Chicken Bao, Singapore-style
Makes 8 medium sized baos (or buns, if you will)
For those of you in the know, this bao is not exactly "Toh Kee" (famous bao shop that was at People's Park Food Centre until a little while ago; now at Upper Cross Street) standard. It is, however, good enough for us. Make it bigger or smaller. It's all up to you. I once tried making small baos, and another time big ones, and it does not seem to me that the steaming time of 10 minutes needs to be adjusted much.
Some photos of the latest attempt
For the bao filling: sorry--all your own estimation here!
1. chicken thigh meat, cut into bite-sized chunks and seasoned for about 10 minutes at least, with cornstarch (for tenderness and a slightly starchy consistency), pepper, light soy sauce, a little oyster sauce, a dash of sesame oil, sprinkling of sugar, and finely chopped spring onions.
2. hard-boiled eggs (cook, shell and cut into bite-sized chunks)
3. (optional: we used only chicken and egg) sliced bamboo shoots (canned ones) or thinly sliced water chestnuts - just fry with the chicken
Method: Quickly stir fry the seasoned chicken chunks in some oil, adding a little bit of water for just a little gravy, and cook on medium high until chicken is just cooked. Mix in hard-boiled egg chunks, and, if necessary, add a little more light soy sauce and sesame oil until the filling tastes great.
For the bao skin:
4 Tbsp warm water (not too hot--you'll kill the yeast!)
1 Tbsp quick-rise yeast
1 Tbsp sugar
1/2 slightly rounded tsp salt
11 Tbsp milk
1 Tbsp oil
3 cups flour
Method:
1. Dissolve the yeast and sugar in the warm water and let stand for 5 minutes.
2. Add to this yeast mixture salt, milk and oil, and stir to combine.
3. Stir in flour.
4. Knead 5-10 minutes or until dough is smooth. You can add just a little bit of water if dough looks too dry and does not hold together well.
5. Divide dough into 8 more or less evenly sized balls
6. Press balls into rounds as thinly as you like it, though not so thin that it breaks when wrapping the filling
7. Place suitable amount of filling onto the centre of the round, pick up the sides of the dough and secure with a few kneads at the top so that filling is all covered up.
8. Place each bao on a piece of suitably sized paper (we used ordinary white printing paper), and let them rise (covered, in a steamer basket) for about 1 1/2 hours or until almost doubled in size.
9. Bring the water under the steamer to a boil, and let baos steam for 10 minutes.
10. Enjoy them hot!
For those of you in the know, this bao is not exactly "Toh Kee" (famous bao shop that was at People's Park Food Centre until a little while ago; now at Upper Cross Street) standard. It is, however, good enough for us. Make it bigger or smaller. It's all up to you. I once tried making small baos, and another time big ones, and it does not seem to me that the steaming time of 10 minutes needs to be adjusted much.
Some photos of the latest attempt
For the bao filling: sorry--all your own estimation here!
1. chicken thigh meat, cut into bite-sized chunks and seasoned for about 10 minutes at least, with cornstarch (for tenderness and a slightly starchy consistency), pepper, light soy sauce, a little oyster sauce, a dash of sesame oil, sprinkling of sugar, and finely chopped spring onions.
2. hard-boiled eggs (cook, shell and cut into bite-sized chunks)
3. (optional: we used only chicken and egg) sliced bamboo shoots (canned ones) or thinly sliced water chestnuts - just fry with the chicken
Method: Quickly stir fry the seasoned chicken chunks in some oil, adding a little bit of water for just a little gravy, and cook on medium high until chicken is just cooked. Mix in hard-boiled egg chunks, and, if necessary, add a little more light soy sauce and sesame oil until the filling tastes great.
For the bao skin:
4 Tbsp warm water (not too hot--you'll kill the yeast!)
1 Tbsp quick-rise yeast
1 Tbsp sugar
1/2 slightly rounded tsp salt
11 Tbsp milk
1 Tbsp oil
3 cups flour
Method:
1. Dissolve the yeast and sugar in the warm water and let stand for 5 minutes.
2. Add to this yeast mixture salt, milk and oil, and stir to combine.
3. Stir in flour.
4. Knead 5-10 minutes or until dough is smooth. You can add just a little bit of water if dough looks too dry and does not hold together well.
5. Divide dough into 8 more or less evenly sized balls
6. Press balls into rounds as thinly as you like it, though not so thin that it breaks when wrapping the filling
7. Place suitable amount of filling onto the centre of the round, pick up the sides of the dough and secure with a few kneads at the top so that filling is all covered up.
8. Place each bao on a piece of suitably sized paper (we used ordinary white printing paper), and let them rise (covered, in a steamer basket) for about 1 1/2 hours or until almost doubled in size.
9. Bring the water under the steamer to a boil, and let baos steam for 10 minutes.
10. Enjoy them hot!
posted by E Loy | 4/26/2005 12:32:00 PM
6 Comments:
Hi, i got no comments, i like bao so does my hubby, but i dun hv bambo steam that u used, can i use the normal alumunium steamer.. thanks
ita/sweden
Hmm... I seemed to have missed this comment (sorry). I suppose the answer is "yes".
thank for the recipe.. it so hard to find a recipe that taste like home.. (although i have not try out yet.. but your pic look good anyway)gonna try.
Glad you like it.
what type of flour to make the bao?? Rice, plain, wheaten flour???
You use wheat flour
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