baskets

baskets

Tuesday, June 28, 2011

What in the world is Pani Popo?



one of my friend from high school said that her friend made Pani Popo and its tasty. ???  I've never heard of Pani Popo and apparently its tasty, which means I had to investigate.   So I started with Google and bam! its a Samoan bun with coconut cream sauce.  Sounds interesting, I like bread, I like coconut cream.  I'm not a big fan of the coconut flakes, I can eat them or not eat them but the cream mmmmm good! There where many sites that said to use frozen rolls like Rhodes but I decided to go with my own rolls recipe. Same recipe I use for my cinnamon rolls.  I'm sure if you ask a Samoan baker its a wrong recipe but that's what I went with.  I used my home bread machine to knead the dough for me. 


my dough: 600gm Bread flour, 1 cup milk, 100gm sugar, 2 eggs, 1 stick butter, 1 tsp salt, 2 tsp yeast. put it in your bread machine the same as the machine's instruction.   I cut the dough in half and roll it out then roll it up!

 then slice it just like you would a cinnamon roll. Put them in a baking dish and let rise until size doubles!






 I did a quick method and put it in a warm oven (175F)









 recipe said to mix 1/2 cup water and 1/2 cup flour in a bowl until well mixed.







In a pot add 2 cans of coconut milk, 1 cup sugar and the flour water mixture, put over med heat and continue to heat it up until sugar is melted and the liquid is warm.  DO NOT BOIL!!

 Once the coconut mixture is warm pour it over the the pan I know this may seem like there is too much liquid but they will turn into cream sauce so don't worry! let the dough swim in the coconut pool!










bake at 375F until golden brown the sauce will thicken and will be sticking to the bottom of the bun!

Sunday, June 26, 2011

The other braided rim

I've shown you how to make the simple braided rim before but today I want to share with you how to do the other braided rim I know.  I"m sure there are tons more but frankly I only know two type.  I guess I need to study on it more and learn to do other kinds but for now here is a simple tutorial.

follow the first step to my tutorial to my nesting heart basket to get to this point. click here 
you can do this braid rim on round square or rectangle.  Heart shape may be little hard to do but not impossible.  Use #2 or thinner round reed. you can do with #3 but it gets hard to handle. keep in mind to keep the reed moist by spraying them often to avoid breakage.

Follow part 1 of the detailed tutorial  here again 



























once you are done with part 1

start part 2:

again start with left set and right set next to each other.


take left set and go under the right set.
Lay the left set on top of the rounded reed like the picture and the right set becomes the left set, switch hands and continue until all done.











 here is a better picture.  Continue this pattern all the way around.












Part 3: working on top braid

grab a strand of your choice, and follow the set that is already weaved and lay it on top and stick the end from inside to out side of the basket






  make sure they don't get twisted!

 all the way around.











until the last one, pull it through  like the rest of the strands.












 Part 4: working on the bottom braid

take a set, and into the hole to the right making sure that it lays on top of the bottom portion of the braid already made.











pull it through and continue with the rest of the sets.












 Part 5: working on the inside. follow the part 3 and 4 of the triple heart braid and you are done! make sure you wait until its fully dried before cutting the round reed!

I'm not sure if the pictures are good enough for you to follow but next time I make this top I will take better picture and re do the tutorial!
























Spam Musubi

One of my favorite Hawaii born snack is Spam Musubi.  Spam is very popular in Hawaii and I hear they eat more than any other states.. They also started serving Spam at McD!!

I won't lie, I like spam. Its very versatile, you can eat it as breakfast meat,  chopped up and added in a fried rice, fried noodles, cook it with veggies like cabbage (one of my faves!!) my husband eats it in a sandwich.. not really a fan of that my self but to each its own right? well today I want to show you my most favorite way to eat spam! my sons too!! Spam Musubi!! what is Spam Musubi you may ask? Musubi is Japanese word for rice ball. so its spam rice  ball if you want to translate it. My son takes these to school and his teachers calls them sushi because they are wrapped in rice and seaweed but they are not Sushi because the rice do not contain vinegar. 

So this is what I do!

 This is not necessary but I love my spam slicer!! it looks like egg slicer but see the other pic. how big it is?






 you'll need to cut your spam with a knife if you don't have a handy slicer




 Pan fry it! until they are little golden brown.
a lot of my friends who do not have the mold, washes the spam can and use that as a mold, but I do have a handy mold so I'll use it.
You'll need seaweed and cooked Japanese white rice.  If you like you can salt the rice a little to taste.  You don't want it to be too salty so be careful not to over salt them!


get a sheet of seaweed








fold it half

 rip it into two pieces

wet your mold






 put the mold on seaweed

 add thin layer of rice press it down
 top it with spam, press again
 add rice and press again
 remove the mold
 remove the top

 wrap it with seaweed
 done! you can eat it as it or cut it in half!
 cut it flat
 cut it in angle

 its up to you!