Laura Reynolds reviews the latest arrival to the York cafe scene
Anna Mckay tempts us to break the new year healthy eating streak.
Just 4 days until Christmas..get in the mood with some festive nosh!
Anna Mckay adds a festive twist to this traditional Mexican food.
With Chinese New Year upon us, if you fancy doing a bit of pottering in the kitchen this is quite a cheap way to go about it, as two pork chops won’t set you back much at all. And if you don’t eat meat, try putting your favourite vegetable stir-fry into the buns instead.
Makes 8.
Ingredients:
For the dough: 300g Bread flour 1 dsp yeast 1 tsp salt A glug of olive oil/knob of butter 150-200ml warm water
For the filling: 2 fat pork chops (off the bone) A bunch of spring onions 1 tsp oil 2 tbsps Hoi Sin sauce 1 dsp honey 1 tsp chilli paste/ ½ tsp flakes
For the glaze: 1 beaten egg and a handful of sesame seeds.
Method:
1) To make the dough put the flour, yeast and salt in a large bowl. Make a well in the centre and add the olive oil or butter and then slowly pour in nearly all of the warm water, stirring to bring everything together.
2) Start to knead the dough in the bowl to check the consistency. If it’s too stiff or floury add a little more water until it’s soft but not so much that it becomes sticky. Add a sprinkling of flour if this does happen, then tip it out onto a clean surface and give it a proper kneading for about five minutes until the dough feels nice and elastic, making sure to rip it apart and fold it over itself to knock in plenty of air.
3) When you’ve achieved this, put the dough back in the bowl and cover with Clingfilm. Set aside in a warm place for about 1 ½ hours until it’s all lovely and bloated.
4) When the dough’s rising, I usually do a bit of reading before cracking on with the filling.
5) Take the edge of fat off the pork chops and cut them in half lengthways. As finely as you can, slice the meat into thin strips. This means that they’ll take hardly any time to cook and definitely won’t be tough.
6) As roughly or as finely as you like, slice up the bunch of spring onions.
7) Get your wok (or frying pan) out and heat the oil.
8) When it’s hot enough, add the pork strips and the spring onions, frying until the pork is cooked through, probably about seven minutes.
9) Stir in the Hoi Sin sauce, honey and chilli paste/flakes and bubble away for a further five minutes or so, until the meat is looking sticky and delicious. Take off the heat.
10) Now take your risen dough and punch the air out of it. Divide it into eight pieces and roll them into balls with your hands.
11) With a rolling pin (or wine bottle) roll the dough balls into thin, flat circles. The diameter should be that of a balled fist but it doesn’t matter if it’s a bit bigger or smaller.
12) Take a tablespoon or so of the pork mixture and place in the centre of a dough disc. Wet the edges of the dough with a little water before bringing them up and pinching them together to close up the bun.
13) Place the bun pinched side down onto a lined baking tray so that the filling won’t fall out and repeat the process until you run out of dough balls and pork mixture. It’s a slightly fiddly process but good fun.
14) Now glaze the buns with a brushing of beaten egg, then sprinkle on some sesame seeds.
15) Place the tray of buns in a preheated oven at 200˚ for 25-35 minutes, until the dough is cooked and golden.
These are amazing eaten warm, so you don’t need to feel guilty if you shove one in before they’ve cooled down. Happy Chinese New Year!
You must log in to submit a comment.
