Fried Yam Puff (Woo Kok)

Ingredients
(recipe for 4 students)
600g powder yam (peeled, cut into 1cm cube & steamed)
200g wheaten starch
160ml boiling water
5g salt
25g sugar
6g five spice powder
10g sesame oil
4g pepper powder
80g shortening
1/2g ammonia
new cooking oil for frying

Directions

• scald the wheat starch with boiling water and mix well
• add hot steamed yam and stir well till all yam hard bits are mashed
• add in seasoning (sugar+salt+5spice+sesame oil+pepper)
• once the dough is cooled, sprinkle the ammonia and add in the shortening
• mix well to form dough
• divide yam dough into 40g balls and form a deep bowl
• add filling (char siew or red bean paste)
• seal by pinching 2 sides of the opening and form a sharp seal
• heat oil to 180°C and deep fry till puffy net formed and color is golden brown

Foodnote: This yam puff is very interesting especially when the net is formed. Interesting taste too... but maybe I'd like the filling to be red bean instead of char siew. Anyway... it is quite challenging to make though the effect is very satisfying to see. Hhhmm... not very sure I'd be making this at home though but still good to learn something new.

Sesame Seed Ball

Ingredients
200g glutinous rice flour
70g wheaten starch

210g water
60g sugar
60g shortening

vegetable oil for frying
lotus or red bean paste (form into 20g balls each)
white sesame seeds

optional: meat fillings like for siew mai or charsiew

Peanut filling
roasted chopped peanuts
sugar
flour (dry fry flour till brown)

Directions

• mix the glutinous rice flour and wheaten starch together and put aside
• in a saucepan, heat water, sugar and shortening till rolling boil
• turn off heat and add in the flour mixture
• using a wooden spatula, quickly stir in the ingredients till even
• transfer on a working surface and start needing to form a dough
• divide the dough into 40g portions
• press the dough into palm of hand to flatten
• fill with lotus/read bean paste and seal
• wet the ball and roll into sesame seeds
• roll into palms again to make sure that the sesame seeds will completely stick on the balls
• heat oil to 180°C and deep fry until light golden brown (if oil exceed 180°C, remove the saucepan from heat and drop in the balls to drop the temperature)
• keep stirring the balls so that it will cook evenly
• drain on sieve and transfer to kitchen towel to remove excess oil completely

Foodnote: So happy to finally able to learn to make this. We made with red bean fillings and also with charsiew. I have never made this before (the malay style) so now I am looking forward to try to make this on my own. The trick to make the sesame seed really stick to the balls, is to wet it first, and keep rubbing/rolling in our palms till we feel the sticky starch start seeping and covering the sesame seeds. To make the sesame seed balls with consistency of mochi, just remove the wheaten starch.

During our last class (exam day) we were shown the common way of making the sesame balls... adding the boiling water to the flour and mix together. After that, knead the dough with sugar and once cooled, adding the shortening and knead till dough is formed. I prefer adding the way the chef taught us (Teo Chew style) because is easier and more straightforward.

Steamed Yam Cake

Ingredients
(makes 3 portions)
600g yam cube (1cm) best to use Pahang yam
50g washed and chopped dried prawns
300g rice flour
500ml water
15g salt
13g sugar
3g 5 spice
1g pepper
800ml water
4 tbsp fragrant oil for frying prawns
100g washed, soak and chopped mushroom

Garnishings
sliced spring onions
sliced red chilles
crispy fried sliced shallots
toasted white sesame etc.

Directions

• in a bowl, mix rice flour with 500g water and put aside
• in a saucepan, mix oil and dried prawns
• turn on the heat at high and fry till prawn is crispy and fragrant
• add yam followed by other ingredients such as salt, sugar, spice, pepper and 800g of water and cook till yam is soft
• to add mushroom, sautee the mushroom first; put aside and add it later with other ingredients after dried prawns
• add rice flour mixture and keep stirring until it thickens and form a paste (wooden spoon can stand)
• transfer paste into a greased tray or metal cups
• smooth the top of the cake using a spatula
• brush fragrant oil generously on yam paste
• steam for 1 hour till set (make sure steamer is covered with kitchen towel to prevent water from dripping into yam cake
• add garnishings before servings

Steamed Carrot Cake (Lo Bak Go)

600g shredded turnip (white carrot)

remove 5 spice

reduce water in 2nd part to 700ml

Steamed Pumpkin Cake

600g cubed pumpkin (1cm)

remove 5 spice

reduce water in 2nd part to 700ml

• only use pumpkin raw ie. cook the rest of the ingredients first and once cooked, add in the pumpkin, stir and proceed to steaming

Foodnote: I love this yam cake. Love the savoury taste and the fragrant oil added to the cake. This can also be steamed in a cake tin and fried the next day. I love it just like it is with lots of yummy garnishings. One of the chef in the school make homemade Lao Gan Mo to eat with the yam cake. It is very yummy nom nom nom

Steamed Sponge Cake

Ingredients
(makes 2 portions)
160g cake flour
40g instant custard
4g baking soda
8g baking powder
200g brown sugar
4 eggs
16g gel (ovalette)
100g melted butter

200g lotus or red bean paste
4 salted egg yolk
chopped parsley as garnishing

Directions

• sieve together cake flour, instant custard, baking soda and baking powder
• add brown sugar to sifted mixture and combine well
• add eggs and gel... whisk or use mixer to beat till batter turns pale
• fold in melted butter until well mixed
• place flatten ball of lotus paste or red bean paste (10g each) at the bottom of paper cup
• add batter about 3/4 full and topped with chopped salted egg yolks and parsley (optional)
• steam for approximately 12min until steamer produces a nice steam cake smell

Foodnote: I love steam cake. This steam cake is yummy but I might omit the lotus/red bean paste. We also didn't add salted egg yolk and parsley during our lesson hhhmmm. I think it will be a bit savory with those toppings? Perhaps I should try some and see how it is like when I practice to make this at home. I can't stop eating the steam cake... very sweet though

Siew Mai & Phoenix's Eye Dumpling (Fong Ngan Har Gow)

Ingredients
Wonton Skin (refer here)
200g plain flour (100%)
2g salt (1%)
1g alkali water (0.5%)
70g water (35%-40%)

Filling
300g minced chicken
300g fish paste
6g salt
18g caster sugar
20g sesame oil
other ingredients
30g chopped mushrooms
100g water chestnut
3g ground white pepper
30ml fragrant oil (refer to here)
can also add chopped spring onion, chillies etc.
Basic for fillings: 100g meat + 1g salt + 3g sugar + 1-3g sesame oil)

Siew Mai additions
10g shredded carrots
20g crab roe

Phoenix's Eye additions
5g chopped spring onions
30g green peas


Directions
fillings

• mix all ingredients together but put the oil LAST!
• the final paste should be a sticky bouncy consistency
• place fillings in a tray and spread about 1cm thickness
• cover in clingwrap and best to keep it in the chiller overnight before use

preparation

• place fillings on wonton skin
• wrap the skin to form a basket for siew mai or pinch both ends of wonton skin to form phoenix's eye like the picture above
• decorate siew mai with shredded carrot and crab roe
• decorate phoenix's eye with spring onion and green peas
• arrange siew mai on a greased tray and steam on high heat for about 6-10min till fragrant
• once out of the steamer, quickly brush the steamed siew mai with fragrant oil generously
• garnish with anything of fancy such as crispy garlic+shallots+ginger, sliced onions, chillies, chopped spring onions etc.

Foodnote: Finally started the Intermediate Dim Sum class and we started off with making siew mai. Wished the school have crab roe ggrrrr so that my siew mai don't look so bland. Lucky got garnishes lah. Always looking forward to class and learning new kills and tips on making food yummy. 

Fragrant Oil

Ingredients
garlic
shallots
ginger
(can try other fragrant ingredients like cekur, lemongrass, chilli, coriander roots etc.)
vegetable oil (double portion of ingredients eg. a cup of chopped garlic+chopped ginger+sliced shallots = 2 cups of oil)

Directions

• in a wok or sauce pan, mix garlic+ginger+shallots with room temperature oil
• start fire at high heat and cook till oil is hot and bubbly
• lower the temperature and cook till garlic+ginger+shallots are light golden brown
• sieve crispy garlic+ginger+shallots and collect oil in stainless steel bowl
• once all the oil have dripped into the bowl, put the bowl of oil over a bigger bowl with room temperature water to stop the oil from oxidation
• crispy garlic+ginger+shallots can be used as garnishes over noodles, dumplings, siew mai etc.
• transfer oil in glass bottle and it will be good to use for up to 3 days
• use the oil for any cooking and it will bring the cooking to the next level woohoo... 

Foodnote: A master oil recipe for take your cooking to the next level. One of the best tip/takeaway from my baking/cooking class. This oil can be added to any dish recipe and the crispy bits can also act as garnishes. It is really easy to make so I will try to add this to as much of my cooking.

Wonton Skin & Noodles

Ingredients
Wonton Skin & Asian Noodles
100% plain flour
1% salt
0.5% alkaline water
35-40% water
few drops of yellow coloring (optional but will give it a yellow noodle coloring)

Ramen
100% plain flour
2% salt
35% water

Pang Mian
100% cake flour
2% salt
35% water

Udon/Soba
90% or 80% cake flour
10% or 20% rye flour/buckwheat flour
2% salt
35% water

Spaghetti
100g semolina flour
1 large egg
a pinch of salt

Directions
(wonton skin & asian noodles)

• put flour in a mixer
• mix water, alkali water, water and coloring together in a jug
• using a hook attachment, start on low speed and very slowly, pour water into mixing bowl
• mix till dough becomes crumbly
• take a handful of dough and clump together to form a ball
• roll to about 4mm
• using a pasta/noodle machine starting from level 6, roll the dough down one level each time till level 1
• let dough through level 1 again
• to make wonton skin, using a round cutter and flour each slice of wonton skin so that it won't stick to each other (to use wonton skin another day, flour each wonton skin with corn flour)
• cover the cut wonton skin so that it won't get dry
• to form noodles, use the noodles/pasta cutter of the machine

Foodnote: One of the best part of this cooking/baking class is to learn to make things from scratch. Finally I am confident and inspired to one day (ehem ehem) make my own noodles. Just need to get the noodle machine first. Saw it selling cheap on shopee... so will definitely get one soon.