Chinese New Year : Pineapple Cookie / Tart Recipe

Happy Chinese New Year 2104! Time really fly when I recall back how I spent my Chinese New Year first time away from my home country. Me and hubby was at Melbourne during last year CNY. Though we are at a western country, but the CNY atmosphere was not lacking compared back to Malaysia or I should say Melbourne had a merrier CNY celebration =)

Well, for CNY, pineapple tart / cookie it's has been a "must have' for me. Been making these cookies since I was in secondary school and revising the recipe to a perfect one. What is perfect pineapple cookie for me? A 'perfect' pineapple cookie for me is, it shall melt once put our mouth. So below is the recipe which would like to share with you during this festive season. I know it's kinda late to make cookies 2 days before the day, apologize for that. Hope you like this recipe!

Pineapple Tarts / Cookies

Ingredients:
(A)
250g magarine / butter
50g icing sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla essence
2 egg yolks
2 tbsp Ghee / pure cow butter (This is important)

(B)
400g plain flour
20g cornflour

(C) Pineapple Fillings (Boiled to thick)
500g chopped pineapple, strained
250g castor sugar
1/4 tsp pineapple essence
** Alternatively you can use ready made pineapple paste sell at baking shop.

Method
1. Beat (A) till creamy and slowly stir in (B).
2. Put in the dough in mould and press out pattern
3. Spread the pineapple filling (C) and roll up. Brush top with beaten egg.
Bake the cookie at 160 celcius for about 25 minutes.

Soft Sweet Bun - Worth a Try!

As mentioned in the previous post, I've been into bread baking frenzy mode. Was searching the best method to make a pillow soft bread texture. Made lots of bread loaves and buns within the month. In previous post, I posted a bread recipe using Tang Zhong method. I found that Tang Zhong method is a good recipe for soft loaves. However I found that Tang Zhong bread turn out to be slightly coarse and a little dense after a overnight. Not sure is it because of the weather at Melbourne (which is quite cold now) and because of that I continue to search recipe from the internet for a soft bread texture.

Finally I cam across to Cheah's blog and saw her post on Meat Floss bun using the gelatinized dough recipe. Her bun looks absolutely SOFT with a cotton look like texture. Got motivated by her post and decided to give it a try =). The result? Excellent! The bun are superb soft with cotton fine texture. I'm really impressed with the recipe and satisfied. This is indeed another recipe to keep beside the Tang Zhong method. Do give it a try. I'm sure you will never regret with it.

Soft Sweet Bun

Soft Sweet Bun Recipe


(A) Gelatinized Dough

1. 100g bread flour
2. 70 ml boiling water 

 Method:

1. Mix the bread flour and boiling water together till form a dough.
2. Cover the dough with cling wrap and place into the fridge for 12 hours.
3. Thaw the dough before adding it into the main dough mixture. 

(B) Main Dough

1. 400g bread four
2. 75g sugar
3. 2_1/4 tsp instant yeast
4. 1 tsp salt
5. 170ml cold water / cold milk
6. 1 egg
7. 75g butter

Method:

1. Mix all the wet ingredients (except butter) and place it into bread maker/stand alone mixer.
2. The follow by all the dry ingredients. 
3. Tear the gelatinized dough into small pieces and add in into the mixture. Draw a wall in the middle of the dry ingredients and put in the yeast.
4. Start mixing the dough using the bread maker (dough mode) / stand alone mixer. Kneading bread dough is not easy, therefore for this step, I used the bread maker to do the job. If you do not have a bread maker, you can use a powerful stand alone mixer like Kitchen Aid to knead the dough.
5. Add in the butter after 3-5 minutes of kneading.
6. Bread machine will knead the dough for 1 hour and do the 1st proofing for 1 hour. Different bread maker might have different settings.
7. When the dough is ready, poke a hole in the middle to release the gas. Knead the dough briefly and form the dough into a ball. 
8. Divide the dough into small size ball based on preferred size. Cover it with cling wrap and let it rest for 10 mins.
9. Shape the dough and place the buns on a greased baking sheet, lightly cover with cling film, and let rise in a warm place until double in size.
10. Bake in preheated 180°C oven for about 15 to 20 minutes, or until golden brown.

Hong Kong Style Sausage Bun

Lately I have been crazy into making bread after visited Christine's blog and saw her success in making homemade bread using special Tang Zhong method. Tang zhong is a technique origin from Japan to create soft and fluffy bread.

Another motivation into making bread is that because Asian style breads and buns are selling expensively back in bread shops in Melbourne. Haha! Thus, I get my husband to get me a brand new bread maker which only cost us aud $69 and there it goes my exploration in making bread =)

HK Style Sausage Bun

Tang zhong method involves cooking flour with water over the heat till the batter reaches 65°C as a starter dough. Basically here is the recipe for HK Style Sausage bun. For more details on the steps and more Tang Zhong bread recipe, you can visit Christine's blog.

HK Style Sausage Bun Recipe ( Tang Zhong method)

Ingredients:

(A) Tang Zhong / Starter Dough

1. 50g bread flour
2. 250ml water

Method:

1. Mix the bread flour and water together until dissolved without any lump.
2. Heat up the mixture on the stove with medium heat. 
3. Keep stirring the mixture till it start to thicken. Mixture is ready when the temperature reach 65°C or alternative way to recognize is when lines is observed at the mixture during stirring.
4. Cover the mixture with cling wrap and keep it in refrigerator. Let the mixture return to room temperature before using it. It can be kept for 3 days.

(B) Main Ingredient

1. 350g bread flour (high protien flour)
2. 55g castor sugar
3. 5g salt
4. 1 egg
5. 125ml milk
6. 120g starter dough
7. 5-6g instant yeast
8. 30g butter

Method:

1.  Mix all the wet ingredients (except butter) and place it into bread maker/stand alone mixer.
2. The follow by all the dry ingredients. Draw a wall in the middle of the dry ingredients and put in the yeast.
3. Start mixing the dough using the bread maker (dough mode) / stand alone mixer. Kneading bread dough is not easy, therefore for this step, I used the bread maker to do the job. If you do not have a bread maker, you can use a powerful stand alone mixer like Kitchen Aid to knead the dough.
4. Add in the butter after 3-5 minutes of kneading.
5. Bread machine will knead the dough for 1 hour and do the 1st proofing for 1 hour. Different bread maker might have different settings.
6. When the dough is ready, poke a hole in the middle to release the gas. Knead the dough briefly and form the dough into a ball. 
7. Divide the dough into small size ball based on preferred size. Cover it with cling wrap and let it rest for 10 mins.
8. Shape the dough into a slim roll and roll it over to the sausage. Place the buns on a greased baking sheet, lightly cover with cling film, and let rise in a warm place until double in size.
9. Bake in preheated 190°C oven for about 12 to 15 minutes, or until golden brown. Last 5mins before the baking time end, brush in the egg wash on top.

Sweet & Sour Chicken - Is it your favorite?

Sweet & Sour Chicken Recipe

I guess craving for certain food does not only apply for pregnant mummy but also to all the ladies at any time =). Sweet & sour chicken used to be our all time favorite dish when we are at Malaysia. But when I'm at Melbourne, I never cook it at home bacause I thought the cooking process will be tedious as I need to deep fry the meat and consume a lot of oil. But I was wrong, I just fry the meat within a small pot with just right amount of oil to cover the meat. It works!

I got this sudden craving which at one hot weather at Melbourne, when I was busy figuring what to cook for dinner of the day,I thought maybe I shall give it a try.  I have included 2 recipes here, one of them is using the instant sweet & sour sauce from Kantong which I found it taste perfectly nice as the homemade sauce. It is best for anyone that short of time but want to cook a delicious meal at short time.

Ingredients:
300g of pork belly / chicken thigh / chicken breast
** I found that pork belly & chicken thigh is better option in terms of meat tenderness 
1/2 onion
1/2 green pepper
1/2 tomato

Marinade:
2 tsp light soya sauce
1 tsp sugar
1 tbsp cornflour
1 egg
a pinch of pepper

Sauce:
3 tbsp tomato sauce / ketchup
3 tbsp sugar
3 tbsp white vinegar
6 tbsp water
1/4 tsp salt
2 tbsp cornstarch

OR
1/2 bottle of Kantong Pineapple Sweet & Sour sauce (Kantong only available in Australia, I think)

Method:

1. Cut meat into small cubes and mix in all the marinade ingredients. Marinate it for at least 1 hour inside fridge.
2. Cut onion, green pepper & tomato into small pieces.
3. Heat up a amount of oil in a pot. Amount of oil to use: Enough to cover the meat is OK. Dredge meat cube with cornstarch and fry the meat till golden brown & cooked through. ** Don't use too high heat as it might cause the outer skin to turn brown but meat inside is under cooked.
4. Heat up 1tbsp of oil to fry onion, green pepper& tomato. Add in the sauce mixtures and bring to boil over high heat. Turn of the heat and quickly stir in the cooked meat.

Hong Kong Style Mango Pudding

Yum Yum Mango Pudding

I have been crazy for mango pudding since I ate it at one of the dessert shop during my trip to Hong Kong. The smoothness of the pudding, nice flavor of the mango eaten together with evaporated milk really gives a "kick"and feels like in heaven! Mango lovers must try this!

Hong Kong style mango pudding is not same like other mango pudding in the market. The texture of the pudding is more soft and normally fresh mango flesh will be used in the pudding. It can be easily found in any dessert shop in Hong Kong and is a popular dessert at Dim Sum restaurant.

Since mango is in season during summer Australia, I grab this chance to make my favourite dessert. Below is the recipe for mango pudding, do give it a try as it is really for "yum" dessert especially for mango lovers!

Ingredients:
1)  Aeroplane Mango Jelly x 2 packets or (13.5g of gelatine + 75-90g of sugar)

2) 1 cup (225ml) boiling water & 110ml cold water
3) 175ml of fresh milk
4) 85ml of evaporated milk
5) 2-3 mango pureed + mango cube (if you like more mango flavor)
6) 1 egg (optional) - to make the pudding taste more rich 

Method: 
1) Add jelly powder to 1 cup (225ml) boiling water & mix well
2) Pour 110ml cold water into the mixture and mix again
3) Pour in the fresh milk & evaporated milk (make sure the mixture the cold enough before pouring the milk in)
4) Add in whisked egg & pureed mango
5) Pour into small cup or mould and chill for about 4 hours untill the jelly set
6) Serve pudding with evaporated milk.  

Hope you like this recipe! :)