Hello fellow Steemians,

I hope you had a really really nice week end, just like I did. This week's theme for Steemit Culinary Challenge was really hard (at least for me) :-D I dont have kids but I am currently working with kids so I know that they are really picky when it comes into food, especially when they clearly see veggies on their plates!! They will start to find a reason not to eat it and try to avoid it. I dont know why veggies are kind of nightmare for them. They'll complain even though they might haven't tried it yet. Well, that's mostly happened with my "kids".

I've been thinking about what kind of food I'll be making for this challenge since @woman-onthe-wing announced the theme. I came up with some ideas and finally I decided to make Piggy Steamed Bun with Sweet Adzuki Beans Paste! It looks really cute, isn't it? I am sure the first time kids see this, they will just love it :-D I actually wanted to make Porcupine Steamed Bun as well with different filling (the salty one with meat and veggies) but I think my post would be toooooo long. So, I'll make another post if I can make it :-)

For this buns, I used food coloring gel to get this beautiful color of piggy. I wanted to make my own food coloring from beet root but this past two days I was so busy with my sister's birthday, making her a beautiful cake and organizing a board games night with friends at home everything, so I was too tired to make it by myself.

Now, let's go talk about the recipe. I've got the recipe for the red bean paste from here but I reduced the sugar to 3/4 cup. Also for the steamed bun, I checked on to their blog as well.

SWEET ADZUKI BEAN PASTE FOR THE FILLING

Ingredients

• 1 cup dried adzuki bean
• 3 cups water for boiling
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 2 tbsp unsalted butter

Methods

• Soak dried adzuki bean in the water for at least 3 hours, better left overnight (mine soaked for 6 hours).

• After soaking, drain the beans.

• Transfer into a sauce pan, add the water and bring to boil over a medium-high heat with the lid on then turn into low heat, simmer for about 45 minutes-1 hour or until soft. There were not much water left in the sauce pan, it's almost dry.

• Transfer the cooked red beans into a food processor. Pulse it until smooth.

• Transfer back the smooth adzuki bean to the sauce pan, add in sugar and butter. Cook again over low heat for about 5 minutes, mix it very well.

• Transfer into a bowl, leave it on the counter top to cool down. Once cool, you may keep in the fridge if you dont want to use it directly.

PIGGY STEAMED BUN

Ingredients

• 500 gr low gluten wheat flour for buns

• 1 1/2 tsp instant dry yeast
• 50 ml lukewarm water
• 230 ml milk at room temperature
• 50 gr sugar
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 2 tbsp cooking oil
• black sesame seed for decoration

Methods

• Activate the yeast by combining the yeast and lukewarm water. Leave it for 5 minutes.

• In a bowl of a stand mixer, place flour, sugar, salt and baking powder.

• With the hook attachment on, turn on the stand mixer, add slowly the yeast and milk. Knead for about 5 minutes.

• Add food coloring, and continue kneading for about 10 minutes. The dough shouldn't stick to the bowl when it's done.

• Cover the dough with damp towel or plastic wrap, leave it for one hour or two or until double in size. I put mine in the oven because Brussels was quite cold today so I needed a warmer place. It helps the dough to rise.

• Roll the dough into a long log and cut into even pieces. You may use scale to have even weight. Mine is 50 gr/piece.

• Roll flat half a piece dough to make the ears and the other half for the nose. I used a small piping tip and skewer to make the nose.

• Take one piece of dough, roll into a flat dough, place 1 full teaspoon filling in the middle and roll into a ball. Place the ears and the nose then place two sesame seeds as the eyes. Put on small parchment paper. It will prevent the dough stick to the steamer.

• Leave them on the counter top for 30 minutes before steaming. It will still rise a little bit.

• Steam over high heat for about 12 minutes with the lid covered with towel.

• Leave it to cool a little bit. I like it served warm :-)

Woooww.. it's quite a long post. I should've edited some photos to be put in the grid but I'm so sorry I really dont have so much time to do so. I thought I wouldn't make it because it's been a really really busy day.

Last but not least, I'd like to thank the host, sponsors, judges, participants and everyone who always support Steemit Culinary Challenge <3

If you like this post, please upvote and resteem.

Love,