Sri Lankan Fish Buns
Try my easy fool-proof recipe to make delicious Sri Lankan Fish Buns. A soft fluffy bun filled with a spicy potato and mackerel filling. Best for a savory breakfast or as a snack or to serve with tea.
If you ask any Sri Lankan what the most famous Sri Lankan bakery bun is, I promise you, you’re going to get the same answer from everyone. I lived 25 years of my life in Sri Lanka and I’ve never found a bakery that doesn’t sell fish buns. They’re like donuts in the USA, available everywhere, loved by everyone.
I used to have these fish buns for breakfast so very often when I was a school kid. And even as an adult. When I moved to the USA I really missed the bakery buns I used to have back in Sri Lanka. This is one of the very first bakery items I attempted to make. I’ve been perfecting my recipe since 2015. And I can proudly say that now I have the perfect recipe to make Sri Lankan fish buns. They taste just like the buns you get in Sri Lankan bakeries, or better I would say.
The dough
The dough I’m using here is the same dough I use to make my most visited sausage buns recipe but I do add a little bit more liquid in this one. So it’s a little easier to shape. If you don’t want to use milk in the recipe, do substitute milk with water. I use instant dry yeast/rapid-rise yeast/fast-acting yeast in the recipe. You can definitely use active dry yeast instead but make sure to activate your yeast first with lukewarm milk and a little bit of sugar.
Hand kneading instructions:
- Mix lukewarm milk with yeast in a bowl ( and a touch of sugar if you're using active dry yeast or if you're not sure your yeast is good).
- Add sugar, softened butter, and the egg and mix with a spoon or a fork.
- Then add salt, and flour (reserve about ¼ cup of flour to add later as you mix) and mix with your hands. The flour should make big lumps. Keep mixing until there isn’t any loose flour left and all the flour is in clumps.
- Now dump everything onto a lightly floured bench and press all the flour lumps together and make it into a rough ball.
- Knead the dough ball for about 20 mins or until it’s smooth like a baby's butt, lump-free, and stretchy. Add flour a little by little only if the dough is sticking to your hand while kneading.
Important info:
- Use instant dry yeast or fast-acting yeast. This type of yeast doesn’t need to be activated. You can use active dry yeast too but then make sure you add that to warm milk first with a little bit of sugar and wait until it’s foamy and all the yeast is activated.
- Always use a newly bought, unopened yeast packet. They’re living organisms and they too die.
- When you proof the dough, focus on the size and feel of the dough rather than the time. The time it takes to double the dough in size varies depending on room temperature.
- Do not over-proof. If you wait too long, you can damage the gluten structure which holds the air in. And as soon as you put them into the oven the dough will collapse and you’d end up with dense bread. When the dough is proofed right, when you poke it gently it should slowly bounce back up.
- By resting the dough before shaping you’re going to let the gluten relax. So when you stretch the dough it will stay as you stretched without pulling back into its original shape.
The Filling
The filling is very easy and you only need a handful of ingredients. The main ingredients are canned mackerel, potatoes, and onions. If you want to make the mixture with fresh fish use Boiled, mashed tuna instead. You can also use canned tuna instead of canned mackerel too. Be careful not to make the mixture too watery as it would make the buns soggy. Also, be generous with black pepper and green chilies for more flavor and heat. Some people use Sri Lankan curry powder in their filling too. You can totally customize the filling to your liking.
If you love bakery buns, check out easy egg buns, Spicy potato buns, and sausage buns recipes too. If you try my Sri Lankan fish buns recipe, please leave me a comment and give me your feedback. Really appreciate it
Affiliate Links to the products I use:
Try my easy fool-proof recipe to make delicious Sri Lankan Fish Buns. A soft fluffy bun filled with a spicy potato and mackerel filling. Best for a savory breakfast or as a snack or to serve with tea.
- 500 g potatoes (Waxy type)
- 1 cup chopped onion
- 2 garlic cloves chopped
- 3 large green chilies chopped or sliced (reduce for low heat)
- 2 sprigs of curry leaves chopped
- 1 can of mackerel (425g)
- 2 tsp chili flakes (reduce for low heat)
- 2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
- 1/4 tsp turmeric powder
- 1 tbsp coconut oil
- salt to your taste
- 450 g all purpose flour
- 245 g lukewarm milk (yes measure in grams)
- 1 Egg
- 22 g sugar
- 20 g butter
- 7 g instant dry yeast
- 9 g salt
- 1 egg yolk
- 1 tsp milk
Peel and cut the potatoes into quarters. Boil with salted water. Drain completely and let it cool down. Mash them using a fork. Make sure it's chunky, not fully mashed into a paste.
Heat coconut oil in a large saute pan. Add curry leaves. Then add finely chopped garlic and chopped/sliced green chilies. Fry for a few seconds. Do not wait until garlic becomes brown.
Then add chopped onion. Mix well. And let it cook until onions become sweaty.
Add chili flakes, turmeric powder, and a bit of salt. Saute. Adjust the chili flakes for your taste
Move the onions to a side of the pan. Add your mackerel (make sure the liquid is completely drained) mash the mackerel pieces using the spatula/spoon.
Mix well with the onions and saute well.
Add your freshly crushed black pepper and salt if needed. Mix well.
Finally, add your mashed potatoes and saute for another couple of minutes until everything combines.
Taste and adjust salt and pepper if needed. Let the mixture cool down.
Add lukewarm milk to your mixer bowl. And then add yeast (and a little bit of sugar if you're using active dry yeast or not sure if your yeast is good). Let it sit for a few seconds. It should start to make foam on the edges immediately. If not, your yeast could be expired. Throw it out and start again with new yeast.
Now add very softened butter, sugar, egg, and mix with a spoon. Lastly, add salt and flour.
Knead the dough for 8-10mins in the mixer until the dough becomes soft and pliable. (hand kneading instructions are included in the recipe description)
Make the dough into a ball using your hands. Apply some oil to the bowl. Put the dough in. Apply a few drops of oil on the surface of the dough. Cover with plastic wrap.
Let it doubled in size. It may take around 45mins to 1 hour depending on the temperature of your house.
Degas the dough by punching it down. Transfer the dough to your benchtop.
Cut the dough into 12 equal pieces using a bench scraper or a knife.
Make them into balls. Roughly about 65g -70 g each. Arrange them on the bench. Cover with a plastic wrap nicely and let them rest for 15mins.
After 15 mins, you'd notice that they've puffed up a little and easy to work with. Take one ball out. Keep the rest of them covered all the time. Flatten it out with your hands until it's about 5 - 6 inches in diameter. Make sure the middle is slightly thicker than the edges. So buns nicely dome up in the middle when they bake.
Now flip your dough so the smooth side goes down. This means you get the smoother side on the outside of the bun when they’re baked. Put roughly about ⅓ cup of filling in the middle.
Now fold two upper corners to the middle as you make a triangular shape. (please refer to the attached photo) And pinch the edges together to seal.
Then fold up the lower ⅓ edge to the middle to completely cover the filling. Pinch the edges again to seal the filling inside.
Flip it upside-down so the sealed edges go under. Now using your hands you can reshape it to make it look perfect. Reshaping is completely optional.
Arrange on a large baking sheet and cover with plastic wrap so it wouldn't dry out. Always keep all the dough pieces covered so they don't dry out and harden the surface. Repeat the process to all the dough balls and arrange the triangles on the baking sheet. Make sure to leave plenty of space between each triangle so they have enough space to rise up and wouldn't stick together in the oven as they puff up in the oven. Let them rise again until they become double in size. This time it would take relatively less time to rise up. (around 30 - 45mins) Do not overproof/wait too long, they'd collapse in the oven.
Meanwhile preheat the oven to 425F or 215 C.
Mix egg yolk and milk together to make the egg wash. When the triangles are doubled in size, apply the egg wash using a pastry brush or a silicone brush.
Bake for 12 - 15 mins in 425F preheated oven until they're golden on the top. Let them rest and cool down for at least 20 mins for the crumbs to set before you serve them.
