STEAMED BUNS

Beautiful Bun.
Yesterday was the celebration of Chinese New Year, lots of people had good fun in the city of Melbourne to see the traditions, new year Lion Dance or had a beautiful feast in the Chinese restaurant, an excellent time to enjoy the festivity and the delicious Chinese Cuisine.
We missed the occasion, but I am thinking to cook steamed bun based on Chinese cooking. Instead of preparing lots of small buns, I made one a large bread.  It is my favourite of the Yum Ca dishes.

The Big Bun

Warm steamed buns for breakfast is a rare thing to have, but it is always good to eat a hot breakfast.
The large steamed bun is indeed a bundle of goodies.  The filling was so delicious, and the bread bun was puffed up beautifully.

The Preparation

The Leaven

Flour, leaven and water

Mix the 155g leaven, with a cup of water to the dry ingredients-420g plain flour, a teaspoon yeast, 5g salt and 5g sugar, gather to make a rough ball. Knead it for 7 minutes until it is soft.  Rub the softball with a little oil, place in a container and let it proof for two hours.

After Two Hours Proofing

The dough rises to double in bulk.

Punch the dough down, knead lightly. Put in a bowl and keep refrigerated.  When you are ready to use the dough, take it out and continue cooking.

The filling:  braised pork, egg, lettuce and thick sweet sauce.

When the dough is ready, start to prepare the filling.  Poach four eggs, shred the iceberg lettuce, and also braised pork which is done a day before.

The sweet filling is popular too, and it is made out of braised red beans, form into a paste and add sugar to sweeten.

To make the large bun.

Roll the dough into a large thin and round.  As a large as a dinner plate.

Put the round dough on a tray/plate lined with baking paper.  Put the filling on it, first scatter the shredded lettuce, followed by placing the pork, and put the eggs on top.  Spoon the sauce over the filling and bring the edge of the dough to the centre to enclose the filling.

Place the large bun at room temperature for 25 minutes before steaming.

Let the bun rest at room temperature for
25 minutes before steaming

Steaming
Steam the bun with a steamer, I use what I got, but if you have a bamboo steamer is good.  Cook over high heat to steam for 20 -25 minutes.

Steaming the Bun

Serving the Steamed Bun on a Plate

Serving the bun, cut into wedges and dress it in hot sauce or soya sauce.

An idea for you, instead of having bacon, egg and toast, you will enjoy steamed bun filled with egg and meat.

Hot food for breakfast is a treat for my family, we love our porridge though, but sometimes to have a change is alright.  The bun is easy to be prepared the night before, and in the morning is the cooking simply steam the buns for 25 minutes.  You could make small buns, it's as big as a dinner roll, and the steaming time is 10 minutes.

You may wish to cook the buns, and here it is a good dough recipe from  a cooking book of Chinese Food, by Kenneth Lo
The Dough for Steamed Buns
450 gr flour
1 1/2 teaspoons dry yeast
300g water
1 tablespoon sugar.
Dissolve the yeast in 4 tablespoons of warm water and add o the flour in a basin.  Add the remaining water gradually.  Knead well for 7-8 minutes. Leave the dough to stand in a warm place for a couple of hours, then knead again for 2-3 minutes.
Now the dough is ready for shaping and to be filled.
For the filling, you could improvise your self, sweet chicken in soy is okay too or have minced pork and mushroom instead of chicken.






Until Next Post
Susi