Turkey Asado Puffs

For weeks, images of dim sums  have been taunting me   like a bad conscience  and among the hundreds of dim sum out there, Char seiw sou and  Har gow  gave  me, sleep difficulty the most . Har gow's thin, almost translucent skin that encloses its fresh, sea sweet, almost crunchy shrimp filling is a sight to behold and a  delight to the palate.The baked Char Siew Sou on the other hand has a  thin flaky crust, a sweet and smokey Chinese  barbecued pork  filling ( Char siew)  and lastly, sprinkled with aromatic sesame seeds that adorns the pastry like tiny jewels. Excuse as I wipe that drool of my face. 

Dim Sum Chefs are as treasured as the terracotta army in China and excellent ones are taken from their roots to spread  their delightful  gastronomic  parcels into the world. To me, Dim Sum Chef and their intricate dumplings  are  the  world's greatest discovery....next to hair dresser and their glorious hair rebond.  To make  dim sum requires  patience, steady but quick fingers, love  and respect for this culinary art, so making it is no easy feat.Even Gordon Ramsay suck at his first futile attempt to make dim sum . Watch this.

 And since I'm not Mr. Ramsay, I  dare not  play with my happy disposition so I left dim sum making to the masters. So even if I've craving nothing but freshly made gar gow for days, making it myself is completely off the menu  and in as much as wanted to make the   char siew sou, making Chinese BBQ meat and the sou's thin crusty pastry  intimidates the bejesus out of me. I decided to make something similar yet somehow different pastry.It however, was good enough to   put my cravings off char siew sou for a while after eating my fourth. What I mean is, although I was graving for this:

I gave up knowing full well there's no way I could make it myself without the help and guidance of a Cantonese dim sum chef relative, which I haven't got anyway and settled with this:

  Asado Puff. Like Char Siew Sou, it too ,has a flaky and rich crust and a savory filling. Here's how I made mine.

Make the asado filling

1. Make asado filling according to this recipe . You can use pork or other poultry such as chicken. Cool filling off  completely before using.

Make the dough

2.  Sift 450 g of flour and 1/4 teaspoon salt together and rub 110 cold butter and 220 g shortening ( lard )together into the flour  until everything resembles a coarse, moist sand. You can use food processor, few pulses will do.

3. Beat 1 egg and stir in 2 tablespoon of sugar .  Stir in  beaten egg and sugar into the fat and flour mixture. Add in 1/4 cup of ice cold water, 1 tablespoon at a time until everything hold together. Press the dough into a ball and wrap with a cling film and refrigerate dough for about half an hour.

4. Sprinkle your  working area with flour. Roll  cold dough using a rolling pin. Fold, turn and roll the pastry again and again .You will end up with a slab of pastry which has been folded and rolled into  many thin, flaky layers .  Roll pastry into a thin  rectangular sheet about 2 mm thick.

5. Cut pastry into squares. Make sure that each square could hold about 1 tablespoon of filling.

6. Make egg wash using 1 egg yolk and 2 tablespoons of milk. Brush the edges of the pastry square with egg wash, fold pastry and seal it by pressing the seams together using the tip of a fork.  Use the tip of the fork to create little holes on top of each pastry. These little holes will allow steam to escape and prevent your pastries from gaping open when they are baked. Brush each party with egg wash and sprinkle with sesame seeds.  Bake in a preheated oven at 180° C for about 20-30 minutes or until each pastry turns golden brown.