The Sugar Bar

I’ve never made bread before in my entire life and although I feel ashamed that I have not tried or wanted to, I have hope that in time to come I’ll find something that’ll push me to learning how to make good bread. Because, in fact, I do love my bread and all sorts of breads at that. There’s nothing quite like having fresh, warm bread with a bit of butter. But no matter how good it is, somehow, there’s a voice in my head saying bread-making is such a chore and requires so much effort, why not just leave it be and buy your bread from a good bakery? Besides, surely you’re incapable of making something so good? Probably the attempts at bread-making as a kid has left a chip on my shoulder. I’m not too sure, but that’s going to be righted soon enough! So you see, if I have a bit of a problem with bread alone, I surely cannot take on making my own Chinese buns. Nonetheless I have scored the internet for some this-is-how-my-gramma-used-to-make-them recipes and hope to try them out in the future.

The past week was spent tying up loose ends of my paper, food-blogging, updating my music library, reading, lazying about and sleeping. Not a very interesting life, except for moments where I cried at melodramatic tv shows and wished I had a steamed bun to make it better. That feeling didn’t go away for ages and thanks to that, I bought enough to last me a little over another week. That’s why people think I’m a squirrel!

Steamed buns have been around since 1800years ago and legend has it, it was invented by the famous military strategist Zhuge Liang. On a journey to South China, Zhuge Liang’s army fell ill. He thus created the ‘mantou’ which directly translated – means flour head as it was shaped like a man’s head, as sacrifice in prayer. These were then given to the soldier’s as sustenance. This is just one of the many legends about the baozi and which I had to look up on the internet because I kept getting it confused with the Legend of the Mooncake.

The mantou is probably the original bun. Slightly rectangular in shape and having no filling, the baozi takes its roots from the humble mantou. The baozi, which means wrapped-up, has the same white, fluffy bread. A step up from the mantou is its filling. Either savoury or sweet, meats of all kinds, vegetables, pickles, sweet pastes and custard fillings were the assorted buns that started to be made. And till today, the baozi and mantou are both staples in China. Great as a snack, they’re welcome at any table come any meal. The different fillings of bread buns are denoted by specific coloured dots or folded patterns on the top of the bun. Soup-filled baozi, though they look like mini versions of the usual baozi, are made with a different dough similar to that of making dumplings and filled with meat and a lard-based soup. They are then eaten with ginger and vinegar. Absolutely delish.

A very special baozi is the peach bun. Filled with a sweet lotus paste, you can get these as a normal white baozi. On special occasions or at fancy restaurants with a dim sum service, you can find these in the shape of peaches which have been coloured a bright pink. Peaches, for the Chinese, represent longevity. If you’ve read the story of the Monkey God, you’ll understand this even better (the Monkey God becomes an immortal god because he stole the longevity fruit – peach from the tree of longevity which yes, belongs to all the ancient gods). Today, not only do you get these classic flavours, fusion food and the drive to try new things have created new flavours like Green Tea buns, Yam buns and Chocolate buns. talk about excitement!

I was a fat kid in the past. Big, round chubster and that pays respect to the gorgeous steamed bun. Daddy always bought them, all my favourite ones, in bulk (I’m just exaggerating, but he did buy enough to feed the square root of our family) and kept them chilled so we could get them out whenever we fancied and steam them before eating. Daddy usually had them steamed really early in the morning even before the sun was out so we could have them just warm enough with the filling still steaming just slightly for breakfast. The steamed bun wasn’t just gastro-ecstacy for us lot, it was battle fuel before school. Brain food. A lot of my heart goes out to that humble bit of bread. What a shocker that this undecorated, simple round bun holds so much significance for not just me, but a lot of other people here, there, everywhere. I’m sure for anyone who tries it, it’ll be enough to get you thinking. However, if it doesn’t hit you somewhere in your heart, I hope at least your stomach will remember it enough to bite you in the gut sometime later with cravings for it.

I think I’m a chipmunk, a squirrel or maybe a hamster. Every day is autumn season for me. Why do I say that? Becaues I stock food like supermarkets aren’t going to exist the day after tomorrow! And then I stock so much food, cans and packets of nuts or cereal boxes start falling out and attacking me the moment I open the kitchen cabinet. What’s worse, I sometimes forget about certain items which I push all the way to the back of the cabinet in my efforts to organise it. Indeed, I take after some sad rodential creature (if there is such a word for rodent-like). But my neurotic habit of stocking up food isn’t all that bad, honest!
I was on a one-week holiday in Milan, Italy last year before Christmas and on the walk towards the city centre from the Santa Maria delle Grazie which is home to The Last Supper, Steph & I had come across a little gelateria/café/cake & coffee shop Chocolat. Located on Via Boccacio 9, it is a humble little shop famous for their daring combinations of chilli, aniseed, citrus fruit, balsamic vinegar along with classic ingredients like cinnamon and vanilla with quality chocolates like guanaja, gascon, rok lait, virgole, guanaja 70. Service is top as well with friendly, cheerful ladies who aren’t bothered if you can’t speak any Italian – they’re more than happy to crawl all over the bar and up the walls to get the perfect slab of chocolate for you! If you’d ever like to visit when you’re in lovely Milano, you can click the link above which gets you to the website for more information. Best luck is to get to Cadorna tube station. It’s really just a 5mins walk away.

The ice cream was very good, probably one of the best I’ve ever tasted, keeping with the reputation of Italian gelato. Offering a very generous range of flavours, their speciality of course still lies in their chocolate flavours – all 11 of them! The best thing about all 11 flavours is that the base isn’t another flavour like you’d find in Ben&Jerry’s or other supermarket-available ice cream brands. All 11 flavours have their base in a specific type of chocolate with a spice or added accompaniment to enhance the chocolate’s own flavour. Be careful of the Dark Chocolate and Hot Chocolate flavours, however, because Chocolat is not afraid to power it up with pure, dark, bitter chocolate and it might get a tad too intense for people who aren’t avid chocolate lovers. At the Bar, chocolates and cakes/pies/tarts are neatly displayed under warm-coloured lighting. They weren’t only gorgeous to look at. The shop ladies were very generous with their samples and having tasted the milk chocolate, we couldn’t help but grab chocolates of different flavours prettily packed in printed paper boxes. Despite the language barrier, I’d managed to get 2 slabs of chocolate, a pot of pure spiced cocoa and a tin of chocolate-flavoured tea.

Yes you heard me. Chocolate-flavoured tea leaves! Which of course, the chipmunk in me had pushed it all the way to the back of the cabinet, thinking ‘yea well I’d save the best for last’. I’m glad I did that though as now I can savour the tea in a cake. The tea on its own is quite incredible. Don’t expect to actually taste chocolate in it although you do get quite an odd flavouring in it. The aroma of these tea leaves are simply mind-blowing. Infuse some leaves with hot water then remove and literally, put your face in the mug/cup/bowl whatever you’re comfortable with using and just breathe it in – it’s chocolate heaven I swear. Inspired to whip something up in the kitchen, I took that craving for Irish Teacake and shaped it into something else. This recipe has been inspired by Delia’s Irish Tea Bread recipe from How To Cook One. I might not have followed it exactly because I was itching to do my own thing. If you don’t have any chocolate-tea around, best bet is to use Earl Grey. It brings out the flavours of dried fruit real well. Note, this may be rather similar to making a teacake, however, this recipe produces a more bready loaf which is still great for tea – warm, with butter on top. If you’re looking for a real teacake, try this Tea Loaf I did a while back from Sue Lawrence.

Chocolate-Tea Tea Bread
Ingredients

3 cups self-raising flour
1 large egg, beaten with 2 tbs milk
1 cup raisins
1 cup currants
1/4 cup fruit & nut muesli
1/2 cup pistachios, toasted and chopped
1/4 cup and a little more chocolate-flavoured tea leaves
275ml hot water
225g dark brown sugar

Get to work the night before. Prepare the tea and soak your dried fruit (you don’t have to stick to the ones I’ve mentioned. A selection of fruit like cranberries and cherries works as well) in it with the sugar stirred in. Cover and leave overnight for it to soak. The fruit should plump up, getting all fat and juicy.
When you get up the next morning, preheat the oven to 170d Celsius.
Beat the egg with 2 tbs of milk and pour this into the bowl of tea and fruit. Mix. Sift the flour in and mix that in as well. Toast the nuts in the oven. Remove and fold this and muesli into the batter. Line loaf tin with parchment paper. Pour batter in and smooth with the back of a spoon or a rubber spatula. Bake for close to 1hr.
Remove, let cool in tin for a bit then remove to cool completely. Slice up, serve slightly warm with butter, jam or leave it naked.

I have to apologise for the great lack of posts recently. The end of term for me is always marked by a torrent of essays, assignments and projects. That has eaten so much of my time I’ve hardly had time to post about my culinary wars, Pancake Day, Chinese New Year and Scottish Burns Night. I will definitely find time, once these massive essays and research project are out of the way, to post up all the pictures that have been long overdue.

Naan Bread Day occurred mainly because I was itching for something savoury. Although Marmite on toast is It for me – it’s so lush, I have to admit I was getting sick of it that particular day I made naan (I don’t remember when this was either…I only remember I’d decided to really make it because I needed a break from essay writing). Watching someone make naan on TV is a tad bit different from making it yourself. You may know the technique perfectly well but somehow mine just turned out a little wrong anyway. They tasted great, that’s for sure but looked like pitta breads! That still confuses me but it might have something to do with my recipe not using any yeast at all. I’ll definitely find a more authentic Indian recipe the next time I attempt naan bread.

Here’s what I used: Flour, 1/2 tsp salt,1 1/2tsp sugar, milk n oil and some baking powder. The dough was left in a warm oven (note: not hot) for it to double in size and then kneaded thereafter till the dough became smooth and stretchy. All the time you’re working with the dough, it must be kept warm. Any dough not being worked on should be covered with clingfoil or a cheese cloth. Roll into balls, use a rolling pin and flatten out nice and thin. Place on a baking tray that’s been brushed with some water. Garnish the naan with whatever you like – herbs, black onion seeds, poppy seeds, etc. Place under the grill for 1-2min. This happens real quick so be careful not to burn. Take it out. Whip out the butter and serve!