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.

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.

Blueberry Chiffon Cake

Recipe  from  Honey Bee Sweets' Fresh Blueberry Chiffon Cake with slight changes.


Ingredients:  
(A)
5 egg yolks
100g fresh blueberry compote (See below)
60ml fresh orange juice
80ml Rice Bran oil
50g sugar
130g cake flour
3g salt

(B)
5 egg whites
70g sugar
1/4 tsp cream of tartar

• Preheat oven to 160 degrees C.
• Beat egg yolks and sugar until thick and pale.  Gradually add in oil, water and blueberry compote. Beat until well combined.
• Sift flour into a mixing bowl.  Gradually whisk in the egg yolk  mixture in a slow and steady stream.
• In another bowl, beat egg whites until foamy, add in cream of tartar and beat until soft peaks form.  Gradually add in sugar and beat until stiff peaks form.
• Gently fold the beaten egg whites into the flour/egg yolk mixture in 3 batches. 
• Pour batter into an ungreased 20cm tube pan. 
• Bake for about 45 minutes or until cook.
• Remove cake from the oven and invert the pan to cool.
• Unmould the cake when it is completely cool.

Blueberry compote:  

100g fresh blueberry

1 tsp lemon juice

3 tbsp caster sugar

• Place all the ingredients into a small saucepan and cook under low heat.  Stir to combine and cook until blueberries start to break down.
• Continue to stir gently until it thickens.  Remove from heat and let it cool.