Vegetable Curry Pau

I have always been wanting to make paus but failed terribly 2x with 2 different recipes. It was really disappointing until I saw this recipe shared by a member from an online forum which I frequent (thanks Lena). This one came out perfect for me, of course this is not the kind of paus you get at those dim sum places. The dough tastes almost like the ones you get outside (those regular steam paus) and I really liked it a lot.

Although the recipe uses sponge dough, you can do a straight dough method too.

Ingredients
A: Sponge
400 gm HKG/pau flour (Recommended using Bluekey pau flour)
210-240ml water * (pour bit by bit - need not use the 240ml)
1 ½ tsp instant yeast.

B: Ingredients for the pau
100 gm HKG/pau flour (Recommended using Bluekey pau flour)
120g gm sugar
10 gm shortening
1 ¼ tsp double action baking powder

Method
1. Mix ingredients A together
2. Knead until smooth and elastic
3. Let it rise for 40 mins
4. Mix dough from method 1 with ingredients B. and knead until well blended
5. Cut into equal portions about 40g
6. Wrap in filling
7. Let it rise for 20 minutes
8. Steam over high heat for 15 minutes

* I used Bake King's hkg flour and this flour absorbs quite a bit of water. So I reduced the water to around 210-220ml instead of 240ml. For those using other flours, please add water 200ml first and followed by the rest.

Note: I used my breadmaker to knead the sponge then followed by using the mixer when adding B. But you can use the breadmaker to knead the dough and take it out once the breadmaker stops kneading. No need to wait till cycle ends.

I made the dough first and freeze it and shape it the next day. You can freeze the dough too right after mixing the sponge with B. To use, thaw it before shaping and follow step 5 onwards.

Tomato Bruschetta

I ran out of ideas what to have for dinner and too lazy to cook. Hubby also has not been eating heavy dinner lately due to his runny nose - which is good actually .. heh. So settled for this, an easy one. The only thing I need to cook is to toast the bread 8-) I like to make a big batch and chuck it in the fridge.

Ingredients
2-3 plump tomatoes, cubed
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1/3 tsp salt
dashes of italian seasoning/dried basil or other herbs that you like
cream cheese spread
toasts
2 clove garlic, cut into half

Method
1. Mix the chopped tomatoes, olive oil, salt and herbs
2. Toast bread slices
3. Rub cut garlic on the hot toast
4. Spread cream cheese on toast and top it with the tomato mixture

You can have variations for this, sprinkle cheese and toast it or have meat slices to go with it.

Tofu Balls

I got a bit sick of eating plain deep fried firm tofu so decided to make them into balls. A pretty easy snack and it's best eaten hot. Hubby finished the whole plate of it while I only get to eat like 3 of them 8-(

You can also use breadcrumbs for a crispy texture.

Ingredients
2 firm tofu, drained and mashed
1-2 stalks spring onion, chopped
salt & pepper to taste
1 egg, lightly beaten
enough cornflour for coating
oil for frying

Method
1. Mix all the ingredients except egg and cornflour
2. Shape into balls and coat it with egg followed by cornflour
3. Deep fry till golden brown
4. Serve with sauce of your choice

Garlic & Rosemary Focaccia

This is hubby's favourite bread. He likes to have his sandwich with this or have it on it's own. Focaccia is not a difficult bread to make and the ingredients used are fairly few. There are many methods to making focaccia, but I chose to use the direct dough method using my breadmaker to do the kneading work ... hehe

It would be good have holes in the focaccia. So try not to let the air out too much during shaping.

Ingredients
250ml water
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp salt
2 tsp sugar
3 cups/450g bread flour
2 tsp yeast
1/2 tbsp oregano/italian herbs

Toppings
3 tbsp olive oil
garlic powder
dried rosemary
rock salt (optional - if you don't want to sprinkle salt, up the salt in the dough a little bit)

Method
1. Place ingredients into bread pan in the order listed in the recipe
2. Select dough program and let machine runs
3. Once cycle complete, leave the dough to further proof for another 45min - 1 1/2hr (this gives a softer texture)
4. Take dough out and press into a lightly greased pan
5. Loosely cover with lightly greased cling wrap and stand in warm area for 30 mins or doubled in size
6. Remove cling wrap and use your fingers to make the depressions
7. Brush dough with olive oil and sprinkle with toppings
8. Bake in preheated oven 200 degree for about 25-30 mins or until golden brown

Mocha Bread Pudding

The original recipe of this is just a regular bread pudding using white bread and milk. Since I have some leftover coffee bread that I baked a few days ago, I decided to tweak it a little into this.

Bread pudding is one of the simplest yet delicious dessert. I don't eat it with custard because I like the way it is.

For those who don't like too sweet a dessert, you can replace the white sugar with brown sugar or use slightly less than 3/4 cup sugar.

You can also add chocolate chips if you like or replace the chocolate milk with other flavoured milk like coffee milk.


Ingredients
6-10 slices day-old coffee bread
2 tablespoons butter/margarine, melted
1/2 cup raisins (optional)
4 eggs, beaten
1 cup milk
1 cup chocolate milk
3/4 cup white sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 pcs tim tam, roughly chopped

Method
1. Preheat oven to 180 degree celsius
2. Break bread into small pieces into an 8 inch square baking pan
3. Drizzle melted butter or margarine over bread
4. Sprinkle with raisins and chopped tim tam
5. In a mixing bowl, combine eggs, milk and sugar and beat until all are well mixed
6. Pour over bread, and lightly push down with a fork until bread is covered and soaking up the egg mixture
7. Bake in the preheated oven for 45 minutes, or until the top springs back when lightly tapped

Double Chocolate Muffin with Yoghurt

This recipe is taken from Simply Her magazine shared by an online friend at KC. I have replaced some of the items and reduce the yoghurt. It's a very moist and delicious muffin. It's very easy but yet very yummy especially if you use a high quality cocoa powder like Varlhona.

Ingredients
1 3/4 cup plain flour
1 tsp bicarbonate soda
3/4 cup brown sugar (original is castor sugar)
1/4 cup cocoa powder
100g butter, melted
1 egg
3/4 cup plain yoghurt
1/2 cup chocolate milk (original is regular white milk)
1/2 tsp vanilla essence
1/2 cup chocolate chips

Method
1. Preheat oven at 180C
2. Sieve flour, bicarbonate soda and cocoa powder together then stir in sugar
3. Beat egg and vanilla essence together, add in all the wet ingredients to into flour mixture
4. Fold together using a fork until the flour is dampened, but not smooth
5. Spoon mixture evenly into lined or greased muffin tray
6. Bake for 20 mins or until the until skewer comes out clean

Bubor Lambok

This is an easy dish, quite kids friendly provided you don't add too much pepper. I used the slow cooker to make this and it took about 2-3 hrs to get that thick consistency. You can also cook this over the stove if you don't have a slow cooker. To me, using the slow cooker gives a nicer texture to the porridge and hassle free too as I don't have to worry about burning it *chuckle*

The garnishes is really up to you want to add. For me, I just had it with crispy ikan bilis, groundnuts, slices of omelette and prawns with a sprinkle of parsley and fried shallots.

My mom's version uses mince meat, but for mine, I used dried shrimps and dried scallops.


Ingredients
1 cup Thai rice, washed
4-5 cups water
7 cloves garlic
1 onion
1 thumbsize ginger
2 tbsp dried shrimp
2 tbsp dried scallops
2/3 cup coconut milk
pepper
salt

Garnishes
Fried ikan bilis, groundnuts, sliced omelette and cooked prawns


Method
1. Blend garlic, ginger and onion into paste
2. Add rice, water, dried shrimp, dried scallop and blended paste into the slow cooker
3. Stir mixture and turn knob to high
4. Stir porridge every 1 hr and add water if it's too dry
5. Once porridge is thick, add salt & pepper to taste
6. Add coconut milk into porridge and stir till it's well blended and let it cook further for 30-1hr 7. Serve with garnishes

Nasi Briyani

I made this a few weeks ago for one of our weekend meal. I used the Shan brand briyani but I didn't follow the instruction. Instead, I cook the rice using a recipe that I have but the meat gravy I used the one in the package 8-)

The rice is fairly simple to make and tastes real nice. But the colouring isn't so great because I was still pretty new with this.

Ingredients
1kg basmati rice, soaked for 30 minutes and drained
2-3 tsp ghee/butter
1 star anise
2 sticks cinnamon
4 cardamoms
2 stalks lemongrass, bruised
5 pandan leaves, tear the middle and tie into a knot
1/4 cup yoghurt
3 cups evaporated milk
3 cups water
salt
some saffron or use colouring
some toasted almond slivers or cashew nuts + raisins fried in ghee/butter for garnishing

Method
1. Heat ghee, fry the spices till fragrant
2. Add the rice and stir fry for about 2 minutes
3. Transfer everything to the rice cooker
4. Add lemongrass, yoghurt, water, evaporated milk, salt and pandan leaves and stir the mixture
5. Switch on rice cooker and cook
6. Once cooked, sprinkle saffron or colouring to the rice and mix gently
7. Sprinkle toasted nuts and fried raisins and serve