Vegetarian 'Mei Cai' Steamed Bun

'Mei Cai' (梅菜 or 霉菜) is known as preserved Chinese mustard and it comes in either salty or sweet. In China, 'mei cai' baozi is one of the popular snack  Other than that 'mei cai' is particularly used in making stewed pork as well. Since 'mei cai' contained of loads of salt rock while undergoing the preservation, so you definitely need to wash & rinsed it thoroughly before used. But these days, the youngster seems show no interest in it anymore.

Ingredients for 'mei cai' filling :
200gm  salty 'mei cai', soaked & rinsed till clean
200gm  sweet 'mei cai', soaked & rinsed till clean
60 ml  light soy sauce
3 TB  vegetarian oyster sauce
2 inch  ginger, finely chopped
5 cloves  garlic, chopped
4 cups  water

* thickening : 50ml water mix with 1 TB tapioca flour
*Note :  'mei cai' should be rinsed & cleaned thoroughly and make sure there's no more rock salt or sand left on it. Then squeeze to drain the remaining water, cut 'mei cai' thinly.

Method :
(1) preheat pan or wok then stir in 'mei cai' and saute till nice dry and aromatic. Remove then set aside.


(2) preheat pan or wok with enough cooking oil, saute garlic & ginger till aromatic then add in 'mei cai' and continue stirring with high heat.
(3) now, add in water and bring it to boil, then add in all seasoning & continue boiling it over medium heat till 'mei cai' turn soft & tender. This will take roughly about 20 minutes. Make sure you keep an eye on it.
(4) once its ready, off the heat and stir in the thickening little by little then set aside to cool before refrigerated overnight which is the best. Its easier to handle.

The dough is actually a bit too soft. So, its best not to add in the water all at once during the dough making process.

Ingredients for cilantro bao dough :
500gm  bao flour / superfine flour
2 tspn  yeast
2 TB  sugar
200ml water
a pinch of salt
1 bunch of cilantro, rinsed (about 1-1/2 cup)
2 TB  cooking oil

Method :
(1) place flour, yeast, sugar & salt into a big mixing bowl and mix well.
(2) puree cilantro with water in the blender till fine, then stir it together with cooking oil into the dry ingredients to form a soft dough. Knead till smooth and set aside to rest for an hour or till double in size.
(3) punch dough to release extra air and again knead to smooth, then place dough to working table and divide into 12 portions.
(4) now, round the dough then flatten it with rolling pin, fill in chilled 'mei cai', wrap & sealed nicely.
(5) place filled bao dough to individual  parchment papers then set aside to rest for 20 minutes.
(6) when ready, steamed bun with preheated steamer for 15-20 minutes.
(7) once its done, leave bao stay in the steamer for 5 minutes before removing them out. This to prevent strinkage.

I simply adored the colour of this buns, super natural green colour. And the filling tastes really tempting as well. Something unusual to your taste buds. haha..... My friends love them so much. So, I guess, I have passed another taste testing again. Thank goodness !  Hope you guys are having a fantastic weekend.