Char Siew Bao (Char Siu Bao)

Foodtrip 2019 has arrived to China  and today´s recipe is Char Siu Bao.
It is basicly steamed bun filled with chinese BBQ pork.

Recipe for BBQ I have took from this page. Unfortunately all ingredients are not available, so I made some addjustments. It is no so authentical anymore, but anyway amazingly good. 😊

https://rasamalaysia.com/char-siu/

Char Siu (BBQ pork ingredents)
500 g skinless pork belly, cut into 2 long strips
2 tbsp finelly chopped garlic

Char Siu Sauce ingredients:
1 tbsp honey
1 tbsp Chinese Shaoxing wine
1 tbsp Oyster sauce
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp dark and thick soy sauce
1 tbsp five spice powder
0,25 tsp white pepper ground
100 g sugar

Mix all sauce ingredients, add garlic and pork belly and marinate overnight in the fridge.
Next day heat the oven to 200 C.
Place the pork belly to oven  and bake for 15 minutes from one side.
Remove from oven and turn the pork belly over, brush the remainig sauce over and place the pork belly back to oven for another 15 minutes. Lower the oven temperature to 150 C and cook about 1 hour until meat will be very soft. 

Bao dough ingredients:
240 ml warm water
3 tbsp sugar
1  package dry yeast
400 g flour
3 tbsp vegetable oil
0,5 tsp salt
1,5 tsp baking powder

To prepare dough, combine warm water, sugar, and yeast in a large bowl; let stand 5 minutes. Mix in alll other ingredients. Knead dough until smooth and elastic ( about 10 minutes)
Place dough in a large bowl coated with cooking spray, turning to coat top. Cover and let rise in a warm place  1 hour or until doubled in size. 
Punch dough down; let rest 5 minutes. Turn dough out onto a clean surface; knead in baking powder solution (2 tbsp water+1,5 tsp baking powder). Let dough rest 10 minutes.

Divide dough into 10 equal portions, forming each into a ball. Working with one dough ball at a time (cover remaining dough balls to keep from drying), roll ball into a 15 cm circle. Place 1 tbsp filling in center of dough circle. Bring up sides to cover filling and meet on top. Pinch and seal closed with a twist. Repeat procedure with remaining dough balls and filling.

Arrange buns seam side down, in bamboo steamer. Cover with lid.

Add water to a large skillet to a depth of 3 cm; bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Place steamer in pan; steam 20 minutes. Cool 10 minutes before serving.
Adding a few drops of vinegar into steaming water will produce whiter buns, but this is optional. Steamer must be preheated otherwise bun would not rise to the volume as it should be. 

Filling ingredients:

A

250 g char siew diced

0,5 tbsp cooking oil

1 tsp sugar

1 small onion diced

1 tbsp oyster sauce

1 tbsp soy sauce

1 tsp sesame oil

 B

150 ml water

1,5 tbsp corn flour

Salt to taste

Heat oil and sauté onion for 1-2 minutes. Add all other A ingredients, stir fry for 1 minute.

Mix together water with corn flour, add mixture into the pan and stir well. Simmer until gravy is thickened,

Transfer to plate and allow to cool.