Cooking Asian, Cooking international

Wonton/ Hun tun

Will write about one of my fav appetizers here coming soon as soon as I finish walking many kms.

I learnt how to make these not in some random little tea shop in Canton like some of them famous people claim.

Nah that’s not for me I instead had to make these as per order(8 ) for every portion and sometimes for banquets at the Krishna Oberoi a luxury hotel in Hyderabad. For banqueting they were ordered in dozens so the chef would tell out to me.” Hey bamboklat in the break just make 125 dozen wontons”. What the *#”@’:&_&–..

So I had to get pretty fast at it or would get no break at all….This was when I was a trainee from the Oberoi school of hotel management..and we were treated like the lowest of the low by all. The staff hated us cos at some point of time we would become their bosses / supervisors and the supervisors would think yeah right , let’s see if this young fella can take as much torture as I think he can…no how about 24 hr shifts..yeah just have a nap on the oil drum in the dry store .

Ok before we go far far away in the tales of the enchanted forest..lets go back to these delectable morsels.

You will need to find a good source of wonton/ hun tun wrappers somewhere in your town.too hard to make from scratch and they are reasonably cheap to buy ready made .1.9$ at local supermarket in Sydney and can be used also to make teeny tiny spring rolls ( also make a 85 dozens of those Yash) and Shu Mai/ sui Mai .

For the filling we need

 

  • Chicken mince – 250 ( can use a mix of chicken and prawns )
  • Chinese rice wine ( Hua Tia chiew)-5 ml
  • Chicken stock powder/ Ji Jin – pinch
  • Light soy sauce- 2 ml or so
  • Celery chopped fine- 5 g
  • Coriander stems -2 g
  • Ginger  finely chopped 5 g
  • Garlic finely chopped -5 g
  • Cracked pepper- pinch
  • Sesame oil – 2 ml
  • For the outer we will use store bought wrappers ..we’ve already said why before in the rambling stuff written above.
  • so you fold the wrapper in half and then twist it and stick them behind each other to form that funky shape.(hmm you probably are going to need a video or so to get it right).
  • but once i do that you can poach or fry these beauties and sing happy songs!!

 

Desserts and baking

Shokupan/ aka Hokkaido milk bun

There is a kind of pull apart bread we eat in Mumbai / Bombay called pav .this recipe doesn’t taste anything like that.

What the$#@&-++, you must be thinking , why bother mentioning it then . because the Hokkaido milk bun hmb for short looks like pav ladi we get in India but tastes far better and is akin to a pav wearing foundation and make up sitting in a fancy car.

So the way to make it is also diffferent slightly more complex. We take a small amount of flour and milk and cook it to a paste. What this does is allow the rest of the dough when finished to get more soft and fluffy.( Because of complex chemical reactions..,you dont want to know all the details.

  • Flour 450+50 g
  • Milk 225+100 ml
  • Sugar 10 g
  • Salt-10 g
  • Yeast active dry-10 g

so now once we have weighed our stuff ,we measure out flour and take 50 g separate and cook it with 100 ml milk till it gets to be like a gel and gluey. This is called Yudane in Japan and tangzhong in china.we are not going to sit and examine which one came first or why they even work. Suffice it to say that they do.

Then you add the rest of the liquid ( milk ) in this case to the gluey mix and whisk it up .cool it till gets blood warm then add the sugar salt flour and yeast in that order.dont change the order otherwise you could kill the yeast.Also don’t put in yeast in hot dough which also is the way of the seppuku( honorable suicide ), because yeast will die above 50 odd degree and you will be left with a stone to pelt at your enemies .Bam blam..whiz..

Add 20 g of butter and 20 ml oil to dough and knead it in

Ok so we have arrived at that happy moment where the dough has been amalgamated and yeast is ready to multiply and make CO2 to make holes and allow your dough to rise. For this at home what I do is heat up water in the microwave and keep the dough next to it .( In a bowl).

Then preheat your oven to 190 deg C…the USA guys have to do a google search to find out what temp they need to achieve. Ok sorry it’s about 425 F.

Then the big piece of dough you knock back or de gas and divide into 20 pieces ..

Shape them into round balls and elongate them slightly.

Put back in the microwave with water till they get nicely proofed.

Then brush with milk and melted butter  and bake for approximately 15-18 mins

 

Desserts and baking

Rich Fruit cake- syrup style

I can safely say that this will make you one medium sized cake about 8 inch round cooking time about 45-50 mins , preparation around 15 , depends on how organised you are.100%guaranteed to satisfy or your money back

  • Flour-90g
  • Almond powder 10 g( I’ve said 10 but you could go higher and reduce the flour a bit )
  • cornflour-10 g
  • cinnamon powder- 2g
  • dry ground ginger- 2 g
  • Allspice- 1 g
  • Nutmeg- pinch
  • Baking soda- 4 g
  • salt- 1 g
  • mixed nuts- 125 g(Almond, walnuts, cashews)

Ive separated the dry from the wet ingredients. so as to create a demarcation and make it as simple as it can be to make a delish cake for little effort.

  • water-90 ml
  • mixed dry fruit(raisins, dates, apricots, dont buy a ready mix)-200 g
  • brown/ raw sugar- 110 g
  • oil- 45 g( yes by weight)
  • butter -45 g
  • eggs -2
  • vanilla extract- a little
  • brandy or dark rum- 45 ml+ a bit more to brush on or baste after baking
  • Ok now to begin the process.First preheat oven to 170 C and prepare your cake tin( this you always do first, REMEMBER THIS)
  • Heat the water with the oil, butter and fruits and sugar . Take off the heat and add brandy and vanilla. ( you can also put grated orange zest if you like.COOL DOWN before you add the eggs or you will have scrambled eggs which are ok, but not in a fruit cake.
  • Add the eggs , mix well and fold in the dry ingredients, and combine well.
  • Pour into your prepared tin and tap on the bench to make it even.
  • bake for about 45-50 mins till it is cooked but not dry.
  • when it comes out of the oven , hold in the tin for a few mins then demold and brush with some more alcohol.(its worth it, Truly.) The photo of the cake below has been cooked with kaffir lime infused rum and basted with bourbon.
  • It was the best fruit cake in the world but that’s just me blowing my own trumpet..

Desserts and baking

Cheesecake like no other ..baked not set.

makes about 4 x 8 inch springform tins

We used to make this cheesecake which was like manna from heaven, created by our pastry chef Noel . He was a master craftsman and I wish I had worked more with him, but usually I would be getting hammered with 900 odd people for breakfast day in day out ..followed by 400-500 in our beachside restaurant which was meant to test our staying power .. literally..but that’s a story for another time we need to get moving on the cheesecake which is a 24 hr process in itself,

You mix and make the cheesecake today and then keep it overnight to set slowly. Do NOT BE TEMPTED TO DEMOLD ON DAY you make it..it will be ruined beyond your wildest imagination..I know because I’ve tried it.

  • Cream cheese , Philadelphia is the best , but a good alternative can work too- 2.2 kg( I know it’s a lot so it’s a good idea to make a quarter of the recipe to give you one medium sized cake tin( springform please or else gets difficult to demold)
  • egg whole-6 ea
  • egg yolk-12 ea
  • sugar-690 g( this makes about 36 -portions)
  • corn flour/ custard powder-80 g
  • sour cream-180g
  • vanilla essence- to your liking don’t put too little because then will smell eggy- 10-15 ml depending on strength
  • blueberries frozen to put inside.( Makes it look like a blue veined cheese but tastes a 100 times better and doesn’t smell at all..win win for all–150 g
  • mixed berries to make into sauce to serve on the side—i ill put on a separate post this bit
  • biscuit crumbs- use your favourite ones – about 150 g per tin
  • butter – makes it better helps to bind the biscuit crumbs– 50 g per tin
  1. First thing s take out the cream cheese about an hour before you start, makes it nice and soft and easy to mix.
  2. then preheat your oven to 125 C., thats very low heat , because what are making is really delicate thing.
  3. then line the spring form mold base with baking paper, and mix the biscuit crumbs and butter and cover the base of the mold.press down on the base to make it a bit more compact and pop in the fridge to set
  4. cream the cheese, with sugar and corn starch and slowly incorporate those eggs..one at a time..
  5. Add vanilla and sour cream and mix one last time to get it all well blended but smooth not grainy.
  6. pour over your prepared 1 tin or 4 depending on how much qty you made.
  7. Bake at that very low heat , in a water bath, remember i said this is a delicate, this baby needs TLC
  8. we need to go for 80 minutes of baking and midway through check if the top is getting too brown then cover it with piece of  foil.
  9. once its done the top might look a bit cracked and so on, thats fine its an artisan product not factor made with lots of stabilisers and starches to make it shiny.
  10. cool down and keep overnight in fridge to set.

Step 5 3/4- is to add your blueberries if you fancy them, if not make plain. I also at times spike this with baileys irish cream or amarula to make it even more divine.

Cooking middle eastern

Baba ghanouj with pomegranate molasses

Typically baba ghanouj in the western world is the wrong kind or rather wrongly named..what the world calls Baba ghanouj is actually called Muttabel in the levantine region .I know this because I was taught by the master Jedi of Lebanese food when I worked in Dubai. While that is great in itself , it is not Baba ghanouj..which we will try to make today .

so this forms part of Mezze which are different kinds of appetizers/dips/fritters /baked stuff and so on .

  • Eggplant 🍆- look for a plump one not too large mind U as those sometimes contain lots of seeds , let’s say -1 medium sized one about 300-400 g it’s not an exact science like bread making more like alchemy..add a drib of this or that. You need to stab this several times with a small paring knife ..think evil thoughts and let it out. The reason to puncture the skin is to make the cooking easier and let the steam escape. Then you roast this over an open flame, gas or charcoal, U could roast in the oven but doesn’t get the smoky aroma then. You need to turn it during the cooking process so the skin gets completely black and burnt, but don’t fear have some faith. Once this is done put it in a steel bowl and cool down.then you peel all the black burnt bits off and discard the stalk as well. wash and drain so we don’t get bits of carbonized eggplant skin in out diet.The burnt bits are great for your worm farm or in your garden.Then you take your favourite knife and again with the evil thoughts chop it up for 1 min and 28 seconds ( not really, but it’s good to put random times to see if the people are really reading). We need it roughly chopped and in a mixing bowl
  • Capsicum red is nice-1/4 /50 g chopped evenly please this time .. everything can’t be rustic
  • spring onion green and white -2 / 40-50 g washed well and chopped
  • Parsley flat leaf/ Italian the curly stuff has no flavour- 1-2 sprigs chopped doesn’t have to be very fine but not very chunky ..
  • lemon juice – to give a hint of tartness ..U figure out how much you like
  • Extra virgin olive oil which has a good taste and aroma -2 T roughly
  • Salt and pepper to taste
  • Garlic cloves -2 peeled and crushed really fine this time – this is good to do with the salt and the flat of your knife .
  • Cumin powder – 1 g / large pinch

Mix everything in a bowl , taste to see if you like it..arrange it neatly in a nice ceramic bowl and garnish / drizzle with some pomegranate molasses just a little because this can be quite acidic/ tart and some more Ev olive oil. No irritating foams and gels here , this is food which is heart warming not just fancy pants impress the Jones kind.

eat with bread of some kind, pita bread triangles to scoop it up ,or foccacia or khubz Afghani / which is like pide bread topped with sesame seeds.You can find bread recipes here or make one which you have used before..

All of mine do work .They might not be the prettiest buttons in the box but they certainly work .No filters, no Dramas or pretty faces in the background.

I can prove it , got evidence..😆😀

Baba ghanouj with some focaccia

stories of foods from the world over, laced with a hint of sarcasm and some black humour, its not for everyone, but then never was meant to be..