Our Purple Sweet Potato and Taro Stuffed Steamed Buns and Asian/Pacific Sliders

Do You Love Steamed Buns As Much As We Do?

Then You Are Very Welcomed Here

This Purple Sweet Potato Steamed Bun was born out of a recipe that we discovered back when we were living in Hawaii. The Purple Sweet Potatoes originate in the Philippines. Hawaii has a very large Filipino community. The Purple Sweet Potatoes are beautiful! Also very tasty.

Getting Out The Pots, and the Steamers

You Can Make Them Any Size You Like

You Can Also Fill Them With Whatever You Like

We made two kinds of Steamed Buns here.

One is stuffed with a sweet Taro Filling, and the other has no Filling.

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You Can See The Taro Filling Here

These Are Right Out Of The Steamer

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Our Asian/Pacific Sliders

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Tocino Pork

Tocino Pork originated in the Philippines. You will usually always find it in the Asian section of your grocery stores. This ham is usually from the pork belly of the pig. We love this pork! It is slightly sweet and is already marinated. Comes in Pork and Chicken. All you have to do is to follow the package directions. We however, did not! Gordon placed it on a foil lined baking sheet and put it in the oven on 350F to cook for 15 minutes each side. The more char that it gets the better caramelized it becomes.

This is perfect on our Asian/Pacific Sliders.

Our Purple Sweet Potato Buns, Tocino Pork, Kimchi, and Pickled Ginger

A Nice Light Lunch,

or, a Burger Sized Dinner

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Continuing with our Kimchi Condiment, Kimchi Crisps and Veggie Chips

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Also Great With Taro Fries

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Making Taro Fries

This is easy! Gordon just bought a block of the Taro Root from the Asian Grocery Store, and chopped it into long fries. It is a more firm root vegetable. More so that an Idaho Potato consistency.

Gordon poured about 2 inches of Vegetable Oil into a cast iron pot.

And heated the oil to medium temperature, about 5.5.

When the oil is up to temperature then add your Taro Fries.

You want to cook the fires for about 5 minutes or until a crispy brown.

Do not crowd the pot, fry a few at a time.

Remove from the oil and place onto paper towels for the oil to drain.

While still hot immediately sprinkle the Black Hawaiian Sea Salt.

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A Good Sprinkling of Black Hawaiian Sea Salt

This is honestly the best salt I’ve ever tasted.

Enjoy The Sliders!

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Also Check Out Our:

Asian Steamed Buns, Bao and Manapua

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Purple Sweet Potato Steamed Buns w/ Sweet Taro Filling

Ingredients:

2 x 16 oz. pkgs. Grated Purple Yam – Thawed, (It Comes Frozen)

1/2 Cup Water for the Grated Purple Yams

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2 x 20 oz. pkgs. Taro – Thawed, (It Comes Frozen)

1/3 Cup Water for the Taro

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1 Tbsp. Sugar

1/4 Cup Half and Half

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1/3 Cup Water (Heated between 100-110’F)

1 pkg. Active Dry Yeast

1/2 Tbsp. Sugar for the Yeast

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5 1/2 Cups All Purpose Flour

1 Tbsp. Vegetable Oil for the dough

2 Tbsp. Vegetable Oil for the bowl

Red and Blue Food Coloring

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Pictured are the thawed purple yams and taro.

Place two packages of the yams into a blender.

Add 1/2 cup water to the blender.

Blend until smooth.

Remove the blended yams from the blender and place into a medium sized bowl.

Here is our thawed taro with some type of seasonings on it. It came that way.

Add the taro to your cleaned blender.

Add 1/3 Cup water to the blender.

Blend the taro and water until almost smooth.

Add 1 Tbsp. sugar to the taro…

and then add the Half and Half to the taro, then blend until smooth.

Add the taro to a large saute pan. Heat the taro until it begins to thicken.

Stir the taro as it is heated.

Heat 1/3 Cup water to between 100 and 110’F. I use a digital thermometer to check the temperature.

Place the yeast into the heated water.

Add 1/2 Tbsp. sugar to feed the yeast which helps it to activate.

Stir the yeast and sugar until slightly combined.

Let the activated yeast sit.

As it sits, you should see it grow in volume as shown.

Add 5 1/2 Cups All Purpose flour to a large bowl as shown.

The yeast is still growing!

Pictured is the flour and the yams.

Add your yeast to the flour then add the vegetable oil.

Now, add your yams to the flour and yeast mixture.

Stir and the ingredients to start combining them.

(The photo on the left is the start of the dough. The photo on the right is our Taro Filling.)

Gordon Stirring the Dough Together

With your clean hands begin to form the dough.

Blue and Red Makes Purple (Sort of.)

We added some food coloring to the dough to try to make it more purple in color. Kneed the dough by folding it onto itself for about 5 minutes to form the gluten within the dough. Gluten makes the dough elastic.

Here is the dough after the 5 min.

Remove the dough from the bowl and add vegetable oil to the bowl.

Place the dough back into the bowl and coat the dough and the bowl with the oil. This will help the dough to not stick to the sides of the bowl. Cover the dough bowl with a large kitchen towel.

Place the dough into a warm place for an hour. I turn my oven on for about 10 seconds then turn it off. This will ensure the oven is slightly warmed.

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Second Batch of Dough

(This time we’re trying to make it more PURPLE.)

Here we made the dough the same way, but this time added the food coloring to the yams before blending them.

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Now That is Purple

Make your yeast again…

Mix the flour, yeast and yams as before.

Kneed the dough for about five minutes as before.

Here you see both doughs in the oven rising in the warm air.

Here is the first dough after it has risen.

I pushed the dough down…

and did the same with the other dough and placed them into the refrigerator to let them rest overnight. You can skip this step if you plan on making the Purple Sweet Potato Steamed Buns with Sweet Taro Filling directly after making the dough.

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Next Day

The dough continued to rise in the refrigerator.

Dust your working surface with a little bit of flour so the dough won’t stick.

I also place some flour on the dough.

Using your hands, roll the dough into a two inch diameter, round cylinder shape as shown.

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Slice the dough into ~one inch sections using a dough cutter or knife.

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Here you can see the cut sections.

Flatten a cut section first with the palm of your hand.

Then roll the dough out starting from near the center making a round shape. Leave the center of the dough slightly thicker than the rest of the dough.

Here is the Sweet Taro Filling when freshly made.

And here is the Sweet Taro Filling after being in the refrigerator overnight.

I placed half into a bowl and used an Asian spoon to scoop out ~ 1 Tbsp.

I used a second spoon to help remove the Sweet Taro from the first spoon creating a ball.

Here you see the ball which is then placed in the center of the rounded dough.

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Forming The Steamed Buns

Form the dough around the taro using your finger, gathering the ends together as shown. Squeeze the ends together making it smooth.

Place the dough into your hands and create a nice ball shape.

Place the dough onto a plate until you have enough to fill your steamer.

Cut parchment paper into strips then into squares large enough for the balls to sit on.

In your steamer pot, place about two inches of water and turn the burner onto high to begin to boil the water.

Place about five Sweet Potato Balls into each steamer basket as shown and place them on top of boiling water.

Steam the buns for about 12-15 minutes.

Remove the steamer baskets from the boiling water.

When cooled, remove the steamed buns from the basket.

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Here you can see the cooked buns with the delicious sweet taro inside.

You can reuse the cut parchment sheets for the next batch of steamed buns if you like.

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Tocino Pork

This is the Tocino Pork that I write about above.

Marinating in it’s Package

You want to separate it and place it on a foil lined baking sheet.

Into the 350’F Oven it Goes

15 Minutes Each Side

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The Tocino Pork is an All Day Breakfast Food served in the Philippines.

Perfect for Lunch, Snack, or Dinner

Aloha,

Julie and Gordon

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If you would like to view our other Asian pages:

Click Here For: Whann Way Asian

AND,

Click Here For: Whann Way Asian, E Ho ‘Omau (Continues)

AND,

Click Here For: Julie Loves Asian

AND,

Click Here For: Asian Edible Gifts

AND,

Edible Gifts of the Asian Variety

(Note: Edible Gifts of the Asian Variety is the same post as Asian Edible Gifts. I have both listed here for accuracy, but one is a Page and the other is considered a Post. Confusing, I know.)

AND,

Click Here For: Our Asian Easter