Friday, November 27, 2020

Fall Tree Stump Cake

This is 6" Vegan Chocolate Cake with Swiss Meringue Buttercream frosting.

Dinner Roll

For Thanksgiving, I tried this dinner roll recipe with egg-free adaptation.

Ingredients

All purpose flour - 4 -5 cups
Dry active yeast - 2 TBSP
Granulated sugar - 1/3 cup 
Salt - 1 tsp
Warm milk - 1 and 1/2 cups, 110F
Butter - 5 tbsp, softened
Egg  - 1, substitute with 1/4 cup yogurt or apple sauce
For glazing, 2 TBSP melted butter

Steps

1. Combine 3 cups of flour, yeast, sugar, salt, warm milk, butter, and egg in the bowl of a stand mixer.
Attach the dough hook and turn the mixer on to the lowest speed and mix until flour is incorporated, scraping down the sides of the bowl as necessary.
2. Increase speed to medium and beat for 2 minutes.
3. Add 1/2 cup flour and blend with the dough hook until incorporated. And another 1/2 cup flour and repeat, mixing at medium speed for another 2 minutes until a ball of dough is formed.
4. Add additional flour as necessary. The dough should be slightly sticky and soft and pulling away from the edge of the bowl. 
5. Transfer the dough to a lightly greased bowl and cover it. Let rise for 30 minutes at room temperature.
6. Deflate the dough by punching down lightly. Pinch off pieces of the dough and form 24 equal size rolls. Transfer the rolls to a lightly greased quarter baking sheet or 9 x 13 baking dish. Cover and let rise for an additional 30 minutes at room temperature.
7. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Bake the rolls for 12 to 20 minutes or until golden brown and cooked through. Check at 12 minute mark, if the rolls are getting too brown, just tent the rolls with foil.
8. Remove rolls and brush hot rolls with the melted butter. Serve immediately or store cooled rolls in a plastic bag for up to 3 days.

Air Fryer Sea Bass

 Easy and yummy.

Ingredients

Sea bass - 1 lb
Teriyaki sauce - 3 oz
Soy sauce - 2 TBSP
Olive oil -1 TBSP
Mirin sauce - 1 tsp
Sake - 1 tsp
Sugar - 1 tsp

Steps

1. Remove scales from the sea bass. Slice the sea bass into about 1 inch thick pieces. 
2. Mix all other ingredients, and marinate sea bass with it for 1 hour.
3. Set Air fryer to high (400°F). Cook for 5 minutes. It is done if you can easily poke thru the fish fillet with a fork.

Friday, November 13, 2020

Traditional Water Chestnut Cake (马蹄糕)


This is the classic Dim Sum with fresh water chestnut.

Ingredients

Water chestnut powder - 250 g
Yellow cane sugar/yellow rock sugar/brown sugar - 300 g
Fresh water chestnut - 12 -15
Water - 1500 g

Steps

1. Peel and dice the water chestnut into pea size.
2. Mix water chestnut power with 750g water, sieve and set aside.
3. In a sauce pot, add sugar and 750g water, cook until sugar is melt. 
4. Add chopped water chestnut to the pot.
5. Turn heat to low, and pour in a cup of water chestnut mixture from step 2. Keep stirring until the mixture becomes sticky and murky. Turn off heat.
6. Add the rest of the water chestnut mixture from step 2 to the sauce pot slowly, while keep stirring the mixture.
7. Pour the mixture to glass container(s), steam at high heat for 20 - 30 minutes. 
8. After cool down, remove from container, slice and serve directly. Keep refrigerated until ready to serve cold or it can also pan fried and serve hot.