Today, we will take a stroll down China Town just before Chinese New Year. Imagine a long wide street bustling with hawkers peddling their sumptuous goodies, shoppers picking up last minute bargains and little kids playing catch amongst the crowd. One can never miss that stall selling sweet peanut puffs. So what is it? Sweet peanut puff is a bite size snack made of pastry filled with sugary chopped peanuts and sesame seeds. You can almost guarantee each household will have a good stocking of this treat during Chinese New Year. If you like peanuts, this is not to be missed. It is great as a snack, for high tea or dessert. In fact, I'm taking some to a picnic tomorrow!
Ingredients:
Pastry:
1/3 cup water
2 Egg yolks
Filling:
150 g Unsalted roasted peanuts
100 g Castor sugar
25 g Toasted sesame seeds
¼ tsp salt
Oil for deep frying
* If you can't get peanut oil, use any cooking oil. I have tried rice bran oil and it works just fine.
Steps:
1. Mix flour, oil, water and egg yolks in a bowl. Knead into a dough and keep in fridge for an hour to rest.
2. Chop peanuts finely into a food processor. Pour into a large bowl. Add sugar, sesame seeds and salt. Mix well.
3. Roll the dough out into a thin sheet. Cut round pieces with a 58mm cookie cutter. Do note that the pastry is very elastic and may shrink after cutting. Just roll it out with the rolling pin if it does that.
4. Now comes the tricky part (for me at least!). Hold the round pastry in your hand. Add a small amount of filling in the middle. Fold the pastry into half to form a crescent. Starting from the corner of the crescent, pinch edge of the pastry with your thumb and index finger. Fold the pinched area over while making a new pinch so that you not only seal the edge completely but also make a nice spiral pattern around the circumference. Because the pastry is so small, you might have to a try a few to get a handle on it. But that is the whole idea, to make the puffs into nice little bite size. It is rather fun but can be time consuming at the same time. (I reckon it is something nice to do on a rainy day!)
5. Now, heat up some oil over medium heat a pot. You do not need a large pot of oil, fry the peanut puffs in small batches as they do not take long to cook.
6. Deep fry the peanut puffs till golden brown, about 4 minutes. Make sure that the oil is not too hot else you will get bubbles on the pastry.
7. Place peanut puffs on a paper towel to drain the oil.
8. Leave it to cool completely and store in an air tight container.
Makes about 80 puffs
If kept in an air tight container, they should last for weeks. But I have not personally tested this as they are always gone within days!
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| Sweet Peanut Puffs |
Pastry:
1 ¾ cup All purpose flour
1/3 cup water
2 Egg yolks
Filling:
150 g Unsalted roasted peanuts
100 g Castor sugar
25 g Toasted sesame seeds
¼ tsp salt
Oil for deep frying
Steps:
1. Mix flour, oil, water and egg yolks in a bowl. Knead into a dough and keep in fridge for an hour to rest.
2. Chop peanuts finely into a food processor. Pour into a large bowl. Add sugar, sesame seeds and salt. Mix well.
3. Roll the dough out into a thin sheet. Cut round pieces with a 58mm cookie cutter. Do note that the pastry is very elastic and may shrink after cutting. Just roll it out with the rolling pin if it does that.
4. Now comes the tricky part (for me at least!). Hold the round pastry in your hand. Add a small amount of filling in the middle. Fold the pastry into half to form a crescent. Starting from the corner of the crescent, pinch edge of the pastry with your thumb and index finger. Fold the pinched area over while making a new pinch so that you not only seal the edge completely but also make a nice spiral pattern around the circumference. Because the pastry is so small, you might have to a try a few to get a handle on it. But that is the whole idea, to make the puffs into nice little bite size. It is rather fun but can be time consuming at the same time. (I reckon it is something nice to do on a rainy day!)
5. Now, heat up some oil over medium heat a pot. You do not need a large pot of oil, fry the peanut puffs in small batches as they do not take long to cook.
6. Deep fry the peanut puffs till golden brown, about 4 minutes. Make sure that the oil is not too hot else you will get bubbles on the pastry.
7. Place peanut puffs on a paper towel to drain the oil.
8. Leave it to cool completely and store in an air tight container.
Makes about 80 puffs
If kept in an air tight container, they should last for weeks. But I have not personally tested this as they are always gone within days!
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