BBQ Pork Stuffed Steam Rolls

Carlee sent a tweet about making steam rolls, and I'm thinking Carlee doesn't do breads, and my curiosity went through the roof. She sent me the recipe and I knew I had to make them. She used this dough recipe to make basic rolls, I made them into more of a main course and stuffed them with a bbq pork. These were fun, pretty easy and so tasty. The man of the house ate 8 of them and the girls enjoyed using their chopsticks to spear the ball and eat it.

I was limited on time so I made up the bbq pork a day in advance and kept it in the fridge until needed. They took a few hours to make, but most of that time was spent rising, so don't get turned off by the time, do it on a lazy Saturday when the family can help assemble. This recipe makes 24, which would probably serve 5-6 as a main meal.

Pork:

*3/4 lb. pork (roast or other, I used boneless chops)

*1/2 c. BBQ sauce

*3 TBSP. shallots, chopped

*1/2 c. chicken broth

*2 TBSP. soy sauce

*1 TBSP. vegetable oil

*1 TBSP. sugar

*1/8 tsp. red pepper flakes (optional)

Mix all ingredients together and let marinade for a bit. Cook the pork. I used my pressure cooker and these were done in 4 minutes. I think grilling or skillet time would work fine as well. Shred up the pork and store until ready to stuff the rolls.

Rolls:

*1 TBSP. dry yeast

*1 tsp. sugar

*1/4 c. warm water

*1/4 c. flour

*1/2 c. warm water

*1 1/2 c. flour

*1/4 tsp. salt

*2 TBSP. sugar

*1 TBSP. vegetable oil

*1/2 tsp. baking powder

Mix together yeast, 1 tsp. sugar, 1/4 c. warm water and 1/4 c. flour. Allow to stand for 30 minutes. This will ferment a bit and smell...ripe.

In a medium bowl, combine 1/2 c. warm water, 1 1/2 c. flour, salt, 2 TBSP. sugar, vegetable oil and baking powder. Add the yeast mixture and mix well. Knead on lightly floured surface until smooth and elastic (5-10 minutes). Lightly grease a bowl and place dough inside, roll to coat in oil. Let rise until tripled in size (about 2 1/2-3 hours).

Cut wax or parchment paper into squares (about 3"x3") and set aside.

Punch down dough and spread dough onto floured surface. Divide into 24 equal pieces (I used my scale and made this a lot easier). If you are making non-stuffed rolls, shape into balls, place on wax paper and proceed to steaming instructions.

To make stuffed rolls, take each piece of dough and roll into a circle that is slightly raised in the middle (you want a thicker base for the meat to sit on).

Place about 1 TBSP. meat in the center and pick up to shape the roll.

I held my roll in my left hand and used the thumb and pointer of my right hand to crimp/fold around the top to close it like a pouch.

Set each roll on parchment paper square and continue to fill remaining rolls.

Once filled, the rolls need to rise for about 30 minutes before steaming.

I don't have a bamboo steamer so I used the steamer basket in my multi-pot and the steamer function on a rice cooker.

I was only able to do 5 (rice cooker)-7 (steamer basket) at a time so it took a while to get through the batches, which was ok because we kept getting hot rolls as we refilled our plates. If you have a bamboo steamer place it over boiling water; if you have a steamer basket, bring the water to a boil while the rolls are rising; if you use the rice cooker, just turn it on when starting to steam. Place parchment paper with rolls on top directly into steamer, leaving about a 2-inch space between rolls. Cover and steam for 15-20 minutes; ours took about 18 minutes. Remove rolls and serve immediately. Enjoy as is or dip in soy sauce, pork sauce, hoisin sauce or bbq.