Chinese steamed roll （銀絲卷）

'Chinese steamed roll' - how much more confusing can it be? :P By that, I mean 'ngan si guen' (Cantonese) - 'yinsijuan' in Mandarin. It's supposedly a staple in Beijing cuisine (according to Wikipedia), but I've always had it in Shanghainese restaurants in Hong Kong. Honestly, I don't think it's a Beijing food - food up north is always rough, and the steamed rolls I've had were always soft and fluffy. Perhaps they change the ingredients to suit Hong Kong taste buds, I don't know!

Anyway. These rolls normally require a lot of stretching of the dough, and lard is of course commonly used (as in other kinds of Chinese buns). My version here is totally inauthentic - with chocolate it surely is not? - but it's easy to make with a pasta machine. It's still achievable if you don't have a pasta machine, it's just that the machine does the cutting and kneading work for you!

The ingredients are exactly the same as steamed buns.

You need:
Plain flour 300g
Baking powder 1/2 teaspoon
Yeast 7g (1 sachet)
Granulated sugar 40-50g (depends on how sweet you want your buns to be)
Water / soya milk / milk 140ml (I usually use soya milk)
Optional: ground cinnamon, green tea powder, coffee powder, chocolate powder...


Mix all dry ingredients together thoroughly, WITHOUT THE OPTIONAL FLAVOURING. 


Divide the mixture into 2 equal portions, and add flavouring to one portion. 


Add the liquid (70ml for each portion) and use a spatula to mix everything together thoroughly. 

Start mixing with your hand when everything is combined. When the doughs are formed, wrap them in cling film and let them rest for 10 minutes.


Put each portion into the pasta machine, and repeat the process for at least 20 times. 


When both doughs are smooth enough (after perhaps 30 times in the machine), shred one dough with the cutter of the pasta machine. Oil this dough evenly, so that the 'noodles' don't stick together. 

Put the 'noodles' on top of the other dough.

Wrap it up. 

Steam for 30 minutes. 

Done!

It doesn't look too good, does it... :P 

The 'skin' of my roll's a bit tough and dry...don't know why! And without stretching the dough the traditional way, it surely doesn't taste like the real thing, but it's the best I could do! :P