Siew Bao - 烧包

烧包 (read as Siew Bao in Cantonese and Shao Bao in Mandarin) - Chinese baked buns with Char Siew filling. Filling for this baked bun is usually diced pork or chicken and green peas cooked in brown colour sauce but I made mine with char siew filling. I am not sure if it is originated from Seremban (a city in state of Negeri Sembilan, Malaysia) but it is always associated with Seremban or better known as Seremban Siew Bao.

To me, a good siew bao must have flaky but not hard pastry. Some store-bought siew bao look really good but I got disappointed with the hard pastry after first bite. I used Tau Sa Piah (豆沙饼)'s pastry recipe for these buns, it produced nice layers, crispy and flaky texture after baked. By the way, friend of mine used this recipe many times and her family liked it too.

Ingredients (makes 12 pcs):

• Dough A:
• 120g all-purpose flour
• 60g shortening
• Dough B:
• 120g all-purpose flour, sifted
• 30g icing sugar
• 30g shortening
• 60ml water

Fillings (same as for char siew bao):

• A
• 250g char siew, diced
• ½ tbsp cooking oil
• 1 tsp sugar*
• 1 small onion, diced
• 1 tbsp oyster sauce*
• 1 tbsp soy sauce*
• 1 tsp. sesame oil
• 1-2 drops red food colouring (optional)
  
• B
• 150 ml water
• 1½ tbsp corn flour
• Salt to taste

*Some store-bought char siew comes with sauce, use it for preparing filling. Omit sugar, oyster sauce and soy sauce.

• Eggwash:
• 1 egg yolk
• ½ tbsp milk

Methods:

1. Fillings: Heat oil in pan, sauté onion for 1 to 2 minutes. Add in all other ingredients A, stir fry for 1 minutes.
2. Mix together water with corn flour, add mixture into the pan and stir well. Simmer until gravy is thickened.
3. Transfer to plate and allow to cool. Divide filling into 16 portions if desired, set aside for later use.
4. Dough: Prepare dough A and B separately using the same method. Bring together all ingredients for each dough, mix well and knead to form soft dough.
5. Cover and let them stand for 30 minutes. Then divide and shape each dough into 12 equal portion balls.
6. Wrap dough B around dough A. Roll it out into 15 x 3 cm (approx.) rectangle with a rolling pin, then roll up from the short end, repeat this step again.
7. Roll it out into 10 to 12cm diameter circle and place the filling at the center. Pleat and pinch to seal.
8. Place bun on a 5 cm square parchment paper, pleat size up. Egg wash and sprinkle some sesame seeds on the top if desired.
9. Preheat oven to 180 degree C and bake buns for 20 minutes till golden brown.

If you have difficulties in pleating them, you can make them into pillow shape. I brought those to a mahjong gathering and friends loved it!