Pork Jerky / Bak Kwa / Long Yuk

Among all the Chinese New Year food that I like most is definitely the pork jerky or bak kwa (Hokkien) or long yuk (Cantonese). It is also a must have for the festive season especially when it comes to gift giving. For that, it command a high price when we purchase from the shops. The last time I bought, I paid RM26 for just 300 grams! Very expensive meat indeed!

I remembered that people actually queued for hours just to buy a few kilos in Singapore! It is insane but these bak kwa guys are reaping big money during CNY just like those mooncake guys during Mooncake festival! Well, I was never that crazy to queue for a few slices of fragrant meat :P Probably they are hard to make thus the high price?

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Actually, I can get them in the Asian grocers here in Melbourne but I decided not to since it is just as expensive as back home. Thought I can live without a few slices of meat :) Then, one fine day, a friend shared a link on how to make these fragrant meat slices and it has been home made since! Yeah! At least I know now what are being mixed into the meat that made them so addictive!

Believe me, it is not difficult to make these at all and imagine the amount of $$ you can save! Best of all, you can add or reduce the ingredients to suit your taste. The recipe I shared here is from another friend which I modified to suit my taste. You are free to adjust it yourself. Try not to press it too thin else it will not be nice... lack the chewy effects. :)

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Ingredients

• 1kg Minced meat


• 200 gm Sugar (sweeter taste nicer)


• 2 tbsp Black soy sauce


• 1 tbsp Light soy sauce


• 4 tbsp Chinese rice wine (glutinous rice wine or rose wine)


• 2 tbsp Fish sauce


• 1 tbsp Oyster sauce


• 4 tbsp Honey (more for glazing while baking/grilling)


• ¼ tsp Five spice powder


• ½ tsp Salt


• Pinch of white pepper


• Sprinkles of garlic powder


• Red food coloring (optional)

Marinade over night

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Methods

1. Spread a sheet of baking paper in the size of the baking tray/cookie sheet onto table and take a         chunk of the marinated meat and spread onto it, slowly pressing the meat around.

             

2. Using another piece of baking paper/clingy wrap to cover the meat, then use a rolling pin to slowly flatten the meat till about 2 to 2.5 mm in thickness. Keep adding more meat and flatten them with the rolling pin until you have filled most of the baking tray.

3. Try leaving a 1 cm gap from the sides of the tray as juices from the meat will ooze out during baking. You can also use the back of the knife to cut/mark some lines on the meat so you can easily fold or cut the meat later.

4. When you are done flattening the meat, remove the top baking paper/clingy wrap and transfer to greased baking tray (I greased with some oil) and remove the other baking paper as well.

5. Bake in preheated oven of 130ºC and bake for 15-20 minutes for both sides.

6. Take the meat out from the oven again, this time glaze them with some honey with a pastry brush as this will help to caramelise the surface to give it a nice charred effect and a beautiful shiny surface.

7. Then increase the temperature to 150ºC and bake/grill till brownish for about 10-15 minutes.

Notes:
You can add chilli flakes or chilli powder too if you like the spicy version.
If you are making beef, best to add some star anise powder to give it an extra kick.

Fruity, Nutty Chocolate Chips Cookies

Now that I am in the mood to bake cookies, I have made another batch of really yummy chocolate chips cookies which I have been wanting to do a long time ago but did not (trying not to snack on sugar!) until a friend baked me some over Christmas. From then on, I can't stop thinking of making these addictive cookies!!!

Trolled the net and discovered some recipes and decided to gave one of it a try. I modified the recipe to our taste buds as I cut down on the sugar a little.

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While making these, I discovered I can achieve 2 different types of results by modifying the amount of flour used. I did one batch with less flour and it turn out soft and chewy!

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Ingredients

• 227 gm Butter (room temperature)


• 1tsp Salt


• 200 gm Brown sugar


• 100 gm Castor sugar


• 2 Eggs


• 1tsp Vanilla extract


• 500g Bread flour


• 1tsp Baking soda


• 2 cups mixed of Walnut+Raisin+Chocolate Chips

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Methods

1. Using the paddle of your stand mixer and beat the butter, salt and sugars till creamy.


2. Add in egg, one at a time and mix till incorporated before adding the next one.


3. Add in the vanilla extract.


4. Switch to low speed and slowly add in the flour and baking soda.


5. Break up the walnut into nibs and mix with the raisin and chocolate chips and add into the butter and flour mix. Mix well.


6. Scoop a teaspoon (heap) onto lined baking tray with at least 2cm apart.


7. Baked in pre-heated oven at 160°C for about 12-15 minutes in middle rack one tray at a time. Remove when sides of the cookie starting to turn brown but the top is still light in tone.


8. Remove from oven and cool on tray for 5 minutes before transferring to wire rack. Store in a dry air-tight container.

Crumbly Floral Pineapple Tarts

Happy New Year everyone!

Can't believe we will be celebrating the Lunar New Year in approximately a  month time! This will be our second year celebrating the Lunar New Year in Melbourne and that means we have live here for a year already! How time flies!

Since I was pregger and  busy with our move last year, I did not make any cookies/goodies for CNY so decided I should make some this year. Not sure if any of my friends will come 'pai-nien' at our place since we do not get any public holidays here in Melbourne! Good thing is, this year, the first day of CNY falls on a Sunday which make it very convenient if we have friends visiting or we go for visiting. :)

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Normally I will bake pineapple tarts for this occasion as the Hokkiens associate pineapple as 'ONG' meaning prosperity. Therefore, most of them like to have pineapple tarts for CNY. I made some of these floral pineapple tarts the previous year and thought I should make them again as I really like their dainty look but this time improvised on their texture.

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This round, I adapted another recipe using cornflour for the pastry which gave a better texture and has a more crumbly feel so it sort of melt in the mouth. :D

I prefer the open face type as I like having my pineapple jam caramelised during the baking process as it gave a really yummy aroma to the tarts.

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Pineapple Jam

Ingredients

• 2 medium Pineapple (try to get those which are not too ripe)


• Sugar to taste (I used a mix of raw sugar and caster sugar)


• 1-2 sticks Cinnamon bark


• 3-5 Cloves


• ½ Lemon (juice only)


• Yellow food coloring (optional)

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Methods

1. Chopped the flesh finely with a clever (sieve away the extra juice with a colander but do not squeeze) and use a blender to chop the core or you can use a grater to do the job but from experience, grated pineapple will be less juicy as the grating process tends to extract the juice out more.


2. When you are done chopping, transfers the chopped pineapple to a big non stick stock pot or frying pan and fry with the cinnamon and cloves on medium fire stirring occasionally. This process will take about 1 hour +/-


3. Add in the sugar and taste (I prefer mine to be not too sweet so I add a table spoon at a time) till you achieve your ideal sweetness. Some pineapples are sweeter than others so you use your taste buds to judge.


4. Once it starts to caramelise, you squeeze in the lemon juice and fry till it is really dry and sticky. Leave it to cool and you can store in the fridge or freezer for future use. The lemon juice actually acts as a preservative so your jam would not get mouldy after baking.

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The Pastry

Ingredients

• 400 gm Plain flour


•  50 gm Corn flour


• ½ tsp Salt


• 280 gm Butter (cold and cubed - do not let it get soften)


• 3 Egg yolks


• 3 tbsp Icy cold water


• 6 tbsp Icing sugar


• ½ tsp Vanilla extract


• 1 Egg yolk + 1/2 tsp Milk for glazing

Methods

1. Sift the flours, icing sugar and salt in a big mixing bowl.


2. Using the end of a fork, rub in butter cubes into the flour mixture until it becomes fine bread crumbs. For this process you need to be very patient as any heat will warm the butter. Should you need to, use your finger tips only to help coat the butter with flour to make them into fine crumbs. Never ever use your palm as our palms will transfer the heat and melt the butter.


3. In another bowl, beat the egg yolks with the cold water and vanilla extract. Pour into the crumbs mixture and mix them with your finger tips only. Slowly until it forms a dough. Do not knead. Stop when it formed into a dough.


4. Wrap it up with a clingy wrap and chill in the fridge for at least 10 mins before use.


5. On a floured surface, roll out a small chunk (keep the rest chilled in the fridge so it won't melt while you work) to desired thickness (around 5mm) and press with a flower cookie cutter. I placed a mini cupcake liner into the tablespoon measuring spoon to get the nice curved up flower shape.
   


6. Arrange all the cupped pastry neatly on a baking tray, placed the pre-rolled pineapple jam and placed onto the pastry before glazing with egg yolk mixture on the entire surface (including the jam).


7. Baked in a pre-heated oven of 160°C for 18-20 minutes or till surface turned golden brown (turn the tray around a few minute before you take them out to ensure even browning).


8. Cool on the tray before removing to cool on the rack. Store in an air tight container when it is completely cooled. It is best to consume within 2 weeks if you are living in a tropical country. I normally keep them in the fridge if not consumed after a week but weather in Melbourne is dry so it should be fine to be kept in room temperature longer. Anyway, how often can these crumbly tarts stay more than a few days on the counter????!!! :P

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This is the cutter I used to cut the pastry...

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Mango Sago Pudding

The best thing about living in a four seasons country is the food harvest from each season. This is our first spring/summer in Melbourne and currently mangoes are in season. At the vege market near our place, a tray of Kensington mangoes is selling at $15 for about 12 pieces (mid size ones) which is pretty reasonable. However, hubby is not too fond of Aussie's mangoes so we did not buy a tray but a few fruits each time I shop. He will buy the Thai's King mango instead. :P

I got this free magazine from one of the local supermarket and spotted the recipe for mango sago pudding and thought I should give it a go since I have some ripe Kensington and some coconut milk balanced from my laksa a few days ago.

The recipe called for the syrup from the canned mango so I decided to modify the ingredients' portion as I know it will be very sweet if I follow the recipe to the dot. After mixing the mango puree, the color was not too 'bright' yellow so I decided to 'pump' it up by adding a small squirt of yellow food coloring which turned out gorgeously. :)

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Ingredients

• 1 can Mango in syrup (I used the 425g can) - pureed


• 100 gm Sago


• 200 ml Water


• 50 gm Caster sugar


• 130 Coconut cream/milk


• 1 fresh Mango (half for puree and half for garnish)


• Yellow food coloring (optional)

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Methods

1. Drain mango slices and reserve the syrup. Puree the mango slices and set aside.


2. Rinse sago in running water and drain.


3. Combine the mango syrup, sago, water and sugar in a medium saucepan and bring to boil over medium heat stirring frequently.


4. Reduce the heat and simmer + stirring until all the sago turned translucent and the mixture is thick and sticky. This will take at least 20 minutes or so.


5. Add in the coconut milk, stir and simmer for another 5-6 minutes and remove from heat.


6. Mix in the pureed mango and stir till well combined. Add yellow coloring if you're not happy with the natural color (looks a bit greyish)


7. Spoon into ramekins, covered and chilled. Serve with cubed fresh mango.

Wat Tan Hor - Fried Flat Noodles with Egg Gravy using HCP

After staying in Melbourne for more than half a year, we are starting to crave for some Malaysian food which we used to have almost every other week. Though there are some Malaysian and Singaporean restaurants here but for a simple plate of noodles it can cost a crazy AUD$16 just because they add in 2 mid sized tiger prawns! Ridiculous!

For that, I have started to learn how to cook a few dishes which are our favourites. To be honest, it was not that tough as it looks just that it needs a little more time for the preparation. One of these dishes is the Wat Tan Hor which is fried flat rice noodles covered with egg gravy. This is our all time favorite. The kids just love it and each time they will clean their bowls whenever we have this dish.

The important ingredient for this dish is the lard... pork or chicken depending on how health conscious you are! :D I normally use chicken lard since I get a lot from the chicken thigh meat I buy.

With the HCP, I can cook this dish in a jiffy! :)

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Ingredients

• 750 gm Flat rice noodles (kway teow)


• 300 gm Chicken thigh meat (cubed) or pork (sliced) - marinaded


• 10 pcs Prawns (shelled)


• 3 stalks Choy Sum


• Carrot slices


• 1 tbsp Garlic (minced)


• 2 tbsp Lard


• 2 Eggs


• 3 tbsp Corn flour (mixed with some water)


• 1 box (500ml) Chicken stock + 1 cup water


• Some oil, light soy sauce and black soy sauce for dry frying flat noodles

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Marinade for chicken

• 1 tbsp Cooking wine


• 1 tbsp Light soy sauce


• 1 tsp Fish sauce


• A dash of pepper


• A dash of ginger powder


• A dash of garlic powder


• A dash of salt

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Methods

1. Heat up your HCP/flat frying pan with some oil. Toss in some flat noodles (best to do it in 2 batches), add some light soy sauce and black sauce (depending on how dark you want your noodles to be) and simply dry fry them until they are soft. Lift up when they start to stick into a lump and continue with the balance noodles.


2. Once done with the noodles (without washing the pan), heat up some oil and the lard and sautee the minced garlic till fragrant, add in the chicken cubes/pork slices (I usually put a combination of both) and stir fry till 60% cooked, add in the prawns and cook for another minute.


3. Add in the chicken stock and water and simmer till boil.


4. Add in the carrot slices and continue to simmer on medium fire for 2-3 minutes, add in the choy sum (cut to 2" length) and continue to simmer for another minute.


5. Add in corn flour solution and stir to make sure the corn flour did not harden into balls.


6. Switch off the fire and quickly stir in beaten eggs and stir continuously to create 'flower' effects.


7. Portion the flat noodles into plates/bowls before pouring the gravy over.


8. Serve with some pickled green chillies.

Fruits & Nuts Cinnamon Rolls

Now that my bun making engine is in the momentum, I decided to try as many bakes as possible before I drop down! There are just too many buns and breads I wanted to make but time is always a factor since it requires a lot of time since there are so many steps involved. The proofing of doughs have been the toughest as I have to manage my time so that my baby is napping when the dough is ready to be shaped.

Anyhow, I decided to bake some cinnamon rolls in between if I can find the time as it is simpler compared to making those assorted buns. However, cinnamon rolls are more sinful since there are more butter and sugar used but I can tell you, the aroma while it is baking in the oven will make it all worth while... not to mention when you bite on it! And they are great when accompany with some nice fruit tea! :)

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I've tried 2 recipes for the cinnamon rolls and found out that the Pai Bao or Hong Kong Sweet Bun recipe is more fragrant compared to the one with less ingredients though still using Tang Zhong. The texture is more or less the same so if you are out of some of the ingredients for Pai Bao, you want actually use this recipe. :)

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I love how soft and fluffy these rolls are!

The weather here is cold so it get harden faster as compared to when you are in the tropics. Therefore, each time I want to eat one of the rolls I will heat up for about 15-20 seconds in the microwave and it comes out light and fluffy again!

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This recipe is adapted from here but instead using a bread maker, I used my mixer for the kneading.

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Ingredients (yields 9 rolls in a 7"x7" baking pan)

• 210 gm Bread flour


• 50 gm Cake flour


• 5 gm Yeast


• 50 gm Sugar


• ½ tsp Salt


• 1 Egg + water = 110 gm


• 75 gm Tang Zhong


• 30 gm Butter (cut into small cubes)

Filling

• 30 gm Butter, cut into small chunks and soften


• 30 gm Brown sugar + 1 tbsp ground cinnamon powder


• 100 gm Mixed dried fruits or raisins + Nuts (I used raisins, dried apricots and walnuts)

Some beaten egg and melted butter for glazing.

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Method:

1. Put all the wet ingredients except butter into the mixer, stir them a bit then add in the flour, sugar and yeast. Then fit the mixer with the hook attachment and put on speed 2 to start kneading. When everything comes together, put in the salt and continue kneading for a minute or two before putting in the butter.


2. Once the kneading is finished, approximately 30 minutes, remove and place dough on a floured surface.


3. Punch down and shape it round. Rest dough for 15 minutes covered with a cling wrap or cloth (I proofed in the oven for 30 mins as it was a cold day here).


4. Roll dough into a flat sheet of 28cm x 40cm with a rolling pin.


5. Spread the cinnamon sugar evenly and top it with butter cubes and the dried fruits and nuts.


6. Roll it up swiss-roll style and cut into 9 pieces of about 3cm thick.


7. Put them in a 7"x7" (20cm x 20cm) baking pan and proof for 45 minutes or till double in size in a warm place, covered with a damp towel.


8. Glaze with egg wash and bake at 180C for 20 minutes.


9. Remove from oven and quickly glaze with melted butter for added fragrance and presentation.

Basic Dough for Assorted 65ºC Buns

I was a huge fan of Bread Talk when they first started selling those soft buns back in 2001 in Singapore. Their meat floss buns were my favorite and now my kids'. However, meat floss is not cheap here so I went with the flow of using other ingredients for my buns instead. Therefore, each time I am up for bread making, I will do assortment so everyone can have their favorite :)

So far, there is only 1 recipe (Pai Bao or Hong Kong Sweet Bun) which can yield great tasting buns with very nice texture using Tang Zhong. This Pai Bao recipe was shared by Christine using a bread maker. However, the dough is pretty sticky as it has quite a high amount of liquid hence I have problem handling it since I do not have a bread maker. I used my Kitchen Aid to help with the kneading. I tried not to use too much additional flour else the texture will be altered.

Therefore, I decided to tweak the recipe and cut away some of the liquid used but managed to maintain the same texture.

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Ingredients
370 gm bread flour
65 gm caster sugar
5 g salt
12 gm full cream milk powder (optional)
6 gm instant dry yeast
1 egg yolk
30 gm whisked egg
100 ml milk (it is about 100 gm)
120-130 gm Tang Zhong
50 gm condensed milk
35 gm unsalted butter, softened

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Methods

1. Add all the wet ingredients (milk, egg, tangzhong, condensed milk), then followed by the dry ingredients (yeast, sugar, milk powder, bread flour) into the mixer bowl. Mix everything with a rubber spatula until well combined then add in the salt.


2. Attached the hook attachment onto your mixer and let it knead on Speed 2 or 3 till everything come together. Add butter and continue kneading until the dough is smooth and elastic. I knead about 30-40 minutes with a few stops in between to scrape the side down. Also, this will allow your mixer's motor to rest else it will get too hot.


3. Take a chunk of the dough and do the 'window pane test'. When you stretch the dough, you should be able to see a thin layer of membrane. You may want to knead with your hand if your mixer is taking too long to reach this stage. (Rub some oil onto your hand before handling the dough else it will stuck on your hands!)


4. Once your dough is ready, shape it into a big ball and let it go for the 1st round of proofing which is about 40-60 minutes. Grease your bowl with some oil for easy release later. The best temperature for proofing is 28C, humidity 75%, until double in size. If you're living in cold climate like I am, you may want to heat up your oven and proof your dough in there covered with a damn cloth.


5. Once the dough has proofed, transfer the dough to a clean floured surface. Deflate using your fist (punch the dough flat) and divide into 4 or 6 equal portions. Cover with cling wrap, let rest for 15 minutes at room temperature.


6. To make kid size buns, you divide the dough to about 40gm to 45gm each  and roll out each portion of the dough with a rolling pin and wrap (eg: red beans paste) or shape your buns as you wished. Proof your shaped buns on baking tray lined with parchment paper, covered with cling wrap or damp cloth for 2nd proofing. The best temperature for 2nd round of proofing is 38C, humidity 85%. You can heat up your oven again for this step.


7. When the dough has doubled, lightly brush the surface with egg wash (whisked egg). Bake in a pre-heated 180C (356F) oven for 20-25 minutes or until surface turns brown. Remove from the oven and transfer onto wire rack. Cool completely before storing.