Ham Chim Peng (咸煎饼） and Horse Shoe Fritters (马脚）

UPDATED ON 4-5-2016

A new recipe for the dough have been updated.

INTRODUCTION

I have used the basic dough to prepare two of the Chinese fritters that are usually sold together with the You tiao. One is the savoury cinnamon looked alike five spice powder flavoured round fritters – Ham Chim Peng （咸煎饼） or Savoury fried fritters and another is one that resembles horse shoe with a sweet open fillings in between the dough called horse shoe fritters (马脚）。

I am happy with both the fritters or Chinese donuts though the it is not as fluffy as commercially sold. It was not because more ingredients were used to prepare the dough and some even used ammonia bicarbonate (臭粉） to increase the fluffiness and alkaline water to enhance the springiness. I thought if we have a common dough that can be used for both Western bread and Chinese bread, why not we just have one universal recipe.

You can either used this common bread dough recipe or search for other fritters recipe and as far as I am concerned, I found that this recipe can be used for these two Chinese fritters.

WHAT IS REQUIRED

Servings: about 20 mini size of ham chim peng and 20 mini size horseshoes fritters each

For Ham Cheem Peng

400 grams of basic bread dough (Please refer here for the BASIC BREAD DOUGH RECIPE) – not in picture or recipe 2 below
2 tablespoon of five spice powder
3 cubes of fermented bean curd (red or white) (optional)
1 teaspoon of salt
1 teaspoon of sugar (optional)

For horseshoe fritters

400 grams of basic bread dough (Please refer here for the BASIC BREAD DOUGH RECIPE) – not in picture or recipe 2 below
50 grams of plain flour
50 grams of tapioca flour
75 grams of white sugar
5 tablespoons of plain water
3 tablespoons of sesame seeds

Recipe 2

150 grams of bread flour
150 grams of plain or all purpose flour
160 grams or ml of plain water
4 grams of instant yeast
1/4 teaspoon of baking soda or ammonia carbonate (optional)
80 grams of castor sugar

STEPS OF PREPARATION

Ham Chim Peng

Put all the ingredients (five spice powder, salt, fermented bean curd and sugar) in a mixing bowl, mashed until well mixed. Set aside

Take out 400 grams of bread dough (either fresh or frozen), roll it flat using a rolling pin with about 5mm thickness. Spread the five spice powder mixture as evenly as possible. Roll it up like rolling a Swiss roll and seal the edges at tight as possible. Use a sharp knife to cut into 20 pieces. Turn the cut pieces with the contour lines facing you, use a rolling pin to roll it flat. Let it proof until double in size..

Note:

When rolling, ensure that the white part stick together and the spreading cannot be to thick. if it is too thick, when deep frying the dough will split.out when it expands.

For Horse Shoe Fritters

Put all the filling ingredients in a bowl and mix until it form a thick paste. Set aside. You may want to leave some sesame seeds for later sprinkling on the dough.

Take out 400 grams of bread dough (either fresh or frozen), roll it flat using a rolling pin with about 5mm thickness. Spread the sticky fillings on top of the rolled dough. Leaves some space near the edges for sealing purposes. Cut the dough at about 2 cm wide. Take a portion, seal both ends properly with the fillings in the centre. Lightly use the palm to flatten it. If it is too sticky, flour your hand before flattening. Sprinkle with more sesame seeds and let it proof until double in size.

For deep frying

For deep frying, heat some cooking oil in a pot, use a chopstick to test if the oil is hot enough for deep frying. When a chopstick inserted into the hot oil, if bubbles come out, it will be considered as ready. Deep fried the dough until golden brown under medium heat. Drain the oil and best served warm after it was cooled completely. (Note that for horse shoe fritters, the fillings will be very hard right after deep frying. However, it will gradually soften in an hour or two. )

CONCLUSION

Personally, I am happy with this adventure especially the horse shoe fritters. May be you want to give it a try too?

Hope you like the post today. Cheers and have a nice day.

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