Naengi Ppang - Shepherd's Purse Buns
Fragrant veggie packed buns of naengi or Shepherds’s Purse and cabbage in a fluffy bun with a savory spicy tangy dipping sauce.
Naengi Ppang - Shepherd’s Purse Buns
Makes 16 buns
Naengi or Shepher'd’s Purse in English is a seasonal vegetable that i can only seem to find at the tail end of winter and beginning of spring where I live in South Korea. In the States, I have never found naengi fresh but it is easily available in the freezer section of your local Asian store.
These vegetable buns are filled with a fragrant vegetable filling of naengi, cabbage, buchu and shiitake mushrooms and flavored with oyster sauce, garlic and ginger. The mix of veggies is hearty and the perfect foil to the tender fluffy bun modified slightly from the Woks of Life. You can find their original recipe for the bun dough here.
When i make these buns, I like to serve them both pan fried and steamed. The pan fried buns are crisp on both sides and have a richer flavor. The steamed buns are crisp on the bottom and soft on top with an eating experience similar to that of a good sandwich.
“Recipe Tips:
1. Optionally, you can add 227g (0.50 lb) uncooked ground pork to the filling mixture along with an additional 1 T soy sauce, 0.25 t kosher salt, and 0.25 t ground white pepper. Fill and cook as directed adding an additional 90 seconds of cooking to each side.
2. If desired, you can freeze half of the buns after the 15 minute rise. Cook as directed from frozen adding a few extra minutes to the cooking time listed.”
Ingredients
400g (4 c) Napa cabbage, finely minced
1 t kosher salt
Dough
4g (1 t) instant yeast
300ml (1.5 c) warm water
455g (3.5 c) all purpose flour
65g (0.50 c) whole wheat flour or all purpose flour
10g (2 t) sugar
6g (1.5 t) kosher salt
1g (0.25 t) baking powder
Filling
1.5 T vegetable oil
180g (8 medium - large) fresh shiitake mushrooms, finely minced
150g (1.5 c) carrots, chopped
6 garlic cloves, minced
7g (1.5 t) ginger, minced
2 T oyster sauce
1.25 t sugar
1 t ground coriander
0.75 t ground sancho or Sichuan pepper
0.75 t kosher salt
0.50 t ground white pepper
3 T soy sauce
300g (a little less than 0.75 lb) naengi or shepherd’s purse, leaves and roots, finely chopped
60g (2/3 c) buchu, chopped
1 T sesame oil
Dallae yangnyeom
100g (1 c) dallae, cleaned and cut into 1 in lengths or buchu
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 cheongyang chili, sliced
1 non-spicy red chili, sliced
4 T soy sauce
1.5 T mirin
1.5 T toasted sesame seeds
1 T sesame oil
1 T soup soy sauce or soy sauce
1 T gochugaru
1.5 t maesil or honey
1 t rice vinegar
0.25 t ground black pepper
Finishing for 8 buns
1 scallion greens and white, sliced
0.50 t white sesame seeds
0.50 t black sesame seeds
Recipe Know-how
1. In a medium bowl, toss the cabbage with the salt and allow to salt for 45 minutes.
Continue on to dough while the cabbage salts.
Dough
2. In a small bowl combine 100ml (0.50 c) of the water with the yeast.
Allow to sit for 5 minutes or until the mixture begins to bubble.
If the yeast does not show any signs of activity, throw out the mixture and begin again.
3. In a large mixing bowl, combine the remaining dough ingredients mixing well.
Make a well in the center of the flour and add the yeast mixture and half of the remaining water.
Mix the liquids into the flour to make a dough.
Add the remaining water as needed to make a shaggy, slightly sticky dough.
Turn the dough out onto a clean unfloured work surface.
Knead for 5 – 7 minutes or until very soft and smooth.
Place the dough into a lightly oiled bowl, cover and allow to ferment for 1 – 1.5 hours or until doubled in bulk.
Make the filling while the dough sits.
Filling
4. Squeeze out the water from the cabbage, discard the liquid and reserve the cabbage. Set aside.
5. In a large saute pan, heat the vegetable oil over high heat.
Add the mushrooms and cook for 4 – 5 minutes stirring occasionally until lightly golden.
Add the carrots, ginger and garlic continuing to cook for another 2 minutes.
Add the oyster sauce and cook for 1 minute.
Add the cabbage, spices and seasonings and cook for 1 minute longer.
Add the soy sauce, naengi and buchu.
Cook stirring occasionally for 2 minutes longer.
Off heat, add the sesame oil mixing well.
Taste for seasoning and adjust as desired.
Cool completely.
Make the yangnyeom while the filling cools.
Yangnyeom
6. In a medium mixing bowl, combine all of the ingredients mixing well.
Refrigerate until needed.
Filling and cooking
7. Punch down dough and turn out onto an unfloured work surface.
Knead for 1 minute.
Divide dough into 16 evenly sized pieces.
Lightly flour a “landing space” this is where you will put the rolled wrappers and filled buns.
Roll one portion of dough into a 3-inch circle with the center slightly thicker and the edges thinner.
Place onto the “landing space”.
Cover the rolled-out dough with plastic wrap.
Repeat with the remaining portions of dough.
Working one piece of dough at a time, fill with 3 T of the filling.
Pleat or bunch the edges of the dough to seal completely.
Place the filled bun on the “landing space”, and cover loosely with plastic wrap, adding a little more flour to the surface if needed.
Repeat with the remaining dough and filling.
Allow to rise for 15 minutes.
8. For Pan Fried Buns:
Heat a large nonstick pan over medium-high with 1 T of vegetable oil.
Add the buns ensuring not to overcrowd the pan.
Reduce the heat to medium.
Cook for 2 minutes covered.
Flip and lightly press down the bun.
Cook covered for another 2 minutes.
Uncover and cook a further 1.5 minutes on each side.
Increase heat to high.
Add the scallion and sesame seeds.
While swirling the pan constantly cook for 30 seconds, flip and cook for 30 seconds longer.
9. For Steam Buns:
Heat a large nonstick pan over medium-high with 1 T of vegetable oil
Add the buns ensuring not to overcrowd the pan.
Reduce the heat to medium.
Cook for 2 minutes twisting the buns occasionally to evenly brown.
Add 75ml (1/3 c) water and cover the pan quickly.
Steam the buns for 5 minutes.
Uncover and increase the heat to high.
Cook until the liquid has almost completely evaporated and the buns begin to fry gently.
Add the scallions and sesame seeds.
Swirl constantly for 1 minute.
Flip and cook for 45 seconds longer swirling constantly to coat with scallions and sesame seeds
Flip back and swirl for 30 longer or until the scallions begin to crisp gently.
10. Serve with the yangnyeom.
