Steamed Black Sesame Custard Bun (黑芝麻奶黄包 Black Sesame Nai Huang Bao）

My son requested to have Creamy Custard Bao for breakfast yesterday, and I promised him I'll make a nice one for him today. It has been nearly a year since I last made the bun with this custard filling recipe. It is different from Carol's recipe because of the coconut milk added. It has a stronger coconut's aroma and ...involved more work, the custard needs to be steamed, mashed and kneaded. Of course, for my son, the extra work is nothing.

I made the baos with two types of filling, one is with red bean paste (leftover from making mooncakes) and the other one is creamy custard. Added black sesame powder to the bao dough turned the bao into a stunning grey, with the yellow custard filling it looks  beautiful and perfect for my afternoon tea. 

Recently, I read a Chinese translation version book on "Unbeatenable Love" （爱无敌！给孩子满满的爱，孩子就会改变）it was written by an Japanese author 本吉园子. It is a good book to share with all parents who think they have a "difficult child" at home. The author said, all the child wants is only an unconditional love from parent...a hug, a kiss, a snuggle, a story, will resolve the tantrum or difficult situations. After finished the book, I hug and kiss my son when he requests my attention, when he throw his tantrum, when he is tire, especially when he wants me to "see" him working. Amazingly it works, he becomes more coorperative and follow the instructions. Thanks God for showing me this book and it is always on time.   

Recipe from Ah Tze's kitchen play

Ingredients for custard filling:

150g custard powder

3 tbsp icing sugar
4 tbsp milk powder
150ml coconut milk (used 100ml)
50g evaporated milk (used 30g)
2 eggs
oil or 2 tbsp melted butter


Steps:
1. Place custard powder, sugar and milk powder in a bowl. Add coconut milk, whisk until sugar dissolved. Add evaporated milk, stir to combine.
2. Add 1 egg at a time, whisk until incorporated.
3. Add the melted butter or oil.
4. Sieve the liquid. Pour into a lightly grease pan and steam for 15-20 mins. (it depends on your steamer)
5. Take the pan out from steamer and mash the custard until it is crumble and knead the custard on clean work surface until smooth.

Bao/Bun Ingredients:

400g bao flour
100g black sesame powder
1 tsp instant dry yeast
280ml warm water (gradually add in)
30g sugar
some vegetable shortening


Steps:
1. Add all above dry ingredients into a bowl, graduately pour in the water. Knead until it form a nonsticky dough, add the vegetable shortening and knead until the dough is smooth and elastic.
2. Place the dough in a bowl, spray with water and cover with damp cloth. Let it proof for 45 mins.
3. Once proofing complete, punch out the air and form a long dough. Divide the dough into 18~20 nos. (depends on how big you want the baos to be)
4. Flatten the dough, stuff in custard filling/ red bean paste in the middle, wrap it and roll into a ball. (Haha, I'm not good in shaping the bao)
5. Place bao dough on a piece of baking paper and let it proof for another 30 mins. (if you had added 1 tsp baking powder into the it will shorten the proofing time)
6. Place bao dough in the preheat steamer and steam for 10~12 mins.