Screwpine fruit and pandan steamed buns

Ever since I joined Instagram I have met some pretty amazing local chefs who have worked hard and made a name of their own. They have inspired me to make this recipe mainly because I share the love for this local fruit, kashikeyo or screw pine fruit. 

I have seen it being turned into ice cream, cakes, cinnamon rolls (with screwpine is used as a filling, and pandan is infused to make the dough) and pandan buns. 

So I have pondered what I can make with this fruit. These are ladies who have culinary backgrounds while mine is self-taught and adapting to recipes hahaha. 

Anyway, I wanted to really highlight the fruit so I didn't want the flavour to be over-powdered by anything else so I made a kind of custard. Well, a vegan custard using cornflour (corn starch). My friend Aminath had given me a pack of sliced screwpine and I had it stored in my freezer, so I didn't have to do go through the whole process of cleaning and slicing which requires a whole lot of skill and I still haven't figured it out it yet because I always let someone else do it for me. 

                                              

Anyways back to making the screwpine curd. I used a cup of finely sliced screwpine fruit and stewed it for 30  minutes in water along with pandan leaf, a little cardamon, and cinnamon.

                                                

 I cooled it down and let it steep and flavor the water for about 4 hours.  Then I blended it and passed it through a sieve. I used  2 cups of this liquid mixed with some cornflour, sugar and a touch of food colouring to give a little colour. Cooked it on the stovetop till thick and then cooled it down and chilled it for a few hours till it set.

                                                    

 Then using lightly oiled fingers I rolled it into small balls and chilled again while I finished making the dough. 

                                                    

To make the buns, I used pandan to try and give a green tinge and flavor the bun. I added some coconut milk powder to give a coconutty taste. 

                                                     

                                                     

Unfortunately, the pandan didn't give a bright green colour as I would have liked so I tried to add a little green food colouring but it kind of backfired on me as I added it too late and it left green streaks rather than turning the whole thing green. 

                                                

    

Anyway, the dough was left to rise, then shaped into balls and again rested for a few minutes before I rolled each ball into a circle. I saw in some of the pao bun demos on YouTube that they roll the dough in such a way that there is a small bump or is thicker in the middle and quite thing in the edges.

                                                

After rolling each dough, I filled it with a ball of screwpine curd 

                                                  

and folded the edges in and shaped it into a ball and placed it in a paper cake case.

                                                      

                    

                                                     

                    

 All the filled buns were left to rise for about 30 minutes and then placed on a steamer rack and steamed over simmering water for 15 minutes. 

Proving before steaming

                                                       

The result is this soft pillowy bun with a sweet filling. 

Yield: 13 buns

Author: Nammi

Screwpine fruit and pandan steamed buns

Ingredients:

Screwpine fruit curd

• 1 cup screwpine fruit sliced
• water
• 2 cardamon pods
• small piece cinnamon
• 10 inch pandan leaf knotted
• 50g cornflour
• 125g sugar
• pinch red food colouring

Pandan and coconut Pao bun

• 1 3/4 cup plain flour, sifted
• 1/4 cup coconut milk powder
• 1 level teaspoon yeast 
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 3 tbsp sugar
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup water
• 1 cup of finely chopped pandan leaf 
• 2 tbsp corn or sunflower oil

Instructions:

Screwpine fruit

1. Place screwpine fruit, about 3 cups of water, pandan leaf, cardamon and cinnamon in a saucepan and bring to a boil over medium heat and then simmer for about 20 minutes, till the water has reduced a little. 
2. Switch off put the lid on and let the mixture cool and steep for 4 hours.
3. Remove the pandan leaf, and the spices and place the rest inside a blender and blend. Pass through a fine-mesh sieve, you should get about 2 cups of liquid.
4. Place this inside a small saucepan, along with sugar and mix the cornflour in till it lump-free. Add food colouring place over low heat and cook stirring constantly till its very thick.  Switch off cool down and chill for 2 hours. 
5. Remove from the fridge. Lightly oil the hands and shape them into small, ping ball-sized balls.  Return to chill in the fridge. 

Pandan and coconut pao buns

1. Place the pandan and 1/2 cup water and (if you want a little green food coloring in a blender  and blend. Strain , set side
2. Place flour, sugar, salt, yeast ( I used fast action which doesnt require presoaking) baking powder, and coconut milk powder. Mix and make a well in the centre. Add 1 tbsp oil and add pandan water a little at a time, mixing with a spoon till it starts to shape into a dough. 
3. Place on a oiled surface and knead to smooth dough. 
4. Place in a lightly oiled bowl, and pat the extra oil on top, using your fingers and cover with a damp cloth and leave to prove for 1 hour. 

Shaping and cooking the buns

1. Remove the dough, after an hour, and punch it down and give a knead and make about 12 - 13 balls, a bit bigger than the ones you shaped the screw pine curd.
2. Cover with damp cloth and rest for another 10 minutes.
3. Roll each into circle, keeping in mind to thin the edges while making the centre thick. See above pictures.
4. Place a ball of curd in the centre and carefully gather the edges together till you cover the whole curd ball. Remove any excess bits of dough at the end. Smooth it out and place in a cup cake. 
5. Prove the dough covered with a damp cloth for about another 30 minutes. 
6. Fill a steamer with water,  bring to a boil and reduce heat to medium and let the water simmer. Arrange the buns in the steamer rack and steam for 15 minutes.
7. Remove the buns from the steamer , cool slightly and serve warm. 

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