Recipe for Pastry
(Recipe adapted from here.Yields about 96 tarts)
- 400g plain flour*
- 50g corn flour
- 1/4 (heaped) tsp salt (I added another 1/8 tsp of salt)
- 280g cold, unsalted butter (do not allow it to soften) (I changed to 300g)
- 3 egg yolks, beaten
- 3 tbsp cold water (or iced water)
- 6 tbsp icing sugar**
- 1/2 tsp cognac or pure vanilla extract
- 1/4 tsp of milk powder (I added this)
- For glaze, mix 1 egg yolk + 1 tbsp water (I mixed in some milk into the 1 tbsp of water)
1. Sift the flours, icing sugar and salt. Mix well to combine.
2.
Using the pointed ends of a fork, rub the butter into the flour until
it looks like fine bread crumbs. If necessary, use fingertips to
continue rubbing lightly the bigger pieces into finer pieces. Basically,
just scrape / flake the butter with your forks. You essentially want to
coat the butter crumbs in flour. Using forks prevents the cold butter
from melting since there is no contact with heat. If you want to rub the
butter into the flour using your hands, make sure you use only your fingertips.
3.
Beat together egg yolks, cold water and cognac (or vanilla extract).
Add it into the butter-flour mixture. Using your finger tips, gently coax all the crumbs into one large dough ball. Do not knead. As long as all the crumbs come together, stop. Chill in the fridge for about 10mins, covered.
4. Roll out to desired thickness (mine was about 8mm thick). Cut out
dough using cutter. Arrange neatly onto baking tray, with at least
1.5cm apart. Since this is a very buttery, oily pastry, it would be good
to use a small portion at a time. Keep the rest covered in the fridge,
otherwise it will ooze oil.
5. Once you have arranged the tart shells on your tray, glaze them (the entire surface, not just the rims).
6. Place the pre-rolled pineapple jam balls onto the centre of each tart shell.
7. Bake at 160°C for 20 minutes, turning the tray halfway through baking.
PINEAPPLE PASTE
Ingredients:
(Recipe adapted from here)
2 large Morris pineapples (about 1.6kg each fruit before peeling, after peeling it’s about 900gm each) (I used honey pineapples)
2 cups sugar (400gm) (I reduced sugar to 300g)
1 smallish cinnamon stick
Method:
1. Peel the pineapples.
2. Cut pineapples into chunks. DO NOT DISCARD THE CORE. That part has the most of the precious fibre.
3. Put half the pineapple chunks into a blender, add 1/3 cup of water
and blitz away. Pour 80% of the blended stuff into a pan or wok (please,
no pot, you need a large evaporation surface)
4. With the remaining blended pineapple in the blender, repeat blending
process with the rest of the pineapples, always leaving some blended
stuff in the blender if you need to blend more chunks and you won't need
more water. (I drained away some of the juice as the pineapple taste is too strong)
5. Cook pineapple paste with cinnamon stick on medium heat
until it's very pasty, like thick oatmeal. I don't stir it all the time.
6. Add in sugar, it'll turn watery again. Turn to lower medium heat, and
cook until it is very pasty. Stir once a while only, but keep an eye on
it.
7. Increase the heat to high. Don't stir and let
the base take on some colour. It will caramelize the jam. Stir once a
while to check on the colour. Stop when it almost reaches your prefered
colour. Take note that some pans will continue to caramelize even when
the heat is off.
Ingredients :
(Recipe adapted from here)
Makes 10-12 buns
1kg whole piece pork belly
5g dried red chillies, seeded
5 cloves garlic
5 star anise
5 slices of ginger
15 whole white peppercorns
4 tablespoons dark soy sauce
4 tablespoons light soy sauce, plus 2 extra tablespoons
4 tablespoon sugar, plus 2 extra tablespoons
1 tablespoon cornflour, mixed with 60ml (1/4 cup) water
some 5-spice powder (I added this)
(I omitted these ingredients)
½ cucumber, thinly sliced
30g toasted peanuts, finely chopped
A handful of coriander leaves
Sriracha hot sauce, optional
Pickled Carrot
2 large carrots
1 cup hot water
½ cup rice wine vinegar
6 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons salt
Gua Bao Dough
200ml water, at room temperature
7g dry yeast
150g high gluten wheat flour (see note), plus extra for dusting
150g low gluten wheat flour
10g dry milk powder
4 tablespoons caster sugar
A pinch of salt
½ tsp baking powder
½ tsp baking soda
Method
1. Prepare pickled carrot a day
or a week before. Mix hot water, vinegar, sugar and salt together, stir
well until all sugar has dissolved. Julienne carrots into matchstick
size about 5cm in length then put them in an airtight sealed jar. Pour
the solution into the jar until all carrots are fully submerged. Close
lid and keep in the refrigerator up to a month. The carrot taste better
after they’ve been pickling for 3 to 4 days.
2. Put the whole
piece of pork belly, skin side up, in a large saucepan and fill it with 2
liters of water or until about an inch high from the skin of the pork.
Bring it to the boil on high heat, skim out all the impurities floating
on the surface.
3. Turn heat down to a simmer, add garlic, ginger,
red chillies, peppercorns, soy sauces and sugar, give it all a stir
until the sugar has dissolved. Let it braise for 1.5 hours or until the
pork is melting tender but not falling apart. Remove the pork from the
stock and transfer to a plate, set aside to let it cool down.
4.
Meanwhile, to make sweet sauce, strain 2 cups (250ml) of the braising
stock into a small saucepan, add 2 tablespoons each of light soy sauce
and sugar then bring to boil. Reduce the liquid by half, stir in
cornflour water until it thickens. Remove from heat, set aside until
ready to be used.
5. Once the pork is cool enough to handle, cut
it into thin slices about 5-7mm thickness. Put the meat back in the
stock, close the lid and keep warm until ready to be used.
6. To
make the bun dough, add yeast to water and let it activate for 10
minutes or until frothy. Add the remaining dry ingredients in the bowl
of a stand-mixer with a dough hook. Pour the yeast water into the bowl
and start mixing on low speed until it forms a rough dough. Keep
kneading the dough for another 5 minutes until the dough feels smooth
and elastic. Grease a bowl with oil and put dough inside, cover with
cling film and let it rest for 1 hour until the dough has doubled in
size.
7. Punch the air out of the dough, transfer it to a floured
surface and spread it out into a 40cmx15cm rectangle, then roll it into a
tight log. Cut the log into 12 equal size pieces, about 35-40 grams
each. Flatten each dough then roll them up into balls. Place them on a
baking tray lined with baking paper, cover with tea towel and let it
rest for 30 minutes. It will double in size again.
8. In the mean
time, cut out twelve 8cmx8cm squares of baking paper. Take one dough and
using a rolling pin, roll the dough into a 8cmx15cm oval shape, dip a
chopstick in vegetable oil and place it in the center of the oval, fold
it in half then pull the chopstick out. Place the bun on a square of
baking paper and put it back on the baking tray, repeat with the rest of
the dough. Once completed, cover with tea towel and let it proof for
another 30 minutes.
9. Set up a steamer over simmering water, in batches and steam the buns for 10 minutes.
10.
To assemble, remove paper from the bun and peel it open, layer the bun
with cucumber slices, pickled carrot, slices of pork belly and
coriander. Slather with sweet sauce and Sriracha sauce, then sprinkle
with peanuts. (I omitted this)
