Homemade Dun Daan Recipe – 燉蛋

Steamed Egg Custard Sweet Dessert

I really enjoy simple Chinese desserts, and Dun Dan is one of those desserts that is simple and really delicious. I learned this recipe from my aunt and have always kept it in my recipe box. I’ve recently dug it out and now I’ll share this delicious wonder!

Ingredients:
1/2 cup of milk
1 egg
2-3 tablespoons of sugar (depending on how sweet you like it)
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

First, dissolve the sugar in the milk by whisking it together. You don’t need to heat up the milk or anything as it will dissolve over time.

Then, beat the egg until smooth and frothy – then which together with the milk mixture and add your vanilla extract. If you like a touch of ginger taste, this is when you’ll add some ginger juice.

When the mixture is smooth and mixed, get a strainer and strain the mixture into a steamable bowl (heat-safe bowl) such as a ramekin.

Place some saran wrap or tin foil over the bowl before placing this into the steamer – that way, it ensures no liquid will get into the bowl for a smooth custard. Steam the bowl for around 7 minutes. To test if it’s done, take some chopstick and tap the side of the bowl. If it jiggles like jelly – it’s ready. If it moves more like a liquid, then it hasn’t set.

You can either enjoy this delicious dessert hot from the steamer or let it cool down then chill it for a more refreshing dessert. It tastes wonderful both ways! We like to make 2 and enjoy one fresh and hot, and we eat the other one at a later time cold.

Homemade Chinese Nian Gao – 年糕

Sweet Sticky Rice Cake – Neen Gow

It’s that that time of year when we’re in our kitchens cooking up a storm and sharing goodies with family and friends. One goodie you’ll always see is the Nian Gao which is a very simple recipe that is very sticky with a hint of sweetness.

Ingredients (makes 1 – 8″ pan)
2 cups of Glutenous Rice Flour
300 mL boiling water
1 cup brown sugar or 5 sticks of peen tong (片糖)

Note: You can add more sugar if you like it sweeter – we like it much more subtle tasting!

Peen tong is basically Chinese Rock Sugar or Chinese Rock Candy and it comes in a pack of “slabs of sugar”. If you don’t want to purchase/use it, or simply can’t find it, a great substitution would be to use brown sugar – which is what I did as it was sold out when I wanted to get it!

First off, boil some water and dissolve the sugar into it. When it becomes a syrup, you’re ready to start making your nian gao! Measure out the glutenous rice flour and pour in your syrup. Caution, this is a boiling water mixture, but make sure it’s hot!!

Mix together until it’s smooth and creamy and pour it into the dish you’d like to steam your nian gao in before it gets cold.

Once the nian gao is ready in it’s dish, put it into the steamer for about 1 hour to an hour and a half. You’ll know it’s ready when you can move the edges and it’s set. If you stick anything into this cake, it’ll stick so the toothpick test is not a good idea in this case.

If you’re enjoying it right away, be sure to allow it to cool and set for at least 15 minutes. It will be really soft and gooey and very sticky at this point – but it’s always nice to eat freshly steamed food. If you like it properly made, once it’s cooled enough, pop it in the fridge for at least 3 hours where you can cut it up and serve.

One of the ways we like to eat nian gao is to pan fry it with an egg. So, we cut the nian gao into pieces and dunk it into a beaten egg before placing it on a fry pan with some oil. It’s very important to do this on low temperatures or the nian gao will melt and stick to your pan. You’ll know these are ready when it’s “soft and gummy”.

Things I’ve heard about nian gao, but I’ve never tried it – I guess you can bake your nian gao instead of steaming it, and you’ll get a crunchier topping and more cake-like. It does however use another recipe but I don’t know it and haven’t tried it yet. But, I’m thinking I should one day! I’ve also heard that nian gao’s are extremely freezable, and when you want to enjoy it again, just steam it back up! It could be handy if you’ve received one too many for New Years!

Homemade Dong Gua Tong – 冬瓜湯

Wintermelon Chinese Soup

In my family, most of my Chinese soups begin with the same base, and for the most part, this soup is no exception.

1 lb of pork bones
1 slice of dong gua
5 or 6 dried shiitake mushrooms
3 tablespoons of dried shrimp
1 or 2 dried scallop
2 tablespoons of ginger
2-3 carrots
1 piece of dried orange peel

It is good to rehydrate all the dry ingredients a few hours ahead if you can. If not, it’s not a big deal as it all cooks together and will soften.

First, take a pot of boiling water and cook the pork bones in the pot of water. Then, when it’s cooked through (or most of it), rinse it with cold water and place into a soup pot.

In a the soup pot with the cooked pork bones, place peeled carrots which is cut into large chunks, dong gua into chunks as well – which I usually leave the peel on as well, so make sure you clean everything, and the ginger! Then, I place all the dry ingredients into the pot and fill it up with cold water.

Once the water boils, reduce the heat to low and let it simmer for at least 3 hours. The longer you let it simmer, the more flavours get developed into the soup. When you’re ready to enjoy, skim the fat off the top and add some salt to taste! Then, serve and enjoy this refreshing winter melon soup!

This particular time, we bought the edge of the dong gua and my other half decided it would be fun to make a bowl out of it as a dong gua zhong – winter melon pot. If you’re doing this properly, you steam the soup in this bottom piece and it then acts as a serving platform. Here, we just carved it and he used it as a bowl.

Homemade Lo Bak Go – 蘿蔔糕

Turnip Cake Recipe – Luo Bo Gao

Just in time for Chinese New Years, I’ve taken what I know of how to make a Lo Bak Go and tried it! Please note, I like my lo bak go with lots more filling than “go”, so feel free to reduce the amounts of any particular ingredient.

1 large dried scallop (or 2 little ones)
1/2 cup dried shiitake mushrooms
1/4 cup chopped dried shrimp
2 Chinese Sausages (lap cheong)
1 cup of Rice Flour
1 cup of water
1 cup grated lo bak (daikon)

Seasoning (adjust to what you think tastes good)
salt, white pepper, soy sauce

First things first, you have to rehydrate all the dehydrate ingredients, and I like to do soak my shiitake mushrooms, dried shrimp and dried scallop the evening before hand in a bowl with some water.

When I’m ready to start making my lo bak go, I start by grating the lo bak and I place it into a pot of boiling water with some sugar and salt for a few minutes until tender.

While the lo bak is bubbling away, I start by chopping up the Chinese sausage, Shiitake mushrooms and shrimp into little pieces, and shredding the scallop. I heat up a wok and put all the ingredients together to stir fry them until cooked. I also do the seasoning with some white pepper, soy sauce and salt until it’s more flavourful than usual – since the rice flour mixture would add no flavour, it works best this way.

When everything is good and ready, I prepare the rice flour mixture by first starting with 1 cup of water and 1 cup of rice flour. I mix it until it’s dissolved and pour it into the combination of lo bak and all other goodies. I mix thoroughly and judge by the texture how I would like it. If you like your lo bak go firmer, put more rice flour in so that it’s more paste like consistency. The more you mix, the tougher it gets as well. I like my lo bak go soft, so I do minimal mixing. When you figured out how you like it, pour it into a pie pan or something like it and prepare it for steaming.

I steamed my lo bak go for about 45 minutes and I put a toothpick in to check that nothing was sticking to the toothpick. When it was ready, I turned off the heat and put some green onions (scallions) on top for decoration and put the lid on it for about 5 minutes before I took it out and let it cook on a cooling rack. Be careful, the pan and the lo bak go is extremely hot at this point.

Now that it’s cooled down a bit and had some time to set, cut it up and enjoy! I always like to sprinkle extra white pepper, or sweet soy sauce, or even some hot sauce on top of my slices of lo bak go. Sometimes, I do all 3! Now, pick up your chopsticks and enjoy!

Home Made Palmier

I’ve made Palmier‘s twice now from my kitchen, and I had no idea my husband liked this treat until he ordered one at a cafe. To surprise him, I made some at home and he was really happy! It takes no effort at all to make them and no recipe either really!

I use the following ingredients and then just produce them:
Half a sheet of Puff Pastry (thawed)
2 or 3 teaspoons of Granulated Sugar

I then sprinkle some sugar on my work surface, and roll out my puff pastry on top of the sugar – so sugar gets into the the pastry.

Home Made Palmier - Rolling Puff Pastry

When I’ve made it to the dimensions I like, I sprinkle more sugar on top, and I fold in by quarters until they meet in the middle. I then slice them about 1cm thick as my palmiers are smaller than the usual (since I only use half a sheet).

Home Made Palmier - Cutting

I baked them until it’s golden brown on the back, and flip them. It normally takes around 5 to 7 minutes per side in a 400F oven. I let them sit a little bit out of the oven for it to set up and enjoy with tea! 🙂

Palmier

The next time I make this, I think I’m going to make Cinnamon Sugar Palmier as I read about that a few days ago and thought it was an excellent ideal! 🙂