Chinese Pastry

Flaky Spring Onion Cake  蔥油餅

Loving this flaky spring onion cake ever since I know what pastry’s all about. Loving it just as much as pineapple buns, baguettes, croissants, brioches, nan bread, bagels ……. U know what I mean if u r from this region.

Dough

4 cups plain flour

pinch of salt

1&1/2 cup cold water

• Put the flour and salt in a large bowl.
• Stir in about half of the cold water to rub the flour by using your hand. Gradually add the rest of the water just enough to continue to bind the dough together. (note: Only add enough water to bind the dough and then stop.) The dough should feel moist but not wet and look slightly glossy.
• Wrap the dough in clingfilm and chill for 15 - 30 minutes before using.

Filling

lots of spring onion, chopped in large

2/3 cup oil

salt

Meanwhile, stir-fry spring onion with oil in medium heat but not colored, season to taste and set aside.

Cake

• Now roll out the dough to about 1 cm thickness. Fold the 2 sides of the circle toward the middle and roll it out once again to 1cm thickness.
• Cut out one rectangular 2x4 inches of dough, then roll it out flat until about 1/3-1/4 cm thickness and 25 cm length wise.

• Place filling onto the centre along the dough. 
• Roll one lengthen side towards the other to close the filling inside the pastry. 
• Now holding onto the tip of one end as the center point and turn the dough around in circular direction until it resembles a snail.

• Pan-fry the cake in low heat until cooked and slightly golden.
• Serve hot or reheat before serving.

The same recipe could apply to make other cakes, such as juicy beef cake 牛肉餅 by replacing the filling with

Filling

ground / sliced beef

1 leek, shredded

olive oil for cooking

Seasoning

¼ cup water

1tsp cornstarch

1tsp sesame oil

1tsp light soya sauce

1tsp oyster sauce

2tsp sugar

½tsp salt

a pinch of white pepper (optional)

• Marinate the meat with seasonings and chill for 30 mins
• Stir-fry leeks until soft but not colored. Add in beef in high heat then medium until almost cooked.
• Season to taste and set aside.

 Cake

• Roll out a circle of 12cm diameter at 1/3 to 1/4 thickness.
• Place a good spoonful of filling onto the center of dough and quickly bring the edges around the dough towards the center and twist the middle to close the wrap.

• Pan-fry the cake in low heat until cooked and slightly golden.
• Serve hot or reheat before serving.
  
  
  
  
  

Speechless

Red Prawn on Olive Fettuccini

w cherry tomato garlic sauce

serves 2

Simply irresistibly darling kinda pasta with an after taste that would stick onto your palate n heart for the rest of your day, if not the week!

2-4 large Red Prawns, unshelled with head and tail left intact

2 handfuls of cherry tomatoes

2 cloves of garlic, finely smashed

50g of demi-sel butter

100ml dry white wine

handful of basils, chopped

1 tsp of tomato purée

sea salt n pepper to season

olive oil

truffle oil

250g of dried fettuccini / spaghetti (olive taste would be nice)

• Briefly wash the Red Prawns and pat dry.
• In a hot non-stick pan with olive oil and a cube of demi-sel butter, add in the garlic and sauté the cherry tomatoes over medium heat. Set aside.
• Cook pasta in a large pan of boiling salted water with olive oil until “half way cooked”. If your packet instruction marked 8 minutes for being al denta, cook it for half of the time, 4 minutes, this time.
• While the pasta is cooking, sauté the Red Prawns in the prepared tomatoes for about 1-2 minutes on each side, season with pepper. Followed by the white wine and continue to cook for about 3 minutes untill the wine has evaporated in half. Once the prawns are ready, place them on a warm place to preserve and they will generate more juice.
• Meanwhile, well blend the pasta in the tomato sauce and add in tomato purée with a touch of maple syrup, simmer and stir for another 3-4 minutes until the pasta well absorbed the intense of the prawn juice.  Season to taste.
• Once the pasta is ready, incorporate the red prawns with their juice into the pasta. Drizzle with a few drops of truffle oil and handfuls of basils as wished. Serve immediately!

Chinese New Year

Nai Nai (Mother-in-Law) Taro Cake

奶奶竽頭糕

1 large taro (~2&1/2 catty)

4 large Chinese mushrooms

3 Chinese sausages (lap cheong)

1 handful of dried shrimps

2 cups of rice flour 水磨粘米粉

1 cup of cornstarch

8 cups of water

1 tsp 5 spices powder

1& ½ tsp chicken powder

1& ½ tsp salt

2 medium sized stainless steel containers or foil trays

Preparation

• Slightly paint containers with oil.
• Well dissolve the rice flour and cornstarch with 2 cups of water, set aside.
• Discard stems of mushrooms. Soak mushrooms with cornstarch and wash thoroughly. Steam mushrooms for about 20 minutes, then dice and set aside.
• Soak dried shrimps overnight. Chopped small roughly.
• Steam Chinese sausages for about 5 minutes, then dice and set aside.

Cooking

• Sauté the diced mushrooms for 3 minutes, then continue by adding the diced sausages and dried shrimps and sauté for another 3 minutes, set aside.
• Peel and cut taro in chucky dices. Stir-fry taro with drizzle of oil for about 3 minutes.
• Pour in 6 cups of water along the 5 spices and the chicken powder into the taro and continue to cook in high fire.
• Once the taro is boiled, slowly incorporate the taro (with the cooking water) into rice flour mixture while constantly stirring the mixture. Failing which, your mixture might be cooked half way through and ruin its consistency for steaming.
• Well blend in the rest of the sauté ingredients into the taro and season to taste, if needed.
• Distribute the taro mixture into the 2 containers and steam for 1 hour. 
• Leave the taro cake to cool down in room temperature followed by refrigeration for a few hours or overnight before cutting it.

Serving

• Slice the taro cake into ½ cm thickness square as wished and pan-fry them until crispy brown on both sides.

Voila! 

In the roasting mood!

A Thankful Roast!

Get yourself in the festive roasting mood! A Poussin could be just as thankful as a Turkey!

1 poussin (French spring chicken)2 garlic cloves, crushed
sprigs of sage
sprigs of thym
demi-sel butter, diced
lemon zest
nutmeg
ground pepper
sea salt
20ml dry white
olive oil

• Pre-heat oven at 180 degree.
• Rinse and pat dry the poussin thoroughly. Season with nutmeg and lemon zest then set aside on a chicken chair.
• Mix together the butter, thym and garlic.
• Gently detach the skin over the breast and backbone. 
• Stuff the prepared butter under the skin. Smooth out the skin over the poussin and place it on a roasting tray. Season the chicken with sea salt and pepper  generously inside out.
• Tide the legs together and get prepared for roasting.
• Roast the poussin for around 30 minutes or more until cooked.
• Baste the poussin with the meat juice every other 10 minutes.
• Let the poussin rest for 10-15 minutes in a warm place. 
• Meanwhile, deglaze the roasting pan over medium heat on stove with water or white wine. Season to taste.
• Serve the poussin while warm and juicy with seasonal veg.  Spoon with the roasting juice over the meat.

Tips:

• If the skin turned golden brown too quickly during roasting, cover it loosely with a foil paper brushed with olive oil or butter. Be sure the foil would not break the skin.
• Basting the poussin while roasting will help generate more juice and lock the moist within the meat.
• Do not melt the butter as cold butter would bring out crisp to the skin.

Stick w Me!

Baked Portobello with Iberico Ham n Goat Cheese

Excellent appetizer to start with! 

Enjoy it with a flute of Ruinart!

 

6 small Portobello mushrooms

6 slices of Iberico ham

2.5oz Goat Cheese (Crottin de Chavignol), sliced into 6 circles

few sprigs of thym

1 clove of garlic, smashed

sea salt

freshly grounded pepper

• Pan-fry Portobello for 2-3 minutes with olive oil n a snob of demi-sel butter in high heat until half cooked. Season with sea salt n pepper.
• Place the Portobello on a baking tray, and paint each piece briefly with garlic.
• Place a slice of Iberico ham followed by a slice of goat cheese on each Portobello.
• Sprinkle thym and pepper on top and bake in the oven at 180 degree until the cheese turned crisp n golden brown.

Serve hot!

Works just like a Muse!

Spaghetti with Mud Crab

in creamy tomato sauce

A plate of seafood pasta in the middle of the week will never fail to enlighten your hard working days with positive energy!

serves 3 - 4

1 large live mud crab (Dungeness will do as well)

6 - 8 pieces of cherry tomatoes, halved

1 scallion, finely chopped

1-2 garlic, finely smashed

50g of demi-sel butter

100ml double cream

4 tbsp Parmesan cheese, grated

150ml dry white wine

handful of basil, chopped

sea salt n pepper to season

olive oil

500g of spaghetti

• Steam the crab as a whole for 20 minutes. Leave the crab cooled down then refrigerate for at least 2 -3 hours so the meat will stay firm and plump.
• Detach all crabmeat from the body, legs and claws as much and in big pieces as possible. Discard all dirt sac. Set aside.
• In a hot non-stick pan with olive oil and a cube of demi-sel butter, add in the garlic and sauté the cherry tomatoes over medium heat. Add the wine and season with pepper and cook for about 3 minutes till the wine has evaporated in half. Set aside.
• Cook the spaghetti to a large pan of boiling salted water with olive oil and cook till al dente, about 8 minutes, then drain.
• Meanwhile in a clean hot pan, sauté the crabmeat and roe with scallion in olive oil and butter for 2-3 minutes, season with pepper, then mix into the prepared tomato sauce. Incorporate the cream into the sauce and cook in moderate heat for another 1-2 minutes till well blended and heated. Leave the ingredients in the pan and off the fire.
• Once the spaghetti is ready, drain and toss into the sauce followed by the grated Parmesan.
• To serve, divide the pasta between warm plates and drizzle with a little olive oil (or truffle oil). Serve immediately.

Shanghai True Blue?!

Shanghainese Wonton 菜肉餛飩

For age…eees, even before we know what Shanghai is all about, our childhood has always been enlightened with occasional homemade Shanghainese Wonton. Overtime every single one in the family became a wonton veteran.

~ 100 wantons

the wrapper

100 pieces of wanton wrap (square shape ones at Shanghainese vendor)

the filling

1½ catties ground pork (HK$30-40)

2 catties of watercress 西洋菜 or 薺菜

2 packs of Sichun preserved vegetable, finely chopped

seasoning (adjust to personal taste)

~4 tbsp corn starch

~ 4 tbsp light soya

2 tbsp sesame oil

1 tbsp cooking oil

2 tbsp caster sugar

one egg wash

pinch of white pepper (optional)

splash of water if too sticky or more corn starch if too wet

the broth (for a bowl of 10 wontons)

1 tsp sesame oil

2 tsp soya

1tbsp shallots, green and white, chopped

boiling water

Preparation:

• Blanch watercress in boiling water for about 1 minute or until color changed. Set aside in a sieve. Squeeze water out of the watercress in batches (as if you do it with your towel). Finely chop the veg and set aside.
• Finely chop the Sichun preserved vegetable.
• Marinate pork with all seasonings.

Wrapping the Wonton (refer to pictures):

• Have a dish of water within reach.

• Place a teaspoonful of filling in the very center of the wrap, leaving about ½ an inch allowance from the edges.

• Fold the wrap in half lengthwise. It should change from a square shaped to a rectangle. Press the edge slightly to seal (brush a bit of water with fingertips between the edges if needed).

• Fold over the long edge of the wrap towards the centre by about  ½ a cm. 

• Then bring the 2 tips along the centerside of the wrap inward to overlap each other, pinch to seal with a drop of water.

• TaDa! The wonton should be able to sit up like a crown.

Cooking the wontons:

• Bring to a large pot of hot water, but not boiling, with a drizzle of cooking oil. If the water comes to a boil already, pour in a cup of cold water. Put in about 20 wontons at a time. When the pot comes to a boil, pour in a large cup of cold water. Repeat this process by pouring at least 3 cups of cold water. This process will help ensure the pork fillings are well cooked.

Serve immediately over a large bowl of prepared broth.

Tips:

• Wrap and cook one wonton to check the taste and texture before moving on to wrap the rest will allow you to adjust seasoning to taste.
• It is important not to put the wontons straight into boiling water, as the wrappers will burst easily. Pour in a cup of cold water if needed.
• You may put the unfinished quantity into the freezer for 2-3 weeks. They will taste just as good in broth, pan-fried served with Worcestershire or deep fried served with sweet & sour sauce.