Laughing Buns Recipes

Steps:

• For the pork belly and marinade: Blend the gochujang, honey, soy sauce, garlic, ginger, sesame seeds and sesame oil in a blender.
• Put pork belly in a roasting pan and pour marinade over. Let marinate overnight in refrigerator.
• Preheat the oven to 320 degrees F.
• Cook for 4 hours. Remove from oven and let cool. Pour off excess liquid, then place pork belly in fridge overnight. Slice into 1/4-inch pieces.
• For the bao buns: Steam or microwave bao buns until warm and soft.
• In a hot frying pan over medium heat, cook sliced pork belly to crisp up. On a serving plate, place 3 bao buns. Place a slice of crispy pork belly, a hoisin sauce drizzle, cucumber, Pickled Red Onion and cilantro leaves. Repeat with remaining ingredients. Serve hot.
• Mix together the vinegar, lemon juice, sugar, salt and 1/4 cup water in a small saucepot. Bring to a simmer, then remove from heat. Pour warm mixture over red onions in a small bowl. Cover and refrigerate for 3 to 5 days before using.

Steps:

• Prepare Dough: In small bowl or 1-cup measuring cup, combine water, yeast, and 1/2 tablespoon sugar; stir to dissolve yeast. Let stand until foamy -- about 5 minutes.
• In medium-size bowl, combine 1 1/2 cups flour, the remaining 3 tablespoons sugar, and the salt; stir in yeast mixture, eggs, and oil, mixing until combined.
• Turn dough out onto floured surface. Knead dough, adding as much of remaining bread flour as necessary to prevent stickiness, until smooth and elastic -- about 8 minutes.
• Wash, dry, and oil mixing bowl; place dough in bowl and turn to bring oiled side up. Cover with clean cloth and let dough rise in warm place, away from drafts, until double in size -- about 1 1/2 hours.
• Meanwhile, prepare Filling: In large skillet, heat oil over medium heat; add gingerroot and sauté 1 minute. Add garlic and cook 30 seconds. Stir in beef, hoisin sauce, soy sauce, paprika, and ground red pepper. Cook until beef browns. Remove from heat and stir in green onions and sweet red pepper. Set aside.
• Grease 2 baking sheets or line with parchment paper. When dough has doubled, punch down and shape into a 10-inch-long log. With serrated knife, cut log crosswise into ten 1-inch-thick slices. On lightly floured surface, roll out one slice to a 4-inch round. Roll out or press just around the edge of round so that the middle is slightly thicker and the round is 5 inches wide. Fill center of round with 1 heaping tablespoon beef filling; gather up edge to form a pouch and pinch together tightly to seal bun. Turn bun over and gently shape into a ball; place seam side down on greased sheet. Repeat with remaining slices and filling. Cover beef buns with clean cloths or plastic wrap and let rise 30 minutes. Meanwhile, prepare Egg Glaze.
• Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Brush buns with Egg Glaze and sprinkle, if desired, with sesame seeds. Bake 20 to 25 minutes or until well browned. Cool buns on wire rack; serve warm.
• Egg Glaze: In small bowl, beat together 1 large egg and 2 tablespoons milk until blended; refrigerate when not using.

Steps:

• In a mixing bowl combine all of the ingredients and place into the refrigerator overnight.
• In a large nonstick skillet lightly coat with oil and place over a high heat and beef mixture and stir fry until halfway done and add in the sauce and glaze the mixture.
• Place the folded buns into a bamboo steam basket and set aside. Fill a wok halfway up with water and bring to a rolling boil. Place the bamboo basket and cover and steam over high heat for 20 minutes.
• Divide green onions between buns. Divide glazed 2 1/2oz of meat between 12 buns. Sprinkle with sesame seeds and serve.

Steps:

• Stir together 2 cups flour and the yeast. In a separate bowl, heat milk, water, oil, sugar and salt to lukewarm in microwave. Add all at once to the flour mixture, and beat until smooth, about 3 minutes.
• Mix in enough flour to make a soft dough, 2 to 3 cups. Mix well. Dust a flat surface with flour, turn dough out onto floured surface, and let rest under bowl for about 10 minutes.
• Shape dough into 12 slightly flat balls, and place on greased baking sheet to rise until doubled in size.
• Bake in a preheated 400 degrees F (200 degrees C) oven for 12 to 15 minutes.

Steps:

• Prep time does not include rising times.
• In a medium bowl, dissolve yeast and sugar in milk. Stir in eggs, oil, salt, and 2 cups of the flour. Beat 2 minutes. Add enough remaining flour to make a soft dough.
• Knead 10-12 minutes with a dough hook or by hand. Place in lightly greased bowl, turning once to grease the surface. Cover, let rise until doubled.
• Punch down. Cover, let rest 10 minutes. Divide into 8 equal pieces. Shape each piece into a bun. Place on a greased cookie sheet, cover and let rise 15 - 20 minutes.
• In large non-stick electric skillet or frying pan, with lid add 1/2 cup water, 1 tablespoon shortening and dash of salt. Bring ingredients to a boil on high setting. Place four buns in boiling mixture, cover with lid and reduce heat to 250 degrees.
• Cook for 10-15 minutes without removing the lid. Listen and you will hear them frying. At this point, most of water should be evaporated. Remove lid and increase temperature to 375 degrees. Brown both sides of buns in skillet.
• Cook other four buns the same way. Serve warm.

Steps:

• In a small bowl, mix the sugar and salt in the water, and then mix in the yeast. Let it rest for a while and it should smell active.
• Add the oil to the mixture.
• In a large bowl, add the flour and scoup out a hole in the centre. Add the liquids to the hole and gradually incorporate the flour.
• Knead the dough until it forms into an elastic and smooth ball, which takes about 15 minutes. The dough should not stick to your hands, and be quite stretchy.
• Roll out the dough into a tube that's about 5cm in diameter.
• Slice the tube into 16 loafs. Lay each of the loafs on its cylindrical edge, not the face, on top of a square of parchment paper.
• Wait 20 minutes for the loaves to rise. They won't rise much, but you just want the surface of the loaves to be puffy.
• Arrange the loafs in one or more bamboo steamers. They will expand more on their faces, so don't put loafs face-to-face, or they will stick together.
• Place the bamboo steamers on top of hot boiling water. Cover, and steam over high heat for 15 minutes.
• Remove the lid and remove the loaves to a plate, before turning off the heat. You do not want water to condense on the buns.