Palm To Psalm

Char Siu

Maybe it is the glistening fat that put me off from preparing this dish often, but this char siu is sinfully delicious and is well received by the family. It is also very easy to prepare and need very little ingredients. You can also cook this hours ahead of your meal. The meat is very tender and succulent and gravy is honey sweet. This is best served with cucumber on the side and any leftover can be cut into cubes and add into fried rice.

pandan leaves and palm sugar

Ingredients

500gm pork belly, 1.5 cm slices
80gm palm sugar,chopped
1/2 tsp salt
Pandan leaves, knotted

Method

• Arrange belly slices into a big heavy based pot. Add everything except palm sugar. 
• Put enough water to cover the belly.
• Bring to boil and lower to a simmer for 20 minutes. Covered
• Flip the belly over and let it cook for another 15 minutes. Flip the belly pieces again
• Put in chopped palm sugar and reduce gray until it's thick like honey. (lid off. Use medium heat and watch the char siu closely to prevent burning)
• Let the char siu cool in pot. Slice when it has totally cooled down.

Powerlab

242 children has registered with Powerlab! We need many lab Crew Leaders (shepherds) to guide the children through all the activities and fun. The children are divided into groups of 6 each. We will therefore have 41 groups and so need 41 crew leaders. Thank God we have 23 people who have committed themselves  and God will send the 18 more we need.
We also have a Dedicated Prayer Team who pray for the camp. Our hearts are filled with thankfulness and praise to the Lord for His mercies.

The Mighty One, God, the Lord, speaks and summons the earth from the rising of the sun to where it sets. From Zion, perfect in beauty, God shines forth. Psalm 50:1,2

Salt and Light II

Sakura Peach Roll

Ingredients

2 eggs
60g superfine sugar
60g flour
6g unsalted butter,melted
1 teaspoon milk

Cream
200ml fresh cream
2 tablespoon superfine sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
A few slices of canned peach

A few pieces of preserved sakura,soaked and dried

• Whisk eggs and sugar in a bowl over a pot of hot water..
• When sugar is dissolved, remove from heat and continue whisking till ribbon stage.
• Fold in sifted flour
• Mix milk with melted butter. Add in some batter into melted butter, mix them well and pour back into the rest of batter, folding gently.
• Lay sakura on the tray lined with parchment paper, bake in pre-heated oven for 8-9 minutes at 180C.
• Cool the cake on wire rack and peel off parchment paper.
• Whip cream with sugar and spread on cake. Place some sliced peaches on the cream. Roll cake and chilled before cutting.

Salt And Light I

Preserved Sakura

These are preserved sakura from Japan. Preserved sakura are traditionally used as tea called Sakura-yu to serve at arranged meetings between potential marriage partners. Other uses include Sakura gohan, rice cooked with a few preserved sakura and dashi stock, Sakura manju, steamed buns flavoured with sakura flowers and decorated with a preserved flower on top, and also in butter cookies and cakes

You have to soak these preserved sakura in cold water to reduce the salt and leave to dry before use.

Soak in cold water

leave to dry

Ingredients

90g unsalted buteer
50g superfine sugar
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
A pinch of salt
1 egg yolk
125g pastry flour
20 preserved sakura

Method

• Soak sakura flowers in cold water for at least 2 hours to reduce salt. Drain the sakura and discard the water. Lightly squeeze out the water.
• Preheat oven 180C. Cream butter with salt until soft, add the sugar and beat until light in colorr  Add  vanilla extract and egg yolk. Beat to combine.
• Mix in flour and fold. Cover with clingwrap and chill for 1 hour.
• Line baking sheet with baking paper. Roll the cookie dough to 3-4mm thick, and cut with cookie cutter.
• Place a preserved sakura on each unbaked cookie, pressing lightly on the cookie.
• Bake cookies for 15-18 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from oven and immediately sprinkle superfine sugar. 
• Let cookies cool on baking sheet and later let it cool completely on a wire rack

The cookies are light, buttery and crumbly and when added with the preserved sakura and sprinkled sugar, melt in the mouth with a sweet and salty taste.

Sakura Cookies

Salt and Light

The Bible tells believers they are Salt and Light of the world. Matthew 5:13 'You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses it saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot. 16'Let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.'
We are to be like salt with its usefulness in flavoring people with kindness,love and humility,preserving the world with God's truth and teaching, In healing the spiruitually weak. Salt also make us thirsty,for Christ, a need for a relationship with God, just as we were created with a need for water.
We are beacons of God's love shining out to people in darkness. Show the world God's love, hope and faith through our actions in our daily lives.

We live in Him and He in us

Soy Sauce Chicken

I am always looking for quick and delicious, and if possible, traditional recipes to cook. This soy sauce chicken is one of them. This is a classic Cantonese chicken dish you can find in most Chinese restaurants and roasts shops.  It is one pot cooking and there's no stirring involved. You can even make two side dishes, egg and fried tofu with the sauce. The chicken meat is very tender and juicy, and it is traditionally served with  ginger and scallion dip.
This recipe is adapted from RasaMalaysia

Ingredients
Half Chicken
2 inch ginger(skin peeled and lightly pounded)
4 cloves garlic(lightly bruised)
2 stalks scallions (tie into a knot)
2 star anise
1 cinnamon stick(about 2 inch length)
1 cup soy sauce
1/2 cup dark soy sauce (I used 1/4 cup)
1 tablespoon shaoxing wine
3 dashes white pepper powder
4 oz rock sugar
4 cups water

• Add all ingredients (except the chicken) into a deep pot and bring it to boil on high heat for 15 minutes. Add the chicken into pot and boil over high heat for about 10 minutes.
• Lower the heat to simmer for about 20minutes. Turn off heat and let the chicken steeped in the soy sauce mixture for a few hours to soak in the flavor. 
• Dish out the chicken, chop into pieces and serve with dipping sauce.

Ginger and Scallion Dip

1 oz ginger(skin peeled, finely chopped)

1 scallion (cut into thin rounds)

1/2 tsp salt

2 tablespoon oil

Place the ginger, scallions, salt into a small bowl. Add oil into the bowl and blend well. 

Note: You can use whole chicken for larger serving but make sure your pot is deep and chicken is immersed in the sauce. For eggs and tofu, add a few hard-boiled eggs(peeled) into sauce after turning off heat and deep fry the firm tofu before adding into sauce. Alternatively you can add both eggs and fried tofu into sauce and leave it to steep overnight as another side dish.



Sunday school

I am using the Discipleland to teach the children and today's topic is on God's Spirit, and memory verse is 1 John 4:13 'This is how we know that we live in Him and he in us: He has given us of his Spirit'.
 After Praise and Worship, the children who are grouped accordingly to their age group will go to their respective classroom and have their lesson.
Today the children will learn about Jesus sent His Spirit who lives in,guides, and empowers His children.They  will also learn that God teaches them and helps them to grow through His Holy spirit's instructions and guide them in the His ways of truth.
Learning to memorize God's word is important. It is one of the keys to putting God's Word in our hearts where God can use it to change us and grow us in His will. Psalm 119:11,104 and 105 and 130 clearly tell us that. We want children to be able to memorize a Bible verse,put it into practice in their daily lives and recall it many times throughout their lives.
They are many ways to teach children to remember the verses. I find the best way is through games and have fun while learning the verse.

Arranging Today's Verse 1John 4:13

Five Loaves and Two Fish

Green Tea and cranberry loaf

I knew my bread is going to turn out soft and fluffy, the way it should be when I kneaded the dough. It was so smooth and elastic and I was telling myself it's time to get a proper loaf tin.
This is the matcha powder I used, not the most expensive on the shelf, but has the intentsity of a good Japanese matcha. My friend who was back from touring the States and Canada for 2 months gave me these bags of cranberries and raisins.

Feeding of 5,000

This two loaves of bread also bring me to acknowledge the abundant generosity of God and His miraculous work in our lives as seen in the Gospel of John in the Feeding of 5,000. Jesus can work miracles with five loaves and two fish brought by a little boy as his gifts to Him and what mightly miracles God can do! God wants us to do the same, the simplicity of who we are to God, and our inadequacies, God can work miracles through them.

Ingredients

 350g Bread flour

10g  Milk powder

1 tablespoon matcha powder

I handful of dried cranberries

65g Fine sugar

1/4 Teaspoon salt

7g Instant dry yeast

1 Egg, lightly beaten

120g Tangzhong (Water Roux)

125ml Milk

30g Unsalted butter, soften

Method

• Combine all dry ingredients such as flour, milk powder, salt, sugar and instant yeast in a bowl and mixed well.
• Make a well in the center and add in wet ingredients such as beaten egg, tangzhong and soft butter and slowly stir the mixture till it form a sticky dough by adding the milk to it. You might not use all the milk. Next turn the sticky dough out on to lightly floured surface. Stretch the dough by pushing the front half away with one hand.
• Fold the stretched part of the dough back on itself, give it a quarter turn and repeat for 5 more minutes, until the dough has been turned full circule several times and is a smooth elastic ball.
• Place the kneaded dough back into the lightly floured mixing bowl and leave it in a warm place to prove for about 45 minutes to an hour or until the dough has doubled in size.
• Test your proofed dough by pushing your floured finger deep into the risen dough whereby it will leave an indentation that does not spring back.
• Punch the risen dough with your fist to deflate it, re-shape the dough into oblong shape and let it rest for 5 minutes.
• Divide the rest dough equally into two portions, about 400g per portion, flatten one portion of the dough into a rectangle, scatter some cranberries on the dough and fold 1/3 of the top part down and follow by 1/3 of the bottom up.
• Lastly tuck in both side of the flatten dough and seal the shaped dough with your finger tips.
• Place the loaf in an oiled and lightly floured pan for second proofing for 45 minutes to an hour or until the dough rises just above the top of the tin.

Bake bread in preheated 175C for about 20-25 minutes. The bread should be well risen, golden brown and sound hollow when tapped with fingertips. Remove the loaf immediately from the pan and leave to cool for at 30 minutes before slicing.

Tangzhong (water roux method)

 25g Bread flour

125ml water

Method

Mix flour and water in a small saucepan until without any lumps. Cook over medium low heat, stirring consistently with a egg whisk or wooden spoon to prevent the mixture from burning while cooking.

The mixture will thicken up( takes about less than 2 minutes) while cooking, so once you see 'lines' appear in the mixture it starts to form a dough, it is done.Transfer the cooked dough into a clean bowl and cover with a cling wrap sticking onto the surface to prevent it from drying up.

Cool it completely before use.

Note: The flour to -water ratio for tangzhong is always 1(bread flour): 5(water). The recipe above make a batch of approximately 140g tangzhong. Here's a video to guide you in making the water roux starter