Pan-Fried Scallion and Toasted Sesame Buns (Hua Juan Bao, 花卷)
These buns light and fluffy buns with a crispy bottom. In each bite you’ll get an aromatic blend of scallions, sesame seeds, and five spice powder.
Equipment
Ingredients
- Neutral oil for cooking
- Water for cooking
- More chopped scallions and sesame seeds for topping
Dough
Wet Ingredients
- 1 cup warm soy milk or other non-dairy milk (105 to 115F or 40-45C), hot to the touch but not scalding
- 1 tbsp sesame oil or neutral oil
Dry Ingredients
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 tsp instant dry yeast** see notes
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 1 tbsp toasted sesame seeds (you can toast your own! see toasting sesame steps below)
- 1/2 tsp salt
Scallion & Sesame Filling
- 2 cups chopped scallions or green onions
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp Chinese 5 spice powder can be subbed with 1/4 tsp white pepper
- 2 tsp toasted sesame seeds*** see notes
- 1/3 cup neutral oil sizzling hot
Instructions
Toasting Sesame Seeds
- Heat a pan. Once hot, add in the sesame seeds. Cook over medium heat until lightly brown. Keep moving around to evenly toast. Leave to cool and place in an air-tight container for future use.
Preparing the dough
- You can watch the video below for a complete step-by-step on how to make these buns.
- In a large bowl, mix together all dry ingredients.
- Mix warm soy milk and oil. Pour it in the flour mixture while mixing. I used wooden chocksticks and a spatula to mix everything together. Keep mixing until a dough is formed.
- Shape the dough into a ball. You can use your hands! Knead for a few minutes, around 20-30 times.
- Brush the bowl with some oil then place in the dough. Cover it with a towel and let it rest in a warm place for 45 minutes to 1 hour to let the dough rise until almost doubled in size.
Making the filling
- Place the scallions, salt, five spice powder, and sesame seeds in a bowl. Mix well.
- Heat your oil in a small sauce pan over medium for around 2 minutes or until small bubbles start to appear. You can also microwave your oil at high for around 2.5 minutes. Be sure to use a microwave safe container. Pour the hot oil in the scallion mixture. Mix well then set aside.
Shaping the dough
- Once the dough has risen, flour your work surface. Take the dough out of the bowl.
- Punch a hole in the center of the dough and stretch apart, to make a donut shape. Keep stretching.
- Divide the dough into 12 pieces. Each piece will be around 55 to 60 grams.
- Roll or shape each piece of dough into a ball. Cover them with a towel so they don’t dry out while your roll them piece-by-piece. To make a wrapper, press down on the ball of dough and lightly flatten it over the surface.
- Sprinkle a little flour on top and lightly coat your rolling pin with some flour as well. While using a rolling pin, roll out the dough by moving the pin forward and backward. Rotate the dough 90 degrees and repeat the movement. Continue to roll out the dough until you have a wrapper that’s around 4 by 6.5″ inches in size.
Making the buns
- Get one wrapper. Vertically slice strips on it. Place some of the scallion and sesame filling.
- Grab both ends of the wrapper, pull, and then twist! Shape into a bun. See video above (or here) for a better idea.
- Tuck the ends of the wrapper to seal the bun.
- Cover the buns to prevent these from drying while you prepare the rest.
- Leave the buns to rise for 15-20 minutes in a warm spot before cooking. The buns will rise while you prepare the rest so the first few pieces will be ready to cook by the time you finish twisting and sealing the rest.
Cooking the buns
- Heat a pan and prepare a lid (I used a non-stick pan), add in 1 tbsp of oil (for every 4 buns). When hot, add in the buns. Leave to cook over medium heat for 4-5 minutes until it has a golden brown crust.*Note: the number of buns per batch will depend on the size of your pan!
- Prepare the lid of your pan. Using the lid as protection, carefully pour 1/3 cup of water (around 1 tbsp for every bun) into the pan and then immediately cover to prevent it from splashing due to the heat.
- Leave to cook in the steam, until the water has evaporated. Take out the buns and repeat this step for the remaining ones.
- Enjoy while hot and really fluffy! Feel free to garnish with more scallions and sesame seeds. See storage and reheating tips below.
WATCH Video
Notes
Sesame oil:
- If you don’t have sesame oil, feel free to use regular neutral oil like canola, rice bran, etc.
- You can store opened packages of yeast in the freezer to make sure they’re still good for future use!
- You can opt to make your own toasted sesame seeds. To toast, simply heat a large non-stick pan over high heat. Once hot and smoking, lower the heat to medium. Place the raw sesame seeds into the pan and then leave to toast for 30 seconds before mixing around to toast the other sides evenly until golden brown throughout, around 3 minutes total. Make sure to keep an eye on your sesame seeds so they don't burn. Transfer the toasted sesame seeds on a plate or tray and leave to cool completely before storing in a jar until ready to use.
Storage and reheating tips:
- Place the cooked buns in an air-tight container and refrigerate for up to 5 days. To reheat, you can pan fry them again with a splash of water then cover. You can also microwave them with a splash of water then cover.
- You can freeze cooked the buns too and just steam them (from frozen) before enjoying! Alternatively, you can also wrap the buns in a damp paper towel and microwave on high until cooked through.
NUTRITIONAL INFO
Serving: 1piece | Calories: 66kcal | Carbohydrates: 1g | Protein: 1g | Fat: 7g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 2g | Monounsaturated Fat: 4g | Trans Fat: 1g | Sodium: 194mg | Potassium: 2mg | Fiber: 1g | Vitamin A: 1IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 1mg | Iron: 1mg
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