Mango & Ginger Bread

Ingredients:
3 eggs
3/4 cup oil
2.5 cups (280g) all purpose flour
1 cup sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1.5 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 cups diced mango (approx. 2 small mangoes)
3/4 cup candied ginger, finely diced
Grated zest of 1/2 lime


Method:
1. Preheat the oven to 180°C. Prepare an 8.5 x 4.5 inch loaf pan. , dust the inside with flour and tap out the excess.
2. Whisk the eggs and oil together.
3. Whisk together the flour, sugar, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda, spices and salt.
4. Pour the wet ingredients over the dry, and mix until blended
5. Stir in the mango, ginger, and zest.
6. Pour the batter into the pan and smooth the top with a rubber spatula.
7. Bake the bread for 1.5 hours, or until it is golden brown and a thin knife inserted ino the center comes out clean. Cover it loosely with a foil tent if the bread is getting too brown (at approx. 45 minutes).
8. Cool for 5 minutes, remove bread from pan and cool to room temperature.

Dark Chocolate Brownie with Salted Caramel Praline Mousse

Dark Chocolate Walnut Brownie base:
3oz unsalted butter
6 oz bittersweet chocolate
85g all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/8 tsp salt
2 large eggs
170g sugar
1/2 cup chopped walnuts

1. Preheat oven to 180°C. Prepare a 9x9" square pan.
2. Melt together butter and chocolate, stir until smooth and let the mixture cool slightly.
3. Whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt and set aside.
4. Beat the eggs with the sugar until pale and thick, beat in the chocolate mixture, add the flour mix and beat until just incorporated. Fold in the walnuts.
5. Bake for 20-30 mins until a cake tester inserted into brownie between edge and center comes out with a few crumbs (Do not overbake).
6. Let cool and set it down as the first layering component.


Milk Chocolate and Salted Butter Caramel Mousse Layer:
115g sugar
2 tbsp water
1oz salted butter
1 cup heavy cream
6 oz milk chocolate
Hazelnut praline (see below)

1. Heat 1/4 cup cream until it is fairly hot.
2. Melt the chocolate. Set aside.
3. In a heavy bottomed saucepan, add the sugar to the water over medium high heat and cook, without stirring until you get a dark brown caramel. Take the pan off the heat and add the butter and hot cream.
5. Let it cool to lukewarm. Add the caramel to the chocolate and stir until smooth.
6. Whip 3/4 cup of cold heavy cream to soft peaks. Fold 1/3 of the whipped cream to the chocolate/caramel mixture to loosen it up and then add the remaining whipped cream.
7. Fold in the praline.
8. Spread over the brownie base and refrigerate until completely set.

Praline
150 g hazelnuts, roasted and skins removed
150 g sugar

1. Spread hazelnuts on an oiled baking tray, set aside.
2. Combine sugar and 60ml water in a small saucepan, stir over medium-high heat until sugar dissolves, and cook until dark caramel in colour.
3. Pour over nuts. Stand until cool and set.
4. Process in a food processor until finely ground, set aside.

Dark Chocolate Ganache
1/2 cup heavy cream
6oz dark chocolate

1. Bring the cream to a simmer, remove from the heat, and add the chocolate to the cream
2. Let sit for 5 minutes. Slowly stir the heavy cream and chocolate until they come together and form a shiny ganache.
3. Let cool till the ganache is still pourable but not too warm that it will melt the mousse.
4. Pour it over the caramel mousse and refrigerate until set.

Tamagoyaki / Atsuyaki tamago (Japanese sweet omelette)

Ingredients:
4 eggs
3 tbsp sugar
1 tsp mirin
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp light soy sauce


Method:
1. Heat up pan (8" non-stick) on medium-low heat and brush with some oil
2. Beat all the ingredients together with a fork. (Don’t use a whisk otherwise it will get foamy)
3. Put 2-3 tbsp of egg mixture in the pan and cook gently until it’s set but not runny.
4. Roll it up with chopsticks to one side of the pan.
5. Brush the exposed part of the pan with a little oil, and put more egg mixture in the pan. Spread it around, lifting the cooked egg so that the uncooked egg flows below it.
6. Cook until this layer is almost set, then roll the whole egg to the opposite side of where it is.
7. Repeat until the egg mixture is used up.
8. When done, put the tamagoyaki on a sushi rolling mat and roll it up tightly.
9. Serve right away or leave the whole roll in the mat over a raised rim plate until it’s cooled to room temperature.

Baked Lotus Seed Buns

Ingredients:
basic sweet bread dough
sweetened lotus seed paste
egg wash (1 egg yolk + 1 tbsp water)

Method:
1. Divide dough into 80-90g portions.
2. Roll out each portion into a circle, put some lotus seed paste in the middle, and gather the dough around the filling. Roll into a smooth ball.
3. Let them rise until almost double in size, and brush with egg wash.
4. Bake in preheated oven until golden brown.

Red Bean Buns / Anpan

Ingredients:
basic sweet bread dough
sweetened red bean paste
egg wash (1 egg yolk + 1 tbsp water)

Method:
1. Divide dough into 80-90g portions and shape according to instructions found here
2. Let them rise until almost double in size, and brush with egg wash.
3. Bake in preheated oven until golden brown.

Milk Rolls

Ingredients:
195g milk
70g evaporated milk
2 egg whites
100g sugar
35g milk powder
500g bread flour
5g yeast
75g butter

Method:
1. Mix everything together - except butter - until a soft dough forms.
2. Add butter and knead until dough is smooth and tacky but not sticky
3. Put the dough into a light oiled bowl and let it rise until double in size (approx. 1 hour).
5. Divide the dough into 90g pieces, roll into a ball and let them rest for 20 minutes.
6. Shape the rolls, let them rise until almost double in size, and brush with milk or egg wash.
7. Bake at 190°C for 15 minutes

Makes 10-12 rolls..

Red Bean Pancakes 豆沙鍋餅

Ingredients:
120g flour
1 egg
250ml water
30ml canola oil
250g Red Bean Paste
1 teaspoon potato starch mixed with 1 teaspoon water to seal pancakes (alternatively, use leftover batter)


Method:
1. Sift flour into a mixing bowl.
2. Lightly beat egg, add water, and pour the egg mixture slowly into the flour. Mix into a smooth batter.
3. Add in oil, mix thoroughly, and rest batter for about 15 minutes.
4. Heat a 20cm / 8" frying pan and rub a little oil all over the surface of the pan.
5. Pour in about 80ml (1/3 cup) batter and swirl the pan to evenly distribute the batter.
6. Cook over medium heat until both sides are set.
7. Set aside and continue with the remaining batter (makes 5 pancakes)
8. Divide red bean paste into 5 portions. Put a portion of red bean paste in the middle of a pancake, fold each pancake into a rectangular piece, and seal the edges.
9. Heat about 2 tablespoons oil in a frying pan and shallow-fry the pancakes until golden brown on both sides.
10. Cut each pancake into 4 pieces for serving.