Mooncake-Taro/Yam Flaky Mooncake (芋頭酥)

It is all started from my friend who encouraging me to make mooncake this year. I do not have the 'push factor' until the eve of Mid Autum Festival after trying her snowskin mooncake. Since this is my first attempt, I have chosen an easier version for myself.....Yam Flaky Mooncake. The yam filling is easier to prepare than the lotus paste although there is a slight challenging in rolling out the skin. It takes time to be master. It takes me two days to master with the rolling. That is the reason, the actual quantity of my finished product (mooncake) turns out to be lesser as the filling was the balance from the earlier day.

The skin of this mooncake requires two different dough: Oil dough and Water dough. You may use butter as the leavening agent but the strong flavor of butter will eventually cover the yam's flavor. I would recommend to use vegetable oil for mooncake since we want to really enjoy the flavor of the filling.

For the filling, I used the ratio of 1:5 of oil to yam and I noticed that it is too dry. In my next trial, I am planning to increase the quantity of oil in order to improve the wetness of the filling. Smoothness is an important factor in the mooncake filling. Insufficient oil, the filling will look a bit dry. That is the reason I do not even dare to let my dad to try this batch of mooncake due to the dryness of the filling.

Some recipe calls for color. Since I am always using natural color, I am using beetroot this time as it is the only color I have in my fridge. That is the reason my mooncake does not look like the traditional mooncake color. For other color preparation, please refer to my blog on "Natural Food Coloring".


Yam Filling (20-24pcs)
500 g of yam filling
100 g of castor sugar
100 g of vegetable oil (you may use shallot oil for more fragrance)
A pinch of salt
30 g of wheat starch

Oil Dough
200 g of all purpose flour
90 g vegetable oil

Water Dough
230 g of all purpose flour
80 g water and coloring (beetroot)
80 g vegetable oil
30 g castor sugar
1/2 tsp vinegar

1. Yam filling: Cut the yam into slices and then steam using medium heat until the yam is soft. Immediately, transfer the yam into a food processor and blend with oil, sugar, salt and wheat starch. Set aside and let the filling cool down. Weighing out the filling at 35 g each.

2. To prepare the oil dough, mix flour and oil well. Knead for a while and let it rest for 30 minutes. Similar method is applied on the water dough except, you need to spend around 3-5 minutes in kneading the water dough in order to form a soft dough. Let water dough to site for 30 minutes as well.

3. After 30 minutes, divide the dough evenly by dividing each the weight of water dough and oil dough with 10 pcs.  Roll them in a ball.

4. Assembly: It is important to pay some attention on the rolling. Here is a good link of video showing how to roll the skin. Video of making Flaky Mooncake by KiwiSite

5. Preheat oven at 175'C and bake the mooncake for around 20-25 minutes.

Natural Color Rainbow Cake

Finally, it comes to the eve of my son's birthday (9 Years Old). Tonight, I have to bake at least 6 layers of butter cake with different color. Why at least 6 layers? It is because I might fail in the first attempt and need to re-bake it. Anyway, it is a really an exciting night for me. 

For the coloring, I opt for natural color. As a health conscious person, I am really worried on the chemical in the food coloring. With mentally and physically prepared, I am planning to use natural color for this cake. I think it is really important to get yourself physically prepared as you need to do a lot of cleaning and cooking in order to get the different color. Why mentally? It is because the color that you want to achieve may not be as nice as the artificial coloring. The color may not be as intense or as sharp as you thought.

You may refer to my website on the preparation of "Natural Food Coloring". Although it is tiring, I would say it is worth to spend some time as you do not have to worry on the chemical in the food coloring. Trust me....healthy is the most important. Do not think of tiredness...just take it as an enjoyment to prepare healthy food for the family.

Having said that, I do really feel proud of myself for spending so much time and effort in preparing the natural color for this cake. At the end of the day, you will feel the satisfaction when you see your kids enjoying the cake that is safe with natural color. No preservatives and no artificial coloring  :)

Ingredients for 1 layer of 8" round cake
100 g cake flour
60 g sugar
1 tsp baking powder
90 g butter
20 ml (milk and coloring)
3 small eggs
(NOTE: For the green color cake, you may add in 1 tsp of green tea. Other ingredient remain the same)

1. Preheat oven at 170'C.

2. Whisk butter and sugar until fluffy. Then, slowly blend in the eggs, milk and coloring while folding in the flour until everything is blended well.

3. Pour into a baking pan. Layer the batter well and bake for around 5-10 minutes. (Make sure that you had layered a piece of wax paper onto the bottom of baking pan)

4. Cool down the cakes, and put into fridge for at least 2 hours or overnight. This step is to ensure that the cake layers are harden and much easier to handle during assembly steps.

I have forgotten to take 2 batches of color....maybe I am too rushing  :)

Assembly the cake

This is the most important stage. We do not want to have a topple or uneven cake. I am using butter cream for my layering icing because it gives a stronger holding power as compare to whip cream. As a beginner, I always go for a safer approach. If you are a beginner, please watch the video on How to Decorate with Buttercream before started on the assembly steps. 

Butter cream
240 g butter
600 g icing powder
4 tsp vanilla essence
120 ml milk (or less, depending on the butter cream consistency)

Layering a thin layer of butter cream in between each layer of butter cake 

1. Butter cream acts as the 'glue' for the layering. Thus, before starting any layering, apply some butter cream on the cake board. Then, put on the first layer which is red onto the board. Make sure the cake layer sticks well on the board.

2. Then, starts applying a thin layer of butter cream on top of that red layer. Thickness should be around 2-3 mm as you do not want the cake to be so creamy. Do not worry of the appearance. 

3. After the butter cream is evenly spread onto the red layer, put orange layer on the top. Apply butter cream and repeat the same steps for other layers. 

4. Please remember to follow the RAINBOW COLOUR arrangement: RED, ORANGE, YELLOW, GREEN, BLUE, VIOLET

5. With the remainder of the butter cream, you may use to layer the side of the cakes to make sure that the gap is filled. 

6. Transfer the cake into the freezer to harden the cake again before frosting.

Frosting the cake: Cream Cheese frosting
225 g Cream Cheese
60 g butter
1 tsp vanilla essence
150 g icing sugar

NOTE: You may need to adjust the sugar according to the frosting consistency at room temperature. If the weather is warm, you need less of the icing sugar as cream cheese is softer. I have accidentally using 200 g and it is actually flowing down (eye tears) when I used it for my frosting.

Colorful layers....the color is not as attractive compare with 'food coloring'

Natural Food Coloring

Coloring is an important ingredient in any baking. We want our cake to look attractive, thus coloring is important to achieve that outcome. There are a lot of negative comments on the food coloring and this makes me quite worrying whenever I am using food coloring. Due to my laziness, I always find an excuse to go for food coloring.

Everything changes today. I want to go for Natural Color from now on. We have been eating a lot of unhealthy food and I do not want my home becomes another unhealthy place. Everything comes in 'yin and yang'. If too much 'negative' food, at home always have to provide 'positive' food to balance up the life. This is just my thoughts. Maybe it is not correct  :)

Here are the colors that I would like to prepare:

Violet: Blueberry
Blue: Purple cabbage
Green: Green Tea
Yellow: Saffron
Orange: Carrot
Red: Beetroot

Since I am going for natural color, I always prepare the color a few days in advance. I froze the color in the freezer and defroze them by locate them in the vegetable compartment for a few hours before use them to bake any cake.

Here is the preparation of the colors:

1. Red: 1 medium Beetroot 

Beetroot is the best coloring due to its intense color. The color is so dark and you do not need to use a large quantity of it. The juice of the beetroot can be easily extracted using a juicer.  Then, transfer the juice into a pot and cook over a medium heat until it is thicken up.

2. Orange: 3 medium Carrots
Juice out the pure carrot juice using a juicer. Then, transfer the juice into a pot and cook over a medium heat until it is thicken up. The color looks a bit darker.

3. Yellow: 1 tbsp Saffron
Transfer Saffron into 2 tbsp of hot water. Let it sit for half an hour until the color is extracted out.

4. Blue: 1/2 medium purple cabbage  

Boil 100 ml of water. Put in the cabbage and let it boil until the cabbage leaves are soften or for around 10-15 minutes. Strain out the cabbage, reduce the liquid until it is thicken. Add just the tiniest pinch of baking powder (you really have to go slowly here or you can turn the whole batch green). Keep adding baking soda in small amounts until the color just turns blue. Remember,  the color of blue can still change. If you add it to an acidic food, it will go right back to purple.

I was accidentally added too much of baking soda and the color turns out to be slightly greenish

5. Violet: 100g of blueberries
Wash and blend all the blueberries in a blender. Then, transfer the juice into a pot and cook over a medium heat until it is thicken up.

  

Black Tagliolini with Cream and Mushroom

Few weeks ago, I bought myself several packets of squid ink from a grocery shop. I was really happy and bought 4 little packets that can make 400 gram of pasta dough. That is the first thing that came across my mind when I saw the squid ink.

I have no time to explore into it until few days back when I have to stay at home to look after my fever girl. While she was sleeping, I managed to steal around 2 hours to prepare the black Tagliolini.

Black Pasta Dough

Despite its dramatic black color, this pasta has a delicate flavor with just a hint of the sea. My kids find the color is so special and love it very much. Now, they are started to ask me to prepare different color of pasta.

Ingredients
1 tbsp squid ink
4 eggs
400 g plain flour

1. Mix the squid ink with the eggs, then blend this mixture with the flour. Knead properly until all the ingredient are blended properly and forming a dough. Let it rest for 20 minutes before roll at the pasta machine. Do not worry if the color is not uniform as you will eventually obtain a uniform pasta after several passes through the pasta machine.

 2. The pasta machine takes a lot of the hard work out if the rolling and stretching process. Just remember that you still need to take the time to work through all the settings until you reach the final setting in order to obtain the elasticity and silkiness that gives the best pasta. Different machine may work differently and please read through the machine instruction for the rolling and stretching process.

3. After getting the desired thickness, dry the pasta sheet for around 30 minutes before cutting into the desire width. I am drying the pasta by hanging the sheets over the chopsticks.
(NOTE: You may need to use a lot of flour to dust the final noodle in order to prevent them from sticking)

4. After drying process, you can cut the pasta using the pasta machine. In this case, I am using fine setting for the pasta noodle. Dust the noodle with a lot of flour to avoid the prevent the noodle from sticking.

Mushroom Sauce
Ingredients
3 tbsp olive oil
200 g of mushroom mix mushroom, brown and white mushrooms; removed all the roots
200 g bacon, cut into small pieces
200 ml of cooking cream
1 medium onion, diced
salt to taste
pepper to taste
a dash of parmesan cheese

1. Prepared all the ingredient and set aside.

2. To prepare the sauce, heat up the olive oil in a pan . Saute the onion until it is soft. Add in bacon and continue to saute until the bacon is brownish. Add in mushroom and saute for around 1-2 minutes until the mushrooms are soft. Add in the cooking cream and continue to braise for another 1 minute. Off heat and set aside.

3. To prepare the spaghetti, cook it with plenty of boiling water until al dente. Since this is a fresh pasta, the total time to cook the pasta will be shorter. Drain, reserving a little of the cooking water.

4. Heat up the sauce and transfer pasta into the sauce. Toss well and season with salt and pepper. Serve immediately with Parmesan Cheese.

Ipoh Shredded Chicken Rice Noodles (Kai See Hor Fun) 怡保鸡丝河粉 (Version 2)

Why is there a version 2? Is it an improvement from Version 1?

Yes....it is and by judging only from the photo itself, you can tell that there is a lot of different!

The secret of version 2 lays on these two items: Prawn oil and Chicken soup

In my previous attempt, personally I do not find that the color of my noodle is very impressive. There is not enough 'red' color in my soup. I have been scratching my head thinking of which ingredient could give the 'red' color... definitely not chili; how about prawn's head? I tried to cook prawn's head with oil using low heat and to my surprise, red oil is produced!!! It is really amazed me.

Another improvement is the soup itself. In this attempt, I have added sweet turnip in my soup and it makes the soup change to slightly milky. The taste is so 'sweet' and the color is really looked like the one I found in Ipoh. I am really happy to announce that this is a real Ipoh Kai see Hor Fun!!!

Ingredients
(Serving of 4-6 persons)

For the broth
1 medium chicken 
3 liter of water
300 g of prawns, washed and deveined (reserved the prawn shells)
300g sweet turnip
Rock sugar (about 5 pieces or to taste)
Salt to taste
2 tbsp of oil

Shrimp oil
200g prawn's head
125ml oil


Garnishing
Chives
Fried onions (shallots)
Bean sprouts
Shredded chicken


Making the shrimp oil

1. Heat up the oil using low heat. Add in the prawn's head and saute until the oil is separated out.

Making the broth

1. Heat up 3 liter of water. When the water boils, soak the chicken in the water. Lower the heat and let it cook until it is done. It takes around 40-50 minutes. Upon cooked, immediately transfer the chicken to a pot of cold water and let it soak for at least 10 minutes. This step is important to make the meat juicy and tender. Then, remove the flesh from the bone. Put the bones back to the chicken stock. Reserve the chicken meat; shredded before serving the meat.

2. Using the same wok, saute the prawns shells for around a minute or until they turn to golden colour. Then, transfer to the chicken stock (step 1). Normally, I will use some water to raise the pan to make sure that all the prawn's juice that are stick on the pan is being transferred to the chicken stock (with bones). Simmer for an hour or longer until you see a milky chicken broth.

3. Strain the stock. Taste with sugar and salt. You may use chicken stock concentration to enhance the taste (optional).

                                             



Garnishing
4. Shredded the chicken meat and set aside.

5. Blanched the prawn meat in the soup, removed.

6. Cut chives into 1 inch strips. Blanch


Noodles
7. Blanched a serving of hor fun and bean sprouts in a pot of boiling water for around 5-10 seconds. Put into a bowl. Add some prawns, shredded chicken and chives. Then, add in the boiling broth. Before serving, garnish with fried shallots.

Spinach Seafood Spaghetti

To cook any dried pasta, it is important that the pasta should be cooked until it is al dente-that is, soft on the outside but still firm to the bite on the inside. Al dente can be achieved by cooking dried pasta for 1 or 2 minutes less than the suggested time on the packet. While the pasta is cooking, pick out a piece occasionally with a fork and chew on it, to see if it as reached the desired texture. I personally like pasta very al dente, so I cook my spaghetti for only 5 minutes or so.

As soon as the pasta is cooked to your satisfaction, remove it from the heat and drain it, retaining a little of the cooking water, which can then be used to moisten the finished dish if it seems too dry. I usually like to add the drained pasta to the pan containing the sauce, so the pasta absorbs the sauce in the final minutes of cooking.

To cook Spinach Seafood Spaghetti, it is important to have sufficient spinach which has been blended with sufficient olive oil. Unlike Pesto, this spinach sauce is cooked with seafood to enhance the flavor of this sauce. I am really hope that your picky kids love this dish.

Ingredients

400 grams dried spaghetti

200 grams prawns, washed and deveined

2 pieces of squid, cleaned and cut into pieces

250 grams bacon, cut into small pieces

250 grams of spinach, blended with sufficient olive oil

1 small onions, diced

2 tbsp of olive oil
3 slices of Cheddar Cheese
1 tsp of dry basil flakes

salt to taste

pepper to taste

A dash of Parmesan Cheese

1. Prepared all the ingredients and set aside.

2. To prepare the sauce, heat up the pan. Saute the onion until it is soft. Add in bacon and continue to saute until the bacon is brownish. Add in squid and prawns. Saute for around 1 minute before adding the the blended spinach. Continue to saute until spinach is cooked. Do not worry when you see plenty of water. Off heat and set aside.

3. To prepare the spaghetti, cook it with plenty of boiling water until al dente. Drain, reserving a little of the cooking water.

4. Sprinkle the basil into the sauce, put the pan back over low heat and add the spaghetti. Add in the Cheddar Cheese, salt and pepper. Toss well until the Cheddar Cheese melts and incorporates with the spaghetti. Add in a tablespoon or two of the reserved cooking water if the sauce seems too dry. Serve immediately with Parmesan Cheese.

Chicken Broth

Chicken broth is very easy to prepare and it is normally used as a soup base for all kind of noodles, eg. Ban Mian, Ipoh Shredded Chicken Rice Noodles.

The secret of having a good flavor of soup is to make sure that the water is boiling before adding in all the ingredients. In order to avoid any blood residue in the soup, it is important to blanch the chicken carcass in the hot water before transferring it into the soup pot. For the first 30 minutes, it is important to make sure that the water is boiling and then, you can reduce to low heat and continue to simmer for another 2 hours.


Ingredients
2 whole chicken carcass
50g dried split anchovy
150g sweet turnip (peeled, chunked)
10g rock sugar
1/2 tbsp crushed pepper
5 liter water
salt to taste

1. Bring the water to boil. Put all the ingredients in the pot and reduce to low heat.
2. Cook for approximately 2 hour. Add in salt and sugar.
3. Sieve the broth and set aside.