A dear friend gave me rolls of her beautifully handwritten red couplets around this time a year ago in Hong Kong. How the world has changed since then! Now I have these couplets to herald in an auspicious beginning of the Chinese New Year (Year of the Ox on February 12). As long as the covid routines dominate our daily life, the blessings and adornments I most cherish fall into these categories. One practical and one existential. Hence, the couplet messages I choose read: 1) “出入平安 safe passages” and 2) “萬事如意 myriad of fulfilments.” For this special occasion, I also make steamed flower buns with scallions. (The recipe comes from The Common Table by Cynthia Chen McTernan.) Don’t they look like noodles bundled up in a perpetual round, or perhaps, a chrysanthemum? I love the look of it.
If you are experienced in making dough for breads, pies, tarts or pasta, the bun dough is no different. In fact, it’s probably easier to mix all the ingredients and knead the dough in an electric mixer, not unlike say, the brioche dough. You may let the dough rest at room temperature or in the fridge, whatever fits your schedule. Often times, I adapt the dough recipe and increase the amount of whole wheat flour for something more wholesome. Be mindful in adjusting the hydration level of the dough. Add teaspoons of water should the dough feel dry; add a sprinkle of flour if the dough feels wet to your touch.
When it comes to shaping the dough, seeing it on video is worth a thousand words. I’d encourage you to watch how the dough is cut and twisted to turn it into a flower. It might look complicated, but there is really nothing to it. Treat it like a creative art project and expect something pretty and delicious coming out at the end.
Take liberty when it comes to the fillings. I put in a bunch of scallions according to the recipe. I’ve also used a mixed mushroom and scallions filling — my favorite. (Leeks or cabbages are good alternatives too.) As long as the fillings do not require extended cooking, anything goes. For raw fillings, par-cooking the ingredients may be necessary.
The standout feature of these buns is the steaming. (Convection steam oven at 212°F, if you have one, offers the convenience of making a larger batch all at once.) In comparison to baking, steaming gives you a puffy, pillowy and moist exterior. Before oven baking becomes the thing, steaming has long been the practice in traditional chinese cooking, and still is the prevailing technique in food stalls, bakeries, and restaurants throughout Southeast Asia. Try steaming if you haven’t done so. Depending on the occasion, the steamed or baked buns both have a special place on my table — equal and distinct in its own right.
Try one of these methods, and see how you like it. I hope you get inspired by the taste and the buzz of the approaching New Year of the Ox. Until then, may you be blessed with safe passages and myriad of fulfilments!
Steamed Flower Buns with Scallions | The Common Table
Ingredients
- FOR THE DOUGH:
- 1 cup (250 g) milk
- 1 tablespoon oil
- 3 cups (375 g) all-purpose flour, plus more for kneading
- 2 teaspoons instant yeast
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon nonfat dry milk powder (optional)
- FOR THE SCALLIONS FILLINGS:
- 1 cup finely sliced scallions, from 8 to 10
- 1/4 cup oil
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- FOR SERVING:
- sea salt, optional
- sesame seeds, optional
- soy dipping sauce (ginger, garlic, chili flakes, soy sauce and sesame oil), optional
Instructions
In a small saucepan over medium heat, bring the milk to a gentle boil. Remove pan from heat. Let cool till 100ºF to 110ºF. Stir in the oil.
In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, yeast, sugar, milk powder (if using), and salt. Add the milk-oil mixture to the flour bowl, and stir to form a dough ball.
Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface and knead until smooth and elastic, about 6 to 8 minutes. Return dough to bowl and let rise in a warm spot for at least 2 hours or as as long as 24 in the refrigerator.
In a small bowl, stir together the scallions, oil, and salt. Cut out twelve 6-inch square pieces of parchment paper. Lightly flour a work surface.
Turn dough out onto prepared work surface. Punch down to deflate. Using a knife or bench scraper, divide the dough into 12 pieces and shape each roughly into a ball. Using a rolling pin, roll each into a 4×6-inch oval. Working with one oval at a time, slice ribbons lengthwise into the oval, leaving about 1/2 inch at the top of the oval intact—video guidance for this cutting/shaping process is shown above. Brush or spoon about 1 tablespoon of the scallion mixture across the dough. Pick up each end of the oval, gently pull outward, then twist into a coil. Then, twist the coil into a knot. Place the knot on a sheet of parchment paper. Repeat process with remaining ovals until all 12 knots are shaped. Let rest 30-40 minutes.
Prepare a steamer apparatus. If using a wok with a bamboo insert, bring 2 inches of water to a boil, being sure water does not touch the bottom of the steamer basket. If using a pot with steamer insert, fill with water, again being sure water does not touch the bottom of the steamer, and bring to a boil. (If you have none of the above, I'd put the buns on a plate on top of an inverted plate in a pan filled with 1 to 2-inch of water.)
Place 3 to 4 scallion knots with parchment paper into steamer. Cover. Reduce heat so that water is just simmering. Steam for 15 minutes.
Serve warm sprinkled with sea salt or sesame seeds, if you wish, or a soy dipping sauce.
Leftovers can be frozen and reheated in a steamer or microwave (about 15 seconds).
Notes
Adapted from Cynthia Chen McTernan’s A Common Table
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