe 6 to 7 inch cake is enough because it's so rich otherwise, it will take a long time for 2 ppl to finish!

Real fried chicken

I just realised this is my first receipt blog for 2025! 🤯 Why have I been so busy and not tried out new recipes? Because of my Korean? 🤔

For the longest time, I have wanted a Hexclad fry pan so this year, there was a Mother's Day sale where the 25cm fry pan came with a free lid, and I took it. It's opened up a whole range of culinary experiences that I've totally missed because I don't want to deep fry or even panfry stuff in my house where the kitchen is open plan.

The last time I deep fried anything was probably >20 years ago and BK maybe deep fried chicken >10 years ago when we first got the outdoor stove. That's only half the problem as I've never found a suitable recipe - until now. The secret really is in the batter.

This recipe by chinesefood0805 is actually for airfrying but i'm using the batter for deep frying, and it's a game changer. The basic method is season the chicken (however you want, including adding liquid eg wine). The batter comprises equal parts wheat starch and corn starch (ah hah!), and can add salt and pepper to the flour. 

Pat dry then coat with egg, mixed flours, then egg again followed by mixed flours.

She then sprays with oil and airfrys at 180 deg C for 30 mins. As you can see, I shallow fried until cooked (20 to 30 mins) as I didn't want to use so much oil. Perfection!

I might try the airfryer version another time.

Update: Saw another AF recipe for chicken wings here. Batter is different.

Using midwings only, no need to pat dry. Mix 1 to 2 tbsp of baking powder with salt and dry powders (eg onion or garlic powder). Coat. Next (no egg wash), dredge in a mix of equal parts rice flour and corn flour, mixed with more dry powders (eg paprika, black pepper). (Didn't seem to have spritzed with oil? Maybe it's assumed.) AF at 200 deg C for 20 mins total, flipping halfway.

Hokkaido milk bread loaf

I am quite a fan of soft and fluffy breads such as milk bread and Tangzong. I have researched various versions including preferments comparison, milk bread comparison post and also Tangzong and cream comparison post. The condensed milk version was difficult to work with, the Korean version was fabulous but took 3 proves so very time-consuming, and sponge method (also very time-consuming) worked for speciality filling breads but failed for bread loaf perhaps due to either over-working or over-proofing.

I decided to try this recipe by Bear Naked Food as it only has 2 proves and uses a mix of cake and bread flour to achieve the soft pillowy texture. It is very similar to this more voluminous Chinese milk loaf recipe which uses both types of flours and heavy cream, but that method was more complicated and a little dry and denser without the oil. This recipe uses milk powder and whipping cream with total 300g of flours (yielding between 560 to 610g dough), it will fit nicely into my Pullman tin!

Ingredients

270g bread flour

30g cake flour

5g instant yeast

40g sugar

4g salt

15g milk powder

25g egg (save the rest of the egg for egg wash + 1tbsp milk)

140ml milk (additional if required)

75ml whipping cream

Method

1. Mix flours, sugar, salt and milk powder with balloon whisk in KA bowl. Add instant yeast and mix again.

2. Create a well and pour in the 25g egg, milk and whipping cream. Combine with wooden spatula until mixed. Cover with cling wrap to rest for 20 mins at room temp.

3. Turn on the KA at low until mixed in. Turn up to medium and mix for 10 to 15 mins. If it seems too dry, drizzle in more milk slowly. Keep scraping down so the dough doesn't climb up the hook.

4. When the dough is shiny and not tacky, as well as passes the window pane test, it's ready.

5. Invert out onto the bench top and slam it against the benchtop 10 times. Ball up and put back into the oiled KA bowl and cover. Allow to prove for 45 to 60 minutes until doubled in size.

6. When doubled, invert onto dusted benchtop. Divide and shape into 4 balls. Cover and rest for 5 mins. During this time, prepare the bread loaf tin by buttering inside.

7. With a rolling pin, poll into rectangular disc and turn over. Repeat so both sides are smooth.

8. Roll into a cigar shape and roll out. Repeat. (see video for method) for each of the dough balls.

9. Place into lightly greased bread tin.

10. Cover and allow to rise for 40 to 50 minutes in a warm place.

11. Mix leftover egg with 1 tbsp milk and gently egg wash the top. Be sparing so as the top doesn't burn and be careful not to deflate.

12. Bake at 170 deg C for 30 - 40 minutes until puffed up and golden brown; turning halfway. Tent the top if it's browning too quickly.

13. Once out of the oven, brush with whipping cream (optional).

14. After about 10 mins cooling in the tin, invert bread onto a cooling rack. Allow to fully cool before slicing.

14. Bread can be stored at room temp for up to 3 days. Otherwise, cling wrap and store in the fridge for up to a week.

Polo bun topping comparison recipes

Rotiboy style

Coffee topping on ready-made bun with choc chip filling (makes 6): yoon noong: uses ready made bread and pipe on. Stuff choc chips in bread. Can't get topping recipe as text obscured.

Coffee topping on normal white bread slices (makes 2): Lenardy: 60g butter, 50g icing sugar, 1 egg, 2 tsp instant coffee powder mixed with ½ tsbp hot water and dissolved; 70g flour => pipe over 4 slices of bread

Mexican mocha Brioche bun in KA (makes 6): xiaochuniang. Bread flour brioche. Topping 1tsp instant coffee dissolve in 20ml warm water. Cream 60g butter, 50g icing sugar and pinch salt. Add coffee in several batches. Add 30g beaten egg. Fold in 70g cake flour and 5g cocoa. Pipe on the topping. Note smooth and rough sides, roll ⅓ dough into a ball then wrap ⅔ dough over the ball. This keeps the ball tall rather than flattening out when proofing.

Coffee bun by hand (makes 6): Delicious day Bread flour brioche. Uses 36g or 3tbsp butter, 36g sugar, pinch salt, 28g/half egg, 4tbsp/42g bread flour, 2g instant coffee, 1tbsp/6g warm water. Pipe on.

HK style

HK style by hand: Ali's kitchen Brioche Bread flour. Milk powder with plain flour to make cookie

HK polo bao in mixer (in cantonese) with butter inside: Anchor Sarah reel Brioche Bread flour. Need to keep the bun dough cold (below 28 deg C). Change from dough hook to scraper beater (because bowl is cold). Cookie dough topping has to be rolled out and pasted on top.

Soft milk bread using sponge method with bread flour (makes 9 buns) by Miki Food and she adds red bean filling topped up with what she calls souffle milk topping which is creaming sugar and butter but no flour added. Unfortunately the recipe is very brief and method isn't very clearly articulated so doesn't say to pipe on the topping or to roll it out (which is very difficult!)

All-in yoghurt banana muffins

Last week I tried tweaking my banana loaf by incorporating tea cake with banana bread. It was a sticky disaster that hardly rose, and it got more slimey by the day. (According to BK, that is. I didn't think it was slimey, to me, it was just what fruit did as it matured over time).

Today, I thought I'd try a yoghurt recipe because I had heard so much about the properties of yoghurt in creating an impossibly moist tender crumb. After checking out a few recipes, I settled on this one by Mom's Dinner because it didn't involve too much hard work like hauling out my stand mixer or even the weighing scale. It just used simple American cups. This recipe has been upsized for 16 to 17 muffins (depending on how full you fill each muffin cup), and some little changes eg reduced sugar and swapped half brown sugar and half white sugar

Ingredients

4 bananas, mashed

3 eggs

⅛ tsp salt

1 tsp vanilla extract

6 tbsp (85g) butter, softened at room temp

½ C brown sugar

½ C white sugar

½ C Greek yoghurt

2¼C flour

1½ tsp baking powder

1½ tsp baking soda

¼C raisins

¼C mini or chopped up choc chips (reserve a few wholes ones for deco)

¼C chopped walnuts (reserve a few whole ones for deco)

Method (makes 16 to 17 muffins)

1. Prepare the muffin tin either with home made muffin papers or cupcake liners.

2. In a bowl (I housed everything in my sifter), combine and sift in the flour, baking powder, and baking soda.

3. In another bowl, mash up the banana until no big chunks left. Add the salt.

4. In a third bowl, cream the butter and sugar by hand until pale using a wooden spoon. Add in the yogurt and mix. It will seem to curdle but do your best.

5. (Optional step: helps the ingredients 'suspend' in the batter rather than sinking to the bottom) In a fourth bowl, mix the choc chips, nuts, and raisins with 2 tbsp of flour and toss through.

6. Combine the wet ingredients: add the creamed mixture to the bananas and mix well. Fold through the floured nuts, raisins and choc chips.

7. Sift in the flour in several goes, folding only twice or three times each after each addition. After everything is done, it's ok to have some pockets of dry flour. Try not to overmix otherwise the batter becomes over-worked and you get a tough muffin.

8. Using a ½C ice cream or cookie dough scoop, scoop out into line muffin tins. Fill till about ⅔ full (17 muffins) for the muffins to rise up just till the top edge of the cupcake liner, or all the way if you want a peak overflowing dome (16 muffins).

9. Distribute the whole walnuts and choc chips and gently push them into the top of each muffin.

10. Bake at 175 deg C for 16 to 17 mins until golden brown on top. A skewer should come out dry except for a few crumbs (be careful not to stab a banana or choc chip).

11. Allow to cool in the tin for about 10 minutes then remove to a cooling rack. Best eaten 10 to 15 minutes out of the oven. If eaten when cool, it would be nice to reheated around 10s in the microwave, and even further lashings of butter! 

Beef hor fun/wat tan hor

Recipe from Marion but adapted

Key tricks: 

- Marinade the beef with corn starch AND baking soda (not too much of either)

- Coat noodles with soya sauces etc beforehand instead of in the pan

- Use beef dashi for the stock. Equal parts stock and starch slurry (mix 3 tbsp tapioca or corn starch to 3x water)

 

Raisin tea loaf

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!

Claypot glutinous rice

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 1.5 hour only

About a handful of dried shitake mushrooms, soaked

2 tbsp of shrimp skins or rehydrated dried shrimp

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 tsp chicken bullion powder

1 tbsp Chinese rose wine (to give it a special flavour that goes well with pork)

4 links of lap cheong, sliced thinly

4 cloves of garlic, sliced into thin cross-sections

1 stalk of spring onion, chopped and separate white from green parts

2 eggs, beaten

Pinch of salt

1 tsp sesame oil for garnishing

Method

1. Wash and soak the glutinous rice for 1 to 1.5 hours; no more than 1.5 hrs. At the same time, soak the dried mushrooms in the bowl of water. Also soak the dried shrimp now if using.

2. Prepare the mixing sauce, mixing the soya sauces, sugar, and oyster sauce. 

3. Once the mushrooms have softened, remove the stalks and slice if too large. Mince the dried shrimp if using. Reserve the soaking water.

4. Lightly fry the white parts of the chopped spring onion, drained mushrooms, lapcheong and shrimp skins/dried shrimp until fragrant.

5. In the rice cooker, lay the sliced garlic cross-sections at the bottom of the pot. This causes the garlic to go jammy from the pot's heat.

6. Layer on the lapcheong, shrimp skins/shrimp and mushroom slices. Try to keep them in 1 layer.

7. Drain and add the drained rice. Try to flatten into a concave layer (flatten against the ingredients). The aim is to keep the rice as far above the water as possible so that it's steaming rather than boiling. For 2 cups of rice, use 1⅓ C of mushroom soaking water. If there isn't enough liquid, top up with water. (for 3 cups of rice, use 2 C of water). Set to Claypot function. 

8. Once the rice cooker beeps (only beeps when using the Claypot Pot function), drizzle on the mixing sauce but DO NOT mix. Careful, the steam is hot!

9. Meanwhile, make an omelette with the eggs and pinch of salt. Allow to cool then slice into ribbons and set aside.

10. Once the rice is cook, use the Stay Warm function and allow to rest for another 5 to 10 minutes.

11. Mix well. 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 and jammy sweet garlic slices!