Happy New Year, Everybody! No I’m NOT reading that calendar wrong. I’m talking about Chinese New Year! Yeah, you read that right.
And I made me some dim sum. I shortcutted my way through the dough and the Chinese barbecued pork filling, leaving me plenty of time to roll these babies around my kitchen on a little cart before digging in. JUST LIKE AT THE RESTAURANTS.
Not really. It was more like a deranged bag lady using a stolen Target shopping cart as a serving dish for pork buns and wontons.
But whatever.
Dim Sumbody say “Dim Sum”?! (Don’t hate me.)
| Char Sui Bao |
Prep time: 30 mins
Cook time: 30 mins
Total time: 1 hour
Serves: 12
Chinese Steamed Pork Buns
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour, sifted
- 1/2 cup powdered sugar
- 2 tablespoons baking powder
- 2 teaspoons sesame oil + enough vegetable oil to make 1/2 cup total
- 2 teaspoons rice vinegar
- 1/2 cup cold water
- 1/2 pound ground or finely chopped pork
- 1/2 ounce dried mushrooms, soaked in boiling water for 10 minutes
- 1 cup minced cabbage
- 1 teaspoon fresh minced ginger
- 1 green onion, minced
- 2 tablespoons sherry or vermouth
- 1-2 tablespoons soy sauce (to taste)
- 2 teaspoons honey
Instructions
- Make the dough: Combine the dry ingredients, then add the oil, water, and vinegar. Knead the dough for 3-5 minutes until it can be shaped into a ball. Set aside.
- Make the filling:
- Blanch the cabbage by dropping in boiling water for 30 seconds. Drain and squeeze the water out.
- Mince the reconstituted mushrooms.
- Brown the pork in a skillet until cooked.
- Add the vegetables and ginger.
- Add the liquids and cook down.
- Remove to a plate, leaving excess liquid behind, and let cool while you shape the dough.
- Divide the dough into 12 equal pieces.
- Roll each out into a circle about 4″ diameter, leaving the center a bit thicker than the edges.
- Place a spoonful of the pork mixture in the center and pinch the edges up and over to seal.
- Place on a 3″ square of parchment paper and set on a steamer.
- Steam the buns 25 minutes until risen and cooked.
- Cool slightly.
I create short-form, educational, and occasionally hilarious cooking videos geared towards beginner and intermediate cooks, as well as people who are just looking for simple, low-cost recipes. Everything is made from scratch, people! 
{ 8 comments… read them below or add one }
Only a couple of weeks ago, I was shopping at MT Supermarket and once again lamenting the fact that I have to rely so heavily on symbols (roosters, crabs, etc) to recognize my favorite brands at an Asian grocery store. Or more, accurately, how I lament that FINDING favorite brands is a real bitch if there aren’t symbols on the package. Case in point: pork buns in the frozen food section. Some brands are pretty good, others really suck. Without symbols on the bags, I only have a vague notion of which are which. On this trip, memories of the bad ones overrode the craving for steamed pork buns. Thanks for demonstrating how easy it is to make them. Can’t wait to try making some!
Haha! It’s true about the symbols. That’s the only way I remember which rice paper wraps to buy – the ones with the elephant.
Genius to steam over parchment paper!!!! I never thought of that. I want to try these with shrimp.
Can steam over cabbage or lettuce leaves, too.
Ooh, yeah, I have heard of that but not tried it. It would be a much prettier presentation, for sure.
Shrimp buns! A lot of recipes combine a couple different meats, too. Like pork and shrimp. Seems like Chinese recipes are fond of that.
Kung Hei Fat Choi!
(By Asian Lunar New Year coincidence, I just sent Happy Seollal greetings to a Korean-American friend who’s with the U.S. Foreign Service in Mongolia. Happy Tsagaan Sar, too!)
Nice buns. Heh heh.