Srilankan Seeni Sambal Buns

Ever since I became a member of Home Bakers group, I always take the pledge to do the monthly challenge, but every time I failed to do it... The host, Priya, chooses wonderful recipes from different blogs every month, this time she chose buns for the monthly challenge.

I was so much touched by one of the recipes, Mozarella stuffed buns, Mozarella being my favorite of all cheeses, but due to unavailability of other ingredients mentioned in the recipe, I opted to skip it.
The second recipe was of Srilankan Seeni Sambal Buns, which again caught my attention, as it was another form of stuffed buns. I love buns with filling in it. But however, I was unsure of the taste, doubting wheather sweetness of Jaggery and sourness of Tamarind will go well with each other. But I knew, more I keep thinking, the more will be the chance that I'll skip this months challenge too. So, there was no second thinking and I sticked to Srilankan Seeni Sambal Buns and jump started with the baking. And yes, the buns tasted awesome with wonderful tasting filling. It was definitely worth trying.

Recipe adapted from here

Ingredients:

Bread dough: (makes 15 mini rolls)

• Plain flour -2 1/3 cups 300 grams
• Wheat bran -1/4 cup
• Sugar -2 tbsp
• Salt -3/4 tsp
• Yeast- 3/4 tsp ,4 grams
• Milk pwd -10 grams
• Water roux - cook 1 tbsp flour with 125ml water to form a custard. Cool completely and use it.
• Water- 100ml
• Butter -30 grams
• Oil -2 tbsp
• Fresh milk- 3 tbsp (to brush on the buns before baking.

For the Seeni Sambol Filling: (Fills 10 buns)

• 5 large red onions, sliced 
• 4 -5 garlic, grated1 small piece ginger, grated 
• curry leaf, a few
• 3/4 tablespoon chili powder 
• 3-4  teaspoons jaggery 
• 1 tablespoon tamarind extract (or use a small lime sized ball with minimum water to extract the pulp) 
• 3 teaspoons oil 
• salt, as needed

Method:

For the filling:

• Heat oil in a pan, add the curry leaves, onions, ginger and garlic and sauté until the onion starts to brown. Add the chili powder, salt, tamarind extract andllll continue to cook on low heat until the onion comes together 20-25 minutes. 
• Add the jaggery at the end when your required consistency is reached.  
• Continue to cook for a few more minutes until the jaggery is incorporated well. 
• This condiment can stay for at least a week refrigerated.

For the buns:

• Mix everything except butter.
• When the dough comes together add butter and knead well.
• Apply oil and keep aside until it double in size.
• Punch down the dough and divide the dough into 15 balls.
• Flatten each dough a bit and place 2 tsp of the filling in each.
• Pinch the ends to seal it.
• Place in the parchment paper and cover with a cling foil until double in size.
• Towards the last 10 minutes,
• preheat the oven to 180 degree C.
• Brush the buns with milk and bake for 18- 20 minutes until golden brown.
• Transfer to wire rack and serve while still warm. (I covered the buns with a clean cloth for about half an hour. This step ensures the buns stay soft).
• These buns remain soft until the next day.
• If you plan to keep for more than a day, place them in the fridge and reheat in the microwave for 20 seconds.
• Serve and enjoy.