Friday 5 August 2011

Savory Steamed Tofu with Unsweetened Soy Milk

Weekend is approaching and for those who is on leave next Monday, you will get to enjoy a long weekend due to Singapore National Day on Tuesday, 09 August 2011. So if you thinking of what to cook for the family during this weekend perhaps you could read up more on today's homemade "Savory Steamed Tofu with unsweetened Soy Milk", guest post by HL(Tigerfish), writer of "Teczcape - An Escape To Food" food blog and author of "The Everything Rice Cooker Cookbook". (sample of the recipes can be found HERE)

I love to read up HL's blog posts where she always shared quick and easy recipes which most of us could easily follow and whipped up a hearty meal within a short time frame. And most important she always try to create healthy dishes that are nutritious and healthy for her family. So now let's welcome HL and her homemade Savory Tofu dish.


Savory Steamed Tofu with Unsweetened Soy Milk



I have been following Cuisine Paradise by Ellena for some time. Ellena is one super creative cook, baker and food blogger; consistently churning out homey delicious recipes that inspire. It is indeed my privilege to guest post at her award-winning blog. Thank you for your kind invite, Ellena.

Savory steamed tofu pudding/savory steamed tofu custard is a dish that I have cooked many times because it is extremely easy to prepare (no more than 15 minutes including prep. and cooking time!), nutritious, and within minutes, a comforting flavorsome dish.

Additionally, it is a dish that easily encourages you to play up your creativity with flavors and textures. Go little extra miles each time e.g. extra umami by adding mushrooms and tomatoes, extra "soy" by adding (unsweetened) soy milk or extra flavor depth by adding miso.

Super easy to make, super delicious and super healthy too!

See that? They belong to the same world. A soy milk "bath" for tofu (soy beancurd): Savory Steamed Tofu with Unsweetened Soy Milk. Here are some details and tips to make your very own.

Savory Steamed Tofu in Unsweetened Soymilk
(1) Soy Milk "Bath: Add unsweetened soy milk to about half the brim of tofu (tofu already laid out and gently mashed in a serving bowl). More soymilk if you like - about 3/4 brim of the tofu. Of course, you can also substitute soy milk with water or any broth you like. Whole milk also works.

(2) Tofu: Use soft or silken for smooth velvety texture. If you have medium-firm tofu - you could gently mash it down further with a spoon or if you have both varieties on hand - use a mixture (half soft, silken + half medium-firm). Play with textures if you wish. It can be as smooth as silky as you want.

(3) Ingredients: Add diced tomatoes and fresh mushrooms (Note: beech/bunashimeiji mushrooms or any delicate-textured mushrooms work better as the entire dish would just be gently steamed and within that short time of 5-8 minutes of steaming, the mushrooms can be easily cooked through). You can also add sweet corn kernels, shelled edamame beans, or sweet green peas.


(4) Garnishes: Generously garnish with finely chopped cilantro, fried shallots and nori seaweed, add 2-3 drops of sesame oil and dashes of white pepper over the dish before steaming. All these garnishing add flavor, depth and aroma!

(5) Finishing Touches: Set wok to do steaming and turn down the heat to medium to reduce the boil for steaming. Steam for about 5 minutes. After steaming, just another 1-2 drops of sesame oil to bring out the aroma. Salt and more pepper to taste.

Enjoy, and create your own tomorrow!

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Once again, thanks HL(Tigerfish) for her wonderful guest post on this Savory Steamed Tofu With Unsweetened Soy Milk dish. For more recipes on HL's blog, you could refer to the link HERE.


Wednesday 3 August 2011

{Featured @ inSing.com} Happy Birthday Singapore - Part 2, "National Day Bento"

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This year 09 August 2011, Singapore will be celebrating her 46th Birthday together with all citizens of Singapore as well as spectators and National Day performers at the Marina Bay floating stage. But even if you can't get hold of any National Day Parade tickets, you can still join in the celebration with friends and family members to enjoy some special holiday buffet, shop around at flea market, viewing fireworks and etc to enjoy a fun-filled National Day. (more details HERE).

Here upon the request of my boy, I have made a National Day Bento for him which I used his favourite Chicken Rice to make a rice parcel that is wrapped using red and white egg sheets to resemble the National flag. The concept of this bento is made to represent the different races and food cultures in Singapore. Example:- Chicken Rice is a well-known Chinese cuisine whereas Putu Mayam is one of the old-times Indian breakfast treat. In this way, at least my boy get to know and try the different kinds of food eaten by the different races in Singapore. If you are interested you can also take a look at our National Day Icing Cookies done by WaiFong at this link HERE.

Lastly for more details and recipe of this National Day Bento, please refer to the article at inSing.com HERE.

Once again!!! We would like to wish everyone a Happy National Day and Happy Birthday Singapore!!!!


Monday 1 August 2011

Spooky Bento Featured @ inSing.com

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A few weeks back I was approached by Javan from inSing.com on whether I could do a bento base for their 7th Month, "Chinese Hungry Ghost Festival" theme. Upon reading his email I was actually stunned for a few minutes and I even "text" a few friends for their opinions and most of us feel this is quite a sensitive month and topic to handle.

So after much considerations and drafting we decided to settle with something more kid's friendly that resemble "Halloween" theme just for some fun and spooky chill on this Chinese 7th month. But before this, initially I have a few design such as using charcoal bread/squid ink pasta to form a black coffin or well with "pool" of tomato pasta sauce to create a bloody effect with accompany ghostly images or broken hands and etc. And Javan even suggest that whether I could do a "paper talisman" sort of design but I find it rather "Spooky" to use for bento especially in this Hungry Ghost Month.

For more details and recipe please refer to the article at inSing.com HERE.


Cheese And Mayo Bun

I have being following "Maameemoomoo, a 1/2 food blog" since 2010 because I was attracted to Sherie's mouthwatering dishes and bakes. I still remembered vividly it was her Grilled Saba Fish and Black Sticky Rice, 3 ways which makes me among one of her die-heart readers. And furthermore, she had again captured our hearts earlier this year with our all-time favourite "Orh Nee" that she fusion into a wonderful "Orh Nee Cheesecake " which was featured in The Straits Times.

Today I am so happy to invite Sherie to guest post one of her family's all-time favourite "Cheese And Mayo Bun" recipe for us. I am sure with this quick and easy recipe we can all enjoy learning baking homemade bread in no time. Although this recipe is made using bread machine to knead and proof the dough, but no worries you can still make this bread by reading the tips shared by Sherie HERE on "How to make bread without bread machine".


CHEESE AND MAYO BUN



Bread is a daily staple in my household.

These days, i don't do 3 loaves anymore. Apart from experimenting with multigrain breads, one of my weekly must-bake would be Cheese & Mayo Bun. Everyone loves it to bits and pieces. From baby to old man (u-know-who), from me to the helper, we simply cannot resist this irresistible bun, especially now with the water roux method... Darcy is so ditching his favourite bakery. Heee!

When i was approached by the talented Ellena of Cuisine Paradise to guest post for her, i knew she would request a post on bread from me. Grin. Why? Because Ellena loves bread and buns! According to the ever so creative lady, it seems that bread doesn't like her all that much. Hence, she has never quite succeeded in making them. But you know what? Methinks that isn't at all true, because if you know Ellena, you will know that it's rather difficult not to like this oh so sweet lady! *wink*


To be honest, i didn't just thought of the toppings for this bun myself. I made this purely because of Darcy who fancies certain bakery's cheese and mayo bun. If not for Darcy, i wouldn't have thought of marrying the cheese with mayonnaise myself due to its not-so-ideal-for-the-waistline-ingredients.

But whaddaya know.... we are all now addicted to it.

Screw the not-so-idea-for-the-waistline-ingredients! HAHA!

Ingredients: (makes 8 buns)
125ml milk
56g egg
50g caster sugar
5g salt
30g butter
120g tangzhong
350g bread flour
7g milk powder
6g instant yeast

For the topping
grated cheddar cheese
mayonnaise

Method:
1. Place all ingredients in the pan of the bread machine (according to the sequence as stated in the instruction manual of your bread machine). Select the Dough function of the bread machine and press start.

2. Once the machine beeps (after 1 and half hour + 1 proofing), remove dough and give a few light kneading on a lightly floured work surface. Press out the trapped air as your knead before proceeding to chaffing and letting the dough rest for 5mins.

3. Divide dough into 8 pieces.

4. From the 8 pieces, further divide each dough into 3 pieces. Then roll each pieces to 15 cm long rope.

5. Place the rope side by side and start plaiting.

6. Continue to plait until you reach the end. Place the ends together and tuck them neatly under the bottom of the plait. Repeat for the remaining 7 pieces.

7. Place the completed plaits onto baking sheet that has been floured. Let doughs proof for 45 minutes or until double in size.

8. Squeeze or spread ample mayonnaise on the each of the bread doughs before topping them generously with grated cheddar cheese.


9. Bake at the preheated oven at 175c for 10 minutes until the bread is browned. Remove immediately.

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Warning : Never bake this when you have little children or adults or .. wait, hmm.. actually, the word anyone would be more befitting *grin*, so yeah, never bake this when there's anyone around because the buns will fly off the cooling rack in a blink of an eye, unless that is your intention in the first place! :D


Once again, thanks Sherie for her wonderful post. And I think after this I shall not have any excuse on not trying to start my bread baking session :p Cross fingers and hope I could bake something decent from her recipe. For more bread recipes on Sherie's blog, you can refer to the list HERE.


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