Rolling Donkey - Glutinous Rice Rolls with Red Bean Paste (驴打滚)

Rolling donkey is one of the traditional snacks of Old Beijing. The finished products are yellow, white and red. The yellow soy bean powder coating looked like the dust raised when wild donkeys were rolled over country roads. So it was named "The rolling donkey".

Ingredient

Soy bean powder - roasted, for coating

Glutinous rice flour - 1 cup

Rice flour - 1/4 - 1/3 cup (optional, the less you add, the softer the roll)

Sugar - 1 TBSP

Warm water -  about 1 Cup

Red bean paste - for filling

Steps

1. In a mixing bowl, mix flour, warm water and sugar, until the mixture is smooth and consistent.

2. Micro wave on high for 2 minutes, take it out, mix well, and then micro wave on high for another 3 minutes, till the dough is transparent, let cool. You can also use steamer to steam the mixture for 15 minutes.

3. In a separate bowl, add 2 TBSP water to the red bean paste, mix well

4. Dust the warm dough with soy bean powder, and lay it on a flat surface with soy bean powder. Roll out the dough using a rolling pin.

5. Use a spatula to spread a thin layer of the red bean paste evenly on the dough, leaving the edge untouched. Roll up the dough tightly, coat with soy bean powder.

6. Allow it to cool down before cutting into 7-8 pieces. To avoid the glutinous dough sticking to the blade, wipe the blade with a damp paper towel.

Durian Pastry (榴莲酥)

This is an easy way to make Durian pastry since you can purchase the puff pastry sheet from store.

Ingredients

Fresh Durian
Butter
Condensed Milk
Egg
Puff Pastry Sheet

Steps

1. Peel fruit from the shell and lightly blend it into puree. (yes, it stinks the whole house.)

2. Add condensed milk, butter to taste. Stir-frying under low heat until the mixture is at pastry filling consistency. Depends on how watery the mixture is, you can also add some corn starch.

3. Individually wrap filling with puff pastry sheet, brush the top with egg wash (1 egg + 1 TBSP water).

4. Bake under 400°F for 15 minutes. Serve warm.

Bacon Wrapped Asparagus

Ingredients

Asparagus
Bacon
Shrimp (optional)

Steps

1. Preheat oven to 400°F.

2. Wash and trim asparagus spears. 

3. Marinate shrimp lightly with cooking wine, salt and sugar for 30 minutes.
4. Bake bacon in oven for 5-10 minutes first to avoid overcook asparagus.

4. Cut each bacon strip in half crosswise and wrap one-half strip bacon around each asparagus spear, leaving tip and end exposed.
5. Bake in a preheated 400°F oven for 20 minutes, or until bacon is cooked.

6. Serve warm or at room temperature. 

Cherry Blossom Cake

A Green Tea Chiffon Cake with Swiss Meringue Buttercream frosting to celebrate the spring.

Blue and White Porcelain Cheongsam Cake(青花瓷旗袍蛋糕)

A Green Tea Chiffon Cake with Swiss Meringue Buttercream frosting to celebrate the Chinese fashion.

Pea Flour Cake - Wandou Huang(豌豆黄)

Wan-dou Huang(豌豆黄)  is a traditional Beijing snack. People eat it on Lunar calendar March Third to celebrate spring. It has fine and smooth texture that melt in your mouth.
The recipe is very simple. The trick is to know the consistency that is just right for it to keep its integrity at room temperature.

Ingredients

Dried yellow split peas - 1 bag, 12-16 oz
Sugar - 1/2 cup or to your taste

Steps

1. Soak the peas in water for 4 hours or overnight.
2. Put beans in sauce pot with water, cook until beans are soft. It probably takes 1 hour or more unless you use a pressure cooker.
3. Drain the peas, use a blender to blend the it into paste. Add some water if it is too dry to blend.

4. Use fine mesh to filter the paste so that the cake will taste smooth. You can skip this step if you use Vitamix.

5. Pour the paste in a frying pan, add sugar to your liking. Keep stir until you can cut through the paste and leave clear mark. You can skip this step if you have the perfect consistency already out of Vitamix. It all depends on how dry is your paste.

6. Pour into a mold and put in refrigerator for 4 hours or overnight.

7. Slice and serve at room temperature. Wandou Huang tastes the best if consumed within 24 hours.

Homemade Nian Gao (水磨年糕)

Nian Gao and Mochi are similar products made from rice, except the type of rice used. This is adapted from Amada's attempt to mimic the traditional way using Vitamix. 

Ingredients

Rice - 4 cups

Glutinous rice - 2 cups

You can adjust the ratio of these two types of rice. The more glutinous rice, the sticker and softer the Nian Gao. If you want more chewy ones for stir fry, you should have more rice.

Steps

1. Soak the rice in water for 4 hours or overnight.

2. Use Vitamix at high speed to blend the rice into rice paste.

3. Pour rice paste in cheese cloth bag and hang overnight to remove excess water.

4. Fill the rice dough in a well greased pan to steam for 40 minutes.

5. Amanda's recipe said to pound the cooked rice dough. I skipped this and just put the dough in stand mixer with a dough hook to knead it.

6. Divide and roll the dough so that they can be individual wrapped. Store in refrigerator to let it harden.

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7. To serve, unwrap a roll, slice it for stir-fried Nian Gao. Or my favorite way to eat is to steam the whole roll, and dip it in sugar.