Char Siew Pork Steam Buns ala Susanna Olivier
After searching for sometime, I found my friend's recipe for Steam Buns Doughs is SO SIMPLE. The technic to form the dough, I see it from one of Indian cooking's video, weird? yes but it is true :-)
Ingredients for Dough:
1.1/2 tsp active dry yeast
½ cup warm water
¼ cup superfine ( caster sugar )
1 cup plain flour
½ cup self-rising flour
3 tsp butter, melted
Ingredients for Filling :
2 tbsp vegetable oil
3 tsp grated fresh ginger
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 tbsp hoisin sauce
1 tbsp oyster sauce
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tsp Asian sesame oil
3 tsp cornstarch mix with 1 tbsp water
250 g Chinese bbq pork, finely chopped
6 scallions ( spring onion/ scallops ) finely chopped
Method for Dough :
In a small bowl, combine yeast with 2 tbsp warm water, 1 tsp sugar and 1 tsp plain flour.
Mix until combined. Cover with a kitchen towel and let stand in a warm place until frothy, about 15 minutes. Sift remaining plain flour and self rising flour into a large bowl. Add remaining sugar, yeast mixture, remaining warm water and melted butter. Using a wooden spoon, mix to form a soft dough. Turn out onto floured work surface and knead until smooth and elastic, 3 – 5 minutes. Place dough in a large oiled bowl, cover and let stand in a warm place until doubled in bulk, about 1 hour.
Method for Filling :
Heat oil in a wok or frying pan over medium heat
and fry ginger and garlic until aromatic, about 1 minutes.
Add hoisin, oyster and soy sauce and sesame oil.
Cook, stirring, for 2 minutes. Add cornstarch and water mixture,
bring to a boil and stir until sauce thickens, about 2 minutes.
Remove from heat and stir pork and scallions.
Transfer to a bowl and let cool completely.
Punch down dough.
Turn out onto a floured work surface
and knead smooth, about 5 minutes.
Devide ddough into 1 pieces. Roll or press out each piece to form 6 cm circle.
Cover dough with a damp kitchen towel. Working with one round of dough at a time,
spoon 2 teaspoons of filling into center. Gather edges together, twist to seal and cover with kitchen towel. Repeat with remaining dough.
Cut out 16 squares of baking paper and place bun, sealed side down, on paper.
Half fill a medium wok with water and bring to a boil.
Working in batches, arrange buns in steamer, cover
and place steamer over boiling water.
Steam for 15 minutes adding more boiling water to wok
when necessary. Lift steamer off wok and carefully remove buns.
Using scissors, snip top of each bun twice, to resemble a star. Serve warm.
Click video to see the process of making steam buns. OR you can also click here to see technic of pleating buns.
