Steamed pork buns (豚まん)
Traditional Japanese steam bun recipe - taking from a home recipe book. To make this vegetarian, sub out the pork mince for the vegetable filling listed - all of the other seasonings are the same with the addition of oyster sauce.
Ingredients -
filling
150 g pork mince (preferably 20% fat)
3 leaves cabbage (finely chopped
)
3 spring onions (finely chopped
)
4 dried shiitake mushrooms (soaked and finely chopped
)
20 g glass noodles
1 tsp salt
1 tsp sake
2 tsp soy sauce
0.5 tsp sugar
1 tsp sesame oil
1 tsp ginger (grated
)
1 tsp potato starch
bun dough
200 g plain flour
100 g bread flour
2 tsp quick yeast
2 tbsp sugar
180 ml lukewarm water
vegetable filling
2 bunches pak choi
150 g shiitake mushrooms
1.5 tbsp oyster sauce
Instructions
1
Start by combining the two types of flour, sugar and yeast along with a pinch of salt to a large bowl. Then, pour in the lukewarm water and knead into a smooth ball (around 5 mins) before covering and leaving to rise for at least 30 minutes.
2
Next, add the spring onions and finely chopped shitake mushrooms to a pan and stirfry with some oil until softened. Soak the glass noodles as per the packet instructions - once soften chop into 1 inch pieces with some scissors. Combine all of the filling ingredients into a bowl and use your hands to mix everything together.
3
If making the vegetable version, first blanch the pak choi by boiling for 30 seconds and then plunging in ice cold water. Once blanched, squeeze as much as the water out as you can before finely chopping using a knife or food processor. For the shiitake mushrooms, finely dice and then fry with some oil for 3-4 minutes. Mix these ingredients together with the glass noodles and seasonings + oyster sauce.
4
Once the dough has been left to rise and has doubled in size, pour it out on a clean countertop brushed with some flour to prevent sticking and then split into 12 equal pieces, rolling each into a ball. The dough needs to rest for a few mins once it's been rolled into a ball - make a note of the order in which you rolled them as the first one you did should be ready to fill by the time you've made all 12 balls.
5
Now it's time to fill! Starting with the most rested dough ball, flatten it into a small circle and then flatten it further by rolling from the inside out using a rolling pin. You want to make sure the dough is thicker in the middle than at the circumfrance.
6
Then spoon a 12th of the meat mixture into the middle of the dough circle and start folding the dough around it, eventually pinching the top so that there are no holes - watch a youtube video if you're not sure how to do this.
7
Go on to make the rest of the buns in the order in which the dough has rested.
8
Once all 12 buns have been made, add a couple of tsps of oil to a large frying pan with a lid. Place the buns into the pan and wait for the bottoms to get a little brown before adding a splash of water and placing the lid straight on the pan to let the buns steam. After around 15 mins, remove the lid and fry for a little longer to get the bottoms of the buns crispy.
9
Enjoy these 豚まん with a dash of Bulldog worcestershire sauce or soy sauce.
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