coconut tarts

One of my favourite moments during yum cha is when the lady comes around pushing the desserts cart. From colourful cubed gelatin jellies with an umbrella toothpicks to chewy mochi with peanut and coconut fillings. I generally like most of them (except almond jelly), but you can't really beat flaky egg tarts that are fresh from the oven. Another tart offered is the coconut tart - what I refer to as the less popular cousins of the egg tart. We used to get these when we were visiting our relatives in the east, but since the dim sum restaurant closed a decade ago, I haven't been able to source any good ones that are as good as the ones we used to get.

I tried making them a couple of years back, but the filling was different mainly because I was just mixing a bunch of ingredients I thought were in it. It was not until I recently came across wantanmien's post, I thought about making these again. This time the filling was very close to what I remember eating in the past. Compared to my old filling mixture which was very moist, this was quite dry and could be molded into a ball. 

You'll need a stack of individual tart molds to make these, but if you don't have any, you can try using a greased, loose based muffin tray or patty/fairy cake trays (cake tin with the rounded bottom). 

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coconut tarts     makes around 16

pastry adapted from Lim Siew Chung in Yummy Street Fare 最想吃的...街坊美食 

filling adapted from wantanmien

pastry
200g plain flour
75g cold unsalted butter, cut into cubes
25g cold lard (or unsalted butter), cut into cubes
50g icing sugar
15g custard powder
pinch of salt
1 cold egg

filling (make a few hours prior or overnight)
200g desiccated coconut
120ml milk or coconut milk
60g unsalted butter
100g icing sugar (or to taste)
20g vanilla pudding powder* (optional)
1/2 tsp vanilla bean paste
pinch of salt
few drops of yellow food colouring (optional)

8 glace cherries, cut into half, for decoration (optional)

To make pastry: Put flour, butter, lard, icing sugar, custard powder and salt into a food processor. Pulse until butter and lard resemble small breadcrumbs. Add in the egg and pulse until everything comes together. Empty onto a lightly floured surface and knead into a ball. Wrap and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.

To make filling: Put all ingredients into a small saucepan, except for the desiccated coconut. Cook on medium low heat until butter melts completely. Stir in the coconut and leave to cool for a few hours or overnight for it to absorb the liquid.

To assemble: Take the pastry out of the refrigerator and divide into 30g pieces. Press pastry evenly around the molds**. Divide filling according to how many tart shells you have and lightly press into the tart shells. Press in a halved glace cherry in the center. Bake at 190 degrees celcius for 20 - 25 minutes or until golden brown. Don't worry about over baking, they are very forgiving. In fact, you'll get crispier tart shells - win! 

*I found adding this made the taste kind of artificial. If you add vanilla bean paste, essence or extract, I do not think it is necessary.

**Or roll out the pastry into 2mm and use a suitable cookie cutter to cut our rounds to line the mold.

wonton noodles!

"If you don't ever try, you'll never know how. The first time won't be great, but you'll know how to make it better next time." 

And with that, I made my first bowl of wonton soup noodles with a bit of help from my dad. The method was quite simple and the only thing I struggled most with was wonton wrapping. Despite being taught how to wrap wontons on two separate occasions, I finally got the technique last night. Unfortunately, the wonton filling was on the bland side because I forgot to add the oyster sauce. At least I'll remember for next time. In the meantime, a few drops of soy sauce will have to do.   

carrefour potato buns

I came across this old blog post by Jane the other night and I remember how popular these potato buns were in Malaysia. When they were in the oven, a distinctive aroma filled the store and once they were out, people started to huddle around the bakery with their supermarket trolleys. Steamed filled the bags whilst the staff packed and handed them out. It was tempting not to eat them then and there. 

Back then, my grandma was a big fan of these fluffy, soft textured buns and we were tasked with buying a dozen pack if we went down to the supermarket. We didn't even buy them when we went back last year, but I felt like making some since the cross on top makes them look like hot cross buns. But, I didn't quite like how the cross came out so I will just make and pipe some real custard on next time.

I read how adding mashed potato in bread dough can make it too moist, so I changed the method a little. Instead of boiling/steaming the potato, I nuked it resulting in a drier texture. Perhaps adding 10g of custard powder into the bread dough also helped absorb some liquid? To nuke potatoes, use a fork and poke multiple holes on both sides. Nuke on both sides for 1 minute (1000W) and 30 seconds more thereafter until it is soft enough to cut through with a fork. Allow to cool before peeling and leave the potatoes in small chunks as it will be fully incorporated when it is kneaded in. Whilst nuking, the potato will make funny sounds, but don't worry (too much) about it exploding.

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potato buns     approx. 1.2kg dough; makes 30 small buns
adapted from Vivian Pang's Kitchen 

I don't know why they are called 'potato buns' when potato doesn't even make up the majority of the ingredients. Maybe it is because when they are shaped, they resemble little washed baby potatoes?

600g bread flour
70g caster sugar
1 tsp sea salt
4 tsp dry yeast
1 large egg + enough milk to make up 300ml
10g custard powder (optional - if adding dissolve in some milk first)
1/2 tsp vanilla bean paste (optional)
80g cooked potato (see above for instructions)
60g cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

custard cross
50g custard powder
15g bread flour
10g milk powder
water

Place above ingredients into the bread machine bowl according to manufacturer instructions. Set to 'dough function'.

When dough is ready, lightly dust the bench with bread flour and divide dough into 3 equal strands. Gently stretch them out and further divide into 30 x 40g dough pieces. Shape them into small balls and transfer to a lined baking tray. Cover and leave to prove until dough doubles in size*. 

Meanwhile make the custard mixture for the cross. Mix custard powder, bread flour and milk powder with enough water to form a pipe-able paste that is not too runny. If you accidentally added too much water, add in some bread flour. Transfer to a piping bag with a small tip.

When dough is ready, brush tops with beaten egg and pipe the cross pattern on top. Bake at 175 degrees for 15 minutes or until tops are golden brown.

*It was quite chilly when I made them so I proved them in an oven heated at around 30 degrees for 1 hour. Every 20 minutes I brush the tops of the dough with beaten egg.