Air Fryer Cottage Pie (Sheperd's Pie)

This is a quick recipe for making a 1 to 2-persons cottage pie or Sheperd's pie by using a frozen hamburger beef patty, instant mashed potato powder, and bake in an air fryer for 12 minutes. The seasoned hamburger patty also saved on adding seasonings to the meat-filling. 

The butter-flavoured instant mashed potato powder not only cut down the trouble for having to cook and mash the potatoes, but also minimized the work for having to add butter and seasonings to it. The short-coming was I have no control over the salt used in the mashed potato. I think I would prefer a plain instant mashed potato powder to a seasoned one 😟

I think the air fryer really helped to shorten the baking time for giving the mashed potato a golden crust in just 12 minutes 😃

video 👉

Serving: 1~2 persons

Heat resistant glass pan: 12x12x4 cm (I bought it from Daiso)

Equipment: air fryer

Ingredients

40g onion, cut finely

3g garlic, cut finely

20g carrot. diced

30g long bean/green peas, diced

15g steamed corn kernels

1 frozen hamburger beef patty, 105g

5g raw sugar

5g light soy sauce

10g tomato paste

5g all-purpose flour

70g hot water

A few shakes of freshly ground black pepper

50g instant mashed potato powder, butter & herb flavour/other flavour

200g boiling water

10g unsalted butter, melted

Directions

1. Lightly grease a glass baking pan (12x12x4 cm) with rice bran oil. Set it aside.

2. Add about 1 tsp of rice bran oil to a hot pan or pot. Stir fry onions and garlic till fragrant.

3. Add the cold hamburger beef patty, and pan fry till the minced beef starts to loosen from the patty.

4. Add the diced carrot and long beans, and continue to stir fry till the carrot has softened.

5. Push the ingredients to the sides and create a well in the center. Add raw sugar, light soy sauce, and tomato paste to the well, and wait for the condiments to bubble. Mix the ingredients with the bubbled condiments.

6. Sprinkle all-purpose flour to the meat filling, and mix well.

Add steamed corn kernels to the meat-filling.

7. Mix in 70g hot water to the meat-filling

Stir-fry till the meat-filling has absorbed most of the liquid and thickened.

8. Add some freshly ground black pepper to the meat-filling. Remove from the stove and set it aside.

9. Pour instant mashed potato powder to a bowl of boiling water. Stir to mix, and let it stands for about 5 minutes.

10. Pour the hot meat-filling to the prepared glass baking pan,

followed by the mashed potato as the top layer. Use a spoon to spread out the mashed potato, and use a fork to make some line patterns over the mashed potato surface.

11. Spoon melted unsalted butter over the mashed potato surface.

12. Bake in a preheated air fryer at 180℃ for about 12 minutes, or till the surface has browned, and the meat-filling was bubbling under the mashed potato.

13. Remove from the air fryer and cool down for about 10 minutes before digging in. Enjoy 😋

Cream Cheese Strawberry Milk Bun

Sweet smelling strawberry milk bun filled with cream cheese and dried cranberries - sweet and tangy 😋I was happy that the soft cream cheese filling did not ooze out of the bun during baking 🤞

Yield: 10 small buns

Raw dough weight: 526g

Baking temperature:  Preheat oven to 190℃, middle rack, bake at 180℃ for 8 minutes, lower to 160℃ for 10 minutes, turn off oven and continue to bake for 3 minutes, or till the crust turns lightly golden brown.

Ingredients

205g bread flour

15g superfine wholegrain flour/all purpose flour

5g purple sweet potato powder

30g raw sugar

1g instant dry yeast

50g natural yeast/sourdough, 100% hydration*

30g yudane dough^

120g sweet strawberry milk, cold 

20g whipping cream

25g cold water, to be added depending on dough condition

3g low sodium salt

20g unsalted butter, softened

Filling

30g dried cranberries

200g cream cheese spread

35g icing sugar

5g corn starch

1g vanilla extract

Toppings

sprinkle with bread flour

* 50g natural yeast can be replaced by 25g each of bread flour and water + 1/8 tsp instant dry yeast. Let the mixture stand for about 1 hour or more till it doubles in volume, before use. You can also keep the mixture in the fridge overnight and thaw it for 1 hour before use.

^ 30g yudane dough is prepared by combining 16g of bread flour with 16g of very hot or boiling water into a sticky dough. Wrap the yudane dough in cling wrap, and cool down before use. Use a silicone spatula to scrape out the sticky yudane dough from the cling wrap.

Directions:

1. Knead the dough following your preferred method. 

For my method, you can refer to my recipe Yudane Milk Bread. After kneading the dough to window pane stage, 

2. After kneading the milk dough to window pane, shape the milk dough into a ball, and keep in a plastic bag coated with a little cooking oil. Keep the dough in the fridge overnight.

3. Soak dried cranberries in hot water for about 60 seconds. Drain away the water, and cut the cranberries into smaller pieces using a pair of kitchen scissors. Seal with cling wrap and keep overnight in the fridge. 

4. In the next day, remove the outer plastic bag, and let the dough thaw at room temperature for about 90 to 100 minutes. Thaw the soaked cranberries, too.

5. Divide the dough into 10 portions, shape into balls and let them rest for about 15 minutes.

6. While waiting for the dough, prepare the cream cheese filling.

Loosen the cream cheese, mix with icing sugar and corn starch into a smooth paste. Keep in the fridge till needed.

7. Roll out a dough into a flat dough with the edge thinner than the center. Add dried cranberries and cream cheese paste to the center.

Wrap up the dough, and shape into a ball. Place the shaped dough in a paper casing, and arrange them on a baking tray. The paper casing is optional.

Let the shaped dough rest in a cold oven for about 25 minutes.

8. Remove the shaped dough from the oven, and start to preheat the oven to 190℃ for about 10 minutes.

While waiting, cut 10 heart shape stencils using parchment paper. Place the stencils onto the top of each shaped dough, and sprinkle some bread flour over them. Remove the stencils, and sprinkle another thin coat of bread flour over.

9. Bake at middle rack, at 180℃ for 8 minutes, lower to 160℃ for 10 minutes, turn off oven and continue to bake for 3 minutes, or till the crust turns lightly golden brown.

10. Remove the hot buns from the oven, and cool down a while before serving them warm 😋

Cranberry Sweet Milk Bun (Yudane)

Soft texture sweet milk buns with chunks of sweet and tangy yuzu-flavoured cranberries embedded within the soft crumb 😋

Yield: 10 small buns

Raw dough weight: 536g

Pan size: 30.5x19x3.5cm

Baking temperature:  Preheat oven to 180℃, middle rack, bake at 180℃ for 5 minutes, lower to 170℃ for 5 minutes, further reduce to 160℃ for 5 minutes turn off oven and continue to bake for 3 minutes.

Ingredients

205g bread flour

20g spelt/superfine wholegrain flour

40g raw sugar

1g instant dry yeast

A little vanillin powder

50g natural yeast/sourdough, 100% hydration*

30g yudane dough^

10g condensed milk

115g low-fat milk, cold 

15g beaten egg 

25g cold water, to be added depending on dough condition

3g low sodium salt

20g unsalted butter, softened

Filling

30g dried cranberries

20g yuzu drink for soaking dried cranberries

Toppings

sprinkle with bread flour

* 50g natural yeast can be replaced by 25g each of bread flour and water + 1/8 tsp instant dry yeast. Let the mixture stand for about 1 hour or more till it doubles in volume, before use. You can also keep the mixture in the fridge overnight and thaw it for 1 hour before use.

^ 30g yudane dough is prepared by combining 16g of bread flour with 16g of very hot or boiling water into a sticky dough. Wrap the yudane dough in cling wrap, and cool down before use. Use a silicone spatula to scrape out the sticky yudane dough from the cling wrap.

Directions:

1. Knead the dough following your preferred method. 

For my method, you can refer to my recipe Yudane Milk Bread. After kneading the dough to window pane stage, 

2. After kneading the milk dough to window pane, shape the milk dough into a ball, and keep in a plastic bag coated with a little cooking oil. Keep the dough in the fridge overnight.

3. Soak dried cranberries in hot water for about 30 seconds. Drain away the water, and cut the cranberries into smaller pieces using a pair of kitchen scissors. Soak the cranberries bits in sweet yuzu drink overnight in the fridge. 

3. In the next day, remove the outer plastic bag, and let the dough thaw at room temperature for about 90 to 100 minutes. Drain away the yuzu drink, and thaw the soaked cranberries, too.

4. Divide the dough into 10 portions, shape into balls and let them rest for about 15 minutes.

5. Roll flat a dough to a thickness of about 5mm. Spread about 3 to 4g of cranberries bits over the dough. Fold in the two wings towards the center, roll up and shape into a small Swiss roll shape.

6. Arrange the shaped dough in a baking tray (30.5x19x3.5cm) lined with parchment paper. Let the shaped dough prove in a cold oven for about 45 to 60 minutes.

60 minutes later 👇

7. Preheat the oven to 180℃. While waiting, dust a thin coat of bread flour over the shaped dough.

8. Bake at 180℃ for 5 minutes, lower to 170℃ for 5 minutes, further reduce to 160℃ for 5 minutes turn off oven and continue to bake for 3 minutes, or till the crust is lightly tanned.

9. Remove the bread from the oven, 

and cool over a wire rack.

Enjoy 😋