Not turning Rubbery, Black Sesame Rolls . 不懂變膠的，黑芝麻卷

Not turning Rubbery, Black Sesame Rolls . 不懂變膠的，黑芝麻卷

Because of one recipe, I have tried out almost all the similar recipes online and from recipe books to find out the true taste that I like, and to make the finished product which is not easy turning rubbery like a PU sheet....

I have owed a friend a nice and workable recipe of a tradition Cantonese dessert for long. What is that dessert? It is what we called the "film negative roll", the black sesame roll.

I have mentioned previously that I do not eat sweets and desserts that much, I did not notice until a friend told me one day that the black sesame rolls she made based on a recipe online turned rubbery like a PU sheet overnight. She asked if I could give her another recipe which does not have the same problem. It piqued my curiosity that I wanted to find it out if the outside recipes are having the same issues and how I could make it to the taste and texture that I like the most.

Started to try on different recipes, I might say it covered almost a high percentage of the recipes that I could locate online or from the recipe books, of course, I have eaten an extensive amount of black sesame rolls in the past couple of months. Luckily and eventually I have made up one recipe which could produce the black sesame roll which is less sweet, soft and full of aroma of black sesame, and most importantly, it will not turn hard like a PU sheet even you put it into the fridge for a day or two. Actually I have chilled it for three days and it still stayed considerably soft.

Being a perfectionist....people said I have an inborn perfectionism, oh ya, which are true, my passion for excellence always drives me to run an extra mile to make the work done. Don't know if it is good or bad, but I am happy with the attitude that I have and don't think I will stop pursuing it. I am lucky that I understand striving for perfection in an imperfect world is difficult, I am learning that it is alright to be imperfect in certain areas where we are not able to change them, and something imperfect makes us more human.

因為一個食譜，這幾個月來讓我試了網絡上大部分近似食譜，原因是要做出一個我自己喜歡的味道和口感，而且成品要涼後也保持軟滑。這是什麼？就是我們常說的『菲林卷』，即黑芝麻卷。

之前我也提過我不好甜點，即使吃，也是淺嘗即止。有天有位朋友提到，跟網上用芝麻醬做過黑芝麻卷，熱吃還可，但涼了就像橡皮膠一樣；這一點我從沒留意過。但這問題到引發我好奇心，所以用了好一段時間去試用不同食譜，有些試了又試，試用不同做法去做，也抱歉遲遲未能回覆這朋友。

在過去這幾個月裡，我、外子和家傭姐姐吃了我們一生人從未吃過那麼多的黑芝麻卷。幸運的是， 我終於試出一個可行的食譜，這黑芝麻卷即使放入冰箱也不會變硬，不變橡皮膠————是一個不懂變硬的黑芝麻卷。

朋友都說我是一個天生的完美主義者，這話也沒說錯；追求完美使我加快了步伐，也使我跑得更遠；為求完美，可以做了又做，直到滿意，是好是壞，真的難有定論。尚幸，我明白，在一個不完美的世界裡追求完美是很困難的，在某些不能改變的事情上，人有時候要學懂妥協，就讓那不完美的部分使我們的日常生活更加人性化。

Not turning Rubbery, Black Sesame Rolls

Tray Size: 21cm x 21cm

Recipe is enough for 3 trays, and 6 rolls

Ingredients:

Black Sesame  50g
Water Chestnut Flour 33g
Rice Flour    8g
Glutinous Rice Flour 1g
Sugar    64g
Water    285g
Sesame Oil 1 drop

Method:

1. Wash and soak sesame for an hour, shake off the water and fry it in a wok using medium low fire till fragrant
2. Grind black sesame until super fine and oil coming out.  By using a blender, blend black sesame and water for about 5 minutes, take out and boil it with sugar in a cooking pot till fragrant, strain it and let cool

3. Mix all the flour well, add in black sesame solution into it gradually, then put all back into the blender and blend for 2 minutes, strain it again, add in a drop of sesame oil, mix well

4. Pour the sesame mixture onto a slightly greased shallow tin to form a 2mm high layer 

5. Steam it in a wok or in an electrical steamer with boiling water for 3 minutes or until cooked, take it out and let cool completely before rolling

6. After cooling, use a kitchen scraper to loosen the sides of the black sesame layer, and roll it into a long tube, trim two ends and cut into 9.5cm long sesame rolls. Enjoy.

Cooking Tips:

1. Step (1) and (2) are very important. Black sesame will only release fragrance when it is hot, so frying and boiling it till fragrant are to enhance the flavor

2. Blending the black sesame solution with the dry flours was to make sure the flour and solution well combined. Since water chestnut flour is quite coarse, after blending, the texture of the sesame roll is very smooth
3. Adding Glutinous Flour into the recipe is to keep the sesame roll maintain soft even you are keeping it in the fridge.  1 gram of glutinous flour is the most appropriate amount to be added after doing a number of testings.
4. This black sesame roll is soft with a little crunchy, and with very outstanding aroma of the black sesame
5. I do not recommend you to use instant powdered black sesame from shops as I did a few testings on it, the black sesame rolls tasted sandy, and I do not test on using instant black sesame pastes as the prepacked ones are usually with additives and the quality may vary from one brand to another, it is hard to control the quality of the rolls
6. There is an interesting finding, regular store-bought black sesame has better aroma than organic black sesame, this was what I found out when testing them from cooking

不懂變膠的，黑芝麻卷

蒸盆尺寸：21cm x 21cm    

此份量可做 3 盆，共分成 6 卷

材料： 

黑芝麻  50g
馬蹄粉 33g
粘米粉  8 g
糯米粉  1g
糖   64g
水   285g
芝麻油  1 滴

做法：
1.洗乾淨黑芝麻及浸水一小时，隔去水份，略索乾，用白鑊中慢火炒熟黑芝麻至散發香氣
2.用乾磨機磨黑芝麻至幼细，及滲出油。放黑芝麻濃漿和水人攪拌機打约5分钟，取出，並放锅中與糖一起煮至有芝麻香味，待涼
3.涼後，将所有粉類混好，逐少加入黑芝麻溶液拌勻，再用搅拌机打2分鐘，，加入一滴芝麻油多打半分鐘
4. 把芝麻混合物倒入已塗油淺盤約 2mm 高 
5. 放鑊或蒸爐蒸3分钟或煮熟 (大熱水下鍋)，取出，待涼
6. 涼後，用抹刀鬆開黑芝麻糕的四邊，用手捲成長圓條狀，修剪两端，切成 9.5厘米长的芝麻卷。慢用。

提示：
1. 做法步骤（1）和（2）非常重要。黑芝麻要炒或煮才會釋出看氣，所以要炒熟再煮出芝麻香
2. 把黑芝麻溶液與粉類用攪拌機混和，是以確保粉水完全溶合。馬蹄粉較粗糙，用攪拌機混合後，芝麻卷的口感更加順滑
3. 加入糯米粉後，黑芝麻卷即使放冰箱數天也不變硬。 以這食譜計，加入1g 糯米粉是最適合
4. 這個黑芝麻卷柔軟得來爽滑，而且帶有濃香，甜品輕盈(我調較到比我一般定位略甜，以帶出芝麻香味)，要大甜的要自行加糖。
5. 我不建議用現成黑芝麻粉，我做了幾次测試，黑芝麻卷吃來沙沙的；我沒用現黑芝麻醬测試，因為很多黑芝麻酱都加了乳化劑以穩定品質，加上各品牌出品不一，會影響成品
6. 有個有趣的發現，一般芝麻炒及煮後較有機芝麻更香濃