Foochow Bagels/Kompia

Fujian Cuisine, also called Min Cuisine, originates from South China's Fujian Province. The history of Min Cuisine dates back to 5000 years ago. It consists of three styles, namely Fuzhou style, which is usually tastes light compared with other styles, often with a mixed sweet and sour taste; Western Fujian style, featuring slightly spicy flavoring from mustard and pepper; and Southern Fujian style, which usually tastes spicy and sweet.The cooking techniques of Fujian Cuisine are: pan-frying, deep-frying, boiling, baking, stewing, mixing, sautéing with wine, stewing in gravy, grilling, cooking with red rice wine, simmering, stir-frying, smoking, braising and salting. Among them the most characteristic one is cooking with red rice wine, which includes stir-frying with red rice wine, and baking with red rice wine, quick-frying with red rice wine and deep-frying with red rice wine. The "drunken" (cooked in wine) dishes are prevalent in Fujian Province and very famous throughout China.

Do you know even Fujian cuisine have their own bagels and they are called Kompia or Foochow bagels, they will be crispier and smaller in size compared to the regular bagels, they can be eaten plain, stuffed with many filling or else with any other stuffing to make a savoury snack.For  this month's  International Food Challenge ,a monthly event started by  wonderful food blogger Sara we are landing towards Fujian cuisine, the host of this month Anu kollon suggested many delicious dishes from this beautiful cuisine, i couldnt resist to give a try to this beautiful Vegan Bagels and they came out incredibly fabulous.

2+1/2cups All purpose flour
1cup Lukewarm water
1tsp  Active dry yeast
2tsps Salt
1tbsp Sugar
Steam bath (hot water in a roasting pan)
1/4cup Water for spraying

Stir the yeast in luke warm water and let stand for 15 minutes.

Add half of the flour to yeast mixture and mix by hand for 1-2 minutes.

Add remaining flour, salt and sugar and ontinue to knead for 3 minutes.

Knead dough until smooth, about 10 minutes, adding as little flour as needed to prevent dough from sticking to your hands.

Shape dough into a ball and place into the mixing bowl. Cover tightly with plastic wrap and set aside for dough in a warm place for 4hours.

Punch down the dough and divide into 10 medium sized balls. Take one dough ball and flatten with your palm.

Poke a hole in the middle of the flatten disc and pull the dough on the edges to make it into a 3 inch diameter disc.

Place on a lightly floured baking sheet and cover with plastic wrap. Set aside to let it rest for 15 minutes. Repeat with the other dough pieces.

Meanwhile, boil some water to make a steam bath. Preheat the oven to 210F.

Create a steam bath by placing a roasting pan on the lower rack and add 1 inch of hot water to this pan.

Spray water over the bagels generously.

Bake for 20 to 25 minutes until bagels are crisp on the outside and soft on the inside.

Remove baking pan from oven and and place bagels on a cooling rack.

Let cool before serving.

2+1/2 verre Farine de Blé
1 verre d'eau tiède
1 c à café de levure boulangère
2 c à café sel
1 c à soupe de sucre
De l'eau chaude pour la bain de vapeur
1/4 verre d'eau pour la pulvérisation

Incorporer la levure dans l'eau tiède et laisser reposer pendant 15 minutes .

Ajouter la moitié de la farine au mélange de levure et pétrir à la main pendant 1-2 minutes .

Ajouter le reste de farine, le sel et le sucre et continuer à pétrir pendant 3 minutes .

Pétrir la pâte pendant environ 10 minutes jusqu’à ce quelle soit lisse, mettre un peu de farine pour empêcher la pâte de coller à vos mains .

Façonner la pâte en une boule et la placer dans un bol. Couvrir avec film plastique et laisser reposer la pâte dans un endroit chaud pendant 4 heures .

Dégazez la pâte et la diviser en 10 boules de taille moyenne. Prenez une boule de pâte et aplatir avec la paume .

Percer un trou dans le milieu du  et tirez aplatir la pâte sur les bords pour en faire un disque de 3 pouces de diamètre .

Déposer sur une plaque de cuisson légèrement farinée. Laisser reposer pendant 15 minutes . Répéter l'opération avec les autres morceaux de pâte .

Pendant ce temps , faire bouillir de l' eau pour faire un bain de vapeur . Préchauffer le four à 210F .

Créez un bain de vapeur en plaçant un plat à rôtir sur la grille inférieure et ajouter de l'eau chaude.

Vaporiser de l'eau généreusement sur les bagels  .

Cuire au four pendant 20 à 25 minutes jusqu'à ce que les bagels soient croustillants à l'extérieur et moelleux à l'intérieur.

Retirer la casserole de cuisson du four et placer les bagels sur une grille de refroidissement .

Laisser refroidir avant de servir.