Gua bao also known as pork belly buns is a type of lotus leaf bun. These soft and fluffy steamed buns are incredibly delicious. It is a popular street food in Taiwan.
The traditional filling for Gua Bao is a slice of red-cooked pork belly, typically dressed with stir-fried suan cai (pickled mustard greens), coriander, and ground peanuts. In Taiwan they are sometimes referred to as Chinese hamburgers
The usual filling is glazed pork belly but you can basically fill them with whatever you want.
I think a good formula for vegetarian fillings is grilled/deep fried vegetables + something crunchy (lettuce, carrot ribbons, shredded cabbage) + sauce
I steamed them in my Idli Pan as I didn't have the bamboo steamer. For the filling I made Korean Fried Chicken since we do not eat pork
INGREDIENTS
- ⅓ cup Warm water
- ½ cup Warm milk
- 1 tbsp Active dry yeast
- 4 tbsp Sugar divided in half ( 2 tbsp for yeast mixture & 2 tbsp for dry ingredients )
- 2 tbsp Vegetable oil
- 2½ cup All-purpose flour
- ½ tsp Baking powder
- ¼ tsp Salt
For Assembly
1 no Cucumber sliced into juliennes
1 no Onion sliced
1 no Carrots sliced
1 no Spring onion Chopped
1 handful Coriander leaves
METHOD
- Combine warm water, milk, active yeast, sugar and oil. Whisk well and set aside until the yeast is activated, about 5 to 10 minutes.
- Meanwhile combine flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. you could use your stand mixer since i didn't have used dough hook of my hand mixer
- Pour the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients mixture and start mixing
- The dough should be elastic and really soft but should not stick to your fingers or the mixing bowl.
- Take the dough out from the hook and form as a ball.
- Cover with a plastic wrap and let it rise in a warm place until it is doubled about 2 hours. Let it sit longer if needed.
- Sprinkle little flour on a work surface. Place the dough on the floured surface. Roll out the dough, about ¼-inch thick. Cut the dough in a 3½ inch circle with a ring mold or glass.
- This recipe will make 14 or 16 baos.
- Lightly brush oil on one surface of the baos and fold in half as a half moon shape. Gently press each bao with a roller and place on a parchment paper or aluminium foil.
- Cover with a lid and let it rest for additional 30 minutes.
- Meanwhile, bring water to boil on a wok or steamer pot . Carefully place the steamer with the baos on top of boiling water pot. Make sure water is not touching the baos. Cover and steam for 8 to 12 minutes.
- When they are done cooking, tilt the lid a little bit for slow air circulation about 2 to 3 minutes before opening the lid completely.
- Your bao is ready!
Assembly
Take a bao bun and slightly open it. Place the cucumber julienne, carrots, sliced onions in it.
Take the sliced chicken pieces and place it in the bao buns. Add a few drops of the reduced sauce along-with the chopped spring onions and coriander leaves .
Repeat the process for the rest of the bao buns.