Every once in awhile, I miss San Francisco, my home for 20 years, and the home of the best dim sum I have ever had. Nothing takes the place of dim sum when you are craving Cha Siu Bao, Lo Mai Gai, Steamed Dumplings, and sticky rice desserts! These cravings got so intense that I start experimenting with various recipes for vegan dim sum.
GET THE STUFF TOGETHER!
(makes 12 buns)
This Cha Siu Bao recipe uses seitan and oyster mushrooms in place of the pork in the traditional bun. The homemade seitan recipe (included below) will give you the tooth, and the sauce brings the flavour.
WHAT YOU WILL NEED:
Steamed Seitan
Note: if you are also making Lo Mai Gai with seitan for the same meal, simply double this seitan recipe!
4 cloves garlic, pressed or chopped very fine
1 1/2 tbsp brown sugar
1 tbsp soy sauce
2 teaspoons Shaoxing wine or Sake
1 tsp mushroom bouillon powder or mushroom bouillon cube
1/4 tsp Chinese Five Spice powder
1/2 tsp sesame oil (can be toasted style)
1/4 cup water
3/4 cup vital wheat gluten
For the Steamed Bun Dough
2 1/4 cups flour
3/4 cups + 2 tbsp warm water
2 1/4 tsp instant yeast (one envelope)
2 tsp sugar
For the Cha Siu Filling
2 tsp cooking oil
1 slice ginger (about 2 tsp – leave in one piece)
1-2 cloves garlic, chopped or pressed
1/4 cup hoisin sauce
2 tbsp agave syrup or maple syrup
1 tbsp Shao Xing wine or Sake
2 tsp soy sauce or Tamari
1/4 tsp Chinese five spice powder
1 cup oyster and/or shiitake mushrooms
1/2 cup red onion or shallot
3/4 cup steamed seitan
For the Slurry
1/2 cup water
2 tablespoons flour
1/2 teaspoon mushroom bouillon powder or 1/2 mushroom bouillon cube
MAKE IT!
Chinese cooking wine, or use Sake
soy sauce or Tamari
brown sugar
Hoisin sauce
toasted sesame oil
chopped garlic
Five Spice powder
mushroom bouillon (Asian style if you can find it)
slurry
Make the Seitan!
Do this a couple of hours, or the day before, you want to make the buns. The time the seitan spends meditating in the fridge after steaming adds to the chewy firmness.
Mix all the seitan ingredients except vital wheat gluten, then add the gluten.
Mix until a dough forms, then knead it until it begins to hold together (it will be stiff).
Wrap very tightly in parchment paper or aluminum foil; the tighter you wrap it, the firmer the seitan will be.
STEAM IT!
Put the seitan packet in a steamer, cover, and steam for 45 minutes over medium-high heat, checking the water level a couple of times.
Let the seitan cool for 15 minutes, then chill in the fridge for a few hours or overnight. This will make it nice and firm!
Make the Dough!
If you are planning to eat these BBQ buns today, it’s time to start making the dough!
Combine all the dough ingredients and mix well with a spoon and your hands, or a mixer with a dough attachment, until it forms a sticky dough.
Process for one minute, or knead by hand for 5-10 minutes, until strands of gluten form. Cover with a clean damp towel and let rise for 1 hour, or until doubled in size.
A little chopping….
You can do this while the dough is rising. Chop the mushrooms and onion. Peel the ginger piece but leave it whole.
Chop the cooled seitan into cubes about 1/2″ square.
And now make the tasty CHAR SUI sauce!
Combine the slurry ingredients and set aside.
In a large pan, heat a couple teaspoons of cooking oil over medium-high heat. When hot, add the slice of ginger. Cook for a minute or until the ginger starts to brown. Add the onion and cook until soft; about 3 minutes.
Lower the heat to medium, add the mushrooms and cook until they are soft; about 5 minutes.
Stir in the agave syrup, hoisin sauce, soy sauce, shao xing wine or Sake, and the Five Spice powder. Cook 2-3 minutes, until bubbling.
Give the slurry a stir and pour it in. Stir well. The sauce will thicken quickly, in about 1 minute. Remove from heat and stir in the chopped seitan.
Taste and adjust for salt.
Making the buns!
Let the cha siu mixture chill in the fridge while you make the bun rounds.
When the dough has doubled in size, transfer it to a clean, lightly floured work surface and knead a few times. Flour your hands as necessary as this dough will be quite sticky. Shape the dough into a log shape.
Make the rounds!
Divide the dough into 12 pieces. Knead each piece lightly and roll them into balls. Flatten and press out to be between 1/4″ and 1/2″ thick. Make the edges of the circles thinner than the centre so you can pinch them together easily later.
I recommend using your hands to press the rounds out, not a rolling pin. Rolling made my rounds too thin and the dough wasn’t as fluffy as I wanted it.
Fill the buns
Take the slice of ginger out of the filling and discard. Place a heaping tablespoon of filling into the middle of a round. Use as much filling as you can, without breaking the dough. Pull the edges together over the filling and pinch in the middle to secure. Freeze leftover filling and used it in a future fried rice!
Let ’em rise.
Place each bun on a square of parchment paper or flattened muffin liners. Cover the buns with a towel and let them rise for about 30 minutes, or until they are chubby and fluffy
Steam ’em!
Place buns in the steamer basket, leaving some room for them to expand. Fill the steamer’s base with plenty of water and let it come to a boil over high heat
EAT YOUR STEAMED BUNS!!
These are pretty amazing by themselves, but are incredible as part of a dimsum spread, such as the one I made for Christmas, with Cha Siu Bao, Lo Mai Gai (sticky rice steamed in lotus leaves), Spinach Ginger dumplings, and a Filipino coconut sticky rice dessert called Biko.
Condiments!
Condiments I serve with vegan dimsum include soy sauce, Sriracha or other hot sauce, homemade ginger garlic sauce, and kimchi.
