Ham and Cheese Bun (TangZhong method)

Ever since my husband bought me a new toy, Kenwood Mixer, I starts to bake. Baking becomes less hectic now especially in bread making and whipping egg white. To make this investment worthy, I will try my best to bake every week. Hopefully, this resolution will last forever  :)

Using Tangzhong method again, I am trying to use my new toy to knead my bread. After doing a lot of research in the library as well as via youtube, I gain some theoretical knowledge. Now, I have to get ready for the actual hand-on experience..... it is normally took longer time to be the expert. I am really excited.

In order to avoid any disturbance from my kids as well as to give them a surprise breakfast, I have to sacrifice and plan to wake up 4.30am. My mom always said that I am a bit obsessed and that is the reason, I feel much more tired during weekend as compare with weekdays. As an early bird, I am still feel alright to wake up early.

The bread turns out to be extremely good! My family enjoy the bread so much. All my effort is worth to see how they enjoy the buns. I begin to fall in love with TangZhong and will make more bread with this recipe.

Ingredients of TangZhong

25 g of bread flour (slightly less than 2 tbsp)

125 ml water

Ingredients of bread
200 g bread flour
50 g flour
2 tbsp of sesame powder
2 tbsp of sugar (ignore this is your sesame powder contains sugar)
2 tbsp milk powder
150 g TangZhong (use all the tangzhong that you made above)
1 1/2 tsp yeast
1 large egg
75 ml water (the amount of water is varies by different type of flour)
2 tbsp butter (cut into small pieces, softened in room temperature)


Prepare TangZhong
1. Using a whisk, combine the flour and water until the form a homogeneous mixture.
2. Heat up the mixture using low heat and continue to whisk until the mixture forms a thick solution.
3. If you have a temperature, remove the batter from the heat when the temperature reaching 65'C.
4. Immediately, transfer the batter into a bowl and cover it.
5. Refrigerates it for at least 24 hours before use it in the recipe.

Prepare Bread
1. Step 1: Combine all the ingredient together in a mixing bowl except the butter. Using a hook whisk and whisk on low speed until all ingredient blend together to form a dough.

2. Step 2: Then, proceed with medium speed. At this stage, dough appears rough and dense or the dough attaches on the hook.

3. Step 3: Continue whisking until dough is 'slapping' the bowl. During this step, you may add in the butter and continue to whisk until the butter blends well with the dough. After that, you may use 'window pane test' to check the dough readiness.

4. First proof: Roll up the dough and transfer in a bowl and cover with wet cloth/plastic wrap. Let is proof for at least 60 minutes or the dough is double/triple in size. To test the dough, gently poke the dough with a finger. The dough is ready if the indentation remain but not deflate. Remove dough to work surface and divide the dough around 50 g size. Roll them into loose ball and let is sit for around 10 minutes.

5. Shape dough: Use a roller to roll the loose ball into a flat surface (like a pizza base). Arrange on the baking pan and make sure there is sufficient gap between the dough to proof for the second time.

6. Second proof: Cover the dough with wet cloth/plastic wrap and let it proof for 40-60 minutes at room temperature.

7. Bake: Arrange the ham and cheese on top of the dough.  Brush the dough with egg wash (egg yolk mix with 1 tbsp of water). Sprinkle some parmesan cheese just before baking. This will enhance the flavor of the bread. Bake at 175'C for at least 15 minutes of until the bread is brownish.

8. Remove from the oven and let it cool down before transfer into an air tight container. The bread remain soft and fresh for at least 2 days. Since this recipe call for ham and cheese, it is advisable to put into the fridge if you need to keep for the next day.

Nasi Lemak

Yippeee.....school holiday starts!!! I am celebrating on behalf of my kids as I do pity them due to loads of homework they have in school. Other to celebrate the beginning of the holiday, we are also welcoming some relatives from my husband side. Normally, I will choose to cook for a few days just to host them even though I am not a good cook  :)

With the experience that I had during the Nasi Lemak feast I had in February, I gain some confident to prepare Nasi Lemak today with some books and online information. I would say, today is my first time preparing this 'unhealthy' dish. Even my husband and son are so shock when they knew about my menu!!!

Anyway...just for this time and try out my recipe that sits on for years. On top of that, I am planning to cook for a vegetarian version is the meat version goes well. It is to get ready my next year Chinese New Year menu which is only 11 months later!!

Since the rice is cooked with coconut milk, the flavor is really rich and most kids will eat the rice by itself even without any other dish. Other than coconut milk, the rice is cooked with pandan leaves (screwpine leaves) to enhance to flavor.

Having this meal around with kids is always challenging as they are not able to take any chili. Thus, most of the side dishes are dried separately and no chili is added. Sambal chili is served separately for adults. On top of that, I have also specially prepared "Fried Chicken with Lemongrass and Turmeric" for my kids. 

Ingredients:

Coconut milk steamed rice

2 cups of rice

3 screwpine leaves (tie them into a knot)

Salt to taste

coconut milk

water

Tamarind juice

Tamarind pulp (size of a tennis ball), add 1/2 cup of water to become assam water, discarded the seeds

Sweet Sambal tumis

5 dried chilies

5 fresh chilies

15 shallots

1 big onion

2 cloves of garlic

1/2 tsp of belacan (shrimp paste)

1 tbsp sugar, to taste (or gula melaka for stronger taste)

1/2 tsp salt

1 to 2 cup of oil

Other ingredients

3 hard boiled eggs, cut into half

Fried peanuts and tempeh until crispy

Fried Chicken with lemongrass and turmeric

Fried anchovies, washed, drained and fried with oil

1 Cucumber, sliced

1. Wash and drain the rice. Add the coconut milk, a pinch of salt and some water. Add the pandan leaves into the rice. Let the rice soak with the coconut milk and water for at least 30 minutes to make the rice more fluffy. The ratio of coconut milk with water is around 1:3. Cook the rice according to the rice cooker manual.

2. Rinse the dried anchovies and drain the water (Please do not soak the anchovies, if not it is difficult to make it crispy). Fry the anchovies until they turn light brown and put aside.

3. Cut tempeh into a size of 3x1 cm (depending on your preference).Fry tempeh until they turn light brown and put aside. Then, fry the anchioves until they turn light.

4. With the remainder oil, fry peanuts as well.

5. Blend the prawn paste with shallots, garlic and deseeded dried and fresh chilies. For easier blending, add in some oil (1/4 cup of oil). Blend until the ingredients turn into fine paste.

                                    

5. Use a clean pan. Pour chili paste and add in another 1/2 cup of oil into the pan. Stir fry for 10-20 minutes over medium low heat. Continue stirring until the chili paste will turn darker, light and oil separated after long stirring. Add in assam water, salt and sugar, continue stirring for another 5-10 minutes. Set aside.

6. Dish up the steamed coconut milk rice. Serve with fried anchovies, fried peanuts, hard boiled-eggs and a few slices of cucumber. In additional, you may also serve with fried chicken.

Fried Chicken with Lemongrass and Turmeric

My husband is really fond of Indian dish and he has requested me to prepare a fried chicken with some Indian flavor in it. It is a real challenge for me especially I do not really like fried food. Left with no choice, I have to Google around. Finally I manage to get similar recipe from the blog of Nasi Lemak Lover. I  did make a slight modification to suits with my family taste buds.

I have tried to use a lot of oil to fry, unfortunately it is still not that 'dry'. That is my husband's comment. I promise to fry longer so that the skin is really crispy.

Here is my first attempt of fried chicken....

Ingredients
10 pieces of chicken wings, cleaned

2 lemon grass
2 cm of ginger
5 shallots
2 cloves of garlic
2-3 tbsp of water
2 tbsp turmeric powder
2 tbsp of masalah powder
2 tps of salt
1 tbsp of corn flour


1. Blend lemon grass, shallots, ginger, garlic and water together until fine paste. Marinate chicken with all the ingredients for at least 1 hour.

2. Heat up a pot of oil. Test the readiness of oil using a chopstick. Once fine bubble appears around the chopstick, it indicates that the temperature is sufficient for frying.

3. Fry the chicken until brown and drain the excess oil using a strainer. Serve hot.

Braised Potato with Pork Knuckle

This is a surprised dish for my friends during this Nasi Lemak feast gathering. Instead of cooking spicy dishes to match with today's theme, I am planning to cook something that is totally not spicy. The reason I am preparing this dish is because 40% of the guests are kids and I do not think the kids can enjoy the spicy food for today's theme.

This dish is originated from my grandma and passed down to my mom and now to me. That is the reason, you hardly see this dish on menu.

As usual, the freshness and cleanliness of the knuckle is really important. Since it takes longer time to braise the knuckle, I have to prepare this dish as early as possible in order to get ready by 11 am. I went to the wet market early in the morning to buy a knuckle and reminded the butcher to clean it thoroughly including removing the hair properly. On top of that, I also requested the butcher to cut the knuckle in small pieces so that it takes shorter time to soft. Am I a fussy customer?

The first thing I do is to boil a pot of hot water to blanch the knuckle to remove the blood and dirt. I would say, the most challenging part in cooking this dish is the cleaning steps. The cooking step is quite straight forward especially when it comes to braise method.

To cook this dish, you will only need bean paste, garlic, onion, cinnamon stick, ginger and potatoes. That's all!!! Isn't it easy?? After you fry the ingredients until fragrant, put in the knuckle and continue to fry a bit before adding in water to braise the knuckle until it is soft. After that, adding in potatoes and continue to cook until potatoes are soft and the gravy becomes a bit thickening.


Ingredients
1 pork knuckle (around 1-1.5 kg), removed hair, cut into small pieces
5 cloves of garlic, minced
5 shallots, minced
2 cm ginger, minced
5 cm cinnamon stick
3 tbsp of bean paste
sugar to taste
2 tbsp of oil
5 potatoes, cut into 4 pieces
Sufficient water


1. Boil a pot of hot water to blanch the knuckle. This step is really important to remove any blood and dirt in the knuckle. Blanch for around 1 minute and then remove from the pot. Keep aside.

2. Minced all the ingredient together; shallots, garlic, ginger and bean paste. 

                   

3. Heat up a pot. Add in oil and then the bean paste together with all the minced shallots, garlic and ginger. Using low heat, stir fry the ingredient until fragrant. The oil may dry up. Do not worry as we add in the knuckle and fat from knuckle will flow out later.

4. Then, add in the knuckle and continue to stir fry until all the knuckle pieces are being covered with the bean paste. Add in 1 liter of water and let the knuckle to braise using low heat. Add in the cinnamon stick at this stage.

5. Continue the braise the knuckle until it is partly soft. Normally, it takes around 30 minutes. After that, add in the potatoes and continue to braise until potatoes are soft. Let some of the potatoes to melt and give thicken the gravy before turn off the heat. You may add in some sugar to give a better taste.

Sweet and Sour Pork Chop

Last night, before I went to bed, my son requested me to prepare pork chop for lunch. Since this is a request from my beloved son and to keep the promise, I woke up really early to the market to get the best pork chop from the stall. I went to the butcher directly and bought 4 thin slices of pork chop. I would prefer a thin slice which is around 1 cm thick as it is easier to cook.

My mom ever told me the secret to tenderize the chops is to 'hit' and 'slap' the chops. In order to make the chops tender and soft, the meat needs to hit with the back of the knife. After hitting both sides, the meat should be slapped with the side of the knife. Each side of the meat should be slapped for at least two times. This process is very important to tenderize the meat without using any chemical.

After the hitting and slapping steps, the meat is ready to marinate. Marinate with sesame oil, salt and pepper in order to enhance the meat flavor. Marinate for at least 30 minutes before pan frying the meat using low heat. Arrange the chops in the pan with the thickest, boniest parts towards the center of the pan where they get the most heat. Sear the chops, about 2 minutes on each side. Watch carefully, as soon as the chops are browned, flip them and once both are ready, you can turn off the heat. Since, this meat will later braise with some sauce, it is fine if it is still uncooked.

While waiting for the meat, you may prepare the sauce. The sauce is prepared by mixing the ketchup, plum sauce and a little bit of sugar. Do not add in water as this will dilute the sauce.

Other than having a good pork chop, onion is also another important ingredient. Pan fry the onion slices until translucent before adding in the chops. This will bring the onion flavor into the meat. Continue to stir fry until the meat is cooked. You may add in some water if the pan is too dry and let it braise a while.

Once the meat is cooked, stir in the sauce and continue to stir fry until the sauce is dried up. You may serve this dish with warm rice.

Ingredients:
Pork chops
4 thin slices of pork chops, hit and slapped with the knife
1 tbsp sesame oil
salt to taste
pinch of pepper

3 tbsp of custard flour
1 tbsp of corn flour
sufficient oil for searing

Sauce
3 tbsp ketchup
3 tbsp plum sauce
1 tbsp sugar


1. To prepare the meat, use a back of the knife to hit both sides of the meat. After that, use  the side of the knife to slap the meat for at least two time on each side. These steps will tenderize the meat even without using any chemical.

2. After the tenderizing steps, the chops have to marinate with some salt, pepper and sesame oil for 30 minutes. Just before searing, coat the meat with custard and corn flour.

3. Heat up the pan to medium or high heat (hot enough to sear the meat). Once the pan is hot, add a teaspoon of oil or fat to the pan and coat the bottom of the pan. Put the chops in the pan. Make sure they are not crowding each other too much. There should be space between the chops in the pan or the meat will steam and not sear properly. Sear the chops, about 2 minutes on each side. Watch carefully, as soon as the chops are browned, flip them and once both are ready, you can turn off the heat. Since, this meat will braise later, it is fine if it is still uncooked.

4. Remove from the pan and cut into small slices.

5. In the mean time, prepare the ketchup sauce by mixing all the sauce ingredient together.

6. Heat up the wok and add in a teaspoon of oil. Then, add in the onion and stir fry until the onion is translucent. Add in the small pieces of chops and continue to stir fry. Add in some water and let the meat to braise until the meat is cooked.

7. Once the meat is cooked, add in the sauce mixture and continue to cook until the meat absorb all the sauce. Let the sauce thicken before remove from the pan.

Super Soft Black Sesame Bread (Tangzhong method): Bread Machine

I begin to bake bread more than 10 years ago. The most challenging part of baking a homemade bread is to retain its softness for a few days. There are a lot of different recipes that claim to be able to retains its softness, however, it fails to meet my expectations. Since I am a health conscious person, I will ignore all the recipe that call for bread improver. I have tried to use DOE (design of experiment) to tweak the recipe, however, the softness of the bread is still not able to last more than a day.

I am so happy that I come across with this recipe of using TangZhong method. Finally, I found a method that does not need to use bread improver and yet giving the softness that I want. A fresh bake bread is so soft, springy and fluffy. Thanks a lot for the inventor, Yvonne Chen 陳郁芬 who wrote a book entitled "65'C 湯種麵包" (Bread Doctor).

Since TangZhong solution needs to prepare in advance, it is important to plan the baking job earlier. Unlike Sponge method, TangZhong solution can last for 2-3 days. Normally, I will prepare it a day earlier and use everything in my recipe. The ratio of water with flour is 1 part to 5 parts and it is important not to over cook the mixture as high temperature may destroy the gluten in the flour. I will usually mix the flour and water until homogeneous before heating the mixture using medium heat. Continue to stir the solution using a whisk until the mixture is thicken and and you can see formation of lines during stirring. Remove from heat immediately and quickly transfer it into a bowl and cover it before putting into a fridge. If you have a thermometer, the batter is ready when the batter reaches the temperature of 65'C. It is believed that at 65'C, the gluten in the flour and water mixture would absorb the moisture and become leavened. When TangZhong is added into other ingredients of the bread, the bread dough will be heightened and produced softer bread.

Ingredients of TangZhong

25 g of bread flour (slightly less than 2 tbsp)

125 ml water

Ingredients of bread
250 g bread flour
2 tbsp of sesame powder
2 tbsp of sugar (ignore this is your sesame powder contains sugar)
2 tbsp milk powder
150 g TangZhong (use all the tangzhong that you made above)
1 1/2 tsp yeast
1 large egg
75 ml water (the amount of water is varies by different type of flour)
3 tbsp butter (cut into small pieces, softened in room temperature)


Prepare TangZhong
1. Using a whisk, combine the flour and water until the form a homogeneous mixture.
2. Heat up the mixture using low heat and continue to whisk until the mixture forms a thick solution.
3. If you have a temperature, remove the batter from the heat when the temperature reaching 65'C.
4. Immediately, transfer the batter into a bowl and cover it.
5. Refrigerates it for at least 24 hours before use it in the recipe.

Prepare the Bread
1. Add all the ingredient in the bread machine. Follow the instruction of your bread machine.
2. Go for 'white bread' setting. You may use '1 lb' setting to bake this bread.
3. At the end of around 3 hours, you will get a soft and fluffy bread!!!

Spring Rolls (Vegetarian)

Recently, I am becoming a fan of vegetarian dish. Although, Chinese New Year has just over, I have already started to hunt for a new recipe for the coming Chinese New Year. It is quite a challenge to plan a vegetarian meal for meat lovers.

The first menu attracts me is the Spring Roll. This dish is very suitable for those who do not really like vegetable. This is a simple dish with only 3 ingredients; turnip, fungus and carrot. Since this recipe comes with fungus, it gives a slight crunchiness during eating. Give it a try, even my kids love it so much!!

Ingredients:
300 g turnip, grated
1 carrot, grated
5 fungus, soaked and sliced thinly
2 tbsp oil
A pinch of salt
A pinch of pepper

8 spring roll skin
Sufficient oil for frying

Filling
1. Grated turnip and carrot separately.

2. Heat up 1 tbsp of oil and stir fry the fungus for around a minute until the fungus is a bit soft. Remove from the pan.

3. Heat up another 1 tbsp of oil, stir fry the turnip and carrot for a minute. Add in some water and braise until the turnip and carrot is soft. Add in the fungus and season with salt and pepper. Continue to cook until the gravy is dry. Remove from the pan and let it cool down.

Wrapping and fry spring rolls
1. Wrap the filling using the spring roll skin. Continue until all the filling is used up.

2. Heat up a pot of oil that is sufficient for frying. Check the oil temperature by using a pair of wooden chopsticks. The temperature is ready when there are tiny bubbles bubbling up along the wooden chopsticks.

3. Fry in the spring roll and remove from the pot when it is ready. You may serve as finger food with some chili sauce.

Steam Herbal Chicken

This healthy dish is really convenient for those individuals who are busy and yet wish to enjoy a healthy meal with their beloved family. You may opt to steam this dish on top of the rice cooker while cooking the rice. This is what my mom normally did when I was a kid.

After cleaning the chicken by rubbing with some salt, the chicken has to marinate with white egg. This is the secret of this dish as the chicken flesh will stay smooth after coated with a layer of egg white. Marinate for a round 5 minutes before adding in some sesame oil, soy sauce and ginger juice. Further marinate for another 30 minutes.

While waiting for the chicken, soak the fungus, mushroom, wolfberry and red dates. Cut the fungus into small pieces. Mixing all the ingredients together and marinate with sesame oil, salt and sugar. Do not add any water as this will dilute the taste. Steam chicken for at least 40 minutes.

Ingredients:
1/2 chicken, cut into small pieces
1 egg white
1 tbsp ginger juice
5 mushroom, soaked
5 fungus, soaked
5 red dates, soaked
1 tbsp wolfberry, soaked
1 clove of garlic, minced
1 tbsp sesame oil
1 tbsp corn flour
soy sauce

1. Clean the chicken by rubbing with some salt. Rinse and dry the chicken.

2. Marinate with egg white for 5 minutes. By applying a layer of white egg on the meat, it will give a smooth  and soft texture on the meat.

3. Further marinate with sesame oil, soy sauce and ginger juice for 30 minutes.

4. In the mean time, cut the mushroom into 2 pieces. Cut the fungus and red dates into small pieces as well.

5. Once the chicken is ready, combine all the ingredient together. After combined well, steam the dish using medium heat for 40 minutes.

6. You may serve with rice.

Hainanese Chicken Rice

It is not too difficult to cook a delicious Chicken Rice. As long as you follow all the secret steps, you can easily make your own delicious Chicken Rice.The most important is to have fresh ingredient especially the chicken and the herbs. The fragrance of the herbs will eventually bring the rice to the next level where we can really eat the rice by itself without any dish. 

It is necessary to have at least a chicken in order to get a good flavor of chicken rice. It is preferred to get a pot that has a size as close as the chicken so that you can immerse the whole chicken into the water without having too much water. The objective of this is to have a concentrate chicken stock so that you can use the stock to cook the rice. Besides water, we need to cook the soup with ginger, lemon grass and pandan leaves. Immerse the chicken with these herbs for at least 45 minutes or fully cooked. After that, lift the cooked chicken out of the boiling water and quickly immerse into the cold water (tap water). This will stop the cooking process of the chicken besides allowing the chicken's meat to absorb some cold water so that the meat will remain juicy and tender. After 5 minutes, remove the chicken from the cold water and cover the chicken with sesame oil. This will prevent the skin/meat from dehydration.

In the mean time, rinse and drain the rice. Use the chicken stock to cook the rice by following the manual instruction of the rice cooker. Add in some fresh pandan leaves into the rice. This will make the rice very fragrant.

Ingredients:

Soup

1 chicken (around 1-1.5 kg)

3 stalks of lemon grass

5 cm of ginger

5 pandan leaves

3 cups of rice

salt to taste

sesame oil

Chili Sauce

6 chilies

2 cm of ginger

1 clove of garlic

100ml vinegar

salt and sugar to taste

Ginger sauce

4 cm of ginger

50 ml olive oil

salt and sugar to taste

1. Heat up a pot of water. Make sure that the water level is high enough to cover the whole chicken.

2. When tiny bubbles start to form, add in the lemon grass, ginger and pandan leaves into the water.

3. In the mean time, clean the chicken by rubbing salt throughout the whole chicken. After rinsing with water, immerse the chicken in the hot water.

4. Let the water to heat up slowly and once it is boiling, lower down the heat and close the lid. On and off, turn the chicken. Depending on the size of the chicken, it will normally take around 45-60 minutes to cook the chicken. You may test the chicken readiness by checking at the thigh area.

5. Once the chicken is ready, lift up the chicken from the pot and immediately transfer and immerse the chicken in cold water. This is an important step as the cold water does not only stop the cooking process, it will allow the chicken's meat to absorb some water. This will make the flesh juicy and tender. Let the chicken soak inside the cold water for around 5-10 minutes. After that, lift up the chicken and hand it dry for a minute before use some sesame oil to rub all over the chicken's skin. This is to retain a layer of moisture on the skin.
                                   

6. While waiting for the chicken, rinse and drain the rice. Use the chicken stock to cook the rice. In order to get oily rice, use as much the oil portion from the soup. If the oil is not sufficient, you may add in a teaspoon of butter in the rice. Add in the pandan leaves, ginger and lemon grass (from the soup) as well. Cook the rice according to the rice cooker manual. 

                          

7. As for the chili sauce, put all the ingredient in a blender. Blend until fine and season with salt and sugar.

8. As the ginger sauce, put all the ingredient in a blender. Blend until fine and season with salt and sugar.