We hope you enjoyed your class and are ready to recreate the meals at home. If you have any questions for chef, please do ask and we’ll get back to you as soon as possible.
We Cooked: Steamed buns with Savoury and sweet fillings; Sui Mai Dim Sum and Sticky Pork Belly
Steamed Buns Dough
A sweet-filled steamed bun has the folds underneath, and a savoury filling traditionally has the folds at the top.
Ingredients – Makes 10
- 5g of active yeast
- 5g of caster sugar (1 tsp)
- 165ml of lukewarm water
- 290g of plain flour
- 1/2tsp of baking powder
Method
- Add water to a small bowl and warm it to approximately 38°C, about 30 seconds in the microwave. The water should be warm, just a bit above body temperature. Add the sugar and active dry yeast. Let it sit for 5 minutes so the yeast will activate.
- While the yeast activates, add the flour and baking powder into your mixer bowl.
- Once the yeast is activated, you should see bubbles on the surface of the mixture. Pour it into the mixer bowl. Mix with a spatula a few times, until the dry ingredients just absorb the liquid.
- Install the dough hook on your mixer. Start at low speed, then gradually increase to speed setting to 6 out of 10. Knead for 10 minutes, until the dough is very smooth. Stop the mixer in the middle and scrape the dough from the sides of the bowl.
- Knead on level 6 for another 5 minutes. The dough should be soft, smooth, and easily lift from the bowl without sticking to your hands.
- Lightly grease a large bowl with butter or oil spray. Transfer the dough into the bowl. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let it rest in a warm part of your room until the size triples, about 2 hours.
Savoury Filling for Steamed Buns
Ingredients – Makes 5
- 300g of minced chicken
- 2tbsp water
- 1tbsp of sesame oil
- 1tbsp of ginger
- 1 small onion or shallot, diced
- 1 spring onion, sliced
- 1tbsp of Shaoxing wine
- 1tbsp of dark soy sauce
- 1tbsp of hoisin
- 1tsp of sugar
- 1tsp of cornflour
Method
Preheat the wok or a cast-iron pan until it starts to smoke lightly. Add in sunflower oil, along with the minced ginger and diced onion. Cook over medium heat until the onions soften. Add in the ground pork and turn up the heat, stirring to break up any large chunks. Cook until all the pork turns pale and opaque–there is no need to brown or crisp the meat.
Add wine, dark soy sauce, hoisin, sugar and sesame oil. With the heat on high, stir everything together until well-combined. Taste the filling and adjust the seasoning if needed.
Cook for a couple of more minutes to cook off any remaining liquid. Stir in the cornflour and water mixture, allowing everything to bubble together for 30 seconds to a minute. Turn off the heat and let the filling cool uncovered. After the filling has cooled, mix in the chopped spring onions.
Sweet Filling for Steamed Buns (Custard)
Ingredients – Makes 5
- 10 grams (1.5 tablespoons) of cornflour
- 2tbsp of sunflower oil
- 1 teaspoon of plain flour
- 30g (1/4 cup) of caster sugar
- 2 medium egg yolks
- 120g (whole milk
- 8g of butter
- 1/4 teaspoon of vanilla extract
Method
- Prepare the custard while the dough is resting. Mix the cornflour, plain flour, and half of the sugar in a small bowl.
- Place the egg yolks in a large bowl. Stir a few times to mix the yolks.
- Add the milk and the remaining half of the sugar into a small saucepan. Heat over medium heat. Stir occasionally to dissolve the sugar completely. Cook until it reaches about 120 °F/ 49 °C (no more than 150 °F / 65 °C). You might see a few bubbles here and there. If the milk starts foaming, it’s too hot.
While the milk starts to get warm, add the dry ingredients (from step 1 of the custard) into the bowl with the egg yolks. Whisk until it forms an even paste. Do not add the dry ingredients too early, because the sugar will change the texture of the eggs.
Add the warm milk into the egg yolk mixture, about 1/4 cup at a time. Whisk constantly until the milk is fully incorporated into the paste. Continue to add more milk, a 1/4 cup at a time, and continuously stirring, until it forms a thin, smooth mixture and all the milk is added.
Return the mixture to the pot (the one you used to heat the milk). Heat over medium-low heat and stir constantly, until the mixture thickens, 5 minutes or so. Keep cooking and stirring until you can draw a line on the bottom of the pot using a spatula. Remove the pot from the stove immediately. Add the butter and vanilla extract. Stir to mix well.
Line a large, deep plate with cling film and pour the custard into it.
Cover the custard with cling film and press it against the custard, so it won’t form a skin once it’s chilled.
Chill the custard in the fridge until it’s cooled, 2 hours or so. Or in the freezer for 30 minutes.
Assembling
Cut some parchment paper into 3” (7 cm) squares to hold the buns.
Punch the air out of the dough. Transfer it onto a lightly oiled working surface. Knead a few times to make the dough into a round ball. Divide the dough into 10 even pieces. Each piece of dough should weigh 30 grams. Use your hands to roll and shape the dough pieces into dough balls.
Flatten the dough ball using your palm. Use a rolling pin to roll a dough ball into a round disc that is thick in the middle and thin on the edges, about 2.5 to 3” (6 to 7 cm) in diameter. Carefully remove it from the surface and place it onto your palm.
Place about a tablespoon of filling (custard or chicken) in the centre of the wrapper. Press the filling into the dough to release any air bubbles inside. Use your other hand to gather the wrapper onto the top of the filling. The dough sheet will start to form pleats and retain its round shape.
Once done, place the buns onto one of the cut parchment squares, pleated-side down, then place it on a plate. Loosely cover it with plastic wrap to prevent them from drying out. Repeat the process to wrap the rest of the buns.
Set a stopwatch (or timer) after wrapping the first bun to keep track of the resting time. You need to rest the buns for 20 to 30 minutes before steaming.
Steaming
Depending on the size of your steamer, you might need to steam the buns in batches. What I usually do is prepare the steamer after wrapping half of the buns, so some of them are ready to be cooked as you work on the rest.
Cover and let steam for 10 minutes. Once done, remove the steamer rack and place it onto a trivet. Uncover the steamer rack carefully. Let the steam out and then transfer the buns onto a serving plate. Let the buns cool for 5 minutes before eating.
Cook the rest of the buns using the same method.
Serve and store
Steamed buns taste best when they are still warm, but you can serve them at room temperature, as well.
Steamed Pork & Prawn Sui Mai
Ingredients – Makes 14:
If you don’t eat pork, you can substitute chicken mince; vegetarian – use shitake mushrooms, diced
- 400g fine diced pork loin
- 150g of raw prawns, peeled and deveined
- x7 dried shiitake mushrooms
- 3tbs salt
- 2tbs sugar
- 5tbs light soy
- 5tbs Shaoxing rice wine
- Handful of spring onions
- Fish roe/truffle/other toppings (Tobiko or Masago)
- 1tbs MSG or Chicken Stock Powder
- Wonton pastry square or round
- Water in bowl
- ½ tbs w.pepper
- Garlic to your preference don’t over power
Method:
- Pre soak shiitake mushrooms in hot water until soft, 5-10mins and dice finely.
- Dice pork and prawns, slice spring onions.
- Mix the pork and prawns, salt, pepper in a bowl, then the rice wine, soy.
- Add chicken powder, sugar and spring onions.
- Set aside.
- Cup the wrapper in your hand and fill – keep compressing with a spoon or butter knife. Then seal by pinching the money bag together. The should be full but not overflowing.
- Steam in Bamboo steamer for 8 minutes
Sticky Pork – Char Sui Style
Ingredients – Serves 2
- 2 pork chops
Marinade
- 1 1/2 tbsp brown sugar
- 3 tbsp honey
- 3 tbsp hoisin sauce
- 1 tbsp minced garlic
- 2 tbsp light soy sauce
- 1 tbsp Shaoxing, Chinese wine
- 1 tsp Chinese five spice
- 1 tbsp vegetable oil
- 2 tsp red food colouring, optional
Method
- Put all the marinade ingredients into a bowl and mix together.
- Slice the pork and marinate for 30 minutes.
- Put the pork into a cold pan and bring up the heat; this prevents the fat from burning.
- Drain the fat and cook until sticky and pork is coated, takes about 10 mins.
Serve with rice or stir-fried vegetables.
Dumpling Dressing
Ingredients – Serves 2:
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon of ponzu
- 1 teaspoon black vinegar
- 1 tablespoon water
- 1 tablespoon of honey
- pinch of black pepper and/or gochugaru (red chili pepper flakes)
- 1 clove of garlic, grated
- 1cm of fresh ginger, grated
Method:
Mix all the ingredients in a bowl and refrigerate until needed.
Food Sorcery’s Favourite brands to Use
Available in Asian supermarkets such as Hang Won Hong, W.H.Lungs or Wing Yip
We hope you enjoyed the class!
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