Steamed Goji and Longan cupcakes

Since my last post, I've managed to fit 'my life' under 20kg and left Sydney to begin this new journey of mine!  So, hello from Melbourne! I am feeling a little unsettled - one reason may be because I don't have anything in my pantry except for oatmeal and rice! And I am also feeling a little out of place and disoriented thus have been avoiding this space lately.

So the packing proved to be a massive challenge. I had to take out more than half of what I had initially packed whilst reminding myself...'what you need, not want Viv!' and relunctantly took out my favourite cookbook and the fluffiest pillow. Nothing from my kitchen made it into the suitcase (except for 4 random sticks of cinnamon! And I don't even know why!) 

It really is a privilege to cook whatever I want and to share it in this space of mine. A privilege I too often take for granted.

I may have to give up on this privilege for the time being as I try to find my feet around here and get my kitchen set-up (a chopping board would be a great start!)

Anyways, these cupcakes are one of the last things I made back home.

You know why they're special?

Because they're healthier than your usual cupcakes (steamed with no butter!) and can be done in less than 30 minutes (including steaming time!)

I do love my goji and longan! Feel feel to substitute with other ingredients you may have like walnuts, cranberries or red beans!

Steamed Gogi and Longan cupcakes
Makes 5 cupcakes

Ingredients

• 1 large egg
• 30g sugar (I used brown)
• 1/4 cup of milk (or yoghurt)
• 1 tablespoon grapeseed oil (can use other oil like canola or olive)
• 80g flour
• 25g goji berries (soak in hot water first)
• 25g longan
• 20g soy bean powder (if you don't have it, simply add another 20g of flour)
• 1 teaspoon baking powder

1. In a bowl, beat the egg lightly then add the sugar and mix well.

2.  Then add the milk into the mixture as well as the grapeseed oil. Beat well.

3. Sieve the flour, soy bean powder and baking powder and incorporate into the egg mixture and mix until the batter does not have white parts from the flour.

4. Finally incorporate the goji and longan into batter and mix gently.

5. Ladle the batter into 5 separate cupcake/panna cotta containers which are lined with cupcake liners/muffin cups. I used jelly moulds!

6. In a large pot (or cast iron casseroles), fill it with enough boiling hot water such that when you put the cupcakes in, the water comes about half way on the mould.

7. Steam for around 13-15 minutes with the lid on. I prefer to wrap a cloth/towel on the lid to prevent water droplets dropping onto the cupcakes.

8. Carefully remove from pot as they cupcakes will be steaming hot ;)