Steamed Pork Buns - Char Siu Bao

Gong Xi Fa Cai! Before moving to Colombia I lived in Singapore and was exposed to so many gastronomical delights. I decided as it's Chinese New Year I should try my hand at one of my favourites from this time... Steamed Pork Bun otherwise known as Char Siu Bao.

This one was going to take some improvising as so many of the recipes I looked for called for things I just can't get but as always I persisted and pulled together ideas from one recipe or another and finally landed on this. Which even if I do say so myself was pretty impressive.

As good as I remembered it...

Steamed Pork Bun
Serves: 10
Prep Time/Cook Time: 2hrs (This is a little complicated on this one as I did lots of stuff while waiting for other parts to be ready, at the end of it all I'm pretty sure I was only in the kitchen for about this long...)

For the Char Siu:
500g Pork loin (a few recipes suggested pork belly but I already had loin so I went with that)
1/4 cup sugar
2tsp salt
4tsp light soy sauce
1tbsp Gin (the recipe calls for Sherry or chinese rice wine, Gin is apparently a perfect substitute)
1/2tsp oil
2tbsp honey

1. Cut the pork loin down the centre to butterfly it and then make deep slashes on opposite sides to allow the marinade to get into the meat.
2. Place all other ingredients in a glass dish. Lay the meat on top and coat generously with the marinade. Cover with plastic and leave for 30mins.

Meat ready to marinate

3. Preheat the oven to 180C, Line a roasting dish with foil, lay the meat in the pan and roast for about an hour. Turn occasionally and baste with the juice.

Cooked and ready for dicing

4. Set aside for 10 minutes and then dice into small 1/2cm pieces.

For the dough:
2 cups plain flour
2 1/2tsp baking powder
2tbsp caster sugar
1tsp salt
1/2 cup warm water
2tbsp oil

1. Sift the flour and baking powder in a bowl, add the sugar and salt. Gradually add the combined water and oil. Stir to form a soft dough.
2. Turn onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth. Wrap dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for an hour.

Doughy goodness

For the filling:
1/2 cup chicken broth
1tbsp fish sauce
2tbsp tomato sauce
5tsps sugar
4tsps cornstarch
5tbsp soy sauce
1/2 tsp salt
pinch of pepper
2tbsp oil
1 small onion finely diced
500g Char Siu Pork finely diced
1tbsp Gin (see note above)

1. Whisk the chicken broth, fish sauce, tomato sauce, sugar, cornstarch, soy sauce, salt and pepper in a bowl.
2. Place the oil in a wok and heat on high. When hot, add the onion, reduce the heat to medium low and allow onion to brown.
2. Turn the heat back to high, add the meat and stir fry for 3 minutes. Pour the Gin in from the edge of the wok and stir.

Preparing the filling

3. Reduce the heat to medium and pour the broth mixture into the wok and stir together until the sauce thickens.

Waiting for the sauce to thicken

4. Remove from heat.

For the buns:
1. Divide the dough into 10 equal portions (keep them moist by placing them under a damp cloth until needed). Roll out one portion at a time into a large circle.
2. Place a spoonful of filling into the centre of the dough then pull the sides up creating small pleats. Twist the pleats together at the top.

All pleated up

3. Place each bun on a small sheet of wax paper and place into the bamboo steamer. Allow to steam for 10 minutes (note: the buns will puff out so don't place them too close together in the steamer).
4. Enjoy.

Yes this was a rather fussy thing to make, but it was definitely worth the time. The taste was just as I remembered it, the only "glitch" was that my dough was not the pristine white that they always were in Singapore. I'll get over it! I loved this dough as it didn't force you to use yeast and go through the proofing process. Always a bonus when cooking at altitude.