Ok so after our trip to Wagamama I wanted to make another attempt at Japanese, even more pressure this time as now we knew what we were aiming for from our trip.
So a second attempt at pork belly, THIS TIME WITH BUNS !!!
I thought, if I am going to make the buns I needed an easier way to make the pork belly so I hopped online and found a lovely blog called @savvybites who is a chef so it makes sense that she would have a far better way of doing a similar glaze in the oven which looked waaaay simpler than what I had previously done, so I thought I'd give it a go
As I was doing pork belly in the Bao buns (or at least my attempt at Bao buns) I thought I would do a lighter main so went for tuna. I have been trying to cook tuna for months but can never get in the super markets so when I saw it this time I was well happy.
Here goes my second attempt at Japanese
Pork Belly Bao Buns
For the buns - Makes 6 buns
- 175g plain flour (extra for dusting)
- 1/2 tbsp caster sugar
- 1/4 tsp of dry yeast
- 15ml milk
- 1tsp sunflower oil
- 1tsp rice vinegar
- 1/2 tsp Baking powder
For the pork belly
- Pork Belly slices
- 2 tbsp Brown sugar
- 1 clove Garlic
- 120ml Dark Soy sauce
- 1 tbsp Rice wine vinegar/cider vinegar
- 1 tbsp Honey
BAO BUNS
The Bao buns need to be steamed, if you are like me and do not own a bamboo steamer then I used a vegetable steamer lined with parchment paper.
Dissolve the yeast and sugar in 1tbsp of warm water, mix together all of the dry ingredient's then add the water, oil, milk and 80ml of cold water.
Mix together until it forms a dough and then kneed for a few minutes.
Once kneeded line a bowl with a little oil and place the dough in, cover with a damp tea towel leave to prove for 2 hrs. while proving work on the filling.
Once proved divide into 6 and roll into sausage shapes, flatten a little then fold over to
make a Pac man kind of shape.
place in the steamer.
They should have light, dumpling like texture.
PORK BELLY
Preheat oven to 200
Place the pork belly skin side up in a heat proof dish. Place in the oven for 20 mins or until the skin has started to crisp (add a little salt if you find this easier to crisp up the skin)
Meanwhile in a saucepan add the soy , rice wine, garlic, sugar and honey and stir until the sugar has dissolved, keep stirring so the sauce does not stick to the pan.
Once the pork belly has started to go a little crispy remove from the oven and pour over the sauce.
Make sure you roll it around a little so each side is covered.
Put back in the oven for another 15 minutes, the turn the oven up to 220 for a final 5 mins .
Once cooked take out of the oven and with tongs lay on a plate to cool - if you leave to cook in the pot it will stick and be almost impossible to remove.
Cut into slices and serve with your choice of sauce or salad.
We put Coriander leaves and apple sauce in
SEARED CHILLI,LIME AND GINGER TUNA
- 2 Tuna Steaks
- 3 TBSP Dark Soy
- Thumb sized Piece of ginger (grated)
- Juice of 1 Lime
Add the soy sauce, lime juice and grated ginger to a bowl and place the tuna in.
Put the tuna into the fridge and allow to marinate for 1/2 an hour.
after 1/2 hour flip it over, you will notice that the tuna will start changing colour - this is normal as the acid in the lime juice starts to cook the tuna.
Once each side has had half an hour place onto a preheated griddle pan, I do not usually put oil on the pan but if you would rather do then that is up to you.
Depending on how thick the tuna is and how pink you like it in the middle I normally do mine 4 mins on each side, that way it is slightly pink in the middle.
Enjoy!