Green Onion Buns

I'm in love, in love with bun-making that is. Maybe it's similar to people who love making bread. I get a sheer joy out of watching the dough rise and the sweet yeast smell in the air. Today, I didn't feel like making any red bean paste, so I made green onion buns instead (HuaJuan). (OK, you caught me, it's not that I didn't feel like having some red bean paste, it's just this was a last minute thing, so I didn't soak any beans last night. =P)

Green Onion Buns

Makes 8

3 green onion, finely chopped
½ tsp salt
oil

Dough
300g flour (about 2 ½ cup) + more for dusting the working surface
pinch of salt
1 tbsp + 1 tsp sugar
1 tsp dry active yeast
150g warm water (100F - 110F)

You make the doughs just like the Red Bean Paste Buns.

Work with half of the dough at a time. Roll the dough out to a rectangle about 9-10 inches wide, 12-13 inches long, ⅛ inches thick. Brush with a little bit of oil, sprinkle half of the salt and green onions evenly. (Use the salt and oil sparingly.)

Fold the dough along the width to thirds, forming a long 3 inch wide strip. Pinch the seam. Cut along the length to 8 1½ inch sections. Stack 2 pieces together, seam side inward. Using a flour-dusted chopstick, lengthwise (cut sides facing out) press down hard in the middle of the dough without cutting through. Pick up the dough, pull the two folded sides down, and pinch together at the bottom.

Repeat with the rest of the dough.

Let the buns rest for at least 30 minutes. Steam for 15 minutes.

There are many ways to shape/fold green onion buns. You can roll. You can twist. I found this method quite simple with nice results.

Buns Buns Buns

Everyone knows that Asians eat a lot of rice. In Chinese, "Let's eat." is the same as "eat rice" that's how fundamental rice is in Chinese cuisine. But in the north, we eat just as much flour-based food as rice, such as dumplings, wontons, noodles, pancakes, the list goes on. Of course, there are also buns, red bean paste buns, sesame paste buns, pork buns, and so on. Basically, the dough is the same, and you can fill with whatever you desire, be that pork and cabbage, or all veggie, or sweet bean paste. If you don't feel like adding anything to the dough, that's OK too, that's called Chinese bread (Mantou).

Red Bean Paste Buns
Makes 12

2 cup flour (240g) + more for dusting the working surface
pinch of salt
1 tbsp + 1 tsp sugar
1 tsp dry active yeast
120g warm water (around 100F)
1 1/2 cup of red bean paste (recipe below, or whatever filling you'd like)

It's important that the water isn't above 110 degrees, or the yeast would die. Yeast loves sugar, so that helps to get things going.

Mix the flour, salt and 1 tbsp sugar in a large bowl, set aside.

Mix yeast with 1 tsp sugar. Add the warm water to the yeast, soak for 5-10 minutes, sprinkle over the flour mixture.

Knead the dough for a few minutes into a somewhat smooth ball, cover with a damp towel. Leave in a warm spot to rest till it doubles in size, may take 40-60 minutes depending on the temperature. Punch it down, knead a few more times, let it rest again for about 30 minutes till it's back to the double size.

Dust the working surface with some flour. Separate the dough into 12 equal size pieces. (Work a few at a time, put the unused ones back in the bowl under the damp towel.) Roll into circles about 1/8" thick, 3-4" in diameter. (Edges should be a little thinner, but not the center.) Fill with the about 2 tbsp of filling, pinch the edges together. Flip it over, so the folds are on the bottom, cup the bun at the bottom with the side of both hands, rotate the bun to make it perfect round. (Alternatively, pinch the edges a little at a time as you turn the bun to create a twisted look on top. This is often done for meat/veggie-filled buns, whereas the folds-on-the-bottom style is normally for sweet buns.) Let the buns rest for 15 minutes.

Steam for 15 minutes.

It's very important that the flour to water weight ratio is 2:1. If you use too much flour, the buns wouldn't be fluffy. If you use too much water that the dough is too sticky to handle, the buns will practically melt. (I'm not kidding!)

Adding a little bit of white vinegar or lemon juice to the steam water will make the buns whiter.

Red Bean Paste
Makes 2 and 1/2 cups

1 cup red beans
3/4 cup sugar

Soak the red beans overnight.

Cover with water by about an inch, bring to boil. Turn down the heat, and simmer for an hour.

Mash the beans to the texture you like. (If you like it super smooth and creamy, you can puree then strain it. I like them with some small bean bits, so mashing with a spoon for a few minutes is sufficient.)

Add the beans, along with water into a non stick pan over medium heat for 20-30 minutes till the water is mostly gone. Stirring frequently. Add the sugar, mix and stir for another 10 minutes or so.

I often found the store bought red bean paste too sweet. You can control the sweetness of this home made version. Yay!

Asian red beans are a bit smaller than the red beans you find at other grocery stores. (The ones on the right are the regular red beans.) Sure, you can make a red bean paste out of the other kind, it just tastes slightly different.

Green Onion Pancake

OK, my obsessive tendency is getting out of hand. After the successful green onion pancake, I wanted to try out another type on my guinea pigs. In Chinese cooking, there are quite a few type of green onion pancakes, the ones using yeast, the ones with cold water like what I made previously, or the ones (I decided on today) that's kneaded with hot water. It was a big hit too! Yay, I'm on a roll! I don’t think we’ve ever eaten this much green onion in this household this quickly. =)

Green Onion Pancakes

1 cup of AP flour (about 4.5 oz)
1/4 cup of hot water (about 2.7 oz)
2 green onions, finely chopped
salt
oil

Sift flour with a dash of salt.

Mix in hot water. Wait couple of minutes, when the water flour mixture isn't too hot, knead with your hand till smooth. Cover with a wet towel, let it sit for at least 30 minutes till the dough is smooth, and bounce back when pushed down with a finger.

Divide into 4 balls. Flour a smooth surface and a rolling pin. (Continue to flour the surface and the rolling pin during the process to prevent the dough from sticking.) Roll a piece of dough into a circle about 1/16" thickness, about 8" in diameter. Brush with oil, sprinkle a thin and even layer of salt, spread 1/4 of the chopped green onion on evenly.

Roll the dough up from two opposite ends till they meet in the middle. Close the ends. Twist the dough like a rope. Roll the dough into a disk, tug in the end on the bottom. Push down on the dough. So it becomes a flat disk. (This roll, twist and roll process will create lots of layers in your already very thin pancakes.) Repeat with all the dough pieces.

Roll a dough disk into a circle about 1/8" thickness, about 6" in diameter. Repeat with all disks. (If the green onions popped out like some of mine did, just tuck it in.)

Heat the pan on medium, once it's hot, turn it down just a tad (still above medium low). Add 1 tsp of oil, spread the oil by twirling the pan. Add one pancake, 3 minute on each side.

Serve while warm.

This doesn't reheat well, so make only enough for one meal.

Korean Feast (Part 2)

OK, so hubby often thinks that I can get quite obsessive. (I never agreed! =) However, I do have to admit that today even before he tells me so. I wasn't quite ready to accept defeat yesterday. So today, I continued to cook to complete my "Korean feast". =) My banchan included sprouts, spinach, sweet potato stems, and my token radish leaf "kimchi" (blanched radish leaf marinated/fermented in Korean hot sauce). It still looks like a small offering. But along with Bulgogi, Japchae, Green Onion Pancakes, and Bibimbap, it was quite a feast for us.

Sweet Potato Stems

1 oz dried sweet potato stems
1 tsp minced garlic
1 tbsp finely chopped green onion
1 tbsp oil
1/2 tsp salt
drops of sesame oil

Soak the potato stems in water for an hour. Add potato stems and enough water to cover in the pot, bring to boil. Simmer for 30 minutes.

In a pan, heat the oil. Add garlic, stir for a minute. Add potato stem, stir for 5 minutes. Add green onion, stir for another 5 minute. Add salt and sesame oil, mix and stir for a minute. Remove and set aside.

Zucchini

1 medium green zucchini, julienned
1 tsp minced garlic
1 tsp oil
1/2 tsp salt
drops of sesame oil

In a pan, heat the oil. Add garlic, stir for a minute. Add zucchini, stir for couple of minute. Add salt and sesame oil, mix and stir for a minute. Remove and set aside.

Bibimbap

Make sweet potato stems, zucchini, spinach, sprouts, mushroom, carrots, and beef.

Arrange the vegetables in a circle on top of steamed rice (avoid putting veggies of similar colors next to each other), add beef to the center. You can also add shreds of egg omelet or a fried egg. Mix together with chili paste according to personal preference.

This dish is very easy, but quite time consuming (at least for me) to make.

I think traditional Bibimbap uses fern bracken, but I opted to use sweet potato stems. This was a huge hit with the kids (sans the chili paste). It didn't do as well with hubby though since he's the type of person who doesn't like to mix his food together. (He wouldn't even mix spaghetti with paste sauce. =P)

Green Onion Pancake (Pa Jun)

3/4 cup AP flour
1/4 cup rice flour
2/3 cup cold water
2 green onions, finely chopped
1 tsp salt
black pepper
3 tbsp oil

Mix the flours and salt. Stir to mix while adding the cold water, a little at a time, until the mixture is a thin batter. Add the green onion and a dash of pepper.

Heat the oil in a 8" nonstick pan on medium low. Pour 1/2 the batter into the pan. Twirl the pan to spread the batter in an even circle. Cook till that side is gold brown. Flip and cook the other side. Remove and drain the oil. Repeat with the rest of the batter.

This is probably more Chinese than Korean. I believe Korean ones use more green onions, and cut them into 1-2 inch long sections. But my family don't care for strong green onion taste, so this is sufficient.