Siopao – Asian steamed dumplings

Ingredients for 4 servings:

• 500 g flour
• 1 cube of fresh yeast
• 125 ml milk, lukewarm
• 125 ml water, lukewarm
• 3 tbsp sugar
• 3 tbsp oil
• 1 pinch of salt
• Flour for the work surface
• 300 g pork belly or chicken breast
• 50 g mu-err mushrooms
• some soup vegetables
• 500 ml water
• 2 m.-sized eggs
• some oyster sauce
• some soy sauce
• some salt and pepper
• some nutmeg, freshly grated
• e.g. chives

Instructions

Working time approx. 50 minutes; Rest time approx. 1 hour 10 minutes; Cooking/baking time approx. 30 minutes; Total time approx. 2 hours 30 minutes

For the dough, mix yeast with a little warm milk and water and a tablespoon of sugar. Sift the flour into a bowl and make a well in the center. Pour in the yeast mixture and let it rise slightly. Add the remaining milk, water, sugar, oil, and salt and beat the dough well with a wooden spoon. Then knead the dough with your hands or a food processor. Cover the bowl with a slightly damp cloth and let the dough rise in a warm place for about 1 hour, until it has doubled in size. Knead the dough on a floured surface until it is smooth. For the filling, cook the pork belly or chicken breast with the soup vegetables and water for about 20 minutes. About 5 minutes before the meat is cooked, add the moo-err mushrooms and let it cook. Finely chop the moo-err mushrooms. Tear the chicken into strings or finely chop the pork belly. Place the moo-err mushrooms and the meat in a bowl. Season with salt, pepper, and nutmeg, along with oyster sauce and soy sauce. Add fresh chives, if desired. Hard-boil the eggs and quarter them. Divide the dough into 12 small dumplings and roll them out. Fill the dumplings with the filling and add a quarter of an egg to each. Seal the dough over the filling and form into a dumpling. Place the dumplings seam-down on a baking sheet and let rise, covered, for another 10 minutes before steaming. Cook the dumplings in a steamer for about 15 minutes and serve hot. Tip: A bamboo steamer is ideal for steaming. To reheat, steam for about 3-4 minutes.