Steamead Teochew Pumpkin Cake

With the remaining half pumpkin after stir-frying it for dinner last night, I was contemplating on what to do with it. A few recipes came to mind, one of which was to do a pumpkin Q-yuen, much like those served at Taiwanese Dessert place, but I was low on glutinuous rice flour, so that experiment will have to wait.

Then out of curiosity, I decided to tweek this recent attempt by substituting the yam with pumpkin. This turned out good as well, but the texture was softer, my guess is that this might be due to higher water content of pumpkin as compared to yam. Just my 2-cents...


STEAMED TEOCHEW PUMPKIN CAKE
Yield: 6" round with 1" height
Source: "Yummy Street Fare" page 76
Ingredients:
1 tbsp oil
1/2 tbsp chopped shallot (2 pips)
1/4 tsp chopped garlic (1 pip)
2 tbsp dried prawns (weight is 20g)

400g pumpkin, shredded coarsely (weight with skin is 500g)
50g rice flour
1/4 tsp pepper
1/4 tsp fine salt

Method:
1/ Heat up oil, saute chopped shallot and garlic till aromatic, then add in dried prawns to stir-fry till well mixed. Dish up and set aside.
2/ Shred pumpkin into a mixing bowl, add in mixture from (1) above followed by the rice flour, pepper and salt.
3/ Mix well, then pour the pumpkin mixture into 6" square tray and press tight to compact it.
4/ Steam at high heat for 20 minutes or until cooked, then remove and leave to cool before cutting into serving-size pieces for consumption.

Notes:
+ Mixture was wetter compared to the one for yam, and the resulting cake was more moist.

Stir-Fry Pumpkin

We love pumpkin, do you?
Occassionally I will cook this but I didn't realise I have yet to post a recipe on it. So better to jot this down for future reference.
Good over steamed white rice, this beta-carotene packed dish is so full of oomph.



STIR-FRY PUMPKIN
Serves: 2 pax adult
Ingredients:
3 tbsp oil
2 pips of garlic (chopped)
1 onion (chopped)
2 tbsp dried shrimps (soaked and pounded) [equivalent to 20g]
450g pumpkin (cubed)
200ml water (top up the water used for soaking the dried shrimps to this amount)
1/4 tsp Maggi seasoning
1/2 tsp LKK light soya sauce

Method:
1/ Heat up oil over medium fire in a wok, then add the chopped garlic and onion to fry till fragrant.
2/ Add the dried shrimps and continue to sautee till dried shrimps turned golden
3/ Put in the cubed pumpkin and stir for awhile before adding in the water.
4/ Cover the wok and let pumpkin soften, stirring every now and then for even doneness.
5/ When liquid is reduced to half and gravy has thicken, add the seasoning and dish up.

Steamead Teochew Yam Cake

This recipe caught my attention as the method used is very unique. There was no liquid used in preparing this Steamed Teochew Yam Cake unlike conventional ones. So of course I was game for it. Preparation time was fast as well since there was no need to par-cook the batter compared to those recipes I have attempted previously.

I only did half a recipe to try out, and it was sufficient for our consumption.


Result was good, tasted so yummy yam-my!!

STEAMED TEOCHEW YAM CAKE
Yield: 7" square with 1" height
Source: "Yummy Street Fare" page 76
Ingredients:
1 tbsp oil
1/2 tbsp chopped shallot (2 pips)
1/4 tsp chopped garlic (1 pip)
2 tbsp dried prawns (weight is 20g)

400g yam, shredded coarsely (weight with skin is 450g)
50g rice flour
1/4 tsp pepper
1/4 tsp fine salt

Method:
1/ Heat up oil, saute chopped shallot and garlic till aromatic, then add in dried prawns to stir-fry till well mixed. Dish up and set aside.
2/ Shred yam into a mixing bowl, add in mixture from (1) above followed by the rice flour, pepper and salt.
3/ Mix well, then pour the yam mixture into 6" square tray and press tight to compact it.
4/ Steam at high heat for 20 minutes or until cooked, then remove and leave to cool before cutting into serving-size pieces for consumption.

Notes:
+ Mixture might look dry at step (2), but as it combines, yam will soften and wilt a bit, but this is ok.

Korean Sweet Pancake - Hoddeok

Hoddeok, a Korean Sweet Pancake with filling. First time I came across this from Frozen Wings' blog (thanks Lena for sharing) and I jumped at trying it. The words that captured my attention - NO KNEADING required. Yes, you read it correctly, this yeasty chewy soft pancakes were done in a jiffy using a whisk and spatula. The longest time would be the proofing, but well, that would be the hard work of the yeast.

Even the tools used were minimalist, I didn't even need to whip out the rolling pin, just flatten the dough with my palms to wrap the filling. The crispy crust and the chewy soft centre coupled with the nutty filling, I downed one piece hot from the wok pan. It was that good.

HODDEOK
Yield: 4 pieces
Reference: Lena
Ingredients:
125ml warm water
1tsp instant yeast
1tbsp sugar

1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tbsp vegetable oil
140g all purpose flour

Filling (mix together):
2tbsp soft brown sugar
a dash of cinnamon powder
1tbsp almond nibs (toasted) *recipe asked for chopped walnuts, but I ran out of this, thus the substitution*

Method:
1/ Pour water into a big mixing bowl, then add instant yeast, sugar, salt and vegetable oil and mix together with a hand whisk.
2/ Add in the flour and continue to mix till well incorporated to get a lump of dough.
3/ Leave to proof in a covered bowl for an hour till doubled in volume, then stir the mixture (fret not it will deflate slightly) and let it rest for 10 minutes.
4/ Divide dough into 4 portions (about 75g each piece for me as the total weight was 300g).
5/ Lightly pat each piece of dough with your palm to flatten it, wrap in one tablespoon of the fillings, then seal tightly.
6/ Heat up non-stick pan with one drop of oil, then pan-fry the wrapped dough on one side for about 30 seconds then flip over to pan-fry the other side.
7/ Once flipped over, use spatula to flatten the dough and fry till both sides are golden brown, then cover the pan to cook the dough for another minute.
8/ Remove from pan and serve hot.

Love this easy as ABC winner recipe. Worth a try, or rather, a few tries.

Maple Syrup Roast Chicken Wings

Other than using Maple Syrup for pancakes, I was trying to google for a recipe that uses it in some other form. And voila...lots of recipes cropped up for using it to roast chicken. I went for one with oriental touch as I was planning on roasting a whole bird of chicken some time within the week as well, so this was the recipe I used. It was so so easy to do, just marinate the chicken wings, then roast it in the ovenette at 180 degree Celcius for 15 minutes and attack while it is still hot! The balance of the marinade was not wasted at all, I reduced it slightly in the pot over the stove so that it thickens and this went very well spooned over white steamed rice.



MAPLE SYRUP ROAST CHICKEN WINGS
Yield: 3 servings
Ingredients:
6 pieces chicken wings (approximate weight of 750g)
2 tbsp dark soya sauce *I used LKK brand*
3 tbsp soft brown sugar
1 tbsp oyster sauce
2 tbsp light soya sauce *I used LKK brand*
2 tbsp maple syrup *I used Lyle brand, refer photo below*
1 tbsp Shao Xing wine
3 tsp sesame oil
1 tbsp All Spice powder *I omitted because I don't have it at home*

Method:
1/ Marinate the chicken wings with everything on the list and leave it in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour for the flavour to soak in.
2/ Line a baking try with aluminium foil and place chicken wings on it, then roast in a preheated oven at 180 degree Celcius for 15 minutes.
3/ At the same time, pour the marinade into a pot and bring it to a boil till slightly thickened and reduced.
4/ Remove the chicken wings from the oven and either pour the gravy over or serve this separately.

The brand of Maple Syrup I used, or rather, it was Maple flavoued Golden Syrup by Lyle.

Dried Shrimps Sambal

I was in the mood for some spicy food, and chanced upon this in Precious Moment's blog. How timely! Thanks Edith for sharing the recipe, my first attempt at making Sambal Hae Bee passed dh's mark. As I didn't deseed the dried chilli completely, the result was too spicy, so I toned it down with one extra tablespoon of soft brown sugar from the original recipe which requested for one tablespoon only.


Good to go with rice or bread, or even stir-fry. But I normally stick to steamed soft bread or if I am extra hardworking, french toast would be the other option.

DRIED SHRIMP SAMBAL
Source: PM
Yield: 1 cup (250ml)
Ingredients:
10 shallots (approximate weight of 150g)
3 cloves of garlic
15 pieces dried chillies (cut, soaked and deseeded)
5 pieces chilli padi
1 tbsp toasted belachan (approximate weight of 10g)
100g dried shrimp (soaked and cleaned, then pounded)
6 tbsp oil

1 tbsp assam paste mixed with 3 tbsp water to get 1.5 tbsp assam juice
1 tbsp soft brown sugar *I used 2 tbsp*
1/2 tsp salt to taste

Method:
1/ Blend the spices together, then heat up oil and sautee them until fragrant.
2/ Add in the pounded dried shrimp and continue to stir fry till well combined.
3/ Lastly add in the assam juice and fry until dry. Add in sugar and salt to taste, the dish out and leave to cool.


This was the brand of belachan I used, for reference

Almond Longan Jelly

After making this, I still had more than half a can of evaporated milk plus the balance of the canned longan. What I did was to make something similar, but I wanted the texture to be harder so that I can cut them up into pieces to get more bites. So, I kept the recipe intact except for the portion on agar-agar powder and gelatine. Instead of half teaspoon each in the original recipe, I upped them to one tablespoon each. Also added one tablespoon of chinese almond powder (the one used for almond drink) for a twist.



This makes a lot, and each time I used about a quarter of the big piece of Almond Jelly to go with different types of canned fruits. I've tried with canned longan, cocktail fruits and even peaches only, they go very well together.

ALMOND LONGAN JELLY
Yield: 4 servings
Ingredients:
350g water
50g sugar
1 tbsp agar-agar powder *I used Swallow Globe brand*
1 tbsp gelatine
1 tbsp chinese almond drink powder

100ml evaporated milk or soya milk *I used Ideal brand evaporated milk*
50ml longan syrup from canned longan

Method:
1/ Place sugar and water in a pot, then sprinkle agar-agar powder, gelatine powder and chinese almond drink powder on the surface and cook this concoction over low medium heat until bubbles form around the edges of the pot.
2/ In a measuring jug, mix milk and longan syrup then stir this into the pot of agar-agar solution and turn off the heat, no need to bring to a boil.
3/ Pour mixture into a square container and let it cool and firm up in the refrigerator.
4/ Cut almond jelly into cubes and serve this together with some canned fruits of your choice plus some ice cubes before serving.