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.

Spicy Soya Egg

Ingredients
6 eggs
100ml warm water
100ml sweet soya sauce
50g brown sugar
10pcs of cili padi
1 stalk of spring onion
5pcs shallots or 1/2 large onions

Directions

• prepare ice water enough to cover 6 eggs and set aside
• fill a saucepan with water that can cover 6 eggs... bring the water to rolling boil
• scoop the eggs gently into the boiling water and boil the eggs for 6min
• scoop the boiled eggs and soak in the ice water put aside
• in a glass container mix water, sweet soya sauce and brown sugar... stir till sugar dissolve
• chop cili padi, spring onion and shallots (or onions) and mix the soya mixture
• once egg is cooled, gently peeled off the shell and add the eggs into the soya mixture
• use a spoon to mix the eggs around the soya sauce, cover the container and keep in the fridge overnight
• serve with warm rice... cut the eggs into 2, scoop the sauce with cili, spring onion and shallots over the egg and sprinkle some sesame oil... yummy!!!

Foodnote: Very nice and yummy. Will make this often because I love eggs!! Especially nice to just eat with warm rice and a drizzle of sesame oil over the egg ooh la la.

Flaky Yam Moon Cake

Ingredients
Outer Pastry
200g plain flour (medium protein)
20g castor sugar
50g butter
2g salt
130ml water
few drops of coloring (purple for yam)

Inner Pastry
180g cake flour (low protein)
80g shortening

Yam Filling
1kg yam (skin peeled and diced small)
280g castor sugar
55g wheaten starch
100g shallots sliced
170ml oil

Other Fillings
800g red bean or lotus paste

Directions
outer dough

• mix flour, sugar, butter and salt with finger tips till crumbly and add water (with colorings)
• knead until soft dough and rest for 20min
• divide into 6 portions

outer dough

• mix flour and shortening together to form a dough and divide into 6 portions

yam filling

• steam yam till soft for about 30min
• fry shallots in half portion of the oil till crispy and frangrant
• using a mixer with paddle attachment, blend yam, sugar and wheaten starch (chunky or fine is up to you)
• keep in fridge to cool
• the excess oil is for consistency adjustment only

final assembly

• flour working space generously with flour
• flatten the outer pastry and wrap around the inner pastry
• flatten lengthwise and roll it up like a swiss roll
• flatten it again lengthwise and cut into 2 equal pieces
• brush the esposed side with water and put the 2 pieces on top of each other
• roll from the cut edges (like a swiss roll... make sure the roll form nice spiral pattern)... and cut into 2 again
• roll and flatten each dough with the cut side facing downwards
• wrap up the filling (40g or a full tablespoon) and form a round shape (can also form other shapes as desired)
• deep fry in oil (put a rack in wok) at 160°C for about 7min
• after frying, put in a baking tray lined with parchment paper and bake at 180°C for about 10min or till light golden brown
• the mooncake can also be fried for 12min and served directly. Baking step is to crisp it up further and let the paper absorb excess oil

Foodnote: The yam paste is really nice. I can make it and keep it to fill breads too. Need more practice to form a nice layered pastry. Definitely will make this at home one day.

Flaky Pastry Egg Custard

Ingredients
Outer dough
160g medium protein flour (plain flour)
12g milk powder
13g sugar
40g butter
25g egg
80g water

Inner dough
150g low protein flour (cake flour)
150g shortening
80g butter

Custard filling
33g water
45g evaporated milk
13g sugar
240g egg
5g vanilla essence
few drops of colorings (optional)

Directions
Dough

• prepare outer and inner dough same as here
• place inner dough and outer dough separately into clingwrap, shape into squares
• keep inner dough into freezer till stiff and outer door in chiller section
• once ready, roll outer dough to be bigger than inner dough (guide by placing inner dough 45° angle onto outer dough
• fold the edges of the outer dough to wrap the inner dough making sure that it is fully covered
• clingwrap again and chill for another 20mins
• roll out combined dough to 1.5mm thick and fold 1/3 of it on top towards the centre and another 1/3 to overlap (single turn)
• repeat procese centres 2 times and refrigerate each time for 20min
• roll out dough into rectangle, this time fold 1/4 of both sides towards the centre (book fold)
• chill for another 30min and while waiting, prepare the egg custard

Egg custard

• mix all ingredients together into a pot and heat the mixture till just rolling boil to make sure all sugar have dissolved
• strain the mixture to remove lumps and transfer into a pouring container

Assembly

• roll dough out about 3-4mm thick sheet (make sure the working surface and rolling pin is floured well... only turn once after roll and roll firmly and evenly to prevent dough to become elastic)
• cut with a round cutter (size should be double size of tart cases)
• place dough into tart cases and press the dough into circular motion to bring the edges slightly above tart cases (DO NOT press the edges/top of dough edge so that it can show flaky layers once baked)
• only when ready to bake, fill the egg tart dough until approximately 80% full
• bake for 18min in a pre-heated oven at 200°C until egg set (can see the egg rises but not burnt... it means it is ready to remove from oven)

Foodnote: This is very yummy. The custard is not very sweet. Portion need to adjust as in class we get 8 tarts but the egg custard is good for 4 portions. Also there are still some dough leftovers. Best to not squash the leftovers. Slowly, stacked onto each layers and try to roll out again to make more tarts or for storage to make on other days.