High Fidelity

Steamed chicken-and-leek bun

steamed chicken-and-leek bun, originally uploaded by yongtze.

I have been wanting to eat cha siu baau (Cantonese barbecue pork buns) for a while.

Actually, no! The truth is that I have been dying to bake for a long time. But my new place that I moved into doesn't have an oven! That means no pie, quiches, tarts, gratins, fresh bread, roast chicken, the list can go on and on.

Well anyway, I had the sudden urge of eating a chicken-and-leek pie one day. Obviously I can't bake any pie without an oven. So I had this idea of using chicken-and-leek as a filling in Chinese steamed buns. After a few days of gathering ingredients and researching on the recipe for steamed buns, the end-product is what you see above.

The steamed bun looks yellow-brownish instead of white because I didn't use bleached flour. The dough for Chinese steamed-bun is actually not hard to make. It is double risen, first with yeast and then with baking powder, which makes the buns light and fluffy. Most recipes I found reccommend low-glutten flour to make the buns light and soft. I used a mixture of plain flour and corn flour which works fine too.

You can be creative with the fillings, which can be either savoury (e.g. the classic barbecue pork bun) or sweet. With sweet fillings like lotus seed paste or red bean paste these buns make great afternoon snack.

Makes 6 steamed buns:

- 3/4 teaspoon dried yeast
- 80ml lukewarm water
- 1 cup plain flour
- 2/5 cup corn flour
- 20g caster sugar
- 1 1/2 tablespoon oil (vegetable oil or pork lard)
- 1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder

Fillings:

- 1 cup leek (white part only, chopped)
- 2 shallots (chopped)
- 1 cup chicken meat (diced or minced)
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 4 tablespoons pure cream
- salt and pepper to taste
- 2 teaspoons roasted sesame oil (optional)

1. Dissolve the sugar in the water, then add the yeast. Stir and set aside until foamy.

2. Sift the flour and corn flour in a bowl and add the yeast mixture and the oil. Using a wooden spoon, mix the ingredients to a rough dough. Knead for about 5 minutes on a lightly floured surface, or until the dough is smooth and elastic. If it is very sticky, knead in a little more flour.

3. Lightly grease a bowl with some oil and place the dough in it. Cover the bowl with a damp cloth and set aside to rise in a warm place (which means anywhere in Melbourne right now) until double in volume.

4. For the filling, melt butter in a frying pan on medium heat. Add leek and shallot and cook for 5 minutes or until they are soft. Stir frequently not to let the leek and shallot brown. Add in chicken and cook until the meat is cooked. Pour in the cream, stir and mix well. Simmer for 1-2 minutes. Season to taste. Add the roasted sesame oil if using. Let the filling cool down.

5. Once the dough doubles in volume, punch it down and turn it out onto a lightly floured surface. Flatten it and make a well in the centre. Place the baking powder in the well and gather up the edges to enclose the baking powder. Pinch the edges to seal. Lightly knead the dough for several minutes to even incorporate the baking powder.

6. Divide the dough into 6 portions. Working with one portion at the time, press the dough into circles with the edges thinner than the centre. Place the filling on the dough. Draw the sides in to enclose the filling. Pinch the top together and put each bun on a square of greaseproof paper (which I don't have it so I just put the bun on a lightly greased plate as shown below).



7. Place the buns well apart because they will continue to rise during steaming. Steam over simmering water in a wok or anything that suits you for 15 minutes. Serve hot. Steamed buns freeze well too.

Banana sticky toffee pudding

Banana sticky toffee pudding, originally uploaded by yongtze.

I saw this recipe from Gordon Ramsay's Kitchen Heaven and thought it would be nice for winter - moist, warm dessert with banana.

I did not have soft brown sugar so I substituted it with raw sugar. Also, I did not follow the recipe for the sauce because I did not have double cream at home. Instead I make a simple butter-caramel sauce. Fortunately it still turns out to be quite delicious.

Serves 4-6:

• 170g unsalted butter
• 180g soft brown sugar
• 2 small eggs
• 180g plain flour
• 12g baking powder
• 200g chopped banana

For the sauce:

• 250g soft brown sugar
• 140ml double cream
• 65g unsalted butter

1. Preheat the oven to 180 degree Celsius. Cream butter and sugar together. Then beat in eggs and fold in flour and baking powder. Mix in chopped bananas to the mixture.

2. Grease 6 moulds and sprinkle caster sugar at the bottom and sides (I did not have so many moulds so I used a small bread tin and increased the baking time a bit). Divide the mixture into the moulds and bake for 10 minutes.

3. Turn down the heat to 150 degree Celsius and continue to bake for 1 hour and 20 minutes.

4. When the pudding is almost done, place sugar, cream and butter in a pan and bring to boil. When all sugar is dissolved, remove from heat and pour it over the baked pudding to serve.

Chicken sautéed with leek, garlic, dried chillies, and tomatoes

Chicken sautéed with leek, garlic, dried chillies, and tomatoes, originally uploaded by yongtze.

This is such a simple dish but you've got to try it to believe how good it actually tastes. This is the first time I tried sautéing leek and I'm glad that I did because its intense flavour gave the sautéed chicken a new level of excitement. As usual as in the case of simple dish with very few ingredients, you should use the very fresh and best ingredients you can find, i.e. free range meat and organic vegetables.

Serve 1:

• 2 chicken thighs, make 1 or 2 incisions near the bone so the meat near the bone will cook quicker
• 1 young leek, only the white part, sliced
• 3 cloves of garlic, sliced
• 1 dried chilli, sliced
• half tomato
• 4 tablespoons white wine
• 1 teaspoon unsalted butter for sautéing
• salt and black pepper

1. Heat up a sauté pan over high heat until it's very hot. Melt the butter and wait until the bubbles subside. Place the thighs, skin side down onto the pan. Do not stir or move the chicken, let the skin brown nicely, about 2-3 minutes. Meanwhile, season the chicken with salt and pepper.

2. Turn the chicken to brown another side for 2-3 minutes. Always control the heat so that the oil is very hot but not burning. 

3. Once both sides of the chicken are nicely brown, turn down the heat to medium low. Turn the chicken again. Add the leek, garlic, dried chillies, spread them evenly around the chicken and cook for 30 seconds. After that, add the white wine and turn up the heat to high to evaporate the wine quickly.

4. Add the half tomato. Turn down the heat to medium low again. Turn the chicken. Add 3 tablespoons of water. Cover the pan and cook for 4 minutes. Check seasoning and turn the chicken again and cook for another 4 minutes with the pan covered. Check the doneness of the chicken, if ready, serve immediately, with rice. If not, cook for another 2 minutes before you check again. Bon appetit!

Pork chop flavoured with red preserved/fermented beancurd, coriander seed and white peppercorn

Pork chop flavoured with red preserved/fermented beancurd, coriander seed and white pepper corn, originally uploaded by yongtze.

Pork has got to be the meat I ate the most in my childhood. We eat pork almost everyday in Malaysia. It is usually stir-fried or braised, sometimes fried in the form of meat patty (mixed with eggs and some chopped vegetables). The bone is used to make soups. Organs like liver, kidney, brain, intestine, etc. are also consumed (I don't particularly like organs though).

Preserved bean curd is a form of processed preservative tofu used in Chinese cuisine. Usually we use it to flavour stir-fried or braised meat and vegetables. It's quite salty and can be spicy, depending on its soaking liquid.

This pork chop is marinated with red preserved bean curd, coriander seed and white peppercorn and then pan fried. It's kind of like Chinese flavour with western cooking style. It's very appetising and full of flavour.

Serves 2 as a main course

- 2 big pork chops, about 1 inch thick
- 4 cubes of red preserved bean curd (can be purchased from Asian grocery)
- 2 teaspoons coriander seeds (slightly crushed)
- 2 teaspoons white peppercorn (slightly crushed)
- 1 teaspoon hot paprika powder
- salt
- olive oil

1. Mix the red preserved bean curd, coriander seeds, and white peppercorn together. Use the mixture to marinate the pork for 2 hours.

2. Heat up the heavy-bottomed skillet with some olive oil over high heat until almost smoking. Turn down the heat to medium, brown one side of the pork chops for about 4-5 minutes. Season with salt and hot paprika (not too much salt because the preserved bean curd itself is quite salty, check seasoning). Turn it once, season again and cook for another 4-5 minutes until cooked. The pork chop should be firm but not tough with the flesh near bone appears slightly pink.

3. Leave it to rest for 5-10 minutes before serving.

Grill chicken with fettucini and mushroom cream sauce

Grill chicken with fettucini and mushroom cream sauce, originally uploaded by yongtze.

This is a recipe adapted from Gordon Ramsay's Grilled chicken with tagliatelle and morel veloute in his 'A chef for all seasons'. It's quite easy and relatively quick to make [It took me about 35-40 minutes, that included all the preparations, cuttings (I usually buy whole chicken so I had to cut the chicken breast from the whole chicken) and cooking)].

A simple, rustic dish that tastes good, perfect for a relaxed dinner.

Serves 2

• about 2 big handful of mushrooms
• olive oil
• 1 shallot, finely chopped
• 80ml dry white wine
• 250ml chicken stock
• 80ml double cream
• 250g fettucini (preferably fresh)
• 2 large boneless chicken breasts, skin on
• salt and black pepper

1. Slice half of the mushroom and finely chop the other half.

2. For the sauce: Heat half a tablespoon of oil and gently saute the shallot until nicely coloured, about 5 minutes. Add the finely chopped mushroom, cook for another 3 minutes. Pour in the wine, reduce by half. Add the chicken stock and reduce by half again. Season lightly. Stir in the cream, simmer for 5 minutes. Check seasoning and set aside until ready to serve.

3. Preheat the grill until hot. Brush both sides of the breasts lightly with a little oil and season well. Grill, with the skin side up (place the chicken about 3 inches under the heat element) for a few minutes. Then lower the heat to medium and continue grilling until the skin becomes nice and crispy. Most of the cooking should be on the skin side. Turn over and cook the other side for a couple of minutes. To keep the skin crispy, turn over to the skin side to grill for 30 seconds before done. The breasts should be just firm, but not tough.

4. While the chicken is cooking, saute the sliced mushroom in 1 tablespoon of oil for a few minutes until nicely browned. Season. Remove and set aside.

5. Cook the pasta until al dante.  Drain and mix in about half of the sauce and reheat gently. Reheat the remaining sauce.

6. Divide the pasta into 2 shallow bowls. Cut the chicken into medallions and place on the pasta. Pour over the remaining sauce. Scatter over the sauteed mushroom.

 

Lamb chop with balsamic white wine reduced sauce, served with chunky spiced chips

lamb chop with balsamic white wine reduced sauce, served with chunky spiced chips, originally uploaded by yongtze.

It's been a while since I last had lamb. It's absolutely delicious when properly done. Here is an easy way to do it. I have it with my garlic-and-spiced chunky oven baked chips.

Serves 2:
- 2 large lamb chops
- 2 tablespoons dried herbs (thyme, rosemary, oregano..)
- 2 tablespoons soy sauce
- salt and pepper to taste
- 1 and 1/2 tablespoons butter
- olive oil
- 4 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
- 2 tablespoons white/red wine. - 1 shallot, thinly sliced

For the chips:
- 4 potatoes, peeled, cut into 1cm-thick chips
- 6 garlic cloves, unpeeled, smashed
- 1 teaspoon dried herbs
- 1/2 teaspoon dried chilli flakes
- zest of 1 lemon
- salt and pepper
- splash of olive oil

1. Marinate the lamb chops with the dried herbs, soy sauce, some salt, and 1 tablespoon of olive oil for 1-2 hours (the longer the better).

2. Preheat the oven to 220 degrees Celcius. Par-boil the potatoes in lightly salted boiling water for about 6-7 minutes until cooked. Drain and leave it to dry and cool and tip in a large bowl. Add in garlic, dried herbs, chilli flakes, lemon zest, salt, black pepper, and splash of olive oil. Shake the bowl and mix well but do not crush/mash the potatoes.

3. Tip everything into an oiled large roasting tray. Bake for 25-30 minutes.

4. In a large skillet over high heat, add 1 tablespoon olive oil and 1/2 tablespoon butter. Add the lamb chops when the oil is very hot (but not smoking). Turn down the heat slightly but keep the oil very hot but not smoking. Cook for 5 minutes. Turn the chops, cook for another 4 minutes for something between medium and almost well-done. Remove to warm plates. Leave it to rest while making the sauce.

5. Pour all but 1/2 tablespoon of oil away from the skillet. Add the shallot, cook gently for 2-3 minutes. Add balsamic vinegar and wine, scraping any bits of lamb from the bottom of the skillet. Reduce by half or until the sauce has become syrupy. Off the heat. And add in 1 tablespoon of butter to melt in the sauce. Pour the sauce on the lamb chop.

Not ocean trout again???

Pan-fried ocean trout with spinach and warm rice salad, originally uploaded by yongtze.

This is what happened when you have too much fish in the fridge. I had to cook it because I don't like to freeze my fish.

I'm loving my warm rice salad. You can have add so much flavour in it, without the oil you use in fried rice or the constant stirring effort you need for risotto.

Tomato and mushroom flavoured warm rice salad with ruby grapefruit vinaigrette. This is 100% vegetarian but the flavour is very rich, and at the same time, refreshing.

- 3 cups of cooked long grain rice
- 2 tomatoes, peeled, diced
- shallot, sliced
- about 100g mushroom
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- juice from half lemon

for ruby grapefruit vinaigrette:
- juice from half ruby grapefruit
- about 3-4 tablespoons simple basic vinaigrette

simple basic vinaigrette (to make about 250ml)
- 200ml extra virgin olive oil
- 50ml white wine vinegar
- juice from half lemon
- half teaspoon salt
- pepper to taste  (Shake everything in jar before use)

Cook the rice according to instructions. Let it stand for a good 10-15minutes.

Cook the shallot with oil gently for 3-4minutes until really fragrant but not browned. Add tomatoes and mushroom. Toss lightly. Season with salt and pepper. Add lemon juice. Cover and cook over medium low heat for about 5 minutes.

Mix the tomatoes and mushroom mixture into warm rice. Drizzle with the ruby grapefruit vinaigrette. Serve 2.

Pan fried ocean trout with garlic pomme puree

Pan fried ocean trout with garlic pomme puree, originally uploaded by yongtze.

Don't like fish and chips? Try this the very posh fish and potatoes. The ocean trout is sweet and I like the orange colour very much.

Serves 2:
- 2 large potatoes
- 6 cloves garlic
- 150ml milk
- 4 tablespoons double cream
- 60g butter
- about 100g fresh mushroom, sliced
- juice of 1/4 lemon
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 large ocean trout fillet
- salt and pepper

1. Peel the potatoes and cut into dice. Cook in boiling salted water for about 12-15 minutes. Drain and dry out for 1-2 minutes over the heat. Mash the flesh and put back to the pan.

2. Blanch the garlic in boiling water for a minute, dreain and refresh in cold water. Repeat the process more, peel off the skin and mash the cloves to a puree. Mix into the potato.

3. Slowly stir in the milk to the potato puree with some seasoning. Then slowly add the cream and cook gently for 5 minutes. Then gradually beat in half the butter which has been cut into small dice.

4. Score the ocean trout on the skin side. Rub with salt and leave dry for 5-10 minutes. Then rub both sides of the fillet with some olive oil.

5. Heat the remaining butter in a saucepan and saute the mushroom about about 3 minutes. Season lightly and add the lemon juice. Toss well until the mushroom is cooked.

6. Heat the oil in a skillet, add the fish, skin side down. Season lightly with salt and pepper. Cook for 3-4 minutes. Flip the fillets over and cook for another 2 minutes.

7. Place the pomme puree in the middle of the plate, set the fish on top and scatter the mushroom around.

Pork chop with marsala wine

Pork chop with marsala wine, originally uploaded by yongtze.

What an amazing combination - pork chop, garlic, butter, sage, and marsala wine. I tried it out yesterday night, the flavour is just amazing!

For recipe: click here.

Just a few point: Do not overcook the pork, it should be slight firm when pressed, not hard. And leave it to rest for 5-10 minutes before serving. I love pork in winter :)

Bream with crispy diced potatoes

Bream with crispy diced potatoes, originally uploaded by yongtze.

I have to say I don't really like the taste of bream. The fish is fresh but there is some taste that is not very appealing to me.

Crispy diced potatoes are nice though:

- Cook two large potatoes in boiling water for 12-15 minutes or under the potatoes are tender.

- Peel them when they are hot. Cut into dices, spread them over a tray and sprinkle some olive oil over them. Season with salt and pepper. Leave cool and let the potatoes to absorb the olive oil.

- Heat up 1-2 tablespoons olive oil and 15gram butter in a skillet. Gently saute some sliced shallot for 5 minutes. Move the shallot on a bowl. Add 1 more tablespoon olive oil.

- Gently saute the diced potatoes until the skin becomes golden and crispy.

- Mix the potatoes with shallot. Serve.