In Taiwan, you can find a wide range of delightful snacks at night markets, which is, also known as street food. One of my favourites is the steam-fried bun, a type of dim sum. The direct translation for 水煎包, is ‘water-fried bun’. The bun is semi-fried and semi-steamed, but very little oil is used in the process. These delightful buns are delicious and pretty much one of the easiest things to make in Taiwanese cuisine.
The dough used for steam-fried pork buns is light and fluffy, housing a succulent filling of mainly cabbage and pork mince. Unlike western dishes, the majority of Asian cuisine uses pork mince instead of beef. The reason is that in Taiwanese and Chinese history, cattle farming didn’t exist because, even though they were a food source, they were needed for agricultural purposes. Pigs, on the other hand were bred for consumption purposes alone. This meant that pork was more affordable than beef.
It’s usually quite difficult to raise the buns off the pan without breakage, so my mama found a way to lift the buns off the pan easily by adding corn starch to the water used to steam the buns. Another bonus from her method is that the corn starch makes the buns even crispier. So if you ever visit Taiwan and indulge in the exciting night markets, make sure to try out the steam-fried pork buns!
Alternatively, why not make your own.
Taiwanese steam-fried pork buns
Makes 12 buns
Ingredients
Dough: you can also use your own dough recipe.
- 250g bread/cake flour, sifted
- 10g sugar
- 3g instant yeast
- 135g water
- 10g sugar
- 10g canola oil
- extra flour for dusting
Filling
- 500g minced pork
- 200g chopped cabbage
- 1 tsp grated ginger
- 1 tsp chopped garlic
- 1 tbsp sesame oil
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 tsp white pepper
- 2 tbsp of soya sauce
- 1 tbsp sugar
- 1 tsp 5 spices seasoning
Mix till the filling becomes sticky.
Method
Make the dough. Divide the filling into 12 portions. Create a floured surface and divide the dough into 12 pieces. Roll out a piece with a rolling pin so that it becomes a flat disc. What often helps is rolling out the edges thinner than the centre to prevent the bun from breaking when being cooked. Scoop one of your 12 portions of filling into the centre of the dough, creating a round ball of filling. Gather the edges to the middle, making sure that you pinch them together hard enough so that there are no gaping holes. Flatten the pinched section and dust it with flour. – Set aside to rest for 10 minutes, allowing the buns to rise.
To steam-fry the buns:
- Heat the pan on a medium temperature.
- While waiting for the pan to heat up, mix a teaspoon of corn starch (Maizena) in a cup of water.
- Place the buns, with the smooth (bottom side) facing up, onto the hot pan together.
- Pour the oil in and allow the bottom of the buns to become golden-brown. (As the buns are dusted with flour, they won’t stick to the pan without oil. Putting the oil in after prevents splatter).
- Pour the water and corn starch mix in, wait 1 minute then cover the pan with a lid.
- Approximately 10-15 minutes later, scrape the sides with a spatula to lift the bottom layer.
- Flip the buns over to brown their tops.
- After browned, place the steam-fried pork buns onto a large plate/surface.
- Serve with chilli bean sauce and thick soya sauce.
This was originally posted on my blog: Butterfingers – There are also step by step pictures to assist you in making the buns.
