Stuffed Mushroom 花枝招展

I was making Braised Chicken feet with mushroom and decided to set aside a few of the mushroom to make this dish.

This is done using the Happy Call Pan.  If you don't own a HCP, there's always the regular wok or steamer to do the job. Please refer to the alternative method at the end of the recipe for instructions.

Ingredients:

• 200g prawns, shelled, cleaned and minced
• 2 Squid, cleaned and outer 'skin' removed
• 6 Dried Mushroom, soak to soften and stalk removed
• a small handful of Wolf berries
• 1 teaspoon Corn Flour
• a pinch of Salt
• a dash of Pepper
• 100ml Water
• 1/3 tablespoon Oyster Sauce
• a pinch of Sugar
• Cornflour Mixture as thickener

How to do it:

1. Squeeze water out of mushroom, dab dry and set aside.
2. Cut squid into thick ring of 2.5cm each piece.
3. Slice squid downward with less than 1cm apart but be careful not to slice thru it. You can use a scissor to do this too.
4. When it's done, the squid will look like a flower with a big opening in the middle.
5. Dab dry and set aside.
6. Mix minced prawn well with 1/2 teaspoon corn flour, a pinch of salt and a dash of pepper.
7. Dab the underside of the mushroom with a little cornflour.
8. Stuff the squid with prawn paste and place it on the mushroom.
9. Top with a Wolfberry.
10. Pour water into the pan.
11. Add oyster sauce, sugar and wolfberries.
12. Bring to a simmer.
13. Add in the stuffed mushroom.
14. Cover the pan and cook in low fire for 15 minutes.
15. Open and remove the stuff mushroom to a dish.
16. Thicken the sauce with cornflour mixture.
17. Pour over the stuff mushroom.
18. Drizzle sesame seed oil if desired and serve.

Note:

• The cooking time depends on the size of the stuff mushroom you have. The bigger the mushroom, the more minced prawn you need. Hence, the longer cooking time required too.
• Try to choose squid that can fit onto the mushroom, so the 'flower' can sit inside the mushroom.
• Unuse parts of the squid, except for the head, can be minced and mixed together with the prawns to be used.

Alternative for non-HCP user:

1. Follow steps 1 to 9.
2. Place the mushroom in a deep dish
3. Steam it for 15 mins or cooked thoroughly.
4. Remove and place it on a plate. Retain the sauce.
5. In a wok, pour in the sauce retained from the steaming.
6. Add 1 teaspoon of oyster sauce and a pinch of salt and sugar to taste.
7. Bring to a simmer and stir in some corn flour mixture to thicken the sauce.
8. Pour the sauce over, drizzle with sesame seed oil and serve.

before it's cooked

Sesame Cookie 芝麻酥

I happened to chance upon a packet of Sesame Powder in the supermarket and knew I had to get it. I love it in Glutinous Ball and I didn't manage to get it when I made Glutinous Ball for Winter Solstice last month. I'm definitely going to get it to make something else and it was the last packet there too.

I'm using my Peanut Cookies recipe to make these. Since the end product is grey in colour, I'm not sure if it will be acceptable as gift for Chinese New Year but they taste really fragrant. My husband preferred the 'original' with just sesame seed as toppings. I preferred it with sesame seed rolled all over, as shown at the end of this post.

Which do you prefer?

Ingredients:

• 300g Sesame Powder with sugar
• 120g Castor Sugar or Icing Sugar
• 250g Top Flour or All Purpose Flour
• 180ml Oil (I use Olive Oil)
• 1/2 teaspoon Salt
• 100g Toasted Sesame Seed for topping
• 1 Egg Yolk, beaten for glazing

How to do it:

1. Mix flour, salt, sugar and sesame powder together to combine.
2. Pour half of the oil into the sesame mixture and mix together. I use hands to do it.
3. Pour the remaining oil and continue mixing and kneading till the (icing) sugar has melted.
4. Roll a ball of 10g sesame paste and if it doesn’t crumble, your paste is ready. Otherwise, add a bit of oil till the sesame ball doesn't crumble when you roll it.
5. Place sesame ball on baking tray.
6. Brush with egg yolk.
7. Sprinkle some sesame seed on top.
8. Bake in a preheated oven for 13mins at 180C till egg yolk glazing turn lightly golden brown.
9. Cool on rack and store in air tight container.

Note:

• If you use castor sugar, you will be able to able to eat into some sugar giving it the crunchy feel. Use icing sugar instead if you prefer it to be smooth.

Sesame Cookie rolled in Sesame Seed and baked in the same way