Vegetable baozi
Local name : 素菜包
White yeasted buns pleated by hand around a cabbage and mushroom filling, then cooked in a steamer basket.
Photo : J. Samuel Burner · CC BY 2.0
- Prep
- 40 min
- Cook
- 15 min
- Total
- 55 min
- Serves
- 6
- Difficulty
- Medium
Method
- Mix the flour, yeast and sugar. Pour in the warm water and oil, then knead for 10 minutes to a smooth, supple dough.
- Cover and prove for 1 hour somewhere warm, until doubled in size.
- Salt the cabbage and let it weep for 15 minutes, then wring it in a tea towel. Fry the mushrooms over high heat for 6 minutes to drive off their water.
- Combine cabbage, mushrooms, ginger, spring onions, soy sauce and sesame oil. Keep the filling cold.
- Knock back the dough and divide it into twelve balls. Roll each into a 12 cm disc, thicker in the middle than at the rim.
- Add a spoonful of filling, gather the rim into small pleats while turning the ball, then pinch the top shut. Sit each bun on a square of baking paper.
- Prove for 20 minutes in the cold steamer basket, then steam for 15 minutes. Wait 3 minutes before lifting the lid.
A centre thicker than the rim keeps the base from tearing under the weight of the filling. Opening the basket too soon collapses the buns, a temperature shock the still-hot dough cannot take.
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