Green Tea Red Bean Pudding (砵仔糕) - Hong Kong Traditional Dessert / Pastry [Modified]

This time I created my crossover style Japanese Green Tea (Matcha) x traditional Red Bean Pudding. 
I modified from the traditional recipe I posted some time ago. It was successful. The slightly bitter matcha taste blended with the sweetened red beans are just nice.

Refer to my first recipe and I highlighted the additional ingredient, step and tips below.

Serving size: 4 small bowls (each pudding is 8.5 cm diameter x 3 cm height) or 10 mini cake mould (each is 5 cm diameter x 2.5 cm height)

Preparation time: 10 minutes (exclude the time if homemade red beans)
Cooking time: 25 minutes

Ingredients:
85g          Rice flour
55g          Wheat starch
1/2 tbsp   Glutinous rice flour
60g          Brown sugar
50g          Raw sugar
2 cups      Water
2 tbsp      Sweetened red beans (homemade or canned)
2 tsp        Matcha (Green Tea) powder


Steps:

1. Combine rice flour, wheat starch and glutinous rice flour, then mix with 1/2 cup of water.
2. Heat 1 1/2 cups of water, then add brown sugar and raw sugar into the water. Stir to dissolve sugar and bring to boil. 
3. Pour hot sugar solution into flour mixture. Stir swiftly to mix the flour mixture and sugar solution until very well. *Sift the mixture to ensure the batter is smooth and without lumps. This will have direct impact on the texture when you eat.
4. Add the matcha powder and swiftly mix the powder with the mixture until very well.
5. Bring water to boil in a wok over high heat. Put some red beans (30 beans or depends on your preference) in each of the small bowls.  Steam the bowls over water for 3 minutes.  Pour batter into the small bowls. Steam over high heat for another 20 to 25 minutes.
6. Optional to add some read beans on batter after steaming for 5 minutes.
7. Let cool. Stick pudding with bamboo skewer (the traditional way of serving).  Enjoy!

My Tips:

• The amount of red beans can vary depends on your preference.  Some people prefer no red bean at all.
• This time I used canned ready made red bean instead of boiling the red beans myself. Canned red beans may be too sweet for sweet people, so if you can afford to boil the red beans by yourself, you can adjust the sweetness easily.

• If you replace brown and raw sugar with white sugar, then you will have a white colour pudding, which is also the typical alternative choice to brown pudding.

• When combine rice flour, wheat starch and glutinous rice flour, better to mix all these flour first then add water.  Also make sure you mix the mixture as smooth as possible to make it easier for you to stir when later need to pour the boiled sugar in it.
• Next time I will try to add earl grey, coffee powder, chocolate or Milo powder to make more D.I.Y. flavors!

My comments: Ingredients are simple, but the steps to mix the batter determine the success or failure.

Styling - Back to Basic

#3 Tips to pick shoes - Buying shoes is an art! 
     


I have shoes range from USD 40 to USD 1,000. Similarly a pair of plain beige heels can vary from USD 40 to USD 800! Of course you may challenge me different people have different budgets and criteria over picking their shoes, but you should still aim to find value for money shoes at different price ranges. 

When going for budgeted shoes especially for heels, pay attention to the details of the finishing. Some of them when I saw on streets or trains, their finishing are telling you that they are really low quality.  Therefore, you should be extra careful to observe if the edges along the side of the heels are nicely done or not. Some of them look bulky and not slim cut, which are not fitting the shape of your feet.

Even if you are buying luxury branded heels, more money not equals to better quality or more comfort.  Below are some of my personal feedbacks towards some of the brands.  If you have bad experience with the first pair, quite natural that you will never consider this brand anymore!

My favorite brands with good style, good fit & comfort!

• Salvatore Ferragamo - best tailor which I can feel my heels are nicely wrapped and supported. My feet also look slimmer.
• Jimmy Choo - nice design and comfortable for very high heels
• Christian Louboutin - love their beige heels and their red sole
• Stuart Weitzman - love their sandals and high heels
• Repetto - love their basic flats.  In Singapore, the weather only allow me to have matte surface

Value for money buy...

• Sam Edelman - not the most high-end, but you just need to have the basic heels in plain colors - black, beige, as well as open-toe platform heels for all occasions.

Brands that I like their design or colors but not comfortable at all...

• miu miu - seriously I used to love miu miu and have more than 20 of their bags, so I also bought their shoes.  Boots are okay but all heels I have bought so far, they are not comfortable at all! I am a bit disappointed as a miu miu fans, though their colors are unique.
• Dolce & Gabbana - I only tried one pair, again very uncomfortable to wear. The heels are very hard and heavy.
• Brian Atwood - I have the most sexiest killer heels from this brand, but they hurt the back of the my heels quite badly, since then I still haven't had the courage to wear them for the second time! ^__^"

 **Disclaimer: I practiced Ballet for 14 years, honestly I think my tolerance level is already quite high in terms of comfort-ability of the shoes... ;)

Coaching is a journey, Not a destination... I've just begun my journey to become a professional coach!

Reflect on the initial 4-day classroom training in early April, it was a very demanding 4 days over my mental and physical state.

For the new knowledge and skills I learnt, my very logical thinking mode is being challenged. There are many things need to be un-learnt and re-learnt. Need to consciously aware of my thinking process at the back of the my mind if I want to be a good coach to help my client by active listening and making powerful enquiry.

For my own sense of being and confidence level, I also felt challenged during that 4 days training. Most of my fellow cohort they are average at least 5 to 10 years more experienced than me in their corporate life or they are entrepreneur who own their own companies. I feel I am a bit too junior compare to their experience and worried I could not bring as much as insights they could contribute in the training.

Apart from the sense of seniority, I also felt physically challenged on my presence in the class, as I am quite small in size, I didn't wear heels, I looked very small physically compare to most of my fellow cohort who are at least one head taller than me.

I felt uneasy during the second and third day of training, but on the last day, my confidence level and self-esteem restored. It was a valuable experience to go through such internal struggles to make myself a stronger person for tomorrow.

Good summary of the importance of Alignment

"Your life has an inner purpose and an outer purpose. Inner purpose concerns BEING and is primary. Outer purpose concerns doing and it is secondary. Your inner purpose is to AWAKEN. Your inner purpose is an essential part of the purpose of the whole, the universe and its emerging intelligence.Your outer purpose can change over time. It varies greatly from person to person. Finding and living in alignment with the inner purpose is the foundation for fulfilling your outer purpose. It is the basis for true success. Without the alignment, you can still achieve certain things through effort, struggle, determination, and sheer hard work or cunning. But there is no joy in such endeavor, and it invariably ends in some form of suffering." - Eckhart Tolle

The power of alignment

"Someone who takes the time to understand their relationship with source, who actively seeks alignment with their broader perspective, who deliberately seeks and finds alignment with who-they-really-are, is more charismatic, more attractive, more effective, and more powerful than a group of millions who have not achieved this alignment." - Abraham Hicks

Professional Coach Training - The most difficult training I have so far...

Today is the third day of the training. The awareness and feeling that I learnt something but unable to apply is very confusing and tiring. But I need to recollect my thoughts, allowing all the concepts and new knowledge to sink in and make sense, then start to practice in real sessions.  Looking forward to start my practical sessions soon!

Sun-dried Tomato Bread

Tired of usual bread buy from supermarket, so make something special for breakfast!

Serving size: 8 pieces (each round bread is about 3 cm height x 9 cm diameter)

Preparation time: 45 minutes (exclude 2 rounds of waiting time)
Cooking time: 12 minutes

Ingredients:      
225g       strong white bread flour
1/2 tsp   salt
10g         or 1 sachet easy blend dried yeast)
100g       butter (melted and cool slightly)
3 tbsp     milk (warmed)
2 eggs     beaten
50g         sun-dried tomatoes (well drained and chopped finely)
milk        for brushing


Steps:

1. Lightly grease your baking tray / cookie sheet.
2. Sieve the bread flour and salt into a large mixing bowl. Stir in the yeast, then pour in the butter, milk and eggs.  Mix together to form a dough.
3. Turn the dough on to a lightly floured working surface and knead for about 5 minutes. Alternatively, use an electric mixer with a dough hook.
4. Place the dough in a greased bowl, cover and leave it to rise in a warm place for 1.5 hours until the dough doubled in size. Knock back or punch down the dough by kneading it for a few minutes.
5. Knead the sun-dried tomatoes into the dough, sprinkle the work surface with extra flour as the tomatoes are quite oily.
6. Divide the dough into 8 balls and place them on the baking tray /cookie sheet. Cover and leave them to rise for about 30 minutes until the bread doubled in size.
7. Brush the bread surface with milk.
8. Pre-heat the oven, bake with 230C/450F for 10-15 minutes, until you see the bread turned into golden brown.
9. Transfer the bread to a wire rack and leave to cool slightly before serving.

My Tips:

• If the sun-dried tomatoes are not preserved in olive oil with dried rosemary/ thyme/ basil/ oregano, I suggest you add in a bit of these dried herbs into the dough at the same time when you knead the sun-dried tomatoes in.  This can enhance the flavor.
• I researched about the ways to make my own sun-dried tomatoes. But after considering all the different methods, I decided to get them from supermarket, as I don't use them that often.  Here is one of the helpful websites I recommend: click here for details

My comments: I think the saltiness and flavor are just right, the texture of the bread is also better than I expect as this is the first time I am baking bread myself.  Not as difficult as I imagine. The only thing is need to plan ahead when to start your cooking, as you need to factor in the two slots of waiting time.

Rosemary Crescents (迷迭香酥)

Making something for breakfast on Sat morning!

Serving size: 18 pieces (puff pastry of 24cm x 24cm)

Preparation time: 15 minutes
Cooking time: 12 minutes

Ingredients:      
1 puff pastry (24cm x 24cm or 250g roll into 2mm thickness)
100g softened butter
1 crushed garlic clove
1 tsp lemon juice
1 tsp dried rosemary (or try other herbs like thyme)
salt & pepper


Steps:

1. On a lightly floured surface, roll out the puff pastry, or just do it directly on your baking tray / cookie sheet.
2. Cut the pastry into long triangular shape. Mine is about 6cm base x 9cm height per piece.
3. In a bowl, mix the softened butter, garlic clove, lemon juice and dried rosemary together until soft. Season with salt and pepper to adjust the taste.
4. Spread the mixture on the surface of each of the pastry. Gently roll each piece of pastry from the triangle base towards the far end of the tip.
5. Arrange the crescents on the baking tray / cookie sheet and leave at least 5cm in between to allow them to increase in size. Chill for 30 minutes.
6. Dampen the baking tray / cookie sheet with cold water to create steamy atmosphere during baking. This can help the crescents to rise.
7. Pre-heat the oven, bake with 200C/400F for 10-15 minutes, until you see the crescents turned into golden and risen.

My Tips:

• Can brush a bit thicker layer of the mixture on the pastry to give more flavor.
• Need to pinch the crescents slightly so the crescents will not unroll during baking.

My comments: I could have add stronger flavor or brush thicker layer of the mixture on the pastry before rolling into crescents. Also I did not pinch the crescents tight, so some of them unrolled a bit when baking.

Palmiers (蝴蝶酥) [modified version]

First time making palmiers, is easy and fun! Second time making the taste is even better!

Serving size: 18 pieces (puff pastry of 24cm x 24cm)

Preparation time: 15 minutes
Cooking time: 20 minutes

Ingredients:      
1 puff pastry (24cm x 24cm)
1/4 cup   Caster sugar (or vanilla sugar)
3 tsp       Melted butter (unsalted)
generous cinnamon powder if want to add variety to original flavor


Steps:

1. Sift or sprinkle half of the caster sugar on your working table surface. 
2. Place the puff pastry on top of the sugar and brush the melted butter on the pastry lightly.
3. Sprinkle the remaining half of the sugar over the pastry.
4. Sprinkle the cinnamon powder if you want to create different flavor.
5. Imagine you need to divide the pastry into 6 equal parts, then start from the left side fold 1/6 towards the center, then fold another 1/6 towards the center, now you should have 3 layers of pastry on the left. Do the same for the right side of the pastry.
6. Then fold the left and right side together and you should have 6 layers of pastry now. Press on the pastry gently, so both sides will stick together.
7. Let the pastry chill in fridge for at least half an hour or in freezer for about 20 minutes.
8. Take out the pastry and cut into strips of 1.25cm each in thickness.
9. Brush the melted butter on both sides of the pastry lightly.
10. Pinch and press both sides of the strip to ensure they stick together, to avoid both sides unroll during baking.
11. Place the strips on baking paper. Leave at least 5cm between each strip, as they will expand during baking.
12. Spread the top part of both sides like a "T"-shape.
13. Preheat oven to 200C/395F or 180C/356F if use fan-forced mode.
14. Place the tray in the middle of the oven. Total bake for 20 minutes, monitor first 10 minutes and bake until sugar has caramelized and pastry turns golden brown. Then turn the pastry to the other side and continue to bake until this side also turns golden brown.
15. Allow palmiers to cool on rack for at least 10 minutes before serving.

My Tips:

• Avoid brushing too much butter, otherwise the palmiers may become too salty. Use unsalted butter can avoid this problem.
• can also sprinkle a bit of sugar on the surface when palmiers just taken out from over to increase the sweetness.

My comments: Singapore weather is too hot, so palmiers may feel a bit sticky when holding in hand.

Basic beauty tips

#6 Nail - Manicure & Pedicure
     
Please change or remove your manicure / pedicure if they are outgrown for more than 2mm!

I always observe people on the train and very often I saw ladies with manicure  or pedicure that serious need to be fixed! If I were them, I prefer not to wear sandals or open toe shoes to show people that they don't maintain their pedicure. 

Manicure or pedicure are suppose to make you look more attractive and special, but lack of maintenance will make the negative effect.


To be honest, I think most of the guys prefer girls with either no manicure or simple ones.

Hong Kong Style Egg Tarts (港式蛋撻) - Cookie base

I haven't found a store in Singapore that sell exactly the same style of egg tarts I used to have in Hong Kong, so today I tried to make this myself at home. I test below recipe and it works. My in-laws also think they are yummy!

Serving size: 16 tarts (each tart is 7 cm diameter x 2 cm height)

Preparation time: 45 minutes (most time spend on spreading the dough on each tin)
Cooking time: 25 minutes

Ingredients of custard:
2 eggs      
75ml        Evaporated milk
150g        Hot water
70g          Caster sugar
1/2 tsp    Vanilla extract

Ingredients of crust:
200g        All-purpose / plain flour
25g          Cake flour
125g        Butter
55g          Caster sugar
1 egg       Lightly whisked
A dash vanilla extract


Steps to make the custard fillings:

1. Add sugar into hot water, mix until completely dissolved. Let it cool.
2. Whisk the egg with evaporated milk. Pour in the sugar water and vanilla extract. Mix well.
3. Sift the egg mixture to get rid of any foam into a measuring cup or a tea pot. This make the later pouring into the tart shell easy. Set aside.

Steps to make the crusts:

1. Place butter at room temperature until softened. Beat the butter and sugar with an electric mixer over medium speed until the mixture is smooth, fluffy and light in colour.
2. Add the whisked egg, half at a time. Beat at low speed. Add vanilla extract, mix well.
3. Sift in the 2 type of flours in two batches, scraping down the sides of the bowl between additions with a spatula. Make sure all ingredients are combined well. Knead into a dough.
4. Roll out the dough into 0.5 cm in thickness. Cut the dough with a tart tin or a cookie cutter which is just a bit smaller than your tin size.
5. Line dough in the middle of the tart tin, one by one. Lightly press the dough with your thumbs, starting from the bottom then up to the sides in circular motions to make an even tart shell. Trim away any excess dough.
6. Preheat oven to 200C / 395F. 
7. Pour the fillings into each tart shell carefully. Place the rack in the lowest level of the oven. Placing the tarts on the lower rack in oven can help to bake the crust bottom properly before the custard gets heat up too quickly. Bake the tarts for about 10-15 minutes until the shell edges are lightly brown.
8. Reduce the heat to 180C / 356F. Observe the tarts and once you see the filling puffing up a bit, open the oven door and leave about 2-3 inches gap. This is to avoid the custard from becoming puffed too high. Otherwise, the custard will collapse once it cools down. Bake for another 10-15 minutes until the custard is set.
9. Check the custard by inserting a toothpick. If it can stand on its own, it is cooked.

My Tips:

• Since this is my first time, I divided the ingredients by half to make 8 tarts instead of 16 this round.
• If cake flour is not available, can replace with plain flour, which total 225g.
• Use your thumb to feel the dough thickness in the tart tin. Avoid making it too thick or over cooked.

My comments: Singapore weather is too hot, so my dough was too soft, which I need to spend extra time to have them set in the tart tin.

1st Book Recommendation

The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin

This book is easy and fun to read! I appreciate Gretchen's honesty and sharing at her personal level on her challenges and struggles. I also found the topics of each month is very relevant to my current and future situation. 

For example, January is about boost energy, which reminds me of resuming my regular exercise regime after giving birth to my child. May is about be serious about play, this reminds me of "work hard, play hard", seems I forgot to play hard for few years already. June is about make time for friends, then I set one of my resolutions is to initiate message to one friend each week to see how are they doing, especially after I moved to Singapore about 1.5 years ago and leaving my family and friends in Hong Kong.

Overall, I found her sharing is inspiring and encouraging. I have prepared my own 2017 resolutions after reading this book. One of my resolutions is to start my own blog by February which I did! :)

Click here to check this out!

Natural Yogurt Face Scrub

This is a step 1 before the honey yogurt mask that I introduced some time ago. I tried this natural face scrub many times and still find it very effective.

It is all natural and very economical! All you need is just plain yogurt! I can't think of a reason you will be reluctant to try this out...

Steps:
1) Make sure your face is dry.
2) Take about 1 teaspoon of yogurt.
3) Apply evenly on your face but avoid eye areas.
4) Gently rub the yogurt on your face with fingers in circular motions.
5) Rub for about few minutes then start to tap on your face gently. After tapping evenly all over your face for about few minutes, you should start to feel the yogurt become a bit sticky and dry on your fingers.
6) Gently rub your face, you will start to see tiny white colour stripes dropping off, just like you are rubbing with an eraser.
7) Rinse your face thoroughly, then you can do the honey yogurt mask or continue with your usual skin care steps.

Frequency:
Suggest to do once or twice a week  

Basic beauty tips

#5 Hair & Colouring - Strategize your colouring style
     
Before I go to salon to colour my hair, I always have below considerations:

Q: How am I going to maintain this new colour?

• How often and when will be the next round I want to colour my hair either to cover the awkward roots?
• Am I willing to spend another round of money and few hours at the salon every 2 months?
• Too frequent colouring may cause more hair loss and hair damage...
• Am I willing to spend another budget to buy the professional colour protecting shampoo? Or just stick with my current shampoo and conditioner?

My strategy to balance above considerations is always go for highlights! I realise highlight is a good strategy to delay the need to have too frequent colouring to cover the awkward roots growing out. As highlights won't give a very distinct separation between your dyed hair and natural hair colour at the roots. But of course if you bleached your hair until too big contrast, then nobody can help...

In terms of colours, I always go for purple base with red highlights, then when the colours faded out, hair will still look brown and won't look awkward.

Examples with awkward roots growing out:

Example that new roots are not that obvious if do highlight:

Styling - Back to Basic

#2 Underwear - You need a variety of them and check your back before you leave home!
     

I can't stand if I see these especially during workdays, where OLs seem they don't care, but I think is unprofessional to certain extend...

• I can see what style (shape) of underwear you're wearing. Wear seamless underwear please if your dress or skirt or pants are tight fit.
• I can see what colour of bra or underwear you're wearing from behind. Either change your underwears in the morning to match your outfit or plan ahead what are you going to wear the next day and wear the matching colour underwear set. I personally think is very unprofessional to see a pink bra underneath a white shirt. If you want to look sexy, please match with taste, save it after work or in your apartment. 
• Check your back and see if your bra is too tight. Quite often can see some ladies the top and bottom edges are very tight, then the fat got squeezed out in between. Looking from behind, the back curve is not nice and make you look fat.

Remember to check your back before you leave home everyday! I am less harsh during weekends... :)

Useful basic seamless panties choice!

If you're lazy to match the colour or style, then please don't show your bra.

Check your back! Both top and bottom.

Personal Care - Back to Basic

#2 Elbow & Knee Cap - Easily being forgotten!
     
Sorry to be mean here again... But if I see girls with grey-black elbows or knee caps, I will think the girls aren't taking good care of themselves and simply not attention to details!

I know some people may have darker skin colour around elbows or knee caps areas that are inborn, but I believe majority are people never do scrubbing on these areas to remove the dead skin cells. If you have this problem, please scrub regularly!

I am more demanding towards girls on these things. If I see these on guys, I have higher tolerance level, after all men are men...

Is ironic that if you regularly do waxing on your arms, legs, underarm and scrubbing your heels but forget about your elbow and knee caps... Your body caring service isn't complete!

Hey lady, check your elbows and knee caps now!

Some suggestions:
Ways to Get-Rid-of-Dark-Elbows
Remedy and care for your elbows and knees

Basic beauty tips

#4 Hair & Colouring - Don't just focus on the hair colour alone
     
When you plan to dye your hair, the number one most important thing is to pick the right colour that is trendy yet matching your skin tone and character. However, I am not sharing with you what colour to pick. My key message is about how to ensure your new look is pleasing to eyes and look harmony.

The key is whatever your new hair colour is, please take care of your eyebrow colour as well. If your eyebrows are quite dark and you dyed your hair as lighter brown, chestnut, red or purple colour, please also use eyebrow pencil or powder to make your eyebrow colour matching your hair colour. You can use a bit of foundation and loose powder to lighten your eyebrows then apply the eyebrow pencil or powder. More extreme example is when elderly dye their hair into black colour and didn't dye their eyebrows leaving them as silvery grey, image how awkward it is.

In summary, the key is overall harmony and consistency when you present yourself.

Bad examples:

Good examples:

Red Bean Pudding (砵仔糕) - Hong Kong Traditional Dessert / Pastry

I love this traditional dessert and I have been eating this since I was 3 years old. I can't find this in Singapore, so today I tried to make this myself at home. I test below recipe and it works. Worth a try!

Serving size: 4 small bowls (each pudding is 8.5 cm diameter x 3 cm height)

Preparation time: 10 minutes (exclude the time if homemade red beans)
Cooking time: 25 minutes

Ingredients:
85g          Rice flour
55g          Wheat starch
1/2 tbsp   Glutinous rice flour
60g          Brown sugar
50g          Raw sugar
2 cups      Water
2 tbsp      Sweetened red beans (homemade or cannned)

Steps:

1. Combine rice flour, wheat starch and glutinous rice flour, then mix with 1/2 cup of water.
2. Heat 1 1/2 cups of water, then add brown sugar and raw sugar into the water. Stir to dissolve sugar and bring to boil. 
3. Pour hot sugar solution into flour mixture. Stir swiftly to mix the flour mixture and sugar solution until very well. *Sift the mixture to ensure the batter is smooth and without lumps. This will have direct impact on the texture when you eat.
4. Bring water to boil in a wok over high heat. Put some red beans (30 beans or depends on your preference) in each of the small bowls.  Steam the bowls over water for 3 minutes.  Pour batter into the small bowls. Steam over high heat for another 20 to 25 minutes.
5. Optional to add some read beans on batter after steaming for 5 minutes.
6. Let cool. Stick pudding with bamboo skewer (the traditional way of serving).  Enjoy!

My Tips:

• The amount of red beans can vary depends on your preference.  Some people prefer no red bean at all.

• If you replace brown and raw sugar with white sugar, then you will have a white colour pudding, which is also the typical alternative choice to brown pudding.

• When combine rice flour, wheat starch and glutinous rice flour, better to mix all these flour first then add water.  Also make sure you mix the mixture as smooth as possible to make it easier for you to stir when later need to pour the boiled sugar in it.
• Next time I will try to add matcha powder, coffee powder, chocolate or milo powder to make more D.I.Y. flavors!

My comments: Ingredients are simple, but the steps to mix the batter determine the success or failure.

Refer to original recipe