Steamed Red Bean Buns/Tau Sar Paus

I’ve been pretty busy for the past one week. Getting the house and guest room ready for my sister arrival. I was going through my pantry and found that I still have a can of red bean paste and it will be expiring soon and also some leftover pau flour. So the best thing to do with is to make some steamed buns, freeze it and when my sister is here we can have it for breakfast. I always prefer savory buns but I don’t mind having these red bean buns as the greedy me packed them up with a lot of red bean paste. I used the dough recipe from Cheah’s of No-Frills Recipes and very happy with the outcome. The dough is soft and easy to handle and it is simple to make too. You can use the same dough to make other sweet and savory fillings.

Ingredients for the Pau Dough

500 gram Pau flour or Hong Kong flour
2 1/2 tsp dried yeast
100 ml lukewarm water
125 gram sugar
2 tbsp Crisco shortening
2 ½ tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
115-120 ml water

Some red bean filling
18-20 pieces of 2” x 2” parchment paper

1. Mix the dried yeast with lukewarm water, stir well. Add in 130 gm sifted pau flour; mix well with the yeast mixture. Roughly form into a ball of dough and set aside to rest for 15 mins.
2. In the mixing bowl, combined the balance 370 gm sifted pau flour with the baking powder, sugar and salt, stir well.
3. Add in the yeasty dough, shortening and water sparingly; mix until the dough comes together. Knead till dough doesn't stick to the hands (I used my KA to mix the dough)
4. Cover dough with a damp cloth and let it rest in a warm place for about 1 hr. to 1.1/2 hrs or till double in size. Knock down dough to expel some air, transfer to a lightly floured surface and knead for a while.
5. Weigh out 50 gm of dough and roughly shape into a ball. Makes 18 pieces. Flatten and roll out the dough into a circle. Cup it in the palm of your hand, spoon in the filling onto the centre of the dough and pleat up the sides and seal.
6. Place the pau onto a piece of greaseproof paper, on the rack for steaming. Cover with a piece of damp cloth and let rise for another 15 mins.
7. Steam the pau under rapidly boiling water on high heat for about 10 to 12 mins. Remove from steamer and serve hot.

I am submitting this dish to to Muhibbah Malaysian Monday roundup, created and hosted by Sharon of Test with a Skewer and Suresh of 3 Hungry Tummies.