Something Chinese for the Easter Bunny, part 1

Easter is becoming a bit of a thing in China. The Chinese are great that way, adopting just about every Western holiday as another excuse to have fun and eat stuff. Peeps and hot cross buns have not taken the country by a storm, though, probably because there’s something so much better to chomp on there: bunny buns.

Baozi are made into all sorts of shapes in China, but the best and most traditional of all are rabbits. When I lived in Taiwan, these used to sometimes appear at the end of a major banquet, and they never failed to charm. Birthday celebrations for someone particularly old might produce buns shaped like longevity peaches, but, like today's recipe, they were basically plain steamed bread dough with a red bean filling.

Beautiful Easter Bunnies

Nowadays Chinese bakeries and dim sum parlors will offer steamed buns in any number of animals (like hedgehogs or pigs), vegetables (lifelike mushrooms are my favorite, followed by pumpkins and ears of corn), and even cartoon characters (such as Hello Kitty and panda heads). It’s clever and always entertaining, and the kids sure love this obvious nod in their direction.

Rabbits are traditional in China, though, and are deeply ingrained in its legends and art. One of the members of the Chinese zodiac is, of course, the rabbit, which puts it in pretty rarified company. (For some odd reason, the Japanese subbed out the rabbit for a cat. Boo.)

Dough and filling

The moon seems to have been connected to the rabbit since ancient times, probably because you can see the Jade Rabbit pounding out the elixir for longevity when the moon is at its fullest. So, think of cracking this out for the Moon Festival too if you want a break from all those moon cakes!

If you do an Internet search on rabbit-shaped baozi, you will see that most are not very successful. The reason for this is that the ears and other decorations are first added to the buns before they are steamed. But, if you clip open the ears and tail after the bread is steamed, you get very high detail and an almost lifelike appearance for these little guys. Thanks to the great Sichuan chef Chen Kenmin 陳建民 for this wonderfully easy and magical way to create rabbit buns. This idea came from the recipes he developed for a lovely 1980s cookbook called Zhōngguó diănxīn 中國點心. 

Wrap the filling in the dough

Note: Because Easter is this coming Sunday (3/27), I am going to put next week's blog post up a bit early - on Friday instead of Monday - so that you have time to make this other treat for the holiday, too. It's something that I like to think of as Chinese hot cross buns. It's not really the same thing, but you'll see...

Red bean bunny buns

Xiăotù dòushābāo 小兔豆沙包

Makes 16 buns

Filling:

1 (15 ounce/430g) can red bean paste (see Tips)

¼ cup/60 ml toasted sesame oil

½ teaspoon sea salt

Make a plump half circle

½ cup/65g shelled walnuts, chopped and preferably toasted (see Tips), optional

Dough:

1¼ cups/295 ml warm water

2 teaspoons yeast

1 tablespoon/12g sugar

½ teaspoon sea salt

2½ cups/320g white Chinese flour, plus extra for kneading

2 teaspoons peanut or vegetable oil

2 teaspoons baking powder

Decoration:

1 drop red food coloring

Pinch in one end for the head

1. First make the filling: mix the red bean paste, oil, and salt together in a small pan over medium heat until the paste is bubbly and glossy, and all the oil has been absorbed, about 10 minutes. Scrape the paste into a heatproof bowl and let it cool off. Cover and chill the paste for a couple of hours, if possible, so that it is easy to shape without squishing. If you are using them, mix in the chopped walnuts.

2. Make the dough as directed for the flower rolls, and be sure and add the salt. When the dough has risen and rested, lightly dust your work surface and pat it out into an even rope 16 inches long. Then, cut the dough into 16 equal pieces. Roll each piece into a ball and cover with a towel to let them rest while you prepare a double layer steamer and line it with steamer paper. Prepare the steamer baskets as directed in the flower rolls recipe.

Mr. Mantou & Miss Doudou

3. Divide the filling into 16 pieces and roll these into balls; keep the filling cold.

4. Now, before we start filling and shaping the buns, first study the pictures of our own buns on the right. Their names are Mantou (Steamed Bun) and Doudou (Little Bean). Cute, huh?

5. Working on one piece of dough at a time, flatten it into a circle about 3 inches in diameter. Place a ball of filling in the center and pinch the edges of the dough together over the filling so that you have a fat half-circle. Gently roll this between your hand and place it smooth-side up on the steamer paper; because they rise, be sure and leave an inch or so between the buns. This means that you probably will have to steam them in two batches, with four buns per basket. 

Blobs in the steamer

6. Now, pinch one end of the bun to form its head. Repeat these two steps with the rest of the dough and filling until you have 16 blobs that will improbably turn into bunnies. Just watch.

7. Let the buns rise for about 10 minutes, and then gently press in on either side of the faces once again so that they keep their shape in the steamer. Steam these for around 15 minutes, then let them sit in the steamer for another 10 minutes with the heat turned off so that they do not suddenly deflate.

The ears appear

8. Have a clean tea towel, a pair of kitchen shears, a bamboo skewer or toothpick with a flat end, and that drop of red food coloring ready in a small bowl. 

9. Here comes the fun part: making the rabbits appear. First, hold one of the hot buns on a tea towel so you don't burn your hands. Use your shears to clip the ears by aiming the tip of your scissors at the nose and then cutting the triangular ears from atop the rabbit's back.

10. Then, snip open the tail.

Then the tail

11. Finally, dip the flat end of your skewer/toothpick in the red food coloring and dab a little red eye on both sides of the head. 

Tips

I always get the Japanese brand of red bean paste called Ogura-an, which is slightly coarse in texture, not as sweet as the Chinese brands, and of great quality.

And then the eyes

It’s still pretty sweet and one note, though. To remedy this, I like to fry it with the sesame oil and a dash of salt, which rounds out the flavors. This also gets rid of the metallic flavor that hovers in the background.

To toast the walnuts, bake them at 300°F/150°C for about 15 minutes, or until golden brown. Cool before using.

These buns can be steamed and decorated, and then frozen. Steam them directly from the freezer for about 10 minutes. I'd strong suggest that you wait until you steam them the second time around before painting in the eyes, as you don't want the coloring to run. 

The end

Brandade de morue

Salt cod and potatoes... it doesn't sound like much, unless you've tried it the Provencal way. 

I had always wondered what to do with those petrified pieces of fish I would see in Italian delis around Easter, as I love Chinese salted fish, but this was nothing like the xianyu that is used throughout the Chinese seaboard. 

And before I go any further, I have to let you know that salt cod is not in the least salty; in fact, it tastes very fresh, and I like it much better even than regular old cod, which can be a bit insipid unless it is dolled up with something like a Yunnan-style crunchy fried bean sauce. (More on that last recipe later.)

So, it was with great joy that I read in the brandade recipes by two of my favorite food writers - Patricia Wells and Simon Hopkinson - that the Provencal take on salt cod was one of their most beloved dishes. In fact, Mr. Hopkinson says in Roast Chicken and Other Stories that it is one of his top ten favorite dishes of all time.  

Then, when I read in Ms. Wells's Bistro Cooking that this was a specialty of Nimes, I knew that the time had finally come to try my hand at brandade de morue, the southern French concoction of reconstituted salt cod, mashed potatoes, olive oil, milk, and garlic, because that is the home town of two of our best friends from Taiwan, Lynn and Bill. 

Canadian cod, Catalan name, & French recipe

I made both recipes and enjoyed them the traditional way, smeared on crispy slabs of French bread and chased with some good red wine. But it got me thinking about how to adjust this recipe so that I could become even more thrilled.  

I think that it was the fact that the dish wasn't hot that made me yearn for something that approached "molten" on the heat scale, and I also wanted more variety in each mouthful, which would require some variations in texture and flavor. And while I was at it, I reduced the liquid a bit so that it ended up looking like a nice mound of mashed potatoes.

 After monkeying around with the recipes, I came up with  my own version, one that I now have to admit is really quite tasty and satisfying. Instead of the lukewarm though delicious fluff that appears to be the traditional way of serving it, I put it in a shallow pan and broiled it until the top was crispy and the fish was nice and hot. Also, I folded chopped parsley and a good handful of pitted olives into the fish, which provided nice contrasts in color and flavor.  This really needs the bite of olives to set off the comforting unctuousness of the rich mixture, and the green parsley conspires with the purple and pale green olives to spark up the visuals on this subdued dish.

Served with bread lightly fried in olive oil, a tossed green salad, a couple of steamed artichokes with garlic butter, and some red wine, this is a terrific Eastertime feast. Not much Lenten restraint here, but I'm sure I'll be forgiven.



Brandade de morue 
Toasted salt cod puree
France
Serves 6 to 8 as an entree for lunch or light supper

1 pound salt cod
¾ cup best quality olive oil
¾ cup whole milk or half-and-half
4 garlic cloves, peeled and finely minced
12 ounces Yukon gold potato(es)
Juice of 1 lemon (Meyer improved best) 
Lots of freshly ground black pepper
1 large bunch of parsley, trimmed and finely chopped
Handful of pitted black and/or green olives 
Sea salt to taste
12 to 16 thin slices of baguette or other firm, white bread
Olive oil for frying

Plumped up and ready to go

1. Start this recipe one or two days before you plan to serve it. Rinse off the cod and soak it in cold tap water for at least 24 hours, changing the water when you think of it and storing it covered in the refrigerator when you go to bed. After the first day, taste a little nibble of the fish to make sure it is no longer salty. The fish will be plump at this point, and you can store it one more day if you drain it and again refrigerate it in a covered container. Before you proceed with the recipe, remove any bones and skin. (Needle nose pliers are useful for this.)

2. About 30 minutes before you want to serve this (or earlier, as the finished dish can be refrigerated for a day or two prior to the final broiling), warm up the olive oil in the microwave or on the stove until it is about body temperature. Warm the milk and garlic together the same way, too.

Browned and bubbling

3. Peel the potato(es) and cut into 1-inch cubes. Boil the potato cubes in salted water until tender, drain thoroughly, and keep them warm in a toaster oven set on the lowest setting, which will dry them out a bit, too.  

4. Place the fish in a 1-quart saucepan, cover with cool tapwater, and bring it to a boil; lots of foam will rise to the surface. As soon as the water boils, remove the pan from the heat, cover it, and let the pan sit for 5 minutes. 

5. Drain the fish, rinse off any scum, and place the fish in a food processor. Pulse the fish until lightly chopped, and then pulse in the olive oil and milk mixtures to form what Simon Hopkinson calls "a thick, sloppy paste" - couldn't have said it better - adding more oil if it looks anything less than gloppy. Mash the potatoes with a fork or masher and then carefully pulse them into the fish; the potatoes want to turn into glue if given half a chance, so pulse them in rather than turn the machine on. Lightly pulse in the lemon juice, black pepper, parsley, and finally the olives so that they stay pretty much whole. Taste and add more salt, if needed. 

6. Spray or butter a shallow 10-inch round baking pan that can be used with a broiler. Spread the fish mixture evenly in the pan, but don't smooth down the top of the fish, since you want the tips to brown. Drizzle olive oil over the top and broil until the fish is golden brown and bubbling.

7. While the fish is broiling, fry the bread slices in olive oil until they too are golden and crispy. Serve them alongside the fish. To eat, just slather the brandade on the toasted bread and fly your way to Provencal heaven. Fry up more bread if your diners are ravenous.

Who needs the Easter Bunny when you've got salted cod?