Makes 18 buns (suggest 1 or 2 per person as a starter)
6 hours (preferably 24 hours)
Ingredients
Plain flour 525g
Caster sugar 1 1/2 tbsp
Instant yeast 1 tsp
Milk 50ml
Sunflower oil 1 tbsp
Rice vinegar tbsp
Baking powder 1 tsp
Carrots 4
Cucumber 1
Red Chillies 3
Coriander 80g
Rice vinegar 2 tbsp
Mirin 1 tbsp
Soy sauce 1 tsp
Sesame oil 1 tsp
Char Siu Pork
Pork tenderloin 1kg
Sugar 1 tbsp
Honey 2 tbsp
Hoi Sin Sauce 4 tbsp
Soy Sauce 4 tbsp
Rice Wine (Mirin) 2 tbsp
Sesame Oil 1tsp
Garlic cloves 4
Chinese 5 Spice 2 tsp
Method
Combine all the marinade ingredients for the pork in a bowl. Make shallow cuts in the pork, this will help absorb some of the marinade. Put the pork in a freezer bag and pour the marinade over. Make sure the pork is covered in the marinade then leave to rest in the fridge for at least 5 hours, preferably overnight.
Mix the flour, sugar and half a teaspoon of salt in a large bowl.
Dissolve the yeast in a tbsp warm water and add to the flour along with the milk, the oil, the rice vinegar and 200ml water.
Mix into a dough then on a floured work surface knead for 10 minutes. Place in a lightly oiled bowl and cover with cling film. Leave to prove for 2 hours.
Meanwhile, julienne or ribbon the carrots and cucumber and leave to pickle in a bowl with 2 tbsp rice vinegar, 1 tbsp mirin, t tsp soy sauce and 1 tsp sesame oil.
When the dough has doubled in size, pour it out onto a surface and punch it down. Flatten into a rectangle, sprinkle the baking powder over and knead again for 3 minutes.
Roll the dough into a long sausage 3cm thick. Cut into 18 pieces and roll each piece into a ball. With a rolling pin, roll the balls into ovals (3mm thick)
Rub the surface of the ovals with some sunflower oil and fold in half. Place each folded bun onto a separate piece of baking paper. Put them all on a tray and cover with a tea towel. Leave to prove again for 1 hr 30 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 160C. Place the pork on a rack and roast in the oven for 30 minutes.
Meanwhile pour the left over marinade into a saucepan add add a further tablespoon of honey. Bring this to a simmer and cook for a couple of minutes until syrupy.
Remove the pork from the oven and baste liberally with the marinade then cook the pork for a further 20 minutes. After, again remove the pork, baste, and cook for a final 10 minutes.
Remove the pork from the oven and allow to rest for 10 minutes.
When ready, heat a steamer and steam the buns on the parchment paper for about 8 minutes (in batches).
Assemble your buns by gently pulling them apart and layering in the pickled veg, some pork, a drizzle of the marinade, fine slices of red chilli, some coriander leaves and a squirt or sriracha.
Eat and enjoy!
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