Vegan Baked Curry Beef Buns
Curry spiced Impossible Burger filling
Buns risen and ready to bake
This recipe was derived from the Curry Beef Bun recipe at Mary’s Test Kitchen, but instead of using textured vegetable protein I used Impossible Burger for the filling. I was really impressed with how these buns came out and the Impossible Burger filling was completely convincing as curry beef. The outer surface of the buns comes out crunchy and the inner dough becomes light and fluffy. A sprinkled Sriracha Toasted Sesame Seeds on top of the buns which provides a spiky toasted flavor.
For the Curry Impossible Burger:
- 1/2 package (6 oz) of Impossible Burger
- 1/3 cup cold or room temperature water
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch
- 1 tablespoon hoisin sauce
- 2 teaspoons soy sauce
- 1 cup chopped onion
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 1/2 tablespoons S&B Oriental Curry Powder
- 1/4 teaspoon red chili flakes
- 1/4 – 1/2 teaspoon sea salt or to taste
- Saute onions and garlic for 3-4 minutes.
- Stir in the Impossible Burger, curry powder, salt, and chili flakes and cook while stirring for about 2 minutes. Add a tablespoon or two of water if the spices start sticking and burning.
- Stir the cornstarch slurry before adding it to the pan. Mix the cornstarch slurry into the cooking burger/onion/garlic and the liquid will quickly thicken. The filling is easier to work with if all the liquid is boiled away/absorbed into the meat and the filling has fully thickened. Taste and adjust for salt and pepper.
DOUGH
- 1 cup of your favorite plant milk, I used Ripple, warmed up (105°F-115°F)
- 1 tablespoon brown sugar
- 2 1/4 teaspoons yeast
- 3 tablespoons Just Egg
- 1 teaspoon sea salt
- 3 cups all-purpose flour (plus extra for kneading)
- Sriracha toasted sesame seeds
- 1 tablespoon maple syrup
- 1 tablespoon water
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the Ripple milk, yeast and brown sugar. Allow the mixture to rest for 10 minutes and the yeast to bloom.
- Stir in the Just Egg and salt.
- Add a half cup of flour and whisk until completely combined. repeat 1-2 times or until the mixture is too doughy to whisk. Switch to a wooden spoon or spatula and add more flour in the same manner until the dough has formed enough to knead by hand. I used 3 cups of flour.
- Turn the dough on to a lightly floured counter surface or a sheet of wax paper and knead for 1 – 2 minutes. The dough should be fairly soft and slightly sticky. Avoid using too much flour on the counter surface, if the dough gets too dry you will get stiff dough and non-fluffy buns.
- Place the dough back in the mixing bowl and let rest covered in a warm, draft-free location until doubled in size (about one hour).
- When the dough has doubled, scrape it from the bowl, back on to the floured surface and divide into 16 equal pieces. Roll each piece into a ball shape. Then, starting with the dough ball that you make first, flatten it into a disc-like shape. Do not make these discs too thin, I kept my dough about a 1/3 inch thick.
- Hold the dough in your palm and add 3-4 tablespoons of the filling to the middle. Pull up the dough from the sides and pinch at the middle to cover the filling up. Pinch and twist the puckered ends to secure and place on a parchment-lined baking sheet with the puckered side down. Repeat with all the dough balls and space out the buns on the baking sheet so they have room to rise.
- Cover the buns with a warm, damp towel and let rise until doubled in size.
- Preheat the oven to 400°F or 205°C.
- Mix the maple syrup and water together. When the buns have doubled in size, carefully brush the maple wash on to the tops of the buns. Sprinkle sriracha toasted sesame seeds on top.
- Bake in a preheated oven for 20 minutes. The buns should come out nicely browned. Let cool before serving.
The search for the world's best dumplings 
That reads really well and I am sure the ‘BUNS’ were terrific!! Maybe your next venture should be a “Vegan Cook Book with a Korean Twist”?? -D