Salapow Steam Buns Dia Bao Or Dim Sum Recipes

BAKED BAO WITH BLACK BEAN PASTE

Steps:

• In a small bowl or cup, combine 1/4 cup lukewarm water with the yeast. Let stand for five minutes, while you do the following step.
• In a large bowl, sift or stir together 2 cups of the flour, the salt and the sugar. Add the shortenning with a pastry blender or two knives, until the mixture resembles coarse meal.
• In a microwave safe bowl or in a small saucepan, combine milk and 1/3 cup water and heat until warm, but not hot. Add the yeast mixture.
• Add milk and yeast mixture to the dry ingrediants in the large bowl, mixing well. Add the remaining flour, little by little, until mixture forms a shaggy dough. You may not need the full amount of flour.
• Using an electric mixer with dough hooks, mix the dough until it is smooth and elastic, adding more flour if necessary. (If you prefer, you can knead the dough by hand on a well floured surface - it takes 5-10 minutes).
• Grease a large clean bowl with a bit of oil, butter or shortenning, and transfer the dough to this bowl, turning it so that the grease coats the dough. Cover with a towel, or with plastic wrap, and leave dough to rise in a warm place for two hours.
• Punch down the dough, and transfer it to a well-floured surface. Using your hands or a rolling pin, flatten dough to just over a 1/2 inch thickness. Using a knife, divide dough into pieces roughly 2 1/2 by 2 1/2 inches - the exact shape is not particularly important.
• On the floured surface or in the palm of your hand, flatten the dough slightly around the edges. Place a rounded teaspoon of black bean paste in the center, then gather up the edges of the dough and pinch them firmly together, making certain that the filling is sealed inches.
• Place the bun on a baking sheet that is well greased or lined with parchment paper, pinched side down. Repeat for remaining pieces of dough. Place buns about 2 inches apart, to give them room to rise. Cover them with a clean towel and let rise for half an hour.
• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
• With a pastry brush, or your fingers, brush the tops of the buns with the beaten egg.
• Put buns in preheated oven and bake 20-25 minutes, until buns are golden brown. The bread should look airy and cooked if a bun is torn open.
• If you want to mark the tops of the buns with a red dot, mix the red food colouring and 2 tsp water in a small bowl and use the end of a chop stick to put a drop of the red water on the top of each hot bun.
• Transfer the buns to a wire rack and let cool a little. Buns can be served warm, refrigerated and reheated (either for 10 seconds in the microwave or a few minutes in the oven) or frozen for later.

STEAK BUNS WITH PEANUT SAUCE

Steps:

• For the meat and marinade: Combine the sambal, honey, curry powder, salt, black pepper, garlic and approximately two-thirds of the coconut milk (make sure you SHAKE WELL before opening the can) in a bowl and whisk together (reserve the remaining coconut milk for the peanut sauce). Submerge the flank steak in the marinade, cover and refrigerate for at least 2 hours and up to overnight.
• For the bun dough: In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook, combine the all-purpose flour, cake flour, sugar, yeast and salt and whisk to combine. Add the water and shortening and mix for 10 minutes. Transfer to an oiled bowl and let sit until doubled in size, 1 to 2 hours.
• Cut eight 3-inch squares of parchment paper. Divide the dough into 8 pieces. Roll each piece into a flat oval, about 6 inches by 3 inches. Brush with sesame oil, fold in half and place on a parchment square. Set the buns in a bamboo steamer 1 inch apart, cover and allow the buns to proof in the steamer in a warm place (or just on the countertop), until doubled in size, 30 to 40 minutes.
• For the peanut sauce: Meanwhile, combine the reserved coconut milk, peanut butter, sambal, jalapeno and soy sauce and whisk until smooth. If the sauce is too thick, add a splash of water. Reserve at room temperature until serving. (If you make it ahead of time, refrigerate the sauce but take out in time for it to come to room temperature before serving, or it will be very thick.)
• Heat a grill or grill pan to medium-high heat.
• Remove the meat from the marinade and brush off any excess. When the grill is very hot, grill the meat to desired doneness, 4 to 8 minutes on each side is good for medium rare, depending on thickness. Let rest for at least 10 minutes so the juices can settle.
• Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Steam the buns over the boiling water until puffy and cooked through, 10 to 12 minutes.
• Slice the meat thinly against the grain. Serve the buns right out of the steamer with the sliced meat, peanut sauce, pickles, extra sambal, cilantro and salt to taste.

CRAB "SOUP DUMPLINGS" (DIM SUM)

Steps:

• Hours or a day before making the dumplings, cook the agar-agar in the chicken broth until completely dissolved. Pour into a shallow dish. Cover and refrigerate for a few hours until it gels.
• Mix all the filling ingredients.
• Dice the gelled agar-agar/broth into small pieces and mix with the filling ingredients.
• Refrigerate this mixture.
• To make the wrappers:.
• Mix flour and egg.
• Add water a little at a time until a soft but not sticky dough is formed.
• Knead until dough is smooth and elastic.
• Roll the dough into a long sausage, 1 inch in diameter.
• Cut the dough into walnut-sized pices, then roll them into round balls; cover the balls with a damp towel.
• You are now going to make crescent-shaped dumplings.
• Dust your work surface with a little flour.
• Roll a piece of dough into a paper-thin circle.
• Put about a tablespoon of filling (now including the gelled broth) in the center of the circle.
• Fold the circle in half to look like a half-moon.
• Pleat the top curved edge.
• Pinch the pleated edge and the unpleated edge together to seal.
• Gently tap the crescent's round bottom so that it can stand up.
• Place the crescent-shaped dumpling between towels.
• Make the remaining crescents in the same way.
• Place a layer of cheesecloth in the bottom of a steamer.
• Arrange the crescent dumplings on the cloth.
• Cover and steam over high heat for 10 minutes.
• Serve hot with ginger-vinegar-soy dip.
• To make the dip:.
• Mix all dip ingredients in a serving bowl, cover, and allow to stand at room temperature for at least 10 minutes before serving; it should keep for hours at room temperature.

SALAPOW, STEAM BUNS, DIA BAO, OR DIM SUM

Steps:

• Mix filling ingredients in a large bowl.
• Transfer to covered container and refrigerate while making the buns.
• Cut wax paper into 24 - 3" squares.
• Put bottom of water filled steamer over high heat and cover.
• Put 2 packages of mix in bowl and add sugar.
• Mix,.
• Add flour and oil, and mix with hands in bowl, adding any additional flour as needed to keep from being too sticky.
• Knead in bowl 10 minutes.
• Cover and let rest 10 minutes.
• Knead again for 5 minutes.
• Pinch off golf ball sized pieces of dough, and flatten into 4" rounds.
• Put generous spoonful of filling in center and pinch to close.
• Place on wax paper squares and put in steamer trays.
• Put trays on top of steamer bottom, adjust heat, cover, and steam for 15-20 minutes.
• Serve in individual steamer baskets (if you are so fortunate to have them) or on platter.