Pickled Mustard Greens

Pickled Mustard Greens are commonly served with noodle dishes in some regions of Burma. Last time when I made Shan Noodles, a thought of having some mustard greens on the side seemed like a good option but I didn’t have them on hand.  Since then, I’ve been thinking of making some but never really got to it.

I remember that some time ago, my dear friend Lely made these pickled mustard greens and I got to taste some. It was very crunchy and tasty with a good sour punch. I really liked it so I asked her for the recipe. It is very simple and easy to prepare.

There are different methods of preparing this from wilting the greens in sun to adding additional ingredients in the pickle. Since this is my first time preparing it, I just want to keep it simple so I followed her exact instructions. Pickling can take anywhere from 3 days to a week depending on the weather. Mine took a week as it was a pretty cold week.

Pickled Mustard Greens
Preparation Time: 15 Minutes
Pickling Time: 3 to 7 days

Ingredients:
2 pounds Chinese Mustard Greens – ends trimmed, washed well and cut into 2 inch pieces
1/4 cup Sea Salt (adjust to taste)
2 cups Rice for making Rice Water as stated below

Directions:

1. Place the greens in a large bowl, sprinkle salt and toss well.
2. To make rice water, place rice in a pot or bowl and add about 2 to 3 cups of water or as needed. Scrub and rub the rice well with hands to get the water as cloudy as you can.
3. Pour rice water over the greens and mix well.
4. Place the greens in an airtight glass jar pressing down as much as you can to avoid gaps and air pockets.
5. Fill the jar all the way up with rice water. Close it tight and leave it in warm place for 3 days to one week.
6. It is ready when all of the vegetables are no longer bright green. You can taste to see if it has reached your desired sourness. The longer you keep it out the more sour it will get.
7. Once ready, store it in refrigerator.

Note: I used 1 quart Canning Jar and had some leftover so used one smaller jar for the leftovers greens.

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Steamed Buns with Coconut Filling

Chinese steamed buns are very popular in Burma and we call them Pausi. There are different varieties of fillings that you can get but most common ones that I grew up eating were curry chicken with boiled egg, red bean paste and coconut. I've been craving for these buns for a while now but haven't really found a recipe that uses only basic ingredients for the dough until I saw this recipe on Maangchi's website. I've been planning to make this for some time now but never actually got a chance to try it out. I wanted to make the savory version with curry chicken but I don't remember it enough to come up with something close to what I used to eat. At last, I decided to give it a shot with coconut filling while waiting for my sister to give me recipe for curry version.

The dough recipe is quiet easy to follow and the filling used here is very simple. Dough can be filled with variety of vegetable, meat or sweet fillings. This coconut filling is also very versatile and can be used to fill puff pastries or even spring roll sheets to form spring rolls or samosas. Combinations are endless and sky is the limit :). I'll post more in future when I make them. Below is half of original recipe.

Steamed Buns with Coconut Filling

Makes: 8 buns
Preparation Time: 30 minutes
Cooking Time: 30 minutes
Dough Resting Time:  1 hour 30 minutes

Ingredients:
For Dough:
1/2 cup Luke Warm Water (between 105 and 110 degrees Fahrenheit)
1 teaspoon Active Dry Yeast
1 tablespoon Vegetable Oil
1/2 teaspoon Sugar
1 1/2 cups All Purpose Flour
1/4 teaspoon Salt
Oil Spray

For Filling:
6 ounces Fresh Coconut – shredded (about 1/2 coconut or 2 1/2 cups shredded)
2 tablespoons Sugar (Adjust to taste)
Pinch of Salt

Other:
8 Standard Cupcake Liners or Parchment Paper cut into 4 inch squares

Directions:

1. In a large bowl, combine water, yeast, oil and sugar. Mix with a spoon until well combined.
2. Sift in flour and salt into the liquid mixture and stir with a wooden spatula to combine. When it becomes hard to stir, start kneading dough with hands until smooth for about 2 to 3 minutes.
3. Lightly coat the bowl with oil spray, put dough, turn once to coat with oil, cover and leave it in warm area for about 40 minutes or until doubled in size. (For faster rising, place the bowl in a larger bowl filled with warm water)
4. Knead the dough for about a minute to remove air, cover and leave it again for another 30 minutes.
5. Meanwhile, in a medium size pan combine coconut, sugar, salt and cook over medium low heat stirring frequently until sugar is melted for about 2 to 3 minutes. Remove from heat and let it cool completely.
6. Place cupcake liners 1 inch apart on the rack of a steamer and keep aside.
7. Take dough and divide into 8 equal portions. (Keep unused dough covered to prevent from drying out.)
8. On lightly floured surface, roll each portion into approximately 4 inch circles leaving center thicker than edges.
9. Take a heap tablespoon (or 1/8) of filling and place in middle of the circle. Gather the edges of the dough and conceal the filling by pinching and sealing the edges while forming pleats. Twist ends off to seal and close; and place it in prepared steamer rack.
10. Continue rolling and filling rest of the dough, cover and let it rise for 20 minutes.
11. Steam the buns for 20 minutes, covered and undisturbed.
12. Turn off the heat, remove buns from steamer and serve.

Note: Steamed buns can be kept at room temperature for a day or two. Keep them in fridge for few more days after that. Before serving, wrap it with damped paper towel and microwave for 10 to 15 seconds.

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