Soft bread rolls

These bread rolls are great and remained soft and delicious on the third day even though I couldnt make them exactly like the original.

I followed the recipe from Michelle of Bakingwithmi

Please see her YouTube for explanation

http://youtu.be/3mgKSP79wKg

Her instructions are inside the video

Only the ingredients are listed in the page 

Ingredients

500 gm of bread flour

90 gm caster sugar

1 tsp salt

10 gm active dry yeast

1 cup n 2 tbsp lukewarm milk

1 egg

3 tbsp milk powder

50 gm butter

Please use a mixer to make these rolls 

1st proof - I kept in oven with hot water

2nd proof covered with cling film after folding several times

I made 15 balls n proof again

Roll out

Fold over length wise n roll

Place onto greased baking tray

Slightly apart 

After proofing 4th time I applied egg wash n sprinkle your toppings like sesame seeds or herbs or sugar 

With herbs

After baking 

Pulling it apart

So soft!

Using the recipe I also made some hot dog and bah kwa buns today. 

The egg wash I used 1 egg n added about a teaspoon of water to it. 

Baked at 160c for about 20 minutes

Hot dog bun

Bah kwa bun

Do try this recipe! Happy Baking!

Dark chocolate olive oil cake

This is an awesome cake. I didn't do justice to it from my photos.

It has a crusty top n the inside you can see it is smooth. Taste wise is good too!

This recipe uses olive oil not butter. 

The recipe link is here - from Finecooking

http://www.finecooking.com/recipes/dark_chocolate_cake.aspx

Below is some pictures of the steps during preparing

 I use microwave to boil some water n spooned 6 tablespoons of hot water into the  1/2 cup sifted Hershey cocoa n mix till no lumps.  Stir in 1/4 tsp vanilla extract - I omitted the almond extract. Set aside.

Prepare a 8 inch baking pan. I used a oil spray to spray n line the bottom

Then followed recipe to use olive oil the surface n sprinkled flour

Sift the 1 cup flour, 1/2 tsp baking soda and 1/4 tsp salt and set aside

I used a handheld electric beater to beat 3 eggs, 1 egg yolk , 3/4 cup olive oil and 1 cup n 1/3 cup caster sugar ( can reduce the sugar) till the mixture turn pale yellow n creamy using med- high speed.  Then add in the chocolate n mix in use low speed. 

Then add in the flour using low speed till just combined.

Put into the prepared cake tin and bake at 170c

At 35 mins I turned the temp to 160c and also tented the cake with a aluminium foil loosely n baked till 55 mins

The cake did dome midway n cracked 

See the crack?

After bake. Let cool ten minutes before invert

Invert n remove the paper

Turn it back upright n cool. Before decorate n cut

I did stars with icing sugar 

Please note I am using a small tabletop oven Cornell brand 

Use middle rack . Upper n Lower heat. No fan 

Cabbage salad

Yesterday I had a great Japanese lunch which included a salad. So today while doing marketing I shopped for cabbage to recreate it.

Actually I am not too sure which type but I ruled out Beijing cabbage as I think I use that for stir fry n soups,

I bought this instead

 

I chose a sugar loaf cabbage

Recipe

Sugar loaf cabbage 1/2 shredded finely 

Kikkoman soy sauce 4 tsp

White sesame oil 2 tsp 

Mizkan sushi seasoning 4 tsp 

Heinz cocktail sauce

Cherry tomatoes halved

Frozen mixed vegetables

Sunflower seeds (optional)

Method

Cut the cabbage into half 

Discard outer layer 1st piece if too dirty

Slice the cabbage thinly ( next time I will do more thin)

Throw away the hard end of cabbage

Rinse the cabbage - drain n place in a large bowl n chill in the fridge about ten minutes 

Prepare the sauce

Mix the soy sauce, sesame oil, sushi seasoning in a small bowl with a teaspoon

Wash a handful of frozen mixed vegetables 

Microwave with water and a pinch of salt

I used one minute

Drain the water away

Portion the chilled cabbage into 4 bowls 

Spoon some prepared sauce over 

Squeeze some cocktail sauce on top 

Spoon some cooked mixed vegetables on the cocktail sauce

Add a few cherry tomatoes 

Sprinkle the sunflower seeds

Ready to eat!

Note : 

I made this sauce without any sugar - healthier for my hubby

It tastes a bit tangy and whets your appetite 

The cabbage is crunchy n nice to eat

Chicken rice

I was thinking of cooking healthier food for my hubby to eat. So I thought about cooking steamed chicken. Then I also thought why not have chicken flavoured rice as well? 

Flipping through my recipe books I found the the rice recipe from local chef Pang Nyuk Yoon's cookbook  Reviving Local Dialect Cuisines

Following is my slightly adapted version

Recipe 

3 cups of rice rinsed ( original 500gm)

4 cloves garlic skin on

3 tbsp cooking oil ( original chicken oil)

1 small pc old ginger

4 pcs pandan leaves 

600 ml chicken stock from boiling chicken 

But I don't have so I used my leftover 

100 ml Swanson chicken stock topped up with water to 600 ml and mixed in 1 teaspoon of maggi concentrated chicken stock 

1/2 tbsp salt

1/2 tsp chicken seasoning powder (omitted)

Method

1. Rinse the rice n drain.

2. Use a knife n flatten the garlic on the chopping board

3. Use a wok and heat up the oil and fry the garlic, ginger and pandan leaves. Then add the rice and stir fry until fragrant.

3. Pour the rice into electric rice cooker n add in the chicken stock and salt.

Cook as usual.

Fry garlic ginger n pandan leaves

Fry with rice

Cook it

Chicken rice cooked

The rice is just nice! Not oily and light chicken flavoured

The steamed chicken recipe is from

1 dish 2 flavours cookbook by another famous chef Patsie Cheong

This is my plate of steamed chicken mid joints

Ingredients 

Part 1

8 piece of mid joint chicken - she used 5 pcs chicken wings cut into 2

Sprinkle of salt and white pepper

1 tsp white sesame oil

Part 2 sauce ingredients 

3 pcs of spring onion I cut into about 1 inch lengths

1 small pc of ginger sliced 

( original is 60g minced ginger n 40 g spring onion chopped)

1 tbsp oyster sauce

1 tbsp huatiao wine ( replaced shaoxing wine)

1 tsp sugar

1/2 cup broth ( I used Swanson)

1/2 tbsp Kikkoman soy sauce 

1 tsp corn flour 

Method 

1 rinse the chicken pcs n pat dry 

2. Mix with part 1 salt n pepper n sesame oil

3. place on a plate for steaming

4. Mix ingredients in part 2 into a bowl

5. Pour over the plate of chicken 

6. Place in steamer n steam for 15 minutes.

7. Serve with chicken rice or plain rice 

I served my rice with cherry tomatoes and side dish of stir fry oyster sauce xiaobaicai.

Steaming chicken in my wok

Yummy chicken rice!

Happy cooking!

Pineapple juice chicken drumstick

This dish is so easy to make with a slow cooker. The chicken is tender n the soup is flavorful.

The original recipe is from my friend Ris Ng and I changed it a little.

Recipe

A small slow cooker

2 drumsticks

Almost 1 /4 cup Kikkoman Soy Sauce

1/2 a pc of coconut sugar - sliced smaller 

1 can of pineapple juice - I used Ice Cool Brand

1 potato - remove skin n cut into 4

Place the ingredients into the slow cooker and turn on high heat and cook 2.5 hours. 

Ready to eat.

Best to serve with rice :)

Ingredients 

Bought this from Sheng Shiong supermarket

Before cooking

After cooking 

Ready to eat

Fried Wantons 炸云吞

Having eaten a bowl of char siew and wanton noodles on Sunday, I decided to make my own wantons for snacking. It costs me $1 for 4 extra pcs of wanton.

Simple ingredients n marinade to make these.

I made these with minced pork which can be replaced with minced chicken too.

Recipe

1 packet of wanton skins 

Minced pork about 120 gm

1/3 carrot diced finely 

3 pcs of spring onions diced

1 heaped teaspoon corn flour

1 teaspoon Kikkoman soy sauce

1 teaspoon Hua diao wine 

Sprinkle of white pepper

1 teaspoon of sesame oil

1/2 tsp of sugar

Note - usually use water chestnuts in place of carrots. 

Picture of marinade n pork

Wanton skins

Method

Just mix all the ingredients together except the wanton skins 

Then put 1 small teaspoon of filling in the middle of the skin

Dab water round 2 sides of skin n fold over into a triangle shape

Finish the rest in similar style

Heat oil in wok till hot

Fry the wantons in batches n drain the oil  using paper towels before serving

Frying 

Yummy n crunchy

This is another style of wanton wrapping

Eat them on their own or with your dipping sauce 

Note - cannot keep these overnight so only fry those amount that you want to eat