Char Siu Bao

 
When I first had dim sum many, many, many years ago, I fell in love with the char siu bao. The soft dough encasing a barbequed pork that's slightly sweet and full of flavor. I would get so full off of the bao that I wouldn't be able to eat anything else...and we would order some to go! The process of making one always seemed like a challenge but today I'm up for challenges. After researching many recipes, I came across one that most likely seemed to be successful.

Char Siu Bao

Recipe from userealbutter.com

Cooking time: 3 hours 30 minutes

Yield: 24 baos

Ingredients

Filling:

1/2 cup low sodium chicken broth

2 tbsp oyster sauce

5 tsp granulated sugar

4 tsp cornstarch

1 tbsp dark soy sauce (this is not the same as regular soy sauce)

1/2 tsp kosher salt

pinch white pepper, freshly ground

2 tbsp peanut oil

1/2 cup yellow onion, diced (1/4 inch)

1 1/2 cups char siu pork, fine dice (I did 1/4 inch)

1 tbsp Shaoxing Chinese sherry

1 1/2 tsp sesame oil

Dough:

1/4 cup sugar

1 3/4 cup warm water (105-115 degrees Fahrenheit)

1 tbsp yeast

6 cups flour

1 tbsp baking powder

2 tbsp shortening

Directions

1. Filling: Whisk the chicken broth, oyster sauce, ketchup, sugar, cornstarch, soy sauce, salt, and pepper together in a medium bowl. Heat the peanut oil over high flame in a wok or heavy-bottomed saucepan. When the oil is hot, add the onion, reduce the heat to medium-low and cook (stirring often) until golden brown -  about 6 minutes. Turn the heat to high and add the pork, stir-frying for about 2-3 minutes. Pour the sherry in from the edges of the work (or drizzle in a circle over the saucepan as I did) and stir together. Reduce the heat to medium and pour the broth mixture into the center of the wok or pan. Stir together until the filling is thickened. This only takes a few minutes. Remove from heat and stir in the sesame oil. Let cool and refrigerate the filling. Filling can be refrigerated for a few days before using. Do not freeze.
2. Dough: In a medium bowl, dissolve the sugar in warm water and add the yeast. Let the yeast stand for about ten minutes or until it becomes foamy, floating to the top. Sift the flour (I never sift anything) into a large bowl. Add the baking powder, shortening, and the yeast liquid. Mix well. If the dough is dry, add a little water. If the dough is too wet, add more flour. Knead the dough until smooth (took me ten minutes by hand). Place the dough in a large bowl and cover tightly with plastic wrap. Let the dough rise in a warm place for a couple hours until it has tripled in size.
3. Cut 24 squares of parchment or wax paper, 2 1/2 inches a side.
4. Assemble the bao: Knead the risen dough until is smooth and elastic. Again, if it is too dry, wet your hand(s) and knead it - if it is too wet, add some flour and knead it in. Because I work on a finite area cutting board (i.e. not a long counter), I found it easiest to cut the dough into quarters and make a log from each quarter. Keep the unused dough under plastic or a damp kitchen towel to prevent drying out. Cut each log into 6 equal pieces and flatten each piece with your hand to make a disc. Use your fingers to pinch the outer inch of the disc thinner than the center. Then shape a sort of well in the thicker center of the dough. Spoon a tablespoon (or more, if you can handle it) of the pork filling into the center of the dough. Pleat the edges together, with the intent of gathering the edges to form a sort of bowl from the dough (use your thumb or spoon to push the filling down). If you care about presentation (hey, some people don't) then wipe your fingers clean of any filling on a wet cloth before twisting and pinching the pleats together at the top. If there is excess dough, pinch it off. Set the bao on a square of parchment. Repeat for the rest and let them stand for about 10 minutes.
5. Steaming: Place the buns in a steamer with at lest 2 inches between them as they will expand during steaming. You will not be able to fit them all in your steamer unless you have 1)a giant steamer or 2) a million layers - so be patient and don't cram them together, just steam in two or three batches.
6. If you have a wok, bring 2 inches of water to a boil and set your steamer over the wok (make sure the steamer doesn't actually sit in the water - that would be called boiling and we don't want that!). If you don't have a woke (I don't) then this is what I did: I found a stockpot that fits my generic bamboo steamer perfectly. The fit doesn't have to be perfect, just don't use such a large pot that the steam escapes. I filled the stockpot with 2 inches of water and then placed a small metal rack (you can find these in random Asian grocery stores) in the center. Bring the water to a boil, place the steamer on the rack.
7. Steam for 10 minutes. Serve hot. Makes 24.

Chinese BBQ Char Siu Pork

Recipe from userealbutter.com

Cooking time: 1 hour

Ingredients

1 lb pork shoulder (cut into 4 pieces)

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 1/2 tbsp oil

Sauce:

1 1/2 tsp maltose (sub honey)

1 1/2 tbsp honey

1 1/2 tbsp hoisin

1 1/2 tbsp soy sauce

1 tbsp Shaoxing cooking wine

1/8 tsp white pepper

3 drops red food coloring, optional (I omitted)

2/2 tsp Chinese five spice powder

1/2 tsp sesame oil

Directions

1. Combine all of the sauce ingredients in a small saucepan over medium high heat. Stir until blended and let come to a bubble. It should thicken a little. Remove from heat and let cool. Mine came out to just under a half cup in volume. Place the pork, garlic, and 2/3 of the sauce in a ziploc bag or container. Mix together well, seal or cover, and refrigerate overnight or up to 24 hours. Whisk the cooking oil into the remaining sauce (remember you only used 2/3s of it for the pork) until emulsified and store covered in the refrigerator. 
2. When the pork is done marinating, preheat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. I placed my pork in a baking dish, making sure to shake off any excess sauce. Roast for 15 minutes then remove from the oven. 
3. Skewer the pork and grill at about 400 degrees Fahrenheit, basting the pork with the remaining sauce, turning and basting more until the pieces are nicely charred. Remove from the grill and slice the pork to serve over rice or noodles. (Alternatively, if you can't finish the pork on the grill, you can skewer the raw pork and set them across a large roasting pan to roast (to catch the drips) at 375 for 30 minutes. Then char them over a flame or with a blow torch.)

Nutritional Analysis:
per bao: 160.5 calories, 1.4g fat (0.3 saturated, 0.4g polyunsaturated, 0.5g monounsaturated), 30.9g carbohydrates, 1.1g fiber, 5.5g protein.

**Helpful tips and common mistakes

There are many steps to this recipes so it is important to look over everything and plan. First,  make the char siu pork. Marinate overnight, roast in the oven and finish by grilling. 

While the pork is cooking in the oven, get started on your dough. Keep in mind that it needs a couple hours to rise (I waited 2 hours). When putting together the dough, I did need to add more water for mine since it was a little dry. I added about 1/2 cup more, but start by adding 1 tablespoon at a time. Once it comes together, wrap tightly and let it rise!

Now, go back to your filling. Now that you have your char siu, you need to make the filling sauce with the pork. To make it easier, I mixed together the chicken broth - white pepper mixture before starting to saute the onions. I'm not a fan of white pepper, so I substituted 1/2 tsp of black pepper instead. Once you cook the onions, everything else should come into place since you already have the broth mixture ready.

Now comes the fun part, making the baos. When rolling out the log, it doesn't really matter how thin or thick you roll it since it's going to be evenly divided and reshaped. When you flatten it out, I learned that it's better to roll it out to as big of a circle as you can get it. It will be easier for you to seal later. 

Do not try to stuff the baos! No more than one tablespoon or it will not be able to seal. There are a lot of juices from the filling so the part of the dough that gets wet will not seal together. This recipe is great for the dough because it's elastic and easy to manipulate. 

I had a difficult time with the pleating, so I had to use both hands. Use your two index fingers to pleat the dough while using your other fingers to hold the dough in place and keep the top part bunched together. Twist the pleated dough together and seal close. If you have too much filling, this process will be difficult. 

Voila! And you are ready to steam. If your bao has a small opening (like the one on the bottom of the picture), do not worry so much. The bao will not completely open, but rather stays in place as you set them in the steamer. How great is that!

Overall, I think the filling really made this char siu bao great. The dough itself wasn't bad but it wasn't as soft as the ones that I ate at dim sum restaurants nor does it have that subtle sweetness. As a first attempt, I have to say I'm pretty proud of the way these baos came out. 

Update: I ate a real char siu bao from my favorite dim sum restaurant and realized that the dough is in fact very different. It is much more soft and almost crumbly, which leads me to believe that it is not made from ap flour. The dough from this restaurant is more for the standard steamed dumpling, which is still tasty but not the right type for this dish. New challenge: find the right dough recipe!