Tag Archives: flour

Hong Tang Ba Ba

It’s a sweet Chinese snack in Southwestern China area, I think. Hong Tang means brown sugar in Chinese. Ba Ba refers to cake made from glutinous rice flour.

This summer holiday when my husband and I were in China. My friends there treated us Xiao Long kan hotpot. One dish is Hong tang baba. And their Hong Tang Ba Ba is very different. Outside skin is very crispy. Both of us loved them.

Here is the one we had in summer:

Like small balloons. Really really nice.

I tried to make this dish in my way.

1. Mix glutinous rice powder with water. To make a dough.

2. Divide dough into smaller ones. Make them into the shape you like.

3. Dip small doughs in water. Then roll in bread crumbs.

4. Deep fry them with low heat till golden brown. Air in Glutinous rice dough will burst out. So be careful when frying.

5. Add 2 tablespoon water and 1 tablespoon brown sugar in saucepan. Heat to condense the sauce.

Serve hot with brown sugar sauce.

Mine are not even close to the ones we had. But my husband still loved my ones.

I really can’t figure out how Xiao Long Kan Hotpot made such wonderful shape of Hong Tang Ba Ba. If anyone knows, please tell me. 🙂 thanks!

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Prepare a Christmas Feast with a King Crab

Yesterday when my husband and I were buying groceries in a supermarket, we noticed there was sale of king crab. Turkey is too big for us to have for Christmas, so a king crab sounds a good idea.

Today when I got up, the first thing I needed to do is to defreeze the king crab we bought. Then I disassembled it into several parts.

For the central body, I took the Shell off. Then picked the meat out. Heat a pan, melt a small piece of butter. Put the meat in. Sauté a bit. Add in 1 tablespoon flour. Quickly stir. Then add in 3-4 tablespoon milk. Stir slowly and evenly to let it reduce to white sauce. Put the crab meat white sauce into the shell. Sprinkle cheese. Put into oven ( 200 degree C, 8-10 mins) or till cheese melts.

Crab legs can be divided into three parts: thigh (fat end), middle parts and thin end parts.

For the fat thigh, I used them to cook spaghetti:

Heat a piece of butter in the pan. When melted, add in crab leg. Stir fry a bit. Then add in chopped garlic. Stir till aromatic. Pour in a little white wine. Simmer a little. Season with salt and black pepper. Add in chopped parsley and cooked spaghetti. Quickly stir evenly.

For the middle crab leg parts, I roast them with garlic butter. Put a small chunk of butter in a bowl. Add in chopped garlic, a little salt and pepper. Blend well. Cut half the shell off ( or even less). Then spread garlic butter onto meat. Put into oven. 180 degree C and 20 mins.

For the thin ends, I cut them into smaller pieces. Marinate with a little cooking wine and corn starch. Heat a little olive oil in the pan. Put the crab leg pieces in. Stir fry for 2-3 mins. Add in chopped ginger and spring onion. Quickly stir fry. Add in a little cooking wine, light soy sauce and oyster sauce. Quickly blend evenly and serve hot.

For the claws, I used them to cook light soup. Put crab claws, corn pieces, Chinese yam, mushroom, ginger shreds and spring onion pieces into a pot. Pour in 1 1/2 bowls of water. Turn to high heat. When water boils, put in salmon slices. Turn to middle heat and cook for 3 mins. Add in 1 tsp sweet cooking wine and salt. Cook for another minute.

And that’s it. Our Christmas feast made by a king crab.

Merry Christmas everyone!

Cocoa Brownie

One day, my husband chose a pack of Starbucks cocoa when we bought groceries in a supermarket. He was super excited because he kept thinking about a warm and yummy cup of cocoa. He immediately made himself a cup of hot cocoa when we reached home. Yet….he found it’s not as yummy as he thought. He always does things like that. At first he’s very excited and can’t wait to buy something but finds it’s not as good as he thought. =_=||

My principle is no wasting food in my kitchen. So I decided to make cocoa into brownies. And my husband is happy because he will feel less guilty in buying something he doesn’t like.

Oh. I found the recipe here:

best cocoa brownies


Ingredients:

Butter 140g

Sugar 250g ( if you want it to be less sweet, you can reduce the sugar)

Cocoa powder 65g

Salt 1/4 tsp

Vanilla extract 1/2 tsp

Eggs 2

Flour 65g
Preheat oven to 160 degree C.

1. Combine butter, sugar, cocoa powder & salt in a bowl. Place the bowl in simmering water. Stir till smooth.

2. Set aside to cool down.

3. Add in vanilla and beat in eggs. Mix them well.

4. Add in flour and mix till just combined.

5. Pour batter into baking pan.

6. Bake for 20-25 mins. ( because I used my round shaped baking pan and it’s smaller than the size in original recipe. So it took me longer to get done, about 30-35 mins.)


Very moist and yummy. I love it.

Carrot Cake

This is an easy recipe to bake carrot cake.

Ingredients:

Canola oil: 180 ml

White sugar: 100g

Brown sugar: 50g

Eggs 2

Flour: 140g

Baking soda: 1 tsp

Salt: 1 tsp

Carrot strips: 2 medium carrots

Cinnamon ground: 1 tsp

Vanilla: 1/2 tsp
1. In a large bowl, mix oil and sugar, mix them well.

2. Beat in eggs. Stir well.

3. Add in flour, baking soda and salt. Mix well.

4. Then add in carrot, cinnamon and vanilla.

5. Put batter in the pan.

6. Preheat oven to 180 degree C and bake for 30-35 mins.

Black Sesame Round Bun And Mini-burger 

I promised my husband that I would make hamburger for him. And I tried the other day.
First, I baked black sesame round bun.

Ingredients:

Bread flour around 160g

Plain flour around 40g

Sugar around 30g
Salt around 3 g
Yeast around 3 g
Add in milk around 60g and 3/4 of one egg.

1. When everything mixed well, add in black sesames. And keep kneading until the dough becomes less sticky.

2. Cut in 15g butter. Just knead, knead and knead. If you are really stressed out recently, it’s a good way to release your negetive energy outwardly. You can even punch the dough. When the butter is completely absorbed by the dough, you can stop and take a rest. Kneading really takes a while.

3. Cover the bowl with a wrap or wet towel until it expands to 1.5 or twice of its size.

4. Divide the dough into several little even-sized dough. Knead them to let the inside air out and make them in round shape.

5. Put the small dough on the baking pan and put the baking pan into the oven. Place a bowl of hot water under the baking pan. If the water gets cold, replace it with another bowl of hot water.

When the small dough expands again to 1.5 or twice of their size, they can be taken out.

6. Brush the dough with the rest 1/4 egg.

7. Preheat the oven with 180 degree C. And bake them for around 18 mins.

The bun part is done.

I cut the round bun into two parts. In the middle I put carriage, tomato slice, cheese and pork chop. And make them mini-hamburgers.


You can design your own burger with this round bun, and of course you can make it bigger if you want.

This round bun can also be good if you just spread jam in it.

Ge Da Soup


It’s a traditional soup in China. When I was little, my mom always cooked me this soup, especially in cold weather or when I was sick.

It also has an interesting name. Ge Da in Chinese means a lump, a knot, even means pimple on face. But here it means the flour in the soup. Because the flour will become many small lumps.

There are many kinds of ge da soup, and there are also ge da soup restaurants in China. Tomato and egg ge da soup is probably the most common one.

1. Prepare a half bowl of flour.


2. Add a little water in the flour.


3. Stir flour with a chopstick very quickly till flour lumps are shaped.


4. Heat a little oil in the pan. Put in tomato pieces. ( I used 2 large tomatoes, peeled off and chopped into small pieces).

5. Stir fry tomato a little, then add in 2 bowls of water. Cover the pan with lid.

6. When water boiled and tomato soup becomes a little condensed, add in all the flour lumps ( flour ge da). Stir with chopsticks, in case they stick together.

7. When the flour lumps are cooked. Beat an egg in a bowl, stir evenly. Then pour egg into the pan, while pouring, you should also keep stirring with chopsticks. 

8. Add in spring onion pieces and salt.


If you like, you can also add a little sesame oil to your soup.

The flour ge da ( lump) tastes very chewy. When I was little, I liked finding ge da in the soup. It’s very interesting to me.

Chinese people do love tomato and egg. We make them into soup and dish. We also make them go well with rice and noodles.

If you notice the Olympic Games, you will find even Chinese athletes wear red and yellow. Chinese netizens call that tomato and egg color. 🙂

Zucchini Pancake

I used a half zucchini and made it into shreds.


In a large bowl, put in zucchini shreds, an egg, a small bowl of flour, a small bowl of water, a tsp baking soda, some salt and some black pepper powder. Then stir evenly.


Heat oil in the pan. Put a spoonful batter in the pan. When the downside turns golden brown, flip it over.


It’s very soft, so it’s ideal for kids. Zucchini can also be replaced by carrot, potato or white radish. It’s very popular in China. And it’s a good choice for breakfast. Very quick and easy.