Hello world!

Welcome to WordPress.com. This is your first post. Edit or delete it and start blogging!

Gua bao

Momo Recipe

Below is a very tasty recipe for making Nepalese momo. To make Tibetan momo, just remove the green vegetables.

Ingredients:

Wrappers
2 cups of plain flour
3/4 cup of water
Filling
500g minced meat (buffalo or yak, Pork is great if those are not available!)
4-6 spring onions
1 tbsp fresh crushed ginger
1 1/2 tbsp crushed garlic
1 1/2 tsp salt Handful of coriander/cilantro
2 green chillies (remove seeds for less spice)
2 tsp garam masala
2 tbsp oil

Directions:

Finely chop all the filling ingredients and mix together. Mix the wrapper ingredients to make a dough. Roll the dough and make circles 6-10 cm across.
Place a dollop of mixture in the middle of each circle and wet the edges to glue easier. Stick the sides together strongly to stop leakage. Pleat if capable!
Boil a pan of water with a steaming pot on top. Oil the steaming pot to stop sticking. Place a few momo into the steamer and steam for 5-7 minutes.
Serve with a tomato and coriander sauce!

Steamed Buns, Pao no vapor, Dicionario

1. Gua Bao – Taiwanese food  

2. Mantou 

   
   

Steamed Bread (馒头Mantou)

Steamed Bread (馒头Mantou)

The Chinese people are sometimes thought to be rice-eaters, but most northerners prefer food made of wheat flour, and mantou is the most popular form of such food. It is made by steaming the dough and is therefore described in English as “steamed bread”.
The first step in the traditional method of making mantou is fermenting the dough. Normally a small piece of leaven is kept from the previous time. This is well mixed in flour and water to make a new piece of dough, which is left for a few hours to swell.

The leavening dough, when ready for steaming, contains a high degree of acid, so a suitable amount of soda solution must be mixed and well kneaded in it. The dough is then divided into smaller pieces, either round or square, which are arranged well spaced on a rack, and steamed under cover.

A kind of active yeast has been developed in recent years, making the steaming of bread easier. All one has to do is to solve the yeast in cold or lukewarm water and mix it well in dough. The dough is then kneaded, divided and shaped into pieces of a suitable size. Leave them in a temperature of 20℃ to 30℃ for half an hour at most, and they are ready for steaming. This method cuts short the period of leavening and improves the taste of the steamed bread.

An interesting story tells about the origin of mantou. It was first made, so the legend goes, by order of Zhuge Liang, a famous statesman and chief minister of the State of Shu during the Period of Three Kingdoms (220-280 A.D.).

On an expedition to conquer the cave-dwelling southern Man barbarians who had often marauded his state, he came to the side of the LushuiRiver at the head of a big army. Someone told him that the river was poisonous and treacherous and treacherous and that human lives would be lost in crossing unless the tyrannical River God was appeased.

The way to do this, the man said, was to offer him maotou (heads of the captured barbarians) as human sacrifice. Now Zhuge Liang was a kind-hearted man. He accepted the suggestion but ordered to use “heads” (tou) made of dough instead of real human ones, thus saving a number of lives.

Since then the story goes on to say, maotao (barbarians’heads) has become a popular food and spread to the north of China.

Do What I Like: Chinese Steamed Mantou

Do What I Like: Chinese Steamed Mantou

Thursday, April 19, 2007

Chinese Steamed Mantou

Chinese steamed mantou/bun (饅頭) is a kind of steamed bread bun originating from China. They are somewhat similar in nutritional values and eating qualities to the white bread of the West. Mantou is a staple carbohydrates of the Northern Chinese diet.

Instead of just plain bun, you can wrap in sweet fillings like red bean paste, lotus seed paste (lin yoong) or sesame paste and for the savoury fillings like pork or beef can be used. Steamed buns with fillings are normally know as baozi (包子).

Nowadays, these kind of buns or mantous are easily available frozen from supermarkets or served deep-fried/steamed in Chinese Dim Sum restaurants.

I liked those deep-fried ones served in Peking restaurants. They go really well dipped in some of those spicy sauce in the “Kung Po Prawns” dish but my kids loved them dipped in condensed milk.

I am lazy, so I used my bread maker to do all the mixing and kneading. Making full use of my bread machine.

Steamed plain mantou and black sesame paste baozi.

Texture of mantou – soft and fluffy inside even when cold.

Final proving – 45 minutes.

Ingredients:
Dough Starter
150g cake flour
50g plain flour
pinch of salt
1/2 tsp yeast
110g water

Method:
I put all these into my bread maker on the dough cycle. When the dough cycle is completed, remove 70g for use and keep the rest in a freeze bag and chill in the vegetable compartment for use thereafter. The whole process is about 1 hour 20 minutes.

*** If you don’t have a bread maker, you have to knead the dough manually till it is smooth then prove the dough in a covered bowl for at least 45 minutes.

Main Dough
175ml skim milk
70g sugar
200g plain flour
100g cake flour
5g yeast
70g dough starter
1 tbsp corn oil

Method:
1. Put in all the ingredients except the oil into the bread maker, use the dough cycle. When the dough gathers into a ball, add in the oil and let the machine do its kneading till smooth. The whole process should be about 15 – 20 minutes depending on your bread maker.
2. Remove dough from bread maker, roll into a flat sheet then roll it up swiss roll style.
3. Cut into pieces of about 50g each and put it on a piece of square greaseproof paper. Place them in a steamer, make sure you leave enough room between each mantou for expansion during its final prove.
4. Prove for 45 minutes before steaming on medium heat for 12 minutes.

*** If you don’t have a bread maker, knead the dough manually till smooth before dividing and shaping.

Notes:
I have added black sesame paste to some part of my dough to create the black/grey and white spiral swirl.
Some of the mantous you see there are wrapped with black sesame paste filling.

References:
CL & TPC

12 months (or more) in the middle kingdom

12 months (or more) in the middle kingdom

Friday, September 30, 2005

Huaihua – west – main street – BaoZi (Chinese Steamed Buns)
vendor – there are two types of steamed bread in China:
Northern-style and Southern-style. They are made from a
leavened dough based on wheat flour. Northern-style steamed
bread is produced according to a recipe containing only flour,
water and yeast, whereas Southern-style steamed bread contains
many other ingredients depending on the region where it is produced.
Traditionally, steamed bread has been prepared at home, but more
and more is now being made in factories or sold like here on the
street by vendors

Do What I Like: Chinese Steamed Mantou

Do What I Like: Chinese Steamed Mantou

Thursday, April 19, 2007
Chinese Steamed Mantou

Chinese steamed mantou/bun (饅頭) is a kind of steamed bread bun originating from China. They are somewhat similar in nutritional values and eating qualities to the white bread of the West. Mantou is a staple carbohydrates of the Northern Chinese diet.

Instead of just plain bun, you can wrap in sweet fillings like red bean paste, lotus seed paste (lin yoong) or sesame paste and for the savoury fillings like pork or beef can be used. Steamed buns with fillings are normally know as baozi (包子).

Nowadays, these kind of buns or mantous are easily available frozen from supermarkets or served deep-fried/steamed in Chinese Dim Sum restaurants.

I liked those deep-fried ones served in Peking restaurants. They go really well dipped in some of those spicy sauce in the “Kung Po Prawns” dish but my kids loved them dipped in condensed milk.

I am lazy, so I used my bread maker to do all the mixing and kneading. Making full use of my bread machine.

Steamed plain mantou and black sesame paste baozi.
Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket

Texture of mantou – soft and fluffy inside even when cold.
Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket

Final proving – 45 minutes.
Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket

Ingredients:
Dough Starter
150g cake flour
50g plain flour
pinch of salt
1/2 tsp yeast
110g water

Method:
I put all these into my bread maker on the dough cycle. When the dough cycle is completed, remove 70g for use and keep the rest in a freeze bag and chill in the vegetable compartment for use thereafter. The whole process is about 1 hour 20 minutes.

*** If you don’t have a bread maker, you have to knead the dough manually till it is smooth then prove the dough in a covered bowl for at least 45 minutes.

Main Dough
175ml skim milk
70g sugar
200g plain flour
100g cake flour
5g yeast
70g dough starter
1 tbsp corn oil

Method:
1. Put in all the ingredients except the oil into the bread maker, use the dough cycle. When the dough gathers into a ball, add in the oil and let the machine do its kneading till smooth. The whole process should be about 15 – 20 minutes depending on your bread maker.
2. Remove dough from bread maker, roll into a flat sheet then roll it up swiss roll style.
3. Cut into pieces of about 50g each and put it on a piece of square greaseproof paper. Place them in a steamer, make sure you leave enough room between each mantou for expansion during its final prove.
4. Prove for 45 minutes before steaming on medium heat for 12 minutes.

*** If you don’t have a bread maker, knead the dough manually till smooth before dividing and shaping.

Notes:
I have added black sesame paste to some part of my dough to create the black/grey and white spiral swirl.
Some of the mantous you see there are wrapped with black sesame paste filling.

References:
CL & TPC

Spluch: Beijing steamed buns include cardboard

Spluch: Beijing steamed buns include cardboard

Chopped cardboard, softened with an industrial chemical and flavored with fatty pork and powdered seasoning, is a main ingredient in batches of steamed buns sold in one Beijing neighborhood, state television said.

State TV’s undercover investigation features the shirtless, shorts-clad maker of the buns, called baozi, explaining the contents of the product sold in Beijing’s sprawling Chaoyang district.

Baozi are a common snack in China, with an outer skin made from wheat or rice flour and and a filling of sliced pork. Cooked by steaming in immense bamboo baskets, they are similar to but usually much bigger than the dumplings found on dim sum menus familiar to many Americans.

The hidden camera follows the man, whose face is not shown, into a ramshackle building where steamers are filled with the fluffy white buns, traditionally stuffed with minced pork.

The surroundings are filthy, with water puddles and piles of old furniture and cardboard on the ground. “What’s in the recipe?” the reporter asks. “Six to four,” the man says.

“You mean 60 percent cardboard? What is the other 40 percent?” asks the reporter. “Fatty meat,” the man replies.

The bun maker and his assistants then give a demonstration on how the product is made.

Squares of cardboard picked from the ground are first soaked to a pulp in a plastic basin of caustic soda — a chemical base commonly used in manufacturing paper and soap — then chopped into tiny morsels with a cleaver. Fatty pork and powdered seasoning are stirred in.

Soon, steaming servings of the buns appear on the screen. The reporter takes a bite.

“This baozi filling is kind of tough. Not much taste,” he says. “Can other people taste the difference?”

“Most people can’t. It fools the average person,” the maker says. “I don’t eat them myself.”

The police eventually showed up and shut down the operation.

Seeking Advice for Chinese Steamed Buns

Tough on the outside, chewy on the inside is how I’d describe the Steamed Chinese Barbecue Pork Buns I’ve made thus far. Also known as Char Siu Bao, these fluffy, white buns are commonly served at Chinese restaurants during dim sum. At their best, Char Siu Bao are soft as a pillow and filled with a savory mixture of minced Chinese barbecue pork (char siu), soy sauce, oyster sauce, scallions and sugar.

My recent attempts at this wonderful snack have left me disappointed. As you can see from the picture above, my Char Siu Bao are slightly yellow with a dry, tough exterior and a dense, chewy texture. Only the filling has been acceptable, which is why my trash can is now filled with buns that have been hollowed out.

I’m not exactly sure what I’ve been doing wrong, so I’m hoping someone out there would be able to lead me in the right direction. So far, I’ve made two different Char Siu Bao recipes. One from Corinne Trang’s Essentials of Asian Cuisine, available here; and the other from Martin Yan’s Chinatowns, available here. They’re both similar in ingredients and technique. Basically: combine yeast with warm water, rest until bubbly, stir into flour mixture, hand knead five to ten minutes or until smooth and elastic, proof for two hours, knead five minutes, wrap with barbeque pork mixture, and steam in a bamboo steamer over high heat for 12 to 15 minutes.

I’ve come up with a few possible theories to explain my poor results, but please feel free to debunk my hypotheses or add your own:

1. Excessive kneading is overdeveloping the gluten and making the dough too firm and chewy.

2. Insufficient proofing is causing poor volume and dense texture.

3. Insufficient baking powder is causing poor volume and dense texture.

4. The higher protein levels in Canadian flour (cake: 10%, all-purpose: 12%) are overdeveloping the gluten. I’ll assume the recipes were tested using American flours which have lower protein levels.

5. Using an improper steaming temperature is causing poor volume, or collapsing the buns.

6. The dough is too dry and contains insufficient fat. I noticed that after leaving the raw dough uncovered for a few minutes, it developed a thin crust.

7. Oversteaming is causing the buns to shrivel up and turn yellow. Though this may be compounding the problem, I’m almost certain that there’s something wrong with my dough. During one of my trials, I peered into the bamboo steamer after three minutes, and the buns had already developed a firm exterior.

Of course it could be possible that there’s something wrong with the recipes. However, I’ve looked at least a dozen recipes for Char Siu Bao, and they appear to be similar in both ingredients and technique. I’ve also had good results with recipes from Corinne Trang and Martin Yan in the past, so being an inexperienced baker, it’s likely the problem is on my side.