Fried Flour Vermicelli (Misua/Meen Seen) [ 炒面线 ]

Misua or mee suah (in Hokkien) or meen seen (面线 in Cantonese) is a very thin type of salted noodles made from wheat flour, salt, tapioca starch and water.  This noodle signifies long life in Chinese culture, therefore it is always served as Longevity Noodles during birthday dinners.   

Ingredients:

300g flour vermicelli (面线)

200g chinese chives, cut into 3cm length

300g bean sprouts

40g dried shrimps, soaked to soften then coarsely chopped

4 cloves garlic, finely minced

2 shallots, finely sliced

enough oil to deep fry vermicelli

Seasoning:

1 tbsp oyster sauce

2 tbsp light soy sauce

1 tsp sugar

salt & pepper, to taste

1 cup water

• Prepare a big bowl of boiling water.  Set aside.
• Heat enough oil in a wok and deep fry vermicelli, one bundle at a time until light brown (watch the noodles carefully as it gets brown very quickly).
• Remove the noodles with a slotted spatula and drain on absorbent paper.  Then blanch noodles in hot water until softened, or al dente and drain well in a colander.
• Heat oil in wok and stir fry garlic and shallots until fragrant.  Dish out and set aside.
• Stir fry dried shrimps until fragrant, then add in noodles and seasoning.  Then put in chives, bean sprouts and the fried garlic and shallots. Toss well. 
• Dish out and serve immediately.

Glutinous Rice Wrapped In Lotus Leaf (Lo Mai Gai) 糯米雞

Ingredients:  [Makes 10 medium-size parcels]

4 dried lotus leaves

• Blanch dried lotus leaves into boiling water for about 2 minutes.
• Wash and drain the leaves.  Pat dry with paper towel.
• Cut away the tough part near the base of the stem, then cut the leaves into thirds.

450g glutinous rice, washed and drained
400 ml water
3 cloves garlic, minced finely
2 shallots, sliced thinly

Seasoning for the rice:
2 tbsp light soy sauce
1 tsp dark soy sauce
1 tbsp oyster sauce
1 tsp sesame oil
1 tsp sugar
pepper

• Heat about 3 tbsp oil  and stir fry minced garlic and shallots until aromatic, then put in glutinous rice and fry for about half a minute.  Then add in seasoning.  
• Fry for about 2 minutes, stirring continously.  
• Add in water and stir well.  Transfer into a steaming tray.
• Steam glutinous rice for about 20 minutes or until cooked.
• Fluff up the rice with a pair of chopsticks.

Fillings:
200g chicken thighs, cut into bite-size pieces
5 pieces dried shitake mushrooms, soaked to soften and cut into halves
50g dried shrimps, washed and soaked to soften - finely chopped (or you can leave them whole)
5 cloves garlic, minced
3 shallots, sliced thinly

Marinade:
1 tsp cornflour
1/2 tbsp Chinese cooking wine
1/2 tsp dark soy sauce
1 tbsp oyster sauce
1/2 tbsp light soy sauce
1/2 tsp sesame oil
ginger juice (extracted from 20g ginger, grated or pounded)
dash of pepper
1/2 tsp sugar

• Marinate chicken pieces with marinade for at least 30 minutes.
• Heat enough oil in a wok and sauté minced garlic and shallots until fragrant.  Transfer to a bowl and set aside.
• Stir fry dried shrimps until light brown and aromatic, add in a little of the sautéed garlic and shallots and stir to combine.  Dish out into a bowl and set aside.
• Fry mushrooms with a little oil and some sautéed garlic and shallots, add water and a little seasoning.  Cook until softened.  Transfer into a bowl and set aside.
• With enough oil, stir fry marinated chicken pieces with sautéed garlic and shallots until half-cooked.  Dish out into a bowl and set aside.

In order for my rice parcels to be consistent in size, I used a rectangle bowl (8 x 10 cm).

• Place a layer of rice at the base of the bowl, then place chicken, mushroom and dried shrimps; top it with more rice.  
• Invert the bowl onto the lotus leaf (I placed a small piece of bamboo leaf onto the lotus leaf).  Form a square parcel.
• Steam the rice parcels on high heat for about 30 minutes.

Spicy Minced Pork with Thai Basil

This flavoursome Thai-inspired dish is amazingly easy to put together with a few simple ingredients. You can either use minced chicken or pork. The authentic Grapow Moo uses Holy Basil which I replaced with the normal Thai basil.  

Ingredients:

(A)

250g pork mince

1 tbsp light soy sauce

1 tsp cornflour

dash of pepper

(B)

3 cloves garlic, chopped finely

2 shallots, sliced finenly

3 bird's eye chillies (chopped)

3 kaffir lime leaves, remove the thick mid-rib and slice the leaves thinly

(C)

300g french beans (or snake beans), cut finely

1/2 bunch Thai basil, leaves only

1 tsp sugar (or palm sugar)

1/2 tsp dark soy sauce

fish sauce, to taste

dash of pepper

1 1/2 tbsp oil

• Marinade minced pork with cornflour and light soy sauce with a dash of pepper.  Set aside.
• Heat oil in a wok and put in chopped garlic, shallots, chillies and kaffir lime leaves slivers and stir-fry until fragrant.
• Add in marinated minced pork and break apart clumps with the spatula.  Cook for about 1 - 2 minutes or until the pork changes colour.
• Toss in french beans and stir to combine.  
• Stir in dark soy sauce, sugar,  fish sauce  and pepper (adjust seasonings according to your taste).
• Add in basil leaves and toss until basil is wilted.  
• Transfer to a serving plate and serve hot with plain rice.

Stir fried somen

Ingredients:

230g Somen (noodles) 
100g bean sprouts
100g chinese chives (ku chai), cut into 2 cm length
3 cloves garlic, chopped
2 shallots, chopped
2 tbsp dried shrimps, washed and soaked to soften, chopped coarsely
3 tbsp oil
salt & pepper, to taste
2 tbsp light soy sauce

• Blanched noodles in boiling water until al dente.  Place into a colander and rinse under cold running water.  Drain well.  Set aside.
• Heat up oil in a wok and stir-fry chopped garlic and shallots until aromatic.  Add in dried shrimps and fry until fragrant.  
• Add in noodles and toss well.  Season with light soy sauce, salt & pepper.  Add in beansprouts and chives.  Toss for a few minutes to mix well.
• Dish out and serve with chilli oil.

Nutella Brownies

Adapted from Completely Delicious


Ingredients:

170g dark chocolate, chopped
8g cocoa powder
2g instant coffee granules
130g butter
175g caster sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
3 eggs
3/4 tsp salt
95g plain flour
85g pecans, chopped
100g Nutella

• Preheat oven to 180 deg C.  Line a 20.5 cm square pan with baking paper.
• Melt the chocolate, cocoa powder, coffee granules and butter in a bowl set over a saucepan of simmering water, stirring until smooth.  Remove bowl from heat and let cool for a few minutes.  
• Add in sugar and vanilla extract, stir to combine.  
• Add in eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition.  Add in salt and flour and stir until well combined.  Fold in pecans.  
• Pour batter into prepared pan and use a spatula to spread evenly.  Drop spoonfuls of Nutella onto the batter, about 4 cm apart, then use a toothpick to swirl the Nutella into the batter.
• Bake for about 30 minutes, or until the edges appeared crispy but a skewer inserted into the centre comes out with moist crumbs.  
• Remove pan from the oven and let cool completely on a wire rack before cutting.
• Brownies can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for several days or in the fridge for a week.

Dulce de Leche Banana Cake

Can you see spots of Dulce de Leche in the cake?  

Yes, another banana cake; but this time with the addition of homemade dulce de leche (pronounced "DOOL-say day Lay-chay," is a Spanish term for a thick caramel sauce popular in Latin America).  Turning a can of sweetened condensed milk into sticky and gooey dulce de leche is not that complicated.  All you need is, of course, a can of condensed milk and a pot of boiling water.  Then put your feet up with your favourite book for the next 3 to 4 hours but make sure the water doesn't boil dry.  One word of caution, do not open the can until it is cooled.  

Hop over to Wendy's blog to see how she made her dulce-de-leche.  

Ingredients:

60g sour cream

1 tsp bicarbonate of soda

2 eggs

70g caster sugar

80g rice bran oil

1/2 tsp vanilla paste

250g self-raising flour

1/4 tsp salt

1 cup mashed bananas

230g dulce de leche 

• Preheat oven to 170 deg C.  Grease and line a 22.5 x 12.5 x 7 cm loaf pan (or a 9" round pan).
• Sift flour with flour; set aside.
• Combine bicarbonate of soda with sour cream; set aside.
• With an electric mixer, beat eggs until frothy (about 1 min),  gradually add in sugar and beat until thick and pale (about 5 mins).
• Pour in oil in a steady stream while beating.  Add in vanilla paste.  
• Add in dulce de leche and beat to just combined.
• Fold in flour, mashed bananas and sour cream.  
• Pour batter into the prepared pan.
• Bake for about 55 mins or until cake is done.
• After 5 mins remove the cake from the pan and cool on a wire rack.

Crispy Coffee-Custard Mooncakes

I truly enjoyed looking at the different creations of mooncakes made by fellow bloggers, they were so beautiful.  I didn't plan to make any mooncakes until I saw this delicious looking Baked Custard Mooncakes shared by Zoe of Bake for Happy Kids (Thank you very much, Zoe). This is my second attempt at baking these mooncakes.  However, this time I decided to make coffee custard instead and I doubled the recipe with some slight changes.  Since I didn't have any custard powder, I replaced it with cornstarch and added some vanilla paste.  If you are a coffee lover, I am sure you'd love these.

I'd like to take this opportunity to wish everyone a  Happy Mid-Autumn Festival, 中秋节快乐!

Coffee Custard Filling (Yields 436g)

(A)

40g butter, softened 

120g palm sugar, grated

20g caster sugar 

6 egg yolks, lightly beaten

1 tsp vanilla paste

(B)  Mix together to combine:

40g condensed milk

80ml thickened cream 

120ml coconut milk 

(C)  Sift together:

40g plain flour

30g corn starch (to replace custard powder)

20g tapioca flour

2 tsp coffee granules

• Cream butter and sugars until light.  Beat in egg yolks, one at a time; beat until combined.  Then beat in vanilla paste.
• Pour in ingredients (B) and beat to combine.
• Add in ingredients (C) and mix well.  
• Pour the mixture into a heat resistance plate and steam over medium heat for 25 minutes; stirring constantly.  Set aside to cool.
• Knead mixture until smooth and wrap custard in cling wrap and place it in the refrigerator to chill until required.  (I chilled my custard overnight).

Mooncake Pastry (Yields 1024g)

(A)

200g butter, softened

30g rice bran oil

180g icing sugar, sifted

2 eggs, lightly beaten

1 tsp vanilla paste

(B)  Sift together:

440g plain flour

70g cornstarch (to replace custard powder)

1/2 tsp baking powder

• Using an electric mixer, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy.  Then beat in oil.
• Gradually add in eggs; beat until well combined.  Beat in vanilla paste.
• Add in sifted flours and beat until incorporated and the mixture begins to hold together. Bring the dough together with your hands.  Wrap dough with cling wrap and let it rest in the refrigerator for an hour.

Shaping the coffee custard filling

about 30g desiccated coconut

• Divide the filling into 15g each and roll them into balls.  
• Coat the balls of filling with desiccated coconut and set aside.

Shaping the mooncakes

Egg wash:  1 egg yolk + 1 tbsp milk

• Divide the pastry dough into 36g each and roll them into balls.
• Take a ball of pastry and place it in between two pieces of cling wrap or baking paper, then flatten into a flat and round circle.  Place a ball of custard filling in the middle of the dough and wrap into a ball.  
• Lightly flour the ball and place it into the mooncake mould and press out the mooncake.
• Place the mooncakes on a baking tray which has been lined with baking paper.  Cover the mooncakes with cling wrap and chill in the refrigerator for 30 minutes before baking.
• Preheat oven to 160°C fan forced.  
• Brush a thin layer of egg wash over the mooncakes and bake for about 25 - 30 minutes.  
• Cool the mooncakes on the tray for about 10 minutes before transferring them onto a wire rack to cool completely.