Baozzi – recipe with photo step by step. How to cook Chinese baozzi?

Baoji

Ingredients

Steamed yeast dough – 500 g

Pork or minced meat – 400-500 grams

Ginger root – 5-10 cm (to taste)

Green onions – 1-2 bunches

Salt – to taste

Ground black pepper – to taste

Myrin – 2-3 tbsp.

Soy sauce – 3-4 tbsp.

Starch – 1 tbsp.

Water – 50 ml + 1 tbsp.

Vegetable oil – 1-2 tbsp.

Sugar – 1-2 pinches

Worcestershire sauce – 1-2 tbsp.

Photo of the finished dish

Check out the recipe

Step by step recipe with photo

Baoji are steamed Chinese cakes with a variety of fillings. Like most Chinese dishes, it is a dish with a long history.

According to legend, the dish was invented by a Chinese commander as early as the second or third century AD. According to one version of the legend, while on a military campaign in southern China, the commander’s army was severely afflicted by disease. The sages decided that only a human sacrifice made as a gift to the gods could save them from this plague. But the commander decided to be merciful and ordered a meat-filled pastry pie to be offered to the gods instead of his men.

The truth of how that military campaign ended has been lost to the ages, but the recipe for the meat pie has survived. In modern Chinese cuisine, it has been transformed into two dishes. They are steamed steamed buns without filling, called Mantou, and Baozi cakes, the recipes for which I want to share with you today.

Prepare the ingredients. Baoji can be made with a variety of fillings, but today we will make a classic meat filling of pork and green onions.

Cut the meat into small pieces and shred it. For the filling you can use both minced meat and shredded meat.

Grate some ginger root. Heat some vegetable oil in a frying pan and add the grated ginger.

After a few seconds, add minced meat to the pan.

Mix the ginger with the minced meat and add a little water to the pan. The water is needed so that the minced meat separates faster and better.

Add soy sauce, myrrh (or sherry, white wine), salt and pepper to the pan. If using dry white wine, add 1-2 pinches of sugar.

Stew the meat on the heat until it has softened and the liquid has almost evaporated.

Chop 1-2 cloves of garlic. Dissolve the starch in 1 tbsp. cold water. Add the starch and garlic to the filling and mix well.

Once the remaining seasonings and juice have thickened and absorbed, turn off the heat and leave the stuffing to cool. Taste the meat and add seasonings and spices to taste as needed. In China they add a flavor enhancer, but I prefer to add 1 tbsp of Worcestershire sauce.

While the filling cools, let’s take care of the dough. In order to make Baoji cakes airy and light, we use a special yeast dough for steaming, which recipe is available on our website.

Knead the dough prepared according to the basic recipe and divide it into 4 parts.

Roll each part into small sausages with a diameter of 2-3 centimeters and divide into 6 parts.

Holding each piece of dough with your fingers in the center, roll out into a circle 12-15 cm in diameter so that the middle of the circle is thicker than the edges.

Add the chopped green onions to the cooled meat. It is important that the meat cools enough before you add the onions and start shaping the baoji. If the filling is too hot, the onions will run out of juice and the dough may become soggy.

Place 1 tbsp of the filling in the center of the rolled out circle, pinch the edges together, and shape the pie into a “pouch. I’m not going to lie: only an experienced cook, which unfortunately I am not yet, will be able to give baozzi its traditional shape. Fortunately, regardless of whether you get a traditional Chinese or a simpler “pouch,” the taste of the dish will not be adversely affected.

Cut parchment paper into small squares.

Place the formed patties on pieces of parchment paper and place them in the steamer. Leave space between the patties as they will grow in size during cooking.

Do not hurry to send the patties to the steamer, let the dough rise again, leaving the baozzi to stand for 20 to 60 minutes. The better the baozzi rises, the more porous the dough will be and the more airy the patties will be.

Cook the Baoji patties for 15 minutes on steam and then leave for another 5 minutes with the lid closed.