Pumpkin kikaku with homemade mung bean paste

Yes, it's kikaku again. Second time in a week.

 

I loved the texture, it's somewhere in between of mochi and steamed cupcakes. But I wasn't very pleased with my first try, whereby the kikaku turned out to be wrinkly. I suspected that I have either over-proved it*, or I have steamed it for too long.

 

I also did a little adjustment to the recipe after reading up a little about it. Tada!! Check out the photos! Texture wise, I love this even more. It still has that chewiness, which I love, and it's softer this time.

 

 

Here's the adjusted recipe (this recipe makes about 9 kikaku, weighing 55-60g each, without the filling)

 

• 125g all purpose flour, sifted
• 125g glutinous rice flour, sifted 
• 60g brown sugar, sifted
• 1tsp instant active dry yeast
• 100g pumpkin puree
• 120g water
• 1.5 tbsp. oil  

1. Mix all ingredients, except for veg oil, until texture turns into a dough. Slowly drizzle in veg oil and knead till smooth.
2. Grab about 55-60g of the dough and knead into small ball. Roll it into a flat round disk using a rolling pin, wrap about 1-2tbsp of mung bean filling in it, seal and form a round shape.  
3. Place on baking paper (or banana leaves, in my case, I used cupcake liner).
4. Cover up and let it proof for 30min. (In my case, I let it proof in an enclosed oven, not on)  
5. Steam on medium low heat for 10min.

*Note

• Do not poof for too long, over-proved dough will turn wrinkly. Some sources from the other bloggers proof for 30min. But the problem is they never mention how to know when the kikaku is ready to be steamed.  
• Once the kikaku has been steamed for 10min, lift the lid to a little gap to allow the steam to release, this is to avoid sudden drop in temperature which will turn the kikaku wrinkly.

Homemade mung bean paste filling

• 1cups of mung bean
• 100g pumpkin
• 2-3tbsp molasses sugar (adjust this to your own preference)

1. Soak mung beans for 2-4hours prior to cooking.
2. Cook pumpkin and mung bean until soft and mushy. In a blender, puree both pumpkin and mung bean. Sweeten with molasses sugar.
3. Keep in refrigerator.

On the way to nanny's, this is what he does when I asked him to smile for the camera :)