Simply shaped into rounds and steamed

two toned buns

Twisted Rolls or Hua Juan in Chinese are steamed buns (with scallions, sesame seeds, peanut, etc. ) twisted into a beautiful flower pattern. The dough can be simply shaped into rounds too. You can also use a bit of cocoa powder to make a darker dough and roll it up with a light dough prepared with water to create a two toned steamed bun.

1. In a mixing bowl, combine flour, whole spelt flour and instant yeast together. Make a well in the middle and pour in the carrot juice. Mix on slow speed until you have a dough that holds together. Adjust the amount of carrot juice, adding more or less as needed. Turn the speed of the mixer to medium and knead until it is smooth and elastic.
   
2. Prove the dough in a bowl covered with a plastic film until it has increased in volume distinctively, about 45 minutes. Press out the air and roll it out into a large rectangle. Brush the surface with oil and sprinkle the black pepper salt and chopped spring onions over. Roll up and divide it into 16 portions. Take each piece and, with the cut sides facing outward, use chopsticks to press down lengthwise in the middle so that the layers of both sides extend outward beautifully.
   
3. Arrange the rolls in the steamer lined with cheese cloth. Cover it with a plastic film and set aside for 15 minutes. Steam the twisted rolls over a pot of boiling water on strong heat. Turn the heat off and leave the steamer covered for 2 minutes before serving.

© 2024 | http://angiesrecipes.blogspot.com

This is one of the dishes you would find on the menu of Chinese restaurants, where serves Cantonese and Chiu chow cuisines. The string or garden beans are usually used to cook the dish. I used the asparagus because I love it and it is in season.

How many times have you eaten out at a restaurant and found the edge of serving plates garnished with a flower pattern of veggie, a fan shape of fruit slices, and even a cute rabbit of quail egg, a heart of cherry tomato surrounding the food? Wouldn't those garnishes make your dining experience more pleasant and enjoyable? I have a couple of quick easy garnishes to share, hoping they would add excitement to your family banquet, casual brunch with friends, or just dinner for one. If you want to get fancy with the designs, then a book about garnishing would be more practical.

Tomato or Apple Rose

1. Starting at the stem end cut round an apple or a tomato and keep the peel unbroken. Make the strip of apple or tomato skin narrower and narrower while you continue cutting.
2. Start curling the skin at the narrow end towards the wide end. Turn upside down, adjust the roll if necessary to resemble a flower and set on a serving plate.

Tomato Heart and Rabbit

1. Holding a sharp knife at a 45-degree angle slice off 1/3 of a cherry tomato. Place the 2/3-part, cutting side down, on a cutting board. Slice it into even two halves and put them together to form a heart.
2. Slice 1/4 of a cherry tomato horizontally with a sharp knife. To make a little rabbit ear, we need to cut a V-notch with scissors at either side of this horizontal slice. Put the cutting side of the 3/4-part as a base, and cut a slit on the top to fit in the rabbit ear.

Carrot Flower and Cucumber Loop

1. Peel carrot and place on cutting board. Cut off ends and discard. Cut out a thin, shallow lengthwise wedge from side of carrot. Lift out wedge with tip of knife. Give carrot a quarter turn and cut out another wedge. Repeat, turning and cutting two more times. Cut into 1/4-inch thick slices. Sprinkle chopped olives or caviar onto center of each carrot flower. Use a thin strips of green onion for stems and garnish as you like.
2. Slice the cucumber open lengthwise and cut unpeeled cucumbers at angle into lengths about 3 inches long. Cut 5 thin slices along the length, leaving slices connected at one end. Curl the second and fourth slices towards the base to form an open loop.

I am sending this to Innovative In-Laws who hosts the event "Garnish the Dish" .

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Pesto, which originated in Genoa, Italy, comes from the Italian word "pestare" that means to pound. The traditional pesto is composed of basil, pine nuts, garlic, cheese and olive oil pounded into a paste.
Pesto can be made at home with a mortar or blender, esp. if you have an allotment garden (Schrebergarten is very popular in Germany) full of various herbs, like basil, coriander, parsley, mint, chive, or spinach etc. etc. There is pasta with pesto, pesto on pizza, pesto sauce for seafood, pesto vinaigrette for salads, pesto marinade for the grill, red bean pesto, cilantro pesto, and I used Sun-dried tomato pesto for this bread.

1. Place the yeast in a bowl and pour the warm water over. Stir in the sugar to dissolve. Let stand for 15 minutes. The mixture should look bubbly. Combine and sift the flours and salt in your mixer bowl and turn mixer on to lowest speed. Add in pesto and the yeast mixture. Keep stirring until you have a dough that holds together and doesn't stick to the sides of the bowl. Adjust the amount of water, adding more or less as is needed.
   
2. Turn out the dough and shape into a ball. Grease the bowl with a teaspoon of olive oil and return the dough. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap or a damp towel. Set the bowl in a warm place and allow the dough to double in volume, about 45 minutes.
   
3. Grease a large loaf pan and lightly dust with a bit of flour. Punch down the risen dough and knead for 5 minutes. Shape into an oblong loaf and place it in the prepared pan. Preheat the oven to 200C/400F. Once the dough has doubled in size, make a deep incision on the top of the loaf with a sharp razor blade.
   
4. Bake at 200C/400F in the middle of the oven for about 10 minutes. Then reduce the oven temperature to 180C/350F and bake for another 50 minutes until golden and crusty. Cool the loaf in pan on a wire rack for 5 minutes and remove from the pan to cool completely.

A light, moist, and tender angel cake roll is a wonderful treat at any time! The blueberry jam filling, which was supposed to provide a contrast to the white cake, makes the cake a bit messy. It tastes great by itself and definitely worth trying!

1. Whisk together flour, starch and vanilla powder and sift. Prepare a 11x13-inch or two 9x7-inch baking trays lined with parchment paper. Evenly sprinkle raisins or poppy seeds over if using. Preheat the oven to 175C/350F.
2. Beat egg whites, salt and vinegar in the mixing bowl of a table mixer until foamy. Add in sugar and beat until soft peaks form. Gradually sift the flour mixture into the whipped egg whites and fold until the batter is well-combined. Pour the batter into the prepared pans and bake for 15 minutes or so.
3. Immediately invert the cake to cool for about 5 minutes on a rack and peel off the baking paper. Place the cake on a parchment paper or plastic film, with the baked side up and raisin side down, and spread cake with jam to within 1 inch of edges. From the narrow side roll the cake up tightly. Chill the cake roll for 1 hour and slice to serve.

© 2024 | http://angiesrecipes.blogspot.com

Asparagus is one of the most nutritionally well-balanced vegetables, which is high in "folic acid" and is a good source of "potassium, fiber, vitamin B6, vitamins A and C, and thiamin". Moreover, asparagus has no fat, no cholesterol and is quite low in calories and sodium. It is very popular in Europe, especially Germany where promotions, creative events, and festivals are held to honour the arrival of what's crowned as "Königliches Gemüse" - royal vegetable. There's even an asparagus peeling competition/Spargelschäl-Wettbewerb during the celebrated asparagus season, and the crowning of an asparagus king or queen. Along with the asparagus-based delicacies, a range of German white wines, such as Riesling, Müller-Thurgau or Grauburgunder, together with some interesting reds, will be launched. White asparagus are sunlight-deprived stalks and they are milder and more delicate than the green one.

1. Before start cooking white asparagus, they must be peeled, as the outside is fibrous and even woody at times. Use a common but sharp vegetable peeler, starting just below asparagus spears, peel toward the cut end. Once all the asparagus has been peeled, cut off the cut ends about one inch up. Slice the tomato into wedges and the spring onions into smaller chunks.
2. Heat up a skillet over medium-high fire. Stir in XO sauce and minced garlic until aromatic. Add in the prepared white asparagus, stir briefly, drizzle water and white wine over. Cook until soft to your liking. Add in tomato wedges and spring onions. Mix everything together. Flavour with salt and serve.

© 2024 | http://angiesrecipes.blogspot.com

Easy, healthy, and delicious lotus root ! Lotus root is the root of the lotus plant. It can be used as a salad, or stuffed with glutinous rice and steamed as dessert, or squeezed into a drink, or stir-fries, or double-boiled with pork spare-ribs as a popular summer time soup, which, according to my mum, helps to clear the heat and improve the appetite.

1. Fill a pot of cold tap water with a tablespoon of vinegar. Peel and clean lotus root. Slice the lotus root and put them into the vinegar water to prevent lotus roots from browning.
   
2. Heat up a pan with oil and add chillies. Stir-fry a bit before adding spring onions and ground pork. Stir for 30 seconds, then add bean sauces, rice wine and lotus root slices. Splash the chicken stock and cover, reduce heat to medium and cook for 30 seconds. Dribble in the sesame oil Serve hot.

I bake foam cakes very often, as I prefer the fluffy, light chiffon cake to other baked goods. Whenever I baked a chiffon cake, I would reserve one or two layers well-wrapped in the freezer just in case I don't feel like to bake, but happen to have an itch to eat something light and sweet. So this is the result of cleaning up all the saved foam cakes.

1. Remove the cake layers from the freezer and defrost them at room temperature, about 1 hour. Slice the peeled bananas and figs and have a round cake board ready.
   
   
   
2. Place the matcha chiffon cake layer on the prepared cake board, spread a thin layer nutella on the cake, and then top with babana slices. Arrange another two layers of cake in the same way. (There’s still some nutella left after placing the 3rd layer of cake, so I decided to top the cake with last layer of matcha chiffon cake, which resulted in a mismatched colour appearance to the cut.)
   
3. Arrange the fourth layer of cake on the top and spread the nutella. Arrange the sliced figs and bananas in a decorative pattern on top and the chocolate praline in the center. Spread the strips with whipped cream and surround the sides of the cake. Use a mousse ring or a ribbon to stabilize the strips.