Siew Mai

I always love siew mai, a must dish I gotta eat everytime I go for dimsum
The recipe is from my late grandmother whom was a real avid cook
She always made the sauce too which tasted fabulous :)

What you need:

wanton wrappers
mould for Indonesian style steamed cupcake (optional)
canola oil
egg white from 1 egg

Filling:
500g minced chicken
250g minced prawns
2/3 large China wongbok - used only the stem, sliced thinly, mixed with 1 tsp salt, squeezing them by hands til soft
2 tbsp chopped fried garlic
salt, pepper, sugar
4 eggs
400ml water
8 heaped tbsp plain flour

Mix all ingredients above, the batter should be soft and not thick, but not too runny either
If it's still too thick, adding of egg / water is fine
Adjust the taste

To assemble, I'm using mould for Indonesian style steamed cupcake to maintain the consistency of the shape and size
I googled for the picture and here's what I got, it's something like this but mine is square...

I oiled the inner part of the mould, lay wanton wrapper inside, brush with egg white and spoon in the filling
Put a little of grated carrots on top and steam for around 30 minutes or til cooked
Remove from mould

For the sauce:

3 large red chillis, remove seeds and cut
5 tomatoes, cut
salt, sugar
tomato ketchup
potato starch / sago flour / corn flour mixed with a little water as thickener

1. Boil a small pot of water with cut chillis and tomatoes
2. After boiled, off heat and let it warm
3. Transfer to a blender and blend til smooth
4. Strain, add salt, sugar, and tomato ketchup
5. Adjust the taste, and mix with thickener as desired

I'm submitting this post to  Aspiring Bakers #19 Dim Sum Affair (May 2012) hosted by Small Small Baker

Bake Along #25 - Anniversary Chocolate Coffee Kahlua Layered Cake (Barefoot Contessa)

Wow! How time flies! Bake Along is 1!

It has been a joyous experience to be able to take part in this event
Thank you to the hosts, Joyce, Lena and Zoe for the wonderful idea and the continuous effort and making superb recipe choices :)
Great experience to meet many new friends sharing the same passion, learning together doing what we love... Isn't it just wonderful?
It is so coincident that today, 29 May, is my 8th wedding anniversary :)

So, for these two wonderful events, I baked this chocolate coffee cake from Ina Garten which has made me salivating when I saw Zoe and Kit baked this cake
Agree with them, this cake is superb!
Moist, fine texture, chocolatey, the sweetness is just right, the coffee fragrant is a plus point and I added with a hint of kahlua, it's a pleasant bonus :)
I used Valrhona cocoa which makes the chocolate cake tastes so much better :)
Another pleasant surprise is the buttercream
It's so smooth, creamy and yummy! Really a keeper!
And another plus point - which is my favorite, it's relatively easy to make!

What you need:

For the cake:

210g plain flour
400g caster sugar
3 eggs
85g Valrhona cocoa
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp salt
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
250ml buttermilk
125ml vegetable oil (I used canola)
1 cup hot coffee (I used 3 tsp Nescafe instant coffee powder mixed with 250ml hot water)
1 tbsp kahlua

1. Preheat oven to 180degC
2. Grease 2 x 20cm round pans, line with parchment paper and butter + flour the pans
3. Sift flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder and salt in one bowl
4. Mix buttermilk, oil, eggs and vanilla in another bowl
5. With mixer on low speed, add wet ingredients to the dry ingredients
6. Still on low speed, add in coffee and kahlua, stir just to combine, scrap the bottom occasionally
7. Pour batter into pans, bake for approximately 45 minutes, til skewer comes out clean
8. Cool in pans for 30 minutes, turn onto cooling rack, cool completely
9. Place 1 layer, flat on top, spread frosting on top, place second layer on top, rounded side up, spread frosting all over cake as desired

For the frosting:

(I made 1/2 of the recipe below and it's sufficient)
170g chopped dark chocolate (70%)
226g unsalted butter, room temperature
2 egg yolks
1 tsp vanilla extract
150g icing sugar, sifted
1 tbsp instant coffee powder, dissolve in 2 tsp hot water
1 tsp kahlua

1. Melt chocolate over a pan of simmering water, stir til just melted, let cool completely
2. Beat butter on medium high speed til yellow and fluffy - approximately 3 minutes
3. Add in egg yolk and vanilla, continue beating for another 3 minutes
4. Turn mixer to low speed, gradually add icing sugar, beat in medium speed, scraping down the bowl if needed, til smooth and creamy
5. In low speed, add chocolate and coffee, as well as kahlua to the butter mixture, mix til blended
6. Spread immediately on cooled cake

I'm linking this to Cook Like A Star blog hop event, hosted by Zoe, featuring Barefoot Contessa as the celebrity chef for the month of May

Happy anniversary to Bake Along, also to me and my dear hubby XOXO

Below is more layered cake from other Bake Along friends....

Gluten Free Cassava Fudgy Brownies

Good knowing for once I can make gluten free bake
I read many times, gluten takes the longest time to digest, it can be as long as 3 days!
This brownies used modified cassava flour I got from Indonesia
It has perfect texture, fudgy, a little gooey, with flaky crust on top... my kind of brownies
Taste wise, nobody will know it's gluten free.
The usage of Valrhona cocoa made this brownies taste even better. Simply delicious!

A little description about the flour adapted from Ricke's site where the recipe comes from...

Modified cassava flour (mocaf) is made from cassava made into powder form, and then processed using enzyme from yeast whom able to break down cassava flour cells resulting in finer texture, brighter white color and trace of cassava odor can be minimized to 70%
Mocaf is different from cassava flour or tapioca starch
The characteristic is very close to plain flour so it can be used for cake making
But it's gluten free, unlike plain flour, resulting in shorter cake
Replacement to mocaf can be done 100% or only partial - combining with plain flour
Only for bread making, certain percentage of high protein flour must be present, since gluten is essential to reach elasticity and to help the bread to rise well, too
What you need:

225g butter
125g dark cooking chocolate
200g mocaf
50g Valrhona cocoa powder
20g full cream milk powder
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp vanilla extract
4 medium eggs
300g caster sugar
For topping: walnuts and chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 180degC
2. In a pot over low fire, melt butter and chocolate, set aside
3. Grease 24cm square pan (height 4cm), line with baking paper, grease again, set aside
4. Sieve mocaf, cocoa powder, milk powder, baking powder, set aside
5. Whisk eggs and sugar til dissolved (need not to expand)
6. Add in mixture of butter and chocolate, also vanilla, mix well
7. Add in sifted flour mixture, stir til just combined
8. Pour batter into pan, sprinkle with chocolate chips and walnuts, bake for 45 minutes or til skewer comes out clean

I'm linking up this post to :
* Allergy Free Wednesday #18
* Sweet Treats and Swanky Stuff Thursday
* SweetTooth Friday
* Sweets For A Saturday #71

Avocado Coffee Dessert

One favorite dessert my mum always made for the family :)
Besides avocado juice, this is another great way I love to enjoy avocado as dessert :)
Keep it chilled in the fridge, perfect for Singapore's recent hot humid weather!

Very simple to make...

Halve avocados, scrape the meat in a bowl
Prepare a glass or two glasses (depending on how much avocados you use) of plain coffee with brown sugar
Pour the coffee into avocado meat, mix well and store in covered container and keep in the fridge
Serve cold

Homemade Chicken Burger

I've made this recipe before, please view HERE
But this time, I really did everything homemade, including the buns :)

Recipe is from Sonia's site

For the chicken patties:

What you need:

500g minced chicken
1 onion, finely chopped
3tbsp fresh breadcrumbs
3tbsp fresh milk
1/4tsp white pepper powder
1/4tsp black pepper powder
1/4tsp chicken stock powder
1tsp salt or to taste

plain flour - enough for coating
1 egg - lightly beaten
fresh breadcrumbs - enough for coating

1. Mix fresh breadcrumbs and milk in a mixing bowl, set aside for few minutes
2. Fry the onions till soft, and mix into minced chicken
3. Add the rest of ingredients and seasoning, mix till well combine, form into patties
4. One by one, dip patties in plain flour, next coat in beaten eggs, then transfer to breadcrumbs and coat thoroughly
5. Pan frying with little oil until golden brown on both sides. Drain with paper towels

For the burger buns:

(combine au Lait and water roux method)

 

Water roux starter method:

 

50g High protein flour/bread flour

250g water

1. Combine water and flour in a pot, cook over low fire, keep stirring till become thick and no lumps, the texture is something like baby porridge (still a little runny)
2. Remove from heat, cover loosely with plastic wrap to prevent from drying. Keep in the fridge after completely cooling down for later use

Burger dough (combine au Lait and water roux method):

 

450g bread flour

55g sugar

1/2 tsp salt

170g fresh milk (cold)

40g egg white

1½ tsp yeast

50g butter (soften in room temp)

100g water roux starter

1. Using breadmaker, put all the ingredients except butter in breadmaker pan, and start 'dough'programme - approximately 1 hour 30 minutes
2. Remove dough from the bowl, punch out the air, equally divide into smooth round shape each 50g, arrange on baking pan lined with non stick baking paper, rest for another 20mins
3. Apply egg wash
4. Bake at a pre-heated oven at 180c for 25mins

The buns were soft, a little chewy, a bit too compact, but definitely better than the first burger buns I made
It turned a little harder the following day, but warming it up in microwave solved the problem :)

I used tomato, lettuce to put together with the chicken patty in the bun, spread a little tomato ketchup, dijon mustard and chilli sauce
Yum! :)

THB #3 Blueberry Streusel Coffee Cake

I baked these cuppies last Saturday, and was busy with family outings only today I can post :)

Another great cake best to serve during tea time, from the book Coffee Cakes by Lou Seibert Pappas, the third bake for The Home Bakers event :)

I made 1/2 recipe, and I didn't add any nuts nor ground cinnamon
For me personally, I believe it would have tasted better with both nuts and ground cinnamon powder added, too bad DH and the kids don't like it, so gotta ommit them, if not I would be the only one finishing all LOL

For the cake, I reduced the granulated sugar by half, added baking powder to 1 1/2 tsp instead of 1, while reducing baking soda to 1/2 tsp instead of 1 (I'm talking about full recipe here)

Also, I used cake flour to replace whole wheat flour. The next time I bake this cake again, I'll stick to whole wheat flour to know how different the texture will be
Using cake flour gave finer texture and spongy too

The use of blueberries here did help a lot in giving the moisture to the cake, which I like
Furthermore, I used 1 1/2 cup blueberries for my half recipe, so much juicy blueberries in the cake...yum!
I didn't use mixer for this recipe, all mixing done by wooden spoon and balloon whisk, such an easy cake to prepare, less things to wash :P

For full recipe, please hop over to Bizzy Bakes

Please visit The Home Bakers, you'll see other members' bakes and really hope you can join in the fun too!

Bake Along #24 - Baked Thai Chicken Meatballs

Another bake from 4ingredients
This is the third recipe I tried and all three have made me going wow....
Yummy and simple recipes they have!

This recipe is in my favorite list when I browsed through the site and again I was impressed with the result!

Each piece is so juicy and full of flavor I couldn't stop at one, really! :)

Since I don't have coriander, I changed to parsley

What you need:

500g minced chicken
1/4 cup Thai sweet chilli sauce
2 stalks of spring onion
1 tsp chopped parsley

1. Preheat oven to 180degC
2. Mix all ingredients. With wet hands, shape into balls
3. Arrange on lined baking tray and bake for 15 minutes
4. You'll see the oils were separated from the meatballs
5. Change oven to grill function and grill both sides til brown, each side around 5 minutes, or less (please observe during this time)
6. Serve hot with Thai sweet chilli sauce (I ate without additional sauce, it's yummy enough)

Below are bakes with only 4 ingredients from wonderful blogs, do check it out!

Pork Satay (Happy Call) & Indonesian Style Bakkut Soup

These two dishes are best friends, they're meant to be served together
One of many popular choices amongst Indonesians

Nice and juicy meat pieces grilled in skewers

 

Indonesian style bakkut soup, such a hearty dish

Very different from Singapore bakkut teh which is more herby in taste, the Indonesian style is more simple in the making and it has plain taste

Both recipes are from my mum

For the pork satay

 

What you need:

500g pork loin, diced
1 tsp coriander, pulse twice in food processor
6 shallots, halved
5 cloves of garlic, halved
5 candlenuts, cut small
some palm sugar (gula melaka)
some dark sweet soya sauce (kecap manis)
salt

1. Mix coriander, shallots, garlic, candlenuts, palm sugar and blen in food processor til smooth
2. Mix with pork til well incorporated, mix in kecap manis and salt til well blended
3. Arrange the pork in skewers and grill on happy call pan which has been lightly greased til brown on both sides

For the bakkut soup

 

What you need:

3 cloves of garlic, sliced thinly
400g pork spare ribs
1 pack of salted vegetables
salt, pepper

1. Boil a pot of water with the ribs. Upon boiling, discard all floating residue, simmer for another 1 hour to make the ribs tender
2. Sautee garlic til golden brown, pour into the soup 
3. Rinse salted vegetables well, to reduce the saltiness, and cut as desired
4. Pour into the soup, stir well
5. Season with salt and pepper, adjust the taste, cook til boiling
6. Off heat

Oven Fried Chicken (Barefoot Contessa)

This is the first recipe struck me when I browsed through Ina's recipes
I saw this and read the review, and I knew I had to make this
And I did, and I was glad I did
It's awesome! I love it, the whole family love it! Yummy!
I especially like to eat it with peri peri sauce my sis bought from Nando's
Plus a bowl of hot rice, and enough...who needs KFC? LOL

Crispy outside, and I mean, really crispy and tasty, too - and juicy inside

I think that should be the best 2 description for perfect fried chicken, isn't it?

And the best part is, it's not as sinful, since it's baked after lightly fried

This is the first time for me marinating chicken with buttermilk overnight, the result really worth the wait!

 

 

You may view the original recipe HERE

I modified the recipe after reading some comments, and this below suit me prefectly :)

 

 

What you need:

 

 

1 chicken, cut into 8 pieces

 

 

Marinade:

2 cups buttermilk (I used fresh milk + 2 1/2 tbsp of lemon juice)

1 tbsp Mc Cormick all purpose seasoning

1tbsp garlic powder

 

 

Coating:

1 cup plain flour

1 tbsp salt

1 tsp pepper

2 tsp Mc Cormick all purpose seasoning

1 tsp garlic powder

1. Mix all marinade, put chicken part in it, cover with cling wrap and marinate overnight in the fridge
2. Mix all ingredients for coating
3. Take out chicken parts from the marinade, coat evenly with coating mixture
4. Deep fry for around 2-3 minutes each side over medium heat
5. Pat dry with kitchen towel to remove the oil
6. Preheat oven to 180degC
7. Line baking tray with non stick baking paper, arrange the fried chicken on it and bake for around 15 minutes, take out from the oven, turn the chicken over to the other side and bake again for 20 minutes
8. Serve hot

I'm linking this to Cook Like A Star blog hop event, hosted by Zoe, featuring Barefoot Contessa as the celebrity chef for the month of May

Below are the links of great bloggers joined the event, please hop over to their sites to view their yummy treats :)

Bake Along #24 - Savoury Scrolls

I was browsing through the links below, looking through all the fabulous bakes with 4 ingredients
I read Joyce's post, shared about how she bakes for many events way ahead
Then I was thinking, wow...I am exactly totally opposite
Almost everytime. almost all bakes for all events I participate, I did last minute, if not late wew....
I guess my time management need some room of improvement LOL
Joyce, I sincerely admire you post all your bakes in time! Seriously! :)

I find it's rather tough to manage because my baking time is limited to once or the most twice a week, it's a kind of agreement in the family
I used to bake very often, at one point it was close to daily thing, but after sometime DH suggested not to bake too often
In fact, it's not only him, but also my mum suggested the same thing
So then came the once to twice a week bakes in the agenda

The main and only reason is health, both of them were not so comfortable in eating sweet treats in daily basis, which I sincerely agree
It's impossible to make and not consuming it, especially knowing that my family loves eating LOL

So, my baking days now is only Saturday and/or Sunday, and one more time on midweek, but even on that one more midweek, it's preferably to bake something not so sinful, such as buns or savoury snack

As robotic as it sounds, the schedule is a good arrangement for me and my family, and for me in particular - good for my waistline LOL

The down side is, it's not easy to arrange the time for me to bake to be in accordance with the dates of submission for the events
Fortunately there are not only a day to submit, but many days, so even though a little late, but so far still in time :)

What makes me more determined to go ahead with the arrangement... after my last week's health screen showed my bad cholesterol level was not so good, 3 points higher than normal wew..... Better take care... Luckily the rest was good, particularly my good cholesterol, it's higher than recommended, which is good :)
I was wondering how come the good cholesterol can't overwrite my bad cholesterol LOL

Having said all that, it doesn't mean I will not participate in those events
How to? I love it too much! LOL

Now for this bake... I actually had my 4 ingredients bake on Saturday for Mother's day, but it's too early to post for the Bake Along event, so I had my mid week bake today hehehe...

I wish I could make the scrolls in all even sizes hehehe....

It's not some sweet treats I baked today, not because I avoided it, but I was simply drooling when I saw this recipe at 4ingredients website
Combine the 4 ingredients together and nobody can say no to this little snack :)

And true enough, this is really yummy, and so simple to make, too
Crisp and tasty... delicious!
Here's the recipe...

What you need:
1 pastry sheet (I used Pampas and I flattened with rolling pin)
Prego pasta sauce
small diced back bacon
grated parmesan cheese

1. Preheat oven to 180degC
2. Put the flattened sheet on lightly floured surface
3. Spread sauce, sprinkle bacon, followed by cheese
4. Roll the sheet away from you like when making swissroll
5. Cut into thick slices (around 3cm)
6. Arrange on lined pan, and bake for 20-30 minutes (depends on how thick is the cut) til golden brown
7. Remove from the pan and let cool
8. Keep in airtight container to keep them crisp

Beware: It's so difficult to stop munching this scrolls!

Please view other bakes with 4ingredients below, so exciting to see many different ideas from our friend bloggers, including hosts for the event: Zoe, Joyce and Lena

You have great simple bake which only uses 4 ingredients? Come join the party :)

Easy Coconut Cake With Pineapple Cream Cheese Frosting For Mother's Day

Tomorrow is Mother's Day and just like my birthday, or any other occassion, I baked my own cake (excuse to do more baking LOL)

I initially planned to bake different kind of cake, but to my luck, two of the ingredients weren't available everywhere wew....
So instantly I went for my plan B
It's this cake I saw when I was browsing through 4ingredients website
I was thinking that it's just too easy to taste nice, the thought brought my curiousity up

So I baked this cake, out from the oven and let cool
When it was warm, I tried a bite and really, I wasn't impressed at all, I was thinking, is this a cake?
And the second bite, the third bite and then, I found myself keep eating this cake

I came back when it was completely cool, I spread the pineapple cream cheese frosting, and I changed my mind 180 degree, this cake with its unique texture is awesome!

This is one exotic cake I made today!





The texture is rather dense, a little chewy, somehow it has bread like texture

The taste is wonderful, if you're into coconut

The cake on itw own is already nice, adding with the frosting is just great!

I always think coconut and pineapple is best friend, two exotic fruits together :)

So, here's the recipe which I modified a little...

What you need:

1 cup self raising flour

1 cup dessicated coconut

1/2 cup sugar (original was 1 cup)

1 cup buttermilk (original was fresh milk)

1. Preheat oven to 180degC. Grease and line 20cm square pan
2. Using wooden spoon, mix all ingredients in a bowl
3. Pour the mixture onto the pan and bake for 45 minutes approximately or when skewer comes out clean
4. Remove from the pan after 5 minutes and let completely cool on wire rack

Please view here for the cream cheese frosting

I added a good handful of canned pineapple cut and beat together tiltil it formed small lumps

Spread pineapple cream cheese frosting on top

Now, just wanna share the cards I received from my kids :)

From Abby, she did this at school:

Another one she made at home:

And this is from Ian, he made it at school:

So heartwarming isn't it? What a delight!

To all, Happy Mother's Day! Have a wonderful time with your family :)

Indonesian Grilled Fish Fillet (Happy Call) (Barefoot Contessa)

I came across this recipe when I was browsing for Ina Garten's recipes in yummly.com
I was curious how the taste is cos it's stated Indonesian but when I saw the seasonings, I was not very certain it would be the Indonesian taste :)

I prepared this dish for dinner this evening, it's quite nice, not the authentic style, but it's nice in its own way
However. I found it too salty
The next time I make this, I will omit the salt

What you need:
(modified to suit my preference and portion)

500g fish fillet (I used premium sutchi fillet)

Marinade:
40ml soya sauce
30ml canola oil
1 tsp grated lemon zest
30ml lemon juice
10g finely minced ginger
2 garlic, finely minced
1 tbsp dijon mustard

dark sweet soya sauce to brush during grilling

1. Mix the marinade ingredients and put fish in it and marinade for minimum of 4 hours, overnight will be the best
2. Prepare Happy Call pan, brush a little oil on top and over medium low heat, grill the marinated fish around 5 minutes each side / til cooked, brush each side with dark sweet soya sauce
3. Place on serving plate, and cover with aluminium foil for 10 minutes before serving

Nice to eat with hot fluffy rice :)

I'm linking this to Cook Like A Star blog hop event, hosted by Zoe, featuring Barefoot Contessa as the celebrity chef for the month of May

Japanese Melon Pan

This is LBT's challenge of the month
Not so simple as it looks, or as it sounds, hence my rather failed outcome pppffff...

But honestly, the taste is just great :)
it stayed soft til the next day -> this is the magic word for homemade bread LOL
DH who doesn't really have sweet tooth prefers the pastry layer to be thinner though, I too personally thought it should have been nicer if it's thinner

I made original with chocolate chips, chocolate and green tea (these are just the topping, the bread used was only the plain type)
I love the green tea in particular, which is the least preferred by my family

I used HHB's recipe for the bread, through Melly, and for the pastry layer, I used my LBT's friend recipe, Nina Yatomi, through my other friend, Venny Makarawo
I still tweaked the recipe a little to suit my preference

When I saw this, all the small little cracks, I knew I wouldn't make it this time....

But this one below was not too bad, even though it should have been smoother...

And true enough... I didn't make it for these two flavours hiks...

Below were my consolation, even though it's yet to be the fullest satisfaction...

This is the recipe which I have modified a little...

What you need:

For the bread:
300g bread flour
6g instant yeast
36g caster sugar
5g salt
6g milk powder
30g unsalted butter
200g fresh milk

For the pastry layer:
(this is only half recipe)
150g plain flour
2g baking powder
70g butter
65g icing sugar
30g eggs

1/2 tsp green tea powder
1/2 tsp chocolate essence
enough chocolate chips
enough caster sugar
First is to make the pastry layer first:

1. Mix butter and sugar til smooth with electric beater / whisk
2. Add in eggs, and sifted plain flour and baking powder, beat til smooth and well mixed
3. Divide into 3, one is to mix with green tea powder, one with chocolate essence
4. No need to add the last part with anything
5. Keep each with cling wrap in the fridge for one hour
6. Take out from the fridge, shape each 25g ball
7. Put one ball on lightly floured surface, cover with plastic, and flatten with thin chopping board or plate
8. Stack up with the rest of the flatten balls
9. Keep back in the fridge for 30 minutes

Now make the bread:

1. I kneaded and first proof the dough with my breadmaker
2. After done, take out from the pan, knead briefly to release all air bubbles
3. Shape into each 40g balls and proof for 20 minutes on a lined cookie sheet, give some distance in between around 10 cm, covered with damp clean cloth / plastic (no need to be doubled in size)

Time to assemble:

1. Cover each ball with pastry layer, roll the top on a plate of caster sugar, put back on the sheet
2. Decorate the pastry layer by pressing them with cookies cutter as desired
3. For the original topping I just cut gently with table knife and put chocolate chips in each square
4. Further proof for 20 minutes
5. Bake in preheated oven of 180degC for 15 minutes or til golden brown

This link is very useful to find out how to assemble this bread: view HERE
I found this link in Melly's site - thks Melly :)
Perhaps I will try the recipe too the next time I do my second try, hope it'll turn out better
And after mastering the basic recipe, doing more variations for this bread would be nice, too
Wish me luck! :P

Chicken Wanton In Chilli Oil & Fried Wanton

I saw dim sum everywhere this month!
Don't want to miss out the opportunity to join in the fun and this wanton was the first thing in my to do list, it's in fact been in my list for the longest time LOL
Recipe is from Ellena's site, I did exactly like what she did, some I made into dumplings in chilli oil, some I made into fried wantons

After shaping...

Dumplings in chilli oil...

Juicy and tasty chicken filling...

What you need:

For the filling:
150g minced chicken
30g grated carrots
3 shallots, finely chopped
1 tbsp chopped spring onion

Seasoning:
1 tbsp light soya sauce
2 tsp sesame oil
2 tsp cooking wine
fish sauce, pepper
1 tsp cornflour

1. Mix all the ingredients and seasonings in a medium bowl, keep in the fridge for around 1  hour
2. Using dumpling mould, place 1 piece of round dumpling wrapper on the mould, top with meat fillings, close and press tight to form a perfect sealed dumpling
3. Bring a pot of water to boil with 1/2 teaspoon of oil. Slowly drop in the wrapped dumplings and cook over medium heat
4. Once the dumplings float on the surface, take out of the boiled water and splash the cooked dumplings with cold water
5. Place the dumplings on serving plate. drizzle some sesame oil and pour the chilli oil and garnish with chopped spring onion if you like

For the chilli oil:

2 tbsp Lao Gan Ma Chili Flavoured Oil
80ml Hot Water

1/2 tsp sugar

1/2 tsp vinegar

1. Heat the chilli flavored oil in microwave for 1 minute
2. Dissolve sugar in the hot water and pour over the heated chilli oil, add in vinegar and stir well

This spicy dish is so yummy I ate with my fullest courage after seeing the red chilli oil LOL
Now for the fried wanton, I used square wanton wrappers using the same filing as above
I put 1 tsp of the filling at the centre of the wrapper, brush the corners with water
Fold into triangle shape, and pull the two edges below to form diamond shape by sticking the two edges together
Heat oil in frying pan, and deep fry the wantons til golden brown and crisp
Serve warm with mayonnaise and ketchup

This is my kids' choice :)

I'm submitting this to Aspiring Bakers #19 Dim Sum Affair (May 2012) hosted by Small Small Baker

Bake Along #23 - Honey Walnut Cake

Phew... I thought I wouldn't be able to make it in time for this time's Bake Along event
Finally I did, this morning :)

This cake, if you love honey like me, is really delicious, with perfect texture I like - soft and moist! Another yummy choice for tea time snack!

I made only half recipe and that's my biggest regret of the day, especially when the kids told me it's very nice!
My kids are very difficult to please, FYI. Many times I made something I was really sure they will like, and to my disappointment, they didn't touch it at all after their trial bite
I have a short list of what they like, and judging from the list, I was so sure they wouldn't touch this cake, either
I was wrong

Recipe is from book, Cake Keeper Cakes by Lauren Chattman
This is the recipe below has already modified to half recipe converted in grams

60g walnut pieces
25g caster sugar (reduced a little)
60g all purpose flour
3/4 tsp baking powder
1/8 tsp salt
85g unsalted butter, softened
3 tbsp honey
1 1/2 large eggs
1/2 tsp grated lemon zest
1/4 tsp vanilla extract

1. Preheat oven to 160degC. Grease, line and grease again pan (I used 18cm square pan for this half recipe)
2. Spread walnuts in a lined pan, toast til fragrant, 8-10 minutes, let cool
3. Combine walnuts and 1 tbsp sugar, blend til finely ground
4. Add in flour and baking powder and salt, and pulse to combine
5. Beat butter, honey and remaining sugar in mixing bowl on medium high speed til smooth, approximately 2 minutes
6. Add in eggs, one at a time, add in lemon zest and vanilla, followed by nuts and flour mixture, 1/2 cup at a time, mix til just incorporated
7. Scrape batter into pan, bake for 25-30 minutes or til skewer comes out clean
8. If the top brown too much at the edges, loosely cover with alumunium foil after 20 minutes
9. Let the cake cool in the pan for 10 minutes, turn into cooling rack
10. Cut and serve

I forgot to dust the cake with icing sugar, but this cake is already so wonderful on it own, who needs icing sugar? LOL

Below are our baking friends whom have done this cake too for the event which is hosted by Zoe, Lena and Joyce