Happy and Prosperous Year of the Rabbit!

Following last year's tradition, (well,I made these last year, so I made this again this year, is this the start of a tradition? LOL) I made 2 pairs of these huatt kueh, 2 for my mom, 2 for myself.

Here's wishing everyone a good year ahead... HUATT AH!

Huatt ah!

When it comes to Chinese New Year, the Chinese love anything & everything auspicious. This covers anything from the decorations to food that is served during the festive period.

Huatt Kueh is actually a steamed cake. And it is very important that the top has to crack open, as it symbolises prosperity. "Huatt" means propsperity and this is very crucial when one is steaming this cake for the new year as it will mean the coming year will be a good and prosperous one for the family.

The original recipe was from a forumer. There was coconut milk in the ingredient list, but I did not want to include that as coconut milk turns rancid easily in the hot weather we are experiencing lately. So I replaced it with water and prayed very hard that it will work. I also added a tsp of baking powder.


Here's the recipe:
What you need

• 250gm self-raising flour
• 1tsp baking (double-acting) powder
• 140gm orange sugar
• 40gm dark brown sugar
• 320ml water

What to do

• Boil water in the steamer. Sift flour & baking powder together and set aside.
• Mix the orange and dark brown sugar into the flour.
• Make sure that the water is boiling and steamer set on high.
• Add water into the flour mix and stir till there's not lumps.
• Pour batter into the mold till at least 90% full.
• Steam on high fire for 20mins. Do not lift the cover while steaming.

Steamed banana cuppies

I've tried out a few steamed cake recipes before and resuts are mostly good. More importantly, steamed cakes are able to retain it's moisture better than baked ones.

I saw a steamed banana cake recipe at Ching's blog and decided to try since I got some ripe bananas at my moms place. It's a very simple and fast recipe. The steamed cppies can be done in 30mins!

Made some modifications to the recipe and I'm putting it here for my own reference.
What you need

• 2 mashed bananas
• 1 tbsp of milk
• 1/2 tsp vanilla essence
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 1/8 cup self-raising flour
• 1/8 tsp baking soda
• 5/8 cup veg oil

What to do

• Start boiling the water in the steamer.
• Sift the self-raising flour and baking soda tog. Set aside.
• Mash the bananas and add in 1 tbsp of milk and vanilla essence. Mix well.
• Beat eggs with sugar till ribbon stage.
• Stop machine, stir in mashed banana mixture.
• Fold in 1/3 of the sifted flour, followed by 1/2 the oil.
• Fold in another 1/3 of the flour and then remaining 1/2 the oil. End off with the last 1/3 of the flour.
• Scoop batter into liners till 3/4 full. (It actually dun rise much, so next time, I'll probably fill it till full)
• When water is rapidly boiling, place in the filled liners and steam on high for 15mins.

Steamed Mango Cupcakes

I was out shopping along orchard rd last saturday when i stopped by Sun Moulin (bakery) to pick up some mochi bread for the kids. Of course I started "poking ard" and saw some mango cakes on sale too. Being a fan of mango, onto the tray the cake went! :P

When i tok a bite into the cake, i was totally blown away. It's so pillowy soft! Besides having a slight tinge of mango frangrance in the cake, it was topped wif some strips of dried mangoes.

Fast forward to today afternoon, when i suddenly got a craving for the mango cake! I decided to try making some myself. I remembered the cake having very light and fine crumbs, which resembled cake batter with emulisifier added. Also, the top and bottom of the cake was not browned, which meant that it could be a steamed cake, instead of baked. I immediately looked into my file of recipes as there was a 7-up steamed cake recipe that i had tried b4. I thought it'll be good to modify that recipe and hopefully be able to achieve the same texture.

Here's the cake when it's done. Appearance-wise, the Sun Moulin's version does not have any cracked top. In fact, it was very smooth. Every single one of mine, however, cracked... and resembles huatt kuehs! The texture was quite similar tho'... but it's still not as pillowy-soft. As for the mango frangrance, it's also not strong enuf. I think maybe I shd try juicing mangoes myself or even use mango puree instead. However, I'm happy with this attempt and it's enuf to satisfy my cravings for now....

And now... on to the recipe:

What you need

• 3 egg yolks
• 2 egg whites
• 180gm sugar
• 300gm cake flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tbsp ovalette
• 200ml mango juice
• Some dried mangoes (cut into strips)

What to do

• Whip eggs and sugar till pale.
• Add in ovalette and continue to beat for anther 3 mins.
• Add in sifted flour and baking powder and mango juice althermately into the beaten eggs mix till well incorporated.
• Fill 1/2 of the muffin liners with batter, put in some dried mangoes. Top muffin liners with remaining batter. Then place some more strips of dried mangoes.
• Steam over rapid boiling water for 10mins.

Finally, it smiled!

My last attempt on making fa-gaos wasn't successful... tho' taste-wise it was good... soft and fluffy. But seeing so many other forumers friends managed to make theirs so beautifully, I decided I must give it a try again.

This time round, I decided to use the mixer to ensure that the ingredients are evenly distributed and well combined.

Here's the recipe that I used... tho' I still added abit more liquid than specified here 'coz the batter looked abit too thick when mixing and I'm sorry that I din make any measurements but added some tap water to it to "diluted" the batter abit more.

What you need

• 250gm self-raising flour (sifted)
• 140gm brown sugar
• 240gm coconut milk

What to do

• Sift self-raising flour with brown sugar into yr mixing bowl.
  I was super kaisu, so I actually sifted the mixture twice!
• Turn on mixer and mix the flour and sugar together.
• Add in the coconut milk to the flour. If you see that the batter is too thick, add some more liquid. In my case, I bought a small pack of coconut milk, but it din measure up to 240gm, so I added UHT milk to it, to bring the weight to 240gm. However, I added MORE liquid, in the form of tap water, to the batter along the way, as it look abit too thick. In the end, I achieved a ribbon-stage for the batter.
• Pour batter into cups or liners 90% full. Steam at HIGH fire for at least 10 mins. DO NOT OPEN COVER of steamer in the process. You can check the fa-gaos after 10 mins.

Smile!!!! (unsuccessfully)

Got hold of this recipe from a fellow blogger, Leelee. However I was warned that the recipe is not accurate and more liquid is needed. Looking at how well done Leelee's fa kaos are, I was really tempted to give it a try. Afterall, I wanted to make somefin simple this weekends, as I'm recovering from a flu and so is my DD. These will be given to my mom, who loves eating fa kaos. Too bad tho' my fa kaos din smile! it looked totally different from what Leelee made. guess i'm really lacking in the skills. Appearance aside, taste-wise, these are great...soft, moist and spongy.

Here's the recipe (according to my adjustments) for those who like to give it a try. Maybe you guys will have better luck making these "chinese muffins" smile!

What you need

• 250gm self-raising flour
• 150gm soft brown sugar (original recipe called for 200gm, which i think will be too sweet)
• A 200ml pack of coconut cream
• 100gm of plain water

What to do
Sift self-raising flour with brown sugar twice.
Open the pack of coconut cream and add the 100gm water. Add this to the flour mixture.
Mix the liquid till combined. (I used a whisk). You have to achieve a "ribbon-like" batter. Add more water if need be.
Pour batter into moulds lined with paper liners and steam on high heat for 15 mins. (I used tart moulds and this recipe yields 10pcs)

PS : I welcome any suggestions to improve on this recipe and to make them SMILE.