Mix all ingredients in a mixing bowl and knead into a smooth dough by hand. It shouldn't take long. Different brand of flour has different liquid absorbency, if the dough feels dry, you can add a bit of water, teaspoon by teaspoon if necessary. You should be able to form a dough that's smooth and not sticky. Wrap in plastic wrap to prevent it from drying out while you prepare the oil dough
Prepare the oil dough:
Rub the shortening into the flour and gradually knead into a dough. Again, if it feels a bit dry and you can't form a dough, add a bit more shortening as needed
Combine the dough:
Divide the water dough into 6 equal pieces and do the same with the oil dough. Roll them into balls
Slightly flatten the water dough and place the oil dough in the middle of the water dough and wrap the dough around it. Repeat this with the rest
Cover and let these 6 dough balls rest for 15 minutes before we start shaping
Prepare the filling:
Combine all the ingredients for the filling in a bowl. Divide into 6 equal portions and roll into balls. Keep them covered
Shaping:
Work with one dough ball at a time and keep the rest covered so they won't dry out. Lightly dust your work surface with a bit of flour, not too much. Slightly flatten the dough with your palm. Use a rolling pin to gently roll it out into an oblong shape, about 7 inches long, approximately. Roll it up from one end to the other
Rotate 90 degrees and use a rolling pin to roll it out again into an oblong shape, about 6-7 inches long. Again, roll it up from one end to the other. Put it aside and keep it covered to prevent it from drying out. Repeat with the rest of the dough
Preheat the oven at 350 F (180 C), conventional oven. If you use a convection oven, preheat at 320 F (160 C)
Starting from the first dough you have pre-shaped, bring the two ends together to meet and then gently flatten it with your palm and use a rolling pin to roll it into a circle about 4-5 inches in diameter, about 1/4-inch thick. Put the filling in the middle, gather the edge of the dough to the center to seal, giving the filling a bit of room and don't wrap so tight so it won't "explode" during baking. Make sure you pinch to seal tightly so the filling won't ooze out during baking
Then cover with a cling wrap and gently flatten the dough and use a rolling pin to gently roll into a round disc, about 4 inches in diameter. Be gentle when you roll so you don't tear the dough and spill the filling inside
Put this on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and repeat with the rest of the dough and filling. If you have a stamp, you can dip it in a red food coloring, dab lightly with a paper towel to prevent the color from bleeding on the dough. Stamp on the middle
Use a toothpick to prick a few holes on the surface of the dough, taking care not to poke all the way to the bottom or the filling will leak out. This is to prevent the dough from "exploding" during baking. I actually forgot to do this step lol, but luckily nothing exploded in the oven
Let the shaped dough rest for 10 minutes before baking
Baking:
Put the baking sheet inside the oven, middle rack and bake in the preheated oven for 20 minutes. If you don't want the color to be too dark, loosely tent with an aluminum foil, shiny side up after about 10 minutes of baking
The dough will puff up during baking and that's normal
Let the pastry cool down on a cooling rack before consuming
How to store:
Once the pastry has cooled down completely, transfer them to an air-tight container. You can warm them up in the microwave for a few seconds if you prefer warm version. You can also reheat in air fryer at 350 F for about 5 minutes or so. You can also reheat them in the oven at the same temperature for 10 minutes to crisp them up
Notes
You can use lard or ghee. I don't recommend using butter as the dough is more difficult to work with if you use butter. Ghee is clarified butter and most of the water has been removed and lard and shortening are all fat and no liquid.