Cool and Creamy

It's a hazy one out there. A perfect Pride Weekend, made special because it's my first weekend of summer vacation. It usually takes a few days for the thought of summer vacation to soak in, and another few days to get all unwound, especially with end of the year drama. And while I'll miss the children like crazy, I'm glad to have some time to myself. And it couldn't be a more perfect weekend to start off my holiday.

Enjoying hot hazy days can be tricky. The sunshine begs you to join it outside, but after awhile and a couple gallons of water, you're exhausted. I think the trick is to balance your sunshine adventures with lots of hydration, and some cool creamy treats. These mango lime popsicles are perfect, but so is this unique strawberry rice pudding.

I know some of you aren't pudding people. It's a texture thing, right? I loved pudding as a child. Every once in awhile, my parents would get the Jell-o pudding cups (usually vanilla or tapioca) and I would be allowed to have one as an after school treat. My first perfect memory of pudding as a child was when I went over a friend's house for the first time, and we made lemon pudding together. We poured in the milk, mixed it up, and waited patiently for it to set in the fridge. I think it's the memory of being together with that friend that I miss, rather than the taste of powdered pudding.

 My re-acquaintance with pudding came many years later when I made this super easy chocolate pudding. No messing about with egg yolks or double cream. Cornstarch does an amazing job thickening it to the perfect pudding consistency. I even made a mocha version by substituting some of the milk with extra strong brewed coffee, and a butterscotch version with some leftover butterscotch chips. Then this coconut rice pudding got posted, and I tried that too. In this recent pudding edition of my kitchen adventures, I made a strawberry rice pudding that's just sweet enough, very creamy and totally perfect if you have some stray berries that are getting over-ripened. I originally wanted it to be a coconut strawberry pudding; I used a coconut milk beverage (the kind in the tetra pack that's used as a milk substitute) for the first time, but found out that while it's nice and creamy, it lacked in coconut flavour. But that didn't matter because the strawberries totally shone. When it's chilled and eaten straight from the jar, it's the perfect after-sun-adventure treat.

While I know the pudding probably isn't everyone's cup of tea, I urge you to try it if you like pudding even a little bit. There's just something so satisfying about sticking your spoon into a jar of something creamy and cool ... Happy summer days everyone!

Strawberry Rice Pudding
serves about 2-3

1/4 cup of arborio rice
1.5 cups of milk (or any non-dairy milk -- I used So Nice coconut milk beverage)*
1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract
2 tablespoons of natural cane sugar
1/2 cup of fresh strawberries, diced

**if you want a more coconut-y pudding, try replacing some of the liquid with the thicker coconut milk that you get in a can -- I would say maybe use half a cup.

1. Place your chopped berries in a small bowl and sprinkle over 1 tablespoon of sugar. Mix well and let sit while the pudding cooks.

2. Rinse your rice well. Place it in a pot with the milk, vanilla and the rest of the sugar. Bring the mixture up to a boil, stirring often. Reduce the heat to a simmer and let it cook, covered, until the rice is tender and the liquid a thickened. It will still be runny -- don't worry that it's not pudding-like yet.

3. Turn the heat off and stir in the diced berries with their juices. Let it cool to room temperature and then refrigerate.  Enjoy when it's completely cool, thick and creamy!  I'd even have it for breakfast!

New Year of the Dragon

Last week at work, about a dozen people asked me if I was going to take Monday off - Monday being the first day of the New Year of the Dragon on the Lunar Calendar. I've been working at this school for 5 years now, and this is the first time I've been questioned so much about taking this day off. It's like everyone just realized that Lunar New Year exists. Go figure, huh?




Anyway, weird colleagues aside, I did have a lovely new year celebration with my family that involved brunch with grandma and the making of these lovely little buns. My grand-aunt (who passed away when I was in high school) would have been so proud! I remember her always making complex-looking Chinese dishes in the kitchen right before New Year. Last year, I made cookies flavoured with toasted coconut, peanuts and sesame seeds to mimic those deep fried crescent-shaped, sugar-filled puffs of goodness that everyone buys around new year. This year, I dug right into making something more traditional: sweet red bean paste buns. Yes, Aunty would have been proud indeed.




I know us Asians don't have the best reputation for making desserts, but this is a good one for sure .. just trust me. The filling of these little buns is made with adzuki beans -- little red versions of the mung bean. The beans a boiled until mashable, and then sweetened with brown sugar and flavoured with a splash of coconut milk. The dough is pretty basic, but also includes baking powder along with the boost from yeast, making them extra light, pouffy and delicious. This recipe isn't really complicated; you just need a little time. The filling needs time to cook and cool, and the dough needs time to rise, so it's the perfect rainy weekend baking project. You do need a steamer though, but if you don't have one, I'm sure you could bake them in the oven for a different spin.



One last thing: the website where I got the originally recipe, tells you to do this fancy pleating thing with the dough once you've got the filling in the middle. Fumble-fingers me couldn't do that, so I just dropped some filling in the middle and pulled the stretchy forgiving dough around it and pinched a seam. As long as you lay the buns seam-side down, you're good to go.

Gong Hei Fat Choy Everyone! (Yeah, I know I'm late .. but ... yeah you know how it goes: reports cards always run my life. But hey! Tomorrow is everyone's birthday!

Chinese Sweet Bean Buns
adapted from Use Real Butter (dough) and Apple Pie, Patis & Pâté (filling)
makes about 16 little buns

For the Filling:
1/2 cup of adzuki beans, soaked overnight
1.5 cups of water
2 T brown sugar (or more to taste)
1/4 cup of coconut milk

1. Place you soaked beans and water in a large pot. Bring to a boil, then turn it down to a simmer. Cook, covered for 30-40 minutes, or until the beans are super soft and mashable.

2. Add the brown sugar and coconut milk and cook, uncovered for about 5 minutes. Remove from the heat.

3. With a potato masher, mash the bean mixture to your desired texture (I left a few little lumps for good luck). You could also let it cool and them blend. Your call. Either way, let the mixture cool to room temperature and then refrigerate for a couple or hours (or overnight if you're making this ahead of time).

For the Buns:
2 tablespoons of sugar
2 teaspoons of quick-rising yeast
1 1/3 cups of warm water
3 cups of flour
1.5 teaspoons of baking powder
1 tablespoon of melted butter (I used Earth Balance)
red bean paste filling from above

1. In a large bowl, combine the sugar, yeast and water. Let it stand for about 10 minutes, or until the mixture gets foamy.

2. Dump in the flour, baking powder and melted butter. Mix well until you get a nice soft dough.

3. Turn the dough out on a floured surface and knead for about 7 minutes, adding more flour if needed, until the dough gets nice and soft and elasticy.

4. Place the dough in an oiled bowl. Cover with a tea towel and let it rise for about 1 - 1.5 hours, or until the dough as tripled in size. While you're waiting, prepare the steamer. Cut out little squares of parchment paper (about 2 inches per side) and place them in your steamer, about 2 inches apart. I fit about 6 in my steamer and it was little bit crowded. Lay the rest of the paper out onto a baking sheet.

5. Punch down your dough and knead for about 3 minutes or so. Divide the dough into 16 little balls.

6. Take a dough ball in your hand and flatten it out. Drop about a teaspoon of the cooled red bean mixture into the centre. Gather the dough around the filling and pinch. Place the bun pinch-side down on the parchment. Repeat!

7. Steam your buns in batches for no more than 10 minutes. They should pouff up really nicely. Remove and let cool. Serve warm (that's when it's best!). You can also refrigerate them and heat them up (either re-steam them or microwave them). They keep in an airtight container in the fridge for up to a week.