Jujube Lotus Leaf Cake
When tasting the unique flavor of jujube lotus leaf buns, people cant help but wonder about its production materials and methods. Now follow me to uncover its production secrets.
Required ingredients and substitutes
Main ingredients
Dried red dates: provide sweetness and unique flavor, and are the core of the filling.
Flour: the basis for making steamed buns, providing structural support.
Supplementary ingredients
Yeast powder: promotes dough fermentation.
Baking powder: assists fermentation and makes the dough fluffier.
Substitutes
Dried red dates: can be replaced with candied dates. This is sweeter and can add a richer sweetness to the steamed buns.
Flour: high-gluten flour can also be used. High-gluten flour makes the steamed buns more chewy.
Yeast powder: fresh yeast can be substituted. Compared with dry yeast powder, the fermentation effect is slightly different, and the amount needs to be adjusted when used.
Baking powder: Can be replaced by baking soda. They have similar effects in assisting fermentation, but attention should be paid to the differences in dosage and effect.
What varieties of red dates should be used?
Jun jujube: Its characteristic is that the fruit is relatively large. When making jujube lotus leaf buns, due to its large size, it is relatively easy to operate when wrapping three red dates with each piece of dough. This can ensure that the finished product has enough red dates and presents a better appearance and taste combination.
Huizao: The flesh is delicate. After a series of processes such as soaking, boiling in water, and subsequent steaming, it can still maintain a relatively complete shape. At the same time, the delicate flesh can make the buns taste more delicate, and the jujube fragrance can be fully integrated into them.
Golden silk jujube: The texture is soft and the taste is glutinous, sweet and fragrant. During the production process, it is easy to fuse with the dough, making the overall taste of the buns glutinous, with uniform sweetness and enhancing the overall flavor of the buns.
Is there any skill in wrapping red dates?
Dough treatment: When rolling out the dough, make it thicker in the middle and thinner at the edges. If it is thicker in the middle, when wrapping red dates, it can withstand the pressure of red dates and is not easy to break. If it is thinner at the edges, it is convenient for sealing and pinching, making the buns look good and easy to wrap.
Placement and wrapping of red dates: Put the red dates in the exact middle of the dough. When starting to wrap, gather the red dates tightly together. Start from one side of the dough and pull up the dough little by little to wrap the red dates. While wrapping, gently press the red dates with your fingers to make the red dates stick closely to the dough so that it is wrapped firmly.
Sealing treatment: When sealing, pinch the excess dough together, make more folds, and then firmly pinch the sealing place. In this way, the wrapped red dates will not be exposed during steaming and the buns will look complete and beautiful.
Pretreatment of red dates: Before wrapping red dates, gently smear a little flour on the surface of the red dates. Because the surface of red dates is wet after being boiled in water. After smearing with flour, it can stick more firmly to the dough, and the dough is not easy to separate from the red dates when wrapping, making it more convenient to wrap.
What are the common mistakes in production?
The following are the links where mistakes are easy to occur in the production process of jujube lotus leaf buns and the improvement methods:
Filling stage:
When wrapping the filling, it must be wrapped tightly. Otherwise, the filling is likely to come out and the dough may crack during steaming. The jujube lotus leaf buns made in this way don't look good. When eaten, the jujube flesh and the dough are not integrated, and the taste is very poor.
Steaming stage:
During steaming, the heat and time are crucial. If the fire is too strong, the dough will be hard. If the fire is too weak, the jujube lotus leaf buns will not be cooked thoroughly. Generally, steaming for 8 to 10 minutes with medium heat is better. Only in this way can the steamed dough and jujube flesh be soft and have a good taste. When steaming, put enough water in the pot and don't let it burn dry.
Lotus leaf selection stage:
Not fresh or too old lotus leaves will make the jujube lotus leaf buns not delicious. It is best to pick fresh lotus leaves in season. The color should be green and there should be no broken places so that the original taste can be preserved. If the lotus leaves you buy are dry, you need to soak them in water until soft before using them.
Seasoning stage:
When seasoning, don't add salt and sugar randomly. The amount of salt and sugar must be appropriate. Otherwise, the taste will be too monotonous. Adding a little white sugar and fine salt can better set off the sweetness of the jujube flesh and make the taste more abundant when eaten.
INGREDIENTS
Main Ingredients
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·50g dried red dates
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·50g flour
Accessories
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·5g yeast powder
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·3g baking powder
COOKING STEP
Step 1
Soak dried red dates for 2 hours first.
Step 2
Prepare yeast powder into yeast water.
Step 3
Add baking powder to the flour, pour in yeast water and 30 milliliters of water, stir into flocculent, then knead until smooth. Cover the dough with a towel and ferment for 30 minutes.
Step 4
Boil 500 milliliters of clear water until boiling, put the soaked red dates in and boil for 5 minutes, then take them out.
Step 5
Knead and deflate the fermented dough. Knead it into a long strip, cut it into 2-centimeter small pieces, and then roll it into thin slices.
Step 6
Wrap 3 red dates with each piece of dough, and then press and seal.
Step 7
Put the wrapped dough into a steamer, cover it with a towel and let it rise again for 15 minutes.
Step 8
After the water in the steamer boils and steam comes up, steam for 25 minutes. The jujube lotus leaf bun is completed.
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Recipe Variations
Add nuts crumbs: When wrapping red dates, add an appropriate amount of almond crumbs, walnut crumbs or almond crumbs and other nuts crumbs, which can add rich oil aroma and crispy texture, making the taste of jujube lotus leaf buns more intense and mellow.
Add dried fruit cubes: Cut dried cranberries, raisins, dried apricots and other dried fruits into small cubes and mix them with red dates as fillings. This not only increases the layering of sweetness but also brings the unique flavors of different fruits, making the taste more rich and diverse.
Add coarse grain powder: When making dough, replace an equal amount of ordinary flour with some coarse grain powder such as corn flour, millet flour or buckwheat flour, which can increase the dietary fiber content, make the jujube lotus leaf buns more chewy in texture, and make the nutrition more balanced. It is suitable for people who pursue a healthy diet.
Add spices: Add a little cinnamon powder, clove powder or star anise powder and other spices to the dough, which can give jujube lotus leaf buns unique aroma. It blends with the sweetness of red dates to create a different flavor. It is especially suitable for eating in autumn and winter, bringing you a warm and sweet taste experience.
Serving Suggestions
Recommended pairings:
Hot porridge: For breakfast, have jujube lotus leaf buns with a bowl of steaming hot millet porridge or eight-treasure porridge. The soft and glutinous texture of porridge can neutralize the sweetness of jujube lotus leaf buns. The combination of the two is rich in nutrition and gives people a strong sense of fullness.
Soy milk: Drinking a cup of plain soy milk while eating jujube lotus leaf buns is a good choice. Soy milk is rich in protein. Eating it with jujube lotus leaf buns is nutritionally balanced. Moreover, the fragrance of soy milk and the sweetness of jujube lotus leaf buns blend with each other to enhance the taste.
Cold vegetables: When eating jujube lotus leaf buns, pair them with vegetable salads such as cold cucumbers and spinach. The freshness of vegetables can relieve the dryness of jujube lotus leaf buns and enrich the taste. The dietary fiber in vegetables also helps digestion.
Serving suggestions:
Eat while hot: Jujube lotus leaf buns just steamed should be eaten as soon as possible. At this time, the sweetness of red dates is strong, the dough is soft and fluffy, and the taste is the best. If left for a long time, jujube lotus leaf buns will become cool and dry, and both the taste and texture will be greatly reduced.
FAQs:
Look at the appearance: The surface of fermented dough will be relatively smooth, not as rough as at the beginning. Moreover, the dough will be elastic. Press it gently with your finger, and the dough will slowly rebound. If there is a pit when the dough is pressed and it rebounds very slowly or not at all, then it may be over-fermented; if it feels very hard when pressed and there is almost no elasticity, then it may not be fermented well.
Look at the internal structure: You can observe by tearing off a little dough with your finger. The interior of fermented dough is honeycomb-like with many uniform small pores. These pores are formed by the gas produced by yeast fermentation. If there are very few or no pores, it means that fermentation is insufficient.
For small red dates, due to their small size, often multiple ones need to be wrapped to reach a similar amount as large red dates. In this way, the taste and texture of red dates can be more evenly distributed in the steamed buns. However, small red dates are easily broken during processing, resulting in a slightly finer texture of the filling of the steamed buns.
Honey has its unique taste and can make jujube lotus leaf buns sweeter. When using honey, pay attention to the amount. It is sweeter than white sugar. Generally, using half to two-thirds of the amount of white sugar is fine.
During production, when adding honey to the dough, it should be added together with water because honey is sticky. If it is used in the filling, for example, when mixed with red dates, honey should be diluted first to avoid the filling being too sticky. However, honey will lose some nutrients during high-temperature steaming, but it has no major hindrance to adjusting sweetness.
The operation is quite simple. Put the wrapped jujube lotus leaf buns in a steamer basket. Add an appropriate amount of water to the electric rice cooker. The water level should be about 2 centimeters below the steamer basket. Then select the cooking function and press the switch.
After steaming, don't take it out in a hurry. Let the jujube lotus leaf buns simmer in the electric rice cooker for another 2 minutes. In this way, the steamed dough will be softer and the taste will be better.
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