Dessert Menu - Green Tea Pastries

Green tea snowskin pastries with sweet red bean filling. A vegan addition to the dessert menu. The savoury pastry is made from toasted glutinous rice flour flavoured with green tea, ginger infused olive oil and sesame seeds. The slight saltiness of the pastry complements the sweetness of the red bean filling. A modern take on snowskin mooncakes , designed as a dessert course instead of a confectionery snack. The idea for these pastries comes from the "Fried Green Tea Ravioli with a Red Bean Paste Filling" created by Anthony (Man that Cooks) of Spiceblog. To make your own red bean paste, follow Anthony's instructions.

Ingredients
200 g toasted glutinous rice flour, sifted
200 mL iced water
2 tablespoon ginger infused olive oil
1 tablespoon green tea, milled
2 teaspoon toasted sesame seeds, milled
1/2 teaspoon salt, to taste
1 can (510 g) sweentened red bean paste
extra toasted glutinous rice flour for dusting

The ingredients make 36 pastries using a 6-cm pastry press. The ready to eat rice flour requires no cooking. Obtain the flour from an oriental supermarket. Glutinous rice flour gives a sticky, chewy, gelatinous texture which improves with the addition of other cooked, more starchy rice flour, such as toasted red rice flour. Omit the green tea if using red rice flour.

To make the pastry, mix all ingredients, except the red bean paste, to a soft dough and rest for 30 minutes for the rice flour to soften. For each pastry, roll 1 tablespoon of dough between non-stick baking paper. Dust with rice flour. Peel the pastry over a dusted flip-over pastry press. Add 1 teaspoon of red bean paste. Lightly seal. Transfer to a baking paper lined tray. Store tightly covered in the fridge until ready to serve. Best eaten within four days.



Serve cold or at room temperature with ginger liqueur or a sauce of honey (or maple syrup) and ginger. Garnish with sesame seeds and fried ginger strips (left over from making the olive infusion). Although it is possible to flambe, toast or fry the pastries, the filling breaks out on heating and makes the presentation undesirable.