Luffa With Prawn

I love luffas and no, I don’t mean those exfoliating sponges you use in shower. The Luffa vegetable is one of my favourite vegetables. When cooked right, it adds a splash of flavour and texture to your dish that can take your meal to the next level. This prawn and luffa dish is a meal my mother would serve to me when I was young, which also makes it one of my comfort foods due to the nostalgia that comes with it. She would also cook beehoon soup with pork and luffa which I will share with you some other time.

Ingredients

  • One luffa ( about 400g after peel and sliced thinly , roughly about half a cm. )
  • 1 tbs minced shallots
  • 1 tbs minced garlic
  • 6 prawn (deshelled and deveined)
  • 1 egg ( very lightly beaten where there are visible egg whites )

Sauce

  • 2/3 cup water
  • 1 tbs oyster sauce
  • 1 tsp potato starch
  • 1/2 tsp mushroom powder

Mix all the sauce together in a bowl and set aside.

Method

  • In a heated wok at medium high heat, drizzle about 2 tbs oil, stir fry the garlic and shallots until fragrant
  • Add in the prawn. Stir fry until the prawn is about 80 percent cooked. Set aside the prawn leaving the garlic and shallots in the wok.
  • Add in the luffa and stir fry for about a minute or a minute and a half or until you see that all the sliced luffa is somewhat soften.
  • Pour in the sauce and stir, turn the heat to medium low. Allow the luffa to soften further. Add in the prawn, drizzle the egg and let the egg sit in the sauce for about 10 seconds. Give a light stir and wait for the sauce to boil. Turn off the heat.
  • Serve hot.

Spring Onion Buns

I used the recipe for the dough from my most popular blog, the single proofed pillowy soft milk bread. I have received a lot of inbox messages that they love this recipe so much. So here I am sharing with you that you can also use the same recipe for buns, less sweet but soft as well. If you prefer sweeter buns you can visit my pork floss buns.

Ingredients (dough)

Ingredients 

  • 300g bread flour
  • 3g instant active yeast
  • 30g sugar
  • 40g whipping cream
  • 30g well beaten egg
  • 150g full cream milk 
  • 20g butter (cut into small pieces)
  • 3g salt

Other

  • Egg wash (1/2 beaten egg + 1/2 tbs water )

Topping

  • 100g chopped spring onion
  • 1 beaten egg
  • 20g oil
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1/2 tsp white ground pepper

Method (topping)

  • Mix all the ingredients together

Method (dough)

  • Preheat the oven at 180 degree celsius
  • Mix all the wet ingredients together (cream, full cream milk, beaten egg) then set aside
  • Add all bread flour, yeast, and sugar into the mixer followed by the wet ingredients
  • Use the J hook to knead the dough at low speed. Knead until dough is formed
  • Add in the butter and knead for about 2 minutes at speed 2 ( low speed)
  • Add in the salt and continue to knead at speed 2. Knead until you reach window pane stage. This will take for about 15-17 minutes depending on your machine. I am using Kenwood ChefXL titanium. The window pane stage is essential to get the long strand like texture that you can see from the photo. (拉丝)
  • Divide the dough into 10 equal balls , cover with plastic and let it rest for 15 minutes
  • Use a rolling pin to flatten it into rectangular shape. Flip the dough and roll it up like a swiss roll. Seal up all the edges. Place it on the baking tray with baking paper, seam down. Do the same to the other dough. ( Refer to pictures below). Note: just LIGHTLY flour your work area if the dough is sticky otherwise refrain from doing so. Use a blade to make slit in the middle (please refer to picture below) . You may dip your blade in little oil to facilitate smoother cut on the dough.
  • Cover and let it proof for about an hour and half or until the dough becomes double in size.
  • Spread some filling in between the slits, brush some egg wash on the sides of the bun. Do the same for the rest of the buns
  • Bake for 13-15 minutes.

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