The very mention of 'Kai Chai Paeng' gives me nostalgic feeling, remembering the pink package which is very fragrant of 'nam yue' but has a sweet gooey filling which contains some chunks of fat. I will take a long time to finish a piece of biscuit, nibbling a tiny bite at a time, savoring the taste slowly. Somehow, i cannot eat this biscuit in big bites, i think the filling is not my taste but this recipe that i made, is nothing like 'Kai Chai Paeng' of yesteryears. This is crispy, fragrant and you don't have one piece, you must have another. 'Satu makan, Dua mahu'
The name given to this paeng is a mystery to me, as i do not see any relationship to the chicken and i hope my readers can reveal why it is so called. In cantonese 'Kai Chai' which is 'Little Chicks' in english but there is no 'chicken' in the ingredients. So, i added 1/2 tsp of chicken seasoning powder to the recipe to make it more meaningful.
Ingredients:
A
10 1/2 oz self rising flour
4 oz powdered sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp five spice powder
1/2 tsp chicken seasoning powder
1/2 tbsp minced garlic
80 gm sesame seeds
4 ozs candied winter melon strips (tong tung kwah)
1/4 tsp ammonia
B
1 large egg
1 tbsp maltose(mak ngah tong)
2 pieces nam yee-mashed (red fermented beancurd)
2 drops dark soy sauce
100 ml oil
Method:
Mix ingredient B in a large bowl.
Chop finely candied winter melon strips, add into ingredient A .
Add in ingredient B and mix into a dough.
Rest it for 10 minutes
Pinch small rounds of dough (about 1 1/2 tsp full).
Shape them into balls and place them in between plastic wrap.
Flatten it with your palm to prefered thickness. The thinner the more crunchy.
Unwrap and place them on a lined baking tray allowing for space to rise.
Bake in preheated oven 350 f for 15-20 minutes
20 comments:
Kai Chai Paeng... my favourite childhood after-school snack. I was staring at your kai-chai-paeng picture for the past 20 minutes, walking down memory lane, ad salivating at the same time.
Thanks for the post!
One of my favorite M'sian snack! You very hardworking to make your own, me just buy! :P
I love old fashion Chinese pastries recipes due to many Chinese bakeries do not make any more. My mother use buy some cake call Goon Su Bang. It a plain brown sugar, flour, many baking powder cake. I live in San Francisco and Eastern Bakery use make it but use white sugar. Brown sugar is the true Goon Su Bang.
Ella
Hi Lily!
Your Kai Chai Pang reminds me of "Steward boy" in Moonlight Resonance.. hehe
yummy lily!!
Dear Auntie Lily,
According to a Chinese cook book I have read, that this cookie is invented by a little maid name Siu Fung (little Phoenix) of an officials residence in Canton, China, a century or so ago. Every year during the mid autumn festivals her master received so much moon cake gifts, too much more than they can eat, and always left to spoiled, Siu Fung thought it was such a waste to throw them away, so she come up with the idea of mashed up all the varies kind of left over moon cakes, add some nam yee, toasted sesame seeds and candied pork fat, flour then bake it in to small cookies to give them a way, it surprised everyone how good it taste, so the local bakeries start to imitate her recipe, and they call it Siu Fung paeng, some how at later time people teasing by calling it kai chai paeng (little chick) cookies, because chicken and Phoenix means the same in teaser Cantonese word.
Thank you for taking the time sharing all your deliciously recipes and beautiful pictures.
Pat
pat
you are a gem. Thank you for the lovely infor.
can i post this into the text of the kai chai paeng?
Ah......it triggers fond memories of back home... We used to stop by Kampar on our way home to KL after visiting my parents in Alor Setar. There we would stopped at a 'kopi tiam' for dinner, then buy some 'kai chai peng' from the shop to bring back to KL for snacks later. They used to have 2 types, one is similar to yours and one is really really thin and crispy.
Thanks for sharing.
Hi Lily,
You're such a great cook. I check out your blog almost daily. Will the Kai Chai Peng turn out OK without the ammonia? Is it powder or liquid? And can you buy it from the Asian grocery store? Thx so much for answering the questions.
madimomi
replace it with 1/2 tsp baking soda. the chinese recipes like to use ammonnia as a leavener
Lily, thx for the recipe! I made them & my 20 month old begged for more. BTW, do you have a good Chinese Green Onion Pancake recipe that you could share? I've tried several recipes online and they were dry and chewy. Thx again.
Hi
This is my first time making kai chai peng.. I'm a lil excited but I'm not too sure where to get maltose.
Can I substitute it with something else?
Thanks =)
Lin
shopaholics' paradise
yes, you can sub with honey or corn syrup.
hi..
can i substitute ammonia with baking powder? I have baking powder but not baking soda.. are they the samE?
thanks for ur help.. =)
Lin
lin
it's only 1/4 tsp, just omit it
hi lily, can i substitute powdered sugar with white sugar?thanks. PS: Your blog is a treasure trove.
Hi Lily,
I used wholemeal flour for this biscuit. That was the only change I made. The result was a dough that was crumbly. Someone suggested online that I should add milk/water to the dough to moisten it. What do you think of this suggestion? Where could I have gone wrong? Thanks heaps.
anonymous
you did not do anything wrong, it is just how wholemeal flour is, yes, the suggestion is to add in more liquid or the next time you make it, reduce the flour abit
Thanks for your help Lily. The biscuits weren't crispy and I guess that's because they weren't thin enough. But most importantly, they taste great!Thanks for sharing all these recipes.
this recipe was amazing! we really enjoyed it :) light, crispy and less oil that the commercial ones
Post a Comment