Zhu Rou Bao Zi (Steamed Pork Buns)

Pork Buns zhu rou bao zi

You won’t find these tasty snacks at the fine dining palaces of Beijing—instead, you’ll see Zhu rou baozi in the side streets and alleys of that super-metropolis. Understandably, the city bureaucrats, and even the central government in Beijing, want to modernize out of existence the seamier side of Chinese life; unfortunately, this includes the unlicensed, unsightly, and occasionally unsanitary street vendors to whom iron-gutted foodies like myself owe their most memorable experiences. In Beijing, during the long run up to the Olympics, the city all but eradicated these makeshift entrepreneurs, and replaced them with spiffy, red-aproned employees in ticky-tacky boxes, all in a row, calling it street food. The China daily shows off these sanitized street stalls in a small photo gallery featuring the more exotic morsels sold there.  Nevertheless, try as they might, city administrators’ attempts to squelch Chinese capitalism is habitually doomed, and you will probably find delicious snacks sold by traditional cooks, out of site of the authorities, for decades to come.

So for now, north of the Yangtze river, in most cities, you will find some sort of baozi sold by sidewalk vendors; they are an inexpensive snack, and yet, along with noodles and rice, constitute the a major staple of the Chinese workers who buy them from their favored neighborhood purveyor. Along with baozi, especially in the morning, these same vendors will often sell mantou, which is steamed wheat flour bread with no filling.

Baozi are sold in many configurations, small to large, fried and steamed, steamed and in southern China, baked. They are close cousins of jiaozi, dumplings, but are usually larger and wrapped with a leavened dough. Baozi have many different fillings—pork and cabbage, vegetables, toufu, mushrooms, red bean paste, lotus seed paste, roast pork, chicken, all with local variations in seasonings and preparation. Nevertheless, the pork and cabbage version, zhu rou bao zi (猪肉包子) is most common.

The yeast dough:

3 cups of bread flour

1 cup warm water (110° F)

1-1/2 teaspoon dry yeast

2-1/2 Tab sugar

2 Tab peanut oil

1-1/2 teaspoon baking powder

The Filling:

1-1/2 lbs Pork (pork belly or rib meat)

1-1/2 lbs Napa Cabbage

1" x 3" washed, unpeeled ginger

1 cup water

2 scallions, minced

1/2 tsp white pepper

1 Tab soy sauce

1 rounded tsp salt

1" x 1/2" pc peeled ginger, minced

1 medium clove garlic, minced

1 tsp Shaoxing wine or dry sherry

2 tsp sesame oil

1 tsp cornstarch

Smash the unpeeled ginger with the flat of a heavy cleaver so that it will release its juices. Put the ginger in the cup of water, stir, and set aside--1 to 2 hours is preferable.

To the cup of lukewarm water, add the sugar and the yeast and stir until it dissolves. In the meantime, sift the flour into a bowl. When the yeast mixture is foaming, add it to the flour and mix vigorously until the mass begins to stick together. Add the oil, and when the dough coheres enough to remove to the counter and knead for 10 minutes, until it is smooth. It is very important that the dough be soft. Do not add more flour unless necessary to keep it from sticking to your hands and the kneading surface. Once the dough is kneaded, oil the surface with peanut oil and place in a covered bowl in a warm place.

Separate and blanch the cabbage leaves for 2 or 3 minutes in a large pot of boiling water. Remove, drain, and cool. When it is cool enough to handle, roughly chop the cabbage and put in a clean hand towel. Wring out as much of the water as possible, then mince.

Mechanically grind or chop with a cleaver all of the pork into a dice of approximately 1/4". Set aside about a third of this, and mince the remaining pork very fine. Mix together the cabbage, the minced ginger, minced scallion, minced garlic, salt and pepper. Mixing thoroughly with a wooden spoon or paddle of a kitchen mixer, add the cup of strained ginger water, soy, wine and sesame oil. Add cornstarch, and mix in one direction for several minutes. The filling should be moist, almost like batter; add chicken stock if the filling seems stiff or dry.

Making the Baozi:

Have the steamer ready before you begin.

When the dough has doubled in bulk, and you are ready to make the baozi, punch down the dough and make several indentations in the dough with your fingers. Sift the baking powder into these holes, fold up the dough and pinch the edges together to contain the baking powder. Knead for five minutes, or until the baking powder is thoroughly incorporated. Cover the dough ball and let it rest for five or ten minutes. Form the dough into two ropes, approximately 1-1/2" in diameter, then cut the ropes into sections approximately 1-1/2" long. Roll each segment into a ball, place, separated, on a tray, and cover.

To make a baozi, flatten one of the balls with your hand, keeping it as round as possible. Roll the discs into approximately 4” rounds, as thin as possible on the edges, and 1/8” or so in the center. Roll out several rounds and keep them covered as you begin to fill the baozi (Doing these somewhat ahead once again rests the dough and makes them more manageable). Smear a couple of heaping tablespoons of filling to the skin, leaving a border of a half inch or so, and begin pleating the very edge with your fingers and thumb, overlapping the dough by a quarter inch or so. The pleat should be squeezed firmly and pulled slightly vertically to prevent the top of the finished bun from being too thick. As you pleat, rotate the baozi clockwise, making sure the filling remains well below the edges of the bun. Complete the process by closing the top with a spiral twist. Place the pleated baozi, separated from one another, on a steamer tray lined with perforated parchment paper or (napa) cabbage leaves and steam, covered, for 14 to 15 minutes. It is very important to make one or two sample baozi to test for salt and seasonings. When you've done this, you are ready to complete the batch of 20 - 30 baozi.

Zhu Rou Bao Zi can be frozen, once they are steamed and cooled, with very little deterioration. They can also be microwaved to re-heat, but steaming for 12 minutes (from frozen) is far superior.

Loh Baahk Gou (Turnip Cake)

Turnip Cake (Loh Baahk Gou)

Loh Baahk Gou, or Turnip cake, is a classic of Dim Sum and will be found in virtually every Dim Sum restaurant in the world.  (I usually translate names into pinyin, now the standard form of Romanization.  However, Dim Sum is so well known by its southern Chinese nomenclature, deriving from the Cantonese dialect, that I use the Yale system when translating Dim Sum recipes and notes).   Perhaps the greatest attraction of this dish, as with many Chinese offerings, is texture.  When steamed properly, and lightly fried, Loh Baahk Gou is slightly crisp on the surface, while moist and meltingly tender within, punctuated by small morsels of savory sausage, bacon, dried shrimp and mushroom.  The main ingredient, actually Chinese white radish, is nearly identical to Japanese Daikon, the latter being a perfectly usable substitute in the US.  Loh Baahk Gou cannot be frozen, but it will keep in the refrigerator, wrapped in plastic wrap, for a week.

Note: the rice flour/liquid slurry will seem too thin to solidify the cake, and you may fear that it will “separate” while it sits in the steamer.  However, the weight of the non-liquid ingredients displace the slurry perfectly, and the cake will be surprisingly homogenous and firm in the end.

1+ oz (35g) (Lop Yok) Chinese Bacon

1 +oz (35g) Lop Cheong Chinese Sausage (about 1 link)

2 med Shitake dried mushrooms

6 g dried shrimp

2 small green onions, chopped roughly, include greens.

1 lbs (450g) Daikon (after peeled and topped)

1-2 tsp Shaoshing wine or dry sherry

3 level tsp sugar

1 cup (130 g)  Thai rice flour

1 level tsp salt

1/2 quart (16 oz) water

White pepper

Peanut oil

Submerge mushroom in one cup hot water and soak 30 min. to an hour. Add 1 cup boiling water to dried shrimp, soak 30 min. to an hour.

Cut bacon into 1 or 2 or pcs and place in a small heatproof bowl.  Steam in steamer for 20 minutes, until bacon softens. 10 minutes into the steaming of the bacon, put sausage in bowl and steam on another rack for ten minutes. Reserve any juices which collect in the bottom of the bowl.  When cool enough to handle,  trim the rind, if any (the tough outer layer), off the bacon and dice 1/8” to 3/16th” and dice the sausage in the same way.

Drain shrimp, reserving liquid, and chop 1/4” minus.  Squeeze water from mushrooms, reserving liquid, cut away stems and dice, 1/4”.   The combined soaking liquids from the shrimp and mushroom should be at least 1 cup.

Shred the daikon radish and place in a 3 qt sauce pan.  Compact the vegetable gently, add 1/2 quart cold water and bring to a boil.  Reduce heat, cover and simmer for about 30 minutes until very tender.   In the meantime, heat a wok to med-high, add 1 or 2 tablespoons peanut oil, and stir fry sausage and bacon for 2 or 3 minutes just until meat browns slightly.  Be careful not to brown this very much—the sausage and bacon will become tough.  Add mushrooms, shrimp and scallions, and stir-fry another 2 or 3 minutes; toss in wine, sugar, a dash of ground white pepper and reserved bacon juices.  Toss to combine and set aside.

While reserving the liquid, drain the shredded radish and combine it in a large bowl with the meat and scallion mixture—including residual oils—and the salt.  Into a mixing bowl, measure the rice flour; pour in the 1/2 cup combined shrimp and mushroom water, then 1-1/4 cup hot turnip water, and combine with whisk until smooth.  Add this slurry to the turnip mixture and combine thoroughly.  It will be something like a rice pudding in texture.

Pour mixture into a well-greased (or parchment lined) small loaf pan appx. 8X4X2-1/4” deep, and place in steamer without touching sides or lid of steamer.  (A Chinese cook will often use a covered wok as a steamer, since it is large, in conjunction with a wire rack which supports the pan above the water.)  Gently pat the mixture down to consolidate and distribute slurry.  Steam 45 minutes until firm.  Remove and allow to cool for an hour, then refrigerate for 2 or 3 more hours.

When ready to serve, run a butter knife or spatula along sides of pan; turn over on plate or cutting board; cover for a couple of minutes with a hot towel, then rap the loaf pan to release the cake.  With a sharp knife, cut 1/2 inch pieces crosswise, like bread; cut each of these in half,  to create servings of approx 2-1/2 x 3” and a half inch thick.  Fry the pieces in a flat pan with peanut oil til golden brown and warmed through.   Serve with soy dipping or oyster sauce.

Bang Bang Ji Si (Bang Bang Chicken)

Bang Bang Chicken (Bang Bang Ji Si)

Here’s a classic Sichuan dish that you'll find in many stateside Chinese restaurants, sometimes called “Bon Bon Chicken," but this recipe strives to follow the traditional method based on our experience of it Chengdu, Sichuan.   

It is widely understood that the name of the snack comes from the Mandarin word for stick or club, in addition to the onomatopoeia of bang, which refers the noise the stick makes as the cook loosens the breast meat fibers before shredding.  Today’s chefs will find this dramatic step helpful but unnecessary, however, as most poultry is tender enough to begin with. This shredded, cold dish is considered an appetizer, and often goes by the name "Strange Flavor Chicken"(Gwei wei ji si).

Many recipes for this dish call for poached chicken: I prefer to steam breast meat, considering it to produce a more tender result.  Also, various arrangements and garnishes are employed with bang bang ji; I usually use the bed of fen si, (bean thread noodles). 

1 full chicken breast, bone in, skin on, split through breast bone

sesame oil for marinade

10 – 11 oz pickling cucumber

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp chili paste

1 TAB sugar

1-1/2 Tab sesame oil

1-1/2 Tab sesame paste (editor: you can sub natural peanut butter)1 TAB soy sauce

1 TAB rice wine vinegar

1/2 tsp Sichuan peppercorn,  lightly toasted and ground

1 – 2 dried chilis, chopped

1 TAB ginger, finely minced

1 or 2 med cloves garlic, finely minced

2 green onions—white portion minced, green finely shreds for garnish

2 oz bean thread noodles (fen si)

Sesame seeds, lightly toasted

Wash and dry split breast  and rub well with sesame oil. Steam 12 minutes with towels covering steamer trays and lid.  After the 12 minutes, remove towels, and turn off heat.  After 2 minutes remove from steamer completely and set aside to cool.  When chicken is cool enough to handle, remove skin and slice into 1/2 “ pieces if you wish to include it.  Tear chicken breast flesh with the grain to produce 3/8 “ by 2 or 3” shreds and set aside in the refrigerator.

Wash cucumbers; leaving skin on, split cucumbers lengthwise and scoop out seeds and pulp.  Continue slicing cucumbers lengthwise into wedges splitting each wedge until it is approximately an eighth inch thick.  Cut these wedges in half, so they are 1-1/2 inch or so long.  In a bowl, toss with 1/2 tsp of salt and marinate two hours or so until water puddles in the bottom of the bowl.  Drain cucumbers, rinse to wash away excess salt and dry with towel.  Set aside.

In the meantime mix chili paste, sugar, sesame oil, sesame paste, soy sauce, rice wine vinegar, ground Sichuan peppercorn, dried chili, ginger, garlic and green onion.  Mix very thoroughly to break up sesame paste lumps.  Set aside.

 Soak the bean thread noodles in hot tap water for 20 minutes; cut to 3” length if desired, and put in boiling water for 1 – 2 minutes.  Remove, rinse with cold water and drain.

Create a bed of bean thread noodles on a serving plate.  Scatter cucumbers over the noodles, allowing the noodles to show all around the edge.  Heap the chicken shreds on top of the cucumbers and pour sauce in the middle of the mound, allowing some of the chicken to remain visible.  Garnish with sesame seeds and green onion shreds

Ma Yi Shang Shu (Ants Climbing a Tree)

Ants Climbing a Tree (Ma Yi Shang Shu)

This Sichuan dish has an imaginative name, and its unique appearance, texture and delicious flavors justify the poetry:  it derives from the finely minced pork, which when combined with the noodles properly, suggests ants clinging to the branches of a tree--well, you may have to use your imagination for this one!  Ma Yi Shang Shu has survived the ages, however, by the pleasing use of wok simmered, translucent, mung bean noodles, commonly found in soups, known in Chinese as fen si.  In the west, it has been called bean thread, cellophane, and vermicelli noodles, and is produced from the same legume as the venerable bean sprout.  Its texture is smooth and slippery, and constitutes a very unique experience among the countless noodles dishes of China.

6 - 7 oz dry bean thread noodle (fen si).
5-6 oz lean pork, minced carefully 1/8” pcs.
2 green onions, white portion fine mince, greens shredded for garnish
2 med cloves garlic, finely minced
1 heaping Tab ginger, finely minced
1 tsp chili paste

Meat marinade:

1 tsp dark soy sauce
4 tsp shao xing wine or dry sherry
2 tsp soy sauce
1 tsp sesame oil
1 tsp cornstarch

Sauce:

1 1/2 to 2 CUPS homemade or low sodium chicken stock
2 Tab shao xing wine or dry sherry
2 tsp sugar
2 tsp salt

Soak the beanthread noodles in hot water for an hour or so, until pliable, then drain.  Cut the noodles in half or thirds with scissors, cover and set aside.

Preparing the pork is important; the appearance of the dish is enhanced by mincing the meat in fairly uniform “ant-like” pieces.  Putting the pork in the freezer until it is very firm but not frozen helps; slice the meat across the grain, 1/8” thick, then cut the slices into 1/8” diameter matchsticks; align the pieces and cut them into 1/8” dice; marinate the meat for at least 30 minutes in the marinade ingredients.

Heat the wok to med high, add peanut oil, and stir fry the minced pork, using chopsticks to thoroughly separate the meat pieces as they cook.  Fry the pork until it is completely done and begins to darken.  Push the pork up the sides of the wok and add more oil if necessary so that a couple of tablespoons is available for the rest of the frying (To enhance the “ant” appearance, 2 or 3 tablespoons of meat can be taken out at this point to use as a garnish).  Add ginger, the white part of the minced onion, and garlic; stir fry for 30 seconds or so, then add chili paste and stir fry until well blended.  Add the sauce ingredients, then the drained bean thread noodles and mix thoroughly.  At first it may seem that you've used too much sauce, but it will be absorbed in time. Simmer the noodles for 4-5 minutes, stirring occasionally, and adding small amounts of water if the noodles appear to be drying out.  When the mung bean noodles are soft and velvety,  turn the noodles over, making sure the minced ingredients are picked up from the bottom of the wok, and slide the mass onto a platter.  Garnish with a little sesame oil, a few green onion  shreds, and the reserved cooked pork.

Jiang Ji Si (Shredded Ginger Chicken)

Shredded Ginger Chicken (Jiang Ji Si)

As a cold appetizer, Jiang Ji Si is not, strictly speaking, a traditional dish; it does, however, utilize a well-known combination, a shredded ginger/salt/oil dipping sauce and steamed chicken, (Zheng Ji), two things traditionally served separately as a warm main course.  It is intensely flavored and ridiculously easy to make.

3 boned, skinned chicken breasts,  (appx. 1 lb)

1-2 Tab Sesame oil for marinade

Sauce:

1-1/2 Tab Sesame oil for sauce

1-1/2 Tab Peanut oil for sauce

1/4 – 1/2 tsp salt to taste.

1” x 1” pc of peeled fresh ginger

Garnish:

2 green onions, minced

After boning and skinning, wash and dry the chicken breast then rub well with sesame oil; place in an oiled steamer tray or one that is lined with parchment paper.  Make sure pieces are not touching.  Steam chicken about 8 minutes, or until the chicken meat is just firm to the touch (larger pieces will require more steaming, smaller ones, less).  Allow to cool, then refrigerate, loosely covered.

In the meantime, prepare the sauce:  Mince the ginger as finely as possible.  (This can be accomplished by finely mincing with a knife; shredding with grater using the smallest holes, or, combined with the oil, in a food processor—the important thing is to retain as much of the ginger juices as possible)  Mix the minced ginger and any juices with the oil and salt.  Be sure to taste the sauce as you are adding salt—it should be somewhat salty, since the sauce with be mixed with the chicken and lose some of it’s pungency.

When ready to assemble the dish, shred the chicken by pulling the meat apart with the grain—you are separating the muscle fibers, and it will tear in small elongated threads in this way.  Discard any cartilage or bone fragments.  Mound chicken shreds on a small platter, drizzle ginger/oil sauce over it, then garnish with minced green onion.  This can be prepared ahead of time, but add the sauce and garnish at the last moment.