SHANGHAI RED BEAN PANCAKE

Author: Vivian Tee
Yield: 2 pancakes (10" round non-stick crepe pan or skillet)
Prep time: 10 minutes
Cook time: 10 minutes
Total time: 20 minutes

INGREDIENTS:

• 60 gram of organic bread flour or all-purpose flour
• 40 gram of glutinous rice flour
• A pinch of salt
• 1 medium omega egg (50 gram)
• 75 gram of fresh milk
• 75 grams water
• 1 tbsp of organic grape seed oil
• 240 gram of homemade red bean paste or store-bought
• 1 tbsp of toasted sesame seeds (sprinkle)
• Organic grape seed oil or any cooking oil for pan-fry and deep-fry

INSTRUCTIONS:

1.Making the batter:-Sift the bread flour, glutinous rice four and salt together. Make a well in the middle of the dry ingredients and pour in the wet ingredients and stir until well incorporated. Add in grape seed oil into the batter and whisk again until you have a smooth runny batter. Let the batter rest for about 10 minutes.

2. Making the pancake:- Lightly brush the non-stick crepe pan or a skillet with a thin layer of grape seed oil. *Turn the heat to medium and pour in the batter (about 125 grams) onto the pan. Quickly rotate the pan around to spread the batter evenly over the entire surface of the pan.

3. Adding the filling:- Once the batter is done, turn down the flame to low. Add in generous slab of red bean paste in middle of the pancake and form rectangle shape. Fold on four sides like folding the envelopes to enclose the red bean paste.

4.* Turn the heat back to medium-high and add in 2-3 tbsp grape seed oil and shallow pan-fry it till it turns to golden-brown on both side. Remove from the pan and drain the red bean pancake on the kitchen towels.  Make another batch by removing the excess oil and repeat with the remaining batter.

5. Another method, followed step 2 and transfer to plate, keep it warm. Add in the red beans paste in the middle of the pancake and form rectangle shape. Fold on four sides and seal the edges with flour paste (2 tbsp of plain flour mix with 2 tbsp of water). Deep-fry or shallow pan-fry the red bean pancake, remove and drain on kitchen towel. For extra crispy crust, deep fried the red bean pancake.

6. Cut the pancake into 6- 8 slices, sprinkle the top with toasted sesame seed and serve while it is still pipping hot!

Recipe adapted from Dimsumptuos.

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Delicately Kueh Bahulu are classic precious sponge cakes usually served during the Chinese New Year. They are delicious, crunchy from the outside and soft on the inside, perfect for dunking in coffee! These little beauty bake up in a minutes and are gone in seconds!

Kueh Bahulu, is our all time favorite cake during the festive season. It's hard to believe that these Kueh Bahulu is made from humble ingredients as flour, eggs and sugar, but it's true. While the task might seem intimidating on the outset, actually it's easier than it seems once you get the rhythm going.

Chinese New Year baking is in full swing at my house and one of my favorite treats to make this time of the year is, Kueh Bahulu. Mom requested her favorite Kueh Bahulu for this coming festive season. Making these little cakes do evoke lots of her childhood memories which my late grandma used to made during the festive season. Mom mentioned that the first thing that came to her mind was the smoke getting into their eyes, making them tear as they fanned the flames. It was a tough job then but no one complained because, everyone was in such festive mood. Mom totally forgotten the recipe, thankfully my neighbour, James Wan Chee Keong an editor for Famous Cuisine was gracious enough to share the recipe.

My first attempt using BBQ gas converter with lava rocks to bake these basic sponge cake. Surprisingly, it turn up well more than I expected. Using high heat is the secret in making these popular, traditional treats. To make this classic recipe, you need to fry the flour on low heat or you can easily place the flour under the hot sun for 3-4 hours to let the flour dry, thus will make the cake lighter. Followed by beating the eggs with sugar until fluffy, incorporate as much air as possible and gradually adding flour in three batches at a time. It appear to be simple but required a lot of patience and you will need to follow the instructions and tips carefully.

As simple as they are tasty, these Kueh Bahulu keep extremely well and a good choice to give as a gift during the festive season. It's also great any other day of the year! Happy Baking!

On low heat, fry the all-purpose flour with pandan leaves until light and dry.

Once cool, sift all-purpose flour with rice flour together, sift at least twice.

Whisk the eggs, castor sugar and salt on high speed, approximately 20 minutes.

The mixture turns to pale and fluffy and ribbons form when the beaters are lifted.

Sift flour into the wet ingredients 1/3 at a time, folding after each addition.

Gently stir all the ingredients until well incorporated. Do not over mix the batter!

All ready to bake!

Preheat the BBQ gas converter with lava rocks at 200°C ( 400°F ) together with the moulds. The moulds must be extremely hot before adding the batter, so this delicate cake will not stick to the mould when removing them.

Spoon batter into the moulds, slightly above the top.

Takes only a few minutes and they're ready to be eaten.

KUEH BAHULU

Author : Vivian Tee
Prep time: 20 minutes
Cook time: 10 minutes
Total time: 30 minutes
Yields: 35- 45 pieces


INGREDIENTS:

• 110 grams all-purpose flour
• 2-3 pandan leaves
• 1 tbsp of rice flour
• 3 large omega eggs (chilled)
• 130 grams of castor sugar
• 1/8 tsp salt
• Butter or cooking oil for greasing the moulds

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. On low heat, fry all-purpose flour with pandan leaves until light and airy about 20 minutes. Remove and set aside to cool. Once cool, sift the all-purpose flour and rice flour together at least twice and leave aside.
2. Place the eggs, sugar and salt in a bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment. Beat until pale and fluffy, approximately 20 minutes on medium- high speed. 
3. Gently add in the sifted flour and fold lightly, best to do it in three or four stages until incorporated. *Do not over mix the batter, the cake texture it will turn dry and tough.
4. Preheat the BBQ gas converter with lava rocks at 200°C (400°F). Place the bahulu moulds and heat about 6 minutes. *The moulds must be extremely hot, so these delicate cake will not stick to the mould when removing them. 
5.  Using a silicon pastry brush, greased the interiors of the mould with butter or any cooking oil.
6. Spoon in the batter to the top of the mould. Bake for 8 minutes with the BBQ  lid closed until golden brown. Remove the baked kueh bahulu using a bamboo skewer or a cake tester. Greased the mould and repeat the same step with the remaining batter.
7. If you're using oven , preheat the oven at 190°C (375°F) together with the bahulu mould on the baking pan (for easy handling when removing the hot mould from the oven). Carefully remove the hot mould from the oven and grease with cooking oil.
8. Spoon in the batter and bake for 10-15 minutes until golden brown. Using a bamboo skewer or cake tester, gently loosen and remove the kueh bahulu from their mould. Greased the bahulu mould again and place in the oven to heat up. Repeat the process with the remaining batter.
9.  Cool on wire rack and store in air tight container.

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Sweet Red Bean Paste - in chunky and coarse texture

Sweet Red Bean Paste - in smooth texture

Easy, simple and classic. These red bean paste is quite versatile can be found in any types of Chinese cuisine, Korean cuisine and  Japanese confectionery shops The method of making these red bean paste is actually simple, made by boiling and mashing the red beans until well incorporated; and then sweetened with sugar and fat. They're two typed of red bean paste in all kinds of Chinese, Japanese and Korean pastries - smooth and chunky. A part of stirring and simmering non-stop for nearly 2 hours, making your own red bean paste from scratch is rewarding and you know exactly what ingredients are in it. You can either use your slow cooker or pressure cooker to cook these red beans. My version of making red bean paste is actually easy, the most traditional method not on the charcoal stove but on a gas stove. The actual steps are not that difficult, just time consuming but it's worth the effort. Truly a labor of love!

Personally, I preferred the taste of homemade than a store-bought but if you have no time to make one, feel free to use it. But of course, there's no comparison. Writing out recipe for red bean paste is a bit intimidating because it is all based on estimation, like we used to say in Malay language, agak-agak (approximate estimate). By making your own red bean paste, adding the amount of sugar in the paste can be less or more; this can be adjust according to your personal preference. If you're not sure about the amount of sugar, best to divide and add the sugar in two or three stages. Adding a bit of salt and using salted butter in the recipe, can actually enhance the flavor even more. Some preferred lard, vegetable oil or butter, this too can be adjust according to your preference. In my recipe I used both, butter and canola oil to make these red bean paste more flavorful and smooth. Making red bean paste from scratch no doubt is a lengthy process, but totally worth it. I'm sure you'll be amazed how simple and easy to make your very own red bean paste. 

You'll want to double up your recipe which I did for two typed of red bean paste - smooth and chunky, and well-prepared your red bean paste in advance. With the convenience of ready made red bean paste, making Chinese steamed buns, Sweet rolls, Chinese pancakes or any typed of sweet desserts at last-minutes will be quick and easy. The possibilities are endless! It takes only half an hour to defrost your homemade red bean paste and in no time you'll be making your favorite pastries. If you've unexpected guests, you can easily make these red bean pancake in just under 15 minutes, that are sure to impress!