Materials

Flour 300g

Old Noodle 50g

Sugar 60g

Salt 2g

Water 180g

Vegetable Oil 20g

Edible Alkali Moderate

Some Dates

Methods

1. Melt the old noodle with water. Add flour, salt and sugar and knead vigorously. Knead the dough by lifting it from around the bowl and smashing it into the center of the dough in a fist. If the dough is sticky, dip your hands in a little water.

2. When the dough is smooth and strong, add the vegetable oil and continue to smash the dough with the same technique until all the oil is absorbed and the dough is smooth.

3. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and leave to rise in a warm place until doubled in size.

4. Mix cooking soda with a little water to make lye water (about 1 tbsp). Dip your hands in the lye and slowly work it into the dough using the kneading method in step 1. The longer it takes, the stronger the dough will be.

5. The kneaded dough should have a light lye flavor. The dough is divided into equal parts and rounded by hand, and then divided into cups with the smooth side up, about eight minutes full. It will fill about 8 muffin cups.

6. Let rise again in a warm place until the dough is slightly above the rim of the cups. Place pitted dates on top.

7. Steam for 30 minutes, then turn off the heat and let steam for 5 minutes before removing from the steamer.