Purple Sweet Potato+Palm Sugar Ball 紫薯椰糖球

When I began to type the title of this recipe, I suddenly experienced​ a metal block - I couldn't recall the name of this popular sweet potato snack 😣 Hence, I just named it by the ingredients used - purple sweet potato with palm sugar filling 😌

The purple sweet potato was first steamed and mashed before adding to the glutinous rice flour and tapioca starch. The two latter ingredients gave the snack a sticky and chewy texture.

If the sweet potato ball was properly sealed, the melted palm sugar filling would just burst in your mouth upon your first bite. WARNING:  BEWARE OF SQUIRTING SYRUP

It is advisable to "conceal" the potato ball in your mouth before you start biting,  You'll regret for not heeding the advice 🚨

I finally recalled the proper name of this snack - it is either spelt as ondeh-ondeh or onde-onde 😋

Yield : about 21 pcs of 3cm balls

Ingredients:

120g mashed purple sweet potato paste

60g glutinous rice flour

12g tapioca starch*

65~70g hot water

Palm Sugar Filling

50g palm sugar/gula melake, chopped into fine bits 

Coconut Coating

90g fresh or frozen grated coconut

1 pandan leaf, cut into 2cm length

1/4 tsp salt

* tapioca starch can be replaced by glutinous rice flour.

Directions:

1. Chop the palm sugar/gula melaka block into fine bits. Set aside.

2. Mix the grated coconut with salt in a heat resistant bowl, and lay the cut pandan leaf above. Steam the coconut mixture for about 5 minutes. Set aside.

3. Take about 150g of peeled raw sweet potato chunks, and steam them in high heat for about 20 minutes, or till soft.

If you're using a 2-tier steamer, first steam the sweet potato for 15 minutes.

After 15 minutes of steaming, place the grated coconut from (2) on another steamer's rack above the sweet potato. Turn on the steamer and steam for another 5 minutes.

4. Collect 120g of the hot steamed sweet potato, and use a spoon or fork to mash it into paste.

5. In a mixing bowl, combine the hot sweet potato paste, glutinous rice powder, tapioca starch and hot water into a soft pliable dough. The exact amount of water to be added, depends on the water content of the sweet potato. To avoid over adding, pour the water in several portions.

Orange sweet potato needs less water than purple sweet potato.

4. Knead the dough for about 10 to 15 minutes till smooth.

If the dough becomes dry during kneading, add a spoonful of water to it.
Shape the dough into a thick rope, and seal with a cling wrap. Let the dough rest for about 30 to 60 minutes.

5. Start boiling a pot of water to blanch the sweet potato balls later.

6. Divide the dough into smaller portions,  about 13 ~ 15g each, and roll it into a ball. Place the dough balls on a plate.

I divide the dough into 21 portions.

7. Select a dough ball and shape it into a shallow dish and place 1/2 tsp of palm sugar in it. Wrap up the dough, and give it a light squeeze by closing up your palm. This is to ensure there will be no point of weakness where the melted palm sugar could leak out during cooking.

Then shape it into a ball by rolling between two palms.

If the dough is too dry, it will crack during shaping. Try to wet it with a bit of water to make it smoother and pliable.

8. When the water starts to boil, throw the dough balls in and stir the water. This is to avoid the dough balls from sticking to the pot and burnt.

Stir once every 1 to 2 minutes.

Cover and cook in medium heat. Too strong heat may cause the balls to rupture.

9. When the dough balls are cooked, they will float. Scoop out the balls and place them on a rack to dry.

10. When the ball surface has dried up slightly, roll it over a bowl of steamed grated coconut from (2).

11. After the sweet potato balls have cool down, refrigerate them for about 30 minutes before serving.

Refrigerated onde-onde taste better - more chewy. If the sweet potato balls have been chilled for a few hours, thaw it for about 5 to 10 minutes before serving.
Best consume within the same day 😉

Tips on keeping your fresh grated coconut

Keep your fresh grated coconut in small freezer bags. Squeeze out as much air as  possible. Label the bag with the date of purchase. Keep the bags flat in the freezer. 

Sweet Berry Bun 莓子奶酥甜面包

In my collection of bread recipes, there are not many berry flavoured breads 🤔 In fact, when I googled "strawberry bread" to search, I was surprised that there are limited of them too. Apparently, the presence of enzymes and citric acid in the berries, which may hinder the fermentation or gluten of the dough, explained the scarcity of berry bread recipe 🙄

I was lucky that my two key ingredients - the luscious berries juice and strawberry jam, allowed my dough to be kneaded successfully. Happy to be able to bake these soft buns with sweet berry aroma 😁

I cheated the pink color of the bread by adding beetroot powder as the fruit juice and jam was too light to be visible.

I love the milk crumb filling with cranberry bits which complement the berries flavoured bread well. The term "milk crumb" may not be the proper translation of the words "奶酥". Since it resembled loose crumbs​, so I just tagged​ the word "crumbs" to the filling's name 😬

You can prepare the filling a day in advance together with the dough.

Cranberry Milk Crumb Filling

Ingredients:

60g unsalted butter, softened

35 icing sugar

60 g full cream milk powder

10g Parmesan cheese powder

20g beaten egg

12g corn starch

20g dried cranberries

Directions:

1. Cream the softened butter until loose.

2. Add in the icing sugar and mix well.

3.  Blend in the the beaten egg, followed by Parmesan cheese powder, milk powder and corn starch. 

4. Use a pair of kitchen scissors to cut the dried cranberries into bit size.

5. Add the cranberry bits to the mixture at (3), and mix well.

6. When well combined, transfer the paste into a plastic bag. Wrap up into a log shape, and store in the freezer or fridge compartment for at least one hour to harden it.

7. After 1 hour, or when the paste has hardened, divides it into 9 equal portions. 

Returns to the fridge till needed during shaping.

Bread Dough

Portions: 9 x 8cm round buns

Raw dough weight: 534g

Ingredients

60g cold Luscious Berries juice/milk

60g cold water
20g strawberry jam

25g beaten egg
30g fine sugar
1/4 tsp fine salt, 2g

210g unbleached bread flour
25g superfine wholegrain flour/plain flour

12g milk powder
1/4 tsp beetroot powder (optional)*

50g natural yeast (100% hydration)∆

1/4 tsp instant dry yeast

To be added at the 10th minute

20g cold unsalted butter

* the beetroot powder can be bought from Fairprice Finest. You can replace the beetroot powder either by food colouring, or bake without it.

∆ 50g natural yeast can be replaced by 25g each of bread flour and water, as well as 1/4 tsp instant dry yeast.

Directions

1. Cut the bigger fruit chunks in the strawberry jam into finer bits.

2. Mix bread flour, superfine wholegrain flour, milk powder, and beetroot powder together.

3. Pour all the ingredients, except the cold butter, following their listed sequence, into the bread pan of a bread maker.

Natural yeast

4. Select "C-11 Ferment Dough" function and start the program.

Add in the cold butter at the 10th minutes after the kneading begins.

5. After the countdown timer reads 0:45, the kneading blade will rotate to turn the dough. Terminate the program manually by giving the "Stop" button a long press.

Transfer the dough to a plastic bag coated with a little vegetable oil. Tie a loose knot at the end, and let the dough sits in room temperature for about 15 minutes.

After the 15-minute rest, wrap the dough with a second plastic bag, and keep in a cover bowl or box.

Refrigerate for about 12 to 16 hours (overnight).

In the next morning, remove the outer plastic bag, invert the dough and thaw for about 1 hour before shaping.

6. Invert out the dough onto a floured work top. Deflate the dough and divide into 9 even portions.

Shape the doughs into balls, cover and rest for about 15 minutes.

7. Take a dough and roll it out into a flat round dough, with the centre thicker than the edge.

Flip over the dough and place a cold cranberry-butter filling chunk in the centre.

Wrap up and seal tightly. 

It is important to seal the seams properly to prevent the melted filling from oozing out during baking .

Cup your hand and roll the dough within to shape into a ball shape.

Arrange the dough onto a lightly floured non-stick baking tray with good spacing in between doughs.

8. Spray some water over he doughs.

Keep the doughs in a closed oven to undergo 2nd fermentation for about 50 to 60 minutes.

9. While waiting, you can cut some stencils using parchment paper to create some patterns​ over the bread later.

10. When the dough has double in size,  remove the dough from oven, and preheat the oven to 180°Celsius. While waiting, sprinkle some flour over the top of the dough if you're not making any pattern on the bread. Otherwise, proceed to the next step.

Slightly wet the paper stencils, and lightly place on top of each dough.

Sprinkle some leftover bread flour over using a sift.

Remove the paper stencils, 

and sprinkle some bread flour over.

Done 😉

11. After transferring the dough into the oven, lower the temperature to 160° Celsius and bake for 10 minutes. Bake at the lower rack.

After 10 minutes, further reduce the oven temperature to 150°Celsius and bake for 12 to 14 minutes, or till the top slightly brown.

End of baking.

12. Transfer the buns out of the pan, and cool over a wire rack.

13. Enjoy 😋

Keep the unconsumed buns in a fridge, and heat up before serving 😊