Vegan char siu bao (sticky pork buns)

1. Cut twelve 8 cm / 3″ by 8 cm / 3″ squares from a piece of baking paper. Set aside.
2. In a mixing bowl, combine flour, instant yeast, sugar and salt. Add about 120 ml / ½ cup of warm (that’s important) water and 1 tbsp of oil. Once combined roughly with a wooden spoon, start combining the dough with your hands. It will need a bit more water but it is very important to add the water in gradually, tablespoon by tablespoon. In my experience it takes another 2-3 tablespoons of water to achieve a dough that is not too dry or not too sticky. Knead it for 10 minutes with your hands until it is elastic and smooth. Form the dough into a ball and place it in a clean bowl covered with a kitchen towel. Allow it to rest for 10-15 minutes.
3. After the dough has rested, knock the air out with your hands and divide the dough into 12 equal portions. I weighed the dough and then divided it evenly using scales, but you don’t need to be as accurate.
4. Knead each ball briefly before rolling it out into a 10 cm / 4″ diameter circle. If you know how, roll the edges thinner and leave the centre thicker, but that’s not necessary.
5. Place each dough circle in the palm of your hand, put about 1 tbsp of filling in the middle of the circle and then pinch the edges above the filling so that the dumpling resembles a little sack of money. You can crimp the top nicely if you have the skills, but I don’t yet so I simply folded the opposite edges of the circle together making sure the top is nicely sealed. You don’t want the dumplings to burst open during steaming.
6. While filling the dumplings, warm up water in a pot that your steamer will fit onto. You don’t need the water to boil, you simply want the water to be warm enough to generate some steam so that the dumplings can prove in the steaming basket before getting steamed.
7. As soon as you finish one dumpling, place it on a square of baking paper and put it in the steamer – but don’t put the steamer over the water just yet. Leave ample space between dumplings as they will get much bigger after you are done.
8. Once all 12 dumplings are ready in the steamer, place the steamer over warm (the heat should be off) water and allow the dumplings to prove for 20-30 minutes until they get about 1/3 bigger.
9. After the proofing time, bring the water under the steamer to a gentle simmer and steam the dumplings for about 15-20 minutes.
10. Take the steamer off the water, but do not peak inside yet. Allow the buns to rest for 5-10 minutes before taking them out of the steamer.

FILLING

1. Clean your mushrooms and chop them into an 0.5 cm / 0.2″ dice. If using tofu instead of mushrooms, drain and pat it dry with paper towels. Dice it into a similar size dice.
2. Mix all of the sauce ingredients: tamari / soy sauce, wine, hoisin sauce, sugar, five spice, pepper and vinegar (if using, it’s not traditionally used, but I felt like it’s needed to cut through the sweetness) in a bowl. Prepare the cornflour / cornstarch slurry by mixing cornflour with 2 tbsp of water in another small bowl.
3. Heat up 1 tbsp of oil in a wok. Add mushroom or tofu dice to the hot oil and stir-fry until the extra moisture cooks out (mushrooms only) and the dice is lightly browned. Transfer to a bowl and set aside.
4. Clean or wipe the wok clean and heat up another tablespoon of oil, keeping the heat fairly low.
5. Stir-fry the diced shallots until translucent, followed by the diced ginger and garlic. Stir-fry for about a minute, until the garlic gets fragrant.
6. Return the mushrooms (or tofu) to the wok and season with 1 tsp of toasted sesame oil.
7. Lower the heat, pour the prepped sauce over the filling and mix everything well. Taste and adjust the seasoning (add a pinch of salt, for example) if necessary.
8. Finally, add the cornflour / cornstarch slurry to thicken the sauce (give it a good stir before adding to the work). Allow it to bubble gently for a few seconds, switch the heat off and set aside to cool.