Veggie & Tofu Steamed Buns

Finally it's possible to make steamed buns gluten-free, and the best part is it's not really that hard!! This recipe is meant to be gluten-free, so make the dough in my other steamed bun recipe if you're not after a GF result. They're not as light as the traditional gluten containing ones, but my goodness do they hold up. Bloomin' delicious, they are!

This recipe includes 1 hr + 15 minutes resting/rising time

Ingredients

Dough

• 2 3/4 cup GF self-raising flour
• 1 heaped tsp instant yeast
• 1 tbsp castor sugar
• pinch salt
• 1 tbsp grapeseed oil
• 1 cup unsweetened plant milk
  Filling
• 1 garlic clove, peeled & crushed
• 1 small knob of ginger, peeled
• 1 carrot
• 1/2 bunch spring onions, top and tailed
• 8 button mushrooms, halved
• 1 very large handful wombok cabbage (or any cabbage)
• 150g firm tofu, drained & patted dry with paper towel
• glug of grapeseed oil
• small handful coriander/cilantro finely chopped
• 2 tsp tamari (or soy sauce if not GF)
• 1 tsp coconut aminos (also called liquid aminos)
• handful dried mushrooms (any variety is fine)
• 1 tsp cornflour/cornstarch
• pepper

Method

1. Start by making your dough as it needs time to rise. Place the flour, yeast, castor sugar and salt in the bowl of a mix master with a dough hook attached (alternatively do this by hand) and whisk to combined. Pour the oil into the mixture, then pop the plant milk in a pot on the stove and heat until quite warm, but not boiling. Pour half into the bowl and mix with the dough hook until everything starts coming together. Add the remaining hot milk and let the mixture come together to form a smooth dough. Add a smidge more flour or a splash of water if needed to form a smooth dough. Turn out onto a floured surface and kneed with your hand for a minute or two, then shape into a smooth ball. Oil the bowl the dough was mixed in, pop the dough back in the bowl, oil the top of the dough, cover with a tea towel and leave in a warm place for 45 minutes to rise.
2. Meanwhile make your filling by blitzing ingredients together in the food processor. Do the garlic, ginger, carrot and spring onions together until quite finely chopped by still with a little texture. Then add to a large fry-pan or pot. Then blitz the mushrooms and cabbage together. These will cook/shrink down so don't blitz these as finely. Add to the pot and also crumble in the tofu. Add the oil and pop on medium heat. Sauté until everything is relatively soft & reduced in volume.
3. Boil your kettle and pop your dried mushrooms into a small boil. Pour over about 2 tbsp of hot water, then bop the mushrooms below the surface and leave to steep for a few minutes.
4. Once the veg mixture is looking hella tasty, add the coriander, tamari, coconut aminos and a grind of pepper. Fish out the dried mushrooms from their broth, then add the cornflour to the fragrant liquid. Whisk to combine. Pour this mixture into the veggie tofu pot and stir to combine. Let cook for a minute or so more to slightly thicken and come together, then take off the heat and set aside.
5. Revisit your dough after it's 45 minutes, and pop out onto a flour surface again. Using a rolling pin, roll the dough to a cm in thickness (it will be slightly tougher than before but still workable), then assemble into buns as I do in the video linked below. Cover all dough and buns with a damp tea-towel so not to dry out. Once all assembled, leave to rise for another 30 minutes.
6. Pop your buns in little patty liners and steam in a bamboo steamer for 8 minutes until risen and fluffy. Best eaten fresh. Eat with more tamari/coconut aminos/sweet chilli sauce. Woo!