It's 'Bau-Time!

I loved this challenge! Having only eaten these dumplings once before at a Chinese friend's home, the bar was set pretty high, and our expectations for success were moderately low given the loose recipe from online and our 'creativity' for the fillings...

We decided to try out a few different fillings to experiment with flavors. Some worked better than others. First was a 'traditional' mix of chopped pork and Asian veggies and flavors (by flavors I mean a concoction of the jars and bottles we have in our fridge). Second we tried an American-style pork bbq filling, and last but definitely not least was a sauteed banana filling (banana, lemon, cinnamon, butter, sugar) for dessert.


The dough was surprisingly simple enough to make, and seemed difficult to get wrong. It was super easy to work with too. We made different shapes to try and differentiate our different fillings and that turned out to maybe be our biggest mistake. Turns out round shapes fit much better into a round steamer than squares and triangles (go figure!). Not to mention, with the triangles you end up with all dough corners - so don't make our same mistake! We should have trusted the traditional shape a little more, given that the Chinese have been cooking these things for hundreds of years...


The results? The bread was incredibly soft and airy, with a slight sweetness to it - simple and delicious. As for the fillings - well, you can never go wrong with an asian-style pork filling, so that was our safe bet. The bbq pork tasted more like a sloppy joe, but not nearly as good as a real sloppy joe (could have used an actual recipe for this one...). But the REAL winner was the banana filling. Oh my goodness was that heaven in a white fluffy bun!? Dipped in peanut butter - oh wow.


It was so much fun to experiment and figure out what flavors worked best with these things. We will definitely be making Baozi sometime again in the near future (with more experimental fillings). Surprisingly easy and quick to make but they look so impressive!


(You like that title Mike?? I feel like I'm taking one out of your book.)