Steamed Chinese Pork Buns- Char Siu Bao

 

I find it really interesting that the most popular post I've ever written is the one for my Gluten Free Chinese Dumplings , closely followed by Steamed Coconut Buns


Yum Cha or Dim Sum, is one of the most wonderful meals in the world- at least if you listen to my littlej, and though often taking my health in my hands, we occaisionally venture out into the great unknown and indulge.
Now sometimes it's all good. The staff are friendly and helpful, my little printed cards in Chinese stating that I'm allergic to wheat are recognised, and we have a great time. Other times..... not so much. Really the only way to be sure of food purity and no cross contamination is to build up a decent repitoire of dishes and recreate the whole Yum Cha experience here at home

I know that it sounds like a whole lot of work, but I like to make a whole heap of each item at a sitting, then divvy them up into meal lots and freeze them. That way I have a mix of goodies for steaming or baking and Yum Cha or Dim Sum is just half an hour away whenever the mood takes us! Win Win! It's well and truly worth it and can be a whole lot of fun too



The very original recipe for these buns comes from Jamie Oliver, but I've tizzied them up a bit to suit the style of dough I wanted and I think it works just fine. I haven't given a recipe yet for the BBQ pork but it will be coming soon. If I'm in a hurry I usually pick some up at our local Chinese BBQ house with no problem- just make sure it's definitely gluten free. If you're really stuck, just use minced pork instead

Changs and Ayam make great gluten free Asian sauces

BBQ Pork Filling

300 gm gf BBQ Pork
1/2 cup Water
2 tab gf Oyster Sauce
2 tab gf HoiSin Sauce
2 tab Honey
1 tsp Sesame Oil
3 tsp Cornflour
3 tsp Cold Water



Chop the pork into nice little pieces, you don't want to be tearing huge chunks apart inside your bun

Pop the 1/2 cup water, sauces, honey and sesame oil into a fry pan. Bring to the boil while stirring to bring it all together

Add in the pork and stir to coat it all in delicousness

Mix the cornflour and cold water into a slurry, add about 2/3 of it into the pork mixture and stir, stir, to thicken up
Now this needs to be fairly thick but still loose and not dry, so adjust the thickening with a touch more slurry or thin it back down with a bit more water as necessary

Let all the yumminess cool in the fridge for an hour or so
The mixture will always thicken further when cooled but that's a good thing as it makes it easier to fill the buns later

Fluffy Bun Recipe

1 tin Coconut Milk
2 tins worth gluten free SR Flour
2 tabs Oil or Lard
2 tab Castor Sugar
3 tsp gf Baking Powder
big pinch Salt

Pop all the ingredients into a food processor and whizz it up quickly until all combined and it turns into a slightly soft, sticky dough

Tip it out, then gently knead it into a solid round. Divide the dough into 16 even pieces

Pat each piece of dough into a small round that will comfortably fit on your hand. Try to make the edges a bit thinner than the centre

Slightly cup the dough, then place a good teaspoon of filling into the middle

I pull the edges together in a triangle to start the pretty flower bud shape, but as long as it's all enclosed that's all that really matters

Pinch the opposite sides together

Finished product!

All ready to go- not really perfect, but that's fine

Steam away happily for about 10 minutes, or until glossy and cooked through and not doughy in the middle

Steamy hot and ready to eat

The dough should be soft and a bit fluffy- but remember these are gluten free and will never be as light as air as 'regular' flour buns. I haven't found a fool proof method of replicating that soft, billowiness yet, but as long as you realise the limitations of gluten free flour you should be OK

Definitely at their best served hot and soft with the filling oozing out deliciously, a real Yummy Cha treat indeed!

So Dear Readers, what's your favourite Yum Cha/ Dim Sum dish and restaurant to go to?



Other delicious Yum Cha or Dim Sum posts you might enjoy:

Thai Pearl Dumplings

Stuffed Eggplant

Spring Rolls

Mango Pudding







 

Stuffed Eggplant Yum Cha

I know I've mentioned how much we love Yummy Cha

As well as enjoying it out and about, I've been slowly building up my own set of gluten and dairy free dishes for when we can't be bothered going out.

Sometimes you just get a hankering for that one dish, and it's nice to be able to whip it up or pull it out of the freezer ready to go when you are.



This is another one of my favourite Yum Cha dishes, Stuffed Eggplant, it's also pretty much the same as Stuffed Tofu, so I count them as the one dish really. The eggplant is so silky, stuffed with a soft delicious filling and then covered with a thin crispy shell of crunch to finish off the sublime taste and texture sensation, and the tofu is the same, just a bit bouncier when bitten into which is just as nice as well.




I'm not going to actually give 'real' measurements for the recipe today though Dear Readers, as it really depends on the size of your eggplant/tofu that is the carrier for this dish.



My filling ingredients for today were some nice pork rashers, shiitake mushrooms and spring onions






















I started by finely chopping some nice pork rashers. I wanted some fat to keep the filling moist and I didn't want it cut too fine as I also wanted some nice texture to chew on as a contrast to the silkiness of the eggplant flesh




















I also finely chopped my spring onions and the shiitake mushrooms-  Home Grown!












Then to the flavouring ingredients: ginger,white pepper,garlic and chili paste. You need more of this than you might think as really the tofu and eggplant are quite bland on their own and need a fair bit of ooomphing up. I used a good heaped tablespoon of each, and could have added just a touch more



















Mix together thoroughly. I find that using my hands really is best for this kind of thing, and it's fun to mush it all up as well

If you want to check the seasoning, you can take a small amount and quickly cook it off - steam, fry, microwave, whatever- then adjust accordingly



















Drain and pat dry the tofu



















Cut in half- hopefully a bit neater than this though




















Cut the eggplant into lovely half moons a bit over a centimetre thick, the slice a pocket through the centre of each without cutting all the way through the back






















Pack the stuffing in nice and firmly or it will be too lose and fall out once cooked





















Turn the tofu into a cute little sandwich by carefully loading it up with a decent amount of packed pork filling as well




















Place the eggplant and the tofu into a lightly greased steamer basket, and steam for about 10/12 minutes or until the filling is cooked and the tofu is bouncy firm

















Let it cool down, then cut the tofu into nice cubes- I cut mine into 6 pieces







Put the egg white into a shallow dish, and break up lightly with a fork.



















Dip the pieces of tofu and eggplant into the flour, then the egg whites, then back into the flour again- making sure to shake off any excess at each dunking.

You could just mix the two together to make a slurry type of batter if you want instead, but I like the way this coating is firmer when it's cooked





















Heat your oil and fry off the pieces until they are nice and crispy and starting to brown






















Drain quickly on a rack while you do the rest, this will stop them going soggy





















Cross section of both the eggplant on top, and the tofu underneath. Nice and cooked through inside but nice and crispy outside, yummo




















I served my Yummy Cha dish with a nice dollop of chilli bean sauce, but you could have them plain, with soy sauce, black bean and garlic sauce, or whatever takes your fancy.

These will definitely go into my Dim Sum repertoire for the future and are a sure favourite already!


















So Dear Readers, have you tried this dish before, and would you chose the tofu or eggplant version?




















Now, as promised I have a Second Blogaversary Give Away!

This time the prize is a Junior Master Chef Burger Kit
















to enter, just leave a comment on this post telling me if you'd like to win. I will draw the winner by my patented Cat-Raffle Method as usual, and announce the lucky person next post. Good Luck!





















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Gluten Free Chinese Dumplings

We love Yum Cha.









Except that in our house we call it Yummy Cha actually.


But it can be so hard to find some lovely little dumplings that suit gluten free eating. I'm very lucky to have a great little place nearby that caters for me so very well. We go every couple of weeks and any problems I've had I put down to lack-of-vigilance on my part, not to any slackness from our favourite restaurant. The staff know our dishes and in case of problems I have little cards with 'No Wheat' written in Chinese that I keep in my wallet.

Eating out is always a tricky issue with food InTolerances, and I understand how many of my friends prefer not to roll the dice with nasty symptoms, but I say Buyer Beware and as always, you eat at your own risk. I choose in this case to risk it!

For those of you, Dear Readers, who are more sensitive or more sensible than I am, I recently found a great recipe for gluten free dumpling wrappers in a magazine page ad for Kikkoman Soy Sauce.

Did you know that Kikkoman now make a really nice gluten free soy sauce too? Made with soybeans, rice, salt and water, it tastes just like the 'real' thing too!

The dumpling recipe is actually for gyozas, but I turned mine into little dumplings and rice rolls instead. I found the best results with steaming, boiling the little lovelies mushed them up too much. The result of steaming is a lovely slippery texture, just like the stuffed rice rolls at yum cha, yummy!

Gluten free Dumplings

300gr cooked peeled Taro
1 Tb Salt
3 tsp gluten free Baking Powder
1kg pkt Glutinous Rice Flour
2 tb oil
500ml Water

I steamed my Taro to avoid it becoming soggy and gluggy. Then let it cool.

Process taro with the salt and baking powder

With the motor running, add the oil, a little water and a little flour. Continue like this until it's all used and the mixture forms a dough.

Turn out and knead for a few minutes until nice and smooth. Rest for about half an hour.

While it's resting, make a yummy filling for your dumplings:

300gr Pork Mince
300gr Chicken Mince
1/2 cup finelychopped Water Chestnuts
1/2 cup finely chopped Silverbeet from my garden
1/4 cup finely chopped chives
Big Tablespoon minced Garlic
Big tablespoon minced Ginger
1 Tbsp gluten free Soy Sauce
1 tsp Sesame Oil
2 tsp Chinese Cooking Wine
1 finely chopped Hot Chilli

Combine all the ingredients for the filling, and mix around thoroughly. The best way is with your hands, it keeps the texture much better this way. Squish, squish, squish!

Ready To Roll:

Roll out the dumpling dough nice and thin, about 2mm thick, on some baking paper. Dust with a bit more rice flour if needed. Then cut to the desired size with a scone or cookie cutter.

Place a small spoonful of meat filling on one half of the round, leaving a bit of a clear border, then wet the inside edge slightly with a wet finger and fold in half. Pinch the edges firmly.

Place on some more baking paper while you make enough little dumplings to fill your steamer.

Place your dumplings in a lined steamer basket over vigorously boiling water, and steam until just cooked through. My steamer took about 10 minutes, but it was a bit bigger than the pot so wasn't as efficient. The outside should be opaque and nice and firm, but with a bit of spring to it.

Serve your little lovelies with Kikkoman Dipping Sauce for a bit more yumminess

Dipping Sauce

1/3 cup Kikkoman gluten free soy sauce
1 tsp grated ginger
1 tsp sesame oil
1 finely chopped small chilli
Splash of water to dilute saltiness to taste

Mix all ingredients together and allow to sit while cooking the dumplings so flavour develops

As you can see Dear Readers, my arms gave out about halfway through making dumplings, so I turned them into lovely steamed rice rolls. I loved them just as much this way, and actually thought they looked prettier with the filling showing just a little at the ends. It's up to you, present them as you will, just be happy in the yummiest of gluten free yum cha around!

So Dear Readers, which way do you think looks the nicest, and do you enjoy Yum Cha too?








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