Bak Kwa Cookies 肉干曲奇 （中英加图对照食谱）

Today is the fifth day of the Chinese New Year. In two days time, it will mark the seventh day of the first month on the Lunar calendar, traditionally known as 'Renri' (人日)which means the common man's birthday and everyone grows one year older. Coincidentally, 14 February is also the western Valentine's Day. 

I have made some heart-shaped bak kwa (pork jerky) cookies specially for my dear hubby. Bak Kwa is a traditional and popular Chinese New Year snack food in Singapore and Malaysia to welcome the prosperity of the coming year and are often bought as lavish gifts for friends and family. Due to a super busy schedule, I do not have the time to prepare my own Homemade Bak Kwa this year. I have used store-bought ones for this recipe and the savoury cookies turned out to be flavorful and tasty. Do give it a try when you have the time. Here's wishing everyone an advance 'Happy Birthday' and 'Happy Valentine's Day'! 

再过两天就是农历正月初七，是人日也恰巧是西方情人节。我做了些心形肉干曲奇送给老公。这咸味的手做饼干又美味又可口，有空大家也试一试吧！在此先预祝大家人日快乐，情人节快乐！ 

Pineapple Prosperity Bak Kwa 凤梨(旺来)肉干 (中英食谱教程)

Three weeks ago, my good friend Lois whatsapp me and told me that I am on news...what? on news? She asked me to quickly get a copy of WanBao newspaper that Saturday night as Baking Taitai was mentioned about her homemade bak kwa in a Chinese New Year Bak Kwa article. What a pleasant surprise! 

三个星期前的周六晚，好友Lois写短讯给我，告诉我，我上新闻了！叫我赶快去买份晚报看一看。原来‘Baking Taitai' 的自制肉干在一篇农历新年肉干的报道上有被提到，真的是一个意外惊喜！

Taiwanese Fried Radish Cake 台式萝卜糕 （中英食谱教程）

This pan fried radish cake is one of my family's favourite tim sum and we will always order it when we go for yum cha in restaurants. This radish cake can be eaten either steam or pan-fried. We prefer the pan-fried version as it has a thin crunchy layer on the outside from frying, and soft on the inside. The ones sold locally are usually the Hong Kong style which uses Lup Cheong (chinese sausage) as one of its ingredients. The Taiwanese version uses ground pork instead and I decided to give it a try after seeing the recipe in Carol's book. It turns out to be just as nice. Do give this version a try if you haven't tasted it before. 

Homemade Cognac Bak Kwa - Chinese Pork Jerky 自制白兰地猪肉干 (中英食谱教程)

Chinese New Year is just around the corner, (in fact less than a week's time), it is not difficult to decide what to bake on the opening of my new dry kitchen using my new Brandt oven. I have decided to bake the Chinese Pork Jerky known as Bak Kwa or Rou Gan (肉干）which is traditionally eaten during this festival. Bak Kwa is available throughout the year in our local stores like Bee Chun Heng （美真香）and Fragrance (香味). However, nearer to the Chinese New Year, the price per kilogram would rocket up almost double to SIN $50 ~ $60. What an exorbitant price to pay!

Red bean paste steam buns & Char Siew Bao (Roasted pork steam buns) 豆沙包 / 叉烧包




第一次做包子，还可以吗？

喜欢烘培的我，偶尔也想尝试做些中式点心。之前在网上看过大同小异的包点食谱，但都有使用白油。 我本身比较不喜欢用白油，所以至到最近看到不用白油的包子食谱，就把之前收集的食谱拿来比较一下。参考之后，混合一些部份，就做了以下的食谱。第一次做，选择了比较容易包的豆沙包， 也是我女儿最爱的包子，味道还不错！可是，喜欢叉烧包的小儿子，就在一旁呱呱叫，说妈妈不公平，只做了姐姐喜欢的口味。所以为了安抚他，就说妈妈下一次一定会做叉烧包给他吃。为了不让他等太久，一个礼拜后就履行我的诺言。叉烧包不比豆沙包容易，因为豆沙馅我是买现成的，叉烧馅就要自己准备了。还有包法也比较有挑战性。 我觉得这次不是包的很美，需要多加练习。你们可以上youtube找一找‘如何包包子’的视频，看着学习。

Besides baking, I like to make Chinese Tim Sum too. I have wanted to make steam bao for long but those recipes which I had come across use shortening. It is one ingredient which I prefer not to use. Recently, I saw a bao recipe which does not use shortening at all. I refer to the bao recipes I have on hand and came up with the following recipe. My first attempt was Tao Sa Bao (Red bean paste steam bun) which my daughter loves and the second attempt was my son's favourite Char Siew Bao.