A mum said to the kid, "Enjoy the plate fully, or might as well eat nothing."
I said to her, "Love me fully, or might as well leave me."
Life is about the choices you make with the time you're given. Don't worry, we all have doubts and fear.
I love dim sum and always doubt whether I could ever woke up to find myself making one. My no. 1 fave is Har Gow. This is my favourite dim sum because:
Har Gow
yields 12
For dough,
75g wheat starch (not wheat flour)
15g tapioca starch
small pinch of salt
1 Tbs canola oil
1. Mix everything in a bowl and pour 1/2 cup boiling water. Mix with chopstick until it forms a 'crumbly feta'. Knead in the bowl together for 3 minutes or until smooth. Cover with plastic wrap.
For filling,
12 medium prawns, de-veined, chopped to 1cm thick
1 Tbs pork lard, melted
1 Tbs minced canned bamboo shoot, boiled and drain once
1 ts minced white part of spring onion (optional)
1/2 ts soy sauce
1 ts Michiu or gin
1/2 ts sesame oil
1 Tbs cornstarch
a small pinch of salt
a small pinch of white pepper
1. In a bowl, mix everything.
2. Take a tablespoon worth of dough. Flattened the dough as thinly as possible by rolling them in between two sheet of non-stick baking paper. Fill with prawn mixture and pleat the dough (click here to see how, I'm still suck at it).
3. Steam over high heat boiling water with dim sum basket and non-stick baking paper for 5-7 minutes. Serve with soy sauce or Lao Gan Ma!
To all of those who had doubt in my choices and me with regrets, I would like to sing for you my latest drunken morning hits! ;P
"I'm sitting here by myself in the morning
Thinking 'bout the hell you're leaving me.
Last night was sweet sweet loving
but feels like nothing now, since you're not here with me.
I kept on giving in to your fooling, lying, screwing
to each blue misery.
Guess that's what I'm all about
A fool's fooling with the unforgiving company.
Living the weather, stumbling one another.
My head's all in the cemetery.
Something's in me
it's like I'm just not me
cause my heart has been yearning and wanting you...(to).
Say what you wanna say, what you wanna play, which you wanna take in me.
Lie what you wanna lie, what you wanna do, where you wanna hurt in me.
It's rainy here this morning, not that you're caring
Well I figure the season's nicer than me.
Told myself so, stop messing around and leave
This haunting in my head's just another witchery."- Pierre
(Freshly made this morning with a couple bottles of Corona)
Have a nice weekend y'all!
Pierre: It's that you warming up?? U singing & playing on the guitar played aloud in my empty house sure brings some 'warmth'..LOLs.. It's so quiet here at home.. OMG.. can't stand it. Eeks and you made har gow, I think I have some prawns still. Must attempt this soon. Have a good weekend!!
ReplyDeleteLooks superb! The skin's translucent... That's the most important thing in good har kau - the skin.
ReplyDeleteI love har gow! And good song! You are all kinds of awesomeness.
ReplyDeleteSo, just a couple bottles of corona can make you sing as good as like that? Woohooooo.... *claps* I wonder what a bottle of Jack Daniel's will do... Hahaha... Btw, I like the lyric!!! :D
ReplyDeleteI prefer siomay to ha kau ;)
You made har gow! wow that's a lot of work. they look wonderful. beautiful translucent skin. one of my favourite dimsums too. that, and xiao long bao, and shui jiao, and siew mai, and this recent thing I had which was prawn wrapped in a fried crispy beancurd skin.. ok I stop now.
ReplyDeleteHar Har Har!! - At your sigh and the cat calls in the beginning!! Sorry. *Clap clap clap*. Nice singing! Was that video to make me wish even more that I can play the guitar or to make me think you're cool? Did you write that song yourself? You really shouldn't be drinking in the morning (I know I sound like a mother here)
ReplyDeleteHar gow is my No.1...most DISliked dim sum. I know I'm crazy - I'm not a prawn person. To make me eat har gow - the prawns have to be SO VERY fresh that it doesn't taste like prawns.
Btw I played back your video just to laugh at your sigh n cat calls again! Har Har Har! No offense ok. You sang good multi-talented guy!
Is that your first time making har gow? It's a good job I think, to be able to make that. If you make it a few more times, I bet you can make the skin thinner. :)
ReplyDeleteAre you coming to Melbourne for your psych thing?
Hey there!
ReplyDeleteI am really not into oriental food but Har Gow looks REALLY GOOD.
Sometimes, all I really wanna do is pop some bottles and just listen to songs that revolves around the topic of heartbreaks.
Love har gau. Yours look great. I think you're just being modest. I also really enjoyed your singing. Have a great weekend to you too.
ReplyDelete@Jo,
ReplyDeleteWarming huh? I guess it made me a little bit warm on a cold miserably rainy morning too. How come so quiet? Just pop out and have a little walk, surely nothing is more quiet than Wellington on this weather. ;) PS I wasn't really warming up, that's just me tipsy.
@Arthur,
Well there is not much in har gow, so I think every single bit is important. Cheers!
@Leaf,
Hi Leaf! All kinds huh? Hahaha. Thank You!
@Selba,
Non a Jack Daniel person unfortunately... Besides I'm not that good of singer, especially that video doesn't reflect it. Hahaha, it's my first take. I don't know how I come up with the lyric. It's sort of non-sense but somewhat have deep meaning... hmmm. I like it tho. There aren't that many good har gow in Indo, so siomay tend to taste better there... but I am not a big fan of siomay (the chinese kind).
@Shu Han,
I love xiao long bao too!!!! Oh no, I've got to make that one too now. I wonder if it's easy or not. Hmmmmm... hmmmm... You make me wanna have dimsum this morning. I wonder how fun it'd be to see you eating dimsum passionately.
@Germaine,
If I wasn't drunk and that wasn't my first take after I just wrote the lyric a minute prior and my drunk flatmate thought it was good that I should tape it, then I would be a little offended. Hahahaha.
I was surfing around youtube and heard a song by Duffy... and my heart just melted with jealousy. So me being me, wanting to 'be', I picked up the guitar and started marking around. Meh! Hehehe... You can use the vids for anything you please, from assisting cat's breeding to 'do what you wanna do'.
How could you not har gow!!! it's like heaven with simple happy things in life.
@Michelle,
It's my 2nd time making them, I made them 5 years ago. I don't have enough gadget to make em more thinner... shame. Look at you, you sleek har gow master, Hahaha. I do think it looks thick too, but the skin will go translucent more and more as it cools down. I think it'smy pleating technique that needs srious touch-up.
Melbourne next SUNDAY! Yay!
You coming to psych thing? Or busy recollecting the things you've learnt in USA? Anyways, if you wanna meet up, I'd be around night time. Just FB or msg me anywhere here.
@HalfCrazy,
(I think I am fullyCrazy btw)Hehehe.
Thanks for poppin by from the beautiful land of Phillipines. I thought the oriental food are awesome there, are you missing out?
I guess this is a song with many meaning and you can take it with different perspectives, I can see 2 obvious contradictory ones.
1. A man who has been heartbroken again and again, but still love her and let her do whatever she does again and again because he thinks he's worthless.
2. A man who is a womaniser and reflected on his worthless life. ;)
@Michael,
ReplyDeleteThanks bro! I'm not being a modest person, just still critical-being a har gauholic n all. And that singing is just a little joke really. You have a great weekend too Michael!
Very wise things to say and me too, Har Gow are my favorite in Dim Sum dishes.
ReplyDeleteLove Dim Sum and have never made it. When the kitchens back I will give it a go. I guess I need a good dim sum cook book? The singing is very sexy!
ReplyDeleteOh my! I love Har Gow and yours look really good. Making me feeling really hungry now just looking at your pics. :)
ReplyDelete@Katherine,
ReplyDeleteWell, maybe I'm not that old enough to have walked the talk yet. ;)
Cheers to the Har Gow!
@Dom,
Very sexy? Hahaha. Sweet!
I am building up some dim sum collection here. Just click on the 'Chinese' tag if you wanna browse around sometime.
@Pei Li,
Thank You! I think I need your magical fingers to make a perfect looking har gow. I am hungry too now... Hmmm... dimsum take away?
Forget about the har gow, I can't view your drunken reverie video and I feel like I'm missing out big time here! Ok, the har gow was pretty awesome actually, looks so pro. It's one of my favorite dim sum dishes!
ReplyDeleteHi Maya,
ReplyDeleteYou're missing out on that much. Not sure why you can't see it.
Still need work on my har gow skills too. Thanks!
Har Gow! Both my girls' num 1 fav dim sum too and they can eat up to 2 baskets each! I must make this for them one day so that they'll love me so much so much more than now! lol
ReplyDeletePs. Nice voice and lyrics except the starting part of yelling (sorrrry), it's just too funny but tks for your entertainment, good one! :D
Btw, what other talents do you still have besides a soon-to-be-doctor, an awesome chef (to-be too?), good singer (to-be also?) ?? :P
No offense taken Lyn, I was a little tipsy and unsure about where the song's going, so it's alrite. Hehehe. Glad to entertain, that's the important bit!
ReplyDeleteI never was that fond of har gow when I was little because it's not as tasty as other dumpling but it's great that your gals like em. Beware when trying to make this tho, you may get frustrated the first time around. And ended up with nothing because you keep eating and eating as you go along with your frustration. Hahaha.
Well talent... I used to act in TV... compete internationally for cycling... hmmm... that's pretty much it. It's not talent, just passion and time I think.
Yea! You did it and managed to keep us all (I don't know if anyone doesn't agree with me) entertained! ;D
ReplyDeleteI guess my gals are the ones who'll keep eating and eating them! lol
Acting and cycling, doctor and chef... you like challenges and trying out new things huh... your life must be filled with so much fun and excitements! ^.^