The bapao is a steamed bun with a filling. The sandwiches can be savory or sweet. A savory filling consists, for example, of beef, pork or chicken. The sweet filling can consist, for example, of peanuts, coconut or sesame. The sandwiches come from China, but have become known in the Netherlands through Indonesian cuisine. In the Netherlands you can buy the sandwiches in the supermarket, order them from a Chinese or Vietnamese restaurant, or of course make them yourself! We call the bapao in the Netherlands ?? bun bapao ??, although this is double. In Chinese, ?? pao ?? namely ?? sandwich ??.
The recipe
This recipe is for 10 small bapao buns. You need a scale, mixing bowl, steamer and baking paper. A steamer are two pans in each other where the inner pan has holes through which the steam comes through. You can also steam potatoes and vegetables in this way, so that all vitamins and flavorings are preserved.
Ingredients for the dough
- 330 grams of flour
- 1 bag of dried yeast (7 grams)
- 5 grams of salt
- 5 grams of sugar
- 220 ml of water
Ingredients for the filling with ground beef
- 300 grams of ground beef
- 1 onion
- 1 clove of garlic
- 2 tsp vinegar
- 2 tsp soy sauce
- 2 tsp fine ginger
- 2 tsp sugar
- 2 tbsp of warm water
(tsp = teaspoon)
(tbsp = tablespoon)
To work!
Making the dough:
- We start by making the dough. If you have a food processor at your disposal, all ingredients for the dough can be kneaded into a nice elastic dough in 5 minutes. Don’t have a food processor? Then we knead the dough by hand, in the following way:
- Place the flour on the workbench and make a well in it.
- Place the yeast, salt and sugar in the well.
- Pour the warm water into the well.
- Start adding the flour to the water little by little with your hand / fingers in circular movements. Make sure you ?? does not break, otherwise the water will run out.
- Once you’ve done this, start kneading. Knead until it is a nice elastic dough.
- Place the dough under plastic and a cloth and let it rise for 10 minutes.
Making the filling:
- Chop the onion and garlic very finely and fry them together in a little oil.
- Add the minced meat and fry it until done.
- Add the vinegar, ginger, sugar, soy sauce and water and let it simmer until your minced meat is almost dry.
- Place a steamer with a layer of water on the stove and bring the water to a boil.
Filling and dough together:
- Pick up the dough again.
- Divide your dough into 10 equal pieces and make nice round balls.
- Flatten the bulbs in your hand until you have a circle of about 10 cm.
- Divide your minced meat over the dough balls and pinch the outer sides. In this way you squeeze the dough over the minced meat.
- Place the balls with the squeeze side on a small piece of baking paper (this will prevent your bapao from sticking to the bottom of your pan)
- Place the balls in the hot steamer and steam the bapao for about 15 minutes.
Pay attention! After steaming the bapao buns, you cannot keep them for another day. Then the buns become very dry. It is best to eat them immediately!
Variation
You can vary the filling yourself. The recipe and the way of filling and steaming the buns remains the same.
Ingredients for the chicken filling
- 300 grams of chicken
- 1 onion
- 1 clove of garlic
- 2 tsp vinegar
- 2 tsp soy sauce
- ¼ tsp djinten (ground cumin)
- 2 tsp fine ginger
- 2 tsp curry powder
- 2 tsp sugar
- 2 dash of warm water
Making the filling:
- Cut the chicken into thin strips (julienne *)
- Chop the onion and garlic very finely and fry them together in a little oil.
- Add the chicken and fry it until done.
- Add the vinegar, ginger, curry powder, djinten, sugar, soy sauce and water and let it simmer until your chicken is almost dry.
- Place a steamer with a layer of water on the stove and bring the water to a boil.
* Cutting julienne means cutting into long thin strips.