Chinese style Mee Goreng

Pardon the less than satisfactory image quality in this post as the pictures were taken with my mobile phone. I have no plans to blog about this dish, but since it turned out really good, I thought I should capture my moment of glory and leave a trace in this humble blog ;)

struck off the list

I am not a food snob, and likely will never become one. I do not have a sophisticated palate since my diet is restricted to simple homecooked meals or cheap hawker centre food. I spent my growing up years eating to survive...how to live-to-eat if one's share of the dishes on the table is only one out of ten.

失败之作: 酥皮, 还是...硬皮蛋塔?!

But, when it comes to egg tarts, I have to confess, I am a complete snob! I will never settle for anything that doesn't come anywhere close to those flaky, light and tender crusts with smooth, creamy fillings egg tarts from 金门饼家 Golden Gate Bakery...Chinatown...in San Francisco. I don't have the luxury to fly over 8000 miles whenever I need an egg tart fix. I don't even want to make my own since I know I will never get anywhere close to the ones I had. But, making a batch of egg tarts has always been on my to-do list...for the longest time...probably more than three years. I didn't even blush whenever I tell my elder son (who loves egg tarts of any sort) that someday, I will make him some egg tarts...

substandard food, substandard photography

I have been gathering recipes since day 1 when I announced to my kid that I would make him some egg tarts. I bought those disposable, aluminum cups/moulds two years ago, thank goodness they don't come with an expiry date! I even took the trouble to bring them along to our recent trip...thinking I would have plenty of time to get down to this eggy business while we were away from home. I had even proudly showed the disposable cups to my kid, declaring to him that finally, we were going to have homemade egg tarts! Of course, the plan didn't fall through (^^')

oh, what an eye sore!

While unpacking the aluminum cups when we got home, I told myself, this is not going to work. I had to do something about the way I procrastinate, it is almost becoming a habit. So, instead of writing up a list of new year resolution, I created a new to-do list for the year...this time on my iphone Notes app so that I will be constantly reminded to get things done. Top on the list is none other than egg tarts. I have planned to make them in the month of January, but I still gave myself a pat on the back when I finally retrieved a tray of golden tarts from my oven on the first week of February! Yeah!

As expected, my first attempt at making egg tarts was almost a failure. The crust was suppose to be flakey but it looked more like a short crust pastry but didn't taste like one. The recipe calls for making both the water and oil dough, but the crust turned out a bit tough. I don't usually blame my kitchen failures on the recipes, but this time round, the recipe is really at fault. The fat (melted butter) amount was not enough for the oil dough, I couldn't even form the dough, it was just too dry and crumbly. I had too add more melted butter in order to turn it into a smooth dough.

Making the crust was also quite time consuming as it calls for wrapping the oil dough with the water dough for each individual tart crust, and rolling and making the 'envelop folds' one by one! There is also something wrong with the baking instructions...it says, to bake them for 5mins, then cover the top with foil and continue to bake for another 30-35mins. I followed the instructions obediently, but what I got was a tray of tarts with very pale crusts. So, I extended the baking time for another 10mins. Even thought the crust was not golden, I had to removed them from the oven as I know any minute longer would be suicidal for the custard fillings.

Fortunately, the custard was not badly affected by the prolonged baking. It was not as soft as expected, but taste wise, it was a 'pass'. At least it was not too sweet (I did the right thing to cut down on the sugar amount) and not overly eggy, thanks to the one teaspoon of vanilla extract.

I won't be sharing the recipe but I will be trying out another one, wish me luck! Just in case you are wondering...I had chosen this recipe since it is taken from a book dedicated to Asian delights, local food, snacks and nyonya kuihs. I actually bought the book just for the flaky crust egg tart recipe. What a great let down :(

muah chee

Muah Chee...a common street food in this part of the world, is a simple sweet snack made with glutinous balls coated with a mixture of grounded peanuts and sugar.

I am not a big fan of this local snack, neither do I dislike it. So, naturally, I have never thought of making it. Pardon my ignorance, I didn't even know that it is something we can make easily at home. Not until Laueen posted her muah chee at her blog Eat and be Happy. Her beautiful post got me really interested, and I started googling about muah chee. To my surprise, many bloggers have posted their homemade muah chee!

Since it is one of my husband's favourite street food, I decided to make some for him when he was back home. I followed this recipe by Sunflower Food Galore as it comes with very clear instructions. Thanks to her, my first attempt at making muah chee was a great success!

Initially, I thought only my husband was going to enjoy this snack, but it turned out that both my kids love it. They helped themselves with the muah chee when I was trying to scoop the cooked glutinous dough and roll them over the peanut-sesame mixture. The texture of the muah chee is really good, soft and not too chewy. The only minor point is, I find the peanut-sesame mixture a bit on the sweet side, will cut down on the sugar amount the next time. Also, I used up only half of the peanut mixture, but there is no issue with this since I could keep the leftover and use it for the next batch.

So, if you or your loved ones like muah chee, why don't you give this a try? I am sure you won't be disappoint :)



Muah Chee

Ingredients:
(serves 4)
200g glutinous rice flour
2 teaspoons granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon shallot oil
250ml water

1 teaspoon shallot oil for brushing

150g roasted peanut powder (I used ready made ones)
40g toasted sesame
75g granulated sugar


Method:

1. To make shallot oil, thinly slice 2 shallots, fry with 4 tablespoons oil (about two parts of oil to 1 part of shallot) till golden brown. Leave to cool.
2. Mix glutinous rice flour, sugar, salt, shallot oil and water in a mixing bowl. Stir to combine, make sure flour mixture is completed dissolved.
3. Pour the mixture into a deep dish (I used a 8" corelle dinner plate). Steam over medium heat for about 25mins. Test the centre to ensure it is cooked through. Brush the surface with shallot oil and leave to cool.
4. Mix peanut powder, toasted sesame and granulated sugar in a plate. (Note: I only used up half the portion of the peanut mixture).
5. When ready to serve, scoop small pieces of muah chee with a spoon and toss them in the peanut powder mixture. Serve immediately.

Recipe source: adapted from Sunflower Food Galore

Everyday Dessert

Ever since I learned how to cook this simple Chinese dessert...known as Tau Suan, I will make sure my better half gets to eat his favourite dessert whenever he is back home.

If you are living on the other side of the earth from this little red dot, Tau Suan is a warm, sweet dessert made with split, skinned mung beans. The mung beans is usually steamed still it is cooked before it is boiled in a pot of water. Not just plain water, but water that has been simmering away with a few bundles of pandan leaves or screw pine leaves. The soup is then sweetened with sugar and thickened with starch such as sweet potato flour or water chestnut flour. This dessert is always served with fried you tiao or fried dough fritters, a bowl of tau suan will never taste the same if there is no you tiao to go with it.

This cheap and simple dessert is easily available at most dessert stalls here...and if I am not wrong, there is at least one dessert stall in every single food centre or what we known as hawker centres. However, nowadays, it is not easy to find good tau suan. I either get a bowl of watery mung beans with a lot more water than mung beans, or the consistency of the dessert is so thick that it was no different from swallowing a bowl of gummy glue.

Although it is a simple dessert to prepare, it never occurred to me that I could actually make it at home...not until I first saw it at Esther's blog, Bits and Pieces of Life. She has followed the recipe from Makansutra, and thanks to Seetoh's video, I've since learned how to cook tua suan! I noted his unique way of stir frying the mung beans till it caramelised. This is definitely something different from the usual method of steaming the mung beans. By stir frying them, not only it shortens the preparation time; ensures the beans remain 'whole'; it also gives the dessert a nice golden hue. I have later tried another recipe using the steam method (just to compare), but the colour of the tau suan looks so pale and unappetising despite replacing white sugar with brown ones.

The other thing to note is the right type of starch to use as thickening agent. Water chestnut flour will give the best moulthfeel, without being too sticky, followed by sweet potato flour. Hope over to this interesting article to learn about the 'power' of the various thickening agents. For his recipe, Seetoh uses a combination of water chestnut and sweet potato flour. However, I used only sweet potato flour, yet I don't find the consistency or taste of the tau suan being compromised. My homemade tau suan tastes better than what I could get from most dessert stalls. Someday, when I find suitable recipes to use up water chestnut flour, I will certainly use it to thicken the dessert.

With the right knowledge of the ingredients, and following the recipe closely, anyone can make a nice bowl of tau suan. Do give this simple dessert a try, I am sure you won't regret it :)



Tau Suan with You Tiao

Ingredients:
(serves 4)

1.5 ltr water
2 ~ 3 bundles of pandan leaves
250g split mung beans
3 tablespoons granulated sugar
50g sweet potato flour (original recipe calls for 30g water chestnut flour and 20g sweet potato flour)
50ml water
2 ~ 3 tablespoons granulated sugar (adjust according to taste)
1 stick of you tiao

Method:

• Soak mung beans for about 5mins. Drain and set aside. 
• Wash pandan leaves and tie into bundles.
• Place water and pandan leaves in a pot. Leave to simmer for about 10mins.
• In the mean time, place mung beans in a frying pan. Add 3 tablespoons of sugar and stir fry continuously over low heat till the mung beans caramelised (about 8~10 mins).
• Discard the pandan leaves from the pot of water.
• Transfer mung beans into the pot of water. Bring it back to boil. Leave to boil for another 5~10 mins. Taste the beans for the prefered texture. Cook a couple of mins longer if prefer softer texture. Add in 2 ~ 3 tablespoons of sugar. Stir to dissolve the sugar.
• Dissolve sweet potato flour with 50ml of water. Stir in gradually. Turn off the heat once it comes to a boil. 
• Serve with you tiao or dough fritters

(note: in order to get a nice consistency, do follow the ingredient amount closely, especially amount of water, amount of water chestnut/sweet potato flour.)

Recipe source: adapted from Makansutra Cooking