Xiao Long Bao - Shanghai Steamed Dumplings

If you were to individually segment out the Chinese word of Xiao Long Bao (小笼包), it would literally mean small for “xiao”, basket for “long” and bun for “bao”. And how right the name can be as these little dumplings are traditionally steamed in bamboo baskets.

Xiao Long Bao originated in Shanghai over a hundred years ago and has now become an iconic symbol of Shanghainese cuisine. They were originally created by the Nanxiang Steamed Bun Restaurant in China and they continue selling these dumplings to this day. These dumplings are filled with a hot soup and meat and/or vegetarian fillings, as well as other possibilities. The fillings are wrapped in something like a jiaozi (wanton-like) wrapper that turns almost translucent after being steamed. Xiao Long Bao can be recognized by their unique design, as the filled wrapper is gathered up into fine folds (something like pleats) at the top, prior to steaming. (Although it's my first attempt I think I got the hang of the pleating part.)

Xiao Long Bao can be eaten at any meal in Chinese culture, and are often served in restaurants that have dim sum service. To eat these dumplings you would need to peel them off the lettuce or cabbage leaf onto which they sit prior to steaming, taking care not to break the dumpling skin. The straight forward way of eating this is to just dip the dumpling directly into a side dish of black vinegar and thinly shredded fresh young ginger. Take a small nibble of the skin, allowing some of the broth to drain. Make sure that your dumpling is sitting on a spoon before you take a nibble as some of the soup inside it may squirt out. It ever happened to me once and I got some of the soup on my business suit, not very nice I can tell you. Then eat the rest of the dumpling from the spoon. Doing so will allow you to savor the taste without scalding your tongue. In Singapore there are some restaurants (example Din Tai Fung) that just specializes in dumplings and you can have a full menu displaying the different types of Chinese dumplings available. There are even steamed dumplings the size of a regular tea cup and the amazing thing is the restaurant would give you a drinking straw with the dish … and I do mean a straw! The whole idea is for you to stick the straw into the dumpling and sip the soup out slowly.

If you've never tried Xiao Long Bao, you’ll probably wondering why is there a soup. Well, the soup keeps the whole dumpling moist and it is one of the important elements to this dish (besides the juicy filling and the skin wrapper.) Just to let you in on a secret - I tried making xiao long bao a few weeks ago, using a short cut method and omitting the soup. The dumplings turned out dry and was not tasty at all! I learnt from that lesson and decided to attempt this again using the “traditional” way.

How is the soup made? It’s made from slowly simmering chicken bones and fatty pork in a pot until it reduces to less than half it’s original content. Then a small amount of gelatin is added to the soup and cooled to become a block of “soup jelly”. The “jelly” is then cut into small cubes, added to the meat filling of the dumpling and then wrapped in the skin. Once the dumplings are steamed, the heat will melt the gelatin turning it into a soup, thus creating a soup base inside the wrapped dumpling. These dumplings can be eaten on it’s own or part of a main course. Alternatively you could serve this as a starter for an Asian-fusion meal. By the way I can easily eat 6 or more of these in one sitting!

I halfed the below recipe and came up with enough dumplings to serve 3-4 persons. Also if you don't want the hazzle of making the gelantized soup, you can omit it and not add it with the filing. Instead make the dumplings as per below recipe without the "soup jelly" and then cook the dumplings in a plain chicken or vegetable soup". What you have would be chinese dumpling in a soup broth. (Also instead of using pork, you can use minced chicken instead. It's all up to you how to play around with the ingredients.)



Xiao Long Bao – Shanghai Steamed Dumplings

Ingredients for the Aspic/Gelantized Stock:

1 pound chicken wings
2 chicken backbones
1 pork trotter (foot) or a large piece of pork skin (I used fatty pork belly with skin)
3 1/4 inch thick slices of ginger
4 green onions
4 cloves of garlic
1 star anise
8 cups of water
Salt to taste

Ingredients for the Wrappers:

3 cups all purpose flour
1/3 cups hot water
2/3 cups cold water
Pinch of salt

For the Filling:

1 pound ground pork (I added some chopped cilantro. You can vary this by adding in thinly sliced shitake mushroom, roughly minced prawn and small cubes of waterchest nut, if preferred)
1 Tbsp soy sauce
1 Tbsp rice wine
1 tsp sesame oil
1/2 tsp grated ginger
1/2 tsp sugar
2 cups gelatin stock, chopped into small pieces

Method to Make the Gelantized Soup:

1) When working with pork feet make sure to wash it well, then boil it twice in a change of water to get the smell, bacteria, and scum out. If you're using raw chicken wings and backbones, it's best to boil those once too to get any scum out. Add the pork feet to a pot (large saucepan, stock pot, Dutch oven whatever works) and cover them with water and bring it to a boil. Boil for a minute, drain, and rinse off any scum on the feet in cold water. Wash out the pot as well or use a new pot because there will be scum on the side. Return the pork feet, and the raw chicken wings and backbones to the pot and fill with cold water and bring back to a boil again and boil for a minute. Drain and rinse off any scum and wash the pot again

2) Add 2 teaspoons of oil to your pot over medium heat. Smash the ginger slices and green onion with the side of a knife and add to the oil and until they are fragrant, then add boiled and rinsed off chicken wings and pork feet, 1 star anise, and 8 cups of cold water. Bring to a boil then simmer gently uncovered, skim any scum on the surface, for 6+ hours. (I cheated here and simmered the soup close to 3 hours. I then added about 1/2 teaspoon of gelatin into the stock and poured it into a container to set. Once cooled I placed the container into the fridge to solidify)

3) Never let the soup boil again because it will cloud. The stock is ready when it can solidify at room temperature. Test the stocks gelling ability by spooning some of it into a small bowl and allow it to cool down to room temperature. If it solidifies then the stock is ready. Strain soup and season it with some salt. Set aside 2 cups for the dumpling filling. Save any excess for adding to sauces or soups. Let the soup cool to room temp then transfer it to the fridge. The soup can keep for up to 3 days in the fridge. You can scrape off any fat that solidifies on top or mix it into the filling.


Method to Make the dough (for the wrappers):

1) In a large bowl, add 2 1/2 cups of flour. First add the 1/3 cup of very hot water and stir that into the flour.

2) Then add the 2/3 cup of cold water and stir it into the dough. Bring the dough together and knead while incorporating additional flour if you need to, until the dough is not sticky. Don’t overknead or it will be too tough and gluteny to work with. Cover the dough with plastic wrap and let it rest for an hour while you prepare the filling.

Method to Make the Filling:

Mix the ground pork with all of the seasoning ingredients and set aside. Keep the filling in the fridge until the dough has finished resting.

How to Wrap the Dumplings:

1) Divide the dough into 3 portions. Work with one portion and keep the other two covered. Roll the dough into a long snake. Then cut a small cylindrical piece off of the snake. Flatten with your palm and roll the dough out into a 2 1/2 inch diameter wrapper. I used a small wooden rolling pin that is about 6 inches long and about an inch in diameter.

2) Here's a quick tutorial on How to Make Xiao Long Bao. Unfortunately it is all in Chinese but you can refer to the pictures as guide. Another good reference would be Jaden of Steamy Kitchen. You want the wrappers to be a bit thicker than wonton wrappers. If the wrappers are too thin, the soup will dissolve it and leak out.

3) Place about a teaspoons of filling in the center of the wrapper. Slightly flatten it and then place a small cube of the gelatin stock in the centre. Wrap the edges of the filling around the gelatin cube.

4) Then hold the outer edge of the wrapper with the thumb and index finger of your dominant hand. Using the other thumb and index finger, hold the edge of the wrapper and bring it to your dominant hand to pleat. Pleat around the circumference of the entire wrapper, turning the dumpling as you go, and seal the tip to close. (It took me ages to make the wrappers. I think it’s a skill in itself and certainly lots of practice involved.)

Steam and serve:

1) Bring some water to a boil in a wok or large pot with a steamer insert. Line a bamboo or metal steaming basket with cabbage leaves or damp cheesecloth. Place the dumplings in the basket and steam on high for 5 – 7 minutes.

2) Serve hot with ginger slivers and black vinegar.

Mini Passionfruit Cheesecake

I recently bought a new cookbook tittled "Favourite Cupcakes and Cheesecakes" because it had some interesting recipes. Also the pictures inside were really beautiful. So as an "opening ceremony" I decided to bake a mini cheesecake for my husband. He'll love this simply because he's a one dessert-man .. anything with cheese only - full stop!

This cheesecake uses passionfruit. Surprisingly I've yet to bake anything that calls for passionfruit. The one and only time I've had passionfruit was with a cup of plain yoghurt. I dare say that it's really an unusual fruit and is sourish. It's a real simple recipe that can be whipped up in no time at all. Also if you don't fancy passionfruit, don't be put off, you can always substitute it with any other fruit such as strawberry, blueberry, raspberry, mango.



Mini Passionfruit Cheesecake
Serves 4

For the base:

60g digestive biscuits, finely crush
30g butter, melted
1/2 cup sugar

For the filing:

500g cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup passionfruit pulp, strained
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 cup sugar
2 large eggs
4 fresh passionfruit

Method:

1) Preheat oven to 165C.

2) To make the base, combine biscuit crumbs, butter and sugar. Line four 10cm springfrm tins with baking paper, then press mixture evenly onto the bottoms of the tins. Bake the base for 5 minutes.

3) For the filing, combine cream cheese, passionfruit pulp, vanilla and sugar in an electric mixer. Mix on medium speed until well combined. Divide filing evenly between the bases.

4) Bake for 25 minutes. Cool before removing from tines.

5) Decorate with fresh passionfruit and serve. You can serve this cold as well.

Macarons with Bittersweet Chocolate Ganache

I’ve never had a macaron before in my life and you could say that I was somewhat intrigued by the beautiful pictures that I’ve seen posted on a number of blogs I’ve visited. Especially so are the delicious looking pictures that seem to reach out to me from Helen of Tartelette. Her pictures are amazing as well as the perfection she has created!

It was this intrigue that led me to research further on these French desserts. From what I’ve read there are 2 methods of making macarons i.e. the Italian or the French method. However the few rules of thumb that keep surfacing was: use day old egg whites, process the almonds or any other nuts and powdered sugar finely, do not overbeat, do not under-beat, sit the macaroons before baking, oven cannot be too hot, temperature must be right, must have feet. For someone who has never made macarons before, let alone eaten one, you can imagine what I was thinking by then. The more I read, the more confused I was! And what the hell is feet ….??? Why is there so much DO’s and DON’Ts for a recipe that calls for only 4 ingredients? I decided that I’d shelf the idea of journeying down macaron- land, it was too troublesome. But somehow the macaron genie doesn’t want to go away, it keeps taunting back at me. It’s exactly like telling someone not to touch something, and lo and behold what do they do, they go ahead and touch. Well, that’s exactly what happened and how I got sucked in!

My first attempt was using the Italian method. This method calls for a hot syrup that’s slowly poured into stiff egg whites being beaten on medium speed. One thing that I didn’t do (and I’ve learnt from this) in my first attempt was to process the almonds and powdered sugar. I did a “lazy man” trick by just shifting ground almonds and powdered sugar two times – I thought this would suffice at that time. I even went as far as drawing circles on the parchment paper just to ensure uniformity in each piped macaron. The macarons were sat for about 20 minutes and by this time, they had spread further into bigger blobs. (2nd mistake which I now know is attributed to over-mixing the batter). I placed the tray into a pre-heated oven of 180C for about 15 minutes (3rd mistake here, as the oven should preferably be 160C and should be baked for about 10 minutes). I eagerly peered through the oven window as the macarons baked. I was excited when I saw the little feet forming but that excitement was short-lived as the tops of the macarons started to crack. By the time they had done their turn in the oven, majority had cracked tops and crevices. But they tasted great though! I made a simple lemon curd which was used to sandwich my somewhat dejected looking macarons. Here’s what my 1st attempt looked like.


It was about a month and half before I decided to attempt macarons again. This time round I deligently processed my ground almonds with the powdered sugar. I sat the macarons for an hour plus baked them in a preheated oven of 160C. Again the little feet started appearing and this time, yeah no cracks! However I should have piped my macarons a bit smaller … (next time). Being somewhat of a slight perfectionist, I am still not satisfied and I do understand that it takes lots of practice to come out with perfectly round and smooth macarons. I sandwiched these little creations with a bittersweet chocolate ganache.

If you are planning to add this to your list of “to do’s”, check out "Making French Macarons - Instructions and Recipes" (with links to other blogs) by David Lebovitz.



Macarons With Bittersweet Chocolate Ganache:
(Recipe from Tartellete)

For the Macarons:

3 egg whites (use 1 day old egg white)
50g granulated sugar
200g powdered sugar
110g ground almonds
2 Tb powdered food coloring

For the whites: the day before (24hrs), separate your eggs and store the whites at room temperature on a covered container.

Method:

1) In a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, whip the egg whites to a foam, gradually add the sugar until you obtain a glossy meringue. Do not overbeat your meringue or it will be too dry and your macaroons won't work.

2) Combine the ground almonds and powdered sugar in a food processor and give them a quick pulse. It will break the powdered sugar lumps and combine your almonds with it evenly.

3) Add them to the meringue in 2 batches, give it a quick fold after each addition. Add 2 Tb food coloring and fold the mass carefully until you obtain a batter that flows like magma or a thick ribbon.

4) Give quick strokes at first to break the mass and slow down. The whole process should not take more than 50 strokes. Test a small amount on a plate: if the tops flattens on its own you are good to go. If there is a small beak, give the batter a couple of turns.

5) Fill a pastry bag fitted with a plain tip with the batter and pipe small rounds (about 1" to 1.5" in diameter depending on your size preference) onto parchment paper baking sheets.

6) Preheat the oven to 160C. Let the macarons sit out for an hour to harden their shells a bit and bake for 8-10 minutes, depending on their size. Let cool.

7) If you have trouble removing the shells, pour a couple of drops of water under the parchment paper while the sheet is still a bit warm and the macarons will lift up more easily do to the moisture. Don't let them sit there in it too long or they will become soggy. Pipe or spoon some ganache on one shell and sandwich with another one. (If you are using silicon paper, I've noticed that the macaroons can be easily removed without using any moisture at all)

Note: If you use fresh whites, zap them up in the microwave on medium high for 20 seconds.

Bittersweet Ganache:

3/4 cup heavy cream
1 cup bittersweet chocolate

In a heavy saucepan set over medium heat, bring the heavy cream to a boil. Remove from the stove and add the chocolate to it. Let stand 2 minutes and then stir until fully combined. Let cool in the fridge until firm enough to put in a small piping bag.

Bake a Bread and Feed Africa - Focaccia Bread

I was tagged recently by Shibani of Any One Can Cook for The Breadline Africa (a charitable organization located in Cape Town, South Africa) Worldwide Blogger Bake Off Challenge. Breadline Africa carries a strong purpose of being an African based charity organisation that can help break the cycle of poverty within Africa by helping communities to help themselves. By doing so it encourages communities to achieve long term self-sustainability and basically "stand on their own feet".

The purpose of this baking challenge is to try and raise US$1 million in funds to help alleviate poverty in Africa. The funds raised will be used to convert shipping containers into food production and distribution centers. These centers will act as community kitchens which will provide warm meals, hope and a sense of security to the poorest of the poor. Breadline Africa Worldwide Blogger Bake Off challenge aims to use each donation towards feeding the poor of Africa while spreading the word of compassion through blogs and internet users.

Please click to the below links for more information on this worthy cause.

Join our campaign.
Submit your bread baking recipe.
Make a donation to Breadline Africa.
Vote for your favourite recipe.
Bake a loaf of bread and blog about it.
Bake many loaves of bread and host a bake sale.

So in reading this message and you feel that you can help in one way or another, please do so. I think all of us are blessed that we don't have to worry when or where our next meal will be or what it would be! We have choices. We are able to taste the fruits of our baking and cooking when majority of those in need of help may not even have tasted a basic butter cake before. So for this worthy cause, I decided I’ll bake some bread and also spread the word around via my blog.

I had been wanted to make focaccia bread for some time now and I guess this would be the most opportune moment. To search for a worthwhile recipe I even went to my usual data-source i.e. the library and checked out a recipe book purely on focaccia. However the recipes published inside it, although mouth-watering, seemed somewhat time consuming as it called for a starter dough and a bread dough – also the instructions seemed complicated and a bit unsequential. So the next reference source had to be the internet. I finally narrowed my search to a "no knead" focaccia recipe - wow how simple can this get! Plus proofing time takes less than an hour



Focaccia Bread
Makes: 8 servings

Ingredients:

3 cups all-purpose flour
1 envelope Fleischmann's® RapidRise Yeast
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons olive oil
1-2/3 cups water (120°F to 130°F)
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
3 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
2 tablespoon of dried garlic flakes
1 1/2 tablespoon of Italian Herb Seasoning
½ teaspoon of sea salt

Method:

1) Mix flour, yeast, sugar and salt in a large bowl. Add olive oil and water, stirring until well mixed. (The dough will be extremely sticky but don't worry.( Pour into greased 13x9-inch pan. Cover and let rise until doubled, about 45 minutes. (If you are using a cling wrap or cloth, try not to let it touch the top of the dough. My mistake here as I had such a hard time peeling the cling wrap off.)

2) Using the handle of a wooden spoon (lightly grease the handle first), push multiple holes into the dough.

3) Drizzle 2 tablespoons of olive oil over dough. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese, garlic flakes and Italian herb seasoning. Sprinkle the top with sea salt. (In fact you can use whatever topping or seasoning on this bread eg. sundried tomatoes, sliced pitted olives, etc and it’ll taste great)

4) Cover and let rise additional 15 minutes while oven preheats to 375°F. Bake 30 to 35 minutes until lightly browned.

5) Cool slightly and cut into slices. Serve with a hot bowl of soup or alternatively dip it into a saucer of balsamic vinegar and good olive oil. Best eaten on day it is baked.

Sweet for my Daring Bakers - Caramel Cupcakes with Caramelized Butter Frosting!

The last few Daring Bakers challenges had involved yeast but this month we are back to the basics of baking. November's challenge or should I say a choice of two challenges allows Daring Bakers to pick one or the other.

The first option is the signature Caramel Cake from Shuna Fish Lydon of Egg Beater. The second option is Alice Medrich's Golden Vanilla Bean Caramels. Taking the helm to host this month's challenge is Dolores of Chronicles in Culinary Curiosity with assistance from Alex of Blondie and Brownie and Jenny of Foray into Food

When I read the posting in the Daring Baker's forum, I immediately knew that I would opt to do the first option which is the Caramel Cake with Caramelized Butter Frosting. This is simply because I don't fancy caramels at all. I also had no idea what a caramel cake tasted like but the mere name itself conjured up images of a sweet delicious cake. And indeed it was such and having read the comments from other Daring Bakers who had earlier attempted the cake, I decided to reduce the amount of sugar stated in the original recipe. So instead of using the original 1 and 1/4 cups, I cut this down to about slightly less than 1 and 1/8 cup and it worked.

Instead of baking this as a cake, I decided to work it into a cupcake version instead. This gave me 15 full size cupcakes and the baking time was shorten to about 24 minutes. These were made over a Friday night and I then packed the cupcakes into an airtight container. The next morning I made the caramelized frosting to go with this treat. I halfed the frosting recipe which gave me more than enough to cover all 15 cupcakes. And guess what, I could not resist tasting one immediately after I had frosted them. It was delicious! Surprisingly the frosting with an extra pinch of sea salt paired very well with the cupcakes. I could taste a bit of the salt in-between mouthfuls of cake and frosting. That very afternoon itself my husband and I had planned to go out. He had to drop by at one of his client's home and I decided to pack some of the cupcakes for them. The remaining cupcakes were taken to office and quickly distributed. I even treated myself again by indulging in another 2 more cupcakes the next day (oh dear .. there goes my waistline) and the cake texture was still very moist (even after being in the fridge for 3 nights).

Opps ... nearly forgot to mention that I also had left over caramel syrup which was used to make a peanut sesame brittle, great snacks in front of the telly (check out the top tray of the above cake platter)! This is one recipe which I'm going to bookmark for another time! Gals, many thanks for picking such a winner!


Caramel Cupcakes with Caramelized Butter Frosting
(Makes a 9" cake or 15 cupcakes)

Ingredients:

142g unsalted butter at room temperature
1 1/4 Cups granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon kosher or sea salt
1/3 Cup Caramel Syrup (see recipe below)
2 each eggs, at room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 Cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup milk, at room temperature

Method:

1) Preheat oven to 350F or 176C

2) Butter one tall (2 – 2.5" deep) 9-inch cake pan (or line 12 cupcake pan with paper liners)

3) In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream butter until smooth. Add sugar and salt & cream until light and fluffy.

4) Slowly pour room temperature caramel syrup into bowl. Scrape down bowl and increase speed. Add eggs/vanilla extract a little at a time, mixing well after each addition. Scrape down bowl again, beat mixture until light and uniform.

5) Sift flour and baking powder.

6) Turn mixer to lowest speed, and add one third of the dry ingredients. When incorporated, add half of the milk, a little at a time. Add another third of the dry ingredients, then the other half of the milk and finish with the dry ingredients. {This is called the dry, wet, dry, wet, dry method in cake making. It is often employed when there is a high proportion of liquid in the batter.}

7) Take off mixer and by hand, use a spatula to do a few last folds, making sure batter is uniform. Turn batter into prepared cake pan (If making cupcakes, scoop the batter into cupcake liners about 3/4 full. The batter results in a pretty flat cupcake, not the dome shape kind)

8) Place cake pan on cookie sheet or 1/2 sheet pan. Set first timer for 30 minutes, rotate pan and set timer for another 15-20 minutes. Your own oven will set the pace. Bake until sides pull away from the pan and skewer inserted in middle comes out clean. Cool cake completely before icing it. (For cupcakes bake about 24 minutes or until skewer comes out clean when inserted in the middle)

9) Cake will keep for three days outside of the refrigerator.

Caramel Syrup

Ingredients:

2 cups sugar
1/2 cup water
1 cup water (for "stopping" the caramelization process)

Method:

1) In a small stainless steel saucepan, with tall sides, mix water and sugar until mixture feels like wet sand. Brush down any stray sugar crystals with wet pastry brush. Turn on heat to highest flame. Cook until smoking slightly: dark amber.

2) When color is achieved, very carefully pour in one cup of water. Caramel will jump and sputter about! It is very dangerous, so have long sleeves on and be prepared to step back. (You could also tear a piece of foil and cover the to of the saucepan leaving a small gap to enable you to pour in the water. The foil will prevent the caramel from sputtering out)

3) Whisk over medium heat until it has reduced slightly and feels sticky between two fingers. {Obviously wait for it to cool on a spoon before touching it.}

Note: For safety reasons, have ready a bowl of ice water to plunge your hands into if any caramel should land on your skin.

Caramelized Butter Frosting

Ingredients:

12 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 pound confectioner’s sugar, sifted
4-6 tablespoons heavy cream
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2-4 tablespoons caramel syrup
Kosher or sea salt to taste

Method:

1) Cook butter until brown. Pour through a fine meshed sieve into a heatproof bowl, set aside to cool.

2) Pour cooled brown butter into mixer bowl.

3) In a stand mixer fitted with a paddle or whisk attachment, add confectioner's sugar a little at a time. When mixture looks too chunky to take any more, add a bit of cream and or caramel syrup. Repeat until mixture looks smooth and all confectioner's sugar has been incorporated. Add salt to taste.

4) If you are doing cupcakes, you can half the recipe as it will give you sufficient frosting to cover all cupcakes.

Note: Caramelized butter frosting will keep in fridge for up to a month. To smooth out from cold, microwave a bit, then mix with paddle attachment until smooth and light.

Hainanese Chicken Rice

I guess besides the well known Singapore chillie crabs, which is a "must try" for all tourist visiting this tiny island located near the equator, the other well-known national dish is probably the Hainanese Chicken Rice.

Come to think of it, I'm not sure how Hainanese Chicken Rice has become so closely linked with Singapore. Purely from it's name alone you would know that it's more associated with Hainan, a province in China. However when the Chinese migrated to South East Asia they not only brought along their culture and traditions, they also brought with them their culinary skills.

You can find Hainanese Chicken Rice not only in Singapore but also in Malaysia and Thailand. However each country's version of this dish has been tweaked somewhat to cater to local tastes. This dish can be found not only in expensive hotels, it is also in tiny cafes or food courts. Did you know that it is also one of the few local dishes even served on Singapore's national airline carrier, Singapore Airlines? It is also given a mention in Singapore's Tourism Board's website. Now that's what I call "nationalism".

Hainanese Chicken Rice is a very simple dish to make and can be prepared easily in no time at all. No messy frying and you just need 2 pots at the most. It's one full meal prepared in one-go!

Hainanese Chicken Rice
(serves 4)

Ingredients for the Chicken:

1kg size (2-pound) chicken
1 small bunch of scallion, cut into 1 inch pieces
4 slices fresh, peeled ginger
4 - 5 cloves of garlic, peeled and lightly smashed
3 pandan leaves, tied together (pandan leave is also known as screwpine or pandanus)
2 pieces star anise
Salt and pepper to taste

Ingredients for the Rice:

4 cups long-grain uncooked rice, washed and drained
3 slices fresh, peeled ginger
3 cloves garlic, peeled and lightly smashed
3 pandan leaves (tied together)
1/2 tsp fine salt

Ingredients for the Chilli Sauce

2 to 3 tbsp freshly squeezed lime
5 tbsp finely chopped fresh red chilies,
5 cloves garlic
3 tbsp finely chopped ginger
1 tsp fine salt

Grind all the above ingredients in the blender and then add in 1/2 cup boiling hot chicken soup. Stir well and set aside.

Method:

1) Boil a large pot of water. When water in boiling add in the star anise and pandan leaves.

2) Stuff the cavity of the chicken with scallion, garlic and ginger.

3) Once the water is boiling, dip the chicken into the boiling water and dip it a few times until the skin is cooked. Once the skin is cooked, leave the chicken under the water to cook. This is to ensure that the skin does not break. The cooking time is about 20 minutes for a 1kg chicken.

4) Ensure that the water is kept just below the boiling point during the entire cooking process. Once chicken is cooked, put the chicken immediately into ice cold water for a few minutes. This will stop the cooking process and ensure that the meat will remain tender and the skin crunchy.

5) To make the rice, heat oil in frying pan. Add the ginger and garlic and stir fry till fragrant. Add the uncooked rice, stir fry for two minutes, then add in the salt. Transfer the uncooked rice into a rice cooker and add enough chicken soup (the soup from cooking the chicken) to cover 1/2 inch above the top of the rice. Add in the pandan leave and set the rice cooker to "cook" mode.

6) Chop the chicken into serving pieces and place onto plate. Garnish with thinly sliced cucumber and tomatoes. Separately dish out the rice into bowls. Serve the chicken rice with a bowl of hot soup and chillie sauce.

Note: There is no requirement to reheat the chicken again as it is served at room temperature. However your rice and soup should be steaming hot.

Sweet Buns

The first few times that I'd baked bread from scratch was a disaster! My bread did not turn out soft, not even somewhat soft. It was more like a dense and heavy loaf. I do believe you could have injured someone with it as well.

After a few more tries and a bit more research through the internet and YouTube, I think I've now got a better hand at kneading bread than before. Though I do think it is cheaper to buy a normal loaf of bread from the bakery, there is nothing quite like making it from scratch. There is a sense of tranquility in kneading bread. I'm not sure what it is. Maybe it's the motion of pulling the dough and the feel of it being shaped from a sticky mass to something that's soft and smooth. Maybe it's the state of concentration that I'm in at that point of time. Whatever it is, I do feel a sense of satisfaction at this.

I made these sweet buns on a Wednesday night, after work (ok I'm mad) and by the time I was done with the buns, it was close to 11.00pm (ok extremely mad). Though I was shacked by then, the smell of baking buns is unbelievable. I did not even wait for it to cool down before trying one - absolutely delicious it was. You don't even need to add any spread to it as the bread was slightly sweet due to the amount of sugar added to the recipe.

Sweet Buns
(makes around 9 buns)

Ingredients:

150g bread flour
150g cake flour
5g active dry yeast
3g salt
125g milk
1 egg
60g caster sugar
50g butter
(1 egg, beaten, for glazing)

Method:

1) Mix all dry ingredients in a mixing bowl. Add in milk, egg and butter. Mix into a dough.

2) Place the dough on a lightly floured work surface. Knead the dough until the gluten is fully developed (see tip below) and the dough is elastic, smooth and non-sticky. It will take about 25 mins to knead the dough by hand. Initially the dough will stick on to the work surface. Do not be tempted to add more flour or even give up kneading! After continuous kneading, the dough will no longer stick to the work surface.

3) Place the dough in the mixing bowl and cover with a damp towel or cling wrap to seal in the moisture. Allow the dough to ferment(or proof) until double in bulk. This will take probably take about an hour if you are living in a tropical country like Singapore.

4) To test whether the dough has been fully proofed, press a finger into the dough and withdraw quickly. It should leave a deep impression and spring back very slowly. For an insufficiently proofed dough, the impression will spring back instantly.

5) Take out the dough and punch out the gas produced. Let the dough rest for about 15minutes.

6) Divide the dough into 60g portions. Shape and add fillings as desired. (I left mine plain) Arrange dough in a greased or lined pan. Rest for about another 15 minutes.

7) Brush the top with whole egg mixture. Add topping if desired. (I topped 3 of the buns with sesame seeds, another 3 with sliced almond and the last 3 with grated cheddar cheese)

8) Bake for about 15 minutes in a preheated oven at 190 degC. Remove from pan and cool on wire rack.

Tip:

To check whether the dough is fully developed, take a small piece of the dough and stretch it with your fingers. If it can be stretched into a thin layer without tearing easily, the dough is fully developed.