Steamed Bao Buns With Spicy Cauliflower Food

BAO BUNS WITH SPICY PORK

Steps:

• First, make the filling. Finely dice the pork. Heat the oil in a frying pan and brown the meat until cooked through (about 6 mins). Add the spring onions and sauté for 1 min, then add the hoisin and soy sauces and the honey, five-spice powder, chilli flakes and cornflour mix. Simmer for 5 mins, then transfer to a bowl and chill.
• In a measuring jug, mix 200ml warm water with the yeast and oil. To make the dough by hand, put the dry ingredients in a mound on your work surface with a good pinch of salt. Make a hole in the middle, pour in the yeast mixture and slowly stir until it comes together. Knead on a floured surface for 10 mins or until the dough is soft. Or to use a standing mixer, put the dry ingredients in the bowl with a good pinch of salt. Turn on and pour in the yeast mixture. When the dough comes together in a ball, keep the speed on medium and knead for 8-10 mins until smooth and soft. Put in an oiled bowl and cover with cling film. Keep in a warm place until doubled in size (about 2-3 hrs).
• Take the dough out, knock it back and knead for 1 min, then put on a floured surface. Cut into 2 pieces and roll each into a fat cylinder. Cut each into 16 pieces. Press a couple of pieces flat (about 7.5cm wide). Put a disc in the palm of your hand and add 1 tsp of the filling. Bring the sides up and pinch together at the top. Repeat with the remaining dough and filling.
• Cut circles of baking parchment and put under each bun. Arrange the buns on a baking tray so they don't touch each other. Leave to rise for another 30 mins.
• Make sure your steamer fits snugly over a pan or use a regular steamer with a pan and lid. Fill the bottom pan with water and bring to a boil. Set the steamer with the buns and their liners over the pan and cook for 10-12 mins. You will need to do this in batches. Remove and eat straightaway with chilli sauce.

STEAMED BAO BUNS

Steps:

• Mix together the flour, caster sugar and ½ tsp salt in a large bowl (see tip). Dissolve the yeast and a pinch of sugar in 1 tbsp warm water, then add it to the flour with the milk, sunflower oil, rice vinegar and 200ml water. Mix into a dough, adding a little extra water if needed.
• Tip the dough onto a lightly floured work surface and knead for 10-15 mins, or until smooth. Put in a lightly oiled bowl, cover with a damp cloth and leave to rise for 2 hrs, or until doubled in size.
• Tip the dough out onto a clean work surface and punch it down. Flatten the dough with your hands, then sprinkle over the baking powder and knead for 5 mins.
• Roll out the dough into a long sausage shape, about 3cm thick, then cut into pieces that are about 3cm wide - you should have 18. In the palm of your hand, roll each piece of dough into a ball and leave to rest for 2-3 mins.
• Use a rolling pin to roll out each ball, one by one, into an oval shape about 3-4mm thick. Rub the surface of the dough ovals with oil and brush a little oil over a chopstick. Place the oiled chopstick in the centre of each oval. Fold the dough over the chopstick, then slowly pull out the chopstick.
• Cut 18 squares of baking parchment and put a bun on each. Transfer to a baking tray, cover with a clean tea towel and leave to prove in a warm place for 1 hr 30 mins, or until doubled in size.
• Heat a large steamer over a medium-high heat. Steam the buns for 8 mins until puffed up (you'll need to do this in batches). Prise open each bun and fill with our barbecue pork and pickled carrot & mooli. Eat while they're still warm.

STEAMED BAO BUNS WITH SPICY CAULIFLOWER

Steps:

• To make the buns, put all the dry ingredients in a large bowl and mix well. Add 125ml/4fl oz lukewarm water and the oat milk. Mix with your hands and bring together to form a dough, then knead on a lightly floured surface for 8-10 minutes, until smooth and springy. Clean and lightly oil the bowl. Pop the dough back in the bowl, cover with a tea towel and leave in a warm place for 1 hour, or until doubled in size (if it's cold this may take up to 2 hours).
• Tip the dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead briefly to knock it back. Roll the dough into a fat sausage shape (approx. 30cm/12in long). Slice the roll into eight to ten equal portions and shape each piece into a rough ball. Lightly flour a rolling pin and roll each ball into an oval shape. Lightly rub a tiny drop of sesame oil over the surface (to prevent the dough from sticking together) and fold in half. Repeat until all the balls are folded, then place them on a flat surface, cover with a tea towel and leave to prove for 30 minutes.
• Preheat the oven to 200C/180C Fan/Gas 6.
• To make the cauliflower, mix all the ingredients together in a large bowl, adding 1 tablespoon of water to loosen the mixture, and marinate for 10 minutes. Tip onto a baking tray and bake for 35-40 minutes, or until crispy.
• Meanwhile, line a bamboo steamer with baking paper, then place three or four buns inside each steam basket. Steam for 6-7 minutes, until fluffy but firm and dry to the touch. Repeat until all the buns are steamed.
• Fill each bun with a teaspoon of sriracha mayonnaise and crispy cauliflower topped with shredded carrot, spring onion and ½ teaspoon of sesame seeds. Scatter with coriander, if using.

KOREAN CHICKEN BAO

Steps:

• Start by making the bao buns.
• Place the flour, sugar, salt and yeast in a bowl and mix together.
• Add the milk, warm water and butter to a jug and stir together until the butter melts. Stir the liquid mixture into the flour mixture at first with a spoon, and then with your hands. Turn out onto a floured surface and knead for 10 minutes. Alternatively, you can do this in a mixer fitted with a dough hook.
• Place the dough in an oiled bowl. Cover (with clingfilm or a damp tea toweand leave to prove until doubled in size - about 90 minutes - 2 hours).
• Meanwhile, start on the Korean Chicken. Place the chicken in a bowl. Add the buttermilk, salt, pepper and garlic salt. Mix together, cover and place in the fridge to marinade for at least 1 hour.
• After the dough has proved, tip it out of the bowl onto a floured surface. Knead the dough again and split into 20 balls. Place a piece of baking parchment on your work surface and roll each ball into an oval on top of the parchment, using a rolling pin - approx. 6cm x 9cm.
• Brush the ovals with the olive oil and fold each oval over, using a chopstick in the middle to fold over to leave a little space in the fold (so the oil is on the inside of the fold). Remove the chopstick and place each bun onto a small piece of baking parchment.
• Place the buns on the trays - still on the the baking parchment - as this will help you to move them later. Cover each tray with clingfilm or a carrier bag (ensuring the clingfilm doesn't touch the dough - or it will stick) and leave to prove for a further hour, until puffed up.
• Preheat the oven to a low heat (to keep cooked chicken warm). Heat a large pan of vegetable oil (or preheat your deep fat fryer) until hot (you can test by dropping a small cube of bread in there, if it rises immediately to the top and starts to bubble rapidly, it's hot enough). You'll need at least 1 litre (4 cups) of oil.
• Mix together the crispy coating ingredients in a small bowl. Take the chicken out of the fridge. Lift a piece from the buttermilk and allow the excess to drip off. Dredge the chicken in the crispy coating mixture - ensuring it's fully covered. Place on a tray and repeat until all of the chicken is coated.
• Once the oil is hot enough, add in 10-12 of the chicken pieces. You can add more or less depending on the size of your pan, just be sure not to overcrowd the chicken. Cook for 3-5 minutes until golden brown and cooked in the middle. You can check this by cutting open a piece of chicken, if it's no longer pink in the middle, it's cooked.
• Place on a tray in the oven to keep warm whilst you cook the rest of the chicken.
• Meanwhile, put a large steamer pan on to boil. Working in batches, place the buns in the steamer (you can keep them on the baking parchment and steam for 10 minutes. I use a double layer steam pan - placing four buns in each layer. Once steamed, place on a warm plate.
• While the chicken and bao buns are cooking, make the sauce. Place the gochujang, honey, sugar, soy sauce, garlic, ginger, vegetable oil and sesame oil in a saucepan and stir together.
• Bring to the boil, then simmer for 5 minutes until thickened.
• Place all of the cooked chicken in a bowl and pour the sauce over the chicken. Toss together to coat. You can leave the chicken chunks whole, or slice up if you prefer.
• Carefully open the steamed bao buns and stuff with the Korean chicken. Top with slices of red onion, cucumber, fresh coriander (cilantro) and sesame seeds before serving.

STEAMED BAO BUNS

Steps:

• Measure all of the dry ingredients into a large mixing bowl or the bowl of an electric stand-mixer (if using).
• Measure the warm water and oil into a measuring jug. The water needs to be a bit more than lukewarm to help activate the yeast, but it shouldn't be boiling hot.
• Using the dough hook on medium speed, mixing the liquid ingredients into the dry ingredients. Depending on the type of flour which you have used, you might need more or less liquid that than stated in the recipe.
• Once you have a sticky dough, continue kneading the dough on medium speed until it becomes soft and smooth to touch. This should take about 10 minutes using the stand-mixer on medium speed, or about 5 minutes by hand.
• Once the dough is soft and smooth, I recommend kneading it by hand for a few more minutes on the kitchen benchtop.
• Place the ball of dough back into the (clean) mixing bowl.
• Cover the bowl with some cling film or a re-usable bowl cover.
• Place the bowl somewhere warm for about 60 to 90 minutes for the dough to rise and double in size.
• Once the dough has doubled in size, punch it back and knead it by hand for about 5 minutes to release any air bubbles in the dough.
• Then roll out the dough until it is about 1 cm in height.
• Use your hands to rub some oil onto the surface of the dough.
• Use an 8 cm (3 inch) cookie cutter to cut out rounds from the dough.
• Re-roll the dough as needed.
• Place these rounds onto a small sheet of baking paper - I like to use plain white cupcake wrappers which I flatten with a rolling pin.
• Fold over each round and then use a rolling pin to gently flatten the dough to form the bun shape.
• Place all of the shaped buns onto a large tray, cover with a tea towel, and place in a warm place for about 30 minutes for the buns to rise again. After this time, the bao buns should have puffed up slightly.
• Meanwhile, prepare the steamer on the stove (see Kitchen Notes below).
• Steam the buns in batches for 10 to 12 minutes, or until they are puffy and soft, and cooked all the way through.
• Serve the buns immediately.

STEAMED BAO BUNS (包子), A COMPLETE GUIDE

Steps:

• Mix flour, yeast, sugar and oil in a bowl. Pour in water little by little while mixing.
• Combine and knead with your hands until a very smooth dough forms (see note 4).
• Cover the bowl with a damp tea towel and leave to rise in a warm place until doubled in size (It will take between 40 minutes to 1.5 hours depending on the room temperature).
• Put pork, soy sauce, oyster sauce, salt and Sichuan pepper/Chinese five-spice in a mixing bowl.
• Swirl constantly while gradually adding water/stock until no more liquid can be seen.
• Brief stir fry grated carrot and onion in oil until softened. Add to the pork along with chopped coriander.
• Knead the dough until it goes back to its original size.
• Divide it into 12 equal portions. Roll each piece into a disk-like wrapper.
• Place some filling in the middle of a wrapper then fold into a bao shape.
• Leave all the assembled buns to rest for another 15 minutes or so.
• Place the buns (with parchment paper underneath each one) in the steamer basket (see note 5). Leave 2cm space between the buns and the side of the steamer.
• Start cooking with cold water over a high heat. Turn the heat down to medium-low when the water starts boiling.
• Cook for 15-18 minutes.
• Serve them warm, on their own or with some dipping sauce (find inspirations in my post Six dumpling sauces).
• You can freeze cooked buns. Leave to defrost in the fridge then steam for 8 minutes to warm up, or steam for 15 minutes without defrosting.

VEGAN TOFU BAO BUNS WITH PICKLED VEGETABLES RECIPE BY TASTY

Steps:

• Make the bao buns: Add the warm water, sugar, and yeast to a liquid measuring cup. Whisk to combine, then set aside to bloom, five minutes.
• In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Make a well in the center. Add the yeast mixture and vegetable oil to the well and stir with a wooden spoon until a soft dough begins to form. Transfer the dough to a clean surface and knead until smooth and elastic, about 3 minutes. Keep extra flour nearby in case the dough sticks to the surface or your hands. Shape into a ball.
• Lightly grease a clean large bowl with 1 tablespoon of sesame oil. Place the dough in the bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and let rise in a warm place until doubled in size, about 2 hours.
• Meanwhile marinate the tofu: In a medium bowl, whisk together the scallions, ginger, garlic, sugar, five-spice, soy sauce, rice wine, and dark soy sauce.
• Add the tofu to a separate medium bowl and pour the marinade over. Cover with plastic wrap and marinate in the refrigerator for 1 hour.
• Make the pickled vegetables: Prepare the cucumber, red pepper, daikon, carrot, yellow pepper, and jalapeños and set aside while you make the brine.
• In a large pot or deep pan over high heat, combine the water, sugar, rice vinegar, and salt. Stir until the sugar dissolves, then bring the mixture to a boil.
• Add the vegetables the brine. Stir to submerge, then remove the pot from the heat. Let sit while you sear the tofu and bake the buns, about 1 hour, then drain.
• Once the bao dough has risen, turn it out onto a floured surface. Divide the dough in half, then cut each half into 2 ounce pieces. Roll each piece into a ball.
• Working 1 at a time, flatten a ball with your palm on a lightly floured surface. Use a small rolling pin or wooden dowel to roll the dough out to a 5-inch round. Brush the top with sesame oil, fold it in half, and transfer it to a square of parchment paper set on a baking sheet. Repeat with the remaining dough. Cover the bao buns with a kitchen towel and let rest for 10 minutes.
• Bring a pot of water to a boil and set a bamboo steamer on top. Working in batches, transfer a few of the folded dough rounds at a time to the steamer, making sure the buns are not too crowded. Cover the steamer and steam the buns for 8-10 minutes, until the buns puff up and form a skin on the outside. Very carefully, lift the lid and remove the buns from the steamer. Repeat with the rest of the buns, keeping the steamed buns warm as they finish by covering with a towel.
• Sear the tofu: Remove the tofu from the marinade and pat dry with paper towels. Reserve the marinade.
• Heat the vegetable oil in a large skillet over high heat. Add the tofu and sear on one side until deep brown in color, about 5 minutes. Flip and cook on the other side until deep brown, 5 minutes more. Remove the tofu from the pan.
• Pour the reserved marinade into the skillet on medium heat and reduce until thick and syrupy, about 5 minutes. Return the tofu to the pan and stir to coat with the glaze. Remove the pan from the heat.
• To serve, slather the inside of the bao buns with hoisin sauce, then add the pickled vegetables, glazed tofu, sliced scallions, and sesame seeds.
• Enjoy!

STEAMED PORK BAO BUNS

Steps:

• In a skillet, heat the oil and saute the scallions, garlic, and ginger over medium heat. Stir in the hoisin sauce and oyster sauce, adding barbecue pork while stirring. Reduce heat to low. Thoroughly combine cornstarch with 2 tablespoons water. Pour over pork mixture and stir until sauce thickens. Set aside. On a floured surface, partially separate breadsticks, leaving 2 thick layers of dough. Roll each into a ball. Working with 1 ball at a time, roll out to make a 3-inch circle. Place about 1 tablespoon of filling in center of each round. Gather dough up and twist to secure tightly. Repeat with remaining dough. Cover with kitchen towel. Arrange cabbage leaves on the bottom of 2 large bamboo steamers. Place 6 pork buns on each steamer. Steam buns for 20 minutes. Serve warm.