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.

                          

Japanese Cotton Cheesecake

I am the type person who do not really like cheesecake. However, I am amazed with this fluffy and soft cheesecake. The taste is mild and this cheesecake is not as dense as the traditional cheesecake and yet the cheese flavour taste so good when it melts in your mouth. I was first get to know about this cheesecake 6 months ago and I have no time to explore it until these few days when it is nearer to X'mas since this is holiday season and no activities for kids as well.

The secret of baking this cake is the egg white. You must have a stiff white egg in order to get a fluffy soft cheesecake. You may refer to this link on "How to beat egg white."

Initially I thought using more egg white will help the texture but it turns out very wet and soggy. Thus, in this recipe I have reduced the egg quantity in order to improve the cake texture.

Another thing to take note is the batter. It is necessary to sieve the batter in order to remove all the big lumps. This will make your cheesecake more perfect.

Ingredients
40g Cake flour
15g Cornstarch
40g Butter
125g Cream Cheese
80ml milk
3 medium egg yolks
75g sugar
2tbsp lemon juice
3 medium egg white


1. Preheat oven to 150'C

2. In a bowl, combine milk, butter and cream cheese together. Heat and melt them using a double boiler method. Slowly whisk them until a smooth mixture is formed. Let it cool down.

3. Sieve both cake flour and cornstarch together and put aside.

4. In a separate bowl, whisk the egg yolks with 40g of sugar until pale yellow. Slowly blend in the milk cheese mixture from step (2) and then add in lemon juice.

5. After that, slowly mix in flour into the mixture (4) until the mixture is homogeneous.

6. If there is large lumps, sieve the mixture (5).

7. In a clean bowl, whisk egg white with sugar until a stiff white egg is formed. Please refer to "How to whip egg white".

8. After obtaining a stiff egg, fold in the egg white slowly into the cheese mixture (5). Please refer to "How to fold in egg white".

9. Pour the batter into a wrapped square tin or spring foam. Bake the cake in a boiled water pan. (Similar method as you bake cheesecake).

10.Bake the cake at 150'C for 1hour and 20 minutes. You may test the cake readiness using the toothpick method.

11. Once it is ready, off the oven and let the cake continue to sit inside the oven with the door ajar for another 5-10 minutes. A sudden change in the environment temperature will cause the cake to shrink.

12. Remove the cake from the oven and let it cool down fully.

13. Chill the cake in the fridge for overnight and ready to serve.

Sambal Kangkung

Kangkung also known as water spinach is a vegetable that is usually found throughout the tropical and subtropical regions of the world. It is easily grown in front of our house compound and due to this, it is a common dish in our daily life.

There are a lot of methods of cooking this dish but the most common is stir fry this vegetable with chili and belacan. Since the stem is hollow, water spinach can remain its crunchiness after cooking. This dish is really nice especially when it is served with hot rice.

To make the chili paste, it is important to use more onion than garlic. The paste will taste better if there is more onion in the paste, If you prefer more spicy, you may increase the number of chili in this recipe. In order to get a fine paste, add in some oil in the blender and blend. Using oil is better than water as the paste will eventually fry in the oil till fragrant.

When frying the chili paste, low heat is used in order to avoid any burning on the chili paste. A chili paste is ready when you see oil flow out from the paste.

Ingredients 
1 clove of garlic
6 pcs of shallots
3 chilies
belacan to taste
3 tbsp or sufficient oil to stir fry chili paste
300 g of water spinach, cut into 3 inches long
100 g prawn, remove shell and devein

1. Blend garlic, shallots, chilies and belacan together. You may add in some oil (2 tbsp) so that it is easier to blend into fine chili paste.

2. Pour the blend chili paste onto a pan. Heat up the pan. If there is not enough oil, add in another 1 tbsp into the paste. With low heat, stir fry the chili paste until oil is flowing out from the paste.

3. Add in prawn and stir-fry for a minute. Turn the fire into high heat. Then, add in water spinach and stir-fry for another 30-60 second or until the water spinach is cooked.

Black Bean and Spareribs Soup

Black bean has a lot of benefit from TCM point of view. It is good for the spleen and kidney while reducing blood fat level. Due to its benefit, this soup nourishes the Yin by regulating blood chemistry, benefit the kidneys and darkens hair. Thus, this soup is good to be taken during Summer.

It is very easy to boil make a delicious Chinese Soup. You should use high heat to bring the soup to boil at the very beginning. After boiling for about 30 minutes, you may turn to low heat and simmer the soup for the specified time. Soups made with such varied heat usually taste milder and they have better medicinal effects.

Make sure you serve soups before meals, or even better, before dinners. As soups are like solutions of various nutrients, it's best to serve them before meals on an empty stomach. The absorption in the digestive tract is the most efficient at that time.

Ingredients
300 g black beans
20 pieces of red dates, soak and clean with water
600 g spareribs
1 dried octopus (about 38 g)
salt to taste

1. Rinse spareribs. Scald it in boiling water for 3 minutes. Remove and set aside.

2. Rinse the remaining ingredients. Soak black beans and octopus separately in warm water for 30 minutes.

3. Boil 2 liter of water in a pot. Upon boiling, add in black beans, spare ribs and dried octopus in the pot.

4. Use high heat for 30 minutes and reduce to low heat and cook for 1 1/2 hours.

5. Finally, add in red dates and continue to cook for another 30 minutes.

6. Taste with salt before serve.