Vegetable Steamed Buns ("Choy Pau" 菜包)

This is my 2nd attempt making the pau dough.  The first time I made is Char Siew Pau and confidently thought after steaming everything will turn out as to be white pau.  

I thought pau only mah.....what so difficult, knead, add filling, send it to steam, that's it.  But OMG, after I lift up the steamer cover, the paus are all full of yellow spots!  But I have already make sure I dissolved well the baking powder....sigh, it is still not well done.

So I make it again,  but this time is Vegetable Buns.  Before I lift up the steamer cover, I just cross my finger,  at least this time is much better though there are still little yellow spots around.  Hmm.... maybe my third time be more better?  Well, we learned better each time after we tried and tried, isn't it?

Vegetable Steamed Buns  ("Choy Pau" 菜包)
Recipe adapted from My Kitchen &   Minty's Kitchen

Dough Ingredients

150g Hong Kong Flour

50g wheat starch

30g icing sugar

4g instant dry yeast

80ml lukewarm water

¼ tsp white vinegar or lemon juice

15g vegetable oil or shortening

5g baking powder

5ml cold water

Dough

1. Sift the flours and icing sugar together in a large mixing bowl and make a well in the

    middle.

2. Fill well with lukewarm water, vinegar and yeast. Use a spatula, gently stir the water to

    dissolve the yeast then slowly bring together flour mixture.

3. Add in the oil and knead for 10-15 minutes until soft dough is formed. It should be

    smooth on the surface.

4. Cover dough with damp cloth and let it rise for 30 minutes or until it is doubled in size.

5. Dissolve baking powder in cold water – (make sure it is really well dissolved to

prevent yellow spots on the finished buns), sprinkle over dough and knead until

well combined.

Divide dough into 7 or 8 (I made 7) equal portions and flatten with a rolling pin into

circle. Then place a heaped teaspoon of filling in the middle, wrap and pleat the dough

to seal. Place it on a ~6cm square piece of baking paper.

6. Preheat the steamer over a pot of rapidly boiling water. Spray water mist over buns,

     and place into the steamer basket and place the lid on for 12 minutes. Remove buns

     from steamer and cool on rack to prevent soggy bottom.

Filling Ingredients
250g jicama (yam bean), juliened
25g dried shrimps, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced

Seasonings (to your taste)

Salt, white pepper, 5 spice powder (abt ¼ tsp), sugar
Some water

Some oil
 

Heat oil and saute the garlic and dried shrimps until aromatic.

Add in jicama, seasonings and some water and fry until soft.

Set aside to cool. 

Well, making pau at home is always more economical and healthier, isn't it.  So it doesn't 

matter it doesn't look perfect.

Purple Rose Mantou (Mantou 饅頭)

Everywhere is selling purple sweet potato recently and I better get hold of this before it is hard to find later on as I have some recipes which I have bookmarked earlier.

When I first saw Wendy of Table for 2....or more post this beautiful Rose Mantou, I was so impressed and amazed how beautiful it was.  And I also found out few fellow bloggers has also done this too.  I wanted to make it but just sad couldn't get hold of purple sweet potato until now I got the chance to make it.

Mantou is actually a Chinese steamed bun (plain) and usually you can eat it as it own or go as an accompaniments to savoury dishes (pork belly, bbq pork) or sweet fillings such as red beans, kaya custard. 

I got to know Mantou is when watching ancient chinese series where they usually have mantou to bring along with them when they go travelling etc...... or they stop by at road side for a tea and have a mantou as snack.  Am I right?

I am glad Wendy post this Purple Rose Mantou whereby I got to make it today.  The male members in my family wasn't really a rose mantou person........ so we the ladies have to eat it.

Purple Rose Mantou

Recipe from Wendy of Table for 2....or more

Ingredients
250gm steamed purple sweet potato
200gm water
500gm pau flour
1 tsp baking powder
100gm sugar
50gm shortening/Crisco
1/4 tsp salt
11gm instant yeast

1. Mash sweet potato, or blitz sweet potato with almost all the water to get a fine paste.  

 
2. With balance of water, mix with yeast.
 

3. Combine everything except shortening and mix to form a dough.
 

4. Put in shortening and knead until dough is smooth. Add slightly more flour is dough is way 

     too sticky to handle. If the dough is sticky but can retain its form, like not slacking down, 

     just continue to knead, the gluten just hasn’t form, there’s no need to add extra flour.

5. Cover and let dough proof until double, about 1 hour.
 

6. Punch down dough and knead for 1-2 minutes.
 

7. Divide dough into 15g each.  

    Flatten each ball and roll out flat. With fingers, press the sides of the circle to make them 

    flatter and to create ripples (uneveness) .

8. Arrange 6 pieces of flattened dough, half stacking on top of each other.

9. Start rolling from the first piece on the bottom.

10. With a chopstick, saw the roll, it will roll while you saw, creating a fatter center than the 

       sides. Eventually it will break into 2.

11. Place rose buds upright on a piece of paper.Let buns rise to double and steam on high 

      heat for 12 minutes.

 

  Please go over to Wendy's blog for a more clearer tutorial pictures.  Mine is ugly and sucks!!

          
         Before steaming.

 
               After steamed...........

    Actual Mantou is like this type of shape.........

   So tiring doing this alone by myself but the Rose indeed has cheered me up....... :-)