Hainanese Chicken Rice Pau

[ Collaboration with Dancing Chef and Singapore Home Cooks ]

* "Hainanese Chicken Rice" Pau using Hainanese Chicken Rice Paste *

Presenting my new creation using Dancing Chef Hainanese Chicken Rice Paste!

My family loves chicken rice, so I thought of a "on-the-go" finger food with chicken rice flavour that's different from the conventional.

The concept is like a kong bak bao or gua bao but chicken rice flavour :) In fact, this is versatile and can be made into the traditional enclosed bao too.

Chicken rice paste is added to the Pau dough; in addition I added pandan juice for the green colour Pau as I like the aroma of pandan chicken rice.

The Pau has a subtle taste of chicken rice (smells really aromatic during steaming!) and is good to eat on its own but even better with poached chicken, ginger sauce, chilli sauce as well as cucumber, chilli shreds and coriander. *Both the ginger sauce and chilli sauce have Dancing Chef chicken rice paste added too!

It's literally like eating chicken rice, without the rice!

Isn't this cute, I love small size finger food like this, which can be eaten in one or two bites :p

Preparing this Pau is not difficult, just a tad tedious, but trust me it will be popular, especially for those who love chicken rice and/or pau or both LOL :p

For the original chicken rice flavour Pau, the dough is made using Pau flour, baking powder, sugar, yeast/sugar/water mixture, chicken rice paste and water.

Mix all the ingredients together using spatula till a rough dough forms and then knead for 10 mins. Initially the dough might be a little wet and sticky, sprinkle just a little bit of flour will help but not too much, just keep kneading and the dough will turn smooth and non-sticky. Cover and proof for 30 mins.

For the pandan chicken rice flavour Pau, the dough is made using Pau flour, baking powder, sugar, yeast/sugar/water mixture, chicken rice paste and pandan juice.

Likewise, mix all the ingredients together using spatula till a rough dough forms and then knead for 10 mins. Initially the dough might be a little wet and sticky, sprinkle just a little bit of flour will help but not too much, just keep kneading and the dough will turn smooth and non-sticky. Cover and proof for 30 mins.

Once dough is proofed, roll it out to about 5-6mm, use a 7cm mould to stamp the dough skins. Gather the scraps and repeat. If the dough shrinks, let it rest for 5-10 mins before stamping again. I manage to get 7 pcs.

Next use a rolling pin to roll each dough skin into oval shape thickness about 3-4mm. Brush the dough skin with some olive oil, fold it into half, place onto a piece of pau or baking paper (cut into 6cm square), and finally proof for 30 mins. Once proofing is done, steam on high heat for 20 mins and the pau skin is ready!

Repeat the same steps for the pandan chicken rice dough.

My freshly steamed chicken rice flavour paus, they look quite good, don't they? The pau is quite soft and fluffy with nice aroma and subtle chicken rice taste, I couldn't resist eating it plain ;)

Hainanese Chicken Rice Pau

(Makes 14 small size portions, 7pcs of original flavour and 7pcs of pandan flavour)

(A) Pau dough

Original chicken rice flavour (7 pcs)

• 100g Pau flour or Hong Kong flour
• 1/2 tsp double acting baking powder
• 20g caster sugar
• 30g Dancing Chef Hainanese Chicken Rice Paste (include some oil in the packet)
• 35-38g water
• 1/4 heap tsp instant yeast
• 1/4 heap tsp caster sugar
• 1.5 tsp water

Pandan chicken rice flavour (7 pcs)

• 100g Pau flour or Hong Kong flour
• 1/2 tsp double acting baking powder
• 20g caster sugar
• 30g Dancing Chef Hainanese Chicken Rice Paste (include some oil in the packet)
• 35-38g Pandan juice (blend 10 pandan leaves with 80-100g water, strain to get juice)
• 1/4 heap tsp instant yeast
• 1/4 heap tsp caster sugar
• 1.5 tsp water

1. Steps are the same for both flavours.
2. Mix yeast, sugar and water in a small bowl, set aside till the mixture turns frothy.
3. Add flour, baking powder and caster sugar in a large mixing bowl, stir till well blended.
4. Add chicken rice paste, water (or pandan juice) and yeast mixture into the mixing bowl. Mix the ingredients together till a rough dough forms.
5. Transfer the rough dough onto a kneading mat. Knead the dough for 10 mins. The dough may be a little wet and sticky initially, dust just a little bit of flour but not too much. Keep kneading and the dough will turn smooth and non-sticky.
6. Cover and proof the dough (first proof) for 30 mins.
7. Once dough is proofed, roll it out using rolling pin to about 5-6mm thickness.
8. Use a 7cm scalloped round mould to stamp out the dough skins. Gather scraps and repeat. If the dough shrinks, rest for 5-10 mins before continuing. Total yield is 7 pieces for each flavour.
9. Using the rolling pin to roll the dough skin into oval shape about 3-4mm thickness. Brush the surface with some olive oil, fold into half, place onto a piece of pau paper (6cm square). Repeat for all, cover and proof for another 30 mins (second proof).
10. Once the dough skins are proofed, steam on high heat for 20 mins and the Pau are ready to serve. Best eaten warm.

(B) Poached chicken

• 2-3 pieces boneless chicken thighs
• 2 stalks spring onion, 3 slices ginger, 2 cloves garlic

1. Bring a pot of water to boil, add chicken thigh, spring onion, ginger and garlic.
2. Let the ingredients simmer for 10 mins.
3. Remove the chicken thighs and place in iced water for 10 mins.
4. Drain and brush the thighs with sesame oil, set aside till ready to use.

(C) Chilli sauce

• 2 pcs big red chilli
• 2 pcs chilli padi
• 20g Dancing Chef Hainanese Chicken Rice Paste
• 2 cloves garlic
• 2 tbsp chicken stock
• 1 tbsp ketchup
• 1 tsp sugar
• Juice from 1 lime

1. Blend all the ingredients in a food processor till fine and well-blended. Adjust seasonings to taste.

(D) Ginger & Spring Onion Sauce

• 20g Dancing Chef Hainanese Chicken Rice Paste
• 2 stalks spring onion, finely chopped
• 80-100ml chicken stock
• 1 tsp sugar
• corn starch water

1. Add chicken rice paste and spring onion to a small pot, stir fry on low heat for 30s.
2. Add water and sugar, stir till well-mixed.
3. Thicken with corn starch water if the sauce is too watery.

(E) Assemble

• 14 pcs original and pandan flavour chicken rice pau (from A)
• 14 pcs chicken thigh (from B, cut the chicken thigh into sizes that fit the pau)
• Cucumber, coriander, chilli shreds
• Chilli sauce, Ginger & spring onion sauce (from C & D)

1. To serve, take a piece of pau, open up, place cucumber, chicken thigh, coriander and chilli into the pau, and finally drizzle some chilli sauce and ginger spring onion sauce.
2. Best eaten warm.

NOTES:

• This pau is best eaten warm, it will turn a little hard when cold (just like mantou). To reheat, steam for 5 mins. 
• As no preservatives, bread improvers or softener is added, the pau is best eaten on the same day, or keep in fridge for 1-2 days. Reheat before eating.
• I made the pau to be small size, eaten in 1-2 bites. For regular or bigger size pau, increase quantity of ingredients and use bigger mould to stamp the dough.
• This dough can be made into conventional enclosed pau too, or simply eaten as mantou.

This Pau is visually appealing and taste yummy, suitable for parties and gatherings, especially for the upcoming National Day!

So this is also my tribute to Singapore's 54th Birthday :)

Hope that all of you like my creation :)

Dancing Chef™️: One Paste, Many DishesBe (surprisingly) different

#DancingChefSG

AUGUST PROMOTION:  Dancing ChefTM Pastes 100g 2 for S$5.00 (UP: S$2.85) Available at Cold Storage, Giant, NTUC FairPrice and Sheng Siong

Give it a try today with Dancing Chef convenient pastes!

Chwee Kueh 水粿

My kiddo and hb love Chwee Kueh very much and the kiddo has been bugging me to make it for him. Both of them used to eat it at the hawker centres at least once or twice a week! We used to go to Ghim Moh market for the chwee kueh; the kueh is excellent, but my kiddo doesn't like their savoury type of chai poh. Alternatively, we would go to Clementi or West Coast markets where their chai poh are the sweet type. Well, now they can only get to eat this when they request and if I feel like making it :p

Frankly I've never make this in SG before because it's simply too convenient and much quicker if we were to eat it at hawker centres. For a batch like this, it took me around 1.5hrs! But now that we are in Thailand, cravings could only be satisfied by homemade I guess, which means OT for me in the kitchen -_-"

I like to make my chwee kueh mini size because I can literally put the whole piece in the mouth and munch away without the chai poh falling all over the place =D

The size of the mini chwee kueh is around 4.5cm and the chai poh topping is around 1 heap teaspoon, it's like a golden proportion to me ;p

I started off with cooking the chai poh or preserved radish first. I like my chai poh to have some crunch, not too oily and well-balanced between sweet and savoury. In Thailand, I can only find the sweet type of chai poh; it's actually not very sweet after rinsing and soaking in water for 15 mins.

Basically add some cooking oil to a pot, sautee minced dried shrimps, garlic and shallot till fragrant, then add the preserved radish and stir-fry on medium heat for about 10 mins. Thereafter add seasonings like light soy sauce, fish sauce, white pepper and sugar to taste; add a little bit of dark soy sauce for the colour, and also some toasted sesame seeds for the fragrance. Continue to simmer for about 10 mins on medium low heat and the chai poh is ready.

The chwee kueh or "water cake" is the trickier one to make as it's not easy to get the correct texture and consistency. The batter mixture of rice flour, wheat starch, corn flour, salt and water (room temp & boiling) might seem so simple but I realised that following proper steps are actually quite important. 

After mixing the flours and water (first room temp then boiling) together to form the batter, it's crucial to stir the batter each time you want to use it, otherwise the flours tend to settle at the bottom with the top being more diluted. As a result, chances are the initial batches of kueh will be very soft, and towards the end very hard.

Hence it's also important to work fast when filling the batter into the moulds, otherwise by the time all the moulds are filled, once again the flours settle at the bottom. Hence to overcome this, I oil the moulds and place them in the wok steamer as the water is boiling. Then using a jug/measuring cup with spout, I quickly pour the batter into the moulds (water is still boiling at the bottom of the steamer) and stirring the batter after a few pours to ensure it remains homogeneous.

And after the chwee kueh are done steaming, it's important exercise some patience and let the chwee kueh cool down slightly and set before unmoulding because otherwise the whole piece of kueh is too mushy and will break!

I learnt all these through trial and error. Actually I wonder how the hawkers do it as they prepare such large batches of chwee kueh daily!

Anyways, I'm glad that I could satisfy my family's cravings for this quintessential hawker food of Singapore from time to time.

Chwee Kueh 水粿
*reference from Bear Naked Food, Eat What Tonight
(makes 50 pieces, using mini moulds measuring 5cm top, 2.5cm bottom)


Ingredients
Chai Poh

• 200g sweet preserved radish, rinsed and soak for 15 mins.
• 2 tbsp dried shrimp, soak in hot water till softened then minced
• 5 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 pcs shallot, minced
• 1 tbsp white sesame seeds, lightly toasted
• 1/2 cup cooking oil (I used 1/4 cup shallot oil, 1/4 cup coconut oil)
• 4 tbsp light soy sauce
• 1 tbsp sugar
• 1 tsp fish sauce
• 1/2 tsp dark soy sauce, for colour, adjust according to preference
• 1/4 tsp white pepper

1. In a pot, heat cooking oil on medium heat. Add minced dried shrimp and stir-fry till fragrant for a minute. 
2. Add garlic and shallot and stir-fry for a minute.
3. Drain the preserved radish and add into the pot. Stir fry on medium low heat for about 10 mins.
4. Add the seasonings and adjust according to taste. Add the toasted sesame seeds. Mix well.
5. Let the mixture simmer for about 10 mins on medium low heat, stirring occasionally.
6. The chai poh is ready to use.

Kueh

• 135g rice flour
• 4 tsp wheat starch
• 4 tsp corn starch
• 1 tsp salt
• 400ml room temperature water
• 400ml boiling water

1. In a large mixing bowl, add the flour, starches and salt and mix well.
2. Add the tepid water and whisk till the dry ingredients are dissolved.
3. Add boiling water in a steady stream, whisking the mixture at the same time, till batter is well-mixed.
4. Prepare a steamer and bring water to boil (I'm using a wok with steamer insert). Wrap the cover of the steamer with a piece of towel/cloth to prevent water from dripping into the chwee kueh.
5. Brush the mini moulds thoroughly with oil, and place the moulds into the steamer with the water boiling.
6. Pour the batter into a jug with spout (stirring constantly to make sure batter consistency is homogeneous). Then quickly pour the batter into the mini moulds (with the water still boiling), stirring batter after every few pours. Repeat until all batter used up.
7. Cover and steam the chwee kueh for about 15 mins. *if mould is larger, steam for 3-5 mins more.
8. After 15 mins, remove the steamer insert from heat and let the chwee kueh cool down slightly and set. 
9. Use a mini spatula or butter knife, insert in into the sides of the mould and lift the chwee kueh out of the mould. The chwee kueh should be able to be removed easily.
10. Top the chwee kueh with about 1 heap tsp of chai poh each.
11. Enjoy by popping one whole piece of chwee kueh with chai poh into the mouth!

Laksa Yong Tau Foo

[ Collaboration with Dancing Chef and Singapore Home Cooks ]
Dish 1 - Laksa Yong Tau Foo

How time flies, next week is already Singapore's National Day and my family has been away for almost 8 months! As true blue Singaporeans who love to makan, we tend to miss local food from time to time.

Premix pastes like Dancing Chef really comes in handy whenever we have cravings. Sometimes it's too much hassle to cook from scratch or there are certain ingredients not readily available. I always stock up on our favourite pastes whenever we return to SG for visits; it's great that the packs are small and doesn't take up too much luggage space.

One of the SG local dish that we miss is Yong Tau Foo! Here in Thailand, there's no YTF stall where you can pick and choose the various ingredients like beancurd, bitter gourd, vegetables, fishballs etc...
Back in SG, we used to eat YTF at least once a week, and we always ended up ordering laksa gravy as the pairing is simply shiokalicious!

Using Dancing Chef Laksa paste, all I have to do is to prepare the YTF ingredients, cook the gravy and viola, a piping hot bowl of Laksa Yong Tau Foo!!

Laksa Yong Tau Foo
(makes 3-4 servings)

Minced fish & pork filling

• 200g fish meat (I use spanish mackerel/batang), chop into small pieces
• 200g minced pork
• 10g salted fish
• 4 tbsp water
• 2 tsp corn flour
• 1/2 tsp sea salt
• 1 stalk spring onion, finely chopped
• 1 stalk coriander, finely chopped

1. Add fish meat, minced pork, salted fish, water, corn flour and sea salt into a food processor or electric chopper. Grind/chop the ingredients into a paste.
2. Transfer the paste into a large solid bowl, add in the finely chopped spring onion and coriander. 
3. Wear a plastic disposable glove, pick up small portions of the mixture/paste and slap it back into the bowl. Do this several times until the paste turns into very soft and smooth texture. Set aside.

Yong Tau Foo
(filling above is enough for the listed ingredients)

• 2 small or 1 big brinjal, cut into 6 pcs about 1" thick with slit inbetween
• 1/4 bittergourd, cut into 6 rings about 1cm thick and hollow out the middle seed portion
• 2 blocks tau kwa/firm beancurd, cut diagonally into 4 pcs
• 3 pcs tau pok/fried beancurd, cut diagonally into 6 pcs
• 1 big red chilli, cut a slit inbetween and scrap away the seeds
• 4 pcs ladyfinger, cut a slit inbetween and scrap away the seeds
• Pot of cooking oil

1. Wash, pat fry and prepare the ingredients accordingly.
2. Using a small butter knife, stuff and spread the fish/pork filling into the prepared Yong Tau Foo ingredients.
3. Heat up a pot of cooking oil to medium heat and deep fry the yong tau food until cooked and golden brown. Drain using kitchen towel. Set aside. 

Laksa Yong Tau Foo

• 1 packet Dancing Chef Laksa paste
• 450ml water
• 250ml coconut milk
• 400g thick rice vermicelli (laksa noodles)
• 2 bunches kang kong (water spinach)

1. In a cooking pot, add laksa paste and water and bring to boil on medium heat.
2. Lower heat to simmer and stir in coconut milk. Simmer for another 5 mins and the laksa gravy is ready.
3. In a separate pot, blanch rice vermicelli for 15-20s, drain and scoop into individual bowls.
4. Blanch vegetables for 10-15s, drain and add into the individual bowls.
5. Top the bowls with desired pieces of Yong Tau Foo and finally ladle laksa gravy into the bowls.
6. Best serve hot.

Yum yum yum! This bowl of Laksa Yong Tau Foo was so satisfying! The HB also gave thumbs up! How I wish I could have more, but alas I ran out of the Laksa paste already :( Time to go back to SG to stock up?

From 1 to 31 August 2018, purchase 3 packets of Dancing Chef™’s pastes or sauces at just S$7.85 (UP: S$2.85/packet), and stand a chance to win a pair of passes to a cooking workshop helmed by local celebrity chef Lisa Leong on 16 Sep 2017. There are 30 pairs of passes to be won.

Dancing Chef promotion is available at FairPrice supermarkets exclusively.

#dancingchef #dancing chefs

Bak Chang 肉粽 ~ Glutinous Rice Dumpling

The Chinese Duan Wu Festival (端午节）or commonly known as Dragon Boat Festival is upcoming next Monday! There's a story behind how this festival came about (to commemorate a patriotic poet/exiled official by the name of Qu Yuan in the warring states period of China (just google to find out more).

In Singapore, the festival is typically celebrated with dragon boat race and eating Bak Chang aka glutinous rice dumplings (it could be more elaborate in China). Nowadays, many people have long forgotten about the significance of this festival and affectionately call this day Rice Dumpling Day without knowing the true meaning behind it.

My knowledge of rice dumpling is very limited, I only know a few variations or flavours, such as Hokkien savoury rice dumpling which typically includes pork belly, mushroom, dried shrimp and chestnut; Nyonya sweet rice dumpling which includes minced pork and candied winter melon; Kee Chang or Alkaline rice dumpling which is basically tasteless and eaten with coconut palm sugar syrup. These days, there are of course more flavours and additional ingredients such as salted egg yolk, abalone, scallop and sweet ones with red beans etc etc.

My mum learnt to wrap the Hokkien-style bak chang from my paternal grandmother and auntie, and from there she adapted her own taste for the ingredients and texture of the glutinous rice. My mum's bak chang is lighter on the palate; the glutinous rice is softer in texture and less salty so I can still taste the aroma from the bamboo leaf. Each ingredient is pre-cooked separately so each has its own flavour/aroma yet complement one another in the dumpling.

That said, every household has their own recipes and personal flavours but since young I grew up with my mum's bak chang so I'm very used to this particular taste and texture. So much so that I'm quite picky when it comes to bak chang. Usually commercial ones don't impress me much as they tend to be overwhelming in taste and heavy on the palate. I like my bak chang small, less seasonings, less rice and more ingredients.

Anyways, all these years I have not bothered to learn how to make bak chang as my mum would wrap a few dozens for giveaways. However she has stopped in the recent years. So I reckoned I ought to pick up the skill from her, else this heritage cuisine might be lost in my family! Haha. Sounds so serious.

So last year during the Duan Wu Festival period, I asked my mum to teach me how to make bak chang from scratch. She already prepared most of the ingredients, and showed me how to fry the glutinous rice and wrap the bak chang the proper way. As with folks of her generation, everything was done with estimation, so I simply asked her for the ingredients and method and try to figure out the quantity on another day. Frankly cooking is the easier part, the tough part is the wrapping and I'm lousy at wrapping! I remembered I took like 10 mins to wrap one bak chang, as I was trying to figure out how to shape and secure it properly. I even asked my mum to buy a full set of ingredients for me to practise (and figure out the recipes). As usual I procrastinated till late November (before my shift to Thailand) and I think I only wrapped 18 pieces, and some of the bak chang turned out quite ugly. But at least I figured out the quantity of ingredients and noted the proper steps.

Few weeks ago I was back in SG and the shops were beginning to sell bak chang materials/ingredients, just the right time! Ok, yep I brought back the key stuff and did my wrapping two days ago! My second solo attempt in wrapping bak chang \(".)/

My target this time is 3 dozens as I intend to gift them to my girlfriends here (if the bak chang turns out good). Preparation work started on Tuesday night, where I soaked some of the ingredients first. Spent Wednesday morning pre-cooking all the ingredients and finally started wrapping and cooking in the afternoon. By the time I completed 30 pieces of bak chang, it was evening. Underestimated the quantity of glutinous rice and I still had some leftover ingredients. Was in a dilemma whether to prepare an additional batch of glutinous rice as I was very tired already and my kitchen was like a war zone. In the end, I decided to push ahead and made another 9 pieces. So it's literally a full day's work and I managed to wrap 39 pieces of bak chang in total!

I'm quite happy with my attempt this time, most of the bak chang turn out well and resemble the triangular shapes. LOL! However, I was a little inconsistent, the first batch had slightly more rice than ingredients and as I progressed, managed to adjust such that there were more ingredients or at least balanced amount.

Here are the key ingredients for bak chang.

Dried mushroom (Japanese shiitake) - I bought the smaller ones (from SG) so that I can wrap the whole piece in each dumpling without cutting. Wash and soak them overnight.

Dried shrimp - These were bought from Laem Chabang, a coastal port north of Pattaya. I chose the large ones to have more bite. Wash and soak in hot water for 15-20 mins.

Pork belly - I bought them from the supermarket here, they came in long strips of about 1.5 inches width. Remove the skin (else too tough) and bones (if any). Cook the strips in a broth water (recipe below) till just cooked (able to poke through meat with chopsticks), remove and cut into bite-size pieces. *Strain and reserve the broth water for later use.

Dried chestnut - These were bought in whole pieces from SG, imported from Italy. My mum bought Canadian ones last year but I couldn't find. Boil the dried chestnut and soak overnight, the next day remove the tough brownish membrane bits from the chestnut.

Glutinous rice - If possible buy a special breed called Rat Tooth (鼠牙）only available during this period. It's more refined and softer in texture. Otherwise, any good grade of glutinous rice is fine. Wash and soak for 2-3hrs.

Pre-cooking for the ingredients (detail recipes below):

Pork belly - stir-fry the pork belly pieces with shallot oil, five-spice powder, coriander powder, white pepper, salt and broth, till fragrant.

Dried chestnut - braise the chestnut in broth water (used to cook pork belly strips) till soft (not mushy).

Dried mushroom - Stir-fry the mushroom with shallot oil, coriander powder, five spice powder, pepper, dark soy sauce, sugar and salt and braise in broth water.

Dried shrimp - Stir-fry the shrimp in shallot oil, coriander powder and white pepper till fragrant.

Glutinous rice - stir-fry the rice in shallot oil, season with salt, white pepper and dar soy sauce (for colour), to taste. Fry till fragrant and slightly sticky.

Bamboo leaf and string - wash and soak in water till ready to use. Choose the mid-size ones, trim edges if necessary.

Once the mise en place is done, the wrapping which is the tough part begins!

Here are three videos I took last year, my mum giving tutorial on how to wrap the bak chang. They are now my previous go-to guide!

Bak Chang 肉粽 ~ Glutinous Rice Dumpling
(makes around 39-40 pieces)

(A) Pork Belly

• 6 strips pork belly (about 880g after removing skin & some fats, 1.5 inches in width)
• Broth water: 5 cloves garlic, 1 spring onion, 1 tbsp salt, 1 tbsp dark soy sauce, 1.25L water
• Seasonings: 2 tbsp shallot oil, 1/2 tsp five spice powder, 1/2 tsp coriander powder, 1/4 tsp white pepper, 1/2 tsp salt, 8 tbsp broth water

1. Wash the pork belly, remove skin and bottom bone layer (if any).
2. Place pork belly into a pot, add the broth water ingredients, bring to boil and cook till chopstick is able to go through the meat (just cooked).
3. Remove from broth water and cut the pork into bite-size pieces (about 45 pcs)
4. Strain the broth water and set aside for use later.
5. In a frying pan, add shallot oil and stir-fry the pork bites till slightly browned. Add five spice powder, coriander powder, white pepper and salt and stir till well-mixed. Add broth water and simmer for 5 mins. Dish and set aside.

(B) Chestnut 

• 250g dried chestnut (around 45 pcs)
• 2 cups broth water (from cooking the pork belly)

1. Wash and place chestnut into a small pot. Add enough water to cover more than 1 inch of the chestnut. Bring the water to boil. Off heat, cover and let the chestnut soak overnight.
2. The next day, remove the tough bits of brownish membrane in the chestnut.
3. Place the chestnut in a small pot, add broth water and cook till the chestnut turns soft (not too soft). Dish and set aside.

(C) Dried Shrimp

• 70g dried shrimp (around 90 pcs)
• Seasonings: 2 tsp shallot oil, pinch of coriander powder and white pepper

1. Wash the dried shrimp a few times. Soak in hot water for 15-20 mins. Clean throughly and drain.
2. In a frying pan, add shallot oil and stir-fry the shrimp with the coriander powder and white pepper till fragrant. Dish and set aside.

(D) Mushroom

• 45pcs dried mushroom
• Seasonings: 1 tbsp shallot oil, 1/2 tsp coriander powder, 1/2 tsp five-spice powder, 1/4 tsp white pepper, 1 tsp sugar, 1/2 tsp salt, 1/4 tsp dark soy sauce, 1 cup broth water

1. Wash and soak mushroom in water overnight.
2. The next day, drain water and squeeze dry the mushroom slightly.
3. In a pot, add shallot oil and stir-fry the mushroom with the seasonings till fragrant. Add broth water and braise for 15 mins (or liquid almost becomes dry). Dish and set aside.

(E) Glutinous Rice

• 1.85kg glutinous rice
• Seasonings: 10 tbsp shallot oil, salt, white pepper, dark soy sauce (to taste)

1. Wash and soak the rice for 2-3 hrs. Drain.
2. In a large wok or frying pan, add shallot oil and drained rice. Stir-fry till rice is shiny and coated with oil. Season with salt, white pepper and dark soy sauce. Stir-fry till seasonings well-mixed and rice is slightly sticky.
3. ***Salt and pepper is to taste (take a few grains of rice to try, I added around 5-6 tsp of salt). Dark soy sauce is for colour, add tsp by tsp till desired colour tone. My wok is not big enough, I had to fry in 2-3 batches. After frying the batches, I mix all the rice together in an extra large mixing bowl and mix them well. Set aside.

(F) Bamboo leaf and string

• 90-100 pcs bamboo leaves
• 40-50 string (not sure what string they are, they come together in the pack, maybe banana string)

1. Wash and soak the bamboo leaves and string till ready to use.
2. Tie the string in bundles of 10 for easy counting and cooking. Hang the bundle using hook at height level for ease of tying the bak chang.

Assembly and cooking

1. Take 2 bamboo leaves, place them opposite sides of each other.
2. Twist the leaves to become a "cup". Add about 1 tbsp of glutinous rice into the cup, add pork, mushroom, dried shrimp and chestnut. Add another 1+ tbsp of glutinous rice to cover the ingredients, drizzle 1-2 tsp of chestnut water.
3. Wrap up the rice dumpling and securely it tightly using the string. 
4. Once 10 pieces of dumping per bundle is completed, they can be sent for cooking. To cook, add  water to a large pot (around 2/3 depth), bring to boil and add 1 tbsp of salt. Lower the bundle of dumplings into the pot and boil on medium heat for about 1 hour (make sure the water covers all the rice dumplings). Once done remove from water and hang to cool slightly (optional) before eating.
5. *** My cooking pot is small, can only boil 10 pieces of dumplings at one time. For bigger pots, may be able to cook larger quantity, but avoid overcrowding the pot to ensure dumplings are properly cooked.
6. *** Rice dumplings are best eaten warm. Steam for 10-15 mins before eating. They can be stored in freezer for up to 1 month or fridge for a week. Thaw before steaming.

*Shallot Oil

Shallot oil is a key ingredient in bak chang making. It's available at supermarkets but quite easy to prepare at home. 

• 150g shallot, thinly sliced
• 1 cup cooking oil
• 1/2 tsp salt

1. Add cooking oil and salt to small pot on medium low heat, add sliced shallots and fry till shallot turns golden brown. Watch closely towards the last few minutes as the shallots can get burnt easily.
2. Drain and set aside oil for use. For the crispy shallot, it can be enjoyed as a condiment for stir-fried vegetables, fried rice, noodles etc etc.

My very first batch of bak chang fresh from the pot two days ago. Quite pleased that they turned out reasonably well =D

Gifted half of the bak chang to my girlfriends and they loved it! The hb and I have also been having bak chang for breakfast for the past two days. LOL! The rest are kept in the freezer and we will eat them whenever there's a craving!

Overall, really happy with how my bak chang turns out, most of them look reasonably nice =D Although it's a lot of hard work and effort involved, the satisfaction is immense. Hopefully I will be able to practise making bak chang at least once a year! Or maybe next year I should learn to make Nyonya Chang?