Homemade Seremban Siew Bao

Ben made the Seremban Siew Bao from scratch at home because he misses it. The last time he had it was probably six years ago when he went back to Malaysia.

The Siew Bao was a success and Ben was very satisfied. He got the recipe from this youtube. We made some adjustments to the recipe to our preference like:

  • darker colour filings
  • darker glaze by just using egg yolk
  • more liquid in the seasonings to add moisture to the filings

Ingredients

Pork Filing:

  • 2 tablespoons oil
  • 4 slices ginger
  • 4 cloves garlic, chopped
  • 1/2 medium onion, chopped
  • 1 pound ground pork

Pork Seasoning:

  • 2 tablespoons oyster sauce
  • 1 tablespoon light soy sauce
  • 1 tablespoon dark soy sauce
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 4 tablespoons sugar
  • 1 teaspoon sesame oil
  • 2 teaspoons toasted sesame seeds
  • 3 tablespoons all purpose flour dissolved in 3/4 cup chicken broth

Water Dough:

  • 400g all purpose flour
  • 100g butter in room temperature
  • 3 tablespoons sugar
  • 180ml water
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt

Oil Dough:

  • 200g all purpose flour
  • 140g butter in room temperature

Glazing and Garnishing:

  • 2 to 3 egg yolks, beaten
  • toasted sesame seeds

Yield: 24

(more…)

Continue ReadingHomemade Seremban Siew Bao

Onde-Onde

I shared a dessert called Onde-Onde in the Gilmore Park Community Kitchen. We had a sweet treat day as we have two desserts on the same day. Onde-Onde is a popular street food in South East Asia.

ondeonde-18-600x400

Onde-Onde is very similar to the various Chinese Tang Yuan like Glutinous Rice Ball with Sesame Peanuts Filings, Hong Kong style Tang Yuan and Taiwanese Tang Yuan. The only difference is those Tang Yuan are served in a sweet syrupy soup while Onde-Onde is served dry with shredded coconut coating. It is more like a finger food.

ondeonde-5-600x400

This Onde-Onde recipe is flavoured with pandan leaves. Pandan leaves (also known as screwpine leaves) are used commonly in the South East Asia in making desserts. You can find pandan leaves in the frozen section of some Filipino groceries stores here and even fresh ones from Vancouver Chinatown.

Pandan leaf is used to impart it’s fragrance into the dessert. It is normally discarded after the dish is made like this Sweet Potato Soup. Pandan leaves are also used as a natural green food coloring.

Ingredients

  • 10 pandan leaves
  • 5 tablespoons water
  • few drops of green coloring (optional)
  • 400g glutinous rice flour
  • 2 tablespoons tapioca flour
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1 cup of water (more if needed)

Filling:

  • 100g gula melaka (palm sugar)

Coating:

  • 150g grated coconut
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt

ondeonde-3-600x400

 

Source:  The recipe is adapted from Amy Beh at Home.

(more…)

Continue ReadingOnde-Onde

Ma Lai Ko Cup Cakes

The next dessert which Ming made is Ma Lai Ko Cup Cakes. I had blogged about two versions of Ma Lai Ko here and here but Ming’s recipe is slightly different. Ming’s version of Ma Lai Ko is steamed in paper cup and it only takes 10 minutes to steam. This recipe is very handy when you have unexpected guests.

malaicupcake-10

Ming made 2 versions of Ma Lai Ko Cup Cakes, one regular flavour and another with grated Parmesan cheese. The one with the Parmesan cheese has a stronger flavour and I’ll bet Arkensen will like this version as he is a cheese lover.

Ingredients

  • 100g all purpose flour
  • 50g castor sugar (was substituted with granulated sugar)
  • 60g egg
  • 70g water
  • 5g baking powder
  • 10g grated Parmesan cheese or custard powder (optional)
  • sweetened dried cranberries for garnishing

malaicupcake-11

Click on Read More for the instructions.

(more…)

Continue ReadingMa Lai Ko Cup Cakes

Steamed Pandan Cake

One of chowtimes reader asked for the recipe of steamed pandan cake and I decided to try to make some adjustments to the Chinese Sponge Cake recipe to incorporate the pandan flavour.

pandancake1

The steamed pandan cake smells great and Arkensen commented that it smells like the Layer Cake which also has pandan element in it.

The only thing is that the bottom part of the cake is more densed than the top part. Do you have any idea why?

Here is the ingredients adjustment I made to the Chinese Sponge Cake:

  • 4 eggs
  • 1 cup flour (substituted with 1 cup less 2 tablespoons flour plus 2 tablespoons of milk powder)
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon almond extract (substitute with pandan essence)
  • 1/2 cup evaporated milk (substituted with pandan juice)
  • 4 tablespoons butter or margarine, melted

pandancake3

The pandan leaves (also known as screwpine leaves) can be found in Filipino stores. I got mine from Great One Supermarket in Richmond. I’m sure you can find it in Chinatown too. (more…)

Continue ReadingSteamed Pandan Cake

Fried Banana Fritter (Kuih Kodok)

Fried Banana Fritter or Kuih Kodok in Malay is a common street food in Malaysia. I had not eaten this for 9 years since I immigrated to Canada. I missed it so much that I decided to make it at home despite that I do not like deep frying in my kitchen.

fried-banana-fritter2

The Fried Banana Fritter is soft and sweet and full of banana flavour. It is best eaten warm. I got the recipe from Kuali but made some adjustment to it as I find that the recipe in Kuali has too much salt in it which makes the banana fritter more savory than sweet. I prefer it to be sweet.

Fried-Banana-Fritter-1-600x400

Ingredients

  • 150g (net weight) ripe bananas (about 1 large banana)
  • a pinch of salt
  • 1 teaspoon sugar
  • 5 tablespoons self-rising flour
  • 1 tablespoon rice flour
  • 1 tablespoon Quaker oats (I subtitituted with 1 teaspoon of ground flax seed)
  • a pinch of baking soda

fried-banana-fritter5

Click on the link below for the instructions.

(more…)

Continue ReadingFried Banana Fritter (Kuih Kodok)

Layer Cake

In Malaysia, this is called 9 layers cake (Kuih Lapis) as it should have 9 alternate white and pink layers. This cake is very common in the morning or night market.

layercake06

Each layer of the layer cake is separable and that’s how we eat it, layer by layer. This recipe is from my friend Jessica. I have another recipe which turned out too soft. Perhaps it’s the flour that caused it. I used all-purpose flour as the recipe only says flour. Jessica’s recipe uses rice flour instead.

Ingredients

White layer:

  • 1/2 cup rice flour
  • 3 to 3 1/2 tablespoons tapioca flour
  • 200ml rooster brand coconut milk (which is more liquidy)
  • 1/2 cup + 3 tablespoons castor sugar
  • 100ml water

Red layer:

  • 1/2 cup rice flour
  • 3 to 3 1/2 tablespoons tapioca flour
  • remaining of the coconut milk from a 398ml can
  • 100ml pandan flavour water
  • red food coloring

layercake01

(more…)

Continue ReadingLayer Cake

Steamed Mah Lai Ko

After my blog about the failed Mah Lai Ko, my friend, Angie shared with me this tested recipe. Angie loves to cook and I’m sure her recipe works.

I’m quite puzzled with the origin of Mah Lai Ko which has a name which indicates Malay Cake but yet, this is a popular dim sum item in Hong Kong Dim Sum restaurant. Can anyone confirm the origin of the Mah Lai Ko?

ma-lai-ko26

The Ma Lai Ko turned out soft and airy. It stays soft even the next day. It is not too sweet and has a great caramel flavour to it. This is a sure keeper. Angie, thank you for sharing the recipe.

Ingredients

  • 180g (about 3/4 cup) granulated sugar
  • 110ml water
  • 75g (about 5 tablespoons) margarine, melted
  • 75ml milk
  • 1 egg, beaten
  • 160g (about 1 cup + 2 tablespoons) all-purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda

ma-lai-ko21

Click on the link below for the instructions.

(more…)

Continue ReadingSteamed Mah Lai Ko

Baked Chinese New Year Cake

Betty showed us how to make Chinese New Year Cake, the baked version. The baked version takes much lesser time than the steamed version. Betty made two different flavours of the baked Chinese New Year Cake.

IMG_4129

She made one with red bean soup and another just plain. You can make it in coconut milk flavour too.

bakedniangao-11

This is the coconut milk flavour I made at home. The crust seemed to be thicker as I used two smaller pans to bake it and I forgot to reduce the baking time.

Ingredients

  • 1 package of glutinous rice flour (400g)
  • 3 eggs (medium)
  • 1 1/2 cups water or milk or coconut milk or red bean soup
  • 1 1/2 cups brown sugar (use 1 cup if red bean soup has been sweetened)

IMG_4086

Click on the link below for the instructions.

(more…)

Continue ReadingBaked Chinese New Year Cake

Steamed Rice Cake

For the Chinese New Year celebration, I also made a Steamed Rice Cake. This is slightly different from the Pak Thong Koh. Pak Tong Koh is leavened by yeast while this Steamed Rice Cake is leavened by double acting baking powder. It does not have the hint of sourness as the Pak Thong Koh.

IMG_3771

This Steamed Rice Cake is lightly sweet. It is eaten during Chinese New Year because of the way the cake rises and blossoms. Rise in Cantonese is “fatt” and “fatt” in Cantonese also means prosperity or wealth.

Ingredients

Step 1:

  • 200g rice flour
  • 200ml coconut milk
  • 160ml boiling water
  • 1 teaspoon double acting baking powder

Step 2:

  • 120g sugar
  • 1 teaspoon double acting baking powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon vanilla essence

IMG_3756

(more…)

Continue ReadingSteamed Rice Cake