Cookbook Launch - Penang Authentic Nyonya Cuisine

Bee Lee Tan launched her latest cookbook "Penang Authentic Nyonya Cuisine" in Perth on 6 November 2010, in grand style true to her Nyonya heritage with all guests dressed in kebayas and sarongs. The lavish textiles on display at the venue, Paz Cafe (West Perth), added to the opulent Nyonya atmosphere.

The launch was attended by the Consular General of Malaysia, Hamidah. Unlike an Australian head of state, the Consular General of Malaysia was called by first name!!

Guests enjoyed afternoon tea with Nyonya cakes from Bee Lee's cookbooks.



Bee Lee signed her new cookbook.



Bee Lee talked about her Nyonya cooking passion.



Consular General Hamidah gave a speech.



On display were colourful and intriguing Nyonya cakes, flavoured with coconut, palm sugar and pandanus leaves.



The Nyonya name for these cakes are "kueh" or "kuih".



These blue ones were topped with coconut custard.



Shown here are the ingredients which give Nyonya cuisine its strong aroma. Typically, fresh aromatics are blended into a spice paste and fried in oil to draw out the flavour. The technique of cooking this spice paste is an art form handed down through generations. Bee Lee conducts classes on Nyonya cooking in Perth, and internationally.

Read more...

Tomato Tart

French tarte paysanne or tomato tart turns vine ripened tomatoes into a beautiful summer treat. Luscious roasted tomatoes on a zingy yoghurt and mustard filling baked in a rich shortcrust. Richly flavoured with thyme and extra virgin olive oil.

Read more...

New Year BBQ

Happy New Year!

"Shrimp on the barbie" is too old fashion.... modern Australians call BBQ satays! Just look at the prawns and sausages on skewers.

Read more...

Chocolate Brownie

Delicious and simple. A rich chocolate brownie made by the kids for Christmas. Crunchy on the surface, spongy on the inside. The "secret" recipe comes from Best Recipes.

Read more...

Post Christmas Cleanup Army

What to do with Christmas leftovers? You need the lean, mean eating machines from the Army!

Read more...

Christmas 2010

Christmas Day 2010 was memorable....

.... it was the first Christmas that was completely stuffed from the beginning to end.




Well, it started with the stuffing preparation on Christmas Eve. It took 2 hours to wash, chop and mince. The 2-minute Noodle Cook doesn't stuff around when it comes to meals as important as Christmas lunch: nothing instant here, it's fresh or it's in the bin. When the turkey was pulled out from the fridge, it was already stuffed by the butcher!

Villain John the executive chef wasn't going to miss the chance of putting his name down as the cook who roasted the turkey. So he peeled back the turkey skin and rubbed herb butter (that he didn't slave 2 hrs to make), and in 2 minutes flat, he did it! Just let the oven do the rest of the work.

..... the guests were going to come early to help with the cooking and help themselves to nibbles until the turkey was ready, so as not to be stuffed before then.



... the first arrivals were 2 hours late and that was early by Zambian time. The friends they were bringing didn't show up. All that foooood sat on the table looking pretty. It looked like a case of dialing "000" to call the "ARMY" in to demolish the food.

While John celebrated his first roast turkey in over 10 years with the boys, Noodle Cook drove 2 hours to arrive late to the family lunch, just after all the turkey was gone. Just a bit of leftover pork roast with apple sauce for a Christmas lunch that wasn't meant to be. Meanwhile, on the other side of town, John called to complain that he couldn't stand up from eating ALL the turkey, which he cooked to perfection.



... after all the heavy going, next came the dessert. It was a breeze since the kids did all the work the week before after learning everything off TV Junior Masterchef, from how to zest a lemon to folding batter.



... unfortunately everyone was too stuffed after the mains to do a Matt Preston critique on the kids effort. While everyone enjoyed their Christmas lunches, Noodle Cook remained hungry....



... so there you have it, Christmas 2010.

Read more...

Carrot Surprise Cake

From Jamie's Kitchen came this delicious moist carrot and polenta cake, delicately spiced with ginger, nutmeg, caraway, cinnamon and clove. The original recipe uses cooked mash beetroot.

Read more...

Scroll Bread

Moist, delicious oriental style bread made using tangzhong (starch gel). Follow the bread technique in this blog. Sprinkle sultanas or chopped date with some brown sugar before rolling up.

Read more...

High Rise Yukone Bread

After many attempts in the quest to find a bread that has the same keeping quality as supermarket bread without additives, the answer is getting closer. Shown here is a lofty loaf made with 20% flour weight yukone (hot water dough, 1:1 flour to water, 90 deg Celsius) and 2% flour weight starch gel (tangzhong, 1:5 flour to water, 65 deg Celsius). The hot water dough and starch gel enable the reduction of commercial amylase based improver to one quarter. Without the starch gel, the Yukone bread takes much longer to proof, and rises less than a standard loaf.




The high rise effect can be seen in this picture of a bread made with 5% flour weight starch gel, without the yukone. It is clear that the yeast activity is boosted by the starch gel giving rise to increased volume and a much faster rising time, in addition to the increased hydration of the soft, fluffy bread texture.

The use of Chinglish (language of a native Chinese with English as a second foreign language) translation of "tangzhong" as water roux in many Asian baking blogs, seems a misnomer as a roux is French for fat and flour. In the context of how tangzhong works, perhaps these are better translations:

• growth activator
• yeast booster
• starch gel improver
• loaf enhancer
• rise accelerator
  

To make high rise yukone bread using sponge-dough technique :

Sponge
175 g flour (12% protein)
115 mL milk + 3 x 5 mL as needed
4 g yeast
1 g (1/4 t) yeast food (Lecimax)
0.5 g (1/4 t) emulsifier (lecithin)
5 g nonfat milk powder, omitted in this trial

Mix to stiff dough. Ferment in the fridge overnight.

Yukone (hot water dough)
50 g flour
50 mL boiling water

Mix to a soft sticky dough. Maturate in the fridge overnight

Starch Gel (tangzhong)
5 g flour
25 mL boiling water

Mix to a watery grainy custard-like gel. Maturate in the fridge overnight.

Bread Dough
20 g flour
10 g sugar
2 g (1/2 t) salt
10 g (2 t) shortening

To make bread, mix fermented sponge, maturated yukone and starch gel with the rest of the dough ingredients, except the shortening, to form a soft dough. Rest for 10 minutes. Knead to a smooth dough. Add shortening. Knead until the dough is stretchy. Kneading takes around 20 minutes by hand. Proof at room temperature until double. Knock down. Knead well. Scale and shape. Proof at room temperature or in the fridge until triple. Bake at 180 deg C for 30 minutes for a loaf, or 220 deg C for 15 minutes for rolls.

Read more...

Yukone Bread

The Japanese bread which utilizes a hot water processed dough, known as "yukone", lends itself to a fine, soft, fluffy texture with good keeping quality. The yukone dough is also known as hot water dough, gelatinized dough or occasionally interchanged with water roux (known in Chinese as tangzhong). The latter is a starch gel made using 1:5 flour to water.

Unlike many water roux or "65 degrees Celsius tangzhong" bread recipes favoured by Asian baking bloggers, the yukone bread contains around 60% less saturated fat and is thus less reliant on fat to prevent staling. The yukone dough is made by adding boiling water to flour so as to gelatinize the contained starch. Typically, the yukone dough is 1:1 flour to water. Some recipes suggest 10:7 flour to water.



The texture of the yukone bread results from hydration of the the starch, and proper development of gluten. Gelatinization swells the starch and allows formation of gas cells. Insufficient gluten development gives rise to softness that promotes large pores and loss of elasticity. Overworked gluten on the other hand gives dense textures as gas cells cannot expand.

Loaf volume decreases with increased yukone. At 20% flour weight yukone, the loaf height is reduced around 15% compared to a loaf without yukone. It appears 20% flour weight yukone gives the best volume for moisture.

Formula by Naito et al 2005:

Sponge
70 flour (12% protein)
44.8 water
2.2 yeast
0.1 yeast food
0.25 emulsifier
2 nonfat dry milk

Mix to stiff dough. Ferment in the fridge overnight.

Yukone (hot water dough)
20 flour
20 boiling water

Mix to a soft sticky dough. Maturate dough in the fridge overnight

Bread Dough
10 flour
10.2 water
6 sugar
2 salt
5 shortening

To make bread, mix fermented sponge and maturated yukone with the rest of the dough ingredients, except the shortening, to form a soft dough. Rest for 10 minutes. Knead to a smooth dough. Add shortening. Knead until the dough is stretchy. Kneading takes around 20 minutes by hand. Proof until double. Knock down. Knead well. Scale and shape. Proof until triple. Bake at 180 deg C for 30 minutes for a loaf, or 220 deg C for 15 minutes for rolls.

A recipe in table format can be found in Naito et al 2005.

Reference:
The Effect of Gelatinized Starch on Baking Bread
Shigehiro Naito, Shinji Fukami, Yasuyuki Mizokami, Rieko Hirose, Koji Kawashima, Hiroyuki Takano, Nobuaki Ishida, Mika Koizumi And Hiromi Kano
Food Sci. Technol. Res., 11 (2), 194-201, 2005

Study on Starch in White Bread Prepared by Yukone Processing
Tetsuya Yamada, Wakana Hasegawa, Tomomi Ito, Akihiro Ohara and Takuo Adachi
Faculty of Agriculture, Meijo Uni. Scientific Rept., 4, 9-20, 2004

Read more...