Pandan Buns

After saying for months that I want to eat Pandan Buns with tau sar filling, I finally took out my breadmaker and made it. Finally got this craving satisfied! Hehe...

I used Gina's basic sweet bread recipe and added pandan paste into the breadmaker and turned on Dough function and let it did the work. Then, I divided the dough into half, one in the freezer it went, the other half, I cut into small balls, put the tau sar filling, closed and shaped like a ball shape. Put in a round baking pan, covered with wrap and let it proof under the sun for 40 mins. Remember to put a parchment paper on the baking pan first, if not the buns will stick.



When prove for 40 mins under the sun. I brushed the top with maple syrup and sprinkled with black sesame seeds. Oh, pardon my middle bun, got an indentation after I tried to pinch it after proofing because I spotted the dough was too thin.



Tada! Ready in 10 mins on preheated 375'F oven. Yeah, I have no even shaped buns because I was too lazy to measure the weight of each bun to shape it, also it's for our own consumption anyway, why bother with the extra work. :oP



Hhe buns are really soft (I added bread softener as well), but the green color is not obvious at all. Will have to add more pandan paste next time as I found the flavor not strong too.

Bak Kua

Yeahhh, I finally made Tazz's bak kua. Her recipe can be found here. It took me awhile but glad I did it. I followed the original recipe provided by her blog. I baked mine in a convection oven.

I only made 1/2 pound of ground pork just to test it out. The result was delicious. Even my daughter kept asking for more. Definitely finger licking good and a die die must try recipe. What's more, super easy to make!

Eat it plain or sandwich it in the Hawaiian sweet bun for breakfast or snack, yummy! Will definitely make more the next time, but need to buy parchment paper first, out of it already.

Eve said it can be kept at room temperature up to 3 days in a plastic container. Thanks Eve! :) 

Meme: 10 Things I Miss of Mum's Cooking

I got tagged by Angie to do this meme. Seriously, I couldn't think of 10 things that I missed most. My cooking skill has long surpassed my mom and she couldn't bake at all. Still, I remembered her simple homecook meals when we were still at school. Mostly the dishes that I missed most are those that I couldn't make it here because we couldn't get the ingredients.

1. Turmeric Fish ~ I missed her turmeric fish. I couldn't get the fresh kembong fish here (I think that's the small fish called), and thus never attempted to make this dish here. I like the way she made hers, very fragrant and good.

2. Pork Kidney in Ginger Mee Sua Soup ~ Really missed this dish, mee sua in a little spicy fragrant soup with pork kidney, yum. As the new generation, I don't even know how to clean the kidney, what worst couldn't even buy it here. Always love to eat pork kidney, but haven't had it for years already.

3. Four Angle Bean Veggie in Sambal Belacan ~ Guess you probably know why I missed this dish by now. Hahaha.... Yup, couldn't get four angle beans here, one of my favorite veggies, thus can only dream about it.

4. Ngor Hiang in Pork Fat Skin ~ My mom used to make this when we were small. As last time people were not that health concious. What can I say, pork fat with five spice ground pork, the result is always delicious. Not sure whether you can still buy pork fat skin these days, or it already been substituted with dried beancurd sheet?

5. Reunion Dinner Steamboat ~ I missed my mom steamboat as I missed the joy of eating steamboat together with my family. She always prepared roasted chicken and mung quan char (stir-fry jicama) with lettuce wrap along with the steamboat and her homemade chilli sauce which I love. The feeling I felt on the table will be in my memory forever.

Sad to say, my mom hardly cook these days. As we left for college, she went back to work with my dad. Thus, after a day at work, it's hard to find the energy to cook, so she normally "to go" a few dishes and add a dish or two for the family members who are still at home.

Now, I would like to pass the "baton" to Lin (Sinfully Yours) and tt (Playing with My Food).

Pusiva's Acar

As you all probably know, I always in search of easy recipe to cook or bake. The other day when I browsed through Pusiva's blog, her acar recipe caught my eyes. It seem simple enough and I have all the ingredients in my pantry, so why not give it a try.

I made it few days ago and it was also my first time attempting acar. It was pretty good and I ate it like a salad for snack. Oh, I sprinkled grounded roasted peanuts and toasted sesame seeds before serving since I have both ready in the freezer.

Here's her recipe. Thanks Pusiva!

Prima Taste Singapore Laksa

My craving for a bowl of Singapore laksa finally made me purchased the $6 Prima Taste brand laksa. It was really expensive considering other premix brands only cost about $2-$3 per box/packet. My wanting to eat yet too lazy to make my own paste made me bought this. However, glad to say that the result was not disappointing, it was actually pretty good. The gravy was ready in 5 mins and the box came with coconut powder, laksa paste, dried laksa leaves and sambal chilli. All I needed to do was to prepare the noodle and garnishes for the laksa, very simple!

The downside was the serving was only for two, so $3 for a bowl of laksa gravy, don't you think it's a bit expensive? The store also sells Prima Taste Singapore mee siam which I have never tasted before. According to my friend, the Prima mee siam is pretty darn good too. Hmmm....perhaps I would buy and try it one day, just to see how mee siam with gravy tastes like. Never have it before, just saw some posted pictures of it in blogs or forum, very curious to find out the taste and flavor of it.

You may also like Singapore Curry Laksa.

JapChae

This is my version of Jabchai. I didn't know such a noodle existed until I had it in a Korean family house while we were at Memphis. Of course I fell in love with the texture of this noodle since it was so different from what we used to.

So, of course I need to buy and cook it myself. The packet of noodle I bought before came with a recipe so I had been using that for awhile. But the packet now doesn't come with one and thus I have to make it up with what I still remember and what ingredients I have in the fridge.


Closed up

Normally the recipe calls for thinly sliced pork/beef marinated in soy sauce, sesame oil, a little sugar and some cooking wine. The thinly sliced chinese mushroom will be marinated in the same marinade as well. I forgot what veggies are supposed to go with this, but here I used onion, cabbage, carrot and garlic.

As for the sauce of the noodle, it's purely soy sauce, dark soy sauce, salt, sugar and sesame oil.

If you haven't tried this noodle before, you should give it a try! Here's how the noodle looks like. Boiled the noodle until soften, then rinsed with cold water, set aside. Then, mixed the sauce with the cold noodle and top with prefried ingredients. Stir to mix well and lastly added some toasted sesame seeds to toast well.



Enjoy!