I was a bit lazy today and didn't want to cook a bunch of dishes, but I happened to have some beef brisket, so I decided to cook it all in one pot – a main dish and a side dish all in one go! Who knows? The beef brisket was so tender and the steamed buns soaked up the broth – absolutely delicious!
Materials
Steps for making braised beef brisket with steamed buns
Wash the beef brisket and cut it into large chunks.
Heat a little oil in a wok, add ginger slices, scallion segments, and beef brisket, and stir-fry until they change color. Drizzle in a little cooking wine.
Pour in the caramel coloring. If you don't have this, you can make your own by frying sugar in oil. If you're really too lazy to fry it, you can just add some sugar to the seasonings. The color won't be as nice, though.
Add oyster sauce, light soy sauce, dark soy sauce, and soybean paste (I used Haitian brand). Stir-fry evenly.
Add plenty of boiling water, then cover and simmer over low heat. To save time and gas, I switched to a pressure cooker and cooked it for 25 minutes after it reached pressure. It was very soft and tender.
When stewing beef brisket, add about 130 grams of water to self-rising flour, knead it into a dough, cover it with plastic wrap, and let it rise.
After pressing the beef brisket, pour it into a pot, add potatoes and carrots, cover and simmer over low heat for about 10 minutes.
Roll out the risen dough into a large rectangular sheet, brush it with oil, and then sprinkle it with salt and pepper.
Fold both sides in as shown in the picture.
Fold it again.
Cut into equal-sized pieces.
Stack the two sections together and press them down in the middle with chopsticks. Twist them once to form a simple flower roll.
Roll them all up, cover them with plastic wrap, and let them rest for about 10 minutes.
Arrange the steamed buns in the pot, cover, and simmer over low heat for 12 minutes.
Once the steamed buns are fully cooked, they're ready to be taken out of the pot.
The beef brisket was incredibly tender, and the potatoes and carrots were also very flavorful.
The steamed buns absorbed the soup and were incredibly delicious.
Tips for Braised Beef Brisket with Steamed Buns
I used self-rising flour; if you don't have it, you can use regular flour with 3 grams of yeast. You can use salt and five-spice powder instead of pepper salt. Don't reduce the broth completely; leave some to dip the steamed buns in, or to mix with rice. Adjust the seasonings according to your own ingredient quantities and taste. If using frozen beef brisket, it's best to blanch it first. Remember to add boiling water when adding it; adding cold water will make the beef tough. If you like it spicy, you can add dried chili peppers, or add some long green chilies or pointed chilies near the end. Add whatever you like. There are really no strict rules.
