Salted Egg Pastry ~ 'Harm Tarn Sou'

This is my second attempt at making this pastry and I was elated when I finally got it right after making some drastic adjustments to the first recipe. 

I wouldn't call this perfect but at least this time around it was up to my expectation.  Upon cutting it up, I was so happy to see the layers of pastry.  They were indeed crispy and stayed that way for the next two days ...... I got it!

Wrap up oil dough with the water dough.

Roll flat, then roll up like a swiss roll, turn it 90 deg and roll again.

Wrap up with the red bean paste and  salted egg yolk.  Apply egg glaze, sprinkle on some almond flakes and into the oven they go .........

After baking and cooling on the wire rack ...............

This is perfect with a cup of hot Chinese tea ........ Mmm!  Not too difficult to make, here's how ...

Water dough

• 160 gm plain flour - sifted
• 1 Tbsp or 10 gm caster sugar
• 1/4 tsp golden syrup
• 40 gm shortening
• 50 ml water
• 1/8  tsp salt

Oil dough

• 130 gm plain flour - sifted
• 60 gm shortening

Filling

• 190 to 200 gm red bean paste or lotus paste
• 2 salted egg yolks, washed and steamed with a dash of sesame oil

Egg glaze  - 1 egg yolk + 1 Tbsp water + a pinch of salt

Decoration  - Almond flakes/sesame seeds/pumpkin seeds

Method for water dough

1. In a mixing bowl, mix the sifted flour with the sugar and salt.  Add in golden syrup and shortening.  Mix till well combined.
2. Slowly add in the water and knead to a soft dough till it doesn't stick to the hands.
3. Let dough rest for 30 mins,, covered with a damp cloth.

Method for oil dough

1. Mix the sifted flour and shortening, knead to a soft dough till it doesn't stick to the hands.
2. Let dough rest for 30 mins., covered with a damp cloth.

Preparing the Filling

Meanwhile, rinse the salted egg yolks, add in a dash of sesame oil and steam for 2 mins.  Leave aside to cool and once cooled, cut into quarters, i.e. 8 quarters.
Weigh out 8 portions of bean paste, 20 gm each.  Wrap a portion of  egg yolk in it and lightly roll to form a ball.  Repeat process for the other portions.

Assembling the pastry

1. Divide water dough into 30gm each, form into a ball.
2. Likewise, divide oil dough into 20 gm each, form into a ball.
3. Flatten the water dough a bit, put in the oil dough and wrap it up and form  into a ball.
4. Roll out a piece of dough into an oblong and roll up like a swiss roll.  Give it a 90 deg turn, roll out again and roll up into a roll.
5. Flatten the roll lightly into a round and place a ball of paste in the centre, wrap it up and place seams down onto a lightly greased baking sheet.  Repeat the process for the rest of the dough.  (Do keep the rest of the dough covered while waiting for their turn, to prevent them from drying up).
6. Apply egg glaze, twice, sprinkle on some almond flakes.
7. Bake in preheated oven @ 180 deg C for 25 to 30 mins. or till golden brown.
8. Remove from oven and let cool on wire rack.
9. Yields 9 pastries

Note:  As I managed to get 9 pieces of dough, the odd one is without egg yolk, so I used 30 gm of bean paste.