Steamed pork buns

My father would make "pows" before you could say "char sui bao." Outside the house, he loved fishing and being in his boat on the sea. Inside, it was cooking. Needless to say, hundreds - maybe even thousands - of his perfect steamed white buns - filled with pork cooked with the distinctive colouring and flavour of hoisin sauce and five spice powder - found their way into tummies  "down the islands," at the seaside, or anywhere a hearty snack was appreciated. Each bun would have a single pink dot on top - signifying that they were meat. Other buns might be filled with bean paste; or chicken with vegetables. But my father's buns were always pork filled, always decorated with the lipstick pink dot. No one, laments his grandchildren, could make pows like Grand-dad. Why didn't you learn his recipe, they berate us.  Well, Grand-dad developed his special pows by making them often and trying different ways with the meat filling. Even if we had his recipe, we would have to know how he measured - by hand and feel - the proportions of flour and water, sugar, yeast; how he seasoned the meat. Today, we begin the practice with a simple recipe for the buns. In time, we hope, some other gifted pow maker will emerge to wow us with pows like Grand-dad's.

To make the dough:
Dried yeast, one packet or one tablespoon
Water, 2 cups, warm (80F or 28C)
Brown sugar, 2 tablespoons
Flour, 5 cups plus (a cup of whole wheat flour was used in this recipe)
Oil, 2 tablespoons

Mix sugar and yeast in water and allow yeast to become frothy. Put flour in large bowl and mix in yeast mixture and oil. Knead for about 10 minutes or until dough is smooth. Dust lightly with flour if it is too sticky. Smear a little oil in the bowl, roll dough in it and cover. Allow to rise in a warm place for about 2 hours until doubled.

Flour and roll each piece into a small ball

Punch down and cut in half. Roll each half into a long shape, then cut into five or six pieces. On a lightly floured board, form each piece into a ball and allow to rise again for about an hour. Cut small squares of greaseproof paper and prepare the meat.


The meat:
Pork belly slices, cooked in black bean sauce
Roasted pork slices
Char sui pork
Minced pork infused with ginger and chili may be used to fill the buns before cooking. (Unless you are certain of the source of your minced pork, it is wise to use a cooked stuffing.)

The pork should be cooked and cooled. For these buns, pork cooked in black bean sauce was thinly sliced, sauteed with ginger and gravy, and lightly salted.

Flatten each ball of dough into a rough circle. Put a tablespoon of the meat filling in the middle, bring the sides of the dough up and twist over the meat as you might a paper parcel. Put each filled bun on a small square of greaseproof paper.

Pows ready for steaming

Bring water in a deep pot to the boil. Steam buns over boiling water (on the appropriate steaming tray) for 10-12 minutes. Remove buns from the steamer to cool. Continue to steam the buns in batches until they are all cooked.

This recipe makes about 20 buns.

After steaming, buns are light and glossy on the outside

Inside the meat adds its special flavour.