Jamie Oliver’s Steamed Buns! (with crispy duck)

I made this recipe for the first time around a year ago when the KitchenAid was shiny and new…think the recipe must have been on TV at the time and the buns looked perfect to serve crispy duck. I made the mistake of not posting it, however, and searched for it online ever since. Well, a year later, I found it, and made them again.

You can find the recipe here for the buns – I added yeast to the warm water and left it for a few minutes then added that and everything else to the KitchenAid and let it do its work for ten mins. Leave to double in size before knocking back and rolling into balls. The recipe makes 40 (!) so I halved it…we ate around 7 on the night and had another 7ish leftover, which I freezed. Simply re-steam to use again once defrosted.

I don’t have a bamboo steamer so had to improvise and make my own. I half filled a frying pan with hot water and placed a wire cooling rack on top. Cover the rack with greasproof paper or baking parchment and pop your rolled and folded buns on top. Cover with a wok or another simliar sized pan upsidedown. Try to resist the temptation to peek for at least 10 minutes if you can! I worried that this batch would be like stones, but the steam did its job and they were light and fluffy.

Serve the buns with whatever you fancy. Jamie does pork, I prefer duck. I used two Gressingham Duck legs (but could have done with three – I didn’t realised how much F would adore them) and rubbed them with star anise and 5-spice the night before. Then left sealed in a freezer bag ready to put into the oven for 90 minutes the next night. In fact, this was one of my first ‘Prep. Ahead’ meals whereby I try to get all the ingredients chopped and ready a few days beforehand so I have nothing to do on the night! Now, I knew I had the buns to do, but they were an on/off thing all day really! I servied with Hoi Sin, cucumber and spring onion. And to add a healthy kick, Jamie’s Jiggy Jiggy greens from his 15 minute Seared Tuna recipe.

I’m sorry there are no pictures of the finished article: we ate them too quickly! But I’m making them again next week so if I remember, I’ll take some then and add to this post!