Ever since quarantine started, I haven’t been able to satisfy my cravings for buns from Chinese bakeries. One of my go to staple buns is Chinese curry beef buns. I am very picky about the filling in these buns because I find that a lot of bakeries use potato as a filler and it ruins the overall texture. My personal favourite is the curry beef bun from Saint Germain Bakery. Their filling uses no potatoes and is a delicious and hearty beef mixture with just a hint of onion. I decided to replicate this at home and it was a lot easier to make than I expected!
As always, the base bread recipe is my soft and fluffy honey buns!
Finely mince your garlic and dice your onions. Saute in a hot pan with oil until translucent. Add your ground beef until thoroughly cooked.
Add curry powder, sweet bean sauce and soy sauce. Simmer until all flavours are combined. Taste to adjust for salt and spice levels. Let the mixture cool before portioning into balls. I recommend 50 grams of filling for 65 grams of bread dough.
Measure out your bread dough when it’s done its first proof and shape into balls. Fill each ball with one meatball of filling. Seal and place on a tray lined with parchment paper. Let it proof covered under a kitchen towel for an additional 20 minutes.
After the second proof, brush the bread tops with a thin layer of egg wash. Let it dry and apply a second layer. Sprinkle sesame seeds on top if desired. Bake in a 400 degree F oven for 15 minutes until the tops are golden brown.
A few key tips I learned is:
- Place your bun in a liner. There is a reason why all Asian bakeries do this. The oil from the curry beef mixture will leak everywhere (even if you do your best to strain out all the fat.)
- Less filling for a better bun to filling ratio. I know, more filling sounds better, but my buns turned out more like hand pies then buns.
If curry beef isn’t your preference you can always try making green onion and pork floss, kabocha, Okinawa sweet potato or sweet potato buns!
Curry Beef Buns (Filling)
Ingredients
- 1 lb lean ground beef
- 1/2 large white onion
- 4 cloves garlic
- 2 tbsp curry powder
- 1.5 tbsp sweet bean sauce
- 1.5 tbsp dark soy sauce
Instructions
- Dice your onion and mince your garlic. Saute in oil until translucent.
- Add your ground beef and mix until the beef is broken up and cooked.
- Add your curry powder, soy sauce, and sweat bean sauce. Mix until incorporated. Add salt and adjust curry powder to your taste.
- Remove the filling from the heat and once cooled portion into balls.