Steamed pork belly and leek buns

Hot steamed buns were one of the most popular traditional breakfast in Southern China. Street carts loaded with juicy buns and heavenly aroma lingering in the cool morning air, in the background the dings and dangs of a thousand push-bike bells, pure and precious urban comfort. 

1. pork belly filling

Ingredients

• 500g pork belly, diced
• 1 leek, white part only, diced
• a few slices of ginger, finely minced
• 1 tbsp. oyster sauce
• 2 tsp sesame oil
• a dash of port wine
• white pepper to taste
• cooking oil
• 20g dry potato noodles, cooked, drained, diced 

Method

• Heat up some cooking oil in a heavy base sauce pan, add ginger, sauté briefly, add pork and leek, sauté until the meat is browned; add oyster sauce, sesame oil, white pepper and port wine; add a little water to ensure that is sufficient liquid during cooking; close the lid and simmer for 40 minutes or until the meat is very tender and starts to ‘melt’ 
• Add cooked potato noodles to the meat, mix well to form a thick paste-like texture; leave aside to cool completely; preferably leave in fridge overnight 

2. To make the dough

Ingredients

• 4 cup of flour (I prefer to use low gluten flour which you can buy from well-stocked Asian grocery stores.  The brand I used came with a small pack of yeast)
• 1.5 tsp of yeast (please check your yeast’s instruction)
• 1.5 tsp of baking powder
• 1/4 cup of condense milk
• approx. 1 & 3/4 cup of water (including the water used to activate the yeast)
• a little sugar to activate the yeast

Method

• Put yeast in a glass, filled with 1/4 cup of warm water, add a little sugar; wait for yeast to be activated, approx. 15 minutes (depending on room temperature).
• Knead the dough –  I use a stand mixer with a bread hook which takes approx. 10 minutes. I add all the ingredients and some of the water, then add the remaining the water gradually during kneading.
• Let the dough rest until it rises to at least double the volume; collapse it and let it rise again
• Roll the dough in a long snake; cut out the desired portions; I use about approx. 50g for each buns.

3. To make the buns

• To make the buns – refer to the video below.

3. To steam the buns

• Place the buns on individual baking paper, let them rest for further 30 minutes; the dough will rise again.
• Steam the buns (on individual baking paper) in a steamer, approx. 15-20 minutes
• Once cooked, turn off the heat and don’t open the lid for at lease 10 minutes (otherwise the buns may collapse).