Very often for me the hardest part about blogging is just sitting down to do it. I work on a computer all day and in the last 6 months or so work has gotten busier and more stressful, which means that when I get home the last thing I want to do is sit in front of a computer again.
The problem is that I have no shortage of restaurants to write about, recipes to blog or ideas to share, I have just been bad at taking that first step and putting”pen to paper.”
Well there is no time like a new year to make a change and I am committed to putting more time and effort into the blog. This blog has always been something that has given me a great amount of joy and it’s almost like I have forgotten that it is also a really wonderful creative outlet.
So, let’s get 2017 started off on the right foot then, shall we?
While I was back home visiting in Edmonton over Christmas we drove past one of my favourite restaurants, North 53. That got me thinking about their amazing late night menu where they serve the most mouth wateringly delicious Fried Chicken with Sour Cream and Onion Dip. I will attempt that Fried Chicken one day (it’s in the new Edmonton Cooks cook book I received for Christmas), but this time around I was also day dreaming about the Filipino Pork Buns that were on the menu when I was still living in Edmonton.
I did a little searching on the Internet and lo-and-behold Chef Joshua Dissanayake had shared the recipe with Passion for Pork, a website that promotes the pork industry in Alberta and BC. So while I might still be hesitant to deep fry at home, I am more than up for the challenge of Baked Pork Buns.
Baked Filipino Pork Buns
Recipe from Passion for Pork courtesy of Joushua Dissanayake
Dough Ingredients
- 1 cup room temperature water
- 1 tbsp dry active yeast
- 1/4 cup white sugar
- 1/4 cup oil
- 1/4 cup 2% milk
- 1 1/2 eggs
- 4 cups flour
- 1/2 tsp salt
Filling Ingredients
- 500 grams ground pork
- 1 medium, Yukon gold potato, finely chopped
- 1/2 large onion, finely chopped
- 1 clove garlic
- 1 tsp soy sauce
- lemon juice to taste
- 1/4 cup water
- oyster sauce to taste
- salt & pepper to taste
- Stir sugar into water until it dissolves. Add yeast, stir quickly and then let sit for 10 minutes.
- Mix oil, milk and eggs until well blended then set aside.
- Blend flour and salt and set aside.
- Mix together both wet mixtures.
- Slowly mix together the wet mixture and the flour mixture until smooth.
- Place on flour covered surface and knead for 10 minutes.
- Place into lightly greased bowl, cover with plastic wrap and towel. Let rise for 90 minutes at room temperature.
- Divide into golf ball sized portions and let rise for 45 minutes.
- Meanwhile, make the filling. In a large frying pan fry the pork and onions.
- Let cook for about 5 minutes, then add in the potatoes, garlic, lemon juice and soy sauce.
- Add a 1/4 cup water and oyster sauce and let simmer until almost dry.
- Stuff the cooled meat mixture into golf ball sized dough portions that have been flattened out with a rolling-pin.
- Pinch the dough closed, form into a ball and place on a parchment lined baking sheet.
- Cover the balls with plastic wrap and let them rise for another 45 minutes or so.
- Brush each ball with 2% milk and then bake for 30-40 minutes or until golden brown at 350F.
These pork buns were actually quite easy to make. The thing that took the longest was just all of the rising time required for the dough — 3 separate times! A couple of things I would change for next time would be to cut back the salt. With both soy sauce and oyster sauce in the filling, I am not sure salt is even necessary. Taste the filling before adding any salt and see if it actually needs any. Also, when pinching together some of my buns they ended up having more dough on the bottom, which caused some of the buns to be a little bottom heavy. It didn’t change the taste of the bun, but I would try to even things out a little better next time.
If you love BBQ pork buns, I would try this recipe out. It has a different flavour profile than a BBQ pork bun, the filling is much less sweet, but just as delicious. You could probably even substitute in some BBQ pork from your local Chinese grocery store for the filling if you wanted to as well.
2016 was an amazing year for me and I can’t wait to see what adventures 2017 brings.
Happy New Year and Saturday!
Life is Better Red 