Mi Ku (Plain Tortoise Bun) for Breakfast (Recipe)

My kids love mi ku and I made this miku without the red colouring for breakfast. I thought that instead of buying chemically laden commercial bread, this would be a better and healthier choice. This miku is made from basic organic ingredients of wheat flour, butter, yeast, water and sugar.This miku taste delicious with butter and crispy roast pork.

Before steaming....

After steaming.....a little 'mo peng' skin (uneven with small craters)! LOL!

Ingredients

Wheat Flour, 4 cups

Sugar, 1 cup

Butter, 3 tablespoons

Yeast (dried), 1 teaspoon full

Enought water for the dough

Mix all the ingredients except the water throughly. Slowly add water to make a soft dough. Knead the dought for around 10 to 20 minutes. Cover with towel and let it rise for around 2 hours. Make the dough into the desired shape. Proof for another 3 hours. Heat up steamer and put in the mi ku. Steam at high heat for 20 minutes.



Fried Nian Kao (Tee Kuih) with Mi Ku Recipe

I normally fry Nian Kao (Chinese New Year Sweet Rice Cake) together with yam or sweet potato. Since I do not have either sweet potato nor yam in stock I used the mee ku that I made for Pai Tnee Kong to fry with the nian kao. This is the first time I fry the nian kao this way and it actually tasted quite good. I gave some to my neightbour and my family ate the rest of it for breakfast! LOL!

Ingredients
Nian Kao(Tee Kuih), cut into slices
Miku, 1 pc, cut into slices same size as the nian kao
Flour, 1/2 cup
Rice Flour, 1 cup
Baking Soda, 1/4 teaspoon
Salt to taste
Water

Mix both flour together and add water slowy, while stiring the mixture to turn into a batter. Put in the baking soda and a little salt to taste. Put the nian kao and mee ku (mi ku) together and dip into the batter. Scoop them out and deep fry them in hot oil. Serve while still hot and crispy. Use medium heat to fry the nian kao because nian kao would turn black easily because of its' high sugar content.

Original Penang Popiah (Spring Rolls) Recipe

My neighbour gave me some hand made traditional popiah skin that she bought from Melaka. Actually they are made for customers that pre ordered it but my neighbour managed to convince the owner to sell some of the popiah skins to her. I love this thin and fresh hand made popiah. They are real good for wrapping jiu hu char (fried turnips with carrot and cuttle fish strips). The original Penang popiah uses Or Cheo (black sauce) and Tnee Cheo (Red sweet bean sauce). I have Tnee Cheo but could not get hold of Or Cheo (black sauce) in KL so I have to improvise by using the normal Yong Tau Fu brown sauce that I bought from the wet market. The original popiah base filling consists of fried turnips, lettuce, scrambled eggs (sometime replaced with fried hard tofu, tau kua) and crispy fried shallots. Nothing fancy like the popiah that are sold nowadays which had extra ingredients like small bits of roasted peanuts or lap cheong (chinese sausage) added. I feel that the original ones still taste the best!

Ingredients
Jiu Hu Char (fried turnips, sengkuang)
Shallots, cut into slices and deep fried until crispy
Lettuce, Or Cheo (alternatively can also use
Yong Tau fu brown sauce)
Tnea Cheo, red sweet sauce (same like the one that are used as dipping sauce in Korean BBQ, Gochujang, Kochuchang, sweet bean sauce)
Scrambled eggs (or deep fried tau kua, hard tofu)
Chilly paste
Popiah skins

Spread the chilly paste, or cheo and tnea cheo on the popiah skin. Put the lettuce on the skin and top it up with some jiu hu char. Add some fried shallots and scrambled eggs. Wrap up the popiah skin as shown in the photo. Best if eaten immediately before moisture from the jiu hu char seeps in to the skin and make it soggy.

Chinese Pumpkin Cake - Healthy Steamed Recipe

Pumpkin cake made from a nice little pumpkin I bought from Jaya Jusco
Nice golden orange pumpkin colour and the cake before steaming After tasting the Pumpkin cake that a neighbour across my house gave me, I decided to try out the recipe. Actually the ingredients and method of making Chinese Pumpkin cake is similar to Yam Cake but instead of yam, pumpkin is used. Therefore, I incorporated my yam cake recipe into making a pumpkin cake. The pumpkin cake taste good if eaten with sweet chee cheong fun sauce and garlic chilly sauce.

Ingredients
Pumpkin, diced, 1 bowl
Rice flour, equal portion with wheat flour
Wheat flour, equal portion with rice flour
Salt to taste

Garnish
Spring onions, 2 stalks, cut into small pieces
Shallots, 5 pcs, sliced and deep fried until crispy
Dried prawns, 3 table spoons, blended and fried until crispy

Mix rice flour and wheat flour, equal portion in a steaming stray. Add water and mix thoroughly. Vary the amount of water to get the texture of the cake that you want. The more water you add the stickier and soft it will be. If you like hard pumpkin cake texture, then add less water and make a thick paste. A rule of the thumb is to add water until the mixture viscosity is almost similar to honey at room temperature (25 Dec C). Add salt to taste and pumpkin. Steam the mixture in high heat for 20 minutes. Let it cool down a bit before adding the garnish on top. Garnish with springs onions, shallots and dried prawns. Cut out the pumpkin cake and serve with garlic chilly sauce with brown sweet chee cheong fun sauce.

Simple and Nice Chinese Yam Cake

As per Tuti’s comment, “pete posted so many food pics that now he's taking a break from food blogging for a while. LOL! :P”, in my post A Chinese Wedding – Shopping Spree, Wine and Dine! Yammmmmm Seeeennngggg (Cheers)!, I am still digesting all the good food from the dinner so can’t go out and eat anymore for the time being! Ha ha ha! Anyway, I cooked some yam cake and it was great to have this simple meal. I love to eat yam cake with red ‘theem cheong’ (sweet sauce) and garlic chili sauce (Kg Koh). I normally make yam cake with hard texture (just add less water) because my kids love it this way instead of the gooey soft ones. For yam cake recipe, check out my post, Chinese Yam Cake Recipe. Cheers, have a nice week ahead!

Cheese Egg Tart Recipe

Instead of making the usual egg filling like ordinary egg tart, I added in some cream cheese to see how the taste turns out to be. I made a mistake of adding biscuits crumbs on top of the pastry. I thought that by pressing the crumbs into the soft pastry should hold them in place but when I pour in the fillings all the crumbs floated on to the surface. Therefore the surface of the Cheese Egg Tart was not smooth. However the cream crackers biscuits that I added gave the Cheese Egg Tart additional crunchy flavour. Check this recipe out!

Pie Pastry
Flour, 4cups
Butter, 150gms
Salt to taste
Castor Sugar to taste (around ¼ cup) Iced cold water
Vanilla Essence, 1 teaspoon
Baking powder, 1 teaspoon

Fillings (All mixed together)
Cream Cheese, 100gms
Sugar ½ cup
Fresh milk, ½ cup 3 eggs
Vanilla essence, 1 teaspoon

Mix flour and butter until they form a granule like mixture. Add a little salt, sugar, baking powder and vanilla essence. Slowly pour in the iced cold water and mix well. Put the pie pastry in the fridge for half and hour. Flatten the pastry and put into a pie pan. Bake for around 15 to 20 minute in a preheated oven at 180 Deg C. Take out the baked pie pastry and let it cool down a little. Pour in the fillings and bake the pie in oven at 180 Dec C for 20 minutes.

Bunga Telang (Scientific name, Clitoria Termatea), Colouring for Pulut Tai Tai (Nyonya Glutinous Rice Cake with Kaya Spread and Kelantanese Nasi Kerab

The Nyonya and Babas in Malaysia use Bunga Telang extract as food colouring. This dark blue extract is one of the important ingredients for a popular Nyonya ‘kuih’ (dessert), the Pulut Tai Tai. In Kelantan, it is use as colouring for their famous nasi kerabu. I remember, as a kid I used to see my mom collecting and drying these flowers which are then boiled in water. The blue coloured water was then added to a portion of the glutinous rice. My dad made a wooden mould with a top cover which heavy bricks are placed on top to compress the pulut tai tai (Nyonya Glutinous Rice Cake). The pulut tai tai is eaten with kaya spread (egg custard jam). Bunga telang roots have unique medicinal properties. It can help to alleviate the symptoms’ of stress and depression. The roots can also be used to cure whopping cough! I planted some seed that my mom gave me in my backyard and they do grow very fast. This creeper plant grew all over my fence and also on my neighbours’ rather quickly. It was growing too fast and one day I over trimmed it and the plant died. Recently I discovered there were new plants growing healthily at the back alley of my house. The seeds must have dropped there! Due to its’ resemblance to the human female genital, the bunga telang is scientifically known as Clitoria. I wonder what was in the botanist mind when he/ she named this flower!

HL Pau (Chinese SteamedBuns) at Chong Hwa Independent High School Jalan Ipoh KL

HL Truck, a common sight outsite Chong Hwa Independent High School

Kaya and Leng Ngeong pau hot out from the steamer!

Kaya pau (RM1.30) and Char Siew pau.......yummy!

If you pass through this area around 1pm on weekdays and Saturday, you will see HL Pau Truck parked outside the Chong Hwa school compound. Mr Liew has been selling pau in this area for a number of years and most of his pau will be sold out by 5pm. Apart from the normal types of pau, there are also Loh Mai Kai (chicken glutinous rice) available. I normally buy the Char Siew (sweet bbq meat, RM1.40), Sang Yoke (fried pork, RM1.40) and Leng Ngeong (lotus paste, RM1.10) pau. Generally, all the pau that Mr. Liew sells are bigger in size compared to many other vendors in KL. I like the soft and fluffy pau skins. The pau is filled with generous amount of tasty fillings and it is worth it for the price paid. After 5 pm he would go home to restock more pau before going out again to make rounds around housing estates in this area. So, next time if you are in this area, check out the HL pau. For large orders of pau you can contact Mr. Liew at this number: Mr Liew 0123604532 Outside Chong Hwa School (1pm to 5pm)

Eggs Tarts (Than Dak) Recipe – Taiwanese Style

I bought some egg tarts baking trays from Tesco when they tag these goods as offer items. So, I got to try to make some egg tarts using these baking trays. The first batch of egg tarts turned out very nice but I burned the second batch when I set the timer too long and went to take my bath....oh oh! Luckily I still have the first batch that is nicely done and tasty too, especially when they are hot out from the oven.

Pastry
Flour, 4 cups
Butter, 125gms
Milk powder, 3 table spoons
Castor sugar, ½ cup 1 egg, slightly beaten
Baking soda, ½ teaspoon
Vanilla Essence, 1 teaspoon
Iced cold water

Mix the flour, vanilla essence, baking soda and butter. Knead the mixture until it turned into granules form. Add milk powder, castor sugar and egg. Continue to knead the dough until they are evenly mixed. Add a little cold water to the dough. Mix well and then put the whole dough in the fridge for 10 minutes Fillings Eggs, 3pcs Castor Sugar, ½ cup Salt, a pinch Custard flour, 1 teaspoon Fresh Milk, 1 cup Mix all the ingredients and stir until the sugar dissolves. Take dough, the size of a ping pong ball and use a rolling pin to flatten it. Press the flatten dough into the baking tray and cut away excess dough. Bake in preheated oven at 180 Deg C for 10 minutes. Take out the tray from the oven. Then pour the filling mixture into the pastry. Bake in preheated oven for another 10 minutes. The egg tarts are ready to eat!

My First Attempt at Making Ban Chien Kuih (Chinese pancake) -Recipe

I tried this recipe with whatever ingredients that I have in hand after I came across it in Lily’s Wai Sek Hong blog and also Amy Beh’s recipe in The Star newspaper. Unfortunately, I burned it a little and my Ban Chien Kueh turned out to be 'Burned Chien Kuih'! LOL I have to scrape off some of the burned part. Otherwise it would have been perfect. Since I only made a very little batter for just one ban chien kuih, the texture turned out to be crispy. Instead of going through the hassle of roasting some peanuts, I bought a packet of roasted peanuts from an Indian kacang putih (peanuts and snacks stall) man in my area. I don’t have buttermilk, so I just used some milk powder mixed with brown sugar. I also did not use Kan Sui (Potassium Carbonate water), which a lot of people told me that it is not good for health. My 10” diameter non-stick pan came in handy for me to cook the Ban Chien Kuih. The ingredients below are enough to make one pancake using this pan. And the final result!............It taste like Ban Jien Kuih, Smells like Ban Chien Kuih but it is not Ban Chien Kuih but 'Burned Chien Kuih'! ROFL!

Ingredients to make one Ban Chien Kuih (10’’ non stick pan size)
Wheat Flour, 10 table spoons
Rice flour, 2 ½ table spoons
Water, 1 cup Sugar, 1 table spoon
Brown sugar, 2 table spoon
Milk, 1 table spoon
Bicarbonate of soda, ½ teaspoon
Salt, ½ teaspoon

Fillings
Roasted peanuts, 4 table spoons, blended into fine granules
Sugar, 2 table spoons or to taste
Butter, 1 table spoon

Mix all the ingredients for the Ban Chien Kuih batter. Heat up non-stick pan and coat it with a little vegetable oil. Pour the Ban Chien kuih batter into the pan and close it with a lid to make sure that the top side is cook evenly. Put the fillings into the Ban Chien Kuih and cook for 2 minutes. Then use a butter knife to lift up one side and fold it into half. Cut into 4 pieces and serve! Peanuts and sugar mixture...................................Ban Chien Kuih Batter in my non stick pan

My 'Burned Chien Kuih'! But it taste good! LOL!

Related Post

1) http://peteformation.blogspot.com/2008/11/ban-chien-kueh-chinese-pancakes-with.html

Chinese Yam Cake Recipe

I am a real fan of yam cake and love to eat this wonderful kuih for breakfast. I like yam cake that have solid texture rather than soft and sticky ones. I found the ones that are sold around KL are too soft and have very little yam in it. So, I experimented with the recipe and cooked up a yam cake to suit my taste. Ingredients Yam, 1 small size, remove skins and cut into 1X1X1 cm cubes Equal portion of Rice Flour and Wheat Flour (1 bowl each) Salt to taste Water Garnish Shallots, 5 pcs, cut into small strips and fry in oil until golden brown and crispy Spring onions, 2 stalks, cut into small pieces Dried prawns, 3 table spoons, fried and blend into small pieces Put the equal portion of rice flour and wheat flour in a mixing bowl. Add water into the flour mix slowly and stir until they are well mixed. The amount of water you add will determine the hardness and softness of the yam cake texture. I like yam cake with a slightly hard texture, so I normally make the paste as thick as possible. Add salt to taste. Mix well and add in the yam. Pour the mixture into a shallow metal baking tray and steam in high heat for 45 minutes to soften the yam. Let the cooked yam cake cool down and then garnish it with fried shallots, dried prawns and springs onion. Cut the yam cake into diamond shaped pieces and serve with chili sauce.

Makcik Fried Kuih Stall, Outside Pasar Raya Grand Union, Bandar Sri Damansara

Tea time! Tea time! This is one of my tea time pit stop to buy some hot Malay style fried kuih (local delicacies fried in flour batter). This stall is located right in front of Pasaraya (minimarket) Grand Union. I normally buy the crispy fried popiah (spring rolls), RM1 for 3 pieces. The popiah is nice and crispy but the chilly sauce is a bit bland for me. I have asked the makcik (aunty, in Bahasa Malaysia) to make the chilly a little bit more spicy. Other kuih available, that are fried in flour batter are sweet potato, tapioca, tapioca balls, yam and chempedak (Artocarpus Integer, a seasonal fruit that are related to jackfruit but more pungent in smell). This hardworking makcik operates her stall daily from 11am to 5pm. Do drop by if you are in this area.

Frying popiah in hot oil...........................................Draining away excess oil.

Fried tapioca balls......................................................Fried yam and fried sweet potato

Makcik Fried Malay Kuih, Outside Grand Union Supermarket Jalan Tanjung SD13/1, Bandar Sri Damansara, 52200, KL Map of Bandar Sri Damansara

Ban Chien Kueh (Chinese Pancakes with Ground Peanuts, sugar and Margarine)

One wok of Ban Chien Kuih, cut into 6 pcs. Only 5 pcs left when I took this picture because my daughter already ate one piece.

There are many versions of Ban Chien Kueh (Penang Hokkien name). One of my favourite stall is located in Kepong Baru Morning Wet Market. The owner of the stall cooks around 5 woks of ban chien kueh at one go and it takes a great skill to make sure all are cooked well. Her daughter will take order and cut the Ban Chien Kueh for customers. I buy the BCK from this stall because it comes with a generous amount of ground peanuts and the taste is good. A wok cost RM3.20. There are two types available; thin crispy crusts or thick non crispy crust. I normally buy the latter. Location of the Ban Chien Kueh Stall (Chinese Pancakes)

Wu Kok Recipe (Chinese Yam Paste with Meat Filling, Dim Sum)

Fillings
Pork Belly, 100 gms, chopped into small chunks
Char Siew, 100 gms, chopped into small chunks
Canned Green beans, 1 small tin
Prawns, 150 gms shelled, and cut into chunks
Garlic, 5 pcs, chopped finely
Sugar, 1 table spoon
Salt, 1 teaspoon or to taste
Oyster Sauce, 2 table spoon
Corn flour, 2 table spoon, mixed with water

Put vegetable oil into wok and sautéed garlic until fragrant. Add pork belly and char siew. Fry until the meat is cooked then add prawns. Add the rest of the ingredients and thicken it with the corn flour mixture. Yam

Pastry
Yam, 600 gms
Tang Mein Fun, 100 gms (wheat starch)
Shortening, 180gms
Five Spice Powder, ½ teaspoon
Sugar, 20 gms
Boiling Water, ¾ bowl

Steam yam until soft, mashed it and put aside. Pour boiling water into the wheat starch and mix well. Add the yam, five spice powder and sugar. Add shortening and mix well. Pastry must not be too soft or watery. Let the pastry cool down and put in fridge for 30 minutes. Take some pastry, roll into a ball, flatten and put in the filling. Seal the pastry with your fingers to make it into and oval Wu Kok shape. Fry the wu kok in hot oil for around 3 minutes until it turns golden brown.