Sweet Potato Mantou

Made these in March 2012

I've bookmarked this recipe from Wendy's blog for the longest time but just couldn't find a chance to make it.  The body engine just refuse to ignite.  Along the way, this recipe was forgotten until I saw Wendy's Rose Mantou, so pretty!!

I tried my hands on rose shaping but see how they turned out, pathetic looking roses.  After the 2nd proof, the dough look nothing like roses, just a pile of mess :-(

Googled and found this easy to make rose method by Kristy. With some leftover lotus paste from last year's mooncake making, I used them as fillings here.

Though not perfect, these definitely look more like a flower (^_^)

Or should I just stay with croissant shaping?

Soft and fluffy inside, not too sweet too.  I like :-)

 

Sweet Potato Mantou Recipe

Ingredients

250g steamed sweet potato

150ml water (if using purple sweet potato, use 200ml water)

500g Pau/Hong Kong/Super Lite flour

1 tsp baking powder

100g sugar

50g shortening/Crisco (I used butter instead)

1/4 tsp salt

11g instant yeast (I used 3 tsp)

Method

1. Mash sweet potato, or blitz sweet potato with 120ml water to get a fine paste.
2. With balance of water, mix with yeast.
3. Combine everything except shortening and mix to form a dough.
4. Put in shortening and knead until dough is smooth. Add slightly more flour is dough is way too sticky to handle. If the dough is sticky but can retain its form, like not slacking down, just continue to knead, the gluten just hasn’t form, there’s no need to add extra flour.
5. Cover and let dough proof until double, about 45 mins.
6. Punch down dough and knead for 1-2 minutes.
7. Divide dough into 50gm portions and shape accordingly.
8. Cover and let the formed dough proof until doubled for another 45 minutes.
9. Steam on high heat for 12 minutes.  

Simple Bitter gourd with Egg Soup 苦瓜蛋汤

My sister is very active in the RC (Residents' Committee) and she gets to meet the MP (Member of Parliament) whenever there's an event in their neighbourhood.  She learns this soup dish from her MP, Mr Baey Yam Keng and I've been cooking it whenever I need a quick fix.  I have another recipe of cooking bitter gourd with carrot but for that recipe, I need to simmer the soup for an hour.

No hard and fast rules, no exact recipe.  Feel free to adjust the ingredients to suit your family's need.

Bitter gourd Soup

Ingredients

1 bitter gourd, sliced

3-4 eggs, beaten

some shallots (sometimes I use ginger or dried shrimps, depending on what I have)

1000ml - 1200ml dried anchovies stock

Salt and pepper to taste

Method

In a pot, heat up some oil and add shallots/ginger/dried shrimps.  Fry till fragrant.

Add sliced bitter gourd

Stir fry till soft

Pour in beaten eggs

Scramble....

Pour in dried anchovies stock and bring to boil.  Season with salt and pepper, serve hot.

Mooncake piglets 豬仔餅

I'm early this year :-)  I've learnt my lesson for the past few years, never make baked mooncakes last minute.

My dear friend, SL, will be helping me to get the lotus paste again this year.  She prefers to buy the ingredients closer to the actual day, to ensure that the ingredients are the freshest.  So while waiting for my low sugar lotus paste to arrive, I made 豬仔餅 to ease my itchy hands.

Using the regular recipe, I tweaked the method a little as I was rushing to leave the house.  I skipped the glazing as I personally find the piglets too sweet when I made them last year.  Without the glaze, the mooncakes' appearance are matte but still, I think they look alright.

I'm not sure if the resting of baked mooncakes was required to cool the moonies down first before glazing.  I did it anyway but only for 10 mins instead of recommended 30 mins.  In my next attempt, I think I'm just going to bake them for 20-25 mins straight.

The piggies before baking

After 1st bake, resting for 10 mins before returning to the oven

Nicely brown 豬仔餅.  My kids are happy, so am I :-)  I hope my recipients are happy to receive them too.

Traditional Baked Mooncakes

Yield 11 pieces weighing 34g each

Ingredients

(A)
200g Hong Kong Flour

(B)
120g Golden syrup/Sugar syrup
60g Peanut oil (I used soy bean oil)
1/4 tsp Alkaline water
* mix together

Method

1. Sift hong kong flour into a mixing bowl.
2. Pour in (B), combine well to get a smooth dough in one direction.
3. Cover with cloth, let it stand for 20 minutes.
4. Divide dough to portions of 34g each.
5. Roll into a ball,
6. Lightly flour the mould. Place mooncake in mould, flatten, dislodge the mooncake (I used a cookie cutter with stamper).
7. Bake in a preheated oven at 180°C for 15 mins, remove and let it cool for 10 mins.  Continue to bake for another 10 mins at 180°C.
8. Remove mooncakes from oven and leave to cool.
9. Store for 3 days before serving

Baking with Tecno 3400 Oven

Many people ask me how do I bake using Tecno 3400 oven since there are only 2 racks.  The lower rack is too low and the higher rack is too high.

This is how I do it

I elevate my cake pan by placing another cake pan at the base, so the cake batter is baked in the middle "rack" ;-)