The filling for these Chinese steamed buns consists of both meat and vegetables. The filling functions best after spending the night in the refrigerator. To make the most tender filling, use meat that is half fat and half flesh. To cook these delectable buns, a wok must be fitted with a stainless steel steam plate, which has holes for the steam to pass through.
| Prep Time: | 50 mins |
| Cook Time: | 30 mins |
| Additional Time: | 2 hrs 40 mins |
| Total Time: | 4 hrs |
| Servings: | 24 |
| Yield: | 24 steamed buns |
Ingredients
- 8 ounces chopped pork
- 1 (4 ounce) can shrimp, drained and chopped
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 green onions
- 1 tablespoon chopped fresh ginger root
- 1 tablespoon light soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon rice wine
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
- 1 tablespoon white sugar
- ground black pepper to taste
- 2 ½ tablespoons water
- 1 recipe Chinese Steamed Buns
Instructions
- Cook chopped pork in a wok over medium heat. After 3 minutes of cooking add chopped shrimp if desired. Cook until pork is no longer pink. Drain, season with salt and set aside to cool.
- Mix together green onions, ginger, soy sauce, rice wine, oil, sugar, and pepper. Stir in minced meat. Stir in water and mix thoroughly. Chill in freezer for 2 hours, or in refrigerator overnight to firm up and blend flavors.
- Prepare dough for Chinese Steamed Buns.
- Shape dough into balls. Roll each out into a circle, (like Won-Ton wrappers). Put 1 tablespoonful of prepared meat mixture in the center of each circle, and wrap dough around filling. Place seams down onto wax paper squares. Let stand until doubled, about 30 minutes.
- Bring water to a boil in wok, and reduce heat to medium; the water should still be boiling. Place steam-plate on a small wire rack in the middle of the wok. Transfer as many buns on wax paper as will comfortably fit onto steam-plate leaving 1 to 2 inches between the buns. At least 2 inches space should be left between steam-plate and the wok. Cover wok with lid. Steam buns over boiling water for 15 to 20 minutes.
- REMOVE LID BEFORE you turn off heat, or else water will drip back onto bun surface and produce yellowish “blisters” on bun surfaces. Continue steaming batches of buns until all are cooked.
- Get the recipe for
Reviews
Like everyone else, I made it but I changed it! I wanted to make the steamed buns and use up some leftover Thanksgiving turkey. I used roughly the same spices as above and put it all through the grinder attachment on my mixer. Cooked turkey breast was a little dry so I added some extra mirin, sesame oil, and corn starch. I think the dough will take some practice. I did have to add flour to be able to work it, and my first try at these didn’t come out nice and round like a pro, but still cooked up fine and are nice and fluffy. Looking forward to making these again.
Loved them! I used ground pork and chopped it after it was cooked.
I just made this and was very tasty. Never spent so long trying out a new dish but I am a novice cook. Made about 16 buns and like others added more flour than recipe suggests. As I couldn’t find pork mince in my local shop, I bought good quality sausages, cut open the skins, then used the nicely seasoned meat inside. For a first attempt they could have looked whiter maybe but they tasted very good! Nice and juicy filling with light, airy, sweet dough.
When my hubby walked into the house he said that smells like real chinese food… not like that fake stuff we usually try to make! Ha ha! This is a fantastic recipe!!
I should have made double, it was delicious :). I did use shredded beef roast instead of the pork & shrimp, but it still came out fantastic! Thank you!
i had such high hopes for these buns but they were a disaster. the texture of the dough came out dense & inconsistent, not pillowy like they should be. i will just buy the frozen ones from now on. much easier than making them 🙂
Perfect. Reminds me of the ones I’ve had when I visited Japan and lived in Hawaii. Even my brothers loved them and asked for them again. I’ve also used chicken filling, when I’ve run out of pork and they were still good. Thank you!
I pan fried the buns instead of steam them. To pan fry the buns: Heat a nonstick skillet over medium heat with 1 T oil. Put the buns in and fry for 1 minute. pure 1/4 cup water into the skillet, cover and cook until there is no more liquid left. Remove the cover and cook until the button of the buns are golden brown.
These are delicious. The only thing I changed is that I did not use the shrimp and instead of chopped pork I used ground pork. My picky husband loved them!
awesome recipe! very tasty filling. Used ground pork instead of chopped and it worked out well!
I made this with chicken instead of pork and it was pretty darn good, though much leaner. I would also add Chinese five-spice, which gives it an astoundingly fantastic flavor!
the filling is sooooo delicious!!! i’m going to use the filling to make egg rolls sometime.
I grew up in Hawaii and the buns were just like the ones I grew up with. We call it manapua and since I no longer live in Hawaii this was one of the foods I’ve craved. Now I can have it…when I’m ready to do some work! One thing that I encountered when making the dough was that it was quite sticky when kneading. I didn’t want to add too much flour when kneading. Did anyone else have that same problem? Also, when making it, I put too much filling and I made the dough too thin so when I steamed it, the meat was showing through. It suppose to be all bun til you bite inside to get a wonderful mouthful of filling with the yummy bun. Otherwise, this was great and I’m excited I can make it now! follow up: I wanted to add, they’re great to make a bunch at a time, freeze it in bags. When reheating, wrap in a damp cloth or papertowel and microwave for about a minute (usually less).
This filling was just ok. The dough recipe however, I highly recommend. I omitted the shrimp, due to personal taste, and I substituted the rice wine for sherry. I grated my ginger root instead of mincing and doubled the amount called for, but the ginger strength was still wimpy. I think these would be better wrapped in wonton wrappers and fried, then dipped in hoisin or peanut sauce. The flavor in a steam bun just left too much to be desired.
These turned out great. We used different fillings such as chicken, crag meat and even ground beef. These can be time consuming, use the ing. that you like. After trial and error we loved them, thanks for the post.
The buns were decent, but the filling was awful. If there is a next time, I will try the BBQ pork filling instead. This is a time consuming but fun recipe. Rather than 24 buns, I made 11, each the size of a small fist. This allows more meat filling, which is usually my favorite part. On step 4, I squeezed the meat mixture into a small compact ball, to make enclosing it with dough easier. Also, I used a spoon sprayed with PAM to push out/extend the edges of my circle, so the bottom was thicker. This also made the enclosure easier. I don’t have a steam wok, so I used a pressure cooker. I boiled an inch or two of water, had to coffee mugs inside, and had the holed plate on top. Then I put the buns on top for steaming- worked great! Changes of recipe: I substituted sherry for rice wine and didn’t include the shrimp.
Absolutely wonderful recipe Carol. The kids flipped over these delicious and authentic tasting buns! Thanks so much!
These came out pretty poorly for me, but i’ve never tried to make anything like this before ,so I think it might’ve been moreso me then the recipe…definately a tough one to put together correctly. I couldn’t get dough thin enough, and the filling was simply not all that yummy…
It’s just like the ones u have at the restaurant. Really yummy, very easy to make. Thanks for the recipe~!!!
this was my first attempt at making these. it turned out great! i loved the semi-sweet taste of the buns and its soft, lush texture. yummy!
These dumpling-like buns are absolutely delish. I made mine about the size of a fist, though, and there was no WAY I could have squeezed 24 out of the dough. It turned out to be more like 6. That’s okay though; I liked that there was a higher meat to dough ratio. My boyfriend and I just polished off the first batch; I did the dishes and am starting a second! Also, I didn’t mix the shrimp in with the pork, but I made seperate pork buns and shrimp buns.