Page 22 of Dragons & Dumplings

The two of us tidy up, talking a little about what we expect from the recipe, but not much more than that. Time passes quicker than I expect it to, and Nate is soon bringing the custard back from the ice house.

"It looks good," he says. "Probably your best custard yet."

I look into the pan, easily admitting that he's probably right about that. "Though the one I made for the custard tarts was good."

"Oh, yes. But I think it was the pastry that stole the show on those."

I snort. "You would say that.Youmade the pastry."

"Ah, so I did," he teases as he mixes the custard so it's easy to handle. "We've got to make it into seven portions."

"Seven?" I echo. "What a strange amount."

"It's considered a lucky number in some parts of Shengda," he responds. "That's what Lady An's cook said when I asked her about it."

"Oh, well, then seven it is." Mostly because that's what we should do if the recipe says we should.

I roll a custard ball between my hands, the heat of them making it stickier than before. I set it on a plate that will go back into the ice house until we're ready for them and move on to the next one.

Once we're done, I pick up the plate and head out to it. The cool evening air makes the hairs on my arms raise, especially compared to the heat of the kitchen, and it's even worse when I enter the cool of the icehouse. I have no idea how it works, but I'm grateful for its existence, especially when it helps us with our baking.

Nate is already kneading the dough when I return to the kitchen, and I stop in the doorway to watch him. He uses his body weight to push his hand and the dough forward in a method I don't think I've seen him use before.

He looks up and catches me watching him, giving me a curious look that I assume is him wanting to know what I'm thinking.

"Why are you doing it like that?" I ask.

"Lady An's cook said that it needed the irregular air bubbles taking out of it. She gave me a method for checking too." He shapes the dough into a ball and grabs his knife, slicing through it.

I step closer so I can take a look, surprised to find some large air bubbles around the edge of the dough.

"It needs more," he says.

"Let me," I respond. "You shouldn't do all of the kneading."

"Be my guest."

"How is it that you were doing it?" I ask, realising I should have checked that first.

"Use the heel of your hand and push with your weight," he says. "Here." He steps closer and puts his arms around me, using one hand to guide me.

We're surprisingly close, and I can smell the clinging scent of the fire and baking bread on his clothes. It's nice, and there's a part of me that's tempted to lean closer to him even if I don't understand why.

He clears his throat and steps back. "You get the idea."

I nod and carry on kneading until we check it and the dough no longer has the large bubbles. It only takes us a few minutes longer to have it divided into the seven pieces we need.

The dough is drier than the other one we made, but it's fairly easy to work with. I follow the instructions scribbled on the recipe, folding the dough in half, pressing it into itself, and then repeating until a smooth surface forms. It's surprisingly soothing, and I think I could do this for hours, rather than just for seven wrappers.

"Do you want to roll them out while I get the filling balls?" Nate asks.

"Sure, if that's all right?"

"Yep." He disappears out to the ice house while I use a rolling pin to flatten the dough balls, lifting up the wrappers so that I can make the edges slightly thinner.

I'm done with five of them by the time Nate gets back, but he waits until I've done the final two to start filling them. It's satisfying to push the cold custard into the centre of the wrappers, making sure there's no air trapped between the components. I wet my finger and run it around the edge so that I can pinch the bun together, and stick it on a piece of baking paper. After a quick reshape to make sure that it isn't too flat, I step back to admire my handiwork. It looks a little wonky, but I like how smooth the cream surface of the dome is. I've not made anything exactly like this before, so it's interesting to see the different parts of the process.

"All right, now we have to wait for them to prove," Nate says. "Twenty minutes in the steamer, then we can turn it on."

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