Roasted Pork Dumplings (叉烧包)

These must be the most common dim sum one can get from any Hong Kong or Cantonese Dim Sum place. In Australia, they call dim sum (点心) yum cha (饮茶), the latter means to drink tea. It actually means tea break time. It amuses me when I think about how influential the Hong Kongers were and how they must have introduced this Dim Sum culture into different parts of the world.

There are two kinds of Cha Siew Pao. The instant yeast method and the sour dough method. The latter takes too long for my liking and honestly, the difference in the texture and taste does not warrant the effort put into it.

Of course, if given a chance to order either in a restaurant and if they are of the same price, I will go for the sour dough ones. But at home, I like to make the simple instant yeast one.

This recipe uses Hong Kong flour, which is that super white flour which is bleached.  I normally don’t like to use bleached flour, but since I can find some, I am curious to see how the pao turns out. In short, they are a lot less transparent and lack the yellow-tinge. With the availability of the Hong Kong flour, I can now keep adjusting those made with non-bleached flour and try to achieve as close a result as possible to those made with Hong Kong flour.