Soon Kueh

From young, I have always love eating kuehs. Koo chai kueh, peng kueh, soon kueh, you name it, I love it. Is it due to my dialect influence? Not sure though, but I do know I grew up eating lots of kuehs.

Drizzle sweet black sauce (and some sambal chilli if you have them) over the steamed hot soon kueh and enjoy!

My grandmother used to make the kuehs for us all and we have them for breakfast. Later stage my Mum learned the skills of kueh making and then made them.  Somehow, this is like a passing baton. Now I make kuehs too.

I was lazy gathering all different flours (rice flour, sago flour etc) for these soon kuehs , and so I took the easy way out - get a pack of ready mix soon kueh flour!

Maiden attempt in making soon kuehs and it turned out not too bad. Hubby tried and enjoyed it. Mum feedbacked that filling would taste better with dried mushrooms added, otherwise all is okay being a first try.  Practice makes perfect and I'll definitely make them again because Hubby and I love eating soon kuehs!

Soon Kueh

Soon Kueh skin
I used Skytime brand Soon Kueh flour (400g a pack)
Reserving about 30g to 50g of Soon Kueh flour for dusting
 Add adequate amount of boiling water to mix flour together (using a spatula or a pair of chopstick). Knead dough till pliable and smooth. Divide dough into 32g portions and roll them into balls.

To wrap, flatten and roll out each 32g ball dough into circular skin of about 2mm thick. Spoon 1 tbsp of filling onto centre of soon kueh skin and bring centre of soon kueh skin together, then press both sides of skin to seal gaps. Set on light greased pan. Repeat the same till skin or filling is used up.  Allow about 1 inch of space in between each soon kueh.

Put steamer to boil.  Before setting soon kueh to steam, brush top of kueh with oil. Put to steam for 10min on medium high heat.

Drizzle soon kueh with sweet dark sauce and chilli and serve.

To store, allow steamed soon kueh to cool completely then place into airtight containers and refrigerate (you can line baking paper in between to prevent sticking). If you are not able to consume it within 3 days, freeze soon kueh and re-steam it when needed.


Soon Kueh Fillings
(Recipe by Mrs Leong Yee Soo of Everyday Favourites) - I doubled the amount for fillings

455g jicama (bangkuang)
3 tbsp oil
1 tbsp minced garlic (I used 10 garlic)
1 tbsp yellow bean paste (taucheo) (I kept to just 1 tbsp with the doubled filling portion)
1 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp MSG (Optional - I did not use this)
1/2 tsp salt
115ml water (I used the water from soaking dried shrimps, top up with tap water till the desired amount if not sufficient)
55g dried shrimps (rinsed, soaked, drained and roughly chopped)
170g prawn (Optional - I did not use this)
I added 1 tsp of pepper and 3 tbsp fried shallots to enhance the taste of the filling.


1. Peel and slice jicama into thin strips, immerse in water and drain.
2. Heat oil in a pan and fry garlic until light brown. Add yellow bean paste,sugar, MSG if using) and salt and fry for a moment.

3. Add the water, dried shrimps and prawns (if using) and bring to a boil.

4. Add the jicama, stir and cook over moderate heat until almost dry.  Stir in pepper and fried shallots till well mixed. Set aside to cool before use.

Espresso Choco Chip Mantou

Bad hazy periods like these have seriously affected me by quite abit. With an already not-too-good respiratory system, the nose just got worse with the ever increasing PSI. I cannot wait to get out of here for the fresh air man!!!

Now, bad weather not only cause me to have bad blocked nose, it has also dampened my mood to bake and cook! These steamed buns were a result of forced baking, but fortunately they still turned out well and fit for brekkie.

Wanna make them again when the weather and my mood gets better.

Espresso Choco Chip Mantou

5g Instant yeast
60g espresso, cooled (without sugar)
123g fresh milk
35g caster sugar
340g plain flour
5g butter (room temp)

3 tbsp unsweetened chocolate chips


1. Mix caster sugar with all of espresso and part of fresh milk to make 137g and stir well to dissolve sugar. Sprinkle instant yeast over remaining 46g of fresh milk and let it sit for about 2 minutes before stirring them to dissolve yeast. 
2. Sift plain flour. Place all dry ingredients into a mixing bowl, Pour in the wet ingredients and mix well to form a rough dough. Knead dough till smooth and shiny.
3. Place kneaded dough in mixing bowl and cover with clingwrap to let proof for 10 minutes.
3. Do a quick knead on the dough to remove the air then using a rolling pin, roll out dough to form an even rectangular shape with even thickness of 0.5cm and 70cm in length.
4. Trim off sides of dough to get a nicer rectangular shape, sprinkle chocolate chips over rolled dough evenly and carefully roll up dough like rolling swiss roll. About 1cm at the end of the dough, brush on some water and gently press down dough to flatten it a little. 
5.  Using a sharp knife, slice rolled up dough into 10 equal pieces. (I got 9 pieces)
6. Place baking paper under dough and leave dough in steamer to proof for 20 minutes.

7. Steam mantou on medium high heat for 8 minutes. Make sure water is boiling before placing in mantou. Place lid cover sideway for about 1 minute. Remove steamer with lid covered slideways away from stove and let cool for further 2 minutes or so to cool - this is done to prevent mantou skin from crinkling up with the sudden temperature change. Serve warm!

To freeze - Allow mantou to cool and then place in ziplock bag, press out air, zip and freeze.

Cocoa Mantou

I love mantou.

Ever since I got myself a book on mantou and started making my own mantou, I said N-O No to supermarket frozen mantou. 

Knowing what goes into my food is very important to me these days. Not comfy with the idea of preservatives in my food and so I am a strong believer of almost all food homecooked, homemade and homebaked.

Got myself busy with these mantou and woo! I wished I had made more of them. They were so soft and fluffy with a tinge of cocoa fragrance in them. These fluffy little buns definitely ignited my mantou making flame once again. 

What mantou should I make next?  :P

Cocoa Mantou

5g Instant yeast
183g fresh milk
35g caster sugar
340g Hong Kong flour
20g unsweetened cocoa powder
5g butter (room temp)


1. Mix caster sugar with 3/4 of fresh milk (137g) and stir well to dissolve sugar. Sprinkle instant yeast over remaining 46g of fresh milk and let it sit for about 2 minutes before stirring them to dissolve yeast. 
2. Sift Hong Kong flour and cocoa powder. Place all dry ingredients into a mixing bowl, pour in the wet ingredients and mix well to form a rough dough. Knead dough till smooth and shiny.
3. Place kneaded dough in mixing bowl and cover with clingwrap to let proof for 10 minutes.
3. Do a quick knead on the dough to remove the air then using a rolling pin, roll out dough to form an even rectangular shape with even thickness of 0.5cm and 70cm in length.
4. Trim off sides of dough to get a nicer rectangular shape and carefully roll up dough like rolling swiss roll. About 1cm at the end of the dough, brush on some water and gently press down dough to flatten it a little. 
5.  Using a sharp knife, slice rolled up dough into 10 equal pieces. (For me, I got 8 pcs, and with the trimmed dough I divided it into 2 long portions and made them into knotted patterned mantou)
6. Place baking paper under dough and leave dough in steamer to proof for 20 minutes.

Let proof for 20min

Put to steam.

There you are. Home made mantou.

7. Steam mantou on medium high heat for 8 minutes. Make sure water is boiling before placing in mantou. Place lid cover sideway for about 1 minute. Remove steamer with lid covered slideways away from stove and let cool for further 2 minutes or so to cool - this is done to prevent mantou skin from crinkling up with the sudden temperature change. Serve warm!

To freeze - Allow mantou to cool and then place in ziplock bag, press out air, zip and freeze.

No need to defrost mantou before steaming. Just set your steamer to boil and place in mantou to steam on medium high heat for 7min. 

Avocado Espresso Shake

Want some avocado smoothie?

How about some espresso?

Or why not mix both avocado and espresso together to form a shake and get the best of both worlds???

You'll be surprised by how good this avocado espresso shake is!  I had always wanted to try it and finally got down to making this yummy shake this very morning.

I told hubby about my plan to try out this shake last night and he was kinda skeptical about this combi. This morning, he was won over. I was too. It was filling and it lasted me till noon time!

I wanna make this yummilicious avocado espresso shake again real soon!!!

*slurp*

Avocado Espresso Shake

Recipe by INeedCoffee by Michael Allen Smith

• 1 medium sized avocado (ripe)
• 1/2 cup of milk (or coconut milk)
• 1/3 cup of sweetened condensed milk
• 1/2 cup of ice cubes
• 2 shots of espresso or about 3 ounces of brewed coffee

1. Slice the avocado open. Remove the seed and peel.
2. Place the avocado (minus the seeds and peel) into a jar.

1. Add the rest of the ingredients to the jar (ice cubes, coffee, sweetened condensed milk, other milk).

1. Blend everything together. I use an immersion blender, but whatever you have will work fine.
2. Taste and Adjust. Do you like it or does it need to be improved? If the shake is too thick, add some more milk. If the shake is too sweet, add some more coffee. If the shake is not sweet enough, add a little more sweetened condensed milk. The Coffee Avocado Shake is more art than science.
3. Serve.

Otah Buns 乌打餐包

Had enough of me using Alex Goh's gelatinized dough method for my bun makings? I cannot help but use this method over and over again because who does not love the soft and fluffy end product? And it last for days when stored well. 

Sorry for not being creative enough to try other bun recipes. Sorry for just sticking to this one recipe and cheating by changing just the bun fillings. Be forewarned that I have overdue posts still in queue. I promise to try new things soon :)

This round, Otah buns were made. Old school buns that I don't easily see them in bakery shops these days.

Hubby requested for them and so I purchased some freshly grilled otahs and got my hands to make the man his buns.

The way to a man's heart is through his stomach, right?

Oh at the same time, I would like to spread the news that I have started a Facebook Page for this foodie blog. Follow me on My Facebook Page @ The Fussy Palate (Page Link is on the top right corner of my blog)

See you there :)

Otah Buns

Gelatinized Basic Sweet Bread recipe by Alex Goh

Gelatinized dough
50g bread flour
35ml boiling water

1. Place flour in a mixing bowl.
2. Add hot boiling water and mix with wooden spoon to form a rough dough.
3. Cover bowl with cling film and leave dough to cool in the fridge for at least 1 hour, and up to 48 hours.


Basic sweet bread dough
(Yield roughly 480g dough. I divided them into 6 equal portions)

150g bread flour
50g plain flour
40g sugar
10g milk powder
1/2 tbsp instant yeast
1/4 tsp salt
87ml cold water
1/2 cold egg (about 30g)
30g cold butter, cubed 

6 sticks of grilled otahs

1. Combine flour, sugar, milk powder, yeast and salt together in a mixing bowl.
2. Tear the gelatinized dough into pieces and add to the bowl along with the eggs
3. Using a stand electric mixer, mix on low speed, adding cold water gradually.
4. Mix until dough is well combined and leave the side of bowl.
5. Add in the cold butter cubes and mix on medium speed until dough is smooth.
6. Shape dough into a ball, leave to proof for 40 min or until doubled.
7. Punch down dough to rid excess air, then divide dough into 6 or 8 equal portions at 80g or 60g respectively and  roll it round and set aside for 5 min to let it relax for easier rolling.
8. Roll out dough into a round shape.
9. Place one otah meat onto centre of flattened dough. Wrap one end over otah meat and top with another side of dough.
10. Seal dough well and set dough with sealed ends bottom down. 
11. Place dough onto greased baking tin.
13. Cover with clean moist cloth and leave to proof for 40min.
14. Brush top with the leftover beaten egg (mixed with 1 tsp water) from the dough mix. (I then sprinkled some dried parsley on top of each dough as garnish)
15. Bake in preheated oven at 180deg for 25min or till bun top turn slightly golden brown. (Every oven works differently so indicated temperature might or might not work for you.)

Spring Onion & Egg Buns 葱花餐包

Okay... I think it is very obvious by now that bread is something that appears very, VERY frequently in my house. We have bread mostly for weekday breakfast, otherwise will be overnight oats.

So here you are, another bun appearance :P

Short and sweet post. Be back soon :)

Spring Onion & Egg Buns

Gelatinized Basic Sweet Bread recipe by Alex Goh

Gelatinized dough
50g bread flour
35ml boiling water

1. Place flour in a mixing bowl.
2. Add hot boiling water and mix with wooden spoon to form a rough dough.
3. Cover bowl with cling film and leave dough to cool in the fridge for at least 1 hour, and up to 48 hours.


Basic sweet bread dough
(Yield roughly 480g dough. I divided them into 6 equal portions. You can make 8 buns with each dough at 60g too.)

150g bread flour
50g plain flour
40g sugar
10g milk powder
1/2 tbsp instant yeast
1/4 tsp salt
87ml cold water
1/2 cold egg (about 30g)
30g cold butter, cubed 

Toppings
5 spring onions, chopped into little bits
1 egg
a dash of salt and black / white pepper
(Combine all and mix well.)

1. Combine flour, sugar, milk powder, yeast and salt together in a mixing bowl.
2. Tear the gelatinized dough into pieces and add to the bowl along with the eggs
3. Using a stand electric mixer, mix on low speed, adding cold water gradually.
4. Mix until dough is well combined and leave the side of bowl.
5. Add in the cold butter cubes and mix on medium speed until dough is smooth.
6. Shape dough into a ball, leave to proof for 40 min or until doubled.
7. Punch down dough to rid excess air, divide dough into 6 or 8 equal portions at 80g or 60g respectively. Roll it round and set aside for 5 min to let it relax for easier handling.
8. Roll dough into oblong shape and place dough on greased baking tray. Repeat the same for all dough.
9. Lightly grease a sharp knife and make a cut in centre of dough. 
10. Cover with clean moist cloth and leave to proof for 40min. 

11. Spoon spring onion and egg mixture over the cut top of buns. It is okay if mixture flows over.
12. Bake in preheated oven at 180deg for 25min or till bun top turn slightly golden brown. (Every oven works differently so indicated temperature might or might not work for you.)

Luncheon Meat Buns 午餐肉餐包

Very much into bun makings lately. Dunno why but I just enjoy the kneading part. It is really therapeutic. I get all excited seeing the dough puff up when put to bake in the oven. I am happy when hubby tells me that the bread are soft and yummy after each bun breakfast. Hahaha. Satisfaction. You can say that.

I cannot help falling back to Alex Goh's gelatinized basic sweet bread recipe for my bun makings. It is a foolproof recipe and let me have bread and buns that stays soft for 2 days (I think it can last 3 days but I cannot testify for that as I usually bake just enough to last 2 days).

Bun making is so so versatile. Just keep with your favourite sweet bread recipe, portion the dough equally and stuff different fillings to make savoury or sweet buns.

Hubby has given me some suggestions for fillings in buns. Expect more bun posts soon! ;P

Luncheon Meat Buns

Gelatinized Basic Sweet Bread recipe by Alex Goh

Gelatinized dough
50g bread flour
35ml boiling water

1. Place flour in a mixing bowl.
2. Add hot boiling water and mix with wooden spoon to form a rough dough.
3. Cover bowl with cling film and leave dough to cool in the fridge for at least 1 hour, and up to 48 hours.


Basic sweet bread dough
(Yield roughly 480g dough. I divided them into 6 equal portions. You can make 8 buns with each dough at 60g too.)

150g bread flour
50g plain flour
40g sugar
10g milk powder
1/2 tbsp instant yeast
1/4 tsp salt
87ml cold water
1/2 cold egg (about 30g)
30g cold butter, cubed 

Filling
6 or 8 slices of luncheon meat, sliced about 1cm thick

Garnishing (Optional)
Sesame seeds
Seaweed

1. Combine flour, sugar, milk powder, yeast and salt together in a mixing bowl.
2. Tear the gelatinized dough into pieces and add to the bowl along with the eggs
3. Using a stand electric mixer, mix on low speed, adding cold water gradually.
4. Mix until dough is well combined and leave the side of bowl.
5. Add in the cold butter cubes and mix on medium speed until dough is smooth.
6. Shape dough into a ball, leave to proof for 40 min or until doubled.
7. Punch down dough to rid excess air, divide dough into 6 or 8 portions at 80g or 60g reaspectively and roll it round and set aside for 5 min to let it relax for easier rolling.
8. Roll out dough into a long oblong shape.
9. Place a slice of luncheon meat on centre of dough, cover luncheon meat with one end of dough and wrap up with another side of dough.
10. Seal dough to secure luncheon meat from spilling out. Set dough with sealed ends at bottom.
11. Place dough onto greased baking tin.
13. Cover with clean moist cloth and leave to proof for 40min.
14. Brush top with the leftover beaten egg (mixed with 1 tsp water) from the dough mix. (Sprinkled some sesame seeds or place a pc of seaweed on top of each dough as garnish)

15. Bake in preheated oven at 180deg for 25min or till bun top turn slightly golden brown. (Every oven works differently so indicated temperature might or might not work for you.)

Sugarless Toast

Came across a sugarless toast recipe in Alex Goh's Magic Bread recipe and it brought me back to the days when I was still a little girl. Mum used to buy us white bread from those traditional bakeries when we were still kiddos, and we usually eat them with kaya and jam spread, then washing them down with warm milo before setting off to school.  Flash memories of such always appear in my mind whenever I come across anything that were once associated with our childhood growing days.  It is always good to reminisce about the good old days!

It has been a long way back since I had those traditional white loaf bread, hence I decided to take a walk down memory lane by baking something like that. Aren't I glad  that I tried this? I will definitely do this again, anytime.

I made this bread in a small bread tin, hence the mini sized bread.  Hubby said the sugarless bread went well with our homemade kaya jam!

Sugarless Toast
Recipe By Alex Goh's Magic Bread Book

A
100g bread flour
70g boiling water

B
350g bread flour
9g salt
20g milk powder
6g instant powder

C
220g cold water
100g overnight sponge dough

D
40g butter

Overnight Sponge Dough
100g bread flour
60g water (room temperature)
1/4 tsp instant yeast
Method: Mix water and yeast until well-blended. Add in flour and mix to form dough. Let it proof for 30 minutes. Wrap it up and refrigerate for overnight.


1. Add the boiling water from A into flour, mix until well-blended to form dough.  Cover and set aside to cool. Keep it into refrigerator for at least 12 hours.
2. Mix B until well-blended. Add in C and knead to form rough dough. Add in A and knead until well-blended.
3. Add in D and knead to form elastic dough. Let it proof for 40 minutes.
4. Divide the dough into 5 pieces and mould it round, let it rest for 10 minutes.  Flatten the dough then roll it up like swiss roll.  Let it rest for 10 minutes. Repeat this process one more time and place the dough into a greased sandwich loaf tin (Size: 28 × 11.5 × 11.5cm).
5. Let it proof for 50 minutes.
6. Bake at 220deg C for 35 minutes.

I am submitting this post to Cook-Your-Books #19 hosted by Joyce of Kitchen Flavours

Breakfast Pancakes

Do you often crack your brain thinking about what to have for breakfast during weekends?  Hubby and I do. Afterall, it is weekend, we need something different. Something more fanciful.  Okay, at least pancakes are something different and fanciful for us.  I can count the number of times I had breakfast at MacDonalds :P

If you are looking to have a high carb breakfast, look no further. This is it.  These pancakes filled me up well.  Drizzle honey or maple syrup over them and dig in.

Morning Pancakes
Recipe adapted from Food.com
(Makes 6 pancakes)

1 cup all purpose flour (140g)
1 tbsp caster sugar
2 tsp double-acting baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 egg
1 cup milk (240ml)
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp vanilla extract

1. Preheat to medium heat a large non-stick pan.
2. In a large mixing bowl, mix together the dry ingredients.
3. In another bowl, beat the egg and then mix together the remaining moist ingredients.
4. Put the wet mixture into the dry mixture.
5. Stir until everything is just blended.
6. You will still have some lumps. (Ok to break up any very large lumpy pieces)
7. Put about 1.6 of the batter onto the hot pan.  Cook until the edges appear dry and top of pancake bubbly.  The bottom should be golden brown before turning.
(I used a ladle of mixture for 1 pancake, and that gives me a better gauge on the pancake size throughout)
8. Turn and cook until golden on the other side.
9. Serve with maple syrup and butter (I used honey and topped with some blueberries).