It is time for ...

... summer vacation :D :D :D

I will be staying in Hongkong for 2 months. Not sure if I will visit the neighboring countries, but definitely I continue coming to see your wonderful blogs!!!

Peachsauce Muffins

"Twinkie" (a long small cake in US) shape is also found in Barcelona. I baked the muffins in the paper moulds and found the texture pretty good.

Flat peaches have come to markets these weeks. They are very sweet and juicy.

There is a Chinese proverb, the back translation roughly is: Friends seeing each other once in a while, satisfied; but living under one roof; horrified.

Even the reason is just some little things, but two supposed-good friends once got to face it everyday, eventually it turns out to be nightmare.

It is so true, at least to one time which dated back to the last days of my college. School was just finished, my classmates, 4 or 5 buddy-buddies coming together formed a group, decided to take a trip to explore other countries. One group went to Eastern Europe, one to Western Europe, one to Silk Road, one to India, my group to Beijing, and many others...

As a result, for the "lucky" ones, those friends could just barely tolerate each other and waited until came back to Hongkong to breakup. For the "unlucky" ones, they splitted up in the middle of the trip.

There were only two groups still "intact" from start til' the end. The one to India, but one of the classmates was sick for 20 days during the trip, and the trip only lasted 21 days, what a bummer. And the other was my group.

Of course there were many time we argued, and so not talking to each other for a day. But everytime our team leader (we always put the blame on him...dear him) would come back with some cobs of corn (boy, they were bigger than my arm!) or a bag of juicy peaches to apologize.

Ahhh... that peaches! So good, so juicy, for days I wouldn't eat anything except peach!

Maybe, when two friends live together, just make sure the pantry filled with good food, probably that helps?!

Dried cherries were added in the batter. Personally I think they are too sweet, I'd prefer dried apricot next time.

I made these muffins simply because I have lots of peaches at home... the price now are real cheap (a euro or 2 for a big bag) and the taste is excellent... there were so many peaches left so I made some peachsauce (the same idea of making applesauce).

You may like to use any applesauce muffin's recipe you like, then replace the applesauce with the peachsauce. My muffins included semolina flour, poppyseeds and dried fruits in the batter.

To make the peach sauce, first peeled the peaches and removed the stones, sliced the flesh. Pre-heat a skillet, added a spoonful of butter, cooked the peaches over medium/medium-low heat with a spoonful of brown sugar. In a few minutes, more juice would be released and the flesh turned soft, used the back of a spoon to mesh the fruit, and continued simmering until the sauce thicken.

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Moist Coconut Tartlets (HK style)

I am living in a business district in Barcelona. Besides of banks, lawyer offices and insurance companies, there are many cafes as well.

People come to office at 10. Around 10:30 they sneak out to have a cup of coffee, may or maynot have a mini sandwich but definitely some cigarettes, plus a long chat with their colleagues . At noon they'd have another coffee break since they have been "working" the whole morning. At 2:00 they're off for lunch, come back to office at 4:00. But an hour later ... oh you're so clever... yes, another coffee break! (A side note... the office hour in general is from 10 to 8, people do work for a very long hour, however their inefficiency is pretty well-known...)

I was half-joking to my husband, if I couldn't reach my bank officer/lawyer/insurance agent, I know where I could get them...

In conclusion, everyone loves cafe.

Hongkong people share a similar cafe culture... but minus the frequency... and we must eat, mostly sweet buns, pastries or tarts. In old time, these baked goods were loaded with butter, cream and eggs. This is the reason I think... back then the economy was kicking off, diversifed ingredients were imported, people were liberating their wallets, so as their stomach... So come to pastries and tarts, we like them very, very rich, from the inside filling through the outside crust.

Coconut tart is my all-time favorite. If you are a real coconut-lover, this HK-style tart is the ultimate! No no no, there is no custard inside, it is totally coconut-y! A couple of ingredients (like milk and butter) keep the filling soft, but leaving them overnight is the key to turn them moist.

(actually I made the tartlets weeks ago but couldn't post it as I had been sick. Now I am fanatically looking for the missing recipe ... please give me some time and I'd try to post it as soon as I can. Thank you)

Last but not the least, I am very happy to receive Beautiful Blog Award by Margot at Coffee and Vanilla. Being one of gorgeous blogs herself, Margot features delicious European and Caribbean cuisine, and actively promotes food blogging by organizing various events. So please check out the details of Beautiful Blog Award, you might like to nominate someone as well, or you would be the next one!

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Steamed Ginger Egg Custard, garnish with poached pears

These two weeks my body has been fighting an infection (not serious), not sure because of it or the medicine I took, I just felt so weak. Some important emails are still pending, a trip should have been prepared but never start, house is dirty, family is lacking my care ... I even felt asleep on a dentist chair yesterday! Right away I told myself I couldn't live like this, I got to grab plenty of rest and eat something good. Last night I forced myself to sleep a few hours more (that makes a whole lot different!), then proceeded the latter... poaching pears in red wine, cooking ginger in milk, steaming it with eggs...

The pears I used for garnish are real tiny, the size is even smaller than a ping-pong ball's. They are just come out the market this week, vendors call them 'perita San Juan' (Sant Juan little pears). Actually many streets, places, schools, people and food are named after saints, some may have a story behind, some I really don't think so. (note later: I just realized June 23 night starts the traditional midsummer party, the celebration in honor of San Juan, St John the Baptist)

The whole dessert only takes minutes to prepare, most of the time is inactive anyway. Less work, more sleep and more nutrition make the best remedy :)

Recipe of Steamed Ginger Egg Custard

(yield: for 2 - 3 persons)

• 250ml milk
• 3 - 5 slices of fresh ginger (you can freeze the rest for next time or other use)
• a pinch of salt
• 3 Tbps sugar
• 2 medium-size eggs

1. Use a big knife or the back of its handle to smack the ginger slices, place them together with sugar, salt and milk in a small pot. Slowly bring them to almost boil. Remove from the heat and let cool.
2. Whisk the eggs, just 30 seconds should be enough. Combine the eggs and the milk mixture.
3. Place a sieve under while pouring the milk into serving bowls.
4. Place a short rack inside a big pot, fill with water for 1 or 1 1/2 inches, bring the water to just about boiling. Place the bowls of custard on the rack, steam them with the lid close under very low heat... make sure the water is only simmering but not bubbling. Check the custard in the first 5 or 7 minutes ... make sure you dry all the water under the lid before you place it back on. My custards totally took less then 10 minutes to get done.
5. Serving the custard hot or cold.

Recipe of Poached Pears

• Pears of your choice, preferably with firm texture after cooked. Mine are miniture so they don't need to cut, only peeled
• Half glass of sweet red wine
• 1 cinnamom stick
• 1 slice of lemon
• some sugar
• some water

In a small pot, stir in wine, water, sugar, cinnamon and lemon, bring them to boil. Lower the heat, put the pears in, keep the liquid barely simmering for 30 minutes. I'd prefer soaking the pears overnight, but I run out of time so mine were soaked for 2 hours.

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Plantain Custard Roll (fried)

Originally I filled the custard in the hollow plantain 'log', then the whole log went to deepfry. The custard is found to lost its sheen.

Can I speak Spanish? Not really. So I was a bit anxious before I visited a Peruvian friend.

Although it was around 4 in the afternoon , she had already prepared me a nice full meal :)

While she was serving me, she was also running in and out of kitchen preparing another meal for her husband. In order to cut all her running, I decided to stay with her in the kitchen. She was frying plantain... peeling, slicing, deep-frying, draining, seasoning... at the same time she was doing most of the talking, and listening my Spanish (the latter the toughest!). From that moment I realized that frying plantain got to be easy ... while cooking one still is able to entertain a foreigner!

A lot of food bloggers have been showing many wonderful plantain dishes, but my experience was only limited to making savory plantain chips, and eating it as-is (when it's totally ripen). So your comment to this roll is most welcome! The custard is made out of plantain, milk and egg. The roll is actually a cored whole plantain, coated with semolina and flour. The only thing is, after it filled with custard and went deep-fried, the custard lost the sheen and part of its flavor. Maybe I change to fill the custard after the frying next time.

The custard added in after the roll is fried

Recipe of Plantain Custard Roll

For the roll -

• one whole plaintain, the skin starts turing yellow but still firm to touch
• 1 Tbp of very fine semolina
• 2 Tbps of flour
• corn oil for frying
• for finishing - ground coconut and icing sugar

For the custard -

• (some plaintain... will explain later)
• little water
• 1 yolk
• 2 Tbps white suger
• 1/2 Tbp flour
• a good pinch of cinnamom
• 1 tbp butter
• 100 - 120 ml milk

1. To prepare the custard - First take out the plantain, cut off the two ends and hollow out the center with a help of very long and thin knife. Now we just need the scraping bits and the fruit from the ends for this custard. Dice the fruit, place it in a very small pot and cook with just enough water until it is soft. Puree. Dissolve the flour and sugar in milk, add into the pot and keep whisking. After it boils, lower to simmer for a few minutes, it should be thicken then. Taste the sweetness. Leave the pot off the stove, quickly whisk in the yolk, the butter and a pinch of cinnamom.
2. To prepare the plantain 'log' - Now the log is no longer curl up but straight after the ends cut off. Peel, brush with egg white and coat with the semonlina/flour mixture, fry in pre-heat oil for at least 10 minutes or until it is done.
3. Fill the log with custard (but I haven't tried this step... I fried the filled log instead). Sprinkle icing sugar and cococut allover. Serve hot.

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Pumpkin & Nut Pastry

Have you ever felt that there is another "you" living in another place or country? You and "You" aren't related although look identical. You two share the same thoughts, and seem to be aware of each other on some level .

For me the feeling can be creepy, so am very glad that it is only a plot for a foreign movie - la double vie de Veronique.

But in food, discovering its look-alike/ double in an entirely different country the experience is exciting though.

Louh-Pau Ban (back translation: wife's pastry) in Hongkong.

And Pastel Cabello in Barcelona.

LPB's filling has candied winter melon. Depending on how the bakers treat it, the texture can be gummy with crunchy bits. I thought very unique.

Until I tried pastel cabello. Probably there are various types, the one I had the filling was made out of pulp of pumpkin or gourd. The color appeared to be transparent and the texture was crispy also. I've definitely glimpsed a peripheral vision of candied melon!

Now I am not trying to recreate either of the pastries (candied winter melon isn't available in many stores, and I don't have a recipe for that store-bought pastel cabello), but the whole experience has just inspired me on making a pumpkin filling for a Chinese pastry crust. Is there someone else in somewhere doing the same thing?... mmm... ...

Recipe of Chinese Pastry Crust

(recipe courtesy Florence at Do What I like. I have changed a couple of things from the original recipe to suit my own taste

yield: 12 pastries

Dough A

• 100g flour
• 25g icing sugar
• 25g butter, cold, cut into cubes
• 30g water (adjusting it while forming a dough)

Dough B

• 100g flour
• 25g butter, very, very soft
• 20g corn oil (adjustable)
• 1 egg for egg wash

To form dough A - in a mixing bowl whisk to combine the flour and icing sugar. Drop in cold butter cubes, use finger or a pastry blender to further cut the cubes until the whole mixture has a texture of coarse cornmeal. Gradually mix in water and knead a few times until a soft dough is form. Divide into 12 small balls.

To form dough B- in a mixing bowl well combine the flour, very soft butter and the oil. The dough is tender and soft as well. Divide it into 12 small balls.

Roll Ball A to a flat circle, place Ball B in the center, wrap up and seal the circle, seal-side up.

Left photo - Roll the ball to a rectangle, from the short side roll it up. Up to this point the gluten in dough probably develops too tight, you may need to cover the roll-ups and rest them in fridge for 30 mins or so, therefore you will feel easier when you do the further rollings.

Right photo - Place the roll-up vertically, the seal-side faces up, roll it to a rectangle, and roll it up. Rest (cover and chill) the roll-ups for 30 mins again.

Roll a roll-up to a flat piece, you can use a mold or just create a free-form pastry, wrap into the filling. Egg wash each top. Since I wanted the pumpkin cook a bit longer, so I set my oven to 185C (Florence used 200C), bake pastries 30 minutes. Cool them off on rack.

Recipe for pumpkin and nut filling

yield: 12 small portions (a portion eqv to 1 tablespoon)

• 260g pumpkin, finely shredded
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 70g almond, blanced
• 20g unsweeten desiccated coconut
• 3 teaspoons poppy seeds
• 50g icing sugar

1. Mix the pumpkin with sugar, cover and stay overnigh in fridge. Place the pumpkin in a tea towel and squeeze out the liquid as much as possible.
2. Slightly toast the almond, then ground them.
3. Combine the pumpkin, almond, cocnut, poppy seeds and icing sugar. Mine the moisture is just perfect, in case of being too dry, I think it is possible to add some honey or maple syrup.
4. I chose to use a shallow mould, so the (raw) pumpkin is only spread to be a thin layer and able to cook through.

"Shanghai" scallion flat bread

If the scallion bread is really from Shanghai, or what the one in Shanghai looks like, sorry I can't tell. But it is what Hongkong people like to call, and this is how the vendors like to make: a bit flaky, quite chewy, very aromatic and so highly addictive!

In the 80s and 90s in HK, vendors selling Shanghai/northern-style food were used to be everywhere, sort of like pizzerias in Roma or hotdog carts in NYC. But later, they one by one disappeared, is it due to the (bad) nature of HK people who always keep changing their taste, or due to the ridiculously high rent that killed their business? My husband and I are so sad that now we only find scallion bread at fancy restaurants. In order to charge a higher price, the bread is always overdone (creating excessive flaky layers and adding some lard bites), it is more like a pastry rather than a down-earth bread...

So a few years ago I decided to make my own... started from searching the recipes on internet, testing a few, improvised a bit here or there (no need for too much as the ingredients are so simple!). Since I have been making it many times, I can just estimate the amount. So when you make it based on my recipe, please do count on your eye-n-hand judgment as well.

You know how happy for a kid when the mom hands him/her a big lollipop? I saw the same happy face on my husband when I put down a plate of scallion bread :D

When I lived in US and now in Barcelona, there are not many local stores carrying scallion. They have something similar but that's from related onion family, however, in my opinion, they can't yield the best result (e.g. the green part is too fibery, tastes too dull... or too expensive). Scallion is available at all asian supermarket, and is very, very cheap :)

Ingredients (yield 12 - 13 bread, each about 9 cm in diameter x 1/2cm thick)

• 320g flour
• 1/4 tsp of baking powder
• 1/4 tsp of salt
• 2 tsp of vegetable oil (but not olive oil)
• 220 - 230 ml water, boiling hot
• about 6 stalks (or more) of scallion
• a small bowl of oil, set aside. With a brush
• a small bowl of fine sea salt, set aside

Finely chop the scallion, I use the whole including the white part (but not the root though), but try to chop the white even finer as its taste is more pungent than the green part. Set aside.

Well combine the flour, 1/4 tsp salt and baking powder in a mixing bowl, set aside.

Boil the water, add in oil. Then pour most of the hot liquid into the flour mixture, stir very quickly and see how the texture goes, then pour the rest of hot liquid. The dough should be slightly sticky (it will dry up a bit when you work on it later), knead it a few minutes or until it looks smooth.

Place dough in a bowl, pre-greased, cover and rest for an hour.

Evenly divide the dough into 12 or 13 portions. Remember to cover those doughs that you are not working on.

Roll one ball of dough to a flat circle with a thickness of 0.2 or 0.3 cm thick. The dough is soft and tender, but shouldn't be sticky enough to require adding flour on work table.

Brush some oil, sprinkle a good pinch of sea salt and scallion. Check how much scallion I put on, it can go a little more, but not less.

Roll up the circle.

Coil the roll-up.

Gently press down the coil with your palm. Then roll it flatter to the thickness close to 1 cm.

Pre-heat a 9cm skillet, drizzle one teaspoon oil, place 3 slices of bread, cook for 3 or 4 minutes over medium heat. Then cook the other side for another 3 minutes.

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