Dim Sum 7: Siew Mai

要吃要吃好

A labor of love

fancy design

toppings

original type

Cook as to how you like to eat it, join me if we share the same taste.  PaulaCookingFingers

snacks

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Dim Sum 2: Porcupine Pearl Balls 珍珠糯米豚圆

What're u bingeing? 又在吃什么?

吃不饱的.

Dim sum extravaganza

Spiky pork balls...Just when you have to serve two dishes and too tired to do so, let this little porcupine comes to your rescue. Today I'm serving fried jiaozi for a simple CNY family lunch. Though the qty is for 4 persons, preparation process covers a wide spectrum from the dough making to steaming the dumplings. Also my energy supply being depleted over weeks of tarts baking, so the thought of cooking a second dish draws a blank page. However the likeliness of  hearing comment from the table, "is that all ?" is certain and my temples started throbbling.

God send angel; my einstein bulb starting flickering, remembering this recipe in a dim sum cookbook. Out of convenience, I used the jiaozi pork filling and rolled them into firm balls. Then covered the meat balls with glutinous rice that being soaked for 3 hours. Set up the bamboo steamer and 15 mins cooking time is sufficient. Served with ginger vinegar sauce as well. All excited to see the porcupines while I sat in a corner gleaming away !

Porcupine Pearl Balls 珍珠糯米豚圆
Recipe:

• 200g minced pork
• 5 springs ku chai - chinese chives
• 1 big leaf pak choy
• 5 pcs carrots
• 1 stalk chinese leek (white portion)
• 1 tsp grated ginger
• 1 tsp fish sauce
• 1 tsp soya sauce
• 2 tsp chinese wine
• 2 tsp sesame oil
• 1/2 tsp pepper
• 1/2 tbsp sugar
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 tsp corn flour
• 150g glutinous rice

Method:

1. Soak rice for 3 hours only
2. Shred the vegetables finely
3. Marinate the pork with all the rest.
4. Combine vegetables and pork and mix well.
5. Set aside for 1- 2 hours .
6. Roll into 50cents balls n throw between palms to firm them up.
7. Wrap the meat balls with the soaked glutinous rice.
8. Line steamer with baking paper and
9. Steam the porcupines 15 mins medium low fire.
10. Served steaming hot with ginger vinegar sauce.

Cook's pointers:

• Do not soak rice more that 3 hours 
• pork mixture must not be wet
• Can use all pork or choose vegetables of your choice.

Workshop @ Palate Sensations Singapore - 65-6589 8843

Food quote:  The cardiologist's diet: If it tastes good, spit it out. ~Author unknown

Rice

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Ah Ma's Collection 6: Teochew Pork Vegetable Dumpling 潮州粉果...hot water dough

What're u eating? 在吃什么?

吃不饱的. 怕胖要美

Stubbornly nostalgic

Teochew heritage...A look at it, anyone would know it is not cantonese dim sum. The skin dough is similar to har gow but no prawns in the filling. It is similar to Shui Jin Bao but the skin is more towards white than very clear. Some may add some ku chai to the filling for a pungent taste. Again, the technique used is hot water dough.

Recipe 1:  

• 80g wheat starch
• 80g potato starch
• 100g boiling water
• 1 tbsp onion oil
• 1/2 tsp salt

Pork Vegetable Filling -

• 200g roughly minced pork
• 1/2 pc yellow bean curd
• 3 strings long beans
• 3 sprigs chinese celery
• 1 water chestnut chopped
• 2 shitake mushrooms
• 4 pcs carrots shredded
• 2 tbsp red peanuts
• 1/4 tbsp salted radish (chai poh)
• 1/4 tbsp chopped garlic
• 2 shallots chopped
• 1/2 tbsp fish sauce
• 1/2 tbsp soya sauce
• a dash chinese cooking wine

Workshop @ Palate Sensations Singapore - 65-6589 8843

food quote:   姜还是老的辣, jiāng háishì lǎo de là “the ginger gets more pungent with age” the older and wiser you get

Cook as to how you like to eat it, join me if we share the same taste.  PaulaCookingFingers

pork

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Waltzing w Yeast 2 : Singapore Char Siew Bao 老面叉燒包...less sweet

What're u eating? 在吃什么?

吃不饱的. 没钱吃饱

Harmonious conformers
Won't choke you...Everyone tell me , " Aiyoyo, just buy lah ! So many good char siew baos in Singapore, from Jurong East to Tiong Bahru to Toa Payoh to Newton to etc...etc..." I'm not disagreeing but none of them suits my palate. The amount of sugar or honey -they so said , far too excess in the sauce. I often have to scoop 2/3 of the char siew filling to the side plate and invite nasty looks or comments to my wastage. However I do love eating them with the right sweetness! So regardlesss of the toil to prepare the dough and filling, I'm not whinning at all.....

If you have no interest to roast your char siew, they are easily available in supermarkets, preferably those that have some fat on it.  The meat has to be cut into small pieces for easier wrapping and take lesser time to soften in the sauce. The first few baos may go out of shape so much you like to throw them against the wall...stop ! Wrap a few more and you 'll be smiling away. In my recipe, the addition of wan sui and water chestnut make your char siew baos the winning champ in Singapore. The one and only one !

Singapore Char Siew Bao 老面叉燒包
Recipe:
1 qty Da Bao /Tua Pau dough (watch video)

350g pork char siew
1 1/2 tbsp cooking oil
2 water chestnuts
1 stalk chinese parsley - wan sui
2 clove garlic / 1/2 onion
2 tsp hoi sin sauce
1 tsp oyster sauce
3/4 hot water
2 tsp chinese wine - optional
salt/ sugar/ pepper to taste

9 pcs white paper - 7 cm by 7 cm

Workshop available @ Palate Sensations Singapore 

- tel 65 6589 8843

Step by Step Video:

food quote:   殺雞儆猴: "To kill the chicken to frighten the monkeys . To punish someone as a warning to others.

Cook as to how you like to eat it, join me if we share the same taste. PaulaCookingFingers

yeast

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Waltzing w Yeast 1: Singapore Tua Pau 新加坡老面大包 (sourdough method)

What're u bingeing? 又在吃什么?
吃不饱的. 不想吃饱.

Incredibly scrumtrulescent

Nostalgia Pau...The popularity of a particular kopitiam in the 1960s depended on the aroma of the thick black coffee commonly roasted in the backyard. Good coffee alone was not good enough to beat their competitor few metres away. Their coffee had to be served with a delicious steaming hot Tua Pau. Steaming of the pau were done at the front of the coffee shop in big bamboo steamers, and it was the pau special aroma that drew the crowd in first before the coffee brew.

Bamboo steamer

The special wonderfully aroma came from the yeast fermentation of the sourdough used to wrap thick sliced pork filling stuffed with a big quarter of hard boiled egg. So each vendor concocted their own secret recipe to the making of sourdough. This unique aroma cannot be achieved by dough starter or instant method. The recipe I am sharing is already using the minimum time required to ferment the yeast. I believe the professional pau makers take much longer time to do so...their sourdough could be as old as the establishment ..the secret lies here! 

However it is not happening today, kopitiam paus are mainly from factory suppliers. Even those kopitiams that make their famous paus, their fillings are far cry from those days. With the rising cost of pork, they turned to using minced pork...just not the SAME!!!! Missing so much a real bite of traditional Tua Pau, I spend days in the kitchen massaging dough after dough to get the aroma/texture/freshness I longed for. 

This recipe is from Prima Flour web and I modified a little with the addition of wheat starch and vinegar instead of alkaline water. The sourdough aroma is better than any air freshness u can imagine. The other methods give the bun a raw yeast smell which can be repelling to some. The water measurement in the recipe is just a good guide, In dough making, you need to feel when to add a little more or less as you knead. Dough kneading is therapeutic...drive all your blues away FOC.

2015 Update:
If using minced pork, buy the "see no sky" cut (costs more) which is around the armpit zone...so good bite QQQ. 

Pointers: 1) Not all yeast is suitable for making steam white bao. Check with the supplier before purchase. Some yeast turn the baos brown.  2) Knead your dough very well, drizzle some water if it is dry, should be pliable soft.

Yeast for Steam bao

Recipe:

Sourdough 1: 50g hongkong flour...3/4 tsp instant yeast...30ml water

Sourdough 2: 50g hongkong flour...25g dough 1...30ml water 

Sourdough 3: 100g hongkong flour...50g dough 2...60ml water 

Final dough: 50g wheat starch...150g dough 3 30g white sugar...1 tsp baking powder...30ml water...1/8 tsp ammonia soda...1/4 tsp white vinegar...1/2 tbsp oil 

Pork filling: 250g pork...20g chinese parsley or celery...1/4 cup mushroom chopped.

Sauce: 1 tbsp oil...2 tsp light soya sauce...1/2 tsp dark soya sauce...1 tsp sesame oil...1/2 tbsp oyster sauce...1/2 tbsp sugar...1/2 tsp salt...1/8 tsp pepper to taste...cornflour to thicken. 

Workshop available @ Palate Sensations Singapore 

- tel 65 6589 8843

food quote:   心急吃不了熱豆腐：”You have to wait until the hot tofu cools down.” Haste makes waste.

Cook as to how you like to eat it, join me if we share the same taste. PaulaCookingFingers

Step by Step Video:                                  

yeast

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