Piggy Pao

Hallooooo!!

Happy days, oh, happy days!

I finally moved and my bedroom is all tidy, pillows new and fluffy, though I keep some of the older ones for the sake of comfort for the term the more the merrier does apply to the amount of pillows in one’s bedroom to me. Though, I cannot say that I’m happy for the other parts of the house. Scattered opened and unopened boxes be it with or without labels, I even have had nightmares about the word ‘fragile’ because everywhere I see, I see boxes. Name the shape and size and I’ll present them with resentment.

The kitchen is fine now. Not great. But almost clutter-less. Yay!

Anyhow, I will not say more about my house because I am pressed with time. I have to cook and I have to do home works. Yes, home works.  I am officially back to school. I’m just a sucker when it comes to school. Well, I’m a nerd, I love the learning process, I am a book worm, and I don’t want to just spend my time waiting for Amiko to get home from school playing PS or NDS or online games. I’m addicted to games but like cigarette, I can undo the addiction in the blink of an eye.

Speaking about school, as a mother I always try my best to serve my family, especially my daughter, healthy food. She loves pao. She even have pao like cheeks >_<

As much as we love store and restaurant bought pao, and as though homemade pao, my pao, will not be as identical as those, I still prefer my daughter to have homemade pao.  This pao do not use white margarine, or emulsifiers, or butter the store and restaurant bought pao do.  So it is truly good if you happen to love healthy food like me or on a diet.

Pao is a very versatile food, you can steam it, fry it, fill it either with savory or sweet fillings, dip it in sauces, or make it plain and use it as the substitute for rice. I do strongly advice not to fry it, oh boy it tastes so good fried but I’m against fried foods. But this I do advice, steam them when it’s raining outside and serve them with a cup of hot green tea. Heaven.

You can use any filling, really, but my recipe here is chicken liver with shiitake because chicken liver is high in iron and shiitake is rich in fiber. Apart from those reasons, the filling is just simply delicious. 

Ingredients:

For the pao dough:

-1 ½ cup kotobuki flour, use all-purpose flour if you cant find kotobuki.

-1 tsp dry yeast

-1/4 tsp salt

-1 tbs vegetable oil

-1/2 tsp sugar

-1/2 cup warm water

-a drop or two of pink food coloring

For the filling:

-100 gr chicken liver, chopped

-100 gr shiitake, chopped

-3 cloves of garlic, finely chopped

-1 thumb of ginger, bruised

-1/2 tbs corn starch dissolved in water

-1/4 cup vegetable/chicken stock

-1 1/2 tsp soy sauce

-1/4 tsp sesame oil

-1 ½ tsp sugar

-salt and pepper, to taste

Directions:

Dough:

1. Mix the warm water with yeast, salt , oil, and sugar until thoroughly dissolved.

2. Add the flour into the yeast water, mix well with spoon, and knead to form the gluten, about 2-3 minutes.

3. If you want to make the pao in different colors, add the food coloring in this step.

4. Cover with cling film and set aside in a warm place till the dough doubles in size.

5. Punch it. Yup. Punch and knead for 1 minute to eliminate the extra gas.

6. Cover again with cling film and set aside for another 30 minutes.

7. Divide the dough, fill with your choice of fillings and steam.

The chicken liver filling:

1. Sauté the garlic until golden and add the ginger.

2. Add the chicken liver, cook until the color changes then add the shiitake.

3. Pour the vegetable/chicken stock in, soy sauce, and let it simmer for a while to a point where it is almost boiling.

4. Add the dissolved corn starch, sesame oil, stir until it thickens then season with salt and pepper.

Anyhow, if you are wondering what to use for the piggy eyes, I recommend shiitake. Black food coloring will make a mess and once it is steamed, your piggy will look like Miss Piggy that has been crying for a whole night but forgot to use waterproof mascara. Drab. Drag.

I hope you enjoy this recipe. Try this. Do try it and experience with kaya fillings, chocolate, beef, anything your heart desires, whatever mood you’re in. Also if you want to take it up a notch, you can use whole wheat flour instead of kotobuki or all-purpose flour.

My warmest regards to your lovely family J

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