Fluffy Dinner Rolls!

Yum! This dinner roll recipe is from Betty's Kitchen on youtube.

This makes an amazing dinner roll! You have to try it!

I used my KitchenAid to make this but you can definitely make it by hand.

Ingredients

2 ¾ to 3 ¼ cups all-purpose flour (I'm actually not sure how much flour i used at the end)
¼ cup sugar
½ teaspoon salt
1 package (2 ¼ tbsp) active dry yeast
70g butter, softened
2/3 cup warm milk
1 egg (at room temperature)
melted butter, enough to brush tops of rolls

Directions

In your mixer bowl, add in and mix well 3/4 cup flour, 1/4 cup sugar, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 2 1/4 tbsp of yeast.

Add in the softened butter.

After this, gradually add in the warm milk and beat for around 2 minutes or till thoroughly mixed.

Add in the egg and 1/2 cup of flour and mix till it's a thick batter.

Slowly add in more flour while beating it continuously with a dough hook.  

Beat it till it forms a smooth and elastic dough.

**This is actually why i don't know how much flour i used eventually because i just kept adding till i felt it was the right consistency. I stopped when the dough stuck slightly to the bottom of the bowl while beating.

**I also don't only knead using the KitchenAid, i always finish it by hand to ensure that i reach the right feeling of the dough. This comes with experience but it is definitely doable. In Chinese cooking books, you knead till you attain 3 types of brightness: your hand, the table/bowl that you are kneading in and the dough itself. What this means is that the dough is no longer sticky, so your hands and table/bowl is clean and in a way, shiny. Your dough should also be smooth and elastic, not sticky.

After kneading, place the bowl in a greased bowl and cover with cling film to rise in a warm place for 1 hour. (Since i always bake at night and it's not very warm here, i preheat my oven for around 5 minutes to get it slightly warm then switch it off and leave the bowl in there to rise.)

After rising and doubling in size, i divided the dough into 14 portions.
*I measured the dough so that i could get equal portions. Each piece of dough was around 54g, but that would differ according to your individual dough.

With each of the portions, roll them into a nice smooth ball.

Place on a baking tray lined with baking paper and place them about 2cm apart to give them space to rise.

Cover with cling film and leave to rise for another hour.

Taking melted butter, brush the tops of the dough. I also sprinkled a bit of coarse salt on the tops to give it a little salty burst.

Bake in a 200 degree oven for 10-15 minutes until the tops are a nice brown colour.

Enjoy them warm with more butter!

P.S. The funny shape of the insides of the dough is because of the way i rolled them into balls. But they still taste amazing!!

Thanks Betty!

Yalla's Prune and Vanilla Yogurt!

I don't usually like to eat yogurt, but i found this little treasure at the Eveleigh's Markets @ Redfern.

(Picture taken from http://yalla.com.au/YallaDesserts/prunevanillayoghurt/tabid/82/Default.aspx)

This is so good and creamy and delicious!

The prunes add an unexpected flavour which is not at all common and the prunes are a generous amount, not a puny sized topping.

I really love their dips as well as their yogurts and i will be so upset when i return to Singapore and not get to eat this anymore.

So i'll just be getting myself some and eating away while i'm still here. 14 days to go.

I hope they will be considering expanding their business overseas though.

I just finished a small tub of this and i still have a big tub of vanilla yogurt to enjoy.

But just letting you guys know that this is an amazing product and grab it when you see it, cause it's awesome.

YUM YUM.

Homemade Granola

i like mine with granola but i don't eat it often nor i have ever tried making it.

So.. i recently made applesauce and i thought i should make some granola to go with it.

I decided on a simple one.

Ingredients

Dry ingredients
2 cups rolled oats
3/4 cups or more wheat bran
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
Some sesame seeds
1/4 tsp salt

Wet ingredients
100ml honey (add more if you want it sweeter – i don't like my foods too sweet, so i added less, but you can definitely add more, it would clump together more too)
1 tsp vanilla essence
1 1/2 tbsp neutral flavour oil – i used peanut oil
2 tbsp brown sugar

Extra ingredients
1/2 – 1 cup raisins
Othe dried fruits or nuts as you wish

Directions

Mix the wet and dry ingredients well individually.

Then mix the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients.

I wore a glove for this – mix the ingredients together pressing and squeezing so that all the ingredients get well mixed with the honey mixture.

Line a baking tray with parchment/baking paper and lay the mixture on evenly.

In a 160 degree oven, bake the mixture for 25 mins.

Take it out, and stir/mix well. Then into the oven it goes again for another 25 mins.

When mixing, you will feel that the mixture is still quite soft and not crunchy, don't worry, it will crunch up when cooling.

I didn't use much honey, so my granola was not clumpy. If you used more honey than i did, keep stirring and separating while the mixture is cooling so that you can determine how clumpy you want the mixture to be.

Add in the raisins/dried fruits.

Yum Yum Yum.

Have it over yogurt with homemade apple sauce. or.. i think i prefer this.. in milk. Ooooo.. on frozen yogurt too!!

I think it's quite healthy, with all the fibre in it but because it has been baked, i think it makes this a little heaty esp if you added in a good amount of nuts. So eat it in moderation ok?

Dim Sum – at the Fish Market!

I love dim sum! who doesn’t? even my dear fish who doesn’t like seafood likes dim sum. It’s like the only time ever that he eats prawns. haha.

This going to be a picture heavy post. One of the best places to have dim sum in sydney in at the Fish Market. It was so crowded the day we went, a sunday afternoon but we managed to get a good seat with loads of natural lighting so i think the pictures look good. We went with fish’s parents since they were around for his graduation.

First up!

 
Steamed dumplings. If i’m not wrong, it was with chinese chives and prawns, together with the chilli sauce, it was awesome!

 
Chee cheong fan – with char siew and prawns (the plate at the back). It was good. I think i don’t have to mention my reaction to each dish. cause it was all good!

Up close with the prawns. very fresh and delicious!

More prawns!

 
More prawns! Har Gow!

Shi Hui’s favourite. Chicken feet!

Fish’s favourite. Beef balls!

 
Siew Mai. very nice. we have seconds and thirds.. i think.

 
Deep fried something. It had to be good.

 
Deep fried prawn sushi.

Egg tarts. slightly oily though.

 
Takoyaki! Nice nice!

Peking Duck! We each had a plate. It was good. the meat was tender and there was no gameness. very very nice.

Radish puff. not something i like. so, meh.

Fish liked this. It was mango with cream.

 
Eggplant, prawn paste and tofu in a black bean sauce. yum yum.

Porridge. not the best. but we found a good one just down the road from our house. and to think we’ve never eaten there in 3 years!

 
and to end the great day, fish and his parents went for a beer while me and hui went for Chatime! Milk tea with grass jelly. my favourite.

After eating, we went for a walk to the Sydney Opera House. but before that, we bought a vacuum cleaner. Here’s fish:

hahahahahaha.

Have a good one! :)

Breakfast For Dinner!

So, i’ve always wanted to eat a nice big proper breakfast but it always seemed to much trouble to wake and early and go through all that trouble.

So, i decided a few nights ago. we shall have breakfast for dinner!

 
Let’s see.

On my plate – i had a little of everything!

We have:

Bacon, Chicken & Leek sausages and Spicy Spanish Chorizos that we bought from Pyrmont Growers’ Market and they were delicious! The Chorizos are amazing!

Then we also have – from Pyrmont, Kipfler potatoes roasted in olive oil, salt, pepper, Italian herbs and dried rosemary. They actually taste a little like sweet potatotes.

And then we had pancakes – which i love. made from a japanese pancake mix. It comes with a packet of maple syrup as well. Very good. I had the leftovers for dinner tonight and it was good.

Fresh shitake mushrooms from Pyrmont. I might not have cooked them right. It was good, not yet amazing. Shall try cooking them in a different way and see.

Scrambled Eggs! Made with the free range eggs from Pyrmont. Delicious! 2 eggs per person.

And that.

was a lot of good food.

i couldn’t finish my sausage. and a few of my other sausages. and i didn’t eat the bacon. but i ate a little more potatoes.

So, although it might have been my plate. i definitely did not finish all that was there.

hehe. but i loved it. we loved it.

i think i forsee more breakfasts for dinners!

Yay!

When was the last time you had breakfast for dinner? =)

葱抓饼 – Spring Onion Pancake

Remember the book from before? 三杯面粉72变?

I have finally made my first recipe from there.

I love to eat spring onion pancake – in any other form as well.

I made it once … a few months back, but it wasn’t successful.

This time. It is. Just not a 100%.

What caught my eye was that it was roti prata like. Only, it didn’t taste like roti prata.

It was all good. What was nice was that it was very crispy and crunchy. but. it was not soft enough. meaning the layers in between.

To me, 2 things could have gone wrong. Firstly, this is a 烫面团, meaning that the dough was made using hot water. So, my water might have not been hot enough to cook the gluten which produces a soft dough. This recipe called for warm water instead, so maybe mine was not warm enough or my version of warm is really cold. =)

Secondly, i think i might have rolled the dough too thinly making it really flat, hence instead of crunchy outer layers and soft dough inside, all i get is the crunchy outer layers.

Still Still… it tasted good. and i will definitely try again to make it better.

Ingredients

Dough

2 1/2 cups of plain flour – 350g
1 cup warm water (I'll find out the exact temperature needed)
<1 tbsp oil

Filling

1/2 cup flour – 70g
4tbsp oil
3tbsp sesame oil – or pork lard

Enough spring onions
Salt

Directions

Make the dough first.

In a bowl, add the sifted flour and water. Since it will be warm/hot, use a pair of chopsticks to mix the dough and water together. When it is breadcrumb looking, and not too hot, change to your hands instead. Combine everything.

Add the oil and keep kneading in the bowl till the oil is absorbed.

Onto your table, or in my case, my favourite tool at the moment is my silicone baking mat, start kneading your dough. You have no idea how easy cleaning up is.

The original instructions weren’t too clear, but i don’t think you have to knead for a long time, just till everything comes together in a nice soft dough.

Place the dough back into the original bowl that has now been oiled. Cover with a towel, or in my case, i just covered it with the silicone mat.

Let it rest for 30 minutes.

In the meantime, get ready the filling.

Chop up the green onions.

For the part that makes it crunchy, take the 1/2 cup flour and combine it with the 7tbsp of oil. *This i have to try again as it did seem a little too watery, i might just use 6tbsp instead of 7.

By this time, the dough should be ready.

This part on, it might get a little complicated.

Taking the rested dough, which should be nice and soft, roll into a cylindrical shape. and divide the dough into 6 or 7 equal portions. I did 6.

Taking one portion, roll it out into a long oval shape.

Sprinkle a generous amount of salt.

Using a spatula or brush, spread 1/6 of the amount of oil mixture around the dough.

Sprinkle the spring onions.

Sprinkle salt again if necessary – and yes i think it is, cause my end product was not salted enough.

From the long ends (which are the sides) of the dough, roll the dough into a long rod-like shape. It will get messy because some of the oil mixture is gonna overflow and get everywhere. That’s where a silicone baking mat is really handy.

After rolling it into a long shape, using your knife, or pastry cutter, cut 2-3 time across the length of the dough.

 
The slicing across the dough is to ensure that it is able to turn later.

After slicing, put it aside to rest for approx 5 minutes while you continue to do the rest.

After resting, or if you did it in batches – like me.

It’s time to roll them up.

 
First, you twist the rope of dough. As in the picture above. Then with one end, you start turning it inwards, to form a snail shell shape.

What i neglected to do in this picture, but i did figure out when rolling the dough out, is to tuck the tails into the bottom so they don’t stick out.

Make them all into such shapes and then.. clear the table, clear the mat.

Now. Plastic bags. Not the shopping ones, the ones we use to keep food in.

Taking 6 plastic bags, open one side of each bag.

Place the rest of the bags aside.

Place one dough into the centre of the bag.

Using a rolling pin, roll it to about the size of the plastic bag. But don’t overdo it, you still want it to have a bit of thickness – if not you’ll end up like mine – all crunchy and crispy.

The good thing about this is that, they can be frozen and they won’t stick onto each other. So every time you want to eat one, just take one plastic bag out and fry.

Remember, this is not a low fat dish. The pancake needs oil to fry.

 
You would think that with all the oil, this is going to taste oily. But it is not. If not, how would it be crispy?

We were having Pork ball congee with this that night and i had onion oil on hand. So i drizzled some – actually it was Fish’s genius idea. It actually tasted really good. 很香! but it made it taste a little oily.

I’m very happy with myself. I will definitely be making this again.

I made this yesterday and today, we had loads of green onions left. I regretted not using more for this dish. The amount of green onions i used could have been doubled, even tripled.

So.. i made Spring Onion Pancake again today! Only this time, it’s different, but English doesn’t differentiate between the two. It’s 葱油饼.

This one is not as oily. and uses a yeast dough and is definitely not as messy.

I made that tonight and placed them in the fridge since we were too full after dinner.

But i will post the recipe and pictures after i taste them!

Spring Onion Feast!!

Spinach, Bacon, Mushroom and Feta Quiche

Ok.

The first time i ever ate quiche was at Corona Cafe – a cafe just across the road. I loved it but it was expensive @ $9.50 per slice (if i am not wrong).

So, after nearly 2 1/2 years, i’ve decided to try this out for myself. and it was a smashing success!

 
I had to go around the whole of Eastgardens to search for a quiche pan. Poor Fish was running around with me the whole time.. =)

Anyways, this is really simple and can be made with ingredients you already have on hand. The only small problem that you might have is not having the puff/shortcrust pastry.

Supposedly, quiches are made with shortcrust pastry, but i couldn’t find a readymade tart case and i had butter puff pastry in the freezer, so i decided to just use the puff pastry.

I had some problems with blind baking the first time, it didn’t work – i’m still having to learn how to do this properly – so if anyone knows, please let me know.. =)

Therefore, i didn’t blind bake – the only problem with not doing this is that the dough at the bottom – due to the liquids, become soggy – but it didn’t bother us, so it was of no problem. =)

The recipe below is not 100% similar to what i made – i used double the amount of spinach and although it was nice, i found the spinach too overpowering and it was really a spinach quiche.. so i decided to cut the portion by half.

Here goes…

Ingredients

250g – 500g English Spinach Leaves – from the salad section (leaves only and washed)
3 XL Eggs
3 slices of Bacon (more or less is up to you)
250g Feta Cheese (mine was a smooth version – but i think all kinds should do)
300ml Pure Cream (way more fattening – i’ve heard you could just use milk or half milk half cream)
8 pieces of white button mushrooms (optional)
2 shallots (or any onion)
2 cloves of garlic
1-2 sheets of Butter Puff Pastry

Directions

Many of the recipes suggest blanching the spinach and squeezing the water out. For me, i decided that this gets rid of too much nutrients and i do not want to use my hands and squeeze water out of my spinach! My hands will smell of nothing my spinach later. So,

1. Chop the onions and garlic finely. Preheat oven to 180 degrees.

2. Fry the slices of bacon in a big frying pan – for later. Fry till the bacon is crisp and delicious! We used Bok’s Bacon, a free range pork that was woodfire smoked. Supermarket bought bacon in Australia is lousy! In Singapore it’s okay though. After they are crisped and cooled, crumble with hands and place aside.

3. In the same frying pan, using the fat from the bacon, fry the onions first followed by the garlic (to ensure they don’t brown since they have a much shorter cooking time as compared to the onions). Add the mushrooms. Add in the spinach in batches – unless you have a really large frying pan – The leaves will wilt and you can proceed to add more leaves until all is added.

4. Keep frying over medium heat, keep frying till all liquid has been evaporated and you’re left with a dry mixture. I suppose with mushrooms the cooking time might be slightly longer for they have a higher liquid content. But it will take max 15 mins. Season to taste.

5. While frying, crack the 3 eggs into a big mixing bowl and add 300 ml of milk/pure cream. Whisk the mixture well. Add in the bacon as well.

6. After Steps 3 and 4 are done, give a little time for 3 to cool down.

7. In the meantime, slice up the feta cheese, which should come in a block. You can place this into the mixture whatever way you like, but i took half and sliced it smaller and added it into the egg mixture.

8. Get ready your quiche pan. Mine is non-stick so it was not necessary to oil the pan. Place a sheet of puff pastry over the pan, and using your fingers, press it down and over the sides of the pan slightly (nice crust there). It is slightly difficult if you’re doing it the first time, but don’t worry, if there are cracks or holes, just take excess pastry and mend it – no one will ever know. After it looks fairly decent, use a fork to prick the pastry all over. I’m not sure if this is necessary since i am not blind baking it – but whatever, it won’t hurt.

9. By now, the spinach should most possibly cooled down and you can add that into the egg feta mixture. Stir well to combine and pull apart some of the spinach as they tend to be tangled all together.

10. Pour the mixture slowly into the puff pastry lined quiche pan. Mine was pretty full around 5/6 of the pan and it didn’t over spill when baking, so i think it should be pretty safe.

11. Taking the cubes of Feta cheese, place it all over the top, pushing it slightly into the mixture.

AND… you’re done!

12. All it needs now is to go into the preheated oven for approximately 20-25 mins. But keep an eye on it to see the colour changes till it’s a shade that you like. To test if it’s cooked, use a fork/knife and poke into the centre, if it comes out clean, YOU’RE DONE!

13. Unmold and serve warm.

This can be kept in the fridge for several days and should taste good at room temperature as well.

I apologise for the above pic. I didn’t manage to take a picture of a nice slice. This was a midnight snack and i left it in the toaster for a minute too long, so it is slightly darker in colour. Still tastes really good though and i love puff pastry!

I hope you guys liked the quiche and try it out at home – it really is relatively simple. You can change it anyway you like. Just bacon, just spinach and feta, just mushrooms and bacon.. etc etc.. I will definitely be trying more variations soon!

Happy Belated Halloween and Eat Well Everyone!

Black Glutinous Rice – My Fav!

Black Glutinous Rice is my favourite dessert + breakfast ever! Especially since i LOVE coconut cream soooo much!

I’ve always loved this dish and yet i’ve never realised how easy it is to make it.

This is all you need.

For 3 portions – not huge portions

Ingredients

1 cup Black Glutinous Rice
Enough Water
Coconut Sugar (Mine comes in a log that has been halved so i use around 1/4 of the whole log)
Coconut Cream

Directions

Wash the rice well then add enough water to simmer the rice for around 2 hours. It takes time for the rice to softened. I have never really measured the time it took – it takes a while but not forever.

Don’t be too hasty in adding additional water – check its consistency first.

After it has softened, add in as much or as little coconut sugar as you like. I shave the sugar so that it dissolves fast. Don’t add this in too early as it will create the thick texture that when bubbling, spits all over the countertop!

Another important thing is to remember to stir!!! Although nearly everytime i made it, the bottom sticks a little – i always forget to stir. =)

Add loads of coconut cream and enjoy!

Simple Banana Muffins!

This is really simple and definitely a lunchbox keeper!

 
This picture isn’t very good – i apologise. But Fish and Hui (who doesn’t eat bananas) really liked it.

Banana Muffins

4 medium-large bananas – mashed up well
1 cup sugar (brown/white – depending on what you like)
1/2 cup oil ( i will try using butter next time)
1 tbsp vanilla essence

• Take all the above ingredients and mix it together in a big bowl (which i really need btw) =)

2 cups plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup sour cream

• Then mix all this in. I didn’t sift my flour – didn’t seem to hurt the muffins in anyway.

Try not to overmix the batter as it will develop into a tough muffin.

Also, i wanted to use cupcake papers on these, but realised i didn’t have the big ones – so i didn’t – and it came out GREAT! It has a brown caramel crust-like thing going on the top and the sides were nicely browned. I didn’t need to oil the muffin tray or anything as well.

Then i just sliced up another banana and placed 2 slices of banana on top of the muffins.

Then into the preheated oven it went at 180 degrees for 25 minutes (that’s the colour you get seen in the first picture) – although it could be nicer if placed in for maybe 35 minutes – keep an eye on it.

I also baked some in the smaller muffin trays and placed just one slice of banana, they fit perfectly.

They are really quite nice – Fish and hui really likes them. They taste great whether they’re eaten cold or warm or hot. Which makes this a great lunchbox addition!

We ate them for dessert today – warm with vanilla ice cream.

Yum Yum.