Wednesday 26 June 2019

Steamed Coriander Pork in Pandan Bun 蒸娘惹猪肉包


Pandan steamed bun was stuffed with coriander flavoured sweet winter melon pork filling to mimic the nonya steamed rice dumpling. I prepared the pork filling in bulk and keep in the fridge. During lunchtime, I just knead about 100g flour weight of dough and took out a small amount (about 120g) of the pork filling to steam 4 buns. I love freshly steamed buns for lunch 😋




Coriander Winter Melon Pork Filling



Ingredients
185g cooked pork #
5g dried shiitake mushroom, rinse and soak
50g winter melon strips
30g turnip, cut into fine cubes

20g garlic, peeled and sliced
80g red onion, peeled and chopped

2 tbsp palm sugar granules
1/2 tsp light soya sauce, low sodium
a few shakes of ground white pepper
1~2 tbsp coriander powder
1/4 tsp dark soya sauce
mushroom water

salt, sugar and seasoning powder/chicken stock powder to taste

some potato starch water

1 tbsp coriander leaves, chopped

# the process of preparing the cooked pork can be found at the end of the recipe

Directions
1. Cut cooked pork into small cubes. The finer the cubes, the better the texture of the filling.

Garlic - peeled and sliced
Red onion - peeled and chopped
Shiitake mushroom - squeeze dry and cut into small cubes, keep the soaked mushroom water
Winter Melon strips - cut into small cubes
turnip - peeled and cut into fine cubes
coriander leaves - chopped finely

coriander leaves and turnip cubes

2. Stir-fry garlic, onion, and cut mushrooms till golden and fragrant.

Stir in the turnip cubes, and cook for about 3 to 5 minutes.

3. Add palm sugar granules, light soya sauce, ground white pepper, coriander powder, dark soya sauce,

and mushroom water, into the pot.

Stir fry till the palm sugar granules melted.

4. Stir in the pork cubes from Step 1, till the pork cubes are well coated.

5. Add in the winter melon cubes, and mix well. Adjust the taste by adding salt, sugar and seasoning powder/chicken stock.

6. Push the meat to the sides of the pot, and pour in the potato starch water.

Stir the potato starch water, till it becomes a paste. Mix the potato starch paste with the rest of the meat.

Finally, stir in the chopped coriander leaves.


Transfer the coriander winter melon pork into a bowl to cool down before use.
You can prepare this one day in advance and refrigerate it. Thaw it one hour before using.




Sweet Pandan Bun Dough (165g)

Quantity: 4 buns

The Sponge
Ingredients
20g unbleached bread flour
1g instant dry yeast 
20g water 

Direction
1. Mix flour and instant dry yeast in a mixing bowl.
Add in 20g of water, stir in one direction till it forms into a paste.
Cover and let the dough proof for 50 minutes. If you let it proof for 90 minutes, it will have a better alcohol scent.



The Dough

Ingredients 
Sponge from above
80g unbleached top/cake flour
15g confectioner's sugar 
2g  baking powder 
10g pandan paste *
3g coconut/rice bran/corn oil 
28g water, add as required

* blend 16g of fresh pandan leaves with 50g water into a paste, and collect 10g of pandan paste.

Direction

1. Mix 10g of pandan paste with 3g coconut oil. Set aside.

2. Mix the Sponge, top flour, confectioner's sugar, baking powder 


and pandan mixture from Step 1, in a mixing bowl.


3. Slowly add in the water and stir at the same time, till you get all the ingredients into a big lump.
Leaving behind about 10g of water to be added depending on the consistency of the dough.
Avoid adding too much water to the dough, to help the buns keep its shape after steaming.

4. Transfer the dough onto a floured work top and knead into an elastic and smooth dough.



5. Roll the dough into a long rope, and divide into 4 portions. Roll into balls and coated with flour.




6. Roll out the dough into a flat dough skin with the edge thinner than the center.
First, flatten the dough with your palm.
While one hand holding and pulling,  the other hand operates the rolling pin.

picture for demostration

Slowly stretch the dough into a flat dough with the centre thicker than the edge.
picture for demostration

Flip the dough skin over, so the smoother side will be facing out when wrap.
picture for demostration

Scoop about 30g of coriander pork filling onto the center of the dough skin. Wrap up and pinch to seal. Place the shaped dough onto a piece of paper.




7. Proof the buns for 25 ~30 minutes before steaming. Start the 25-minute countdown when you completed shaping the last bun.
Cover the raw buns with a cloth while proofing.


8. You can either steam the buns using an electric steamer or steamer over the stove.

For steaming using an electric steamer (Roman brand)

Preheat the steamer. Space 4 buns on the steamer's rack, and turn the timer to "lava egg" sign.





When the steaming is over and a series of beeps can be heard, let the buns stay in the steamer for 5 minutes.


After 5 minutes, open the lid, and transfer the buns to a cooling rack.




For steaming over the stove
Start boiling water when you complete the 4th bun. When the water boils, steam the buns for 7 minutes under medium high flame.
Turn down flame to medium and stream for 2 minutes. Next, open the lid slightly for 1 minute.
Finally, turn off the flame, and let the buns stay in the steamer for 5 minutes.




9. Serve warm :)








Preparing the cooked pork


Ingredients

290~300g pork shoulder

Marinade
1 tsp dark brown sugar
3/4 tsp low-sodium fine salt
1/4 tsp dark soya sauce
ground white pepper
1 tsp coriander powder

1 tbsp rice bran oil (to be added just before cooking)

Directions

1. Rinse the pork and cut into big chunks. Coat the meat with the marinade, except the rice bran oil. Let the meat marinate for about 30 minutes.

2. Coat the marinated meat with rice bran oil.

3. Line the IH rice cooker inner pot with parchment paper. Place the marinated meat in a single layer over the parchment paper.
You can also cook the pork over the stove using a thick cooking utensils, like cast iron pot or Happycall Double Pan at medium high heat.

4.  Select "Soup" function and start the program. After about 5 minutes, flip the meat over to brown the other face. Continue to cook for about 3 minutes.

After the 8 minutes cooking, turn off the rice cooker power at the 52th minute. Let the meat simmer in the remnant heat of the rice cooker for about 45 minutes.

End of cooking 😊

The meat was juicy and tender with great flavour 😍