POPIAH SKINS

SINGLE SKIN ON PAN



STACK OF SKINS (well, only about 10!) ON CHOPPING BOARD

Whether you may or may not wish to know why I took on the 'mammoth' task of making popiah skins for our popiah session, I'll tell you anyhow. It all came about when we were discussing after dinner/BS session (yes, we always talk about food as we miss all the 'local' M'sian/S'porean dishes here in Melbourne and we try to replicate the dishes)and the discussion somehow focussed on popiah. You may not know this but I absolutely LLOOOOOVVE to eat popiah and used to buy the fresh skins from a shop in Joo Chiat (they were really expensive and the price kept going up. I could eat up to 7 popiahs in one sitting!!!) - I really enjoyed watching the professionals spread the dough out on the pans and literally 'bounced' the dough back into their palms! Sheer artistry!

OK, so I volunteered to try my hand at making the skins as I had the flat pan, courtesy of my MIL, cos' the popiahs taste so much better with fresh skins - the frozen ones are way too chewy! I started by surfing the net to find the right recipe (they all had different proportions of liquid) and made 1/2 a batch, using 300g flour and about 150 or 200ml water. Needless to say, the dough was too dry, so I threw out that lot after after trying to make it on the pan - the dough didn't stick to the pan at all!! Then I tried the recipe fm a new Nyonya kuih recipe book that I'd bought during my last trip to S'pore in early January but that was a runny batter! No matter, I still tried to make the skin on the pan, based on what I saw on youtube etc. Naw......another batch down the rubbish hatch.

Sorry this 'story' is taking so long but the day of our popiah session is fast approaching (28 Mar) so I decided to give it another try. I even borrowed a stainless steel fry pan and a brass apom balik pan in hope of achieving success on one of those pans. I gave Andrew's recipe another try - made 1/2 batch and waited the 3 hours for the batter to rest (was too impatient to wait the last time)then tried the first skin on the apom balik pan..........hey. it seemed to work but I had really small diameter skins as I was afraid to burn my arm on the sides of the pan....so, I tried making a skin on the flat roti prata pan.... and hey, presto.....the rest is history!

I've even got pictures to prove it! Some parts of the skins are a bit thick, though, as I haven't mastered the process yet but I will get it right some day soon!

Looks like I'll have to make heaps of skins - maybe use 1.8kg or more of flour!

POPIAH SKINS (Recipe fm Nyonya Kuih Passions by Andrew Kow)

600ml plain flour
1 tbsp cornflour
1 tsp salt
600ml water

1. Sieve the flour with salt and cornflour into large mixing bowl, stir water in slowly.(I used my hand - forget the bread maker...tried it....didn't work!!)
2. Knead until the dough is smooth and elastic (comment: the dough is more like a batter, actually!)
3. Set aside for 3 hours
4. Heat up a flat pan, grease with a little oil, place a small portion of dough onto pan and fry for 10 seconds over medium heat. Remove (will have pictures next time! OR you can watch how they make it on youtube. )

NB: It's important to let the dough rest for 3 hours. Also, cover the skins with a damp teatowel so that they don't dry out before you're ready to eat the popiahs. Skins can be frozen but they are best eaten fresh.

Q: I wonder whether the skins will have more 'spring' in them if I substituted the cornflour with tapioca flour?

JAPANESE COTTON SOFT CHEESECAKE

JAPANESE CHEESECAKE


TABLE DECORATION (ROSES AND IVY FROM THE GARDEN)


ROAST TURKEY ASIAN STYLE WITH GLUTINOUS RICE STUFFING

Well, it has been a while since I last posted anything on this blog! Christmas/CNY kept me REALLY busy .......before I knew it, it's almost Easter.

Mind you, I have not been lazy with my cooking and baking. We had a Christmas eve 'do' at our place (BBQ mainly) and I even roasted a turkey! (pix attached) Of course, there was Christmas cake but I forgot to take a picture.

After Christmas, we went to KL/S'pore for a 2 week break during which I bought a large chiffon cake tin. So now, I bake my pandan chiffon cake in the large tin, using 9 eggs (again, didn't take photos - how silly of me!)I even made kuih lapis as I had leftover coconut cream the week before(no pix, sori!) and cupcakes with butter cream icing last week - yummy! Recipe fm colleague - no photos :-( Also made a fudgie chocolate cake yesterday while waiting for my popiah dough to rest - see other post on my success with the skins.

Anyway, I did remember to take some pictures of the Japanese cheesecake that I baked sometime during CNY - didn't have any shots of the sliced cake as we were too busy cutting and eating! So, here you are ........

Oh, I almost forgot to post the recipe for the cheesecake :-0

400g cream cheese
200ml (1 cup) milk
100g butter
¼ tsp salt (I leave this out as it makes the cake a bit salty)
60g superfine flour (I use plain flour)
25g cornflour
6 egg yolks
1 tsp lemon paste or ½ tsp lemon essence (I use 1 tsp lemon juice and grated rind of ½ lemon to substitute)
6 egg whites
150g sugar
¼ tsp cream of tartar
Method:
1. Melt cheese, milk, butter and salt in double boiler. Cool. (Sieve into a basin to remove lumps.)
2. To above, fold in sifted flours, egg yolks, lemon paste and mix well.
3. Whisk egg whites with cream of tartar till foamy. Add sugar and whisk until fluffy but not stiff.
4. Add cheese mixture to egg white mixture and mix well. Pour into 10” round tin.
5. Bake over water bath for 1 to 1 ¼ hours @ 160C

EL’s Notes: (tried and tested)
1. Line bottom of tin with greased greaseproof paper.
2. If using springform pan, wrap outside of pan with aluminium foil to prevent water from bath seeping into tin. (The std size springform pan is a little small and the cake may overflow while cooking. Adjust quantity of ingredients to 300g cream cheese, 150ml milk, 75g butter, 4 eggs, 40g & 20g of the flours and 100g sugar)
3. Use only fresh eggs at room temperature, otherwise the egg whites will not rise successfully and the cake will be anything but light.
4. Not necessary to place hot water in the water bath. Works well with tap water.
5. Check the cake after 1 hour. It’s done if a skewer inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean.

DURIAN CREAM PUFFS (the pictures, at last!)

Making the choux pastry - stirring in the beaten eggs



Spoonfuls of choux pastry on lined tray



This 'yucky - gooey' mixture IS the mashed durians mixed with the whipped cream.



The puffs, after baking and before filling



Close-up view of a durian puff, dusted with icing sugar......YUMMMMM!!!!!

Egg custard tarts

OK, so the tarts didn't look that 'pretty' BUT.......they tasted GREAT!!!
I think I left them in the oven for too long and the temperature was a bit high, so the egg custard puffed up but when I removed them, the custard 'sort of' deflated, hence, the 'crinkled' look!

EGG CUSTARD TARTS 10 Sept 08

Pastry:
160g plain flour
40g rice flour
100g butter/vegetable shortening
¼ cup icing sugar
1 egg yolk, beaten
¼ cup ice water

Filling:
3 eggs, beaten
1/3 cup (60g) caster sugar
1 ½ cups (375ml) milk
yellow food colouring (optional)
½ tsp vanilla essence (optional)


METHOD

1. Make pastry using the rubbing-in method. Leave to rest.
2. Roll pastry to about 3mm thickness.
3. Cut and fit greased 12-hole (10cm) tart pan.
4. Place filling ingredients into a wide-mouthed jug and beat till smooth.
5. Pour the filling into the pastry-lined tart pan till almost full.
6. Bake for 10min at 210C then 10-15min at 200C, until the custard has set.
7. Remove from oven and transfer to a wire rack to cool.


NB: You can brush the pastry bases with beaten egg white (yolk used in pastry) before pouring in the filling. If you replace part of the milk with cream, say ½ cup of cream, the tarts will ‘become’ Portuguese egg tarts.

Original recipe fm Tok Suan (DPA) for 24 small egg tarts
Pastry:
3 cups (375g) flour
180g lard
5 tablespoons hot water

Made on Tuesday 28 October 2008 using 150g plain flour, 50g rice flour for pastry(no egg yolk; used cold water to bind pastry) and 4 eggs / 500ml (2 cups) milk. Produced 16 tarts. Yummy! Next time, try using half rice / half plain flour.

Mango Galette

(Used leftover pastry from spinach/ricotta/feta quiche to make mango galette. Recipe below )


MANGO GALETTE

Pastry
Brown sugar
Ground almonds
2 ripe Mangoes

Glaze
Apricot jam
Lemon juice

1. Roll pastry out. Place on baking tray. Make decorative ridge around edge of pastry (to retain the filling ingredients)
2. Sprinkle pastry with ground almonds and brown sugar.
3. Place sliced mangoes (cut in halves and sliced just before using) decoratively on top of filling. Press in lightly.
4. Bake at 180C for 30-40 minutes, till pastry is golden and mangoes are soft.
5. Cool and brush with glaze, if desired. (warm jam over stove; remove and add lemon juice. Sieve)

Spinach, ricotta and feta quiche

SPINACH, RICOTTA AND FETA QUICHE (Makes 2 quiches)


Pastry
300g plain flour
150g butter
pinch of salt
ice water

Filling
2 bunches of baby spinach (blanch 1min in boiling water, squeeze out excess water then shred the spinach )
250g ricotta
250g feta
½ cup grated cheddar cheese
5 eggs, beaten
½ cup milk
chopped parsley / spring onions
cayenne pepper
fresh ground black pepper
ground nutmeg


Pastry

1. Make pastry (rubbing-in method) and refrigerate for ½ hour.
2. Roll out and line 2 loose-bottomed flan tins. Refrigerate for another 10mins
3. Bake blind at 200C for 10 min. Cool

Filling

1. Mix all the filling ingredients except nutmeg in a large mixing bowl.
2. Pour into quiche bases, sprinkle with ground nutmeg.
3. Bake at 180C for 35 min or until golden brown. Leave in tin for 5 minutes.
4. Serve hot on its own or with fresh garden salad.

Apple Crumble Slice

Sorry - no recipe for this. I got the idea for the apple crumble slice from one of the blogs on the internet when I was searching for another recipe.

Basically. I made a short crust pastry for the base, then baked that for 10-15min till golden. Then, I 'slapped' on a layer of home made plum jam which one of my friends had given to me. I then topped that with some stewed granny smith apples (stew with a bit of sugar, cinnamon and lemon rind) then finished it all with a crumble made with plain flour and butter, then sprinkled it with almond flakes before baking in a moderate oven for 20-30min till golden. Serve warm with cream or ice cream or custard. Also delicious on its own.