When Mum Felt Guilty...

My son love Pizzas, i think most kids do, don't they?  It has been awhile since we last had homemade ones and i blame Mr. D for that.  He was always late when delivering our pizzas.  We ended up having Free Pizza vouchers one after another.  Sometimes, i wonder if it is just a gimmick.  Boy was i glad when he arrived early one day, no more excuse for son to ask for Mr. D's pizzas :)

And since we have not had pizzas for awhile (so long that i can't remember which recipe i used for the crust), i thought i would surprise him with one to make him happy and to motivate him as he was having his year end exams.  When he got home, he was so happy when he knew it was pizza that was baking in the oven.   "Is it done yet, is it done yet, is it done yet....?", that was what all that i heard for awhile.

When i gave him  this, he looked at me and i read this on his face "ok, this doesn't look like the one i have in mind  but i will eat it since mum made them".  I love this boy for how he would willingly try out anything that i make and how he's not too fussy about food.  But i had a feeling it was not going to be easy this time and true enough, this is what i got from him after awhile "mum, can i remove the toppings, i don't like the avocados and the mangoes, they taste weird with the pizza...."  But i tested my luck and pushed on "No, they are good for you and it's not good to waste food" and guess what he finished it although i knew he wasn't too happy about it  (Wicked smile on mum's face!)

On the other hand, I quite like it though, i thought it complemented the taste of the cajun chicken pretty well. Spicy chicken with a creamy, sweet and tangy topping. And i love the bread too, i made it herby by doubling the amount of Italian herbs in it, you will notice it if you look closely.  One man's meat is another poison, i guess.  I also got a 'Ewww' from someone just by telling her about it, she didn't taste it though.  

Meat or poison, you decide...

After the victory (of successfully 'forcing' my son to finish cajun pizza as it is) sank in,  it hit a soft spot. I wondered if i had been mean for dashing his hopes when the whole intention of making pizza was to make him happy but instead of making his favorite flavor i used it as an opportunity to try something new which i knew he would not be receptive to.

So, the guilty mum made it up to him the day after by making what he claimed to be a 'real' pizza this time!  Glad to put him  back on cloud nine with his favorite Hawaiian BBQ Chicken Pizza!

Recipe

For Pizza Base
Adapted from:  Baking Diary (Jeannie) who adapted from Her Frozen Wings (Lena) 

Ingredients

• 110gm plain flour (I reduced it to 100 to get a thinner crust for Hawaiian Pizza)
• 1 tsp yeast
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp italian herbs (Original recipe used 1/2 tsp)
• 1tbsp of olive oil 
• 5 tbsp water  (adjust accordingly to hydrate the dough to produce a soft dough)

Steps

1. Mix all dry ingredients in a mixing bowl.  Make a well for adding in water and oil mixture.
2. Mix oil with water then add it into the dry mixture. Using a wooden spoon, stir to form a moist but unsticky dough and transfer to a floured surface.  Once dough is roughly formed, pour onto the counter table and knead until a smooth dough is formed. Leave it covered for 40 minutes to proof.  The dough should be soft and easily stretchable after proofing.
3. Flatten the dough with a rolling pin into a pizza pan (i used a 8 inch).  

Cajun Chicken Pizza
Adapted from : taste.com.au

Ingredients

• 1 chicken thighs (skinned, deboned and cubed)
• 2 tbsp cajun seasoning
• 1 medium size mango (skinned and cubed)
• 1 avocado (skinned and cubed)
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tbsp lemon juice
• 150g coarsely grated mozzarella
• Romaine lettuce (or baby rocket leaves) to serve

Steps

1. Combine chicken with cajun seasoning.  Set aside for 30 minutes.
2. Heat oil in a shallow frying pan. 
3. Add in chicken, stirring occasionally until chicken is cook and lightly brown (it will further cook in the oven).
4. Sprinkle prepared pizza base with half the amount of mozarella followed by chicken and finish off with the remaining mozarella.
5. Baked at 200C for 20 minutes.
6. While pizza is baking, combine mango and avocado with lemon juice.
7. When pizza is ready, top it with mango salsa and vegetables before serving.

Hawaiian BBQ Chicken Pizza

Ingredients

• 1 chicken thigh (skinned, deboned and cubed)
• 2 tbsp of teriyaki sauce
• 1 tsp brown sugar
• 1 tsp worcestershire sauce
• 1 tsp vinaigrette 
• 2 chicken sausages (thinly sliced)
• 3 tablespoons of tomato sauce (I used Prego's spaghetti sauce Traditional flavour)
• 1 small can of pineapple cubes (I used Ayam brand 280g)
• 150g coarsely grated mozzarella

Steps

1. I made a simple bbq sauce by combining teriyaki sauce, brown sugar, worcestershire sauce and vinaigrette.  You can use store bought ones or use your own recipe.
2. Season chicken with a dash of salt and freshly ground black pepper.  Mix in bbq sauce and leave it to marinade for 15 minutes.
3. Heat 1 tbsp oil in a shallow frying pan.  
4. Add in chicken, stirring occasionally until chicken is cook and lightly brown (it will further cook in the oven).
5. Spread tomato sauce on prepared pizza base.  
6. Sprinkle half the amount of mozarella followed by chicken, sausages and pineapple cubes.  Finish off  by topping the pizza with the remaining mozarella.
7. Baked at 200C for 20 minutes.

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It's All in the Honey

Although i try out new bread recipes every so often, there are a few that are close to heart (read easy, tasty and foolproof ones).   I always run back to these handful especially when time is running short, or i am not in the mood for experiments or cannot risk something going wrong (like when it happens, kid will have nothing for breakfast before going to school the next morning!)  And one of them is Honey Buns from Happy Home Baking, i tried this out in the very early stage of my breadmaking journey, and i remember being elated when it turned out beyond my expectation for a newbie.  No, i am not trying to blow my own trumpet, it was the recipe.  A very simple recipe (no tangzhong, no overnight sponge dough etc), breadmaker friendly yet it gave soft cottony buns like those that you get in kopitiams.  In fact it was even better because it has this nice sweet floral fragrance coming from the honey used.   I felt like i struck gold to have landed on that recipe :)  From then i came to a conclusion that it's all in the honey, honey is one ingredient that makes bread really soft.

This time around, i twigged this recipe a little.  I substituted 10% of the flour with black sesame powder and gave it a custard (or as they say in French Crème Pâtissière) filling too.  I love the outcome, the buns had a nice nutty fragrance on top of the sweet floral fragrance from the honey!  May sound a little overboard, but i thought it smelt a little luxurious, probably because of the type of honey used :))   It was already smelling good at the dough stage, it got better and better when it hit the oven, feeling happy i was!

And buns go spinning...pipe spirals on top of buns to use up all the custard after filling the buns with them.

And the very soft bread texture!

And with yummy custard filling.  You can choose not to fill them or do without the black sesame powder to get plain honey milk buns.   The plain ones go very well with some butter and kaya.  Try it and you will not regret, i promise!

Recipe

Ingredients

For Buns
Source : Happy Home Baking 

• Honey Buns 
• 300g bread flour (200g bread flour,100g AP Flour)  
• Black Sesame Buns
• 200g bread flour, 70g  AP Flour (add 1 or 2 tbsp of bread flour if dough is too wet)
• 30g black sesame seeds (toasted and ground)
• For both Honey and Black Sesame Buns
• 4g (about 2/3 tsp) salt
• 4g (1 tsp) instant yeast
• 1 egg lightly beaten plus enough milk to make 200g
• 50g honey
• 30g unsalted butter

For Custard

Source : Corner Cafe  (half recipe)

• 250ml milk
• 1 egg
• 1 egg yolk
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 55g caster sugar
• 15g cornflour, 5g custard powder
• A pinch of salt (if using unsalted butter or not using butter)
• 25g butter (for additional shine and firmness)

Steps 

For Custard

1. Whisk together whole egg, egg yolk, 30ml milk, sugar and vanilla.  Mix in flour, cornflour and salt if using.
2. Bring the remaining milk just to the boil in a saucepan.  Pour the hot milk in small stream into the egg mixture, whisking constantly with a balloon whisk as you pour (very important).  Once incorporated, pour everything back into the saucepan.
3. Whisk the mixture over medium heat until it thickens and firms up.  Remove from heat and whisk in butter if using.
4. Pour the hot custard into a bowl and plunge the bottom of the bowl into another larger bowl of iced-water to cool, give it a whisk occasionally.  Once it reaches room temperature, cover the surface of custard with cling film to prevent a skin layer from forming. 
5. Alternatively fill the custard into a piping bag, twist the open end to seal up the cream.  Refrigerate until ready to use.

For Buns

1. Place all ingredients in the bread pan of the breadmaker (according to the recommended sequence stated in the instruction manual of the breadmaker).  Select Dough function. Check on the dough after 5 minutes of kneading, add 1 to 2 tbsp of flour is it's too wet (i.e. sticks to the hand).  Once the cycle completes, remove dough from the bread pan. 
2. Shape the dough into a smooth round and place in a bowl. Cover and let it rise till double in volume.
3. Remove dough and give a few light kneading on a lightly floured work surface. Press out the trapped air as your knead. 
4. For Honey Buns-Divide into 9 equal portions and shape them into rounds. For Black Sesame Buns (with custard filling)-Weigh 50g dough for each bun.  Cover with cling wrap, let the doughs rest for 10mins.
5. Flatten each dough into a round disc and press out the trapped air. For Black Sesame Buns-Wrapped in a heaped tablespoon of custard.   Shape into a smooth round ball.
6. Place doughs seams side down on a 20cm by 20cm square baking tray (lightly greased with oil or butter or line it with parchment paper) or place them in paper liners.  Loosely cover with a damp cloth or cling wrap and let doughs proof for 45 ~ 60 mins or until double in size.
7. When ready to bake, brush the surface of the dough with milk.  For Black Sesame Buns-sprinkle a combination of black and white sesame seeds and pipe some custard on buns.
8. Bake at preheated oven at 200C for about 15 ~ 20 mins until the bread is golden brown.  Cover the surface with a sheet of aluminum foil if the surface browns too quickly. Remove from oven, unmold (except those baked in paper liners) immediately and let cool on wire rack.

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Colors of the Mountain

The featured ingredient for this month's Little Thumbs Up Event is Pandan and it has been inspiring to say the least.  Just hop over to Joceline's blog and you will know what i mean. One can make a book out of it!  A whole lot of good food in beautiful shades of green.  Pandan is one splendid source of natural food colouring, besides color, it infuses the food with a very unique fragrance.  I always enjoy seeing how this natural dye works, you need quite a few leaves though. So, here's one last round of color me food green, before the event ends.

Abok abok sago is a simple Malay kuih with sago as its key ingredient.  And i mean really simple, all that it takes is to steam the sago.  There are  many ways of presentation though, one would be to steam it in a tray then cut it into pieces and roll it in grated coconut, some in a single color, some with gula melaka sandwiched in between and another would  be to mix the sago with coconut and wrap them in banana leaves in a cone shape before steaming them. I chose the latter simply because they photograph better! 

Typically, one will get abok abok sago which are either infused with pandan (green color) or rose water (red color).  I did a 4 colored one instead.  And this was inspired by one of Terri's (of Hunger Hunger blog) beautiful entries which she name Jelly Kinabalu (highest mountain in Malaysia) for a competition using a jelly mould that was also designed with inspirations from the mountains.  I followed her through the month of the competition (and it's already two years now) and some of her amazing creations remain fresh in my mind till today.  So, here i am trying to pay tributes to the mountains, my way :)

And in case you are wondering how the colors relate to the mountains. Quoting Terri, "The white represent the clouds, the blue for skies, green for the greenery on the mountains and brown for land!" The green came from Pandan extract while the blue came from Bunga Telang (Blue pea flower), the 2 natural food dye that are widely used in this part of the world.  The brown layer came from mixing the sago with palm sugar and white is its original color.  

A piece of the mountain...

Served with a drizzle of palm sugar syrup 

Recipe
Reference:  Happy Flour for base recipe

Ingredients

• 200g sago
• 1/2 coconut (grated)
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 30g palm sugar (grated)
• 5 blades of pandan leaves
• 15 dried bunga telang
• Around 3 tbsp caster sugar
• Around 3 tbsp of water 

Steps

1. Cut out banana leaves in rectangular shapes of around 22 by 15 cm.
2. Scald banana leaves in boiling water just enough to soften it (Not too long else it will turn black).  Wipe dry and set aside.
3. Divide sago into 4 portions of 20g (white layer), 40g (blue layer), 60g(green layer) and 80g (brown layer).
4. Soak them in water.
5. Wash, cut and blen pandan leaves with some water (must be enough to soak sago).  Strain to collect extract.
6. Wash and boil bunga telang in some water (must be enough to soak sago) to obtain blue coloring. Strain to collect blue extract.
7. Wash and drain portion of sago for green layer and replace the water pandan extract.
8. Wash and drain portion of sago for blue layer and replace the water with blue extract.
9. Leave all portions of sago to soak for around 1 hour.
10. Drain and wash away starch from sago.
11. Divide coconut in proportion with sago amount for each layer (i did not weigh, just eyeballed)  and mix with sago.
12. Add grated gula melaka to portion of sago for brown layer.  
13. Add 1 tsp sugar to white portion, 1/2 tbsp to blue portion and 1 tbsp to green portion.
14. Add 1 tsp water to white portion, 1/2 tbsp to blue portion and 1/2 tbsp to green portion.  Mix well.
15. Fold banana leaves into cones.  Add one portion of the colored sago into the cone one after another to fill up the cone. Press lightly after each layer.
16. Fold up the banana leave to cover the opening.  Secure with toothpicks if fold is loose.
17. Steamed in rapid boiling water for around 15 minutes. 
18. Serve with palm sugar syrup on the side.

Syrup for Drizzling
Melt 30g palm sugar with 70ml of water until it is slightly thicken in a small pot.

I am submitting this post to Little Thumbs Up "Pandan" event hosted by Joceline @ Butter, Flour & Me, organized by Zoe@ Bake for Happy Kids and Mui Mui @My little favourites DIY

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Give me a Yeehaw!

I have been wanting to participate in the Cook Like A Star blogging event but somehow it never happened until today despite the event going on for awhile already.  I find it a good introduction to dishes by quite a few celebrity chefs, some that i only got to know through this event :)

It's Ree Drummond this month, and I managed to try out one dish this time.  Ree lives on a working ranch, it must be wonderful to cook and bake like her with the luxury of having the freshest ingredients.  She reminds me of tv drama series like Little House on the Prairie and Dallas evoking memories of times when the family will crowd around the tv waiting for a new episode every week.  Those were the days when we had only 3 channels to choose from and now we have God knows how many. I like her way of presenting each recipe, her step by step tutorial has large photos accompanying them (besides some humorous remarks) making it easy to follow and good for crosschecking if one is on the right track.

I tried out what Ree named as BBQ Comfort Meatballs.   Comforting food for lunch on a lazy Sunday afternoon, couldn't be better.  Besides, oats was on the ingredients list, I couldn't miss this chance to sneak some into my men's diet (got you my men, cunning smile on mummy's face...) 

The steps are easy except for the frying part, not difficult but not something i like doing or serving at home.  I made do with shallow frying.  These meatballs turned out delicious, soft and tender, meatloaf kind of texture and smelt really good.

My son was quite skeptical about the initial pairing of the meatballs with some greens and crusty french bread toasted with butter.  "Just this? " the young man questioned.

So, mummy went back to the kitchen and quickly made a second pairing for the starving young man who just got home from his Taekwando session.   And cowboy meal turned oriental with some instant egg noodles!  Those air dried type where all you need is to cook them al dente in some boiling water.  Toss them with a little shallot oil, a drizzle of soy sauce and a dash of salt and pepper.  Actually, Ree did suggest serving them with egg noodles tossed in melted butter as an option but i am not too sure if this is what she meant and the chinese in me gave the noodles an oriental drizzle instead.    Hmm, i wonder what will the cowboys say to this?  Funny, how i imagine them laughing until they fall off their chairs, err no, horses i mean :)  Jokes aside, i got a Yeehaw from my young man.  He happily polished it clean on top of adding another 2 meatballs to it.   Maybe, just maybe cowboys will give this pairing a Yeehaw too!

Recipe

Source : Ree Drummond (The Pioneer Woman Cooks)

Note : Notes in blue are for half the recipe (which i made) and my variations

Ingredients

For Meatballs

• 1-1/2 pound Ground Beef (350g minced pork)
• 3/4 cups Oats (1/3 cup)
• 1 cup Milk (1/2 cup)
• 3 Tablespoons Very Finely Minced Onion (2 tbsp from 1 big onion)
• 1-1/2 teaspoon Salt (1/2 tsp)
•  Plenty Of Ground Black Pepper, to taste

 For Cooking Meatballs

• 1 cup All-Purpose Flour (coating For Frozen Meatballs)-(1/2 cup)
•  Canola Oil

 For Sauce

• 1 cup Ketchup (1/2 cup)
• 2 Tablespoons Sugar (1 tbsp)
• 3 Tablespoons Vinegar (1 tbsp)
• 2 Tablespoons Worcestershire (1 tsbp)
• 4 Tablespoons (to 6 Tablespoons) Onion (remainder from onion left after adding to meatballs)
• 1 dash Tabasco (1 tbsp chilli sauce)

Steps

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees (190C).
2. Combine all meatball ingredients. Roll into medium-small balls and place on a cookie sheet. Place sheet in freezer for five minutes.
3. After 5 minutes, remove meatballs from freezer and immediately dredge in unseasoned flour.
4. Brown meatballs in canola oil until just brown. Place into a baking dish.
5. Combine all sauce ingredients. Pour over meatballs and bake at 350 degrees (190C) for 45 minutes. Serve with egg noodles, mashed potatoes, or crusty French bread.

I'm linking this post to Cook Like a Star, an event co-hosted by Zoe of Bake for Happy Kids, Baby Sumo of Eat Your Heart Out and Mich of Piece of Cake. 

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Pandan Chicken, the Lazier Way

Pandan chicken is one popular Thai dish that is loved by many, my family including.  A typical pandan chicken dish would be deep fried chicken that was marinated with a combination of spices and fish sauce wrapped in pandan leaves.   The pandan leaves adds a sweet smelling floral like fragrance to the aromatics used to marinade the chicken.  Really, it's hard not to love this dish. 

The preparation of the chicken is easy, it's the wrapping of the chicken in pandan leaves that requires some effort (time consuming) and mastering.  And the other hassle is the deep frying part, which is also something many of us try to avoid for health reasons apart from the cleaning up after.  

So, to make it easy and healthy, this is what i did this time:-

1. Bigger size chicken pieces, used entire chicken leg
2. Roast instead of fried
3. Laid the chicken on a bed of pandan leaves instead of wrapping it up individually

This is the bed of pandan leaves that the chicken 'slept' on.  The inspiration came from here, i thought it was rather cool to combine art and culinary.   Ok, ok, i have to admit this might not necessarily be less time consuming than wrapping the chicken pieces with a pandan leave!  But it was fun and less messy because you don't have to handle the chicken while doing it.  Besides the kids can help with this too.   And of course it looks pretty doesn't it? I made 3 of these, one to lay the chicken on, one to cover it and one for serving. 

The chicken 'sleeping' on the bed of pandan leaves.  Then covered with another bed and a layer of foil to make sure the chicken remains moist and the fragrance from the pandan gets trapped in and infused into the chicken :)

Brushed with some gravy made from juice collected in roasting pan and served with some chilli sauce.

Recipe
Ingredients

• 3 pieces of chicken leg (deboned and deskinned)

(B) - chop finely (or ground if preferred)

• 30g turmeric
• 2 stalks lemon grass
• 3 shallots
• 2 clove of garlic
• 1 inch knob of ginger

(C) - Seasoning

• 2 tbsp light soy sauce
• 1 tsp sugar
• 2 tsp Worchestershire sauce
• 1 tsp fish sauce
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp pepper
• 50ml coconut milk

Steps

1. Cut and chop finely ingredients in Part B.
2. Season chicken with ingredients in Part B and C.
3. Leave chicken to marinade for 2-3 hours.
4. Preheat oven at 250C.
5. Prepare roasting pan by laying pandan leaves on a piece of foil.  Foil has to be big enough to cover chicken.
6. Put another layer of pandan leaves on top of chicken then cover it with aluminium foil.
7. Roast chicken for 30 minutes or until chicken is cooked.
8. This is optional but here's what i did. I made used of juice/oil collected in roasting pan.  Strain the juice into a small pot, then add some water and corn flour to it.  Put it over a small flame and let it come to a boil.  I then brushed the gravy on the chicken and served with some chilli sauce. 

I am submitting this post to Little Thumbs Up "Pandan" event hosted by Joceline @ Butter, Flour & Me, organized by Zoe@ Bake for Happy Kids and Mui Mui @My little favourites DIY

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Mooncakes, "Real" Ones this time...

"Finally, some 'real' mooncakes", said my son :)  I had started off by making jelly ones for this year's festival and he was starting to get impatient when traditional baked ones were still no where to be seen, homemade ones i mean.

Mooncake festival is in 3 days time, falls on 19 Sep this year.  If homemade ones is the choice, it's about time to make some like right now, it's about the freshest one can get.  The thing about these traditional ones is that they need to be rested for a few days for the skin to become soft, so making them at this time is about the freshest one can get.  Alternatively the commercial ones have started going on at a discount now that festival is so near.  

These days, it's quite convenient to make your own mooncakes as one can get readymade paste for the filling.  All that is needed is to get the skin ready, assemble and pop them in the oven to bake.  I am lucky that my family members prefer the good old classic lotus paste with melon seeds filling, making it easier for me :)

Minis with a slight variation to the classic lotus paste, some cranberries added in to break the sweet monotony.  

This mixed nuts are for my folks, which is their favorite.  I noticed that it is quite a favorite among the older generation.  I don't like admitting this but I fear I am beginning to like it too!

These photos were taken after they were freshly made which is not a good time at all especially the cross section, a absolutely  no-no but I wanted complete the photographing all at one go. Well...

I had no intentions to make this but I fell for this cute wooden mould that I saw at the shop where i normally get my baking ingredients.  Way too cute, I knew it wouldn't be easy but I had to buy it even if it was just for keepsake.  These days, most of the moulds are made of plastic and they come with a plunger, much simpler to use and give better imprints.  The old fashion type of moulds are made of wood, you need to press the dough to shape then knock it out which can be quite a challenge at times.  It is best if you can knock it out in one go, otherwise certain sides can get out of shape when you accidentally knock on it when you give more knocks.

I almost think these are too cute to eat :)  I am glad I gave it a try. 

These fishes have coconut paste filling in them.  This is my first time trying out this type of filling, I read in my friend Kimmy's blog that it is commonly found in Penang.  Something different and most importantly (for me) it's much more simple than making lotus paste!

Here's the mould that gave those little fishes

So, this is it, i think i am done with mooncake making for this year.  

Taking this opportunity to wish all my loved ones, friends and readers Happy MidAutumn Festival!

Recipe

Source : Kimmy's Cooking Pleasure

Ingredients for Pastry

• 220 gm golden syrup
• 90 ml corn oil
• 1.5 tsp alkaline water 
• 1/8 tsp bicarbonate of soda (omitted)
• 300 gm plain flour - sifted (i used superfine flour)

• Egg wash - 1 medium size egg + 1 tsp water, mix well and strain (optional)

1. Combine all the ingredients (except flour) in a mixing bowl.  Stir to mix together until well combined. Cover with a cling film wrap and leave aside for at least 5-6 hours or overnight.
2. Give the syrup mixture a good stir before adding flour (sifted in).  Mix well but DO NOT  KNEAD the dough.
3. Cover and set aside for an hour or more before using.

Note : I used this dough for the lotus paste mooncake (9 pieces of 123g each) and the fish shaped ones.

Ingredients for Coconut Paste (half the portion of original recipe)

• 10 gm toasted melon seed
• 20 gm toasted sesame seeds
• 10 gm milk powder
• 30 gm candied melon - chopped coarsely
• 18 gm kao fun (cooked glutinous rice flour)
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 grated white coconut (white portion only, around 150g)
• 1 1/4 tbsp corn oil
• 1 1/4 tsp water
• 60 gm castor sugar

Steps

1. Steam grated coconut for 25-30 minutes until soft.  Remove and leave to cool completely.
2. Combine oil, water and sugar in a mixing bowl.  Stir until sugar dissolves (I heated it over a slow flame for sugar to dissolve).
3. Add cooled grated coconut and the rest of the ingredients.  Mix well.
4. Lastly add in kao fun and salt to mix.

Assemble

1. Based on the total weight of the mooncake(lookout for them on the mould, if not find out the weight by using enough dough to fill the mould then weigh it).  
2. I normally go on 30% for skin and 70% for filling ratio.
3. Divide the skin and filling according to decided weight.
4. Wrapped up the filling with the dough, then press it into a mooncake mould.
5. Place the mooncake on a baking tray lined with parchment paper.
6. Lightly spray some water on mooncakes to prevent them from cracking.
7. Bake at 180C for 15-20 then remove from oven to cool.   When the mooncake is no longer hot, apply egg wash then bake for another 7 minutes until golden brown.

Recipe-Mixed Fruits and Nuts Mooncake 

Source : Cheah-No Frills Recipe who adapted from Anncoo Journal

Ingredients

(A) Dough 

• 150 gm superfine or plain flour
• 90 ml golden syrup
• 38 ml vegetable oil
• 2 ml alkaline water

(B)  Filling

• 40 gm walnuts, lightly toasted, coarsely chopped
• 40 gm almonds, lightly toasted, corsely chopped
• 30 gm melon seeds, lightly toasted
• 60 gm white sesame seeds, lightly toasted
• 30 gm dried kiwi, chopped (replaced with prunes)
• 30 gm cranberry, chopped
• 30 gm raisins, chopped
• 30 gm dried pineapple, chopped (replaced with combination of dried mango, coconut and nutmeg)
• 30 gm dates, chopped

(C)

• 1 Tbsp sugar
• 1.1/2 Tbsp marmalade/apricot jam
• 1.1/4 Tbsp  cornoil/canola oil
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 50 gm koh fun
• 3 Tbsp water
• 1 Tbsp Cointreau (optional)
• Egg wash - 1 whole egg + 1 tsp water, mix well and strain

Method (For Dough)

1. Mix golden syrup, vegetable oil and alkaline water with a handwhisk till well combined. (Leave mixture to rest for 3-4 hours)
2. Sift in flour, mix to form a piece of dough.
3. Cover with a damp cloth and let rest for at least 2 hours or more till dough is not sticky.

For the Filling

1. Mix sugar, koh fun and salt to (B),  mix well.  Then add in the marmalade, oil and water, mix well.  
2. Shape the filling into balls based on weight ratio for the mooncake (see Assemble steps for lotus paste mooncake above).

Assemble

1. Divide the dough for the pastry according to ratio for skin.
2. Flatten a piece of dough and wrap around a ball of filling.  Shape prepared dough into a ball and press into a lightly floured mooncake mould.  Shake off any excess flour from the mould.
3. Place the mooncake on a baking tray lined with parchment paper.
4. Lightly spray some water on mooncakes prevent them from cracking.
5. Bake in a preheated oven at 180C for 15 to 20 mins.  Remove from oven.
6. When the mooncake is no longer hot, apply egg wash then bake for another 7 minutes until golden brown.
7. Keep mooncakes uncovered for 3 to 4 days before consuming.  The colour of the mooncakes will darken as they mature.

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Jelly Mooncakes, Just One More

My apologies if I am boring you with jelly mooncakes, i promise this will be the last one for this year!  I needed to put this on record for my future reference.  I made traditional ones too, my son was complaining already, in his words, he said he wanted to have 'real' mooncakes! So the mummy obliged for her son, for her loved ones and for tradition sake, after all what is mooncake festival without 'real' mooncakes :)  Post will be up next.

I am quite happy with the results after some twigging of the original recipe.  If you are looking for a nice dessert to make for the festival dinner, why not consider this one, it's pretty, it fits the occasion well enough and to top it all, it's red, the ever loved chinese color!  The nutty taste from the black sesame filling compliments the dragon fruit skin well.    

Recipe 
Source :Adapted from Mooncake Selections by Khoo See Yew

Ingredients for Filling 

• 30g black sesame seed (toasted, then blended until fine)
• 30 gm. caster sugar
• 1 3/4 tsp agar-agar powder
• 150 ml water
• 100ml fresh milk
• 50 ml coconut milk (20ml coconut milk mixed with 30ml water)
• 1 blade of pandan leave

1. Boil sugar, agar-agar powder, and water with pandan leave in a pot until agar agar and sugar dissolves. 
2. Mix in grounded black sesame and stir to make it smooth.  Let the mixture simmer for 2 minutes.
3. Lower flame and mix in fresh milk.
4. Mix in coconut milk.  Turn off flame once mixture start to boil.
5. Pour in small bowls and let it set.
6. Remove from bowl, use a fork to scratch surface (top and bottom). This is to make sure the filling and skin will stick to one another. 

Ingredients for Skin

• 100 gm. sugar
• 4 tsp. agar-agar powder
• 500 ml water
• 100 ml coconut milk (50ml coconut milk mix with 50ml water)
• 150 gm red dragon fruit (mashed with fork so that seeds remain visible)
• 2 blades of pandan leave 
• 1 tsp lemon juice
• 3 tbsp honey

1. Boil sugar, agar-agar powder and water with pandan leaves in a pot until agar agar and sugar dissolves.
2. Lower flame and mix in blended dragon fruit.
3. Add in lemon juice and honey.
4. Mix in coconut milk.  Turn off flame once mixture start to boil.

Assemble 

1. Pour in some skin agar agar into mooncake mould (If a see-through effect is preferred (i.e. can see the filling), lessen the amount put in).
2. When it is half set, put in the filling then pour the balance skin mixture into the mould until full. Let it set.
3. Chill in the fridge before serving.

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