Almond Raisin Bread

Adapted from Alex Goh "Bread Magic"

Ingredients

Water Roux Started

80g bread flour

55g boiling water

Dough

240g bread flour

80g plain flour

65g sugar (I reduced to 50g)

5g salt

20g milk powder

6g instant yeast

130g cold water 

1 egg

60g butter

Almond Filings

50g butter

50g sugar

1 egg

1/4 tsp cinnamon powder

100g ground almonds

100g raisins

Method

1. Prepare water roux starter by mixing flour with boiling water and stir into a rough dough. Keep refrigerated for at least 12 hrs.
2. Mix dough ingredients (except butter) and add in starter. Add in butter when the dough is smooth. Knead the dough till it is elastic and non sticky. Proof dough till it doubled in size.
3. Prepare filing. Mix sugar and butter until well blended. Add in sugar and mix till well-combined. Add in ground almonds and cinnamon powder and mix till well combined. Set aside for later use.
   
4. Punch out the air in the dough after the first rise. Mould the dough round and let it rest for 10min. Roll it thin into rectangular shape.
5. Spread on almond filings and sprinkle raisins over the top. Roll it up swissroll style and let it proof for 45min.
6. Egg wash and sprinkle some almond flakes on top. (I omitted and just made a slit on top of the bread dough before baking)
7. Bake at 175C for 25-30min.

Fried Udon Noodles

Fried udon with mushroom, carrot spring onion and bean sprouts, basically what ever my fridge has. Seasoned with oyster sauce, light and dark soya sauce, chinese cooking wine, sugar, salt and pepper.

Coconut Butter Cookies

This cookie is really good. Its very crisp and crunchy, and buttery with a tinge of coconut fragrance. My family likes it very much and hubby has been munching on it non-stop.

Ingredients

(A)
200g Cake flour
20g Corn flour
20g coconut powder
30g dessicated coconut

(B)
150g butter, soften at room temperature
70g Icing Sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract


Method

1. Whisk A together, set aside for later use.
2. Blend B together with spatula, cream them on high speed till pale and fluffy.
3. Fold flour mixture into butter mixture, do not overwork the dough.
4. Shape dough into desired shape (if dough is too soft to handle, let it chill and rest in the fridge for 30min.
5. Bake in preheated oven of 160C for 20-25min.
   

Baked Spring Rolls and Spin-Off

Spring rolls or poh piahs are my favourite childhood snacks. I like the crunchy exterior and the savory vegetables wrapped inside, but of course, not very healthy as it is usually deep fried. I decided to try to have it baked rather than frying it since its more healthy. And the result is quite good. The poh piah is crunchy as well. A good alternative to the fried ones =)

A spin-off from poh piah -- paratha wrap. Delicious and filing, good as a meal with soup or on its own.

Turnip with Carrot and Mushroom

Simple stir-fry, good eaten on its own with rice or wrapped into poh-piah.

Its basically turnip, carrot and mushroom, stir-fry with garlic and seasoned with salt, pepper and vegetarian oyster sauce.

Almond Yoghurt Cake

Ingredients

1 cup flour
1/2 cup almond meal
2 tsp baking powder
1 cup sugar (I used 3/4 cup)
1/2 cup yoghurt
3 large eggs
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup canola oil

pinch of salt
grated zest of 1 lemon

Method

1. Preheat oven to 170C.
2. Whisk together flour, almond meal, baking powder and salt.
3. Rub lemon zest into sugar till sugar is moist and aromatic.
4. Add yoghurt, eggs and vanilla, whisk together till mixture is very well blended.
5. Add dry ingredients and oil and mix till mixture is well combined.
6. Pour batter into a 7" round tin and sprinkle almond flakes on top.
7. Bake in pre heated oven for 45-50min till cake is golden brown and a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.
   

Pandan Kaya Layered Cake

Made this cake for my dad's birthday last month. Wanted to try out layered cake but we prefer non cream cake, and I have no confidence at all in my frosting skills.

As usual my cake layering and decorating skills are real lousy. But the cake tastes really good! Refreshing and not heavy, with a light coconut fragrance lingering in the mouth.

I know, the cross section looks really ugly but still, the cake tastes great!

Ingredients

Sponge: 

4 large eggs
90gm sugar
100gm flour + 1/2 tsp baking powder, sifted
50gm coconut milk
80gm corn oil
1/2 tsp pandan paste.

Pandan Layer

4cups water

150g sugar

50g corn starch

150g coconut milk

1tsp pandan paste

1tbsp agar agar powder

Method

1. Sponge Cake. Preheat oven to 170/180C.
2. Beat eggs and sugar until thick and pale.
3. In a seperate bowl, combine coconut milk, pandan paste and corn oil. Put in sifted flour and mix.
4. Put a few table spoonful of beaten eggs into (3) and fold. Repeat 3X.
5. Pour (4) into remaining beaten eggs and fold. Take care not to deflate the eggs.
6. Pour into prepare mould and bake for 30 minutes.
7. Remove cake from mould immediately when baked. Leave to cool and slice into 3 layers. Freeze until use.
8. Pandan layer. Boil sugar with 2 cups water till sugar dissolves. Leave to cool down.
9. Mix 50gm cornstarch and 1 tsp pandan paste into 150gm coconut milk. Set aside
10. Bring 2 cups water and 1 tbsp agar-agar powder to a simmer.
11. Pour (9) into (10) and cook until mixture thickens and boils. Remove from heat.
12. Pour (8) into (11) and combine well.
13. Assemble cake and chill in fridge till cold and set.
14. Decorate as desired.

Pumpkin Pau - Failed

First attempt at pau making. Tried out this healthy pumpkin pau recipe but am not very happy with the results. The filing is great, but my bun didn't taste as soft and fluffy as I would like, and it looked so flat! Gotta improve on my pau kneading and shaping skills.

Will definitely try this again as I believe this will be a very delicious pau, if only I could get it right.....

Ingredients

Pau
60gm sugar
90gm pumpkin puree
1 tsp instant dry yeast
150gm pau flour
1 tsp double acting baking powder
10gm butter

Pumpkin Filling
300gm pumpkin puree
30gm sugar
1 tsp cornstarch

Method

1. Prepare pau dough. Combine sugar, pumpkin puree and yeast.
2. Combine pau flour, baking powder and butter. Mix to form crumbs.
3. Pour (1) into (2) and mix to form a dough.
4. Knead dough until it is smooth and no longer sticky.
5. Let dough proof in a warm place until double in size.  
6. Cook pumpkin filings ingredients until thickens and use 2 teaspoons to form into little balls and place on a lined tray. Chill until time of use.
7. Punch down dough after it has doubled. Knead it for 2 minutes and divide dough into 12 pieces.
8. With lightly floured hands, take one piece of dough and flatten it, making it thinner at the sides.
9. Place one piece of filling, round side down onto flattened dough.
10. Wrap and seal bun.
11. Let buns proof (covered) for 45 minutes and steam on high heat for 12 minutes.

Tuna Bun with Love

The heart shaped buns with tuna on top.

Normal bun with tuna filings.

See the fluffy insides!

Adapted from Alex Goh "Magic Bread"

Ingredients

Water Roux Started

80g bread flour

55g boiling water

Dough

240g bread flour

80g plain flour

65g sugar (I reduced to 50g)

5g salt

20g milk powder

6g instant yeast

130g cold water 

1 egg

60g butter

Tuna Filings

1 can of tuna

1 onion, diced

1/2 cup corns

1tbsp mayonnaise

Salt & Pepper to taste

Parsley flakes

Method

1. Prepare water roux starter by mixing flour with boiling water and stir into a rough dough. Keep refrigerated for at least 12 hrs.
2. Mix dough ingredients (except butter) and add in starter. Add in butter when the dough is smooth. Knead the dough till it is elastic and non sticky. Proof dough till it doubled in size.
3. Prepare filing by mixing the tuna filings together.
   
4. Punch out the air in the dough after the first rise. Divide dough into 10 equal portions and leave to rest for 10-15min.
5. Shape the doughs into desired shape. For the normal bun, add in filings and leave to proof till doughs double in size. For heart shaped bun, add filings after doughs have double in size.
   
6. Apply egg wash and sprinkle parsley flakes on bread.
7. Bake at 200C for 10-15min till breads are ready.

* I would divide the dough into smaller portions and increase the filings to 1.5x next time as I find that there is too little filing per bread.

Carrot Soup

Ingredients

1 onion, chopped
1 potato, peeled and sliced
About 400g carrot, peeled and sliced
4 cloves garlic
2 cups water / stock
salt and pepper to taste

Method

1. Heat oil in stock pot, cook onions and garlic stirring on and off till soften
2. Add in carrot and potato and saute for 2-3min on low heat. Add in stock and water.
3. When mixture comes to a boil, lower heat, covered and simmer for about 30min.
4. Cool soup till room temperature and puree the soup.
5. Pour soup back into stock pot and season with salt and pepper to taste