Taiwanese street food - Gua Bao 刈包

One of my favorite Taiwanese street food is this - 刈包 Gua Bao. Although there are more and more Taiwanese street food stores and restaurants in Singapore, but not many serve this street food. Since this month AB theme is Bao, I shall recreate this bao and bring back the taste I have been craving.

Gua bao in my interpretation is 扣肉包 with 咸菜 and 花生。This combi actually add crisp, taste and texture to the normal 扣肉包, and make this Bao so irresistible and unforgettable.
I adopted this 扣肉 recipe for the pork(I used lean meat as it is healthier, in Taiwan you can also choose lean meat to go with this Bao). And used back my previous recipe for Bao. I did a short cut for the 咸菜 and grounded peanut: bought 咸菜 in a bottle and ready made ground peanut.

扣肉recipe:
Ingredients:
1 pack of lean pork meat (sliced)
1 tsp Hua Diao wine
1 tbsp ginger, onion, garlic (diced)
2 tsp soy sauce
1 tsp dark soy sauce
1/2 tsp Five spice powder
2 small cube of rock sugar
Some pepper

Method:
1. Fry ginger and garlic till fragrant. Add onion and fry till golden brown.
2. Add sliced pork, fry till cooked.
3. Add soy sauce, dark soy sauce, wine, five spice powder, rock sugar, pepper and stir fry.
4. Add some water. Turn to high heat and wait to boil.
5. Turn to low heat and simmer for 1 hour. Set aside.

Bao Skin Ingredients: (about 10 Bao)
175 gm bao flour sifted with 1/2 tsp double action baking powder
Mix together - 100 ml lukewarm water, 20 gm caster sugar and 1/8 tsp vinegar
1/2 tsp instant yeast
1/2 tbsp shortening

Method:
1. Add yeast to the water mixture. Let yeast rest and foam up abit before adding flour. Mix well.
2. Knead to form dough and add shortening and continue to knead till smooth and shiny.
3. Let dough rise to double the size, about 1/2 to 1 hour. Remove dough to a floured surface, punch down dough and divide into equal portions. Shape into oval shape and fold slightly into half.
4. Leave to proof for 15 - 20 minutes.
5. Steam over high heat for 10 minutes. Off heat and leave paus for a further 3 minutes before uncovering to cool on rack. This is to prevent wrinkle, rough skin.

6. Open the Bao skin, fill with cooked lean meat and top with 咸菜 and ground peanut. Ready to serve.

I am submitting this to Aspiring Bakers #31 - Bao Ho-Chiak (May 2013) hosted by Miss B of Everybody Eats Well in Flanders.

Parmesan Cheese Chiffon Cake

These days I am into Chiffon Cake, after the successful attempt of Yuan yang Chiffon Cake. I always like the spongy texture of Chiffon Cake, and since now I can make my own, as and when I want to eat or crave for Chiffon cake, I will start baking.

Few months ago, I bought a bottle of Parmesan cheese powder. It's expiring in 2 months time and I still have not used it. So I thought maybe I can google and see if there's any cake recipe that call for Parmesan cheese powder. True enough, I read some good reviews of Parmesan cheese chiffon cake. So I used the previous chiffon cake recipe and use permesan cheese as one of the ingredient. Here is the recipe:

Ingredients:
2 egg yolks
10g caster sugar
35g permesan cheese powder
50ml water
20ml cooking oil (I used Canola oil)
50g self-raising flour

2 egg whites
1/4 tsp cream of tartar
50g caster sugar

Method:
1. Whisk egg yolks and sugar till slightly pale.
2. Add water and oil into the egg yolk batter. Fold in the permesan cheese powder and flour.
3. Beat egg whites and cream of tartar until mixture is foamy. Gradually add in sugar and beat until stiff peak form.
4. Gently fold beaten egg white into egg yolk batter until blended in 3 batches.
5. Pour batter into ungreased chiffon mould. Bake in pre-heated oven at 180 deg C for the 1st 10 minutes, then reduce to 170 deg C for the next 30 minutes.
6. Remove from oven and invert cake immediately until it is completely cool (I let it rest in oven for 5 minutes with door slightly open before invert, in case the cake shrink).
7. Cool completely before remove cake from mould and serve.

Green Tea Kaya Pau 绿茶甜包

Think I make bao make 上瘾. This time, I steam dessert包。I used the same recipe of pork bao that I made days ago, just added green tea powder(that explain the green colour skin). For the filling, I used the jar of Kaya in my fridge that is expiring soon.

I like to see how my dough become bigger and bigger when it 发. Maybe I let it prove for too long or I did not add enough shortening, this time the skin is not very soft and quite chewy and it stick to my teeth. Lesson learnt: don't prove your dough for too long? Can anyone tell me what caused the chewiness?

Bao Skin Ingredients: (I halved the quantity this time)
350 gm plain flour sifted with 1 tsp double action baking powder
Mix together - 200 ml lukewarm water, 40 gm caster sugar and 1/4 tsp vinegar
1 tsp instant yeast
1 tbsp shortening

Filling: 1/2 jar of Kaya

Method:
1. Add yeast to the water mixture. Let yeast rest and foam up abit before adding flour. Mix well.
2. Knead to form dough and add shortening and continue to knead till smooth and shiny.
3. Let dough rise to double the size, about 1/2 hour. Remove dough to a floured surface, punch down dough and divide into equal portions. Shape into a smooth ball. Set aside to add kaya filling and shape into round shape.
4. Leave to prove for 15 - 20 minutes.
5. Steam over high heat for 15 minutes in bamboo steamer. Off heat and leave bao for a further 3 minutes before uncovering to cool on rack. This is to prevent wrinkle, rough skin.

I am submitting this to Aspiring Bakers #31 - Bao Ho-Chiak (May 2013) hosted by Miss B of Everybody Eats Well in Flanders.

Easy Oven Cooked Enoki Mushroom with Tofu 烤豆腐与金针菇

This is by far the easiest and no fail dish that I always cook. I did not follow any recipe for this dish as this is A dish I just thought of and put ingredients in oven. the two main ingredients are only 豆腐and 金针菇（enoki mushroom）. These two ingredients can easily be found in any supermarket and they are not expensive. I like it as it can be a healthy dish: Enoki mushroom is a good source of amino acid and tofu is a good source of iron and magnesium.
Before serve, I like to top with spring onion and coriander to bring out the flavour. I also use truffle salt instead of normal sea salt as it helps to bring out the flavour and sweetness of Enoki Mushroom.

Ingredient:
1 pkt of Enoki mushroom
1 tube of tofu (or egg tofu)
(optional) spring onion and coriander

Seasoning:
A pinch of salt and black pepper
1 tbsp Olive oil

Method:
1. Wash mushroom and tofu. Place on plate.
2. Drizzle olive oil on mushroom and tofu.
3. Sprinkle salt and pepper.
4. Put into 170 degree preheated oven for 20 minutes.
5. Sprinkle spring onion and coriander before serve.

I'm linking this post to Little Thumbs Up event, hosted by Joyce,
kitchen flavours, organized by Zoe from Bake For Happy Kids and Doreen for my little favourite D.I.Y.

Pork Bao 大包 (first attempt)

Can you believe this is my first attempt making bao? Yes, 千真万确. Why 大包(pork bao with hard boiled egg) out of so many other bao? Because I missed my mom version of pork bao and I want to recreate what she made last time.

Although this is my first attempt, and I did not use bread maker(as original recipe) to make these bao, but I am very happy with the result! I loved how my filling taste and I loved the bao skin, so tender and fragrant. As for the colour of the bao, may not be white as I do not have hk flour or bao flour that is why I choose this recipe without using the above flour. The skin colour turned out to be light yellow. Even so, I am still very proud of myself.

Some Da bao that I bought before did not have hard boiled egg(disappointed!) I loved my bao with hard boiled egg. So of course I won't miss it. Thanks to Kimmy for this recipe, I did some modification as below:

Ingredients for Meat Fillings:
250 gm minced meat
Marinate with:
1 tbsp each of soy sauce, sugar, oyster sauce, sesame oil, cooking wine;
A pinch of Hao chi seasoning and pepper
2 tsp cornflour
Leave overnight

2 hard boiled eggs - quartered

Bao Skin Ingredients:
350 gm plain flour sifted with 1 tsp double action baking powder
Mix together - 200 ml lukewarm water, 40 gm caster sugar and 1/4 tsp vinegar
1 tsp instant yeast
1 tbsp shortening

Method:
1. Add yeast to the water mixture. Let yeast rest and foam up abit before adding flour. Mix well.
2. Knead to form dough and add shortening and continue to knead till smooth and shiny.
3. Let dough rise to double the size, about 1/2 hour. Remove dough to a floured surface, punch down dough and divide into equal portions. Shape into a smooth ball. Set aside to add meat filling and hard boiled egg and shape into pleated bao.
4. Leave to prove for 15 - 20 minutes.
5. Steam over high heat for 15 minutes in bamboo steamer. Off heat and leave paus for a further 3 minutes before uncovering to cool on rack. This is to prevent wrinkle, rough skin.

I am submitting this to Aspiring Bakers #31 - Bao Ho-Chiak (May 2013) hosted by Miss B of Everybody Eats Well in Flanders.

AB #30 - It's Tea Time! Round Up

Wow! This is really a awesome Tea Time! It's my pleasure to host this month AB theme and Thank you so much for your contributions and support. You have made this Tea Time interesting, with a spread of 53 Beautiful items ! 掌声鼓励鼓励！:)

I am very thrilled to receive all your posts in the month of April 2013. It not only give me the opportunity to e-meeting all the food bloggers here, but also give me a chance to get to know you and your blogs(some blogs I may have missed or did not have a chance to come across) ! All your work really make me drool and inspired me to try some of the recipes. Hope you also feel the same and as excited as I do.

So, please enjoy this sumptuous Tea Break and "lim teh"! 一起来品茶吧！ Let's start from the first entry onwards. (do let me know if I missed out any)

1. Green Tea Chiffon in Cuppies by Genie of Honeybee916food

2. Glutinous Rice cake With jasmine Tea & Lotus Seeds by Choo Doris of Sumptuous Flavours

3. 日式绿茶蒸蛋糕 Green Tea Steamed Cake (Mushi Pan) by Min of Min's Blog

4. Green Tea Soya Pudding by Food Playground

5. Earl Grey Pound Cake by DG of Tested and Tasted

6. Pandan Peppermint Tea Cupcakes by Cindy of Willow's Wonders

7. Earl Grey Milk Tea Cake by pengskitchen.blogspot.com

8. Matcha Cheesecake Tart by Happy Homebaker of Happy Home Baking

9. Earl Grey Sponge Cupcake by Baking Science

10. Matcha cake sushi rolls by Baking into the Ether (http://bakingintotheether.wordpress.com/)

11. Green Tea Ice Cream by Cheah of No-Frills Recipes

12. 枸杞桂花糕 by Jozelyn Ng of jozelynng.blogspot.com

13. Matcha Sponge Cupcake by Baking Science

14. 樱花蒸糕 Sakura Steamed Cake by Hippomamalai of 怡。然自得 Hippomama's Kitchen

15. Dilmah Tea Loaf by
Cheah of No-Frills Recipes

16. Earl Grey Chiffon Cupcakes by Li Ying of Happy Flour 

17. 日式绿茶蒸蛋糕 Mushi Pan by Angelic Heart of 启动生命的旋律

18. Matcha Chiffon Cake 烫面抹茶戚风蛋糕 by Jessie of Jessie-CookingMoments

19. Green Tea Crepes by pengskitchen.blogspot.com

20. Earl grey chiffon cake by CC of Dumpling Love

21. Matcha Chiffon Cake by SSB of Small Small Baker

22. Milktea Chiffon Cake by SSB of Small Small Baker

23. Matcha Cream Cheese Muffins by Happy Homebaker of Happy Home Baking

24. Banana Milk Tea Buns by pengskitchen.blogspot.com

25. 红糖奶茶戚风 by Joceline of Butter, Flour & Me

26. Lemon Tea 相思蛋糕 by Foodplayground

27. Green Tea Cheesecake bites by Baking Tray

28. Green Tea and white chocolate cookies by Baking Tray

29. Japanese Green Tea Cheesecake by Foodplayground

30. Earl Grey Tea Cake by Anncoo of Anncoo Journal

31. Orange Tea Butter Cake by Genie of Honeybee916food

32. 奶茶马芬·Milk Tea Muffins by Pet猫猫 of petsleepingpig.blogspot.com

33. Matcha chiffon cake by CC of Dumpling Love

34. Teh Si puff cakes by Noelle Chua of: Pinchofglamor

35. Earl Grey Tea Cookies by Foodplayground

36. 绿茶长崎蛋糕 by Joceline of Butter, Flour & Me

37. 蜂蜜绿茶面包（直接法）by Joceline of Butter, Flour & Me

38. Almond and rose tea butterfly cakes by The Land of Bakerie

39. Green Tea Swiss Roll by Esther Lau of Copycake Kitchen

40. 绿茶相思蛋糕by Joceline of Butter, Flour & Me

41. Milk Tea Cake·奶茶蛋糕 by Pet猫猫 of petsleepingpig.blogspot.com

42. Black Tea-Lemon Cornmeal Cupcakes by Jasline of Food Is My Life

43. Afternoon Tea with Chateau Rouge's Vanilla Rooibos by The Charmed Cupcake

44. Green Tea Cheesecake by
Tze of Awayofmind Bakery House

45. Yuan Yang Chiffon CakeBy Foodplayground

46. Eggless Matcha Red Bean Tiramisu by Vivian Pang of Vivian Pang Kitchen

47. 红茶相思蛋糕 by 茄子of 袅袅烘焙香

48. Earl Grey Macarons with Ganache by Alicia Lim, recipe adapted from Here

49. Matcha Cream Cheese Marble Chiffon Cake by Wendy Han / Wen of Wen’s Delight

50. Chamomile Chiffon Cake by Grace of Life can be Simple

51. Matcha adzuki layer cake by CC of Dumpling Love

52. Earl Grey Tea Butter Cake by:Keiko of dequeenkitchen.blogspot.sg

53. Black Tea Ogura Cake by Doreen/mui of my little favourite DIY


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What's next? To participate in Aspiring Bakers #31 - Bao Ho-Chiak 包好吃 (May 2013), hosted by Miss B of EEWIF, can refer Here.