Chinese Eats at Home (Part 2)

[Ce'nedra]

tepee: Your meals are so lovely! Keep it rolling! And your presentation is gorgeous too

Btw, which one is the threadfish?

prasantrin: Whether or not your baos are perfect, I can tell you that they look awesome I really suck at making doughs, breads, dumplings and all those things.

Had a simple dinner tonight: pan-fried fish-tofu puff with sauce and rice

And made dessert today (not very Chinese though) - Apple, Cinnamon & Sour Cream Cake (doesn't look all that nice but it tasted good despite being a little dry )

[Tepee]

Thanks, Ce'nedra. I'd swap for your stuffed tofu anytime. I love stuffed anything, food that is.

The salted threadfin (in the small square dish towards the front left) is chopped into smaller bits and then shallowfried.

[prasantrin]

prasantrin - I'm not sure why your bao has brown specks on them, could be the flour is my best guess. I normally use all purpose flour.

I used all-purpose, sort of. I can't get all-purpose in Japan, so I use half cake flour (8% protein) and half bread flour (12% protein) which approximates the protein content of all-purpose, I think...

As for it being dense and not smooth, I have two guesses:

1) In my original recipe, I forgot to mention that after you mixed the dough together, I let it sit for about 20-30 minutes to relax the gluten. That could be one of the reasons why your baos are dense.

Ah...I was wondering if I should let it rest, but I was in such a hurry to eat some, that I decided not to bother! I'll let it rest next time. I think resting it would also have helped with the water problem I had. At first, the dough seemed a bit dry, so I added about 1T water. It seemed fine at first, but then it started becoming too wet, so I had to add more flour. I think if I had let it rest, I wouldn't have had to add any additional liquid at all.

2) The heat of the steamer is crucial here. When I made my last batch, the first few that I had steamed, I didn't turn the heat up high enough, and they came out dense and kind of flat. I had to turn the fire on high, to get a lot of maximum heat, that was when my baos really got really fluffy and white.

And for the filling, I never use hoisin sauce, just oyster sauce, cornstarch slurry, soy sauce, and fresh green onions to finish it off. I love fresh green onions in it, it brings such a fresh flavor to the buns. MMM. Oh and I add some red food coloring to the sauce because I like the red color of the filling, it always makes it look so good.

My steamer was for the most part quite hot, but because my steamer insert is so small, I had to put it over a small pot and it dried out a couple of times. Oops. I'll be more careful next time, or maybe I'll just buy a larger steamer, so I can use my large pot!

I kind of liked the hoisin sauce in the filling. I like my filling a bit sweet, and the hoisin added just a touch more sweetness to the whole thing. I really like the redness food colouring adds, too, but I didn't have any. There's something very homey about red char siu bao.

Rona: Did your dough have sugar in it? It may be scorched sugar if it is not incorporated well. This is only a wild guess tho'. Another possibility maybe the condensation that has dripped back onto the baos. My steamer is stainless steel, so I stretch a tea towel between the baos and the lid.

Hmmm...it did have sugar in it. I wonder if I should dissolve the sugar in the milk first. That might help.

As for smoothness, I use my Kitchen-Aid mixer with the dough hook. My scratch recipe also uses baking powder. After mixing for 15 minutes, I let the dough rest for 15, then mix again for 10 minutes before forming baos and steaming. As June mentioned, that will relax the gluten for a smoother surface.

But I don't have a mixer! It's just me and my two hands. I do have a food processor, though, so maybe I'll try using it to make the dough next time.

They look delicious tho! I have some filling already made and in the freezer, so I guess I'll have to make baos again.

Have you tried the chicken, Chinese mushrooms, onion and lapcheung in oyster sauce filling?

I also make baos with curry chicken.

I really loved my bao, and I ate my last one today! I want to make more, but I promised my mother I would wait until she gets here, so we can make it together (actually, knowing her, I'll be making them by myself, and she'll just be watching and eating!). When she's here, I'm going to do a yeast dough and a baking powder dough, and do a taste test. I'm also going to be more adventurous and try other fillings! I'm going to try the one you suggested, without the lapcheung. I only really like lapcheung fried and eaten on a bed of rice with a sunny-side up (or over easy) egg!

Any other filling suggestions? In Japan the kind with minced pork (no sauce, just like a meatball, sort of) is the most common, so I'm avoiding that one. I made a couple with sloppy joe filling (to use up my extra dough), and they were actually pretty good! But now I need more ideas! Pulled pork, maybe??

My quotations went all wonky! Don't know what happened, but I redid it so my replies to junehl are in red, and replies to Dejah are in blue. And I just realized I'm getting a little too bao-fixated for the general dinner topic, so if someone wants to move me back to the bao cook-off, I won't be offended!

Edited October 22, 2007 by prasantrin (log)

[junehl]

Rona - you brought to mind another thing I didn't mention. I always mix the milk and the sugar together to dissolve it. Then I mix it into the flour mixture. That should solve some of the issues you had w/ the dough being dry.

The other baos I like making are:

pork, lap cheung, and egg

a sweet one with an egg coconut custard called gai yea (this could be the Vietnamese name for it)

minced chicken with shredded cabbage, carrot, black mushroom, and bean thread (fun see) - I love this b/c it keeps so well in the freezer.

[Dejah]

I'm wondering if the pot boiling dry may have contributed to the brown spots?

I've never dissolved the sugar in the milk for baos, but I will have to try that.

My s-i-l uses cake flour for her dough, but I've always used AP. Didn't see any difference between hers and mine, other than mine having wayyyy more filling!

[Ce'nedra]

I'm afraid I can't contribute anything to this conversation about baos (it's way out of range ).

Char kway teow

[Tepee]

Thanks for contributing to the thread, Ce'nedra. Looks great. What meat did you add to your CKT? Pork? Chicken? First time I've seen baby corns in a CKT. LOL, I see we share something in common...I also add non-traditional ingredients as the mood takes me.

[Ce'nedra]

Thanks for contributing to the thread, Ce'nedra. Looks great. What meat did you add to your CKT? Pork? Chicken? First time I've seen baby corns in a CKT. LOL, I see we share something in common...I also add non-traditional ingredients as the mood takes me.

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Np

I used chicken. I love baby corns and thought it'd add a nice contrast to the CKT. Yep yep, in my home, none of us are exactly traditionalists in terms of cooking, culture, lifestyle, religion or ANYTHING really lol.

As long as it tastes good, we're more than happy to use it And if there's something we dislike, we're also more than happy to disregard it.

Although admittedly, there ARE a few rules for certain cuisines that I strongly stick to, in particular Chinese and Vietnamese cuisine. I can also get a bit defensive

However, when it comes to the amount of fats and oil that are 'traditional' for many recipes, my family gives those the finger

Chilli Plum Beef Stir-fry

[Tepee]

Homecooking doesn't get any simpler than this...

Crispy anchovies (ikan bilis in malay) fried with peanuts and onions, caramelised towards the end. Would be better if I added chilli to this...but my kids have yet to develop a tolerance for heat.

Last week's siu yook aromatised with shallots, then braised with napa cabbage. I added 2 cubes of nam yue (red fermented bean curd).

Amaranth with wolfberries

...now...this would be complete with Ce'nedra's very appetizing chili plum beef.

Edited October 26, 2007 by Tepee (log)

[hzrt8w]

Chilli Plum Beef Stir-fry

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What kind of plum was used? Fresh plum? Or in a sauce? Or dried ones?

[Dejah]

Fresh and salted duck eggs. I've been thrifty with the 24 I unknowingly bought at $.50 each! I've used several in steamed cakes, and the last 3 I steamed with a couple of salted duck eggs. The salted yolk is beautiful but the whites always look messy. I added diced lapcheung and green onions.

Beef meat balls and gai lan:

Simple stir-fried chicken with bak choy - quick and easy for busy nights.

[Dejah]

My aunties have been good to me! Their gardens produce amazing fuzzy melons and bitter melons. I've used acouple of the bigger bitter melons in soup with rehydrated oysters, ginger, pork neck bones and tangerine peel. Wish my pictures were clearer.

I haven't made mu gwa (fuzzy melon) soup yet. These were from one lady. The largest of these five is about 18 inches long. The three with the "frost" on them, I will wrap with newspaper and keep in a cool place. I just used one from last year a week ago! I have several put away already from the other ladies.

The hot'n'sour soup we had for lunch today. Again, apologies for the blurry picture.

[prasantrin]

I had intended on making chicken in oyster sauce with some kind of Chinese vegetable (not bok choy, but smaller and pudgier with lighter green leaves and the same coloured stem) for dinner the other night, but I never got around to it. Yesterday morning, I realized I had no lunches to bring to work, so I quickly made my chicken in oyster sauce.

It was frickin' good! I normally just use oyster sauce and cornstarch with water as a thickener. But this time, I added a splash of shaoxing and a bit of soy sauce, too.

I'd have taken pictures, but it was almost as ugly as it was tasty.

[Ce'nedra]

What kind of plum was used?  Fresh plum?  Or in a sauce?  Or dried ones?

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I used plum sauce Easy and convenient.

Tepee: You sure know how to make food that is a feast to the eyes

You even manage to make simple meals so gorgeous! And I bet they're lipsmacking delicious too

Dejah: Boy do those look good!

As for the bitter melon, I've only recently (well, in the last couple yrs) developed a liking for it. As a child, I would always stay away from it but there's just something about bitter melon and its likes that grows with you...

Here's how we do ours:

[Dejah]

Ce'nedra: What green leafy vegetable did you have with your bitter melon soup? I've not stuffed the melons when I made soup, but I have done so when braising.

I was very surprised when my Caucasian hubby loved the bitter soup from the first time he tried it. We like it best stir-fried with black bean garlic sauce then tossed with ho fun.

After all the talk of chop suey in another thread - since moved to food culture and traditions, I had to have some for supper. Bought the cabbage acouple of days ago thinking I'd cook it with dried shrimp, but this was just as good! The only thing different from the way Mom and Dad used to make it was the use of canned mushrooms instead of the fresh that I used last night.

Chop suey: cabbage, celery, onion, mushrooms, bean sprouts, sesame seeds, chicken stock.

Ate this with grilled hot Italian sausages and jasmine rice. They went well together!

[takadi]

I'm afraid I can't contribute anything to this conversation about baos (it's way out of range ).

Char kway teow

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Hi Ce'nedra your char kway teow looks amazing. I've been trying to find the right noodles for ages but to no avail. Did you make them yourself or is there a special noodle sold in stores?

[hzrt8w]

I named this dish "The Good And The Evil".

The Good = crab meat cooked with egg white

The Evil = black sea cucumber braised with five spice and oyster sauce

My creation.

[hzrt8w]

Dried squid in curry sauce in a hot pot.

[hzrt8w]

Cantonese style soup: chicken broth base (made with chicken bones primarily), green papaya, dried oyster, dried scallop, and some "nam buk hung".

[junehl]

Boiled a whole chicken for stock.

Used the chicken breast for a Chicken salad. It's just shredded chicken breast with chili sauce, sesame oil, ginger sauce, and some green onions

[junehl]

Used the dark meat and whatever shreds was left from the boiled chicken for Gai cheow gai (?). Chicken marinated in oyster sauce layered with green mustard stem in brown sauce.

Side View

[junehl]

With all the talk a couple weeks ago about salt baked chicken (I've been out of town for 2 weeks, so a little slow), I decided to make my own.

I didn't have the ginger powder, so I improvised between a soy sauce baked chicken and a five spice powder chicken. I'm especially proud of this because I was able to cut the chicken with a cleaver!

I've never been able to use the cleaver to hack at things, it always hurt my hands and I have wild aim, so i always end up with minced meat instead of nicely chopped pieces.

Oh and this dinner was the first time I realized how easy it was to make ginger/onion sauce with an immersion blender. No more grating by hand. Immersion blender, 1 ginger, 10 seconds. Culinary delight.

[hzrt8w]

Oh and this dinner was the first time I realized how easy it was to make ginger/onion sauce with an immersion blender.  No more grating by hand.  Immersion blender, 1 ginger, 10 seconds.  Culinary delight.

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Gingers have lots of tough fibers. Would it work well in a blender? I always hand-grate mine.

Your dishes look buT4!

[junehl]

Ah Leung, it works great with the tough fibers, although I do have to clean the blades a few times, to make sure the fibers aren't stuck right above the blade.

And I love using the immersion hand blenders because i can break it out in 3 seconds and clean up is 2 seconds. It's my favorite tool in the kitchen.

[Ce'nedra]

Ce'nedra: What green leafy vegetable did you have with your bitter melon soup? I've not stuffed the melons when I made soup, but I have done so when braising.

I was very surprised when my Caucasian hubby loved the bitter soup from the first time he tried it. We like it best stir-fried with black bean garlic sauce then tossed with ho fun.

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I just used coriander

Wow surprising that he enoyed it on first try -it took me a couple of yrs to appreciate it!

Hi Ce'nedra your char kway teow looks amazing. I've been trying to find the right noodles for ages but to no avail. Did you make them yourself or is there a special noodle sold in stores?

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Thank you I think it tasted a bit on the bland side though, to be honest

I never make my own noodles hahaha! My belief is that if the basic ingredients (such as noodles, bread, etc) are readily available, no way in hell will I waste my time making it!

I used flat rice noodles. Where do you live? I'm sure you can get it at any Asian grocery store