Savoury Sweet Patties 香餅、馬蹄酥
These little patties are small pie-like Chinese puff pastries with aromatic sweet filling. I have grown up eating these patties and they were always known to me as ‘pon piah 膨餅’ (in Chinese Hokkien), meaning puffed patties, which is really just a generic name for Chinese puff pastry snacks. Until recently, I did not even realize they are also known as ‘beh teh soh 馬蹄酥’ (in Chinese Hokkien), or ‘heung beng 香餅’ (in Cantonese), thinking that these two names applied to Chinese puff pastries with different kinds of fillings. Therefore, thanks to the wonderful boardmates at Jo's Deli Bakery Message Board, I was finally enlightened on these facts from the discussion there.
This is my attempt at recreating this famous snack from the state of Perak in Malaysia, as there do not seemed to be any published recipe for it. From memory, I think there should be maltose in the ingredients for the filling, as well as fried shallots and sesame seeds which probably made up the aromatic parts of this pastry snack. Therefore, I used a combination of cooked flour, sugar, maltose, lard, sesame seeds and fried shallot for the filling. Somehow, for the life of me, I cannot remember whether the filling was also chewy (resulting from the inclusion of cooked glutinous rice flour for binding) or was it paste-like (from binding using cooked wheat flour)! I decided to opt for the latter, so used cooked wheat flour to bind the ingredients for a paste-like texture… So here they are – my own version of this Chinese puff pastry snack.
Addendum June 19, 2005
For those of you still waiting very patiently for this recipe, I have to apologize as I haven’t got the inspiration to make them or test it out at the moment. However I will post this tentatively proposed (untested) recipe which I have worked out on paper if anyone is willing to test it out or experiment with it. The pastry part is OK, the filling is the one I haven’t tested, I just re-organise the ingredients from those I used to make the one in the photos above… If not, I will test it out myself in the next few weeks hopefully, ah inspiration, inspiration, come, come, come :)
Makes 20 patties
[Ingredients]
Pastry:
Water Dough:
175g plain flour
pinch salt
60g ghee or lard or shortening
35g icing sugar
90ml lukewarm water
Fat Dough:
130g plain flour
30g cornflour
80g ghee or lard or shortening
Filling (untested):
80g cooked glutinous rice flour 加工糕粉
1-2 tbsp sesame seeds, toasted & pounded
1 tbsp fried shallot 油蔥, lightly crushed
100g (approx.) caster or icing sugar, adjust for sweetness
60g maltose 麥芽糖, dissolved in about
150ml hot water (need to adjust water as necessary)
pinch salt
80g lard, melted (may need to adjust this as well)
http://cafeoftheeast.blogspot.com/
[Preparation]
1. Make the water and fat dough separately. You need to rest the water dough for 15-20 minutes before using. Divide into 20 portions each. Make sure both doughs have about the same pliability/flexibility. Wrap each fat dough into each water dough, do all the rolling necessary to get the layering.
2. For the filling, mix all dry ingredients together. Dissolve maltose in say, about 80ml hot water first, and add into the dry ingredients, add lard (or shortening if you prefer). Adjust softness of the mixture with the rest of the hot water as necessary. You need to get a soft dough-like texture. Divide into 20 portions.
3. Wrap the filling inside the pastry. Flatten slightly with your palm.
4. Bake at about 210°C for about 12 minutes.
Addendum July 3, 2005
I experimented with the new version this afternoon, however disappointed to report that it is still not quite right! I couldn’t help experimenting again by caramelising the sugar to golden brown in colour first – as I remembered the filling was sort of golden brown in colour. I also decided to reduce the sugar to 70g (instead of the 100g I proposed above) but it was not sweet enough!
The texture of the filling this time is chewy but to me still not quite right. I think it should be a combination of cooked glutinous rice flour with plain flour (or even cornflour) to get the right texture. I think I would use 40g cooked glutinous rice flour + 40g cornflour next time… Also should increase the sugar to 100 or even 150g next time.
This is what I used to make them today:
Makes 20 patties
[Ingredients]
Pastry:
Water Dough:
175g plain flour
pinch salt
60g ghee or lard or shortening
35g icing sugar
80 - 90ml lukewarm water
Fat Dough:
130g plain flour
30g cornflour
80g ghee or lard or shortening
Filling:
80g cooked glutinous rice flour 加工糕粉
1 tbsp sesame seeds, pounded
1 shallot 油蔥, fried then lightly crushed
70g granulated sugar (not sweet enough)
60g maltose 麥芽糖
100ml hot water
80g lard, melted (use to fry the shallot first)
http://cafeoftheeast.blogspot.com/
[Preparation]
1. Make the water and fat dough separately. Rest the water dough for 15 - 20 minutes before using. Divide into 20 portions each. Make sure both doughs have about the same pliability/flexibility. Wrap each fat dough into each water dough, do all the rolling necessary to get the layering.
2. For the filling, use the lard to fry the shallot until golden, drain the shallot from the lard, set both aside. Melt sugar in a saucepan to make caramel, then add water (careful of hot syrup splattering) to dissolve any crystallised sugar, then add maltose to melt. Add lard and stir together. Pour into flour with the pounded sesame seeds, stir to mix into a paste. Cool until harden.
3. Wrap the filling inside the pastry. Flatten slightly with your palm.
4. Bake at about 210°C for about 12 - 14 minutes.
This is my attempt at recreating this famous snack from the state of Perak in Malaysia, as there do not seemed to be any published recipe for it. From memory, I think there should be maltose in the ingredients for the filling, as well as fried shallots and sesame seeds which probably made up the aromatic parts of this pastry snack. Therefore, I used a combination of cooked flour, sugar, maltose, lard, sesame seeds and fried shallot for the filling. Somehow, for the life of me, I cannot remember whether the filling was also chewy (resulting from the inclusion of cooked glutinous rice flour for binding) or was it paste-like (from binding using cooked wheat flour)! I decided to opt for the latter, so used cooked wheat flour to bind the ingredients for a paste-like texture… So here they are – my own version of this Chinese puff pastry snack.
Addendum June 19, 2005
For those of you still waiting very patiently for this recipe, I have to apologize as I haven’t got the inspiration to make them or test it out at the moment. However I will post this tentatively proposed (untested) recipe which I have worked out on paper if anyone is willing to test it out or experiment with it. The pastry part is OK, the filling is the one I haven’t tested, I just re-organise the ingredients from those I used to make the one in the photos above… If not, I will test it out myself in the next few weeks hopefully, ah inspiration, inspiration, come, come, come :)
Makes 20 patties
[Ingredients]
Pastry:
Water Dough:
175g plain flour
pinch salt
60g ghee or lard or shortening
35g icing sugar
90ml lukewarm water
Fat Dough:
130g plain flour
30g cornflour
80g ghee or lard or shortening
Filling (untested):
80g cooked glutinous rice flour 加工糕粉
1-2 tbsp sesame seeds, toasted & pounded
1 tbsp fried shallot 油蔥, lightly crushed
100g (approx.) caster or icing sugar, adjust for sweetness
60g maltose 麥芽糖, dissolved in about
150ml hot water (need to adjust water as necessary)
pinch salt
80g lard, melted (may need to adjust this as well)
http://cafeoftheeast.blogspot.com/
[Preparation]
1. Make the water and fat dough separately. You need to rest the water dough for 15-20 minutes before using. Divide into 20 portions each. Make sure both doughs have about the same pliability/flexibility. Wrap each fat dough into each water dough, do all the rolling necessary to get the layering.
2. For the filling, mix all dry ingredients together. Dissolve maltose in say, about 80ml hot water first, and add into the dry ingredients, add lard (or shortening if you prefer). Adjust softness of the mixture with the rest of the hot water as necessary. You need to get a soft dough-like texture. Divide into 20 portions.
3. Wrap the filling inside the pastry. Flatten slightly with your palm.
4. Bake at about 210°C for about 12 minutes.
Addendum July 3, 2005
I experimented with the new version this afternoon, however disappointed to report that it is still not quite right! I couldn’t help experimenting again by caramelising the sugar to golden brown in colour first – as I remembered the filling was sort of golden brown in colour. I also decided to reduce the sugar to 70g (instead of the 100g I proposed above) but it was not sweet enough!
The texture of the filling this time is chewy but to me still not quite right. I think it should be a combination of cooked glutinous rice flour with plain flour (or even cornflour) to get the right texture. I think I would use 40g cooked glutinous rice flour + 40g cornflour next time… Also should increase the sugar to 100 or even 150g next time.
This is what I used to make them today:
Makes 20 patties
[Ingredients]
Pastry:
Water Dough:
175g plain flour
pinch salt
60g ghee or lard or shortening
35g icing sugar
80 - 90ml lukewarm water
Fat Dough:
130g plain flour
30g cornflour
80g ghee or lard or shortening
Filling:
80g cooked glutinous rice flour 加工糕粉
1 tbsp sesame seeds, pounded
1 shallot 油蔥, fried then lightly crushed
70g granulated sugar (not sweet enough)
60g maltose 麥芽糖
100ml hot water
80g lard, melted (use to fry the shallot first)
http://cafeoftheeast.blogspot.com/
[Preparation]
1. Make the water and fat dough separately. Rest the water dough for 15 - 20 minutes before using. Divide into 20 portions each. Make sure both doughs have about the same pliability/flexibility. Wrap each fat dough into each water dough, do all the rolling necessary to get the layering.
2. For the filling, use the lard to fry the shallot until golden, drain the shallot from the lard, set both aside. Melt sugar in a saucepan to make caramel, then add water (careful of hot syrup splattering) to dissolve any crystallised sugar, then add maltose to melt. Add lard and stir together. Pour into flour with the pounded sesame seeds, stir to mix into a paste. Cool until harden.
3. Wrap the filling inside the pastry. Flatten slightly with your palm.
4. Bake at about 210°C for about 12 - 14 minutes.
Labels: Asian Pastries
posted by SeaDragon @ 3.5.05
12 Comments:
Wow! This really turn out successful. Excellent attempt! You should give yourself a good pat on the shoulder.
Can you share your recipe of Savoury Sweet Patties? Looking forward ...
Very well done. Again very impressed, we would like u to try something 'harder' (cos we couldn't do it successfully) such as soon kueh or something!!! (heheheheh....another request) ^_k
They look so good!!!!! Well, all your stuff looks good. Yes, if you would, please share your recipe. thanks -lance
Thank you all for the kind words!
Mrs Yap & lance,
Oh dear, :) I thought I could get away with not posting the recipe for the moment because the filling still needs a bit of modification. Although they taste good as they are, but comparing to the ones from Perak, still not quite there yet. I think the pastry is now spot on and the filling has the right aroma to it, I find the texture of the filling still not quite right yet. It feels like bean-paste texture at the moment, but I think it should be even softer/stickier if I remember correctly. Just need to play around with the proportion of the ingredients, maybe need to reduce the amount of cooked flour... However I will post the recipe for the current version in a couple of days when I have more free time.
Kirsten,
Aiyo, Soon Kueh not easy to make hor! Got to work very quickly... Which recipe did you use? I tried Amy Beh's Chai Kuih recipe with the crystal skin before. Not too bad lah but I think I ran out of one of the ingredients and substituted it with another and the texture of the skin became a bit too Q! :p
SeaDragon,
I can wait to see your recipe until the time you're satisfied with your creation. Thanks, lance
Yes, go develope this recipe. This is a good challenge and a positive approach. This will be your homework. Ha! We hope with all our heart that you will not take too long to perfect it. We have faith in you as you start analysing and modifying the correct ingredient amounts. Takes an expert like SeaDragon to fine tune this art. Not many people are blessed in this area. By contributing and sharing your talents is God's gift. I'll be cheering you all the way. You can do it, SeaDragon!
Hi Seadragon,
I think the ma ti su uses cooked glutinous rice flour (koh fun) to bind instead of wheat flour. The texture should be chewy, somewhat like the filling of wife cake (low por beng).
Hi Seadragon,
Just for your info there's another thing about this pastry, I thought they don't egg glace the top and the pastry should give a very dry flaky feeling instead of being oily. Well, this is the texture of matisu that I ate from the very popular store in Singapore.
lance,
Okie dokie, will definitely post the recipe once I can get it nearer to those from Perak. :)
Mrs Yap,
Thank you for your encouragement! Me no expert lah, I just like to experiment, lol, and me who hated chemistry when in school! I will try again in a few weeks time and see how it goes, it will give me a fresher approach to it as well as mulling it over in my head first!
Florence,
Oooh, thank you so much for pointing me in the right direction. :) Yes, you're right on both accounts, now that I have a think about it. The filling should be chewy/sticky in texture, lol, the last time I tasted them was about 4-5 years ago, did not even know how to make Chinese pastry then! OK, no egg glaze, so that means no sesame on top as well, I don't know why I kept thinking there were, must be confused with something else! :p
Hope you have not forgotten. We are still waiting patiently for your wonderful recipe. Errr ... are you ready to share your savoury sweet patties?
Mrs Yap,
Sorry for the long wait, I haven't forgotten. It is just that I'm going through my western dessert phase at the moment - been reading Mrs Beeton's old recipes (found her ebook recipes on the net after watching Rick Stein talking about her recipes on his show, 'Food Heroes') and suddenly wanting to make old style English desserts...
I will try to come up with the recipe before Mooncake Festival hopefully ;) Hope you all do not mind waiting a few more weeks.
I have posted a tentatively proposed, untested recipe which I worked out on paper for those who are willing to test it out or experiment with, I will test it out in the next few weeks myself hopefully. Cheers!
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