Phun with Phyllo

It’s not just for triangles any more.

So my building is having a Lunar New Year Party. I decided to make pork buns and had planned on making the dough for the buns. But recently, I have rediscovered the joy of Phyllo (or Filo) pastry and all the fun things that can be done with it with a bit of planning and butter. For example, I made little buns for Thanksgiving stuffed with stuffing and cranberry sauce. A big hit. Can be made in advance and frozen. Goes from freezer to oven. Ticks all the do ahead boxes and then some. As an aside, they were pretty delicious. Ergo, in trying to simplify my pork buns and get as much done ahead as possible, I started racking my brain for alternative ideas and came up with a concept using phyllo. This gave me multiple options, buns, squares, triangles (sooooo yesterday), and what I finally set out with, spring rolls. And what is a Lunar New Year Party without something spring roll-y or egg roll-y. Same filling, easier to put together and fun to make.

Before we get into the process a few words about phyllo. It is a bit tricky to work with until you get accustomed to it. After that it is very easy to use. The key is that the dough needs to be covered as you work pull the sheets off. I dampen a paper towel and lay it over the remaining sheets as I work. You can use a damp towel, whatever is most comfortable for you. Also, if you are going to work with layers (2 or more sheets) it is really helpful to butter or oil the the sheets as you stack, especially around the edges. If something tears, do not worry. The oiled sheets will stick together and you will not notice the tear. OK. with the recipe.

I used a filling from thewoksoflife.com for mini pork buns. But you can use whatever savory or sweet filling you want. As this was for a Lunar New Year Party, my filling had more of an Asian savory bent. Below are the items I used for the pastry. I melted a stick of butter and added a tablespoon of sesame oil to flavor. You can add a seasoning to the butter omit. I liked the idea of sesame oil as it was also in the mix for the preparation of the pork. I made my little rolls with two layers of dough. See below. The filling had already been cooked and cooled.

You can see the various stages including the final product, the little roll. I made 80 of these little rolls and froze them. I did make one to show you what will be served. I brought one directly from the freezer, preheated the oven to 400F and sprayed the top of the pastry with avocado oil. You can use butter, oil or nothing, but the oil does help in the browning. I cooked for 10 minutes. I would have liked them a bit more brown and crispy, so next time I will add time. After the cooking process, I brushed a bit of sugar water over the top and sprinkled some black sesame seeds. As an aside, the sugar water is made by dissolving sugar into warm water. That’s it.

These are tasty little morsels. Great for a party. The rolling process may be a bit tedious, but I found it a very zen thing. If rolling isn’t your think, ask friends to help and provide wine. The rolling will go much faster! Gang Shi Fat Choi!! Year of the Snake!