Bahn Bao (Steamed Pork Buns)

Hi, recently I saw these bahn bao dumplings, on a video, and I was so intregued. They looked delicious and so unlike anything I'd ever had. So, I googled them and eventually found a recipe. When making them, I cooked the pork before hand, just to ensure the meat was done properly but, unfortunately, when I placed the pork inside the bao bun the heat from the cooked pork started to make the bottom of the dumpling dissolve a bit leaving a doughy mess. This meant I had to make the decision to serve the pork and egg filling separately to the buns, so I steamed my dough and fried the meat and eggs together to form a chilli-like dish. Then, people could fill the dumplings at the table if they so wished.
To prevent this from happening, I would suggest you cook and marinate the pork in advance and place in the fridge until needed and then it should be fine, otherwise, it is clear from the results that this would have worked. Additionally, I steamed my bao for about 15mins and some were still a bit doughy so I would recommend maybe 20-25mins for you but obviously, I don't own a proper steamer so this could have changed my results anyway. Also, we found the bao was quite sweet and without the saltiness f the pork would've been a bit strange, so feel free to reduce the sugar if you prefer a more savoury flavour. I hope you enjoy!!

Dietary Info:

-Unsuitable for Vegans {You can make it dairy-free, and eliminate the eggs entirely and substitute the meat for tofu or some other plant-based protein if you wish.

-Unsuitable for Vegetarians {Substitute the meat for a vege alternative e.g tofu, chickpeas ect}

-No Nuts {Unless using a milk substitute e.g almond}

-Contains Dairy {Switch the milk to a dairy-free one and if your allergy includes eggs just omit them from the recipe}

-Contains Gluten {Gluten-free self-raising flour is available}

Serves 4, with 1 spare bao

Makes: 9 bahn bao's

Ingredients:

Filling:

-1/2lb/250g ground/minced pork

-1 shallot, diced {I used an onion}

-1tbsp fish sauce

-1tbsp oyster sauce {We don't have any of this so I added a bit extra fish sauce to the mixture}

-1tbsp soy sauce {We used dark soy sauce}

Dough:

-2+1/4 cups/ 255g self-raising flour

-3/4 cup/ 175ml milk {I used whole milk}

-6tbsp sugar {I used golden caster sugar}

Extras:

-1.5 chinese sausages {We can't get these so I used 1.5 chicken sausages that we'd grilled}

-2 hard-boiled eggs, shelled and 1/4'd {This will give enough egg for 8 buns. Also, make sure to boil these in advance as it will make them easier to shell if they are cold}

Method:

1: Mix the pork, shallot {or onion}, fish sauce, oyster sauce and soy sauce together in a large bowl. Marinate in the fridge for 30mins. {While waiting, you could shell and cut the eggs and if necessary cook sausages}

2: To make the dough, combine the flour, milk and sugar in another bowl; knead until smooth and no longer sticky. {I needed to add more flour to achieve the no-sticky goal}. Cover the dough with a tea towel and leave to rest for 5mins. {Mine ended up resting for 15, while the pork finished marinating and was cooked}
3: Divide the dough into 9 balls. Roll each ball ut into a large circle with a rolling pin onto a floured surface. Place a spoonful of the pork in the centre; top with 2 sausage slices and 1/4 of an egg. Fold one side to the other and press down, {Like a pasty kind of shape}, twist and pinch to form a dumpling.
4: Steam until risen and puffy.

Hi, now I don't have a steamer but I wasn't going to let that get in my way of doing steamed pork buns, so after a bit of research I found a way to do it that only uses 3 things! This is the solution I followed, on the link, there's also tips on how to steam bahn bao buns if you only have a table top steamer (the one usually used for vegetables) so if you, like me, are new to steaming I would recommend you have a look.

You will need:                                                                                                   -1 bowl                                                                                                                      -1 plate                                                                                                                         -A wok

If you don’t have any steamer at all there is a solution, which will allow you to be tucking into some fluffy steamed bao buns before you know it!

1:Put a small amount of water in a wok, and put a small bowl onto the wok
2:Place a plate with some greaseproof paper on top of the bowl (you can also use a large saucepan if you wish)
3:Bring the water to boil
4:Put the baos onto the greaseproof paper
5:Place a tall lid on the wok, or a flat lid if you are using a saucepan

This should take 8 minutes to cook.