Foodie

Saturday, March 29, 2008

Char Siew Crisp/Char Siew Sou




Thanks to one of my readers for reminding me about these Crisps/Sou. This pastry is a sweet dough and very delicate, so the least handling the better. It is not difficult to make if you have leftover Char Siew.

Ingredients:

10 ozs all purpose flour
3 ozs butter
2 1/2 oz lard/shortening
2 oz sugar
1 oz water
1 beaten egg yolk plus 1 tsp water for glazing



Filling:

6 oz Char Siew - diced
3 oz onion (1/2 a medium size)- diced
3 chinese shitake mushrooms - soaked and diced
1 tbsp of diced carrots
1 tbsp chopped spring onions

1 tbsp oil

Seasonings:

1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp oyster sauce
1/2 tsp shao xing/hua tiau wine
dash of pepper
1/2 tsp cornstarch plus 1 tbsp water


Method:

Put flour and sugar into food processor. Pulse twice to mix.

Add in butter and lard/shortening and pulse until butter is pea sized. Then add in water.

Pulse until the dough comes together. Remove and let dough rest in the refridgerator for at least 30 minutes.

Heat oil and fry onions. Saute onions until soft, then add in the carrots and mushrooms. Stir fry to combine and then add in the Char Siew. Sprinkle wine and seasonings, mix well. Dissolve the cornstarch and add in to form gravy. Let this cool before using.

Preheat oven at 200 c/400 f.

Knead dough into a long roll and divide into 24 equal portions.

Knead each portion into a thin round, wrap in filling with sealed edge facing down. Flatten with palm and brush beaten egg yolk on top. This dough is very delicate and i prefer to just use the offset spatula and fold into half circle or rectangle, seal the edges.

Bake for 20 minutes or until golden brown.

17 comments:

Anonymous said...

hi lily,
EXCITED to read your newly posted recipe!!

I'm studying in Moscow,&i love to cook&bake.But whenever i come across recipes that call for shortening or lard,i'll say to myself,oh no.

i don't see shortening being sold here(nothing like Crisco etc).at least not in the area i'm staying.Internet says shortening is hydrogenated vege oil.can we make our own shortening?

&lard,here they sell those unprocessed chunks,should i buy &mash them myself??@@

or better still,are there any subtitutes for shortening or lard?like peanut butter or something else...??(yeah i know it sounds funny~~~)

thank you.

love,
carollyn.

Unknown said...

anonymous

wow, an asian in moscow.

In Malaysia, the cake supply store buys the shortening in huge drums and then repacked to smaller packs for us home bakers.

Anonymous said...

Hi Lily,

This is one of my favorite things to buy when I visit a Chinese Bakery.

Thanks for sharing the recipe!

Kathia said...

Hi Lily,

I just wanted to tell you what a great blog you have here. I'm a Malaysian living in China and let me tell you how ironic it is that you can probably get hold of more Malaysian ingredients than I can over here!

Shallots are impossibly hard to come by and I used to pre-order it from a Hunan vegetable seller. Every few weeks I'd end up with 500g of shallots!

It's better now with the leafy herbs and spices but still! I'd have a better chance recreating the stuff anywhere but here!

Like you do sometimes, I pack a lot of foodstuff during my trips home.

I'm going to try some of what you have here soon. Thanks for making such an effort such an authentic array of Malaysian delights here!

-Kathia

Anonymous said...

Thanks Lily for the recipe.. I'll try it this weekend if I get a chance. Maybe to make it healthier and easier, I'm wondering if you can use store bought puff pastry?

Unknown said...

anonymous

you can sub any type of pastry for this filling but give this one a try as it pairs the filling so well.

.... Lia .... said...

Hi lily...u have very great blog..and the dish all look yummy...nice to know you...happy cooking

QQ red apple said...

Hi Lily,
MMmmmmm, my husband's favourite pastry. Will buy it when we go to chinese bakery. Will try it soon.

daphne said...

oh yum! Oh dear..hv to hunt for the ingrediants .. haha .

Rei said...

Hi, many thanks for sharing your recipes so generously. :)

sandrine said...

Dear Auntie Lily,
Do you have a recipe for a cake called Honeycomb Cake or Kek Gula Hangus?

I used the below recipe, my honeycomb only came out 1/3 bottom of the cake :(
Should I have left the batter sit longer than 5 mins. Someone told me should be more like 3-4 hours letting it rest.

My husband said he liked the flavor but would like it sweeter should I add more sugar or condensed milk..

Please help.. this cake is my favorite as a kid.

Thanks alot Auntie Lily
-Sandrine

INGREDIENTS:
Makes one 8" round cake
210g sugar
240g water
80g butter
6 eggs
160g condensed milk
180g all-purpose flour
2½ tsp baking soda
METHOD:
1.Caramelize sugar over low heat in a saucepan until it is golden brown. Stir at all times.

2.Add water to the caramel. Be careful as the hot caramel will splash when water is added. Continue to heat until syrup is homogeneous. Remove from heat.

3.Melt butter in hot syrup. Let syrup cool down completely.

4.Preheat oven at 180 degC/350F. In a mixing bowl, lightly beat eggs with a hand whisk. Add condensed milk and mix well.

5.Sift flour and baking soda into another mixing bowl. Pour (4) into flour and mix well.

6.Add cooled syrup into batter. Pour batter into a greased 8" x 3"(H) round cake pan. Leave batter aside for 5(3-4 hours) minutes to enable baking soda to react prior to baking.
Leave for 45 minutes for more 'honeycomb'

7. Bake cake with bottom heat only 375F for 1 hour or until skewer inserted to centre of cake comes out clean.

8.Leave cake in pan for 5-10 minutes before turning it onto a wire rack. Let cool before cutting.


NOTES:
1.For members or visitors who have seen and tried the previous version of honeycomb cake, you, including myself, might encounter problem of not getting 'tunnels', although there seemed to be no problem getting larges holes in the cake. So here it is, a foolproof honeycomb cake recipe. This recipe has lesser water, higher baking soda and higher egg contents compared to the previous version.
2.This cake is called 'Bolu Sarang Semut' in Indonesia while it is called Honeycomb Cake in Malaysia. The correct texture of this cake should be chewy or bouncy, and resemble tunnels extend from the base to about 2/3 the height of the cake (see close shot above).
3.Cake batter should be runny.
4.Please adjust baking time according to the characteristic of your oven.

Unknown said...

sandrine

my friend baked this same recipe and she let it sit for only 5 mins. and achieve fantastic result, perhaps it is altitute here. if you are at sea level, leave it longer.

Anonymous said...

Hi Aunty,
This is good. Made this 2 sundays ago. Next time I think I'll make bigger ones. Thanks!

Anonymous said...

Hi Lily,
I dunt have lard or any shorthening can I use butter instead?
regards,
jiun

Unknown said...

jiun

yes, you can sub with butter

Anonymous said...

You recipes is so eazy. Thanks for sharing Lily!

Anonymous said...

Aunt Lily,

Just made some char siew sou using your recipe. AMAZING! Mum is gonna be happy when I bring it over tomorrow. Thank you so much!

Reese

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