Mantou Recipe

Here it is :) - Yummy Milk Mantou

For an image of the Mantou, please click above link.

1 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup hong kong pau flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon yeast
a pinch of salt
1 1/2 tablespoon sugar
1/2 cup milk

Method

Mix first 6 ingredients together.
Add in milk and knead into a dough, till it is smooth. (about 5 to 10 minutes)
Cover and rest for about 1 hour (or until it doubles in volume).
Deflate the dough and divide into 2 portion.
Let rest for 10minutes.

Roll out the dough into a rectangle shape.
Roll it up into a swissroll shape.
Cut into 5 to 6 pieces and place on parchment paper.
Rest for 30 minutes, covered.

Repeat above for the second portion.

Place mantou in steamer and start steaming from cold water with medium heat. Once water starts to boil, turn down to low medium heat and steam for 5 fo 7 minutes. (timing may vary depending on heat applied).

Once done, remove from steamer and ensure water does not drip onto the mantou..

Enjoy!

CCA vs ECCA

CCA is highly encouraged in N's school. Considering that all CCA (FOC) are conducted during school days which will be a toll on little N, stretching herself over almost one full day, I thought I would just pay an external coach for an ECCA on a Saturday instead. This way, Nic would get to train and learn a sport without having me to worry about her getting lunch (yucky lunch that is) in school and going through the rest of the day in a worn out body.

Quite a number of parents share the same sentiment and hence we have enough crowd to engage the coach. Apparently, she was a medal winner at one of the past Olympics! To be fair, I do see the difference in techniques taught to the children. Well, it is a price worth paying for, I suppose.

While Nic trains, I would do my weekly grocery shopping and L would have breakfast at his favourite coffee shop. Thereafter, we would watch Nic play at the training venue. I would also pack her favourite home made steamed pumpkin cake as her snack. She would come over for a quick bite as and when, just to replenish her energy. Soon, 2 hours would be up and we would head home for a cool shower. Nic would be all rosy and sticky at the end of the training. She is simply lovely wearing those rosy cheeks. :)

Dong Bo Rou & Mantou

Something I had never thought of making but I did eventually, just to see how good it can be. Gosh! It was absolutely superb though it meant 20 laps in the pool to counter the "sinfulness". Together with this, I also made some mantou - plain and with red bean paste - all home made at "Mummy's Bakery"!

We kept the red bean mantou for the following day's breakfast. They just needed a quick steam in order to restore their cottony texture. The kids also packed some to school as their snacks.

A slice of Dong Bo pork in a piece of steaming hot mantou was heavenly! Even N had 2 big servings of mantou sanwiched with 2 slices of fatty meat! Under normal circumstances, she is almost a vegetarian! - She doesnt fancy meat.

Swimming carnival

My little angelfish once again made us proud parents!

She waited anxiously to receive her silver medal. She won a silver medal for her school P1 swimming carnival! It was a close match. She was merely a split second away from the gold medal holder! To be exact, 10 miliseconds! We were happy with the results, nonetheless. Everyone was cheering for her when her turn came. A couple of teachers even commented

"Look! Look at how cute she is in her 2 piece!"

Truthfully, she received minimal formal training prior to the competition. When I informed her swimming coach of the event 2 weeks before the carnival, the reaction received from the coach was " in 2 weeks's time? For a competition, you need at least 3 months to train. All I can do is to correct her strokes, if any, that is about all I can do in 2 lessons. "

Oops! This mummy obviously was not a swimmer for any competition. I thought 2 lessons would be good enough for a brief training! LOL! Poor Nicole just went ahead with whatever she was equipped with in 2 lessons!

You did a fabulous job, sweetheart!

Oh, by the way, I met Nic's teacher at the carnival and she affirmed that Nic is indeed doing a good job as the class monitor and hence her "re-election". :)

CNY bakings

My CNY baking collectively.

I was so glad that my cousins came for a visit during CNY. They literally gobbled down more than half of the cookies I baked. I presented them with seven 3/4 filled cookie jars and they left me with two 1/2 jars! Clearly, the popular ones were gone before I could snap some pictures of them :)

Sesame jam cookies
Cashnut cookies
Butter cookies
Walnut cookies
Almond cookies
Pineapple tarts
Chocolate cookies

The pineapple tart fillings didnt look good as the fresh pineapples were not well chopped into fine pieces prior to cooking. Will not do a short cut in chopping next time :).

Double celebration!

Sara and Sofia were over at our place for CNY as well as their birthday celebration. They were so looking forward to their cakes which I promised to bake for them. The day before, I was really thinking very hard - a) to present them with a finished piece of work and risk losing my only 2 loyal customers or b) to let them decide on the theme of their cakes?

The latter prevailed.

They had such fun time decorating their cakes. They placed one blueberry on the cake, and they popped one into their mouth; one pearl on the cake, one pearl in the mouth. This was the end product - proudly decorated by the cake owners.... da...da...

Everything served was prepared by "Mummy's Bakery"- Nicole's acknowledgement of my newly acquired skills.

Menu :

Chocolate cupcakes
Lemon cupakes
Chocolate frosted heart shaped cakes
Lemon cream heart shaped cakes
Butter cookies
Cashew nut cookies
Fresh from oven - pineapple tarts

Salmon and prawn pasta baked in cheddar and Mozarella cheese
Steamed Chinese Pumpkin Cake garnished with home grown spring onions
Fried Bee Hoon, garnished with eggs

Drinks

It was a cosy gathering just for a couple of my friends. Nic hosted the pair of twins well, leaving poor E hanging around the adults, seeking attention.

We caught up on everything and anything. I absolutely enjoyed the company.

Self praise

Nic was exceptionally bubbly. She couldnt wait to broadcast the good news.

N " Mummy! My teacher said I will be the class monitor for one whole year!"
Me " Huh? You said she would rotate the role every semester?"
N " No, she changed her mind. May be I am doing a good job"

hahaha....self praise is no praise...

Yogurt cheese bread

How do you like this yogurt cheese bread? They were so good that all were gone within 10 minutes of their birth! My biggest reward is when the kids gobble down the nutritional home baked bread - a great sense of satisfaction on my part!

I still recall, when I first started baking some 5 months back, L made a casual remark " Oh, I see that my PUB bill is going up every month at the rate you are torturing the poor oven!"

Now, after the intial phase of experiments, he is reaping the rewards too. Almost every night, at about 9pm, the aroma of baking breads/cakes/buns/cookies would bring him down to the kitchen and his usual lines would be " I am hungry. Is the bread ready?" or "What are you baking today? Is it ready? I am starving". OR, he would text me if he is on a conference call, requesting that I deliver his share to him upstairs......

Roast Pork Recipe

I received some enquiries for the recipe of the roast pork. Here it is, try it!

A piece of 3 layer meat (say 700g+-)
Wash and pat dry with kitchen towel
Poke the skin with a sharp knife, as many times as you can (critical step)
Rub the skin with coarse salt

Rub the meat with :
1 to 2 teaspoons of fine salt and a pinch of five spice powder (more if you like a stronger taste)

1 teaspoon of light soya sauce

2 tablespoon of Chinese wine (I use rice wine)
2 teaspoon of sugar
1 teaspoon of pepper

Keep the meat (skin up) in the fridge uncovered, overnight. (to dry up the skin)
Take meat out from fridge and leave it for 15 to 20 min.
Pre heat oven to 200C
Place meat (skin up) on the rack with the oven tray at the bottom (to collect the dripping oil)
Bake for 20min and turn off lower heating element.

Brush the skin with some vinegar ( i use apple cider)
You may need to adjust the position of the meat a couple of times as most ovens have hot spots.
Continue to bake till the skin turns brown as shown in the picture. A little charred is ok. It means that the meat is thoroughly cooked. Scrape the burnt skin away with a knife.

Your home roasted "siew yoke" will be out in no time....so crispy and juicy!

Let me know how it turns out for you. ok? Enjoy!

Roast pork

Presenting.........the sinful but flavourful Chinese roast pork!

Crispy and juicy - fresh from the oven...

Even N is a fan...she would attack the crispy skin, leaving behind the chunk of meat. Guess who would eat all the remnants?

Peach Cotton Cake

I baked this heart shape peach cotton cake for my friend's birthday. It was surprisingly soft and cottony! Hmm....I will bake it again for sure.

Little Chef

Nic attended a fun kiddo baking class over the weekend. I simply love her "chef" look, - so prim and proper. Needless to mention, she brought home cookies which were deemed overly sweet by my standards :) ha

"Disney Garden"

My little boy built this purely from his memory of Disneyland - Buzz ride to be exact. He called it the Disney Garden. I was absolutely impressed by his work. He was so proud of his own creation too. The moment I stepped into the house, he ran towards me, bringing me to his Disney Garden. He couldn't wait to showcase his work to me!

I praised him repeatedly and he was beaming with joy and pride! My clever little boy!