AteThat: Steamed Pork Buns Chinese style

Steamed Pork Buns Chinese style
For the Filling:
Olive oil
2x 200g/7oz Pork chops
Salt and pepper
1 tbsp five spice
3 cloves garlic, peeled and sliced
1 inch piece of fresh ginger, peeled and sliced
2 dried chillies, crumbled
1 wineglass of fresh orange juice
6tbsp hoi-sin sauce
1 tbsp sesame oil
1tbsp sweet chilli sauce
optional one handful fresh lime leaves
For the buns:
1x 7g individual sachet of dried yeast
200ml/7oz tepid water
250g/9oz plain flour
100g/ 3&1/2 oz cornflour
1tsp salt
50g/ 1&3/4 oz butter

to serve – soy sauce and sweet chilli sauce

For the filling:
Season the chops with the salt and pepper and five spice and fry in the olive oil till brown and cooked through. Add garlic, ginger and chilli, and continue to fry for a minute, then add the orange juice and let it reduce by half. Empty into a bowl and let it cool. When it’s cool, remove one chop and put everything else into a food processor and pulse till fine. Cut the other chop by hand for texture, add it all to a bowl with the hoi-sin, sesame oil and chili sauce. Mix well.

For the buns:
Put the yeast in a bowl with half the water. In another bowl mix the flour and salt and rub in the butter. When the yeast has bubbled up pour in the rest of the water, add to the flour and butter and mix to form a soft dough. Cover with cling film and leave in a warm place until it doubles in size. Then break into about eight pieces (about the size of a golf ball), and shape into balls. Take each dough ball, and flatten in the palm of your hand and form a cup shape, put a tsp of the pork mixture in the center, and gently wrap the sides of the dough up and around the filling. Pinch it to seal it up. Allow the buns to sit for 5 min, then steam them for 10 min, allow enough room for expansion. If using Lime leaves, line the steamer with them, and place the buns on top.

These were really fun to make, and they were so delicious that the boys were fighting over them. One problem though, it did not mention in the recipe that if you are not using lime leaves, you still need something between the buns and the steamer, otherwise they will stick like cement. I forgot to take pictures, which is too bad because they were so beautiful when the steamer came out of the pot, and because they looked like such a disaster once I scraped them off onto a plate.

I will make them again soon and take pictures then.

It’s Jamie Oliver by the way.