Matcha Mushipan with Red Bean Filling

My bitter sweet love! She is my babyyyy :D Literally wanna pinch her cheeks and aww her all day long.

My recipe adapted from Just One Cookbook.

Recipe

Ingredients:

• 1 Medium egg
• 1 1/2 tablespoons of dark brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 1 tablespoon honey
• 3 tablespoon of milk (I used semi skimmed)
• 1/2 cup plain flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon of matcha powder
• Red bean paste (this can be found in oriental supermarkets)
• Black sesame seeds (to decorate)

Directions:

Prepare steamer/rice cooker/pot of steaming hot boiling water. Make sure enough water is in there so that it doesn't dry out. 

1. Whisk together egg and sugar in a bowl.
2. Add oil and whisk.
3. Add honey and whisk.
4. Add milk and whisk.
5. Sift in flour, baking powder and matcha powder till just combined, do not over mix! Mixture should form ribbons. 
6. Prepare 5 paper cupcake cases and support (so that cupcake cases do not collapse during steaming)
   [D.I.Y JOB: For cupcake supporters, I cut the top half a regular disposable plastic cup and used that. They do the job very nicely, cheap labour indeed! ^__^]
7. Put half a tablespoon of the mixture into the cupcake papers and place in steamer for 1 min.
   
   
8. Take out immediately. The mixture should have semi hardened but still looking like a paste.
9. Place about half a teaspoon of red bean paste into the centre of the each mixture.
10. Cover with 3/4 tablespoon of the left over mixture. 
11. Place in steamer and steam for 5 minutes. 
12. Take out of steamer. POOF. Baby baby baby ohhhh ;D
13. I decorated mine by dotting the top with a bit of honey and sprinkled with black sesame.
    
    

 Time for the dissection. 

 Who am I kidding... Since when have I neatly cut my cupcakes?! Call child services, but imma rip and tear this baby up! ;D Yes, its time for that all important CLOSE UP/RIP OFF 

The texture is semi light and fluffy and the taste, unlike American recipes so sweet that I get visions of my dentist in my bathroom mirror, this cupcake is subtly sweet. The matcha gives it a hint of bitterness, and the red bean paste filling, like a Kinder Bueno surprise, is a treat to the taste buds! The combination of flavours is on point!

I think a nice milk chocolate filling would also work well with this!

To my fellow calorie counting people,

 each cupcake contains roughly 130 kcal :)