Pan-fried Pork Buns (Shengjian Bao 生煎包)

Wondering if these are steamed buns, not pan-fried buns? They are pan-fried buns (also known as shengjianbao 生煎包). Not joking, it’s real.

Back then when I was up to make these buns and planned to post the recipe on my Chinese food blog, just in time I remembered that some fans had asked me how to wrap and pleat a bun. So I took a video while I did the pleating of a bun. Then I cooked the buns in a frying pan instead of a steamer.

The shengjianbao I tried before in a shanghainese restaurant were round and flat without any pleatings, that looked quite different from mine posted here. Since then, I’ve seen more and more of these pleated buns being served in restaurants. The buns are lined up in a nice and hot oily pan and cooked until the bottoms are very crispy. You might also like to sprinkle some finely chopped spring onions and white sesame seeds on top for garnish. That will make your buns look more attractive.

The texture of these buns is soft and fluffy with a crispy bottom. I like to dip them in some soy sauce with black rice vinegar, whereas my husband likes to have them with extra chilli sauce. Whichever sauce you try, it won’t let you down. The buns taste very delicious on their own though.

Malaysian Curry Chicken (Quick Version)

Whenever I need a quick, simple and delicious meal, Malaysian curry will come up in my mind, one of my most favourite dishes. To myself, what is the most intriguing part is the fragrant coconut cream or coconut milk that’s often added to enrich the flavour. The heat of the curry can be mild to strong. When it comes to making this curry dish, I just love popping in all the vegetables I got left in my fridge. It perfectly goes with steamed Jasmine rice. Yes, we are big fans of rice. Or you might like to follow the Malaysian tradition to add noodles instead of rice. This curry sauce is very delicious and won’t go wrong with any kinds of vegetables and meat.

Baked Red Bean Coconut Cake (Chinese New Year)

During the busy Chinese New Year’s celebration week, we have lots of different cakes (gao 糕). Yes, we can’t celebrate without all the traditional cakes, radish cake, taro cake (aka yum cake), sticky rice cake and water chestnut cake. Except all these must-have cakes, I pretty like this baked coconut cake. By adding some home-made red beans, just cooked to near-but-not-yet breaking apart level of keeping their whole shapes, the cake turned out perfectly for my family. The texture of the coconut cake is a bit chewy, yet soft and smooth enough for easily digesting. I especially love the crispy edges. This coconut cake is best served warm or hot out of the oven. Having said that, any leftovers can be stored in fridge for a few days in an air-tight container. Simply reheat it in a low temperature oven for 10 minutes or so. It tastes equally good. I served the reheated cake for my daughter the other day as a treat, garnished with ice-cream and fruit salad. Got thumbs up !