Japanese Curry Buns

Ingredients:

Buns:

• 1 cup (155g) bread flour
• 1/4 cup (40g) all-purpose flour
• 1 tbsp (9g) corn starch
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tbsp sugar
• 1 tsp instant dry yeast
• 1/2 cup warm soy milk or other non-dairy milk
• 1 tbsp neutral oil

Filling:

• 2 cups diced potatoes
• 1 cup diced carrots
• 1 onion, diced
• 1 bell pepper, diced
• 2 cups water, or more depending on desired consistency
• 70-80 g vegan Japanese curry cubes

Coating:

• 2 tbsp room temperature soy milk mixed with 1/2 tbsp corn starch
• 1/2 to 3/4 cup japanese or panko bread crumbs

Method:

1. Heat a large pan or pot over medium high. Add some oil. Once hot, add in the onions and sauté until tender. Place the bell peppers and cook for a few minutes. Add in the carrots and potatoes. Pour in the water and the curry cubes.
2. Mix well and then cover to leave to a boil. Mix every 5 minutes or so. The sauce will slowly start to thicken. You’ll want a thick sauce for the filling so you can set aside some to cool. For the rest, you can opt to water it down and enjoy with some rice and Crispy Tofu Katsu.
3. Leave the curry to cool. I refrigerated mine overnight for a really thick consistency to use as filling for the buns.

Making the Dough:

1. Mix all the dry ingredients together in a large bowl. While mixing, add in the warm milk. Mix until you have small pieces of dough and then feel free to mix with your hands to well combine. Add in the oil and them mix well. Keep kneading for 8-10 minutes, making sure to scrape the flour from the sides of the bowl, until you have a smooth ball of dough that no longer sticks to your hands.
2. Shape the dough into a ball. Place back into the bowl and then cover with a damp towel. Leave to sit in a warm area or in the oven and leave on a ‘proof’ setting for at least 1 hour or until the dough has doubled in size.
3. Once the dough has doubled, you can also check by punching a small hole with your finger. If it doesn’t bounce back, your dough is ready!

Making The Buns: 

1. Divide the dough into half. Roll out 2 logs and then divide each one into 4 to get 8 pieces in total. Each piece will be around 40-45 grams.
2. Keep the dough covered with a damp towel to avoid them from drying while you work on each piece.
3. Roll a piece of dough into a ball and then lightly flatten on a floured surface. With a rolling pin or small dumpling rolling pin (which I used), roll the dough until you have a round wrapper that’s around 3.5 to 4” in diameter. Repeat this for the rest of the dough.
4. Pinch the sides of each wrapper to thin out. See video for a better idea. From here, each wrapper will be around 4 to 4.5” in diameter.
5. Scoop 1 to 1.5 tbsp of filling into the center of the wrapper, avoiding the sides. It’s important not to get curry sauce in the sides of the wrapper since it’ll get messy and it’ll be harder to seal the buns.
6. Grab the edges of the wrapper and seal tight around the edges by pinching together. Lightly tuck in the sides to seal again, making sure the filling doesn’t seep out.
7. Repeat this for the rest of the wrappers until you have 8 buns.
8. Mix the cornstarch and milk together until the starch has diluted to make your ‘egg’ wash. Make sure to mix this well before brushing since the cornstarch and sit at the bottom.
9. Place the bread crumbs in a plate or shallow bowl.
10. Brush a bun with the the egg wash throughout all the sides then place it onto the breadcrumbs. Pat the breadcrumbs onto the bun to coat evenly. Repeat this step for the rest.
11. If baking, heat your oven to 350F and prepare a lined baking tray. Brush the tray with some oil and place the buns. Spray or sprinkle the buns with a bit of oil.
12. Leave to bake for 35-40 minutes or until lightly brown and crisp, flipping halfway through (if buns don’t open up).
13. If frying, heat a large pan or pot over high heat. Place enough oil to submerge at least half of the buns. Test the heat by adding some breadcrumbs. If it bubbles, the oil is hot enough.
14. Place the a few buns into the oil. The number of buns will depend on the size of your pan or pot. Leave to cook for around 5 minutes on each side or until golden brown. Keep at eye out that they don’t burn!