Baozi

I am sooooo happy with the culinary discoveries that this post contains! Both are ideas of others, that I tweaked to suit my own tastes or the ingredients that I had at hand. I will start with the baozi. I think that I found the recipe while drooling over pinterest or foodgawker. Anyway, it is here. It is awesome and Katie, the blog owner, has the most amazing profile pic I have ever seen. So go have a look.

I have to say that I was sure it would be a huge failure, but I tried it out anyway, because I was THAT tired from work and THAT willing to procrastinate. I will give you my version of the recipe, as I used the same dough, but a different filling. But make sure to check out Katie’s post, because her filling sounds delicious too.

My first baozi!

Ingredients

• 2 1/4 instant yeast
• 2 3/4 cups all purpose flour
• 2 tablespoons brown sugar
• 3/4 cups water (I used a bit more than Katie)
• 1 aubergine (aka eggplant)
• 1/2 cup leek, thinly chopped
• 1 can black beans
• 4 tablespoons bbq sauce or tomato sauce
• a bit of salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

• In a bowl put the brown sugar, yeast and warm water. Warm, I said. Not hot!
• Mix well and let it rest in a warm place. After 5′ or so it will be all foamy. If not, maybe you used water that was too warm and killed the poor yeast.
• Now put the flour in a mixing bowl and pour the yeast water on top. Mix well.
• Knead the dough and shape in a ball.
• Cover with a towel and let it rise in a warm place for about 1 hour (I had only 45 minutes worth of patience, but I but mine on the heater and it had doubled already).
• While the dough rises, prepare the filling.
• Chop up the aubergine and cook with a bit of olive oil for about 20 minutes or until it is really soft. Add the bbq sauce, leeks and beans and cook for another 5 minutes. You want your filling to be relatively dry, with no excess moisture.
• Add salt and pepper to taste.
• Now it’s time to have fun! Knead the dough and shape it into a thick log.
• Cut the log into 12 pieces and turn them into tiny pizza crusts (aka little circles)
• Add a tablespoon of filling in the middle of each circle and pinch the edges together (see pic for the mess in our kitchen during this process)

• 

  Baozi preparation

• Put the baozi with the pinched side down to rest for 10′. Prepare your steamer.

• 

  My baozi resting. If a food can be kind, then this is by far the kindest, softest, most innocent food of all.

• Put as many baozi as you can fit in your steamer, but make sure they do not touch each other, because they will expand while steaming. Oil them with a bit of olive oil before putting them in the steamer basket.
• Steam for 15 minutes.
• Enjoy!!!!

I ate 4 of those and they were huge. N. only managed three. I put the rest in the fridge and will see how they heat up tomorrow.

Yum!

It is true that these take some time (hours) to make, but they are sooo worth it! And as I never had a baozi before, the texture was a great -pleasant- surprise.

Gluten-free, vegan banana “cookies”

I found the recipe for this one on a facebook post. A mom was looking for a healthy alternative to give her kiddo instead of cookies, and she discovered that you can use mashed bananas and oats instead of flour and sugar. I tried it, with a few additions, and it turned out great! You end up with chewy, soft cookies, that are the kind of cookies that I love.

Banana “cookies”.

Ingredients

• 2 bananas
• 1 1/3 cup oats
• a handful of raisins (I used golden)
• 4 dates
• cinnamon
• any other dried fruit, spices and nuts you feel like using

Instructions

• Use a fork to mash the bananas.
• Mix in the oats, raisins, dates and cinnamon.
• Use a spoon and divide the mixture in as many “cookies” as you want on a baking sheet.
• Bake for 15 minutes at 200 C
• Enjoy!

These are awesome with almond milk!

Try those recipes out! It’s the weekend, you have time. Use it creatively and enjoy 🙂