Make your own Vegan Pan-Fried Scallion and Toasted Sesame Buns from scratch! They’re light and fluffy buns with a crispy bottom. In each bite you’ll get an aromatic blend of scallions, sesame seeds, and five spice powder. These are also called ‘Hua Juan Bao’, which literally translates to Flower Buns.
This recipe makes a dozen of these buns and I shared them with my family. They were a hit! My dad even said these reminded him of the buns from Taiwan, which can possibly be the biggest compliment especially since it’s coming from my dad who can be the biggest critic!
I made these from scratch and though it might be intimidating to make your own dough and roll out your wrappers, it's actually fairly simple and also very relaxing (in my opinion)!
I made my very first YouTube video on my channel featuring these buns so you can see how I made them. Check it out below:
Please also like and subscribe to my channel, I'd really appreciate it! Can't wait to share more recipe videos! :)
Now let's have some buns!
Find the full recipe below. Enjoy!
If you make this recipe, please tag me on my Facebook or Instagram and use the hashtag #thefoodietakesflight :)Â
Are you looking for more delicious, vegan recipes? Check out my latest Vegan Kitchen eBook, that has over 95 recipes (and a whole section for Asian recipes!) that are packed with flavour and made with simple and easily accessible ingredients! Also, two trees (instead of 1!) will be planted for every download of my eBook through non-profit organisation One Tree Planted.🌲
Pan-Fried Scallion and Toasted Sesame Buns (Hua Juan Bao)
Makes 12 buns
These buns light and fluffy buns with a crispy bottom. In each bite you’ll get an aromatic blend of scallions, sesame seeds, and five spice powder.
Oil and water, for cooking
More chopped scallions and sesame seeds, for topping
Dough
Wet Ingredients
1 cup warm soy milk or other non-dairy milk
1 tbsp sesame oil*
Dry Ingredients
3 cups (375g) all-purpose flour
2 tsp instant dry yeast**
1/4 cup (55g) sugar (I used white sugar)
1 tbsp toasted sesame seeds***
1/2 tsp salt
Scallion & Sesame Filling
2 cups (120g) chopped scallions
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp Chinese five spice powder, can be subbed with 1/4 tsp white pepper
2 tsp toasted sesame seeds**
1/3 cup hot neutral oil, I used canola oil
Notes:
*If you don't have sesame oil, feel free to use regular neutral oil like canola, rice bran, etc.
**You can store opened packages of yeast in the freezer to make sure they're still good for future use! ***You can opt to make your own toasted sesame seeds. See steps below.
STEPS (see recipe video above)
Toasting Sesame Seeds
Heat a pan. Once hot, add in the sesame seeds. Cook over medium heat until lightly brown. Keep moving around to evenly toast. Leave to cool and place in an air-tight container for future use.
Preparing the dough
In a large bowl, mix together all dry ingredients.
Mix warm soy milk and oil. Pour it in the flour mixture while mixing. I used wooden chocksticks and a spatula to mix everything together. Keep mixing until a dough is formed.
Shape the dough into a ball. You can use your hands! Knead for a few minutes, around 20-30 times.
Brush the bowl with some oil then place in the dough. Cover it with a towel and let it rest in a warm place for at least 2 hours to let the dough rise.
Making the filling
Place the scallions, salt, five spice powder, and sesame seeds in a bowl. Mix well.
Heat the oil. I simply microwaved mine at high for around 2.5 minutes. Pour the hot oil in the scallion mixture. Mix well then set aside.
Preparing the wrappers
Once the dough has risen, flour your work surface. Take the dough out of the bowl.
Punch a hole in the center of the dough and stretch apart, to make a donut shape. Keep stretching.
Divide the dough into 12 pieces. Each piece will be around 55 to 60 grams.
Roll or shape each piece of dough into a ball. Cover them with a towel so they don’t dry out while your roll them piece-by-piece. To make a wrapper, press down on the ball of dough and lightly flatten it over the surface.
Sprinkle a little flour on top and lightly coat your rolling pin with some flour as well. While using a rolling pin, roll out the dough by moving the pin forward and backward. Rotate the dough 90 degrees and repeat the movement. Continue to roll out the dough until you have a wrapper that’s around 4 by 6.5" inches in size.
Making the buns
Get one wrapper. Vertically slice strips on it. Place some of the scallion and sesame filling. Grab both ends of the wrapper, pull, and then twist! Shape into a bun. See video above (or here) for a better idea.
Tuck the ends of the wrapper to seal the bun.
Cooking the buns
Heat a pan and prepare a lid (I used a non-stick pan), add in 1 tbsp of oil (for every 4 buns). When hot, add in the buns. Leave to cook over medium heat for 4-5 minutes until it has a golden brown crust.* Note: the number of buns per batch will depend on the size of your pan!
Prepare the lid of your pan. Using the lid as protection, carefully pour 1/3 cup of water (around 1 tbsp for every bun) into the pan and then immediately cover to prevent it from splashing due to the heat.
Leave to cook in the steam, until the water has evaporated. Take out the buns and repeat this step for the remaining ones.
Enjoy while hot and really fluffy! Feel free to garnish with more scallions and sesame seeds. See storage and reheating tips below.
Storage and reheating tip:Â Place the buns in an air-tight container and refrigerate for up to 5 days. To reheat, you can pan fry them again with a splash of water then cover. You can also microwave them with a splash of water then cover.
You can freeze the buns too and just steam them (from frozen) before enjoying!
