Flower Buns

Flower buns are steamed buns in the shape of a flower and have no fillings, so they have to be eaten with stewed meat like Hong Bak or Tong Po pork. I have made them from quite a number of recipes but this one is from Jo's Deli Bakery.




Ingredients:

Dough Starter:
135g cake/superfine flour, sifted
45g pau flour, sifted
1 tsp instant yeast
A pinch of salt
100g water


METHOD:
Combine all ingredients in a mixing bowl. Mix and knead (by hand or by mixer) until dough is smooth and elastic.
Place dough in an oiled bowl and covered with cling film. Prove for 11/2-2 hour until dough is double in volume.
Divide dough to 70g portions. Reserve one portion for this recipe and store the rest in an air tight container and freeze. Thaw to room temperature the next time you want to use the dough starter.


INGREDIENTS:

Main Dough:
200g cake/superfine flour
100g pau flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
6g soy flour
50g castor sugar
2 tsp instant yeast
130g water
70g Dough Starter
10g shortening

For greasing:
2 tbsp shortening
2 tbsp castor sugar



METHOD:

Prepare main dough: Sift cake flour, pau flour, baking powder and soy flour into a mixing bowl. Combine flours with sugar, yeast and water. Beat until a smooth dough is formed.
Add in dough starter and shortening. Continue to knead until the dough is smooth, elastic and close to the stage where a thin membrane can be formed when dough is stretched
To prepare greasing, mix shortening and castor sugar in a bowl. Mix well using a spoon until sugar dissolve a little.


To prepare Flower Bun:


Divide dough into 11 portions of 50g small doughs. Roll each portion out to about 1/4 inch thick. Use a knife or pizza cutter, cut a few lines on the dough. Leave both ends of dough un-cut
Apply the sugar greasing onto dough . Twist the dough . Tie dough into a knot . Repeat for other dough.
Cover Flower Buns with a damp cloth and prove for 30 minutes.
Boil water in a steamer. Reduce fire to medium heat. Steam Flower Buns for 10 minutes.
Serve while Flower Buns are still hot.


NOTES FROM JO'S DELI BAKERY:

The dough starter recipe will give you about 4 portions of starters. Store the rest in air-tight container in freezer. Just bring a portion of starter back to room temperature when you need it for other pau products. Use it for making e.g. Steamed Man Tou, Meat & Vegetable Pau, Char Siew Pau (Barbecued Pork Pau) etc.


Unlike bread dough, dough for pau product does not have to be kneaded to the thin membrane stage. Knead until gluten is formed in dough.
Please adjust water content of this recipe. Remember amount of water required depends on types of flour used, type of liquid used, temperature and humidity of atmosphere at the time of making the pau.
Unless the dough is too sticky to work with, avoid using too much flour to dust your working surface. This may result in thick and hard pau skin.
Avoid water condensate at steamer's lid from dropping to the man tou. Dry lid with a cloth every time you uncover the steamer.
Don't worry if your product is not as white as those sold in the restaurant. This is because you do not use 100% bleached pau flour in this recipe. I mixed pau flour with superfine/cake (low protein) flour so that texture of pau would not be too chewy.
If you are not able to finish all the flower buns at one time, keep them in an air-tight container or plastic bag and freeze. Just reheat them whenever you want to have them. Estimated storage period is 2-3 months.
Serves
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Yee Sang

Yee Sang is a salad served during the Chinese New Year and raw fish is sliced very thinly and lime/lemon juice is added to the fish before serving. The fish served in this case has to be very fresh which unfortunately is impossible to get here. I have substituted it with jelly fish.




Ingredients:
150g sliced raw fish (you can use salmon)
200g radish shreds
150 g carrot shreds
30g tian-cha-gua (mandarin, direct translation sweet tea melon)
30g qua yin (mand.)
100g pomelo
50g crispy chips (can be sub. with fried wanton skin or yao cha guai)
30g red yam shreds
20g sweet onion pickle shreds
30g green yam shreds
10g red sweet ginger pickle
10g white sweet ginger pickle
1 tsp shreded lime(limau perut) leaves
some coriander leaves
1/2 lemon
1 tsp brandy
15g sesame seeds, toasted
30g peanuts, toasted and ground
1/2 cup of garlic oil + 1 tsp sesame oil

Sauce:150g plum sauce
1/2 tbsp hoisin sauce
1 tsp pepper
1/4tsp five-spice powder
apricot jam
lime juice


Added ingredients or sub.:

pickled mango
orange rind
dried apricot


Have to make my own qua yin which is sweetened green papaya.

• shred green papaya, add salt and leave aside, squeeze out as much liquid as possible
• blanch in hot water, remove and drain
• cook sugar with 1 tbsp of corn syrup and water until thick,
• add in shred papaya and mix well.
• let it cool.

YAM SHREDS

• shred or juliene yam.
• one portion color with red and another in green.
• deep fry them until crisp.

To make crispy cracker -

• 1 cup plain flour
• 1 egg
• 1 piece of lam yee

• 1 tsp baking powder
• a pinch of salt and pepper
• enough water to make into a dough

Mix all the above ingredients and rest dough for 30 mins.


Divide dough into small pieces and roll each piece as thin as possible, like wonton skin.


Cut into 1" x 1/4" strips and deep fry


Method:



1. Prepare all ingredients and arrange on a serving plate
2. Mix raw fish with lemon juice and brandy. Pour the oil and sauce and toss all ingredients .


Serves
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Cream Puffs

Cream Puffs are the most perfect dessert in existence: crisp, tender and airy pastry encasing cold, creamy ice cream and napped by dark, luxurious chocolate sauce.



Source : Cook's Illustrated

Ingredients:

• 2 large eggs plus 1 large egg white(need 1/2 cup only)
• 5 tbsps unsalted butter, cut into 10 pieces(do not replace)
• 1 oz whole milk(makes the puffs brown faster)
• 3 ozs water
• 1 1/2 tsp sugar
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 2 1/2 ozs unbleached all-purpose flour, sifted

Method:

1. Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 425 degrees F.
2. Spray large(12 by 18 inch) baking sheet with nonstick cooking spray and line with parchment paper, set aside.
3. Beat eggs and egg white in measuring cup, you should have 1/2 cup(discard excess). Set aside.
4. Bring butter, milk, water, sugar, and salt to boil over medium heat, stirring once or twice. When mixture reaches full boil(butter should be fully melted), immediately remove saucepan from heat and stir in flour with heatproof spatula or wooden spoon until combined and mixture clears sides of pan. Return saucepan to low heat and cook, stirring constantly, using smearing motion, for 3 minutes, until mixture is slightly shiny with wet -sand appearance and tiny beads of fat appear on bottom of saucepan(temperature of paste should register 175 to 180 degrees F on instant-read thermometer).
5. Immediately transfer mixture to food processor and process with feed tube open for 10 seconds to cool slightly. With machine running, gradually add eggs in steady stream. When all eggs have been added, scrape down side bowl, then process for 30 seconds until smooth, thick, sticky paste forms.(If not using immediately, transfer paste to medium bowl, cover surface flush with sheet of plastic wrap sprayed lightly with nonstick cooking spray, and store at room temperature for up to 2 hours)
6. Fold down top 3 or 4 inches of 14 or 16 inch pastry bag fitted with 1/2 inch plain tip to form a cuff. Hold bag open with one hand in cuff and fill bag with paste. Unfold cuff, lay bag on work surface, and, using hands or bench scraper, push paste into lower portion of pastry bag. Twist top of bag and pipe paste into 11/4 to 11/2 inch mounds on prepared baking sheet, spacing them about 1 to 11/4 inches apart (you should be able to fit about 24 mounds on baking sheet).
7. Use back of teaspoon dipped in bowl of cold water to smooth shape and surface of piped mounds.
8. Bake 15 minutes (do not open oven door), then reduce oven temperature to 375 degrees and continue to bake until golden brown and fairly firm(puffs should not be soft and squishy), 8 to 10 minutes longer.
9. Remove baking sheet from oven. With paring knife, cut 3/4 inch slit into side of each puff to release steam, return puffs to oven, turn off oven, and prop oven door open with handle of wooden spoon. Dry puffs in turned off oven until centers are just moist(not wet) and puffs are crisp, about 45 minutes.
10. Transfer puffs to wire rack to cool. (Cooled puffs can be stored at room temperature for up to 24 hours or frozen in zipper lock plastic bag for up to 1 month. Before serving, crisp room temperature puffs in 300 degrees oven 5 to 8 minutes, or 8 to 10 minutes for frozen puffs)
11. Serve puffs with a scoop of ice cream preferably vanilla and napped with chocolate sauce.

CHOCOLATE SAUCE

Whisk the sauce gently so as not to create tiny air bubbles that can mar its appearance.

1/2 cup heavy cream

3 tbsp light corn syrup

3 tbsp unsalted butter cut into 3 pieces

salt

6 ozes bittersweet chocolate, chopped fine

Bring heavy cream, corn syrup, butter and salt to boil in small nonreactive saucepan over medium-high heat. Off heat, add chocolate while gently swirling saucepan. Cover pan and let stand until chocolate is melted, about 5 minutes. Uncover and whisk gently until combined. (can be cooled to room temperature, placed in airtight container, and refrigerated for up to 3 weeks. To reheat, transfer sauce to heatproof bowl set over saucepan of simmering water. Alternatively, microwave at 50 percent power, stiring once or twice, 1 to 3 minutes)

Serves
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