Crispy roast pork belly (Recommended)

Not many people know, but I'm a meat person, especially those very fatty ones! I did it 1st at the CNY reunion dinner gathering together with my bro's in-law family & ours. Yes, cooking & feasting at Pan Pacific Serviced Suites, Nice!

The picture doesn't do justice to how good the crispy roast pork belly is!

I'm copying the recipe here for easy reference. The original recipe is here. This is highly recommended for meat lovers!!

Ingredients: 
1lb (abt 450gm) pork belly
1 tsp Dry Ginger Powder (沙薑粉)
1 tsp Five Spice Powder (五香粉)
1/2 tsp white pepper
2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp msg (optional)

Method:

1. Wash the meat under cold water. 
2. Submerge the pork belly meat in a pot of water and boil for about 15 minutes on medium heat.
3. Remove the pork and place it in a colander to let it dry for about 15 minutes. You may take the extra step of patting the pork belly skin dry with a paper towel for extra crispy skin. 
4. Stab the pork with a knife a few times and rub the spices and salt on the flesh only (not the skin). We recommend layering the spices in the following order: spiced ginger powder, 5 spice powder, white pepper, salt and optional msg. Let it marinate for 1 hour, though over night is better for a deeper flavor. 
5. In a dutch oven or a large cast iron pan, fill it with oil enough to cover the skin of the pork belly. Avoid using olive oil since it has a low smoking point. You can place the pork belly in pan while the oil is still cold to prevent splatter. CAUTION!!! the pork will splatter a lot, so it is better to use a dutch oven with a heavy lid or use a splatter screen to place over your frying pan. (*I use a normal non-stick pan.)
6. Fry the skin side first for roughly 5 mins or until golden brown and crispy, turn it on the side and fry it only for a min or two, repeat on all sides (it is best not to fry it on the flesh side for too long as it will toughen the meat) 
7. Frying is a skill learned over time, so if the skin is burnt, you can scrape it off with a knife. No worries! Let it rest until cool to the touch and cut into slices.

Fruit cake

My 1st try at baking fruit cake for Chinese New Year. Thought it's an easy cake but I wasn't very satisfied with the outcome; it was too crumbly. Will try my hand on other fruit cake recipe next time. We were almost 'floating' after eating the cake; the fruits were infused in rum for more than a month. 

Blueberry muffins

This is an quick & easy blueberry muffins that I baked for my baby's 1st day of primary school. Packed with love *muack*

Ingredients:
120g plain flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
60g sugar
60g oil
80g milk
1 egg, beaten
1/2 punnet fresh blueberries (lightly mashed) 

1. Sift the flour. Set aside.
2. Mix all wet ingredients using mixer.
3. Add all dry ingredients to (2), and mix well. Add in blueberries. (*Do not over-mix, should be done in less than 5 minutes.)
4. Scoup mixture into muffin cups, upto 2/3rd full.
5. Bake in pre-heated over at 170 deg C for 20 minutes, in lower rack.
6. Check doneness by inserting toothpick and it come out clean.
7. Remove from oven and cool.

Transformer Cake

Oh gosh, I've seriously neglected my blog this time. I guess I won't have much time to regularly update this blog any time soon, but as and when I can, I would like to chronicle some of my bakes and memories.

Transformer cake - 1st time trying out chocolate-transfer method. Rather satisfied with the result. This was for my nephew 5th birthday on 23 Sept 2013.

Hokkaido chiffon cake

I've been a laggard in baking these yummy Hokkaido chiffon cakes. There are so many recipes out there, and I took the easy way out when I found one in DreamersLoft who has made comparison of 2 recipes. Taking the same cue, I also tried out Reirei's recipe and they are really good - soft & yummy - even when chilled overnight in the fridge! I've copied the recipe here for my future reference.

Hokkaido Chiffon Cupcakes

(Adapted from Reirei of All That Matters, makes 10 cupcakes)
(A)
3 egg yolks
1/8 tsp salt
24g corn oil
24g milk
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
32g cake flour
1/8 tsp baking powder (sift together with cake flour)

(B)
3 egg white
1/4 tsp cream of tartar
50g caster sugar

(C)

90g chilled fresh milk
30g custard powder
1/2 tsp vanilla bean paste or extract
3/4 tbsp icing sugar (optional)
145g dairy whipping cream

Some Snow Powder (optional)

Method
1) Preheat oven to 175℃。
2) In a bowl, whisk egg yolks with salt. Then add oil, milk and vanilla extract, whisk till well-blended.
3) Fold in flour mixture and set aside.
4) In another bowl, beat egg whites , sugar and cream of tartar to stiff peak.
5) Scoop 1/3 of the egg white mixture to the yolk batter, fold well, then pour batter back to the remaining egg whites. Fold lightly till well-mixed.
6) Fill baking cases with about 30-32g of batter. Bake for 20 mins, then leave to cool.
7) In a separate bowl, mix milk, instant custard powder, vanilla paste and icing sugar till mixture is smooth.
8) Pour in whipping cream and beat till the thickness desired.
9) Using a piping tip, insert tip into the cake and pipe for 5 seconds. 3 to 4 seconds if you prefer less cream.
10) Sieve snow powder on top (optional) and chill cake before serving

Happy Mid-Autumn Festival 2012

 

 

Wishing all a Happy Mid-Autumn Festival 2012!

祝大家花好月圆庆中秋, 举家团圆赏明月!

  

Before the festive, I was thinking of making my own spiral yam mooncakes or the traditional mooncakes since I'd tried snowskin for the last few years. I wanted to do something different to give my family a treat and not the "same old thing" again this year. As the date drew nearer, and I was so caught up with work, I had to think of alternative (read: easier and fuss-free) mooncake recipes as both the recipes seem to be a little too tight for me. Anyway I already bought 1-kg packet of white lotus paste (low sugar) and it was sitting in the fridge before I could decide what type of mooncake or recipe to follow. I chanced upon e's joie walnut mooncakes recipe which was originally adapted from Baking Mum. Quite decided to bake this until I fell sick this week and was feeling quite lethargic and restless to do anything. I had almost 2 full days of rest at home, and finally pushed myself a little to roll out some walnut mooncakes and some piggy mooncakes. Aren't these little piggies look cute (though seem slightly disfigured!)?

Walnut mooncakes
(I used 1.5x of the recipe to make 41 mooncakes)

(A) 50g icing sugar

50g shortening

220g salted butter

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 tsp ammonium (can be omitted)

(B) 1 egg

(C) 380g plain flour

25g custard powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

Filling
1kg white lotus paste (low sugar)

Others
200g walnuts (for decoration)
2 egg yolks + 2 tsp water (egg wash)

1. Cream (A) together till slightly pale and well mixed.

2. Gradually add in egg and mix well.

3. Add sifted (C) into mixture and form a dough. Do not knead or mix for too long.

4. Leave the dough in a plastic bag or cling wrap and leave in the fridge overnight or for a few days.

5. Weigh out the 20g skin and 25g filling.

6. Wrap lotus paste in the skin and decorate with walnuts.

7. Apply egg wash and bake at 175 deg C for 10 mins.

8. Bring out and leave to cool for 10 mins.

9. Apply egg wash again and bake for another 15 mins.

Note:
I added about 30g melon seeds (toasted at 180 deg C for 10 mins and left to cool) to 500g of lotus paste.
I made the piggy mooncakes following Anncoo's tutorial here.
 

Land of Dinosaurs

When my boy celebrated his 5th birthday in early March with a Monopoly cake, I remembered my sister-in-law asking whether I know how to make a dinosaur cake for my little nephew. I told her then that I will practice how to make one for his 4th birthday. I wanted to try out using modelling paste as the usual fondant is too soft and can't hold its shape well. But I didn't have the time (or maybe too lazy to practice) prior to making the actual birthday cake. As usual, I relied on the internet and googled on "how to make dinosaur using fondant". I chanced upon my saviour, A Baked Creation - exactly what I'm looking for and there's even a step-by-step tutorial on making T-Rex & Stegosaurus. This was 4 days before the birthday party! Imagined the stress and anxiety if the cake flops and how disappointed the birthday boy would be ;(

It was a right choice to use modelling paste as the dinosaurs keep in shape, whereas my test-dinosaurs using fondant looked miserable. Alrighty, I can be more adventurous and creative in my future fondant figurines! Nevermind that I had to stay up till the wee hours for 2 days @@ and can't think straight!

Modelling Paste
Ingredients/ Method:
a) 200gm white marshmallows
2tbsp water
500gm icing sugar
2 tbsp Crisco shortening

b) 1 tsp Gum Tragacanth (can get it from Phoon Huat)

1. Put marshmallows with 2 tbsp water in a microwave-safe bowl. Microwave on high for 30 secs.
2. Stir marshmallows till they are fluffy using spatula. Add half the icing sugar and mix well.
3. Grease hands with shortening and knead the remaining icing sugar into the fondant.
4. Weigh 225gm of fondant with 1 tsp gum tragacanth and knead till well mixed.
5. Add colour gel to the modelling paste as desired.

Notes:
a. Keep fondant wrapped in cling wrap and store in ziploc or airtight container. Can keep up to 2 months.
b. Modelling paste turns hard fast so prepare it only when you are ready to use.

So presenting my Land of Dinosaurs, which I'm pretty satisfied with the outcome and of course the excitement from the birthday boy's face when he saw the cake was most rewarding! Happy blessed birthday to my cutsy nephew KH! Also special thanks to the 2 men in my house for throwing ideas on how the cake should be and placing the dinosaurs on the cake <3 p="p">

 

Pink Lady & Granny Smith

What's with Pink Lady and Granny Smith? Some of you may already know, they are fanciful names for different variety of apples. Both are named feminine and originated from Australia. I wonder whether all apples are female? When I was young (or not too long ago), apples are just either red apple or green apple, or China apple or USA apple. Anyway it's interesting to read up some history on these 2 ladies on wikipedia (Pink Lady or Granny Smith) or the offical website on Pink Lady. Isn't it good that the peripheral of baking is knowledge?

I've digressed. I'm sharing 2 recipes using these apples for my recent bakes. The Apple Frangipane Tart is highly recommended!


Pink Lady Apple Cinnamon Roll

Ingredients/ Method

Water Roux (Tangzhong)125g water
25g bread flour

1. Cook 125g water with 25g bread flour at medium low heat, keep stirring until becomes thicken and no lumps left. Cook until 65 deg C, or if you do not have a thermometer, cook until mixture resembles baby porridge.
2. Transfer to clean bowl and cover with cling wrap to prevent skin forming.
Note: Water roux can be stored for 2 days, and if colour turn dark grey, to discard.
Apple Cinnamon Fillings
2 Pink Lady apples, peeled cored and cubed (can used any apples)
30g brown sugar
1 tbsp caster sugar
1 tbsp cinnamon powder
1/4 tsp nutmeg powder

1. Add all ingredients into a pot and cook on medium-low heat until apples are soft and mixture looks 'gluey'.
2. Set aside to cool.

Dough

(A) 210g bread flour
56g plain flour
20g milk powder
42g sugar
1/2 tsp salt
6g instant yeast
30g eggs
85g water
84g water roux (refer to water roux recipe as above)
22g butter

(B) 15g butter, soften

1. Put all the ingredients (A) except butter and knead until it form a dough.
2. Add the butter little by little and continue the kneading process until smooth and elastic and the dough does not stick at the side of the mixing bowl.
3. Proof for 40 minutes in a clean bowl cover with cling wrap.
4. Take half the dough and flatten it with your hand and roll it out in longish shape with a rolling pin about 25cm x 20cm.
5. Brush butter on the surface of the dough then spread apple cinnamon fillings dough evenly, leaving about 1-inch gap around the dough.

6. Roll it up like a swiss roll and seal it tightly.
7. Cut into 8 equal portions using lightly floured knife.
8. Place dough in a round cake tin and cover with a cling wrap. Leaving enough space between each roll to allow them to double in size later.
9. Repeat for the remaining half of the dough.
10. Proof for a further 40 minutes.
11. Bake at 180 deg C preheated oven for 15 minutes.


Apple Frangipane Tart
(adapted from Joyofbaking, with modifications)

Ingredients/ Method
Frangipane (Almond Cream)
1/2 cup (50gm) almond meal
1 tbsp (12gm) all purpose flour
25gm caster sugar (original recipe uses 50gm)
3 tbsps (40gm) unsalted butter
1 large egg
1/2 tsp vanilla extract/ vanilla bean paste
1/8 tsp salt

1. Place almonds, sugar and flour in a food processor and process until finely ground.
2. Add the remaining ingredients and process until you get a smooth paste.
3. Transfer into a small bowl, cover and refrigerate.

Apples
3 Granny Smith apples, peeled cored and sliced.
20gm caster sugar
20gm brown sugar

Pie Crust (Pate Brisee)
1 1/4cups (175gm) all purpose flour
1/2 tsp (2gm) salt
1 tbsp (14gm) caster sugar
1/2 cup (113gm) cold unsalted butter, cubed
1/8 to 1/4 cup (30 - 60 ml) ice water

**The original recipe uses the processor for preparing the pie crust. As my processor is the mini type, I used rubbing-in method instead.
1. Place flour, salt and sugar and mix well.
2. Add the cold butter and using fingertips to rub-in butter with flour mixture until resemble coarse meal.
3. Slowly add in water to the mixture and knead till the pastry just holds together when pinched.
4. Gather pastry into a ball and cover with cling wrap. Refrigerate for about an hour or until firm.
5. Roll the pastry on a lightly floured surface, 12 inch (30cm) circle.
6. Transfer rolled pastry to a parchment lined baking sheet.
7. Spread frangipane evenly over the pastry, leaving a 2-inch (5cm) border.
8. Arrange the apple slices even over the frangipane layer, leaving a 2-inch (5cm) border.
9. Fold the border of pastry up and over the apples, sealing any cracks. Brush the pastry crust with milk.
10. Sprinkle the caster/ brown sugar over the crust and apples.
11. Place the rack in the center of the oven.
12. Bake in pre-heated oven at 190 deg C for 50-60 mins, or until the apples are tender and the crust is golden brown,
13. Remove from oven and place on a wire rack to cool.

Soya beancurd pudding

Whilst everyone has been making this dessert, I was quite laid-back. I did tried the real thing 老伴豆花 when the craze was at its hottest, but no I didn't stay in line for at-least-half-an-hour, my office colleagues have their way of collating bulk orders for almost anything! You would have guessed that it didn't wowed me then, and I still stand firm with the traditional beancurd pudding.

 

Anyway, I saw many bloggers posting this dessert and also because the recent Diner en Blanc, which sparked so much controversy, there was even a Make and Eat Tau Huay Day. Looking at so many tau huays made my heart go wobbly for some tau huay too! I've succumbed to temptations and here you go, my first attempt and I'm lucky it's a success! Judging from many bloggers' comments, I too followed Anncoo's recipe which is really easy. The most difficult part is getting the ingredients, especially instant jelly powder which is not available at the supermarket. I'm copying the recipe here for my future reference.

 

Ingredients/ Method
(Recipe adapted from Anncoo Journal)

3 satchets UNISOY Instant Organic Soya Milk Powder (no sugar added)
40g sugar
40g Coffee-Mate powder
20g instant jelly
100ml water (at room temperature)
900ml water

1) Mix all ingredients with 100ml water and set aside.
2) Boil 900ml water and remove from stove thereafter.
3) Mix the soya milk mixture into the boiled 900ml water and stir with a whisk.
4) Pour into mould and let it set. (Do not stir)
5) Chill in fridge before serve.

*Passed the mixture through the sieve 2 times before pouring into the mould to make the texture smoother.

Cake good for a Sunday gathering

White peach & plum 

Sorry guys that I'm missing from my blog for such a long time, and though I can't promise that there will be regular updates from now but I will try my best. I miss blogging and baking.

During this time, there's hardly any baking for me. Except for trying out a brioche recipe together with my friends months ago, I've not try out any new recipes. To play safe, I did a Fruit Pastry Cake which I'd baked a few times before for a family gathering today. It feels good to be baking again :) I won't be posting the recipe, but if anyone is interested, you can refer here.