It was just noah’s birthday, and we had a few people over. Recently, whenever people come by, I make buns. I’m terrible at filling buns, but good at all the other parts, so I guess I just have to keep filling buns until I’m good at that too. Buns impress people. Someone sees that you made buns and they’re like “wow, you made buns?” or “These are good!” but like, with a tone that suggests surprise. I’ve found that a great trick for getting people to come visit you in an inconvenient location during a pandemic is to offer them something that they’d need to travel for anyways (eg. buns)
The buns I usually make are the char siu baked buns from the woks of life, which have a milk bread and are full of meat (they also make a great breakfast, I’ll usually eat them for like, three or four days after I first make them). I’ve not shared that recipe because I make it with no alterations, and also it’s got too many steps to put in the newsletter. Also I try to cater to my active readers, who are mostly vegan. For these buns, I was having by someone with a dairy allergy and a vegan, so the char siu was out. I had a few odds and ends from the CSA lingering in the refrigerator, as well as some tech meat, so I made hoppang instead, based more or less on this recipe, but with a few necessary modifications.
First, I don’t have Korean curry powder, and second, one of my guests is vegan, so the two primary flavors were an issue. Whoops. To make up for this I used a quarter of an S&B curry block (not the entire package, just 1/4) that I melted in a bit of boiling water, and a tablespoon and a half of hoisin in place of the oyster sauce. The thing that makes most buns taste like buns is, it seems, oyster sauce. Oyster sauce is in everything, including in the original recipe for these buns.
Veg and (tech) meat HoPpang
1 12 oz package of tech meat (I used impossible beef(?))
2 generous cups of finely sliced cabbage (I didn’t measure, but it could have been 2 cups, it also could have been more)
3 leeks, white and light green parts only (this is to make up for the onion and scallion in the original recipe, I keep getting leeks from the CSA) NB: for something like this a good way to clean the leeks is the slice them and then soak the slices to get the dirt off.
1/2 cup or so thinly sliced carrot
Seasoning
1 square (again, 1/4 of a curry block not the whole thing) melted in 1 tbs (or so) boiling water (don’t stress if it isn’t all the way melted) This amount of curry gave it a noticable but not strong curry flavor, if you really wanted curry buns I’d use one and a half or possibly two blocks. Two might be too much though.
Pepper, lots
1 1/2 tbs hoisin (you could use oyster sauce, or vegetarian oyster sauce, something I keep hearing exists but have never located)
I didn’t find that this needed salt, because curry blocks have salt already, so resist the urge to put salt on the (fake) meat when first cooking it
Cook
Fry the meat in cooking oil (I used scallion oil, you can use whatever), just get it browned a bit. Add the vegetables and the seasoning. Cook until the vegetables are just tender. Taste for seasoning. Let cool. It’s easier to fill your buns if the mix is cooler.
Make the bread (the original source also says that you can use Pilsbury biscuits rolled thin? So you could try that too I guess) (This makes 16 BIG buns)
5 Cups All Purpose Flour
2 Cups Warm Water
4 Tbsp Sugar
2 Tbsp Butter (vegan butter)
4 1/2 tsp Active Dry Yeast
2 tsp Baking Powder
2 tsp Salt
Add everything together. If you have a stand mixer, knead for about 5 minutes. If you find it to be VERY sticky, which I did, add some more flour.
Cover with plastic wrap and let rest for ten minutes. (This is a yeasted dough, but it doesn’t have a rise.) Divide into 16 roughly equal sized balls. I make all the dough balls and cover them with a damp towel.
Fill the buns:
Roll out the dough, leaving the center a bit thicker, and the sides more thin. I typically go for something a bit bigger than my palm.
Holding the dough in your non dominant hand, put the thicker bit in an opening between your thumb and forefinger and dent it down. Put the filling in the middle (I used a 2 tbs cookie scoop) and seal it. I’m shit at closing dumplings, but these are the most forgiving that I have made because there is so much dough. Pinch it closed, and then make a claw with your hand and wiggle the dough ball around to close the bottom real good and get it nice and round.
Put on parchment squares (important!) and steam on high for 15 minutes. I steamed the first 8 and then made the second 8 while the steamer was going. This recipe looks a lot harder than it is, I think. I found these to be really very easy (easier than other buns I have made) in part because there is no rise on the dough, but a lot of yeast, so I found it to be really buoyant and elastic. It’s also a great starter bun because there’s no rise, so it really comes together so quickly. Also, I had no issues with the filling leaking out, which I’ve had with all my other buns. Anyway, if you’re having a party, make buns!
Glowing reviews from friends included “where did you buy these, they don’t taste like they’re Southern Chinese?! Most of the buns you get in Chinatown are southern!” and “These are good buns.” These lasted for at least a second day, but would probably last longer. Also steamed buns are great to freeze and resteam.
They were still very good the next day, when I microwaved the leftovers for a minute, and then stuck them in my bag and took them to a wrestling show in bed stuy to eat during intermission. Buns are a terrific food to carry around in your bag and just snack on. Microwave a single bun covered in a damp towel for 30 seconds and you’re good to go, buns are typically good at room temperature and terrible cold.
The show last night was a lot of fun, but the highlight was for sure the match between Mane Event (shown above) and the Sea Stars (sisters from Rhode Island). Mane Event are huge local favorites, and when the Sea Stars were isolating Midas (shown above holding the hula hoop) in the ring the audience was screaming “we want Lyon! we want Lyon!”
There was a little girl seated across the aisle from us who REALLY wanted Lyon, who loved Lyon more than almost anything, who was also adorably bloodthirsty, and at the end when Mane Event had locked in their submission finishes was screaming “TAP! TAP! TAP! TAP!” at the Sea Stars. I think that this would have been the match of the night for me anyway, but the little kid who wanted Lyon in the ring really made the whole thing that much better.