My post about hand-painting sock yarn and setting it in a bamboo steamer got me to thinking about making manapua (also called bao or Chinese steamed buns). The original recipe for the dough and spinach filling is from The New Chinese Cooking for Health and Fitness
, and the char siu filling was adapted from a recipe by Titus Chan that ran in the Honolulu Star-Bulletin.
Dough (makes 20):
4 cups sifted all-purpose flour
1 cup warm water
1 Tbs sugar
1/2 tsp salt
In a large bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water. Add sugar and salt. When mixture begins to bubble, add the flour and mix well. Knead the dough until soft. Cover with a damp cloth and let rise until double (about 1.5 hours). When it has risen, punch down and knead again. Roll into a long snake 2″ in diameter and cut into 20 equal pieces. Let rest while you make the filling. Flatten each piece in the palms of your hands and roll into 5″ diameter rounds. Leave the center thicker than the edges (will make it easier to fill and shape).
Spinach filling (for 10 manapua)
1/2 lb frozen spinach, thawed and drained
1/2 Tbs toasted sesame oil (the dark stuff)
1 tsp salt
Squeeze as much water as you can out of the spinach. Mix with sesame oil and salt.
Char siu filling (for 10 manapua)
1 tsp vegetable oil (roughly – I don’t measure it)
1/4 pound char siu, diced
1/2 tsp soy sauce (I don’t really measure this)
1 tsp oyster sauce (…and I don’t really measure this either)
3/4 cup water
2 tsp sesame oil (again, the dark stuff)
1 Tbs cornstarch dissolved in 2 Tbs water
Stir-fry the pork and seasonings in oil until hot and bubbly, then add the cornstarch. Stir until cornstarch thickens. Take off the heat and let cool.
Fill:
Lay a flattened round of dough in your left hand (or your right, if you are left-hand dominant) and place filling in the center of the dough. Cup your left hand and fold the edges toward the center with your right hand. Twist the top shut. Put a square of waxed paper on the bottom of the bun and mark the top in some way to let you know which filling is which (a dot of food coloring, for example). Repeat until all are filled. Let rise 10 minutes while you set up the steamer. Lay damp cheesecloth on the bottom of the steamer baskets and arrange buns so that they have space to expand. Steam over high heat for 20 minutes – don’t forget to check the water level! Step back after removing the lid and let the steam escape.
In her rush to get to the meeting, Vron forgot to grab dpns. She tried using crochet hooks instead; fortunately someone else at the meeting had dpns in the right size so she could finish the hat:
Lovely. Big points for getting some holiday gift knitting done!
Ms. Akamai Knitter wore one of her gorgeous shawls. The air conditioning in Ward Center is quite aggressive, so it’s not like she was showing off or anything. [update: that's a Shaped Triangle Shawl, link to Akamai Knitter's blog]
Knittybird continued her progress on the Balthazar Vest from Twinkle’s Big City Knits.
Overall, pretty big turnout for our group. Jen, Puanani, Wendi, Joy, Yarn Over Pull Through, Keohinani (with Mae) and Acornbud were all there too – did I miss anyone? As usual, it seemed like it was over so quickly!
Tentative "pic-knit" meeting set for Wa’ahila Ridge State Recreational Area on Saturday, July 14th. Check the Aloha Knitters Yahoo! group for more information – due to the brushfires last week, we may have to relocate or reschedule.
The commuter project is almost done:
This is the unglamorous pre-blocking shot. I think I want to do more with the brim. I added a lining of Blue Sky Alpacas Dyed Cotton in 1×1 ribbing to be nice and comfy against the ears, since this beanie is made to be worn low over the eyebrows and ears, what Mr. Bob likes to call "sensitive thug". I prefer to call it cloche. Semantics.
You can see the distinctive "X" shape of the double increases done on alternate rounds. I used yf, k1, yf for the increases (yf = yarn forward – like a yarn over, done in the reverse direction. If that makes no sense to you, you can just do a yo and on the following row remember to knit it through the back loop so that it twists and does not leave a hole). As you can see, I still need to thread the tail through the cast-on and tighten it, as well as give this a good washing and blocking.
This is the with the hem/lining turned up. I used odd scraps in sky blue, lemonade yellow, and honeydew green.
Pattern: my own Top-Down Ribbed Beanie
Modifications: Done in stockinette, hem added. Increases worked as yf, k1, yf (yf = yarn forward, like a yarn over in the reverse direction).
Yarns: Ella Rae Classic in Turquoise Green, 1 skein (with some left over) and Blue Sky Alpacas Dyed Cotton in Sky Blue, Lemonade Yellow, and Honeydew Green, probably about 20 – 30 yards total but don’t take my word for it.
Needles: 16" Addi Turbo Circular size US 6 – link is to Knitter’s Review needle review
No, it’s not Goddess. Goddess is sitting neatly packed in a basket in my room, waiting for me to get my act together and do the big cleaning and sorting job that I so sorely need to do. So, given that I really need to get my living quarters squared away, what do you think I do? Why, I go to Isle Knits on my way home from work, and while neatly avoiding the basket of sock yarn near the door (Opal, I starting turning around in the shop and said out loud "now, Opal told me to look out for the basket of sock…there it is!"), I stumbled into an assortment of Ella Rae Classic worsted wool. It’s good quality, I think comparable in quality and price point to Cascade 220 and Elann Peruvian Highland Wool It comes in 62 colors. ! I cast on for a beanie at the bus stop. I’m using the Top-Down Ribbed Beanie Recipe, but in stockinette instead of ribbing. I’m thinking I’ll do a knit hem, with a cotton yarn on the inside of the hem. It’s the perfect project for me to take to the next Aloha Knitters meeting. At the last meeting, I got exactly half a round done on a crochet beanie. I don’t crochet without looking, but I can knit stockinette in the round by touch (and most of the time, do a decent job of it).
