Mantou, or Chinese steamed buns, are mainly made with flour, yeast, and other ingredients. There are also some other healthier variations using wheat, grains, and even fermented rice.
This no fuss mantou burgers recipe is best served fresh off the steamer as a breakfast, ideally with cold sweetened soy bean milk. You can make a bunch of steamed buns from scratch and store them in the freezer. However, this time we are taking a short cut using the milky mantou purchased from a local Chinese grocery store. These steamed buns can be found either at the bakery section or at the frozen food aisle along with other flour based products.
I've also seen other popular mantou flavors such as brown sugar and sesame. You can also go with these varieties since the sugary, sesame, and also the milky tastes are subtle, which will not heavily alter or overpowering the taste of our breakfast burgers.
Ingredients (for six)?
- 6 small/medium sized mantou
- 3 large eggs
- 1 stalk of scallion
- 1 pound of pork loin
- Small pinch of salt
- Some olive oil
- Some black pepper
- Splash of drinking water
Marinade:
- 3 garlic cloves
- 1 stalk of scallion
- 1 tablespoon of soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon of mirin
How?
On top of fish floss, I also prepared oven baked pork loin to eat along with the mantou. Cut the pork loin into large bite size pieces. Tenderizing and flattening the meat by using a meat pounder. The back of the knife works as well, use it to beat the meat in different directions.
Chop the ends off and peel the garlic cloves, also chop off the stem from one stalk of scallion. Give the scallion a few chops to get shorter strips. Mix the garlic cloves and scallion together with 1 tablespoon of soy sauce and 1 tablespoon of mirin. Add in the pork loin and massage the meat with the marinade. Into the fridge and let the meat marinate overnight.
Take out the pork and preheat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. The meat can also rest a little bit to room temperature while waiting for the oven to heat up. Make a container using foil and put onto the baking dish. Transfer the pork to the foil container and into the oven, bake for 10 to 15 minutes. Once ready, remove from heat and sprinkle with some black pepper. Make sure to let the meat rest for few minutes before adding to the mantou.
You can also coat the pork with flour, drizzle some olive oil to a pan, and sear the meat instead of baking. Make sure to do it after making the eggs. That way you can use the same pan and avoid extra cleaning work afterwards.
Remove the mantou from the freezer and let them warm up slightly, or till you can slice each mantou into three pieces. It's easier to slice the mantou when they're still cold and firm.
Put the pieces back together and steam for about 10 minutes, or warm up the mantou according to packaging instructions.
For the semi-scrambled eggs, beat the eggs together with 1 stalk of chopped scallion, small pinch of salt, and splash of drinking water.
Drizzle just enough oil to evenly coat the bottom of a small/medium sized pan. Turn to medium high heat. Once the oil turns hot, pour in the egg mixture and slightly scramble the eggs in the beginning. Don't let the mixture thin out too much since we are looking for some thickness instead of crepes-like texture here. Folding the egg mixture from the edge to the center helps.
Stop stirring when the egg is about to set, just let it sear till the bottom turns slightly browned. You might have to flip to the other side and sear a little bit longer if the top still looks uncooked.
Divide the cooked egg into 6 smaller pieces. Just like assembling a burger, add the egg as one layer and use baked pork loin or fish floss as the other.
Too much hassle cooking the eggs in the morning? Substitute the eggs with peanut butter and jelly, you'll be amazed how such iconic western spread duo works so well with Chinese fish/pork floss and steamed buns.
