Chocolate based crust Fruit Tarts with apricot glaze

Crust is made with short crust pastry recipe. When baking the crust, baking beans must be placed on the crust to avoid the crust from rising due to trapped air in between the pastry and the baking tin. After baking the crust, I placed a thick layer of melted good quality dark chocolate, followed by custard cream then with the fresh fruits. Apricot glaze is then brushed on the top of the fruits for the shiny effects. I put them in the fridge them for a good 1 hour before serving. It can be kept in the fridge for 2 days only.

Jia Lei Bread Making course Lesson 9

When I went for lesson 9 that day, I realised that Jia Lei was conducting a secondary school puff pastry baking class. I was like sxxt, did I make a mistake or did the teacher made a mistake on my schedule? Anyway, I felt that it was pointless to question who is wrong or right. I just made a quick rescheduling and make my way to the gym. I took my time at the gym, had lunch and while I was shopping for groceries, Jia Lei called me and ask if I can make it for lesson. I was still around that area so I thought why not? I was the only one learning and it felt great! The whole kitchen to myself! HAHAHA!

The picture on the left is bread with yam topped with almonds, bread with butter topped with coffee mexican topping (similar to roti boy) and durian cream coiled bread which I had to redo because I failed the other time. Only days later that I remember making cartoon-face bread but I did not bring back. I think it was inside the proofer. There were so many variations that day, so I guess both my teacher and I forgot about the cartoon-face bread. Hopefully, I can do again in lesson 10 (my last lesson).

The picture on the right is durian strudel. They had a puff pastry baking class before my class and they saved some left over pastry for me. It allows me to practise making the strudel once again. It was a breeze and it felt great!

During my lesson, some of the teachers were practising on some cute cupcakes with 3D designs so that they can teach on future classes. Aren't they sweet!

Jia Lei Bread Making course Lesson 8

Arrgh! I forgot my camera again! In the end, I had to compromise and use my lousy phone camera. Hence, I promise myself to get a new phone which has at least 8 mega pixels. During lesson 8, I made bonito flakes bread, pork floss bread, golden pillow ( cooked curry chicken wrapped in aluminium foil then covered with dough and baked), and french loaf. I did not feature the golden pillow and the french loaf as after the lesson, I was rushing for time to go to the gym with T, so please pardon me.

The breads was super soft and nice as usual. I feel that Singapore style bread (soft bread) are easy to bake and not as time consuming as the french loaf. For french loaf, half the dough needs to proof at least 4 hours and above, and the other half consist of fresh dough. The lesson only last for 4 hours maximum, so my teacher had already done up the first half of the dough the night before. The 2 doughs were then mixed together, moulded, baked and then paired with the leftover curry chicken! Yummy!

Jia Lei Bread Making Course Lesson 7

This lesson was a pretty fast one. I have had learnt making cream puffs before thus, it was easy for me. The only difference, its only slight ingredient change which results in a denser and softer puffs. The ones that I did at home had a harder crust and I feel that it it much more suitable to feel the puffs with ice creams to make them profiteroles, as the crunch of the puffs will go better with the softness of the ice cream.

I mixed red bean paste with the basic dough to make red bean bread. A few interesting variations was made. Finally, I baked the sandwich loaf which makes the end of lesson 7.

Jia Lei Bread Making Course Lesson 6

In lesson 6, I baked apple strudel and durian strudel. The layered effect of the strudel is made by folding and rolling out the pastry together with butter several times before baking. For the fillings of apple strudel, I cooked a diced apple together with some cloves, cinnamon and butter till softened. When cooled, spoon the apple mixture on top of the custard cream and top it up with the puff pastry. Sprinkle some icing sugar to decorate. For the durian strudel, just mix some good quality durian with the custard cream and pipe it onto the puff pastry.

I also made breads with basic dough, added fillings like red bean paste, chicken and mushrooms and etc. Topped the buns up with puff pastry of different designs. Pineapple tarts were made too.

Jia Lei Bread making course Lesson 5

During lesson 5, I learnt to make spinach bread and sesame bread. Spinach blended with water to make spinach juice, then added to the basic bread dough. For the sesame bread, finely grounded black sesame is added to the basic dough. For the spinach bread, I filled it with stir fried chilli dried prawns (hae bee hiam) and placed some banana leaves over the bread for decorations. As for the sesame bread, I made three variations. I filled some with bbq pork (char siew) and coat it with Mexican topping (like polo bun), some with coconut, and others plain with black and white sesame on the surface.

Jia Lei Bread Baking course lesson 4

Lesson 4

I made danish pastries today. It includes crossiants, savoury and sweet danish. Danish pastry's main ingredients are plain flour and butter. It is rolled and folded a couple of times to create the layer effect. Due to our humit climate in Singapore, the teacher asked me to use solid vegetable butter as it does not melt easily as compared to butter when the pastry is being rolled out. So, for the best tasting danish, either turn on the aircon (if you are so fortunate to have one in your kitchen) and use butter to bake. Well, the danish turns out nice using vegetable better but I feel it can be better using butter made from cow's milk. Nothing beats the real thing!

Baking danish pastry is a real fun! I did not expect that it can cut out to so many different variaties. The only troublesome thing is you have to carefully and neatly placed the unused cut out portions together(which can be quite alot depending on how you cut out the designs and what shape you want), slightly overlapping each other and roll them out again for other designs. Another thing to take note during rolling out the layered pastry is not to pressed down too hard as it will inhibit the expansion of the layers during baking, which results in harder danish.

Next, I bake custard bread and garlic bread. Making the garlic butter at home is really easy. Simply mix finely chopped garlic, fresh herbs like pasley and oregano and butter together. Add some salt if you prefer and you can spread it onto any baguettes or plain soft bread.

I am enjoying every lesson and always looking forward for the next lesson. The teachers are friendly and I feel at home when im there. If you are interested on the commercial/professional courses or just a 1 day course, please visit http://www.jialei.com/. They teaches Dim Sum making, cake and bread baking, chinese and western cooking and much more! They are located at 1 Rocher road #03-05. Just directlty opposite Fu Lu Shou building and its about 3 minutes walk from Bugis MRT or you can call them at 62946018 when you are lost. Do remember they are closed on Mondays.

Jai Lei bread baking course Lesson 3

Lesson 3

• Chicken Pie


• Curry Pie


• Donuts
  

Jia Lei bread baking commercial course Lesson 2

I signed up for Jia Lei bread baking course in March. Their course dates are very flexible (closed only on Mondays) but at a fixed timing from 9.30am-12.30pm. After the first lesson, I go earlier at around 9am as I realised that in order to learn at a comfortable pace, an earlier time is better. It gives me ample time after the class ends for me to sit down with the principle of Jia Lei to do some theories and QnAs.

I forgot my camera for Lesson 1 so the following pictures will start from Lesson 2.

Lesson 2

• Corn bread
  
• Plaited bread - plain and with fillings

Parma ham with melon salad and Pan fried salmon with olive paste

Parma ham with rock melon salad is one of the favourite starter that is served in most Italian restaurant and even in business class of our premier airline. I try to replicate it at home and it was a success. Mainly due to the simple preparation work and no cooking needed. For this dish, all you need is selecting a sweet rock melon. The melon plays a important part of bringing out the taste of the parma ham and cutting the fats of the ham. It was my first time choosing a rock melon and I based on observing other people on my selection process. I kept my fingers crossed and started choosing. First, I chose one that looks close to flawless on the surface. Second, I weighed with my hands - choosing the one that was heavier to ensure that it was juicy enough. Thirdly, I kept my nose very near to the top part of the melon - choosing the one that smelled the sweetest. After the stringent selection process, I went home to cut the fruit. I was very pleased with myself. The melon was so sweet. I sliced it to about 1cm thick and wrapped it up with parma ham each. Plate the mesclun salad on the plate, then I placed 3 sets of parma ham with melon, sliced a cherry tomatoes and dress it with balsamic vinaigrette. You can place it in the chiller with cling wrap to chill before serving. For the main, I marinated a slice of salmon fillet with sea salt and black pepper and pan fried till slightly brown. I then coated the top side of the salmon with olive paste. After which, I baked it together with some cherry tomatoes in a pre-heated oven for 10-15mins till cooked. For the sides, I just stir fried some zucchini with some bacon bits. Plate when done.

Sausage and chickpeas soup

The only TV channel that I watch whenever I am in Australia is Lifestyle Food channel. It features celebrity cooks such as Gordon Ramsay, Jamie Oliver, Maggie and Nigella - show casing their recipes. It also shows culinary skills competition shows like Master Chef, Hell's Kitchen and Iron Chef. There is always something new which I can learn from this channel! T is on a carb-free diet from mondays to fridays, so I decided to make a soupy yet hearty low-GI meal for his weekday dinner which I learnt from Lifestyle Food. The way I present it is quite similar though for some change in the ingredients.

Ingredients

• Italian sausages from cold storage


• 1 can chickpeas


• 1 small carrot - cubed 1cm


• 1 potato - cubed 1cm


• 1 can peeled tomatoes


• 1 can chicken stock


• 1 white onion


• 1 bouquet garni (bay leaf, thyme, parsley and rosemary)

Procedure

1. Heat the olive oil and place the sausages in and cooked till half cooked. Remove from pan.
2. Using the same pan, heat some olive oil and pour in the onions and cook till soft.
3. Pour chicken stock, peeled tomatoes, chickpeas, carrots, potatoes and bouquet garni and bring it to a boil. Bring down to a simmer once boiled. Simmer till chickpeas are soft. (You can add a little dry white wine if you prefer- just a dash will do)
4. Add some pepper to taste.
5. Toast a wholemeal bread or any other bread you prefer and the meal is ready.
   

Harry's bar - Beef pot pie

In Singapore, we seldom get to eat beef pot pies at Irish pubs. It is not a culture for Singaporeans to eat the traditional beef pies at pubs, so maybe that is why most Irish pubs do not serve them. T and I went to Harry's bar, our occasional hang out place and decided to try their beef pie to compliment on our Guinness draught. The outer crust of the pie is made of puff pastry. The beef stew sauce is very well done. The sauce tasted very good when paired with the crust. I feel that the beef chunks can be cooked longer so that is softer. But T beg to differ. He said the beef is made just nice. He also commented that the beef must not be too tender otherwise it will just blend in with the crust. Overall, I feel that it is a nice dish to pair with our draught stout. I will be looking into baking one myself and posting it up soon.

Chinese new year goodies by my lovely mom

Its chinese new year and my mom is at it again. Her fried 'kok zai' (fried pastry wrapped with peanuts and sugar) is simply delicious but lots of effort was put in. Her kok zai is very crispy, unlike the commercial ones which are very hard on the first bite. To make about 5 small boxes of it, it took her 5-6 hours making the pastry, wrap the peanuts fillings in and fry them. It was time well spent, as there are lots of good reviews. She was delighted and I was a happy snacker!

On top of the delicious kok zai, my mom made 'fa gao' (sweet steamed buns) to offer to the gods. Its so easy to make! My mom bought ready mixed flour from supermarket and just added half a portion or coconut milk and half portion of water to reduce the fat content. If you want to make the real deal, put all coconut milk. After I tasted the fa gao, I felt that the texture can be more sticky. Probably, by adding all coconut milk will be better. I will try that next time when its time to pray to the gods again. Ha Ha!