Bao-Zi (Tsai Ru Bao), Vegetable Pork Steamed Buns

Ingredients

Dough

• 300 g all-purpose flour (medium gluten)
• 56 g sugar
• 1 tablespoon cooking oil
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 150 g water
• 11 g active dry yeast

Filling

• 300 g ground pork
• 300 g Chinese cabbage (Bok Choy was shown in the photos)
• 4 tablespoons water
• 1 tablespoon sesame oil (I always use dark sesame oil)
• 2 tablespoons soy sauce
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1 teaspoon rice wine
• 1 pinch pepper
• minced green onion (optional)
• minced gingerroot (optional)
• minced garlic (optional)

Directions

1. 1

   Dough:.

2. 2

   Dissolve the yeast in the water, then mix with the other dough ingredients until smooth. Allow to rise 40 minutes. Knead the dough until smooth and divide into 30 equally sized portions.

3. 3

   Filling:.

4. 4

   Blanch the leaves of the cabbage (or bok choy) briefly in boiling water. Remove and cool in water. Mince finely, strain and squeeze out all the water, as dry as possible. Mix the greens with the other meat filling ingredients until well combined.

5. 5

   Roll out the dough into little circles roughly the size of your palm. Wrap one tablespoon of filling inside each piece of dough. (The tricky part is to get it to look pretty : Pinch the tops together tightly on top, over lapping to close the tops together.).

6. 6

   Allow the filled rolls to rise the second time, for 40 minutes.

7. 7

   Bring water to a boil in a steamer, arrange the buns on the steamer. It helps if you use pieces of parchment paper on the bottoms of the buns (like store bought buns) or the old method is to use some cabbage or leafy vegetables and line the entire steamer, so the steam still goes right through yet the buns won't stick to the steamer). Steam for 6 -8 minutes over high heat.