Cocktail Buns

So I went to Hong Kong and Seoul for three weeks in October, blog posts coming soon(ish) I promise. But before that I want to tell you how I coped with nasty homesickness and post-holiday depression - I made bread.

A few months ago I joined Band of Bakers - a south east London baking club. We meet up at one of the local restaurants or cafes for a monthly themed baking gathering. From green tea Swiss roll to strawberry and cream choux buns, it soon became an essential event that I look forward to attending every month. There was a special event in October where the theme was enriched breads i.e. breads that have butter, sugar and eggs. I have never been very good at making bread, me and yeast just do not get on very well… So in order to hide my weakness (not competitive at all), I baked cocktail buns – a Hong Kong classic that no one from the BoB would be familiar with, therefore not knowing how they are supposed to taste. Genius? Yes.

A cocktail bun 雞尾包 is a sweet bun with a coconut filling, topped with sesame seeds and two pastry lines made from butter, flour and sugar. Originally local bakers mixed up leftover ingredients to create the filling, hence the name ‘cocktail’. It is one of the must-eat Hong Kong bakery items alongside egg tarts 蛋撻 and pineapple buns 菠蘿包.

I adapted the recipe from Christine’s blog (an excellent site for various Chinese recipes). She uses a special bread starter called Yudane 湯種, a mixture of hot water and flour, which apparently gives extra sweetness and softness to the bread. I have not tried making the bread without it so I cannot tell you the difference, but the result was very close to the texture I was aiming for. I used my bread machine to knead and raise the dough before shaping.

Cocktail buns

Makes 10 buns

Yudane:

50g Super Strong White Bread Flour

250ml Water

Dough:

350g Super Strong White Bread Flour

55g Caster sugar

5g Salt

56g Egg (beaten)

125ml Full Fat Milk

120g Yudane

5g Instant Yeast

30g Butter (room temperature)

A few drops of vanilla extract

Filling:

60g Butter

60g Caster Sugar

60g Egg (beaten)

80g Sweetened Coconut (shredded)

Sugar syrup:

1 tsp Caster Sugar

2 tsp Water

Toppings:

20g Egg (beaten)

5g Caster Sugar

15g Butter (room temperature)

10g Plain flour

To make the Yudane, mix the flour and water in a saucepan until fully incorporated. Put the pan over a medium heat, keep stirring to prevent any lumps. Remove from heat as soon as the liquid starts to thicken.

Place the Yudane in a bowl and then cover it with cling film. Set aside until it reaches room temperature.

To make the dough, place all the ingredients (except the butter) in a bread machine in this order: milk, egg, Yudane, vanilla extract, salt, sugar, flour and yeast. Set and start the ‘dough’ function of the bread machine, and then add the butter when a rough dough is formed. Let the machine continue the kneading until the dough is smooth and elastic.

Use the ‘raise’ function of the bread machine for proofing (see your bread maker’s instructions for the exact timing). Or you can place the dough in a greased glass bowl, cover it with a damp towel and then proof until it doubled in size.

To make the filling, beat the butter and sugar in a bowl. Add the egg followed by the coconut. Place the mixture in a square/rectangular container, and then put it in the fridge until the first proofing is done.

Transfer the dough onto a floured surface. ’Punch’ the dough to release air, and then divide it into 10 small portions, around 75g each. Cover them with cling film and then rest for 15 minutes. Meanwhile, take the hardened filling mixture out of the fridge, and then cut it into 10 strips.

Use a rolling pin to roll the dough (away from you) to a long flat shape, place 1 strip of filling on the top of the dough, and then roll inwards into a tube shape.

Place the filled dough, seal side down, on a greased baking tray (I use a Swiss roll tray). Cover it with cling film and a wet towel on top for second proofing. It normally takes around an hour for the dough to double in size.

Preheat a fan oven to 180C. Make the pastry lines by beating the plain flour, sugar and butter together. Spoon the pastry mix into a small piping bag.

Make the sugar syrup by heating water and sugar in a saucepan. Boil for 2 minutes until the sugar dissolves completely. Set aside to cool.

Brush the dough with egg. Pipe two lines onto the dough using the pastry mix prepared earlier, and then sprinkle some sesame seeds on top.

Bake the bread in the oven for 30 minutes until golden. Brush the sugar syrup onto the buns, then return to the oven for further 2 to 3 minutes. Rest on a rack to cool down.

Best served while still warm! Enjoy!

Ming Court - Hong Kong

Ming Court, Mong Kok

Mong Kok is well known for its red light district, street food and outdoor market. Who would think that the Langham Hotel group would open a hotel in this area? Not only has the Langham Place Hotel become one of the landmarks this side of the harbour, its contemporary Chinese restaurant Ming Court has been awarded two Michelin stars for three consecutive years. Two Michelin stars means ‘Excellent cuisine, worth a detour’, and to me Ming Court is definitely worth a detour.

The restaurant is made up of two main dining areas - Ming Sun and Ming Moon. They are both decorated with Chinese fine arts, and walls of Ming Dynasty pottery replicas. In addition to the regular menu, there is also a section of award-winning and signature dishes, featuring some unexpected ingredients such as truffles and cheese. Ming Court is also well known for its extensive selection of wine, and there are more than three hundred bottles of wine stored in the 'Ming Cellar'. Each of the featured dish has a recommended wine, which is rarely seen in a Chinese restaurant.

Moving on to the food...

Stir fried fresh prawns with egg white – A good plate of Chinese fried egg has to be fresh and silky smooth ’嫩滑’, which is hard to achieve using a wok. The chef in Ming Court has showcased this skill in this signature dish. The prawns were shelled, and lightly fried with part of the egg white. The remaining egg white was gently cooked to form several snowy layers, before being placed on top of the prawns to form a wobbly mountain. The prawn heads were deep fried to provide an intense flavour from the brown meat, which was a big contrast to the subtle taste of the eggs and prawns. I loved the idea of the crispy Shiso leaves, where the citrus flavour and saltiness brought the whole dish together beautifully.

Braised flaming Japanese Kurobuta pork loin in red wine sauce – Although I am not sure how much the flame contributed to the taste, it was certainly an impressive display. The main ingredient, Kurobuta pork, was of high quality and extremely tender. It is uncommon to use red wine in Chinese cuisine, but the chef has brilliantly brought this into the sauce to give depth of flavour. It was relatively sweet compared to a western red wine reduction.

Stir fried minced pigeon and pine nuts, served with lettuce - A twist on the common ‘lettuce wrap’.

Braised sliced giant garoupa with wheat gluten in sweet bean sauce - The meaty garoupa was caramelised on the outside before being braised with the wheat gluten in the sweet bean sauce. The gluten was elastic and tasted a bit like tofu, soaking up all the essence of the sauce. It was heavenly.

Award winning fried rice with silky chicken and dried scallops in Shao Xing wine - Silky chicken is normally used in making Chinese soup, which claims to help maintain good health because of the higher protein content compared to a normal chicken. The fragrance from the dried scallops, together with a hint of Shao Xing wine, made this a perfect end to the meal.

Ming Court is a fine dining restaurant featuring modern Cantonese cuisine at its best. There are no noodle making performances, no beautiful sea view, just magnificent cooking with quality ingredients.

This is the last Hong Kong post of 2011. I have a back log of London restaurants to cover before the end of this year, so I am putting the rest of the Hong Kong posts (mainly Japanese restaurants) on hold. Please see here to read what I have covered so far.

明閣 Ming Court