MUAH CHEE

  

Ingredients :

(Recipe adapted from here)

(serves 4)
200g glutinous rice flour
2 teaspoons granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt (I used 1/4 tsp of salt)
1 tablespoon shallot oil
250ml water
1 teaspoon shallot oil for brushing
150g roasted peanut powder (I used ready made ones)
40g toasted sesame
75g granulated sugar

Method:

1. To make shallot oil, thinly slice 2 shallots, fry with 4 tablespoons oil (about two parts of oil to 1 part of shallot) till golden brown. Leave to cool.
2. Mix glutinous rice flour, sugar, salt, shallot oil and water in a mixing bowl. Stir to combine, make sure flour mixture is completed dissolved.
3. Pour the mixture into a deep dish (I used a 8" corelle dinner plate). Steam over medium heat for about 25mins. Test the centre to ensure it is cooked through. Brush the surface with shallot oil and leave to cool.
4. Mix peanut powder, toasted sesame and granulated sugar in a plate. (Note: I only used up half the portion of the peanut mixture).
5. When ready to serve, scoop small pieces of muah chee with a spoon and toss them in the peanut powder mixture. Serve immediately.

SOUR CREAM CHOCOLATE MUFFINS

(Recipe adapted from here)

Ingredients A:
120g plain flour )
15g cocoa powder ) sieve together twice
1/2 tsp baking soda)
1/4 tsp salt
25g - 35g sugar
60g semi-sweet chocolate chips or more
extra chocolate chips for toppings

Ingredients B:
75ml sour cream
45ml milk or whipping cream
1 egg
55g melted butter
50g brown sugar

Method:
1. Mix ingredients (A) together in a mixing bowl.

2. Mix ingredients (B) together in a mixing bowl till you get a homogeneous mixture.

3. Pour (2) into (1), using a hand whisk, mix together in 5 - 8 strokes.

4. Spoon mixture into paper muffin cups, top with a little more chocolate chips and bake in a preheated oven at 190C for 25 - 30 minutes or till cooked. (I baked at 180C for 25mins)

CRISPY WALNUT COOKIES

 

Ingredients :
(Recipe adapted from here)

(A)
75g corn oil
pinch of salt
65g castor sugar
2 tbsp lightly beaten egg (keep the rest as egg wash)

(B)
150g cake flour
heaped 1/4 tsp baking powder
heaped 1/4 tsp baking soda

(C)
50g Walnut bits

Method:
1. Toast walnuts in oven at 160C for 6-8 minutes. Cut into tiny pieces. (I toast the walnuts in a oven toaster and use my hands to break them into tiny pieces)

2. Sieve (B) together and add in walnut bits.

3. Mix (A) in a mixing bowl.

4. Add oil mixture to flour mixture. Mix well. Dough should be crumbly.

5. Divide dough into 10g pieces, shape them into flat round disc. Apply egg wash. Put them on a lined baking tray 2cm apart to allow room for expansion.

6. Bake at 180C for 15 - 18 minutes or till golden brown.

EASY GARLIC HERB AND SESAME NAAN

Ingredients :
(Recipe adapted from here)
prep 25 mins        cook  35 mins            makes 10

Garlic Butter :
3 tbsp soft butter
8 cloves garlic, peeled and very finely minced

Dough :
300 g (3 cups) plain or all purpose flour
2/3 - 1 tsp fine salt
1 1/2 tsp sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
3 tbsp lightly toasted sesame seeds
1 cup chopped fresh coriander, Indian borage or flat leaf parsley
60 ml (1/3 cup) plain unsweetened yoghurt
140 ml (2/3 cup) water
5 tbsp runny garlic butter (cooled)
A little extra garlic butter or plain melted butter for brushing


1.  Make garlic butter by combining butter and garlic in a small pot and cooking over very gentle heat for about 5 minutes, stirring often, to prevent burning. When fragrant and garlic is limp, turn off heat and leave until cold.
 
2.  Combine flour, salt, sugar, baking powder,baking soda and chopped herb in a large mixing bowl and mix well with fingers. Add yoghurt and water and mix into flour until well incorporated. Mix in the garlic butter and knead for a minute or two, or just enough to form a ball of soft dough. Do not overknead or breads will be tough.

3.  Snip dough into 10 pieces with scissors and flatten them into discs. Dust both sides of discs generously with flour and stretch each out into small oval or tear drop pieces.

4.  Roll out a piece into a thin ovoid or tear drop shape. If dough resists rolling and keeps stretching back (not likely unless dough was overkneaded) cover and rest for 15 minutes then roll again.

5.  Heat a heavy pan or griddle until very hot. Put naan on griddle and cook about 1 minute or until top of naan puffs and bubbles. Flip over and cook other side for 1 minute. Flip over and cook each side a further 1 minute each, until puffed and lightly scorched here and there.

6.  Remove from pan and brush top lightly with melted butter. Keep warm and repeat for remaining pieces of dough.

Serve warm with curry, tandoori chicken, keema, green chilli chicken or sambar.

5 THOUSAND-DOLLAR STARTER DOUGH BREAD RECIPE

Ingredients:
(Recipe adapted from here)

Starter dough
210g bread flour
90g cake flour
24g caster sugar
6g instant dry yeast
240g water

Main dough
210g bread flour
90g cake flour
96g caster sugar
1 1/2 tsp salt
24g milk powder
90g egg
54g water
72g unsalted butter, softened

Method :
1.  Prepare a pan with base measuring 26.5 x 19.5cm, and top measuring 29.5 x 23cm. if you do not have this, you can use an 18cm square cake pan for this but utilising only 2/3 of the above recipe.
  
2.  Mix all starter dough ingredients dough together and allow to sit in a warm environment to rise till it looks like “honeycomb”.

 3.  Mix the above with main dough ingredients except butter and knead till it is soft and non-sticky. incorporate butter and knead till it is shiny and pliable.

4.  Allow dough to rise till it doubles in size.

5.  After dough has risen, punch dough down and WITHOUT RESTING dough, divide it into 6 equal portions and roll each portion out into a 1m rope. (Refer to original source here on how to roll the buns)

6.  Place shaped buns into oiled baking pan and allow to rise.

7.  Bake in preheated oven of 180 degrees C on lower rack for 30 mins.

8.  Once out of oven, brush rolls with melted butter.

GOLDEN SPONGE CAKE

Ingredients :

(Recipe adapted from here)

*makes a 6.3" (internal diameter) x 3" height round cake tin with removable bottom (not a non-stick)

50g butter (salted)

50g cake flour
3 egg yolks (A size)
55g milk

3 egg whites (A size)
50g caster sugar
6g corn starch

 Method :

1. Prepare a cake pan, don’t need to line paper.
2. Immediate separate cold eggs from fridge (easy to separate this way) into two mixing bowls. Set aside to return to room temperature.
3. Melt butter in a saucepan, once you see small bubbles, remove from heat.
4. Immediately add in flour, quickly stir to become batter, then add in milk, mix well.
5. Add in egg yolk one at a time, stir well on each addition. The batter is slightly runny if compare to normal chiffon batter.
6. Mix sugar and corn starch together. Beat egg whites till foamy, gradually add in sugar and corn starch mixture (in three batches) and continue beat until approaching stiff peaks (meringue stand straight up with a little curve at the tip) or till stiff peaks (this stage is a bit difficult to fold with egg yolk mixture)
7. Take 1/3 of meringue and use a hand whisk to mix well with egg yolk batter.
8. Fold in 1/3 of meringue and use a silicone spatula, gently fold with egg yolk batter till slightly combined. Fold in the balance meringue and gently fold till well combined.
9. Pour into cake tin, bake at pre-heated oven at 140C (no fan) for 25mins at low rack, then increase to 170C (no fan) for another 25mins.
10. Once baked, turn your chiffon tin upside down and cool completely before remove from the tin.

SWISS MERINGUE BUTTERCREAM
(Recipe and step by step instructions adapted from here)

Ingredients :
60gm egg white (about 2 large whites)
100gm sugar
170gm unsalted butter (taken out from fridge and cut into 10-12 small pieces just before you start to heat the egg whites)

Method : (instructions are adapted to tropical weather and hand held mixer)
1. Put the sugar and egg whites in a large heatproof bowl over a saucepan of simmering water and whisk constantly, keeping the mixture over the heat, until it feels hot to the touch, about 3 minutes. The sugar should be dissolved, and the mixture will look like marshmallow cream.
(egg whites in buttercreams are safe for consumption once it reaches 65C, to know how much is 65C w/o a thermometer, just mix 250gm ice with 500ml boiling water. Stir the water gently and wait until all ice has melted, then feel the water. It is approximately there)

2. Pour the mixture into a bowl. Put the bowl into a basin of water. The water should feel cool, like tap water on a rainy day. Do not use very cold water, not icy water. Beat the meringue on medium speed until it cools and forms a thick shiny meringue, about 5 minutes.  

3. Now add in add the butter, one tablespoon at a time, beating until smooth. Once all the butter is in, beat in the buttercream on medium-high speed until it is thick and very smooth, 6-10 minutes. 


Important:
Temperature: If you have a room temperature and humidity, try to add 3-4 pices of ice cubes into the water in step (3) when you add in the butter to prevent the whole mixture's temperature from going too high. The movement of the mixer will heat up the buttercream. Temperature plays an important role whether cream or soup will form. Too cold and the butter can't get fluffy, too hot and you'll get runny soupy cream.
Butter: It must be at 19-23C. Most recipes call for butter to be at room temperature. Yes. But that is non tropical room temperature. Our room temperature can be somewhere 28-37C. So, if you leave your butter to come to our room temperature, failure is not far from grasp. The butter should not be shiny. It should be matte in colour, and you will be able to hold it firmly with your fingers like what you see in the picture and soft enough to be dented thoughout with some pressure. Eggs: Do not use pastuerized eggs. The egg whites won't melt the sugar. 


Common types of buttercream
1. Simple buttercream -icing sugar and buter. Less stable in tropical weather.
2. Italian buttercream -sugar and water cooked to soft ball stage, poured over beaten egg whites and then beaten with butter. Very stable
3. Swiss meringue buttercream -egg whites and sugar heated together, then beaten like a meringue and beaten with butter. Stable.
4. French buttercream -method similar to italian buttercream, but yolks are used in place of whites. Less stable


How to make checkerboard cake
(Please refer to the link here)

FRIED CARROT CAKE

Ingredients:
(Recipe adapted from here)
150g raddish shredded 
100g carrot shredded -  squeezed dry
3 tbsp chai por (preserved raddish) soaked in water for a while and throw away water
3 tsp salt
2 tsp sugar
600g rice flour
1.5 litre of water + 1 cup water + ½ cup water (or 1/3 cup also can)

1. Mix all the water with the flour.
2. Heat some oil in a wok and fry chai por. Add in raddish and carrot and fry for a while. Add in about ¼ cup of water and fry until it gets dry. Mix rice flour solution well and pour into wok slowly.
3. Add some pepper, the salt and sugar. Mix well and cook until mixture starts to curdle up at medium heat.
4. Pour into a greased baking tin and smoothen with the back of a spoon.
5. Steam on high heat for 45 minutes immediately.
6. If there is water on the carrot cake after steaming, pour it away. Leave it to cool down totally before using it.

How to fry black carrot cake.

1. Cut the cool carrot cake into small pieces.
2. Add some oil in a wok, add some minced garlic and fry for a while. Add in carrot cake and fry until a bit brown. Add in some soaked chai por and fry some more. Beat two eggs in a bowl and add it into the carrot cake and let it set a little before stirring. Add in sweet black sauce and fry. If you like it more salty you can add some fish sauce when frying.
Note: I like the black carrot cake a little wet, so I added some water after adding the sweet black sauce to fry until it has become softer and wetter. Before serving, you can sprinkle some chopped spring onion on top.

PAI PAU

Ingredients:
(Recipe adapted from here)

250g bread flour
1/2 tsp salt
5g instant yeast
2 tbsp skim milk powder
45g - 50g sugar
1 egg yolk + milk = 120ml
75ml whipping cream
1 tbsp condensed milk
50g pre-fermented dough
40g butter (room temperature)

Method:
1. Mix everything together except butter till you get a smooth dough. Add in the butter and knead till dough is elastic.
2. Prove dough for 1.5 hours or till double in size.
3. Divide into 8 pieces and shape into round balls. Rest dough balls for 15 minutes.
4. Final shaping and then prove for an hour.
5. Apply egg wash and bake at 190C for 15 - 20 minutes.

How to make pre-fermented dough:
125g bread flour
80ml water
not more than 2g instant yeast
pinch of salt

Mix all ingredients together and let it prove for at least 2 hours before using.
Left overs can be divided into 50g pieces, wrapped in glad wrap and freeze for use when required.
Frozen pre-fermented dough must return to room temperature before using.

BAKED CHEESECAKE

Ingredients :
(Recipe adapted from here)

Base:
200 gm Digestive biscuit
90 gm Unsalted butter (melted)

1. Crashed the digestive biscuit.
2. Pour the melted butter into it and mix well.
3. Press the digestive biscuit into a 10-inch springform pan and refrigerate before use.

Filling :
Cream cheese 500 gm
Caster sugar (1)175 gm
Egg yolk 4 nos
Egg white 4 nos
Juice and skin (grated) of half lemon
Caster sugar (2)87 gm
Whipping cream 250 gm
Optional 2 tsp of Nescafe

1. Beat cream cheese and sugar (1) until creamy – about 3 mins at medium speed.

2. Add in egg yolks one at a time and mix well. Then add in lemon juice and grated lemon skin.

3. If using Nescafe, dissolve Nescafe with the whipping cream (just a little warm). Pour this to mixture (2).

4. Whisk egg white and sugar (2) to a soft peak. Add to cheese mixture and mix well.

5. Pour cheese mixture onto the prepared cake pan and steam bake it at 150ºC for 2-2½ hrs. Cheese cake is cooked when top is firm. Leave to cool for 30 mins and keep in fridge for a few hours before serving. 

CREAMY LINGUINE PASTA WITH PORK

Ingredients :
(Recipe adapted from here)

500 gm Linguine Pasta or Spaghetti, cooked al dente
50 gm butter
3 cloves garlic, chopped 
1 yellow onions, cubed (I added this)
some bacons
240 gm boneless chicken thigh, cut into slices (I used minced pork)
1 can button mushroom, sliced
120 gm cabbage, sliced
3 sprigs fresh thyme, chopped
100 ml white wine
700 ml whipping cream*
150 ml water from boiling pasta
1 tsp salt
½ tsp coarse ground black pepper
Some chopped parsley


Method:

1. Melt butter, sauté garlic, onions,bacon and chicken thigh minced meat for a minute. Add mushrooms, cabbage and fresh thyme, pour in white wine and cream.

2. Bring sauce to boil, thin out with water from boiling pasta. Season sauce with salt and pepper.

3. Add pasta and toss evenly for two minutes. Sprinkle on chopped parsley and serve immediately.

Notes:
* I substituted 200 ml of whipping cream with fresh milk. For those who likes it really creamy, no need for substitution. Ratio must at least be 70:30 for cream and milk.