Spusht: Vegetable Stuffed Bun Recipe

The thing with baking breads is ... once you try making easy stuff like a loaf a few times, or a baguette a few times, you feel like going to the next level and try something like a pretzel or a challah. Then you want to try some more shapes, sizes, and types of bread. Not that bread-making has any such levels. But you basically want to experiment different kinds of breads, because it's a challenge. Because it's fun.

After I tried the breads (mentioned above) a few times, I experimented with stuffed bun one day. Making a stuffed bun is not complicated at all. In fact, making stuffed bun is MUCH easier than making a stuffed paratha! Then, I made them again when I had a friend over for dinner, and added another kind of filling. Then I made the stuffed buns again, using whole wheat flour instead of all-purpose flour. Now a vegetable stuffed bun has become one of my favorite appetizers to make if I can't think of anything else.

Stuffed Bun Recipe | Eggless stuffed bun recipe

For the vegetable stuffing:

You can cook any mixed vegetable with your choice of spices, cook a potato sabji, or add a paneer bhurji (scrambled paneer) stuffing inside the bun. Various options. Just make sure your stuffing is neither too dry, nor like a gravy.

For the bun:

½ cup lukewarm water

2 ½ tsp yeast

1 tsp sugar

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500 gm all-purpose flour

1 Tbsp sugar

1 ½ tsp salt

250 ml lukewarm milk

¼ cup butter, room temp

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Water for sprinkling

Milk for brushing

Butter for shining

1. In a small bowl, add lukewarm water + yeast + sugar, stir, cover and keep in warm place for 10 minutes until frothy. This step is to proof the yeast.

2. Then, in a large bowl, sift flour + sugar + salt. Make a center, add the fermented yeast mixture + lukewarm milk and gently knead into a soft dough. Add ¼ cup butter and knead 2-3 minutes more until smooth and elastic. In these pictures that you see, I used whole wheat flour.

3. Grease the bowl with some butter or oil and dust some flour in it. Placing the dough in the bowl, cover the bowl with a damp muslin cloth. Keep in warm place for at least 1 hour until doubles in volume. In cooler weather, keep for at least 2 hours.

4. Once doubled, press and punch the dough gently to remove air. Divide dough into 15-20 balls. Flatten each ball (not too thin), put the stuffing in the center, lift the edges and seal them together. Keep all buns sealed side down on a parchment paper on the baking tray. Sprinkle some water over the buns and keep in warm place for 10-15 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat the oven at 220C/425F.

5. Then, brush milk on each bun, bake for around 15-20 mins until light brown. Each one’s oven is different, and the baking time also depends on the shape and size of your bun, so check on yours at 15 minutes and judge how much longer it needs to be baked. When the buns are done, brush them with butter for a shine, and transfer to cooling rack, let cool to room temperature before enjoying your warm vegetable stuffed bun.

If you notice in the above mixture the vegetables are apparent and still maintaining their individual pieces. The other time I tried with another stuffing and different spices, I mashed them. (see picture below). You notice how the stuffing can be formed into balls properly? It's a good soft yet not mushy consistency. The dough was made of all-purpose flour, hence the obvious color and texture difference too (compare with the process picture above).

If you ask me - I loved the buns made of all-purpose flour. Whole wheat flour was used just to make the bun 'healthy' instead of using all-purpose flour (maida, in my case). But the taste and texture is no match. Try and tell me which flour you used, which one you liked better, and which fillings you tried.