Cowpea pie

Overview

Cowpeas are commonly known as long beans, belt beans, carob beans, string beans, etc. They are also called 18 beans here in Hebei. My family would plant a field of cowpeas every year. When I was a child, out of curiosity, I actually counted how many beans there were on a string of beans. Now there are far more than 18 beans. Traditional Chinese medicine believes that cowpeas have the effect of strengthening the spleen and kidneys. This is the peak ripening season for cowpeas. I went home on Saturday and picked a handful of fresh cowpeas from my mother’s vegetable garden, preparing to bake pies for eating.

Tags

• staple food
• home cooking
• all-purpose flour
• cold water
• cowpea
• doubanjiang
• edible oil
• hot water
• lard
• lean meat filling
• onion white
• ginger
• pepper
• salt
• sesame oil
• soy sauce

Ingredients

Steps

1. 1 Pour all-purpose flour and salt into a basin and mix well. Pour in hot water and mix about 1/5 of the noodles;

   

2. 2 Add cold water and stir to form a floc, then knead into a ball and let it rest for 5 minutes;

   

3. 3 Knead again until the dough becomes smooth and fine, then let it rest for another 5 minutes;

   

4. 4 Chop green onions and ginger into small pieces and set aside;

   

5. 5 Wash the cowpeas in water, boil water in a pot, add a spoonful of alkaline noodles, wait until the water boils, put the cowpeas into the pot and blanch them, then take them out and soak them in cold water;

   

6. 6 Pour oil into the pot, heat over low heat, add lard, after the oil has melted, add aniseed and stir-fry until fragrant;

   

7. 7 Add pork stuffing and stir-fry;

   

8. 8 When the meat filling changes color, add appropriate amount of bean paste and soy sauce to taste, add green onions and minced ginger, stir-fry evenly and turn off the heat;

   

9. 9 Cut the cowpeas into small dices, put them into the basin with the meat filling, add chopped green onion, sesame oil, pepper and a little salt and mix well;

   

10. 10 Roll the rested dough into long strips, cut into balls, and roll into dough;

    

11. 11 Wrap the stuffing and close like a steamed bun;

    

12. 12 Then use four fingers to gently press it flat;

    

13. 13 Preheat the electric baking pan in advance and bake the pie with the pleated side down. When it changes color, turn it over and brush with oil. Fry the pie until both sides are golden brown;

    

14. 14 Remove from the pot and put into a ventilated leaky basin.