December 24, 2012

Hot Cross (Pork) Buns


The holiday times means several things to me: family, food and fun! This means eating a lot of delicious homemade Chinese food! One of my favorites is my mom's recipe for Chinese BBQ steamed buns. Which, actually turns out to be quite easy to make. All you need is:

Ingredients: leavened dough (see recipe on how to prepare here: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/chinese-pork-buns-cha-siu-bao/), BBQ pork (finely chopped, you can get this in Chinatown.)
Equipment: rolling pin, a steamer


Here's the stuffing for the buns. We actually added diced dried tofu with BBQ pork.  About 1/2 pound of pork will be enough for approx a dozen buns.

The dough should be full leavened before beginning this process.
Cut a large piece of dough and roll out lengthwise into a long 2 inch diameter rod. Don't forget to put down flour on the cutting board so the dough doesn't stick!

Cut lengthwise into 2 inch pieces... 

and then flatten with your palm.

Flatten each dough piece with a rolling pin into a circle, coaster-size.
Fill each coaster with some meat stuffing.
Here's the hard part: start pinching the dough together and gather the edges while pinching. You should continue this motion all the way around.
The final pinch should close the bun at the top. 
Lay the buns out. Ta-da!
The buns should be not touching in the steamer.

Allow for water to boil before steaming for 20 minutes. Let cool slightly before enjoying!

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