Cha Siu Bao

This cooking project was so much fun. Probably cause I got to do it with my friend Jessica...oh and the help of our two cute daughters :)  These are a very popular Asian food.  We ate a lot of them when we went to China last year and let me tell you we nailed the recipe and they tasted so authentic. 

Jessica did make the meat mixture before our afternoon project to allow the flavours of the meat to be enhanced.  We made the dough in an afternoon and put all the buns together that same day. 

Once all the buns were filled we put them onto cookie sheet covered in parchment paper and we did an egg wash over the buns.  This helps them to get a nice brown colour while cooking. 

Now they are ready to hit the oven. 

They come out looking deliciously golden brown on top :) 

What a fun day of cooking! 

Pork Filling

1.5 pound piece pork belly

Marinade

1/2 teaspoon 5 spice powder

2 tablespoons  honey

2 tablespoons Shaoxing cooking wine (or sherry)

1 tablespoon hoisin sauce

1 tablespoon thai chili sauce

1 tablespoon Chinese dark soy sauce

1 tablespoon kiwi, pureed

2 teaspoons oyster sauce

2 cloves garlic, grated

Mix the ingredients for the marinade together in a Ziploc bag. The maltose is a little tough to incorporate but it’s okay if there are some lumps as these will eventually dissolve, just make sure there are no big clumps.

If your pork belly has skin, use a sharp knife to remove it. Add the pork belly to the marinade and push out as much air as possible so the meat is completely surrounded by marinade. Let it sit in the fridge for at least 2 days, flipping the bag over every to ensure it’s evenly marinated.

To roast your char siu, preheat the oven to 275 degrees F and move the rack to the upper middle position. Set an elevated wire rack on a rimmed baking sheet and lay the marinated pork belly on the rack, saving the marinade for later. Put the pan in the oven and let it roast for 1 hour or until the meat reaches an internal temperature of 160 degrees F. Remove the pan from the oven, then move the oven rack to the top position and turn the heat up to “broil”.

Baste the pork with the reserved marinade, then broil it until dark and glossy with the edges just slightly charred. Flip the meat over and baste again, allowing the second side to color and char as well.

Slice your finished char siu.

Jany Lou's Buns

Note: This recipe makes quite a bit of dough, serving size ~40-50 buns

-3 cups water

-1/2 cup sugar

-2 pkg instant (quick rise) yeast

Add above ingredients together and let sit for 10 minutes (Dissolve sugar in water).

-7 tbsp olive oil

-2.5 tsp salt

-2 eggs (beaten)

Add above to first mixture and stir.

Add 7-8 cups flour, stir mixture together and knead until dough is smooth and not sticky

Let dough rise for 1 hour and punch down once.

Tear off a small ball of dough from the batch (size of a mandarin orange/lime -smaller buns OR size of orange -bigger buns)

Flatten the ball in your hands and gently stretch it out (leave the middle a bit thicker than the edges)

Put a spoonful of filling in the middle of the flattened dough

Pinch together the ends in a circular fashion to seal the dough around the filling. Give the ends a little twist to seal it. (This makes the bun shape)

Turn the bun over and put pinched side down on a baking sheet (I use parchment paper on top of the baking sheet)

Before baking the buns, brush a little egg wash on top of the buns. This will make them brown nicely and shiny (I beat a whole egg)

Bake at 350F for ~20 min until the buns are nicely browned. Don't over bake, since the bottom of the buns can get hard/burn.

Cool on rack if not going to be served immediately (otherwise bottom will get soggy)