fatmanyash

all of us at some point of time must have eaten or at least seen what steamed chinese buns or pao look like . this like most of the other recipes demystifies and makes it simple. the recipe given here will make about 50 good sized steamed buns. you can reduce quantities to half or a quarter without any problems

• flour- 1 kg
• warm water- 600 ml
• Sugar-25 gms
• Salt- 20 gms
• Active dry yeast- 25 gms
• vegetable oil- 25 ml
• sesame oil- 10 ml

Filling – of your choice — we will do an assortment of fillings in another post.

Method

1. add yeast , sugar, salt, and flour to the warm water and knead well.
2. Add in salt and oil and knead until you form a semi soft dough.
3. now leave dough covered with gladwrap/ clingwrap / or clean moist towel in a warm area to prove and double in size. this can take upto 45 minutes depending on how warm or cold the area is.
4. then knock  back or knead the dough again and divide into about 20 gm balls the size of a table tennis ball.
5. if you are using a bamboo steamer, then cut out round grease paper the size of the basket and spray with non stick spray/ or lightly brush with oil.
6. arrange the balls on the rounds after placing the paper in the baskets. do not put them too close to each other otherwise they will stick.
7. let them start to proof again. when nearly double in size, heat water in a pot or wok , on which these baskets fit.
8. when water is boiling put the basket on top and cover with its lid. it should take about 15-18 minutes of steaming to get them done.
9. lightly brush with sesame oil and serve to soak up sauce from a nice hot pot or anything for that matter.
10. these can be filled as well , traditionally with chinese twice cooked pork/ char siew pork or with chicken or a nice veggie filling. its really upto you what you want to put inside.
11. share with friends and enjoy steaming hot, not so good to let them get cold .

We discovered or rather i had already discovered (when i walked 8-10 kms per day)on a small street , parallel to karangahape road,/k road, an artisan coffee blender and roaster.

Craig Miller has been doing this for 24 years and seen his ilk rise from 10 to about a 100 throughout Nz. they make an amazing blend of coffee beans from Papua  New guinea,Colombia, and Kenya and the roast and the blend has remained unchanged since theyve started.

Since Craig wants to remain faithful to the Italian traditon of the espresso and cappucino, they use a standard sized cup for espresso and the cappucino. theres a small sign which says, no grande , no trim.( which we liked a lot, oh yes their coffees very good as well).

He was also generous enough to allow a huge number of studnets whom we are teaching to come in have a look at the roasting process, and taste the coffee. For that alone and the passion which we has, and we hope to instil in some of our students, we say”thank you Craig”.

To get to Millers coffee, which is open only from 730 until 1230 Monday to Friday- you can go via Upper queen street towards the bridge leading to New North road, and after crossing K Rd, turn right onto Cross street. the smell of fresly roasting coffee beans should hilt you soon enough. Enjoy.

this is the one served with ouzi or the arabic styled roasted lamb.its really aromatic and flavourful.

you will need

1. lamb mince- 200 gms
2. onion chopped- 1 no / 150 gms
3. garlic- 2-3 cloves chopped
4. bayleaf-1 no
5. baharat powder- 1/2 teaspoon ( you can make this one at home and use for shawarma etc, needs cinnamon, cloves, some green cardamom  and some pepper, quite strong on the cloves)
6. cinnamon powder as well again -1//4 tsp
7. black pepper powder-1/4 tsp
8. Gum arabic/ gundar/ gond- 1/2 tsp- pounded with some rock salt to a fine powder
9. Basmati rice- 250 gms soaked in cold water and washed well.
10. Saffron strands- 8-10
11. oil+Butter mix-25 ml

Process

• heat oil and add onions and garlic, lightly brown and then add the mince, which has to be really well browned and caramelised.
• then add the spice powders and stir fry even more. add bayleaf and the rice and continue to stir fry till the rice is well coated with the mince and the oil . that will make the rice grains quite separate and nice when the mix has cooked.add in the gum arabic powder.
• Add in enough hot stock or water (you can add some chicken stock powder to cheat) to cover the rice and a little more still.
• Top with the saffron which you must have soaked in a little water.(what you dint know that?.Then get out of here).
• cover with a lid for about 15 minutes on a low heat .
• Serve with roasted lamb as an accompaniment.you can top the rice with almonds, cashew, pistachio ..

Heres one which i learnt from vikram bindras dad.for this we made a kind of thick mackerel chutney or spread which was great as a canape topping.

1. canned mackerel  in tomato sauce- drained 1 can
2. red onion chopped- 50 gms
3. green chilli chopped- 1-2 no  depending on how hot you want it to be
4. fresh coriander sprigs- 1-2 chopped.
5. lemon /lime juice- enough to give it that kick.

thats all thats required. really you could whizz it in a chopper/moulinex or mix well together with a fork. spread on top of crackers and serve.

this recipe has been influenced quite a bit by the quintessential indian frozen ice cream kulfi and uses the worlds most expensive spice saffron for flavoring and coloring.

Saffron if you dint know comes form the crocusplant, and is the stigma  of the purple flower which grows on the plant. because its so tiny and delicate it has to be handpicked and since you only get 3 per flower, so pushed the prices ridiculously high. but nothing compares to the aroma and color that you can get from using really good saffron. you get some very good saffrom from iran, the worlds largest producer and the best quality saffron to look for is called sargol, which is the all red part of the stigma, with maximum color and aroma.

anyway after all that info, lets get down to business.

creme anglaise/ english custard

250 ml milk or half milk and half cream like we did

4 egg yolks

120 gm sugar

7-8 strands of saffron / more is not good, can get bitter and too much toxic(really).

100 gms of crushed pistachio nuts lightly toasted

combine the egg yolks with the sugar. warm the milk and add it to the egg and sugar mix. mix in well, but dont whisk it too much, otherwise it gets to foamy and then its difficult to see whether it has been cooked to the right degree.strain to get rid of any shell fragments and get a smoother texture.

put on a very very very low heat. if in doubt, then use a double boiler. cook till the mixture starts to thicken .at this stage you could add in the saffron just as it is or lightly toasted(10seconds in the microwave). take it off the fire, when it has thickened enought o coat the back of spoon with. cool down and either churn in the ice cream machine or put in the freezer and take out every half hour or so and give it a good whisking then . when its half set add int he pistachio and freeze. use with abandon !!!

now for mr richard doolan, who was whinign about not enough, new posts on food and cooking, heres somethign which i made the day before  .

chick peas dry- soak overnight with a pinch of baking soda- 200 gms

fresh prsley- few sprigs

fresh peeled garlic cloves – 4 nos.

lemon juce- from 1 lemon

salt – to taste

white onion peeled- 1 no

sesame seeds- about 2 tsp/10 gms

now drain the chickpeas, and grind to a semi smooth paste, without any water, but with the onion, parsley, and the garlic. trust me, thats enough liquid to get it all smooth. add in the lemon juice, the sesame seeds and season with salt.

form into about 20 gm patties and deep fry till browned and cooekd through.

serve with tahina sauce (tahina thinned down with some natural yoghurt ).

good as a snack or in a bun as vege filling.

for the uninitiated this is the south indian version of a crepe which is bloody delicious.its made from a fermented batter comprising rice and split and de husked black lentils, which have an off white centre which is called urad dal in Hindi.it was a long standing thing, for me to have made some for my freind Gerad Mouille who was owner /operator of La bastille, one of my favourite french restaurants in Trinidad, so this one is for M.Mouille.Good with some nice Riseling /

now the method.

• 1 part by volume of urad dal
• 3 to 4 parts by volume of cheapest rice. since you are going to be grinding it to a paste, you dont need specifically some extra speacial one.
• 1-2 gms of fenugreek seeds-called methi in Hindi.
• 15-20 gms of split peas/chana dal
• Salt and sugar to taste

Soak every thing together , execpt the seasoning ingredients for about half an hour. gridnd to a coarse paste, add salt and sugar and leave overnight to ferment and rise naturally.

How to cook them is another thing altogether and needs much practise. the idea is to spread the batter thin over a cast iron/ cast aluminium griddle plate  called a tawa  and cook it on one side only really. there are many important factors, the batter should be the right consistency , the griddle plate the right temperature.and should start to separate from the griddle really before you sprinkle a few drops of oil or butter or ghee and can  be eaten with coconut chutney or tomato chutney or sambar , which are a few different lessons altogether.

For practical lessons pls contact me !!

for the pastry shell we will use a 1-2-3 dough really that simple

1. 100 gms sugar
2. 200 gms butter
3. 300 gms flour

rub the butter and sugar with the flour till the butter mix is blended in with the flour. its called rubbing in , and helps to achieve the short crumbly texture that we want for a tart/pie or cookie dough. add in 1 egg and combine lightly to just form a dough. rest in the chiller for 30 minutes.

part 2

make a strawberry compote / jam with fresh, frozen strawberries and sugar about 500g berries and 200 sugar till really thick. belnd it all together and cook over a low heat. thats to get a really concentrated flavor. if you are short of time then get a really good jam with high concentrate of fruits

1. eggs-2 whole
2. sugar- 50 gms
3. white wine 50 ml

cook over a double boiler whisking till really light and frothy and thick . the white wine will add lots of flavor, plus volume. then add in 10 gms of gelatine powder, which you will have soaked in about 10 ml of cold water beforehand(i hadnt mentioned it earlier, but now i have).oh also nuke the gelatine in the microwave for aboout 10 seconds and mix it in the egg mix.

Add in about 150 gms of the strawberry compote /jam.

now whip about 200 ml of cream till thick and light , soft peaks . no sugar in this , because our strawberry already has some so do the eggs.  by the time the cream is whipped , the egg mix will have cooled down sufficiently to fold it in. voila here is the strawberry mousse mix.

oh and we go back to our 123 dough. roll it out and line a sprigform pie/tart mold with it. there is enough for that and with the scraps you can make easy cookies.

bake at 175 C /350 F for about 20 minutes . dock the pastry so that it does not rise. cool down.  melt some white chocolate and brush the inside of the tart/pie shell with the melted white chocolate. this will prevent it from going too soggy when the mousse mix goes in.

pour in the mousse mix in the pie/tart shell. and chill for about an hour .

slice and decorate with plenty of strawberries. for the final piece of work you can glaze it with some strawberry jam thined down with orange juice and melted  in the microwave. brush it over the sliced strawberry topping and we are ready to rock after 2 good hrs of some work , but hey, this is not fast food . this is slow and decadent.

• Feijoas- 500 gms- you will need to scoop out the flesh from inside them.
• sugar-50 gms

first part- scoop out the pulp from the feijoas-for the people not from nz, its similar to a guava and the aroma s incredible. then cook these on low heat with the sugar till really nice and soft and pulpy.blend to a puree. it will have crunchy bits from the seeds in it. dont strain these out.these add to the nice crunchy texture in the middle of some creamy goodness

next do the same thing with red/pink guavas but strain the seeds out cos they are a whole lot bigger.

NOW

• 2 eggs whole
• 50 gms grain sugar+30-40 depending on how sweet your feijoa mix was.
• 10 gm gelatine soaked in abt 20 ml of water
• 250 ml cream.

Method

1. whisk the eggs and 50 gm sugar over a double boiler until really frothy and thick and light. melt the gelatine in a microwave (10 seconds max and add it in)
2. taste your feijoa puree to see how sweet it is.should be fairly sweet but not cloyingly so.add into your egg mix.
3. whisk the cream and keep chilled.
4. when the feijoa , egg mix is cooled down , fold in the whipped cream, set in glass bowls or wine glasses or whatever you want it in really.when thats done put in a little bit of the guava inside and swirl it around using a wooden skewer.
5. set in the chiller and enjoy with some brown brother orange flora and muscat or if you feeling rich some sweet sauternes.CHILLED.

heres a really nice crab cake recipe , but you have to be using real crab meat.Doesnt matter if its frozen , but not that awful stuff called crab sticks they have about 1% crabmeat and flavour and is cheap and nasty.

• crabmeat- 250 gms / canned or frozen claw meat( lump is nice but thats for eating in salads and stuff for cooking claw meat is more economic and makes more sense to use.
• mayonnaise- 25 gms +50 gms  the 1st bit gets mixed in and the remainders for the dipping sauce
• breadcrumbs- 100 gms
• egg- 1 nos
• salt and pepper – to taste
• chopped red onion- 50 gms
• garlic- 2cloves chopped
• parsley- small sprig
• thyme
• oil to shallow fry
• chipotle chillies- 1/4 of dry chilli/can use the canned ones too.

method

1. heat about 10 gms of oil and lightly saute the onion garlic thyme and crabmeat.cool down
2. add mayonnaise, egg, bread , seasoning and shape into 30 gm flat round cakes
3. heat oil and shallow fry on both sides till crisp
4. for the sauce, whizz chipotle chillies with mayonnaise add some lime juice and zest.