Shanghai fried baozi (recipe with photos) | Chinese cuisine

A little history

In China, on the shelves of street vendors, baozi steamers are located next to dishes with rice and noodles. Therefore, everyone can refresh themselves with baozi at any time. However, in China it is traditionally believed that this dish should be eaten for breakfast. Some works on the history of Chinese cuisine indicate that baozi was invented by the commander, military strategist and statesman of the Three Kingdoms Zhuge Liang (181 - 234).

It is believed that it was he who invented the wheelbarrow, mines, a signal lamp and a high-speed crossbow, as well as steamed mantou buns, which are somewhat out of this harsh series. However, they also had military-strategic significance.

It is established that when Zhuge Liang and his army went on an expedition to the southern regions of China, a plague epidemic broke out and the warriors died one after another. In the harsh conditions of the field, Zhuge Liang ordered to make a simple dough from water and flour, add meat filling, fashion buns in the shape of a head and steam them. Part of this food was sacrificed to the gods, and part was given to the soldiers to help them cope with the plague.

In Southern China and Shanghai, steamed buns with meat filling are still called mantou today. In the northern regions of the country they are called baozi from “bao” (“package, envelope”). Today, mantou is increasingly cooked without filling, but baozi is always cooked with filling.

Variety of baozi

The variety of baozi is determined by the impressive selection of fillings. Connoisseurs of Chinese cuisine say that the range of fillings for baozi depends entirely on the creative imagination and imagination of the cook, and nothing more.

Of course, there is a classic version - beef and pork. The meat for the filling is marinated in a mixture of pineapple juice and soy sauce, to which black pepper, bay leaf and sugar are added.

To achieve the required thickness, the meat in the marinade is sent to the refrigerator for a couple of hours, and then boiled over low heat until it becomes soft enough to be disassembled into fibers.

In China, baozi stuffed with cabbage and minced pork is popular. There are great options for vegetarians - baozi with mushrooms, cabbage, doufu or pumpkin, as well as a variety of vegetable combinations.

Shanghai fried baozi (recipe with photos) | Chinese cuisine

Recipe from the “Chinese Cuisine” section

Sheng Jian Mantou, or Shanghai Fried Baozi , is the most popular in Shanghai and Suzhou xiaochi. Xiaochi is something like a quick snack, a quick snack, street fast food if you want. Xiaochi is most often sold by street food vendors, and, of course, you can buy it in stores or restaurants. Each province has its own popular xiaochi, it can be a dessert, or maybe a soup, or noodles with meat. And, of course, in each province there is not just one xiaochi, there are many of them. For example, in Shanghai, such pies (and baozi are pies with filling) are served for breakfast, or as bread for soups, for example, with chicken or duck, curry or noodle soups. But in Suzhou it’s dessert. In general, “Sheng Jian Mantou” literally means fried steamed bread! Oh how! It is prepared in an interesting way - first, the pies made from yeast dough are fried in a flat frying pan until crispy, without turning them over, and the crust is obtained only on the part of the pie that was in contact with the frying pan. Then water is added to the frying pan and quickly covered with a lid, and the pies are then cooked under the influence of hot steam. So much for fried steamed bread. There are also nuances with the liquid that is added to the frying pan - it can be either just water or an aqueous solution of starch. If you cook with an aqueous solution of starch, you will also get a crispy skirt around the bun. But this method requires some skill. These Chinese pies are most often filled with minced pork, less often it can be minced chicken, even less often shrimp or crab, but this is already seasonal. Shiitake mushrooms, carrots, green onions are added to the minced meat, depending on who you like. And, of course, they add traditional Chinese spices and seasonings - Shaoxing rice wine, light soy sauce and sesame oil. The buns are served with a variety of dipping sauces. It can be just vinegar (remember manti, which is also served with vinegar), a better option is Zhenjiang black rice vinegar and sauces based on it. Black rice vinegar helps digest fatty foods such as pork. Another popular option for dipping sauces are hot sauces, most often Doubanjiang (Tobajiang) hot fava bean sauce, or, alternatively, Sriracha Chili sauce. Well, the simplest and safest option is good soy sauce. Or even just other favorite sauces. It is believed that these buns appeared at the beginning of the twentieth century, around 1920, in Shanghai in the restaurant-teahouse Luo Chun De Chaguan (Chinese: 萝春阁茶馆, pinyin Luo Chun De Chaguan), owned by the famous Shanghai businessman Huang Chu Jiu (Chinese: 黄楚九, pinyin: Huang Chu Jiu). In the story of the buns, this character is only famous for being the owner of a chain of restaurants in Shanghai. But it’s still worth telling a little about this unique personality - in 1917, in Shanghai, he built China’s first Western-style entertainment complex - Shanghai Da Shijie (Chinese: 上海大世界, pinyin Shanghai Da Shijie, English: Great World Entertainment Center). This establishment still exists today. In addition, Mr. Huang Chu Jiu was a successful banker, his pharmacy chain was the largest in Shanghai, and his trading posts occupied a prominent place in the tobacco industry. Well, in addition to all his talents, Mr. Huang Chu Jiu was also an aviator. And this multi-talented man was born in the family of a poor pharmacist. And after their debut, Sheng Jian Mantou buns immediately became popular in numerous teahouses and street food vendors. And they are still in demand. The recipe for these Chinese pies can be classified as a medium-complexity dish, although those chefs who know how to cook Gedza dumplings (aka fried Gochi dumplings) will cope with the frying process without any problems. Actually, some of the complexity lies in this. But the work is worth it, and the result will be small, fragrant and juicy pies.

INGREDIENTS (for 18 pcs.): yeast dough - 400 g, minced pork (or pork with fat) - 150 g, green onions - 2-3 stalks, medium-sized carrots - half, Shiitake mushrooms - 5-6 pcs., soybean milk (or just water) – 2-3 tbsp, Shaoxing wine – 1 tbsp, light soy sauce – 1 tbsp, sesame oil – 1 tbsp, vegetable oil – 2 tbsp .,black sesame – 1 tsp.

Prepare straight yeast dough – you can read about how to prepare it in the “Yeast Dough” recipe. In principle, ready-made yeast dough from the store is quite suitable. While the dough is rising, you can start filling. Prepare minced pork. If you have store-bought minced meat, then defrost it, or, if you don’t have it frozen, then just take it out. In the original, the meat for the filling is not ground, but finely chopped. Soak the Shiitake mushrooms for 30 minutes in warm water, then remove the remaining stems from the mushrooms, squeeze out excess moisture and cut into small cubes. Set aside. Peel the carrots and cut them into small cubes (or grate them). Set aside. Rinse the onion arrows and cut into rings. Set aside, and set aside a handful of green onions separately to garnish the finished dish.

Place minced pork in a container of suitable volume, add mushrooms, carrots and onions, Shaoxing wine, soy sauce, sesame oil. Add salt, pepper and mix everything well. Add a little soy milk, mix the filling again, if the minced meat is dry, add more soy milk. Add soy milk and mix the filling until you are happy with the consistency of the filling. The filling should be juicy, but not liquid.

Divide the dough into 18 parts (according to the number of future pies), roll out each part with a rolling pin into a round cake, approximately 5-6 cm in diameter and about 3-5 mm thick.

Place a flatbread on your left palm and put 1 tsp in the middle of it. fillings. Form a pie by connecting the edges of the workpiece and folding them in folds around the circumference with the edges pinched on top. Place the resulting pies on a cutting board.

Heat vegetable oil in a wok over medium heat and place a batch of pies in the frying pan at some distance from each other so that during heat treatment they do not stick together as they increase in size. Fry the pies a little in a frying pan until a crispy crust forms on the bottom of the pies. Add water (about half a glass) to the wok and immediately cover the wok with a lid and reduce the heat. Fry the pies without removing the lid from the wok until the water has almost completely evaporated. Remove the lid and continue frying the pies until the water evaporates and the pies are dry from moisture, while being careful that the pies do not burn. Sprinkle the pies with green onion rings and black sesame seeds. Cover again and fry for literally 5-10 seconds.

Remove the wok from the heat and you can serve the pies to hungry eaters. These pies are usually served with dipping sauces, most often Doubanjiang (Tobajian) hot bean sauce, or good soy sauce, or, alternatively, Sriracha Chili sauce, or other favorite sauces.

Bon appetit!

Best regards, Sergey Zverev.

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Author: Culinary portal Kungpao.ru. Materials are protected by copyright law.

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Date: 06/18/2015

Dessert option. Preparing the dough

Consider a very attractive recipe for baozi with sweet azuki bean paste (anko paste). We take:

• wheat flour - four glasses;
• dry yeast - three tsp;
• baking powder – 1 tsp;
• warm water – 1 ½ tbsp.;
• sugar - two tbsp. l.;
• salt – ½ tsp;
• sesame oil.

This baozi recipe suggests following these steps:

1. Combine dry yeast with sugar (1 tablespoon), stir. Carefully pour in warm water (1 tbsp.), rubbing the yeast thoroughly. Set aside for 15 minutes to allow the dough to rise.
2. Sift the flour, mix it with sugar. Add the dough and stir thoroughly. The dough should be quite thick, but not very dense. It should be such that it can be formed into buns. If necessary, add a little more water.
3. A well-kneaded dough should be elastic, soft, and have a pleasant shine. When you press on it with your finger, the hole that appears should rise fairly quickly.
4. Grease the bottom of a large bowl with sesame oil and place the dough ball in it. Carefully turn the dough over to coat the entire surface with oil.
5. Cover with a towel and place in a warm room to let the dough rise. It should double in volume. Depending on the properties of the yeast, this will take an hour to an hour and a half.
6. If you send the dough to a cold place, for example, in the refrigerator, the dough will mature for 2-3 hours, but it will turn out more tender.
7. Once the dough has risen once, you can set it down and let it rise again. This will give him great tenderness.

Ingredients

Ingredients
For cooking you will need:

• 1/2 cup milk;
• 50 grams of butter;
• 2 cups wheat flour;
• 1 chicken egg;
• 1/2 kilogram of minced pork;
• 200 grams of Chinese salad;
• 1 large onion;
• 2-3 cloves of garlic;
• 2 tablespoons soy sauce;
• 1 tablespoon sugar;
• 10 grams of yeast;
• table salt - to taste.

This number of ingredients is enough to prepare ten baozi.

All this is sold in grocery stores. If you are unable to find Beijing salad, then replace it with regular cabbage. Of course, this could be considered a deviation from the recipe, but there is not much difference in this regard. Having purchased all of the above, you can begin the cooking process. In total you will need about four hours.

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Anko paste

We continue to look at the recipe for Chinese baozi. While your dough is rising, start making the anko paste (adzuki bean paste filling). Remember that dry beans need to be soaked, so do this ahead of time. But you can cook the pasta while waiting for the dough to be ready. Take:

• sugar – 150 ml;
• dry adzuki beans – 200 g;
• water (for soaking beans);
• vegetable oil (for frying) – 75 ml.

Agree, this recipe for making baozi at home is not that complicated. Prepare pasta as follows:

1. Sort the beans and rinse them under running water. Soak in cool water for 4 hours, or better yet, overnight. The softer the beans, the faster they will boil.
2. Drain the water, place the beans in a small saucepan, cover with cold water, boil and cook over low heat for 1.5-2 hours. Add water if necessary to ensure it always covers the beans. The longer you cook the beans, the more tender the filling will be.
3. When the beans become soft, drain the water and crush them into a homogeneous mass with a blender or a simple masher.
4. Add sugar to the beans and thoroughly stir the paste, which should be quite dense, but not dry.
5. Pour a little vegetable oil into the wok, heat it well, add the pasta and simmer until the excess water evaporates. At the same time, mix the mixture thoroughly with a spoon or spatula.
6. The finished paste should have a somewhat grainy and dense structure. Cool it, transfer it to a dry container and use as needed. This paste can be stored in the refrigerator for at least a week and its taste will remain unchanged.

Char siu marinade sauce.

Compound:

1. Honey - 2 tables. l.
2. Sugar - 1 table. l.
3. Soy sauce - half a glass.
4. Miso paste - 2 tables. l.
5. Rice wine - 2 tables. l.
6. Garlic - 2 cloves.
7. Chili pepper - 1 small pod.

Mix the ingredients in a blender and leave in the refrigerator for a day before using.

Now a version of Chinese manti made from unleavened dough.

How to stuff?

Everyone should learn this recipe with photo baozi. Start this dish like this:

1. If you are confident in the quality of the yeast you have, skip this step: place the finished dough on a cutting board, roll it into a not very thin, round and large layer. Sprinkle the dough with baking powder and then knead it again, adding a little flour and water if necessary.
2. Divide the ball of dough into two parts and form them into long “sausages”. Next, cut each of them into 6 pieces.
3. Form into buns. If you are making unfilled baozi, place the buns on a cutting board and let them rise again. If you do not want to limit yourself to a simple option, then roll out each bun so that the center of the circle is thicker than its edges.
4. Make a hole in the center of the circle and fill it with filling in the amount of one dessert spoon.
5. Connect the edges, forming the dough into a specific pouch containing the filling. Gather the edges into folds and pinch the top. Next, turn the tail, as if sealing the filling in the dough. It is the resulting pleated top that creates the generally accepted beauty of the baozi.
6. Cover a cutting board with parchment and place the baozi on it. Place in a warm room for 1 hour to allow the products to rise. When the loaf is ready for cooking, the dough should feel springy to the touch.

Chychkan manty comes from Kyrgyzstan.

Compound:

1. Dumpling dough - half a kilo.
2. Potatoes - 3 pcs.
3. Salt - to taste.
4. Ground black pepper, hot red pepper, coriander - to taste.
5. Butter - 50 gr.
6. Or a packet of hot seasoning for minced meat.

Peel the potatoes and boil in salted water until tender, drain the liquid. Add salt, add peppers or a set of spices, add butter and mash into a puree.

Roll out the dough into a thin layer and cut into equal small rectangular pieces.

Place the spicy potato filling on one side of each rectangle and cover with the other half. Pinch the edges securely.

Grease the steamer sheets with vegetable oil and place the molded products on them. Cook over boiling water for 10 minutes. You can cook not only in a double boiler, but also in a slow cooker and in a mantyshnitsa.

Carefully remove the finished manti from the sheets with a spatula so as not to damage the integrity. Place on a plate, season with butter. Use Kyrgyz sauce, sour cream or kefir as gravy. Place Korean chimchu carrots on top. Such manti are prepared for lovers of spicy food, but if you are not a fan of spicy food, then season it only with black pepper.

The calorie content is 203 Kcal per 100 grams of the finished dish.

Cook-steam

Prepare like this:

1. Place the baozi on the steamer rack so that they do not touch each other. It is better, of course, to use a traditional bamboo steamer.
2. If you place the baozi seam side down, they will be smooth and even on all sides, and if you place the seam side up, you will get the effect of a blooming flower.
3. For complete readiness, just steam the baozi for 20 minutes.
4. Remove the steamer from the heat, but do not lift the lid. From sudden contact with cool air, steamed products can settle, and we do not need this.
5. Let the steam settle naturally (this will take 2 minutes), and then call the guests to the table.

One of the varieties of baozi

What are baozi gobuli? The recipe for this dish is practically no different from the creation of traditional baozi. Baozi pigeon is a type of baozi, a traditional dish of Tianjin cuisine. They are made from sour dough and have 18 clamps.

The name of the dove comes from the phrase “Gouzi may baozi, bu li ren”, which translated from Chinese means “Gouzi sells baozi and does not care about people.” The pigeons were so popular that the chef Gou-tzu, who created this recipe, did not have time to serve everyone.

In a slow cooker

Now let’s study the recipe for baozi in a slow cooker. You need to have:

• 580 g yeast dough;
• 80 g halva;
• 2 tsp. Sahara;
• 0.5 tbsp. fresh blueberries.

In this case, to save time, you can use refrigerated dough purchased at the store. Manufacturing process:

1. Knead the dough with a small amount of flour.
2. Divide the dough into 8 equal parts.
3. Flatten each bun into a circle. Place filling in the middle of each. You should have 4 halva muffins and 4 blueberry muffins mixed with sugar.
4. Roll each bun into a ball with filling inside. Next, dip the bottom side in vegetable oil. As a result, the bun will not stick to the pan.
5. Place all the pieces on a steaming rack and set aside for 20 minutes to proof.
6. Next, pour water (2 tbsp.) into the multicooker bowl, set the “Steam” program and wait until the water boils. Then place the grill with the buns and close the lid. Steam the baozi for 25 minutes.
7. Now turn off the multicooker, wait 7 minutes and open the lid. The buns have become a little larger, have a pale color, but are completely cooked.

Serve baozi as a dessert or with breakfast tea. They are perfect for taking to work as a snack or on the go. Don't be afraid to experiment and bon appetit!