Steamed Radish Cake

This dish is a popular dim sum offering that normally contains dried shrimp, chinese sausage or bacon. The mixture is first steamed to set it and then can be cut into slabs and fried to a golden brown crust.  I think it is best served with spring onions/scallions, sliced chills or chilli sauce and sweet soya sauce. 

Here I have added mushrooms and onion but have kept it fairly plain but if you want a more varied filling for these cakes then you could try this recipe at Just Bento. I wanted it plain and authentic as I am looking forward to making the oddly named carrot cake (chai tau kway), which is a popular hawker dish here in Singapore. Needless to say it most definitely is not related to the classic British carrot cake

Once again this is a recipe that can be frozen in slabs after the steaming process although they will need defrosting for a few hours before frying to ensure that they cook through.

Tofu & Cabbage Potstickers

Continuing on from yesterday's bao/buns is the potsticker. A dumpling that is both pan fried and steamed at the same time resulting in one crispy golden side and one gooey side. These are one of the easiest dumplings to make and were my first attempt at dim dum. 

These little dumplings can be made up to the point of cooking and then refrigerated for up to a day or frozen and cooked straight out of the freezer.

I also made some of these potstickers gluten free by using the rice paper roll sheets that I made vietnamese salad rolls with instead of the wanton wrappers. They are more fiddly to make as the rice wrapper is harder to handle and need to be cut to size using either a cookie cutter or scissors or even a pizza cutter. They also don't look quite so pretty as they are more translucent and so you can see the filling. However, they do work and hold together and taste just as good as the original. 

Vegetarian Steamed BBQ Bun

I decided that this week would be Dim Sum week with all the posts relating to a dim sum dish. All the dishes will be vegetarian and most will also have adaptation to allow them to be gluten free. There will be a range of dishes that will explore some of the most commonly found dim sum methods and components. 

I love veggie dim sum and on our last two trips to Hong Kong we have gone out of our way to eat as much vegetarian dim sum as was physically possible. Yummy! There does seem to be a heavy use of mock meats in some of these places but to be honest I prefer dim sum where vegetables are used for a lighter dish but feel free to include mock meats if you prefer.

First up is the bbq bun which is a vegetarian version of the Char Siew Bao (barbecue pork bun). It has a filling of meaty mushrooms, crunchy water chestnuts and sweet peas all in a tasty bbq sauce. 

There is no denying that making these little treats takes a bit of time. However, the majority of the time required is waiting for the dough to rise otherwise there is very little to do. The process can be cut down by using a bao premix (for which you just need to follow the directions on the packet) but as these mixes aren't always easy to find I have given the classic bao dough recipe. These buns can be made in a big batch and then frozen, making this the perfect weekend project. To reheat all you need to do is take them out of the freezer and steam them from frozen. 

Vegetable Koftas with Creamy Coconut Curry

When I saw Barbara's, of Tiger and Strawberries blog, recent post on tender lamb koftas it awakened a cravings for a dish which represents my first foray into Indian food as a young child- vegetable koftas in a sweet korma sauce. This dish from our local Indian restaurant was a perfect introduction, tasty little potato dumplings wrapped in a chickpea batter in a smooth creamy sauce. This recipe is a more grown up version with a bit more heat and spice. It is an adapted recipe from Madhur Jaffery's -Eastern Vegetarian Cooking and I was also inspired by how Manjula made her Cabbage Koftas.

Although this dish is a little fiddly it is worth the effort and what's morethe koftas and curry sauce can be made separately the day before and then heated up together just before serving. Perfect if you are having guests around and curry always tastes better the second day after the flavours have mixed together.

Vegetarian Scotch Eggs

The scotch egg, for those who haven't grown up with this snack, is a hard boiled egg wrapped in sausage meat, breadcrumbed and then deep fried. It is traditionally eaten cold at picnics, in a packed lunch or as finger food at parties and I think it is delicious with Heinz salad cream.

In recent history the scotch egg had become a sad orange-crumbed shadow of its former self that could be found in supermarkets, motorway service stations and corner shops to satisfy the hungry & desperate. However, I am glad to report that over the last couple of years there has been something of a renaissance for the lowly scotch egg with artisan varieties to be found at delicatessens, country fairs and food shows. Yippee, is all I can say. It is about time that this dish got a makeover.

This recipe is a basic vegetarian version made with beans instead of sausage meat but once you have mastered the basic technique you can have a go at making some different flavoured ones. How about adding hoisin sauce and spring onions or curry paste and fresh coriander or sundried tomatos and thyme. Or how about changing the standard chicken egg for duck eggs for a real yolky treat or quails eggs for hors d'oeuvre sized scotch eggs. There really is no end to the possibilities for homemade scotch eggs.

This dish can be gluten free by ensuring the seasonings (e.g. stock/boulion & mustard) are gluten free and that the flour and breadcrumbs are substituted for gluten free versions. If you cannot get hold of  gluten free breadcrumbs you can make your own with gluten free bread or rolls blitzed in the food processor and gently baked in the oven until crisp.

Ginger Steamed Egg Custard

Some of the desserts found in Singapore, Malaysia and Hong Kong are unusual to European tastes as they cross what I like to call the the sweet savoury divide. By which I mean they use ingredients such as sweet potato, yam, red beans and sweetcorn which are almost always associated with savoury dishes in Europe. It took some getting used to but I have to say I am now a convert and  I won't look at a kidney bean or sweet potato in quite the same way again.One of my favourite desserts in Singapore is Steamed Egg Custard served warm with a ginger jus and I regularly have cravings for the smooth rich velvety texture and delicate flavour. I like this dish for breakfast, weird I know, but don't knock it until you have tried it. I am also looking forward to getting my hands on some rhubarb to poach and serve with this.

Halloumi with Lemon Dressing

I had some halloumi cheese left over from my earlier post for vegetarian fish & chips and one of my favourite quick suppers is halloumi with a spicy lemon dressing. Unlike the fish and chips recipe, this dish really lets the halloumi be the star, retaining its firm squeaky texture. The cheese is dry fried until golden and served with a sweet and sour dressing to cut through the saltiness of the cheese. This can be served over rocket/argula leaves as an appertiser or light lunch or alternatively made into a main course when served with steamed couscous (or quinoa or millet if you need it to be gluten free) and asparagus spears.