Dear readers, I have recently discovered a most fabulous book of dim sum! Dim sum 點心 is a traditional Cantonese style of dining on small bite sized tidbits, both sweet and savory, all exquisitely presented, while drinking fragrant Chinese tea. Ooooo..we love us some dim sum, how about y'all?
The dim sum book of which I speak is 正統中式點心全書: 師承香港傳奇料理大師 by 吉岡勝美 which translates into The Complete Book of Authentic Chinese Dim Sum by Katsumi Yoshioka. The Japanese author of this book apprenticed with the legendary culinary master Chef Liang Jing 梁敬, at the 敬賓酒家, a famous Cantonese restaurant in the 80's.
This is our first try at a recipe from this book and boy-o-boy are we pleased! Around a delicious heart of creamy lotus seed paste, this Chinese Peony Pastry 牡丹形酥餅 opens out in the most delicate flaky pastry petal layers, looking just like real peony blossoms. Super duper uber gorgeous amirite?! And the perfect special treat to celebrate the Chinese New Year!
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| Chinese Peony (photo by Fanghong) |
Here is a photo of the real peony flower 牡丹花. This ethereal flower is considered the 'king of flowers 花王' in Chinese culture and symbolizes honor, wealth and prosperity. Sigh...isn't it just so beautiful! It is my most favorite flower so I was so excited to try to make a peony pastry!
For this Chinese flaky pastry we will need to make two types of dough, 'water dough' and 'oil dough'. The first type we make is the 'water dough'. Read the photos above from left to right:
- 1) Low and high gluten flour is mixed with sugar.
- 2) Enough water is mixed in to form a dough ball.
- 3) Lard is added bit by bit and kneaded in. At first it will seem impossibly slippery to combine but just keep going and the lard will all be absorbed in.
- 4) A smooth shiny dough is the result. Check doneness by the windowpane test: stretch dough out to form a thin translucent sheet without tearing. If it tears it needs more kneading.
Next step is to take the 'water dough', weigh* it out and divide in half. Color is added using food colouring gel and kneaded in. It takes quite of bit of kneading to get the color in!
Tip: In order to make the final pastries of the same size (looks really professional) use a food weight and properly weigh out everything!
The now colored 'water dough' is weighed out and rolled it into balls in preparation for the layering. All that kneading has warmed up the dough so it's covered and chilled again so as to stiffen up a bit while the 'oil dough' is being made.
The second dough to make is the 'oil dough'. This dough is made with just flour and lard, mixed until a dough ball is formed. The 'oil dough' is then weighed out and rolled into balls in preparation for layering.
This oil dough does not need to be refrigerated. I think that the general idea behind chilling and not chilling is that the hardness of the two types of dough should be as similar as possible so as to be easier to layer together and roll out evenly.
Now we can finally start on the layering to create our flaky pastry! First we will need to combine the 'water dough' and the 'oil dough'. Read the photos above from left to right: One 'water dough' round is flattened out slightly and an oil dough round placed on top of it and then enclosed completely inside it. The final photo bottom left shows the resulting combined dough ball shaped into an oval.
The following steps create the wonderful flaky pastry layers. The oval of combined dough is rolled out flat. Then the flattened dough is rolled down (or up) into a roll.
The rolled up dough looks rather like a cigar, no? The next step is to flatten two thirds of that dough cigar with the palm of your hand.
The unpressed 1/3 of the dough is folded over. Then the other side is also folded over, so basically the dough cigar is folded into thirds.
Once all the dough is rolled and folded, it's time to move onto the final wrapping. The folded dough, one of each color, are placed with the joined ends facing upwards and rolled out in squares.
The yellow dough (inner petals of the peony) is placed over the pink dough (outer petals) and a ball of lotus seed paste is placed on top. Make your own lotus seed paste easily with our fab and guaranteed delicious and creamy Homemade Lotus Seed Paste recipe!
Wrap up your peony pastry! Read the photos above from left to right: The pink and yellow doughs are wrapped up and around the lotus seed paste ball. Lay the pasty in one hand and use the other hand's fingers to turn the pastry while pulling the dough evenly up and around the filling. Keep going until the dough meets at a point. The last photo on the bottom left shows the point pinched together and then fold/flatten down to one side.
The wrapped pastries are placed on a tray with the joining on the bottom. Cover and let the wrapped pastry chill again before proceeding to the next stage of slicing the petal pattern. Chilling hardens the pastry enough that it doesn't lose its shape as you form the petals.
Use a one sided sharp razor blade or knife to form the petal patterns. First indent the top of the ball into six equal sections. Then use a gentle sawing motion to slice the pastry almost halfway through.
Peony 'buds' awaiting their blossom! Once the peonies are sliced they are left out to reach room temperature before the deep fry.
It is the kiss of oil that blossoms the peony petals. We start with a lower heat. The peony 'bud' is carefully slipped into the hot oil. After a bit the top of the pastry will start to bubble and you will see the 'petals' start to unfurl at the tips.
To help the unfurling, ladle some of the hot oil up and drizzle right into the center of the peony. The peony will blossom more and more as you do this. So cool, amirite?!
This is how the peony should look at full blossom in the oil. Once you are happy with the 'blossom' it's time to increase the heat. Making the oil hotter will harden the unfurled petal layers, allowing the flower to stay 'blossomed' when lifted out of the oil. Check the stiffness of the petals by using a flat strainer scoop to lift the pastry out of oil to check.
Here is the cooked pastry lifted up, its petals stiffened and holding its blossomed shape. The strainer helps to drain the oil away. Ain't our peony blossom pretty?!
The deep frying was a wee bit tricky for me, especially for keeping the temperature of the oil at the proper level. This is where the food thermometer really comes in handy dandy. You can check accurately for the cooler temps that allows the peony petals to blossom and the higher temps that will stiffen them. Note that as you are increasing the temperature of the oil to finish the blossoms you will need to cool the oil down each time before starting a new batch.
A new technique! After the deep fry the pastries are immediately placed on a paper towel lined tray in a very low heat oven. The paper towels must be changed 3-4 times as they soak up with the oil draining from the pastry. I think keeping the pastry warm allows the oil more time to drain. Actually, this technique drains the oil so thoroughly that you can't hardly tell that the finished pastry was deep fried!
Tip: Do be sure to set the lowest oven temperature! I set my oven a bit too high and ended up accidentally slightly browning my first finished peony pastry...oops!
And that's how to make your own most beauteous peony shaped flaky pastry! I realize that it does seem like a lot of of steps at first but that's because I wanted to clearly illustrate everything so that the layering can be achieved. Trust me, once you understand the steps it gets waaay easier.
Anyhoo, darlings, it's totally worth it all cuz these pastries are just fabulously gorgeous, no?! And so yummilicious to boot! Delicate many layered ethereal petals crunch and flake when you bite through into the creamy lotus seed heart of our beautiful Chinese Peony Pastry 牡丹形酥餅. Happy Chinese New Year to all! Gong Hei Fat Choi 恭喜發財!
Chinese Peony Pastries Recipe
牡丹形酥餅
(makes 10) Prep time: 45mins Chill time: 1 hr Cook time: 15 mins
(adapted from recipe in 正統中式點心全書: 師承香港傳奇料理大師 by 吉岡勝美)
Ingredients:
- red and yellow food coloring gel
- 5.3 oz lotus seed paste, 150g (make with our easy recipe)
- food thermometer
- flat strainer scoop
- oil for deep frying
Water Dough 7oz/200g
- 3 tbsp low gluten flour, 20g
- 1/2 cup +1 tbsp high gluten flour, 86g
- 1 tbsp sugar, 14g
- 5 tbsp water, 71g
- 2 tbsp lard, 26g
Oil Dough 3.5oz/100g
- 8 tbsp low gluten flour, 67g
- 2 1/2 tbsp lard, 33g
Directions:
Make the Water Dough: Whisk together the low gluten flour, high gluten flour and sugar. Add in 2/3 of the water and mix in. Add more water as needed little by little, kneading until a dough ball is formed. Add lard bit by bit, kneading in each time. The dough will seem to be very slippery but keep kneading and all the lard will eventually be absorbed.
Color the Water Dough: Use food weight to weigh the dough and divide it in half. Add red and yellow food colouring to each half respectively and knead the colouring in. It takes quite a while to knead the color in. Divide each colored dough into 10 equal pieces, weighing 10g each for a total of 10 pink balls and 10 yellow balls. Cover with cling film and place in the fridge to chill for at least 30 mins.
Make the Oil Dough: Mix the low gluten flour and lard together until a dough ball forms. Keep this dough at room temperature. Weigh out and divide the oil dough into 20 equal pieces and roll into balls.
Combine Water Dough and Oil Dough: Take one piece of colored water dough ball and press down to flatten. Place one ball of oil dough in the center. Wrap the colored water dough up around the oil dough by placing into the palm of one hand while using the other hand's fingers to pull/turn , pull/turn the colored water dough to completely enclose the oil dough. When enclosed gently shape the ball into an oval shape.
Create the pastry layers: Roll out the oval round to an approx 2" by 5" (5 by 12cm) oval. Roll the flattened dough up into a cigar shape. Flattened two thirds of the rolled up dough cigar with the palm of your hand. Fold the roll in thirds, starting by folding over the unflattened third of dough.
Prepare lotus seed paste: Weigh lotus seed paste into 15g pieces and roll into balls.
Wrap the pastry: Take one each of the rolled and folded pink and yellow doughs. Let the ends of the dough face upwards. Roll the doughs into 2.5" (6cm) squares. Place yellow square over pink square, then add one lotus seed paste ball in center on top. Wrap the dough up and around the filling by placing pastry into the palm of one hand while using the fingers of the other hand to pull/turn , pull/turn the dough to completely enclose the filling. Be careful that the pink dough completely encloses the yellow dough. When the dough meets pinch the dough closed and then flatten to one side. Place the pinched end facing down. Repeat for all dough. Cover with cling film and chill for 30 mins.
Form the peony petals: Use a razor blade or sharp knife to indent the top of the pastries into six equal pie segments. Use a gentle sawing motion to slice down on the indentations to almost halfway down the pastry. Let the pastries come up to room temperature before deep frying.
Deep fry the pastries: Prepare a deep pot with enough oil to submerge the pastries. Heat the oil to 248-266°F (120-130°C). Place a few pastries onto the flat strainer and lower into the oil. When the petals start to unfold, use a ladle to drizzle hot oil right on the center of the opening petals. This will help the petals open up.
Once the flower is blossomed to your liking, heat the oil up to approx 284°F (140°C) and wait for the petals to harden, about 2-3 mins. Check stiffness of petals by lifting the flowers out of the oil a little. When done remove the flowers completely out of oil, letting the oil drain through the sieve for a moment before placing on a paper towel lined tray. Immediately place tray with still hot pastries into an oven set at the lowest heat setting. When the paper towel is soaked through, change for fresh towels 3-4 times. This will help drain most of the oil.
Repeat for remaining pastries, remembering to lower the heat each time to the proper temperature before adding a new batch.
Serve the pastries: Best served the same day freshly blossomed, all warm and creamy on the inside and crispy crunchy on the outside. However these do store pretty well so if needed you can pack into an airtight container with some desiccant bags and keep at room temperature for up to 3-4 days. To crispy up before eating place in a lowest heat setting of oven for 5-10 mins or until crisp and warm. Enjoy!
Picturesque Pastries at The Hong Kong Cookery:
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