Bao buns are typical Asian cuisine buns that are steamed, and that you can fill with whatever you want, although the most common is to do it with meat and vegetables. They are a healthy way to liven up a lunch or dinner, that's why Leti, author of Revealing Flavors , brings us a very tasty recipe to prepare them. We assure you that you will love making them and even more enjoy them!

Surely by now the vast majority of you will have already tried baths thousands of times. No, I am not referring to the ones we make with eucalyptus to clear the nose, but to those that are, without a doubt, the trendy snacks.

Especially those of you who live in big cities will be tired of seeing them everywhere, since it is rare for a restaurant or bar to not include them on their menu. There are even restaurants that are dedicated exclusively to preparing these delicious snacks.

But those of you who, like me, live in small cities, may not have had the chance to try them yet (or maybe you hadn't even heard of them, why should we fool ourselves).

So for those of you who don't know exactly what they are, I'll tell you that they are sandwiches originating from Taiwan , which we find in street food stalls, and whose buns are steamed , with which we obtain buns with a texture very soft and fluffy.

Although the traditional filling consists of meat prepared at low temperature, today I bring you them stuffed with chicken meat that I have prepared in Ken Hom's steel wok and accompanied by vegetables. But the filling of these buns admits a thousand possibilities, we can use the one that best suits our tastes. It even occurs to me that they would be delicious filled with cocoa cream, for the snack of the smallest (or the largest...).

To prepare these delicious bao buns, I used Ken Hom's bamboo steamer with which I couldn't be happier, apart from how easy it is to use, it doesn't stain anything, and if we put a little parchment paper on top the bases of the steamer when cooking, we will hardly have to clean it. And steam cooking couldn't be healthier!

Zester Microplane grater , Gefu Spirelli 2.0 spiral slicer , Boska cutting board , Le Creuset set of two ramekins and Ken Hom carbon steel wok .

Ingredients

For the bao buns:

• 250g of pastry flour
• 100ml of whole milk
• 50ml of water
• 1 tablespoon of rice vinegar
• 1 tablespoon of oil
• 20g of sugar
• 3g dry baker's yeast
• ½ teaspoon of salt
• 1 teaspoon chemical yeast (Royal type)

For the filling:

• 500g boneless chicken thighs
• 1 carrot
• 1 red bell pepper
• ½ onion
• 2 tablespoons sesame oil
• ½ cucumber
• 3 or 4 radishes
• Cilantro
• A handful of peanuts
• Zest of ½ lime
• 1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger
• 2 tablespoons soy sauce
• 2 teaspoons of brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon of rice vinegar
• 1 teaspoon cornstarch

Elaboration

For the bao buns:

1. Put the flour together with the milk, water, yeast, salt, sugar, vinegar and oil in a bowl .
2. If we are going to knead by hand, we mix the ingredients in the bowl until they are well integrated, at which point we dump the dough on the counter and knead until we obtain a smooth and shiny dough.
3. If we knead with the Kitchen Aid , we pour the ingredients into the bowl and, with the paddle accessory and speed 2, we knead until the ingredients are well integrated. At that moment we change the shovel accessory for the dough hook and, at speed 2, we knead until our dough is smooth and shiny.
4. Once we have the dough ready, we shape it into a ball and place it in a lightly oiled bowl, cover it with plastic wrap and let it rise in a warm place away from drafts for about 1 hour.
5. Once it has doubled its volume, we pour the dough out onto the countertop and gently squeezing with the fingertips we remove the gas and sprinkle the chemical yeast on the surface. Knead for a few minutes until the yeast is well integrated.
6. Then we shape it again into a ball and let it rest for 5 minutes.
7. After this time, and with the help of a scraper or a very sharp knife, we divide the dough into 6 portions of about 60gr each. We can weigh each portion so that they are all the same size.
8. Shape each portion into a ball and let them rest for a few minutes.
9. After this time, we stretch each ball of dough with the help of a rolling pin until it is approximately 4 mm thick, and we give it an oval shape.
10. Once we have the stretched dough, we will place a piece of baking paper on half of the oval that forms the dough and fold the other half over it (so that we will obtain a shape similar to a dumpling with the baking paper between both parts) .
11. We form the rest of the bao buns in the same way.
12. Then we line the base of the steamer with parchment paper to prevent the buns from sticking to the bamboo base and place the bao buns in the steamer .
13. Cover the steamer and let rise for about 20 minutes.
14. When the resting time is over, heat water over medium heat in a saucepan with a diameter similar to that of the steamer and, once it begins to steam, place the steamer on top of the saucepan.
15. Keep the pan over medium heat and leave the steamer over it for about 10 minutes.
16. After this time we remove the steamer from the casserole and let it rest for about 5 minutes without opening the steamer.
17. We take the bao buns out of the steamer, remove the baking paper that separates the 2 parts of the bun and it is ready to fill.

Ken Hom bamboo steamer , Joseph&Joseph adjustable rolling pin and Bérard flour spoon .

For the filling:

1. We start by preparing the sauce. To do this, mix the soy sauce, rice vinegar, brown sugar, grated ginger and cornstarch in a bowl.
2. With a sharp knife , cut the chicken, pepper and onion into approximately 1 cm strips.
3. Cut the cucumber and carrot with the help of the spiral cutter . We booked.
4. Cut the radishes into thin slices and reserve.
5. We heat the wok with the sesame oil and, once it is very hot, add the chicken strips and sauté until we see that it changes color. At that moment we remove it from the wok and add the pepper, onion and carrot.
6. We sauté for a few minutes until we see that they are cooked but still “al dente”.
7. We return the chicken to the wok and add the sauce that we had reserved.
8. Keep on the heat for a few minutes until the ingredients are well integrated and remove from the heat.
9. We proceed to fill the bao buns with a little of the chicken wok, some slices of radish, some cucumber spirals, some coriander leaves, a little bit of lime zest (with the Microplane grater you will get it quickly and cleanly, I I'm hooked on it, hehehe) and a few crushed peanuts.

Grades

• In my opinion, the best bao buns are freshly made, so while the dough rests, we can chop the filling ingredients and while the bao buns are cooking, prepare the chicken in the wok, so that when they finish cooking the buns we already have the filling ready.
• If we have to heat the bao buns, the best way to do it is by putting them back in the steamer for a couple of minutes, never in the microwave, as it dries them out too much.

Ken Hom bamboo steamer , Le Creuset ceramic ramekins , Boska cutting board and Ken Hom carbon steel wok .

Although today I have brought you a somewhat long recipe, I assure you that it is easier to prepare than to read in one go, so I can only encourage you to prepare it. And I can't think of a better plan for this summer that we already have here than an outdoor dinner with good company and these delicious bao buns.

Take advantage!