Pikachu Steamed Bun

Pokemon Go has finally found their way here and we have been busy catching 'em all. It has been a long time since I last played games on my handphone, I much rather spend my free time reading up stuff or watching shows, but this game is surprising rather addictive, lol. And thanks to my Pokemon Go addiction, I've been making lots of Pikachu food art lately, he's the only character I used to know from Pokemon. Now thanks to the game, I'm slowly learning more characters, but I think he still remains my favourite out of the lot.


Here are the Pikachu steamed buns, which I filled with ham, cheese and scrambled eggs. It's not the usual bun fillings, but this combi goes well with the steamed buns. It perfect for breakfast, though it can be eaten any time of the day. I'll be sharing the basic recipe for this at the end of this post.


The cheese I'm using is The Laughing Cow Toast,  as the name implies, this cheese is extra melting and is great for using in toast. It tastes really nice, and goes very well with the eggs and ham in the steamed buns.

The Laughing Cow is celebrating its 95^th birthday this year, and the prizes are really good! It is holding a draw with the top prize being a trip to France for four! 

Here are the details: 

Full list of prizes:

a.       1 x trip to France for 4 

b.       10 x pairs of tickets to Hong Kong

c.       20 x IPAD 64GB

d.       64 x shopping vouchers worth $500

From 1 August to 31 October 2016, simply purchase any of The Laughing Cow product and stand a chance to win. Entry forms available at customer service counter in supermarkets or on website. 

3 ways to submit:

1. Mail entry form and original receipt to Natrad Food Pte Ltd, 149 Ubi Avenue 4, Singapore 408778.
2. ONLINE via www.natradfood.com/tlc. Please retain original receipt to claim prizes. 
3. SMS “TLC<space>full name<space>NRIC<space>receipt no.” to 73333. Please retain original receipt to claim prizes.    

The Laughing Cow products and the promotion are available at all major supermarkets. Check in-stores for more details.

I'm sharing the recipe for the basic ham, cheese and scrambled egg buns, you can shape them into any characters you fancy. I've coloured mine yellow and shaped them into Pikachu. If you do not want to use food colouring, you can replace with this pumpkin steamed buns recipe over here instead.

STEAMED HAM, CHEESE & EGG BUNS 

Ingredients:
300g Morinaga pancake mix
1 1/2 tbsp salad oil
90 to 100ml water
1 tsp cocoa powder
yellow food gel colouring(optional)

Fillings:
The Laughing Cow toast cheese slices
Scrambled eggs
Shave ham

Method:

1. Prepare fillings and set aside.

2. To make the dough, sieve pancake mix.

3. Add in salad oil.

4. Add in water gradually, use your hands to keep mixing till the dough comes together. Dust work surface with some flour, use your hands to knead for around 5 minutes, till the dough becomes soft and smooth. If you are colouring the dough, you can do so at this point, add in food colouring and knead till the colours are even.

5. Divide dough into 6 parts and roll each into a ball. Use a rolling pin to flatten each ball. 

6. Place scrambled eggs, shaved ham and cheese in the middle of the dough, wrap it up and pleat the edges to seal. 

7. Place the buns on wax paper and steam them on low heat for around 15 minutes.

Note: If you can’t get hold of Morinage pancake mix. You can also use 270g plain flour and 1.5tsp baking powder to 140ml water. You need to add in 3 tbsp of sugar and a pinch of salt as well. Cover the dough after step 7 and leave it for half an hour before you start rolling out.

Pikachu Bento

I did not post yesterday not because I did not make a bento. In fact, I think some of you know I still have a backlog of bentos to be posted. I was very busy yesterday. When I could finally take a breather at night, all I wanted to do was to relax and catch up on my Kimchi dramas, was not in the mood to draft up a blog post. -_-


I made this Pikachu bento last week. It's been quite a long time since I last made Pikachu. Pikachu is rice coloured with egg yolk and some deco furi. Details were done using nori, ham and tomatoes. The side dishes I packed were grilled wings, golden kiwis and strawberries. :)


Pokemon ball was made using tomato and quail egg.


I also made an easy winking Pikachu sandwich for their snacks. I'm using corn bread for this, which you can easily substitute with cheese or egg sheet.


I used nori, ham and strawberries for the details.

Where to get same or similar items as used in today's post:

Pikachu Soboro Bento

If you have been following my blog, you will know that I hardly ever cook on weekends. Lol, so it's rare to see me posting on weekends. It was a last minute decision to make the boys a bento today. Daddy and IT are sick and we are stuck at home. I decided to ransack the fridge to see what ingredients I can find. I found a pack of minced meat in the freezer and decided to make soboro. I'm sharing the soboro recipe at the end of the post, it's easy to cook and there are endless characters you can assemble using it.


I assembled Pikachu in their bentos. :) Nori, ham and tomato are used for the details.


For lunch, the boys had rice, soboro, eggs, fries, grapes and strawberries.

SOBORO RECIPE

Ingredients:
200g minced pork
1 tsp minced garlic
1 tsp grated ginger
1 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp sake
1 tbsp dark soya sauce
3 tbsp oyster sauce
pinch of salt

Method:

1. Mix all the ingredients together, except garlic. Leave aside for 15 minutes. Add some water to loosen up the minced pork.
2. Heat up pan with some sesame oil and stir fry garlic.
3. Add in meat mixture, keep stirring with chopstick, till the liquid is almost dried up.

Notes:

• Pork can be replaced with beef or chicken.
• Dark soya sauce is optional, leave it out if you prefer a lighter coloured soboro. Or add more if you want it to be darker.

Where to get same or similar stuff seen in today's post:

Pikachu Bento

LT requested for a bento for School today, so I made 4 bentos. He used to bring once a week for School last year too. I did not make him one last week, I thought if he does not reminds me, I'll just leave it out. The kindy does provides lunch anyway, and he will still have a bento waiting for him at home after School. But he remembered this week, so I'm back to preparing 4 bentos very Friday again. :P


This was the bento LT brought to School, in the box are strawberry jam sandwich, cheese and chicken nuggets.


IT brought something similar to School too, same stuff as IT's box, except he has sausages as well. IT brought a badminton racket to School today, his friends and him are into badmintion and basketball this term. Hope he can finish his bento fast and hv lots of time to play. :)


Bento for IT, in the box are rice, cheese, sausages, nuggets, strawberries and blueberries.


Bento for LT, same stuff in the box as above.


4 Pikachus for today. :)


My lunch today, kept some curry chicken from last night's dinner and had them with prata. :) Speaking of prata, the 3 'boys' at home have been ordering them with different fillings for supper every night. Wished I can indulge too, but I have to watch my weight. -_-

It's weekends again, will be back with more bentos next week. Hope to do some Chinese New Year theme ones. :)

Pikachu Onigiri Tutorial

This is a tutorial for the Pikachu bento I posted on Monday. Please note that I'm using mixed grain rice and cheese in this tutorial, instead of sushi rice and egg sheet. If you are doing it, I suggest you try with sushi rice instead, and make the onigiri smaller as cheese is thicker than egg sheet.


First, shape your rice. You can use a rice mold if you have one.


If you do not have a rice mold, you can use a cling wrap to shape the rice.


Cut out a slice of seaweed to wrap round the rice.


Use the seaweed as a guide to cut out a slice of cheese.


Wrap them around your onigiris.


Punch out 2 circles for Pikachu's cheeks. You can also use a straw to do this.


Then, cut out 2 circles with a round cutter, this is for the pokemon ball. You'll understand in a while why I skipped to this step.


Cut off abt 1/3 of the circle.


And that's why I am doing the pokemon ball first, so they can be colored with Pikachu's cheeks. I use Wilton color mist for this, you can also rub on some red coloring. Then leave them in the fridge while you move on to the next step.


I'm using the yellow puncher to get pikachu's mouth, and the green puncher to get his eyes.


Punch out the nori and add them on the cheese.


Assemble back the pokemon ball.


Cut out a strip of nori and add on the ball.


Using a straw, cut out a small circle for the pokemon ball. Sorry, I forgot to take a pic for the next step. You have to punch out a small circle from nori and add on the cheese circle.


Cut out pikachu's ears using a toothpick. If you are using egg sheets, you can fold the egg sheet in half and use a scissor to cut it out instead.


Add on the ears.


Cut out some triangles from nori and add to the tips of Pikachu's ears. You can also cut some rice to add on his eyes. :))