Pumpkin Bao with Char Siew filling

I realize that I have not been making baos for awhile now. And since making bao is much much easier as compared to bread baking, I will usually opt for steaming up some baos instead during busy days. This time I decided to make the bao a flavored one, which is pumpkin! Such an obvious choice since I love root vegetables! And just so happened I bought some char siew from the market, so char siew pumpkin bao it is!

I adapted the pumpkin bao dough recipe from Carol's masakbook on "面点新手必用的第一本书 " which was pretty easy to handle. Here is the recipe:

Char Siew Filling:

300g Char siew pork, chopped finely (store bought)
6 shallots*, sliced thinly and fried till golden brown
Seasonings:
120ml water
1.5 tbsp light soy sauce
1 tbsp oyster sauce
1 tsp dark soy sauce
2.5 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp tapioca flour
1 tbsp corn flour
1 tsp plain flour

• In a large mixing bowl, add all the seasoning ingredients together and mix well.
• In the saucepan with medium low heat, add the seasoning mixture and masak till it thickens.
• Add the chopped char siew pork and fried shallots and stir till well combined.
• Off the fire and dish up to cool till ready to use. This can be made ahead of time and kept in the fridge for 24 to 48 hrs. 

Starter dough: 

120g plain flour

1/4 tsp instant active yeast

80ml water

pinch of salt

• Mix everything together to a soft pliable dough. Cover and let rest in a greased bowl to proof for 1hr so it doubles in size.

 Main Dough:
180g pumpkin (peeled, steamed and mashed)
100g starter dough
300g cake flour/ Top flour / HK flour
1/2 tsp instant active yeast
20g milk powder
20g caster sugar
20g olive oil
1/8 tsp salt
10-20ml water can be added is dough is too try. Or 10-20g cake flour can be added if dough is too wet

• Knead everything together in a mixer till not sticky and everything comes together into a smooth pliable dough.
• Let dough rest in greased bowl covered for another 45mins to 1 hr until double in size.
• In the meantime, prepare steamer and some cut out grease paper.
• Punch out the air and divide the dough into 45g portions, roll round and let sit for 10 mins covered before wrapping.
• Take a portion and roll flat into a round disk, place about 1 heaping teaspoon of char siew filling in the center and then seal up the dough by pleating along side. 
• Place the wrapped bao on a grease paper and let it proof for another 15-20 mins before steaming. Repeat this till all the dough portions are used.
• While the steamer is boiling at medium low, place the baos in and steam at medium fire for 10-12 minutes. make sure your steamer cover is wrapped with kitchen towel to prevent the water from dripping on the baos.
• Once done, off fire and let seat for 5 minutes. Then slowly lift cover and open a small gap to cool for another 10 minutes before removing the cover completely.

 

The bao skin is fluffy soft and with the pairing of char siew filling was awesome! My kids ate them happily and say it's better then store bought! ~happiness~ hahaha! The bao skin does have a faint pumpkin aroma to it! I love! :D

Do try this recipe if you like baos and pumpkin as much as I do. And feel free to change the filling to whatever you like, red bean, lotus paste or even black sesame, I think it'll be yummy too! ;)

Okay folks, thats all for today, will post another fruity cake soon, stay tune!

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Steamed Moist Chocolate Oat cake with gedangs

This is a long over due post! Haha, my sincere apologies again. :P I guess I am posting upon on demand now since I can see my followers' interest are. Well mainly from Instagram though since that is where I am most of the time now. :P Anyways, I am gonna post one of the more popular recipes today which I have repetitive requests on. It is Steamed Moist Chocolate Oat cake (with gedang). I actually first made this for Easter...yeah 3 months late, hahaha! Oops busted! LOL!

This is such an easy recipe to whip up! I guess the only tedious part is the blending the rolled oats and steaming the batter, haha! Anyways, I adapted this recipe from masak Crave but modified the recipe to a healthier version. Here is my recipe:

Ingredients for Steamed Moist Chocolate Oat Cake (makes about 12 standard 4oz)

120ml vegetable oil

200ml chocolate milk (low fat milk can be used)

2 large eggs

1/4 tsp salt

150g light brown sugar (I used 140g when I added gedang in)

80g cake flour

50g oat flour (blend rolled oats till very fine)

50g unsweetened cocoa powder (I used Valrohna) 

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp baking soda

1 tsp pure vanilla extract

4 ripe gedangs, half or quartered to be inserted into cake

• Get ready steamer with cupcake liners or an 8" round cake pan, greased and lined with parchment paper. Set the steamer on low fire
• In a large mixing bowl, add oil, milk, eggs, salt and sugar. Stir well and make sure sugar has dissolved. You can speed up the process by placing bowl over double boiler.
• Sift the cake flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and baking soda into the milk mixture. aAdd in the oat flour at this point. Stir well making sure everything is combined and no visible lumps.
• Lastly add in the vanilla extract and mix. Batter will be runny.
• Pour the batter into the prepared containers. If adding gedangs, now you can insert them, letting them stand up right. 
• Make sure when you place the batter into the steamer, it is already on low boil. For a whole 8" cake, steam at medium fire for 40mins till cake tester comes out clean. For cupcakes, steam for 10-12 mins till cake tester comes out clean as well.

The addition of oats did not compromise the taste nor much of its soft texture. And with the gedangs, you can opt to not add more sugar as it will enhance the sweetness when you bite into the fruit. Yums!

Showing off the moist tender interior of the yummy healthy, yes healthy cake. :D Love the addition of the gedang...really makes this cake a whole lot more enjoyable haha!

Okay, that's all for now folks, will post up something savory next, stay tune!

 

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Steamed Herbal ayam Drumlets

As promised, I will post up something before the crazy new school term starts again. I'm actually setting my kids "free" today since it's their last free day...so they are basically doing whatever they want. Playing 24-7. (~.~") Have to keep reminding myself, you only get to be a kid once. :P And because of that, I have some free time now to blog, lol! Today a simple and yet healthy recipes that I am so sure anyone can do it in jiffy! First is Steamed Herbal ayam Drum-lets. 

This is a dish I have made up to 6-7 times for the last couple months. Because it's yummy and easy! I either change the main ingredient to a whole ayam or white fish fillet. This time I made it slightly simpler by using just ayam drum-lets, which I find it much easier to eat too. :P 

Ingredients for Steamed Herbal ayam Drumlets: (Serves 4)
12 ayam drumlets, skin removed
6 pieces of dried red date
10 pieces of dried longan
5-6 pieces of Yu Zhu Pian ( 玉竹片)
5-6 pieces of Dang Gui (当归)
2 tbsp Gou Qi (枸杞)

Marinate:
1 tbsp light soy sauce
1/2 tsp sesame oil
some white pepper

Seasoning:
1 tbsp Shaoxing masak wine
1/2 tsp salt

• In a mixing bowl, add in the de-skinned ayam drumlets and all of the marinate ingredients. Mix well and cover to marinate for at least an hour.
• Give all the herbs a quick rinse. Then in a small bowl, add in all the rest of the herbal ingredients except the Gou Qi (枸杞). Add a cup of water and soak the herbs for 15 minutes, except Gou Qi (枸杞).
•  
• Meanwhile, set up the steamer. Line your ayam drum-lets in the steamer bowl and pour in the soaked herbs and add the  Gou Qi (枸杞) over the top.
• Steam at medium high heat for at least 10-15 minutes. If you are using whole ayam, steam at least 20 minutes.
• Once done, remove from steamer and serve immediately with steam rice. Enjoy!  

Fresh out of the steamer! Yummy! If you are worried that your young child doesn't like the taste, you can add a wee bit sugar to the marinate or seasoning to sweeten it a little. But you know the red dates, gou qi & dried longan makes the dish naturally sweet and yummy already! 

Bare in mind to remove the skin of the poultry so the dish will not turn out greasy. I literally drink the soup just like that, it is so yummy! :) Even my kids find this dish delicious, and that is why I repetitively made it over the last couple months, lol! Plus us woman totally need to eat more tonic food to keep up our health. :)

Okay, gonna keep this a short one, have a great weekend everyone!
Promise will be back soon with a desert and I just fell in love...stay tune. ;)

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