Pumpkin Buns with Red Bean Paste

Noticed that I have not post any bread/bun recipe for awhile. Since I made some pumpkin buns this week, I will share the recipe with you today.

Pumpkin Buns with Red Bean Paste

Ingredients :

• 350gm High Protein Flour (I used Unbleached)
• 1 tbsp Horlicks
• 50gm sugar
• 1 egg yolk
• 5 gm instant yeast
• pinch of salt
• 120gm pumpkin (steamed and mashed/pureed)
• 130ml milk
• 30gm butter

Method :

1. Mix all ingredients together (except the butter) in a mixer till a smooth dough is formed.
2. Add in butter and knead till dough is elastic.
3. Prove dough for 1 - 2 hours or till it doubles in size.
4. Punch down the dough and divide into 8 portions.
5. Shape into balls and rest the dough for 15 minutes
6. Flatten the dough and place some red bean paste in the center.
7. Shape it into a ball and snip the sides with a scissors to form a flower shape.
8. Prove for an hour or until the dough double in size.
9. Egg wash the buns and bake at 190C for 15 - 20 minutes

Hibiscus

When I moved into my current neighbourhood, I brought along my favourite hibiscus plant. It bears a pretty yellow flower with thick petals daily. Over the years, my hibiscus collection has increased to 4 now. (thanks to my very kind and friendly neighbour). My neighbour (a 70 year old man of Indian origin) who stays directly opposite my house is an avid gardener. He loves flowering plants especially hibiscus. He can be seen tending to his garden everyday in the morning and evening. At times, he would pop over to talk to me while I am tending to my garden.We would normally exchanging ideas on gardening and updating each other on the neighbourhood news. He has given me 3 different species of Hibiscus and they are thriving well in my garden, adding colours to my garden daily. See how beautiful my hibiscus are :

This bright red hibiscus has a flower within a flower. So pretty.

This is a dwarf sized hibiscus with sweet pink flowers.

My yellow hibiscus that blooms daily.

A unique peach, pink, yellow hibiscus.

I believe my hibiscus collection will continue to grow in time to come. So keep coming back to this blog... I will continue to update you on my striving garden.

Pumpkin Chiffon Cake

A friend gave me a pumpkin recently. Since it was quite large, I have decide to use some for bread and cake. baked a Pumpkin Chiffon Cake yesterday.

Here is the recipe, if you want to try.

Pumpkin Chiffon Cake

Ingredients

4 nos. egg yolk (size : grade A)
40ml corn oil
110gm superfine flour
80 gm pumpkin (steamed and mashed)
60ml warm water
5 nos egg white (size : grade A)
50gm sugar (add more if you prefer)
0.5 tsp lemon juice)

Method :

• Preheat oven at 170 C.
• Combine egg yolks, oil, flour, pumpkin and water. Mix till well blended and set aside.
• Whisk egg whites till frothy.
• Gradually add in sugar and lemon juice. Continue whisking till stiff peak is formed.
• Mix 1/3 of the egg whites into the egg yolk batter with a whisk.
• Fold in the remaining egg yolk batter.
• Pour batter into a chiffon cake tin and bang the tin a couple of times to release the trapped bubbles.
• Bake in the oven at 170C for 30- 35 mins or till cooked.
• Remove cake from oven and invert it immediately to cool for 30 mins before slicing.

Steamed Drunken Prawns

Being of Chinese origin, it is normal to see me cooking Chinese dishes. There are hundreds of Chinese dishes that will satisfy our palate to the fullest; be it Cantonese, TeowChew, Fujian, Shanghainese etc. What never fail to amaze me it the very interesting names given to the dishes.

Let's take today's dish that I cooked. Steamed Drunken Prawns.... pretty humorous name isn't it? If you if Chinese Kung Fu, you must have watched or heard about this famous Chinese Kung Fu movie called "Zhui Quan" or "Drunken Master" before. This Hong Kong movie starred the famous Jackie Chan. Now.. there is no connection between the Drunken Master (in the movie) with the Steamed Drunken Prawns that I made today. The Drunken Master did not get himself drunk after consuming Steamed Drunken Prawns!!! LOL

Actually, Steamed Drunken prawns got its name through the process of immersing the herbs into the wine and having the prawns steamed in this concoction. This is a very simple dish. Minimal preparation and since it is steamed you can be assured of a healthy and delicious restaurant like dish in 10 minutes
Steamed Drunken Prawns

Ingredients
300g large / medium size Prawns with shell(the fresher the better)
5-6 slices of Dang Gui (Chinese Angelica
6 Red Dates (seeds removed)
2 tsp Qi Zi (wolfberry)
50ml Hua Diao Jiu (or any type of liquor eg brandy, rice wine, sake)

Method :

1. Pre-soak the herbs in the liquor for at least 30 minutes to an hour to enable the liquor will absorb the aroma of the herbs.
2. Trim and wash the prawns.
3. Pat dry and arrange then in a steam tray or plate in a single layer. (Do not overlay as it will results in uneven cooking time during steaming.
4. Arrange the herbs on top of the prawns and pour the remaining liquor on it.
5. Steam over boiling water for about 4-5 minutes, remove and serve immediately.

Notes :
You could also microwave it by covering it with plastic wrap an cook on Medium power for 5 minutes. Be sure you use microwave utensils while steaming it on a microwave.

Pong Teh Chicken (my version)

Pong Teh Chicken is Braised Chicken in Fermented Paste. This is a typical Nyonya (Straits Chinese or Peranakan) dish.

The Straits Chinese are the descendants of the Chinese traders who came to Malaya in the fifteen century and took Malay (local) wives. The Nyonya's way of life, language, food, customs and dressing have become an amalgamation of Chinese and Malay and they have even developed a style uniquely their own.

Pong Teh Chicken is a popular Nyonya dish in Malacca. To me it is a kind of comfort food and a one dish food which you can serve with steamed plain rice.

The basic ingredients in this dish is chicken, potatoes and fermented bean paste. Mychildren like carrots, so you will find carrots in my version of Pong Teh Chicken. I opt to omit sugar in this dish as I prefer the taste of natural sweetness of the carrots.

Pong Teh Chicken (my version)

Ingredients
1/2 chicken - cut into bite-sized pieces
2 potatoes - cut into small pieces
1 carrot - cut into small pieces
10 shallots
4 pips garlic
1 big onion - cut into wedges
2 tbsp fermented soy bean paste
2 tbsp cooking oil
2 cups hot water
1 tsp thick soy sauce
salt to taste

Method :

1. Pound / blend shallots and garlic till fine.
2. Stir fry the shallot and garlic mixture and fermented soy bean paste in oil till fragrant.
3. Stir in the big onion till soft.
4. Add in chicken and stir fry for about 3 minutes.
5. Add in potatoes and carrot. Stir fry for another 2 minutes.
6. Pour in 2 cups of water and thick soy sauce. Bring to a boil.
7. Lower the flame and continue to cook until chicken is tender.
8. Add salt to taste.
9. Serve hot.
   

Burn those Calories

The gym is normally where I would hang out in the morning on weekdays (except of holidays and school breaks).
I would use the treadmill and some elliptical machines for my cardiovascular exercises before I proceed for weight lifting, etc for muscle toning and building.

Many people have the impression that to lose weight all you have to do is to get on the treadmill and run/walk (at a constant speed and inclination) as long as you can to sweat it all out and burn away all the unnecessary calories. However, I find that spending more than 30 minutes on the treadmill is monotonous and down right boring unless you have gym buddy there to chit chat with. I have found that there is a more effective workout regime that you can do on the treadmill for less time and yet yield a better result. Found it a few months back on Bob Green's Best Life (Oprah's personal trainer).
Tried it and proven to be effective. Just with 20minutes on the treadmill, I am able to burn close to 300 calories!

I do this at least once a week.

Treadmill Walking Workout.

Warm up at 3.0 incline and 3.0 speed for 2 minutes, then continue with the following :

• Minute 3 - 6 : Increase incline to 12.0 and speed 3.2
• Minute 7 -10 : Decrease incline to 7.0 and increase speed to 3.6 to 4.0
• Minute 11 -14 : Increase incline to 15.0 and decrease speed to 3.2
• Minute 15 -18 : Decrease incline to 7.0 and increase speed to 3.6 -4.0
• Minute 19 -20 : Decrease incline to 3.0 and maintain speed of 3.6 to 4.0
• Cool down for 5 minutes

The object of this regime is to vary the inclination and the speed to yield a high calorie burn out.
It is not monotonous as the body has to adjust to the frequent change in speed and inclination.

Try it the next time you hit the gym... you might find it revitalizing.

The Ugliest looking cupcake frosting

It is Dear Hubby's birthday today. Instead of baking a normal cake, I have decided to bake cupcakes. Chocolate cupcakes with chocolate chips to be exact. The children's favourite. Normally, when I bake cakes or cupcakes I do not put frosting as we are not a fan of creamy sugary stuff. Moreover, I find it very messy and I am not good at cake decoration. However, since today is DH's big day, I decided to make an exception. Whipped up some frosting and played with it together with my daughter. We had fun despite the mess we made. Just look how ugly they are!!!

Nevertheless, the cupcake taste good. Soft, light and chocolatey, It is very easy to whip up too!!

Double chocolate cupcake

Ingredients

A :

170gm self raising flour

70gm cocoa powder

1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda

B:

150gm chocolate chip

150 sugar

C:

2 eggs

240ml buttermilk (If you do not have buttermilk, use 8ml lemon juice + milk = 240ml

120gm melted butter

1 tsp vanilla essence

Method :

1. Preheat oven to 180C
2. Sift (A) into a bowl.
3. Stir in (B)
4. Whisk (C) and pour everything into the dry mixture.
5. Use a balloon whisk to mix everything till well blended.
6. Use an ice cream scoop to scoop batter into muffin/cupcake cups (2/3 full).
7. If preferred, top with more chocolate chips and/or nuts (of your choice).
8. Bake for 20 minutes at 180C