Mandarin Duck Pastry Boxes
Pastry from the Manchu Han Imperial Feast, formed into mandarin duck shapes with two fillings.
Ingredients
flour
150 g
cooked pork lard
50 g
red bean paste filling (divided into 15 portions)
75 g
osmanthus sugar filling (divided into 15 portions)
75 g
peanut oil (about 40 g used; for warm-oil frying)
750 g
Instructions
1
Make the pastry
Sift the flour through a fine sieve, then divide it to prepare a water-oil dough and an oil-shortening dough separately. Divide each dough into 15 portions. Wrap each oil-shortening portion inside a water-oil portion, roll into a ball, then roll out into a long strip. Roll up into a tube shape, gently press flat, then roll out again into a long sheet. Next, roll from one long end until about one-fifth of the length remains unrolled. Roll the unrolled end out into a thin sheet, cut it straight down the middle with a knife, pull the two halves outward lengthwise, and attach them to opposite ends of the rolled tube. Slice the tube in half through the middle, then press each half by hand into a round disc with the layered side facing down. Roll each disc into a round skin, making 30 skins in total.
2
Fill, shape, and fry
Divide the red bean paste filling and the osmanthus sugar filling each into 15 portions, and wrap each portion in a prepared round skin, forming dumpling shapes. Press one red bean paste dumpling and one osmanthus sugar dumpling together with their filling sides facing inward and their edges overlapping. Pinch firmly by hand to form a round box shape with a crack down the middle, then pinch the round edge into a flower-patterned rim to finish the raw pastry boxes. Deep-fry in warm peanut oil until golden brown, then remove and drain.
