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Bak Kwa or Pork Jerky Chiffon Cake ~ 肉干戚风蛋糕

Bak Kwa or Pork Jerky is a popular gift during Chinese New Year and Ann's post of Bak Kwa Chiffon cake gave me an idea to make use of my homemade bak kwa . All the bak kwa bits sank to the bottom in my cake, maybe because I tapped the pan on the worktop thus causing the heavy bak kwa bits to fall to the bottom, gravity. Nonetheless, it does serve as a decoration after all. This cake is soft and moist and it's really delicious. Bak Kwa or Pork Jerky Chiffon Cake ~ 肉干戚风蛋糕 (adapted from 'here' with adjustments) Ingredients (A) 6 egg yolks 100 gm caster sugar 75 ml fresh milk 75 ml oil 75 gm plain flour 3 Tbsp cornflour 1/2 tsp vanilla 75 gm Bak Kwa bits a pinch of salt (B) 6 egg whites 75 gm caster sugar Method Sift plain flour and cornflour together, set aside. In a mixing bowl, use a hand whisk to mix the egg yolks and sugar till well incorporated. Add in vanilla, milk, mix well. Blend in the oil, mix well and again sift in the flour mixture. S

Steamed Mini Abalone ~ 蒸小鲍鱼

Today is the S eventh Day of Lunar New Year which is traditionally referred to as 'Renri' or ( 人日 ) or human day, the birthday of mankind. So this is the day for everyone to celebrate their birthdays. I didn't prepare a big feast for the family and since I had some frozen mini abalones from Tesco, I attempted to steam them instead of cooking them in a soup. The tedious job is the cleaning of the abalones and also the shells but after that, preparing them for steaming is rather quick and easy. The result? Reaping the fruits of labour, these mini abalones are crunchy and yummy ! Steamed Mini Abalone ~ 蒸小鲍鱼 Ingredients 6 mini abalones (frozen) ginger, chopped or julienned spring onions light soya sauce garlic oil Method Thaw the frozen abalones. Clean by brushing them with a toothbrush and salt. Remove the abalone from its shell with a spoon. Discard the entrails and trim off the sides. Wash the abalone. Brush and clean the empty shells and boil them in hot wa

Sakura Pineapple Balls ~ CNY 2021 ~ 樱花菠萝球

I was mulling over the idea of what type of pineapple tarts to make for this coming Chinese New Year and was thrilled when I came across Audrey Goh's post in Bake the Talk on FB. A great thank you to you, Audrey. I had some dried Sakura flowers idling in my fridge for the longest time and indeed I was most glad when I saw her pictures of Sakura pineapple tarts. What an inspiration! To make things easy for myself, I just wrapped the balls of dough with the pineapple paste and then happily placed a hydrated flower on top. I only 'created' ten Sakura pineapple balls as that was all the flowers I had. Sakura Pineapple Balls ~ 樱花菠萝球 (adapted from 'here' ) Ingredients 250 gm butter 50 gm icing sugar 2 egg yolks 1 tsp vanilla 380 gm plain flour 2 Tbsp cornflour 1/4 tsp salt 600 to 700 gm pineapple paste Egg glaze (1 whole egg, sieved) Dried Sakura flowers, hydrated (optional) Method Sift the plain flour, cornflour and salt, set aside. Beat the butter with i

Jumbo Hup Toh Soh ~ 核桃酥

Old fashioned Chinese walnut biscuits or Hup Toh Soh brings back fond memories of my childhood. I remember they were quite big or maybe because I was little so whatever I saw seemed to be 'big''. Strange enough those biscuits had no walnuts in them whatsover and no one knew why. I just remember that they were sweet and very crunchy. So I decided to make some 'jumbo' ones. In olden days lard was used to make these biscuits to make them crunchy and fragrant but I opt to use vegetable or cooking oil instead. I did blog on 'smaller' Hup Toh Soh some time back and another recipe void of Hup Toh but if you wish you can use this recipe to make smaller ones for the coming Chinese New Year. Jumbo Hup Toh Soh ~ 核桃酥 Ingredients 600 gm plain flour 210 gm caster sugar 200 to 250 ml vegetable oil 1/4 tsp salt 2 tsp baking powder 2 tsp bicarbonate of soda 150 gm slightly toasted walnuts, chopped Egg glaze Method Sift flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda

Bak Tong Ko ~ 白糖糕

When I was little, I used to like to eat this steamed rice cake, maybe because it's soft and sweet and I believe most kids do. Well, I still crave for this cake once in a while. During this lock down, I hardly visit the wet market where this cake is sold at the kuih stalls and so I had to google for recipes and try my hand at making my own. This cake is not too sweet, but soft, slightly bouncy and I like the amazing honeycomb pattern when you cut a cross section of the rice cake. Bak Tong Ko ~ 白糖糕 Ingredients 150 gm rice flour 150 ml water 100 gm sugar 150 ml water 3 to 4 pandan/screwpine leaves 1/2 tsp cooking oil 1/2 tsp baking powder to be added to the rice mixture just before steaming 1 tsp instant dried yeast 1 tsp sugar 1 Tbsp warm water Method Put rice flour into a mixing bowl, whisk it. Mix in water and stir till free of lumps. Set aside. Boil water with sugar and pandan leaves till sugar has dissolved. Discard pandan leaves. Pour this hot syrup

Red Braised Spare Ribs ~ 红烧排骨

These spare ribs are juicy yet tender and this is a rather 'dry' dish without much sauce. I use balsamic vinegar to give it a slightly tangy flavour and I cook till the sauce sticks to the ribs while the oil starts to separate at the bottom of the wok. So you can imagine how tasty the ribs are ..... finger licking good! Red Braised Spare Ribs ~ 红烧排骨 Ingredients 1 kg spare ribs 1 Tbsp oil 2.1/2 Tbsp brown sugar 2 Tbsp soya sauce 3/4 Tbsp dark soya sauce 1.1/2 Tbsp balsamic vinegar 3 Tbsp Shaoxing wine 1/4 cup water or more to cover the ribs 2 slices ginger 3 cloves of garlic, lightly bruised white part of spring onions Spring onions and sesame seeds to garnish Method Blanch the spare ribs in hot water, remove, rinse, keep aside. In a wok, melt the brown sugar in the tablespoon of oil. Then stir in the ribs. Add light and dark soya sauces, balsamic vinegar, Shaoxing wine, ginger, garlic, spring onions and water.

Ma lai Ko ~ 马拉糕

Whenever we 'yum cha' in a Chinese dim sum restaurant we never fail to order and try their Ma Lai Ko, which is a brown sugar steamed fluffy sponge cake and what most kids would like to have. I have been looking for a simple recipe to make this Ma Lai Ko. Some recipes require a fermented starter dough which will result in streaky patterns in the Ma Lai Ko, some will just go with baking powder and sodium bicarbonate but I chance upon this recipe which requires yeast, baking powder and sodium bicarbonate. I made this on a cool, windy, day and was praying that the batter will rest and proof with bubbles after 2 hours and thankfully it did. I was very pleased when the cake looked good after I opened the lid of my steamer and the taste was superb, not overly sweet and the texture, nice, soft and moist. I kept the remaining pieces of 'ko' in a container, at room temperature and they stayed nice and moist even on the third day, maybe because the weather was cool and not