Fried sesame balls/Kuih bom

Fried sesame balls/Kuih bom

Recipe by Jessica Jong

 

 

Ingredients:

150g Glutinous rice flour

110g cold water

60g sugar

1g bicarbonate of soda

1b baking powder

white sesame

cooking oil for frying

* I added red bean paste as filling

Chinese Egg tarts

 

 These were my favourite tarts as a child, my parents use to buy chinese buns and egg tarts from the chinese bakeries when we visit China town. Usually the egg tarts gets eaten first and we leave the chinese buns for breakfast the next day.

 

I now make these at home for my children and they are really delicious.

I use a short crust pastry as it's a lot easier than the traditional puff pastry.

 

The pastry melts in the mouth and the eggy custard is perfectly set.

 

 So here is the recipe for you to make fresh egg tarts at home.

This recipe makes 15 egg tarts using medium tart cases, the custard is just enough for this size.

 

Cheung Fun 腸粉 (Rice Noodle Roll)

 

 

 

 

 

I have always wanted to try making my own steamed Cheung fun but I never knew what goes into it apart from knowing it is made with rice flour.

I have seen this recipe from a group I have joined on Facebook.

I wrote the recipe down but forgetting who have shared this, unfortunately I cannot give credit to this person who have helped me make my first Cheung fun.

 

I would say this is very time consuming and I didn't have the right equipment but nevertheless I went ahead to make this as I always like a challenge and would try something with whatever equipment I have in the kitchen.

 

With this recipe, the original post says to use a square steamer.

Well, I haven't got a square steamer but only an electric pot and two 7 inch flan tin.

I have seen on YouTube a lady steaming cheung fun using a wok of hot water and an aluminium tray to make these so I guess what I have will do the job too.

So here I went ahead and managed to prepare fresh cheung fun for my little son.

 

Ingredients:

 

250g rice flour
70g tapioca flour
40g corn starch
50g oil (I reduced it to 30g)
900ml of water
I added 1. Tsp of salt.

 

Method:

Stir everything together and set aside.

 

I greased the flan tins lightly with cooking oil.

 

 

Using a small ladle, I add a scoop of rice flour mixture into the flan tin.

 

I put the tin floating in the hot water & put the lid over it.

 

 

The big pot I used is the ones you use for steam boat / hot pot.
I steamed for about 3 minutes or until it started to look set.

 

Once it is transparent, flip over carefully with a flat knife.

And continue the process until you have used up all the rice flour mixture.

 

 

 

It did take over an hour to make.

If you can steam in a steamer then it would probably saves you burning your fingers like me.

My verdict:  worth the trouble as they were very fresh and soft.

Add filling if you like or add topping of your choice with some soya sauce.

 

Chinese chive dumplings

手造韭菜餃
I am so excited to share with you the recipe of traditional Chinese chives dumplings made by my Aunt.

She have also taught me how to roll, knead and wrap them. 
Never in my life I have ever made these before.
It's the most amazing thing I have done since baking my first cake!!

 

Her skills was incredible, my aunt told me that all the young girls in the village knew how to make these. To her it was nothing special. I guess now days not many people make their own dumplings. They are frozen & available in the supermarkets.

Ham Sui Gok 咸水角

咸水角, we have this for dim sum. We pronounce it as "ham sui gok", no idea why it's called that but I guess every Chinese knows what it is. These are easy to make but it does take more prep work than baking a muffin. But once you have tried making these, you can't wait to make them again. 

They are seriously yummy just like ones in dim sum restaurant, except you don't have to fork out £3.20 for 3 pieces. 

This recipe makes 20 pieces! Yes 20! It's not a lot if you can eat 5 in one go! 

You can't eat like that at the restaurant. 

The problem is that I don't order these anymore when I go to have dim sum. 

Nor do I order turnip cake and steamed buns.

At this rate, if I continue making my own dim sum, I don't think I have anything to order when I eat out. 

The whole process have taken me an hour. So if you want to reduce cooking time, prepare your filling a day ahead.

 

Ingredients for the filling:

1 cup of mince pork or chicken

3 pieces of chinese mushroom (soften and diced)

1 small carrot (cooked and diced)

1 small onion (diced)

2.Tsp of mince garlic

1 spring onions ( chopped)

1/2 cup of water

1.Tsp cornstarch mix with 1.Tbsp of water

Chinese turnip cake 蘿蔔糕

My first post for Chinese food! Oh yes! 

 I thought I give baking a break & post this delicious recipe.

Chinese Turnip cake  蘿蔔糕 

I love ordering turnip cake when we go to have Dim Sum. I think it's everyone's all time favourite. 

We used to go to 'yum char' with my parents, brother & sisters every Sunday.

I've got a recipe from my cousin in Germany. 

She posted a picture of her home made Turnip cake on Facebook and I got to have it. 

She was trying to give me her recipe over Skype! The trouble was she didn't know how much seasoning she puts in. So she just told me a little salt, a little soya sauce, some pepper.

Just this conversation alone took 20 mins. But it was hilarious as she was in her kitchen showing me the equipments she used. 

As with typical Chinese cooks, they never  measure out their seasoning. 

Anyway, the first time I made it, it was too salty. I guess the flavours gets more intense after chilling  overnight.  So the second batch I reduced the seasoning and it turned out too bland. 

 My sister-in-law also advise me to add wheat starch to it to make it more cakey texture otherwise it would be too wet & soft. So I add wheat starch to it. 

 After my 3rd attempt, I got it right! Hooray! 

Here's my version.