Parenting: independence

So proud of my Trinity! It's indescribable! I was nursing Tiffy when Trini finished her bottled milk.
I told her I can't help her to place her bottle in the kitchen sink but she can do it herself. I gave her instructions to place the bottle on the floor so that she can turn the door knob with two hands and she did. She even gently placed the bottle
far away from the door to prevent knocking the bottle down!
Then she went out of the room and came back with a grin so proud and satisfied.
And this is what I saw. My darling Trini's attempt to tiptoe and place the bottle into the sink.
Well done darling! Mummy is so proud of you! Thank you for being so understanding and independent!
At 3 years 1 month old.

It is definitely possible to nurture our
Children to be independent and Understanding. The first step is to BELIEVE that they are able to. Never underestimate children's
ability to learn. As long as you believe in them and empower them, they will not only be able to do it, they will exceed your expectations and
Surprise you!

Inspiring yummy mummies
PoshPearl

Luxurious hi tea recipe

Assorted open faced sandwiches on European spinach and bacon bread slices with crab and corn chowder

Looking at this lovely presentation, I need no further introduction :)
With this recipe, you can have hi tea in your house anytime! Use it to serve during parties or with your friends! I bet one serving isn't enough!

Spinach and bacon bread
I have modified this recipe taken from Complete baking by Martha
Day so that it is simple enough for any first time baker to try. This recipe yields sticky dough. Slice into slices to form the base of your open face sandwich.
Ingredients:
Wet ingredients:
450ml water
Dry ingredients:
675g bread flour, sifted
3g sugar
7.5g salt
7.5g nutmeg powder
7.5g instant yeast

Toppings:
1 tablespoon olive oil
150g diced back bacon
200g chopped fresh spinach
Grated parmesan cheese

1. Heat wok on low with olive oil.
2. When wok is hot, place in bacon and fry till bacon is golden brown and set aside.
3. Pour water into mixing bowl.
4.Add sifted flour, sugar, salt, nutmeg.
5. Make a well in the middle of your dry ingredients and add yeast.
6. Knead either using hand or machine till dough is form.
7. Add bacon with oil and spinach.
8. Knead for 5 minutes.
9. Split into 2 bowls, cover with cling wrap, making sure there's no air bubbles and let it proof for 40 minutes (based on Singapore's temperature) or until double in size.
10. Punch out the air.
11. Use bread scrapper and cut
Into loaves or into separate bread casings.
12. Preheat oven at 175 degree celcius.
13Lavishly place cheese and proof for another 40 minutes or until double in size.
14. Bake for 25-30 minutes.
Use a skewer to poke and if it comes out clean, it's done!

Crab and corn chowder
So easy and fast! Satisfying and comforting! Dip with the yummy home made bread to be on cloud no. 9!
Ingredients:
12 Japanese Kani (imitation crab claws) or 150g real crab meat
250g frozen corn
1 liter swanson chicken stock
3 mashed potatoes
100ml cooking cream

1. Bring chicken stock to boil.
2. Add corn and crab. (leave some for garnishing)
3. Add potatoes and simmer for 10 minutes.
4. Turn off heat and blend with hand blender.
5. Blend till you get the consistency desired.
6. Simmer for another 5 minutes and add cooking cream then turn off heat.
Now it's done!
Optional: drizzle with truffle oil

Open face sandwiches
Ingredients:
Shredded mozzarella cheese
Sliced cherry tomatoes
Sliced ripe avocado
Mashed potato (recipe can be found in my blog)
Slices of spinach and bacon bread
Bake the sandwiches at 200 degree Celsius for 8 minutes.
Combination 1: cheese and tomatoes
Combination 2: mashed potatoes and cheese
Combination 3: combination 1 served with fresh slices of avocado
Other combinations:
Cooked Asparagus and whipped cream
Smoked salmon, onion and cream cheese cubes
Foie gras
Cucumber and tuna mayo

Serve with cold or hot TWG or Twinnings tea :)

Hope you will like this recipe! Try it today!

Inspiring Yummy Mummies
PoshPearl

Hong Kong style pan fried sea bass fillet

My darling Trinity's favorite! Super simple and easy! Criteria needed would be white, firm and fresh fillet, daiso spring onion shredder and Lee Kum Kee light soy sauce

Ingredients:
Sea bass fillet (boneless and pat dry with paper kitchen towel)
3 tablespoon oil
2 tablespoon lee Kum Kee light soy sauce
Shredded spring onion
Thinly julienned ginger

1. Heat pan with 2 tablespoon of oil using high heat.
2. Place 1 strip of ginger, if it sizzles, it means the oil is hot enough to be used.
3. Place the fillet skin down touching the pan.
4. Do not shift the position
Of the fish if not the raw skin will stick to the pan, causing the fish meat to detach.
5. After 5 minutes lift the fish with a ladle and flip it over.
6. Cook the flesh for 5 minutes then flip over again.
Continue cooking and flip until you have gotten the crispness desired for each side.
7. Once done, remove fish and place on serving plate.
8. Add 1 tablespoon of oil and lower the heat and add ginger. After 20 seconds, turn off heat.
9. Place shredded spring onions on fish.
10. Place crispy ginger on top of spring onions.
11. Pour oil from wok into a bowl.
12. Add soy sauce to oil.
13. Pour sauce mixture onto serving plate so that the fish meat can soak up the mixture and the skin is still crispy.
14. Now it's done! Enjoy while it's hot!

Inspiring yummy mummies
PoshPearl

Kueh Bangkit

Chinese new year is round the corner! And Kueh Bangkit is a local favorite! I searched high and low and finally found this book, "With love, from the little nonya, written by Baba Philip Chia." His book is clear and bilingual. You can purchase this book from NTUC or popular bookstore.
It contains all kinda of nonya Kueh recipe.
So for this week, we attempted Kueh Bangkek. I didn't really wanted to use my hand to knead so I used my mixer instead. The dough became a paste and we had to use flour to coat the paste a scoop at a time to knead it and it is still successful.
These little cookies are crispy and melts in the mouth with the aroma of coconut milk and the sweetness is just nice!
Note that the dough is quite difficult to manipulate and I added more
Tapioca flour to make it easier to work with.

Here's his recipe (paraphrased)
Ingredients:
300g tapioca flour (also
Known as tapioca starch)
600g sago flour (avail at NTUC Woodgrove)
5 egg yolks, beaten
320g icing sugar
400ml coconut milk
1/2 tsp salt

1. Cook coconut milk and icing Sugar over low heat. Do not allow to bring to a boil. Turn off flame when sugar has completely dissolved.
2. Pour into a bowl and allow it to completely cool.
( at this juncture I went to prepare my meal and continue after my meal, to prevent a waste of time :) )
3. Add egg yolks and salt to coconut mixture.
4. In a mixing bowl, mix sago and tapioca flour.
5. Add coconut mixture alittle at
a time and knead gently till you get a dough.
6. Cut into cookie moulds and
Bake in a preheated oven at
175 degree Celsius for 15 minutes
Or until done.
7. Cool on a rack and store in
Airtight container.

Have fun!
PoshPearl

Muah Chee

Muah Chee is a local Pasar Malam favorite. It's Chinese version of the Japanese Mochi. Chewy and fragrant, my family loves it!
This recipe requires happycall double pan.

Recipe modified from Mamabliss YouTube

Ingredients:
2 cups glutinous flour
1 1/2 cup water
1 tablespoon oil
1 cup Finely grounded peanuts
2 tablespoon Fine sugar

1. Mix peanuts and sugar and set aside.
2. Mix flour and water into a water paste till smooth.
3. Heat happycall on low heat.
4. Add oil, heat for 30 seconds.
5. Add 1/2 of the mixture into happycall.
6. Close lid for 30 seconds.
7. Open lid. Fold the piece of dough into a long lump.
8. Close lid and flip.
9. Open lid and transfer dough onto the peanut mixture.
10. Use scissors to cut into small
pieces and coat with peanut mixture.
11. Enjoy while it's hot!

Inspiring yummy mummies
PoshPearl

Self feeding puffs at 7 months old. Baby led weaning

Our active explorerTiffany has reached another milestone of her life! Learning how to eat puffs! These plum baby organic puffs are healthy, no salt and sugar added, melts in the mouth and easy to chew.
As she doesn't have teeth and she is 7 months old, we were skeptical initially as Trinity had teeth at 5 months old. But we learnt from our friend Tricia, that the gums are sharp with the teeth right underneath. So we tried by holding one puff and let her take a bite to see the response. She took a little bite and chewed for a while and swallowed before asking for the next bite! We were so touched and amazed with the wisdom that God has given her and after trying a few puffs, we invited her to sit in her bumbo seat with her bumbo table and placed a few puffs onto her baby bjorn plate (which is specially designed to encourage self feeding and it is proven to work with Trinity who self fed independently by 11 months old) and let her explore and pick up the pieces independently. So proud of my darling Tiffany! This is her first time trying, practice makes perfect so we will cheer her on as her perfect her pincer grip and eat independently!

Cheesy Mash potato pai bao buns

Cheesy mash potato pai bao buns, recipe modified from Christine's recipes

http://en.christinesrecipes.com/2010/11/pai-bao-hong-kong-sweet-buns.html?m=1

I love mashed potatoes and I love bread, so combine them
Together and u will get these awesome buns that are so soft and smells and taste heavenly! To add variety to the texture, I added lots of shredded cheese so that a crispy crust will be formed! I also love using individual casing to proof the buns as it can rise so much better as there's no space restriction!
Try and make it your family favourite today!

Ingredients:
Dry ingredients:
370 gm bread flour
65 gm caster sugar
5 gm salt
12 gm full cream milk powder
6 gm instant dry yeast
Wet ingredients:
1 egg yolk
30 gm whisked egg
125 gm milk
120 gm tangzhong
28 gm condensed milk
75ml whipping cream
To add after the above ingredients are kneaded:
35 g unsalted butter

Toppings:
Generous servings of shredded mozzarella and cheddar cheese

Mashed potato filings
Ingredients:
3 russet potatoes
3 eggs
6 slices of picnic ham
Kewpie brand mayonnaise

1. Boil potatoes and eggs till potatoes are soft and can be easily pierced (40minutes) and eggs are fully cooked (8minutes)
2. Peel the potatoes skins and the shell of the eggs.
3. Use a fork to mash everything until you get the consistency you want.
4. Add mayonnaise. I added about 5 tablespoons.

Recipe for tangzhong:
44g bread flour
220ml water

Whisk until smooth and continue whisking under lot heat till you get a slightly thicker consistency like white glue and remove from heat.
Use cling wrap to wrap the tang Zhong to prevent a thin layer of membrane from forming till you are ready to use it. Keep overnight in refrigerator for 1 day if you need but I prefer to discard if I have leftovers.

Now that you have gotten your tang Zhong and mashed potatoes
ready, let's start making the buns!
1. Add the wet ingredients (milk, cream, egg, tangzhong)
2. Add the dry ingredients (salt, sugar, milk powder, bread flour, yeast).
Note: make a small well in the bread flour, then add the yeast into it.
3. Knead in mixer till all ingredients come together into a wet sticky dough.
4. Add butter, continue kneading until the dough is smooth and elastic for 20 minutes medium speed.
5. Now that the dough is done, you should get a sticky dough consistency.
6. Split into 2 portions of kneaded dough into 2 big bowls and cover with cling wrap with no air bubbles.
7. let the dough complete the 1st round of proofing, about 40 minutes or until double in size.
8. Use the bread scrapper and scrap up 32 portions. As this recipe yields sticky dough, I don't use my hands. I just make sure there are 32 lumps either on individual non stick casings
Or on non stick baking tray.
9. Using the bread scrapper, place
1 lump on the casing, spread out, place 2 tablespoon of mash potatoes, place another lump of dough on top and use hands to pinch the top and bottom dough together to seal the mashed potato filing.
10. Proof for the second round for another 40 minutes. When the dough rises until double, lightly brush the surface with whisked egg and add shredded cheese lavishly.
10. Bake in a pre-heated 180C (356F) oven for 25 to 30 minutes, until turns brown. Remove from the oven and transfer onto a wire rack. Let cool completely.

More variations of pai bao recipes and other can be found on my blog:
http://mummyposhpearl.blogspot.sg

Homemade mashed potatoes

Mashed potatoes are really good on its own or with steaks, filling for buns, or eat it cold with salads. Mashed potatoes makes a good comfort food too!
My version of mashed potatoes do not come with brown sauce and it is a simplified version of a Japanese potato salad.

Ingredients:
3 russet potatoes
3 eggs
6 slices of picnic ham
Kewpie brand mayonnaise

For garnishing:
Japanese cucumber slices
Cherry tomatoes

1. Boil potatoes and eggs till potatoes are soft and can be easily pierced (40minutes) and eggs are fully cooked (8minutes)
2. Peel the potatoes skins and the shell of the eggs.
3. Use a fork to mash everything until you get the consistency you want.
4. Add mayonnaise. I added about 5 tablespoons.
5. Garnish with tomatoes and cucumber.

HomemadeMultigrain buns recipe

I love multigrain buns and like it really packed with lots of walnuts and cranberries. I also love post cereal, especially banana nut crunch or pecan nut crunch, I could also never get enough of the multigrain toppings with flaxseed, sesame seed, oats and so many more bits of powerful goodness! So the best way to satisfy my family and I is to bake my own bread!
Ever since I started to bake my own bread, I became addicted to it. I love the aroma of the bread baking in the oven, I like it that it doesn't have any preservatives and how I can have the flexibility to customize the toppings and filling!

For the bread recipe, i am using a modified version of the Hong Kong Pai bao 排包 recipe from Christine's recipes

http://en.christinesrecipes.com/2010/11/pai-bao-hong-kong-sweet-buns.html?m=1

Ingredients:
Dry ingredients:
370 gm bread flour
65 gm icing sugar
5 gm salt
12 gm full cream milk powder
6 gm instant dry yeast
Wet ingredients:
1 egg yolk
30 gm whisked egg
125 gm milk
120 gm tangzhong
28 gm condensed milk
75ml whipping cream
To add after the above ingredients are kneaded:
35 gm unsalted butter, softened

Multigrains toppings:
150gm walnuts,
150gm cranberries,
50gm multigrain,
250gm post banana nut crunch cereal or post pecan nut crunch cereal.

Recipe for tangzhong:
44gm bread flour
220ml water

Whisk until smooth and continue whisking under lot heat till you get a slightly thicker consistency like white glue and remove from heat.
Use cling wrap to wrap the tang Zhong to prevent a thin layer of membrane from forming till you are ready to use it. Keep overnight in refrigerator for 1 day if you need but I prefer to discard if I have leftovers.

Now that you have gotten your tang Zhong ready, let's start making the buns!
1. Add the wet ingredients (milk, cream, egg, tangzhong)
2. Add the dry ingredients (salt, sugar, milk powder, bread flour, yeast).
Note: make a small well in the bread flour, then add the yeast into it.
3. Knead in mixer till all ingredients come together into a wet sticky dough.
4. Add butter, continue kneading until the dough is smooth and elastic for 20 minutes medium speed.
5. Now that the dough is done, you can slowly add in the toppings into the dough and continue kneading at slow speed in the mixer. I love to add lots and lots of toppings lavishly! The trick is add slowly, a little at a time so that the mixer can knead evenly till you get all of them in!
6. Split into 2 portions of kneaded dough into 2 big bowls and cover with cling wrap with no air bubbles.
7. let the dough complete the 1st round of proofing, about 40 minutes or until double in size.
8. Use the bread scrapper and scrap up 16 portions. As this recipe yields sticky dough, I don't use my hands. I just make sure there are 16 lumps either on individual non stick casings
Or on non stick baking tray.
9. Top with more multi grains and proof for the second round for another 40 minutes. When the dough rises until double, lightly brush the surface with whisked egg.
10. Bake in a pre-heated 180C (356F) oven for 25 to 30 minutes, until turns brown. Remove from the oven and transfer onto a wire rack. Let cool completely.

More variations of pai bao recipes and other can be found on my blog:
http://mummyposhpearl.blogspot.sg