Vegetarian Siopao for Saturday's Breakfast

My sister and I have been hosting Friday night dinner to our closest friends for 2 weeks now. Our usual bonding time in the kitchen on a Friday is put off until later. But since I get Friday off, my kitchen journey continues.On my day off, I made siopao, the Filipino version of steamed buns stuffed with savory shredded chicken or minced pork.We don't eat pork due to our religious beliefs so I used vegetarian filling.

My successful attempt at making mantou ( Chinese steamed bun) had made my sister think I had enough skills to make siopao so she requested for it. My work, which took much of my time for the past few weeks, was causing me to procrastinate. Last week I was finally able to fulfill  big sis' wishes.

Dough:
4 cups flour
3/4 cup water
3/4 cup milk
1/4 cup margarine or butter
1/4 cup sugar
1 tsp salt
2 tbsp dry yeast
1 egg


For the filling:
1 can or 375 g veggie burger
3 cloves of garlic minced
1 onion chopped
1/4 cup soy sauce
1 TBSP mushroom sauce
1/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 TBSP cornstarch diluted in 2TBSP water
dash of pepper


In a mixing bowl, combine 2 cups flour, dry yeast, salt, and sugar. Set aside while you prepare the liquid ingredients.

Place  milk, water, and margarine or butter in a saucepan . Heat just until the butter melts. Do not let the mixture boil!

Beat the egg and add in to the flour mixture. Stir in the liquid ingredients. Stir well. Gradually add the remaining flour and mix them all together until you achieve a soft dough.

Knead the dough on a lightly floured surface for 5-8 minutes until smooth and elastic.

Cover with a damp cloth and let rise until double in volume.

 Meanwhile, prepare the filling.

Sautee garlic and onion. Add the veggie burger.

Season with soy sauce, mushroom sauce and sugar. Add the cornstarch mixture to thicken the sauce. Add pepper.

Simmer for 3-5 minutes.  Remove from heat and let cool.

Now back to the dough, knead it once again. It would have been easier if I rolled the dough into a log and sliced it into the desired thickness but instead I tore off small pieces of  dough about 2 inches in diameter. Then I rolled each dough into a ball. The recipe yield 15 balls.

Flatten each with a rolling pin  or by hand if you can.  

Place a tablespoon of filling.

Gather the sides of the dough into the center. I started with two edges then I took the other 2 sides and pressed them together. I gave it a twist to seal in filling.

I placed the siopao on a  paper liner instead of wax paper.

I have small steamer so only 4 pieces fit in.

Place water in a steamer. Bring it to a rolling boil. Steam  for 10 minutes. I let my siopao steamed  for about 20 minutes. The result was a bit tough bun. Next time I do this, I will stick to the right time.

Best served when  hot! We munched ours right after I removed them from steamer.

We had a hearty breakfast that day!