Satay Pau

Yesterday, I posted my Satay Buns entry.  This morning, I'm posting another satay-based finger food, Satay Pau. I used the same satay filling recipe & the dough recipe was one which I got from a weekend class more than ten years ago. I've not used this recipe for many years. At first, I wanted to try the recipe used by Victoria, but hers involves 3 days of preparation. For me, that really needs a lot of planning. So I decided to use this recipe which just required 2 days of preparation. Even then, I had to throw the first starter dough after it was left to ferment for more than 24 hours as I had to make an unscheduled trip to Johor to attend my hubby's uncle's funeral.

The idea to use satay filling came after eating satay pau I bought in Malaysia recently. I love the combination, but the satay filling was too sweet to my liking. I know satay is supposed to taste sweet, but that was just too sweet. For this homemade pau, I decided to use my mum's satay recipe. This time, the filling is more moist than the one I made for my satay buns after adding some cornflour & water mixture. The dough is good too. The pau is soft & fluffy although denser than the commercial ones. Still, I like it a lot. The next pau recipe I'm going to try will be the one Victoria used, with chicken filling, of course.

Satay Pau

DOUGH
Starter
Ingredients:
140g Hong Kong flour
1/4 tsp double-acting baking powder
90g water
1/4 tsp instant yeast

Combine all the ingredients in a bowl & mix until well blended.  Cover & leave in room temperature to ferment for at least 16 hours, up to 24 hours.

Final Dough
Ingredients:
1 quantity of the above starter dough
200g Hong Kong flour
2 tsp double-acting baking powder
1/4 tsp ammonia (The one I bought from Phoon Huat is labelled as ammonium bicarbonate.)
85g fine sugar
45g tap water
1/4 tsp lye water or vinegar (I used vinegar.)
13g vegetable shortening (I used Crisco.)

Method:

1. Combine flour, baking powder & ammonia & sift in a mixing bowl.
2. Add in the starter dough, sugar, tap water & lye water or vinegar. Mix until just combined.
3. Add in the vegetable shortening & continue mixing until well combined & a soft dough is formed. (I mixed it using my mixer using the dough hook for about 10 minutes.) Leave dough to rest for about 15 minutes.
4. Divide rested dough into small balls. (I divided mine into 18 balls of 30g each.) Roll each dough into a disc. Spoon filling & pleat. Place the pau onto a piece of parchment paper. (I place each pau onto a small paper cupcake liner which has been flattened.) Do  the same with the rest of dough.  Steam on very high fire for about 15 minutes. (You DO NOT need to leave buns to proof before steaming.)

Recipe by Hamidah Rusdi, with some minor modifications.

BEEF SATAY FILLING

Ingredients:

200g ground beef

1 1/2 tbsp ground coriander seeds

1 1/2 tsp ground cumin

1/4 tsp tumeric powder

1/2 tsp salt (adjust to taste)

3 tbsp very dark brown sugar  - adjust amount based on your preference
1/8 cup ground toasted peanuts
1 tbsp tamarind juice

1 tbsp cooking oil
1tbsp cornflour + 3 tbsp water 

ground into paste

4 small red onions

1 clove garlic

2 cm galangal (lengkuas)

1 stalk lemongrass (white part only)

Method:

1. Combine all the ingredients above, except oil & cornflour mixture, & mix thoroughly. Leave to marinate in the fridge for 1 hour. 
2. After 1 hour, heat up the oil in a frying pan. Add in the meat mixture & stir frequently until it's cooked. (If the mixture is too dry when cooking, add some water.) Pour in the cornflour mixture & stir well. Transfer the cooked filling into a colander to drain any excess liquid. Leave to cool before wrapping in the dough.

Satay Buns

I've seen many bloggers baking soft buns, the kind that we Asians like. One of the recipes that has been making its rounds is the Kopitiam Milk Buns that was shared by Sonia. Besides the plain version, she also made use of this recipe to make some curry buns. 

Her curry buns inspired me to bake some filled buns. But I decided to fill mine with beef satay filling. No wonder this bun recipe is so popular. The bun is so soft &, more importantly, it is so fragrant & so delicious! Big thumbs up for this recipe! And the satay filling just makes these buns so irresistible!!

I was also inspired to decorate my buns by one & only Victoria. If you had been following her, you would have seen how she has been showcasing her creativity in her baking products. I can't draw well, so  nobody could figure out that I had drawn some sticks of satay on my buns. They all thought that they were some flowers or wheat! ^_^ 

DOUGH
Overnight sponge dough:
215g high protein flour
125g full cream milk (cold) - I used 135g.
2g instant yeast (1/2 tsp)
Mix all ingredients in a bowl till a rough dough is formed. Cover the bowl with cling wrap and store in the fridge overnight.

Basic dough:
1 quantity of above overnight sponge dough
90g high protein flour
12g milk powder (Sonia didn't use.)
30g egg (1/2 large egg)
4g instant yeast (1tsp)
3g fine salt (1/2 tsp)
60g sugar
45g butter (room temperature) - I used only 30g.
1tbsp milk (cold)
for egg wash, combine 1/2 egg & 1/2 tsp of milk

Method:

1. Tear the overnight sponge dough into pieces into a mixing bowl. Add in the rest of ingredients, except butter, & knead till a smooth dough is formed. 
2. Add in butter and knead until dough is smooth, shiny and elastic. (I mixed mine using the electric mixer [dough hook] for about 10 minutes in all.)
3. Cover the bowl with cling film and set aside to proof till double in size for 45-60 minutes. (I poured the dough onto a floured working surface & mould it into a smooth round. Then I covered it with the unwashed bowl that I used for mixing.)

Source: Sonia @ Nasi Lemak Lover.

BEEF SATAY FILLING

Ingredients:

200g ground beef

1 1/2 tbsp ground coriander seeds

1 1/2 tsp ground cumin

1/4 tsp tumeric powder

1/2 tsp salt (adjust to taste)

3 tbsp very dark brown sugar  - adjust based on your preference
1/8 cup ground toasted peanuts
1 tbsp tamarind juice 

1 tbsp cooking oil
1tbsp cornflour + 3 tbsp water (I didn't use this. Refer to note no. 1. )

ground into paste

4 small red onions

1 clove garlic

2 cm galangal (lengkuas)

1 stalk lemongrass (white part only)

Method: 

1. Combine all the ingredients above, except the oil & cornflour mixture, & mix thoroughly. Leave to marinate in the fridge for 1 hour. 
2. After 1 hour, heat up the oil in a frying pan. Add in the meat mixture & stir frequently. If the mixture is too dry, add some water. Once it's cooked, pour in the cornflour mixture & stir well. Transfer the cooked filling into a colander to drain any excess liquid. Leave to cool before wrapping in the dough.

ASSEMBLY

1. After the first proofing, divide the dough into small pieces & form into small balls. I divided mine into 19 pieces of 30g each. 
2. Roll out each ball into a dics & spoon filling. Wrap & seal the dough. Place onto a baking pan lined with baking paper. Do the same with the rest. Leave to proof for about 30 minutes.
3. Once proofed, apply egg wash on the buns & bake for about 15 minutes, in a preheated oven at 190 deg C, or until they turn golden brown.

Notes & modifications:

1. I find the filling quite dry. Some of it though was so watery that I had difficulty sealing the dough. So I suggest you add the cornflour & water mixture to produce moist filling.
2. For the drawing on top of bun, I used a mixture of cocoa powder & water to form a paste. Then I used chocolate dipping tool to draw. You can use anything in the kitchen that's suitable for drawing. Apply the egg wash & let it dry a little before drawing. Go to Victoria Bakes to get more amazing ideas to decorate your buns. 

Egyptian Bamia

I cooked bamia & served it with crusty baguettes for Hari Raya Haji. This time, I chose the Egyptian-style which is different from the bamia I'm more familiar with. Unlike the Indian-curry version which uses more spices, this one has very little ground cumin & coriander, resulting in a delicious tomato-flavoured meat stew. The cooking method is also different in that instead of solely cooking the dish on the stove, this version also requires cooking in the oven for one & a half hours. My family loves this dish, so I'll definitely be cooking it more often.

Egyptian Bamia
(Lamb/Beef & Okra Casserole)

Ingredients:
1kg boneless stewing lamb or beef (I used beef.)
2 tbsp ghee or butter
1 large onion, finely chopped
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1 cup peeled chopped tomatoes
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1/2 cup stock or water
1/2 teaspoon sugar
salt and freshly ground black pepper

500g fresh okra
1 tbsp ghee
1 quantity Ta'leya (Refer to recipe below.)

fresh mint leaves (I added.)

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 150–160°C.
2. Trim the meat and cut into 3 cm cubes. 
3. Melt the ghee or butter in a heavy-based saucepan and brown the meat on all sides, adding a single layer of meat to the pan at a time. Transfer to a casserole dish.
4. Reduce the heat, add the onion to the pan and fry gently until translucent. Add the cumin, tomatoes, tomato paste and stock and stir well to dissolve the browned sediment.
5. Pour the mixture over the lamb or beef. Add the sugar and season with salt and pepper. Cover tightly and bake for 1½ hours.
6. To finish the dish, prepare the okra. Dry very well with paper towels or a cloth. Melt the ghee in a frying pan, add the okra and fry over medium heat for 3 minutes, tossing gently.
7. Arrange the okra over the stew, then cover and bake for a further 40 minutes, or until the meat is tender.
8. Prepare the ta’leya and pour while hot over the okra. Add in mint leaves & stir well.
9. Serve from the casserole dish.

TA'LEYA

3-4 cloves garlic

1/4 tsp salt

2 tbsps samneh or clarified butter (I used QBB ghee.)

1 tsp ground coriander

pinch of hot chili pepper

Crush garlic with salt in a mortar. Alternatively crush in a garlic press & mix with salt. Heat samneh or butter in a small pan & add garlic. Cook, stirring constantly, until golden brown, remove pan from heat & stir in coriander & pepper. Use while sizzling hot as directed in recipes.

Recipe by Tess Mallos from The Complete Middle Eastern Cookbook.

I'm linking this post to the Cook-Your-Books event no. 17 hosted by  Kitchen Flavours.

Quiche Toast

I made beef quiches for breakfast this morning. It was quite fast to prepare them as I used sandwich bread for the cups instead of making the pastry base from scratch. It's so much easier but still very delicious. I highly recommend you to make these quiche toasts... I can guarantee your family will like them!

Quiche Toast

Ingredients:
150g ground beef
1 medium onion, finely diced
pinch of salt & pepper
1 tsp oil
12 slices sandwich bread (I used wholemeal.)
2 eggs
⅔ cups milk

a pinch of salt and pepper

⅓ cup cheese, grated (tasty, gruyere, cheddar - any good melting cheese) - I used mozzarella.
1 tbsp finely chopped coriander leaves,
oil spray / oil / butter for greasing pan

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 200 deg C.
2. Heat 1 tsp oil in small pan over high heat. Add onion & sauté until soften & slightly caramelised. Add in ground beef & continue cooking until meat turns brown. Remove from heat and set aside.
3. Cut bread into rounds or just cut crusts off. Use a rolling pin to flatten the bread.
4. Grease 12 muffin tin holes (I used butter.), then press the bread into the muffin tin.
5. Place in oven for 3-5 minutes until the toasts are just a bit dry. (The toast cups should not be browned.) Remove from oven and set aside.
6. Whisk together the egg, milk & a pinch of salt & pepper.
7. Divide the cooked beef  between the 12 toast cups, then top them with the cheese.
8. Pour the egg mixture into each cup, almost to the rim, & sprinkle the coriander leaves. Then immediately place the muffin pan in the oven. If you take too long between pouring the egg mixture into the toast cups and putting it in the oven, the egg will start soaking into the bread.
9. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes until the top is golden and the filling is set.
10. Remove from oven and rest for 5 minutes before serving. The filling will be puffed up but it will deflate while resting.
11. Garnish with extra coriander leaves if desired. Serve warm.

Makes 12 toast cups.

Recipe adapted from  Recipe Tin Eats.

Notes:

1. Instead of beef, you may use any other filling like seafood, ham, mushroom, etc but there's no need to precook the seafood or ham.
2. Do not use stale bread as it would be difficult to flatten & press it into the muffin hole.
3. Toasting the bread until it's dry before adding the filling is an important step as it prevents the egg mixture from soaking into the bread.
4. You need to grease the muffin holes generously as the egg mixture may overflow onto the holes & it then may be difficult to remove the quiche toast.

Turkish Pide...... again!

My family & I love the Turkish Pide that I made in December. I've been itching to make it again especially since my husband didn't get to taste it then as he was out of town. So last weekend, I baked 3 pitas for lunch. I decided to try a different recipe for the filling because I wanted one which would produce more flavour. So I googled & found a recipe which looked promising. 

It turned out to be a great choice. It definitely had more flavour than the previous recipe. Besides requiring a long list of  ingredients, the filling also needs to be cooked first before placing it onto the dough. As for the dough, I decided to use the same recipe because I think it's excellent!

Turkish Pide
(makes 3 large pieces)

Pide dough

Ingredients:
60g water
1 & 1/2 tsp instant yeast
375g bread flour
60g yoghurt
90g milk
3 tsp sugar
3 tbsp olive oil
3/4 tsp salt
olive oil for brushing on baked pita

Method:

1. Dissolve yeast in water. Set aside.
2. In the large bowl of a heavy duty electric mixer, combine flour, yeast mixture, yoghurt, milk & sugar.
3. Mix using the dough hook, on low to medium speed, until just combined. Add olive oil & continue mixing until well combined. Then add salt & continue mixing until the dough is smooth and elastic, about 10 minutes. If you don't have a mixer, you can mix and knead by hand. 
4. Place ball of dough in a bowl that has been coated lightly with olive oil. Turn the dough around in the bowl so that it gets coated with the oil. Cover with plastic wrap. Let sit in a warm place until it doubles in size, about 1 to 1 1/2 hours. 
5. Place a pizza stone on a rack in the lower third of your oven. (If you are not using a pizza stone, place pita onto an inverted baking tray before placing it into the oven for baking.) Preheat the oven to 200°C for at least 30 minutes, preferably an hour.
Remove the plastic cover from the dough and punch the dough down so it deflates a bit. Divide the dough into 3 parts. Form 3 round balls of dough. Cover with plastic and let sit for 10 minutes.
6. Take a ball of dough & roll out into an oval, 5mm thick. Place it on a baking paper which is placed on a peel (if using a baking stone) or an inverted baking tray. Put filling on the dough, leaving 1-inch border. Fold the sides in & apply the ends with water & pinch together. Crack an egg onto the center of filling.
7. Bake for 20-30 minutes, until the pita turns golden brown. 
8. Remove pita from oven & brush the crust with olive oil. Serve warm.

Adapted from Table for two.... or more.

The above pictures are taken from my previous Turkish Pide post.

Filling

Ingredients:
1 tsp olive oil
350g minced beef
1 large onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 tbsp tomato purée
1 tsp ground ginger
2 tsp ground coriander
1 pinch strands saffron
1 pinch ground cinnamon
1 tsp parsley flakes
2 fresh tomatoes, chopped
fresh mint leaves (chopped)
salt and black pepper
3 eggs (Do not cook with the above ingredients.)

Method:

1. Heat the oil in a frying pan over medium heat.
2. Fry the beef until brown. 
3. Add the onion and garlic and cook until softened, about 5 minutes. 
4. Stir in the tomato puree, ginger, coriander, saffron, cinnamon & parsley.
5. Add the chopped tomatoes & mint leaves. Season with black pepper and salt & cook for a further 10 minutes until almost dry.

Adapted from recipe by Paul Hollywood.

Mee Rebus - Penang style

I hope you are not Penang food overload... hehe. I promise, this will be my last entry on Penang food.... for now. 

I made  Mee Rebus using the recipe shared by Wazir Jahan Karim. As I read the recipe, I realised that this dish is actually what we in Singapore &, I believe, southern part of Malaysia call Mee Bandung. Nevertheless, I still wanted to try  cooking it. Yes, it is very similar to our Mee Bandung except this dish is richer because there is milk & cream added to the cream of tomato soup.

Mee Rebus (Penang style)
Recipe by Wazir Jahan Karim from Feasts of Penang, Muslim Culinary Heritage.
(I've rearranged the ingredients & simplified the method.)

Ingredients:
1 kg yellow noodles (blanch)
200g bean sprouts (remove tails & blanch)
1 kg beef or mutton bones
2.5L water (for beef or mutton stock)
300g medium-sized red or orange sweet potato (Boil until soft, peel & mash into an even paste.)
200g potato (Boil until soft, peel & mash into an even paste.)
6 red chillies*
20 shallots*
12 cloves of garlic*
(*blend to become paste)
5 tomatoes (chopped)
1 tbsp ginger juice
600 ml cream of tomato soup concentrate
5 sprigs coriander leaves (Separate leaves from stems & use leaves for garnish.)
250g squid (Clean & remove ink. Then boil in water.)
500ml water (to boil squid)
500ml water for soup
6 tbsps palm or rice oil
salt to taste

Garnish:
6 large hard-boiled eggs
6 sausage-long pieces of crispy cucur udang (slice) - I didn't use.
6 sprigs mustard leaves with soft stem (sawi) ( Soak with salt, wash & chop into 2cm strips.)
3 sprigs spring onions (chop)
5 sprigs coriander leaves (chop)
6 tbsps fried shallots
3 pieces tofu or bean curd (Fry & cut into cubes.)
3 fresh red chillies (Remove seeds & white pulp & slice on a slant.)

Method:

1. Boil beef or mutton bones in 2.5 litres water for an hour or until tender. An equivalent amount of water should be added if the water (stock) is reduced to half after boiling. If a pressure cooker is used, it should take about 20 mins. If pressure cooker is used, add in rest of water when meat is cooked. Transfer beef or mutton with stock into a clean deep pan, after removing foam & impurities 
2. Add in the sweet potato, potato, chopped tomatoes, chilli, shallots & garlic paste, ginger juice & cream of tomato. Stir evenly & allow gravy to boil.
3. Add squid & stock & 500ml water for soup. Then add coriander stems & salt. Reduce fire & allow to simmer.
4. To serve, place noodles first, add beans sprouts & mustard leaves. Pour in gravy. Garnish with cucur udang, tofu pieces, one hard-boiled egg, fried shallot, coriander leaves, spring onions & sliced red chilli .

Serves 6 persons.
Preparation time: 90 mins.
Cooking time (gravy): 60 mins.

I'm submitting this post to the Malaysian Food Fest, Penang Month hosted by Alan of Travellingfoodies & Cook-Your-Books organised by Kitchen Flavours.

Spicy Fried Beef

According to Wazir Jahan Karim, the author of  Feasts of Penang, Muslim Culinary Heritage, the original basic Nasi Kandar in the olden days would include fish curry, fried beef, hard-boiled egg and okra. So the second dish that I cooked from her book was Spicy Fried Beef.

It's  certainly not a simple dish to prepare as it entails a long list of ingredients & more than an hour to cook. But the effort is all worth it as the  meat is very tender & the gravy is sweet & very flavourful. This dish does go well with the Fish Curry when eaten with rice.

Spicy Fried Beef (Daging Goreng Rempah)
Recipe by Wazir Jahan Karim from Feasts of Penang, Muslim Culinary Heritage.
(I rearranged the ingredients & simplified the method.)

Ingredients:
1 kg lean beef, preferably topside
30g fennel powder*
20g turmeric powder*
100g coriander powder*
(*combine & add water & mix to form a paste)
1 tbsp brown sugar
1 kg red onions - peel & finely slice four & cut remainder into rings for garnish
10 cloves of garlic - finely sliced
4 slices ginger - cut into strips
2 sprigs coriander - separate leaves from stems & chop stems
4 cloves
5 cardamoms
1 cinnamon stick (10cm) - break into two
200g tomatoes - cut into small pieces & remove seeds
1 L water
2 tbsps thick sweet soya sauce
salt to taste
150 ml palm or rice oil (I used vegetable oil.)
Garnish:
onion rings
1 sprig  mint
1 green chilli - sliced into eight
1 red chilli - sliced into eight

Method:

1. Marinate beef with spice paste (*) & brown sugar. Leave aside for 1 hour.
2. Heat oil in deep pan. Fry onions & garlic to an even brown.
3. Add ginger, coriander stems, cloves, cinnamon stick & cardamons. Then add cut tomatoes. Stir until oil separates.
4. Add half a sprig of coriander leaves, marinated beef & water & stir for about one hour until beef is cooked. 
5. Add thick sweet soya sauce & salt. Reduce until sauce thickens & beef is tender. 
6. Garnish with mint, onion rings & chillies.

Serves 6-8 persons.

Preparation time:30 mins (excluding marination)

Cooking time: 1hr 20mins

I'm submitting this post to the following events:

1. Malaysian Food Fest, Penang Month hosted by Alan of Travellingfoodies,
2. Little Thumbs Up hosted by Miss B of Everybody Eats Well in Flanders, organised by Zoe of Bake for Happy Kids and Doreen of my little favourite D.I.Y. and
3. Cook-Your-Books organised by Kitchen Flavours.