Just an old fashioned char siew bao

I first made bao's when I lived in California in the 80s. At the time, there were no decent bao's to be had in the desert town I lived in. My only option was to drive 2 hours to dim sum restaurants in Los Angeles.

The industry-packed bao's available in Chinese supermarkets were, in a word, disgusting. What passed for char siew bao filling was just this bit of sweet red goo.

I have big choice of bao's here, so I don't have any real push factor to make my own.

Except that the comfort food called char siew bao which I remembered from my childhood has been through some evolutionary process. The bao's have become too "refined", if you will. I crave the more "robust" version I remembered sinking my teeth into; the bao back then had more "character" in taste and texture.

So, one day recently, when I had leftover char siew, I made my own bao's.

There is something deeply satisfying about biting into an old fashioned unpretentious char siew bao and taste every nuance of char siew wrapped in a basic steamed bun.

Making Bread

I already bake my own baguette and hard crusted dinner roll. I was interested to learn about other varieties of bread. There are many courses available in cooking/baking schools, but most of them are heavy on time and fee. The friends tell me that baking courses do come up in the community clubs, and they are right.

I signed up for the first available one that was held at a cc near me. It was the first of a two-stage course, each consisting of 4 one-afternoon a-week classes.

I love everything about the course!
I love the instructor. She is of the same mold of teachers I encountered in my school years. Dedicated, sincere, knows her stuff, never loses control of the class.

I love the course mates. Some are experienced bakers who wanted to know more about this particular category of food. Others are novices for whom everything about cooking/baking is thick mystery and unfathomable magic.

I love listening to everyone's stories of goof-ups and victories in their attempts to bake their favourite bread.

For me, I picked up on the one critical step that has been missing from my bread making all this while - the technique of folding/kneading the dough for surface tension so that the bread will hold it's shape!

Sadly I will not be able to do Stage 2 of the bread course because of schedule conflict, but I will make myself free to sign up for their cake course in November. Heh!

Suji : A Sweet and Simple Cookie

Suji cookies: it's one of those old-fashioned cookies I remember with great fondness from my childhood.

It's simple and sweet; the more luxurious version even carries a faint hint of almond or vanilla. I remember how I loved the way they would melt in my mouth, teasing the taste buds with a crumbly sweetness that is so decadent and comforting all at the same time that the day's worries are pushed away for the moment.

And like so often is the case, the simpler things in life are hard to come by. Store-bought suji cookes are either too coarse, too fine, too sweet or totally tasteless. I finally decided to try making my own.

They really turned out good for a first try, almost like the ones I had in the good old days:)

I have a question: why is this cookie called suji cookie when there is no suji in it?

JiaoZi - at last

I really really want to be able to fold jiaozi that is recognizable.

I studied this move by hitting the replay button many many times.

It looked easy enough. Then I put it to practice. I made many many strangely shaped things.

Until - finally - voila - jiaozi-shaped jiaozi's. Yes!

An old fashioned cake

I loved this steamed sponge cake as a child. I remembered the amah whisking eggs and sugar to a froth; then something about adding fizzy soda pop to make the cake rise; then carefully folding in the flour; then holding our collective breath as the cake steamed. Happiness was when the cake came out right - it must not "open" (this is not huat kueh), it must not sink, and it must not be full of holes.

The cake isn't particularly sophisticated in texture or taste; it just has nostalgic appeal. I decided that this will be my dessert contribution at the Chinese New Year dinners.

I tried several of the versions available online.Results ranged from spectacular failure to near-success. I finally approached an old style amah I knew from long ago. She ran the recipe and method by me, which I promptly put to the test.

This is the most successful one todate. The friends will have this old fashioned dessert over CNY. I add either dates or citrus peel to make the cake more celebratory.

Footnote : the online recipes are missing two vital "secrets" in their list of ingredients so the cake, if it doesn't burst open or sink, will just taste plain. I think their cooking (steaming) time is also too short.

p.s. Yes I will share recipe with those who are interested.

of Halva and Hafla

I have been researching sooji halva (otherwise, semolina pudding). Recipes are easy to come by, and most go by the ratio of 1:1:1:4 of butter:semolina:sugar:liquid. All sources say the dessert is good eaten cold or warm.

Most people prefer cold desserts to warm, especially with our climate. Take heed that the sooji halva made from the above recipe will set into a very thick unattractive and unappetizing gooey lump. After numerous unglorious tries, I find the best proportion is 1:1:1:8. For a dressier version, I'd skip the sugar, and make a syrup (lemon-, rosewater- or vanilla-flavoured) for adding to individual taste at time of serving.

This simple-to-make dessert was a big hit at dinner parties over the Deepavali weekend :)

Elsewhere, Belinda's tribal themed hafla was a big hit with the crowd. The performers put in a lot of effort to prepare for this.



The use of fire in their dance upped the spectaculo-quotient several notches. I feel like we celebrated the festival of lights in our own way:)

p.s. The next hafla by Belinda at Blu Jaz will be on Sunday, November 9.

p.p.s. November 9 date for hafla is cancelled. For updates, please check here.

Eating vegetarian (almost)

the filling (vegetarian):
jicama (bangkuang)
carrot
french beans

condiments (optional):
tau kwa, fried, then cut into small pieces
hard boiled eggs, finely chopped
chinese sausage (lap cheong), steamed, then thinly sliced
bean sprouts, lightly blanched
cucumber, finely julienned
coarsely ground peanut

sauces:
sweet popiah sauce
freshly pounded chili paste

I am trying to eat more vegetarian meals. It's not an easy thing to do because I really do enjoy my meats. And I will not have just a green salad for a meal. I'd rather just skip that meal entirely.

So of late, the man and I have taken to doing popiah for ourselves. We find that we can do one batch of the vegetarian filling and have 3 dinner meals out of it. We collect our small 300-gm order of popiah skin fresh for each meal.

Home made popiah, fresh popiah skin, whenever we want it. That's really living ...

Paella and Basbousa

The Spanish girlfriend cooked us the most delicious seafood paella.

Dessert was, by special request,
basbousa (بسبوسة)

Batter:
1/2 cup butter, melted
3/4 cup sugar
2 small eggs
2 cups semolina
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup water


Cream butter and sugar, beat in eggs, stir in water.
Sift together semolina, baking powder, baking soda.
Mix dry ingredients into creamed mixture.
Bake in preheated oven 180C for 40 minutes.

Syrup:
1 3/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 cup water
juice from 1 lemon

Boil sugar in water till dissolved. Add lemon juice. Simmer 10 minutes.

Pour syrup onto hot basbousa. Let stand overnight.

My favourite pizza

The absolute best thin-crust pizza to be had is at the Trattoria in Seminyak, Bali. Since it is not exactly in the neighbourhood that I can pop in whenever the craving grabs me, the next best thing is to make it myself.

I have tried different combination of flour mixes to come up with a crust that has that wonderful quality of crisp chewiness. This recipe comes closest to what I am striving for:

2 tsp dry yeast
1 tsp salt
2 tsp sugar
1.5 cups warm water
400 g bread flour
200 g plain flour
3 Tbs olive oil

1. In small bowl mix dry yeast and sugar in half cup warm water and wait till mixture bubbles.
2. Mix salt, bread flour and plan flour in large mixing bowl.
3. Make a well in flour and pour in yeast mixture, remaining warm water and olive oil.
4. Knead until the mixture comes together in a ball.
5. Transfer to a well oiled bowl. Let dough rise in a warm place till it is twice the original size (takes about an hour).
6.Punch down the risen dough and separate into 6 balls.
7. Roll the dough out into 24cm rounds (or stretch it by tossing in the air several times).

It is still not quite what Trattoria puts out, but I think this is a worthy close second.