Keeping it simple whilst ill - Congee (tuk)

I hate being ill, you lose your appetite, and often just feel sorry for yourself. 

But being ill you still need to eat, my mum always make Congee (tuk), a white rice porridge when i'm ill. You can say a form of therapy, or comfort food.  Just rice and water leaving it to boil/simmer and turn to mush, and some salt.  if you want you can put mince pork, chicken or fish, so simple.   Its like english equivalent to chicken soup, yet my gran, parents all said... its a good way to clean out your system.  So keeping it simple, and bare basics is always the best way for a good recovery.

Like tonight i made fishball (yue peen) congee, with bit of ginger, it tasted comforting. I made shrimp-noodles just stirred with oyster sauce to go with the tuk, but i had no appetite for it.

Complete dumpling-ed out! Siu Mai & Won Tons

Had a lazy sunday at home not doing much, and really fancy Siu Mai & Won ton noodles, but didnt want to go to chinatown, so decided to make it myself. 

So went to make the most important ingredient.. the meat filling! Mince pork, minced prawns, chinese mushroom, lots of grated garlic & ginger and that it with a bit of seasoning to marinate it. One bowl of meat should make plenty of siu mai & won tons.
 

 

  Get myself comfy and start making...



First made the Siu mai -

Cut the pastry the four corners
 

Stuffing it with meat



not long all done ready to go in the steamer...


12mins later ready to eat...


Not bad for a late lunch ;p

And looking forward later for dinner with Won ton noodles!

 


ready to cook it....
 

Voila!
 
 
But i am complete dumpling-ed out!

Siu Mai - Cantonese Steamed Pork Dumplings

A classic and an all time favourites when going to Chinese restaurants, steaming from a bamboo steamer.  But it is very easy to make, and most ingredients are easily acquired. This is my mum recipe for making wontons, so when i make wontons i tend to make siu mai as well.

Ingredients:

200g   Minced Pork
150g   Fresh Prawns (Diced)
2         Dried Shitake/Chinese Mushroom (Soaked in hot water and chopped)
2tspn   Salt
4tspn   Sugar
2tspn   MSG (optional)
1tspn   Sesame Oil
1tspn   Light Soya sauce
2Tspn  Corn flour
2tspn   Vegetable Oil
1         Egg White (optional)


1packet  WonTon Pastry/Skins

Instructions:

1) Mix all the ingredients together and mix well. The put in fridge for 20mins.
2) Get a pile of Wonton pastry and cut 4 corners off to make an octagan shape
3)Put the wonton pastry resting on thumb & forefinger, and paste enough filling until its into shape
4) Put it either in a bamboo steamer or a plate and put it in a steamer for 15minutes.

Just enjoy it with a little soya sauce/sesame oil dip.

Making Malaysian cake 做茶樓馬拉糕

Found this recipe... and with my mum chasing my back for fairycakes, and i personally dont want to make fairycakes, welll....because at the moment theres no challenge, plus my mum shouldnt be eat too much cakes, although, i have been baking alot of sugary stuff lately... haha. 
Anyway, another reason is my grandma loves malaysian cake or sponge cakes in general. 

So for me... its something new, a challenge, and fascinating to learn you can bake cakes with a steamer instead of the oven!

The recipe is very simple, and ingredients are not that fancy... if you do baking quite regularly, most stuff should be in your cupboard.

Simple as mixing all the ingredients with a mixer!


Mixture looks creamy & fluffy - actually its soo light it almost look like a mousse!


those silicion cases are a delight, fill it up, put it in the steamer for 20mins.......tick tock tick tock



Tada, fresh bake malaysian cakes (Ma Lai Go)


Cake cases and let i cool down on the rack... whilst more steaming....!


40mins later... a whole nice batch of Ma Lai Go-s


Malaysian cakes compare to other things i've made lately, is definitely very easy, the hardest bit is waiting for the steamer to 'DING' and put the next batch in. I munched it whilst waiting.... and it is very light and fluffy.

Most challenging ever - Deep Fried dumplings 鮮炸咸水角

After weeks of sweets, and such encouraging when the results of  the Ma Lai Go was soo well, that nothing is impossible, and time to delve into chinese savouries.

Deep Fried Dumplings (Ham suik gok) is what i chose to do, as its challenging, but if i can make it, i would be soo meaningful. Its my grandma favourite savoury, and when i was a kiddo, i lived with my grandparents, and often at weekends or holidays, whilst my mum & grandpa had their afternoon nap, grandma often share her deep fried dumpling with me with a bit of jasmine tea. Everytime, grandma will tell me to be hush hush, and always say, ' i let you have some, but you have to promise me you won't cry'... and i always nodded my head and always think 'why would i cry after eating this..' Anyway, now i'm older i understand why, because glutinous rice takes a lengthy time to digest!
Anyway, so this is for my grandma!



Before i show you the pics of the start and finish, i have to admit, this recipe is the hardest... getting the pastry right  is soo important.  But unlike breadmaking, eggtart pastry, glutinous rice is not an easy ingredient to use, must get your hands dirty, and can get sticky at times.  I failed the first time, and had to step back and redo it again -  this is one recipe... you have to follow the instructions!  Word of advise is you need bags of patience, and lots and lots of determination.

Cooking the meat filling (i'm glad i did this first, as need time to cool down, plus you get all the nitty-gritty steps in chopping etc out of the way.)

in the wok


let it cool down.....
 


Pastry making: 

i was sooo happy to get it into a dough form! (first time which i failed... looked like a syrup.... i was soo devastated!)



rolling it into a long sausage shape, before dividing it up


get your rolling pin out, have some rice flour on the side so you can scatter so it doesnt stick on the surface.
 

Tada... meat filling wrapped in the pastry - very ugly looking!




Deep frying time:

I have a deep fryer, but wanted to let grandma to eat it freshly fried, so took my 2 trays of dumplings, drove all the way to my dads restaurant, and hehe.... kind daddy gave me a helping hand in making it look gorgeously golden colour! Thank you very muchie daddy!

Daddy putting it in the big wok of hot oil!


nervously waiting.....



starting to grow bigger and floating to the top


giving it a good stir, so they dont stick, and ready to go on the plate.



TADA!  Home make deep fried dumplings! they really looked good too!


Dad probably tasted it first, but i was too excited to take the first batch to my grandma to taste....
the smile i got from my grandma from this bite..... is priceless!


Uncle Tony helped in tasting......


Dad had one before his supper and just after.... think he likes it..
 

before go home, one last person cant missed to taste.... is my dear mummy!



I think i done a good job.... and happy all the people tried it, enjoyed it......but i really have to seriously think about it before i re-visit this recipe!

Malaysian Cake (Ma Lai Go)

Time: approx 40 mins
Make: 1 large container or 24 cupcakes

Ingredients:

A)
4oz               Soft Butter
1 1/2 cup      Brown Sugar
1/3cup          Vegetable Oil

B)
5                  Eggs
1/2tspn         Salt
1/4tspn        Vanilla Extract
2Tbspn        Honey

C)
2 1/2 cup     Self raising flour
2Tbspn        Custard Powder
1/2tspn        Bicarbonate of Soda

Preparations:

1) Mix butter, sugar and oil (A) in a large container
2) Add eggs, salt, vanilla extract and honey (B) and beat the mixture until smooth paste is formed.
3) Add the sieved self-raising flour, custard powder and bicarbonate of soda (C) into the mixture and continue to beat until smooth and creamy.
4) Preheat steamer. Pour the content into a large container and steam for approx 15-20mins.
5) If you dont want to make one large sponge cake, then you can make Mini Malaysian cakes, by putting in smaller containers, i.e silicion cake cases. Also steam for approx 15-20mins

Tip: Make sure the container use for steaming is not too deep, or it will take longer to steam.

Deep Fried Dumplings (Ham Sui Gok)

Time: approx. 45mins-1hr
To Make : 24

Ingredients:

Pastry:
A)
1 1/2cup      Water
5oz              Sugar

B)
10oz           Glutinous Rice Flour
2tspn          Gluten-Free Wheat Flour

15grms       Lard


Filling:

200grms    Minced Pork
100grms    Diced Prawn
70grms      Bamboo shoot (fine chopped)
2              Chinese Mushroom (fine chopped)
4tspn        Sugar
2tspn        Salt
1tspn        MSG (optional, dont have to use it)
1/2tspn     Five spice powder
2 tspn       Corn flour
A pinch of white pepper and Sesame oil


Preparations:

1) Put sugar and water (A) in a saucepan, mix and bring it to boil
2) In a large container with glutinuous rice flour, wheat flour (B) pour in (A) immediately when boiled.
3) Mix rapidly for approx 30 secs to form a thick dough & cover for 3 mins.
4) Add lard and knead into a smooth dough
5) Divide and cut the pastry into approx. 24
6) Stirfry ingredients of  Meat filling (C) in a hot wok with  a little veg oil, add corn flour solution to thicken at end.
7) When meat filling is cooled, put in fridge for 20mins
8) Flatten pastry and wrap filling inside, then roll into shape (ovals)
9)Slowly deep fry the dumplings until golden in colour.

Tip: Make meat filling first, so plenty of time to cool down.
      Pastry - must stir quickly when hot sugar/water solution in flour, and at anytime its too sticky, add extra rice flour.
     Have extra rice flour for dusting.

Family evening with a feast

Monday.... after work.... cant wait to deliver to my parents my new baked pineapple buns. So when i got home at 5:15pm.. was estatic for my mum & dad to try my buns.

Anyway, after awhile dad invite me & ken to eat with them at Tai Wu, eat with them and not worry about dinner ;p Again, food that dad ordered was yum, and my belly was very full!


Meatstuffed shallowfry tofu (only first time with this dish.... very tasty... defo something to order next time)



Belly pork & yam in ceramic hotpot



Steamed king prawns with garlic (hmm... what is not to like with fresh prawns??!!)


Steam chicken with chinese cured sausage & chinese mushroom out Lotus leaf. (This smelled soo nice and go good with rice)