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

Date and red bean fillings for celestial Cantonese moon cakes

This coming Sunday is the Moon Festival, or Zhongqiu jie (Mid-Autumn Festival) as they call it in Chinese. When it comes to food, this day means one thing and one thing only: moon cakes.

I've tackled the other two of the Big Three Chinese Holidays -- Chinese New Year and the Dragon Boat Festival -- and to be honest, I really didn't break a sweat when it came to those foods. I'd been making those dishes most of my married life, and not to boast, but after over three decades in a Chinese household, I probably could wrap a rice tamale blindfolded with the same ease that a Sandinista could assemble a semiautomatic weapon in the dark on a moonless night. 

But one holiday food eluded me successfully... until now, that is. 

Small & large moon cake molds

A homemade moon cake was one of those quixotic passions that poked its head up irritatingly on schedule once a year when I looked at the burgeoning displays of garish moon cake boxes in the Chinese grocery and dreaded the looming onslaught of pastries that were too sweet, too greasy, to old, and too filled with chemicals -- not to mention too too too expensive -- but which I'd have to deal with anyway because it's just part of the Moon Festival, sort of like the dreaded fruitcakes and Christmas hard candies of my childhood.

You see, I had tried one fantastic moon cake during my first year in Taiwan. The mom in my host family handed me a freshly baked coconut moon cake my very first Moon Festival, and it is one that I've never been able to forget. That was, of course, also my very first moon cake, and nothing ever measured up to it in the succeeding decades. 

It was time for all that to change.

So, this year I gave myself a self-imposed challenge: make moon cakes as good as Auntie Lee's so that Zester Daily could publish the results in time for the Moon Festival. This was not easy, and the search for this recipe has possessed me for the past couple of weeks. The problem was that no cookbook in either Chinese or English (except for the one by Sichuan master chef Chen Kenmin) had a recipe that was much help. I slogged on doggedly, though, ending up with gloppy results that even my sweets-loving husband had trouble gagging down.

Mill the skins off of the dates

What I wanted was crumbly, light, ever-so-slightly chewy cookie dough wrapped around luscious fillings. This was trial and lots of error, and I have a whole lot to tell you about the experience, but let me get to the most important fact first: these are the best moon cakes ever!

More on this subject to come over the next two posts -- plus both a back story on the Moon Festival, as well as the main recipe for moon cakes (including a crunchy, chewy fruit and nut filling called wuren) are now on Zester. For now, let me whet your appetite with two traditional fillings that are perfect not only for moon cakes, but also for any other number of Chinese sweets, as well as for Western style thumbprint cookies and cakes. In the next blog post will be recipes for both coconut and lotus filling, and the one after that will show you how to make mini moon cakes.

All of the filling recipes I've developed here make around 2½ cups, which is enough for 10 large (3-inch) or 30 small (1-inch) moon cakes.

Yum

Date paste filling with toasted walnuts 
Hetao zaoni  核桃棗泥  
Guangdong
Makes about 2½ cups

8 ounces dried pitted red Chinese dates (jujubes)

Filtered water

¼ cup unsalted butter

¼ cup roasted sesame oil

½ cup caramel (see main recipe on Zester Daily)

¼ teaspoon sea salt

⅓ cup dark brown sugar, packed

1 cup chopped walnuts

1. To make the filling, soak the dates for 8 to 24 hours by covering them in cool water. Steam the dates and their soaking water for 45 minutes until the dates are very soft. Drain off the liquid (save it for something else; see Tips). Then, run the dates through the fine holes of a food mill (or a coarse sieve), discarding the skins. 

2. Pour the date puree into a wok and add the rest of the filling ingredients, except for the walnuts. Bring the puree to a boil and then lower the heat to medium so that you have a steady simmer. Use a silicone spatula to continuously stir the bottom of the puree; this keeps the puree from sticking and allows the steam to be released, as otherwise the puree will boil and spit. 

Juuust right

3. When the puree is reduced to a thick mashed potato-like paste, continue to stir and cook it until it changes from a mahogany color to a dark reddish brown. There should be absolutely no moisture left in the paste. When it's ready, you should be able to draw your spatula down through the paste to the bottom of the pan, and the paste will stay put. (See the photo on the right.) At this point, pour it into a bowl to cool completely. (The filling can be made weeks ahead of time and covered stored in the refrigerator. If you are keeping it for longer than that, freeze it to avoid spoilage.)

4. Before you use it to fill moon cakes, check the moisture of the date paste once again. It should feel slightly oily without a trace of wetness, and it should look super glossy. If it fails any of these tests, fry it again without adding any other ingredients. (Moisture will ruin your moon cakes by seeping into the cooked wrappers and making them soggy, hence the attention to this important detail.) 

5. To toast the walnuts, place them in a cold wok and turn the heat under the wok to medium-high. Continually stir the walnuts as they toast to keep them from burning; no additional oil will be necessary. When the nuts are evenly toasted, pour them into a bowl to cool. Mix the toasted walnuts evenly into the date paste. Divide the date paste into 10 pieces and roll them into balls; moistening your hands will make this go a whole lot easier. Chill the date paste before filling the moon cakes, as it is rather soft.

Sneaking a wedge...

Red bean paste with chestnuts 
Dousha lizi  豆沙栗子 
Guangdong

Makes about 2½ cups

6 ounces dried red or adzuki beans

Filtered water as needed

4 ounces peeled frozen or fresh chestnuts

6 tablespoons unsalted butter

¼ teaspoon sea salt

⅓ cup dark brown sugar, packed

1. Soak the beans for 8 hours or overnight in a medium saucepan. Drain them, cover them with fresh filtered water, and bring the pot to a boil. Reduce the heat to a simmer, and then cook them until they are very soft, adding small amounts of water as needed to keep the beans from burning; cook off any excess water. Remove the beans to a heatproof work bowl and let them come to room temperature.

2. While the beans are cooking, place the chestnuts in a heatproof bowl and steam them for about 25 minutes, or until very tender. Remove them from the steamer, drain them, and let them come to room temperature. When cool enough to handle, use a paring knife to remove any bits of red skin still attached to them. Do not chop the chestnuts, but leave them more or less whole.

Chestnuts in the bean paste

3. Place the cooked, mashed beans in a wok and add the butter, salt, and sugar. Heat these together over medium-high heat, stirring constantly with a silicone spatula, until all of the moisture has evaporated and the bean paste is dark and thick. Taste and adjust the seasoning. You can add more brown sugar or even caramel (see the recipe in the Zester link) to heighten the sweetness, but be sure and cook the paste down again until it is thick and glossy. You should have absolutely no moisture in the bean paste, as this will soak into the cooked moon cake pastry and make it soggy.

4. Cool the bean paste in a work bowl and then chill. Roll the bean paste into 10 balls of even size. Distribute the chestnuts among the bean paste balls and scoot them into the paste, covering them completely. 

Tips

Pitted red Chinese dates

The best Chinese dates are found in herbal shops where the turnover is fast and the dried ingredients are at their best. Look for plump, shiny dates with no sign of insects or powder at the bottom of the bag.

Chinese dates that are pitted were done so by machines, so beware of the occasional pit or chips. The food mill will remove any lingering pieces, which is another good reason to use it instead of a food processor.

Don't use dates that have been processed or sweetened, just plain old red dates. Look at the list of ingredients to be sure; all it should read is "dates."

Chill the date paste before rolling it into balls, as this is the softest of all the fillings. Even then, bits of date paste will peek through the filling, making a marble effect, which I think is actually quite pretty. The paste is thick enough, though, from all that sugar that it will not melt even though it's exposed to the heat of your oven.

Reserve the water in which the dates steamed, as this is incredibly delicious. Drink it as is, cold or hot, or add it to other things like oatmeal or tea.

Red and adzuki beans are best at busy Chinese markets and health food stores. The fresher they are, the faster they cook.

You can mill the skins off of the cooked red beans (as with the red dates), if you wish. But I much prefer the texture of the paste with the skins on. As with all things of this nature, follow your own preferences.

Both the date and bean pastes can be easily doubled. In fact, I always make at least twice as much of these recipes since it takes just as much time to make that much as the smaller amount. The extra can be frozen for later use and makes desserts for parties a snap.

Lamb tail beignets from Beijing

In the last post I introduced a Manchurian dish called Fried Deer Tails. Staying with this theme of of fried tails that aren’t really tails, we now go into a completely opposite direction with a gentle Beijing sweet called Fried Lamb Tails.

This was a treat that originated in Beijing’s Muslim community. One old cookbook I read said that lamb tail meat had once filled these fried pastries, but eventually they were turned from savory into sweet beignets with the substitution of red bean paste.

Another fading cookbook dedicated to Beijing Muslim cuisine lists 36 recipes for sweet dishes, a fact that delights me to no end, and this is the final one in that extensive chapter, for good reason: it is unlike any other Chinese sweet that I have encountered, and it deserves to be the ultimate recipe in that book.

A Beijing Muslim treat

I know that I’m stretching it a bit by calling these Fried Lamb Tails “beignets” because these are actually lighter than air. What looks at first glance like something heavy dissolves in the mouth with little more than a puff of air and the smooth aftertaste of the red beans.

Served as a snack with afternoon tea or even at the end of a fancy banquet, your guests may demur at the idea of consuming more than a single bite, but that one nibble will convince them to polish off whatever you have placed on the table.

Composed of only a few ingredients, this is easy to put together and actually is quite inexpensive to make. The only item that cannot be found in most Western supermarkets is canned sweet bean paste, but that is easy enough to stock up on whenever you are close enough to an East Asian grocery.

Ribbon of batter

You can assemble the ingredients and whip up the batter ahead of time, and then fry the lamb tails just before serving. The original recipes call for them to be sprinkled with regular sugar, but I prefer the almost imperceptible sweetness of a bare dusting of powdered sugar. Although the batter is not sweetened, the red bean paste stays sweet without cloying if only a decorative flutter of powdered sugar accompanies them to the table.

Double the ingredients if you are planning to serve more than 3 or 4. No need for recommendations on leftovers -- you won’t have any.

Fried lamb tails  
Zha yangwei 炸羊尾 
Beijing Muslim

Makes 12 and serves 3 or 4

2 large, organic egg whites (about 4 tablespoons), at room temperature

3 tablespoons cornstarch

¾ cup sweet, smooth red bean paste (see Tips)

2 cups fresh peanut or vegetable oil (see Tips)

Bean paste coins

1 or 2 tablespoons powdered sugar

1. Beat the egg whites until stiff and then slowly beat in the cornstarch until you have a thick batter that forms a long, sticky thread when you lift out the beater.

2. Roll the bean paste into 12 balls and then slightly flatten them with your fingers.

3. Heat the oil in a wok over medium heat until wooden chopsticks inserted in the oil barely bubble. Place a plate covered with a paper towel next to the stove.

4. Use wooden chopsticks to pick up the bean paste balls one at a time and dip into the batter until it is thoroughly covered. Carefully lay it into the oil, dabbing more batter on top if it looks at all thin. Repeat with the rest of the bean paste balls, and do this in two batches if needed.

5. Slowly fry the lamb tails until the bottoms are pale gold, and then flip them over with your chopsticks; they should not stick. Fry the other sides until they too are pale gold, and then remove the lamb tails to the paper towel to drain. Some of them may split as they fry, but that is all right.

6. Arrange the lamb tails on a serving plate (or on individual plates), sift the powdered sugar over them, and serve immediately with hot tea.

Dabbing more batter on top

Tips

Sweetened red bean paste is available in two forms: smooth and chunky, just like peanut butter. Use the smooth variety here; if you can’t read Chinese, the picture should show you whether it is smooth or not. I have had good luck with both Taiwanese and Japanese brands, as the quality has been consistent and they are not too sweet.

Use fresh oil for frying these, as any flavors in the oil will be immediately transferred to these airy puffs.

Keep the heat under the oil at a minimum, as you do not want these to brown quickly. Medium heat should give you just the right amount to cook the egg whites without burning.