Pan-dried buns filled with snow vegetables

Prep Time 2

Cook Time 20

Total Time 2 20

Course Lunch, Side Dish

Cuisine Chinese

Servings 8

7.1 oz (200 g) lean beef optional
30 oz (850 g) pickled mustard greens
10.6 oz (300 g) tofu
13.2 oz (375 g) white cabbage
3.5 oz (100 g) ginger 80 g for the dish, 20 g for the (optional) beef
2 tbsp soy sauce
1 tsp tbsp old soy sauce for seasoning the beef, when used
1/2 tsp starch for mixing with the beef, when used
1.5 oz (40 g) lard optional, can be replaced by olive oil or other vegetable oil
3 tbsp olive oil optional, can be replaced by lard which is more traditional
1 tbsp rice wine Shaoxingjiu or local rice wine
1.8 oz (50 g) garlic
3 Asian small red peppers (de-seeded for less spicy)
0.5 tsp sugar for seasoning the beef, when used

Weigh the flour, add the salt and mix
Add the water and mix first with chopsticks or a fork, later with your hand. Knead it so that no excess flour is left. If need be add one or a few tsp of water
Leave the dough as a ball covered for at the least 2 h at room temperature or around 30 C
After 2 h, start kneading and stretching the dough on the kitchen counter, dusted with flour. let the dough rest for a few minutes when it has the tendency to break. Roll in a cylinder. Use around 50 g of the dough for each bun (less for smaller buns)

Wash the pickled mustard greens by immersing them in a large bowl of cold water
After a few minutes and occasional stirring, drain the vegetables in a strainer
Dry spin the vegetables in a centrifuge
Cut or chop the spin dried potherb mustard greens fine on a cutting board
Chop up the white cabbage
Slice the tofu in 2-3 mm pieces
Peel and mince the garlic and the ginger. If using beef, leave some of the ginger for seasoning the beef
Cut the peppers fine and de-seed first, if you desire a less spicy filling
Heat the lard or vegetable oil in a wok
On high heat, add the peppers followed by the minced ginger and garlic
After 1-2 minutes of frying and stirring, add the snow vegetables first and stir-fry for several minutes.
Then add the white cabbage and continue to stir-fry and finish with adding the tofu
Add the rice wine and stir
Switch off the fire and taste the mixture. In some cases the mixture will be just fine as the slightly smoky taste of the snow vegetables and the slightly salty taste will be just perfect. If you washed the vegetables very thoroughly, you may need to add one or two tbsp of light soy sauce to the mixture and mix
Let the vegetable mixture cool down
When also using beef, cut the beef very thinly
Add some minced ginger , some starch, soy sauce and the sugar

For making each bun, roll with your dough pin 50 g of dough in a round, in the middle a bit thicker, at the sides a bit thinner. You can do 4 at a time
Then place 2 full table spoons (2 tbsp with each a heap) of the vegetable mixture on each round of dough
When using beef, cover with thinly sliced and seasoned beef
Then with your index fingers and your thumbs (both hands) start to fold the dough on the edge as a harmonica and turn the bun while you go. End to close the bun with a few turns clockwise and then a few turns anti-clockwise. Ensure the upside is flat with a harmonica texture
Make all the buns like this.

Heat 3 tbsp of vegetable oil in a large skillet
Carefully add the buns, first upside down and on medium heat. Consider to add some water and use a cover to help cook the meat through if used. Ensure to protect from splattering and take the cover off after most of the water is evaporated. Turn the buns and fry at medium heat until the bottom is golden brown too
Take the buns out of the skillet and drain excess oil on a kitchen towel
Serve while still hot. Leftover buns can be stored and reheated on low fire, if needed.

Method: pan-frying and stir-frying

Food allergy & intolerance information: gluten, soy

Keyword mustard greens, pan-fried buns, pickled potherb mustard greens, snow vegetables,, xue cai