Just your friendly neighbourhood baker

I don't know about you, but these days I feel as if I'm constantly trying to breathe broth. Heat, humidity, and pleanty of sweat - yay summer! 
Just the ideal conditions for baking a cake, right? (/sarcasm)

Anyway, a colleague - actually one of the attending physicians working with us on a rotation to pamper our beloved policy holders with medical advice whenever needed, or otherwise (Look, mama! More sarcasm!) - asked me for a Spider-Man cake for her adopted son Nhat, who just turned six. 
She wanted it to feed about 20 little ones, but other than that she wasn't particular. She showed me a model cake, covered with red fondant, with a blue web covering one wedge of it and a Spidey action figure plopped on top. Only she couldn't find that particular toy, but provided me with a Spider-Man candle instead.

I immediately thought of repeating my Red Velvet feat from a few days ago, since that cake was really delightful, and dramatic enough to satisfy a bunch of kids. 
Only with a bright red interior, I needed blue fondant for a nice bit of contrast, and a red web on top. The doctor was OK with me inverting the colour scheme, and pretty much left me free rein with it... 

...and so, here it goes. 

I thought it better to have the web cover the entire surface, so the kids won't need to fight about who gets to gain a spider sense by eating it. 

I piped it with royal icing btw; I really wanted to use Candy Melts, but I just can't tame the darn things (shame, 'cause they taste lovely and have such bright colours!)

The writing is, likewise, a royal icing transfer, and all in all it was surprisingly quick to do, thanks to this truly amazing Spider-Man font you can download for free OMG!

Since I needed a much larger cake this time, I hit the Internet for a recipe that was already adjusted for a 12'' round pan. (I know, I know... SO lazy of me! But, I was short on time as the party's tomorrow, so I really needed to take all of the guesswork out of the process to be on the safe side.)

In the end, I picked this one from Food & Wine. 

Unlike the Bake Happy recipe I used before, this one produces little to no dome, as it is actually meant to bake low, like a German Torte. I wanted a bit more height though, so I made two and stacked 'em - even so, I got zero waste from them, as they baked so amazingly flat I didn't need to cut anything from them. 

(This meant, unfortunately, I didn't get a taste of it - but, by the looks of it, I think I like Bake Happy's version better. It was extremely light and soft, whereas this one feels heavier and kind of oily. Granted, the added sturdiness is a bonus in this instance, but in my personal opinion, Aikko's recipe is closer to the real thing.)

I did none of the fancy ice cream and pecan praline thingie - even plain cream cheese icing was a no-no, what with it being for very young kids who might not like its sour-ish taste (which I love, btw!)

So, alas, a canned vanilla frosting it was, and plain American buttercream for crumbcoating. The very thought sickens me, but this way I'm sure the kiddos will not object... plus, I have to admit the hellish stuff is much stabler than anything dairy-based!

Right, now I only need to carry the darn thing to work. Ugh. 

SOOOOOOO HEAVY...

Poppin' my Red Velvet cherry

I don't know which one is weirder - my family wanting to give an American dessert a try, or a rabid foodie like me having somehow overlooked such a pearl as Red Velvet cake. 

This is how it went. 

I was having lunch with my parents last Sunday - something I have to do occasionally, although it never fails to put lots of strain on my nerves - and some baking-related reality was droning on in the background, like Cake Boss or something. And my family was all, "Americans eat shite, trash food and greasy hamburgers is all they can manage, they have no taste all, they just can't compare with our culinary tradition, and all those fancy designer cakes they're so fond of doing taste like crap anyway". (Do they know baking said cakes is my pride and joy? You bet.)

Then, out of the blue, my brother - who's something of a food snob as well, mind you - chimes in: "I wouldn't mind trying Red Velvet cake. I hear it's not super sweet, and more on the tangy side".

Woot, my chance! 

And now's when I spit out the ugly truth: I myself am not sure how Red Velvet cake is supposed to taste! Because yes, I've had a couple Red Velvet cupcakes in my town but, of course, there is now way I can ascertain how close they were to the real thing. 

In comes the Internet ofc... and, following some frantic browsing, I got a fairly precise idea of what Red Velvet should look, feel, and taste like. 

I rounded up the top Google search results, discarded right away those recipes that would have given me anything else than the Platonic idea I had by then formed in my mind, and finally went for one that not only looked spot on, but is from my fave food blogger ever: Aikko of Bake Happy... who is - please allow me to refresh your memory on this point - the very same gal who's responsible for the banana bread I've been making non-stop for more than two years OMG. I could think of no better references, really!

 So... go have a look at Aikko's Red VelvIet cake recipe, then hop back here. We have some baking to do!

The recipe lists quite a few easily found ingredients you could substitute buttermilk with, but since this is my very first attempt at Red Velvet (and its outcome will shape my view of said cake forever and ever), I went all gung-ho about getting the original stuff. Thus, actual buttermilk it was. 

One thing I did my own way, though: I swapped the red food colouring for an equal amount of LorAnn's Red Velvet Bakery Emulsion I had bought online on a whim ages ago, and that had been biding its time in my pantry ever since. It looks like thick, honey-like red gunk... but once whisked into your liquid ingredients, it not only imparts them a beautiful, vibrant red shade, but also acts as flavouring. Good stuff!

I got two 6 in. cakes out of the given doses, which was just the perfect size for this. 
Only as you hopefully can see from the (fuzzy, blurry, smartphone-made) pic above, both of them domed quite much, which meant I had to cut what amounted to more than 1/3 from each base. And yes, of course the scraps won't go to waste, still I think I'll try lowering the oven temperature one notch next time I bake this into silicone moulds. 

Right. Onward to the filling & frosting step!

Notwithstanding the heat, I opted for a traditional cream cheese frosting - because yay authenticity, remember? 
I know it's nowhere as stable as buttercream (or even cream cheese buttercream) but in the end, my brother wanted tangy, so he's in for the full experience!

By the way, I used Austrian Quark as my cream cheese, instead of the ubiquitous Philadelphia... which is creamy and fresh and absolutelt delightful in many ways, but no tangy at all. 
Again, I've never sampled real cream cheese in America, but judging from online descriptions of its texture and flavour, what I got here must be pretty darn close!  

Aikko covered her cake with crumbs all over, but I wasn't really sold on the idea. So I simply picked the biggest closed star tip in my collection and piped random rosette-like swirls all over the place. It looks impressive enough IMHO. 

(Plus, who am I kidding? My brother will scarf the whole thing down with barely a glance at my mad piping skillz...)

Waiting for him to come and collect his cake right now. Will it be enough to convert my family to the delights of American desserts? I wonder...

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

EDIT AT 20.14 - I just spoke with my mother, and she said the cake's almost gone already. They loved it! Woot! (/does Snoopy happy dance)

[T&T] Bar Harbor New England Style Clam Chowder

I purchased this can of Bar Harbor New England Style Clam Chowder, like, ages ago (thank God these things keep forever!) and finally decided to give it a try today, before the weather changes for good and pushes soup out of my mind for a further six months.

It was an impulse buy in the first place, as I wasn't looking for clam chowder specifically - to be honest I hadn't even heard about it at the time. 

But it sounded interesting and yummy, and the can's so stylish and pretty that I couldn't help wanting it!

The blurb on the label goes:

All-natural seafood speaks for itself. 

The taste of wind, weather, and clear cold water; it's not a flavor that needs improving. We create our New England Clam Chowder in small batches, like people on the Maine coast have been doing for generations - loaded with juicy clams and simple, all-natural ingredients. It's as close to fresh off the docks of Maine as you can get without being here.

Bar Harbor is a special place. You can taste it!

Sooo... Not only I got myself an American staple, but one from New England! That mythical place that is and will always be, in my mind, peopled by the likes of Hester Prynne and the Deep Ones, Gordon Pym and the Pequod crew, not to mention every Stephen King character since the dawn of time!

Now here's the opened can, filled with pearly white stuff studded with clams and bits o' potatoes...

...and the same content, plopped into my trusty pink pan, log-style. Not its most attractive shot for sure!

(And FYI, since I know what you're thinking: no, my pan is not rusted. It lost part of its non-stick lining over time, but I still use it as it's a very convenient size for my needs - plus it was a present from my brother, and the lid's got a piggy snout on it. Which ends the whole argument as far as I'm concerned.)

Now seriously - it's not flaking nor affecting the way my food tastes, so don't worry, it won't kill me!

I had enough soup to fill two bowls, and the first one I ate plain as the label suggested, with just a drizzle of oil and a pinch of black pepper.

It tasted... good, I suppose, but really bland. I was a little disappointed, because I was expecting it to be a bit more interesting - then again, boiled potatoes (while hearty and delicious) are not exactly a powerhouse of flavour, and the clams themselves contribute more in the field of texture and chewiness than actual umami. 

The consistency was delightful btw, not too brothy nor overly starchy, just like the ideal winter soup should be. And there is something deeply gratifying in finding huge chunks of actual vegetables and clams into a canned soup... that is to say, it makes me feel less lazy for resorting to it in the first place. Almost... virtuous, I daresay!

The second bowl, though, I muddled up with wasabi-flavoured furikake, plus a few taralli as impromptu croutons. American, Japanese and Italian ingredients in one bowl? Yes, please!

Needless to say, I liked this "bastardised" version much more. If you're shuddering at the thought, please feel free to blame it all on me being anosmic, and thus unable to fully appreciate subtlety in flavours...

Both bowls were good enough that I'd gladly pick up a can from time to time, were it available here; it's not worth ordering from abroad though - it's something I wouldn't mind eating a couple times during the cold season, but I don't foresee craving it as such.

I would however like to try cooking it from scratch. Great, one more recipe just got filed in my "To Do" folder... 

Oni wa soto! Fuku wa uchi!

Get out, Devil! Come in, Happiness! 

- Traditional Setsubun formula

Granted, the traditional Japanese wish may sound a tad dodgy, coming - as it is - from one who picked a mischievous li'l fire demon (*) as her online persona (and who isn't even Asian, for heaven's sake!)

But, well, I kind of like the whole Setsubun symbology. And since I haven't posted anything on New Year's Day, I will blatantly exploit this holiday (as well as the beginning of the Lunar Year of the Horse three days ago) to catch up on the kind of stuff that normal people post on January 2nd. And no, I don't mean "detox" or "skinny" recipes. Ewwww, the very idea!

(*)  Have you seen the new pic in my profile btw? It's by one of my favourite DeviantArt members, and I love it more than I can explain. Isn't it the sweetest thing ever?

Image belongs to YamPuff @ http://yampuff.deviantart.com

 Now the reason why I commissioned a (literally!) sparkling new avatar, is that I am now seriously considering baking for a living. Not as my primary job maybe (not yet, at last), but hey... why not? 

 

I won't go into my working situation here, because it would be a long ramble which wouldn't probably even make sense to those of you who live in a less ludicrous country than Italy, but I have reasons to fear that the company I work for will undergo some serious pruning two years from now. Mind you - I say "fear" because this job is still my main source of income at the moment, but I almost hope for the worst to happen, since I'm too chicken to willingly quit a position I despise, and that is slowly seeping every ounce of energy, joy, and creativity out of me. 

 

So... for the time being, I am proceeding at baby steps. I am now a member of Con.Pa.It, the Italian bakers' federation. I am gathering information about the legal requirements for opening my own business. And above all, I'm slowly working up my courage.  

 

This very blog, unassuming as it is, has been a huge factor in my attempt to build up my confidence. At the same time, though, there have been times when the mere thought of having to dig out my camera, stop every few minutes to snap WIP pics, clean the mess on my table for the "hero shot", and edit the photos afterwards - it has been enough to dissuade me from trying some new idea right away. 

There might be a problem there because, you see, if I ever take the plunge and turn my hobby into a proper job, I'll have to deal with the "boring" stuff - administration, balances and what have you - on a daily basis. Which, knowing myself, might very well kill all the passion I put into baking. 

 

So, what am I going to do? Wait and see, as they say. 

In two years' time I will be turning 40, and that sounds as good a time as any to change my life for good... 

Hogswatch 2013 report - part 1

So you read the header and are itching with curiosity already, aren't you? 

Geez, hold your horses, pard! Because the Discworld convention's technically starting tomorrow. 

Thus for now, I'm just going to ramble about food, me and sweetie, food, and my first glorious day in England. But mostly FOOD.

Are you thrilled or what?

First of all I want to show you the place where we're staying - the Half Moon Inn in Horsington, a delightful little B&B with an appropriately quaint name. 

See? Very picturesque!

(OMG am I sounding like Twoflower already?)

The best thing about the place, though, is the pub! Of course, of course!

See what I mean? It's to die for!

 The fireplace! The dried hops wreaths! The comfy sofas!

And well, yes - the beer!

We ended up in this place simply because all the hotels in Wincanton were fully booked already, but I'm so happy about it! 

The rooms are clean and super comfy and the breakfast buffet, while somewhat on the frugal side in comparison with some other places we've stayed at, includes homemade orange marmalade, which is one of my favourite things in the world...

...as well as the traditional egg-and-sausages, if you're so inclined!

I didn't dare starting off my day like this, but sweetie did, and looked quite happy too!

Me, I fully mean to lose my English sausage virginity at the Hogswatch feast on Saturday - and gosh, this sounded way worse than I actually meant it to. 

Sorry for the mental picture, peeps! 

Well, since I grossed you all out just now, I'm going to show one more yukky pic...

Now this is actually not gross at all, as the bathroom was spotless like the rest of the room.

But, apart from the lack of a bidet - which I won't dwell upon, as it already is the butt of too many jokes among us debauched Continentals - I want you to notice how hot and cold water come from separate faucets (something I haven't seen in use for almost 3o years), and how the washbasin is placed at crotch height. Feel free to draw you conclusions - ewwwww!

(Once again, the brain bleach is on me...)

Right after breakfast we thought we could take our smart Italian arses to Wincanton and secure our picks from the Emporium before the con madness starts. 

Alas, the shop was closed! We could see the personnel inside, dusting shelves and getting stuff ready. I was so giddy with excitement that I didn't even curse that much, and was content with simply snapping pics of the outside for the time being. 

Apart from its geeky connection with everything Discworld, Wincanton is a lovely little rural town, so quintessentially English - like everything around here!

 It boasts many interesting buildings, like the old Town Hall...

...plus it comes with three pubs, a Chinese and an Indian take-away, an Italian-style cafeteria, a butcher...

...and a real British bakery OMG!

Of course I got my foodie shopping done right away (while I still have some money left, as you might be guessing...)

(Right, I'm buying booze. Sue me!)

Then we got ourselves some proper, honest-to-God fish & chips from The Bridge in Templecombe, which is famous around here for its fried fish fares. Yay allitteration!

(Sweetie actually did a thorough online search and compared feedbacks. No kidding!)

Somehow I had picked up the idea that it would be fish nuggets, so the huge battered fillet scared the heck out of me. But it really tasted wonderful, and in the end I cheerfully devoured it all!

(Sorry for the crappy pic btw - it was taken outside, late in the evening with my cheap camera's flash. That was because the fried oil smell was so powerful that hun squarely refused to go eat it in our room LOL)

And now, to bed we go. Tomorrow's when the fun starts for real!

YAY BIRTHDAY!

Who's the birthday girl then? 
WOOT! I am!

Lookie here, I even got my own doodle... 

...and Etsy sent me this lovely "cake"!

I won't be celebrating that much today unfortunately, as I'm going to be stuck at work till midnight - but, I gave myself a nice little gift to enjoy in the meantime! 

Wanna see what it is? 

It's not one of those fancy cast iron skillets everyone keeps raving about, but the next best thing for sure: an aluminium one! 

I've collected a nice bunch of recipes already, and I can't wait to try it out! Wheeeeee! Can you see I'm excited?

Happy Year of the Snake!

Best wishes to all of you Snakes out there... and to my Asian readers, have a joyful New Year celebration!

...See? I remembered! 

(Seeing how I, like, totally forgot about Setsubun one week ago... Sigh! And it's one of my favourite international holidays too...)

[T&T] Lady's Choice Delicious Wholesome Filipino-Style Liver Spread

First of all, allow me to set matters straight: I am not targeting Filipino products in particular.

It's just that this awesome Asian grocery opened right near where I live, so I've been wandering among the aisles in a happy daze over the past few days - and while I am familiar with many of the Chinese and Japanese products they carry, the Filipino stuff is a whole new world for me to explore.

Today I'm going to sample Lady's Choice Delicious Wholesome Filipino-Style Liver Spread - I picked it up because I love liver, plus at a whopping 1.30 € for 165 g (approx. 5.8 ounces) it was a steal!

The tin was undamaged and easy to open.

Here's what the content looks like...

...and a spoonful of it for you to look at.

Basically what I want you to appreciate is how evenly creamy the texture is, which is a big winner for me.

I ate a spread once in which some bits of meat were still recognizable, and I happened to spot a small tubular thingie that looked suspiciously like a vein segment.

Now, I know there are offal in this spread as well - swine heart, lung, and head, according to the label - but they're all minced up nicely so that I don't have to see any icky bits.

The flavour is... well, pretty liver-y. So much so, in fact, that I suspected it might be artificial, as the actual liver content of this spread is about 21%, and not even in foie gras - which is pretty much 100% of the real stuff - does the taste come through so intensely.
Still, the listed ingredients include the usual thickening and colouring additives, but no artificial flavourings - and since it is imported through a U.K.-based company and British standards are usually very stict, I don't doubt the contents are as declared.

I guess the different meats were mixed in some smart way so that the liver's the real star.

The spread by itself was good enough for me to eat a couple spoonfuls right off the tin, but IMHO it needs something to balance the strong liver flavour - in short, it's quintessential sandwich material!

I sloshed some of it on half a loaf of French bread with sliced cheese, pickled hot chilies, and a little mayo. The other half got the same, except I was out of chilies, so I put in a boiled egg instead.

Both variations were delicious, and even more so after a few hours; I will surely buy more tins for those times when I need to whip up a quick snack to wrap up and take to work.

I think it might be good that the label gives no nutritional values though...

[T&T] Mama Sita's Sinigang sa Sampalok (Filipino tamarind seasoning mix)

”The world is a book, and those who do not travel read only one page.”

- St. Augustine

What can I say to that? While not a fan of the man himself - inveterate unbeliever that I am - , I have to admit he got this one right.

And, while I may be too poor (OK, and lazy too...) to get around much, I like to keep an open mind and sample as much of the other cultures as I can. Especially as far as food is concerned - but you guessed that much, right?

The average Italian could probably name at least a couple Chinese or Japanese dishes, but Filipino cuisine is not as well-known as other Asian ones - pity, really, because it is unique and quite interesting.

Immigration from the Philippines is as strong as ever, though, and more and more Pinoy-specific groceries and foodstores are popping up, catering for the cravings of this ever-growing community.

Scouring ethnic shops is a well-known pastime of mine, so I quickly became familiar with Mama Sita's, which is pretty much synonymous with Filipino food.

I bought a nice selection of sauces and marinades in the past, both powdered and bottled, and loved them all. Likewise I enjoy Ube Halaya, coconut jelly, jackfruit, and everything mango... so you see I was pretty much ready to declare myself a honorary Pinay.

And when I stumbled into this, I knew I had to try it.



The blurb on the package (which was exhaustive and written in very good English btw) stated that the main ingredient of the mix was unripe tamarind, which would result in a soup with a a distinctively sour, fruity taste.

...Well isn't it gorgeous? I love soup! I love tamarind! I love sour! I'm going to LOVE this!

So here's my huge pot of water, with a quartered onion and a few cherry tomatoes floating in it. At this point I had already stirred in the package's content - I didn't take a pic of it but I guess it's better this way, since it was a lumpy pinkish mush that, quite frankly, reminded me of puke...

Still following the recipe given, I then added long green peppers and brought it all to a boil...


"Double, double, toil and trouble! Fire, burn! And cauldron, bubble!"

(Heh. In case you didn't notice, I gave up apologising about this sort of things a while ago...)



The recipe called for turnips, long beans and spinach at this point, but I added a frozen minestrone mix instead - granted, cranberry beans may not be an ingredient one would immediately associate with the Philippine islands, still...

...lookie, it's beans all right, 'nkay?

Last but not least, shrimps. Lots of them!

The result was pretty enough; so much so, in fact, that I confidently served it to my unsuspecting sweetie...

Now my sweetie, he has read quite a few pages of St. Augustine's metaphorical book, having travelled extensively through Asia in the past; but the best he could say about this soup was, "I bet it's really healthy" - which, as you might be suspecting, is Latin for, "Yeuch, this stuff is disgusting!"

We ended up forlornly plucking shrimps out of the broth, and eating them dejectedly, as neither of us -try as we might - could stomach a second serving of it.

The fact is, it was sour. Sour soup is yummy, mind you, but in this instance... let us just say I don't mean it in a pretty way.

It was, frankly, off-putting - I tried adding salt and it helped a little, but it was still way far from the "heavenly comfort food" it was meant to be.

As my sweetie wisely said, it tasted unfinished...

 

...thus, before giving in to the Dark Side and publicly bashing both Mama Sita's product and what was inexplicably a beloved national dish for a whole nation, I took a steadying breath and did what I should have done before - I searched YouTube...

 

...and found this.

See where mine went wrong? I SKIPPED THE FISH JUICE!

Now to be honest, the recipe on the package went: "Add fish juice to taste"... which I had mistakenly registered as, "You can add it if you like".

So - me being this adorable ball of stubbornness you have come to love (er, right?) - I saved the leftover broth (and, ye Gods, I had lots of it!), got myself a bottle of fish juice, and decided to give Sinigang sa Sampalok another chance before passing judgement.

Yes, I know. Strict but fair, that's me in a nutshell!

Guess what? It made a HUGE difference!

The fish stuff turned the broth sligtly darker, deliciously hearty, and umami-laden in a way that worked perfectly with the basic sourness.

I ended up eating all of the leftover broth by myself, and although I wouldn't say I'm looking forward to making more any time soon, I certainly wouldn't mind trying the real thing if only I could manage to find a Filipino restaurant!

The Fanbaking Project: Kareh-pan, a.k.a. Curry Bread (as seen in Kuroshitsuji)

So you have read this other post of mine, yes? 

Take a seat, grasshopper. I knew you would be back.

We are going to focus on making kareh-pan today, thus I'm taking it for granted that you already have some Japanese curry ready, either leftover or made for this purpose. If not, check my previous entry linked above and go make yourself some! It's super easy! 

Now let's pick up things right where we stopped last time. Remember how I told you that proper kareh is very runny, almost soup-like? That is the consistency you will get if you follow the directions on your curry package. Only this time we need it thicker, so keep it simmering on medium-low heat, stirring slowly with a wooden spoon to prevent it from burning.

It is a bit tricky to explain when it's done; basically you want it to get to a point where it doesn't slosh right back when you pile it on one side, but the different ingredients are still distinguishable. (The pic below is the best I could manage; it will become even firmer as it cools off, so it is fine to remove it from heat at this point.)

The kareh part is done. Time to deal with the pan!

(My recipe is a slight adaptation of this one by Makiko Itoh, hostess of Just Hungry. If you have even a passing interest in Japanese food, her blog is THE place to be!)

Kareh-pan

Ingredients (yelds 8):

* (300 g) Manitoba flour

* (70 g) all-purpose flour

* 1 packet (7 g) dry yeast
* 2 Tbsp sugar
* 2 tsp salt
* 5/8 cup milk (+ 2 Tbsp for the coating)
* 2 + 1/2 Tbs butter
* 3 medium eggs
* Panko bread crumbs

* frying oil

1.  Cube the butter and let it soften slightly. The eggs and the milk should be room temeperature too.

2.  Whisk together the dry ingredients (the two kinds of flour, sugar, salt, and yeast). Mix in two of the eggs, then - gradually - the milk. Finally, add the softened butter and knead (either manually or with a KitchenAid or somesuch) until you get a veeeeeery sticky ball of dough!

3.  Put it into a bowl, cover it with plastic film (or you can wrap the dough into it directly; if so, wrap loosely, because it will more or less double in bulk). 

Let it rest for a couple hours (you can get away with 1 1/2  in a particularly warm day, but don't skimp on the rising time! Your patience will be rewarded in the end!) 

4.  Go look at your dough. Has it grown into a huge, bloated, vaguely eldritch thing?

...Wow, that's GOOD!

Unceremonoiusly punch it down until it deflates, wrap it up again and put it back in its warm, cozy nook for 45 more minutes.

No, really, I mean it! I suggest re-watching your fave Kuroshitsuji episode and pretend you're Sebastian, keeping hunger in check while Ciel pursues his revenge... and waiting, waiting for his master's soul to distil into pure, perfect yumminess...

5.  OK, you can stop daydreaming now! Deflate the dough again (hee hee, isn't it fun?)

Cut it into 8 equal parts, and shape them into balls. Dampen a clean kitchen towel, cover your buns-in -progress with it, and - guess what? - let it rest for a further 15 minutes.

6.  In the meanwhile, beat the remaining egg with 2 Tbsp milk and a pinch of salt.

Take out the dough balls, one at a time, and roll them into flat rounds. Put some curry in the middle...

...then close up the dough around it. You can use a little egg mixture as glue, or dampen the edges with water;  in short, do whatever works for you. It doesn't have to be pretty, as long as it stays closed.

(This is why the filling needs to be so thick btw: if you get smudges of it on the edges, it will be very hard to seal the bun properly. Come on, ask me how I know.)

7.  Roll the filled bun gently into the egg mixture...

...and cover it in panko crumbs.

DON'T substitute plain bread crumbs for it; they are too fine and soak up tons of oil, so your coating turns out all soggy and not crunchy at all. If you can't find them, break up some crackers instead (son't salt the egg mixture if you're using salty crackers), or leave uncovered altogether.

8.  Now carefully place the buns on baking paper aaaaaaand... leave them alone for the usual 15 minutes.

Stop whining already; the coating needs to set at this point. If it doesn't, the crumbs will come loose in the hot oil and your pan will have a nasty burnt taste.

9.  Time to deep-fry! If you're using a frying machine, set it on the highest temperature; if not, you'll know the oil is hot enough when a bread crumb dropped into it turns crisp and golden right away. If it blackens as soon as it touches the oil, then it's too hot!

Carefully lower the buns in, so as to dislodge as few crumbs as possible.

Mine were done in 7-8 minutes, but they were on the largeish side. Simply keep an eye on them and fish them out when they look good!

Drain the excess oil on kitchen paper...

...and now, at last, you can nom them!

OM...

...NOM...

...NOM...

...Well, you got the hang of it, didn't you?

A few words of caution: 

*  Making kareh-pan is not difficult per se, but it takes a crapload of time due to the fact that you have to allow the dough to rest and rise multiple times. Try it on a day when you're happy and relaxed, and really have nothing more pressing to do.

*  It is also messy business. Very messy. This is how my kitchen looked right after I was done with them, just so you get the idea... 

*  You really, really do not want your buns to burst open while frying. I can't stress how important this is. This poor guy was unlucky...

...and it was pretty icky, let me tell you. The oil had seeped inside, so that it was basically a grease-soaked sponge. Ugh. 
(Even the digicam didn't have the heart to put the wretched thing into sharp focus. True story.)

*  Oh, and one last thing. When they cut the "mystery donut" in Kuroshitsuji, you can see tons of curry flowing dramatically out of it and onto the plate... 

Kuroshitsuji belongs to Yana Toboso and Square Enix

As you know by now, that is not the case. The filling is delicious and creamy, but definitely not this soupy.  Here I am squishing mine slightly to let you get a good peek at it...

It is, however, a devilishly delicious treat and I really hope you'll give it a try!