Fall Recipe: Vegetarian Steamed Buns

Last week, Nealey talked us through making Pork Buns (Baozi). Today, I bring you the vegetarian version. Have you ever bit into a fluffy, savory steamed bun at your local dim sum restaurant and thought, How on earth are these made? I marveled over this question for years before my sweetheart decided to take on this DIY cooking project at home. Thank goodness he did because veggie steamed buns are one of my favorite restaurant treats.

Read on to find out how he conquered this recipe in our very own tiny kitchen.

My husband is a beginner baker and chef, with a tasty yet somewhat limited repertoire of standards he's in charge of: scrambled eggs, roasted vegetables, huge salads — he's awesome at these dishes. It surprised me a little when he declared on Saturday, "This is the day I'll make vegetarian steamed buns!" I wasn't about to halt his enthusiasm, but I confess I wondered about the outcome.

He started by doing something smart. He watched over an hour's worth of YouTube videos on the subject, mostly taught by Asian grandmothers. He wanted to be informed and to compare techniques before he began. Hmmm, I thought — I could learn something from this research-based approach!

And then the real work commenced. After two trips to the Asian market and the organic co-op, he had all his ingredients. He synthesized two of his favorite recipes and got going. First the dough had to be prepared and set aside to rise.

"Look at how big this is getting, Lee!"

"That's what dough does, hun" I thought.

"This is amazing!"

He was right. Making a yeasted dough for steamed buns is absolutely amazing. Especially when it's your first time conducting such magic.

He toiled away for hours, checking in on his videos for advice, muttering and sometimes congratulating himself. He took a break mid-bun session and napped on the couch, got back to it later in the afternoon and demonstrated his most successful pinching technique to close each parcel of ginger-laden filling and pillowy, tender wrapping (shown in the gallery of photos). He was making food that resembled a present and really, is there no greater gift you can give the person you love than a home-cooked meal redolent with hard work, tenderness and care?

Vegetarian Steamed Buns
makes about 8 buns, depending on size

Dough:
2 cups all–purpose flour
1 teaspoon instant yeast
1 teaspoon baking powder
4 tablespoons sugar
Pinch or two of salt
1 tablespoon sesame oil, plus extra for rolling out dough
1/2 cup lukewarm stock or water

Filling:
1/2 small cabbage
1 spring onion or green onion, diced fine
2 tablespoons fresh peeled ginger, minced
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon oyster sauce (see note)
1 teaspoon soy sauce
1 teaspoon sesame oil

In a bowl, mix the flour, yeast, baking powder, sugar, and salt together. Add the sesame oil and stir lightly. Slowly mix in the water and stir to combine. Knead the dough on a lightly floured, clean work surface until the dough is smooth, about 5 minutes. Place the dough ball into a medium size bowl, cover with plastic wrap and put into a larger bowl filled with 3 or so inches of hot water. Place these into either the oven or microwave and let rise for 30 minutes, or until dough doubles in size.

While the dough is rising, prepare the filling. Steam the cabbage for 1 minute then drain the water (squeeze the water out as best you can). Chop the cabbage finely. Add the rest of the filling ingredients and mix thoroughly. Set the filling aside.

Forming the Buns:
After 30 minutes or more, the dough should have doubled in volume. Knead the dough lightly to expel any air pockets. Roll into a cylinder on a floured board, and cut into 8 equal pieces. Put a drop or two of sesame oil in your palm to coat hands (for each ball). Roll each piece into a ball, and place under a wet kitchen towel and allow to rest for 10 minutes (the dough will rise again).

Roll out dough into 4-inch diameter circles. Place a small ball of filling in center. Form pleats in dough as you seal the buns by twisting (make sure they have a nice seal).
Place finished buns on baking paper sheets.

To Cook:
Place the filled buns into warm bamboo steamer or rice cooker (as we did) and let steam for 15 to 20 minutes. The buns will almost double in size. Serve with soy sauce and/or hot chili sauce.

* Note: Many oyster sauces are actually vegetarian/vegan and made with mushrooms. But if you are vegetarian, do doublecheck the list of ingredients first.

• Watch the YouTube video: Bread on Bread

(Images: Leela Cyd Ross)

Comments (23)

I so would love to make these! Is there another alternative for cooking them if one doesn't have a bamboo steamer or rice cooker?

Place a colander over a pot of simmering water and cover with a lid. The handles of the colander should sit on top of the pot and keep the water from reaching the bottom of the colander. I've used this method with great success!
http://rootpursuits.com/2011/08/04/curry-chicken-style-seitan-steam-buns/

:) Jennifer

Anyone know if you can make a bunch of these ahead and freeze?

I know you can buy them frozen in the asian grocery stores so it seems that you would also be able to freeze them.

@Jennifer - Awesome, thanks! Just realized I have a veggie steamer basket that should work the same way as well. :)

That way too much dough for each bun. The point of the baozi is the filling, not the outer bun part thing.

The dough should be rolled out so that the center of the disc is thicker than the edges, that way you get more folds but not too much dough. The goal is to avoid a big hunk of bun in the center inside the baozi (the last picture on the left, see that two lumps of dough underneath the fingers that is pushing in to the filling--that will make Nainai tsk-tsk at you).

And then you let it rest after you make the bun and before steaming.

Lastly, I have never seen oil used on the dough, it is always flour. Otherwise how does the dough keep sticking together? Half the battle is to keep the filling from not touching the edge of the dough, otherwise the thing will open up again.

For the filling, trying adding some chopped shitaki mushrooms and broken vermicelli noddles. Heavenly!

in Seattle, you can get these steamed or baked...I prefer the baked ones.

Also........is there a dog on the counter watching that lady cook?

will someone make these for me please?

i can't wait to make these!!!

You can freeze them after they've been steamed.

My family individually wraps them in plastic wrap after they've cooled and released the bulk of moisture and then puts them in a Ziploc freezer bag.

Steaming them is the best way to reheat, but the microwave will do nicely if wrapped with a damp paper towel. If you aren't concerned with plastic you can omit the towel and microwave it wrapped.

While most places just use plain paper, parchment paper works a lot better from keeping the bottoms from sticking and since they also don't stick to the buns you can reuse them after the buns have been steamed.

As to equipment, any steamer should work including those vegetable steamers, though I have yet to try one. Personally, I have an ad hoc setup involving a 12" saute pan a 12 splatter guard and a 12" domed wok lid.

Cooking with the Dog! I love that channel. They have the best, authentic Japanese recipes.

Totally disagree gnnej. My favorite part is the fluffy white bread, and I peel off the "skin" to eat separately--learned from my mom who would peel of the skin for sanitary reasons and throw it away when purchasing from street vendors. If the dough is too thin, the whole thing fails.
And I repeat--peanut butter, sugar and sesame seeds as a filling in these things is AWESOME!

@fancyd, my favorite party is the skin as well, but gnnej is right. Traditionally, they are supposed to have a thin skin. The point is to make a little seat for the filling, having the skin thicker in the middle, and thin on the edges. When you roll these out, you actually use a rolling pin and roll inwards! But I also feel like it matters less for baozi than for jiaozi.

Can these be made with whole-wheat flour?

I made these with half whole wheat, half white flour last night. They were fantastic. Not quite as fluffy as the ones I made going exactly by the recipe, but still a good texture.

I love steamed buns... perhaps I'll have to give it a go.

Cooking with Dog is one of my favorites as well! I made gyudon for the first time with her instruction/recipe and it was sooo amazing. :)
http://www.youtube.com/user/cookingwithdog

I just made these, and while they were delicious, I think something about the proportions is a little off. I didn't use all the water suggested, and the dough was still far too sticky. I added more flour, but it didn't feel quite right.

@BeckyCN: I had the same problem - I think there's a typo in the recipe, and it should be 2c flour instead of just one.

delicious! I watched several youtube videos and by the 6th bun, I figured out the technique. suggestions: swap hoisin sauce for the oyster (i can never find vegetarian oyster sauce), add a finely shredded carrot and a few minced button mushrooms and make a dipping sauce!

i'd love to find a good recipe for red bean paste to stuff in this dough!

I made this recipe as the buns came out great. I made the filling with cabbage and shitake mushrooms. I am going to try making it with red bean next time.

Yay! Great idea! I have some dough sitting around and it's my turn to cook something. Dinner!

Ha, I hopped to this recipe simply for the photo--"Cooking with Dog," hilarious Japanese show. My husband spent a good deal of time in Japan, speaking only Japanese and fully immersed in the culture, and referred me to the show. If you haven't seen it, you must, just for the experience. Back to the subject: thank you for a vegetarian version! We don't eat a ton of pork around here.