Baked Strawberry Cheesecake and Good Old Char Kwey Tiao

I have meant to put up this post over the weekend, but I guess I can never be able to blog as fast as I bake / cook, lol! I have 2 more posts overdue but have yet found time to write it out. Furthermore, there seems to be an endless list of things to do which I keep telling myself I will get to it soon. Simple things like replying a good friend's email can sometimes take me a week! So if you are one of them and reading this...please forgive me, lol! I remember I was never like this years back, I was much more organized and in control of things around me. Now? Geese...I wish I can get through a day without worrying simple things like whether I've placed clean socks in my girls' shoes, or even the lunch menu for tomorrow. Sometimes I feel that I haven't got much done and the day was already over. Helpless....But I believe there are many people out there have similar experiences.

But one thing is for sure...I will usually sacrifice my free time for baking / cooking. It's my comfort zone, my time out from all that hustle and bustle of my busy life. I am sure it is true for many of you out there too. ;)

For now, let's focus and talk about my bake: Baked Strawberry Cheesecake....verdict? Double thumbs up!

I made this for my dear mum when we met up for a dinner last Sunday. Yes, it's for Mother's day....my first Mother's Day cake for my mum. Like she always is, she was all praise even before she tasted it.

And since this was the first time I made this cake and I did not get a chance to taste it before giving it to my mum...I was rather nervous at that time. But I was lucky, it came out great and my whole family loved it. :)

I have actually came up with this recipe on my own, and I kind of forgotten certain proportion for some ingredients, so I think I shall not post it up for now. There were not many good strawberry cheesecake recipes out there...more blueberry ones I must say. So if you have a decent blueberry cheesecake recipe, feel free to substitute the blueberries to strawberries, it should work fine.

See that humongous strawberry? It's almost as big as my 4yr old's fist! My mum gave me half a dozen of those...perhaps she read my mind that I was gonna make something strawberry for her, lol! Overall, I must say this is indeed one of the best (only 2nd to this) cheesecake I've made. Hopefully I will have time to look through the recipe and get it out soon. ;)

The other item is my favorite hawker eat: Char Kway Teow (minus the fresh clams). As far as I can remember, char kway teow is probably the one food that I missed the most when I was residing overseas. I had replicate it several times in my kitchen while overseas...but now even in Asia! Don't ask me why...I don't feel it's troublesome at all, lol!

This is my version of char kway teow....meaning I have substituted some of the ingredients. I did not have fried pork oil, bean sprouts and clams, so I simple didn't use them. The result was still fabulous! My family and I enjoyed it very much. :) Wonder how I did it? Here it is:

Ingredients for HBS's Char Kway Teow:
500g wide flat rice noodle, blanched in hot water and rinsed
3 eggs, cracked and lightly beaten
some Cai-Xin ( 菜心)
2 tbsp chopped garlic
100g sliced lean pork
6 medium size prawns, peeled leaving tail and devined
some fish cake
1/2 Chinese sausage, removed casing and slice thinly

Seasoning A:
1.5 tbsp light soy sauce
1.5 tbsp dark soy sauce
Seasoning B:
1 tbsp light soy sauce
1 tbsp dark soy sauce
1 tbsp sweet dark soy sauce
1 tsp oyster sauce
some sesame oil
pinch of pepper & salt
some sugar to taste

Method:

• Seasoned the sliced lean pork with 1/4 tsp of soy sauce, pinch of pepper, 1/2 tsp sesame oil & 1/4 tsp corn flour. Let it marinate.

• Fry 1 tbsp of chopped garlic in oil till fragrant. Add rice noodle and stir well. Add seasoning A. Stir well till the noodles are coated with the soy sauces. Dish up and set aside for later use.
• Again heat up the work and fried 2/3 of the beaten eggs. When done dish up and set aside.
  
• Add 1 tsp oil and add in lean pork and stir fry till cooked. Add in Chinese sausage, fish cake and cai-xin. Stir fry till cai-xin is cooked down. Add in rice noodles and follow by Seasoning B. Stir fry till everything is well coated.
• Add in the remaining 1/3 of the reserved egg and let it set a little before stirring in the noodles.
  
• Lastly add in the previously fried eggs and stir well. Dish up and serve immediately.

My younger daughter loved it and asked for 2nds! I was super glad my version was still well recieved even though my family have tasted the "real thing" at the nearby hawker before. ;)It may look like a lot of hustle, but the only "troublesome" part to me was preparing the ingredients (which I didn't have a lot). The actual cooking only took me like 5 to 7 minutes tops! So do consider cooking your own char kway teow...you'll love it! Have fun!

Steam wholewheat red bean baos

One of the favorite things I enjoy eating for breakfast is baos. Whether it is savory or sweet, a steamy bao is always very inviting. ;) I have been wanting to try my hands on making steam baos with sweet filling for a long time ...since last year! :P So after seeing my dear friend Reese making her Sauage Bao in her last post, I decided to make some myself. :) Since I don't want to be too adventurous this time, I simply used store bought red bean filling instead of making them myself. The thought of "slaving" over a hot of red bean paste is just too tedious for me these days. :P I have actually made 2 different batches of baos, one plain and one wholewheat version...here are the wholewheat ones:

Making baos is fun! It's almost like making bread! ;) Needless to say, you can see I had fun moulding the baos too. When I was moulding them, my daughters were both eager and excited about the cute animal shapes. Since I was rushing (as usual), I only mould 4 different shapes. Fellow blogger like My Kitchen Snippets and Happy Home Baking too had their share of making these fun baos not too long ago. ;)

I am pretty happy with this wholewheat version of the bao skin I made....soft, fluffy & healthy~! Sweet! :)

The store bought red bean paste was a wee bit too sweet to my liking, so I kind of make my bao skin a little less sweeter.Wanna try out this recipe, here it is:

Ingredients for Wholewheat Steam Red Bean Paste baos: (makes about 12 medium)
200g Hong Kong /bao flour
65g wholewheat flour
6g instant active yeast
50g wheat starch
40g caster sugar
8g double action baking powder
150ml water (add just enough to make a nice soft dough)
20g shortening
20ml olive oil

Method:

• In a large mixing bowl, sift in HK / bao flour together with whole wheat flour, baking powder and wheat starch. Add in sugar and yeast and whisk well to combine everything.

• Next add in water, do not need to add up to 150ml if the dough is already soft and moist. Knead till it comes together and forms a soft dough and not sticky, about 5 mins.
• Lastly add shortening and olive oil and knead dough till it is smooth and elastic.
• Place dough into a lightly greased bowl, cover and let proof for 1 hr.
• In the meantime, roll about 12 portion of the red bean filling, each weighing about 20g each. Place on plate and for use later.
  
• After proofing, punch the air and divide the dough into 12 to 14 portions. Roll round and press the dough flat with your palm, making sure the edges are thinner then the center.
• Place a ball of the filling in the center and seal the edges nicely and place the bao on a cut out small parchment paper.Repeat till all the dough and filling are used up.
• Let the baos rest covered and proof for 25 minutes before steaming.
  
• Prepare a steamer with boiling water. Steam the baos and steam at high fire for 12 to 15 minutes till the baos are done.

I'm not sure is it my moulding skill or the softness of the dough, but I think my piggy have droopy ears & noses! Furthermore, the wholewheat flour made my piggies look like they are having freckles...lol! Nevertheless, wholewheat is always a healthier version as compared to plain ones. Take a look at the first batch of plain baos I made earlier:

I will not be posting the plain skin baos recipe as I find it a bit tough the following day. But on the first day, the baos were great when they first come out from the steamer, yummy!;) Notice the one with the spiral pattern? My daughter calls it "wormy", lol!

I also made a few piggies with this dough. Wonder why one piggy is not pink? I only realized I forgot to tint the dough pink after I mould the first piggy...:P

I had loads of fun making this baos this time. Guess the next time I will try with black sesame paste or lotus paste...yum! If you are interested, try it out! Have fun too!