Category Archives: Cooking Asian

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!!

 

Cooking Asian, Cooking international

Bao buns

With basil and thai basil
Filled bao

I first ate a bao while a trainee at the Krishna Oberoi in Hyderabad but it was only when we started transitting through Singapore I saw and tasted so many variations on these and said to myself , why can’t I make it..so I learned and practised till I got it right.

 

These could be stuffed with roast pork to make what’s called Char Siew bao ( pronounced Cha Shao bao).But I like them with meat and vegetables separate

  • Flour – 250 gms
  • active dry yeast- 2 gms
  • baking powder- 2gms
  • sugar- 20 gms
  • milk powder- 25 gms
  • water -150 ml
  • sugar-20 gms
  • salt-5 gms
  • oil 25 ml
  • Sesame oil to brush .
  • Sieve flour.Add in all other dry ingredients.
  • add in flour and lightly mix with a fork and keep aside for 15 minutes covered with plastic wrap.
  • knead lightly and add in oil and knead again till smooth.
  • scale into 8 pieces and shape them into nice rounds and allow to rest again for about 10 mins.
  • Roll out to a 3 inch/ 6-7 cm circle then brush with sesame oil and fold over.
  • Allow to proof, thand then steam for 15 -18 minutes.

These are great even rolled out and pan fried or deep fried and go well with Indian styled Chick peas curry or Trinidadian Doubles, which is another post by itself.

Bao after steaming
  • Bao buns
  • With 5 spice chicken and veggies