Pineapple Buns (For Pig Pig’s Corner)

I seldom write guest posts for blogs. Here’s another one after submitting my first one, a cheater version of Crème Brulee for Lifehack.org. It’s my childhood snack, pineapple bun (Bo Luo Bao 菠蘿包) in Hong Kong. I used to have pineapple buns for breakfasts and afternoon teas. I miss those soft, sweet buns with crisp topping very much. Without Ann’s invitation, I wouldn’t have thought of or attempted to bake some pineapple buns with tangzhong at home. My recipe was inspired by a recipe from the owner of a Hong Kong café that makes and sells hundreds and hundreds of pineapple buns everyday.

Pineapple Roll Tarts for Chinese New Year

Pineapple roll tarts (aka pineapple cookies, or pineapple tarts) are considered as festive cookies, usually consumed during the Chinese New Year season, popular in Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Taiwan (Note: Taiwanese have their own pineapple cookies in rectangular shape), classified as of Nyonya food. Chinese like to have these cookies during Chinese New Year season because of the auspicious name, signifying success and prosperity, so they become as nearly must-served treats. The melt-in-mouth pastry outside is very addictive, with tasty pineapple jam wrapped inside. You can’t stop eating once you start to bite the first one.

I’m so glad that one of my fans, Chooi Mei Lok submitted her creation on my Chinese fan page, that instantly attracted lots of responses. Thanks to Chooi so much for her generous sharing on both of my blogs. Please welcome Chooi. Here comes her recipe below.

How To Wrap a Chinese Bun (Video)

My family can’t live a day without bread. Except I have been addicted to making tangzhong breads for my family, recently I make more Chinese steamed buns as they can be kept in freezer for two weeks or so. Whenever I need them, just grab a few of them straight from the freezer and pop them in the wok to steam or pan fry, then enjoy fresh and hot buns after ten minutes or so.

After posting the pork bun recipe, I was asked by my fans on how to pleat Chinese buns. Last week, when I made some buns again, I took a short video when I pinched a Chinese bun. No tricks at all. It’s very simple, just needs some practice and you’d find great satisfaction in the process of pleating buns. Practice makes things perfect. A side note, I’m just an amateur and start learning how to take videos for blogging. Please pardon me that the video looks a bit dark. Yet, the whole process of how to go about pinching a bun is shown clearly. Hope you all find it helpful and like it.

Luke Nguyen's Crisp Tofu in Tomato Pepper Sauce

It seems that I was born with an interest in having fried tofu with tomato, yet only realized this not long ago.

Last week, as usual I watched Luke Nguyen’s Vietnam Season 2 on SBS. A side note, Luke Nguyen’s latest released cookbook "The Songs of Sapa" was crowned amongst one of the winners of 2010 Australian Food Media Awards. In the minute I finished watching the show, that he cooked the Crisp tofu in tomato-pepper sauce on a hill top in Vietnam, my urge inside to try his dish was immediately confirmed by my daughter’s suggestion, “Would you cook this, mum? It looks tasty.” This plain, simple question uttered from a meat lover said it all. Without a second thought, I jumped on the bandwagon. The two main ingredients, tofu and tomato are always sitting in my fridge, even when the nearby supermarkets were running short of food supplies during the floods hit our state. Everything is ready and this dish is simple and easy to prepare. The end result was satisfied, fresh with lots of flavour. The crisp tofu was so good in the balanced savoury, sour and sweet sauce.

Steamed Pork Buns (菜肉包)

This recipe of steamed buns comes late, a bit behind my original schedule. These pork buns were cooked last week and posted on my Chinese food blog a few days ago.

Over the past few days, south-east Queensland has experienced a very devastating flood, so called “inland tsunami”, similar to 1974 tragedy. The family was spared as we are not in the flood zone. Sadly, countless suburbs, the CBD of Brisbane and Ipswich are inundated, awaiting for clean up once the flood waters are clear. My mind was totally occupied by all those images and news about the flood through the media. It’s so sad to see many people lost their houses, their business, their property and even their loved ones. I’ve ever seen such a horrible flash flood since I moved to Australia. Hope I won’t see any again. My thoughts and hearts are out to all those affected in this traumatic flood.

The flood came so quickly, much quicker than anyone expected. So, be thankful and enjoy what you have right now. Even if it’s something as simple as eating a few buns, it's a bliss by itself. Speaking about the buns, they can be kept in freezer for up to two to three weeks once they are steamed and cooled down. I usually take one or two out form the freezer, needless to defrost, and quickly bring their softness and freshness back by steaming in a wok/steamer for breakfasts.

Dutch Pancakes (Poffertjes)

How frustrated it would be if you like eating something delicious and you have the exact recipe you want! A case in point, the Egg Waffle (雞蛋仔) is my most favourite street snack enjoyed from my childhood in Hong Kong. Although I’ve got the wonderful recipe, I can’t try it out simply because I don’t have the mould. Having said that, I can’t blame anything as life treats me good enough. On the boxing day, I came across this electric Dutch pancake pan offered at Kmart at a crazy price, 12 dollars for each. What a bargain! My hubby talked me into it and finally we grabbed one back home. How wonderful it was when tasting the first batch of homemade puffy Poffertjes (Dutch pancakes) coming out straight from the hot pan. If you don’t have the pan, don’t be frustrated. Unlike the Hong Kong egg waffles, you still can taste the goodies, by using the recipe to pan fry some if you’re craving. Make the pancakes as small as you can, the taste is still delicious.

Macaroni Soup with Ham (Hong Kong Style breakfast)

This macaroni soup plays an important part in the popular breakfast sets available at any traditional Hong Kong cafés. The cafes normally offer 3 to 4 different breakfast sets for their customers to choose from. It could be fried eggs with sausages and sandwiches, or scrambled eggs with toasts. Typically, one or two breakfast sets would include a macaroni and ham soup. It’s downright simple as well as comforting. I loved this macaroni soup because it associates with my childhood memories. In many chilling mornings, my father and I liked to have breakfasts together in a cozy, local café near our home. We chatted over breakfasts before we went apart. He went north to work, I went east to school. The macaroni soup was my favourite choice at that time, as it energized and warmed me up. I couldn’t have the exact macaroni soup with my father again, yet my heart still feels the warmth when sipping the soup.