Baozi - Chinese steamed pies. Baozi: Chinese Steamed Pork Pies - So Simple! Chinese steamed meat pies

Ecology of consumption: Prepare easy Chinese baozi cakes! Literally everyone in China adores them, because they are very easy to prepare and do not require huge financial investments.

Try making easy Chinese baozi cakes! Literally everyone in China adores them, because they are very easy to prepare and do not require huge financial investments.

The only thing you will need is a steamer because traditional baozi is steamed. But if you don’t have one, you can easily build a unit from scrap materials by taking a large saucepan, pouring water and installing a colander or sieve of the same diameter. Cover with a lid with a hole - and you're done!

The Chinese prefer these wonderful meat pies for breakfast, but it seems to us that due to their lightness and low-calorie content, the best time for baozi is dinner. However, it's up to you!

RECIPE FOR EASY MEAT PIES, CHINESE STYLE

What do you need:
(for 10 pies)

Dough:
3 tbsp. flour
1 tbsp. fresh yeast or 2 tsp. dry
1/4 tsp. soda
1 tbsp. warm water

Filling:
500 g pork
1 egg white
1 tsp corn or potato starch
2 tbsp. rice wine or dry sherry
1 tbsp. Sahara
a few green onions or cilantro
2 cm ginger root

How to make easy Chinese style meat pies:

To make the dough, dissolve the yeast in water and mix with sifted flour. Place in a warm place for 1 hour.

For the filling, make minced meat using a blender or meat grinder. If you don't have either, feel free to chop the pork with a knife as finely as possible. Add finely chopped green onions or cilantro and finely chopped/finely grated ginger.

Mix starch with 1 tbsp. cold water, lightly beat the whites.

Add all this to the minced meat, add sugar, salt and pour in wine. Mix properly.

Let's return to the appropriate test.

Dilute soda in 2 tsp. warm water, pour onto the dough and knead it lightly. If the dough sticks to your hands, add flour. Let stand for another 15 minutes.

Divide the finished dough into 10 parts and form into neat balls. Roll each into a round cake.

For convenience, place each flatbread in a bowl and place the filling in the center.

Pinch the edges. You can pinch the top completely, or you can leave a hole in the center to pour in the sauce when the pies are ready.

Line the bottom of the steamer with cilantro or Chinese cabbage leaves and place the baozi so that there is sufficient distance between them. Cover with a lid and cook for 15 minutes.

If desired, you can prepare the sauce: mix a little soy sauce, rice vinegar, red pepper and a couple of drops of sesame oil. Serve it with hot pies.

Easy Chinese style meat pies are ready!


Baozi are practically manti of the second or third generation (I haven’t figured it out exactly yet, but I continue to research)) And if we take modern manti, the ones I prepared in previous posts, then this is already the 15-20th generation. Manti of the first generation, from which the name manti comes, are Chinese mantou (饅頭 literal translation - “stuffed head”, they have their own legend, I’ll write next time, I’ll tell you how to cook modern mantou). I was really struck by this passion - I want to understand manta rays, get to the bottom of their origins, trace the path of evolution of manta rays from antiquity to the present day!

The Chinese eat baozi at any time of the day, but prefer it for breakfast, preparing it with a sweet filling.

Today I will prepare baozi with minced pork and cabbage, adding spinach to the dough - it’s healthy and will give the dough an interesting color. The dough for ba ozi is made from yeast, and this, of course, is the most important difference between them and manti.

For the test:

100 g spinach puree
350 g flour
4 g dry yeast
100 g water
1/2 tsp. Sahara
salt

For filling:

100 g minced pork
30 g carrots
200 g white cabbage
30 g onion
10 g (small piece) ginger
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. Sahara

1 tbsp. soy sauce
Ground white pepper on the tip of a knife
1 tbsp. sunflower oil

We start by preparing the dough. Boil the spinach, then make a homogeneous puree from it in any way convenient for you - either with a masher or in a blender:







Dissolve dry yeast in water with sugar and pour it into the spinach puree. Stir, then add flour. Knead the dough thoroughly!
















Let the dough rest for 20-30 minutes and knead again. After the dough begins to rise, we begin preparing ourbaozi. Well, now - the filling:


We cut the cabbage into small squares (not like we cut into borscht))). Salt it and leave it for 10-15 minutes so that it produces juice. Then place it on a napkin or towel to dry.








Fry finely chopped onions, carrots, ginger in sunflower oil:










Then add minced pork, white pepper and soy sauce:






Fry until the minced meat turns white, remove from heat, add cabbage and sugar, a little salt.






That's it - the filling and dough are ready.


Now we begin the actual formation processbaozi.

We start by removing the bubbles from the dough, otherwise we will not be able to form the baozi of the shape we need from the dough -During the cooking process they will lose their shape and will look ugly. To avoid this, roll out the dough with a rolling pin like dumplings. Perhaps it’s even more reminiscent of making puff pastry... We roll out the dough, fold it, then roll it out again and fold it again. We repeat the operation ten times - our dough acquires a homogeneous structure without bubbles. Now we can make our beautiful baozi from this wonderful dough))
















Next, everything is the same as with ordinary manti - cut off a piece of dough and form a ball out of it, which we roll into a flat cake:








Place the filling in the center.


And pinch the edges at the top.

Nikuman (steamed meat pie), known as baozi in China, is the Asian equivalent of a Western sandwich. A delicious filling of meat and vegetables is wrapped in a delicate yeast dough. The pie is steamed and is a complete dish that can be eaten on the go without cutlery.

Of course, you can buy several ready-made nikumans for future use, but many people have doubts about the quality of the meat hidden in the depths of the bun. Prepared nikuman generally taste good, but the dough is pale, sticky and often too sweet, and the dense filling of unknown ingredients is inexplicably pink.

If you happen to visit Osaka, Kobe or Kyoto, do not deny yourself the pleasure of visiting one of the restaurants of the Horai 551 chain, which, according to many, serves the most delicious, and most importantly, authentic, nikuman.

No matter how hungry you are the moment you are presented with a plate of fragrant, delicious steamed pies, you will immediately realize that this is one of the most delicious dishes you have tasted in your life. Amazingly airy dough, tender, juicy filling with a pronounced onion aroma... You simply won’t be able to limit yourself to just one nikuman!

Experienced chefs with enviable tenacity are trying to reproduce the masterpiece from Horai 551, and some of them are quite successful in this. Today on the Internet you can find a recipe that, if not superior to the original, is not much inferior to it. The filling turns out to be just as juicy, tender and rich in flavors provided by mushrooms, onions and meat. The airy, sweet dough contrasts perfectly with the rich contents.

The secret to the exceptional flavor is using a mixture of ground pork filling and chopped pork belly as an additional source of fat for juiciness. The difficulty is that if too much liquid is released, the soft yeast dough will become soggy and soggy. This is a dish for which cornstarch and egg white are required ingredients. They act as binders that help hold liquid so that it does not saturate the shell.

If you follow the recipe strictly, you will get 8 large portions of nikumans, but you can divide the dough into 16 pieces to make your pies closer in size to manti.

The nikuman taste best when they are first removed from the steamer, but since the heat treatment itself does not take much time, many people prefer to prepare them in large batches and then freeze them. Nikumans can be stored in the freezer for about a month. To prepare them for serving, simply wrap each patty in a damp paper towel and microwave for a few minutes.

Let's start cooking together!

Ingredients:

  • 500 g flour;
  • 100 g sugar;
  • 2 teaspoons dry yeast;
  • 1.5 teaspoons baking powder;
  • 2 tablespoons vegetable oil;
  • 250 ml water;
  • 1 medium onion, cut into small cubes;
  • 5 finely chopped green onions (white part);
  • 1 tablespoon sesame oil;
  • 300 g pork belly, cut into wide strips;
  • 100 g minced pork;
  • 3 dried shiitake mushrooms, soaked and chopped;
  • 1 tablespoon grated ginger root;
  • 2 tablespoons oyster sauce;
  • 1 tablespoon soy sauce;
  • 1 tablespoon sake;
  • 2 teaspoons sugar;
  • ½ teaspoon black pepper;
  • 2 tablespoons potato starch and half cornstarch;
  • 1 egg white;
  • 8 sheets of parchment paper.

Preparation:

  • Combine flour, sugar, yeast and baking powder in a mixing bowl, add water and oil. Knead the dough until it becomes elastic and shiny. If you don't have a mixer, you can knead the dough by hand.

  • Roll the dough into a ball, place it in a bowl and cover with cling film. Place the bowl in a warm place and let the dough rise until doubled in volume (about 1 hour).

  • While the dough is rising, make the filling. Fry onions and onion feathers in sesame oil - at medium temperature until translucent (not golden brown). Refrigerate.
  • In a bowl, combine pork belly, ground pork, shiitake, ginger, oyster sauce, soy sauce, sake, sugar, black pepper, starch, egg white and knead well with your hands (preferably with gloves), add cooled onions and continue kneading until the filling is will become viscous and homogeneous.
  • Punch down the dough and roll it into a roller. Cut the roller into 8 pieces and form each piece into a ball. Place the balls of dough on the baking sheet, leaving space between them, and cover with a damp towel to prevent them from drying out. Leave the dough for 10 minutes.
  • Using a sharp knife, divide the filling into 8 pieces. Stretch the piece of dough on the parchment until it reaches the size of a small plate, take ⅛ of the filling from the bowl and place it in the middle of the dough.

  • Grab a small section of the edge of the layer with your right hand and twist it towards the center. Hold the resulting tourniquet with your left hand so that it does not unwind. Repeat approximately 10 times, always holding the new tuck with your left hand and pinning it to the previous ones.

  • Cover the prepared nikumans with a towel to prevent them from drying out. Prepare the steamer. When placing the buns in the steamer, leave space between them for the dough to rise.

  • Place a towel between the steamer lid and the pies to prevent condensation from dripping onto them. Be careful not to let the towel catch fire.

  • Steam the nikumans for 15 minutes. The duration of the process may vary depending on the model of the steamer. But in any case, you should check the readiness of the dish after 15 minutes. Serve nikumans with spicy mustard, hot sauce or vinegar.


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