Baked dumplings

  

So I've made these several times over parties and I'd like to share the recipe (as promised).

I love dumplings. They are great savoury snacks and so versatile (you can bake them, pan fry them, deep fry, steam; you could use whatever fillings to your liking)

This recipe a really simple to make, delicious and healthy- because it's baked, not deep-fried like you get them at the restaurant.

Here are the ingredients you need (makes about 6 servings/ 40 - 50 pieces):

For wrapping the dumplings I used these wonton pastry you could get from the asian grocer

 

For the filling:

500g minced beef (or pork)

2x2 inches of ginger - finely diced

5 garlic cloves - finely diced

2x shallots OR 3 stalks of green/spring onions -  finely chopped

1x red chilli (optional) - finely chopped

8-10 x medium-large shitake mushrooms (pre-soaked until soft) - diced

2-3 stalks of asian coriander/ cilantro - finely chopped

1 egg

To add a little crunch you could also add finely diced carrots/ water chestnuts

oil for frying and brushing

sesame oil

soya sauce

cooking sherry /optional

pepper

woicester sauce / oyster sauce

 Instructions:

1. Marinate minced meat with 4 tbsp soysauce, 2 tbsp sherry, 1.5 tbsp oyster/woicester sauce, 3 tbsp of sesame oil, couple dashes of pepper. mix well and let it sit for 10 minutes
2. Meanwhile, heat 3 tbsp oil in frying pan on medium heat. Add ginger and stir fry until golden crispy / you smell the aroma. Then add in garlic, onions and chili. Stir until fragrant. Then add into meat
3. Mix in the cilantro/coriander and mushrooms. Mix everything well then add an egg and continue mixing (the egg will hold the meat together to ensure it doesnt fall apart when baked)
4. At this point I would pan fry a tiny bit of the meat mixture and taste it to see if it is under seasoned. Then adjust seasoning accordingly.
5. Start wrapping the dumplings in the wonton pastry by placing meat fillings at the center of the sheets and bring all corners together, give it a twirl around the top like you would do with a christmas gift bag, gently squeeze the together and open the ends downwards so it'll resemble flower petals.
6. Place dumplings on baking paper and brush them with a little oil. Bake them in preheated oven at 200 Celcius for 10-12 minutes.
7. Serve.

Difficulty level: Medium

Prep time: 1 hour

Chocolate-dipped Strawberries

If you love Strawberries AND chocolate, you have to make these yourselves. It looks delicious, tastes amazing, and sOOO much fun to make. It's pretty easy....although it does require some tidious steps. It's basically a fruit fondue that you can do with grapes, apples, or bananas. It reminds me of school days, during school fairs where there will be stalls selling choc-dipped apples and marshmallows everywhere... So here's what you'll need:

Ingredients :
Baking chocolate bar ( I prefer going for the dark chocolate, slightly bitter sweet)
Fruits

Instructions:

1. You'll need to wash the fresh fruits thoroughly and then air dry them or pat dry with kitchen towels.
2. Bring a small pot of water to simmer on low-medium heat. Place a glass bowl over it, making sure it sits perfectly well on top of the pot, and the bottom of the bowl should not touch the water surface.
   
3. Once chocolate melts, you can start coating the fruits. (IMPORTANT: the fruit has to be absolutely dry when dipping into the chocolate sauce, as any moisture would turn chocolate grainy, and it would not give the fruits a shiny smooth coating)
4. Gently swirl fruit until excess chocolate is dripped off the fruit, then gently place it on a plate and cool it in the refrigerator for approx 30 minutes.
   
5. Best eaten within 24 hours.

Difficulty level: easy

Time : 1 hour

Oven-Baked Curry Puffs Recipe

Recently had cravings for some curry puffs.....and making these reminded me of the good ol' times on Samada Street, Melbourne with my dear friend Sam, how we used to make them together in our tiny little kitchen =) This recipe happens to be a cheat since i didnt make the puff pastry on my own (used the ready made ones from the frozen section at Coop, heh)....but you could probably easily make them your own if you want to. But to make the fillings here's what I used:

Ingredients:
Chicken (diced; omitted if vegetarian version preferred)
Oil for frying
half cup water
Peas
Potatoes (diced, pre-boiled)
Onions (finely diced)
Curry mixture (3 tbsp curry powder + 1 tsp tumeric powder + 1tsp chili powder + salt and pepper to taste + half tsp sugar)
Hard boiled eggs (diced, generously sized)

Instructions to make fillings:

1. Heat oil in a sauce pan. Add in onions and stir till brown then add in curry mix.
2. Stir fry curry mix until fragrant (about 2 minutes, on medium heat).
3. Add in meat, potatoes and peas. Stir in a little while then add water. Lower heat and let it simmer for about 15-20 minutes until mixture is mushy.
4. When folding in fillings into pastry, add in pieces of eggs to give it extra texture and taste.
5. Place puffs on baking paper, brush a little egg wash to give them colour. Bake for 20-25 minutes at 150 degrees (oh dont forget to preheat oven first )

Bon appetit!

Difficulty level : moderate

Time : 1.5- 2 hours

Guacamole - Chunky

My first attempt to Guacamole made from scratch..not too bad, but I would have liked it less watery and less raw onion flavour (Tip next time: Use more avocado, ONLY use solid part of tomatoes to avoid wet guacamole, use half a red onion only).

This is great if you like avocados. It is really healthy too. Dipping sauce for your friday night nachos or spread on your tortillas, with some melted cheese and grilled chicken slices...yummers..

All you will need are:
3-4 ripe avocados
1 tomato, deseed
half a red onion, finely diced
bell pepper, finely chopped
jalapenos, finely chopped
coriander leaves, finely chopped
1 lime
1 tbsp olive oil
salt and pepper
*optional: 1 garlic clove, minced; few drops of tobasco sauce

Instruction:

1. Scoop avocado into a medium size bowl. Mash well.
2. Add all other ingredients and mix well. Squeeze lime juice and add olive oil, season with salt and pepper to taste. Garnish if you like.
3. Tip: if you dont like it chunky, finely chop all ingredient or grind them in a food processor. To ensure that Guacamole does not turn brown too quickly, add a whole avocado seed into the mix.

Prep time: 15 minutes
Difficulty: easy peasy

Home Made Popiah/ Asian wraprolls

This is not really a recipe, as I would call it more of a "main masak-masak". You can basically use any sort of fillings to your own liking. As long as you have the Popiah Sheets (available at your nearest asian grocer, frozen section). Popiah is a popular snack that comes in all shapes and sizes (similar to spring rolls). But I like the home made version, where everything is fresh and it is so much fun making each roll as you eat, artsy. I remember I used to frequent Aunty Sherrys home made popiahs...delish...

I love to have mine with the following:
Popiah sheets
salad leaves
fried beansprouts
fried long beans, chopped
omelet with pickled radish, strips
shrimps
hoisin sauce
chilli sauce

Instructions:

1. lightly fry beansprouts with chopped garlic and soy sauce. Set aside
2. lightly fry green beans with a pinch of salt. set aside
   
3. fry omelet with pickled radish. slice thin long strips. set aside
4. stirfry shrimps with garlic and tamarind sauce, salt to taste. set aside
5. wash salad leaves cleanly and drain.
   
6. To prepare popiah: lay a sheet of popiah skin onto a plate, spread hoisin sauce and some chilli sauce thinly across sheet. first place salad leaves, then followed by the other ingredients, amount to your liking. The trick is to not overfill your popiah otherwise you will find it tricky when you wrap. Use your imagination when proceeding with the wrapping. I normally fold lengthwise first, followed by the two sides, then closing in with the final side. (it should look like the shape of regular springrolls). Voila!

* the popiah filling is really up to your own liking. You may opt for fried tofu cubes, cucumber, turnip, carrots, etc.


Prep time: 30 min
Difficulty : easy

Onde-Onde (nyonya desserts) Recipe

Had a craving for Onde-Ondes, so I googled for the recipe and delighted to know it's so easy to make.... I love this because of the delightful sweet surprise you get on the inside. When you sink your teeth into the fragrant chewy ball you'll get liquid sugar oozing out....yummers.. but it's not any ordinary sugar, you'll need Gula Melaka (Palm sugar) (found mainly in south east asia/ sometimes your favourite asian grocer).
Here's all you'll need:
palm sugar (chop and shaped into tiny balls of sugar balls, about the size of a peanut, personal preference)
250 g glutinous rice flour
50 g tapioca starch flour
80-100 ml pandan juice*
grated coconut ( I used coconut flakes)

(* pandan/ screwpine leaves : juice can be extracted by blending 8 leaves with 1 cup of water. It is important to make sure you chop the leaves finely before blending. Then over a sieve, further squeeze juice from leaves with hands into a glass and set aside. Then with the same blended/drained leaves, blend them again with another cup of water to get slightly less concentrated juice.Pandan juice will give the dish a natural green colouring and fragrance)

Instructions:

1. Slowly add Pandan juice to flour mixture. adjust amount of juice according to the consistency desired. You want to knead the dough to get a smooth, green coloured dough.
2. Tear the dough to make approximate 1 inch balls. Make a cavity in center of ball ,place 'palmsugar-ball' and cover up neatly and give it a good roll to get a smooth ball.
3. Place balls into a pot of boiling water. Boil until balls start to float on the surface, further boil for 2-3 minutes to get sugar to melt inside.
4. Remove ball from pot into a bowl of coconut flakes/grated, roll the ball to give it a thorough coating.
   
5. Serve when cooled. Do not keep overnight / in the fridge as they will get very hard to chew.

Cook time = ~ 10 minutes per ball
Difficulty = tricky

Pumpkin Steamed Rice-Cake Recipe

MY ABSOLUTE FAVOURITE...
I'll admit it's lots of work, but so worth it. Kaj and I both had 2nds and 3rds. This is a common absolutely mouthwatering, to-die-for snack in Asia (to me at least). It's one of my favourite childhood dish which I used to beg my mom make all the time. It's more commonly made with Yam (Taro) - 'yam ricecakes'. Since it's so hard to find yam here in Sweden, I've learnt that you can make equally yummy ricecakes with Pumpkins (slightly sweeter).


To make this heavenly dish, you'll need the following:

Rice-Cake
pumpkin ( I used butternut squash)
400 g rice flour
2 1/2 tbsp tapioca starch
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp sugar
2 cups warm water

Toppings
Pork Belly/ Chicken fillet, thin strips (premarinated with splash of soy sauce and sherry)
6-8 pieces Shitake Mushrooms, soaked in warm water till soft, finely diced
2 red chillies,finely chopped
2 stlk green onions, finely chopped
a handful pickled turnip/ salted veg, finely chopped
a handful dried shrimps, soaked and softened then finely chopped
soy sauce
sherry (optional)
fried onions/ shallots

Instructions:

1. Skin pumpkin and boil for 30 minutes/ until soft. thoroughly mash pumpkin flesh. Set aside to cool.
   
2. To make rice cake: mix flour + starch+ salt + sugar. Slowly add in warm water whilst stirring to avoid clumps. You want to get a silky milk-like texture (adjust water amount). Set aside for 15 - 30 minutes.
3. Add mash pumpkin into flour mixture.
   
4. Prepare steamer at high heat. Place flour mixture into a tray unto the steamer. Steam for at least an hour.
5. Meanwhile, prepare the toppings for garnishing later. Heat 4 tbsp of oil in a wok and fry pickled turnip for ~ 5 minutes. Add in chopped dried shrimps and fry til crispy and fragrant. Add green onions and stir fry for abit. Remove and set aside.
6. Add in meat into the wok (avoid adding oil if using pork belly). Fry until meat changes colour and slightly crispy (personal liking). Add in mushrooms and a few splash of soy sauce (to taste). Stir fry for a few minutes. Remove and set aside.
7. Now to plate : Remove rice cake from steamer and let cool for some time. Slice out serving portion and garnish with fried toppings. To further enhance flavour and appearance add freshly chopped chillies, green onions and fried shallots.
8. Voila, ready to be served. I like mine with some chilli-garlic sauce. Smaklig maltid!
   

Prep Time: ~ 2 hours.
Difficulty level: moderate

EggTarts Recipe

I love eggtarts, but I never knew how to make them. Matter of fact, I am terrible at seldom do Baking. But this recipe is EXTREMELY easy. CREDITS to a dear Singaporean friend who's an amazing cook, her blog is inspiring! (source: http://singlishswenglish.blogspot.com/)

Here's all you'll need:

premade frozen butter pastries
eggs
whipped cream
sugar
vanilla essence
tart mold - foil
THAT's IT!

Instructions:

1. Use rolling pin to slightly roll-out defrosted pastry sheets. Then roll the (rectangle) sheets (lenght-side) into a long tube-like shape (see picture). Cute pastry into ~1 inch long cylinders.
2. Whilst pastry 'cylinders' facing upright, flatten with palm (you should see the swirl-pattern on the pastry) and roll out pastry until approx 3 inch in diameter (or enough to cover base of tart mold). Do the same for all the other pieces, and place pastry sheets firmly and neatly onto the molds.
3. Next to make the eggtart filling : add 3-4 eggs into a bowl + 2.5 dl cream + 0.5 -0.75 g sugar + 2 drops vanilla essence. Mixwell until sugar fully dissolves.
4. Pour mixture into pastry, and then bake in (preheated) oven at 180 degrees for approx 25-35 minutes. Voila!

Difficulty Level : Easy