I had these for the first time only a couple years ago, when my family discovered a 茶餐廳 (HK-style cafe) in Oakland that happened to serve them. They are glorious and if, at the time, I’d known how to make them (this was before I made my way into the cooking world), it’d probably be a really bad idea. I could very likely eat an entire tray of these and curse myself afterward whilst lying in a food coma, completely unproductive and unable to move because of the sheer amount I consumed. :[
Anyway, we made these for our preemptive Chinese New Year celebration and had them for dessert! (We made a lot of desserts, haha.)
炸馒头 (Fried Mantou)
Ingredients:
-1 tbsp sugar
-1 1/2 cups warm water
-1 tbsp active dry yeast
-4 cups flour
Instructions:
1) Sprinkle yeast + sugar over 4 tbsp warm water and leave it alone for ~15 minutes.
2) Put flour in a mixing bowl and make a well. Pour yeast mixture and remaining water in. Knead until smooth, then put it back into the bowl and cover it with a warm + damp cloth. (Or stuff it in your breadmaker and put it on the dough function! :D )
3) Push it down to release the air and let it sit for another 20 minutes or so.
4) Roll into small buns.
5) You can either steam them or deep fry them. I know the deep fried one’s a lot worse for you, but the crunchiness of that paired with when you dip it into sweetened condensed milk is incomparable. *-* If you don’t own a steaming tray, but your rice cooker happens to have a steaming tray like mine does (<3!), you’re good to go! If not, you can also fill a pot with water, put a little wire rack in it and set a plate on top with the buns on it, then turn up the heat.
