Vegan Baozi (Chinese Steamed Bun)
These are the best steamed buns I've ever made! Simple to follow Vegan Baozi!
Servings: 8 dumplings
Ingredients
- 300g all-purpose flour
- 3g active dry yeast
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 150ml warm water
For The Filling
- 1 aubergine, sliced into little cubes
- ½ tablespoon light soy sauce
- 1 teaspoon medium curry powder
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- ½ red chilli, finely chopped
- 1 garlic clove, minced
- ½ inch ginger, finely chopped
- 50 ml water
- 1 spring onion, finely sliced
Instructions
- Combine the all-purpose flour, yeast, and sugar in a large bowl. Mix the ingredients and then gently pour in your warm water. Keep stirring and then knead the dough for a few minutes until it's soft and bouncy. Place the dough back into the bowl and cover it with clingfilm or a cloth. Store the bowl in a warm, dry area for around 3 hours, or until the dough has increased in size.
- Meanwhile, make the filling for your buns. Add your chopped aubergine to a pan with soy sauce, curry powder, sugar, chilli, garlic, and ginger. Fry for 5 minutes.
- Add in your water, and fry for a further 15 minutes. Break down the aubergine and leave the water to evaporate. You should end up with a rough and chunky aubergine paste. Leave to cool.
- Once your dough has risen, slice it into 8 equal parts. Roll each section into a ball.
- Grab one ball of dough and flatten it out into a circular wrapper around 2 inches in diameter.
- Place a spoonful of the filling into the centre of the wrapper and either, you can pleat the wrapper in an anti-clockwise motion and pinch at the end. Or, you can fold up the dough around the filling (like wrapping a present), pinching it to seal it in. Make sure that the dough doesn't get wet from the moisture of the filling because otherwise, you won't be able to seal it. So don't put too much filling into the wrapper. Once the bun has been sealed, set aside on a little bit of flour. Repeat this step for all of the dumplings.
- Steam the dumplings for 10 minutes in a bamboo or metal steamer. If using a metal steamer, simply glaze a drop of vegetable oil onto the steamer to avoid the dumplings sticking to the bottom.
- Once the Vegan Baozi has puffed up and is cooked to perfection, simply remove from your steamer and serve up with spring onion, sesame seeds, and optionally some chilli oil! Enjoy!