Siopao
The Philippines' street-stand bun: a pillowy steamed pocket of sweet pork and hoisin, sold from every cart from Manila to Cebu.
Overview
A yeasted dough enriched with milk, sugar and butter rises for 1 hour. Filling: pork mince browns with garlic, soy sauce, oyster sauce, brown sugar and Chinese five-spice, simmered for 10 minutes till thick. Eggs hard-boil, quarter. Dough divides into 12 portions, each rolls into a 12 cm disc thicker in the middle than the edges. Filling spoons in with a quarter of egg. Edges pleat up over the filling like a money purse, twisted closed. Buns rest for 20 minutes on parchment squares; steam for 15 minutes in batches.
Ingredients
Dough
- 500 g plain flour
- 7 g instant yeast
- 80 g caster sugar
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 240 ml warm milk
- 1 egg (large)
- 50 g unsalted butter (melted)
Filling
- 500 g pork mince (20% fat)
- 2 tablespoons neutral oil
- 4 garlic cloves (minced)
- 1 onion (small, finely diced)
- 3 tablespoons soy sauce
- 2 tablespoons oyster sauce
- 2 tablespoons dark brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon Chinese five-spice
- 1 tablespoon cornflour (mixed with 2 tablespoons cold water)
- 4 hard-boiled eggs (each quartered)
To serve
- Soy-vinegar dip (3 tablespoons soy + 2 tablespoons cane vinegar + 1 sliced garlic + 1 sliced chilli)
Method
Stage 1 - Dough
- In a wide bowl, whisk flour, yeast, sugar and salt.
- Combine warm milk, egg and melted butter in a jug.
- Pour wet into dry; knead 10 minutes to a smooth elastic dough.
- Rest in a covered bowl 1 hour until doubled.
Stage 2 - Filling
- Heat the oil in a wide pan over medium-high heat.
- Add garlic and onion; cook 2 minutes till fragrant.
- Add the pork mince; brown 5-6 minutes, breaking up with a spoon.
- Stir in soy, oyster sauce, brown sugar and five-spice.
- Cook 4 minutes till glossy.
- Pour in the cornflour slurry; stir 1 minute as it thickens.
- Tip onto a plate; cool to room temperature.
Stage 3 - Shape
- Knock back the risen dough; divide into 12 portions (~75 g each).
- Cover with a damp cloth.
- Take one ball; roll on a lightly floured surface to a 12 cm disc, thicker (5 mm) in the middle, thinner (2 mm) at the edges.
- Place a heaped tablespoon of filling in the centre.
- Add a quarter of hard-boiled egg on top of the filling.
- Lift opposite sides of the dough up; pleat-and-pinch around the centre to gather all the dough at the top.
- Twist the gathered top firmly; the seam should be at the very top.
Stage 4 - Rest
- Place each bun seam-up on a 8 cm square of parchment.
- Arrange in the steamer baskets, leaving 4 cm between each (they expand).
- Rest 20 minutes.
Stage 5 - Steam
- Bring a wide pot of water to a rolling boil.
- Place a bamboo steamer (or any tier-steamer) over the pot; the water should not touch the bottom of the steamer.
- Lower in a batch of buns (don't overcrowd); cover.
- Steam 15 minutes.
- Lift the lid carefully (steam burns); buns should be puffed, glossy white and pillowy.
Stage 6 - Serve
- Eat warm.
- Mix the soy-vinegar dip; serve in small bowls alongside.
Notes
- Cool the filling fully: warm filling melts the dough during shaping and the seam splits during steaming.
- Thick middle, thin edge: the centre supports the filling; the thin edge pleats neatly. Even-thickness dough makes a stodgy bun.
- Don't skip the second rest: 20 minutes after shaping gives the buns their final pillowy lift. Steaming cold-from-shaping gives dense, doughy results.
- Seam up: the pleat is the decoration; steam with the gathered seam facing you.
Storage
- Cooked buns refrigerate 3 days; re-steam 5-7 minutes to revive the soft texture.
- Freeze cooked buns on a tray, then bag; re-steam 12-15 minutes from frozen.
- Don't microwave - the dough turns gummy.
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