Char Siu Bun

Hand kneading bread dough is awfully tough.

It all makes sense now the reason why bread shop in Chinatown is charging £0.80 for just a small Char Siu Bun.

Siaopo spent 5 hours of her Saturday afternoon making the bread/bun dough, filling, baking and etc.

Never mind the hours. The worst is the bun is not as soft as it should be. The texture is far and away behind those sold in the shop. What a big failure...

Is time to call it a quit. This will be the last bread/bun making session for Siaopo.

But again, she must say decision will change if she is allow to purchase a kneading machine! Jeng* Jeng * jeng.* ...ha ha

Recipe adapted from here. Filling similar to Char Siu Pau Filling.

Seremban Siu Pau

Lufbra Boy's post has inspired Siaopo to bake this Seremban Siu Pau for the first time.

Adapted the recipe search from petitchef recommended by Lufbra Girl. Hubby commented the filling tasted extremely well but the pastry still require loads of improvement.

Ingredient
Oil Dough
240g flour
120g lard
Water Dough
240g flour
60g icing sugar
60g lard
120ml water

1 egg
Dash of sesame seed

Filling
Similar recipe as Char Siu Pau filling

Method

1. Mix all ingedients of oil dough and water dough and knead till soft.
2. Set aside for 30 minutes.
3. Divide each dough into 20 pieces.
4. Wrap oil dough into water dough and flatten it.
5. Roll the dough into long flat piece and roll up like swiss roll.
6. Press dough and roll into circle.
7. Place filling in center. Wrap into pau shape.
8. Brush with egg and sprinkle sesame seed.
9. Bake for 30 minutes or until golden brown.

Siu Mai

Second dish of the Dim Sum picnic, Siu Mai.

Siu Mai freezes really well. Siaopo felt the idea of having Siu Mai on hand to steam up for one of the weekday dinner is absolutely brilliant. Siu Mai can be steam straight away on frozen state.

Ingredients
200g pork mince
150g prawns (chopped)
1 packet of wanton wrap
1 small carrot ( boiled and grated)
1 egg white

Seasoning
2 tbsp of soy sauce
1 tbsp of oyster sauce
1/2 sesame oil
1/2 tsp sugar
2 tbsp cornstarch
Dash of pepper

Method

1. Add seasoning pork mince and prawns. Combine well.
2. Set aside in the fridge for 2 hours.
3. Put 1 tbsp of filling in the center of wanton wrap.
4. Press twrapper up and make filling only to be seen on top. Make bottom flat.
5. Put the grated carrot on the top.
6. Steam over high heat for 15 minutes.

Char Siu Pau

Siaopo loves Dim Sum. The sight of a Dim Sum cart rolling by always bring a big smile to her face!

Siaopo had made Char Siu Pau for the Dim Sum picnic last weekend.

Ingredients
Dough
1 packet of ready mix steamed pau flour
1/3 cup of water
1 tbsp of vegetable oil

Filling
2 cups of Char Siu (chopped into cubes)
1 onion (chopped)
2 tbsp hoisin sauce
1 tbsp dark soy sauce
2 tbsp sugar
1 tsp of sesame oil
1 tbsp cornstarch (mix with water)
1 tbsp oil
Pepper

Method

1. Heat oil in the wok. Add onion and all filling ingredients. Leave aside to cool.
2. Cut greaseproof paper into square shape for base.
3. Add water and oil to flour. Knead until smooth.
4. Leave for a while by covering with damp cloth.
5. Roll dough into a long shape and cut into 10 small pieces. Roll individual into a ball .
6. Flatten small dough ball with rolling pin. Place 1 tbsp of filling in center.
7. Pleat the edges and make it into pau shape. Put on top of the greaseproof paper.
8. Leave for 10 minutes before steaming over high heat for 10 minutes.

Siaopo needs to brush up her pleating skills...

The filling just melted in the mouth....yummy...

Chinese Radish Cake/Lo Bak Kou

Ingredients:
2 radish ( or Mooli in England)
80g of grilled bacon dice ( I can’t find chinese sausages here thus substituted with bacon)
5 huge chinese mushrooms
30g dried shrimps
2 shallots sliced
3 tbsp oil
150g rice flour
30g wheat starch

Seasoning:
salt
sugar
sesame oil
Dash of pepper
Maggi chilli Sauce to serve

Method:

1. Skin and cut radish to thin strips. Place radish with 300ml of water in a big pot. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer until soft. Let it cool.
2. Soak both dried shrimps and dried mushrooms until soften. Chop dried shrimps and cut mushrooms into small dice. Cut bacon or chinese sausage into small cubes.
   
3. Heat up oil in a wok. Fry sliced shallots until fragrant. Add in bacon ,mushrooms and dried shrimps and continue to fry until fragrant. Season with the seasoning ingredients. Set aside.
   
4. Drain cooked radish well. Save 250ml of the water from the boiling radish.
   
5. Mix rice flour and wheat starch in a large mixing bowl. Pour radish water and mix well till obtaining smooth batter. Add cooked radish and the fried ingredients into the batter. Mix well. Pour mixture into the greased aluminium foil.
   
6. Steam over boiling water for approx 1 hour. Remove from steamer and slice it after 20 min.

Lo Bak Kou can be eaten with Tee Jiau (Sweet Sauce) or pan fry with some oil. Hubby likes them pan fried and serve with Maggi Chilli Sauce.

Comment from Food Critic WP Ng - Taste excellent but still miles away from Chai Tao Kueh Warong at Jalan Bukit Bendera.