Momofuku Steamed Pork Buns

The Momofuku pork bun was one of the first recipes that made me sit up and take notice of David Chang and Momofuku after I saw Chang make them on the Martha Stewart Show.

I hadn't rushed out to make the pork buns simply because the actual steamed bun recipe looked a little complicated and made quite a volume. Since I would be the only person eating these, not even the fact they could be frozen made the recipe more appealing. My freezer is tiny.

On one of our visits to Yuen's Market at Sunnybank, I found a packet of pre-prepared, ready to steam buns. They were quite a bit thicker than the buns Chang uses and the way the homemade buns are supposed to be, but convenience won out over authenticity and I bought them. I had already made the pork belly and it only needed to be finished off with a quick flash in a frying pan.

I've mentioned before that my bamboo steamer is very small. I hadn't realised just how small it was until I found out that two of the buns wouldn't fit inside at the same time without overlapping. I didn't think anything of the overlap because the picture in the book shows them overlapping in the steamer. Then I took them out of the steamer and realised the buns had stuck together. D'oh. I have to buy a bigger steamer.

Once the pork belly has been reheated and the buns had been steamed, all you need is some hoisin sauce, a few slices of pickled cucumber and some sliced spring onions and you are set.

I loved the idea of these buns. I love the pork belly, hoisin and pickled cucumber combination, but I think my laziness sabotaged me as the steamed bun was too big. The bun to filling ratio was too high and I'm not a real big fan of the soft doughyness of the steamed buns to start with. One day I will make the time to make the buns properly and try again. Until then, I'm tempted to just wrap the pork, hoisin, cucumbers and spring onion in peking duck pancakes.