Puasa Special: Chicken and Beef Buns

This year is the first time in 2 years I get to puasa (for a few days, at least) in Brunei. Yayz! And of course, wiht most households, Puasa brings out...special dishes. Dishes which would otherwise not see the light of day. Dishes that are usually too troublesome to make, but are "okay" after a (hard) day's fasting. My house, in fact, has several so called "Puasa Dishes", which I will introduce in various Puasa Specials throughout my week here (actually, less than a week, how sad). So anyway, here we go!

What you need:

75g butter
150g flour
3-4 eggs
250ml water
1/2 tsp salt

Boneless, skinless chicken breasts and/or minced beef
Frozen uncooked fries
Various seasonings, eg salt, pepper, soy sauce

What you do:

1. In a large saucepan over medium heat, place the water and butter. Heat until the butter melts and the water is boiling.
2. Add the flour all at once, and stir vigorously until the mixture is well combined. Take off the heat.
3. Add the eggs one at a time, stirring well to combine fully before adding the next one. Stir the mixture until it looks slightly shiny and does not stick as much to the saucepan surface.
4. To make the filling, its up to you! For the chicken filling, I would make a sort of Chicken Pie-type filling, only a bit more drier. To do this, boil the chicken in salted water until cooked. To make it easier, use pre-minced chicken. Add chopped up uncooked fries, and simmer until the potato is soft. Season well with chicken stock, salt and pepper.
5. For the beef filling, first stiryfry garlic, onions and curry powder until soft. Add tomato sauce, salt and pepper, then add the minced beef and frozen potatoes. Cook until both the meat and potato is cooked.
6. To assemble the bun, flatten a bit of the egg dough in your hand, and place some of the filling tin the middle of it. Wrap the dough around the filling to form the bun. Press the bun lightly to join the edges.
7. Brush the top of the buns with lightly beaten egg, place on a baking tray and bake in an oven (180 C) for about 30 minutes. They are best eaten while hot, but are still yumym when cold. :D Try it!

This, I am proud to say, is an original recipe by Ibu :D hehehe, so take note of it, people! ;) When we brought this to our relative's house for the first sungkai this time round, people were ooh-ing over it.

This is actually a very easy recipe. I might even make it once in the UK, if I ever have time. For Raya, maybe? If you want to make a large batch, feel free to multiply the ingredients by the respective amounts, but watch it on the eggs. You don't want the dough to go too soft, but it can't be too stiff either.

Feel free to use whatever you like for the filling, really. The chicken one is the most popular one in my house, but its up to your personal taste. The seasonings can be varied quite considerably, I think, since egg goes with quite a lot of things. And yes, egg is the main flavour of the dough. The bun is soft, and creamy and very egg-y :P You can even use a fully vegetable filling, I should think! Not that I am a fan of vegetables...

To decorate further, you can sprinkle some sesame seeds over the egg glaze before baking the buns. This can also be quite useful in distingushing between different fillings, as we have done with the beef buns. :D

Unfortunately, these buns do not store well, so bake them the day you make them. Also, they are quite fragile, so serve them as a single layer, as far as possible.

And that's it from me this time round! Look forward to the next Puasa Special :D