Chinese Puto Food

HOW TO MAKE PUTO (STEAMED RICE CAKE)

Steps:

• Sift the dry ingredients together. Sifting your rice flour, sugar, and baking powder will help you combine the dry ingredients, get rid of any lumps, and get some air into those ingredients. Just pour them into a bowl through a sifter, scraping a fork along the bottom of the sifter as they fall, allowing them to sift more easily. Mix the ingredients well until they're thoroughly incorporated. If you don't have rice flour, you can use regular flour instead, though this is considered less traditional than using rice flour. If you're really serious about making puto, then you can combine the rice flour and water in a bowl, cover it, and let it sit at room temperature overnight. If you want to do this, you should combine about 1 lb (16 oz) of rice flour with 1 1/2 cups of water.
• Add the butter, coconut milk, egg, and water and mix all the ingredients thoroughly. Use a wooden spoon, whisk, or electric mixer to mix the ingredients until they are thoroughly incorporated. If you don't have coconut milk, you can use half as much evaporated milk, or just regular milk, but that won't give the puto the distinct traditional flavor it is known for. If you'd like the puto to be a bit more gelatinous, you can add 1 tbsp. of tapioca to the entire batch. Though food coloring isn't necessary, it can make this treat more colorful. Some common colors for puto are lime green, yellow, or purple. If you'd like to create a multitude of colors, you can even divide the batch into four parts, and place 1-2 drops of unique colors in three of them; you can leave the fourth batch without coloring, to create a nice "white" color for contrast.
• Pour the mixture in molds or small cupcake pans. If you're not using cupcake paper, you can grease the molds with butter to prevent the treats from sticking to them. You should fill the mixture to the top or a little bit below the molds. They'll expand as they cook, so you don't want them to leave some room for them to grow. Some would even say to only fill the molds three-quarters of the way.
• Put cheese on top of the mixture. Cut the cheese into little squares about the size of a half-dollar, a little larger than a quarter. If you're using regular cheese, then you should put it on the mold before you start steaming. However, if you're using Quickmelt cheese, then you should put the little squares on at the end of the steaming process, when there are just two minutes left. That's all you'll need to melt the Quickmelt cheese.
• Prepare the steamer. Make sure you've put the necessary amount of water in the steamer and have set it to cook. You can line it with cheesecloth to protect the molds and use more cloth to cover it. Or you can just stick to using an ordinary lid to cover the steamer. You can start preparing the steamer as you mix the ingredients together to save time.
• Put the molds in the steamer and steam for 20 minutes. You can start checking up on them after 10 minutes. Once you can put in a toothpick and have it come out clean when you take it out, then the puto is ready. Just remember to leave two minutes for cooking at the end if you're using Quickmelt cheese.
• Remove the puto from the molds. Give them a minute or two to cool down before you do this. When they're ready to handle, arrange them on a serving plate.
• Serve. This treat is best served warm, so you should enjoy it immediately. Puto can be enjoyed on its own at any time of day, but many people love to have it with coffee. You can also enjoy it along with dinugan, pork blood stew, if you like.

SIOPAO (FILIPINO STEAMED DUMPLINGS)

Steps:

• Dissolve yeast in the water; stir in the sugar and beat in 2 1/2 cups of rice flour to make a soft sponge. Set aside in a warm place to double in bulk, about 40 minutes. Mix in 2 more cups of rice flour and 1/4 cup of shortening and place the dough on a greased work surface; knead in the remaining 1/4 cup of shortening to make a smooth dough. Cut the dough into 15 equal-sized pieces; form each piece into a ball.
• Heat the vegetable oil in a skillet over medium heat; cook and stir the onion and garlic in the hot oil until translucent, about 5 minutes. Stir in the chicken, soy sauce, 2 teaspoons of sugar, green onion, salt, and pepper. If the mixture is juicy, add cornstarch to thicken.
• Working on a lightly greased work surface, flatten a dough ball into a circle about 4 inches in diameter with the heel of your hand. Place about 1 tablespoon of filling into the center of the dough ball, bring the edges of the dough together at the top, and pinch and twist to seal in the filling. Place each filled dumpling onto waxed paper with the pinched seal at the bottom while you finish the rest of the dumplings.
• Spray a multi-layered bamboo steamer with cooking spray, place the steamer on top of a large saucepan, and pour in water to several inches below the steamer. Bring the water to a boil.
• Working in several batches, place 3 or 4 filled buns into each steamer layer without letting the buns touch each other or the edge of the steamer, cover the steamer, and let the buns steam over medium-low heat until puffy and the dough is springy, about 15 minutes per batch. Serve warm.

PUTO

Steps:

• Grease small cake, puto molds, or ramekins for use in a steamer. Mix the flour, sugar, and baking powder together in a bowl. In a separate, large bowl, scramble the eggs with the evaporated milk and water. Fold the dry mixture into the eggs until evenly blended. Fill the prepared molds 2/3 of the way up with the batter and top with shredded cheese.
• Fill a wok or a sauce pan that will hold a steamer basket with a few inches of water. Bring the water to a boil over medium-high heat. Place the molds into a steamer basket and place over the boiling water and cover.
• Steam until a toothpick inserted in the center of one of the putos comes out clean, about 30 minutes. Cool on a wire rack and serve warm or at room temperature.

EASY WHITE PUTO

Steps:

• Combine all the above ingredients into a bowl. Grease a backing tin of small muffin cups or use cupcake liners.
• Pour the Puto mix in each on to half full. Place inside a larger pan with at least an inch of water, and cover with foil. Place in 350 degree oven and steam approximately 8 to 10 minutes. Remove and serve.