I always like the savoury version of almost everything. I think in my body, there must be something going on and requiring me to provide salt all the time. I was never a fan of sweet food to solve a starving situation in my life. When I was really hungry, I don’t go to a lolly jag or a cookie tin to haunt my target. I would rather spend another 5 minutes to cook something on the stove with salt or brew a bowl of instant soup than munching a piece of dry biscuit.

That’s the motivation behind all these savoury buns that I made this Sunday. I got to try them out. Not just they look funky and kind of skill-demanding, it’s also because they make me smell something, something with the aroma of cooking oil, shallot and salty meat. The minced meat looks like tiny little stars scattering on the white background. I can remember many many years ago in the canteen of my uni , they always had these things available, even though they looked slightly different. We had to be quick or go there earlier, otherwise, there won’t be anything left.

The way to make these buns was interesting enough to keep me focused. Roll a dough to 3 big skin-ish pieces, brush each piece with oil, sprinkle with shallot, minced meat, then stack 3 layers together. The next step is to cut out this three layers piece of pastry into many thin strips (about 15-18 cm long), then wrap a bundle of strips together to form the shape of the bun. It’s a bit hard to handle the minced meat from falling as well as forming the strips together from falling apart, as not all of them sticking well on the pastry. However, I managed that part.

The buns look very cute and extremely complex if you don’t know how they are made. It’s more like an artistic work than a cook’s job. When I’ve got them all cooked in a steamer, I can smell it, a kind of very nice smell. However, I have to say that I did miss something there. I should have sprinkled salt on each piece separately, instead of trusting the cooked minced meat’s own salty flavour, which is just not salty enough. So, next time, I will make them better.