Pumpkin Bao with Char Siew filling

I realize that I have not been making baos for awhile now. And since making bao is much much easier as compared to bread baking, I will usually opt for steaming up some baos instead during busy days. This time I decided to make the bao a flavored one, which is pumpkin! Such an obvious choice since I love root vegetables! And just so happened I bought some char siew from the market, so char siew pumpkin bao it is!

I adapted the pumpkin bao dough recipe from Carol's cookbook on "面点新手必用的第一本书 " which was pretty easy to handle. Here is the recipe:

Char Siew Filling:

300g Char siew pork, chopped finely (store bought)
6 shallots*, sliced thinly and fried till golden brown
Seasonings:
120ml water
1.5 tbsp light soy sauce
1 tbsp oyster sauce
1 tsp dark soy sauce
2.5 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp tapioca flour
1 tbsp corn flour
1 tsp plain flour

• In a large mixing bowl, add all the seasoning ingredients together and mix well.
• In the saucepan with medium low heat, add the seasoning mixture and cook till it thickens.
• Add the chopped char siew pork and fried shallots and stir till well combined.
• Off the fire and dish up to cool till ready to use. This can be made ahead of time and kept in the fridge for 24 to 48 hrs. 

Starter dough: 

120g plain flour

1/4 tsp instant active yeast

80ml water

pinch of salt

• Mix everything together to a soft pliable dough. Cover and let rest in a greased bowl to proof for 1hr so it doubles in size.

 Main Dough:
180g pumpkin (peeled, steamed and mashed)
100g starter dough
300g cake flour/ Top flour / HK flour
1/2 tsp instant active yeast
20g milk powder
20g caster sugar
20g olive oil
1/8 tsp salt
10-20ml water can be added is dough is too try. Or 10-20g cake flour can be added if dough is too wet

• Knead everything together in a mixer till not sticky and everything comes together into a smooth pliable dough.
• Let dough rest in greased bowl covered for another 45mins to 1 hr until double in size.
• In the meantime, prepare steamer and some cut out grease paper.
• Punch out the air and divide the dough into 45g portions, roll round and let sit for 10 mins covered before wrapping.
• Take a portion and roll flat into a round disk, place about 1 heaping teaspoon of char siew filling in the center and then seal up the dough by pleating along side. 
• Place the wrapped bao on a grease paper and let it proof for another 15-20 mins before steaming. Repeat this till all the dough portions are used.
• While the steamer is boiling at medium low, place the baos in and steam at medium fire for 10-12 minutes. make sure your steamer cover is wrapped with kitchen towel to prevent the water from dripping on the baos.
• Once done, off fire and let seat for 5 minutes. Then slowly lift cover and open a small gap to cool for another 10 minutes before removing the cover completely.

 

The bao skin is fluffy soft and with the pairing of char siew filling was awesome! My kids ate them happily and say it's better then store bought! ~happiness~ hahaha! The bao skin does have a faint pumpkin aroma to it! I love! :D

Do try this recipe if you like baos and pumpkin as much as I do. And feel free to change the filling to whatever you like, red bean, lotus paste or even black sesame, I think it'll be yummy too! ;)

Okay folks, thats all for today, will post another fruity cake soon, stay tune!

Steamed Moist Chocolate Oat cake with Bananas

This is a long over due post! Haha, my sincere apologies again. :P I guess I am posting upon on demand now since I can see my followers' interest are. Well mainly from Instagram though since that is where I am most of the time now. :P Anyways, I am gonna post one of the more popular recipes today which I have repetitive requests on. It is Steamed Moist Chocolate Oat cake (with banana). I actually first made this for Easter...yeah 3 months late, hahaha! Oops busted! LOL!

This is such an easy recipe to whip up! I guess the only tedious part is the blending the rolled oats and steaming the batter, haha! Anyways, I adapted this recipe from Cooking Crave but modified the recipe to a healthier version. Here is my recipe:

Ingredients for Steamed Moist Chocolate Oat Cake (makes about 12 standard 4oz)

120ml vegetable oil

200ml chocolate milk (low fat milk can be used)

2 large eggs

1/4 tsp salt

150g light brown sugar (I used 140g when I added banana in)

80g cake flour

50g oat flour (blend rolled oats till very fine)

50g unsweetened cocoa powder (I used Valrohna) 

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp baking soda

1 tsp pure vanilla extract

4 ripe bananas, half or quartered to be inserted into cake

• Get ready steamer with cupcake liners or an 8" round cake pan, greased and lined with parchment paper. Set the steamer on low fire
• In a large mixing bowl, add oil, milk, eggs, salt and sugar. Stir well and make sure sugar has dissolved. You can speed up the process by placing bowl over double boiler.
• Sift the cake flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and baking soda into the milk mixture. aAdd in the oat flour at this point. Stir well making sure everything is combined and no visible lumps.
• Lastly add in the vanilla extract and mix. Batter will be runny.
• Pour the batter into the prepared containers. If adding bananas, now you can insert them, letting them stand up right. 
• Make sure when you place the batter into the steamer, it is already on low boil. For a whole 8" cake, steam at medium fire for 40mins till cake tester comes out clean. For cupcakes, steam for 10-12 mins till cake tester comes out clean as well.

The addition of oats did not compromise the taste nor much of its soft texture. And with the bananas, you can opt to not add more sugar as it will enhance the sweetness when you bite into the fruit. Yums!

Showing off the moist tender interior of the yummy healthy, yes healthy cake. :D Love the addition of the banana...really makes this cake a whole lot more enjoyable haha!

Okay, that's all for now folks, will post up something savory next, stay tune!

 

Steamed Herbal Chicken Drumlets

As promised, I will post up something before the crazy new school term starts again. I'm actually setting my kids "free" today since it's their last free day...so they are basically doing whatever they want. Playing 24-7. (~.~") Have to keep reminding myself, you only get to be a kid once. :P And because of that, I have some free time now to blog, lol! Today a simple and yet healthy recipes that I am so sure anyone can do it in jiffy! First is Steamed Herbal Chicken Drum-lets. 

This is a dish I have made up to 6-7 times for the last couple months. Because it's yummy and easy! I either change the main ingredient to a whole chicken or white fish fillet. This time I made it slightly simpler by using just chicken drum-lets, which I find it much easier to eat too. :P 

Ingredients for Steamed Herbal Chicken Drumlets: (Serves 4)
12 chicken drumlets, skin removed
6 pieces of dried red date
10 pieces of dried longan
5-6 pieces of Yu Zhu Pian ( 玉竹片)
5-6 pieces of Dang Gui (当归)
2 tbsp Gou Qi (枸杞)

Marinate:
1 tbsp light soy sauce
1/2 tsp sesame oil
some white pepper

Seasoning:
1 tbsp Shaoxing cooking wine
1/2 tsp salt

• In a mixing bowl, add in the de-skinned chicken drumlets and all of the marinate ingredients. Mix well and cover to marinate for at least an hour.
• Give all the herbs a quick rinse. Then in a small bowl, add in all the rest of the herbal ingredients except the Gou Qi (枸杞). Add a cup of water and soak the herbs for 15 minutes, except Gou Qi (枸杞).
•  
• Meanwhile, set up the steamer. Line your chicken drum-lets in the steamer bowl and pour in the soaked herbs and add the  Gou Qi (枸杞) over the top.
• Steam at medium high heat for at least 10-15 minutes. If you are using whole chicken, steam at least 20 minutes.
• Once done, remove from steamer and serve immediately with steam rice. Enjoy!  

Fresh out of the steamer! Yummy! If you are worried that your young child doesn't like the taste, you can add a wee bit sugar to the marinate or seasoning to sweeten it a little. But you know the red dates, gou qi & dried longan makes the dish naturally sweet and yummy already! 

Bare in mind to remove the skin of the poultry so the dish will not turn out greasy. I literally drink the soup just like that, it is so yummy! :) Even my kids find this dish delicious, and that is why I repetitively made it over the last couple months, lol! Plus us woman totally need to eat more tonic food to keep up our health. :)

Okay, gonna keep this a short one, have a great weekend everyone!
Promise will be back soon with a desert and I just fell in love...stay tune. ;)

Homemade Egg Tofu using Black Soy Beans Milk

If you ask me if I have ever made tofu before a year ago from now, I would probably laugh it off and claim its really silly and quite a waste of time. Well I can't exactly rule out the latter completely since it does take time to make it as compared to just grabbing a ready made box in the grocer. I still remember when I first saw Wendy posting up her recipe, I was amazed. For something you can get for less then a buck...seriously? But I have to admit, somewhere inside, I was curious and eager to know how to do it...especially if I can do it myself, lol! After 2 attempts, I finally conclude that, it ain't really that silly and it was worth doing it from scratch....well sometimes, lol!

A simple healthy fried egg tofu served over some stir fried greens. In my household, we serve tofu at least twice a week, be it steamed, stewed or fried. We love tofu! In fact I will be posting up a some of the tofu dishes that I serve at home in the coming weeks.

Of course, prior to having homemade tofu, you gonna churn out some homemade soy milk! I make soy milk quite often at home, in fact I love serving it warm with you tiao or Ham Chim Peng on a weekend morning, yum! This time round, I have opted to try out black soy beans for this recipe. Taste and texture wise, no difference, just a slight grayish shade that's all.

Recipe of Homemade Egg Tofu (adapted from Wendy's)

500ml fresh unsweetened black soy milk

6 large eggs

1/4 tsp salt

1 tsp of corn flour mixed with 1 tbsp water

• Crack all six eggs in a large bowl, add salt and beat it up lightly. Pour in the soy milk and stir gently yo blend well.
• Add in the cornflour mix and stir well. Strain the whole mixture and set aside for use later.
• Get ready the steamer. Line a heat proof cling wrap on your steaming container. Pour the soy milk mixture in carefully. Then cover it with another cling wrap which will prevent the steam water from dripping over the tofu.
• Steam at low fire for 30 minutes. Let cool completely before removing and cutting it.

Note that the key to making a smoother tofu is the straining of the mixture and steaming it at low fire.

Well, that's about it. It is not that complicated to make it right? But please don't get the impression that I am so darn free as to make tofu whenever I need it, lol!

I reserved half of the egg tofu to make this Basil Chicken and Tofu (similar to Three Cups Chicken) the following day. I added some store bought tou gua (pressed tofu) plus the ones I made. Not trying to boast, but the homemade ones are definitely so much more tastier and flavorful!

I am glad I tried making some tofu and will probably make it again when I get the mood (plus free time). 

Before I end this post, just want to share something with everyone that made me so so happy! My hubby gave me an early birthday surprise, something that I have been wanting for awhile....check it out:

Obviously, I have much to learn about this new toy. Hopefully will produce more quality photos on my blogs in future. ;) Gonna leave you all on this happy note and hope everyone has a wonderful and restful long weekend! Cheers!

Purple Sweet Potato and Pumpkin Ang Gu Kueh II

After seeing so many wonderful kueh posts from fellow bloggers, I felt that I have better put up my Ang Gu Kueh post before it becomes "stale", heehee. (^o^) Its funny that I was actually planning to make it way before knowing about this month's theme. Have been craving for some lately. And I know it will bring back some fond memories of the day which I first made it with my dear friend Reese back in KL. :) Thanks for such a great recipe Reese! Using that recipe, I made pumpkin kueh with mung bean filling and purple sweet potato kueh with yam filling.

Its so unlike me to pass on not making peanut filling for the kueh. But due to time constraint and not wanting to spend so much time in the kitchen rather then with my kids, I just settled with mung bean and yam filling this time. *sigh* Hopefully I will get some time after the exams to make a big batch of roasted ground peanuts!

But of course the mung bean and yam filled ones are still delicious, so no worries there. :) I have added the recipe here for my easy reference in future:

Ingredients for Pumpkin & Purple Sweet Potato Ang Gu Kueh:

Mung Bean Filling:

250g mung bean, soaked for at least 2 hours

130g caster sugar

4 to 5 tbsp vegetable oil

Drain the mung beans and discard water. Place the mung beans in steamer and steam at medium high fire for 20 to 25 minutes till soft. While still hot, add in the caster sugar and oil and mash in well. Once the sugar has melted, blend the mixture till smooth and let cool completely before use. You can make this a day ahead and chill in fridge or freeze them if you make it more then 3 days ahead.

Yam Filling:

250g yam, steamed and mashed

120g caster sugar

1 tbsp skim milk powder

3 to 4 tbsp cooking oil

Similar to above mung bean filling method.

Kueh skin using Pumpkin / Purple sweet potato:

200g steamed and mashed pumpkin / sweet potato

300g glutinous rice flour (I used 10g more for pumpkin skin)

1 tbsp rice flour

2 tbsp caster sugar

3 tbsp cooking oil (I used 4 tbsp for sweet potato skin)

200ml water (I used an extra tbsp for sweet potato skin this time) 

• In a large mixing bowl, knead all the ingredients together and gradually adding the water as per needed. The dough should be a soft pliable dough but not stinky.
• Cover the dough and let rest for 20 minutes.
• In the meantime, rinse the banana leaf with hot water and dab dry it. Cut out oval shapes slightly bigger then the kueh size. You will need 24 for this recipe. Brush with some vegetable oil on the surface.
• Divide the dough into 24 portions and roll round. Then take one portion and place about 1 heaping tbsp of filling in the middle, then wrap and seal nicely. Place in the mould which is slightly dusted with rice flour and press down with some pressure.
• To unmould, knock on the side of the table and let the kueh gently fall out on to your palm. Place kueh on cut out banana leaf and into the steamer. Repeat till all the kuehs are moulded.
• Steam at medium high heat for 10 minutes. Brush some cooked oil over the surface of the kuehs to prevent sticking.

I only made half recipe for each root vegetable but was enough to satisfy me, heehee. :D I love both filling! Good thing I didn't make peanut ones, else I would be eating way too much, lol!

Will be submitting this to Aspiring Bakers #12: Traditional Kueh (October 2011) hosted by Small Small Baker. 
 

Okay, got to go. Hopefully will post something up again real soon. Take it easy all. Cheers!

Dear Mum's Birthday: Passion Fruit Swiss Roll Cake & "寿桃" (Peach) Buns

It's my mother's birthday again. It goes without saying I have to bake a nice cake for her as well this year...nicer then the one last year. But because of the recent Father's Day cake I made, my family kind of fell in love with the passion fruit cake flavor. So I decided to bake a passion fruit cake but in the same Swiss Roll cake deco I made for my MIL's birthday cake in June. I have to say this cake is like a marriage of 2 recipes & technique I learned in these months. And this is the result of the happy "marriage", heehee.

I know I should have come up with a new design on the outside, but I really don't have that kind of time leisure, so I just went to the same design as the previous one. But bare in mind that this is a Passion Fruit Swiss Roll Cake...meaning the cake is rolled up just like the one in the Father's Day & my Hubby's Birthday cake I made. Meaning the cake layering are in vertical form. Anyway, I will upload a picture of the sliced cake after tonight's celebration. :)

Instead of using the same recipe of sponge cake (whole egg technique); I decided to change the recipe to using the egg separation method "分蛋式海绵蛋". Main reason is this method yields the softest of all the techniques (i.e. Chiffon, Sponge and egg separation). Here is my recipe:

Ingredients for Passion fruit Cake Batter (13" by 15"):

Set A:

5 large egg yolks

60g caster sugar

110g superfine or cake flour

2 tsp corn flour

Set B:

50g unsalted butter

50ml fresh passion fruit juice (~ 3 passion fruits)

Set C:

6 egg whites
pinch of salt
50g caster sugar

Ingredients for Passion Fruit Cream Cheese Filling:

150g unsalted butter

250g cream cheese, room temperature

80g confectioner's sugar

50ml passion fruit pulp

100ml non dairy whipping cream

1.5 tbsp gelatine powder melted in 2 tbsp boiling water

Method:

• Melt the butter together with the passion fruit juice from Set B under double boiler and let cool until needed.
• Line a baking tray with parchment paper and greased it again. Preheat oven to 170C.
• Again under double boiler, beat the egg yolks and sugar (from Set A) till triple in volume and thickens.
• At the meantime, beat the egg white with gradual addition of the sugar in Set C and beat till mixture is stiff peaks.
• In 3 separate portions, add the egg whites into the yolk mixture, folding gently till all is added in.
• Sift in the flours in 3 separate portions as well, using the electric mixer at its lowest speed. Do this till there is no visible lumps of flour and making sure not over beating and deflating the mixture.
• Take about 2 tbsp worth of the batter and mix into the melted, cooled butter mixture. Make sure it is well mixed and then add it back to the cake batter and gently stir to blend.
• For the Swiss Roll decoration details, please kindly refer to this post.
• Finally, pour the batter into the baking tray and level out with a scraper. Then bake in the oven for 13 minutes or till tester comes out clean. Let cake cool completely before use.
• In the meantime, prepare the cream cheese filling: Cream the butter, cream cheese, sifted powder sugar, gelatine mixture and passion fruit juice together till smooth.
• Pour in the whipping cream and continue to whip at high speed till mixture fluff up and increase in volume more.
• For details on how to assemble this cake, please refer to this post.

I really have to work on my piping skill...my Chinese characters are not very nicely done. ;P And hopefully the taste of the cake will work out nice as well tonight. *fingers crossed*

Latest update!

Managed to get a shot of a slice....the cake was indeed very yum, just like the previous time, heehee!

I will be submitting this to Aspiring Bakers #9 - Swiss Rolling Good Times hosted by Obsessedly Involved with Food.

Besides the cake, I also made some "寿桃" (peach) buns for my mum's birthday. Traditionally, these buns that are served during an elder's birthday celebration. Since this was my first attempt, I had a very rough work done...but still presentable...I think, lol!

I had these buns filled with white lotus paste (no sugar added). Had thought of adding salted egg yolk in it too but decided not to, as there's too much work!! :P As for the bun recipe, it's none other then my trusty soft mantou recipe of course, hee. :D

Hope you guys are not laughing your pants off looking at my ugly "寿桃" (peach) buns. :P Seriously need some practice on the shaping. Luckily it is just for my family's consumption....hee. :D But let's hope my mum won't be disappointed in these. *double fingers crossed*

Okay folks, gotta go and prepare for the celebration tonight, will post again soon! Have a great week!

Pumpkin Pork Floss Mantou

Making breakfast for the family has become a routine for me. I seldom purchase off the shelf bread loaf or frequent any bakery unless necessary. And ever since I found a couple of good bread and pau recipe, making breakfast seems not all that troublesome or difficult now. All you have to do is twig the old trusty recipe a little or simply adding new ingredients to make it different. ;D This time I used the same mantou recipe which I so loved and added pumpkin to it. Simple as that, we got pumpkin mantou. ;) And just the other day I saw Vivian Pang adding pork floss in her mantou and thought I try it too. Result? Delicious! :)

Truth is, I actually had 2 failed attempts on making this steam pumpkin mantou before this. Nothing disastrous, but just kind of puffed up and then deflated right after I remove them from the steamer. :P *sigh* Suspecting that it might be the butter I added into the dough, I omitted it this time and it just turned out perfect. *phew!*

With the addition of savory pork floss was a superb idea! My kids loved it, even my picky eater. ;)) The pork floss I used has sesame and seaweed in it, so it's even more fragrant, yum. ;))

Ingredients for Pumpkin Pork Floss Mantou (Makes about 16 to 20):

Starter dough:

120g pau flour (original calls for plain flour)

1/2 tsp active instant dry yeast

80ml warm water

pinch of salt

Method:

Knead all the ingredients together till it comes together to form a soft, smooth dough. Chill in the fridge up to 6-8hrs before use.

Main dough:

100g starter dough (the other half can continue to chill up to 36 hrs before use)

1.5 tsp active instant dry yeast

300g pau flour

180g steamed pumpkin

20 ml water

40g caster sugar

1/4 tsp salt

Red Bean / Lotus paste filling

Method for Red bean / Lotus paste steam buns:

1. Place everything in a large mixing bowl except the butter and knead till it comes together. Once it forms into a dough, add in the butter and continue to knead for a good 5 to 7 minutes on the mixer or 10 minutes by hand till it is elastic and smooth.
2. Place the dough in a greased bowl and let proof till double in size. Punch out the air and divide the dough into 2 portions. Roll round and let rest for 5 minutes.
3. Take a dough portion and roll it out with into a big flat rectangular, about 20am by 30cm. Brush with water and sprinkle with about 1 cup of pork floss or how ever much you like.
4. Roll it up from the long side like a swiss roll and then slice it up into 8 or 10 equal portions. Place on a grease proof paper and let proof in the steamer (cold) for 10 minutes.
5. Start the stove fire, once the water boils, lower it to medium low and let steam for 8 to 10 minutes. Then turn off the fire and let the mantous stay into the steamer for another 5 minutes before taking them out.

The mantous turned out soft and delicious, definitely a keeper. In fact I made it again a couple days later but minus the steamed pumpkin puree. I made fresh milk mantou with pork floss and it was equally good. :)

Hope you all are a little more motivated and make it for breakfast tomorrow for your family. For sure a home made breakfast is more more healthy and wholesome then those outside. :))

Ooops, duty calls! Got to go, so I have to stop here and come back again with another post soon.

Have a good week ahead all!

Fluffy Soft Steam Buns & Chocolate Swirl Mantou (超软蒸包和巧克力卷馒头 )

I have been looking for the perfect steam bun / bao recipe for a long time now. And it almost seems like most of the recipe turns out the same. Soft when just steamed but not so a few hours after it cooled down and needs to be reheated to get the same soft texture. Ohh...but it's not so for this new recipe. :) It stays fluffy soft for a good whole day or longer. Really! But you know what, I discovered this recipe through trial and error.....lucky me right? Lol!

This recipe is adapted from Carol 自在生活's 奶黃包. Initially, I had the full intention to use her recipe, but in the midst of multi-tasking in the kitchen, I added 74g of unsalted butter into the dough (by accident) and it was all good there after, lol! Trust me, it still turns out wonderful. :) You must be thinking, who uses butter for steam buns? Aren't you suppose to use shortening or something? You're right...but the butter scent wasn't evident at all, besides I would choose butter over shortening any day. :) Curious how it all comes, well here is my version:

Ingredients for fluffy Steam Buns recipe:

Starter dough:

120g pau flour (original calls for plain flour)

1/2 tsp active instant dry yeast

80ml warm water

pinch of salt

Method:

Knead all the ingredients together till it comes together to form a soft, smooth dough. Chill in the fridge up to 6-8hrs before use.

*Note: I increased the portion to about X1.5 to have more to make chocolate swirl mantou. So feel free to portion to your own liking.

Main Dough:

All of the above starter dough, approximately 165g

1.5 tsp active instant dry yeast

450g pau flour (Carol's recipe uses plain flour)

270ml fresh milk

40g caster sugar

1/4 tsp salt

74g unsalted butter, room temperature

Red Bean / Lotus paste filling

Method for Red bean / Lotus paste steam buns:

1. Place everything in a large mixing bowl except the butter and knead till it comes together. Once it forms into a dough, add in the butter and continue to knead for a good 5 to 7 minutes on the mixer or 10 minutes by hand till it is elastic and smooth.
2. Place the dough in a greased bowl and let proof till double in size. Punch out the air and divide the dough into 12 X 40g each. (Since I increased the recipe, I only weighed out 14 of the 40g portions and the rest I made into the chocolate mantou.) Reserve the rest of the dough for chocolate swirl mantou (chill in fridge) while you work with the buns.
3. Take a dough portion and flatten it into a disc, making sure the center is thicker then the edges. place about 2 tbsp's worth of red bean / lotus paste filling in the center. Seal up and roll round. Place on a greased proof paper and put the bun into the steamer (already prep with water) to further proof for about 40 minutes. Repeat.
4. 
5. Once proved, start the steamer and steam at medium high for 10 to 15 minutes. Note that do open the lid completely after steamed, open partially with a small gap for 15 minutes to let the buns cool slowly to prevent them to deflate.

For the Chocolate Swirl Mantou , here's the steps:

1. Add 2 tbsps more of confectioner's sugar into the reserved dough and knead into it. Then I divide it to 2 equal portions and knead 1 heaping tbsp of Valronha cocoa powder to one of the portions. Let it rest for 10 mins covered before shaping.
2. Roll both portions into 10cm by 20 cm rectangles. Brush a little water on the plain rectangle surface and place the chocolate rectangle on top. Seal the edges and roll up from the long side like a swiss roll and seal it nicely.
3. Using a knife and cut the dough in to equal portions about 3cm thickness each. Place on a grease proof paper squares and also place in steamer prep with water. Let it proof for 40 minutes before steaming.
   

Just like any other mantou, it's pretty much plain in taste. Perhaps with a hint of chocolate taste and a wee bit more sweet then the dough used for filled ones. But the best part of all is the softness of this bao and mantou...fluffy! :) Check it out yourself:

This recipe is definitely a keeper for me. Perhaps will make it again with meat filling. :)

I will be submitting this post to Aspiring Bakers #7 - Chocolate Delight (May 2011) hosted by DG from Tested and Tasted. Have you joined in the fun and submitted yours?

Okay folks, hope you all have a wonderful weekend! ;) Cheers!

Sweet Potato Fatt Goh with Japanese Black Beans

This is really a long overdue post. I believe I made this close to a month back. But it is not surprising since last month was again a busy month for me. Actually, this is an all original HoneyBeeSweets recipe, something that was created out of inspiration from the local eateries here in Singapore; Sweet Potato Fatt Goh with Japanese Black Beans. Well I happened to be at Bugis Junction the other day and was walking around it's food court area. There was this store that was selling fatt goh, pretty special ones mind you, but I can't remember the name of the store. :P Anyway, I got really inspired after seeing these pretty steamed cakes and vowed to try making something similar at home. So here it is:

Frankly speaking, I cannot remember the variety of flavors that was selling at the store there. So I just came up with my own version, and it turned out great! ;)) Any interested bakers out there can try this recipe, but since this is my first time making this, I can't guarantee that you will have similar results, heehee. But should be alright. :))

Ingredients for Sweet Potato Fatt Goh with Japanese Black Beans: (makes 12 muffin size)
200g steamed sweet potato (preferably Japanese)
400g plain flour
225g caster sugar
3 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
225ml evaporated milk
2 large eggs
60ml vegetable oil
1 can Japanese black beans (you can substitute with Azuki red beans)

Method:

• While the steamed sweet potato are still warm, cut into large chunks and place in the blender along with the caster sugar, eggs, corn oil and evaporated milk. Blend at medium speed till smooth.
• Prepare the steamer at medium high heat.
  
• In a mixing bowl, add flour, baking powder and salt. Pour the blended mixture into the flour mixture and mix well.
• Scoop the batter into paper lined steamer cups to 3/4 full. Place about 4 to 5 black beans on top and transfer the cups into the steamer .
• Steam for a good 10 to 12 minutes till the tester comes out clean. Remove from steamer and let cool on the rack before serving.

The texture of the Sweet Potato Fatt Goh is fluffy and light..much to my preference. The black beans gives a slight salty, sweet flavor to the cakes, a pretty nice combo. In case you are wondering, I got the Japanese black beans from Daiso...it comes in a small purple can. ;)

If you do try this out, let me know how it turns out for you. ;) Also note that you can replace the evaporated milk with full cream milk, the taste should not differ much. Anyway, hope you all will like this recipe. ;)) This is definitely a healthier breakfast compared to your usual stored bought fried food don't you agree? :)

Before I finish off this post, I want to share a nice news. I got a pleasant surprise when I was doing my usual blog visiting yesterday. I got 2 new awards! All thanks to dear Kristy from My Little Space for passing these lovely awards to me. ;) Very nice of Kristy to think of me. She's is such a versatile and dynamic cook with loads of yummy recipes. So do go visit her blog when you get the chance. Guarantee there won't be a dull moment browsing through her recipes. :)

Besides being honored in receiving these awards, I am also much motivated to be a better food blogger for my dear readers. Thank you all for the support! Will try my best to post more delicious and unique recipes for all to share.

Have a great week ahead all!