Popiah Skin

This project has been put on hold for a long time and finally, I bought the Lodge raw cast iron pan and thought of giving it a test run with this recipe. And it is absolutely fantastic.. it works.

Ingredients:

• 100g sourdough discard
• 100g flour
• 105g water
• a pinch of salt

Steps:

1. Mixed the ingredients well and stir it hard up and slam it down. Do this till you see the mixture begin to form "fibre". If too tired or lazy, just use the mixer with the dough hook, that should just take bout 1-2mins, but iIjust needed some hand exercise so i used the hand and the spoon. 
2. Cover well and store in the fridge to rest over night. you may use the dough once warm to room temperature.
3. Heat up the pan at medium heat and lower it once you can start to feel it out of it when u place your hand above it.
4. Use the hand to grab the dough mixture and dollop it to the pan. for reference, you can youtube the instruction how to it. However I had done a shortcut/lazy job and used the ladle instead for this task. I drop bout half a dollop on top the pan and quickly spread it out to as thin as I can.
5. Once done you may peel it off (I had timed mine at 2mins each) and let it warm up another 20seconds before doing the next sheet. Refer to the video below of me peeling it off and almost burnt my fingers... hehehe

Note: The skin will be rather crispy/tough when you peel it off. Place it on a plate and cover with a piece of cloth. It will soften once it cools down.

Sourdough Soft Bun

I love those cotton like texture from bread and buns and had hope to be able to make it without the use of commercial yeast. After some thought.. I tried substituting the yeast with the sourdough starter and see if it works. I had used the recipe that required poolish starter for the bread. And indeed, it works marvellously.

Ingredients:

• 310g sourdough starter that has been fed and is bubbly and ready to use
• 100g plain flour
• 15g milk powder
• 45g raw sugar (you can substitute with caster sugar)
• 5g salt
• 1 egg lightly beaten
• 70g water
• 50g butter

Steps:

1. Place all the dry ingredients in the mixing bowl and stir it. 
2. Then add in the rest of the ingredients except the butter.
3. Use the dough hook and knead the ingredients with medium low speed till it forms a dough shape.
4. Increase the speed and slowly add in the butter little by little in small cubes size.
5. Knead till the dough reach window pane stage (it took bout 10mins with the Kenwoood at high speed).
6. Set aside to rest for about 1hr to 1.5hr (it is ready when u poke a finger on it and the dough does not bounce back up).
7. Punch and shape the dough according to your preference, you may even fill it with your favourite filling.
8. Let it rest for another 20-40mins (it won't rise as much as those using commercial yeast) till almost double in size.
9. Brush some egg wash on the surface of the bread.
10. Bake at preheated oven at 180c for 28mins (for my oven, you may need to test and trial with your oven setting).

Home Made Luncheon Meat

I had been rather lazy recently and have not been updating the blog as often as I used to. But I guess I can't miss this recipe out. Made this specially for a friend that is currently pregnant and craving for luncheon meat.

Ingredients:

• 500g pork minced (I used ready store minced and I have no idea the fat vs lean composition)
• 100g pork belly (rind removed) - cut to small pieces
• 30g chicken (coincidentally got left over)
• 30g plain flour
• 30g potato starch
• 1tbsp sugar
• 2tbsp soy sauce
• 1tbsp sesame oil
• 1tsp ginger juice (I can't squeeze that much so actually just shred some into the mixture)
• 1tbsp chinese cooking wine
• 1tsp paprika
• 1tsp 5 spice powder (I think it is rather over powering, should reduce to max 3/4tsp should do)
• 1tsp white pepper powder
• 2 egg whites
• 1/2tsp salt

Steps:

1. Place the cut pork belly in the food processor and blend till the meat are finely blended. 
2. Add in the chicken and minced into the food processor and blitz it for roughly 10-15seconds. This is to further processed the meat till they are very fine so that the texture of the luncheon meat is not coarse.
3. Add in the rest of the ingredients and blitz for another 20seconds to get all ingredients mixed properly and evenly.
4. Prepare either a bowl or pan or whatever container that you will want to use to steam the meat. Oil the container and place the mixture into the container. Press the meat down and try to compact it as much as you can. It is rather hard to do this since the mixture is very bouncy and soft. I just used the back of the spoon to press it down. 
5. Oil the top of the mixture and then cover the container with an aluminium foil. Then use your hand to further compact the meat down by pressing over the foil.
6. Prepare a wok of water and set to steam the meat. I used the Philips electrical pressure cooker and just pour in cold water and put in the container. Use something heavy to place at the top of the aluminium foil. This is to prevent the meat from expanding during the steaming process and create air bubbles in the luncheon meat.
7. If you are steaming it manually, steam over high heat for 45mins. With the pressure cooker, I used steam mode and steam for 20mins.
8. Once done, removed the container and let it rest. Do not remove the aluminium foil. This is to ensure that all the moisture can be retained in the meat and not have juices flowing out when you cut it. Since the weather is  rather cold still tonight (I guess it is below 11c), I waited for bout 15mins before opening and removing the whole piece of meat to cut (rested another 10mins out of the container before cutting).
9. Fry the meat the way you like or like me, place it in the air fryer at 180c and fry for 7mins on each side.

Sourdough Chocolate Brownies

As the sourdough starter is being fed, it gets more and more and I need to use it or discard it. As usual, I try to avoid wasting so I googled up for some usage and decided to make brownies with it instead.

Ms No 2 loves it so much coz it is all chocolate... yum

Ingredients:

• 170g dark chocolate chips
• 113g unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
• 80g sugar
• a pinch of salt
• 1tsp vanilla 
• 1 egg
• 20g cocoa powder (I used milo coz my girls love it)
• 113g of matured sourdough starter (I used it on the 5th day)

Steps:

1. Place the chocolate and butter in a microwave safe bowl. Heat it up at high for about 1min.
2. In a separate bowl, mix the cocoa powder and sugar. Then stir in the chocolate and butter mixture.
3. Next stir in the egg followed by the sourdough starter and the rest of the other ingredients.
4. Lightly greased the baking pan and pour the mixture into it.
5. If baking in the air fryer, just bake for bout 20mins on 180c. If using normal oven, preheat the oven at 200c. Then bake for 30-40mins. The outer layer of the brownie should be set but still looks wobbly.
6. Let it cool before removing to cut and serve.

First Successful Rustic Sourdough

This is my first successful sourdough bread. It is not a 100% sourdough bread though as it contains 2g of commercial yeast.

Personally, I don't quite like the taste (maybe I didn't put enough of salt in it) coz it is quite bland. The skin of the bread it crusty though and the inside is quite fluffy and soft.

Ingredients:

• 227g levain (the one that is fed and has bubbled up and spongy
• 340g lukewarm water (I used half hot and half cold as it is winter here)
• 7g or 2 tsp of instant yeast
• 14g sugar
• 2.5tsp salt
• 600g all purpose flour

Steps:

1. Place all ingredients in the mixing bowl and knead it to form a smooth dough.
2. Allow the dough to rise in a lightly greased covered bowl until it's doubled in size. It took mine bout 1hr and 5mins.
3. Gently divide the dough in half. It is ok if it deflates.
4. Gently shape the dough into two oval loaves or long loaves and place them on greased parchment lined baking sheet.
5. Cover and let it rise until very puffy, roughly bout an hour. 
6. At the end of the second proofing, preheat the oven to 210c.
7. Spray the loaves with water then make two deep diagonal slashes in each with either a serrated or very sharp knife.
8. Then bake the bread for 25-30mins, depending on your oven until it is deep golden brown.
9. Remove and cool on rack.

Sourdough Starter

I remember bout a year or more back, I had attempted to make sourdough but failed terribly. This time, not sure what got into me, I decided to retry again.

The starter took bout 6days (winter now) to be ready.

So, what I did was stir 113g of flour with 113g water (warm). Cover it loosely. This time, I used all plastic, plastic container and plastic spoon (I think it makes a difference. Do not use metal).

Place it by the windowsill in the afternoon and in the evening, put it near any warm source.
Next day, add another 113g flour with 113g warm water, continue for 5day.

By the 5th day, I took out 113g of the bubbly starter to add in 113g of water and 113g of flour in a separate container and place near to a warm source.

By the next morning, the levain has doubled and looks really fluffy and spongey. This is ready to be used.

According to many websites, the bubbly starter is ready  to be used when it can float on the water. I was so happy when mine manages to float.

Keropok Lekor aka as Malay Fish Fingers

This is oil fried version

This is air fried version

This is how it looks like before slicing to fry

What happens when you are in the land that you don't get what you crave for easily or almost not available, you try making it yourself. Keropok lekor is one of my favourite snack from the night market back home. This is actually my second attempt of making this snack. The first was a failure maybe due to the type of fish used. I used basa fillet the first time and it tasted more just like normal fish cake and lack of that spongy feel for the thick type and not crispy for the thin type.

This time, I used barramundi and it works nicely. Maybe it is due to the "kaoness" of the fish. It is the stickiness effect that the fish achieve after being mashed.

Here is the recipe for this yummy snack:

Ingredients:

• 450-470g of fish fillet (I used barramundi, you can use tuna or even ready made fish paste
• 1 1/4 cups of tapioca starch
• 1/4 cup of plain flour
• few pieces of ice cubes
• a pinch of salt
• 10g butter
• 1cup plain flour for dusting
• 1 pot of salted water for boiling
• oil to fry

Steps:

1. Place the 6 ingredients in the food processor. Mix till it is even.
2. Dust the working top with plain flour and scoop the mixture out to shape.
3. Divide the mixture into 6 parts and dust it generously with the plain flour.
4. Shape it into long tube of roughly 12cm with diameter of 2.5cm. Place them aside.
5. Boil the salted water. Once boil, place in a few pieces of the fish tubes and let it boil for bout 4-5mins. It is ready once the tube floats in the water.
6. Remove the fish tubes and let it dry and cool down.
7. Once it is cool and dry, slice it to the thickness of your preference and fry.
8. If you using the air fryer, it takes about 8-10mins at 200c. Time varies with the thickness you cut the cracker.

Ayam Percik

After hub has his craving for nasi goreng kampung, it is my turn to crave for ayam percik. When I was young, I'll anticipate for the days of the night market and this is the only thing mom will let me buy. Haven't had it for years and just feel like eating it.

But there is no night market here. So, the only way is to make it myself. Worse, the winter cold is catching up and there is no way to do it with the bbq at even 5pm coz it is already dark by then. So, I resorted to my beloved AF to do the job.

Ingredients:

• 6pcs of chicken drumstick, deboned (you can either buy one that's ready or do it yourself)
• 2tsp tamarind sauce
• 2lemon grass, bruised
• 3/4 cup water
• 3/4cup thick coconut milk
• 1.5tbsp sugar
• 1/8 tsp salt
• 3tbsp oil
• Marinate ingredients:
• 1/2tsp salt
• 1tbsp sugar
• 1tsp chilli powder
• 1tsp turmeric powder
• Ingredients to blend:
• 4 candlenuts
• 6 cloves of garlic
• 8 dried chilli, soaked in hot water
• 2cm ginger
• 4 shallots
• 2.5cm galangal

Steps:

1. Clean the chicken and pat it dry. Marinate the chicken with the marinate ingredients and set it aside to marinate for at least 30mins.
2. Place the ingredients to be blended in the blender and blend till fine.
3. Heat up the oil in the pan and then saute the blended ingredients along with the tamarind sauce and lemon grass. Fry for about 4-5mins till it is well blended. and fragrant Stir constantly to avoid it from burning. Next add in water and let it simmer for 2mins.
4. Add in the coconut milk and salt and stir till it thickens.
5. Place the chicken into the cooled down spices and cover the chicken with the spices. Place the chicken in the Air fryer. Scoop a tablespoon of the spices on top of the chicken and set to 200c for 7mins.
6. Flip the chicken over and scoop another tablespoon of the spices on top of it and set to 200c for another 5mins.

Nasi Goreng Kampung

Out of a sudden, hub asked for nasi goreng kampung and there goes, a quick search and a little modification to suit the needs for the family.

Ingredients:

• 3 cups of cooked jasmine rice
• 1 cup of ikan bilis or dried anchovies, cleaned and gutted
• 1 green chilli 
• 2 shallots (roughly 4tbsp amount)
• 4 cloves of garlic (roughly 4tbsp amount)
• 1/2tsp salt
• a big dash of pepper
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup veggie (any veggie, cleaned and cut to small pieces)
• 2tbsp oil
• 5 bird eyes chilli
• 1/2 shallots
• 1 cherry tomato
• 1tbsp sugar
• 1/2tbsp belacan

Ingredients:

1. Place the green chilli, 2 shallots, 4 cloves garlic and 1/4 cup of the ikan bilis in the blender. Blend till the mixture it fine.
2. Place 3/4 of the ikan bilis in a flat plate, spray with a little oil and put in the microwave. Set it on high for 4mins.
3. Heat up the wok with 2tbsp of oil. Place the blended mixture in it.
4. Saute for roughly 2-3mins till it is fragrant and a little dry. Add in the salt and give it a stir.
5. Then add in the rice and mix till it is all even. Spread it out and break in the eggs.
6. Stir the rice over the eggs and let them mix evenly until the eggs are cooked. Finally, stir in the veggie and pepper.
7. Turn off the fire and dish out to serve.
8. For the sambal, you may either blend the rest of the ingredients or pound them till it is fine. Scoop and served with the rice. Top the rice with the crispy anchovies from the microwave.

Malay Style Briyani Chicken

I love the biryani we get back in Malaysia and the one I had prepared earlier with the ready mix spices just don't taste nor looks anywhere near to that. This time, I decided to try out the recipe that calls for the preparation from scratch instead and yum... it does taste superbly good. Just be cautious that the list of ingredients may look really long.

I made it twice actually and once with chicken and the other is with beef rendang.

For the rice:

• 3 cups basmati rice, soaked at least 30mins, then washed and drained
• 1tbsp butter
• 2 pcs shallot, slice thinly
• 2 cloves garlic (I'm using Australia garlic that is rather huge, it comes out to roughly 3tbsp amount), minced
• 1tbsp ginger, minced
• 1/2tbsp cinnamon powder
• 1/2tbsp cloves powder
• 1tbsp cardamon powder
• 2tsp tomato puree
• 1/4 cup grated carrot
• 2 pandan leaves, washed and knotted
• 2 cups water
• 2 cups evaporated milk
• 1/4tsp numeric powder
• 1/4 cup raisins
• 1/4 cup of cashew nuts (I used pine nuts coz i don't have cashew at that time)
• 3tbsp chopped coriander leaves

**Note: I don't have cardamon powder so what I did was use the grinder and grind it to powder form. You may choose to place the entire cardamon, cinnamon or/and cloves in as in original form but it taste better once it is grounded to powder form

1. Heat the pressure cooker up, put in the butter and shallot. Slightly saute before adding in the spices.
2. Next add in the tomato puree and carrot and stir.
3. Add in the pandan leaves next and stir till fragrant (roughly a min) before adding in the rice,  water and evaporated milk.
4. Switch the cooker to risotto mode (KPT13mins) and leave it to cook.
5. Once done, remove and add in coriander leaves, raisins and nuts. Next fluff the rice and mix the new add on stuff evenly.

For the chicken:

• 6pcs of drumstick, marinate with minced garlic (1cloves), ginger (1cm) and 1tsp apple cider vinegar
• 1tsp oil
• 4 shallots, sliced
• 1.5tbsp minced garlic
• 1.5tsbp minced ginger
• 1/2 cinnamon stick
• 2 cardamon pods
• 4pcs of cloves
• 1/4 tsp pepper
• 3/4 tsp fennel powder
• 3.4 tsp turmeric powder
• 2 knotted pandan leaves
• 2tsp coriander powder
• 1tsp chilli powder

1. Clean the chicken and wipe it dry. Marinate it with the marinate ingredients for at least 30mins.
2. Place the chicken in the air fryer and set at 180c for 5mins.
3. Heat up some oil in the pressure cooker pot and saute the shallots, garlic and ginger.
4. After the shallots soften and it starts to give nice aroma, add in the cinnamon stick, cardamon, cloves, fennel powder, turmeric powder, coriander powder, chilli powder and pandan leaves. Stir for 1-2mins.
5. Then add in the chicken and set the pressure cooker to meat mode and KPT for 15mins.

For the beef:

• a piece of beef tenderloin roughly 400g, cut to cube (roughly 1"x1")
• 1tsp salt
• 1/2cup evaporated milk
• 1/8cup of desiccated coconut
• spices to blend
• 3 shallots
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 3tbsp of blended chilli
• 2tsp of belacan powder
• 1cm ginger
• 1tsp turmeric powder
• 1 lemongrass stem, cut to small pieces the end part (the top part bruised and leave aside)
• 2 kafir lime leaves, sliced finely
• 1 handful of vietnamese mint
• 2tbsp oil

1. Blend all the ingredients for the spices together till it forms a thick paste. If too hard to blend, add a little water (like a teaspoon or more or less).
2. Heat the pressure cooker and add in the oil to the pot. Fry the spices ingredients till fragrant.
3. Add in the desiccated coconut and fry for another 2mins.
4. Then add in the beef and coat it well with the spices. Set the cooker to meat mode and cook for 15mins.
5. Once released pressure, add in evaporated milk and salt and cook under high saute mode for 8-10mins till the sauce thicken to your preferred thickness.
6. Once done, turn off the power and stir in the kafir lime and vietnamese mint leaves.

For the pickle:

• 1 whole cucumber
• 1 whole carrot
• 4pcs of shallots
• 1tsp salt
• 1cup rice vinegar
• 2tbsp sugar

1. Cut the cucumber to roughly 3cm length, 1cm thickness size. Removed the core.
2. Season it with the salt and leave it aside for at least 10mins before washing off.
3. Cut the carrot to the same size as the carrot.
4. Slice the shallots finely.
5. Heat up the vinegar and melt the sugar in it.
6. Once the mixture cool down, place the carrot, cucumber and shallots in it. Set aside to marinate for at least 30mins before placing it into the fridge.

**Note: You can top up the veggies with the same liquid if they are still there after you finish up the veggies.

Milo Nutella Cake

Last Friday was my princess no 2's birthday and I decided to bake a cake with all her favourite stuff on it, Milo and chocolate as per her request. And this time, I used the air fryer to bake it. It cuts the baking time a lot lesser and I made a small cake so that we can finish it up within the day or next.

I had also used up the home made nutella.

The decorations are edible and made by my neighbour. I just need to arrange and stuffed it on the cake top.

The inside is so moist still with a little lava.

Ingredients:

• 60g butter (soften)
• 99g plain flour
• 1g baking powder
• 2 eggs
• 60g sugar
• 50g milo
• 50g nutella
• 10g milk

Steps:

1. Line the baking tray with paper.
2. Put all ingredients in the mixing bowl and mix on medium speed till all well mixed.
3. Pour the ingredients in the baking tray and give it a shake to remove any air bubbles.
4. Preheat the air fryer for 4mins at 180c.
5. Then place the baking tray in the air fryer and bake for 20mins at 160c.
6. Take it out to cool before removing from the tray. The cake will rise with a dome after baking and subside once cool down.
7. Decorate with your favourite topping or cream or chocolate ganache.

Chickpeas Pumpkin Soup

Getting bored with the normal meals and wanted something special for lunch today and at the same time need to finish up the pumpkin before it spoils, and tada... roast pumpkin soup with chickpeas cooked using the pressure cooker.

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup chickpeas, soaked for at least 30mins, washed and drain
• 5tbsp of puy lentil, soaked for at least 30mins, washed and drain
• 1 cup of water
• 150-200g of pumpkin, sliced
• 1/4 cup of chopped onion
• 1 tbsp butter
• 1/2 carrot, cut to coarse pieces
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1cup meat broth (mine is the one I had made for ramen, left over, or you can use vegetable stock or chicken stock)
• 1/4 cup chopped bacon

Steps:

1. Place the chickpeas, lentil and water in the pressure cooker and use manual mode to cook for 5mins. Once done, drain off the water.
2. While the chickpeas and lentil are cooking, place the bacon on some aluminium foil and place it in the air fryer. Also line the pumpkin slices in the air fryer. Set it at 180c for 8-10mins.
3. In either a pan or in another pot, saute the onion with the butter. If using pressure cooker, use the high saute mode.
4. Next blend the onions with the pumpkin.
5. Finally, add in all the ingredients except bacon into the pressure cooker. Set it to manual modem KPT for 2mins.
6. Once ready, served with the air fried crispy bacon.

** Note: I have not use any seasoning but if you like, you may sprinkle some cumin powder and paprika in step 5. There is no need for salt as it is already very flavoursome.

Quick Style Hainanese Chicken Rice

Weather is getting cold and I just want something yum, good for recovering body from sickness yet with some hot soup. Then it just cross my mine why don't I do a quick hainanese chicken rice with the pressure cooker.

So I prepared this while the little one is taking her nap and the big girl was still in school for her after school activity.

Previously I had also posted the recipe before but using the traditional method, that consumes roughly almost at least 2-3hrs to prep and cook the entire dish. The recipe is here.

For this, it took me an hour for the entire prep including preparing of sauces (and some chatting online.. hehehe)

Ingredients:

• 4 chicken drumsticks (use what ever amount you need for your family or other part of the chicken)
• 5 cups of water
• 1 tsp salt
• 3 cups of cold ice water
• 3 cup rice (soaked in warm water to remove pyhtic acid and then washed and drain)
• 2tbsp butter
• 2tbsp minced garlic
• 2 leaves of pandan
• 10-12 slices of ginger
• 1 tbsp of garlic and 1tbsp of ginger, minced together
• 4tbsp of sesame oil
• 3tbsp cooking oil
• 1tsp oyster sauce
• 3tsp soy sauce
• 1/8 tsp salt
• 5tbsp chopped spring onion
• some fish balls
• some slices of cucumber for serving

Steps:

1. Pour the 5cups of water into the pot of the pressure cooker and select the saute high mode, close the lid so that it heats up faster.
2. Once the water is boiling, add in 1tsp salt and half the ginger slices. Then add in the chicken.
3. Close the lid and change it to manual pressure mode, KPT for 7mins.
4. While the chicken is cooking, prepare the ingredients for the rice and sauces.
5. In one saucer, mix 2tbsp of spring onion with the minced garlic and ginger. Then add in 2tbsp of cooking oil, 1tsp soy sauce, small pinch of salt, 1tbsp sesame oil, and mix well. Set aside for serving.
6. Once the chicken is done and pressure valve has drop, remove the pot from the pressure cooker and ladle the chicken into the cold ice water. Leave it for roughly 5-10mins before plating it up.
7. In another pot, set the pressure cooker to saute high mode, add in the balance cooking oil and sesame oil. After bout 1min, add in the balance of the minced garlic and saute till it is light golden. Scoop out half on another saucer and set aside for the other sauce.
8. Add in the balance of the pandan leaves, ginger slices, salt, butter and rice and stir fry it for a min or two. Then add in the chicken stock from boiling chicken. It should be about 3cups, enough to cook the rice. Set the pressure cooker to rice mode.
9. Add in the oyster sauce and balance soy sauce into the saucer with the fried garlic. Stir and set aside for serving.
10. Heat up the pot with the balance of the chicken stock, add in the fishballs and let it boil for bout 5mins. Season with some pepper. Dish out to serve and sprinkle with the balance of the spring onion.
11. Once the rice is ready, you may serve your food.

Steam Pumpkin Bun

Ingredients

• 85g pumpkin puree
• 35g raw sugar
• 250gram of plain flour
• 3g instant yeast
• 3g baking powder
• 1/8teaspoon salt
• 15g olive oil
• 60g water (including the juice from the pumpkin)

Steps:

1. To make the pumpkin puree, remove the skin and cut 120g of pumpkin to thin slices. Steam over high heat for 5-7mins.
2. Let it cool down and then mashed it with a fork. Use a fine sieve and mash it on it. This will squeeze out the water from the steam pumpkin.
3. Mix half the water to the instant yeast and set it aside. Since it is early winter now, I had mix the pumpkin juice with some hot water so that it is warm.
4. Mix the flour, baking powder, sugar and pumpkin puree together. Stir it to mix. Then add in salt, olive oil, yeast liquid and the rest of the water and knead.
5. I had knead with hand yesterday coz I wanted some exercise but you can use the mixer to do it. With hand, I had knead for about 5mins till the mixture had turn into a nice non sticky dough.
6. Cover the dough with a cling wrap and set it aside to let it proof for about 20mins. Again, if your place is cold like where I am now, prepare a warm water bath (3:2 hot to cold water ratio) and set the dough on top to proof.
7. Punch down the dough and cut to desire size and shape accordingly. I had rolled mine with some home made meat floss. Recipe available here.
8. Leave it to proof for another 30mins.
9. Heat up a pot of water. Then steam the buns in high heat for 12mins. If your bun is bigger, do steam longer.

Meat Floss

Few days back, I boiled some tonkatsu soup based for the ramen. This time I used the pork bones that come with meat and I felt so wasteful to throw them away but the taste of it is not yum enough to make us it.

So, after some thought, I decided to attempt making the meat floss with the pressure cooker. Do note that mine is a combo of pork and chicken (no exact ratio, just peel off all the meat).

Ingredients:

• roughly 600-800g cooked meat (pork and chicken)
• 5tbsp MSG free soy sauce
• 5tbsp crushed gula melaka
• 3/4tbsp MSG free oyster sauce
• a dash of pepper

*Note: my recipe tends to use a little bit more seasoning compared to the others coz the meat used is quite bland after being used to boil soup. I had previously KPT the meat for almost 2hrs and that will mean it is like boiling it for 4-5hrs or more.

Step:

1. Peel the meat out and try to shred them up a little.
2. Stir in all the seasoning and mix well.
3. Pour the meat into the pressure cooker pot.
4. Use high saute mode to quickly heat up the meat and let it absorb the seasoning. Stir constantly for about 5mins before switching to bake mode for 45mins.
5. When at bake mode, stir every 5-7mins once so to avoid the meat from getting burnt and for it to dry evenly.

Squid Stuffed with Glutinous Rice

Had made stuffed squid with minced previously and dont quite work so nicely and remember seeing some recipe using glutinous rice. Hence, tried making it since I have some glutinous rice left.

Ingredients:
For the stuffing:

• 1cup of glutinous rice, pre soaked with hot water for bout 20-30mins
• 1 big clove of garlic, minced
• 1 small shallot, chopped finely
• 3/4 cup of fresh button mushroom (can be substituted with dried shitake or canned button mushroom), sliced to thin pieces
• salt and pepper to season
• 1tbsp of oil
• 1 cup of water

For the sauce:

• 3tbsp of soy sauce
• 1tbsp of sugar
• 1tbsp miri

Other ingredients:

• 3 cleaned nice big tubes of squid

Method:

1. Heat oil in the the pressure cooker using saute high mode. Add in the shallot and saute till almost golden before adding in the garlic and saute.
2. Next, add in the mushroom and saute till it is soft and add in the rest of the ingredients.
3. Choose risotto mode that has KPT 14mins time.
4. Once the rice is ready, let it slightly cool before stuffing it in the squid. Seal off with a tooth pick.
5. Place the stuffed squid in the air fryer, 180c for 12mins.
6. While the squid is cooking, place all the sauce ingredients on the pan and cook it till it is a bit thicken.
7. Once the squid is done, place it on the sauce and coat it all over with it.
8. Ready to serve. If you like, u can cut the squid up a little.. :D

Cheese Baked Rice on Pressure Cooker

Someone recently asked in the pressure cooker group in FB if anyone has cooked cheese baked rice on the machine and someone at home mentioned it too... so I decided to try out the machine (since I only used the bake mode once to bake salted chicken).

It works though the rice has slightly burnt crust at the bottom, the cheese melted quite nicely but not those grilled effect like you get from the air fryer or the oven.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 onion, chopped coarsely
• 2 cloves of garlic, chopped finely
• 1 chorizo sliced thinly, air fried for 4-5mins to rendered the fat and make it crispy
• 2 cups of cauliflower floret
• 2 tbsp oil
• 2 cups rice, soaked and washed (soaking to remove pytic acid)
• 2 tbsp chopped spring onion
• 1 cup milk
• 1 cup chicken stock
• 1.5 cup pizza/risotto mix cheese

Steps:

1. Using high saute mode, heat up the oil and saute the onion till soft. 
2. Add in the garlic and cauliflower and stir till slightly golden.
3. Pour in the rice, stock and milk. Then stir in 1/2 cup of cheese.
4. Use risotto mode (or manual KPT 14mins).
5. Once done, manual release vent and sprinkle the spring onion, chorizo and cheese on top. Use bake mode (knob at bake) for 8-9mins

Pana Cotta

According to the wikipedia, Pana Cotta is and italian dessert of sweetened cream thickened with gelatine and moulded. Based on the description by one of the judges in My Kitchen Rule, after removing from the mould, it should be wobbly and be able to shake shake shake.

And I'm so happy, each time I made it, I successfully have it wobbly.

To those who are interested, here is the sure success recipe:

Ingredients:

• 1.5 cups of milk
• 3 tsp powdered gelatin
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1.5 cups cream
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• pinch salt
• Cooking spray

Steps

1. Pour the milk in a saucepan and sprinkle the powdered gelatine on it. Let the gelatin soften and looks a bit wrinkle.
2. While waiting for the gelatine to soften, which takes roughly 1 to 2mins, grease the ramekin with the cooking spray.
3. Set the saucepan over low heat and warm the milk, stirring it frequently. Make sure the milk does not come to a boil, it should be just warm. 
4. Once the gelatine dissolve, add in the sugar and continuously stir the mixture. Again, the milk should not be too hot or come to a boiling stage. It must just be warm enough that you can dip your finger in it for at least 3-4 seconds without burning.
5. Once the sugar is dissolved, remove the pan from the heat and which in the cream, vanilla and salt. 
6. Once mixture is even,  pour into the ramekins and chill for at least 3 hours. To unmould, run a knife at the side of the ramekin and place a plate over it. Flip and let the pana cotta slide down. Serve with your favourite sauce, nuteella or jam.

Chocolate Lava Cake

Had been wanting to bake this chocolate lava cake for quite sometime but just too lazy and then when I'm in the mood, then I realised that the air fryer is in the dishwasher.

Finally, yesterday the MKR contestants bake this for their dessert and ok, I'm making it today.

Do note, I spent less than 20mins for the entire thing (taking out ingredients to the point of popping them into the mouth).

Ingredients

• 100g dark chocolate
• 100g butter
• 50g castor sugar (can reduce if you don't like it that sweet though this is just right I think)
• 19g plain flour
• 1g baking powder
• 2 eggs

Steps:

1. Place the chocolate and butter in microwave safe bowl and melt them in the microwave on medium temp for bout 1.5mins
2. While the butter is melting, whisk the eggs and castor sugar till it is pale and frothy.
3. Stir the chocolate and butter till it is even and add in to the egg mixture. Then sift in the flour and baking powder.
4. Gently mix the mixture with a spatula till mixture is even and the flour is well mix.
5. Preheat the air fryer for 2mins at 180c
6. Grease the ramekin with butter. Pour the mixture to the ramekin till is it 3/4 full.
7. Bake at 180c for 8mins.

* Note: I have not tested it on the oven and hence no idea how long time it is required but I suspect it may need maybe a min more.

Look at the lava that's oozing out

Flaky Curry Puff

This is not the first time I made curry puff, but this is the first time I attempted the so called karipap pusing style of puff, the pastry is so flakey and crispy.

As usual, I'll attempt both the oil fried version as well as air fried version.

This is the  oil fried version.

This is the air fried version

And since we ran out of potato to make a big batch of filling, we had baked beans cheese filling and tuna cheese filling for a twist.

Since I had posted the basic karipap recipe earlier, I'll just skip the filling recipe here and go straight to the pastry only.

For the filling recipe, refer here.

Ingredients:

• Water dough
• 360g plain flour
• 150g cake flour/low protein flour
• 1tbsp caster sugar
• 2tsp salt
• 150g butter, cubed
• 200ml water
• Butter dough
• 250g cake flour/low protein flour
• 150g butter

Steps:

1. First, put all the ingredients (except water) for the water dough in the food processor and whizz them up. Slowly add in the water. It will looks a little like bread crumb texture once everything is well mix. Pour them out and knead into a dough. That should take roughly 2mins. Set aside
2. Next, put in the ingredients for the butter dough in the food processor and do a quick whizz to let the butter mix with the flour. It will be very very crumbly texture. Pour them out and knead into a sticky dough. That will take about 10-15mins. Set aside along with the water dough in the fridge for about 10-15mins, covered.
3. Take the dough out and roll the water dough out till large rectangle and sprinkle generously with flour. I rolled mine to roughly the size of 8cm by 16cm.
4. Then roll the butter dough out to roughly half the size of the water dough. Place it on top of the water dough. Fold the water dough over and cover the butter dough.
5. Then roll the dough out again and fold over again. Do this another time before rolling out the dough into a long roll.
6. Cut it into small sizes (I think I cut up to 20pcs).
7. Roll out the small pieces into round flat pieces, fill up with the fillings that you had prepared and cool down and shape as per your preference.

*You may either fry in oil or the air fryer for 15mins at 180c.

* You can also store in freezer in pieces to maintain the shape for 10mins before transferring into the bag for storing.

Cheese Mochi aka pão de queijo

I had baked this 2yrs back with the air fryer and decided to do it this time with the oven instead.

It is a nice yummy snack for both adults and kids, very little ingredients required and easy to make. It has a crunchy outer texture and soft fluffy internal texture.

Ingredients:

• 2 large eggs
• 2/3 cup olive oil
• 1 + 1/3 cup milk
• 340g tapioca starch
• 200g cheese (any shredded cheese either parmesan, cheddar, mozzarella, or a mixture of them)
• original recipe asked for 2tsp salt which i omitted

Steps:

1. Preheat oven at 200c (if fan forced, 180c). 
2. Place all ingredients in the blender and blend till it is well mix.
3. Scoop the mixture into oiled muffin tray (if silicon type, can omit the oiling part). For air fryer, I used muffin cup.
4. Bake at for 20mins (for air fryer, bake at 180c for 9mins).

Hakka Lei Cha

Hakka Lei Cha is one of my favourite dish. It is packed with lots of healthy fibre from various vegetables and the yummy green tea soup.

Another best part of it is I get to use some home grown harvest like basil, parsley and mint from my garden.

Ingredients:
For the soup:

• about 3/4cups of dried anchovies, washed and drain
• 2l water
• one big handful of basil, roughly 1.5cups (not pushed down, but just put on the cup to measure) 
• a small bunch of mint, after chopped should be roughly 1/4 cup amount
• 3-4 sprigs of parsley
• 1/4 cup of peanut (roasted)
• a small handful of tang-o veggie if you like it to have a little bitter taste
• 2 tbsp of green tea powder (i used japanese green tea)
• 1/8 tsp salt

Other ingredients:

• 2cups of rice - cook like normal
• 3 big cloves of garlic (I'm using local Perth grown garlic that's currently in season and very fat)
• 3/4 Australia leek, sliced finely
• 5 snake/long beans, cut to small cubes
• 3/4 carrots, julienne
• 1/2cups of finely sliced cabbage
• 300g sweet potatoes shoot (mine is home grown too)
• 3tbsp pickled radish, washed
• 3pcs of hard tofu or known as tau kua
• 1/4 zucchini, julienne
• 3pcs of fresh button mushroom, cut to thin slices
• 3tbsp oil to saute

Steps:

1. Place 1/2 cups of the anchovies and water in a pot and boil for roughly 15-20mins. I used the pressure cooker to do this and kept pressure for 4mins. Removed the anchovies and place it in the air fryer along with the balance of the anchovies and AF at 180c for 7mins. If you don't have an AF, just use a non stick pan to fry it (without oil) till it is all crispy.
2. Place all the rest of the ingredients along with the fried anchovies in a blender and blend till it is as smooth as you can get. Add in some of the stock if required as the mixture can be too dry and a bit hard to blend.
3. Pour in the mixture into the stock and let it get into boil and set it aside. That should be about 2-3mins.
4. AF the tau kua at 200c for 3mins, or slightly pan fried it with a little oil. Set aside.
5. Heat a little oil and saute the garlic (divide the garlic to 8 portions for those veggies) and fry the veggies separately. Set them aside.
6. When you want to serve, just place the rice on the bowl, scoop the veggies around the rice and pour in the soup stock to serve.

Note:

• The veggies may vary depending on your preference or seasonal availability. Some also serve with toasted sesame seed and/or peanuts.
• For those who are allergic to peanuts may consider substituting with pine nuts (if you are not allergic to it).
• My first attempt of making this dish, I used pesto sauce instead coz I didn't have basil with me. If you are using pesto sauce, omit the basil and peanuts.