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.

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.

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.

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