Flower Buns

Dough:

21/2 cups all purpose flour

3 tbsps. granulated sugar

1/2 tsp fine salt

1 tbsp. dry yeast

3/4 cup warm milk

1 large egg,beaten

3 tbsp. butter at room temperature

Extra flour as needed

Some cut spring onions for garnishing

Make the dough :

1. In a mixing bowl put flour, make 3 wells. Add into each well : sugar, salt, yeast. Stir sugar and yeast first then stir together using a wooden spoon.
2. Pour warm milk and beaten egg (minus 2 tbsp). Stir until combined.
3. Add soft butter, continue stirring until well blended into a smooth sticky dough.
4. Put the dough into greased bowl. Cover with cling wrap and put in warm place for about an hour.
An hour later the dough will be very soft and hollow. When you pull the dough, it will show the hollows all around.
Sprinkle with extra flour  and start folding with finger tips (not kneading). Sprinkle more flour as needed but not too much.
5. Dust work table with flour before put the dough. Flatten the dough with hand. Cut into 16 pieces.
6. Shape the dough into balls. Sprinkle with flour to prevent sticking.
7. Flatten or press the dough with fingers, brush with butter. Put on  some green onions on top.Fold into a half-moon,brush with butter again, then gather both corners creating a flower petal.
Repeat the method until finished.
8. Arrange on a greased round pie baking pan. Cover with loose cling wrap for 30 minutes. Let rise.
9. Brush beaten egg on top.
Bake at 175°C pre-heated oven, for 30 minutes until golden brown and blooming.
Let stay in the pan for 10 minutes. Serve with hot soup .

Meat Horns

Yesterday I made this pastry horns stuffed with cheese and tuna and the other stuffed with curry chicken meat.

Cheese and Tuna

Curry Chicken Meat

Empty horns

This recipe was copied from someone a very very long time ago.By the look of the picture and the recipe,I would like to make,but I can never find the patty horn mould until last week I saw at the DIY bakery equipment shop while I was buying some ingredients for making mooncakes.
20 plus years that I had kept this recipe.It was such a very long time ago.Now we had it on the internet.

Ingredients for the pastry:makes 12

225 grams margarine

350 grams plain flour + pinch of baking powder sieved together

2 eggs

Cream horn patty moulds

Method:

1.  Mix margarine with flour for 1 minute.Add in 1 egg and continue mixing.

2.  Add second egg and continue mixing till dough is lumpy.Set aside for 5 minutes.

3.  Roll out dough to 4mm thickness.Cut lengthwise into long strips about 11/2cm x 20cm.

4.  Wind each strip around horn mould to form horns.Rest for 5 minutes.

5.  Glaze horns with egg and bake at 425°F/220°C for 10-15 minutes.

6.  Fill corns with meat or desired fillings and serve hot.

For the curry chicken fillings:

150 grams chicken-cut bite-sized

1 small potatoes-cut into cubes 

1 small red onions-cut small

1 pip garlic-cut small

4 tbsps curry powder

1 tsp sugar

1/2 tsp salt or to taste

1 tbsp coconut milk or evaporated milk

1-2 tbsps cooking oil

Method of frying:

1.  Heat oil in wok and fry onions and garlics till brown.Add curry powder with 2 tbsps water and add the chicken and potatoes follow by sugar and salt.Add more water a bit and simmer till potatoes are soft and the meat is tender and cooked.

2.  Lastly,add in the coconut or evaporated milk and stir till the fillings are dry but not too dry.

3.  Dish it out.Fill the horns with meat.

For the tuna and cheese is just simple.At first I wanted to add chilly and mayonaise into the tuna but there are no mayonaise at home.This I made for my daughter to bring to school.

Pandan Ogura Cake

Pandan Ogura Cake(2))

This is my second time making pandan ogura cake but from a different recipe source and much bigger than the first one.

This was adapted from http://stephiews.blogspot.my/2017/04/pandan-recipe.htmlogura-cake-

The cake is as soft as can be.It tasted like pandan chiffon cake.This pandan ogura cake uses milk whereas the other recipe uses coconut milk.You can check it here:https://cocomintt.blogspot.my/search/?q=pandan+ogura+cake

Lined the cake tin with parchment paper.

Ingredients:

5 egg yolks + 1 whole egg

65g corn oil

95g fresh milk

1/4 tsp salt

70g cake flour(sifted)

2 tsp pandan juice

a pinch of green colouring


5 egg whites

70g sugar

Method:

1.  Beat egg yolks with a whisk.

2.  Add in corn oil,fresh milk and salt.Mix well.

3.  Add in sifted cake flour and pandan juice.Add in a pinch of green colouring.

4.  Beat egg whites to soft peak.

5.  Add in sugar gradually,begin with a small amount.Once foamy,continue to add in                    gradually as you beat.Beat till stiff peak formed.

6.  Take 1/3 white mixture to yolk mixture.Fold well. Then pour into the rest of the white               mixture. Fold well.

7.  Pour into the lined cake tin.(8").Use a spatula to smooth the surface.Bang it lightly to            release excess air.

8.  Use water-bath method to bake the cake in the oven at 150°C for 60 minutes or when          when a skewer inserted in the center comes out clean.

9.  Take the cake out of the oven and invert on a wire rack.Remove the paper and let to               cool.

10. Slice the cake or chilled in the refrigerator overnight for a better flavour.

Steamed Baked Castella Cake

Castella Cake

No cheese added

Like everyone else,I also wanted to make castella cake.It is the talkabout cake these days.The current craze of foodies where people lined up just to buy even though there was a long q.I started going out to buy after trying two times baking at home.If I don't I won't even know how the real taste is like.
Here I am baking for the third time,each time with a different recipes.First two are with honey and smaller recipe and third time without honey.The source? From Stephie's cooking but I altered a bit of the recipe and my cake turned out super super soft.More softer than the one I bought in the store.Next time,I will try to follow exactly her recipe.

Here, my cake is looking cottony soft than bakery bought.I ate my cake warm.Some of it I left in the fridge and ate cold the next day.Both warm and cold are very nice.

I only used my 8" square cake tin lined with parchment paper to bake my sponge cake.

Ingredients:

       (A)

75g  veg.oil

75g  bread flour

15g  cake flour

60g  milk

6     egg yolk

        (B)

6       egg white

1 g     salt (a pinch)

75g   caster sugar

Method:

1.  Heat oil in pan over fire for 2 mins or put in the microwave.

2.  Mix veg oil with bread and cake flour.

3,  Add in milk and egg yolk.Mix to a smooth batter.

4.  Beat egg white and salt with a mixer.

5.  Add sugar in batches slowly until stiff peak formed.

6.  Add 1/3 of B ingredients to A and mix well together.

7.  Then,A and B combined together.Mix well with a spatula scraping the sides down.

8.  Steam bake 160°C for 60 mins or toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Before bake,bang the tin on the table 2-3 times to get rid of air trapped inside.

I cannot say I've succeeded professionally yet and I'm not sure if this really is called the real castella cake or just a soft cotton steambaked sponge cake.What is your opinion?Let me know.

Steamed Tofu Recipe

Ingredients:

1 tofu(300 g)

2 cloves garlic/onions

100g minced chicken meat

2 tbsps. oil

(A)

2 tbsps. oyster sauce

2 tsps. light soya sauce

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp sesame oil

pepper to taste

1 tsp corn flour mix with 2 tsps. water

Garnish:

1/2 chilli padi sliced thinly

1 stalk spring onion,cut short length

Some shredded carrots 

Method:

Place beancurd on heatproof plate and steam over medium heat for 2-3 minutes.Set aside.

Heat oil in saucepan and stir-fry garlics/onions until slightly brown.

Add in chicken meat.Fry for about 2 minutes or so.Add in ingredients (A).Bring to a boil.

Thicken with corn flour mixture.

Spoon sauce over steamed beancurd and garnish with chilli,carrot and spring onion.

Serve hot with rice.

Cholesterol Free Chocolate cake

This is a free cholesterol chocolate cake that you will loved.

Ingredients:

3 cups flour

2 cups sugar

1 tsp salt

6 tbsps. cocoa powder

2 tsp baking soda

2 tbsp. vinegar

3/4 cups oil

2 cups hot water

a pkt of instant coffee

2 tsp vanilla

Method:

1.  Mix instant coffee with hot water in a cup.

2.  In a mixing bowl,add everything in and mix thoroughly.

3. Pour onto baking tray.(You can just mix everything inside the tray but I like it this way.)

4. Bake at 180°C/350°F for 35 minutes.

I have copied this recipe sometimes ago,somewhere but now I don't know where and stick it on the fridge for some times now.I'm so so busy everyday so that whenever I saw recipes that I liked,I just quickly scribbled it down on a plain piece of paper with poor handwriting.I know now that I should have also scribble down the person who gave the recipes.

I have added coffee for extra flavour.Strong coffee is preferred.

Braided Bread

This recipe was adapted from:http://mymindpatch.blogspot.my/2015/03/sugar-twister-bread.html
As I couldn't twist it nicely,I made it braided instead.The recipe is small,so make sure to double it if you have large family.
I didn't warm the milk and butter first as stated in the recipe because in the recipe it says optional,so I skip it out.

The bread turned out very soft.I liked it very much.

I sprinkle some black sesame seeds on two breads to make it a little different.

Instead of unsalted butter I used salted butter and leave the salt out.

Ingredients:

120g whole milk

15g condensed milk

30g salted butter

30g fine sugar

20g beaten egg

180g bread flour

20g cake flour

1/2 tsp instant yeast

some beaten egg

about 2 tsp sugar

some black or white sesame seeds

Method:

Put everything inside the mixing bowl except butter.

Attach dough hook and beat the ingredients at low speed at first for 10 minutes.Then add in

the butter and continue beating until it turned into a soft dough about 20 minutes.

Sprinkle some flour onto table and some on dough top.Put the dough on the table and press

it lightly.

Divide dough into four.Shape into round shape.Cover with a lid.Let the dough rest for 15

minutes.

Take each dough and sub-divided into three.Roll into long strips all three strips are of equal

length.Start to braid like braiding your hair with both ends pinched and tucked in under.

Repeat with the other 3 dough.Now you got four braids dough.Spray with water.Allow to

proof for 45 minutes or until double in size in a warm place.

Brush with egg wash and sprinkle sugar evenly over the dough surface.

(You can also sprinkle some sesame seeds like I do).

Baked in a preheated oven 170°C for 17-20 minutes.

Creamy Golden Butter Chicken

Each time when our family go out for dinner,my son would ordered butter chicken  or even sometimes butter prawns.It was seldom a miss for him.I had never try cooking butter prawns or chicken at home.Last Saturday,we went out for dinner and ordered again.It was very nice and this has prompted me to try cooking it at home.So Sunday here I come,cooking butter chicken at home.

At first it was hard to find curry leaves.Then hubby found for me bunches.(picture above)Thanks to hubby I can cook butter chicken at home.Without the curry leaves,I don't think the dish would be significant and aromatic.Instead of coating the chicken with flour,I used custard powder so that the chicken would look golden and nice in colour and tasty too.

Ingredients:

320g boneless chicken breast

1 cup custard powder for coating

Marinate:

1 tbsp corn flour

1 egg,beaten

a pinch or more of knorr chicken cubes

1 tsp salt

Creamy sauce:

1-11/2 tbsps butter

1 tbsps red onions/garlics

2 red chillies

4 sprig curry leaves

1/2 tbsps sugar or to taste

1/2 tsp salt or to taste

3/4 cup evaporated milk

oil for deep-frying the chicken

Method:

1. Cut chicken into small bite sizes or cubes.Marinate the chicken with corn flour,egg ,knorr

 chicken cubes and salt for an hour to one hour.

2.  Cut chillies,onions and garlics small. Wash the curry leaves clean.

3.  Heat oil in a wok.Coat the chicken pieces with the custard powder.

4.When smoke comes out,deep-fried the chicken pieces until cooked.Dish it up and

 put aside. 

5. In a clean wok,heat the butter and fry the onions,garlics,chillies and curry leaves until

 fragrant. Add in the evaporated milk. Add in the salt and sugar to taste.Then add in the  

chicken.Stir for a while and dish it up onto a serving plate.

6. Serve hot with rice.