STEAMED PAU WITH BLACK BEANS OR PAU BUN RECIPE- A TRULY NUSANTARA-ASIAN 'DESSERT' RECIPE

NAME OF COOKING-VARIETIES-NUSANTARA DESSERT RECIPE:
STEAMED PAU OR PAU BUN DESSERT
Ingredients: from  cooking-varieties-nusantara traditional recipes

2 ½ cups wheat flour
1/2 cup cooking oil
2 tablespoon sweetened condensed milk (OR 2 tbsp milk powder with 1 tbsp sugar)
1 tablespoon flat instant yeast
1 teaspoon salt and water
1/2 cup red beans (small size) or 1 can red bean paste
3 tablespoon sugar for red bean
 Grease paper- same like the one used for lining cakes
Cut paper into 7-8 cm squares. Line one side with a bit of oil.

Soak red beans in water for 4-5 hours. Boil with water until beans break up.  Only when beans are cooked, add sugar (else beans will never soften). Drain away water and blend until beans turn into a paste. Set aside..

Put all ingredients in a mixing bowl, add 1 cup of water and knead for about 10 minutes (only) until a dough is formed. The dough should be slightly softer than that of a  biscuit dough. If too hard, add a bit of water at a time. Knead until the dough doesn’t stick to the walls of your mixing bowl. This is a traditional recipe, so I explain how to do it; the great granny’s way too.

Divide the dough into small “ping-pong ball” sizes. Then take each dough piece and place it on the palm of your hand, flatten it (not too flat) and put the red bean filling on top center of dough. Close it up by pulling round the edges towards the center and seal it nicely. Now u have a pau with black bean filling inside.

Put water in Steamer pot and let boil. 

Meanwhile, place each pau on square paper. The part that lies on your palm, should also be the part that you place on the paper. Do not turn it upside down. Arrange pau in a Steamer pan (one layer only) and wait for it to rise for about half hour or until dough has risen. You can use a 2 tier Steamer and cooking time is the same.

When water is already boiling, put the ‘pau-filled’ Steamer pan on the Steamer pot and close with a lid. After 10 minutes, open the lid. Press the pau slightly with your finger, if it rises up again, it means the pau is cooked. Put off fire. Do not overcooked, else the pau turns yellowish, instead of a pretty white color.