Thanks to Mel of Through The Kitchen Door who shared this recipe recently, I was inspired to make these Hakka Hee Ban which has been on my to-do list for quite sometime. With Mel's helpful advice (thank you Mel) I started preparing the overnight sponge dough immediately. Since I have some fresh pandan leaves, I decided to make Pandan flavoured Hee Ban instead of pink ones. The whole process right from mixing the dough up to steaming the buns took more than five hours!
Ingredients for sponge dough: (A)
150g plain flour
1 tsp dried yeast
125g water
Ingredients: (B)
150g plain flour
150g glutinous rice flour
120g caster sugar
170g pandan juice
vegetable oil for greasing hands
squares of baking paper
- In a mixing bowl, combine all ingredients in (A). Cover and keep refrigerated overnight.
- Mix all the ingredients (A) and (B) together in a mixing bowl. Using a dough hook, knead until a soft and smooth dough is formed. Cover and leave to proof until doubled.
- Divide the soft dough into 18 equal portions and shape into round balls. Place the balls onto the baking paper and using your palm (which has been greased with some cooking oil), flatten the balls slightly.
- Cover the dough and proof again until they doubled in size.
- Steam over medium high heat for 15 minutes or until cooked.
Some of the steamed buns had dimpled and wrinkly skin, much to my disappointment. I was told that it was caused by the steam condensation which dripped onto the buns.
Hi Veronica
ReplyDeleteYou are most welcome.....I am much pleased too that I had succeeded this time round ( in fact Ive never eaten this hee pan before). If you intend to make this again, to avoid water drip to your buns, try to use a big kitchen towel to wrap around the steaming cover.
Thanks for your helpful hints, appreciate your kindness. Next time maybe I will steam in my bamboo steamer.
Deletethis xi ban looks so soft, mostly the middle one will be like that right?
ReplyDeleteYes, the texture is really soft and chewy.
DeleteVeronica, my children's favourite. Thanks for sharing. Will surprise my girls one day with my own homemade xi ban :)
ReplyDeleteHi Veronica, honestly I haven't tried xi ban before cos' I don't know whether it is a common kuih in Penang. Is it similar to steamed buns but more chewy and using glutinous rice flour?
ReplyDeleteHi Kimmy, I know that the xi ban sold in the kuih stalls are usually pink. You are right, similar to steamed buns but chewy.
DeleteVeronica: Can I know whether the dimpled & wrinkly batch of xi ban came from 2nd batch of steaming? I had a similar problem when I steamed my buns in the past.My 1st round of would come out very nicely with smooth skin but the 2nd round were dimpled & wrinkly. So I wrap a large piece of tea towel on the lid & it sorts of solve my problem.
ReplyDeleteMy mum is a hakka but I was never been introduced xi ban until I read it from other bloggers.
Unfortunately it happened to both rounds of steaming, only a few turned out fine. I am planning to use my bamboo steamer the next time. Anyway thanks for your tip Jessie.
ReplyDeleteThey look so adorable with jade green pandan colour.
ReplyDeleteVeronica, I would love to eat the hee ban with some kaya!
ReplyDeleteHaha my husband suggested red bean filling.
Deletehi veronica, maybe you can try to reduce the flame as too high heat will cause the water condensation on the cover. Also do not open your open the lid wide open once it's done, usually after a few mins, you can open a small gap to allow some steam escape first, good luck yaa!
ReplyDeleteThank you very much Lena for your kind advice. I am going to try again and will let you know. BTW my heat was quite high, maybe that's the reason. Thanks again!
DeleteHi Veronica, your pandan hee ban look good. I love this.. very addictive and hard to stop munching. I usually made extra, keep in fridge. :))
ReplyDeleteHave a nice weekend.
You are quite right, it is addictive and I can't stop at one. Can you freeze them?
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