Free Food Recipes

Ingredients

Dough Casing:

• 12 g (1/2 oz) dried yeast or brewer’s yeast
• 15 ml (1 tablespoon) sugar
• 375 ml (3/4 pint) lukewarm water
• 450 g (1 lb) plain flour

Filling:

• 1-2 slices root ginger
• 22 ml (1 1/2 tablespoons) lard (use oil if not available)
• 45 ml (3 tablespoons) crab eggs (the clusters of red or orange substances under the shells)
• 60 ml (4 tablespoons) crab meat
• 125 ml (1/4 pint) stock
• 1 ml (1 teaspoon) salt
• 25 g (1 oz) pork rind
• 50 g (2 oz) lean and fat pork
• 22 ml (1 1/2 tablespoons) vegetable oil
• 2.5 ml (1/2 teaspoon) sugar
• 15 ml (1 tablespoon) soy sauce
• 15 ml (1 tablespoon) dry sherry

Makes 18

** Free Food Recipes **

Method:

1. To prepare the filling, shred and chop the ginger. Heat the lard in a small frying pan. Add the ginger and stir-fry for I minute. Add the crab eggs and crab meat, sprinkle with the salt, and stir-fry them together for 2 minutes. Remove from the heat.

2. Heat the stock in a small saucepan. Chop the pork rind into small pieces and add it to the stock. Simmer gently until the liquid in the pan has been reduced to a quarter of its original volume.

3. Chop the pork into small pieces. Heat the oil in a ,small saucepan. Add the pork and stir-fry for Ii minutes over a high heat. Add the sugar, soy sauce and sherry. Continue to stir-fry for 1 1/2 minutes. Pour the reduced stock and pork rind mixture into the pan, stir and cook over a high heat for 2 minutes. Remove from the heat.

4. Mix the contents of all three pans together in a bowl, and leave to cool in a fridge. When cold it should become a firm gelatinous mixture, ready for use as filling.

5. Place a dough disc on the palm of your left hand. Add 10 ml (2 teaspoons) filling mixture and place in the centre of the dough. Gather up the sides of the dough gently, wrapping them over the filling (the uncooked ‘bun’ should be a squat cone shape, some­what fatter than it is tall).

6. Place the buns, a little apart on a tray or heatproof dish lined with greaseproof paper. Put the tray into a steamer and steam vigorously for 15 minutes and serve.

Note: These Steamed Buns or Paotzu should be eaten as a snack. For further flavoring, a dish or two of good quality Chinese aromatic vinegar should be placed on the table for the consumer to wet the bun with after the first bite.