onion rings

 Beer-battered Onion Rings By Martha Stewart Recipe by Tasty

Bao

'She made bao?!?'

1kg all-purpose flour

200g cornflour/cornstarch

2pk instant yeast

4 tsp sugar

4 Tbsp oil

3 Tbps baking soda

Approx 500-600 ml warm water

Mix ingredients, knead, and let rise for an hour. Punch down. Roll out 90g of dough into a circle. Fill with filling (char sui pork, veg, etc). Pinch the top together. Steam for 12 minutes. Yum!

Char sui pork

Meat:

      3-4 pounds boneless pork loin, or pork shoulder/pork butt

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• Marinade:
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• 1/2 cup granulated white sugar
• ▢4 teaspoons salt
• ▢1 teaspoon five spice powder
• ▢1/2 teaspoon white pepper
• ▢1 teaspoon sesame oil
• ▢2 tablespoon Shaoxing rice wine
• ▢4 tablespoon soy sauce
• ▢2 tablespoon hoisin sauce
• ▢4 teaspoons molasses
• ▢
• ▢3-6 cloves finely minced garlic

For sauce:

      2-4 tbsp honey

      2 tbsp hot water

Original recipe calls for red food colouring for that Chinese restaurant look. I never use that. 

Mix all marinade ingredients in a big bowl or ziplock bag. Add meat, and cover in plastic or seal tightly. Place in the fridge for several hours, even overnight. 

For pork loin:

Remove meat from marinade and let drain on a plate. 

Preheat oven to 200C (fan). 

Heat wok and add vegetable or peanut oil.

Sear meat for a couple of minutes on each side, until it's dark and often crispy with black spots. 

Place meat on a baking tray. Bake in oven for about 10-15 mins, checking temperature with a thermometer so it doesn't overcook. 65C is cooked. 

Let meat sit on a cutting board for a few minutes. 

Heat marinade in a pan until it's rapidly boiling. Add honey and water. Let cook until it reduces and thickens. Use this as your sauce for the pork. 

Slice pork in thin circles and serve with sauce, rice or noodles, and some Chinese veg such as pak choi, broccoli, or green beans. Also nice with sriracha and/or sliced fresh chilis, and fresh coriander. 

Once marinated, you can also slow cook the meat in a Dutch oven, in a low-heat oven. Haven't done this in a while so will have to update this with cooking times next time I do it. The slow cooking can work well for fattier meats such as shoulder and butt. If done in hot oven, shoulder and butt require longer cooking time than loins.

        

Bagels

1500g bread flour

3 sachets fast yeast

3 tbsp brown sugar

3 tsp salt

approx 900ml warm water

Mix ingredients. Knead for 5-10 mins. Let rise until double (1 hr).

Form bagels into balls (100g each), poke a hole in the middle and stretch and mold until it looks like a bagel. Center hole should be a bit larger than you think, as it will get smaller as they rise. 

Place bagel on tray covered in parchment paper. Let rise until puffy (approx. 20 mins). 

Boil 3 litres of water (we fill our large Dutch oven to half full). Add 1 tbsp baking soda and 1 tbsp molasses. 

Boil bagels 30 secs on each side. Place them on trays covered in parchment paper. Add toppings (poppy seed, sesame seed, garlic powder, onion flakes, salt etc). Bake for about 18-10 mins total in 180C fan oven (200C conventional). 

Makes a lot of bagels. You can half or third the recipe if you don't like leftovers.