Stuffed Veggie Buns

Breakfast settled, another thing I'm trying to keep on top of is making sure I'm eating on time. That is, I have my meals around the same time each day(chaotic schedule, you shall be defeated!).

So far, it's actually worked out. Yet recently I snagged some extra hours at work and, as a result, now find myself with a shift that overlaps one of those times and is too short to take a break to have my normal second meal.

This called for something not too messy I could kinda eat "on-the-go". My first thought was onigiri, but then I was reading Huntress and reminded of something I really love for on-the-go style eating yet hadn't made in awhile. That is, stuffed, steamed or baked, buns.

Since I clearly made the baked variety, that's the recipe I'm going to go with here. Steamed is a tad different and I might cover it later. Things you will need for this bun: flour, olive oil, quick-rising yeast, sugar, salt, and soy butter(optional). For the filling, it's very open-ended, yet for what is pictured I included tumeric powder, onions, curry powder, garlic, carrots, mushrooms, potato, snow peas, and parsley.

To start, pour 2 cups of flour into a medium to large bowl. Move the flour around to create a little bowl-like area in the center of it. In this area pour 1/2 a packet of yeast, 1/2 tsp. of sugar, and 1/2 cup of warm water. Let sit until the yeast starts to froth, shouldn't take more than ten minutes. From there add 4 Tbsp. sugar, 1/4 c. olive oil, 1 tbsp. salt, 1/2 Tbsp. soy butter(optional), and about 1 c. water, stirring it all together. If it's looking dry, add a little more water as needed.

Once it's looking relatively moist though still sticking together, gather the dough into the center of the bowl then cover it with a damp towel for at least an hour, allowing the dough to rise.

As this is happening, I suggest preparing the filling. For this batch, since I was planning on making a few smaller ones filled with anko for a treat, I used about 1/2 a carrot, 3 mushrooms, 2 bulbs of garlic, 8 snow peas, 1/2 a potato, 1/2 a red onion, and a dash of the tumeric powder, curry powder, and parsley. So, assuming you're filling them all rather than making a side-snack as well, double that.

Dice all the filling ingredients into tiny pieces then fry them together in a pan for about ten minutes, then set aside to cool until the dough is ready.

Preheating the over to 450F, and when the hour is up, spread out some flour and dump out the dough onto it. Roll the dough in the flour creating a log-like shape then, using a knife, cut the dough into 6 to 8 portions(depending on how big you want them) and roll each portion into a ball.

Going one at a time, flatten each dough ball out(try not to make the center too thin!) then place an even portion of the filling in the center of each. To close, merely fold the sides over the filling then roll it in your hands into a bun shape. Place each bun, folded side down, onto a non-stick pan, leaving enough space between them so that they don't stick together.

Bake for 30 minutes or until they begin to brown.

Once done, allow them to cool down then dig in!

Some alternative filling suggestions: Japanese-style curry, shredded carrots/bok choy/daikon, scrambled tofu w/ veggies. As I said, it's very open-ended.