BBQ Pork Steamed Bun

BBQ pork buns almost seem like the quintessential item to have at yum cha.  It is an item that almost everyone recognize, both in looks and taste. They're a perfect little bun, filled with tasty BBQ pork and encased in fluffy soft dough. So there is no surprise when I say that my two boys are completely obsessed with them, and they are a must have item when we go out for yum cha at the local Chinese restaurant. Lucas can easily demolish two or three steamers of these bun without a blink of an eye.  

The only downside with having these buns in local restaurants (as is the peril with most items at a Chinese restaurant) is that you don't know what goes into them, especially with their liberal use of MSG to add flavour. Don't get me wrong, I'm not exactly a food nazi and preventing them from having treats here and there, but let's face it, if there are definitely alternatives to the their favourite foods that don't have any chemical nasties, then why wouldn't you try provide that option for them right?

Steamed Chicken Bao (Chicken Buns)

Chicken Bao.  Fluffy, white bun encasing juicy, tender chicken pieces... just the thought of it is enough to make me salivate.  I could easily eat more than my fair share of these buns if I didn't exercise any self control!

My favourite steamed chicken bao would have to be from Tai Tong in Penang, Malaysia. One bite into the soft bun and the juice would gush out, dribbling down my chin as I struggle to make sure I try not waste any of the tasty filling. Nothing like the authentic tasty Penang chicken bao to get the juices flowing (get it? lol)

Recently a friend asked if I could share the steamed chicken bao recipe as she wanted to make for her son. So here is the recipe I have concocted, my dear friend. I'm glad to share it with you and I hope your boy enjoy this recipe too!

Cheese Twist

 

Having to entertain two kids during school holiday is a full time job. They seem to know that by being on school holidays, I have the time to indulge them in their favourite foods (pancakes anyone?).  My youngest one is a real foodie, trying new food with gusto, and definitely letting you know if he definitely does enjoy it or not. 

We live on a quiet cul-de-sac and the kids on our street love coming round for a play during the school break. As you know, active kids make for hungry tummies.  No doubt all the bike riding, running around and rough-housing works up a healthy appetite.  This is where these cheese twists are the perfect snack to put together a group of ravenous kids.

These tasty, cheesy, savoury pastries will no doubt make you popular with whoever consumes them, and best of all they are so ridiculously easy and require very little forethought.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

To me, chocolate chip cookies are synonymous with childhoods, whether it is freshly baked made-from-scratch cookies, or a particular version of store bought cookies. Growing up there were Cookie Time cookies, a large format cookie with generous chocolate chunks throughout. If I really wanted to, I could break the cookie into pieces and sneak them as a snack during class.  Then Christmas would come round, and they would do Cookie Time buckets - miniature versions of their chocolate chip chunk cookies in a bucket.  I'd have to buy 2 or 3 buckets just to get through that season, because goodness, they certainly didn't last very long. You'd have one, then two, and next thing you know you've eaten the ENTIRE bucket - whoops!  I kept telling myself I was getting good karma points though, because every bucket sold was raising funds toward the Cookie Time Charitable Trust.

Now you might think that there are much better cookies out there than the Cookie Time, and you're probably right. But the smell and taste of the Cookie Time cookies bring me straight back to my childhood.  Now that I am older, wiser (debatable) and no longer have a Cookie Time cookie available up the road from me anymore (cue tears), I've had to come up with a solution.  Although Cookie Time cookies will forever have a soft spot in my heart, I have been on the hunt for a go-to chocolate chip cookie I could whip up at home.  

My favourite type of chocolate chip cookies have now become crispy on the outside, soft and chewy on the inside, and exploding with chocolate chips at every bite.  Because let's be serious, you can't call it a chocolate chip cookie if you don't get the chocolate chips in every bite.  The best thing about baking chocolate chip cookies? The fact your kitchen smells like a bakery and licking the bowl, spatula and beater of the cookie dough batter. Waste not, want not is my philosophy...!

So while trialing a few cookies along the way (and I wonder why my waistline is expanding...) I came across these today.  These were great as they were a simple dry ingredient, wet ingredient, mix both together dealio - a fantastic option to get the kidlets involved without screwing up the final results. I tweaked these just slightly, adding Maldon flaky sea salt instead of regular salt which I think adds a slightly 'cleaner' salt taste to the cookies. However, you can use regular salt as per the original recipe if you don't have flaky salt on hand.  

Baked Zuchinni Slice

I'm pretty sure vegetables are the type of food that just don't get enough appreciation in the real world.  Growing up, I don't think I was particularly averse to many of the vegetables I had. In saying that, my mum wouldn't let me leave the dinner table until all my food had been finished. If that meant sitting at that table for an hour, with your food going cold, and everyone else had finished eating and left, well so be it.  I learnt pretty quickly I was never going to 'out-stubborn' my mum! Can I just say though, I don't think I will every freely enjoy bitter melons or brussel sprouts eurgh!!

I'm lucky both my boys do not dislike vegetables and that they will eat it of their own volition.  However, I know that children can be fussy for whatever reason, and so this recipe is great to sneak those vegetables into their diet without them catching on until maybe it's too late.  Although this recipe uses zucchini, carrots and mushrooms, you can add or minus whatever ingredients you want to use.  For example, when fresh corn is available, I will add corn kernels from a cob into the mix.  By adding bacon or equivalent meat into the dish, it helps cover the vegetable taste, thus the ability to sneak the vegetables into their meals!  

This is definitely something that can be split into cups for kids lunch boxes, or be made in a bigger batch so there is enough for dinner as well as lunch the next day. This is a favourite to eat for lunch with the boys, and a favourite of mine to make since it is so easy.

Baked Vegetarian Zuchinni Cups

In this day and age, it has been suggested mixing your regular meat-based meals with vegetarian alternatives can be beneficial for your health.  Growing up, certain Chinese religion would dictate certain times of the month or year as solely vegetarian.  

Being the ninth month in the lunar calendar year, this is the time of of the year where my grandma would bring out a separate complete set of utensils, pots and pans and we would go on a strict vegetarian diet for nine days.  This was a celebration for the 9 Emperor Gods and I would get so excited during this time as this was also a fabulous opportunity to taste different vegetarian dishes along the streets of Penang (and for those that haven't tasted hawker foods in a street environment, you don't know what you are missing!).

Although I now no longer practice the nine-day vegetarian diet, I have been asked by vegetarian friends to share some vegetarian recipes that they could try. I have tweaked my favourite zucchini slice recipe to turn this into a vegetarian option, which I might add, is still pretty darn tasty! 

I have created these into cups for ease of transportation for the boys lunch box, however you can absolutely combine all the ingredients and just put it into a big dish for dinner. This is a recipe that you can also add your own creative licencing to as well, adding any other kind of vegetables to it (can you tell I am a big advocate for "scrape-the-bottom-of-the-fridge-Friday" recipes??!).

Finger-licking Good Grilled Chicken

It's school holidays here in Australia and with beautifully warm weather (26 degrees, blue skies), what better way to spend it then to have a picnic in the park with friends. So what do I make to bring to the park which is easy to make, yet healthy and delicious for the boys?  One thing that came to mind is the surefire winner of finger-licking good grilled chicken.

I usually serve this on a bed of rice for dinner, so normally marinating it for 30 minutes would be sufficient. But because we are going to leave the house in the early hours, I will have to marinate these overnight, making it taste even finger-lickin' better! 

Pandan Chiffon Cake

I absolutely love to cook and bake with pandan leaves. There is something intoxicating about the smell of pandan wafting through the kitchen as it cooks.  Although not very common here in Queensland, it is an item that is used throughout many traditional Malaysian recipes, adding a delicate sweet flavour to the dish.  I have seen friends and relatives in Malaysia using pandan leaves tied in a knot to use as an air freshener for their homes or car.  Personally, I think that would just make me hungry for pandan all the time!


Chiffon cake is a beautifully light, fluffy, cottony soft cake, very similar to sponge cake, but using oil instead of butter.  I would buy a slice of this deliciously fragrant cake for morning tea at school.  Now that I am an adult, I can bake these for morning tea and have a piece warm out of the oven with a cup of kopi-o (I am yet to find someone who doesn't follow the philosophy of coffee and cake as a match made in heaven!). 

Malaysian Egg Sponge Cake aka Kuih Bahulu

I love these little sponge cake with kopi-o (black malaysian coffee). Crispy on the outside, soft and fluffy on the inside. You can get these cakes from the local markets in Malaysia. They usually come baked in a flower shape but this would work in just about any kind of mould.  I have used little cupcake moulds, as well as little teddy moulds for my boys.

If you have friends coming over on short notice, this is the recipe to go to. This can be whipped up and out of the oven within 30mins. These are perfect as lunch box treats too!