Serves a Crowd

Pan-fried Daikon Radish Buns

November 15, 2019
5
2 Ratings
Photo by @woon.heng
  • Prep time 30 minutes
  • Cook time 20 minutes
  • Makes 9
Author Notes

Popular Taiwanese street food that is filled with delicious Daikon wrapped in a soft homemade dough and then pan-fried until golden brown. —WoonHeng Chia

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Ingredients
  • Bun dough
  • 300 grams all purpose flour
  • 1 cup hot boiling water
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • Filling and Seasoning
  • 7 cups shredded Daikon radish
  • 8 ounces firm tofu
  • 1/2 cup chopped King oyster mushrooms
  • 1/4 cup shredded carrots
  • 1/4 cup chopped cilantro
  • a few rock sugar
  • 1.5 tablespoons soy sauce
  • 2 teaspoons toasted sesame oil
  • 1 teaspoon white pepper
  • a pinch of sugar
  • salt to taste
  • oil for cooking
Directions
  1. To make the dough, mix the flour and salt in a large bowl until well combined.
  2. Attach a dough hook to the mixer and while the mixer is running in low-medium speed, slowly add in hot water and knead until a soft dough forms. Let the dough rest for 15 minutes, covered.
  3. Meanwhile, place shredded daikon in a saucepan and cook over medium heat with a few rock sugar/1 teaspoon sugar until almost translucent. Set aside to cool.
  4. In a heated non-stick pan with 1 teaspoon oil, saute mushrooms and carrots for 2 minutes. Then add in tofu cubes and season with 1/2 tablespoon soy sauce, a pinch of salt, and set aside.
  5. Squeeze all the liquid out from the daikon and mix it together with tofu, cilantro and all seasoning in a bowl.
  6. To make the buns, roll the dough on a floured surface into a log and then divide it into 9 pieces. Flatten each one with your palm and roll it into a round wrapper.
  7. Place 3-4 tablespoons filling in the middle, pleat to seal and press down with palm to slightly flatten it.
  8. To cook the buns, add a drizzle of oil in a heated nonstick pan. Then, place buns into pan, pleated side down and pan fry until golden brown over low-medium heat.
  9. Flip and cook the other side until slightly brown. Then, add in 1/2 cup of water, place lid over and cook until all water has been absorbed.
  10. Serve warm with chili oil. These buns stay soft until the next day. 

See what other Food52ers are saying.

14 Reviews

Nancy B. May 13, 2021
Am making but notice this recipe is very different than the one on your web site. Why?
WoonHeng C. May 13, 2021
Hi Nancy, yes, it's a little different but both yield the same results. Thanks
Nancy B. May 14, 2021
Hmm. It's not just a little different. It's very different. In one you saute daikon first. In other you don't. In one you use boiling water and dough and a dough hook and in the other lukewarm water plus oil. One has a teaspoon of white pepper and the other has 1/8 tablespoon w/ other spices like 5-spice and mushroom seasoning, both not in Food52! I wonder why you changed it for Food52. It seems that the one on your website is more fully authentic whereas the this one has been simplified. I did make, using mainly the one on your web site, and they were good! Would spice up a bit. Also, in pleating the dough the part where the ends meet ended up raw, so it was hard to balance keeping buns from burning and ensuring the part where all the pleated ends meet are cooked. Any tips on that appreciated! Thanks!
Nancy B. May 14, 2021
^mistakes in above. 1/8 tsp of white pepper, not tablespoon!
WoonHeng C. May 14, 2021
Hi Nancy, so glad to know you've tried the recipe. I always try to roll out the dough aiming to keep the middle thicker than the sides. This way you'll have two even top and bottom layers. This needs to use low heat when cooking and cover the pan with a lid will help as the steam from the cooking will cook the bun as well. Or you can add a little water after the second flip and cook it like potsticker style. Hope that helps. :-) In regards to the recipe, there are so many ways to create these buns and I hope anyone can pick their favorite ways in recreating. That said, although this recipe was created 2 years ago, it has the same basic techniques that I love. Thanks for your suggestion and for sharing your feedback. Have a beautiful weekend, Nancy. Best, WoonHeng
Andrea September 26, 2020
I’ve made these twice and both times all the buns lost their bottoms when I tried to take them out of the pot. I followed the recipe and used a non-stick pot, not sure what I’m doing wrong...
WoonHeng C. September 26, 2020
Hello Andrea, thanks for your feedback. It sounds like the dough might be a little wet, probably from the juice seeping out from the filling, maybe? If you have some opened pleat, that might be the cause too. In the future, you can also wait for the buns to cool down before removing which helps. Let me know if you have any other questions.
Andrea September 26, 2020
I’ve made these twice and both times all the buns lost their bottoms when I tried to take them out of the pot. I followed the recipe and used a non-stick pot, not sure what I’m doing wrong...
Heidi February 14, 2020
This recipe was great and not very difficult. I tried it because I got daikon in my CSA produce box and wasn’t sure of the best way to use it - this turned out delicious.
WoonHeng C. February 14, 2020
Thank you for making this recipe, so excited you are able to use your Daikon on this. :-)
Marita N. December 3, 2019
Great recipe! Only thing is that I found it a little bland, and that it could easily benefit from more seasoning. Super easy to make though, will definitely make it again.
WoonHeng C. February 14, 2020
Thank you so much for trying this recipe. So glad you find it easy to work with.
Foodslover November 21, 2019
I tried the recipe and it tasted so good! It reminds me of the street foods in Taiwan. Thanks for this awesome share!
WoonHeng C. September 26, 2020
Thank you so much, I am so happy you tried it and loved it! Have a wonderful day.