NIAN GOU BUN

8/2/2015
SUNDAY

Check..... the house has been cleaned and the garden has been cleared. Bought.....Chinese New Year delicacies ie waxed sausages, duck, dried mushroom, oysters and scallops, fish maw (not that we have not been  buying these throughout the year and wonder why we chose to buy them at this time- rushing with the crowds and paying higher prices for them) and also some favourite cookies and 1 (yes small one) Nian gou (Chinese New Year cake).

Just to get myself in the mood for the Lunar new year, I tried baking these:

Banana bread 

My neighbour gave me some over-ripe bananas last week.  The girls and me definitely put on some calories trying to finish them, yet no matter how many we ate there were still  more! So I thought why not peel them and put them in the freezer, thinking maybe they can last till I find the time to bake something.  Got the time finally, so  I took them out of the freezer yesterday.  Gosh, by the time they were defrosted, it was a soggy wet mess! But they do made the tastiest banana bread! I added some raisins which have been soaking in rum (also have been lying in the fridge for some time now) and toasted walnuts.    Yummy, soft and moist cake. 

Pumpkin and Melon seeds Crisp 

Saw a few bloggers baking this cookie with a variety of seeds and since I had pumpkin and melon seeds, I decided to try the recipe... looks very simple alright.  The only difficulty was spreading the batter out thinly and in a circle. Other than finding them a bit sweet (maybe its my personal level of sweetness) I am happy with this cookie. Its crispy and nutty and maybe can consider  putting it up for sale the next year hehehehe.  

I bought a small nian gou from the market on Saturday morning. It was still soft, so I put it in the fridge to harden it as I wanted to cook it for my sister who will be going back to Melbourne on Monday.  Last year, the popular trend was to wrap the nian gou with spring roll wrapper. So decided to try something different.

how about the nian gou bun.

Made the short crust pastry and while its resting, cut the nian gou into cubes.  Each pastry dough weigh around 30 gm and wrap the nian gou inside the pastry. 

Egg wash the buns before baking at 180C for around 15-20 minutes. 

fresh from the market ....golden buns... 

gooey sweetness and flaky pastry..... best eaten when hot otherwise the nian gou will harden again....