Chinese Pau cake

When i was in Saigon - my city, i normally had Pau cake for breakfast, and certainly they were all made by the Chinese; how delicious! When i moved to Italy, i attempted to make this cake several times, but never get success. ;( I reckon it was due to the recipe, i mean ... they are not totally wrong, but it's complicated to follow, since it included sour starter, yeast and baking powder... I guess with so many chemical ingredients, if we miss one step, the outcome will be different.

So i hadnt eaten any Pau cake till yesterday, ;) my crazy pregnant hormone urged me to find a way to make Pau cake. No matter what! Talking about the pregnancy stuffs, i wonder if any of you were tortured by some kind of food that keep you up the whole night??? Gosh!! Poor me! i admit i am type of one who loves to eat, but i never crave for something this crazy! Off course occasionally, i tempted for Vietnamese traditional dishes, in case it doesnt exist here, i just turned to some Italian thing in supermarket. These day i dreamed of eating Vietnamese spring rolls with fresh rice noodles. Man! I guess i have to work my ass off to make a batch of home made spring rolls! ;((

Okay, about my Pau cake; it would not be too exaggerated if i said i am so much proud of myself! ;D It was delicious, easy, and have a real Chinese taste! [As you know, sometimes you follow an authentic/exotic recipe, but the local people would say "nah, it's not exactly our dish"; happened to me like this a few times either. (certainly i am not Chinese, but i ate so so much chinese food in Vietnam by the Chinese people, so the taste cannot cheat me!).]

My Pau cake is simple with the milk bun, and the filling consists of minced pork, Shitake mushroom, boiled eggs, and chinese sausage. The condiments are some salt, sugar, garlic, shallot, oyster sauce and soya sauce. Yummy! ;) Cooking time is around 2.5 hours (including time for rising dough)

Ingredients: (for 5 big pau cake/7 medium ones)

• 200 gr multipurpose flour
• 100 gr luke warm fresh milk
• 18-20 gr fresh yeast or 1/2 teaspoon dry yeast
• 3 tablespoon sugar
• 1 pinch of salt
• 2 tablespoon cooking oil 

*Fillings: 

• 400 gr minced pork
• 1 clove of garlic, finely chopped
• 1/2 clove of shallot, finely chopped
• 1.5 tablespoons of oyster sauce
• 1.5 tablespoon of soya sauce
• 1 stick of chinese sauce, steam and cut in cubes
• 3 shitake mushroom, dept in water for 2 hours then chopped. 
• 1/4 teaspoon of salt
• 1 tablespoon of sugar
• 3 boiled chicken eggs or 5-7 quail eggs. 

Method:

*Skin:

1. Mix salt with flour
2. Mix milk with oil, yeast and sugar. 
3. Then pour the milk into the flour, knead well till smooth and make a ball, make a cross on top of the ball, cover with clingfilm, let it rest for 1 hour - 1.5 hours. (or till it rises double)

*Filling: 

1. Mix all the ingredients together (except eggs)
2. Cut the chicken egg in half (or if you use the quail egg, you can jump this step)
3. Cover the egg with meat; make balls 
4. Steam them around 20-25 mins till cooked (with this method, our Pau cake is not wet; and surely the meat will be cooked)

5. When they are done, lay them on another dish to get rid of the juice. 

*Making Pau cake:

1. When the dough rises double, punch it to release the air, divide in portions. 
2. Use each portion to cover the filling. 
3. Lay them on the bamboo steamer (with baking paper under, i used a cloth, and it stuck around my cake ;( ) Remember to make some space for leavening.
4. Let them rest for 30-45 mins. 
5. Steam them around 15-20 mins. 
6. Serve hot. 

Buon appetito! ;)