B. Eppig Bakes
Browsing Category
omnivore
Main Courses•omnivore•Uncategorized

Sheng Jian Bao (Pan-Fried Pork Steam Buns)
August 28, 2022 by B. Eppig Recipe rating:
Not yet rated

 

Sheng Jian Bao (Pan-Fried Pork Steam Buns)

Homemade dough wrapped around pork filling undergo a brief pan-fry and are then steamed to complete the cook. This recipe is based on using 1 lb ground pork, which will fill roughly 24 steam buns. You can assume 2-3 steam buns per person for a serving if there are additional sides.
Print Recipe Pin Recipe
Prep Time 55 minutes
Cook Time 10 minutes
Servings: 24 dumplings
Course: Main Course
Ingredients Equipment Method Notes

Ingredients
  

Dough
  • 2 cup unbleached all-purpose flour (plus more for dusting your work surface) Unbleached flour is what you should use for yeast breads such as this recipe. The denser texture works better with the yeast to create the puff vs bleached flour. Note: 1 cup flour is roughly 128 grams.
  • 4 Tbsp. corn starch
  • ½ tsp salt
  • 2 Tbsp. sugar
  • 1 Tbsp. baking powder make sure it isn't expired
  • 2½ tsp active dry yeast
  • 1 cup whole milk
  • ⅛ tsp canola oil olive oil, canola oil, any cooking oil will due, this is to grease your bowl
For Frying/Steaming cycle
  • 2 Tbsp. canola oil for frying - other high smoke point oil such as avocado oil or peanut oil.
  • ½ cup water for steaming
Pork Filling
  • 1 cup shredded cabbage This is roughly ⅛ a small head of cabbage
  • 2 medium grated radishes
  • ½ tsp salt
  • 1 diced green onion/scallion
  • 3 minced garlic cloves
  • 2 tsp grated fresh ginger or ¼ tsp ground ginger
  • 1 lb ground pork
  • 2 tsp corn starch
  • 1 tsp cooking sake or dry rice wine. Dry white wine can work in a pinch.
  • 1 tsp black sesame oil black sesame oil provides a stronger flavor than white. Other sesame oils can be used as substitutes
  • ¼ tsp sugar
  • ¼ tsp ground white pepper white pepper is more subtle in flavor than black pepper. black pepper can be used as a substitute
  • ½ tsp soy sauce
  • 1 Tbsp. chicken stock

Equipment

Method
 

Review Sealing Methods
  1. There are many ways you can wrap or seal the steam bun. Search "10 Ways to Wrap Chinese Pork Buns". I prefer the ruffle and pinch which can be found at the video linked in the notes section of this recipe. Not matter what your steam bun looks like, it will taste the same.
Prepare the Dough
  1. Prepare the Dough. In a large bowl add the dough ingredients of flour, corn starch, salt, sugar, baking powder, and active dry yeast and mix together.
  2. Heat the cup of milk to lukewarm (~40 seconds in a standard microwave). If you have a I thermometer you should aimed for 105°F (warm enough to activate the yeast but also not hot enough to kill the little guys). Add to the dry ingredients in the bowl and mix until ingredients are combined.
  3. Dust work surface with flour. Place dough on work surface and knead for roughly 5 minutes. The large lumps in the dough should get smoothed out during this process. Form into ball.
  4. Grease bottom and sides of large bowl with the ⅛ tsp oil (can be olive, canola, etc, this is only to prevent sticking. I wash and dry the previous mixing bowl and reuse for this step). Place dough ball in bowl and cover wish a damp tea towel or sealing bowl cover.
  5. Let the dough rest until it doubles in size. This take roughly ½ to 1 hour pending your environmental conditions. While the dough is resting - make your filling.
Make the Filling
  1. If you haven't already prepped, chop or shred your cabbage and the radish, grate your garlic, and dice the green onion . I prefer to use a knife to finely chop my cabbage, a medium sized cheese grater on the radishes, a fine grater for the fresh ginger, and a garlic press for the garlic. This is to prevent getting a massive bite of any in a single bao.
  2. In a medium bowl, combine cabbage, radish, and the ½ tsp salt. Mix and let sit for 5-10 minutes to release water. Drain excess water. I prefer to complete this by drying with a tea towel. Ensure excess water was removed from the bowl.
  3. In the medium bowl combine all remaining filling ingredients. Mix until combined.
Assemble the Steam Buns
  1. Clean your work surface. Dust flour on work surface. When dough has risen, place dough on work surface and divide into equal quarters. You will work with one quarter at a time. Any dough or dumpling you are not actively working should remain under the damp cloth.
  2. Roll the quarter of the dough into a roughly 6 inch long snake. Using the dough knife, divide the dough snake into 6 equal parts (roughly 1 in each in diameter). You will work with once piece at a time. Place all remaining pieces under the damp cloth.
  3. Work the piece of dough into a ball and flatten. Using your rolling pin, roll until it reached roughly 5 inches in diameter.
  4. Add 1 tablespoon of pork filling to the center of your dough circle.
  5. Fold the dough around the filling using your preferred method (see step 1). If you are new to this, like me, some will look great. many will look...not great. The important thing is to have fun and that they will ALL taste great!
  6. When you finish one, place it under the damp cloth. Continue until all dough has been used.
  7. Let all completed buns rest for 10 minutes under the damp towel.
Fry and Steam the Buns
  1. In a large skillet add the 1 Tbsp canola oil and bring to a medium heat.
  2. Set aside ¼ cup water. You will need ¼ cup per batch, and this recipe assumes 2 batches.
  3. Place each bun in the skillet, leaving some room between each. I can easily fit 12 buns in per batch, but this is all pending the size of your skillet.
  4. Let the bottoms fry for roughly 30-45 seconds - it goes fast! You want a bit of brown but not totally cooked.
  5. Add ¼ cup water to the skillet and cover immediately. Let the buns steam for roughly 5-7 minutes. They will puff up and you will notice the water has mostly all evaporated from the pan. Turn off heat and wait until the sizzling of the oil reduces, about a minute. Remove from pan and plate. If you are working a second batch you may need to add a bit more oil to cover the bottom of the pan and repeat the process until all buns are steamed. Serve immediately.

Notes

Wrapping video: 10 Ways to Wrap Chinese Pork Buns
A special thanks to both Diego E. and Caitlin S. for testing the recipe and providing comments!
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!
Share:
Cooking time: 0 min
Breakfast•Main Courses•omnivore

Breakfast Egg Roll Bowl
by B. Eppig Recipe rating:
Not yet rated

 

Breakfast Egg Roll Bowl

I highly recommend this meal for brunch. The breakfast sausage's hints of maple syrup provide a light sweetness pairing with the savory seasonings. The rice adds a softness to the dish and pairs well with the egg roll fillings sauces.
If you are looking to save time you can substitute the cabbage and carrots with a premade coleslaw mix.
Print Recipe Pin Recipe
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 25 minutes
Servings: 4 people
Course: Breakfast, Main Course
Ingredients Equipment Method Notes

Ingredients
  

Egg Roll in a Bowl Filling
  • 1 lb breakfast sausage
  • 4 cups cabbage roughly 1/4-1/2 a small to medium head of cabbage.
  • 6 green onions
  • 4 cloves garlic
  • 1 Tbsp fresh grated ginger
  • 2 Tbsps. soy sauce
  • 1 tsp cooking sake or rice wine
  • 1 Tbsp black sesame oil
  • 1 Tbsp sweet chili sauce or hot honey
  • 2 carrots
  • white or black pepper to taste
  • salt to taste
Fried Egg
  • 1 Tbsp butter
  • 4 medium eggs
Hot Sauce Drizzle
  • ¼ cup mayonnaise
  • 1-2 Tbsp Sriracha or hot sauce to taste
  • 1 tsp lemon juice concentrate
  • salt to taste
Rice
  • 1 cup rice
  • 1 cup chicken or vegetable broth
  • 1 cup water
  • ¼ tsp cumin
  • salt to taste
  • pepper to taste

Equipment

  • 1 large skillet
  • 1 medium fry pan
  • 1 medium sauce pot with lid
  • 1 chefs knife
  • 1 cutting board
  • liquid measuring cup
  • dry measuring cup
  • measuring spoons
  • mixing spoon
  • spatula
  • small bowl
  • small grater
  • julienne peeler for thinly slicing carrots. Another option is to use a larger grater or slice/buy into matchsticks.
  • garlic press optional

Method
 

Vegetable Prep
  1. Remove bad layers from your cabbage and discard/compost. De-core and thinly slice cabbage. Set aside.
  2. Grate the ginger. Peel and mince the garlic (I use a garlic press). Discard/compost the peels. Set aside.
  3. Remove any bad layers from your green onions and discard/compost. Chop the root ends off of the green onions and discard/compost. Next, chop the green onions separating the whiter, tough ends from the top leafy ends (the tops will be your garish). Set aside.
  4. Thinly slice or grate the carrots. Set aside.
Hot Sauce Drizzle
  1. In small bowl, combine mayonnaise, sriracha, lemon juice concentrate, and salt. Mix and set aside.
Rice
  1. In the medium saucepot add the rice, broth, water, cumin, and salt and pepper. Stir and set over medium heat, un-covered.
  2. Once water/broth begin to boil, turn down to low and cover with lid. While rice is cooking, begin cooking your filling. Rice cooking time will depend on the type of rice you are using, but is generally 10-20 minutes. Most of the liquid should be absorbed and the rice will be tender.
Egg Roll Filling
  1. Set the large skilled over a medium heat. Add sausage. If using links or patties, I break them up for faster cooking. Cook until sausage has browned and is cooked through.
  2. Add the bottom (white end) portion of the green onions to the skillet. Stir and cook for 1 minute.
  3. Add garlic. Stir and cook until garlic becomes fragrant ~45 seconds.
  4. Add cabbage, ginger, soy sauce, cooking sake, sesame oil, and sweet chili sauce. Stir. Cook until cabbage begins to soften. Taste and then add salt and pepper as desired. Finally, add carrots (if you add them too early they will beome mushy because they are so thin). I prefer to remove from the heat when the cabbage has softened but has not completely wilted, so I still get a little crunch with eat bite. Remove from heat when cabbage is cooked as desired.
Fried Egg
  1. Heat skillet over medium heat. Add butter and let melt. Add eggs and cook as desired. I prefer sunny side up.
Assemble Individual Bowls
  1. Add a layer of rice to the bottom of your bowl. Top with a scoop of egg roll filling, fried egg, and hot sauce drizzle. Garnish with previously set aside green onion tops. Serve warm.

Notes

Enjoy as a unique brunch or anytime of the day! If breakfast flavors aren't your favorite, you can swap out the breakfast sausage for standard ground pork. 
For various food restrictions you can use brown rice instead of white, omit the homemade hot sauce drizzle and top with standard hot sauce (no mayo), and swap the soy sauce for liquid aminos. Thank you to L. Bechtler for these tips!
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!
Share:
Cooking time: 0 min
Main Courses•omnivore

Meatballs – Baked
March 20, 2022 by B. Eppig No Comments

 

Meatballs - Baked

This is the quick version of meatballs - no frying. Mash together and bake in the oven. Easy. Because we don't always have 2 hours to make meatballs...but we always want them.
Print Recipe
Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 20 minutes
Servings: 4
Course: Mains
Ingredients Equipment Method

Ingredients
  

  • 1 lb ground beef
  • ¼ cup panko bread crumbs
  • 1 large egg
  • 4 cloves diced garlic can replace with ¼ tsp garlic powder
  • 1 small yellow onion, finely chopped
  • ½ tsp dried parsley
  • ½ tsp dried basil
  • ½ tsp dried oregano
  • ¼ tsp salt I recommend Kosher salt but any salt will do
  • 1 pinch white pepper less than ¼ teaspoon. If you do not have white pepper, black pepper is also great
  • ⅛- ¼ cup grated Romano cheese depends on how much you like cheese

Equipment

  • 1 Baking Sheet
  • 1 Non-Stick, Food Safe Baking Mat in the absence of a silicone baking mat, grease the bottom of the baking sheet with, oil, butter or cooking spray.
  • 1 large mixing bowl
  • 1 chef's knife and cutting board a food processor can be used in place

Method
 

  1. preheat oven to 400°F
  2. dice onion and garlic. If you have a food processor, this can be used to finely dices the onion and garlic together for a more even distribution of the the onion and garlic.
  3. place ground beef in mixing bowl. Add onion, garlic, panko bread crumbs, parsley, oregano, basil, salt, white pepper, and Romano cheese
  4. mix with hands. Roll out into individual balls, roughly 1¼-1½ inches in diameter. Try to make them as uniform as you can so they all bake at a similar rate
  5. place on middle rack in oven until baked - 15-20 minutes or until brown. See picture.
    Note: if you are adding to pasta, this is a great time to get your water boiling and your pasta sauce ready - pasta and sauce can be store-bought!
  6. You now have fast, flavorful meatballs for spaghetti, meatball subs, pizza, soup, you name it! You can also eat them by themselves....
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!
Share:
Reading time: 1 min