My little guy hasn’t been feeling very well in the past few days. Fever. Cough. Running nose. Last night when I got home, he was resting his chin on the table with dinner untouched. Oh no!!! Our rule in the house is that the kids eat whatever served on the table. But it doesn’t apply when they are sick! With his wet eyes (and nose!), he said he wanted steamed buns, with pork, with sausage, and with eggs. Yes, babe! Anything as long as you eat.

The amount of ingredients for these pork steamed buns may look intimidating at first, but you don’t have to follow it exactly. For the filling, use whatever you have in the kitchen. Leftover baked chicken breast? Chop it, and add some minced onion. The same goes to pork, ribs, beef, shrimp. But do use common sense here – please don’t put anything too dry or too watery in the filling.

Pork Steamed Buns

(adapted from Huyen Phan)

Yield 16 regular-size buns or 24 mini-buns

Dough (part A)
440g all purpose flour
50g bread flour (can be substituted by all-purpose flour)
10g corn starch (can be substituted by all-purpose flour)
5g active dry yeast
300ml milk
60ml canola oil

Dough (part B)
150g all-purpose flour
2 large egg whites
100g sugar
6g baking powder

Filling
300g minced pork
2 minced shallots
20 dried Shiitake mushrooms (soaked, drained, and minced)
1 black ear fungus (soaked, drained, and minced)
1 small bunch of arrowroot vermicelli (soaked, drained, chopped)
1 tbs oyster sauce
1 tbs hoisin sauce
1/8 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground pepper
16 boiled quail eggs for regular-sized buns (or 2 boiled large eggs, divided into 24 wedges for mini buns)
1 Chinese sausage (sliced into 16-24 pieces)

16-24 4-inch squared parchment paper (or 16-24 cupcake liners)

For the dough:

1. Sprinkle the yeast over the warm milk in a small bowl. After a few minutes, the yeast will begin to foam and bubble.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together all ingredients from Dough Part A.
3. Work the dough to produce a shaggy mass. Turn it out onto a floured board or countertop and knead until the dough becomes smooth, soft, and pliable, about 5 to 10 minutes. Put it into a lightly oiled bowl and turn it over once to coat. Cover the bowl in plastic wrap and allow the dough to rise undisturbed until doubled (about 1 hour).
4. Once the dough is doubled in size, add the remaining ingredient from Dough Part B. Knead slightly just until combined.
5. Divided into 16 balls about 75g each, or 24 balls, about 50g each. Covered with plastic wrap and let them rest for 10 minutes.

For the filling:

1. Mix all ingredients except eggs and Chinese sausage. To test the seasoning, put a small amount of mixture in microwave for 1 minute, taste it and adjust accordingly.
2. Form 16 or 24 balls of mixture.

For the assembling:

1. Using a rolling pin, flatten each dough ball into a 5-inch circle.
2. Put the filling mixture into the center, add an egg and a slice of Chinese sausage. Pinch the top to seal (an example of how to wrap the buns is here)
3. Put the bun on a parchment paper, or a cupcake liner.
4. Steam the buns for 11-12 minutes.