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Friday, December 5, 2014

Garlic Butter Buns




Today I returned to the traditional process of bread making - by hands - a great way to work on building arm muscles!  Not by choice, mind you.  I am on holiday and my in-laws don't bake, so naturally there is no mixer or bread machine in the house.  However, there is a newly acquired turbo broiler.  I wasn't sure how my bread will turn out baked in this little oven but fortunately they were all very soft and fluffy, phew! 

I followed this bread recipe and topped with some garlic butter with some chopped spring onions.

Tuesday, December 2, 2014

Siu Mai [ 烧卖]





Siu Mai (烧卖) is a very popular Chinese dumpling served as part of a dim sum brunch during Yum Cha.  It is very easy to make at home and you can make a large batch and freeze them.  


Ingredients: (Makes 21)

500g minced pork
300g prawns, deveined and cut into small pieces
3 mushroom (about 10g), soaked to soften then finely chopped
2 water chestnuts, finely chopped
2 stalks of spring onions, chopped finely

Seasoning:
1/2 tsp ginger powder
1 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp sugar
1 tsp sesame oil
1 tbsp cornflour
1 egg

Topping:
1 tbsp finely chopped carrots

wonton wrappers, trim into round circles


  • In a big mixing bowl, combine minced pork, prawn, mushroom, water chestnuts and spring onions together. Mix in seasoning.  Stir well to combine.  
  • Refrigerate the filling for at least 30 minutes.  
  • To wrap the siu mai, place a tablespoon of filling in the centre of each wonton wrapper. Bring up edges of the wrapper and shape the dumpling by pressing down the filling and smoothing the surface; then flatten the bottom.
  • Press some chopped carrots on the siu mai as garnishing.
  • Place siu mai on a greased steaming bamboo basket and steam over high heat for about 15 minutes.  
  • Serve hot with chilli sauce.



To freeze uncooked siu mai:

  • Arrange siu mai on a tray lined with clingwrap.  Place them into the freezer for at least an hour.  
  • Then transfer the frozen siu mai into a freezer bag or container.  Continue storing in the freezer.
To cook frozen siu mai:
  • Arrange unthawed siu mai in a steamer and steam for about 20 minutes (depends on the size of siu mai) over high heat.