87. Chinese bread / dim sim recipe: Steamed Creamy Custard Bun

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奶黄包

This is NOT a northeastern Chinese recipe. :) A friend of mine asked for this recipe a while back, but, well, firstly, I am lazy to try new things, and I wouldn’t put anything here if did not try to make it and take the actual pictures. Secondly, I have never been a good ‘baker’, I can never carefully check the weight / proportions of each ingredient, which is actually quite crucial for making this kind of food.

You don’t believe me? - ha… the proof is that last week I just ‘turned’ a ‘cake to be' into a ‘stone’. :))) But my carelessness is not a secret since I was little, my dad could tell you all the stories. For example, all the marks I lost in the exams were either because of misplaced a ‘dot’ or missed out a word --- carelessly. And there are many other funny things like I could read something, at least I thought I read it carefully and grasped the meaning, then tell a completely different thing -- because I missed out some words or unconsciously ‘re-organized’ the words in different order. Ha… All I am saying is that if there are some recipes that need precision, then I wouldn’t be able to do it, or I wrote something wrong here, it has never been my intention. :)))

Anyway, I did try to ‘behave’ well this time.

Steamed Creamy Custard Bun is a very popular kind of Cantonese Dimsim . Actually, in UK, whenever we go with

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65.Bao zi: A Chinese steamed bread with fillings (part III)

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Chinese baozi

This morning when I opened window, a fresh but a bit chilly air blowed in, that was autumn air, autumn refreshing wind, suddenly felt like my ‘summer laziness’ gone, and the fresh autumn just gave me a new start. I took a deep breathe. Autumn is beautiful.

Just when I enjoyed coolness and refreshing air of the early autumn, I saw a little yellow flower outside window - the summer flower...

Preparing the pastry sheet:

1. Gently knead the dough of raised flour, then divide it into smaller pieces, around 4cm diameter ball, maybe?

2) Press the dough flat, then roll it into around 0.5cm thick sheet. It is better not to make it too thin, otherwise the pastry will not be raised up again when steamed.

Preparing the baozi's dough

Folding:

1) Place one pastry sheet on your palm, make the hand into a little bowl shape, so that the filling could stay in the centre, and easy for folding it up.

2) Place a tablespoon of filling onto the centre of pastry sheet - keep the hand into ‘bowl’ shape.

3) Use another hand to firstly ‘close’ a small part of the edge, and hold that part to gradually ‘close’ the edges, around 1.3cm a time, eventually close the centre, and make a ‘little twist’.

Steaming

1) Before placing the Baozi into the steamer, dip the bottom into a little oil plate, so Baozi will not get sticked on the steamer sheet.

Steaming the baozi

2) Turn on the full fire, after water boiling, (the steam comes out), allow it to be steamed for further - around 6 mins, then it is done. (But if you are making meat filling, it needs couple minutes longer though).

3) Baozi need to be removed from the steamer immediately after they are.

Serving:

Baozi can be served just by themselves with dip. They can also be served with Chinese soup or congee. Some salad is also good on the table. :)

Baozi can be frozen, and re-warmed up. The best way of warming up is to use steamer again, so you can get that softness and freshness re-installed. Otherwise using Microwave is the simplest way, but they cannot be left in the microwave too long, probably around 1 or 2 minutes. Too long can cause the Baozi too dry or even hard.


Ok, it is now done with Baozi. It sounds a bit complicated, but … not really, and it is all worth it when you put it into mouth. :)))))

65.Bao zi: A Chinese steamed bread with fillings (part I)

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Chinese baozi

Time is so fast, the weekend has just past, and also we are already in September. Where is the time gone? Probably I should give up the hope that summer might come around again, instead, hope for a lovely autumn.

But now, it is the best time in Northeast China in terms of food - the ‘summer food’ is still there, and ‘early autumn’ food is just starting. So, this time of the year one can find all different kinds of fruits and vegetables. In traditional Chinese ‘health’ theory, this is the best time for people to have as many nutrients as possible.

Anyway, in conclusion, eat! Must eat at the best time of the year. Oh, no… If we are really going to eat too much, soon I will have to come up with some ‘diet’ recipes out. Ha…

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As I mentioned in the ‘Chinese birthday meal’ post, Bao zi are a must in a traditional Chinese birthday meal. How to describe ‘Bao zi’ - because the pastry is very similar to steamed bread, the only difference is that Bao zi has fillings, so let’s say it is steamed bread with fillings?

You cannot find more traditional food than Bao Zi in northeast China. It is definitely a regional cultural symbol. ‘Bao’ in Chinese means ‘wrap it up’, Zi is just an ‘assistant’ word here.

Bao Zi is very much a ‘northern’ food, as in the south flour-based foods are not so common in home cooking. Besides, Bao Zi are much bigger than normal Cantonese Dimsim. Well, it is probably because unlike Dimsim, you would have all different kinds of ‘dimsim’ for one meal, while Bao zi are normally served as main ‘staple’ food, instead of rice.


Baozi can be accompanied by salad (Liang cai), or soup, or congee. Actually, in my university years, we often went to a small family run restaurant for breakfast, and we always order 2 or 3 Bao Zi (because Baozi are normally really big and filling) and a big bowl of lamb soup.

Making Baozi at home is simple, but it does require -- experience, I would say? For example, the pastry sheet needs to be raised up properly; the filling can not contain too much ‘liquid’, otherwise it will be very difficult to ‘wrap the baozi up’ and ‘seal’, and affect the softness of raised flour. But saying that, it is good to have a little bit ‘fat’ if you are making meat filling, because it is steamed instead of boiling unlike dumplings, it is good to ‘hold’ fat in the wrapping after steaming - have a bite, the ‘juice’ comes out. --- enh… tasty.

As I said, the pastry is the same as Chinese steamed bread - raised flour. However, the fillings can vary. Most of the dumplings’ fillings can be used for Baozi. The most popular filling for Bao Zi is beef mince (or pork mince) with spring onion or celery (or Jiucai /garlic chives), and for the vegetarian options are Jiucai with eggs, or Chinese leaves with other combinations.

In this first recipe of Baozi, I made a vegan filling - Chinese leaves, Mu’er (black fungus), Chinese mushroom, and Fensi (cellophane noodles). Lately, I found Chinese leaves with mushroom or Mu’er (black fungus) is very good combination. The juice of Chinese leaves gives flavor to the ‘dryness’ of mushroom. And Fensi (cellophane noodles) here is not only good for the taste, but also very good for absorbing the excess ‘liquid’ in the filling mix, so you won’t find too difficult to ‘seal’ the top of Baozi. The only thing for this vegan recipe is I like to put a bit more oil in the filling, because for ‘steaming’, it just needs that ‘smoothness’ and ‘fat’ in the filling and for the inter part of the pastry sheet.

Am I talking too much? I‘d better stop here, continues tomorrow then. :)

Have a good fresh week!

61. How to make Chinese steamed bread

Chinese steamed bred (man tou)

蒸馒头

Chinese Steamed Bread

I don’t really know how the name ‘Chinese bread’ was first used when referring to the dish I am introducing today, as it is not really ‘bread’ bread.

However, when my friends and I try to explain what Man Tou  is, we always end up saying "it is like … Chinese bread". Ok, let’s just call it Chinese steamed bread then! :)

If you are familiar with Cantonese Dim Sim, there is something similar to Chinese bread called "Bon". In the North East of China, Chinese steamed bread (without any fillings) is called ‘Man Tou’, but any other similar kind of steamed bread with fillings is called ‘Bao’ (Mandarin word for Bon).

In Northern China, Mantou/Chinese steamed bread is a very common "staple food" that often replaces rice on the dining table. Mantou is thought to be a bit ‘dry’, so it is usually accompanied with soup or congee.


In China, one of the most well-known mantou and soup dishes is ‘yang rou pao mo’ from Xi’an. It is served with mantou teared into small parts and soaked in lamb soup. -- A dish you cannot miss if you ever visit Xi’an, - oh, but in order to appreciate it, you have to like the ‘original’ flavor of lamb. :)

Mantou is not difficult to make -- raise the flour, shape it into 'half a ball', then steam. Nowadays, Mantou is normally made with white plain flour, which gives a very soft texture. As I mentioned before, many dishes from the times were China was ‘poor’ have been brought back to the dining table, and become very popular and highly recommended for their ‘healthy properties’.

So, for example, making Mantou with wholemeal flour or corn flour is becoming more and more popular. The flour, however, does not raise and become very soft after steamed as with plain flour.

Apart from using different flour to obtain different flavor, putting different fillings into Mantou is also very popular, however, of course, doing this changes the ‘concept’ of Mantou. In my ‘Chinese birthday food’ post, the two typical northeast birthday food “Doubao” and “Baozi” are derived from Mantou. If I start talking about different kinds of fillings, you have to bear with me for a long long time. :)

The recipe: Chinese Man Tou

Anyway, today, the weekend, I will only explain the original Chinese Mantou recipe, and it will be our breakfast for the next two days. :)

Ingredients:

Plain flour, yeast (or other raising agent if you are familiar with)

Making the dough:

1) Making raising flour. I normally use (same as always) 4 cups of flour, 1 and 1/4 cup of water, around 5g fast yeast.


2) After raising the flour, dust the board with dry flour, and place the dough on it. Knead well.

3) Divide the dough into small portions, don’t worry if they look small, need to keep in mind that after steaming, it will raising up again. So don't make the portion too big.

Shaping the mantou

4) Shaping the Man tou. There are two ways of making the small doughs into half ball shape. One is to use both hand ‘rub’ it into the shape from the small portion dough directly, (above pic) but it is a little bit difficult to shape the top ‘round’shape; the second method, which is my parents use, to press the small dough flat, then take the edges and press them into the centre (more like filling inside with its own edges), then ‘throw’ it hard onto the board, and ‘rub’ the side make it into the final shape.

Steaming:

1) Before putting the man tou into the steamer, it is better to ‘dip’ it in oil - this is only for avoiding it getting sticky on the steamer sheet.

2) Place them one by one into steamer, (leave enough water in the bottom of the steamer), keep in mind leave enough space for Mantou raising big later. (You can see from my picture, I did not expect that they raise up so big, so they are a bit 'squeezed".)

3) Cover the lid of steamer, and leave it for further 15 minutes for letting the dough raising again, before turning on the fire.

4) Then turn on the full fire. AFTER the water BOILING, for further 7 or 8 minutes, it is done. Turn off the fire, take them out. DON’T leave them inside the steamer after it is done.

Steaming Chinese mantou

Serving:

Have them with rice, millet or mung bean congee, or different soups along with other dishes, if you like. We also like to have it with steamed eggs for breakfast.

Home-made steamed Chinese bread

Storing and warming up:

Mantou can be kept in room temperature if the weather is not too hot, but don't leave them for too long though. Or leave them the fridge, or freeze them after cooling down. When eating them, they can be eaten as room temperature, or for the best result, is to re-steam them. If you cannot be bothered to use the steamer again, you can also leave them in the microwave, but ONLY 1 minute, if not warm enough, try 20 seconds more per time --- if it is too long, it will be very very hard. And microwave warmed mantou needs to be eaten quickly, otherwise it will get hard once it gets cold.


That's all -- too much already, sorry, have good Sunday!! It says that the weather will be good!