Steamed Bao Buns with Cauliflower
Soft fluffy Bao buns stuffed with sweet and spicy baked cauliflower stuffed with crunchy veggies and peanuts. Great as appetizer and equally good for dinner or lunch too.
Servings: 6 Bao buns
Ingredients
Bao Bun
- 180 grams All purpose flour
- 10 grams milk powder omit if making vegan
- 2 grams baking powder
- 5 grams yeast
- 15 grams white sugar
- 15 grams oil
- 100 grams water
- Neutral oil
Sweet and Spicy sauce
- 1 tbsp Sriracha
- 1- 2 tbsp Soy low sodium
- 1 tsp Red Chili paste with garlic
- ¼ tsp Garlic powder
- ½ tsp Grated Ginger
- 1 tbsp Vinegar
- 1/2 tsp Five spice optional
- ¼ tsp Black pepper
- salt to taste
- 1 tsp Honey use agave or sugar if making vegan
- 1 tsp Cornstarch
Baked Cauliflower
- 1 cup Cauliflower florets
- 1/3 cup flour
- 2 tbsp rice flour
- Black pepper
- Salt
- Water
Assembly- Veggies/garnishes
- 1/2 Red bell pepper
- 1/2 cup chopped purple cabbage
- 1/3 cup pickled onions
- handful cilantro & spring onions
- handful roughly crushed peanuts
- 1/2 tsp sesame seeds
- half lemon
Instructions
Bao Bun
- Stir together dried yeast, sugar, and warm water, and set them aside for 5 minutes, until the yeast becomes foamy. Then, combine the dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl, and add the yeast mixture and the oil. Mix to form a rough ball. Turn it out onto a lightly floured surface and knead it for few minutes until the the dough is smooth and elastic. Set it aside to rise for 45 minutes or until doubles in a warm place.
Baked Cauliflower
- Meanwhile, let's baked the cauliflower. Combine the dry ingredients, add some water to make a thick batter. If your batter is runny it won't stick to the cauliflower. So, keep it thick in consistency. Drop cauliflower florets into the batter one by one and place them on greased baking tray and bake them for 20- 25 minutes at 400 F until crispy. Remove them once while baking to test if they are cooked in the middle.
Sauce/ Glaze
- As the cauliflower bakes, I made the sauce/glaze. In a bowl, mix all the ingredients of the sauce. Mix thoroughly. Taste to make sure it has all flavors of sweet, spicy, enough salt. It should make a thick sauce. Alternatively, you can cook it on stove for 2 minutes to thicken it up. Cornstarch will help for thick sauce.
- Once, the cauliflower is baked, brush them individually with the sauce/glaze and bake another 5 minutes so that the glaze sticks to it. Leave it aside.
Steaming Bao
- Punch the bao bun dough, form a log. Divide the dough into 6 equal balls and roll out each into oval shape. Slightly brush oil and fold the buns in the middle creating half moon. Place them on a parchment paper. Let them rest for another 20-30 minutes.
- Steam them in a pot or instant pot, for about 8-10 minutes.
- Chop the veggies and keep it ready while the bao bun are steaming.
Assembly/Serving
- Stuff the buns with the filling as soon as they come out of the steamer, as they’re best when they’re warm and soft. Brush the leftover glaze/sauce that we made on each side of the bao. Fill them with cauliflower, veggies , garnishes and a big squeeze of lime juice.
- I showed you two different ways to roll out the bao buns in the picture. One where you roll out all the dough and cut circles using round cutter. Second, where you can roll out small individual dough.
Notes
You can steam them few at a time in batches. You may not be able to steam them all at once. Depending on the size of your steamer/pot etc.
You can use lettuce leaves, corn husk, banana leaves to keep the buns from sticking to your steamer if you don't have parchment.
You can also freeze the leftovers buns, individually wrapped and thawing them when you want to eat again. Re-steam it in your steamer for few minutes.
You can also make them smaller than the ones I showed you and make mini appetizer portions.
Pickled vegetables and sauce can be prepared a day before, to shorten the time in kitchen all at once. Serve them warm from the steamer. They are best as soon as they come off the heat, when they’re still soft and pliable. Did you try this recipe? Please tag @pistachiodoughnut on Instagram and hashtag #pistachiodoughnutrecipes
You can use lettuce leaves, corn husk, banana leaves to keep the buns from sticking to your steamer if you don't have parchment.
You can also freeze the leftovers buns, individually wrapped and thawing them when you want to eat again. Re-steam it in your steamer for few minutes.
You can also make them smaller than the ones I showed you and make mini appetizer portions.
Pickled vegetables and sauce can be prepared a day before, to shorten the time in kitchen all at once. Serve them warm from the steamer. They are best as soon as they come off the heat, when they’re still soft and pliable. Did you try this recipe? Please tag @pistachiodoughnut on Instagram and hashtag #pistachiodoughnutrecipes