Sunday 31 August 2014

Rice Cooker Sweet & Sour Pork Ribs 电饭锅糖醋排骨

Rice cooker sweet and sour pork ribs - my new found dish which my Philips Avance Rice Cooker can produce. The rice cooker themostat helps to regulate the temperature of the cooking, thus avoiding burning the high sugar content sauce. 
The concealed rice cooker also helps to dissolve fat out of the meat, but preserving the moistureness in the meat during the high temperature cooking. 
The final product are succulent pork ribs coated with slightly sticky sweet and sour sauce. 
A big thank you to the person who discovered this ingenious way of cooking this dish *\(^o^)/*

Yield: 4 adult portions

Ingredients
370g soft bone/pork ribs, room temperature

Marinade
2 slice ginger
2 tbsp fine sugar
2 tsp dark brown sugar
1 tbsp oyster sauce
1 tbsp rice wine
1 tsp low salt light soya sauce 
1/4 tsp dark soya sauce
100ml water
2 tbsp vinegar
1 tsp tomato paste

Direction
1. Parboil soft bone by pouring hot water into a bowl of soft bone. Keep the meat  bone under water for about 5 to 8 minutes. Drain away the water.

2. Pour the marinade over the meat bone and mix using your hand. Cover and let the ingredients marinate for 1 hour.
If you are using a stainless steel bowl to hold, keep the vinegar and tomato paste till the end of the marinating session then add in. 


3. Pour the ingredients into the rice cooker and start the "rice cooking" function. 
For my Philips Avance Rice Cooker, I chose the 'Small Portion" rice cooking function.

4. Give the ingredients a few stirs, at least twice, during the cooking process to ensure even cooking and coating.

5. The cooking process is over when you hear the rice cooker "beep". 
Dish out and serve with warm rice :)



Recipe adapted from 
http://www.28ms.cn/caipu/tesecaipu/dianfanguo/79335.html

Saturday 30 August 2014

Steamed Brown Sugar Banana Cake 蒸黑糖香蕉蛋糕

A light and spongy steamed banana cake minus the heavy butter content ;)

Yield: one 14 cm round cake

Ingredients
All ingredients in room temperature
2 egg whites
1/4 tsp lemon juice
30g fine sugar
2 egg yolks

60~70g ripen banana, mashed
30g milk
25g dark brown sugar
10g unsalted butter
1/4 tsp vanilla essence

75g top flour
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/8 tsp baking soda 

2粒 蛋白
30g 细糖
1/4 小匙 柠檬汁
2粒 蛋黄

60~70g 熟透香蕉,压成泥
30g 牛奶
25g 黑砂糖
10g 奶油
1/4 小匙 香草精

75g 低筋面粉
1/4 小匙 泡打粉
1/8 小匙 小苏打粉

Directions
1. Line a 14 cm round cake tin with parchment paper.
将一个14cm圆蛋糕模铺上防沾烘烤纸。


2. Mashed banana in a bowl. Cover and set aside. 
将香蕉压成泥。盖上盖子放一旁。



3. Place milk, dark brown sugar, butter and vanilla essence in a bowl. Keep warm the mixture in a rice cooker for 10 minutes, and let it remains in the rice cooker for another 10 minutes to melt the butter. 
Allow the mixture to cool to room temperature before use. 
将牛奶、黑砂糖、奶油和香草精放到电饭锅保温10分钟,再留在锅中10分钟,直至奶油溶化。用前需退温至室温。





4. Mix flour, baking powder and baking soda in a bowl. Set aside.
将面粉、泡打粉和小苏打粉混均在一起。待用。

5. Beat egg white in a clean and dry mixing bowl for a few seconds, and add in the lemon juice. Continue to beat for about 1/2 minute at medium high speed till frothy. Lower the mixer speed to add in the sugar.
将蛋白打在一个干净无油无水的搅拌盆,以中高速打数秒,加入柠檬汁,再继续打1/2分钟,直到蛋白发泡。降低速度,加入细糖。



When all sugar has been well incorporated into the egg white, return the mixer speed to medium high. Beat the egg white till firm peaks formed, or it can form a curve-down tip when lifted up.
当糖与蛋白结合,调高速度至中高速,继续将蛋白打到,当提起打蛋器时,蛋白尾端会弯曲。

6. Add in egg yolk, one at a time to the egg white.
将蛋黄逐一加入。

7.  Mix in the mashed banana till the batter become light and fluffy.
加入香蕉泥,再与蛋糊打至蓬松。




8. Sieve in 1/3 of the flour mixture from (4), and stir briefly to mix. Stop mixing even when only a few streaks of flour can be seen.Over mixing will result in a tougher cake.
筛入1/3份量(4)的面粉混合料,并用打蛋器用手大略搅合。蛋糕糊仍有些粉料也可停止搅拌,避免过度搅拌。

9. Add in the 1/2 of the milk mixture from (3). 
将(3) 的半份牛奶混合料加入。

Mix briefly with a pair of whisk,
先用打蛋器大略搅拌,

Add in the remaining flour and milk in alternating sequence, in the pattern of 
Flour➡️milk➡️flour➡️milk➡️flour
将剩余的面粉和牛奶混合物轮流加入混合。
面粉➡️牛奶➡️面粉➡️牛奶➡️面粉

Finally, use a spatula to scrap the side and bottom, to ensure no unmixed flour or liquid settle there.
最后再用刮刀将边缘和底部的面粉或牛奶,刮出混均。

10. Pour the batter into the lined cake tin.  Lightly bang the cake tin to remove trapped air from the batter.
将蛋糕糊倒入铺上烤纸的蛋糕模。敲打蛋糕模以震出汽泡。

11. Prepare a pot with some boiling water and a steamer rack.
烧开一些水于蒸锅中,并置入蒸架。

12. Steam the cake batter at medium high heat for 9 to 10 minutes, and medium low heat for about 8 to 9 minutes. Test the readiness of the cake using a thin stick.
以中高火蒸10分钟、再调低至中小火,继续蒸9~10分钟。用竹签探测蛋糕是否已熟。

When the top of the cake surface rises from concave to convex, it's time to lower the temperature .
当蛋糕顶部从凹变成凸,就该降低温度。


  
13. Immediately after removing the cake from the pot, drop the cake from a height of about 10cm onto a table cloth. This will prevent the cake from shrinking during cooling down.
离火后,立即将蛋糕同模从10cm高度落下。这有助避免蛋糕过度缩水。


14. Allow the cake to cool in the cake tin for 5 minutes before removing the tin to cool completely.
让蛋糕在模中停留5分钟,再脱模。


14. Cut the cake and serve :)
切片享用 :)


Wednesday 27 August 2014

Cranberry Milk Loaf

A milky bread with tinge of sweet and sour surprise coming from the cranberry bits :)

Yield: One 20x10x16cm loaf 

Ingredients (room temperature)
160g whole milk 全脂牛奶
20g condensed milk 炼乳
3/4 tsp instant dry yeast 即发酵母粉

270g bread flour 高筋面粉
20g top flour 低筋面粉
40g fine sugar
30g multigrain soya pulp 五谷豆渣*
30g beaten egg 蛋液
1/4 tsp salt 盐

30g unsalted butter 无盐奶油
30g dried cranberry bits 干蔓越莓粒

Some beaten egg for glazing 蛋液

* you may replace the multigrain soya pulp by 20g whole milk and 10g top/cake flour
 * 可将五谷豆渣以20g 全脂牛奶和10g 低筋面粉取代。

Directions
1. Add condensed milk to whole milk (temperature not exceeding 38 degree Celsius). Sprinkle instant dry yeast over the milk mixture without stirring it. Let the mixture stands for about 15 minutes to activate the yeast.

2. Mix the rest of the ingredients together, except the butter, in a mixing bowl. 

3. Pour in the yeast milk mixture from (1). And stir the mixture in one direction till it forms into a lump.


Cover the dough and let it rest for 20 minutes to allow the flour to absorb the liquid.

4. After the 20 minutes rest, turn the dough onto a floured work top. 
Knead the dough by slamming - pulling -folding and turning in repeated steps till the dough becomes smooth. This process takes about 10 minutes.



5. Spread out the dough and apply softened butter to it. Knead to incorporate butter into the dough.


6. When the butter has well incorporated into the dough, repeat the slamming-pulling-folding and turning steps till you get an elastic dough. This process take about 10 to 15 minutes.


7. Place the dough in a lightly greased mixing bowl, spray some water, cover, and allow the dough to proof for 1 hour, or till the dough doubles in size.


8. After the proofing, invert the dough onto a floured surface. Flatten the dough to released the trapped air.

9. Fold in the four sides to the center.

Cover and let it rest for 10 minutes.

10. After the rest, sprinkle some flour over the dough, and flip it over.

Roll the dough out. The width of the dough should correspond to the length of the mould.
Flip the dough over again, so the smoother side will be facing out when roll up later.
Spread the cranberry bits over the dough and roll it up.



11. Lower the dough into the mould, spray some water, and let it proof in the oven for about 1 hour, or till the dough reaches the rim of the mould.



12. Apply a layer of egg wash over the top of the dough.

13. Bake the dough in a preheated oven set at 170 degree Celsius for 
1) 45 to 50 minutes if you are using a thick-wall Pullman tin; or
2) 38 to 40 minutes if you are using normal thin wall bakeware.

If the top becomes brown half way in the process of baking, covers it with an aluminum foil to avoid over-browning.

14. When the baking is done, remove the loaf from the tin immediately. Allow the loaf to cool down completely on a wire rack before slicing it with bread knife.




Or, you can bake in a long cake tin (30 x 10.5 x 7 cm) at 170 degree C for 35 to38 minutes.