DIY Red Bean Pancake / DouSha GuoBing 豆沙锅饼

Had too much time stuck at home during Singapore's "Circuit Breaker", so I tried making something that I was craving for, but didn't want to buy/order from outside. There aren't too many places that do tasty Chinese red bean pancakes, and if they do, they usually serve it as a large serving meant for 6-8 persons to share as a dessert. 

I had some organic red adzuki beans on hand, but was quite sick of making red bean soup or red bean popsicles. I decided to try using frozen prata to replace the pastry encasing the red bean paste. The paste was easily cooked with the help of my pressure cooker. It did take a while to prepare this dish as I had to thicken the red bean soup to a thick paste, cool and spread it out as an even thin layer. This is a trick I learnt from watching ban jien kueh hawkers. 

Easy Mochi with Kinako

We had been making it almost a habit to take post-dinner walks in the neighbourhood where possible. And inevitably ended up looking for some sort of snack to satiate our sweet tooth (Haha!). Y was particularly partial to the Japanese mochi snack sold at Don Don Donki at 100AM, but I balked at the price for such a small pack, which is polished off within 10 mins by the three of us. So I started searching for the recipe and bought the ingredients at Daiso. 

It's so easy that I don't think I will be buying it in future.... 

Recipe from Mono + Co *

100g glutinous rice flour 

60g dark brown sugar ** 

180g water 

2 tablespoons kinako ***

*https://monoandco.com/2016/07/30/easy-mochi-with-kinako/

Purple Sweet Potato Muffins

I was just finishing up the Ogura cake for my sister, and wanted to make use of the oven (since it took so long to heat up and cool down anyway!). Googled and found a recipe for sweet potato muffins, which were easy enough to whip up (I had less than an hour before I had to pick Y from school then)

Sweet Potato muffins (makes 12) 

1 Cup Self-raising flour

1 Cup sugar (I used 3/4C)

1 tsp cinnamon powder

1/2 egg

1 Cup mashed sweet potato flesh

1/2 Cup oil

Steps

1. Line a 12-hole muffin pan with liners, if using. Preheat oven to 375F/190C.
2. Sift the dry ingredients (flour, sugar, cinnamon)
3. Beat the egg til pale, then add the sweet potato flesh and oil. Mix well. 
4. Mix the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients, until just moistened.
5. Bake in preheated oven for 15-18 minutes.

Note: for some reason, the baked purple sweet potato turns green, so my sisters and nephews were a bit hesitant to eat when they saw green spots dotting the muffin (looking exactly like mouldy food) I read later that it was due to a reaction with baking soda/powder. 

Purple Sweet Potato muffins waiting to be consumed

2nd try at Mango Pudding 5 Jan 2017

I had some mangoes leftover and both hubby and girl were sick, so I decided to find a way to just utilise them or freeze them. Since it was the start of school term, I decided to make some mango pudding when I go to my parents' place for weekly dinner (there are more people to share and finish up cakes/desserts!)

Just sharing pictures of my second try at mango pudding. got the plastic containers and covers from SKP.  Recipe from here. 

Mango yogurt chiffon cake trial

My nephew's birthday is coming up and he requested a mango flavoured cake. I found this recipe online and decided to try it out a day before baking his actual birthday cake.

The recipe was small enough for my 15cm tube pan (based on inner diameter at the top), and fitted the pan exactly (okay, it rose about 1cm above the rims of the pan during baking, but fell during cooling) you can see the picture below.

Taste was light and fluffy just as chiffon should be. The cake was a tall 10cm high (hear my squeal!) The taste of mango was hardly noticeable (make mental note to sub the mango yogurt with fresh mango puree & plain yogurt).

My daughter polished off two slices (almost a quarter) of the cake at one go. And our family of three had the cake for breakfast the next day. Texture was still as good the day after baking.

Recipe for 18cm tube pan (I used a 15cm tube pan) Egg yolks -3
Caster sugar - 25g
Oil -35g
Mango yogurt drink - 42.5ml
Cake flour -50g
Baking powder - 1/4 tsp
Salt - 1/8 tsp

Meringue
Egg whites - 3
Cream of tartar - 1/8 tsp
Caster sugar - 35g

Bake at 160 degree Celsius for 30 mins.

Recipe from http://thedomesticgoddesswannabe.com/2015/06/mango-yogurt-chiffon-cake/

Homemade mango pudding

I had a mango in my kitchen and was racking my brains about what to do with it. I eventually decided to make mango pudding after a quick google search for recipes. I had the other ingredients on hand anyway.

The recipe was from http://www.thehongkongcookery.com/2016/05/hong-kong-style-mango-pudding.html?m=1, and it tasted just right (not too sweet, nor bland). I did not serve it with the suggested additional mango cubes and sweetened condensed milk, though.

However, I did not have those single-serve moulds on hand so I simply ladled the mixture into 4 round plastic takeaway containers. Thus when they were served, I simply scooped portions into serving cups/bowls, which looked terribly messy. My sisters agreed that the end result tasted better than it looked, so I was happy enough.

Hong Kong style steamed milk with egg pudding

I enjoyed steamed milk with egg pudding (I can't remember exact name) at Honeymoon Dessert on Mon after shopping with my sister at Bugis. It was one of the Hong Kong-style desserts that I love, especially the one I had at Australian Dairy Company during vacation in Hong Kong. I craved it so much I looked up the recipe and made it after cooking dinner today. 

Found an easy recipe from 

http://www.tastehongkong.com/recipes/featured/chinese-egg-pudding-my-organic-dessert/

I used the recipe for 2 servings, which filled 3 ramekins. It was soft and wobbly after the 15 mins of steaming over low heat, but hardened after cooling down and refrigeration.....I guess I should have eaten it while it was hot....

My guess is that the cooling down and refrigeration had somehow affected the texture. I DID use clear wrap to cover the ramekin during steaming, but had removed it as it was cooling. so maybe too much moisture escaped, or something like that?

My first Ogura cake 20Aug 2015

I came across this type of cake, named "ogura". Apparently it is similar to a chiffon in that the rising of the cake is based on beaten egg foam.

I tried a simple recipe for pandan flavoured cake and it tasted okay. The aesthetics were, however, much lacking. Other than the split top, I spied quite a few pockets of unmixed egg white foam. Texture was lovely, though. It was soft and spongy, and not as dry as traditional chiffon.