Black sesame cinnamon rolls

thoughts on my vegan phase, and fatty belly piled saucily on fresh rice

soft, pillowy black sesame cinnamon rolls

Food news of the week:

2023 has been complex and awe-inspiring enough for me to fuse my favourite season with my favourite dessert flavour in the world- black sesame. The earthy, sweet, nutty holy grail of flavours, in my humble opinion. This and matcha anything are top for me. Next, I busied myself last night making some 红烧肉 , or braised pork belly, aka one of my favourite foods in the entire world. Melting like butter on the tongue, stringy sweet meat, a confluence of fat, totally rendered here, and a bit firmer there. Heaped juicily on hot rice. I made a rendition of this recipe, added my own veggies and a jammy egg, and am looking forward to any other recipes you recommend or tips. And if you want to know my fave French place of the moment, check out the review below.

Science of the week:

Maybe I’m late to Song of the Cell, but I’ve been hooked since the first chapter, not to mention it’s pretty good revision for my rusty Biology brain. The first chapter mentions the German physician Virchow, who mentions how disease manifests when there is an conflict in the cells of your body. Like HIV, which is this painful bodily state when your body can’t defend itself. This is because a certain type of cell– CD4 T cells– are being killed, and these are the cells that coordinate an immune response. In other words, the cells that you need to defend your body are all gone. So it’s not enough to just locate the disease in a certain organ (e.g. your liver/heart/intestines), it’s important to understand which cells are responsible.

Insight of the week:

I was reflecting on my changed attitude towards the vegan movement since visiting the amazing Mallow in Borough last weekend, and on the few friendships I lost after reverting. As much as I love vegan/vegetarian food, it was childhood favourites like braised pork belly, and sushi, more so than any cheese, dairy or steak, that made my heart pound (well, and animal skins, and fat). I justified all my vegan choices, but that was the point, it was constant and tiring justification. In reality, I was eating so much processed food (soy in everything/fake meat because being the greens+beans-only vegan was an impossible feat), and was rejected from two clinical trials because of my iron levels. Now, I am the fittest, leanest and most energetic that I’ve ever been. I enjoy fish head, bone marrow, fish skin, sea urchin, and livers not because they are better for the environment or somehow ethically justified, but none of the animal is wasted, I no longer assign moral value to food, and I’m satiated. We can welcome each other’s choices.

Recipe of the week:

Black Sesame Cinnamon Rolls (makes 9 mini rolls)

Ingredients

For the dough:

2 1/4 tsp instant yeast

1 cup (240ml) milk– I used a mix of oat and whole milk

45g (3.5 tbsp) butter

250g (around 1 3/4 cups) plain flour, plus more for sprinkling on counter before kneading

3 tbsp black sesame powder, which you can usually buy from your local oriental store

pinch of salt+1 tbsp sugar

For the filling:

45g (3.5 tbsp) butter, softened to room temperature

3 tbsp black sesame powder (can be obtained from any Chinese store or online)

large handful black sesame seeds

7 tbsp sugar mixed with 2 tbsp ground cinnamon

For the glaze:

50g icing sugar, sifted

25g cream cheese, softened

2-3 tbsp cream

Directions

Dough: In a microwave-safe bowl or in a saucepan over low heat, heat together the milk and butter until the butter has melted and the mix is warm (not scalding) to touch. Pour the mix into a larger bowl, then sprinkle on the yeast on one side of the bowl, and the salt and sugar on the opposite side. Wait 5 minutes, then add a half cup of flour at a time, stirring with a wooden spoon between each addition, followed by the black sesame powder. Once the dough is too thick to stir, transfer to a lightly floured counter and knead for 2 minutes. The final result should be a smooth, rather taut ball of dough, so you may need slightly more or less than the aforementioned quantity of flour. Briefly grease the same bowl, pop the ball of dough in and let it rise until it doubles in size–around an hour. At this point, preheat your oven to 180C (350F) and liberally grease an 8×8-inch pan.

After the dough has risen, lightly flour your counter again and turn the dough out onto the counter. Roll it out into a half-inch thick rectangle. Brush on (I just used my hands here) the butter that’s softened to room temperature, then sprinkle on the cinnamon-sugar mix, black sesame powder and black sesame seeds. Tightly roll the dough from the long end, so you end up with a long, pale tube of dough. Place the roll seam side down, and using a serrated knife, cut your tube into 8-9 rolls, each around 1.5 inches thick. Place them into the greased square pan. Cover the pan with foil to avoid over-browning and place inside your preheated oven. Bake the rolls for 20-25 minutes.

While they’re baking, mix together the ingredients for the glaze in a small bowl. Once the rolls have finished baking, leave to cool for 10 minutes, then go ahead and glaze the heck out of them. Sprinkle on some black sesame seeds to top. These rolls are best eaten immediately or at least the day they’re made, however you can keep them for the next day and microwave them to revive a bit of tenderness.

YUM.

Restaurant of the week:

behold: a reason to live

After the horror show of neo-Japanese a few weeks ago, let us now turn our attention to splendour and velvet. To the highest restaurant ceilings in London, kind waiters, and a multi-tiered dessert tray omg.

a tartare in the making

You could eat here a lot and not get sick of it, with a menu that boasts such variety and sex appeal. Maison Francois knows what they’re doing, and they do it high fashion-style.