Avatar Buns

Makes 20, 120 calories each

Mung Bean Filling
200g mung bean, soaked over night
30g sugar (omit if you like)
2 tablespoons of hot water for mashing

Natural Blue Colouring
10g blue pea flowers
125ml hot water

Dough Ingredients
200g bread flour
150g brown rice flour
50g milk powder
10g yeast
1/3 cup vegetable oil

Banana Bread

Dry Ingredients
200g bread flour
50g wholemeal flour
8g yeast

Wet Ingredients
3 tablespoons oil
1 egg, neatened
200g mashed bananas

1. Mix the dry ingredients thoroughly.


2. Add oil and beaten egg to the mashed bananas and mix well. Make a hole in the centre of the flour mixture and pour in the liquid mixture.


3. The dough will be too soft to shape. Gather it into a ball as far as you can and oil the surface. Let it rise for 45imutes. When the dough has doubled it's size, punch the dough down and knead briefly. The dough will still be fairly soft. Bake at 180 degree Celsius for 50 minutes. Add a water bath after 30minutes for softer texture.

Really Bananas Cake

Dry Ingredients
300g self raising flour
100g brown rice flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda

Wet Ingredients
500g mashed bananas
Rind of 1 lemon
Juice of 1 lemon
250g butter100g sugar
2 eggs
100ml cup water (or milk if you like)

1. Mix all the dry ingredients thoroughly and set aside.


2. Mix lemon juice and lemon rind with mashed bananas and mix thoroughly.


3. Cream butter with sugar, then add egg and cream until even.


4. Add bananas mixture into creamed mixture and mix well.


5. Prepare the cake tin. Butter or oil the tin and sprinkle the surface with some flour. This gives the cake a nice brown finished when baked.


6. Now fold the flour mixture into the wet mixture. Be sure not to over stir the mixture to prevent too much air bubbles from escaping. The leavening agents also react immediately upon contact with moisture so you do not want to let the batter stand for more than five minutes either.


7. Pour the batter into the tin and bake for one hour at 200 degree Celsius.

Matcha Rose Tea Bread

Makes two small loaves.

Ingredients

Set A:

• 350g bread flour


• 100g milk powder


• 8g dry yeast

Set B (for green tea dough):

• 3 tablespoons of green tea powder


• 1 egg, beaten


• 3 tablespoons oil (any type will do. I used rice bran oil)


• 4 tablespoons quick-cook oats dissolved in 3/4 cup hot water. Let it cool to room temperature.

Set C (for rose tea dough):

• 4 tablespoons rose tea water. To make this, I brewed 20 crushed rose petals in one cup of boiling water and added 30g of molass sugar. Let it cool to room temperature.


• 1 tablespoon oil


• 1 tablespoon quick-cook oats dissolved in 1/4 cup hot water. Let it cool to room temperature.

Putting it together

1. In a bowl, thoroughly mix together all the ingredients in Set A. Divide the dry mixture into two portions, 2/3 for the green tea dough and 1/3 for the rose tea dough.


2. Prepare the green tea dough with ingredients from Set B. In the bowl with 2/3 of Set A, add the green tea powder and mix thoroughly. Alternately add in the egg, oil, and oats. The dough will be very soft and sticky; dust with a little bread flour if you find it hard to handle. Knead into a round ball and oil the surface thoroughly to prevent the dough from drying up. Cover and allow the dough to rise for one hour.


3. To prepare the rose tea dough, alternately add all the ingredients in Set C and knead. Dust with bread flour if necessary. Knead into a round ball and oil the surface thoroughly to prevent the dough from drying up. Cover and allow the dough to rise for one hour.


4. When both doughs have doubled in size, punch down in the middle and knead each briefly. Divide each dough into two portions. Roll out all the doughs to around 30cm long. Lay one layer of rose tea dough on top of one green tea dough and roll up the two layers (like making a swiss roll).


5. Bake your two loaves in the oven at 180°C for 50 mins with a water bath for the first 10mins.

Tips: Always be sure to cool any hot preparations. In a tropical climate like what we have in Singapore, there's no need to activate the yeast with lukewarm water. Better to let your yeast react gradually than not react at all!

Nutrition (for approximately 500g of bread)

2500 Cal and 18.8g of fibre

Oregano Onion Bun

Ingredients

1. 1/2 cup chopped onion


2. 3 tablespoons of oil


3. 550g bread flour


4. 70g brown rice flour


5. 15g vaccum dried yeast


6. 1/4 cup dried oregano leaves


7. 1 egg, beaten with 1 tablespoon of water


8. 1 1/2 cups water

Work it together

Fry onions (1)  in oil (2) till translucent. Set aside and cool to room temperature.

Mix dry ingredients (2-6) together in bowl.

Stir in egg and onions, adding water at intervals and mix well. Knead until dough just sticks together.

Coat the dough with a layer of oil and leave it in a large pot. Cover with damp cloth and leave to rise for 45mins, till double its size.

Punch the dough down and divide into 18 pieces. Shape into a ball, coat with oil and place on baking tray. There should be around 2-3cm gap between each dough. Cover the tray of dough with a damp cloth and let rise for around 45mins, till double in size.

Bake at 180°C for 40mins. Optional: Place a tray of water in the oven to maintain moisture of the bun. The water should last for around 15mins of the baking process.

Nutrition

C-C (cabbage, celery) Flat Cake

Ingredients

1. 5g brown rice flour (get this from major supermarkets like Sheng Shiong)


2. 200g plain flour


3. 5 teaspoons of chilli flakes


4. 5 teaspoons of oregano flakes


5. 100g unsalted butter


6. 100g cabbage, finely chopped


7. 50g celery, finely chopped


8. 2 eggs (60g each), beaten


9. 200ml water

Get started

1. Mix the dry ingredients 1-4 in a steel bowl. Cut butter (5) into small cubes and rub in till you get even crumbs.

2. Add the vegetables, beaten egg and water (ingredients 6-9) and mix.

3. Pour the batter into a square flat tray and back at 180 degree celsius for 40mins.

[Makes 1 tray 20cm (l) x 20cm (wd)]

Gobi Masala Puff

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="448"] Gobi Masala Puff[/caption]

For the dough

1. 100g brown rice flour (get this from major supermarkets like Sheng Shiong)


2. 250g plain flour


3. 5 teaspoons of chilli flakes


4. 2 teaspoons of yellow ginger powder


5. 100g unsalted butter


6. 1 egg (60g), beaten


7. 100ml water

For the filling

1. 1 small onion (around 20g), finely chopped


2. 2 small garlics


3. 2 tablespoons of masala powder


4. 1 tablespoon of yellow ginger powder


5. 200ml Water


6. 100g cauliflower, chopped into small pieces


7. 1 small potato, chopped into small cubes

Get started

1. Mix ingredients 1-4 in a steel bowl. Cut butter (5) into small cubes and rub in till you get even crumbs.

2. Add the beaten egg (6). Add water (7) and knead into a dough. You may want to add the water slowly control the texture of the dough.

3. To make the filling, add 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil into the wok. When the oil is hot, add the chopped onions and garlic (8 and 9) and fry till fragrant. Add spices and water (10-12) quickly and stir.

4. Add cauliflower and potatoes (12-13) and simmer till vegetables turn soft. Scoop out of wok and let cool.

5. Meanwhile, roll the dough on a floured board and cut into squares. Scoop the filling, seal and bake for 30mins at 170 degree celsius.

[Makes 8 triangular puffs 6cm (ht) x 12cm (wd)]

Corn Oat Muffin

Dry ingredients /A:

250g  (2cups) plain self-raising flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

20-40g (1/8 to 1/4 cup) sugar

Wet ingredients /B:

2 eggs

60ml (1/4 cup) oil

188ml (3/4 cup) fresh milk

100g (1-1.5 cups) fresh corn kernels

125ml (0.5cups) of cooked oats


1. Sift (A) flour, salt and sugar in mixing bowl.

2. Beat all the wet ingredients (C) together.

3. Make a well in the centre of the flour mixture, and slowly pour the wet mixture in, alternating with the corn and cooked oats. Stir to combine at the same time.

4. Preheat oven at 200°C. Grease the tin or pour the batter into paper muffin cups. Bake for around 30mins.

Makes 15 muffins.

Alternatives: Substitute 0.5 cup of flour for 0.5 cup of cornmeal.

Seafood Light Rice Noodles (Bee Hoon)

Ingredients

Rice noodles (Bee Hoon)

Garlic, chopped

Prawn, shelled

Squid

Chye Sim

(Measurements not shown as you can decide how much you like to use.)



1. Soak the rice noodles in water to soften it. Oil the wok and fry the drained noodles quickly. Add light soy sauce and toss.

2. Fry garlic till fragrant. Add in prawns and squid. Remove from the wok and set aside.

3. Next fry chye sim, and add a little water to cook it and prevent it from drying up. Add in the fried garlic, prawns and squid.

4. Add in the bee hoon and mix well.

Note: Step 1, the noodles need to be tossed quickly to prevent them from getting burnt. If you are not able to handle the fire, turn it down. This method is used by zhi char chefs as well, only that they may add more soy sauce, and use dark soy sauce.

Satay Sauce

Spices

15 shallot bulbs, peeled and diced

5 garlic bulbs

2 slices of tumeric (fresh yellow ginger)

3 stalks of lemon grass (ends only, note: keep the stalks for brushing)

100g Chilli

Tonifying soup

Herbs: Dan Shen, Bei Qi, Wolfberry, Egg (u can keep the shells on if you want. Dried egg shells ate used in some TCM prescription)

Ridiculously easy steamed bean curd wrap

A dish created by my mother in the kitchen by trial and error...the natural sweetness and MSG of the cabbage and seaweed will season this dish naturally. No artificial ingredients necessary.


Ingredients:

Bean curd skin

Seaweed

Chinese cabbage (Bak choy)

Minced pork (or other meat if you wish)

Seasoning: Sesame oil

Preparation:

1. Soak the bean curd skin in water for 15mins if it is too salty.

2. Mix the minced meat with sesame oil.

3. Each package is made out of one sheet of seaweed, one piece of cabbage, and 1-2 tablespoons of minced meat, wrapped together in the bean curd skin. First, lay the bean curd skin. Then lay the seaweed. Next is a leave of cabbage, and finally minced meat in the centre.

4. Seal the package by folding it like a present. Lay them side by side on your steaming dish to prevent them from opening. Put it over boiling water and steam. Serve hot.

Banana Cake

Makes 3 18cmx8.5cmx6.5cm loaf tins.
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Ingredients:
250g unsalted butter
200 g sugar
5 eggs, beaten
3 tablespoons water
6 large bananas, mashed
100g walnuts, crushed
500g self-raising flour, sifted

Pre-heat the oven to 200 deg C and line a cake tin with grease-proof paper.

Beat the butter with the sugar usign an electric mixer until smooth and creamy (See A).

(See B) Mix the water with the beaten egg. Add the beaten egg, water and mashed bananas to the creamed mixture. Add a bit of flour if the mixture curdles.

Fold in the sifted flour (See C). Do not over-mix. Pour the batter into the loaf tins and bake at 200 deg C for 1hr, until the skewer comes out clean (See D).

Allow the cake to cool in its tin before cutting (See E). Cake can be refrigerated for a week if not eaten immediately.

Alternatively, filled the batter into muffin cups to make banana muffins. Bake at 200 deg C for 30mins.