Steamed Chinese Pork Buns (菜肉包) My Quick Version

Steamed Pork Buns with Homemade Vietnamese pickle (Do Chua) and stir fried Broccoli

I love to eat Chinese steamed pork buns but the thought of having to make the dough puts me off (I really dislike making bread dough). When I saw that other bloggers were recommending to use flaky biscuit dough, I knew I had to try that just from the point of convenience. I could also make my own version of the filling which appealed to me. This recipe can be completed even more quickly using already cooked Chinese BBQ pork from your Chinese take out. This will give you a quick version of Char Siu Bao (叉烧包). One note of caution, avoid the Flaky Biscuit Dough that has added butter. When steamed, it has a very unappealing yellowish color. I will continue trying other types of prepared biscuit and bread dough to see if there are any better ones out there that are closer to the authentic version of these buns!
Ingredients

6 ozs pork belly or pork butt (must have some fat in it)
2 tbsp cooking oil
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 shallot, finely chopped
1 tbsp dark soy sauce (You can also use thick soya sauce if you have it but if you use this, use half the amount of sugar as this type of sauce is mixed with molasses)
1 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp oyster sauce
1 tbsp Lee Kum Kee Char Siu sauce

2 tbsp cooking wine

1/2 cup dried Chinese fungus (Elephant Ears), soaked and finely chopped

1 red Thai chili pepper, minced
1 can jumbo flaky Biscuits (I use the WalMart brand but get the one without butter) 
Method

1. Chop the pork into very small cubes (diced).

2. Heat cooking oil in wok and fry until the pork starts to brown. Add the chopped shallot, garlic, and chili pepper to this and saute for 2-3 minutes.

3. Add the various sauces, sugar and cooking wine to the mixture, decrease heat and simmer for 10 minutes until the sauce is thick.

4. Roll out the flaky biscuit dough into rounds about 6 inches in diameter. Fill with 1-2 tablespoons pork mixture, pinching top to seal the bun. Steam on a square of parchment paper for 15 minutes (I use my rice cooker as a steamer for this). I get about 4 buns using this method.