Char Siu Bao Buns

It had to happen, you all know of my love affair with Char Siu Pork.

I have been planning on making Char Siu Bao Buns for so long.  Don't really know why it took so long, but there you go, what can I say?  I've done it now, and will be doing it again soon, want some too?

Tempted yet?

These Buns are so moorish, delectable even, especially when dipped into the leftover sauce too.

Light & fluffy, they just call out to you saying "eat me".  And eat them we did, with gusto.

Warning High in calories, impossible to eat just one, addictive.

Consequences You may need counselling in order to stop eating Char Siu Bao Buns.  Don't say I didn't warn you.

Char siu Bao Buns (makes 16 buns)

1 Portion of Char Siu Pork, my recipe here
Left over marinade from above recipe

Yeast Dough:- (dough recipe from Jun-Blog)
1 1/2 tsp instant dry yeast
3/4 cup  (180ml) lukewarm water
2 Tbsp vegetable or goundnut oil
2 Tbsp sugar
2 tsp baking powder
3 cups (750ml) flour

Prepare your Char Siu Pork Recipe.  Don't slice the cooked pork but cut into small cubes. Reserve the marinade and bring to a boil in a small pan ready for the buns later.

Mix a little of the sauce mixture into the cubed pork, just enough for it to be a little, but not too wet.  Set aside remainder of sauce for dipping buns into later.

Put the yeast in a small bowl, add the water and set aside for 1 minute to soften. Whisk in the oil to blend and dissolve the yeast. Set aside.

Combine sugar, baking powder and flour in a large bowl. Make a well in the center and pour in the yeast mixture.  Slowly stir with a wooden spoon, moving from the center toward the rim, to work in all the flour.  Keep stirring as a ragged but soft dough forms. Then use your fingers to gather and pat the dough together into a ball. Transfer to a clean work surface and knead for about 5 minutes.  You should not need additional flour if the dough was properly made.  Keep kneading until the dough is smooth and slightly elastic. Press your finger into the dough and it should spring back with a slight indentation remaining.

Place the dough in a large bowl that has been lightly oiled. Cover with plastic wrap and put it in a warm, draft-free place to rise such as an oven and let it sit for around 45 minutes until the dough has nearly doubled.  You can refrigerate the dough if you do not need it right away but make sure that it is covered well with a plastic wrap.

Note: Jun-Blog shows an excellent photo tutorial,See here

Lightly dust your clean work surface with flour.  Cut the dough in half and roll into a foot-long log.  Cut the log into eight pieces.

Roll each piece into a ball and flatten each piece gently into a small disc using your palm. Using a small rolling pin (either a 1-inch wooden dowel or the end of a wooden spoon like what I used, would do) roll the edges and only the edges. There should be a small bulge at the center of the dough, which the Chinese calls the belly.

Place a generous tablespoon of your char siu pork filling in the center of the dough, right on the belly. Wrap the filling by pressing and pulling the edges of the dough.

Gather and pull the edges up and twist the top to fully cover the filling.

Cut 2-inch square wax paper sheets and use these to line the bottom of each bun before steaming them. Steam up to 4 buns in an 8-inch bamboo steamer.  Make sure that there’s around a 1 to 2-inch space in between buns inside the steamer.  A bamboo steamer is definitely not a must; a regular steamer will work, too.

Boil water in your wok or a large pan and place the steamers with the buns in your wok or pan. Steam for around 15 minutes. Make sure that the water does not come in contact with the buns.

Remove the lid before you turn off the heat to avoid condensed water from dripping back to the buns. Continue steaming the rest of the batch.

Making the dough may sound a bit daunting, but is actually quite easy and practice makes perfect.  Which of course I'm not yet, but working on it LOL.

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