These tasty little snacks have been a long time coming, but the Chinese Steamed Pork Buns are definitely worth the wait. I promised them to hubby about two weeks ago but have not had a chance to make them.
These tasty steamed buns have been a bit of a labour of love too, as there are quite a few steps in the process. Firstly because we are not in a major city I can’t buy Char Siu (Chinese BBQ Pork). I needed to make my own, and the recipe is right here. We enjoyed a meal of the Char Siu a few nights ago and I reserved enough left over pork for the steamed bun filling.
The next step is making the dough for the buns from lovely white Hong Kong Flour. Thankfully I have a bread maker for this process so it wasn’t too difficult. The ingredients go in, and the machine gets set to “dough”.
Finally, while the dough was being prepared I concentrated on the pork bun filling. It is not a difficult recipe but all of the flavours and techniques are new to me. This has caused me some concern as I have been a little unsure how these little buns would turn out.
Hubby told me the flavour was spot on and even though I have never attempted steaming buns in a bamboo steamer everything went according to plan. Delicious!
Chinese Steamed Pork Buns
Dough Ingredients (makes 12 buns):
- 8g instant dry yeast
- 160ml warm water
- ½ tsp white vinegar or lemon juice (optional)
- 280g Hong Kong flour
- 100g wheat starch
- 90g icing sugar
- 30g vegetable oil
- 10g baking powder
- 10ml cold water
Filling Ingredients:
- 150 ml water
1½ T/s corn flour - 250g char siew, diced (recipe)
- ½ T/s oil
- 1 t/s sugar
- 1 small onion, diced
- 1 tbsp oyster sauce
- 1 tbsp soy sauce
- 1 tsp. sesame oil
- 1-2 drops red food colouring
Dough Method:
Breadmaker Method
- Place all ingredients into a bread maker and set onto dough setting.
By Hand
- Sift together flours and icing sugar. Place sifted flour mixture in a large mixing bowl.
- Add lukewarm water and the oil, vinegar and yeast.
- Using a spatula, gently stir the water to dissolve the yeast then slowly bring together flour mixture.
- Knead the dough for 10-15 minutes until soft smooth dough is formed.
- Cover dough with damp cloth and leave in a warm spot for 30 minutes or until it is doubled in size.
- Dissolve baking powder in cold water, sprinkle over dough and knead until well combined. Divide dough into 12 equal portions and roll with a rolling pin to make a 3” circle.
Filling Method:
- Mix the cornflour with the water and put to one side for use later.
- Heat oil in frying pan, sauté onion for 1 to 2 minutes. Add all other ingredients except cornflour mixture. Fry for 1 minute.
- Add the cornflour to the pork mix and simmer until sauce is thickened.
- Transfer to a bowl and allow mix to cool.
- Place a spoonful of filling in the middle, wrap and pleat the dough to seal. Place it on a square of baking paper, seal side up.
- Arrange buns in a bamboo steamer, leave about 2cm spacing between buns.
- Heat some water in a wok until boiling.
- Place the steamer on the wok taking care that the water level is below the base of the bamboo steamer.
- Steam on a high heat for 12 minutes. Once the buns are cooked remove the steamer from the wok and cool on rack to prevent soggy bottom.
These buns were absolutely delicious and I loved the satisfaction I felt from making something completely different.
I probably wouldn’t make the Chinese Steamed Pork Buns again. It is not difficult but it is a lot of time for something which is just a snack food.
