Fried beehoon with pumpkin and fish

I never would have done this if I haven't come across it here. I never know I can fry beehoon with pumpkin, haha. I'm not that creative with Chinese dishes. So, I'm constantly checking out what Chinese dishes I can make for my lil' fella. It's great now that the lil' fella is eating more adult-like food, cos I can make them for him and the rest of the family too. For this fried beehoon, I prepared a portion for his packed-lunch at the nanny's, and then I further seasoned it with more seasoning for our likings. Hahaa... he's still taking his food sans salt (ie lightly seasoned).

 

 

 

This is my son's bento box this morning (at 17th mo). I am not a bento mom. I don't do it. I don't like too much mandling of his food (man-handling). And I've always packed his food in his thermal jar so that it's still warm-ish when he eats it at lunch time (don't think it's possible to do a pretty shot when the food is packed in thermal jar). Even for this, I had to remove it from the red container and place it back in his thermal. I don't feel good letting him eats his beehoon cold. The white blob on the right is a soft soy mantou I made the night before, and the cupcake is a super healthy egg-free banana cupcake I made the same morning.

 

Recipe for fried beehoon with pumpkin and fish

• 200g red beetroot vermicelli, soaked for at least 3-4hrs in water
• half an onion, thinly sliced
• 80g pumpkin, thinly sliced
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1 bunch of spring onion, sectioned
• 1 fish fillet, sliced and marinated with liquid amino, toasted sesame oil, white pepper powder
• 1 ham, sliced

Seasoning, adjust according to own preference

• Liquid amino
• Miso paste
• White pepper powder

1. Heat up 2tbsp oil in a heated wok.
2. Fry garlic and sliced onion till fragrant. Stir in pumpkin, fry for 1-2min.
3. Add in soaked vermicelli. Continue to stir, pour in required amount of water to soften the vermicelli.
4. Season accordingly. Just before dishing up, stir in sectioned spring onion.
5. In another wok, heat up 1-2tbsp oil. Cook sliced fish fillet, add in sliced ham. Add to the cooked vermicelli.

 

 

Eggless steamed banana cupcake

昨天是我发现新大陆的日子。 Yesterday I made a real ecstatic discovery! I was soooo overjoyed I was shouting when I saw my soft and springy steamed cupcakes. I have always known that egg can be replaced by ground flaxseed, but I have never wanted to try it, cos flaxseed when ground has a fishy taste which I don't think I want in my banana cupcake. A couple of days ago, a mommy from the FB group Healthy Food For My Baby was sharing on a cupcake she made using chia seeds, and no egg was used! I was quite surprised, that would mean chia seeds, too, can replace egg, just like flaxseeds, and it totally make sense!! I have made chia seeds pudding without using any agar-agar or gelatin powder, knowing the gelling ability of chia seeds, they would be able to act as egg in cupcakes. Having this in mind, I rushed home from work after fetching the lil' fella and started trying it out using my favorite steamed cupcakes recipe. It works!! Actually, the texture is even more springier and fluffier than the recipe with egg. I have yet to understand why. But I'll find out more. But again, this is a really superb discovery. This means those babies (under one) or kids with egg allergy too can enjoy soft and fluffy cupcakes. To benefit those with dairy intolerance, I have also tried the same recipe out without milk, the milk was replaced by fresh orange juice, which I believe can be replaced by other sweet juice (like apple, carrot or pear juice).

 

 

 

 

Here's the recipe, adapted from here.

 

1/2 cup (75g) all purpose flour* (or self raising flour)

1 tsp. baking powder (if you're using self raising flour, just add 1/2 tsp baking powder)

1 egg (replaced by 1tbsp chia seeds soaked in 4tbsp water, for at least 10min)

2 Tbsp. milk or cream  (replaced by 3tbsp fresh orange juice)

2 Tbsp. sugar (I used 1tbsp dark muscovado sugar)

1 Tbsp. vegetable oil (I used rice bran oil)

1 medium banana

 

You will also need

4 cupcake liners

4 ramekins / ceramic bowl or I used silicone cupcake liner and had paper liner inside it

 

*This recipe yielded 4 cupcakes.  

 

Instructions:

1. Sieve flour and baking powder.
2. In a blender, blend together chia seeds gel (after soaked in water), banana, fresh orange juice and oil until creamy.
3. Combine the blended liquid mix with the sifted flour and baking powder.
4. Place about 2tbsp of batter into paper cupcake liner and place in a silicone cupcake holder.
5. Place water in a wok and set up a steaming rack. Bring water to boil. Steam the cupcakes for 9-10min.

This post is linked to the event, Little Thumbs up organised by Bake For Happy Kids, and My Little Favourite DIY, hosted by Ann of Anncoo Journal at this post. 

 

 

 

Oat mantou with dried fig

I haven't made mantou for a very long time, cos I've been busy baking bread lately. I've been doing some blog-hopping and I've seen some really good looking mantou from Bernice's place, so I decided to make some for breakfast. This oat mantou is a good one. I made it in the evening and it was soft and fluffy when out of the steamer. The next morning, it is still soft. But I still heated them up by steaming them for about 5min, cos I like my mantou warm. This mantou feels soooo breakfast-y, cos it has soaked oat and dried fruits in it. I have chosen to add chopped dried figs in mine. The mantou itself isn't sweet, but every bite will have bits of chopped figs in it, which gives the sweetness, so it's okay.

 

Dried figs are one of those dried fruits with very high calcium content. The other dried fruits with rich calcium content are dried apricot and dried prunes. So if you haven't been using them in your bakes or cooking, try them.

 

 

This mantou is soft and fluffy, and remains soft even till next morning.

 

Here's the recipe, adapted from Bernice's kitchen.

 

Ingredients A

• 50g rolled oat, organic
• 150g hot boiling water

Ingredients B

• 15 rice bran oil
• oatmeal (Ingredients A)
• 80ml water
• 50g chopped dried figs
• 15g dark muscovado sugar (I've used this to replace normal sugar, to give it an iron boost)
• 300g all purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp active instant dry yeast

*Listed according to the order the ingredients are added into breadmaker

 

• 15g all purpose flour, added in during second knead, after first proof

Instructions

1. Add boiling water to oatmeal. Cover and let sit for 15min. After 15min, stir and let chill for later use.
2. Combine all ingredients and knead until the dough is smooth and no more sticky. (I've used my Donlim breadmaker to knead this for about 7min*).
3. Cover with cling film and proof for 1.5-2hr or until the dough doubles its original size. (I proved mine in the breadmaker without any temperature on, it took me about 1.5hr).
4. Punch out trapped air. Add in 15g flour. Knead until the dough is smooth, about 2min in my breadmaker.
5. Using a rolling pin, roll to a flat disk, roll up. With the seam side down, slice the rolled-up dough to equal portion (Bernice has used thread to slice her dough, I couldn't find thread at home, but I'll definitely try it in future). Place on baking paper/ steam paper (I used banana leaves) and proof for 40min until dough becomes fluffy.
6. In slow boiling water, steam for about 10min (depending on size of mantou). After 10min, move the lid to allow a small opening to let the steam goes off.
7. Turn off the heat. Let sit for 5min before finally removing the lid. (These steps taken are to ensure that the skin doesn't goes wrinkly).
   
   If you've checked out my photo, you would have known I didn't do these steps, that's why my mantou turned out wrinkly :p

 

Sausage bun / Carrot and goji bread

 

 

 

Sausage versus carrot and goji - 一个被视为不大健康的，一个听到都知道是健康入骨的，两个在一起成了一个非常强烈的对比，味道又会是怎么样的呢？　

 

On Sunday, both hubby and I would go out for our 'usual' yam cha sessions in the afternoon and we'll indulge in something we usually don't. We had economy noodles at the market in Pasar Tanah Merah 石咀巴刹。They taste really good. In my opinion, they sell the best economy noodles 经济粉面 in Sandakan. I always wonder, how difficult is it to prepare fried noodles? Why is it that not all of them cook good-tasting ones? My phone was sent in to repair and maintenance, so I used my hubby's phone to snap some photos of the food and posted them on FB. A friend commented, 'Never imagined that you guys would eat these kind of food, knowing the nature of Jennifer's job'. Honestly, I don't think I was shocked to see these kind of comment. It's not the first, for sure. What do you guys think a nutritionist eat?

 

Yep, I don't eat sausage bun everyday, or probably not even once in 6months. And neither have I been eating or buying bread or buns from outside. I have shared about the reason a few post back and I better not re-emphasize that again, in case I get mistaken that I eat apple and oat all day long.  

 

I made this sausage bun, cos I wanted to have a change from the usual plain buns we've been eating. But sausage bun with white dough would be so plain, so I made it with a carrot and goji dough, don't you just love the golden color? Carrot and goji are both excellent foods that benefit the eye. The goji berry is among the highest source of carotenoids of all known common foods. Gojis contain 500 times the amount of vitamin C, by weight, than oranges About 11mg of iron per 100g can be found in the gojis.

 

The bread dough is the soft and fluffy milk bun dough that I've been using all this while. It does involve an extra step of preparing the starter dough, but the results of the bun or bread is sooo much worth it. I have stopped trying out other bread recipe, even though claimed very soft and fluffy, cos to me, I have already found 'the recipe' for my soft and fluffy bread. It was originally a recipe by Alex Goh, but I have adapted it very much making it my own recipe which works well either kneaded by hand or breadmaker. I have kneaded this dough using my faithful Donlim breadmaker.

 

Starter dough

• 100g bread flour
• 70g boiling water

To prepare the starter dough, pour boiling water over flour and stir with folk until combined to a slightly tacky dough. Cover and chill in the refrigerator. Keep for 20min before use, can keep up to 12hrs in refrigerator

 

Main dough (the ingredients are placed in the breadmaker according to the order they are listed):

• 3tbsp rice bran oil*
• 150g carrot and goji berry puree (prepared by steaming and pureeing 1 carrot and 1tbsp goji)
• 100g fresh milk
• 2tbsp dark muscovado sugar
• pinch of salt
• 300g bread flour
• 100g all purpose flour
• 2tsp active dry yeast  

*Other than grapeseed oil, rice bran oil is also a healthy baking oil. It is the oil extracted from the germ and inner husk of rice. It is notable for its high smoke point of 232 °C (450 °F) and its mild flavor, making it suitable for high-temperature cooking methods such as stir frying and deep frying.

 

1. Add all the ingredients (in the order listed above, except for the scalded dough) in breadpan.

2. Select mode no. 7 (dough 发面）. Press START.

3. When the ingredients have combined together, about 3min into kneading, add in the scalded dough by pieces.

4. After 1hr 30min, a beep alert will sound indicating that the dough is ready.

5. Remove the dough from the breadmaker.

6. On a floured surface, punch the dough to remove trapped air. Knead a few times. Form about 130g portion of dough into ball shape. Using a rolling pin, flatten into an oblong disk and roll up to form a rope shape. Roll up around the frankfurter. Brush top of bun with milk/ water or beaten egg wash, sprinkle with black and white sesame seeds.

7. Place the bun in an enclosed oven (temperature not switched on) for a second rise, about 45min, or until the buns double or at least 1.5x their original size.

8. Preheat the oven to 170deg C. Bake the buns for about 15-20min.

 

 

Attaching a photo of myself, indulging in my sausage and carrot goji bun. Happy Monday :)

 

 

My boy's first wanton

Being a mom, being a nutritionist, being a founder of an FB group 'Healthy Food For My Baby' with over 15k members, I have unconsciously toned down my feistiness. Back then, I would easily blurt out my opinion or my stance either on FB or directly to your face, but for my own good, for my future's sack, as my son's role model, I should keep myself calm. Guess I'm finally improving my EQ.

 

Okay, the above statement has nothing whatsoever to do with the recipe or food that I'm gonna share. I'm only voicing out my current thoughts on a not very nice Monday morning. I realized my blog is my only place where I can vent out my frustration.  

 

Back to my boy's first homemade wanton.. I can't remember if I have ever wrapped or made wanton before. I cannot recall for sure. In my memory, this is the first wanton I've made for my boy and everyone in the house (maid included, lucky her), and I'm pleased with it. I youtubed to find out if there's a proper way to wrap wanton (yes, you can find all sorts on youtube these days and there are some ways to wrap wanton), but I realized I mistakenly bought the small size wanton sheets, so there's no way I can wrap it other than just making sure it seals the hefty filling I put in properly.

 

We had it for breakfast, and I've also packed a portion to bring to the nanny's for the lil' fella's lunch.

 

Aren't they cute? They look like little money bag from those olden days.

Organic mee-sua with homemade wanton, served w/ amaranth leaves soup

 

 

Filling for wanton (makes about 25-30 mini wanton)

• 300-400g pork mince
• half an onion, minced
• 1/3 medium size carrot, minced
• 1 Chinese mushroom, soaked till soft, minced
• 2tbsp chopped spring onion

Seasoning for pork mince, I marinated them overnight so that the flavor infuses better 

• 1tbsp vegetarian black bean 'oyster' sauce
• 3tbsp liquid amino
• 1tbsp toasted sesame oil, organic
• white pepper powder
• 1tsp corn flour

The next morning, I combine the marinated pork mince with the minced vegetables and a beaten egg white, and wrapped with wanton sheets. Place about a teaspoon of the filling in the centre of the wanton, brush sides of wanton sheet with water and seal.

 

To cook the wanton, simply dump them into a pan of boiling water. When the wantons are cooked, they will float on top of the water.

 

I served them with organic meesua and some amaranth leaves and egg soup with goji (wolfberries)

 

The soup was prepared with

• Ikan bilis stock
• Amaranth leaves 苋菜
• handful of goji (wolfberries) 枸杞
• 2 Chinese mushroom, soaked till soft, sliced
• 1 beaten egg, added in the end

 

 

Black sesame chiffon cupcakes with banana

It was my mom-in-law's birthday yesterday. Coincidentally, all of MIL's siblings were back to Sandakan for the QingMing festival (tomb-sweeping festival 清明节）and we were going out for a 'reunion' dinner. But my hubby only told me it was MIL's birthday in the afternoon. And he asked if we should get a cake. Yet both him and I knew very well that none present at the dinner would like any cakes from outside. They are all well over their 40s and are all very health and sugar-conscious and probably have stopped eating cakes sold outside for decades. I knew I had to bake something, but weren't sure what I should make cos of time constraint. Finally I decided to bake my favorite chiffon cupcake recipe, which I was very familiar with, but I was gonna double up the recipe and gonna add in black sesame as I felt it's a very 'healthy' ingredient. Hohooo... just right for the health conscious ones.. ay?

 

 

 

I was quite proud of myself that I baked them well and at the same time, I needed to make sure the little fella got his milk and took his late afternoon nap before we went out for dinner. All these were done in 20min when the chiffon cupcakes were baking in the oven. Just wondering if the 'pat on the shoulder' should be given to me, or to my little fella for being a good boy yesterday. Sometimes he takes at least a couple of hours before he finally give in to his nap.

Instead of using black sesame powder (which you can obtain simply by grinding toasted black sesame seeds), I used a sachet black sesame cereal drink powder (see photo below). I made up the black sesame drink with a cup of warm water and chilled it slightly before using it in this recipe. This drink is made up of black soya, black sesame, black rice, walnut, blackcurrants, pine nuts, black mu-er 黑木耳 and 何首乌。 I felt that drinking this drink is better than drinking black sesame alone, cos there are a multitude of other antioxidants and nutrients available from other iron-rich grains, seeds and nuts. Black soya, black mu-er and 何首乌 are also great for hair health. I have also used it to bake soft and fluffy black sesame bun with sunflower seeds. 

Here's the recipe adapted from my favorite chiffon cupcake's recipe
(I doubled up the recipe, which made about 17 cupcakes)
*this recipe doesn't yield sweet cakes, if you like your cakes sweet sweet, do consider topping UP the sugar.

• 4 egg yolks
• 1tbsp molasses powder
• 50g grapeseed oil
• 2 ripe banana (when I doubled up the recipe, I only used 2.5 medium size banana) **
• 3tbsp black sesame cereal milk drink ** (I pureed the banana with the black sesame cereal drink)
• 80g sifted cake flour (I used superfine flour)
• 4 egg white
• 2-3 tbsp. molasses powder (when I doubled up the recipe, I only used 5tbsp)

Garnish: Raw untoasted organic almond

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 165deg C.
2. Whisk egg whites till they form soft peak. Gradually add in molasses while continuing to whisk. Keep whisking till egg whites just reach stiff peak.
3. In another bowl, whisk egg yolks and 1tbsp molasses till thick. Add in oil and black sesame cereal-banana mix. Whisk till combined. Sieve in cake flour. Whisk to combine.
4. Add egg whites to yolk batter in 3 batches. Fold till just evenly mixed.
5. Divide the batter between cupcake liners till about 70% full. Tap liner gently against worktop to level batter and get rid of air bubbles. Top with an almond for garnishing purpose.
6. Bake for 20min. Let cool and serve.

Personal note:

I baked these at 165deg C in my toaster oven for first 10min. Then turn down the temperature to 155deg C and baked for another 10min. Just like the owner of this recipe mentioned, cakes crack after first 10min. 

Black sesame bun with sunflower seeds

I found the perfect bread for my organic peanut butter!! It's this black sesame bread! The nice nuttiness from this black sesame bun topped with sunflower seeds seems to be the perfect bread that matches nicely with my creamy organic peanut butter. I actually mix together the peanut butter with white tahini so I get lots of the omega goodness while I indulge in something that tastes so good!

 

This black sesame bread recipe is a recipe I worked out by accident. I was supposed to use my normal soy milk bun recipe for this, but my weighing scale was dirty and I had no time to wash it before I could weigh out my liquid ingredients, so I just put in one cup of the black sesame cereal milk into this recipe and the bun turned out 'oh! so fluffy!'. This dough was kneaded using my breadmaker. Its hydration level is very high. First, I'm not sure if it works kneading by hand, I have a feeling it's gonna be very messy (or sticky), and secondly, I'm not sure if it works on other breadmaker. Try it at your own risk, but the results are worth it.

 

 

 

Instead of using black sesame powder (which you can obtain simply by grinding toasted black sesame seeds), I used a sachet black sesame cereal drink powder (see photo below). I made up the black sesame drink with a cup of warm water and chilled it slightly before using it in this recipe. This drink is made up of black soya, black sesame, black rice, walnut, blackcurrants, pine nuts, black mu-er 黑木耳 and 何首乌。 I felt that drinking this drink is better than drinking black sesame alone, cos there are a multitude of other antioxidants and nutrients available from other iron-rich grains, seeds and nuts. Black soya, black mu-er and 何首乌 are also great for hair health. I have also used it to bake my favorite chiffon cupcakes recipe for my MIL's birthday.

 

 

Here's the recipe adapted from Alex Goh's scalded dough method

Scalded dough/ starter dough

·         100g bread flour

·         70g boiling water

To prepare the starter dough, pour boiling hot water over flour and stir with folk until combined into a slightly tacky dough. Cover and chill in the refrigerator. Chill for 20min before use, can keep up to 12hours in refrigerator.

Main dough

• 2tbsp grapeseed oil
• 1cup of black sesame cereal drink (made with 1 sachet in 1 cup of warm water), chilled before use
• 2.5tbsp brown sugar or dark muscovado sugar
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 200g bread flour (hi protein flour)
• 50g all purpose flour
• 3/4 tsp instant active dry yeast

* about 2-3 tbsp. raw, untoasted, organic sunflower seeds.

 

1.       Remove the breadpan from the bread machine. Fit in the kneading blade.

2.       Add all the ingredients in the order listed above, except for the scalded dough prepared earlier.

3.       Insert and lock the breadpan into the bread machine.

4.       Select mode no. 7 (dough)* the display panel will display defaulted time of 01:30 (1hr30min). Press start.

5.       When all the ingredients has combined together (about 5min), add in the starter dough in small pieces.  

6.       After 1 hour 30min, a beep alert will sound indicating that the dough is ready.

7.       Remove the dough from the bread maker.

8.       On a floured surface, punch the dough a few times to remove trapped air. Knead and throw a few times. Let rest for about 5min, then form about 150-200g portion of dough into ball shape. (Cover your palms with vegetable oil if you find the dough is too sticky to knead or shape)

9.   Repeat with the rest of the ball.

10.   Brush the top of buns with beaten egg wash and sprinkle generously with sunflower seeds.

11.   Cover buns with damp cloth or cling film (or in the oven) and proof for the second time for about 45min, or until double in size.

12.   Preheat the oven to 175deg C. Bake the buns for about 15-20min.