Saturday, March 29, 2008

Char Siew Crisp/Char Siew Sou




Thanks to one of my readers for reminding me about these Crisps/Sou. This pastry is a sweet dough and very delicate, so the least handling the better. It is not difficult to make if you have leftover Char Siew.

Ingredients:

10 ozs all purpose flour
3 ozs butter
2 1/2 oz lard/shortening
2 oz sugar
1 oz water
1 beaten egg yolk plus 1 tsp water for glazing



Filling:

6 oz Char Siew - diced
3 oz onion (1/2 a medium size)- diced
3 chinese shitake mushrooms - soaked and diced
1 tbsp of diced carrots
1 tbsp chopped spring onions

1 tbsp oil

Seasonings:

1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp oyster sauce
1/2 tsp shao xing/hua tiau wine
dash of pepper
1/2 tsp cornstarch plus 1 tbsp water


Method:

Put flour and sugar into food processor. Pulse twice to mix.

Add in butter and lard/shortening and pulse until butter is pea sized. Then add in water.

Pulse until the dough comes together. Remove and let dough rest in the refridgerator for at least 30 minutes.

Heat oil and fry onions. Saute onions until soft, then add in the carrots and mushrooms. Stir fry to combine and then add in the Char Siew. Sprinkle wine and seasonings, mix well. Dissolve the cornstarch and add in to form gravy. Let this cool before using.

Preheat oven at 200 c/400 f.

Knead dough into a long roll and divide into 24 equal portions.

Knead each portion into a thin round, wrap in filling with sealed edge facing down. Flatten with palm and brush beaten egg yolk on top. This dough is very delicate and i prefer to just use the offset spatula and fold into half circle or rectangle, seal the edges.

Bake for 20 minutes or until golden brown.

Sunday, March 23, 2008

Renee's 6th Birthday Cake










RENEE is 6 years old today and she had a party for her classmates yesterday. This year, the theme was Ariel, The little Mermaid. Everything on the cake was edible except Ariel's head which is plastic. Flounder and Sebastian were made of sugar. To get Flounder to look cherry and smiling was difficult, it kept looking like an old bald man and i had to make Sebastian look fat to keep the head in place. The children were more excited with the aqua gummies than my effort. The party was a huge success and the birthday girl was the happiest, as all her presents were what she wanted most. Her friends greeted her with the loudest and a new version of the birthday song - Happy Birthday Cha Cha Cha.

The cake and icing recipe is here http://myfoodnew.blogspot.com/2006/03/renees-birthday-cakes.html and the sugar recipe is here. The rock is cake covered with melted chocolate mixed with popcorns.