Cha Siu Bow (Steamed Barbecued Pork Buns)

Ingredients:
Yield: 2 doz. 1 recipe of bun dough*

FILLING
4 cup Barbecued pork,dice fine
1/2 cup Dehydrated onion flakes

SAUCE MIXTURE
2 tsp Hoisin sauce
2 tsp Sherry
4 tsp Oyster sauce
2 tsp Catsup
1 tsp Sugar
1 1/2 tbl Cornstarch
1 1/2 cup Chicken stock

Method:
*Recipe is included in this collection.

TO MAKE FILLING:
Soak onion flakes in a cup with just enough water to
cover flakes. Mix sauce in a small sauce pan. Cook
over medium high heat until sauce thickens. Stir in
the diced pork and onion flakes. Chill 3-4 hours.

WRAPPING:
Divide filling into 24 portions. Divide dough
into 24 balls. Slightly flatten each ball
then roll out into 4-inch discs, leaving the
center of the disc twice as thick as the side.
Place 1 portion of the filling in the center
of the dough. Gather up the sides around the
filling and twist dough to seal.

Place on a 2 inch square piece of wax paper, twist
side down. Put the wrapped buns at least 2 inches
apart on a cookie sheet and allow the buns to rise
in a draft-free place (the oven) for another hour.

STEAMING:
Steam for 15 minutes. Turn heat off and let the
steam subside before lifting the cover.

BAKING:
Cha Siu Bow can also be baked. Preheat oven at
350 degrees. Set buns 2 inches apart on cookie
sheet. Brush with a mixture of 1 beaten egg
white, 1 tsp. water and 1/4 tsp. sugar. Bake
for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown. Brush
with melted butter.

DO AHEAD NOTES: Cook and freeze. Reheat by
steaming if steam-cooked originally. Steam
frozen buns for 1/2 hr to reheat. If baked,
thaw and wrap buns in foil or cover pan
with foil and reheat in slow oven for
1/2 hour.

COMMENTS:
A good filling should have some pork fat
mixed in with the lean meat. Most importantly,
Cha Siu Bow filling should be very juicy.
That's why Ms. Yee uses so much liquid in
the sauce mixture. By chilling the filling
thoroughly, the sauce, which is very thick,
adheres to the filling much better. Ideally,
when you make the barbecued pork, you should
try to save the pork drippings and use them as
part of the sauce mixture. Ms. Yee deliberately
leaves the center of the dough a bit thick because,
if you roll it out to an even thickness, the top
of the bun will ended up being too thin in
comparison to the bottom due to of the way the
dough is wrapped. In a pinch, you may use
frozen bread dough as a substitute.

However, frozen dough works best when baked. It
does not steam well.