Polo Bao - Round 2

Finally... I have time to do my 'documentation'...haaa. 3 weeks in Taiwan was an experience, having encountered 2 typhoons during this period. Came back last friday and went to the cooking class at Creative Culinaire on Monday for their dim sum class! Super on...:P The main attraction of the class..for me..was the polo bun of course. Two other dim sum were taught too, Xiao Long Bao and the Seafood Salad Roll. All three were fantastic and I already have plans to make them soon during this period in SG, though I am still very apprehensive towards making Xiao Long Bao! The chef was fantastic, Kudos to him. I have never met a chef who is so willing to teach, and give so selflessly. At the end of the class, there were some leftover pastry topping and gravy for the po lo bao, so the students took some. I took some and made another batch last night.
I must say, looking is easy, but when it comes to hands-on and doing the dough from scratch, it's a total different thing. It's hard work, but when I see all thess buns disappear with smiles on my friend's faces, the effort is really worth it. :)
If you are interested in the classes, go to this website www.creativeculinaire.com for more information.

Cooking class at Creative Cullinaire

Pandan Chiffon Cake

On annual leave this week, so had the chance to try out the recipes on my 'To-Do' list! Decided to do the pandan chiffon cake based on the recipe from Little Corner of Mine.
I used freshly squeezed coconut milk. If you are buying shaved coconut from the market, you would need about 400g. I also replaced some of the white sugar with brown sugar to cut down the sweetness.
The cake was fantastic! But I did not have the patience long enough to wait for the cake to cool completely..hee, thus you see half of the skin is off the cake! :P
Will do this cake again, maybe with fresh pandan juice by blending pandan leaves and change of flour. My MIL mentioned that her recipe uses optima flour and/or softassilk flour. But oh well, the cake is gone now! :)

Chocolate Almond Torte

One of the greatest feeling in life is to do something and your partner loves every single bit of the delicacy... 那種感覺, 我想,就叫做'幸福'吧. One of my best baking resources is Joy of Baking. The recipe is found here. Alright, I admit that the actual thing looks abit 'off' when compared to the picture, but believe me, the taste is just gorgeous. The product must be good, cos it disappeared within 4 days. ;)

Date and Walnut Loaf

Dinner at home

I have been away for 3 weeks in the US. Weather in Minnesota was erratic, with snow on 2 occasions, accompanied with days of strong wind and even thunderstorms! My colleagues said I experienced 3 seasons all in 3 weeks.

Finally, I am back after 3 weeks of American food. Now I just want some simple homecooked food.

Spinach with Mushrooms and Black Fungus

4-5 stalks of spinach, cut
400g of mixed mushrooms (I used shitake and abalone)

1 big piece of black fungus (soaked and sliced thinly)

2 cloves of garlic, minced

1tbsp each of olive oil and sesame oil

fish sauce and pepper to season

1. Add the oil in a heated wok with the garlic. Do not add garlic after the oil is hot as this will burn the garlic before the aroma is released.

2. Add the fungus and fry for 2 mins.

3. Add the chopped mushrooms. Stirfry for 2 mins and add fish sauce and some water. Cover and simmer over mid-low heat. Let the mushrooms absorb the flavour. Salt is not added as fish sauce is salty enough.

4. At this point, heat a pot of water for blanching the spinach and add a pinch of salt. Add the spinach to the boiling water.

5. With the spinach done, check the mushrooms. It should have reduced slightly. Add the spinach and do a quick toss. Spinkle some pepper and season to taste.

6. Dish it up, sprinkle some toasted sesame seeds if desired and serve.

Baked Tilapia
NTUC was selling frozen tilapia fillets at a promo price. Seeing that they were individually wrapped, so decided to give it a try. Just marinate them in salt, pepper, paprika. Bake them on the upper rack at 220 degrees oven for 15mins, with 2 halved limes. When done, squeeze the lime juice over. Drizzle some extra virgin olive oil for the additional flavour. Bon Appetit!

Warm chickpea salad

Nice salad to end a long day...:) I picked up this recipe from Les Recettes d'Orangette, Warm Chickpea salad with Shallots and Red wine Vinaigrette. Pretty easy to do if you use canned chickpeas. However, in SG, it's so much cheaper to buy dried chickpeas and cook it yourself than to buy canned garbanzo beans which can't be found in your usual mom-n-pop shops.
I soaked the dried chickpeas overnight and cooked for more than an hour till soft. You can do this step safely a night before, ie, soak them in the morning, cook in the evening, and use them the next evening. Just reboil or microwave the chickpeas before use to heat them up. The flavour develops with heat, I conclude. I added a whole red onion even though my chickpeas wasn't that much according to the recipe. This is a recipe which you can alter the quantity easily and won't affect the final output. Other than the salt in the onion mixture, I did not add any additional salt as teh vinegar taste is good enough. Lots of black pepper helps.
I did not have rice last night, just half of a plate of this... :) Feel healthy and satisfied.