Hoppy New Year Rabbit with red bean paste

March of the Rabbits

It is another couple of days to the year of the  white fluffy adorable  rabbit . Wise old men says it is the best year  for marriage, because if all goes according to plan, little bunnies  will be born in the following year of the dragon - the most auspicious year in the zodiac.

Rabbit Sentinels

Bunny people are sweet, gentle and meek - I would attest to that because  mum and hubby are born in the year of the rabbit. I am a dragon person - fiery, always on the move and , and , and all the good things.

A bunny discussion : Who's the odd one out ?

To celebrate the Rabbit and all  things good,  I made a rabbit version of moon cake using the snow skin recipe with red bean filling. It is good eaten just like that, but hubby had the bunny marooned on an island of red bean soup just like the rice dumpling dessert. 

Red bean Rabbit

Makes about 10 snow skin - red bean filled rabbits .

Rabbit skin component :

Cold dough -

80 Hong Kong Flour (steam for 15 min , covered. Leave to cool. Sift twice )

80 cooked glutinous rice flour or koufen

110 g icing sugar

1/2  tablespoon ghee

5  tablespoons cold water

Hot dough -

1 T Hong Kong Flour (mix with 1 T hot water to form hot dough.  Use a fork and stir in a bowl. )

Filling -

Red bean paste, rolled in little balls

Method

Place Hong Kong flour in a bowl, seal with cellophane and steam over a pot of boiling water for 5 minutes. Remove cellophane, taking care not to wet the cooked flour. Cool.

Sieve glutinous ( koufen ) flour , Hong Kong flour, icing sugar. Add shortening, rub until crumbles form.

Add cold water, stirring constantly with a  fork. Knead.

Add 1T of  very hot water to 1 T of Hong Kong flour. Stir with a fork to form hot dough.

Add hot dough to cold dough. Knead until combined dough is smooth. It takes a while of kneading to get the moisture evenly distributed so hold back adding some more water.

Wrap the dough with cellophane. Rest  it for 10 min in the fridge. Tick tock, tick tock …

Measure out dough by putting a lump of dough into rabbit mould. Weigh and divide weight by 3.  It will be 1 part dough and 2 parts red bean filling.

Dust work surface with koufen. Portion dough and red bean fillings accordingly.

Flatten dough to a disc, edges thinner than centre.

Put red bean filling at the centre of disc. Gather up the edges of  the dough , just like how the Dimsum master does to his  Xiaolongbao, to wrap up the red bean filling.

Pinch to seal edges. Dip  filled dough with koufen flour.

Press the filled dough  into  rabbit mould, the ugly sealed side underneath the rabbit.

Knock out  snow rabbit from the mould, catching it with your hand. Dot the rabbit eyes with red dye. Chill before serving. Keeps 5 days in the chiller.