Name: Soup Dumpling | Xiao Long Bao | 小籠包
Prep time: 2 h
Cook time: 15 min
Total time: 2 h 15 min
Yield: 2 persons
Ingredients: For the wrap :; - 120g T55 or all-purpose flour; - 1g fine salt; - 60ml water; - 1/8 tsp vegetable oil; For the aspic :; - 160ml water; - 5g fresh ginger; - 5g green parts of a leak; - 1 tsp oyster sauce; - 8g gelatin powder dissolved in 1.5 to 2 tbsp water; - 7g Chinese chicken bouillon powder; For the filling :; - 100g pork belly - chopped roughly; - 100g ground pork (shoulder preferred) *arrange the split as you prefer; - 5~6g lard; - 3/4 tbsp grated fresh ginger; - 10g green long onion; - 1 tsp water; - 1/2 tsp sesame oil; - a dash of salt; - a dash of sugar; - 1 tsp Chinese shaoxing rice wine or cooking sake or white wine; For the dipping sauce :; - 2 tsp soy sauce; - 3 tsp rice or apple cider vinegar; - some fresh ginger - cut into julienne

November 19, 2020

Soup Dumpling | Xiao Long Bao | 小籠包

Persons

Prep Time

2 hours

Cook Time

15 minutes

Total Time

2 hours, 15 minutes

Ingredients

For the wrap :

- 120g T55 or all-purpose flour
- 1g fine salt
- 60ml water
- 1/8 tsp vegetable oil

For the aspic :

- 160ml water
- 5g fresh ginger
- 5g green parts of a leak
- 1 tsp oyster sauce
- 8g gelatin powder dissolved in 1.5 to 2 tbsp water
- 7g Chinese chicken bouillon powder

For the filling :

- 100g pork belly - chopped roughly
- 100g ground pork (shoulder preferred) *arrange the split as you prefer
- 5~6g lard
- 3/4 tbsp grated fresh ginger
- 10g green long onion
- 1 tsp water
- 1/2 tsp sesame oil
- a dash of salt
- a dash of sugar
- 1 tsp Chinese shaoxing rice wine or cooking sake or white wine

For the dipping sauce :

- 2 tsp soy sauce
- 3 tsp rice or apple cider vinegar
- some fresh ginger - cut into julienne

Instructions

1. Making the dough
In a bowl add flour, salt and mix well. Add the water then knead with your hand gently. Once the dough starts to be like crumbles, add vegetable oil. Knead until the dough comes together in a ball.
2. Transfer to a working surface, and knead by hand for 3 minutes. Then cover with saran wrap and let sit for 1 hour.
3. _Making the aspic (in advance, maybe a day before?)
In a small heat-safe cup, add gelatin and water. Mix. Set it aside.
4. In a cooking pot add water, green parts of a leek, ginger and bring it to a boil. Once it boils, add chinese chicken bouillon powder, oyster sauce and mix. Remove from the heat. Strain the soup into a heat-safe plate and let it cool a little to 55~60℃.
5. Add the soaked gelatin and dissolve it completely. Let it to cool to room temperature, and then chill in the fridge until firm.
6. Making the filling
In your food processor, add pork belly and process until minced. Add the ground pork and process until combined well.
7. Add cooking sake, water, sesame oil, fresh ginger, green long onion, lard, a dash of salt and sugar. Pulse until the pork turns into a paste. Transfer the meat mixture into a bowl. Cover it and keep it in the fridge if your aspic is not ready.
8. Take out the aspic from the fridge and transfer it to the food processor. Pulse for a few seconds. Add the diced aspic to the pork mixture. Mix well. Cover and chill for now.
9. Making the wrap
Take some of the dough and feed 1 to 2 times in position 1 of the Kitchenaid Pasta Roller. Change to position 2 or 3 and feed 1 to 2 times. Change to position 5 or 6 and feed 1 or 2 times. Finally change to position 8 (thinnest) and feed 1 or 2 times.
10. Cut the dough with a ring (I used a 9cm diameter one). Transfer to a lightly floured plate (Keep the excess dough to make more wrappers at the end). 1 wrapper is about 8 to 9g, so if you don't use the pasta roller, take about 9g of dough & roll it directly into a disc shape with a rolling pin.
11. Place some filling in the middle of a wrapper. Pleats the wrapper's edge with as many folds as you can :) (Pulling the edges make them thinner).
12. Prepare the steamer: place a cloth or a parchment paper with holes. Place the dumplings. Steam for about 8 minutes.
13. Meanwhile make the dipping sauce. In a small cup, add 2 tsp soy sauce and 3 tsp rice or apple cider vinegar. Mix. Place some fresh ginger, it's nice.
14. Now it's ready! Enjoy :)

November 6, 2020

Pear Tart

Serving Size

18cm circle x 5cm high

Prep Time

2 hours

Cook Time

50 minutes

Total Time

2 hours, 50 minutes

Ingredients

For the tart :

180g cake flour or plain flour (T45)
130g unsalted butter
30g almond flour or hazelnut flour
100g white sugar
1 egg yolk
dash of salt

For the filling :

3 european pear (about 560g) - cut into bite sizes
1/2 to 1 tsp lemon juice
2 tbsp brown sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon powder
60g white bread (shokupan) - chopped

Instructions

1. Make the tart crust
Add plain flour, sugar, almond powder (or hazelnut flour) and salt in your food processor. Pulse several times to mix, then add butter and pulse until the mixture comes together. Add egg yolk and pulse again for a few seconds. Do not overmix after adding the egg yolk.
2. Transfer into a bowl and finish mixing with a spatula. Pull a sheet of saran wrap on your working surface. Transfer the dough and cover it from all sides with the wrap. Chill in the fridge until firm.
3. Take the dough out from the fridge and cut it in 2 halves. Take one of them and put the other back in the fridge for now. Place the dough on a saran wrap and cover it with a second one. Using a rolling pin, roll it out to a 3~4mm thickness.
4. Cut it out with a 18cm diameter x 5cm high ring, remove any excess dough around. Remove the ring and cover with a saran wrap. Put both aside in the fridge : the circle dough and the excess dough.
5. Butter the inside of the ring and set it aside. Take out the second half of dough from the fridge and cover it with saran wrap. Roll it out to 3 to 4mm thickness, then cut it with the same 18cm diameter ring. Remove the excess dough. Let the circle dough set in the fridge as is.
6. Put together all the excess dough and roll it out into a rectangle. We will use it to cover the sides of the mold. Before you cut it, first put it in the fridge until lightly firm : if it's too hard it will break easily. Cut a strip that fits the ring's height. Repeat until you cover all sides. If it becomes too soft, put it back in the fridge/freezer for a couple of minutes.
7. Smoothen the dough junctions with a finger wrapped in film, then let the whole thing chill until firm.
8. Meanwhile let's make the filling :
In a frying-pan, add pear, lemon juice and brown sugar (no oil). Cook for 2 to 3 minutes over medium heat. I prefer not cooking them too much :)
9. Transfer the filling into a bowl and let it cool to room temperature. Once cooled, add cinnamon powder and mix well. Set aside.
10. Now take the dough base (from #5) out of the fridge and cut off any excess over the ring top. Prick holes with a fork. Place the the bread (about 60g) on the bottom of the pie. Add the pear filling over the bread.
11. Cover with the other dough circle from #4. Bake about 50 to 55 minutes at 180℃.
12. Remove from the oven and let it cool down on the baking tray, until it cooled.
13. Once it has cooled, transfer on a wire rack. Remove the ring.
14. Ready to serve! I love adding a scoop of ice cream or simply whipped cream on each slice :-)

Notes

You can make some cookies with the leftovers of the tart dough :)

August 16, 2020

Char siu donburi Rice bowl

Persons

Prep Time

30 minutes

Cook Time

30 minutes

Total Time

1 hour

Ingredients

500g char siu pork - Cut into slices
1 leek - finely julienned
5 eggs

For the sauce :

5 tbsp soy sauce
4 tbsp mirin
3 1/2 tbsp white sugar
3 tbsp cooking sake or cooking white wine
Mayonnaise
White sesame

Instructions

1. making the sauce
In a small cooking pot, add the sauce ingredients and bring it to a boil. Remove from the heat and set it aside.
2. making boiled egg
In a medium cooking pot, boil enough water to cover eggs. Once it boiled, then add eggs gently and cook for 7 minutes. Remove from the heat and immediately place eggs in cold water. Let it sit.
3. In a frying-pan, heat 1 tbsp vegetable oil and cook char siu lightly. Use cooking torch to sear the pork, if you like grilled taste:)
4. _ assemble rice bowl_
Serve steamed rice in a serving bowl and place char siu over the rice. Top with leek and egg. Then pour the sauce, mayonnaise (optional) and sesame (optional).

August 12, 2020

Milky Tonkotsu Udon with Soy Milk

Milky Tonkosu Udon with Soy Milk

Persons

Prep Time

40 minutes

Cook Time

30 minutes

Total Time

1 hour, 10 minutes

Ingredients

2 tbsp sesame oil
2 garlic cloves - finely chopped
20g fresh ginger - thinly julienne
1L water
1L soy milk
500g Pork shoulder (or pork belly) - thinly sliced
2 tbsp white sesame

For the seasoning :

2 tbsp soy sauce
2 tbsp mirin
3 tbsp chicken bouillon powder or weipa
1 tsp sugar
1 tbsp oyster sauce
1 tsp kosher salt
1 tbsp sriracha
Udon noodles for 5 people

Instructions

1. In a large cooking pot, heat 2 tbsp sesame oil and cook garlic, ginger and sesame until fragrant. Add pork and stir-fry until the meat is no longer pink.
2. Pour the water (1L), and add all the seasoning ingredients, soy milk (1L). Bring it to almost boil and set aside.
3. Boil the udon noodles according to the package directions, drain them very well and transfer into a milky bouillon which you have made (step 2). Bring it to a boil and simmer for a few minutes. Divide the udon and soup into serving bowls.
Enjoy!

August 4, 2020

Nutella cream cheese cake

Serving Size

18cm whole cake

Ingredients

For the base cookie crumb :

50g plain flour/cake flour (T45)
12g almond powder
50g sugar
2 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
dash of salt
45g unsalted butter

For the nutella cream layer :

100ml heavy cream
1/2 tbsp white sugar
110g mascarpone cheese
5g gelatin sheet
150g nutella paste

For the topping :

2 tbsp your favorite nuts ( I used Praline here) - crushed

Instructions

1. Line the bottom of a 18 cm circle cake pan (removable bottom) with parchment paper.
2. Process flour, almond powder, sugar, salt and cocoa powder in a food processor for a few seconds and then add butter. Process until mixture becomes crumbly : do not process too much as the dough should be crumbly.
3. Spread the crumbs onto the baking sheet and bake for about 25 mins at 160℃. Remove from the oven. While the crumbs is hot, press them into the bottom, using a spatula. Set the cake pan aside.
4. In a bowl, add the heavy cream and whip to soft peak, set aside.
5. In an another bowl, add mascarpone and sugar. Mix well until soft. Add nutella and mix together well.
6. Soak gelatin sheet in water for a few minutes, then remove from the water and put in a microwave-safe cup. Microwave for about 15 sec at 600W. Melt it completely and pour over the mascarpone mixture (step 5). Mix well.
7. Add whipped cream (step 4) and mix gently with a spatula.
8. Pour the cream mixture into the cake pan. Flat the top of cake and sprinkle crushed nuts over the cake. Chill it until it has set.

August 1, 2020

Juicy Japanese Gyoza

Persons

Prep Time

45 minutes

Cook Time

30 minutes

Total Time

1 hour, 15 minutes

Ingredients

400g cabbage - finely chopped (washed and drain)
1 tsp fine salt

Ingredient A

300g ground pork
50g lard
2 tsp ground fresh ginger
3 garlic cloves - grated
80ml water
1 1/2 tsp chicken bouillon powder
1 tbsp oyster sauce
1 tbsp sesame oil or negi (leek) oil
1 tsp white sugar
2 tbsp katakuriko/potato starch
1 tsp onion flakes (optional)

For the dipping sauce :

2 tbsp soy sauce
2 tbsp rice vinegar or apple cider vinegar
1 tbsp sesame oil
gyoza wrapper as much as you need

Instructions

1. In a bowl add cabbage and 1 tsp salt, let sit for about 15 minutes. Set aside.
2. In a bowl, add all the ingredient A and cabbage (drained well from #1) and knead the mixture with hand until it becomes pale in color and sticky.
3. Place a gyoza wrapper on a cooking board. Use a teaspoon to take a small amount of filling and put it in the center of the wrapper. Wet the edge of wrapper with fingertip. Make pleats on one side, then fold over and seal to close. Continue with the rest of the gyoza wrappers until you used all filling.
4. Heat 2 tbsp vegetable oil in a large frying pan over medium to high heat. Remove from the heat once to place gyoza, and cook them until golden brown and crispy on the bottom.
5. Pour boiled water (about 100ml), cover pan with the lid and let it steam over medium heat until all water evaporates. Repeat with the remaining gyoza.
6. For the dipping sauce, mix all the ingredient in a small bowl.
7. Place a plate on top of gyoza. Flip the pan upside down. Cook the remaining gyoza.
8. Serve with dipping sauce.