Hong Kong Soya Sauce Fried Noodles - 豉油王炒面

One of the dishes which I simply cannot resist when I am in Hong Kong, is a good plate of the plain, simple Soya Sauce Fried Noodles. Totally simplistic in its make up and yet so flavourful and satisfying. This is somewhat similar to our morning breakfast favourite, the economy Fried Beehoon/ Fried Noodles. These are commonly fried in big herd-feeding batches with just soya sauce and a little bean sprouts and are usually sold in a good fulfilling portion for a humble 80 cents to a dollar - hence the word Economy. We have since then turned affluent and started to add a myriad of side dishes (the likes of fried egg, Luncheon meat, chicken wings, curry vegetables etc...)  to make this into quite a yummilicious  feast. However, as delicious as the Economy Fried Noodles could be, one will never find it on the menu of a Chinese restaurant. The Hong Kong Soya Sauce Fried noodle, however, often comfortably shares a place in the menu with fancy dim sums and gourmet abalones...

The critical component to a great Soya Sauce Fried Noodles is a good soya sauce. A premium grade soya sauce lends nuances of delicate flavour and fragrance to the dish which instantly elevates this otherwise simple, no frills dish to its classic, evergreen status.
After the soya sauce, the choice of noodle would understandably be another important component for this dish. Dried egg noodles are usually quickly blanched in hot water to soften the noodles before they are fried to a dry, glossy consistency. The other accompaniments cooked together with the noodles are as humble as they come - bean sprouts and a little Chinese Chives are the staple fare. Sprinkle on a handful of toasted sesame seeds and this proudly becomes restaurant worthy. Enjoy!


Recipe :
Dried Egg Noodle               200g (blanched quickly in hot water to soften. Drain and set aside)
Premium light soya sauce     2 tbsp (生抽王）
Premium dark soya sauce    1 tbsp (老抽王）
Oyster sauce                       1/2 tbsp
Sugar                                  1/8 tsp
Pepper                                Generous dash

Bean sprouts                       1 loose cup
Chinese Chives                    1/2 loose cup ( I didn't have this with me so I omitted this)
Toasted Seseame seeds       Generous sprinkle.

Method :
1. Heat 1 tbsp of oil in a heated wok.
2. Add bean sprouts and fry for 1 minute over medium heat. Add softened noodles and fry for 1/2 minute over high heat.
3. Add all seasoning and continue to fry noodles over high heat for about 2-3 minutes.
4. Add in Chinese chives and fry for another 1/2 minute. Sprinkle on toasted sesame seeds and dish out. Serve with chilli sauce.

Traditional Baked Mooncake

When I went to get my mooncake ingredients at Kwong Cheong Thye 2 weekends ago, I was suprised to see the little alley way along Geylang Lorong 27 jammed with vehicles and the shop house corridor blocked by a long queue leading to a traditional Teochew pastry shop. The shop, Thye Moh Chan Cake House has been selling traditional Teochew pastry and mooncake for almost 70 years and they have decided to close down the business as no one in the family was interested to inherit and continue with this traditional craft.

I have never eaten any pastry from Thye Moh Chan so I have little attachment to the shop. Nevertheless, it was still sad to see something so steep in heritage die in our fast paced, modern world. I had mentioned before how I hope our younger generation will not grow up only knowing how to make muffins, macarons and cupcakes. With pretty images of these western treats galore on the internet, everyone dreams of creating treats ala Pierre Herme, Adriano Zumbo.... However,I believe the internet can still cast its influences in many ways. Take for example, I would never ever have dreamt of making my own mooncake last year, if not for this little space which I call my food blog. Just like what I had mentioned in my last Durian Snowskin Mooncake post, baking these pastries is not as difficult as what it seems. True, we don't take the trouble to cook the lotus paste from scratch nowadays but if that is the little compromise we choose to make to connect with our heritage, it is, in my opinion, a harmless little indulgence.

So I promise you that you will continue to see my mooncake features for the many many Mid Autumn Festivals (mooncake festival) to come.  Happy Mid Autumn Festival to all Asians who will be celebrating this day of reunion.



I am submitting this entry to Aspiring Bakers #11: Mid-Autumn Treats (September 2011) hosted by Happy Home Baker.

Recipe :
Dough (from Kowng Cheong Thye)
300g             Hong Kong Flour
180g             Golden syrup
60g               Peanut Oil
1 tbs             Alkaline Water

For rest of ingredients and method, please refer here.

Durian Snowskin Mooncake

Making mooncakes, contrary to what most people think, is not difficult. The pretty, exotic molds lend a wow factor which belies the simplicity of the modern day process of making this traditional celebratory pastry. Modern day accessibility allows one to purchase a myriad of ready made lotus paste in a wide array of exotic flavours. I don't believe I know of anyone who would cook their own lotus paste from scratch, a process that entails long arduous  continuous stirring over a boiling cauldron....

Compared to the traditional baked mooncake, the Snow Skin Mooncake is even more beginner friendly. Not requiring baking of any sort, the process only involves mixing of cooked glutinous flour (store bought), sugar and shortening before wrapping this dough with the ready made filling. To be honest, I have never been a big fan of the Snow Skin Mooncake and am even a lesser fan of it now that I realise that it involves the mixing of uncooked shortening.... However, the snow skin wrapping does open up  possibilities for more intriguing flavour combination, something that is less rich. I have always for example wondered about the Mango Pomelo mousse like filling in Goodwood Park Hotel's creation. This year, they have even introduced a new Lychee With Lime Marshmallow flavour.


For me, the Durian Mooncake will always be associated with Goodwood Park Hotel.  They have made it wildly popular more than 10 years ago. Though some better ones have been offered by other bakeries, the Goodwood Park durian mooncake will always have a special position among the durian mooncake lovers.




I have no idea how the durian mooncake is being made but was game to give it a go. Working with 100% pure durian pulp, I cooked this first over fire to remove as much moisture as possible.  Next, I tried to semi freeze the portioned durian pulp in the fridge before wrapping them. I have to concede, this is not easy. I had trouble with the degree of firmness of the frozen pulp - it can neither be too hard nor too soft. Then the snow skin poses another problem - it has to be just malleable enough to ensure that the skin does not break or crack during the wrapping process. I made a batch of dough but was only able to get 4-5 decent looking mooncakes. (the recipe should yield 20!)  I doubt that I am doing it right but at least I have a couple to show off...  So if you have any good tips to make these, please do share.

I am submitting this entry to Aspiring Bakers #11: Mid-Autumn Treats (September 2011) hosted by Happy Home Baker.



Recipe :
Dough
150g         Fried glutinous rice flour
200g         Icing sugar
65g           Shortening
150g         Cold Drinking water

Filling
250g         100% Durian Pulp
7g             Sugar

Method :
Filling 
1. Cook durian pulp in a heavy bottom saucepan until boiling. Add sugar and stir until it is completely dissolved and relatively dry.
Cool down to room temperature. Portion into 50g portions and freeze.

Dough
1. Sift all dry ingredients together. Add shortening and mix well with the dry ingredients.
2. Add water gradually to the flour and mix to form a dough.
3. Leave the dough to 'proof' for 20mins.
4. Portion out the dough into 30g portion. Flatten and wrap a 50g portion of the durian pulp. Press with mooncake mold and store in freezer.
5. Defrost before consuming.

Nagaimo Soy Pudding : 山药豆乳布丁

When I was in Taiwan a few weeks ago, my favourite cold appetizer dish at meal time was the Nagaimo. (山药/淮山) Prepared and served in a variety of ways, they were crunchy and totally refreshing. Long known for its medicinal values, the Chinese have always used them to balance the yin and yang energy in the body. It has been used to treat digestive, repiratory and diabetes problems ... in short, this is  a healthy root vegetable and is often featured in macrobiotics diet.

I have not exactly been a big fan of this root until recently. I recall my first encounter with it was at a Japanese restaurant almost 20 years ago. My Japanese boss had ordered a Chirashi Sushi topped with a white gooey blob- the musilaginous consistency of which was not appetising at all. Then many years later, my Taiwanese colleague invited me to his house for dinner. His wife prepared a bland looking porridge with sliced Nagaimo-it was dull and tasteless. I recall her raving about the nutritious value of the root but I was not quite impressed.

When I was in Taiwan a few weeks back, the Nagaimo was in season and we practically had it for every meal as a cold starter. Usually prepared simply by chilling the cut roots, they were served like a salad drizzled with a fruity, tangy plum sauce. With a pear like crunch, it was absolutely delicious. This time round, I became truly hooked. When I got back, I started to look for recipes that feature the Nagaimo. I found a couple in my Japanese cookbook (Delicious Macrobiotic Meals) and I couldn't wait to experiment with them.


The first recipe I have chosen to work on is a dessert dish where the Nagaimo is grated and cooked with soy milk and agar powder. Very low in calorie, this dense, mousse-like dessert is delicious when eaten with a drizzle of maple syrup. 0% guilt and 100% goodness - I have just found a new favourite addition to my diet plan!

Recipe :

Nagaimo                 50g
Powder agar           1 tsp
Soy Milk                1/2 cup
Maple syrup           To serve

Method :
1. Peel the skin of nagaimo. (Wear gloves as you do this as the sap on the skin will cause skin irritation) Wrap peeled nagaimo in plastic wrap and microwave for 3-4 mins.
2. Mash (1) while still hot with a fork.
3. In a saucepan, add (2), soy milk and powder agar. Cook over low heat until mixture is smooth and thickened.
4. Pour (4) into molds and chill in refrigerator until set.
5. Demold and serve with maple syrup.

Lotus Seed Paste Pau - 莲蓉包

I shall officially admit that the yeasted species have bewitched me. First the sweet soft buns and now, the snowy white chinese steamed buns aka Paus.  I have been making paus everyday over the long weekend here and have been enjoying every minute of it. It helps when the friends and family to whom these were distributed gave positive feedback. I am happy to have a chance to work on  this again as it is rare nowadays that I  get to repeat the same recipe. The best way to hone and improve is really to practice - there is absolutely no other ways around it.

The versatile Pau recipe makes this alot easier as there are many different types of filling that one can vary to retain it's allure.

Today, I take the easy way out by wrapping it with White Lotus Paste. Easy because, this is readily available at this time of the year when Mooncake Festival is just round the corner. Almost all bakery ingredient outlets now carry a variety of lotus paste. I got mine from Kwong Cheong Thye - a low sugar version from Hong Kong that is fragrant and smooth.


Make these small enough and you may find yourself devouring one bun after another like me. I like my Paus bulging with filling. I used to feel very cheated when the commercially available versions stinge on the quantity of the filling. Now that I am making these myself, I am beginning to think that apart from the reason for cost stinging,  poor pau making technique may have something to do with the pithy dollop of filling. To pile on the filling in the buns, the dough needs to be rolled out carefully such that the center is thicker and the peripheral rim thinner. Failure to do this, would usually have the filling burst through the thin dough when it is being steamed.

With enough practice, I am now able to pile on more filling than dough for this lotus paste bun. So fulfilling, so generous and oh so satisfying!
So what Pau should I attempt next?

P.S. : In case you are wondering about the sear mark on the buns... I stamp these with the searing iron I bought a few years back in Japan... curiosity got the better of me then and it has been sitting in my kitchen drawer ever since... :)


Recipe :
Dough Recipe found here

Filling : ready made lotus paste.

Method :
Please refer to here.
Size of dough for each bun is 19g. Weight of lotus paste portion for each bun is 22g.

Bourke Street Bakery's Chocolate Sour Cherry Cookies

If ever there was a fraternity devoted to cookie lovers, it would most likely be split into 2 sects, the chewy diehards and the crispy advocates.  I, for one, belong to the latter union. I have never quite learnt to appreciate the fudgy texture that the chewy cookie lovers so swoon over. I like my biscuits/cookies light and crisp...as exemplified by the sables featured here and here.

Having said that, I do wish to pay tribute to Bourke Street Bakery's Chocolate Sour Cherry Cookies.  These are super-rich chocolate biscuits that when baked to perfection, is crisp on the outside and fudge-like in the the center - a clever recipe that not only addresses the needs of both sections of the fraternity but hold all chocolate lovers captive as well.

An easy recipe to follow, this has been tried by many. Ellie of Almost Bourdain/ Gourmand Recipe had first strongly recommended me to try this when I was gripped by the Bourke Street Bakery fever a while ago.


A great basic recipe, the flavours can be tweaked by modifying the level of bitterness in the dark chocolate, injecting more tartness with tangy fruits or imparting textural crunch with nuts. Absolutely delicious eaten on its own, I was equally besotted when I dunked it in milk. A cookie and a glass of milk - I get enough energy pow for the whole morning!


Recipe : (Adapted from here )

235g           Dark Chocolate
150g           Plain flour
40g             Unsweetened cocoa powder
1.5 tsp         Baking soda
1/2 tsp         Salt
100g           Unsalted butter softened
240g           Soft brown sugar
2                 Eggs
85g             Dried sour cherries

Method:
1. Sift flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt. Melt chocolate over a ban marie.
2. Set oven to 165C.
3. In a mixing bowl, cream butter with sugar until light and creamy.
4. Add in eggs one at a time until well mixed.
5. Add in (1) in 3 additions, mixing well after every addition.
6. Add in melted chocolate.
7. Fold in sour cherries.
8. The batter will be quite sticky. Refrigerate for 10mins and shape the batter with ice-cream scoop or spoon onto a cookie baking sheet - ensuring enough spacing between cookie for spreading.
9. Bake at 165C for 15-20 mins until risen and quite cracked on top. Cool on the trays and eat. Store in an air tight container for up to 3 days.

Chinese Chicken Pau - Following The Heritage Trail

When I started blogging about 2 years ago, someone left a nice message for me in my comment column. An outstanding baker, this lady had commented how happy she was to see a fellow Singaporean blogger bake French pastry when most of the time, the local food blogging scene are only limited to chiffon cakes, brownies, muffins....  I felt flattered by the comments but at the same time, an uneasiness had also set in. As much as I enjoy experimenting with macarons, madeleines and cupcakes, I also know that these have never been part of my core heritage. I grew up in a humble Asian household where we ate more kuehs than pastries.

It would be sad if our generation and the younger generations that follow would only know how to bake macarons and cupcakes. That is why I was really thrilled when I was able to get a place in Valerie Kong's Pau Class at Shermay's Cooking School. A hands-on class, we got to prepare our own Pau dough from scratch and we also learnt how to roll and pleat the dough - a skill I had desperately wanted to acquire and improve. Valerie's simple and clear instructions was easy to follow and quite a few of us were suprised that we were able to get the hang of it pretty quickly.


Emboldened by the session, I decided to compare the different Pau recipes I have in my cookbook library. This dough recipe that I am sharing here is not Valerie's recipe. This is a Mantou recipe that I found in a Hong Kong Dim Sum cookbook. The amount of yeast and baking powder for this recipe is much lower than Valeries' and I was intrigued by the addition of milk to the dough. What was missing from the cookbook was clear instructions. So the newly acquired knowledge at the hands-on Pau class was really valuable. I am very very pleased with this recipe - an easy dough to handle, the buns turn out very soft and fluffy.  I had used Valerie's Chicken filling for this exercise so I will not publish the recipe here. However, with a dough like this, one can easily wrap it with one's favourite filling - be it sweet or savoury.

I would be proud to present these Pau to family and friends. I know that many will be pleased for these are flavours and food that we have grown up with.

P.S. : If you are interested to learn about Pau making, look out for Valerie's  classes at Shermay's. I heard that all the Pau classes are now full so the earliest that these will be repeated would most likely be next year. So you may want to enquire with the school.

P.S. : I am also hoping that this would qualify for Edith's Heritage Food Trail event. Somewhat unorthodox as it does not really celebrate my Hainanese heritage in particular but I do hope you can join in the fun at Edith's.


Dough Recipe : (from Dim Sum in Hong Kong)

Hong Kong Flour            150g
Dry Yeast                         2g
Baking powder                 2g
Sugar                                28g
Milk                                  75g
Shortening (crisco)           2g (or lard)

Method :

1. Place all ingredients into a mixer and blend until smooth at low speed.
2. Ferment for 10mins at room temperature.
3. Blend in mixer again for 5 mins.
4. Divide the dough into pieces of 19g each. Roll out to form a round wrapping of about 2 inches in diameter.
5. Place filling in the center of the wrapping and pleat the edge to seal the bun with a round top.
6. Proof Pau at room temperature for 45 mins.
7. Steam Pau over boiling water for 15mins.