Recipe for bao with duck
Bao is a yeast dough bun that is steamed.
They originate from China but are eaten in many places today.
Typically, they are eaten with pork, but they are generally great for using up leftovers.
My version is made from leftovers from Mortens Aften (yes, you read that right :-)), so it includes leftovers from the duck and red cabbage used here.
Ingredients
Bao
- 380 gram Wheat Flour
- 12 gram Yeast
- 25 gram Sugar
- 6 gram Salt
- 28 gram Oil Flavorless
- 250 gram Water Lukewarm
Meat Filling
- 125 gram Duck Cooked. Leftovers
- 36 gram Fish Sauce
- 34 gram Hoisin Sauce
- 2 gram Fresh ginger Grated/finely chopped
- 5 gram Lime Juice
- 4 gram Cane Sugar
- 9 gram Sesame Seeds
Green
- Carrots Thinly sliced
- Scallion - Spring Onions Thinly sliced
- Red Cabbage Leftovers
Instructions
Bao
- Use a relatively large bowl in which you dissolve the yeast in the water. Add sugar, salt and 1 tbsp. oil while stirring.
- Then whisk in the flour, a little at a time, to avoid lumps.
- Knead the dough until it is smooth and a bit elastic. This can take 5-10 minutes.
- Let it rise for 30 minutes - or until approximately double in size. It will, of course, take less time in summer than in winter.
- Divide the dough into 12 portions and roll them into balls, flattening them. The height should ideally be under 1 cm.
- Brush oil on one half of each ball and fold them over.
- Let them rise/rest for an additional 10 minutes.
- Steam them for 7-11 minutes at 100 degrees Celsius (212 degrees Fahrenheit) with full steam. We use this machine to steam them, but you can easily use a steam oven or a bamboo steamer.
The Meat Filling
- As mentioned earlier, you can use almost any meat and especially leftovers for this dish. I shredded the rest of the duck from Mortens Aften and got about 125 grams of meat.
- The meat was quickly stir-fried in a pan with hoisin sauce, fish sauce, grated ginger, cane sugar, sesame seeds, and lime juice.
Vegetables
- Cut the vegetables ultra-thin. I used my Y-peeler for this. If you have a mandolin, it is of course preferable. They should just be raw, as their crispness complements the soft dish nicely.
Serving
- Open your steamed bao at the middle and place an appropriate amount of filling in them. Optionally sprinkle some sesame seeds on top.
- Eat them like a taco that doesn’t fall apart when you bite into it.
Notes
Next time, I will use a bit less grated ginger. The flavor was quite strong.
I had no cilantro, so I used flat-leaf parsley.
I had no cilantro, so I used flat-leaf parsley.