The honey char siew pau is a well-known dish which is usually served in dim sum restaurants. In Malaysia, you can find them in small coffee shops as well.
Char siew pau is steamed pork buns. They are soft and fluffy with warm honey char siew filling. They aren’t exactly one of the easiest dishes to make but a meal that would be worth the time and effort.
Ingredients:
(For The Buns)
- 5 ½ cups of bread flour
- 2/3 of cup water
- 1 1/3 of cup milk (Divide the milk)
- 1/3 of cup sugar
- One teaspoon of salt
- 4 ½ teaspoons of instant yeast
- Two eggs
- Four tablespoons of melted butter
- egg wash beat one egg with one teaspoon of milk
(For The Filling)
- Two tablespoons of oil
- 1/2 cup of red onions that are chopped finely
- Two tablespoons of sugar
- 1 ½ tablespoon of soy sauce
- Two tablespoons of oyster sauce
- Two teaspoons of sesame oil
- Two teaspoons of dark soy sauce
- ¾ cup of chicken stock
- Three tablespoons of flour
- 2 cups roasted pork which is diced
Instructions:
- In a medium pan, mix 1/2 teaspoons of flour with some water and milk until the powder is softened. Put the pan above medium heat and continuously stir until the mixture looks like a thick paste. Set it aside.
- Mix 5 cups of flour, sugar, salt, and yeast in a large bowl. Add the paste, 1 cup milk, two eggs, and the melted butter. Mix it well until the dough is soften, and knead the dough with your hand for about 20 minutes.
- Roll the dough into a ball and put into a greased bowl. Cover the bowl with a damp cloth, and let rise for about an hour.
- While the dough is left to rise, start making the meat filling. Heat 2 tablespoons oil in a wok above medium-high heat.
- Add the onions and stir-fry it for about 2 minutes. Then, add the sugar, soy sauce, oyster sauce, sesame oil, and also the dark soy. Stir them together and cook until they start to bubble up. Add the chicken stock and flour.
- Reduce the heat and cook, stirring, for a few minutes until it starts to thicken. Remove from the heat and add in the roast pork. Set it to cool.
- After the flour rises, separate the dough into 16 equal pieces. Form them into small circles, where the centre is slightly thicker than the edges.
- Fill each of them with meat filling, and crease them closed and make sure they’re tightly wrapped.
- Let sit for an hour.
- Preheat the oven up to 400 degrees (200 degrees C).
- Brush them with egg wash. Put the mixture in the oven and instantly reduce the heat from 400 degrees (about 200 degrees C) to 350 degrees (about 175 degrees).
- Bake for 30 minutes.