Char Siew Pao

To me, Dim Sum is never complete without the Char Siew Pao. It is a must have for me. Without it, I will feel like something is missing.

For ages, I wanted to make my own Char Siew Pao. I had no courage to try them because Ah Boy tells me that many successful recipes do not make their Pao dough in a single day. It requires much effort to make starter doughs and some actually take as long as 2 or 3 starter dough. Although I have a recipe that requires one to use starter dough from one or two days before, I hesitated making it until I try out at least a basic recipe that requires no starter dough.

I sourced online and found many blogs and food websites with many variations of recipe. My online buddy Cooking Momster once tried using Blue Key Pao Flour and from the looks of her Char Siew Pao, it looks fluffy white and nice. I decided to take all the tried and tested recipe to make Char Siew Pao. I went to buy the same type of flour as Cooking Momster. The recipe I got was from CyberKuali, by Amy Beh. Her recipe has a little more step compared with the normal basic yeast dough.

My eldest daughter does not really like Char Siew Pao because she finds many commercial ones too sweet. So I decided to cut down on the sugar in the recipe below that uses 7 tbsp of sugar. I wanted to make one that is more savoury and also uses more chunky char siew instead of those minced meat ones..


Char Siew Pow by Amy Beh
Ingredients
For the charsiew:
# 700g pork cut into long strips following the grain ( i only had 500gm)

Seasoning:
# 7 tbsp sugar ( I didn't add this because I used 3 tbsp of Lee Kum Kee char siew sauce)
# 1 tsp salt
# 1 tsp light soya sauce
# 2 cloves garlic finely pounded
# 1 tsp rose wine ('Mei Kwai Loh') ( I used rice wine)

For the filling:
# 500g charsiew, diced
# 1 tbsp oyster sauce
# 1/4 tsp salt
# 2 tbsp sugar
# 1 1/2 tsp sesame oil
# 1 tsp dark soya sauce
# 1/2 tbsp corn flour
# 1/2 tbsp tapioca flour
# 2 tbsp water
# 2 tbsp toasted sesame seeds ( i think i used more than this amount)

For the pau:
# 25g fresh yeast or 12g instant dried yeast granules ( my instant yeast is only 11g per packet)
# 2 tbsp lukewarm water (i added more than 2 tbsp cos it looked like too dry and clumped together)
# 1 tsp sugar
# 500g Water Lily flour or Hong Kong flour (i bought Blue Key flour)
# 4 tsp double-action baking powder
# 1/2 tsp salt
# 250ml water (i reduced to 220 since i had added more water in my yeast mixture)
# 6 tbsp sugar
# 5 tbsp shortening


Method
To make the charsiew: Combine seasoning ingredients in a mixing bowl. Season meat, mixing thoroughly with hand until it becomes sticky. This indicates that the sugar has dissolved and will glaze the meat. Meat should be marinated for six to eight hours.

Just before roasting the meat, brush with one teaspoon honey, one teaspoon dark soya sauce and a pinch of red colouring (if desired). You may find it easier to do this in a small bowl. Put the strips of meat on the rack and roast for 10 minutes on each side at 200 ºC. Reduce heat slightly and cook until well done. Baste meat from time to time.

Footnote: Grease rack with lard or oil. Line the roasting pan with foil to collect drippings for basting. Baste meat from time to time while roasting.


To make the filling: Combine all filling ingredients except for sesame seeds. Lightly fry in a non-stick pan until well mixed. Add sesame seeds. Remove and leave aside to cool. Chill well in the refrigerator, preferably overnight.

I used a lot of sesame seeds because I love the smell of it!

To make the dough: To start the yeast, crumble the fresh yeast into pieces and drop into the lukewarm water together with the sugar. Sprinkle a little flour over the yeast. Leave aside to stand for 15 minutes until a frothy head appears. The yeast mixture is then ready for use.

Sift flour and double-action baking powder into a mixing bowl. Stir in salt and sugar and mix well. Make a well in the centre. Pour in the yeast mixture and mix lightly. Add the water and mix well. Add shortening and work into a dough.

Knead dough well until soft and leave aside for one hour to one and a half hours, or until it has doubled in size. Cover with a damp cloth. Punch down dough and knead on a lightly floured table top into a long roll.


To assemble the pau: Cut dough into even pieces. To shape into a pau, flatten a piece of dough by rolling it out, keeping the shape circular.

Put some filling in the centre and bring up the sides to seal. Place on a piece of round grease-proof paper, pleated side up. Leave to rise for 15 minutes.

Steam pau over rapidly boiling water for 12 to 15 minutes.

Here's what my Char Siew Pao looks like after steaming! Yippeee!

My next try will be to make Char Siew Pao the right way, using starter dough. Gonna be reading up on it soon.

Custom Search