Hello! Hi everyone, Wesley here. Today we're diving back into our newest series dedicated to recreating everything that I ate in eight days while traveling through Taipei Taiwan, with a shot at a Taiwanese pan-fried bao known as sheng jian bao. For those new to the channel, a few weeks back we dove head first into the wonderful world of travel vlogging as I brought y'all along with me on my eight day trip traveling through Taiwan. One of my favorite bites on this trip was a bao that I had never actually come across before, which is the pan-fried sheng jian bao. A close relative to the xiao long bao soup dumpling or steamed baozi (which are more commonly found here in the states), the sheng jian bao is made from a yeasted dough not unlike a baozi is, but is then pan fried, to create a crisp, seared bottom to pair with its fluffy and soft top half. 

Most commonly in Taiwan I came across these baos made in smaller dumplings (rather than larger baos, which we obviously overshot. More on this in a  moment), which in turn gives it the initial appearance of a xiao long bao, but is actually quite different. So! As you might imagine, we will be drawing a lot of inspiration from both our baozi and xiao long bao recipes to create our sheng jian bao today, as well as a closer look at dumpling wrapping in general, which, as we'll demonstrate shortly, is almost always kind of a mess on the first bao. Hope you try it.

 

Serves 2-3

INGREDIENTS (dough)

  • 1 1/2 cups AP flour

  • 1/2 cup corn starch

  • 1 cup warm water

  • 1 packet dry active yeast

  • 1 tbsp white sugar

  • 1 tbsp sesame oil

  • kosher salt

INGREDIENTS (filling)

  • 4 cloves garlic 

  • 1 inch (about 1 tbsp) ginger

  • 6 green onions

  • 8 oz pork belly

INGREDIENTS (marinade)

  • 4 tbsp low sodium soy sauce (or 2 tbsp full sodium soy sauce)

  • 1 tbsp sesame oil

  • 1 tbsp shaoxing wine

  • 1 tbsp dark soy sauce

  • 1 tbsp oyster sauce

  • 1/2 tsp Chinese five spice

  • 1/2 tsp white pepper

PREP

  • COMBINE the flour, corn starch, and a pinch of kosher salt in a large mixing bowl

  • COMBINE the warm water, dry active yeast, and white sugar in a separate bowl, then proof for 10 minutes until bubbles form

  • COMBINE the yeast and flour mixtures, then kneed until a cohesive dough forms

  • COVER the dough and proof for 1 hour in an oven with the oven light on

  • ADD 1 tbsp sesame oil and kneed until the oil is incorporated

  • CRUSH and mince the garlic, then add to a large mixing bowl

  • MINCE the ginger, then add to a large mixing bowl

  • SLICE the green onions, then add to a large mixing bowl

  • ROUGH chop the pork belly, then mince in a food processor and add to the mixing bowl

  • COMBINE the veggies, pork belly, and all marinade ingredients, then set aside

  • DIVIDE the dough into 12 equal pieces, and form into a coin shape with your hands

  • ROLL the dough out until about 4 inches in diameter with a quarter turn after each roll, then add a tbsp of filling to the center

  • FOLD the bao shut using pleats and remove the excess dough from the top

ON THE STOVE

  • HEAT a skillet over medium heat, then add 1/2 cup neutral oil and sear the baos six at a time for 1 minute undisturbed

  • ADD 1/4 cup water then cover and steam for an additional 1 minute, then remove the lid and fry for an additional 1 minute

  • SERVE with soy sauce, sesame oil and red vinegar

 

tagged with sheng jian bao, pan fried pork bun, pork bun, pan fried bao, chinese pork bun, chinese food, dim sum, woo can cook