WO AI BAOZI!

Baozi is the umbrella term for mantou that has a filling. Mantou is usually steamed, whereas baozi can either be steamed or baked. Hum bao is the mandarin term for bbq pork buns, char siu bao is the cantonese term. To all my filipino friends out there it's siopao, literally meaning steamed buns. Now that the vocab lesson is over, onto the "recipe."

In a discussion with my Other Asian Half it has been discovered that we both have the same cooking styles passed on from our Asian mothers, you don't measure, you eyeball, taste and adjust as needed. Which means that giving people recipes is extremely difficult.

BAOZI!


Ingredients:
Dough:
All-purpose flour
Warm water
Vegetable oil
Active dry yeast
Baking powder

Filling:
White sugar
Pork or Chicken
Hoisin sauce
Soy sauce
Oyster sauce
Cornstarch
Sesame oil
Ground Red Pepper

Will need:
Mixing bowls
Foreman Grill
Steamer (I use a rice cooker with the steamer attachment, or a wok with a steamer attachment)
Cheese Cloth/Paper towel
A stove pot
Rolling pin


The night before 
Take a bag/bowl/whatever place your meat in it, pour about equal amount of Hoisin and Soy Sauce over it until the meat is 'swimming' in the bowl, then add a bit of sugar. Mix well, puncturing holes in the meat, allow to marinate in refrigerator overnight. 

Next day
Stir your bowl of meat around, make sure everything is covered and coated in sauce, place back in refrigerator.

Take your yeast, place in bowl with some warm water and sugar, whisk until foamy (or wait 10ish minutes), add a little bit of vegetable oil. Then add flour and more water until you reach the desired about of dough. Turn dough onto a floured surface and knead until the dough is smooth and elastic (about 10-15 minutes of straight kneading, this is very important!). Form a ball, place dough in an oiled bowl twice its size. Place dough in a warm place for a few hours, until it has almost doubled in size.

Now go watch a movie (~2hours)

Take your meat out, warm up your Foreman Grill, grill mean until it is cooked and charred. Cut mean into desired size, I like small cubes about the size of half a die. Now in a pot on the stove get some water boiling, add soy sauce, oyster sauce, sesame oil, ground red pepper and sugar (taste and adjust to your preferences, it helps if you've eaten them before, or else you will probably get the taste completely off, and sorry I don't have amounts for you). Turn down heat, stir in cornstarch until goey and thickened. Stir in meat. Take off heat. 

Turn on steamer to get it going, place wet cheese cloth/or wet paper towel in steamer (it needs to remain wet or else the baozi will stick to it! You also have the choice of getting rice paper and cutting it into squares and cooking it on those like they do in the restaurants). Now, go find you ball of dough, place it on a lightly floured surface. Punch dough down in middle add about a quarter size of baking powder, fold in. Knead until the dough is smooth and elastic (about 10-15 minutes of straight kneading, this is very, VERY important!) Roll dough into a long roll. Cut off inch chunks, using your rolling pin make them flat circles. Center needs to be thicker than the edges! Hold dough in hand, spoon meat into center of dough, pinch dough together to form a bun. Repeat. 

Once steamer has started boiling, begin placing buns on cheese cloth/paper towel. Steam buns until dough is light and fluffy, eat, enjoy, love!

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