Happy Birthday Renee, i hope you like this Angrybirds Cake. I am glad you chose this theme cos i really enjoyed making these birds as angry as can be. I love those adorable pigs and can't imagine that they were the bad guys. What i enjoyed most was the time you spend with me, explaining to me what this angrybirds game is about and all the levels and the special powers of each birds. With all these knowledge imparted, i still do not think i will be able to pass level 1, but i did have the inspiration to make these fondant birds as angry as possible and the pigs as cute as can be. After making so many angry birds and pigs, my fingers have cramped up from kneading the fondant to get the correct colors for each bird and my eyes have gone crossed from the tiny fixtures. I still have to make a catapult and the wooden structure of which the pigs can be placed. I should have made the catapult first as it was the biggest but i was so excited to make the birds which was so gratifying to make that i could not stop but continued to make all the birds that Renee wanted, and i made the catapult at the eleventh hour with regrets. Renee wanted the triangular yellow bird to be on the catapult and the bird was too big. So i had to remake another catapult and persuaded her to use the tiniest one which is the Ice Bird. For the wooden structure, tootsie rolls saved the day.
I don't know if you have noticed that the prices for frozen udon noodles have gone more than double and it is time that i have to replicate it by making them at home. I have been using udon to fry my Kuala Lumpur Black Hokkien Mee and I am feeling homesick for this comfort food.
In fact i have many times failed to get the texture of Udon to be like the store bought ones, which is bouncy and chewy. Following the authentic Japanese recipes on making udon, which use only flour, salt and water, does not help, blame it all on the flour and everything else except my own lack of 'khoong fu'. I have kneaded, banged, smashed and even stepped on the dough but the result of the udon, has always tasted like 'mein fun koh'. I want bouncy and chewy, so i am going to use more, much more than expected , TAPIOCA STARCH and the ratio of 1:1 to all-purpose flour. Why????, all purpose flour and not bread flour? I have read that it was impossible to achieve a good Udon using American flours(no wonder) and that the Japanese Flour has a lower protein/gluten that will have a better result. So I used bleached all-purpose flour and alot of tapioca starch to further reduce the protein/gluten content.
With the flours issue off my mind, i have to think of an easier way to knead the dough mixture to death, to obtain as smooth a dough as possible. I am definitely not sacrificing my KitchenAid Mixer and know that the Breadmachine will do the work. But, with the Breadmachine, the blade was so short that it was not able to draw together the dough to make into a ball for kneading. I had to help by pushing the dry dough and this is too tedious. So, for the next batch of dough, i changed the procedure. First, i put in the water, salt and then the bleached all-purpose flour, start the dough function and let the machine churn it into a batter, then i added the tapioca starch, oh yes, this is so much easier. The machine can now knead the dough like it would for a bread dough. My breadmachine does not have a only kneading function, so i have to remove the kneaded dough just before it starts to proof. I have also found that the water i used to cook the Udon has to be salted and that makes alot of difference to the taste, the udon does not taste doughy at all and this is how i like the udon to be. I do not care if this is not authentic Japanese Udon or perhaps i should rename this noodle to 'Fat noodle'. Lets make some 'Fat Noodle':
Smile though your heart is aching Smile, even though it's breaking When there are clouds, in the sky, you'll get by If you smile, through your fear and sorrow Smile, and there'll be tomorrow You'll see the sun come shining through If you'll.... Light up your face with gladness Hide every trace of sadness Although a tear, may be ever so near, That's the time, you must keep on trying Smile, what's the use of crying? You'll find that life is still worthwhile, If you'll just.... Light up your face with gladness Hide every trace of sadness Although a tear, may be ever so near, That's the time, you must keep on trying Smile, what's the use of crying? You'll find that life is still worthwhile, If you'll just.... Smile
I hope you all enjoyed this video and sang along with the lyrics as the lyrics of yesteryears are so meaningful. Smile is a very powerful tool, even a pau/bao that smiles will make your day. It is easier to make me SMILE but not so easy to make the pau/bao smile. It took me 2 days and many paus/baos after, to be able to make them Smiling. It is not the recipe, any recipe will work if we are able to recognize the function of each ingredients in the recipe. I have edited this recipe and omitted the wheat starch and replaced it with pau flour as i have found that too much starch makes the dough tasted gummy and stick to the teeth. The wheat starch write-up is for your knowledge only.
I have to share this Velvety sauce as this sauce kicked the Char Siew Pau/Bao up a few knotches and moved it to my favorite, will not go back to my older recipe. The recipe for the sauce makes a fairly large batch and it is worth the while cos it will keep well in the fridge and every time you want to make Char Siew Pau/Bao, half the work is done if you have Char Siew and all you have to do is to make the Pau/Bao dough. Talking about Pau/Bao Dough, i get all excited when i see a new recipe and what a let- down to the excitement when the result is not up to my expectation. I still fall back to SuperSoft Pau and if you are lazy and do not want to make the Tangzhong, go ahead and follow Tien Tsin Pau recipe or Pan Fried Pau, they are very good pau doughs which my picky pau eater, Renee approves.
I am posting the Velvety Sauce as the Ingredients and Method for making the Pau/Bao Dough are already posted in the 3 links i have provided above. You can make Char Siew following these 2 recipes - Char Siew and Lam Yee Char Siew
