Weekend simple lunch for one with leftovers makes a new dish

Google: “Bao Buns (pronounced “bow”), but also known as a ‘steamed buns’ or ‘baozi’ 包子, are a delicious, warm, fluffy treat of stuffing wrapped inside a sweet, white dough. Made with a mix of flour, yeast, sugar, baking powder, milk and oil, the bao is a tad sweeter than its closely related cousin, the dumpling. The taste of Chinese bao buns depends on the filling inside them. Most fillings are savory and mildly sweet. There are so many different ways to make bao buns that the bao taste is rarely ever consistent. You can add mushrooms, pork, chicken, beef, and even chocolate for a sweet kick!”

What is char chee yoke? It’s a traditional Hakka braised pork belly with a lot of fat. You got to get at least 3 layers: skin, fat and meat. We often served during Chinese New Year or any days when we felt like having it. Char chee yoke tends to be salty, fragrant umami. The method is to cook char chee yoke thoroughly without hardening it, and marinating for a few hours bring out the taste of the delicious pork belly. Char chee yoke has a perfectly balanced sweet and savoury flavour. Char chee yoke meat is soft, melt-in-the-mouth definitely goes well with bao buns.

Using my 3 leftover’s bao buns and char chee yoke that I had hidden in my freezer. I am glad my cheat bao buns are beautifully steamed and the char chee yoke filling is a great choice that is different from most recipes and goes well with salad. My lunch is comforting delicious. Let’s create a cheat meal!!!!

Ingredients

3 bao buns, thawed

Char chee yoke ingredients

1 kilo of pork belly, wash, drain and cut into 3 or 4 long strips
3/4 packet of black fungus, soak overnight
1/2 bulb of garlic with skins, break them into individual garlic piece
4 eggs
3 Tbs of 5 spice powder
5 Tbs plain flour
5 Tbs brandy or whiskey
3/4 Tbs salt
1 Tsp ajinomoto (OPT)
oil for deep frying
1 Tbs minced garlic
water enough to cover pork

Garnish

spinach
shredded and sliced carrot

Method

Place the long strip pork belly in a big bowl, add 5 spice, plain flour, salt, ajinomoto, brandy and crack the eggs in. Mix well till combined. Set in fridge for 4 hours to develop the flavour.

Heat oil on medium high heat. Deep fry a few pieces at a time about 4 minutes until golden brown and removed to a paper towel plate. Once deep frying all the pork, heat a big pot with oil. Then add 1 Tbs minced garlic fry till fragrant about 1 minutes. Add the fried pork to the pot.

Smash the individual garlic and add into pot. Now add black fungus in and strain the fungus water into the pot. Next add enough water to braise the pork until soft about 40-50 minutes. Check seasoning. Spoon char chee yoke onto a bowl and serve with bao buns and salad as side dish.

Note: Do not add pepper. If you don’t want to be too liquid add a little less water. If you like it darker colour add 2 Tbs of dark caramel sauce. You can make this one day in advance. It sure does absorb more flavour overnight.

To steam the bao buns

I use my mother rice cooker that has a steamer container. Don’t overcrowd them. Carefully place the steamer with the bao buns on top of rice cooker with about 4 inches of water. Make sure water is enough if you are steaming a few times and not touching the bao buns. Cover and steam for 5-10 minutes. When they are done cooking, tilt the lid slightly for slow air circulation, about 2 to 3 minutes before opening the lid all the way. When they are done cooking its puff up and soften when finger touch it.

Place the bao buns on a plate. Fill the bao buns by adding some salad and the char chee yoke. Enjoy it with a glass of white wine.

https://helenscchin.com/2024/11/17/bao-bun-with-char-chee-yoke-and-vegetables/

#helenscchinrecipes
#meat
#asianculinarycurrynoodles
#cookingforthefun
#foodiesplus