Char Sui Bao – making leftover pork go further.

Steamed pulled pork buns

I’m sure by now you must know I don’t like to waste food. I often buy a bigger piece of meat to rast than will be eaten at one sitting as I know there are so many delicious meals that can be created from what could be seen as scraps from the carving plate. That is exactly what happened here. I had made a slow roasted pork shoulder for a family get together, everyone had made big sticky pulled pork baps. There was a little left over but not enough for a whole meal, or so I thought. Rather than just finish it off the following day in another sandwich I popped the pork in the freezer until the muse struck.
It took a while but as I was mourning the possible closure of one of London’s most excentric Chinese restaurants, I suddenly remembered char Sui Bao. steamed pork buns. Little parcels of pleasure. That is where the pulled pork was destined. It needed the addition of a few flavours but essentially once the bun dough was made we were ready to go.

The restaurant wasn’t closed, just being refurbished thank goodness.

Sauce for the pulled pork
A handful of leftover prk scraps – pick out the fatty bits though, ewwwww!
1 tbsp ketsup manis (dark soy and a sprinkle of sugar would work too)
2 finely shredded spring onions

For the bun dough

250ml warm water
7g dried yeast
2 tbsp sugar
1½ tsp baking powder
Pinch of salt
450g plain flour

To serve

Soy sauce
Sugar
Garlic
Chilli chopped
Spring onion finely chopped

How to
1. Shred or chop the pork if it isn’t already in small pieces.

2. Stir the ketsup manis and spring onions into the pork mix. Leave to marinade.

3. For the dough, in a jug mix the water, yeast, sugar, baking powder and salt, and whisk for about 3-4 minutes until foaming.

4. Put the flour in a large bowl and make a well in the centre. Add the liquid to the flour, mix until it comes together then knead until it forms a smooth dough. Cover and leave to prove for 1 hour.

5. Tip the dough onto a floured surface and knead again for 5 minutes. Divide into 8 pieces then roll each piece into an 8cm disc.

6. Finely chop the char siu and mix with the remaining marinade. Place a tablespoon of the mixture in the middle of each disc then wrap the dough up around the meat and seal with a pinch.

7. Place the buns sealed-side down on a piece of parchment in a steamer. I had put my steamer in the back of the cupboard and couldn’t face excavating it out from there so i used a colander over a large pan and placed the pan lid over to keep the steam. Cover and steam for 10 minutes.

8. Serve immediately with the dipping sauce.

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