Jalapeño Cheese Sourdough

Sourdough is known to be healthier and have a more complex flavor than white bread.  Good sourdough bread should have chewy crust and an airy moist interior characterized by lots of holes.  However, it will take some practice to make a good sourdough.

To make your own sourdough starter, you can follow King Arthur Flour’s page.  I am very lucky to have a sourdough starter passed down to me from my co-worker, who is also my good friend.  She has great enthusiasm for sourdough baking.  She practiced uncountable times to make perfect sourdough and started to be creative by using different ingredients.  Her energy motivated me, but I failed many times to reach today’s result.  This is one recipe that I tested out a few times and adjusted the ingredients to suit my taste.

I’m using the “Stretch-And-Fold” technique for my sourdough as the hydration is 78%.  When the dough is very wet, the traditional kneading method is impossible to handle.  Before you make this bread, make sure you have time staying home to stretch and fold your dough every 30 minutes for 2 hours.

Ingredients:

Step 1 – Mix and rest for 1 hour
445g	Bread flour
320g	Water
Step 2 – Mix and rest for 30 mins
10g	Salt
25g	Water
90g	Starter

Ingredients to add before final proof:

60g	Jalapeno
170g	Cheddar Cheese/Mozzarella Cheese (save some for sprinkling on top of the dough)

Making the Dough:

1. Feed your starter with equal amount of water, flour and starter until it is active and ready to use (you will see a lot of bubbles).  (Picture 1)
2. In a mixing bowl, combine 445g of bread flour and 320g of water.  Cover with a towel or plastic wrap and let it rest in room temperature for 1 hour.  (Pictures 2-4)
3. After 1 hour, add 90g of starter, 10g of salt and 25g of water.  Use your hand to pinch and fold the dough over and over to get it nice and mixed.  The dough is much more wet and sloppy than it was during the first mix.  Cover the dough and set the timer for 30 minutes. (Pictures 5-9)
4. Now we are going to stretch and fold the dough – Lift one side of the dough straight up until you meet resistance and fold it across the center.  Turn the bowl 90 degree and perform the stretch-and-folds (the dough is probably very relaxed in the beginning).  Once you have finished all the way around the bowl back to where you started, you have completed one set.  Cover the dough with plastic wrap and set the timer for 30 minutes.  (Pictures 10-12)
5. Repeat Step 4 above three more times.
6. After the last set of Stretch-And-Fold, lightly fold the dough a couple of times, cover the dough and let it rest for 1-2 hours.
7. Chop jalapeno in small pieces.  Leave the seeds if you like spicy food.  (Picture 13)
8. Cut cheese into small chunks.  (Picture 14)
9. Final proof – Lay 1/2 of the cheese and jalapeno into the middle of your dough, fold the dough and lay the second 1/2 of the cheese jalapeno onto the dough.   Dust your work surface with flour, and carefully transfer the dough and gently shape the dough to a ball.   (Pictures 15-16)
10. Dust the banneton basket with rice flour.  Lightly flour the surface of the dough and place the dough in the banneton basket (seam side down).  (Pictures 17-18)
11. Cover the basket with a towel and put it in the refrigerator for 5-10 hours.  Proofing the dough in the fridge will improve the gluten structure.  (Picture 19)

Baking the bread:

1. During the dough’s last 45 minutes of final proof, preheat the oven and the cast iron pan at 500F (preheating the pan for at least 45 minutes). (Picture A)
2. Remove the basket from the fridge.  Put a piece of parchment paper on top of the banneton basket and put a chopping board on top of the parchment paper.  (Picture B)
3. Now hold the basket and chopping board tight and flip over the banneton basket.  (Picture C)
4. You can score the dough now and sprinkle shredded cheese on top.  Remove the cast iron pan from the oven and slide the dough to the pan.  (Pictures D and E)
5. Cover the cast iron pan and turn the oven temperature down to 450F and set the time to bake for 20 minutes.
6. After 20 minutes, uncover the pan and continue to bake for another 20 minutes.**
7. Let the bread cool down completely on a cooling rack before slicing it.

Note:  Each oven is different, you may need to adjust the cooking time for longer.

Spanish Seafood Paella

My family visited Barcelona in March 2019, which was the 2nd time I went to this beautiful city.  Besides enjoying their delicious tapas, I also love their seafood paella.  If you have a chance to visit Barcelona, make sure you stop by La Mar Salada.  They had the best seafood paella I ever ate!  Although other restaurants have good reviews on their paella, it was too salty for us.   The reason I decided to make this seafood paella at home is because I cannot find one restaurant in California that serves the paella similar to La Mar Salada’s.  I have made this several times already and it reminded my family of Barcelona.  The most important thing in making this dish is to use fresh clams, large shrimp and fresh mussels.

Ingredients:

1 lbs	Shrimp with head
2 lbs	Fresh clams
2	Squids
10	Fresh mussels
4 cups	Spanish Paella rice
3	Medium size tomatoes
1	Large white onion
4	Garlic cloves
6 cups	Chicken broth
1.5 cup	Dry white wine
2 tsp	Salt
2 tsp	Paprika
1 tsp	Brown sugar
1 pinch	Saffron
	Clam juice from steaming

Directions:

1. In a small bowl, soak saffron threads in hot water for 20 minutes.  (Picture 1)
2. Use a toothpick to remove the digestive vein along the back of the shrimp without peeling off the shell.  (Picture 2)
3. Scrub the calms with a kitchen toothbrush and set aside.  (Picture 3)
4. Scrub and debeard mussels, set aside.  (Picture 4)
5. Slice squid just below the eyes, separating the tentacles from the head and reserve tentacles.  Gently pull out the head, intestines, ink sac, and clear skeleton; discard innards.  Slice body crosswise into rings.  (Picture 5)
6. Finely chop the white onion. (Picture 6)
7. Finely chop garlic.  (Picture 7)
8. Chop tomatoes. (Picture 8)
9. In a small pot, bring the chicken broth and white wine to a boil.
10. Fry the onion in a cast iron paella pan until soft.  (Picture 9)
11. Add in minced garlic and fry for 1 minute.  (Picture 10)
12. Add in tomatoes.  (Picture 11)
13. Add sugar, 1 tsp of salt and paprika (Pictures 12-14)
14. Add saffron threads and its water, stir well and cook until tomatoes are a little pasty.  (Picture 15)
15. Add the squid and stir for about a minute.  (Picture 16)
16. Add rice and stir well until all the grains are coated. (Picture 17)
17. Pour hot stock over the rice, bring to a boil, add the remaining 1 teaspoon of salt to taste.  Move the pan around and rotate it so that rice cooks evenly.  (Picture 18)
18. Lay shrimp on top after 10 minutes of cooking the rice, and turn them when they become pink on one side.  Continue to cook the rice for another 15 minutes. (Picture 19)
19. 5 minutes before the rice is ready, steam the mussels and calms.  Reserve the shell fish juice and pour the juice to the rice and cook the rice for 2 additional minutes.

Furikake Chex Mix

Furikake Chex Mix

Here I am, writing my blog again.  I have already been working remotely for 2 weeks  due to the Coronavirus outbreak.  State announced the “Safer-At-Home” order on March 19, so all of us are now home 24/7.  As of today, USA has 331,234 confirmed cases, this number is rising rapidly.  Besides purchasing necessities at the markets, cleaning, cooking or baking is a good way to kill time.

This Hawaiian-style chex mix is incredibly addictive, it is very crunchy with a combination of sweet and savory taste.  It is perfect to have for parties, gatherings and even for just the family!  Get your youngsters to bake together and have some family quality time!

Ingredients:

2 cups	Rice Chex
2 cups	Corn Chex
2 cups	Wheat Chex*
2 cups	Pretzel
1.5 cups	Gardetto’s Garlic Rye chips
170g	Butter
¼ cup	Honey
½ cup	Brown sugar
1 Tbsp	Soy sauce
1 Tbsp	Worcestershire sauce
1 bottle (about 2oz)	Furikake seaweed

* The Chex mix could be any combination of rice/corn/wheat.  Wheat is more flat and hard in texture.

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 250 °F.
2. Mix dry ingredients like Chex mix, pretzels and garlic rye chips together in a very large bowl.  (Picture 1)
3. Melt butter in a pot, add in sugar, honey, soy sauce and worcestershire sauce until everything is combined.  (Pictures 2 – 6)
4. Pour hot sauce mixture into the dry mix and mix well.  (Pictures 7-8)
5. Add in Furikake seaweed .  (Picture 9)
6. Line a large baking sheet with alumni foil and drizzle a little oil.  This will prevent the chex from sticking to the pan.  (Picture 10)
7. Evenly spread the chex mix on to the baking sheet.  (Picture 11)
8. Bake for 1 hour and 15 mins, turn Chex mix every 20 mins (Picture 12)

You can store the Chex mix in an air tight container.

Lemon, Garlic and Rosemary Whole Chicken (Instant Pot)

Whenever I spoke to friends/relatives/co-workers about cooking the last few years, I would hear so much about how they fell in love with their IP and why they couldn’t stop using their IP.  Cooking with an IP is currently very popular, but what is an IP?  IP stands for Instant Pot which is a multifunctional electric pressure cooker.  According to The New York Times, Instant Pots currently sit in the top 10 list of Amazon best sellers in the Kitchen category.  I’ve owned one for more than a year now and I understand why people love it so much.  You can easily convert many recipes for pressure cooking.

I normally cook this chicken in a Dutch Oven with potatoes and carrots added to the pot (Dutch Oven chicken recipe will follow).  Cooking this chicken in a Dutch Oven or in a pressure cooker keeps the chicken moist and tender.  When I don’t have much time preparing dinner, I just bring out my IP.

Ingredients:

1 (4 pounds)	Whole roasting chicken
2 Tbsp	Butter (melted)
2 Tbsp	Lemon zest
2 Tbsp	Rosemary (chopped)
3 Tbsp	Minced Garlic
3 tsp	Salt
a dash	Cooking wine (optional)

Spices for Chicken Skin:

1 tsp	Chili powder
2 tsp	Paprika
2 tsp	Garlic powder
1 tsp	Salt

Ingredients for gravy:

1 cup	Low sodium chicken broth (cooking together with the chicken in Instant Pot)
2 Tbsp	Corn starch
1-2 Tbsp	water

Chicken Marinade:

1. Clean the chicken and pat dry.
2. Melt butter in a microwave and prepare all herbs.  (picture A)
3. Use a chopper to chop garlic, rosemary and lemon zest together.  (picture B)
4. In a container, mix butter, salt and herb mixture.  (picture C)
5. Rub herb mixture evenly underneath the chicken skin and cavity.  (picture D)
6. Cover with cling wrap and let it sit in the fridge for 4 hours or overnight (you can skip this step if you don’t have time).

Direction:

1. Combine all spices for chicken skin in a bowl.  (Pictures 1 & 2)
2. Sprinkle the skin evenly with the spice mixture.  (Picture 3)
3. In a large frying pan, heat 3 tablespoons of oil with a sprig of rosemary.  Cook the chicken until evenly golden brown, add in cooking wine (optional).  (Picture 4)
4. Pour 1 cup of low sodium chicken broth (or water) to your Instant Pot (pressure cooker), place the metal trivet into the pot.  Gently place chicken on top of the trivet with tongs.  (Pictures 5 & 6)
5. Select manual setting, adjust pressure to high and set time for 20 minutes.  Turn knob to the sealing position.  When finished cooking, do a quick pressure release.  (Picture 7)

To make gravy:

1. Reserve all the juice from the pot and skim the fat from the top. Transfer gravy from Instant Pot to a small pot.
2. Place the pot on stove top on medium heat.  Dissolve 2 Tbsps of cornstarch in the minimum amount of water needed to make a thin paste.
3. Pour the cornstarch slurry into the pot and use a spoon or whisk to mix (don’t pour in all cornstarch slurry, if gravy is still thin, add more in until it’s slightly thickened.)
4. Transfer gravy to a sauce boat and serve hot.

Japchae (Korean Noodles)

Japchae

Japchae is a classic sweet and savory Korean dish everyone loves.  It is made from sweet potato starch noodles stir fried with vegetables and you can add your choice of meat.  I have eaten at some restaurants where Japchae is served on top of rice (yes this sounds a little weird!), but most restaurants serve it as a banchan (Korean side dishes) or as a full dish.  If you are gluten intolerant, this is the dish you should consider.

Ingredients:

1 lbs	Beef (flank, sirloin or rib eye)
14 oz – 1 lbs	Korean potato starch noodles (Dangmyeon)
2 medium sticks	Carrots (julienne)
1 small	White onion
1/2 lbs	Spinach
7-8	Dried shiitake mushrooms (soaked until soft)
2	Eggs
2	Garlic cloves

Marinade for Beef:

2 Tbsp	Light soy sauce
2 Tbsp	Brown sugar
1 Tbsp	Corn starch

Sauce for Noodles:

6 Tbsp	Light soy sauce
5 Tbsp	Brown sugar
4 Tbsp	Sesame oil
4 tsp	Roasted sesame seeds

Directions:

1. Combine all sauce ingredients in a small bowl and mix well.  (Picture 1)
2. Soak dried mushrooms in hot water until soft.  Cut the stems off and slice into thin strips.  Season with 1 tablespoon of the sauce above.  (Picture 2)
3. Peel and julienne carrots.  (Picture 3)
4. Cut onion into slices. (Picture 4)
5. Slice beef against the grain (you can cut into slices or strips).  Marinade beef with soy sauce, brown sugar and corn starch.  (Picture 5)
6. Bring a pot of lightly salted water to a boil and blanch the spinach until they are just wilted (about 1 minute).  Drain quickly and rinse spinach under cold running water.  Squeeze excess water from spinach and set aside.  (Picture 6)
7. Cook the noodles in a large pot of boiling water (follow the package directions for cooking time).  Drain and rinse the noodles under cold running water.  Set aside.  (Picture 7)
8. Heat up 1 Tbsp of oil in a skillet/wok and stir fry onion until it turns brown.  Transfer onion to a plate and side aside.  (Picture 8)
9. Add 1 Tbsp of oil and one garlic clove to the same skillet/wok and stir fry carrots for about 1 minute, then add in mushrooms.  Add 1 Tbsp of water and cook for 1 minute.  Transfer carrots and mushrooms to a plate and set aside.  (Pictures 9 and 10).
10. Add 2 tablespoons of oil and one garlic clove to the skillet/wok and stir fry beef until it’s cooked.  Now return onion, carrots and mushrooms to the wok and mix them well with beef (just 1 minute).  Set aside.  (Pictures 11 and 12)
11. Whisk 2 eggs in a small bowl and cook the eggs in a skillet sprayed with cooking oil in medium heat.  Cut cooked eggs into strips and set aside.  (Picture 13)
12. Pour sauce into a medium size pot and cook on medium heat until sugar is dissolved and sauce is slightly bubbling.  Add noodles into the pot and toss well until all noodles are coated with the sauce and then add all cooked vegetables and beef, toss well. (Picture 14)
13. Garnish with egg slices and toasted sesame.  (Picture 15)

Char Siu 义燒 (Chinese BBQ Pork)

I don’t remember which magazine had this recipe, but it was a recipe from the writer’s grandma so it immediately caught my eye!   We all know grandmas’ cooking is always full of delicious recipes created with ‘secret’ ingredients.

It is very important to choose a good piece of meat. For making Char Siu, the best piece is pork butt.  Choose a piece that has more marbling than others as lean pieces will be very dry and won’t be as flavorful as well.  If you still want to keep it healthy and lean, I’d recommend using pork neck since the texture is more tender yet lean (the pictures below in the collage show pork neck).

Ingredients:

2 pounds	Pork Butt
4 Tbsp	Granulated sugar
2 Tbsp	Light soy sauce
2 Tbsp	Dark soy sauce
2 Tbsp	Hoisin sauce
2 Tbsp	Rice cooking wine
2 Tbsp	Ground bean paste
2 tsp	Sesame oil
1/4 tsp	Ground white pepper
2 Tbsp	Honey

Directions:

1. Quarter pork butt lengthwise.  If you use pork neck, you don’t need to cut it.  In a small bowl, combine sugar, soy sauce, hoisin sauce, rice wine, ground bean paste, sesame oil, pepper, and stir to combine (save the honey for later).  Pour mixture over pork, making sure it is well coated.  Cover the container with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight, turn pork at least once.  (picture 1)
2. When ready to roast, let pork come to room temperature and let it sit for at least 30 minutes. Preheat broiler, place a rack in a roasting pan or use a broiling pan.  Add enough hot water so that it reaches a depth of ¼ inch in the pan.  Brush the broiling pan with oil so meat won’t stick to the pan.  (Picture 2 and 3)
3. Place pork on rack, discard marinade.  Carefully place pan under broiler (pork should be about 4 inches from broiler element), and broil until meat is just beginning to char slightly, about 15 minutes.  Brush with honey and broil for 2 more minutes (Pictures 4 and 5)
4. Turn pork and repeat Item 3 above.

Let the meat rest for 5 minutes and cut into slices.

Served with rice and your favorite side dishes, or you can make noodles in soup.

Ground Turkey Curry

In the 21st century, most people changed their eating habits and chose to eat healthily.  However, I found that healthy foods do not taste as good as normal foods so when I introduce healthier meals to my family, I have to make sure my children will allow me to make it again.  I found this turkey curry recipe from SimplyRecipes by Elise Bauer.  I gave it a little twist to suit our tastes and it became a popular dish for my family.

Ingredients:

3 pounds	Ground Turkey (93% lean)
1	White onion (chopped)
4	Medium Carrots (peeled and cut into big pieces)
6	Medium red potatoes (peeled and cut into 1-inch chunks)
5	Roma tomatoes (diced)
1 cup	Frozen peas
4 cups	Low sodium chicken broth
1 head	Garlic (minced)
20g	Fresh ginger (about 1-inch piece) (peeled and grated)
3 ½ Tbsps	Curry Powder
1 tsp	Turmeric
1 tsp	Ground coriander
1 tsp	Ground cumin
1 ½ tsps.	Red chili powder
1 Tbsp	Light brown sugar
1 tsp	Salt to taste (about 1 tsp)

Method:

1. Heat 4 tbsps. of grape seed oil over high heat in a large pan.  When the oil is hot, add ground turkey, make sure not to crowd the meat.  With 3 pounds of meat, it’s better to split the meat into 2 portions and cook separately.  Cook turkey until it begins to brown and liquid is dried up.  Set aside.  (picture 1)
2. Brown onion in a pan, then add minced garlic and grated ginger.  Stir for about 1 minute.  (picture 2)
3. Return ground turkey to the pan with onion, garlic and ginger.  Stir for about 1 minute.  (picture 3)
4. Add 4 cups of chicken broth.  (picture 4)
5. Then add in all spices (curry powder, turmeric, cumin, coriander, chili powder, sugar).  (picture 5)
6. Add diced tomatoes, carrots, peas and potatoes.  Add salt and mix well.  (pictures 6-8)
7. Transfer everything to a pressure cooker and press the “Meat/stew” function, press the button to choose the cooking time to 15 minutes.   Turn the venting knob to “sealing” position.  When it’s done cooking, do a quick pressure release.  (picture 9)
8. If you don’t have a pressure cooker, you can easily cook this on the stove top.  Cover the pot and simmer the curry for about 20-30 minutes or until the potatoes are soft.
9. Serve over rice.

Notes:

• 3 pound of meat is enough for 2 meals for 5 people.  This dish is also very good the next day.
• Ground turkey will release a lot of liquid when cooking.  Make sure not to crowd the meat, otherwise it will take a long time to brown the meat.

Blueberry Muffins

These muffins are so easy to make that my 13-year old can handle everything on her own.  The original recipe is from Food and Wine, however I reduced the sugar and oil amount to suit my taste.  If you have a sweet tooth, please follow the original recipe.  Although the crumb topping is a little messy, you will be very impressed with the taste and the soft texture of these muffins.

Ingredients for crumb topping:

150g	All purpose flour
3 Tbsp	Light brown sugar
2 Tbsp	Organic cane sugar or granulated sugar
1 tsp	Baking powder
85g/6 Tbsp	Unsalted butter, melted
	Pinch of salt

Ingredients for Muffins:

250g	All purpose flour
190g	Organic cane sugar or granulated sugar
2 ¼ tsp	Baking powder
½ tsp	Salt
2	Large eggs
75g	Oil
¾ cup	Milk (whole or reduced fat)
1 tsp	Vanilla extract
1 ½ cup	Blueberries

To make the crumb topping:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2. To make the crumb topping, combine flour, brown sugar, sugar, baking powder and salt in a bowl.  (Picture A)
3. Stir in the melted butter.  (Picture B)
4. Pinch the mixture until it forms pea-size clumps and set aside.  (Picture C)

To make the muffins (12 muffins):

1. Put eggs, sugar and oil in a mixing bowl, beat at low speed until combined.  (Picture 1)
2. Beat in milk and vanilla extract. (Pictures 2-3)
3. Add flour mixture (flour, baking powder and salt) to the egg batter and beat at medium speed until the batter is smooth.  (Pictures 4-5)
4. Stir in blueberries (don’t beat it, just stir in).  (Picture 6)
5. Line muffin pan with muffin/cupcake liners.  (Picture 7)
6. Spoon the batter into each cup.  (Picture 8)
7. Sprinkle the crumb topping on top of each one.  (Picture 9)
8. Bake for about 25-30 minutes or until the muffins are golden brown. Insert a toothpick in the center to test doneness.

• Let the muffins cool in the pan before serving.
• Blueberry muffins can be kept overnight, you can reheat it by microwaving it for 10 seconds.

Mahi Mahi with Onion and Capers

I surely took a long break from blogging. During the past year, I have tried many new recipes, and many of them should be added to my collection. This Mahi Mahi recipe is so fantastic that it motivates me to come back to post. Besides getting comments of having a restaurant-quality dish, I like the fact that it is effortless. I slightly modified the original recipe (which you can find here) to suit my taste.

Ingredients:

4 pieces	Mahi Mahi fillet with or without skin
1	Large white onion
3 Tbsp	Capers (in brine)
3 Tbsp	Water
50g	Unsalted butter
3 Tbsp	Fresh lemon juice
½ tsp	Fresh ground black pepper
¾ tsp	Salt
	Chopped fresh parsley or green onions as a garnish

Directions:

1. Thinly slice onion, set aside.  (picture 1)
2. Rinse and drain capers, coarsely chop and set aside.  (picture 2)
3. Heat 2 tablespoons oil in a skillet over high heat, then add onion and cook until brown (stir frequently).  (picture 3)
4. Add in water and pepper, cook for 1 minute.  (pictures 4 and 5)
5. Add in butter, lemon juice and capers.  Stir and cook until butter is melted.  Remove from heat and cover the pan to keep warm.  (pictures 6 – 9)
6. Preheat broiler.
7. Wash and pat fish dry, sprinkle with salt and pepper.
8. Heat 2 tablespoons oil in a cast iron pan over high heat, then add fish fillets to the skillet and fry for about 2 minutes depending on the thickness of the fillets.  (picture A)
9. Flip the fillets and cook the other side for 1-2 minutes.  (picture B)
10. Put the cast iron pan under the oven broil, about 5 inches from heat until just cooked through, about 3 minutes. (pictures C)
11. Serve fish topped with onion mixture and sprinkled with parsley or green onions.
    

Notes:

• If fillets have skin, put skin sides down when you put them under the broiler.
• Don’t over cover the fish, the fillets should be very moist and soft.
• I had no onions one time, so I used red and yellow bell peppers.  It also tastes very good.

Fresh Fruit Tart

I made mini fruit tarts four years ago.  Since it takes a long time to mould each tart with the dough, I wanted to try a regular size one.  I used the same recipe to make a big tart but the crust just fell apart.  Now I found Paula Deen’s recipe for the tart shell which got a lot of good reviews.  I made the tart today and the crust is so tasty, flaky and fresh!

Tart Crust:

60g	Powdered Sugar
170g	Unsalted Butter (softened)
220g	All Purpose Flour

Cream Filling:

1-3/8 cups	Milk (could be a combination of milk and cream)
60g	Sugar
15g	Cornstarch
2	Egg yolks
A tiny pinch	Salt
30g	Butter
½ tsp	Vanilla extract

Directions:

Crust:

1. Combine flour, sugar and butter in a food processor and process until the mixture forms a ball.  (Picture A)
2. With your fingers, press the dough into an 11-inch or 12-inch tart pan with a removable bottom.  Push the crust into the indentations in the sides, pat until the crust is even.  (Pictures B and C)
3. Freeze the crust for at least 30 minutes.

4.  Preheat the oven to 350 F, bake for 20 minutes until it’s lightly browned.  Set aside to cool.

Filling:

1. In a food processor, add milk, sugar, cornstarch, salt, and egg yolks, (in that order) to blender.  Blend 10 seconds and pour into 2-quart glass microwave-safe bowl. Microwave 3 minutes on HIGH, whisking until smooth and microwave for another 2-3 minutes.
2. Add butter and vanilla and whisk until smooth.   Remove from heat and let it cool.
3. Place plastic wrap on top the filling without leaving any gap.  This will prevent the filling from forming a hard layer on top.  Once it’s cool, put it in the fridge.  (see picture below)

Assembly:

Wash all fruits, I like apples, strawberries, blueberries, grapes and kiwis.  To keep sliced apples from turning brown, you can soak them in salt water.  Fill a bowl of water and add 1/4 teaspoon of salt.

1. Whisk filling before applying to the crust, especially when you make it ahead of time and keep it in the fridge.  (Picture 1)
2. Spread filling over the cooled crust.  (Picture 2)
3. For the first layer, place apple slices.  (Picture 3)
4. For the next circle, place strawberry slices.  (Picture 4)
5. For the next circle, use green grapes.  (Picture 5)
6. Add another circle of red grapes.  Filling in any spaces with blueberries and put a couple of kiwi slices in the center.  (Picture 6)

For the glaze:

1/2 Cup	Apply Jelly
1 Tbsp	Water

Directions:

• In a small bowl, combine apple jelly and water.
• Heat in the microwave for 15-20 seconds until the apple jelly liquefies.
• Let it cool for a few minutes.
• With a pastry brush, apply apple jelly to preserve the fruits.

Shrimp Pad Thai

This is the second dish I learned from the cooking class at The Gourmandise School.  You can use chicken, pork, beef, tofu or a combination.  People may get confused with Pad Thai and Pad See Ew – Pad Thai is thin rice noodles cooked with tamarind paste and has a little sweet and sour taste.  Pad See Ew is thick rice noodle cooked with soy sauce which is similar to Chinese Chow Fun (fried rice noodles).  Both Pad Thai and Pad See Ew are very popular dishes in Thai restaurants.  Making this dish is as easy as making the Panang Curry with Chicken.

Ingredients: (serves 4)

8 oz	Thai rice stick
¼ cup	Oil
2	Shallots, chopped
4 cloves	Garlic, minced
½ pound	Medium shrimp cut in half
½ cup	Extra firm tofu, sliced (optional)
2 Tbsps	Tamarind paste
4 Tbsps	Sugar
2 Tbsps	Fish sauce
2 Tbsps	Thin soy sauce
1 tsp	Ground chili flakes
2	Eggs
2	Limes
1 cup	Bean sprouts
6	Scallions cut into 1 inch pieces
½ cup	Roasted peanuts, coarsely chopped

Directions:

1. Soak the noodles in warm water while you prepare the rest of the ingredients.  (picture 1)
2. Peel the shrimp , using a small knife to cut the back of the shrimp until you see the vein.  Remove the vein carefully and cut shrimp in half.  (picture 2)
3. Using a wok or large saute pan, heat oil over medium high heat.  Add shallot and garlic until slightly brown.  (picture 3)
4. Add shrimp and stir fry for a few seconds until fragrant.  (picture 4)
5. Stir in the tamarind paste, sugar, fish sauce, soy sauce and ground chili flakes. (picture 5)
6. With your hands, pull the noodles out of the water and add to the pan.  Toss noodles thoroughly with sauce mixture until tender.  Taste a noodle, if it’s not tender, splash in a bit of the soaking water and cook until noodles soften.  (picture 6)
7. Make a space in the middle of the pan or on the side of the pan, add the eggs and more oil if needed.  Scramble until barely set and mix in with noodles.  (picture 7)
8. Add lime juice.  Taste noodles, if you feel that it needs more seasoning such as fish sauce, sugar, etc. add to taste.  (picture 8)
9. Toss with tofu (optional), bean sprouts and scallions.  (picture 9)
10. Serve on a platter  and sprinkle chopped peanuts.

Notes:

• I found it easier to cook this with a wok.
• Tamarind paste is not easy to find but can be purchased at Thai supermarkets.
• I soaked noodles in water for at least 2 hours.

Panang Curry with Chicken

Last week, I attended a cooking class which was arranged by my company.  It was very nice and fun learning/cooking with my colleagues.  The chef, Jamie at The Gourmandise School, taught us how to cook Thai cuisine as well as use proper cutting techniques.  I love Thai food but have never tried making it at home.  I’m surprised how easy it is to make Pad Thai and Panang Curry with chicken.  After the class, I made those two dishes again for my family and everyone loved it.  Below is the recipe for Panang Curry with Chicken from the cooking school.  I will publish the recipe for Pad Thai in my next post.

Ingredients:  (Serves 4)

1 can	Coconut milk
1 Tbsp	Vegetable oil
¼ cup	Panang curry paste
2 Tbsps	Fish sauce
1 pound	Boneless skinless chicken breast
½ cup	Chicken stock
2 Tbsps	Brown sugar
3	Kaffir lime leaves
½ cup	Thai basil leaves

Directions:

1. Cut chicken breast into cubes. (picture 1)
2. Separate coconut cream and milk from can and place cream in medium saucepan along with vegetable oil and curry paste.  Heat over medium high and cook for 2 minutes.  Stir constantly. (pictures 2-4)
3. Add remaining coconut milk, chicken stock, sugar, fish sauce and Kaffir lime leaves.  Simmer for 5 minutes.  (pictures 5-9)
4. Add chicken and simmer until just cooked.  Taste for seasoning.  (picture 10)
5. Slice basil leaves and add in to chicken curry.  (picture 11)
6. Serve over white rice.  (picture 12)

Notes:

• I simmered the chicken for 45 minutes and also added potatoes.
• I found it hard to purchase all ingredients, especially the Kaffir lime leaves.  Kaffir lime leave is highly aromatic and provides a light citrus flavor.  I would not want to omit this ingredient.  One of my co-workers has a little bush, he was nice enough to give me some leaves.
• All ingredients can be found in Thai supermarkets.  I purchased mine in a Chinese/Vietnamese supermarket.

Egg Waffle / Bubble Waffle / Egg Puff / Gai Daan Jai (雞蛋仔）

Since I mentioned in my Boot Jai Go post that one of the most popular Hong Kong street vendor’s snacks is egg waffle, I must introduce and record a recipe on my blog.  According to Wikipedia, egg waffles were ranked No.1 in a 100 most popular Hong Kong street snack listing.  There are many English names (bubble waffle, egg puff, eggettes, just to name a few), but its Cantonese name is Gai Daan Jai (meaning little eggs).  One story says the enterprising post-war generation created the egg-shaped mould to make up for an eggless batter as eggs became a luxury in China.  Grocery stores would take the cracked eggs and sell the perfect eggs to customers.  Throwing away the cracked eggs would be a waste of money, so they turned the eggs into batter and sold them as waffles.  After making the egg waffles with the semi-spherical cell pans (pan base is deeper and the cover is shallower), they look like small eggs.  I guess this is how it got its name “little eggs”.

Ingredients:  (makes 5)

210g	All purpose flour
10g	Baking powder
15g	Custard powder
42g	Tapioca starch
3	Eggs
210g	Granulated Sugar
42g	Low fat milk
210ml	Very cold water
42g	Vegetable oil
3 drops (slightly less than ¼ tsp)	Vanilla extract

Directions:

1. Measure all ingredients, set aside.  (picture 1)
2. Pour all ingredients into a blender (except vegetable oil and vanilla extract), blend until well mixed.  (picture 2)
3. Add in vanilla extract and oil and blend until combined.  (pictures 3 and 4)
4. Strain the batter through a sieve.  (picture 5)
5. Warm up each side of the mould and brush a thin layer of oil on each side. (picture 6)
6. Pour the egg batter onto the mould with a ladle and close the mould.  Hold the handles firm to keep two sides tight.   I turned the fire to medium high.  (picture 7)
7. After 1-2 minutes, flip the pan and cook for 1-2 minutes.  You can slightly open the pan to check if the the waffle is slight brown.  (picture 8)
8. Remove the egg waffle from the mould with a fork and place it on a cooling rack.  (picture 9)

It should be served hot or warm (cold is not as good). The waffles are crispy on the outside, soft and chewy on the inside.

This egg waffle mould/pan makes waffles over the stove.  For first time use, clean the pan thoroughly. The first 2 waffles should be discarded.  There are some fancy electricity-powered makers that make perfect egg waffles and you don’t need to pay too much attention to the cooking process or need any skill.   However, one owner of the waffle shop said “If the skill isn’t there, it doesn’t matter how good your ingredients are.”  

Note:  Some recipes say the batter should be refrigerated for at least an hour in order to make a perfect egg waffle.  To skip this step, I substituted room temperature water with icy-cold water.  The result is the same.

Yummy!

Rose Shaped Steamed Buns/Mantou (玫瑰花饅頭)

My friend, Janet who loves to cook and bake, was nice to share her buns with me last week.  It was a lovely purple color as it was made with purple yam.  When food is turned into an art piece, it makes the food more appealing.  Since it tasted and looked so good, I decided to make some, but with carrot juice to get a bright orange color.

I posted a recipe for making the milk mantou 4 years ago, and I used that recipe for the white petals.  Both milk mantou and carrot juice mantou recipes are listed below (for a total of 24 pieces).

Ingredients for orange petals:

500g	All purpose flour
300ml	Carrot juice
35g	Sugar
5g	Yeast
1/4 tsp	Salt
1 Tbsp	Vegetable oil

Ingredients for white petals:

500g	All purpose flour
300ml	Fat free milk
35g	Sugar
5g	Yeast
1 Tbsp	Vegetable oil

Directions:

You will need 3-4 carrots to get 300ml of carrot juice depending on the size of the carrots.

1.  Prepare all ingredients, one set for the orange petals and one set for the white petals.  Combine all ingredients for the orange petals in a mixing bowl, attach the dough hook and mix the ingredients with low speed.  Knead the dough until smooth (about 10 minutes).  Let the dough rest for 10 minutes.  Repeat this step for the ingredients for the white petals (pictures 1, 2 and 3).
2. During the 10-minute resting period, make sure to cover the container with plastic wrap.  (picture 4)
3. Take the dough out, punch down with your hands to deflate, and cut into half.  Cover the second half with plastic wrap to keep it soft.  Roll out the dough and roll it tightly to form a log.  (picture 5)
4. Cut the log into pieces and each piece should weigh about 20g.  Cover pieces with plastic wrap. (picture 6)
5. Repeat steps 3 and 4 for the orange petals.  (picture 7)
6. Roll each piece thinly like gyoza wrappers.  (picture 8)
7. You will need 3 pieces of the orange dough and 3 pieces of the white dough, alternate the colors. (picture 9)
8. Roll the dough up (roll from the right hand side) to form a small thick log.  (picture 10)
9. Cut the rolled up dough in half from the center.  When you turn the dough up, you will see the pretty rose shape and shape the petals with your fingers.  (picture 11)
10. Pour some cold water in the bottom of the steamer.   Place rose shaped buns in the steamer lined with parchment paper, cover and let the buns rise for 20 minutes.   Make sure to space out the buns (picture 12)
11. After the final rise, boil water and steam the buns for 15 minutes until they are cooked and puffed.

Note:

• Don’t skip the final rise, otherwise the bun outer layer won’t be fluffy.
• Don’t uncover the pot right away after steaming, leave the buns covered in the pot for another 15 mins.  This is to prevent the buns from shrinking.

Roast Prime Rib with Thyme Au Jus

I adapted this recipe from Food Network, it is Bobby Flay’s recipe.  I always had delicious prime rib at my relatives during holidays.  They served their prime rib with very light au jus (like clear beef broth).  Since I wanted a richer au jus, Bobby Flay’s recipe contains red wine and everyone said it was amazing.  All those good comments caught my eye.  So, tonight to celebrate Easter, I roasted my prime rib for the very first time.  The only change I made was the temperature – I adjusted it down to 120F instead of 135F.   I am glad that I did that as the temperature continued to cook the meat during the resting period.  My husband only likes medium rare, so I had to make sure he gets his tender piece.  This recipe made me feel like I was a professional chef!

Picture below is a small piece of roast I purchased from the market, it is slightly less than 5lbs (bone-in 3 ribs).  The cooking time is about 1.5 hours, but don’t rely on the cooking time, you should use an oven thermometer to avoid overcooking.

Ingredients:  (If your roast is bigger than 5 lbs, please follow Bobby Flay’s recipe for the liquid amount)

5 Lbs	Bone-in prime rib (about 3 ribs)
8 Cloves	Garlic, cut in half
Enough to cover the meat	Kosher salt and coarsely ground black pepper
1 Cup	Red wine (I use Cabernet, Bobby Flay used Merlot)
2 Cups	Beef stock
1 Tbsp	Chopped fresh thyme leaves

Directions:

1.  Preheat oven to 350F.
2. Generously sprinkle salt and pepper on meat.  (picture 1)
3. Make small slits all over the prime rib and push garlic pieces into each slit.  (picture 2)
4. Place roast on a rack set inside a roasting pan and insert the thermometer into the center at the thickest part, away from bone.  (picture 3)
5. Set temperature to 110F, when the internal temperature reaches 110F, it will alarm you (I originally set the temperature to 120F, but 110F is more perfect if you like medium rare). *Note: If the meat is too rare, you can always dip the cut piece into the hot gravy. However, if the meat is too cooked, nothing you can do.  (picture 4)
6. Remove the meat to a platter and cover with foil to keep warm, the meat will continue to cook.

• While the meat is resting, discard all the fat from the roasting pan but keep the pan drippings.  Place the pan on top of the stove over 2 burners set on high heat and add 1 cup of wine.  (picture A)
• When the wine is reduced, add in 2 cups of beef stock and cook until reduced by half.  (picture B)
• Whisk in 1 tablespoon of fresh thyme leaves.  (picture C)
• Use a wooden spoon to mix the au jus and add a pinch of salt and pepper to taste.  (picture D)

• Transfer the au jus to a gravy bowl  and serve.

Mini Red Bean Pudding Cake (砵仔糕 Boot Jai Go / Put Chai Ko)

Boot Jai Go aka Put Chai Ko is a popular snack sold by street vendors in Hong Kong.  Traditionally, these pudding cakes were steamed in earthen bowls, which in Chinese means “Boot Jai”.  This is how it got its name “Boot Jai” pudding.  These pudding cakes are made from white or brown sugar, rice flour and wheat starch.  Sometimes red bean is also added.  I still remember during my childhood in Hong Kong, the hawker removed the pudding cake from a porcelain bowl by inserting two bamboo sticks and we just held the skewers while eating them.  Besides the Egg waffles, Boot Jai Go is one of Hong Kong’s must try street vendor’s snacks.

Today, I made these pudding cakes using mini muffin trays.  I made two types, one with brown sugar and one with white sugar and coconut cream.  I also made some without red bean as my daughter likes them plain.

Brown Sugar Boot Jai Go:

Ingredients:

60g	Wheat Flour 澄麵
90g	Rice Flour 粘米粉
110g	Dark Brown Sugar 黑蔗糖
2 cup	Water 水
1 cup	Cooked red beans 熟紅豆

Directions:

1. Pour 1/2 cup of red bean and 1-1/2 cup of water into the pressure cooker, and set the pressure cooking time to 25 minutes (sugar can be added depending on your preference).  Discard water once red bean is cooked and set aside;
2. Combine wheat starch and rice flour in a big bowl, add 1 cup of cold water to the flour mixture and mix well, make sure the batter has no lumps (picture 1);
3. In a small pot, combine 1 cup of water and 110g of dark brown sugar, bring to a boil until sugar is dissolved (picture 2);
4. Quickly pour the hot sugar water into the batter, mix thoroughly (picture 3);
5. Scope out the batter to a mini muffin tray with a ladle (while transferring the batter, keep mixing the batter as the starch tend to sink to the bottom) (picture 4);
6. In a big steamer/wok, bring water to a boil.  Transfer the muffin tray to the steamer and steam over high heat for 3 minutes.  Then add red bean to the middle of each pudding and continue steaming for 7 minutes.  If you want to make the plain pudding with red beans, just steam it for 10 minutes straight (picture 5).

Coconut Boot Jai Go:

1. Replace brown sugar with white sugar, also 110g (picture A);
2. Instead of 1 cup of boiling water, combine 1/2 cup of water and 1/2 cup of coconut cream (pictures B & C);
3. Pour sugar, water and coconut cream into a pot, bring to a boil (picture D);
4. Repeat steps 4-6 above.

Note:

• It’s normal that the cake droops in the middle after steaming.
• You will need to steam this for 30 minutes or so if you use a porcelain bowl depending the size of the bowl.  Red bean can be added to the batter just prior to steaming.

Sous Vide Steak

Steak is one of the most popular foods to cook sous vide and since everyone in my family likes their steak medium rare, I decided to adopt the sous vide method instead of the typical grilling method.

Before we start, we need to pick the right steak.  The thickness of a steak should be at least 1.5 inches thick, either bone-in or boneless.  The reason to pick a thicker piece is because we need to sear the steak after sous-vide cooking.  A thinner piece will tend to overcook during the searing process.  Below is an excerpt from the Anova site and a complete guide can be found here .

Strip, Ribeye, and Porterhouse Steaks

Highly marbled cuts like a grain-finished Prime-grade ribeye and strip should be cooked a few degrees higher than leaner steaks like tenderloin as their copious intramuscular fat helps keep them moist while delivering plenty of flavor.  Fattier steaks also have natural insulation which means they’ll take slightly longer to reach the correct internal temperature.

Very rare to Rare:  120°F (49°C) to 128°F (53°C), 1 to 2 1/2 hours.
Medium-rare:  129°F (54°C) to 134°F (57°C), 1 to 4 hours (2 1/2 hours max for temperatures under 130°F/57°C).
Medium:  135°F (57°C) to 144°F (62°C), 1 to 4 hours.
Medium-well:  145°F (63°C) to 155°F (68°C), 1 to 3 1/2 hours.
Well done:  156°F (69°C) and up, 1 to 3 hours.

Here is how we made a mouth-watering sous-vide steak.

Ingredients:
2 Steaks (about 1 pound each)
Salt
Pepper
12 garlic clove

Direction:

1. Preheat Precision Cooker to the desired final temperature according to the chart above.  I like my steaks medium rare, so I set my temperature to 129°F.
2. Generously season the steak (including the edges) with salt and pepper. (picture 1)
3. Put the steak into a bag and add 3 garlic cloves to each side of the steak (if you want herbs, you can add that to the bag as well).  Seal the bag with a vacuum sealer.  (picture 2)
4. When water has reached the desired temperature, drop the bag(s) in the water bath.  (picture 3)
5. You can connect your cell phone to your precision cooker and use the app to set the cooking time to 1 hour.  (picture 4)
6. Remove the steak from the bag and pat dry with paper towel.  Preheat a cast iron skillet and add one tablespoon of grape seed oil until it starts to smoke, add your steak to the pan. (picture 5)
7. Sear one side for 15 to 30 seconds and flip the steak and sear the other side for 15 t0 30 seconds.  Repeat this step once until the steak gets a nice brown sear.  Make sure not to cook for too long.  Immediately serve with your favorite vegetables/side dishes.  (picture 6)

Note:  With sous-vide cooking, you can cut the steak right after searing, the 10-minute resting period can be skipped.

Sous Vide Soy Sauce Chicken

Sous vide cooking is new to me, a lot of my friends have already owned a Sous Vide Precision Cooker for a couple of years.  I heard many good things about it but never thought about buying one until after the Thanksgiving holiday when there was a big sale.  I purchased mine (Anova brand) and used it the very first time yesterday.  Basically sous vide cooking is putting food in a bag and cooking it in a water bath.  This technique is about bringing food up to a precisely controlled temperature to deliver super-juicy, flavor-packed results throughout the entire piece of meat.  I personally don’t like the idea of cooking food in a plastic bag, but if I use those vacuum sealer bags that are BPA free, I think that is acceptable.  Below is my first recipe – A Chinese soy sauce chicken –  the meat was cooked just right, very tender and juicy.  Please note this soy sauce chicken doesn’t need the searing step after the water bath.

Ingredients:

1	3-4 pound free range brown chicken 黃毛雞
3 slices	Fresh ginger
3	Star anise
3	Bay leaves
2 stalks	Green onions
6 cloves	Garlic
7 Tbsp	Brown sugar
300ml	Light soy sauce
300ml	Water
2 Tbsp	Mei Kuei Lu Chiew (Cooking wine) 玫瑰露酒

Directions for making the sauce:

1. Measure all ingredients and set aside (picture 1).
2. Add a tablespoon of cooking oil to the frying pan, stir in ginger, garlic and green onion and cook for a minute. (pictures 2)
3. Add a tablespoon of Mei Kuei Lu Chiew (cooking wine) and then add in 300 ml water. (pictures 3-4)
4. Add in sugar, anise and bay leaves. (pictures 5 and 6)
5. When the liquid is boiling, add a tablespoon of Mei Kuei Lu Chiew (cooking wine) and soy sauce. (pictures 7 and 8)
6. Turn off fire after the sauce is slightly bubbling, transfer the sauce into a bowl and let it cool. (picture 9)

Directions for sous vide cooking:

1. Bring a pot of water to a boil and put the whole chicken in for 30 seconds to 1 minute.  This step will firm the chicken skin and allow the sauce to coat the chicken evenly.  (picture a)
2. Fill a pot of water, clip the Anova Sous Vide Precision Cooker to the side of the pot, download the app and connect Anova to your phone.  Use the phone to set the temperature that you want the food to finish at. For this chicken, I set it to 155.5 for 6 hours.
3. While the cooker is heating up the water, put chicken in a bag and pour sauce into the bag.  Toss the chicken to make sure sauce gets on all sides.  (pictures c and d)
4. When water has reached the desired temperature, seal the bag using the water immersion technique (drop the bag into water slowly and air will come out, use binder clips to secure the bag).  Place the bag in the water bath and let it cook for 6 hours.  (pictures e and f)
5. When the timer goes off, remove the bag from the water bath.  Take out the chicken and let it cool.  You can save the sauce and use it next time, just re-boil and freeze in the freezer.

Let the chicken rest for 10 minutes before cutting.  Serve with white steamed rice.

Braised Pork Soft Bones (豬軟骨)

Ever since I bought an electric pressure cooker (Instant Pot), I’ve tried different recipes that required long cooking times on the stove top.  I must say I love pressure cooking as it has saved me so much time!   This Instant Pot is very safe to use, if the cooker is still pressurized, the lid will be locked to prevent accidental opening.  I have tried cooking a whole chicken, tri-tip, soup and Oxtail.

Ingredients:

3 pounds	Pork soft bones
10 cloves	Garlic
1	Anise
2 slices	Ginger
3 stalks	Green onions
2/3 cup	Light soy sauce
1/2 cup	Mirin
1/2 cup	Water
4 Tbsp	Dark soy sauce
4 Tbsp	Brown sugar
1 Tbsp	Mei Kuei Lu Chiew (or rice cooking wine)

Directions:

1. I bought these pork soft bones in an Asian supermarket, as you can see from picture 1, they are like short ribs and has a little fat marbling in the meat. The little white circles are the soft bones, once the ribs are cooked for a long time, you can eat the bones together with the meat.
2. Add 2 tablespoons of cooking oil to a frying pan and fry the pork ribs until slightly golden brown. (picture 2)
3. Add garlic, ginger and green onions to the ribs and stir well. (picture 3)
4. Add a tablespoon of Mei Kuei Lu Chiew (if you don’t have this type of wine, just add rice cooking wine). (picture 4)
5. Transfer the ribs to a pressure cooker. In a separate bowl, combine light soy sauce, mirin, water, dark soy sauce and brown sugar.  Pour the mixture into the pressure cooker. (pictures 5-10)
6. I am using an electric pressure cooker (Instant Pot).  Close the pressure cooker lid tight and make sure the steam release knob is turned to “Sealing” position. Select “Meat/Stew” function, set pressure to “normal” and the cooking time to 35 minutes.  As the pressure increases inside the cooker, the Float Valve pops up and seals the cooker.  (picture 11)
7. When the ribs are done cooking, slide the steam release knob to the “Venting” position to let out steam until the Float Valve drops down. The meat is so soft and tender, you can serve it with noodles in soup or rice.  (Picture 12)

Note:  If you don’t have a pressure cooker and want to make this on the stove top, instead of 1/2 cup of water, add 4 cups of water to the pot.  Cook ribs in medium low heat for about 2 hours.

Traditional Mooncakes 廣式月餅

I made these traditional mooncakes two years ago with a 63g mooncake mold.  I’m posting this again with the ingredients for a 75g mold.  Please plan ahead of time as (i) the paste needs to be made and refrigerated (or you can buy the paste from a store), and (ii) the skin normally needs to rest for 2 days after baking to get the best texture,  called “回油” in Chinese.  If you have a sweet tooth, you may want to increase the sugar amount as my recipe is a healthier version – less sugar and less oil.

Ingredients for Lotus Paste (yield: 17 pieces – 23g each paste ball):

400g	Lotus seeds
240g	Sugar
200ml	Grape seed oil/Olive oil
2 Tbsps	Honey
2 Tbsps	Condense milk
1/4 tsp	Salt

Directions for making the lotus paste are in my previous mooncake recipe here.

Ingredients for making the dough:  (yield: 17 mooncakes – 52g each dough ball) 

200g	All purpose flour
140g	Golden Syrup (recipe courtesy of Christine Ho – here)
1 tsp	Alkaline water
50g/ml	Grape seed oil
Fillings:
900g	Lotus Paste
9	Salted Egg Yolks
1 Tbsp	Rose-flavored cooking wine (玫瑰露酒)
1	Egg (for egg wash)

Directions: (The dough/filling ratio is 3:7)

1. Mix salted egg yolks with wine. Wipe dry the yolks with kitchen paper after a few minutes.  Cut each into two halves. Set aside.  (Note: if you don’t want to use cooking wine, you can use salt water to rinse the egg yolks to remove the excess egg whites).
2. Place golden syrup in a bowl.  Add in alkaline water, stir to combine. Add in oil and mix well.
3. Add flour into the syrup mixture and combine well. Gently knead the dough till smooth (takes 1~2 mins). Shape it into a round ball and wrap with cling wrap. Leave it in the fridge to rest for at least 2 hours or overnight.
4. Before making mooncakes, bring the dough to room temperature for 30 mins. Divide dough into 17 equal portions, each weighs 23g.  Roll each portion into a ball shape.  Divide lotus paste into 17 equal portions as well, each weighs 52g, the salted egg yolks are roughly 5g each half.  (Pictures 1-3)
5. Take a lotus paste ball and poke a hole in the middle with your finger. Place egg yolk inside. (Picture 4).
6. Flatten each dough into a small disc with a rolling pin. The dough is sticky, I suggest putting a piece of cling wrap on top and roll it out.  (Picture 5)
7. Wrap the dough around the filling and shape it into a ball. (Picture 6)
8. Lightly dust the stuffed dough with some flour and lightly dust the mold.  Place the stuffed dough into the mooncake mold.  Tip:  When wrapping the filling, the dough is thicker on the closing end, the thicker side of the dough should go into the mold first as you will get the pattern pressed on this side.  (Picture 7)
9. Press the handle, then remove the mooncake from the mold.  Dust off any excess flour with a brush.  (Pictures 8-9)
10. Line the baking sheet with parchment paper and place mooncakes on top.
11. Preheat oven to 350F. Prepare the egg wash by whisking the egg, sift through a fine sieve.
12. Lightly spray some water on the mooncakes. (Note: this step prevents the mooncakes from cracking during baking.)   (Picture 10)
13. Position the rack in the upper third of the oven and bake for 10 mins. Remove from oven and leave to cool for 15mins (Note:  this step helps stabilizing the pattern on top).
14. After 15 minutes, brush the top with very little egg wash (Note: too much egg wash, the pattern will disappear after baking). Return to oven and change the oven temperature to 325F and continue to bake for another 25-30 mins. (Picture 11)
15. After baking, the skin doesn’t have the shiny look (picture 12).  Leave mooncakes to cool completely and store in air tight containers. Wait for 2 days before serving, the skin will become soft and shiny, called “回油” in Chinese.

This is the clear pattern before baking.

I ordered this customized mooncake mold in Hong Kong.  The disk can be removed for easy cleaning.  I personally do not like anything bigger than 75g or smaller than 63g.  However, you may like the 100g as it’s easier to work with.

I also bought these containers and bags in Hong Kong.  They look nice and neat when giving them as a gift.