BEST SEAFOOD IN KUANTAN (in my opinion)

The best seafood in Kuantan that I have tried so far is in this seemingly deserted-looking restaurant in Kuantan. Beserah Sea Food Restaurant along the beach at Kampung Batu Hitam Kuantan.

Don't follow the GPS location found via Google as apparently someone sabotaged the Google pin location and both directions we followed lead us to two different places right in front of Residential homes homes.

The best guide is to locate the Beach near Batu Hitam or its competitor PAK Su restaurant just a few doors away. It is right beside the restaurant Sajian De Alam.

We sat at the table looking over the beach. With such good food it should be full house on any given day.

Each dish is a winner in its own right. Like one reviewer on trip advisor said which prompted me to try out Restoran Beserah Seafood Restaurant each dish is a standalone success.

Even my husband who is currently on a vegetarian diet enjoyed the fried broccoli which is really fragrant and also the homemade tofu as well as the omelette. I tried the recommended by many online Salted egg butter squid.. OMG..  The aroma when it was served made me salivate immediately. When you place it in your mouth it is like... WOW... This is a little taste of heaven.. This is how you fry your squid!!! No rubbery feeling not too dry just nice and fragrant with curry leaves and even my toddler enjoyed it lots!

Do give this a try. Price is really reasonable starting from RM20 for the smallest portion for two of salted egg squid.

BESERAH SEAFOOD RESTAURANT
OPENING HOURS 12NOON TILL 10PM

KAMPUNG BARU HITAM BESERAH
26100 Kuantan Pahang
MALAYSIA

Contact tel no 095448810 or 0167839168

Missing Someone Who Will Never Come Back

A breath away is not far to where you are....

I miss my late mother-in-law.

I really miss her now even when I am typing this alone in the living room while hubby is in the bedroom with our son... I miss her a lot.

I haven't really cried after she passed away. I actually have no regrets because I did my best for her and said all that I wanted to say... but I really miss her. I miss her it hurts so much everytime our boy cries and I wonder if it was his tummy hurting or his ear hurting, I wanted to call mommy and ask and I realised she is no longer here. When I saw how our life feels so empty because we are lacking that every two or three days phone call to mommy and say Hello to her in a sing-song manner.

I miss her belly laugh and how cheerful she seems whenever we talk, knowing very well we brought her happiness in her final years... I have no regrets I decided to hold on and started my mission to learn to love her, ... I have since truly loved another mother who isn't my own mother from the bottom of my heart, I deeply miss her.. the screen is blur now due to my tears... gosh, I miss mommy so much....

She will never see our son grow up. She will never see him take his first step, she will never hear him call her po po. If we have more children after our firstborn, she will never know... or maybe she knows from up there in Heaven because that is where she should be. With a heart that big, always selfless, she must be in Heaven now. Maybe she is polishing the Heaven's gates because she always said she will fall asleep if she just sit still doing nothing.

My birthday is coming soon... mommy celebrated my birthday three times with me last year... it was as if she knew she could not spend time with me anymore after last year, 2012.... she made longetivity noodles and cooked two eggs she dyed red for good luck and prosperity for me during my Chinese Lunar Birthday, then we had a great Karaoke dinner in a private room where she kissed me and gamely posed again for my sister to catch the kiss on replay... then on my actual birthday early October we had dinner with Pei in Kuching where we sought treatment for her tumours... three times, not once did we talk about death or dying... it wasn't until November when I was on unpaid leave, all alone with mommy that she asked me if she was really dying.

I still remembered what I told her... I answered yes to that but when she asked me how much longer she has, I replied that not even the doctor could predict because if the doctor said a few months but she could live a few years then the doctor is lying, and if the doctor said a few years but then she passed away in a few months, then the doctor is lying as well. I kept telling her to be positive and everything will be okay in the end. From May 2012 of final stage cancer... she only passed away on March 19, 2013, 10 months of surviving final stage cancer. She is one strong fighter, our mommy. Just in time for our son to celebrate his 30th day full moon day... mommy's passing away anniversary will always be our son's age minus 30 days.

Mommy, wherever you are, your spirit lives on in us... I shall tell my son about you and what a great grandmother you are, an ordinary woman with great achievements in human values.

I miss you, and I still love you, my only mother-in-law.

xoxo
Sue

Pix of mommy making her famous yong to fu for one last time before she was too weak to stand up in 2012 *miss her and her cooking and everything about her*

30 DAYS... THE BEGINNING AND THE END

Baked Beans - Love it or Hate it

I have not been a big fan of baked beans for as long as I remember.

I almost hated it, if there is a food I dislike the most it would be it. I am not a fussy eater but there is something about baked beans in ketchup that makes me turn my nose away whenever it is served in meals or when spread over bread. But still I will swallow the portion served on my plate, albeit with inward cringing.

However, in 2012, when I was invited by a nice American family for a meal at their home (Thank you, Lisa and family for that memorable experience), I was served baked beans as part of the meal and I mean it when I said I am not a fussy eater, I took a bite... MAN, the US baked beans are WAY TASTIER THAN THE BAKED BEANS SERVED IN MY COUNTRY!

I even asked my friend Lisa where I can get the canned baked beans and I brought a can home all the way via the long haul flight.

Some pix of 'Bush's Baked Beans', chose the 'vegetarian' version to bring home, beats me why the selection as it was a year ago when we made that purchase in Super Walmart!

I finally made a decent meal with that lone can of baked beans this month, a year later, I added an egg to it for taste and hubby commented, "Why can't our baked beans be as tasty as the US baked beans?" Beats me... I shall make a mental note to bring back canned food in our next trip to the US, whenever that is. ;)

Craving for Chinese Bun

I took this pix of my Mother-In-Law's delicious meat bun and peanut bun, with rich filling some time ago.

Yummy!

Craving for the buns again now and thought of this pix hence I am blogging about it to at least 'release' some of the craving, haha.

For more info on how to make your own Chinese bun,
SEE THIS BLOG POST

Chinese Fried Rice

Chinese Fried Rice will never be complete without rice and eggs. :)

There are many types of fried rice (including Indian and Malay style) in South East Asia. As a lady of Chinese descent (born outside China and I'm NOT a Chinese national), one of the first 'dishes' we learned how to 'cook' besides washing the rice grains and boiling water is to fry the eggs, omelettes, whatever you wanna call it, eggs and ways to cook them are the first ingredient one masters in a Chinese kitchen.

Hence it is almost always certain to have fried egg with fried rice.

It is said fried rice cooked with a Chinese wok over open/real fire tastes way better than any other ways.

Anyway, the pix below show the ingredients that I usually prepare for fried rice as the main dish, if my overnight rice seems lacking, I shall Westernise my Asian fried rice and dice some potatoes to add more volume to the starchy dish.

Sliced garlic and onions are a must for a start, fry in hot oil till fragrant. Then the rest, it's up to you!

Some swear by frying the eggs first after the garlic and onions turned fragrant. Some only add the eggs after everything else were added and cooked. If you ask me, being a 'fair' person, I add half the eggs first, then cook and add everything then I add the other half after. Fair and square, so you can have two different types of egg tastes.

If you want to go a step further, especially if you are a big egg fan like me, use a clean wok, heat it up, beat the eggs and lay the beaten eggs flat on the wok or the pan if you find it easier. Scoop up the flat fried egg piece onto a dry chopping board, slice the eggs thinly and add the sliced eggs on top of your fried rice before serving, that's your dressing and you get an extra differently cooked egg with a different taste in a single dish!

The usual ingredients are meat slices, meat cubes, mixed vegetables frozen or fresh, diced carrots, corn, green peas. Sometimes I take the short cut and cut green leafy vege instead, hey, call me lazy to dice or cut the vege into smaller cubes and opting for green leaf vege which requires less preparation but they give you the fibre and roughage you need - all the same and hubby doesn't mind the taste!

It is advisable to cook the meat before the vege.

I usually add the meat first (after fragrant garlic and onion), then add the meat, wait till 80% cooked, then add in the harder to cook vege like stalks or green peas, cook for awhile and only then add the rice and I add the soft green leafy parts after the rice is more or less evenly heated up. Usually overnight rice left in the fridge is best.

For seasoning, add salt to taste, sprinkle a few dashes of pepper powder, some like to add sugar, or add chicken essence powder, shrimp paste or Chilli powder/flakes, anything goes!

For people like me, my hubby's fav is when I add dark sweet soy sauce. So I get salt and sugar all in one! Hence the blackest pix below is truly mine. The other two are cooked by my cousin. :) you can even add sesame seeds (the nice round presentation in the first pic below).

As for oil, any cooking oil will do, however I like to add a little bit of sesame oil for fragrance. Sometimes I do experiment with olive oil too. I think if you read my old blog posts, I would have mentioned I experimented with almost everything!

Practice and practice and before long, this will be the easiest and one of the quickest dishes to prepare! Bon appetit!

What It Means to be Malaysian to Me

I promise this will be a shorter post compared to the long posts in my blog.

Happy Independence Day, Malaysia! Technically, it is Malaya who is 55 years old, Malaysia as a country is only 49 years old, formed by Sabah and Sarawak in Borneo, Singapore (who then left about two years later) and Malaya (now referred to as Peninsula Malaysia). Malaysia Day is celebrated on 16th September. :-)

I guess I need to write an essay on what it means to be Malaysian in my opinion.

Here goes.

WHAT IT MEANS TO BE MALAYSIAN...

TO MY FAMILY: My late grandpa (who passed away at the age of 95 in 2007 a week before my weddding) always said: "Malaysia is a peaceful place. You can earn a living as long as you are hardworking." He came from China in the 1930s, when times are hard after the 1911 Chinese Revolution. He travelled with valid travel documents and settled down in Kuching, Sarawak, a state in Borneo, where he started his family and became part of the newly formed nation in 1963 through naturalisation - he was official "British" before 1963.

Same goes to my mom's parents, my parents' birth certificates showed "British" as their nationality as both my parents were born before 1963. British or no British, we are all Malaysians now. We are not even that state-centric anymore, we have relocated from Borneo to Peninsular Malaysia, my siblings and I have found non-Sarawakian
partners, we cannot afford to be state-centric anymore anyway!

TO FELLOW MALAYSIANS: Generally we young people (sweeping statement here, pardon me please) does not really bother about National's Day after we left mainstream education, where we had to line up and sing patriotic songs as well as the National anthem on a day before or after the actual public holiday in the spirit of Merdeka - in Bahasa Malaysia, the national language, Merdeka means - Independence (Free from Colonialism).

MY OWN TAKE:
The first time I was part of a National Day countdown was on August 30, 2005. I was still a reporter back then, I sat very close to the grand stand (main stage) where all the VIPs were at. By the time the countdown of 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 and MERDEKA! was shouted by everyone at Dataran Merdeka - the place where Malaya's Independence was first declared and shouted by the first Premier, Prime Minister Tunku Abdul Rahman Putra Al-Haj - I tell you, I actually felt a lump threatening to choke my throat, I was moved. The feeling was surreal. Here I was, at the same venue where our forefathers fought for independence and with everyone shouting "Merdeka", and I joined in as well, it beats watching a game at the Stadium or shouting for your idol anytime, the feeling is totally different! I blogged about it on Friendster but sadly, it has died a natural death, so I lost all data and pics of that night.

TO THE WORLD:
The people globally usually refer to Malaysia as only Peninsular Malaysia and shorten our citizens' name to the MALAYS. That is from the olden pre-Independent days where Malaya was called Tanah Melayu, the Land of Malays. Paintings of South East Asia map labelled Peninsular Malaysia as Malay. Even when I went to Hong Kong and mainland China, they referred to us as Malays. Fine.

RACES/SOCIETY IN MALAYSIA
For the record, Malaysia is a multi-racial country with Muslim as the official religion while non-Malays can profess any religion of their choice. Malay is the majority, with about 60% of the population, the rest are the Chinese (Chinese descent, not China-Chinese), Indian (Indian descent from India, but not India-Indian), the indegenious people in Peninsular Malaysia like Sakai, Jakun, and also 26 ethnic groups in the state of Sarawak in Borneo (Iban is the majority) and 27 ethnic groups in the state of Sabah in Borneo (Kadazan is the majority) - the two states in Borneo comprises East Malaysia, separated by South China Sea from Peninsular Malaysia.

Inter-racial marriages, and even inter-religious marriages had turned Malaysians into a colourful potpourri. I promised a short blog post, so for more information, feel free to google up Malaysia.

One thing synonymous with Malaysians are its food.

FOOD, FOOD, oh glorious food.

It doesn't matter what style of cooking it is, the Malays will cook Halal (ALMOST equivalent of 'kosher') food, but in Chinese or Indian style, we will have Malay style Chinese Fried Rice, or Indian style Fried noodles, and even the uniquely 'Mamak' or 'peranakan' cooking which is the result of racial integration of mixed marriages. Oh, don't get me started on the food for rest of the ethnicities in Sabah and Sarawak, my homeland of Borneo.

Pix shows some traditional cooking (meat in bamboo over the fire) by my friend's mom during Gawai Harvest Festival in mid-year in Sarawak.


I will not be telling the whole truth if I say we are truly tolerant with each other. However, let me remind you that even in a close-knit family, there will be squabbles and disagreements, what more to say in such a diverse community like what we have in Malaysia? Whoever we vote for, be it pro-Government or pro-Opposition, we are all just Malaysian voters exercising our rights. At the end of the day, we eat the same food, breathe in the same air, stay in the same country.

We are far from Utopia but generally, Malaysians are peace-loving people and once you get to know us and we overcome our initial 'shyness', we are always ready with a smile and will render any help we can. Just don't provoke us or call us names as we pride ourselves in our rich heritage and languages.

Selamat Hari Merdeka to all Malaysians! *Peace be unto all of us*

You may be interested to read more: http://suesanctuary.blogspot.com/search/label/1Malaysia

Dreaming of GUI Flower perfume, from Guilin, China

I had a very restful sleep last night and I remember dreaming of this bottle of perfume that I bought back from Guilin, China.

Guilin's name is derived from GUI tree which grows in abundance in the area, almost like a 'jungle/forest' which is the "Lin" word. In autumn, GUI flowers will be in bloom and permeate the entire city with their fragrance.

In my dream, a random woman was holding this bottle and while my smell senses are not really activated in my dream, I could smell it as I've smelt the perfume in real life. Call it subconscious mind's memory or what, it was a pleasant and peaceful dream.

Guilin is a beautiful place. Its surrounding cities/towns are even more beautiful, only two hours of driving from Guilin city, Yangshuo and LongSheng are on opposite ends from Guilin. We needed separate days to visit both towns. I regretted not having at least a semi-pro camera to capture the beauty of nature there. My iPhone and 'point-and-shoot' automatic camera cannot do the real deal justice!!!

Besides nature and beautiful scenery, the food is very agreeable to my sensitive tummy too. Being more neutral and bland compared to Northern China cuisines, foreign tourists will not have any problems with eating in Guilin and its surrounding towns. If you fancy a hot(spicy) dish, just add on the condiments.

The second pic below is the Three Gems of Guilin, a bottle of GUI Flower wine, a shrimp paste thingy and a homemade chilli, similar to some Malaysian homemade condiments to add to the rice during lunch and dinner or add to porridge during breakfast.

We will definitely return to Guilin, especially to see the fragrant GUI flowers in bloom. It is truly a beautiful place.

Selamat Hari Raya Aidilfitri (Happy Eid) to all Muslims!

Malaysia is a multi-racial & multi-religious country despite its Constitution stating that it is a Muslim country with Islam as the official religion. We are free to believe and adopt any faith we choose.

I love the practice of asking for forgiveness on a New Year for the Muslims (the first day of the Muslim Calendar Month of Syawal). Happy Eid and I apologise for all my wrongdoings and trespassings in the past one year.

Kepada sahabat Muslim sekalian, Selamat Hari Raya Puasa, Maaf Zahir dan Batin!

I will make up for the food when I return from my China trip. Been scheduling my posts for the past few days as I am away till after the first two days of Raya (Eid!). My Muslim friends told me the celebration lasts the whole 30 days, a whole month, so I will feast on the delicious food when I return!!! Ketupat, Rendang, ayam masak merah, soto, etc... you can google them up for the mouth-watering images. *craving mode*

Some cute pix of a sales brochure of a hypermarket. They illustrations are just so adorable! Have a great celebration!!!

My love-hate relationship with Cooking - How I Learn to Love Cooking

Whoever said that they have no time to cook because they have no time to shop for groceries are talking nonsense. Actually, anyone who said they 'don't have time' or 'TOO BUSY' for anything just means that they don't put that into their priority, as simple as that.

Their excuse is the line at the check-out counters/cashier is too long. Another nonsense.

Sometimes they say they have no time to cook because they:
A) need to work like most of us do
B) need to care for children like half the Mothers do
C) or both A and B
D) they don't know how to cook and have no time to learn/attend cooking classes, etc

In other words, they don't want to cook. Period.

If you don't wish to cook, just say you don't wanna cook, simple, don't give all sorts of feeble excuses (some even more outrageous than the examples above).

I only picked up cooking, like really dabble in it about five years ago in 2007 when I got married. Before that none of my cooking were edible, just ask my younger sister who spent her first 22 years living with me.

Bless my husband for finishing almost everything that I cooked (read: experimented on) in the kitchen. You don't want to know what I cooked up in those early months. My cooking actually improved in a few months through trial and error.

Of course, I had to eat my own cooking, especially during dinner, and once my cooking improved, I cook lunch for myself as my current workplace is only a short drive away from home. Having an appreciative food taster like hubby, surely motivated me to discard my 'old hatred' towards cooking to make way for a new love for cooking, in line with a loving marriage. Ah, the power of love.

I think there are numerous stories of women who never held or use a kitchen knife before, who turned to take a liking to cooking or baking. The story should be similar to mine, only maybe the trigger is different, some is due to hubby (like my case), some is due to an arrival of a child or children, some just had no reason and picked up cooking and love it. Oh there was one story of a mother who never cooked a day in her life until her kids started school. One day her elder kid came home and said: "Mommy, why do the other kids have lunch boxes prepared by their mothers and I need to buy my food from the canteen? Can I have a lunch box as well?" - that's the trigger for this mother and she is a working mother, mind you.

Well, I guess after you completed your education, whether or not you settle down, at some point, you will realize that boiling water isn't the only thing that you can 'cook'.

Anyway, to make up for my 'lack of time', I usually cook meat dishes in advance and deep freeze them (wait for them to cool down first before packing them into containers). Yup, place them in the freezer.

Plan your menu for the whole week, if you plan to eat Cooked Meal 2 the next day, just place it in the fridge and not the freezer. The reason you place it in the freezer is because you plan to eat it much later. Don't keep it more than a month please. I stick to a 'two week and you're out' policy. I know some people believe in only a week before throwing them out. Some stretch it to a month. Oh well. Up to you!

I usually spend 2-3 hours preparing these dishes. Doesn't matter I only cook for two persons, hubby and me the time is almost the same, I need 7 types of menu as well, so that's the same number of meals everyone need to prepare for a whole week! The trick to cut short preparation time is to use almost the same ingredients and cook them in different styles. Variation comes from a single source anyway.

Oh, I do hate the hot kitchen and the sweat, especially in Malaysia's all-year-round tropical weather. However, when compared to the look of appreciation on my hubby's face, I love him even more and cook even more - hence he has gained a lot of love, food and inevitably weight in these five years of being Sue's husband. ;)

You can control how much salt/ingredient to put into your own cooking, and in the long term, while it may not necessarily be 'cheaper', depending on your situation, it is generally healthier when you prepare your own food at home. :)

Disclaimer: Don't get me wrong. I do get 'off days' or 'lazy days' too. When I get those days, I just say "I don't want to cook" instead of cooking up some excuses (see above). Hubby is sporting and understanding enough to bring me out to eat on these days, or we simply order for pizza delivery or just pack our meals from outside and bring home. Look at it this way: To cook half the time and eat out half the time = half healthy, better than eat out all the time = almost not healthy unless you choose the food carefully. Just a general statement here, don't flame me. Thanks!

Some random pix of my preparation in my kitchen, from marinating, preparing the gravy all the way to freezer. Follow my instagram or twitterat @suetiong for more pix of my cooking. ;)

Why do canteen food still taste like 'canteen food'?

I just had canteen food after quite some time. Sad to say, canteen food here tasted almost the same as the canteen food I had back in my school days.

As an educator (I'd like to call myself a 'communicator' as I find myself communicating more than educating) sometimes the schedule is just too packed you barely have the luxury of a proper lunch break, usually off campus, and today was one of those days.

Grabbed a ham and eggs with margarine sandwich and tried a sausage with margarine sandwich. Mayonnaise-free sandwiches are really dry!!! Healthy? Not so sure about that as the egg was fried instead of boiled then scrambled. The meat was fried as well. The bread was really dry. My first and the last eating or grabbing food from that canteen!

Shall stick to the more expensive campus cafes next time!

Hakka Yong To Fu (Yang Dou Fu)

My hubby's family is of the Hakka dialect (one of the Chinese dialects) - specifically Meixian Kah Yin sect (an even more specific dialect within the Hakka community).

Anyway, following my previous blog post, this is another recipe from my mother-in-law who learned everything she knows in the culinary aspects from scratch.

This is a simplified recipe for Yong To Fu (Yang Dou Fu). I think it can be loosely translated as the Yong's family's tofu? Not sure about the origin of the name!

We are not going to make our own tofu or grow our own brinjals hence I said 'simplified' and not made from scratch.

Pardon my 'choppy' English as I translated this recipe from spoken Chinese (and I never learned formal Chinese in school).

Meat - Pork or Fish
500g of pork with a little bit fat. Add a little bit of salt, no water. Please don't put water. Pork meat will release moisture (water) hence DON'T add water, or else it will be less sticky and defeats the purpose. I think we can call it 'elasticity'.
OR
Fish - BM: Tenggiri (Chinese Han Yu Pin Yin: Jiao Yi) or in English, Mackerel - debone the fish, get the meat, mince the fish. Add salt and water and tapioca starch to blend or pound it (traditional style). If no pound is around, use the roller (for dough) and beat the meat on the chopping board. Fish will be dry hence will dry up and be sticky, so add water. Fish has higher 'elasticity' compared to pork.

Can mix fish and pork paste for greater flavour. If they are combined, no need to mince the pork too much as the fish elasticity will even out the pork elasticity.

What can you stuff with the meat?
Tofu, ladies finger (okra), taufupok, brinjal, are common ones.

square shaped tofu - one square is divided into three triangles - slice it in the middle (to add filling)

Brinjal - slice it in such a way the cut doesn't go all the way through (see illustration in the pix)

ladies finger/okra - slice in the middle, fill up the middle with the meat filling.

chilli (Americans call it hot (red) pepper) - slice in the middle, remove the chilli seeds

Chinese mushroom - soak in water until it becomes soft, put in the whiter place, not the top of the 'umbrella'

Tau fu pok - slice a hole in the middle - fil up the midde with the meat filling.
Fu Chok skin (to fu dried skin)- rendam till soft, fish put in, roll it in, then deep fry.

Deep fry until cooked, it is cooked when the tofu is golden brown.

Chilli & Ladies Finger - Don't deep fry - boil in hot boiling water until it floats up.

Eat while hot with hot sauce (chilli sauce). Or keep in freezer and just bring out and defrost and add to soup (clear soup), vermicelli/ramen/noodle soup, add to stir fried vegetables, it is a versatile side dish!

TIP: Slice the brinjal into layers without fully cutting it through so you may insert the meat filling.

Related posts: http://suesanctuary.blogspot.com/2012/07/how-to-make-chinese-bao-pao-buns.html

How to make Chinese Bao - Pao - Buns

I asked my mother-in-law for the recipe on how to make Chinese Bao (Buns). Since a treasure of knowledge and a walking dictionary of recipes are staying with me for a short while, I decided to 'interview' my mother-in-law and blog about one of her recipes.


This should be called mini char siew bao or mini peanut bao.

Pardon my choppy English as I translated everything from spoken Chinese. :-)

Makes about 10 to 12 bao (small Chinese buns)
Bao Flour (Blue Key brand)
Sugar (3 teaspoons)
Oil
Yeast
Plain Water (warm)
Baking Powder - double action (not sure how to say this properly as I seldom bake)

Open the yeast packet - add one small cup of water to one teaspoon of yeast - let the yeast dissolve (BM: cair) first - don't put sugar first. Only after the yeast dissolved, add - white sugar, about 3 teaspoons -

TIP: Wait till the yeast granules become fully dissolved before adding white sugar - it is fully dissolved when it becomes liquid/liquified.

After fully dissolved and you add sugar, shake it a bit and it will dissolve. Stir if needed.

Baking Powder (double action) add about half a teaspoon. Stir the baking powder into the yeast.

Add 300g of Bao Flour
Knead the dough - add oil - 30ml oil - cooking oil. Make sure the cooking is not too yellow to preserve the whiteness of the Bao skin. If too sticky, dab your fingers in the flour, not too much, just dab them for easier kneading. 15-20 minutes of kneading until balanced and soft and no longer sticky tohands.

Roll into a long dough.

Divide the dough into 10 or 12 parts, shape them into round shapes, depending on how big you want your bao to be. Let them ferment - if yeast is active, it will be faster - if the yeast is not as active, it may be slow. The size should double when it fully ferment. Don't wait too long or else the fermentation will 'overflow' and it will be very unsightly.

Peanut Filling
Peanut - fry the peanuts, blend it till it is fine, add salt (as needed not too much), oil (a little bit, just to make it sticky), Sugar, NO WATER - please DO NOT ADD WATER or else it will be too watery and not nice.

Meat Filling
Mince meat, meat with a little bit of fat, Five Spices Powder, Sesame Oil, Sugar, Salt, Dark Soy Sauce, Chicken Essense. Fry for awhile (till cooked), add a little bit of water then marinate it for awhile, add corn flour, but don't make it too dry, leave some 'water' or moisture on it. Make it just sticky enough, not dry. Let it cool down. After it cools down, the filling should be drier. Hence when frying must make sure it is moist enough.

Roll the individual round doughs. Add the filling into the middle of the dough. After shaping the buns, wait for it ferment and rise some more. The size should increase by about 30 to 50%. DO NOT WAIT too long or let it rise to too big a size, or else it will shrink and become unsightly (wrinkly).

This is a very important step - there should be two stages of fermentation (rising) of the dough in this recipe.

Steam for 15 minutes. Off the fire. Don't open the cover of the steamer immediately. Let the steamer cool down a bit for about. This is to prevent the over-risen doughs from shrinking too badly.

Practice makes perfect. This is all based on the estimation and experience of my Mother-in-Law. Happy trying!

The ingredients in pictures:

The Bao Flour

FIRST, follow the instruction in making the dough:

The Dough

Plain warm water (cooked and filtered water)

Kneading

Rolling the kneaded dough into a long roll before dividing them into 10 parts.

Next, after the first 'fermentation', roll the rounded smaller parts dough and add in the fillings.

Serve while hot. Keep in the fridge or freezer to retain freshness.
Steam them and it will be good to eat as hot snacks or breakfast.

Related Blogpost: http://suesanctuary.blogspot.com/2012/07/good-food-family-warmth-and-loving-care.html

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