Homemade kid's burger

Few friends have been asking me for recipe for burger bun, I thought we shall have burger as lunch today, so I can take pics and share about my burger bun recipe. Unexpectedly, when I was preparing for lunch, he told me he doesn't wanna have burger for lunch. He wanted rice instead. Therefore, instead of serving his pork patty and egg in a bun, he has them with rice, whereas I have mine as a burger. 

The recipe for my burger bun is a recipe that I have been using to bake buns and loaves for our family for the past 3 years. For those of you who've been following my posts and blogs, you'll have come across this soft scalded dough recipe that I have been adapting from Alex Goh. I love it as it is versatile, it requires no advanced preparation and most importantly, it yields soft bread that stays soft for the next 2 days, without the need to add any softeners nor improvers. 

The only variations that I have been adopting for this recipe is the liquid (which can varies from milk, to soy milk, pandan milk, pumpkin puree + water, black sesame powder + water and etc) and its sugar and salt content. 

The patty was a recipe adapted from Jamie Oliver's. I have sneaked in chopped onion and carrots into it for my little one who is in the phase of 'no green veg except for green beans'. I have also marinated my minced pork with extra ingredients to add to the flavor, including 1/2 teaspoon of grated ginger and oyster sauce. 

Recipe for the burger bun 

*This scalded dough method are specially adapted to create buns that are soft and fluffy in texture and remain soft for at least 24-48 hours. The method of pre-scalding a portion of the dough also helps to loosen the gluten in the bread, making it able to create more volume. This bread is soft and easy to digest, making it a perfect nutritious snack for babies and kids. 

Scalded dough

• 100g bread flour 
• 70g boiling water 

To prepare the starter dough, pour boiling water over flour and stir with folk until combined into a slightly tacky dough. Set aside while preparing other ingredients as per following. 

Main dough

• 40g grapeseed oil / other cooking oil 
• 160g water / milk
• 1tbsp brown sugar (if you prefer sweeter bun, may increase to 2-3tbsp) 
• 1/2 tsp salt 
• 200g bread flour
• 50g rye flour 
• 2tsp active dry yeast

For the main dough: 

1. In a big bowl, combine bread flour, rye flour, liquid, oil, sugar and salt. Add active dry yeast and mix well.  Tear the starter dough prepared ahead and knead into the main dough. Knead for 10-30 minutes until smooth and elastic. 
2. Once nicely kneaded, the dough should be able to be pulled and stretched into a thin membrane - Window pane test: Grab a ball of the dough and try stretching the dough until  it is as thin as a membrane without tearing). 
3. First proof - Form the dough into a round ball and let it rise until double in size. Cover with cling film (should take about an hour in warm weather). 
4. Punch down, knead and form into a ball shape. This recipe makes about 8 buns. Brush top of buns with water and sprinkle with white sesame seeds. 
5. Second proof - Cover buns loosely with cling film. Let rise in a warm environment for about 30-45min. I usually do this in a preheated oven. 
6. Once the buns have doubled in size, bake in a preheated oven at 180deg C for about 13min, or until golden brown. Oven temperature and time may differ according to make of ovens.

Recipe for pork patty

• 250g minced pork, marinated with oyster sauce, soy sauce, salt, grated ginger, dash of sesame oil, black pepper powder, pinch of corn flour 
• 1/2 onion, finely minced 
• 1/2 carrot, finely minced 
• 2 slices of bread, lightly toasted and blitzed to turn into crumb 
• 1 egg, beaten 

1. In a frying pan, heat up a tablespoon of oil. Add in chopped onions and carrots. Fry until the onions have softened. Set aside to cool. 
2. Combine minced pork, fried chopped onion and carrot that has cooled down, bread crumbs and beaten egg. Divide into 6 equal balls. 
3. Roll the balls into burger-shaped patties about 1cm thick. Store the patties onto oiled tray, cover with cling film and leave in fridge for at least an hour, or until the patties firm up. I did this the night before. 
4. To cook the patties, heat up a frying pan with 2 tablespoon of oil. Cook the patties for about 3 minutes on each side, or until golden brown. 
5. Serve patty with sliced cucumber, tomatoes, cheese or egg, in a bun, or alternatively with rice.  

A toddler's Zha Jiang noodle 一个幼童的炸酱面

'Mien mien is black in color', he told me when he saw this. Deep down inside, I was nervous, but I hid my wrecking nerves, cos I wasn't sure if he would accept it, I have heard many kids who doesn't accept non-ordinary-looking color noodles or pasta. I took the risk today in making this black charcoal noodle topped with zha jiang (minced chicken with finely chopped pumpkin and apple in organic fermented red yeast bean curd sauce 有机红曲豆腐乳酱）。 Yummm.. I uttered out while slurping the noodle. He then said, mien mien hou sik (the noodle is delicious). Tada!! I was a happy mom he loved this! 

Today's theme for his tot schools is bat, inspired from the CVC words that he's learning this week, ie Bat, Cat and Hat. Even his meals today are inspired by today's theme, black color charcoal noodle that resembles the color of bat. Pumpkin and apple are bat's food. 

I personally love zha jiang mian a lot, I love to have lots of the zha jiang that gives flavor to the noodle, but I don't know what flavoring or sauces are used to cook those sold outside. I am just trying my luck with this organic  fermented red yeast bean curd sauce, it turns out to taste very yummy. 

Recipe (serves 2-3)

• 1/4 or 1/2 chicken breast, minced, marinated with pinch of salt, toasted sesame oil and 1/2 tbsp cornflour 
• 2tbsp cooking oil, I used organic grapeseed oil
• 3 cloves garlic, minced 
• 150g finely cubed pumpkin 
• 1/2 apple, finely cubed 
• 1/2 tbsp fermented red yeast bean curd sauce, dissolved in 3tbsp hot water 
• pinch of salt and white pepper powder (optional) 
• noodle, boiled to bring to cook 

Instructions 

1. Heat up 2tbsp cooking oil in a hot frying pan. 
2. Stir in minced garlic and minced chicken. Stir fry until chicken gets brown. Stir in cubed pumpkin and apple. Stir fry for another 2-3 minutes 
3. Pour in fermented red yeast bean curd sauce, close the lid and simmer for another 5-10minutes, make sure the pan doesn't gets too dry, add in more water if needed. Season accordingly. The red yeast bean curd sauce itself is fermented, thus is quite salty. 
4. Optional, thicken the sauce with cornflour if needed. 
5. Serve with cooked noodle. 

**Organic fermented red yeast bean curd sauce 有机红曲豆腐乳酱 is available for sale at Just Health, Sandakan. Contact: justhealthsandakan@gmail.com 

Chocolate hokkaido chiffon cupcake

This March is gonna be a very busy and packed month. Few days ago, my parents and sis were around in Sandakan to clear out our old house which we're ready to let go. It seemed impossible but we successfully cleared the house in a few days including majority of its furniture and electronics. Most of the items were discarded (sadly), some were transported to my place, out of those loots, I managed to complete my study room/ play area for the little fella, which I am very happy with. Balance of the items were given away free to friends. Now that my parents and sis have gone back to JB, I need to work my ass on the accounts of Just Health so I can submit to my accountant by the end of this month, and I still have an event to work on for this month, that event is happening in about 10 days and I still haven't done much about me. Arghhhhhh!! (Yes yes I am working on it now, while blogging). 

Despite all these, I am still cooking and baking for the little fella. I try my best to wake up at 6am every morning, so I have sufficient time to make him a snack and a lunch. 

This was something I have made two days back ~  very yummy chocolate hokkaido chiffon cupcakes which were our breakfast for two days. They kept very well in the fridge. On the third day, they are still edible, but they tend to be drier. 

It was a recipe adapted from my little favorite DIY, here. 

Ingredients A 

• 60g grapeseed oil
• 80g fresh milk
• 85g superfine flour
• 2tbsp cocoa powder 
• 5 egg yolks 
• 1tsp pure vanilla extract 

Ingredients B 

• 5 egg white 
• 80g brown sugar

Instructions: 

1. Combine oil and milk in a bowl. Place over a double boiler and cook with low heat, stir well. (I zap the combo in microwave for 40secs) 
2. Add egg yolk, mix with a whisk. Add in vanilla extract. 
3. Sift in flour and cocoa powder. Combine till smooth. Do not overmix. 
4. Using a hand electric mixer, whisk the egg white and add in sugar in three batches until stiff peak. 
5. Add 1/3 of egg white meringue into the egg yolk batter. Combine well. Fold in the remaining egg white meringue into the egg yolk mixture. 
6. Fill up 3/4 of the cupcake liner. Gently knock once or twice. Bake in preheat oven at 150degC for 23min. 
7. I let the cupcake lie on its side on a metal rack when cooking. You may also knock the cupcake on table top once before setting aside to cool. (Apparently this is a must to prevent the cupcakes from shrinking, I didnt do this and my cupcakes did shrink a little). 

Easy 5 ingredients spaghetti bolognese

This morning for my 1breakfast1lunch project, I made a quick fry egg to go with multigrain and seeds bread as breakfast, and this easy 5 ingredients spaghetti bolognese for lunch.

To prepare the chicken bolognese sauce: 

• 2-3 cloves garlic, finely minced 
• 1/2 onion, finely minced 
• 4 tomato, roughly chopped
• 1 chicken thigh meat, minced and marinated with dash of orange juice, pinch of salt and liquid amino 
• 1/2 cup of water
• Seasoning eg balsamic vinegar, salt, pepper etc (optional) 

Instructions: 

1. Heat up a pan with 1-2 tbsp of cooking oil, I use a choice of rice bran oil or grapeseed oil. 
2. Stir in minced garlic and onion, fry till aromatic, about 1-2min. 
3. Stir in minced chicken. Stir fry for about 1-2min. 
4. Stir in skinned and chopped tomato. 
5. Pour in water. Gently simmer for about 15 to 20min for flavor to develop. 
6. Season with choice of seasoning.  
7. Serve with spaghetti or pasta. 

Organic pumpkin ramen with tofu and minced chicken

Ingredients
*about 300g minced chicken, marinated with seasoning (see below)
*3 pieces of soft tofu, cut into small cubes
*2-3 cloves garlic, finely minced
*seasoning: salt, organic toasted sesame oil and organic "oyster" sauce, vegetarian (made from mushroom)
*bok choy, boiled for 2min in boiling water.
*Soft boiled egg (boiled for 7min)
*Organic pumpkin ramen

Method

1. Bring a pot of water to boil. Cook pumpkin ramen until tender. Drain and put aside. 
2. In a wok, heat up 2tbsp of grapeseed oil. Stir in minced garlic, minced chicken and tofu. Cook through. Season according to taste. Add in water and cornflour mixture to thicken the sauce (optional). 
3. Serve minced chicken dish with ramen, vege and soft boiled egg. 

Crispy hash brown

Every morning, I had to make a breakfast and a lunch dish for myself and for my little boy. Our lunch is gonna be a simple one, organic pumpkin ramen with minced meat and tofu, with soft boiled egg, so that leaves me more time to make something different for breakfast. We have loads of potatoes left in the fridge, so I wanted to make a potato cake or hash brown. I haven't made hash brown for a very long time, so I thought I shall make some crispy ones for the little boy, so he can bring one to school as tea-time snack too. 

Ingredients: 

*3 medium sized potatoes (I made 3 hash browns from this) 

*3 tbsp grapeseed oil (for panfrying the hash brown)

*2tbsp grated Cheddar 

*Salt and black pepper, for seasoning 

Method 

1. Peel and wash the potatoes. Grate them. Sprinkle with salt. Drain and use a thin cloth or sieve to further press out the juice. (I drank the juice that got squeezed out, cos raw potato juice is very good for people with gastric. It heals inflammed stomach lining. I have been having gastric and bloatedness for a couple of days). 
2. Combine with grated Cheddar, and season with salt and black pepper. Use the thin cloth to mould the grated potato and cheese mix into a ball shape. 
3. Heat up grapeseed oil in a flat frying pan.
4. Pan fry the hash brown. Press the potato ball and cheese ball mixture flat, till about 1cm thickness. Fry until it turns golden brown. Then flip to the other side until it turns golden and crisp as well. 
5. Remove from pan and serve immediately. 

Stir-fried organic pumpkin ramen

Every morning, I felt like I am racing with the ticking clock, to prepare his breakfast snacks (for school) and lunch in an hour and then get myself ready and him ready for school by 8am. I wasn't as disciplined as this prior to this. Before this, if I woke up late, I can just let him eat whatever that the nanny eats. But now that he isn't going to the nanny's anymore, instead he comes home after school, I gotta make sure he has his lunch prepped ahead. 

This morning, I made him stir-fried organic pumpkin ramen. He loves noodles and pastas. He eats rice, but his favorites are noodles and pastas especially when cooked soft. So I love these series of organic ramen. They turn tender, yet still maintain their texture when cooked. 

Here's a simple recipe for the stir-fried pumpkin ramen (serves two to three) I always make extra for my own lunch 

*Organic pumpkin ramen
*Black bean soy sauce (thick) as seasoning 
*2-3 cloves garlic, minced
*Shredded vege like carrot, taugeh, onioin etc 
*1-2 eggs
*Salt
*Meat eg chicken, pork etc

1. Boil noodle in a pot of boiling water until tender.
2. In a wok, heat up 2tbsp grapeseed oil. Stir in garlic and sliced vege. Stir-fry until aromatic.
3. Stir in meat and stir fry till brown and cooked through.
4. Stir in boiled ramen. Season with black bean soy sauce (thick) and salt. Push the fried ramen to side of wok. Break in 1-2 eggs. Gently fry. Combine with ramen and veg.

The other breakfast snacks that I've prepared for him for school was a simple roast sweet potato. They are easy to make and delicious eat. So easy, I forgot about them. Gotta thanks my buddy Fei Tseh for sharing with me what she prepared for her little girl H. I peel the sweet potatoes, cut them into long chunks, place on roasting or baking pan, drizzle with organic grapeseed oil, season with salt. Preheat oven to 180degC and roast for about 15-20min.