This is my last recipe for the Year of the Ox Chinese New Year celebrations. Did you know that traditionally, we celebrate for 16 days?
These Chinese doughnuts (ham chim peng) are a firm favourite of mine, and my mother routinely makes these for breakfast. After trying several versions, she found this recipe on Katherine Kwa's channel. I've adapted it slightly by leaving out the alkaline water that she mentions, as I don't have it. You could also make your own red bean paste, but I took the easy way out and bought ready made.
Katherine Kwa's recipe: • Horse Hoof Doughnuts (...
The recipe does make quite a lot of doughnuts, so if you're not going to fry them all, simply lay out the discs on a baking sheet and freeze. You can then store them in the freezer and fry from frozen.
Ingredients:
For the starter dough:
100 gr all purpose flour
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp instant yeast
150 ml water
For the doughnuts:
300 gr bread flour
110 gr sugar
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
140 ml water
1 Tbsp oil
400 gr sweet red bean paste
White sesame seeds
Method
Prepare the starter (allow 2 hours to proof):
Place all the ingredients for the starter dough in a mixing bowl and stir to mix. Cover with a dampl cloth and put in a warm place. It will double in size in about 2 hours
Make the doughnuts:
Mix all the dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl. Make a small well in the middle, then add the starter dough, and oil. Use a spatula or dough scraper to mix. Slowly add enough water until it comes together to form a dough.
Generously flour your working surface with flour. Use a spatula to scoop the dough out onto the floured surface. If it's sticky, lightly dust with flour until you can form a large dough ball. Cover with a cloth and let it rest for 20 minutes.
In the meantime, open your can of red bean paste, and roll into approximately 20 teaspoon sized balls.
After resting, dust your working surface with some flour again. Cut the dough into 20 pieces. Keep them covered and taking one dough ball at a time, flatten and roll out the dough into a circle and then place the sweet bean paste ball in the middle of the dough. Gather the sides to wrap and seal.
Flatten the ball into a disc then brush with a bit of water on top and sprinkle sesame seeds on top. Repeat with the rest of the dough before frying.
In a small wok, preheat vegetable or other neutral oil over medium heat. Fry 2-3 pieces at a time over medium heat. When the dough floats to the top, use the chopsticks to turn the dough as frequently as possible so they brown evenly and it also allows even puffiness. Fry until golden brown. Place on an absorbent paper towel to absorb extra oil. Transfer to a serving plate and enjoy warm. 咸煎饼