Char Siu Bao (Steamed Pork Buns)

I was asked to make sure that food subjects be included in my blog with a special request to post a weekly recipe. Hopefully my posting a recipe here and there will help spread happiness to many bellies! So this week I made these amazing Steamed Pork Buns (a Cooking Light Recipe) using my nifty new steamer from Crate and Barrel. It looks like this:
Even if you don't have a steamer, you should still make this recipe (you can use a collander over a pan of boiling hot water with a lid on top) because it was AMAZING! Graham actually introduced me to this kind of steamed bun at Folk Life Festival just after we started dating, but this is the first time I've tried making them on my own. SO GOOD! I made the bun dough in my bread machine to speed up the hands-on process but you can make it the old fashioned way with a bowl and spoon if you don't have a bread machine. Anyway, they are sort of a little labor intensive but well worth it. I used ground turkey instead of the pork and it tasted just as good. Enjoy!

Steamed Pork Buns (Char Siu Bao)

Filling:

1/2 teaspoon five-spice powder

1 pound pork tenderloin, trimmed

Cooking spray

1 cup thinly sliced green onions

3 tablespoons hoisin sauce

2 tablespoons rice vinegar

1 tablespoon low-sodium soy sauce

1 1/2 teaspoons honey

1 teaspoon minced peeled fresh ginger

1 teaspoon minced garlic

1/4 teaspoon salt

Dough:

1 cup warm water (100° to 110°)

3 tablespoons sugar

1 package dry yeast (about 2 1/4 teaspoons)

3 1/4 cups all-purpose flour (about 14 2/3 ounces)

3 tablespoons canola oil

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1. To prepare the filling, rub five-spice powder evenly over pork. Heat a grill pan over medium-high heat. Coat the pan with cooking spray. Add pork to pan; cook 18 minutes or until a thermometer registers 155°, turning pork occasionally. Remove pork from pan, and let stand 15 minutes.
2. Cut pork crosswise into thin slices; cut slices into thin strips. Place pork in a medium bowl. Add onions and next 7 ingredients (through 1/4 teaspoon salt); stir well to combine. Cover and refrigerate.
3. To prepare dough, combine 1 cup warm water, sugar, and yeast in a large bowl; let stand 5 minutes.
4. Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Add flour, oil, and 1/4 teaspoon salt to yeast mixture; stir until a soft dough forms. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Knead until smooth and elastic (about 10 minutes). Place dough in a large bowl coated with cooking spray, turning to coat top. Cover and let rise in a warm place (85°), free from drafts, 1 hour or until doubled in size. (Gently press two fingers into dough. If indentation remains, dough has risen enough.)
5. Punch dough down; let rest 5 minutes. Turn dough out onto a clean surface; knead in baking powder. Let dough rest 5 minutes.
6. Divide dough into 10 equal portions, forming each into a ball. Working with one dough ball at a time (cover remaining dough balls to keep from drying), roll ball into a 5-inch circle. Place 1/4 cup filling in center of dough circle. Bring up sides to cover filling and meet on top. Pinch and seal closed with a twist. Repeat procedure with remaining dough balls and filling.
7. Arrange 5 buns seam side down, 1 inch apart, in each tier of a 2-tiered bamboo steamer. Stack tiers; cover with lid.
8. Add water to a large skillet to a depth of 1 inch; bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Place steamer in pan; steam 15 minutes or until puffed and set. Cool 10 minutes before serving.

Yield: 10 servings (serving size: 1 bun)CALORIES 259 (21% from fat); FAT 6.1g (sat 0.9g,mono 3.2g,poly 1.5g); PROTEIN 14.3g; CHOLESTEROL 27mg; CALCIUM 54mg; SODIUM 343mg; FIBER 1.6g; IRON 2.9mg; CARBOHYDRATE 35.7g Cooking Light, MAY 2008

On a more personal note, we had the BEST day yesterday! I think I was a little overly-eager about the sunshine though (and less eager about the sunscreen--I'm paying for it today but I'm wearing pink so my skin and burn all blend together!) Graham made me a crepe breakfast with fresh strawberries that we ate on our patio. Then we packed a lunch and a couple of backpacks and rode our bikes to Waverly Park on Lake Washington in Kirkland. We sunbathed, read, had our picnic, jumped in the water a few times (FREEZING!) and then walked from there to downtown Kirkland for frozen yogurt. There's 2 amazing frozen yogurt places that we've discovered in the past week (this was our 3 trip there in 1 week). We ordered one dish to share from the first place but our serving of yogurt was hollow in the middle so we hardly got anyway! Plus it is really hard for me to share my frozen desserts because I start to feel like it is a competition with the other person to get enough bites so I eat it really fast and then the whole experience is over before I have the chance to enjoy it! So after feeling awfully disappointed about the weany yogurt serving at the first place, Graham let me go to the second place (so that no one would know we'd already had any!) and order another dish. :o)