Baozi Chinese steamed pies. Baozi - light Chinese pastries

Baozi is not just steamed buns filled with various fillings, it is the most common and, in part, even sacred dish in China. Each region claims the palm in cooking baozi, and locals sometimes argue heatedly over who will cook the best steamed buns. There are no winners in this dispute, because absolutely everywhere baozi are simply amazing. In the northwest of the country, tender and juicy pork is used as a filling for buns; in Sichuan, baozi is always spicy and eaten with hot hot sauce, vegetarian baozi filled with spinach, beans, sesame and tofu are very popular around Shanghai. But, wherever this dish is served, a small ceramic dish with vinegar and soy sauce, as well as chili paste is sure to be provided with it. Baozi is an integral part of Chinese culinary culture, a popular and affordable food for everyone. Even though this dish is quite hearty, steamed burgers are often eaten for breakfast.

History of the dish

There are several legends about the origin of baozi. According to one of them, during the years of the Eastern Khanate, a certain official named Zhang Zhong Jing invented unusual food to help poor people keep warm in cold winter. They were small dough envelopes filled with hot peppers and medicinal herbs. People ate these buns, and many were able to survive the harsh winter thanks to this. The second legend is more popular, and even in the 21st century is reverently passed from mouth to mouth. It all happened 1800 years ago, during the period of the "Three Kingdoms" (220-280).Zhuge Liang, a famous military strategist of that time, was returning from a campaign when a terrible plague epidemic struck his army. The healers saw only one way to avert trouble - to sacrifice 50 people to the gods. Their heads were to be cut off and thrown into the raging river. But Zhuge Liang refused to kill his soldiers in vainand decided to avoid more bloodshed.He decided to circle the gods around his finger. The general ordered dozens of cows, horses and pigs traveling with the army to be slaughtered, and thenwrap pork and beef in doughand give it the shape of a human head. This food was offered to the gods, and they took pity. The plague receded, the soldiers recovered from their illness, and the army returned home safely. Since then, baozi has become a typical food of the Chinese people. In parts of southern China, such as Shanghai, steamed bread, with or without filling, is still called manti, from the word for flour.But in the north, people firmly believe in legends and call this dish "baozi", and bao means "wrap" here. There are also small villages in China where this dish is still called "barbarian's head".

Ingredients

For test:

• Flour;
• Dry yeast;
• Sugar, salt;
• Water;
• Potato starch.

For the filling and marinade:

• pork belly;
• Sunflower oil;
• Onion;
• Ginger;
• Garlic;
• Sesame;
• Chinese rice wine;
• Soy sauce;
• Ground black pepper.

Baozi cooking process

Like most stuffed products, baozi require time and effort. Steamed buns consist of a wheat-based dough and a filling that is usually pork, but can vary. The meat for the filling is passed through a fine mesh meat grinder. After five minutes, add shrimp or vegetables. When the meat is ready, you need to drain the excess liquid, season with salt and set aside to cool. In the second step, mix green onion, ginger, soy sauce, rice wine, sugar and pepper. The marinade is thoroughly mixed with the main composition and cooled in the freezer for 2 hours. You can leave the future filling for steamed buns overnight in the refrigerator. The meat will soak and acquire a unique taste. The next step is preparing the steam dough. Yeast, sugar, salt, water are added to the flour and everything is thoroughly mixed for at least 10 minutes. The dough should rise when pressed with your finger. Its surface should be smooth and slightly shiny. The bottom of the bowl is treated with sesame oil to get a thin film on the dough. Next, the dough is placed in the refrigerator, slowly rising in a cool place will create a finer texture. You need to let it rise several times, then the baots will turn out to be especially tender and will simply melt in your mouth. fluffy, soft bun will create a wonderful contrast with a dense spicy filling. The process of forming buns is the most responsible. The dough is divided into equal disks. Each disc is rolled by hand in such a way that the edges are thin, and a “cushion” is formed in the center. The filling is laid out in the very center of the workpiece, approximately a dessert spoon. The edges of the steam bun must be carefully glued in the center, making a kind of “pleating”. Ready-made baots insist another hour in a warm place so that the dough rises again. Buns are placed in a double boiler. They must not touch each other. The water temperature should not be higher or lower than a certain value. Once the boil begins, the buns will cook for about 15 minutes. After this time, the stove turns off, but the lid is not removed for about 5 minutes. The structure of the dough can be destroyed on contact with cold air. Originating from China, steamed burgers are widely used in various Asian countries, and there are many variations of them. For example, in the Philippines they are called "burning bag". They are round or oval in shape and are always stuffed tightly with pork, chicken, lamb, shrimp or duck eggs. In Japan, buns are called "san-ma", which means "steamed bread". In Mongolia, such a dish is called "buuz", and the filling for them is lamb, sometimes yak meat. In Vietnam, pork mixed with quail eggs is used as a filling. The Chinese, even in ancient times, took food very seriously and ate strictly according to the clock. The reverent attitude to food has survived to this day. Based on the wisdom of Confucius, the emphasis is on relationships, even at meal times. Dinner together is an important way for the Chinese to improve relationships. Baozi are conducive to friendly communication with their democratic nature. They will not become the central part of luxurious banquets, but steamed buns in China are an integral part of any feast. They are especially popular as a breakfast dish. In Beijing, hot, juicy baozi can be bought on the street, and they are also sold pre-cooked and frozen in supermarkets. It is curious that, before the appearance of this dish, the Chinese ate only twice a day, but during the Han Dynasty, after the appearance of a new dish, the inhabitants of the Celestial Empire began to indulge themselves with buns with hearty stuffing for any reason.

The only thing you will need is a steamer because traditional baozi is steamed. But if you don’t have it, you can easily build a unit from improvised materials by taking a large pot, pouring water and installing a colander or sieve of the same diameter. Cover with a lid and you're done!

The Chinese prefer these marvelous meat patties for breakfast, but we think that due to their lightness and low calories, the best time for baozi is dinner. However, it's up to you!

CHINESE-STYLE EASY MEAT PIE RECIPE

What do you need:
(for 10 pies)

Dough:
3 art. flour
1 tbsp fresh yeast or 2 tsp dry
1/4 tsp soda
1 st. warm water

Filling:
500 g pork
1 egg white
1 tsp corn or potato starch
2 tbsp rice wine or dry sherry
1 tbsp Sahara
a few green onions or cilantro
2 cm ginger root

How to make easy Chinese style meat patties:

1. For the dough, dissolve the yeast in water and mix with the sifted flour. Put in a warm place for 1 hour.

2. For the filling, make minced meat using a blender or meat grinder. If you do not have either, feel free to chop the pork with a knife as finely as possible. Add finely chopped green onion or cilantro and finely chopped/finely grated ginger.

3. Mix starch with 1 tbsp. cold water, beat the protein lightly.

Send all this to minced meat, add sugar, salt and pour wine. How to mix.

4. We return to the approached test.

Dilute soda in 2 tsp. warm water, pour over the dough and knead lightly. If the dough sticks to your hands, then add flour. Let stand another 15 minutes.

5. Ready dough divide into 10 parts and form neat balls. Roll each into a round cake.

6. For convenience, put each cake in a bowl and place the filling in the center.

Pinch the edges. You can pinch the top completely, or you can leave a hole in the center to pour the sauce when the pies are ready.

In every Chinese town there is some special, purely local dish, which you can try only in the homeland of this delicacy.
For example, in the southern Chinese town of Kibao, a small settlement surrounded by water, on the street you can buy very original bundles under the intriguing name: "Beggar's Chicken". Each of these bundles is a carcass of a whole chicken, not too big, however, baked in a package of silt. To enjoy the dish, just break this shell.

There are also appetizers. For a European, they are more likely to exacerbate the feeling of hunger than contribute to saturation. These are skewers with goose giblets, balls of tofu, seaweed and mushrooms, which are dipped in a scalding hot spicy soup and eaten from paper bags.

Salted quail eggs. The device for their preparation is an oven made from a single block of salt with a large recess in which hundreds of tiny quail eggs. Thus, this Chinese dish is salted and baked at the same time.

For those who can afford meat, they sell real meat skewers, accompanied by french fries. Next to the meat skewers are tofu skewers, which the people of southern China simply adore. They call it fragrant, although some Europeans may find this product simply smelly. Dushistik is cubes of fermented tofu, fried in oil until the desired condition - when the crust becomes crispy, and the inside remains tender.

For those who cannot afford meat, they sell skewers with lamb, beef, goose giblets and fried chicken, as well as fake duck rolls - all made from rolled tofu sheets. As a rule, all these products are then deep-fried. Delicious and very fatty!

A healthier snack option is steamed sweet rice "bags," which are small baskets of steamed rice, pieces of prunes and raisins.

You can drink this rice with Chinese punch - drinks made from herbal and citrus jelly, grapes, melon and crushed coconut. Some of them are loaded with lemon juice.

For dessert, you can indulge in hot glutinous rice cookies. Its variety is quite large - purple with the taste of red beans, yellow - with the taste of the local exotic fruit called durian, and green - with Chinese medicinal herbs.

Shanghai is famous for its huge variety of street food.

Shanghai crab cakes, for example. Crabs in Shanghai are a very affordable delicacy, because they are caught in the vicinity of the city all year round, which is why these neat oval crab cakes, baked until golden in a clay oven, have become so popular. They usually add a wide variety of fillings - both sweetish and spicy.

Stuffed rice balls are one of the most popular Chinese breakfasts. Traditional stuffing is pork with pickled vegetables, recently a mixture of eggs and ham has also become widespread. This dish tastes best while it is still hot. Restaurants serve them with meat sauce, in a more formal version.

One of the easiest Chinese food, which in Shanghai can be bought on every corner, is called "TSUNG WAN BING". It is a greenish vegetarian pancake. Usually such pancakes are baked by elderly people who received a simple recipe from their grandmother and now keep it in the strictest confidence. Green onions are usually added to such pancakes, which is why it acquires a light green hue.

There are also such pancake stalls - more civilized, so to speak. The most popular filling for pancakes is green onions with hard-boiled eggs.

Shanghainese's favorite snack is small, lightly sweetened bean patties. The taste of these pies is light, not cloying at all. For this Shanghai dish, sometimes even queues line up.

Tang gao rice donuts - they are made from glutinous rice flour and then sprinkle with sugar.

Shanghai dumplings are a favorite delicacy of almost every Chinese of a conscious age. They are usually served fresh, lightly fried. They can be steamed, then served in a fatty and hot soup. In general, they say that there are as many types and ways of serving dumplings in China as there are lovers of delicious food, so you can eat only dumplings for a whole year without ever stumbling upon the same taste or cooking option.

Baked sweet potato is a legendary street food in Shanghai. It is the cheapest, but at the same time almost the most delicious and nutritious street delicacy. In hutons and poor areas, sweet potatoes are baked directly on the coals. This is a highly digestible food that, thanks to the starch contained in the tubers, fills the eater for a good half of the day, combining the tenderness of a baked potato and the sweetish flavor of a pumpkin. Street sellers of sweet potatoes prepare them on barrels equipped with coals and attached to a bicycle in the form of a trailer. Bike cooking smells nice of baked potatoes, but it's seasonal food. It is in demand mainly in winter, in summer and spring you will not see such sellers.

Speaking of street food, it's hard not to mention the Doupi rice cake, which is made exclusively in the Chinese province of Hubei. Dopees are usually eaten for breakfast. In the capital of the province, the city of Wuhan, many small shops or just stalls open in the morning where this dish is prepared. Residents of the province usually have this dish in the morning, on the go, so it can be considered a quick and hot traditional breakfast. The main ingredient of the dish is rice, the pie is well digested, which ensured its high popularity.

To prepare the pie, a large brazier is taken, on which a pre-cooked soy cake is laid out. Either a layer of rice with spices, or a mixture of rice with mushrooms, meat, onions and sauce is laid out on a flat cake. The resulting pie is fried on both sides, then cut into small pieces of 5-10 cm each. In establishments that sell Dope, two braziers are usually used in parallel - they keep warm on one dish, and a new batch is prepared on the second.

Dopey is usually sold in a small bucket. One such bucket costs 4 yuan - about 20 rubles. Sticks are included in the price.

Him pleasant taste, neutral enough for European tourists, in addition, large pieces of the pie are convenient to eat with chopsticks, even for those who have never tried it.

The most useful Chinese pie from the category of street snacks can be safely called Bao Tzu - they are not fried or baked, but steamed - in special huge double boilers. The dough of these pies is weightless, not sweet and not salty, airy, tender,
cooked without oil and spices, but the filling can be very diverse - sweet (jam, jam, dried fruits), salty (sprouts young garlic with tofu, cabbage of all kinds, meat, offal).

In China, you can eat and fresh fruit, most of which are imported here from Thailand. There are tiny melons, the size of a fist.

Pineapples will be cleaned right in front of the buyer, with a sharp knife.

If the customer prefers nuts and dried fruits, then they are also here, along with small specific pies, the filling of which consists of nuts, dried fruits and RED BEANS, which the Chinese love to add to desserts.

The north of China has its own special delicacy - tanhulu, or candied fruit.

Candied fruits on a stick are especially popular in the autumn-winter period, which is when they appear on the shelves. To make this delicacy, small fruits are used - the fruits of the Chinese hawthorn, paradise apples, tangerine slices, strawberries, kiwi, grapes, pineapple pieces, even water chestnut and sweet potato.
Before cooking, they are washed, strung on thin bamboo sticks, dipped in a sling of granulated sugar. When the fruits harden, the dish is ready. The number of fruits usually does not exceed 6-7 pieces, the length of the stick is about 10-15 centimeters.
According to legend, this colorful delicacy appeared during the Song Dynasty, in 1190. The wife of Emperor Guang Zong became very ill, she could not eat anything and was on the verge of death. Only one doctor managed to cure her. He advised her to eat 5-10 hawthorn berries in caramel every day before going to bed. Hawthorn, known for its healing properties, worked great.
Authentic hawthorn tanhulu:

Baozi is steamed chinese pies with various fillings. Like most Chinese dishes, this dish has a long history.

According to legend, the dish was invented by a Chinese commander back in the 2nd-3rd century AD. According to one version of the legend, while on a military campaign in southern China, the army of the commander suffered greatly from diseases. The sages decided that only a human sacrifice, brought as a gift to the gods, can save from this scourge. But the commander decided to act mercifully and ordered the preparation of a meat-filled dough pie, which was offered to the gods instead of his people.

Prepare the ingredients. Baozi can be prepared with various fillings, but today we will cook a classic meat stuffing pork and green onions.

Cut the meat into small pieces and mince. For the filling, you can use both ready-made minced meat and chopped meat.

Grate the ginger root. Warm up a little vegetable oil in a pan and add the grated ginger.

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

Mix the ginger with the minced meat and add some water to the pan. Water is needed in order for the minced meat to separate faster and better.

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

Stew the meat over the fire until it softens and the liquid has almost evaporated.

Mince 1-2 cloves of garlic. Dissolve starch in 1 tbsp. cold water. Add 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 filling to cool. Taste the meat and, if necessary, add seasonings and spices to taste. In China, they add a flavor enhancer, but I preferred to add 1 tbsp. Worcestershire sauce.

While the filling is cooling, let's do the dough. In order to make Baozi pies airy and light, it is used for steaming, the recipe of which is on our website.

Cooked by basic recipe Knead the dough and divide into 4 pieces.

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

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

Add chopped green onions to the chilled meat. It's important that the meat is cool enough before you add the onions and start shaping the baozi. If the filling is too hot, the onion will release the juice and the dough may become soggy.

Place 1 tbsp. stuffing in the center of the rolled circle and, pinching, connect the edges of the dough, and give the pie the shape of a "bag". I will not dissemble: giving baozi a traditional form will only be possible with an experienced culinary specialist in working with dough, which, unfortunately, I am not yet. Fortunately, whether you end up with traditional Chinese or a simpler "pouch", the taste of the dish will not be adversely affected.

Cut parchment paper into small squares.

Formed pies place in pieces parchment paper and place in a steamer dish. Leave space between the patties as they will expand during cooking.

Do not rush to send the pies to the double boiler, let the dough come up again, leaving the baozi to stand for 20 to 60 minutes. At this point, as far as you have enough patience, the better the baozi rise, the more porous the dough will be and the pies will be more airy.

Steam the Baozi patties for 15 minutes and then leave for another 5 minutes with the lid closed.

Baozi Chinese pies are ready. You can apply.

Xian Roubao, or steam patty with meat, - traditional chinese treat. Popular throughout China, and, of course, these pies are also loved in other countries of the region - Japan, Korea, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, etc. Xian Zhoubao is a typical Baozi, i.e. stuffed pie, most often (even almost always) from yeast dough and steamed.
This Chinese treat traces its history back to the ancient national type of bread made from steamed yeast dough - Mantou. Mantou- it's a bun without filling, Baozi- a bun with a filling. Moreover, the filling may not necessarily be meat, but also vegetable, for example, from cabbage with onions and eggs (isn't it a familiar filling for lovers of Russian pies?) Or even sweet, from bean paste from Anko (Azuki) beans. Xian Roubao pies have other "brothers" made of dough and steamed - Mantou (steam donuts) , steam dumplings , Huajuan curlicues , Pampushka "Lotus Flower" Lian Huajuan , lotus leaf donut, Zhengbing steamed puff pastry, Zhuzai Bing piggy bank pie, etc.
For those who have mastered chinese yeast dough recipe these pies are not difficult, and if your family loves pies and Chinese cuisine, then this recipe Chinese steam patties will replenish your piggy bank of your favorite homemade snacks.

INGREDIENTS (for 24 pies):
yeast dough- 800 g,
minced pork- 200 g,
shrimp - 12 pcs.,
ginger - a piece the size of a walnut,
green onions - 3-4 arrows,
black mushrooms muer - 3-4 mushrooms,
light soy sauce - 1 tbsp.,
Sesame oil- 1 tsp,
Sichuan huajiao pepper - 10-15 grains,
salt - ½ tsp

Any pie consists of a shell of dough and filling.
Since for Baozi pies (and our pies are just a variety of Baozi) we use yeast dough, then you need to take care of the test first. How to cook it can be found in the recipe "Yeast dough».
While the dough is rising, you can work on the filling.
To begin with, let's prepare "pepper water" - a very interesting way to give the right degree of moisture to minced meat and at the same time flavor it.
Pour the Sichuan pepper grains with boiling water and let the liquid brew and cool.

Soak muer mushrooms for 30 minutes in warm water.
Rinse the arrows of the bow.Onion cut into rings.
Peel and grate the ginger.
Mushrooms cut (or chop) medium-sized pieces.
Peel the shrimp from the shell, remove the dorsal and abdominal veins, making cuts along the back and abdomen, and chop coarsely.

Mix in a suitable sized bowl chopped meat, shrimp, green onions, mushrooms, ginger, light soy sauce, sesame oil and salt. Mix until smooth. Add pepper water in parts, for example, a tablespoon, until the minced meat is moistened enough, but it does not become thin.

Divide the dough into 24 parts, roll each part into a ball, fold on the table and cover with a damp towel.
Take one part and roll it into a round cake, 2-3 mm thick and about 12 cm in diameter.
I use cutout for this. Roll out the dough and cut out a circle from it, gather the rest of the dough into a ball.
Put 1 tbsp in the middle of the cake. fillings.

Form a pie by connecting the edges of the workpiece and folding them in folds around the circumference.

Crimp the top of the pie with your fingers, sealing the neck.
Lightly flatten the resulting pie.
From the remaining dough and filling form pies, put on the table and cover with a damp towel.

Prepare the steamer for work.
Cut parchment paper into squares so that one pie is placed on each square. So during heat treatment for a couple of pies, they will not stick to the bottom of the double boiler. Pieces of parchment should be larger than the pies around the perimeter, as the pies will increase in size during cooking, and this must be taken into account.
Put the pies in a double boiler so that there is space between them, as they will almost double in size after settling and heat treatment.
Cover the steamer with a lid and leave the pies to settle for 15 minutes.
After that, turn on the double boiler or put it on fire (if your double boiler is not electric).
If the water in the double boiler is already boiling, then cook the pies for a couple of 10 minutes, if the water has not yet warmed up, then 15 minutes.
After steaming the patties, do not immediately remove the lid of the steamer and do not remove them from the steamer for 5 minutes.
Then take it out of the steamer ready-made pies and separate pieces of parchment from them (while they are warm).