These Steamed Pumpkin Turnip Buns are pillowy soft, filled with a mildly sweet and savoury turnip filling. Made with pumpkin paste, these golden steamed baozi buns taste just amazing and look gorgeous too!
65gramswater , cold or room temperature, enough to form a soft dough
1tspinstant yeast
½tspbaking powder
½tbsp shortening
Filling:
400gramsturnip, jicama, yam bean
50gramsfrench beans, sliced thinly
50gramscarrot, julienned
¼cupdried prawns, soaked, drained, chopped
5dried shiitake mushrooms, soaked, drained, diced
1tbspsugar
1tspsalt
1tspchicken stock granules
¼tspground white pepper
½tspchinese five spice powder
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Instructions
Preparing Turnip Filling for Pumpkin Bun:
First remove skin of turnip. Cut into big chunks and shred into thin strips.
Then shred carrot into thin strips and cut french beans into thin slices .
Minced soaked dried prawns and dice soaked dried mushrooms.
Lastly make some hard boiled eggs. Put eggs into a pot. Add water and bring to a rolling boil, uncovered. Then cover the pot and set aside for 10-15 minutes. Transfer into some ice water, remove the egg shells and cut into pieces. Then prepare to fry the fillings.
To fry the turnip filling, first heat up 1 tbsp oil. Then saute chopped dried prawns till fragrant. Add in diced mushroom and season with sugar. Stir fry till fragrant and is well mixed.
Then add in shredded turnip followed by carrot and french beans. Continue to stir fry till the vegetables softened. Add in sesonings and stir fry till well mixed. Remove from wok and leave to cool.
Set aside the turnip filling and cut hard boiled eggs while we prepare to make the bun dough.
Preparing Pumpkin Turnip Bun:
Have ready ingredients needed to make the bun dough.
First prepare mashed pumpkin. Cut pumpkin into slices. Steam over high heat for 10 to 20 minutes till the pumpkin is fork-tender and is easily mashed. Remove and leave to cool for 5 minutes. Spoon out the flesh and mashed with a fork. Set aside for later use.
To make the bun dough, first place the pau flour, instant yeast, sugar, baking powder in a mixing bowl of a stand mixer. Mix well using a dough hook attachment. Add in the mashed pumkin and water. Knead till the dough comes together, about 5 minutes.
When dough has come together, add in shortening and continue kneading on medium speed for another 8 to 10 minutes, until the dough turns soft, smooth, elastic and does not stick to the sides of the mixing bowl or to your fingers. And we're done!
Remove dough from mixing bowl onto a floured surface and briefly knead into a smooth and elastic round dough. Roll the dough into a log and divide into 8 portions, about 50g each.
Work with one small dough portion at a time. Pull and tuck the dough from top to bottom so the seams are at the bottom and the surface is relatively smooth. Roll each dough into a smooth dough in between the palm of your hand. Then using a small rolling pin, roll out each dough ball into thin circles, making the edges thinner than the middle.
Next, spoon fillings into each flattened dough and gather the edges together sealing the bun at the top. Pinch to seal and give it a good twist. Cup the dough with both palms and move the dough in a circular motion to shape it taller. Then put on paper liner/ parchment paper.
Next place the pumpkin turnip buns into a bamboo steamer. Leave to proof at room temperature for 20 to 30 minutes to let the dough rise to almost 50% increase in size.
Meanwhile prepare steamer by bringing awater in the wok to a boil. Then place the buns in the bamboo steamer on the wok. Cover and steam the buns over high heat for 15 minutes.
Off the heat and leave the buns for about 3 minutes before uncovering to cool on rack. This is to prevent wrinkle or rough skin. Then transfer the pumpkin buns from bamboo steamer onto a cooling rack. And we are done!
Steamed cotton soft, fluffy and delicious buns are now ready to be served. So Enjoy!
To pleat the bun, the key part is to roll out the dough into a small circle whereby the centre is thicker than the edges as thinner edges are easier to fold and pinch.
After pleating the buns to seal the filling, place the bun in between both palms and move the bun in a circular motion to shape it taller. This part is important so your steamed buns come out tall instead of spreading to the side after steaming.
To make sure the buns are ready for steaming, check for these details during proofing:
*Press gently on the surface of bun and it should slowly bounce back. If it bounces back immediately, it needs to be proofed longer.
*Also, you can lift the buns up to feel if they are lighter. A well proofed bun will feel much lighter on proofing.
*Proof till the buns are at least 50% larger than the original size. There is no need to proof till double in size before steaming.
Steam for 15 minutes for medium size buns or large buns (with no fillings) and 18 minutes for larger size buns with fillings
After steaming, turn off heat. Leave the buns in the steamer for 3 to 5 minutes. Do not immediately open the lid of the bamboo steamer. Otherwise the buns may sink or wrinkle due to the sudden change in temperature.
To store steamed buns, first let the buns cool down completely. Then wrap each bun individually in freezer bag and put in freezer without overlapping.