Chinese Flaky Pastries Part II

I'm still practising hard on my chinese pastry skill and for the past couple of days, i've made the followings:

i. Curry puffs, still pretty lacking in terms of shape. I understand some people use special moulds to shape their puffs perfectly, infact i've seen these moulds myself on KK supermarket shelves. Too bad i can't get any here, so had to depend on my amateur skill to bring out that crescent shape on the edge.

And then i got too tired of shaping, so popped all curry fillings and twisted them upwards like 'siew bao' instead. Easily 'gao dim'.

ii. Siew bao, or char sao kok. This is classic, hehe. Just last Friday, i told Hub i was craving for some BBQ red pork, or 'char sao' despite the swine flu hit, (ok, by eating pork you don't get infected!) and by that afternoon he bought me some from Dao Xiang Cun. People here don't eat 'char sao' which they consider as a GuangDong dish, and for whatever reason i don't know, it's not easy to buy them here. Most restaurants or gourmet shops don't sell them, and even if they do, they probably don't taste very good. Good thing Hub knows only Dao Xiang Cun has them but as i had predicted, the meat tasted far from average than those back home. It was hard and solid! (Gosh, i miss the Merdeka char sao a lot! And my fave char sao bao too!).

Well despite, i was thankful i had them. Because i could then cook them up and make siew bao! And here they are, my first made char sao kok:

Of course, when your raw material is not very good, your end product will not turn out far. Also, my cooking sucks, this time round gravy was too little making the filling a bit 'dry'. Pastry wise, ok i guess, buttery and flaky as how it should be.

Shall attempt again, until i succeed.

Korean BBQ n Cuisine

There's something about Korean food that i'm curious about. It's the slightly sweet spiciness that i can never find in Japanese food but among all, it's their grilled meat that i heart the most.

Just yesterday, we celebrated the occasion of Mother's Day at a very nearby Korean restaurant that we frequented a lot. It's funny when i think of it, i had never initiated to take my camera along in our past visits although i had ranked it one of my most favourite restaurants in BJ. Since it was Mother's Day, this time round i had my camera with me but sadly, we didn't order any grilled meat set, instead we had typical Korean cuisine (at least i think it's original, unless they fuse it to suit the Chinese's tastebud). The restaurant itself is famous for their Korean grilled meat. Gas grill burners are built into each table and the waitress would grill all meat as you sit and enjoy. Fresh lettuce and good dips are available for wrapping the grilled meats. Almost like eating Hakka Kiu Nyuk. Apart that the marinated or seasoned meat can range from sirloin to pork to chicken. Yummzz. I'm sorry as i do not have any photos to show but i promise, on my next visit i will definitely capture some.

A Korean meal is never complete without kimchi, or pao chai, their fermented vegetables. To be honest, my first time eating kimchi was dated few months ago when a good friend of dad-in-law kindly brought us some. I had no idea it was kimchi until i saw exactly the same thing in this restaurant. It was like cold cabbage marinated in a special sweet and spicy chilli sauce. The taste of the sauce itself is very uncommon to my taste bud, nothing like Thai chilli sauce or the local sauces that i'm known to, but i fall in love with it. Doesn't taste at all like the comments I had heard since young. Later on, I did a bit of research and discovered that the Koreans actually mixed in red pepper powder instead of any sauces i had initially thought. The vegetables which can be any form or type, ranging from cabbage to radish are soaked in brine for a few hours until they are softened before the spices are added. One thing that amazed me is, i don't find these preserved vegetables salty at all! Very unlike the Chinese ones. Then again, I saw how they made kimchi in a Korean serie i'm currently hooked to and it kinda put me off in a way. Hub claimed they are not very clean, yet so far, i've not got any diarrhoea due to eating kimchis. Putting these thoughts behind, we decided anyway, to order a plate of kimchi, which came in cabbage and radish. Very good, slightly sweet and spicy as how i like it.

Next was this 'Korean styled' stir fried vegetables. At least that was what they claimed. If I wasn't aware that it was a Korean restaurant i was dining at, i would have thought this is a Chinese dish! They even added black fungus, or mu er! A bit on the salty side, but pretty good.

Korean Stir Fried Rice Cake! A popular street food in Korea, you can even notice it in some Korean movies! These are actually rice cakes stir fried with carrots, peppers, and onions and then stewed in a Korean sauce known as 'gochujang'. People who love sticky snacks like nian gao or nyonya kuihs would love this. Slightly sweet and spicy also, but can give you a 'pukey' feeling if you had too much.

Hub ordered this bowl of Korean 'zha jiang mian' (fried sauce noodles) to compare with those locally sold in BJ. As predicted, nothing in comparison, and taste wise definitely not as good as Chinese Zha Jiang Mian! (Zha Jiang Mian is thick wheat noodles topped with a mixture of ground pork which had been stir fried with fermented soybean paste)

Last dish was beef tenderloin stewed with ginseng. The gravy was also a bit on the salty side, but in overall i think it was pretty good. Not much meat to be found though, seems like more bones.

This restaurant gives out free ice cream sticks and fruits as dessert, which we happily 'ta pao' home as we were too full by then (only three of us and five dishes!).

The next time i decide to dine at this restaurant again, i'll make sure we order the grilled meat because that's perhaps the only thing that's worth eating when comes to Korean food. No offense, I do like Korean food in a way, but not so much of my preference unless it's grilled meat!

Blessed Mother's Day

Today is a special day for mothers. It's the day to remember, and celebrate a mother's love. A day to thank her and shower her with lotsa kisses, hugs, gifts, etc. For some, it's perhaps the only day throughout the year of 365 days to cook/ treat her a decent dinner or tell her the three simple words "i love you".

I personally think it's pretty awkward. Or sometimes, i regret because out of the 365 days, 12 months, 52 weeks, 8,760 hours, 525,600 minutes and 31,536,000 seconds we are blessed with throughout the year, we chose only one day to treat our moms as queens and send messages that our moms so long want to hear. Aren't we supposed to tell them we love them everyday?

Tell you what, and this is very true, a child can never give back the same love as equally as how his mom has for him. Motherly love is the most most sacrificial love among mankind in this world. Nobody, not even the love of a husband or lover can compare with the love of a mother for her children. A mother is one who endures that nine months of pregnancy, who drags herself from the middle of a sound sleep to nurse her hungry baby, who forgives her children unconditionally, who thinks her children are the most beautiful creations in the world no matter how 'rascal' they turn into, who tends her children with enough care, who makes sure they're well fed in the midst of her business, who has to make sure her children are home safely before she can go to bed peacefully, who worries this and that for her children, who prays persistently everynight for their well beings and future and who willingly gives all she has for them. Although i'm not a mom myself yet, i understand a mother's role is not easily played, and the list just goes on. I once chanced upon a joke: which job among so many is the busiest, takes up 24 hours, no rest, and no retirement until death? A mother!

Once again today, i was reminded that i have parents because God has blessed me with them. It's a blessing to wake up knowing that your parents may be thinking of you at that very moment, and you have them to think about. Yes, i'm very blessed to have my parents. And my parents in law.

Blessed Mother's Day to all the mothers out there, especially to my dear mom, and mom-in law. I love you always :-) Wo ai ni!

P/S: Made the above cake specially for Mother's day. It's called Double Happiness, strawberry chilled cheese layer sandwiched in between two light cottony cheesecakes with fresh chopped strawberries lined in heart shape on top.

Fresh Lycees oh!

I'm jolly, because it's the season for many many fruits like lychees, mulberies etc now. Fruits that are almost alien to me. Soon there'll be apricots, dark cherries, big PEACHES, and many many more. Speaking of lychees, i thought they looked a bit greeny and raw at first but i was wrong coz they're super sweet, and juicy. Never let looks deceive you. Green or red, they are still fleshy and irresistable! Ranking them as one of my most favourite fruits now! :-)

Can't have too much of them though, coz like longans and durians, they're super heaty.

Nectarines are also in place. Since it's only the start of the season, most of them are still hard and pretty bland in taste.

My latest interest: Chinese Flaky Pastries!

Yeeeaaapp! The title says it all. I've been busy learning, absorbing and practising chinese flaky pastries since last Monday. It wasn't hard at all, but to make a good, crispy and flaky pastry, it's a different story altogether. Again, practice is all it takes.

I'm aiming towards 'char sau kok' or 'siew bao', but to start with, i decided to make something easier and dou sha bing (tiu sha biang) was the only option i could think of. Excellent choice, because my dad used to eat them a lot (and i think he still does), which leads me to believe that it's probably one of his favourites. (Hoping to make good ones for him one day!)

So my first attempt turned out like this:

Alas, the pastry was a bit too thick. In terms of taste, it was good, very buttery (rich) and crispy, despite that the texture is less flaky and a bit hard, which i think could be due to substitution of lard/shortening with butter. I'm sorry but i couldn't bring myself to use lard/shortening, eventhough butter is not the best choice. At least it is still so much better than the other two culprits, isn't it? Besides (and seriously), if you really want to lead a healthy life or lose that stubborn pounds, then i advise you not to touch these pastries. They are all the same, still high in calories, very fattening and oily regardless of what shortening/oil they're made up of. And beware, most chinese coffee shops use lard (that's why they taste soo good and i can't wait to get my hands on them in a month time!) :-P

On my second attempt, i revised the pastry recipe (yet still using butter), took caution on my skill, rolled the pastry thinner and used my homemade buttermilk as the filling.

Everyone gave me thumbs up for these 'nai you bing'! Even dad in law complimented it tasted great! I haven't tried one myself, however from the look, the pastry is much thinner and flakier. The best thing about it (a comment i received) is that it gives you this crunch and then melts in your mouth. :-S Melt? Is this supposed to be good? Or maybe it's the buttermilk?

Honestly, I'm still unsure if i've succeeded the art of chinese pastries, but i shall practise and improve until I produce great bings (biangs)!

My rolling episodes

As usual, i'm not ashamed to say that i'm inferiorly poor when comes to swiss roll. Even so, I believe practise makes perfect, just that for this, it took me A LOT of attempts before i could finally comprehend the logic of rolling a piece of cake. I'm not saying i'm skilled at it now, infact i'm still learning and improving, but at least, thanks to that numerous attempts...i can now whip good sponge cakes and roll them up in no time without cracks!

Practising does help!

From this matcha red bean roll which doesn't look at all appetising to me,

and was cracked somewhere in the middle,

to

this chocolate strawberry roll which wasn't rolled neatly

causing strawberries to fall out here and there,

to

this pandan kaya roll which again,

wasn't rolled masterly and ended up with a small gap in the middle

to this lemon curd roll which at last

seemed to look pretty good!

The lemon curd wasn't the last. There were two more, and amazingly, i managed to rolled them up without flaws, so good that i gave them away!

At the moment, I'm sick of eating swiss rolls and so is everyone in this house. Don't think I'm going to bake another one until i decide to come back to it again one day... if there's durian? Maybe..

I can make Baguettes now!

Was so excited when i was attempting my first baguette last Thursday. It wasn't as hard as i had thought, just need to understand a few important steps and ta-dah, i can make my own baguettes! No need to buy anymore and i'm proud because they claimed mine's better than outside ones! (cheh) Although they could be crispier on the outside....

Baguette is actually the French term for long French stick bread with crispy crust but soft internally. Most of the time i got a bit confused over the length and diameter of the different loaves i see in the supermarkets/bakeries, because short or long, some still term them equally as baguettes or French stick. The French, on the other hand has more definite and precise terms and standard measurements for their loaves. I did a bit of research, and found that a baguette should have a standard diameter of 5 or 6cm, and can be up to a meter in length, though usually about 60cm. I'm sorry to say that mine does not meet the length requirement, as i don't have a super wide oven but diameter wise, i made sure i followed the rule properly.

The texture was pretty good, and like most others, baguette is nearly oil free. Only basic ingredients are needed, e.g. high protein flour, yeast, and water, which makes me wonder, why they mark up the price outside. Don't tell me coz they need to cover the cost of wide ovens!

With the fresh baguettes, we had good French sandwiches for breakfast the next morning!