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Bánh pía with durian and salted egg yolk
Durian and egg yolk pastries
Bánh pía Sóc Trăng: flaky Teochew-style pastries filled with mung bean, durian and salted yolk
Sóc Trăng in the Mekong Delta is lined with shops stacking boxes of bánh pía for travellers to carry home, a legacy of the province's Teochew Chinese bakers. The pastry flakes into fine, papery layers around a dense mung bean paste perfumed with durian and hiding a whole salted egg yolk; they are eaten with hot tea at any time of day and given at Mid-Autumn. This home version uses vegetable shortening in place of the lard many bakeries use, which keeps it vegetarian. Chef's tip: keep the water dough and the oil dough at the same softness; if one is firmer, the layers tear when you roll and the pastry bakes up bready instead of flaky.
- Total time
- 180 min
- Difficulty
- hard
- Serves
- 12
Ingredients
For the filling
- 9 oz split peeled mung beanssoaked for 3 hours
- 5 ½ oz sugar
- 4 tbsp neutral oil
- 7 oz durian fleshfresh or frozen, seeds removed
- 6 salted duck egg yolkshalved
For the water dough
- 8 oz plain flour
- ⅞ oz sugar
- 2 ½ oz vegetable shortening
- ½ cup water
For the oil dough
- 5 ½ oz plain flour
- 2 ⅞ oz vegetable shortening
To glaze
- 1 egg yolkbeaten with 1 tsp water
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Method
0/11 doneStep 1: Steam the drained 9 oz split peeled mung beans until very soft, about 25 minutes, then blend to a smooth paste.
25 minStep 2: Cook the paste in a non-stick pan with 5 ½ oz sugar and 4 tbsp neutral oil over a low heat, stirring, until it no longer sticks to the spatula. Stir in 7 oz durian flesh and cook 5 minutes more, until it holds a ball. Cool.
20 minStep 3: Bake the 6 salted duck egg yolks on a tray at 350°F for 6 minutes, just until the edges look oily, then cool.
6 minStep 4: Divide the filling into 12 and wrap each portion around half a yolk, rolling into a ball.
10 minStep 5: For the water dough, rub 2 ½ oz vegetable shortening into 8 oz plain flour and ⅞ oz sugar, add ½ cup water and knead into a smooth, soft dough. Cover and rest 30 minutes.
35 minStep 6: For the oil dough, rub 2 ⅞ oz vegetable shortening into 5 ½ oz plain flour until it comes together like soft putty. Rest 30 minutes alongside the water dough.
5 minStep 7: Divide both doughs into 12. Flatten a piece of water dough, wrap it around a piece of oil dough and pinch shut.
10 minStep 8: Roll each parcel into a long tongue, roll it up like a carpet, turn it 90 degrees, roll long again and roll up once more. Rest the coils 15 minutes under a cloth.
25 minStep 9: Flatten each coil into a 10 cm round, thinner at the edges, wrap it around a filling ball, pinch to seal and press into a flat disc about 2 cm thick, seam side down.
20 minStep 10: Brush the tops with 1 egg yolk and bake at 350°F for 25–30 minutes, until the tops are deep golden and the sides look layered and dry.
30 minStep 11: Cool completely on a rack; the pastry softens and flakes more after a day in an airtight tin. Keep for 4 days, or refrigerate for a week.
30 min
Nutrition per serving
- Calories
- 380 kcal
- Protein
- 8 g
- Carbs
- 49 g
- Fat
- 17 g
- Fibre
- 3 g
Nutrition values are estimates.
KrazyBadal
Good to know
- How long does bánh pía with durian and salted egg yolk take?
- About 180 minutes in total: 120 minutes to prepare and 60 minutes to cook.
- How many people does it serve?
- 12 as written. Change the servings above the ingredients and every amount scales to match.
- Is it vegetarian?
- Yes. It has no meat or fish.
- Can I make it ahead?
- Yes. It keeps well, so you can cook it earlier in the day or the day before and reheat it.
- What can I use instead of sugar?
- Caster sugar, same amount.
- What can I use instead of plain flour?
- Self-raising flour, same amount (then leave out the baking powder).
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