Einstein said “Imagination is More Important Than Knowledge” For knowledge is limited to all we now know and understand, while imagination embraces the entire world, and all there ever will be to know and understand.”

I have been thinking of making this flower rolls for eons. Last year my friend came to my house and noticed my spring onions growing wild! Too many of them. She recommended I made spring onion oils. I am not a big fan cause I do not like the ‘brownish’ looking spring onions after. I’ve never needed to buy spring onions ever for years. They just grow all through winter in my garden which is a South facing little micro climate area in Hertfordshire. I am really lucky!

I lost the use of my bamboo steamer a few years back as I kept it in the shed and it went mouldy. It’s very difficult to buy one of bamboo the size I wanted until recently. I bite the bullet and got a new one few months back as they are expensive! Hubby was ‘you’ve not use your bamboo steamer yet’ few few times already and I pretended to ignored him I know he is hinting for my special ginger parcels.

Today I have made spring onions (scallions) and lap cheong flower rolls. This idea been in my head a long time but I just needed to find out how to make the green of the spring onion remains fresh looking even after baking!

My boy on the other hand do not like to eat spring onions and won’t touch lap cheong (Chinese sausage) and he requested for ham and cheese. so I made some ham and cheese for him too!

While I was cutting the ham I remembered I have some pineapple I was saving for rojak but hey ho I will use it for him to make him a happy boy. So the Hawaiian Flowered roll is born!

My mind was in over drive thinking of all the combinations possible both sweet and savoury now that I have decided I want to use this combination of flours and liquid ratio. It gives me a soft roll and I much prefer steamed rolls to baked really. I find steamed boa/rolls much softer and less dry than bread. Easier on the palate

I tweaked my char siew bao recipe a bit and viola this flower dough roll is born. For the steps to making this dough please refer to https://www.julieolive.co.uk/2020/07/28/easy-char-siu-baozi/ to see how to make the dough.

Use the my fours to liquid ratio as a guide and experiment. I have done a few suggestion here and hope you enjoy it.

Having more liquid makes for a softer boa/roll but the shape would not look as good but eats better.

Having less liquid gives you a better looking bao/roll but do not taste as soft just ecstatically pleasing to the eye.

TIP – To keep your spring onions and chives green even after baking you first soak them in 2 litres of cold water + 1 tsp of baking powder for 30 minutes before slicing for use. In this way your spring onions will still look just plucked from garden even after baking. Refer to my pic

TIP – To eat the next day all you have have to do is microwave it 30 seconds.

As a young teenager growing up in Kuching, Sarawak my father took us out for supper few days a week. I do realized how extremely lucky my siblings and I were now.

One such supper is this Char Koay Kark . This recipe is for the plain Koay Kark aka no fresh radish grated inside, just rice flours mixture. This is the street food version. Not the ones sold in Dim Sum restaurants but it’s oh so nostalgic.

This Char Koay Kar dish brings back memories of us 5 siblings, sometimes laughing, sometimes arguing at the back of my mother’s Volvo 244 in racing green. Those were carefree days and our only worries were our parents not buying for us what we want!

I have extremely fond memories of this street food Char Koay Kark. There was an elderly gentleman with a makeshift stall selling it by an old iron fenced gate near the then Cathay cinema. He used to wrap them into a corn shape with newspaper on the outside and a piece of plastic inside.

If I remembered correctly the plain ones were 50 sen and the added eggs 70 sen. I can’t remember there being prawns but I just wanted to add to mine today.

I have not cook this for years. Hubby reminded me the other day so I decided to cook for him. He loves the preserved sweet radish and will always request for extra! I remembered a few years back when I was first experimenting to make the rice cakes, a lot went into the rubbish bin before I settled on this combo that is not too hard, nor too soft and with just enough ‘chew’

Today I have decided to write out with pics in details. If you made it please post me a pic or tag me and you would have made this post worthwhile.

TIP – Make the koay kark, rice cake at least a day ahead. After storing in the fridge it is easier to cut. Oil your knife.

Char Keow Teow or fried flat rice noodles is another of my recipe that I have lost with my old blog. So I am now replacing it.

Because I live in the UK and I missed the charcoal taste I am here using a few drop of liquid smoke to give me that special ooooomph…. just like the market stall.

Because I am a greedy (Tham Chiak Kui) I put everything possible into my Char Keow Teow. However I did not have any fish cake in my freezer so have to go without.

I have to admit that losing my old blog is still making me sad. I have to search deep for the inclination to work on this new blog. At times I have messages from friends asking for recipes and asking why my old links don’t work and that give me a boost to continue. today is one of them days that I have the ‘uuuummmph’ to write up a few more recipes. Thanks peeps.

Hope you enjoy this recipe.