November has finally arrived. The weather has taken a turn for the cold. In just a few short weeks, Thanksgiving will be here. I’m especially excited for Thanksgiving this year since my parents will be visiting Kevin and I in Ohio. I’ve been testing a ton of recipes in anticipation for their visit. Thanksgiving is the one time during the year where my family celebrates with a traditional (western) Thanksgiving. My family started the tradition roughly fifteen years ago and we’ve continued the tradition each year thereafter. Thanksgiving in the Pan household usually involves a roasted turkey, mashed potatoes, macaroni and cheese, mom’s barbecue spare ribs and chicken wings, and a simple salad with ranch dressing. All of these dishes were what I had known throughout my teenage years. It wasn’t until I got to college and met my college roommate, Annie, that I became exposed to a whole new world of traditional Thanksgiving foods. Her family served up pigs in a blanket, cheesy potatoes, green bean casserole, herb stuffed turkey, and used the turkey carcass to make the best turkey noodle soup I’ve ever had. Ever since I spent Thanksgiving at Annie’s mom’s home back in my college years, I fell in love with many of the traditional Midwestern American dishes served by her family. I started incorporating cheesy potatoes, green bean casserole, and even turkey noodle soup (using the leftover turkey carcass) into my thanksgiving menu every year shortly after college. When Kevin and I moved to Ohio, we started celebrating Thanksgiving each year with a traditional (western) menu. I’ve already planned my Thanksgiving menu for this year (so stay tuned). The following month, we served a mostly Chinese or eastern inspired menu for Christmas. One of the dishes I’ve been working on perfecting for my Chinese Christmas menu is steamed buns. I loved eating steamed buns growing up in New York City. In fact, my family and I spent countless get togethers connecting over our favorite dim sum dishes. Cabbage and pork steamed buns is actually one of my dad’s favorite dishes to order during dim sum. He loves the vegetable and meat combination in steamed buns and has even purchased frozen versions to store in the freezer for when his cravings kick in. Over the weekend, I made the most amazing cabbage and pork steamed buns. The filling for my steamed buns is very similar to the filling I use for my pork and cabbage dumplings. The dough for the buns did take me a few tries to get the texture right. The first two times I made steamed buns, I used only all-purpose flour to make the dough. When the buns were steamed, they had a tougher texture. Over the weekend, I used a blend of cake flour and all-purpose flour along with active dry yeast, salt, sugar, and some lukewarm water to make a more tender dough. When steamed this time around, the buns had a much fluffier texture similar to the ones I remember eating growing up. In under twenty minutes of steaming, I had a basket of the most delightful steamed buns ever. Kevin and I both devoured the steam buns as we watched the Michigan game at noon on Saturday. Eating the steamed buns definitely brought back all of the wonderful memories of chatting and eating with my family over dim sum. I can’t wait to make some steamed buns for my family when they visit later in the month.
For the cabbage and pork steamed buns:
For the steamed bun dough:
· 2 cups cake flour
· 1 teaspoon active dry yeast
· ½ teaspoon kosher salt
· ½ teaspoon granulated sugar
· 1 cup lukewarm water
· ¾ cup all-purpose flour, plus additional ¼ cup for kneading the dough
For the cabbage and pork filling:
· 3 cloves garlic, finely minced
· 1 inch knob of ginger, minced
· ¾ pound ground pork
· 5-6 leaves Napa cabbage, finely chopped
· 1 teaspoon Shaoxing wine
· 2 teaspoons light soy sauce
· 1 teaspoon dark soy sauce
· ½ teaspoon sesame oil
· 1 teaspoon oyster sauce
· 1 teaspoon confectioners’ sugar
· ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
· Dash of white pepper
For steaming the buns:
· 6-8 cups water
Directions:
1) Line three bamboo steamer baskets with fitted steaming cloth. Set aside. Cut out sixteen circles about 2-3 inches in diameter from a large sheet of parchment paper.
2) To make the dough, combine the 2 cups of cake flour, active dry yeast, kosher salt, and sugar in a large bowl. Add the lukewarm water to the mixture. Use your hands to thoroughly mix the dough. The dough will be sticky at this point. Gradually add the ¾ cup of all-purpose flour slowly into the bowl as you continue kneading the dough for about 3-5 minutes. Let the dough rest for 30 minutes. While the dough is resting, you can start making the filling.
3) To make the filling, combine the minced garlic, minced ginger, ground pork, chopped cabbage, Shaoxing wine, soy sauces, sesame oil, oyster sauce, confectioners’ sugar, salt, and white pepper in a large bowl. Use your hands to combine all ingredients until well mixed. Set aside.
4) When the resting time for the dough is up, heat a large pot filled with 6-8 cups of water on medium high heat.
5) As the pot of water is heating, roll the dough out into a rectangular shape. Cut the dough in half horizontally. Then, in half again on both sides and in half again until you form about sixteen 1 by ½ inch pieces of dough. Roll each piece of dough into a circle. To make the steamed buns, prepare a small bowl of flour using the ¼ cup of all-purpose flour. Sprinkle a small bit of flour onto a surface and begin rolling out the pieces of dough into a circle one by one onto a lightly floured surface. Place about one tablespoon of filling on each piece of dough. Bring the edges up, pleat and pinch around the edge of the dough wrapper until you form a rounded bun. Pinch the top of the bun to seal the dough leaving a small hole for steaming. Continue this process with the rest of the dough balls and filling.
6) Place each bun on top of a circle parchment paper and arrange about six buns into a steamer basket. Repeat with the remaining steamer baskets.
7) Once the pot of water begins to boil, fit one of the steamer baskets on top of the pot. Steam the cabbage and pork buns in the steamer basket over the pot of water for about 18-20 minutes. The steamed buns will be very hot at this point. Let rest for 5 minutes before serving.
Takeaways: The recipe yields about sixteen cabbage and pork buns depending on how small or large you cut your dough pieces. If you have leftover filling, you can make meat omelets by browning the filling in a pan and adding four whisked eggs into the pan. The omelets are exceptional and I have been making them for years whenever I have leftover seasoned ground pork filling. The steamed buns are fantastic on their own, but I like to serve the steamed buns with a drizzle of Chinkiang vinegar.