Steamed Buns and Peking Duck

Just because I think that a month or so is long enough for a picture of a box of broadbeans.

Here are some steamed buns I made for a dinner party a month or so. They have been on the list of things to make and haven't been because they've always seemed something suspiciously white and fluffy. In Japan where they're sold as surrogate pies in 7-11's as nikuman they're not unlike a meat-filled marshmallow in texture if not sweetness.

They are actually quite easy to make of you're comfortable with making bread dough. Once risen, it's simply a matter of rolling out rounds, filling with stuffing and then lifting up and sealing. Much less fiddly than dumpling or spring rolls. The filling is a combination of hard-boiled quail egg, some shredded slow-cooked pork hock from a Kylie Kwang recipe and [racks brains] shiitake mushroom, finely minced ginger and spring onion whites.

This recipe is the one I used for the bun dough.

With the meal was peking duck. I made the peking duck and bought the pancakes but in retrospect I would have been better just to buy the duck [does anyone else habitually type dick when they mean to type duck"] and make the pancakes. Unless you particularly like having a raw duck hanging around the house. It worked but, not enough to justify the effort and I'd happily pop down to a BBQ house and not felt I'd shirked. It's also a nice idea to wear an apron when carving to avoid hot jets of duck fat.

Dessert was... I can't remember. No wait it was tapioca with something. Anyway the conversation was good, the wine with fine and it finished with Guitar Hero II being dragged out. Success.