Taiwanese street food festival 台味食煮 - Day 9 - Soy Milk Cranberry Mantou 豆漿蔓越莓饅頭
What would you do if you woke up out of reason and failed to fall asleep again in the early morning? You might think "what the heck it could happen to me??!!!", especially now in the winter when you need to use wake-up light and double alarm to warn you " Better move your ass to bathroom to get prepared because it is bloody 8 am in the cold, dark morning!" Well, it just happened to me couple days ago, awake in 6am sharp and could not sleep anymore. I wrap myself well with the blanket and did my best to sleep for another hour, what pop up in my head was a scene that breakfast vendors are busy offering service to upcoming customers with steamy hot mantou (steamed bun) , flavory soy milk and scallion pancake is ready to go. The image was so vivid that I could not distinguish whether I was dreaming or in reality. Since I could not sleep anymore, I told myself to "make this dream come true".
My mom loves to portray her mission-impossible childhood to us. Go to farm to pick up straw mushroom at 3-4 am, load up hundred kilos of pineapples on the shoulder and walk to the market for sale, prepare breakfast for whole big family with a traditional wood-burning stove, look after younger sisters and brothers and get them ready for school. So every time when I think I fight against running time in the morning, that is much much far away from my mom's version. My mom told me once that she doesn't like manto or sweet potato because those food remind her difficult time in childhood. I thought I would never have understood what it was like until I made my first manto with bare hands that morning.
Mantou (饅頭) is one of typical taiwanese street foods, normally eat it as breakfast. It is a steamed bun basically made with wheat flour, water and leavening agents. It is a friendly recipe that you can add any kind of ingredient to make it more dazzling according to your taste. It is like making a toast twist with milk richness, luxurious chocolate chips, berry refreshment or savory indulgence with bacon or sausage. There are two main kind of mantou, one is rather small with soft, fluffy texture while I personally prefer the other one which is firmer and denser with full of wheat flavor. Deep fried mantou glaze with condense milk and dip with sweeten peanut powder is another popular afternoon dessert in Taiwan. My favorite mantou menu is steamy hot ones with scallion omelet and soy milk. And that was exactly my breakfast on the day I woke up early!
Like I said earlier, this was my first experience of making mantou from scratch with bare friends. It needs some exercise to knead the dough, however the hard-working process just make it taste sweeter and more satisfying for each bite. The outcome did not look as good as I can buy from street vendor, I can be sure it is natural without any food addictive and that is the best part of home-made cooking!
 |
| Taiwanese street food - Mantou |
 |
| Mantou in different flavor |
Mantou (饅頭) is one of typical taiwanese street foods, normally eat it as breakfast. It is a steamed bun basically made with wheat flour, water and leavening agents. It is a friendly recipe that you can add any kind of ingredient to make it more dazzling according to your taste. It is like making a toast twist with milk richness, luxurious chocolate chips, berry refreshment or savory indulgence with bacon or sausage. There are two main kind of mantou, one is rather small with soft, fluffy texture while I personally prefer the other one which is firmer and denser with full of wheat flavor. Deep fried mantou glaze with condense milk and dip with sweeten peanut powder is another popular afternoon dessert in Taiwan. My favorite mantou menu is steamy hot ones with scallion omelet and soy milk. And that was exactly my breakfast on the day I woke up early!
Like I said earlier, this was my first experience of making mantou from scratch with bare friends. It needs some exercise to knead the dough, however the hard-working process just make it taste sweeter and more satisfying for each bite. The outcome did not look as good as I can buy from street vendor, I can be sure it is natural without any food addictive and that is the best part of home-made cooking!
Ingredients: （Serving 6 pieces)
1. 300g all purpose flour
2. 3g dry yeast
3. 1 Tsp sugar
4. 1 Tsp olive oil
5. 150cc soy milk (unsweetened)
6. Handful dried cranberries (optional)
7. Baking paper, cut into 10cm*10cm pieces (Use as linings for the manto)
Instructions:
1. Combine ingredient 1-5 in a big bowel, stir to mix well. Remove from the bowel, start kneading with hands for 5 mins until it forms a smooth dough. Cover with plastic wrap and set aside for 10 mins.
2. Roll out the dough to a flat thin rectangular, fold the dough at the 1/3 of edge toward center. Turn 90 degree and fold toward center again.
3. Roll out the dough evenly to a rectangular (about 60cm*40cm), place dried cranberries evenly on the dough. Roll it up carefully and compactly to a log. Squeeze out the air by gently rubbing the log with palms.
4. Cut the dough into 6 equal pieces and place on the baking paper. Put into a container and cover with a damp cloth. Leave for 1 hour to prove until it doubles in size.
5. Steam for 12 mins on a high heat. Serve hot with scallion omelet and soy milk.
Comments
Post a Comment