Matcha Madness: Matcha Buns with Mochi & Red Bean paste

Hope I am not too late forWell it all started when I was browsing dear Quinn's blog a couple weeks back on her post on Matcha and White Chocolate Panna Cotta, which looks really classy and delicious desert. She was enthusiastic enough to join in the fun on making something Matcha, simply because she loves everything Matcha! Ann from pigpigscorner too made a lovely Matcha Cheesecake that was really good too. ;) Since I have yet baked anything Matcha before, I felt that this would be an excellent opportunity for me to try it out and get in the fun! So I went with making Matcha bread buns with mochi and sweet bean paste filling. If you have ever bought buns from some retail bakeries here, they do sell this bun that has mochi cum red bean filling which I find really unique and yummy! So instead of just plain red bean paste, I added fresh mochi (self made) and 2 different pastes, read bean and black sesame paste. ;)

Making the buns were really fun! My kids saw me kneading this green dough and thought I was making spinach bread! Lol! This dough recipe is pretty similar to the Cream Filled Mini Buns which I made awhile back.The main difference would be adding matcha powder into it. The dough is very easy to handle, not too sticky. :)

Since I wanted to add mochi in the buns I decided to make fresh mochi myself. I did not buy any mochi powder to make it, so I used the most traditional method which I knew my mum used to make. ;) It's actually quite easy, here is the recipe if anyone is interested:

Ingredients for homemade mochi:
125g glutinous rice flour
188ml water
3 tbsp of confectioner's sugar

• Mix all the ingredients together in a mixing bowl. The flour the mixture into a greased round 6" pan. Steam the mixture for 25 minutes till cooked.

• Once cooked, removed from steamer and let cool completely before removing from the pan. Reserve to use later.

Ingredients for Matcha Bread: (Makes about 16):
Set A:
348g bread flour
86g cake flour
26g milk powder
8g matcha powder
11g instant active yeast
Set B:
80g caster sugar
4g salt
44g beaten whole egg
200ml water
Set C:
44g butter, room temperature

Method:

• In a large mixing bowl, add in all of Set A ingredients in and mix well with a whisk.

• Add all of Set A flour mixture with Set B ingredients and mix well until it becomes a soft dough.
• Continue to beat / knead the dough till it reaches elastic and not sticky stage, which can be verified by using the "window stage".
• Add in the butter in Set C and knead well till mix in.
• Let the dough proof in a greased bowl and cove it. Allow it to proof for at least 90 minutes until the dough doubles.
• After proofing, punch out the air and divide the dough to about 40g each. Roll round and let rest for 10 minutes before shaping.
• Using a rolling pin, roll out a portion of the dough flat (thinner on the side) and place 1 tbsp of red bean / black sesame paste in the center. Then cut about 1/2 tbsp of mochi and place it on top of the sweet paste. Seal the dough up nicely and place it on a greased baking tray. Repeat till all the dough are filled and sealed nicely. Sprinkle some black sesame seeds on top of those buns filled with black sesame paste to distinguish between the buns. Cover and let proof for another 15 to 20 minutes before baking.
• Preheat the oven to 180C .
  
• Brush the mini buns with egg wash and bake in the oven for 12 to 15 minutes till golden brown on the surface.
  

I personally thought that after the buns came out from the oven, the green from the matcha was no longer that obvious. :P Even the taste itself wasn't that evident. Looks like I will have to double the dosage the next time. And one thing I kind of regretted too was not making the mochi in matcha flavor!! O well...better plan way ahead before plunging into making something next time....somehow I always do that. :P Anyway, I hope these buns still "pass" for matcha madness event, lol!

But overall I am really happy with the taste of these buns. :) The soft chewy mochi and the sweet paste filling went really well with the soft buns. :) Even on the 3rd day, it was still soft! I was glad I made enough to share with my mother, MIL and my sister. My sister was delighted because she was a real mochi lover and it was her that recommended me the mochi buns selling in the retail bakeries. If you like matcha and mochi, do give these sweet delights a try! Let me know how yours turned out and how you like them. ;)

Have a "early" good weekend all!

Happy 45th Birthday Singapore and My 3rd Blogger Meet up

Happy 45th Birthday Singapore!

Yes, 45 years, that's how many years of independence Singapore has gone through. Amazing as it is, this little country went through a lot and achieved more then many expected. The people, the nation and everything that made it what it is. I would not say it is all perfect, but it is a great place to stay in which I can call home. Being away from my homeland for more then a decade and finally this year we have made our way back here again. As the saying goes, "No matter where you go, home is where your heart is".

In lieu of the celebration, The Istana (Singapore's President's adobe) was open to public yesterday. How can I miss that! So my family and I went there early yesterday morning full of enthusiasm. :) Little did we know that there are thousand of other eager Singaporeans and visitors that had already made their way to Istana much earlier then us! The queue to go in was way way long.

As you can see the place is packed with people, young and old. There seems to be a kids drawing competition going on and there was even live band performance at the open field. The weather was spectacular (same as today, yippee for NDP!) and we had a brisk walk to the main building.

Got to see all the "treasures" inside and the place where the ministers and all VIPs' meeting hall etc. Overall a nice experience and I am glad I made this trip with my family. :)

I know, very ambitious of me, I actually have a Food Blogger gathering right after my trip to Istana. I left my hubby and kids shopping in the nearby mall and drove off frantically to a long awaited gathering with a group of foodies just like me. ;) I was really happy to be able to make it to this gathering, in fact honored to be invited once again, heehee. Come to think of it, I got to meet up these lovely blogger all together 3 times. ;) Although different places, different people (some still the same) ....it was all absolutely worth it all. Check out the "goodie bags" I snagged over at the party yesterday. ;D

I was late but not the last to arrive and was warmly greeted by our sweet Pei-Lin and of course the rest of the other blogger. ;) I was a little reserved at first since I only knew 3 of them, but everything went so easy after we started chatting away. All of them were nice and pleasant people with the same passion as me...how great is that?! We will never run out of topics to talk for sure, lol! Who are they? They are :

• Pei-Lin from Dodol & Mochi
  
• Edith from Precious Moments
• Jane from Passionate About Baking
• Grace from Kitchen Corner
• Jess from Bakericious
• Aimei from My Baking Cottage
• Shirley from Kokken69
• Zhuoyuan (Baker Tan) from Baking Library
• Josephine from Sugar & Everything Nice
• Yan Ee from Sweeter Side of Life
• You Fei from Loving Baking

These great bloggers made a whole lot of delicious food at the party. Sure beats any buffet you can find outside! All homemade, wholesome and super delicious! I was really stuffed at the end but happy of course...should have wore something more loose, lol! Since everyone did not got a photo of the Ban Guan Kueh I made for the party (it was still in the steamer when everyone was snapping away!!), I shall post a photo for all to see, heehee. ;D

Ban Guan kueh has always been my all time favorite and I was SUPER glad I finally got the right recipe for it! I was really happy that there were no complains while the other blogger tasted it, heehee. I felt bad for not making something more for those nice people....whom actually took their precious time out to gather together and brought wonderful food to share. I do hope that we will be able to meet up again soon (think it will happen since everyone is so eager) and hopefully I won't have to rush off like this time and not being able to chat more with everyone.

But within that short period of time, I truly enjoyed myself in the whole duration! Chatting and snacking on the good food and talking about more food, lol! I have to give special thanks to dear Pei-lin to put this together for us and coming down all the way from Malaysia to spend her holiday here. Also thanks to Edith for opening her lovely house to us and allowing us to have this gathering in such and lovely and comfortable environment! ;D

Being surrounded by foodies like me made me so at ease and I am sure everyone there feels the same too. I regretted not being able to meet up with You Fei as I found out that she arrived just after I left! Oh well, we catch up on FB okay my friend? Lastly, thank you all that came for the party yesterday, thank you for your time, your friendship and of course your yummy food. ;)

I will not be posting the food that the other bloggers brought to the party as I realized they took much nice photos than me! So go browse theirs. ;) As for the National Day cupcakes I made, it's chocolate buttermilk cupcakes with white chocolate whipped cream topping. Made them just for the fun of it all. ;)

Okay, got to go make my wholewheat pizza for dinner tonight and catch the NDP live on TV....thanks for dropping by! You have a great day now! Cheers!