Steamed Pork Buns - Char Siu Bao

Gong Xi Fa Cai! Before moving to Colombia I lived in Singapore and was exposed to so many gastronomical delights. I decided as it's Chinese New Year I should try my hand at one of my favourites from this time... Steamed Pork Bun otherwise known as Char Siu Bao.

This one was going to take some improvising as so many of the recipes I looked for called for things I just can't get but as always I persisted and pulled together ideas from one recipe or another and finally landed on this. Which even if I do say so myself was pretty impressive.

As good as I remembered it...

Steamed Pork Bun
Serves: 10
Prep Time/Cook Time: 2hrs (This is a little complicated on this one as I did lots of stuff while waiting for other parts to be ready, at the end of it all I'm pretty sure I was only in the kitchen for about this long...)

For the Char Siu:
500g Pork loin (a few recipes suggested pork belly but I already had loin so I went with that)
1/4 cup sugar
2tsp salt
4tsp light soy sauce
1tbsp Gin (the recipe calls for Sherry or chinese rice wine, Gin is apparently a perfect substitute)
1/2tsp oil
2tbsp honey

1. Cut the pork loin down the centre to butterfly it and then make deep slashes on opposite sides to allow the marinade to get into the meat.
2. Place all other ingredients in a glass dish. Lay the meat on top and coat generously with the marinade. Cover with plastic and leave for 30mins.

Meat ready to marinate

3. Preheat the oven to 180C, Line a roasting dish with foil, lay the meat in the pan and roast for about an hour. Turn occasionally and baste with the juice.

Cooked and ready for dicing

4. Set aside for 10 minutes and then dice into small 1/2cm pieces.

For the dough:
2 cups plain flour
2 1/2tsp baking powder
2tbsp caster sugar
1tsp salt
1/2 cup warm water
2tbsp oil

1. Sift the flour and baking powder in a bowl, add the sugar and salt. Gradually add the combined water and oil. Stir to form a soft dough.
2. Turn onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth. Wrap dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for an hour.

Doughy goodness

For the filling:
1/2 cup chicken broth
1tbsp fish sauce
2tbsp tomato sauce
5tsps sugar
4tsps cornstarch
5tbsp soy sauce
1/2 tsp salt
pinch of pepper
2tbsp oil
1 small onion finely diced
500g Char Siu Pork finely diced
1tbsp Gin (see note above)

1. Whisk the chicken broth, fish sauce, tomato sauce, sugar, cornstarch, soy sauce, salt and pepper in a bowl.
2. Place the oil in a wok and heat on high. When hot, add the onion, reduce the heat to medium low and allow onion to brown.
2. Turn the heat back to high, add the meat and stir fry for 3 minutes. Pour the Gin in from the edge of the wok and stir.

Preparing the filling

3. Reduce the heat to medium and pour the broth mixture into the wok and stir together until the sauce thickens.

Waiting for the sauce to thicken

4. Remove from heat.

For the buns:
1. Divide the dough into 10 equal portions (keep them moist by placing them under a damp cloth until needed). Roll out one portion at a time into a large circle.
2. Place a spoonful of filling into the centre of the dough then pull the sides up creating small pleats. Twist the pleats together at the top.

All pleated up

3. Place each bun on a small sheet of wax paper and place into the bamboo steamer. Allow to steam for 10 minutes (note: the buns will puff out so don't place them too close together in the steamer).
4. Enjoy.

Yes this was a rather fussy thing to make, but it was definitely worth the time. The taste was just as I remembered it, the only "glitch" was that my dough was not the pristine white that they always were in Singapore. I'll get over it! I loved this dough as it didn't force you to use yeast and go through the proofing process. Always a bonus when cooking at altitude.

Lemon Meringue Pie

So here it is, the most anticipated recipe of the weekend. As I explained in my post about the brownies, I was handed a bag of lemons the other day. Now while most people's response to that would be - TEQUILA! I knew it could only mean one thing. I had to make pie. To say I was fearing this would be an understatement. First, take into account that everyone likes their pie with different degrees of tartness, add to that the various ways people prefer their meringue and finally put on top the fact I've never made anything like it... Recipe for disaster! My friends are lucky I love them!

Not too bad even if I do say so myself!

Lemon Meringue Pie
Serves: 12 (maybe more maybe less) I used a 23cm pie dish  so it really comes down to how big your slices are
Prep Time: 1 hour (plus extra for cooling) Cook Time: 40mins

For the Base:
2 1/4 cups plain flour
3tbs icing sugar
190g chilled butter (chopped)
3 3/4tbs chilled water

1. Place icing sugar and flour in a bowl, rub the butter into the flour mix until it looks like fine breadcrumbs.
2. Add the water and use a spatula to stir until a dough forms. Use your hands to bring the dough together. Turn onto a worktop and roll out to 5mm thickness. Line your pie dish and trim the excess. Place dish into the fridge to cool for 30mins
3.Preheat oven to 180C. Cover the pastry with baking paper and weights (I used beans because they're all I had). Bake for 15mins, remove weights and paper cook for a further 15-20mins, or until crisp and golden. Allow to cool. (I made this the day before just to give me a bit more time).

First time using my new pie dish and I must say I am impressed

For the Filling:
75g cornflour
3/4cup water
1 1/2 cups lemon juice
Zest of 1 lemon
1 1/2cups caster sugar
90g butter
6 egg yolks

1. Combine the cornflour, water, lemon juice, zest and sugar in a saucepan. Use a whisk to stir over medium heat for 4mins or until boiling. Continue cooking and stir constantly for another minute. Remove from heat, whisk in butter and egg yolks. Pour mix into a bowl, cover and put in the fridge for 3hrs or until completely cool.

Zesty lemony goodness

For the Meringue:
6 egg whites
1 1/2cups caster sugar

1. Preheat oven to 190C. Use an electric beater to beat the egg whites in a clean dry bowl until soft peaks form. Add the sugar one tbsp at a time until the mix is thick and glossy.

Making the pie:
Spread the filling over the base of the pastry case. Spoon the meringue mix over the top, making sure it goes out to the edges. Use the back of a spoon to form peaks. 

Pie - pre oven
just so I had proof it looked good at one point in case the meringue collapsed

Bake in the oven for 5 mins or until the meringue peaks are light golden. 
Set aside to cool.


For all the fear I had of this dish, it wasn't too bad to make, but it was time consuming and a little stressful - I sat on the floor of my kitchen watching the meringue cook just to be sure it didn't burn. Also evidenced by my lack of photos during the process, always a sign that I am preoccupied.
It hasn't had a taste test yet either but my friends will be here soon so time will tell. I guess if they don't like it they can always make their own and show me how it's done...

Braided Fruit Loaf

I love bread, have I mentioned this before? The trouble is the bread here is sweet and well, awful! The altitude messes with the rising process and it seems the bread will either taste yeasty or they'll have loaded it with sugar so that you can't taste the yeast. As a result I bought myself a bread maker for those times that I want a fix of what bread is meant to be like. However, as this is a bucket list item and it infuriated me (when I didn't have a bread maker) when a recipe called for proofing the loaf in a bread maker, I have made this loaf from scratch. The sun was playing hide and seek this morning so I had some trouble getting things to work, but nothing that sitting the dough in front of a hot oven can't fix.

I love bread...

Braided Fruit Loaf
Serves: 2 loaves (or 1 with a 6 strand plait)
Prep Time: 2 1/2 hours (includes proofing x2) Cook Time: 45mins

120g butter
1/3 cup milk
1/3 cup caster sugar (we can't get this here so I throw normal sugar in the blender for 10 seconds)

2 2/3 cups flour
1tbs dried yeast
3 eggs (beaten)
1 cup dried apricots (chopped)
1tbs flaked almonds

1. Melt butter with milk and sugar in a saucepan on low, stir until sugar is disolved. Cool until lukewarm.

Getting ready

2. Place flour and yeast in a bowl and mix together. Add the eggs (keep 1 tbsp to brush) then the milk mixture, beat for 10 minutes until dough is soft and elastic.
3. Place on a floured surface, shape dough into a rectangle, scatter 1/3 of the apricots then fole the dough over. Repeat until all the apricots have been used. Knead for 2 mins.

Adding the apricots

4. Make a ball and place it in a lightly oiled bowl and cover with lightly oiled plastic wrap. Let stand in a warm place for 1hr (or until doubled)

Plaiting, easy when you know how!

5. Punch down dough and divide into 6 pieces. Roll each into a long strand. Press the tops together and form the loaf by creating a 6 strand plait. (Alternatively make 2, 3 strand plaits). Place the dough onto a baking tray, double lined with baking paper, cover again and leave to proof once more.

Ready for baking

6. Preheat the oven to 180C, brush the loaf with the reserved egg and sprinkle flaked almonds on top. Bake for 40-45mins until lightly golden. I was worried about this bread not being cooked so I checked online and discovered an internal temp of 190/200F is right for a loaf so I went with that.

All done

7. Cool on a wire rack.

This smelt great, it hasn't had the taste test yet as it's being served this afternoon, but if appearance counts for anything, then it's a winner. I'm hoping if this looks good enough, when my meringue is a flop, no one will notice.

Tandoori Salmon

I warned you it was a bucket list kind of weekend... Here's item 2 of the 4 I have planned. I decided Rory and I should have something nice for dinner and this seemed like an easy way to get this. We actually picked up some tandoori powder (ok some might be a slight understatement, try 5 boxes) while we were in Australia, but should we use all of that up before we get chance to replenish supplies, then I thought I'd try making the powder from scratch.

Dinner, just delicious.

Tandoori Salmon
Serves: 2
Prep Time: 5 mins (plus 4+ hours to marinate) Cook Time: 10 mins

500g salmon
150g yoghurt
1tbsp lemon juice
1 clove garlic minced
2tsp ginger powder
1tsp cumin
1tbsp paprika
1/2tsp turmeric
pinch of salt and pepper
pinch of cilantro

1. Prepare salmon into 2 fillets and place skin side down in a glass dish.
2. Mix together all the remaining ingredients to form the tandoori paste.
3. Pour paste over the top of salmon and make sure they're completely coated. Cover the dish with plastic wrap and place in the fridge for at least 4 hours (no longer than 24)

Fillets marinated and ready for refrigeration

4. Take fillets out, remove excess marinade and place them, skin side up, on a greased grill for 5 mins.
5. Turn fillets over and baste with remaining paste. Grill for a further 5 mins or until the salmon flakes apart when tested with a fork.
6. Sprinkle top of fillet with cilantro.

This was delicious! Better than the packet stuff (even if I do say so myself). We had it with hasselback potatoes, sprinkled with paprika to keep with the theme. I had wanted to have asparagus with it but I'm beginning to think the supermarkets here make a choice between asparagus and lemons... Regardless, divine.

White Chocolate, Cherry and Almond Brownies

OK so a friend at work handed me a bag of lemons the other day, it was her subtle hint to get me to make lemon meringue pie. Now the thing is lemons are rare in these parts so I understand her excitement but sheesh, talk abut pressure. As a result I have decided to make a weekend of bucket list creating, then have some friends round for afternoon tea tomorrow. So in an attempt to avoid the pie for a little bit longer, I made this...

You'll notice the pinkish tinge caused by the cherries...

White Chocolate, Cherry and Almond Brownie

Serves: 15 

Prep Time: 5 mins Cook Time: 45mins

200g white chocolate

125 g butter

200g glace cherries (halved)

1 cup caster sugar

1 1/4 cups flour

2 eggs

50g flaked almonds

1. Preheat oven to 180C. Line a baking tin (20x20 square) with paper.

2. Melt the chocolate and butter in a double boiler making sure you stir constantly, allow to cool slightly.

3. Put cherries, sugar, flour and eggs in a bowl and mix together with the chocolate and butter.

Ready for mixing

4. Pour into the baking tin, smooth over the top with a spatula and sprinkle with almonds.

Pre-oven

5. Place in the oven and cook for 45mins, or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.

6. Allow to cool completely in the tin and then cut into pieces.

Post-oven

I was a little disappointed with the end look of this, I think my glace cherries must have retained too much liquid (I went for ones from a jar because they're about 1/10 the price of the dried ones) and it tainted the colour of the brownie (it's now a cute pink colour) and the brownie itself is almost too moist still despite being cooked properly, next time I'll leave the cherries to dry out for a bit longer. That said, the taste is good, and I'll still put it out on offer for my guinea pigs tomorrow, so really what else matters. :)

Spinach and Ricotta Triangles

It's been a while since I've had chance to do anything blog worthy... Rory and I went home for Christmas and despite the temptation to use that opportunity where yellow lemons were plentiful to make Lemon Meringue Pie, I just never got around to it. Not that I spent 4 weeks having other people cook for me, but there wasn't really the time for creative cooking. Rather we had 4 weeks of enjoying all those things that we miss most and dining on Christmas-time favourites.

I'm back into the swing now, until I go back to work on Monday, so here's another item crossed off the list. Which reminds me I really must get around to updating my list...

Delish

Spinach and Ricotta Triangles

Serves:8

Prep Time: 10 mins Cook Time: 20 mins

300g Ricotta Cheese

300g Spinach

2 eggs

Pinch of salt and pepper

1/4 tsp paprika

1/4 tsp chilli flakes

Filo pastry sheets

1. Preheat oven to 180C. Lightly grease a baking tray. Cook spinach in a small saucepan of boiling water until just wilted. Drain and rinse under cold water. Squeeze excess water from the leaves.

Everything ready...

2. Place ricotta, eggs, salt, pepper, paprika, chilli flakes and spinach into a bowl and mix well.

All mixed up

3. Take 1 sheet of pastry and cut into thirds. Place a spoonful of the spinach and cheese mixture on it and fold into a triangle.

Folding into triangles

4. Place on the tray and cook for 20mins until golden and crisp.

Golden crispy goodness

Quick, easy and perfect for a jet-lagged brain and body!

White Chocolate Peppermint Bark

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas... Yes it's that time of year, well if you ask Rory it's not that time of year until Christmas Eve, however he is a bit of a scrooge and I figure if everyone else is getting excited about Christmas then why can't I? We have Christmas concerts, bonfire/fireworks night tomorrow at work so I'm getting that festive vibe and our plan for after work is to get together for an early celebration, so I figured it was time to pull out the first of the Christmas recipes. 

If this doesn't make you think Christmas, nothing will!

My original intention with this recipe was to go all white chocolate but after a bit of hunting on the web I discovered the "top deck" version so I decided to go with that instead. 

Adding in the candy cane crumbs

Melty, chocolatey, minty, crunchy goodness

Adding the white chocolate layer

Sprinkling the candy cane chunks

Cutting...

Top Deck Christmas Bark

Serves: 30
Prep Time: 2 mins Cook Time: 10 mins (plus time for the chocolate to set)
500g milk chocolate
500g white chocolate
10 candy canes
Mint essence

1. Line a baking try with wax paper. Smash all the candy canes I used a meat tenderiser for this and it did the job quickly and perfectly then separate the larger chunks from the smaller crumbs
2. Place milk chocolate in a saucepan and melt over low heat. I know my mother is cringing when she reads this, knowing I've gone against everything she ever taught me about melting chocolate and using a double boiler but a) I don't have one and b) this worked just fine, I made sure that I stirred constantly just in case...
3. Add a couple of drops of mint essence I wouldn't have done this if I had real candy canes, but unfortunately they don't have those here and instead I had things that looked like candy canes, thanks to some brilliant hunting and gathering by Rory. So to ensure it has the right taste to go with the look, I added it in.
4. Stir the finer candy cane crumbs (reserve 1/4 to sprinkle on top) into the chocolate then pour into the baking tray. Place in the fridge to set.
5. Melt the white chocolate.
6. Pour over the top of the set milk chocolate and then sprinkle the larger candy cane crumbs on top. Lightly press down on the candy cane coating to ensure they'll set into the chocolate.
7. Place in fridge. When set use a hot knife and cut into pieces.

On reflection I would have used a bigger baking tin to create thinner layers but I really wasn't sure if I had enough chocolate to cover that surface area. Oh well next time!
This was possibly the easiest recipe ever, the challenge came in the cutting, I've never been great at cutting chocolate and as Rory volunteered to do the honours I left him to it. (It also means I can blame him for the less than perfect edges :) )