Stuffed buns ~ with chicken fillings

The smell of freshly baked buns and having them hot, just out of the oven...hmmm... Can you picture it? This was what exactly happened at our home, when we baked these stuffed buns. The speciality of these having little spicy filling in it, makes it even more mouth watering.

When my husband came back from work, he was received by me at the door, with camera in one hand and the other hand with a half eaten bun. These were so tempting in their look and smell that I couldn't wait for him to be back, to have it :).

I would say that these are simple to make but just that they are time consuming, as you would need the yeast to get into action and double the dough for you to start. So a little planning is required, otherwise, the ingredients and the process is quite easy.

Ingredients

For making of the bun

1. 1 tbsp dry yeast
2. 2 tbsp warm water
3. 1/2 cup of lukewarm milk
4. Salt to taste
5. 1/2 cup of oil - 2 tbsp of oil
6. 2 cups of all purpose flour
7. 1/4 cup of sugar
8. 1 large egg

For making of the chicken filling

1. 200 gms of boneless chicken, cut into small cubes
2. 2 1/2 cup of chopped onions
3. 1/2 tbsp of ginger paste
4. 1/2 tbsp of garlic paste
5. 3/4 tbsp chilly powder
6. 1/2 tbsp of coriander powder
7. Salt to taste
8. 3 tbsp of oil

Method

Making of the buns

• Beat the egg well. Remove one tbsp of it to a small bowl and combine it with 1 tsp of water. This could be used as egg wash to polish the buns.
• Take a small bowl, and combine the yeast, 1/2 tbsp of flour, 1/2 tbsp of sugar and warm water. Leave it aside for 10 mins or until it rises.
• Add sugar, oil and salt to the milk and mix well till the sugar dissolves completely.
• Add half of the flour to the mixture and make a fine paste by mixing it well.
• Add the yeast mixture, that has risen well, remaining all purpose flour and the beaten egg. Mix it well to form a dough.
• Knead it well with your hand for about 10 mins.
• Cover the dough and leave it till it doubles in size. It took about 3 hrs for the dough to rise, for me.
• Using your palm, punch down the dough lightly and divide it equally into 1.5" small balls.
• Roll out each ball of dough to small discs. Place one tbsp of filling in it, seal the open ends of the dough by pressing with your fingers and roll it back and place it onto the baking sheets(with the sealed portion of the bun as the base).
• Leave it for another 20-30 minutes, till they again get larger in size.
• Brush the top of each bun with the egg wash.
• Preheat the oven to 200 C/375 F and bake them for about 10 mins. 
• Yields around 18-20 stuffed buns.

Making of the filling

• Heat the oil. Put the ginger paste and garlic paste and saute, till it gives out a nice aroma.
• Add the onions and salt. 
• Saute the onions till it gets golden brown/transparent.
• Add the chilly powder and coriander powder and mix it well. 
• Add the shredded chicken and cook it on low flame.
• Cool it before you use it as filling.

Tips

1. You should knead the dough well, so that all the ingredients gets uniformly distributed and it also determines the softness of the buns.
2. You could use white sesame seeds to sprinkle on top of the buns, after having given them the egg wash.
3. You could spice up the filling by adding in more chilly powder. I like it medium spicy and hence the measurement is kept low here.
4. Since we are using the shredded chicken, it would cook fast. Do not over cook the chicken, so that it might loose its taste.

Recipe courtesy : Ria's collection

Serve it right out of the oven to your friends, relatives or guest and I am sure they are gonna ask you for  its recipe and you could proudly share it with them :).