Pickled potherb mustard is the backbone here, and it needs respect: a long soak in clean water pulls the brine back to a gentle saltiness before it ever meets the pork. The glass noodles are not a filler but a sponge; boiled until no hard core remains, chopped short, they drink the pork fat and the seasoning so the filling stays juicy instead of watery.
Northern Chinese · Main
Pork and Pickled Greens Steamed Buns With Glass Noodles
Salt-preserved potherb mustard takes a long freshwater soak, then gets folded with diced pork and softened glass noodles into a scalded dough and steamed for twenty-five minutes.
- Prep90 min
- Cook25 min
- Serves6
- LevelMedium
Ingredients
| 500 g | pickled potherb mustard greens , soaked in clean water until barely salty |
| 300 g | fresh pork , cut into small even cubes |
| 1 bundle | glass noodles , boiled until pliable |
| half | scallion , minced |
| 6 slices | ginger , minced |
| 2 stalks | coriander , minced |
| 800 g | flour , for a hot-water dough |
| 1 tbsp | soy sauce |
| 1 tbsp | oyster sauce |
| 1 tsp | salt |
| 1 tsp | chicken bouillon powder |
| half tbsp | thirteen-spice powder |
| half tbsp | ground black pepper |
Method
- Soak the pickled greens in clean water until they taste barely salty or not at all, depending on how you like them, then squeeze dry.
- Cube the pork, and mince the greens, scallion, ginger and coriander.
- Toss the pork with the soy sauce and oyster sauce, cover and refrigerate for 20 minutes to season through.
- Boil the glass noodles until no hard core is left but they are not falling apart, shock them in cold water, then chop into short lengths.
- Combine the pork, greens and noodles, add the salt, bouillon, thirteen-spice and black pepper, and mix the filling until it smells fragrant.
- Make a scalded dough with the flour and hot water, knead smooth and rest until supple.
- Divide the dough, roll wrappers, pleat each bun around a spoonful of filling and seal.
- Steam over high heat and keep steaming for 25 minutes after the water comes to a full boil.
Notes
- Taste the greens after soaking; brine strength varies batch to batch, and the filling cannot be fixed once it is too salty.
- Chop the noodles short. Long strands drag through the filling and tear the wrapper when you pleat.
Ratios and technique checked against 家和万事兴顺顺顺 on Douguo (雪里蕻粉条鲜肉包). The method here is written by Stellaok; the photograph is the source kitchen's, credited on the image above and linked back to the page it came from. No recipe text is reproduced.