Bao buns: comparison recipes and tips

I have always made bao with filling but have never really bothered too much with the bread portion of the bao. There are many types of bao bun out there - mantou or the Chinese kong bak baos. The bao process itself is a lot more involved than I expected, such as over-proofing (which makes them dense), wrinkly or pock-marked skins, yellow-ness, and collapsing. These two sources discuss the problems and solutions in detail:

1. Red House Spice: https://redhousespice.com/steamed-bao-buns/

- Type of flour influences more fluffy and less chewy. Bao flour and cake flour have similar protein levels except bao flour is bleached.

- Extended kneading leads to a white colour and good kneading skills mean a smoother skin (ideally, 5 mins in mixer and rest by hand)

- proofing: double in size - timing depends on ambient temp so it can be anything from 40 to 90 mins. The second proofing should only take about 15 minutes.

- removing air, this affects the smooth skin: Beat down to remove the air and shape the dough. 

- Dough collapsing (has never happened to me). Apparently, turning the fire off and waiting, adding sugar or vinegar to the boiling water don't help. What does help is not rolling the dough too thin and having a drier filling (so the moisture doesn't seep into the dough). She even recommends starting from cold water, which I have never ever heard of before! All the blogs I've read all talk about steaming from water on a rolling boil as that gives the instant lift.

2. What to cook today (mantou): https://whattocooktoday.com/soft-fluffy-asian-steamed-buns-every-time.html Additional notes not covered in the previous link are:

- Sugar helps yeast but too much sugar can inhibit yeast growth

- If using KitchenAid, mix for 5 minutes after the dough comes together. Add salt and mix again until smooth. Rest for only 15 mins before shaping the dough. This is resting to make it easier to work with, not proofing as it shouldn't rise.

- Use room temp or cold milk so that the buns don't start proofing while being shaped. If they do, store the proofed buns in the fridge until everyone is ready.

- After the usual tucking of seams underneath and cup shaping with palms (to make the buns tall instead of spreading out after steaming), an additional step for mantou is to roll the dough balls on the table until you get a smooth ball. Dab the surface of each bao with milk to make I make it smooth. The surface is probably less important for me if I'm making bao

- Proofing after the shaping, allow to proof to about 50% of original size, approx 10 to 15 mins. Dough sld feel light and airy and not dense. Finger test: push gently and it should stay indented for a while but must spring back. If it springs back immediately, it's not proofed enough; if it doesn't, it's over proofed. Beat in and reshape and re-proof again. Steaming over-proofed dough will make them collapse and come out dense.

- Wrap the cover of the steam with a cloth

- For smooth surface of the buns, steam at low-medium heat and allow the steam to escape

- After steaming, turn off the flame and let the buns rest for 5 minutes (so buns don't wrinkle or collapse)

- Over-proofing can also cause the buns to collapse. So will too much filling inside.

- After shaping, skins hv to be smooth otherwise they will come out wrinkly.

Update: Tried out the bao skin tips here in the red bean bao.

IP Cantonese scallop and chicken porridge

Method taken from Burning Kitchen's pork ball porridge. The main trick here is in putting oil and salt into the rice and freezing it for a few hours. This makes the porridge really silk as the rice grains break down very easily. The capacity of the IP is really small. I used to cook the chicken and rice together and it either took forever, or the porridge came out really stogy as I couldn't add that much water. So now I cook them separately and it works well because the chicken will not be over-cooked.

Ingredients

2 tbsp of dried scallops

7 - 8 chicken drumsticks or thighs

1 tbsp salted radish, washed and drained 3x to get rid of excess salt

1 thumb sized piece of ginger, sliced

1 cup rice

¼ tsp salt

2 tsp oil

2 tsp soya sauce, 1 tsp sesame seed oil

Salt and pepper to taste

3.5l water or chicken broth

2 chopped spring onions, optional

Eggs (room temperature), optional

Method

1. Prepare the rice by washing it. Add the oil and salt and stir through. Leave in the freezer for several hours before the start of cooking. Soak the scallop in hot water for at least 10 minutes.

2. Add the chicken pieces, scallop and scallop soaking water to the IP pot. Add the water and ginger slices. Lock and seal and cook using the Soup function for 20 minutes. 

3. Allow to depressurise for 5 minutes. It will squirt everywhere with an oil residue so you may want to put a dish cloth on top of the spout before depressurising.

4. Remove the chicken pieces and set aside. 

5. Add the frozen rice to the broth. Lock and seal and cook using the Porridge function for 20 minutes.

6. Once cool enough to handle, remove the meat from the bones. Marinade with the 1 tsp of soya sauce and 1 tsp of sesame seed oil.

6. Allow the porridge to depressurize for 10 to 20 minutes. It will squirt porridge everywhere because the rice grains swell, so best to throw a dish cloth on top of the spout before depressurising. Stir very well to break up the grains.

7. Add the salted radish and stir through. Add salt and pepper to taste.

8. In each serving bowl, crack the egg at the bottom. Top up with the hot porridge and then top up with shredded chicken. Garnish with spring onions if using.

Updated:

1. Here is a stove top recipe for Chicken Congee which uses a similar method of marinading the rice with oil and salt for 2 hours, except no freezing is involved. The chicken is poached.

http://annieliciousfood.blogspot.com/2014/01/famous-shatin-chicken-congee-aff-hk.html

2. Here is a IP recipe for Pork and Century Egg congee: https://www.pressurecookrecipes.com/chinese-century-egg-pork-congee-in-pressure-cooker/

- 3/4C rice, 1lb pork shank, 1lb pork bones, and 6.5C water all go into the pot together for 35 mins and 20mins natural release. Pork shank is shredded and then returned with century egg on saute function with constant stirring until the grains break down.

Creamy chicken, corn, and noodle soup

This is not a healthy soup. I had leftover roasted chicken and so badly wanted corn chowder. However, corn chowder required potatoes, which I inexplicably and inconveniently did not have in my cupboard (I usually do!). However, I did have double cream and was willing to make a roux (I ain't normally so hardworking!). This is a very quick soup but if you have time, you could boil the roasted chicken bones in the chicken stock for about 15 minutes to fully extract the flavour. This is a one pot meal - my favourite style of cooking!

Ingredients

3 to 4 chicken drumsticks or chicken thighs, meat removed and shredded

1 can of corn (creamed corn is ok too)

130ml double cream

250ml chicken broth

500ml water

3 tbsp butter (I used chicken fat which I scraped from my roast chicken gravy)

4 tbsp flour

Salt and pepper to taste

½ large onion, chopped

2 large cloves of garlic, minced

200g (or half a pack) pasta (I used macaroni but use anything you like)

Method

1. In a deep pot, add the chicken fat and sweat the onion and garlic.

2. Add the chicken and briefly fry to warm up. Push the chicken and aromatics to the sides of the pot.

3. Sprinkle over the flour and quickly fry to remove the raw floury taste. This should take less than a minute before the flour starts to stick to the bottom.

4. Add the chicken broth and carefully scrape the bottom of the pot with a wooden spoon to remove frond. Fill the empty can/broth packet with water and pour that in. Stir well to ensure that the flour has dissolved.

5. Add the can of corn, liquid and all (check to ensure that the liquid is not too salty).

6. Stir and bring to a boil. Cover and turn down the flame and simmer for 10 minutes.

7. Add the pasta and cook as directed, about 9 to 10 minutes.

8. Add the double cream and stir in. Season to taste. 

9. Serve with crusty bread if desired

Tteokbokki 떡볶이

Recipe from Maangchi, who else, the Korean queen! There was a sale on a large bag of garaetteok가래떡 so I thought why not, because the recipe is so easy. When we eat this at a Korean diner here, it easily costs upwards of $10. While the bag costs about $7 on sale, I could get two portions out of it so the cost price is effectively a third! This is Korean street food. I've not eaten this in Korea but I am sure Koreans in Oz probably cry when they see the prices of tteokbokki here, just like we similarly cry when we see the prices of prata here (about 10x)!

Ingredients
500 to 600g of garaetteok (if frozen, thaw fully before cooking)
⅓ C gochujang
1 tbsp gochugaru
1 tbsp sugar
2 spring onions, chopped
1 small packet of instant stock
2 cloves of garlic, smashed
4 C stock
Hard boiled eggs, shelled
Korean fish cakes (she used fish and cuttlefish balls)

Method
1. Start with the stock (either anchovy and/or kelp, or shitake soaking water). Boil as needed for 15 minutes. I supplemented with a packet of instant stock.
2. Meanwhile, prepare the hard boiled eggs.
3. Mix up the sauce ingredients: gochugaru, sugar, gochujang.
4. To the stock, remove the stock-making ingredients and add the garaetteok, spring onions, garlic, and sauce.
5. Boil for until the garaetteok has softened, approx 10 minutes. The sauce should be thick and shiny.
6. Add the fishcakes and hardboiled eggs if using. Boil for another 5 minutes.
7. Serve hot.

HK/Macau paper-wrapped cupcakes

I have wanted to try this recipe for some time but never found the time to. It looks like a simpler and more delicious version of the steamed 鸡蛋糕. Here are the recipe comparisons:

Chiffon method
1. Nasilemaklover
- makes 7 in speciality mould
- Uses 4 eggs, separated
- Uses self-raising flour
- Uses beater for chiffon method
- Uses oil

2. Christine's recipes
- Original recipe with speciality tin: makes 6
- Pandan paper wrapped with speciality tin: makes 8
- Uses 5 eggs and cake flour
- Uses beater for chiffon method
- Regular flavour uses melted butter but pandan flavour uses oil

Creaming method
1. Rasa Malaysia
- makes 16 mini ones
- Uses 4 large eggs and normal flour
- Uses beater for creaming method
- Uses oil

2. Ancoo - Tried below
- Makes 15 mini cakes
- Uses 4 egg yolks and 3 egg whites (what am I going to do with an extra white?)
- Uses cake flour and corn starch
- Uses beater for creaming method
- Uses melted butter

Ingredients - makes 12
4 egg yolks
3 egg whites
1 tsp vanilla
70g sugar
70g cake flour
10g (1.5 tbsp) corn starch

Muffin cases in the egg tart tins

½ tsp baking powder
75g melted butter

Method
1. In a bowl, cream the 4 egg yolks and 3 whites with the sugar at high speed for 5 minutes until pale yellow and thick. Lower to low speed and beat for 1 more minute.
2. Sift the flours and baking powder.
3. Add the flours batter in two batches, and fold in.
4. Take a bit of the batter and add in the melted butter. Combine well. Return this to the main batter and fold in.
5. Pour into prepared tins. Traditionally, the flower shaped tins with parchment paper inserted are used. I only had muffin cases which I inserted into egg tart tins.
6. Pour ⅔ full. It will be quite liquidy. Tap gently on the counter to remove the air.
7. Bake at 180 deg C for 15 minutes until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. I turned it at the 15th minute because the browning was uneven.
8. Remove the muffin cases to a wire rack to cool. Serve warm.

Banana pandan chiffon

Breville Smart Oven

My Kitchenaid is finally here! I bought my Breville oven (another post) at the David Jones' EOFY sale and thought about buying a Breville handmixer to replace my cheap UK handmixer that had long given up the ghost. I have been making chiffons for a few years now but have so far relied on my Sunbeam all in one stick blender which includes a whisk. It's always taken me about 20 to 30 minutes to attain stiff peaks, and that's after multiple stops to let the motor cool. Last week after a particularly disastrous pandan chiffon, I decided it was time. The COVID pause was ending and I wouldn't have much chance to bake in the future once I return to campus. Weekends would just be too packed.


To return to the story of my Kitchenaid, the reviews of the handheld Breville weren't good and then I spied the handheld Kitchenaid. After more investigation, I decided that I had finally reached my 40s and deserved a stand mixer, just like my mom had her Moulinex all those years ago. Growing up, I helped her growing up in the kitchen as she made butter cakes and have fond memories. I felt it was finally my turn. I had earned it and I would never have children to watch me in my kitchen with my stand mixer.

My beautiful Kitchenaid in Metallic Nickle

I decided to buy the KSm117. The cheapest price at Myer was for a colour I didn't mind (Medallion Silver). It read "low stock". Later, when I finally paid up (because I had taken too long dawdling and trying to read review after review to convince myself) , I momentarily saw "out of stock." Myer took 4 days to tell me that it was indeed OOS and cancelled my order and refunded me. By then it was July 1st and the EOFY sale was over! I was so upset. I rang Myer and they agreed to honour the price when stocks returned in a month or so but I would have to watch out for it.

I considered buying the lower end model KSM160 where the difference is only the extra scraper beater, which I could buy separately. Depending on the colour chosen, I would actually save money! I found a few potential sites and submitted queries because all were on pre-order. I was about to buy when BK found a  silver colour at Harvey Norman and would get them to price match. I didn't think HN would take it up. I found out that Medallion Silver was a special edition and would never come back. It couldn't be found on the Kitchenaid website either but instead the closest silver was Metallic Nickle, which was a premium colour on the Myer website. HN must have been so desperate they they didn't do their research. They were willing to sell me this colour at Myer's price (and even discounted a further $4 because BK gave them the wrong price!) without checking my Myer invoice! I am so pleased because I didn't have to wait for delivery. By the time I re-checked out my alternate plan, the sites I visited had removed their sales too.

Back to the business at hand. I wanted to re-do my pandan chiffon but also needed to use up my bananas which I had saved to make banana break. I used DGW's banana chiffon recipe. Pandan banana IS a thing, as BananaWithPaws and other bloggers say as they cite Linda Teh as the originator. As I read somewhere that pandan is the Asian vanilla, I swapped the vanilla for pandan paste. I amended DGW's recipe as it came out too dry for some reason (maybe because I was too lazy to mash the banana but let my machine do it). With my extensive chiffon experience, I knew it would be a problem so I had to add more oil. I've also changed the method slightly where I add sugar to the egg white only after beating to soft peaks as DWG's recipe says. I've never really read that properly!

Very slightly deflated top (too moist inside?) but a good rise and shape. No cracks.

Ingredients
6 eggs
25g (for yolks) + 90g (for whites) sugar
180g smashed bananas (about 2 bananas)
60ml oil (increased to 70ml)
½ tsp pandan paste
110g cake flour, sifted
¼ tsp salt
¼ tsp baking powder
¼ tsp cream of tartar (cannot omit, needed to neutralise the baking soda; I used lime juice)

Method
1. Beat eggs and sugar in the smaller bowl at Speed 2, increasing to 4 until paler in colour.
2. Add the oil and beat at Speed 6 until paler in colour.
3. Add in the mashed banana and pandan paste. Stir at Speed 1 or 2 to just combine.
4. Sift in the dry ingredients (sifted cake flour, baking soda, and salt) in 3 batches and use Speed 1 to combine. I did turn it up to Speed 2 to beat the banana slightly.
5. In a very clean big bowl, beat the egg whites increasing from Speed 2 to 4 until opaque. Add the lime juice. Turn up to Speed 6 to beat until soft peaks.
6. Add the sugar in a stream down the side of the bowl, beating at Speed 4. Once combined, return to Speed 6 then 8. (I even turned it up to Speed 10 and the whole process took all of 5 to 7 minutes, AMAZING!)

Rising nicely

7. Watch very carefully as it goes from soft to stiff to over-beaten dry stiff peaks within a space of 10 seconds! I had to stop several times to test and even then, over-beat by 10 seconds (I counted!) and it became lumpy. I now realise I've always over-beaten it. Folding in the meringue, I realised that a dry meringue made it very difficult to fold in.
8. Using the whisk, dollop a third of the meringue into the yolk mixture. Use the whisk to fold in. Follow with the second third of meringue.
9. Finally, return the mixture to the bowl with the remaining third of meringue and use a spatula to carefully fold in and disperse the egg white.
10. Pour into the chiffon tin (no greasing!) and smooth the top. Pour more batter at the edge of the run rather than nearer the centre chimney. Drop the tin on the table top to dispel the big bubbles. Use a spatula to slash the mixture to dispel the smaller bubbles. Finally, smoothen the top slightly.
11. Bake at 160 deg C for 60 minutes, tenting if the top becomes too brown.
12. Once removing from the oven, immediately turn it over so that it doesn't deflate. Let it cool down completely.
13. Remove from the tin by cutting (sorry, there's no other way) out of the tin.

Recipe feedback
- I couldn't really taste the pandan at all but I am wary of putting more otherwise I can noticeably taste the chemical. The green colouring actually made the banana cake look more yellow, so that was a good outcome
- Couldn't taste the baking soda either so I must have sufficiently offset with lime juice
- Cake was very very moist from the addition of the banana and the extra oil. I didn't really mash the banana (left the machine to do it) so it might led to a drier dough (hence my 20ml top up of oil).
- I had to tent halfway as it was turning very born, probably because of the additional sugars in the banana

No-butter Butter chicken

I had several butter chickens recently (altho none of them at an authentic Indian place): one was at Coles and another at Michael's Oriental. The former was surprisingly better than the latter but only because the latter was way too salty. His reasoning was that it needs to be salty in order to go with rich or naan but it is too salty for the way we prefer to eat it (with basmati rice). Maybe we're eating it wrong.

As far as cultural appropriation goes, I found this recipe from RecipeTinEats which is clearly also not Indian. However I wanted to use up the lingering homemade yoghurt I had and it is a simple well-explained recipe, so why not? TBH I didn't follow it very accurately because it was a weekday meal and I simply couldn't be bothered after a long day of work and dog minding. But as it was a good recipe, I'm putting it down here.

Served with store-bought naan (no judgement pls!)

Ingredients
Marinade
½ C yoghurt
1 tbsp lemon juice (I omitted because I don't like the sourness)
1 tsp tumeric powder (I omitted because I dislike tumeric)
2 tsp garam masala
1 tsp Asian chilli powder
1 tsp cumin
1 tbsp ginger, freshly grated
2 cloves garlic
1kg chicken thigh, cubed
Sauce
2 tbsp ghee, butter or veg oil (I used oil)
1 C passata
1 C double cream (thickened cream)
salt to taste (abt 1 tsp)
1 tsp sugar

Method
1. Marinade the chicken for at least 3 hours or overnight.
2. Drain the marinade and fry the chicken in batches until white. Do not pour in the marinade.
3. Add back the marinade and sauce ingredients except the double cream. Bring to a simmer for 20 minutes.
4. Add the double cream and simmer for another 5 to 10 minutes. The sauce will be very slightly lumpy and very slightly oily.
5. Serve on basmati rice or with naan.

Feedback
- Oddly enough, altho I didn't add any butter, I could taste and smell a buttery taste! I attribute it to the cream and yoghurt inclusions.
- The sauce has to be served sparingly with rice otherwise it is too salty (still!)
- Also interestingly, the Italians have a similar tomato-based cream sauce with pasta. (This is RecipeTinEat's version which she uses basically the same formula of passata with cream but adds parmesan and milk). We decided to serve this with pasta on the second night and it tasted far better than with rice!

Bolo (Pineapple) bun 菠蘿包

I really like this but have resisted making because it is so time intensive. I now finally have a Kitchenaid on the way (yay!) and I hope I can finally be able to make this. There are several version, notably the HK and Japanese version (called melon panメロンパン rather than pineapple; even tho neither contain any fruit!). What's the difference? I don't really know but I suspect the HK version is eaten with a big slab of butter (which I'll always remove) but the Japanese version  here the various recipes are for comparison.

HK method
- What's common about these methods is the use of Tangzong for the bread portion with milk powder, and kneading butter into the dough at the last stage like brioche.

1. Miki's Food
- Makes 6 buns
- Uses bread flour only.
- Cookie batter has no rising agent in the cookie batter, uses milk powder.
- Interesting: uses back of plate to flatten cookie dough rather than rolling out
- same method using air fryer

2. Dessert First Girl
- Makes 16 buns
- Mixes plain and bread dough. Uses custard powder.
- Butter is added at the last stage like brioche
- Cookie batter has bicarb of soda and baking soda with custard powder.

3. Yi Reservation
- Makes 10 buns
- This recipe uses bread maker
- Uses bread flour only. Uses milk powder.
- Cookie batter uses baking powder and ammonium bicarb to get the crackly effect with milk powder

4. Christine's recipes
- Makes 12 buns
- Uses bread flour only. Uses milk powder.
- Cookie batter uses evaporated milk, condensed milk, milk powder, together with ammonia powder and baking powder

Finally, a recipe without tangzong!
Omnivore's Cook - Tried below
- Makes 16 buns
- Mixes plain and bread dough. Uses heavy cream instead of tangzong. No milk powder, yay!
- Cookie batter uses both bicarb and baking soda, but an extra egg yolk
- Interesting way the cookie dough is made, by rolling into a log then cutting out discs before flattening it out

Japanese version
This is the only one I know by JOC. According to JOC, the HK version's cookie crust is less crispy or firm than the Jap version and flakes more easily. Bolo buns are also supposed to be fluffier and softer than Melon Pan.
- Makes 10 buns
- Mixes bread and cake flour
- Similar to HK method, butter is added at the final stage like brioche
- Cookie batter uses only baking powder
- The only recipe that uses stand mixer to mix the cookie dough

Ingredients (makes 16)
Cookie topping
60g (4 tbsp) butter, melted
4 tsp milk (*original recipe is 2 tsp: This has been slightly changed because I forgot the egg yolk and it was a good accident. The top was probably less rich but quite easy to work with and very crispy. Good change cos I hate having a leftover egg white anyway)
*1 egg yolk
½ tsp vanilla extract
140g (⅔C) sugar
150g (1C) flour
½ tsp baking powder
½ tsp baking soda
Pinch salt

Bread dough
200ml milk (180g or ¾C)
70g (⅓ C) sugar
2½ tsp yeast
160g (¾C) double cream
1 egg
300g (1¾C) bread flour
225g (1¾C) flour
1 tsp (5g) salt
3½tsp (50g) butter

Egg wash
2 eggs (original recipe: 2 yolks, 2 tsp milk)
½tsp sugar

Method
1) Prepare the cookie topping. Mix the butter, sugar, vanilla, milk, and salt until smooth.
2) In another bowl, sift the flour, baking soda and baking powder, and mix well.
3) Sift the flours into the cookie down and fold until well combined. Roll into a 5cm diameter log. Wrap in cling film and put in the fridge.
4) Prepare the bread dough. Warm the milk in the microwave until warm to the touch (about 40 deg C). Add the sugar and yeast and stir, and set aside.
5) In the stand mixer bowl, pour in the milk, double cream, flours. Attach the shield to prevent flour bombing. Use Speed 2 to stir until incorporated. Add the butter, kneading it into the dough with your hand. Use Speed 2 to mix, about 2 minutes. Use a spatula to scrape down if needed.

6) Turn up the mixer to Speed 4 and mix for 14 minutes, stopping occasionally to check elasticity. Stop when it passes the window pane test and the dough is smooth and shiny and leaves the bowl clean.
7) In the bowl, tuck the sides of the dough in until you get a smooth ball. Cover the bowl the cling film and leave to proof until doubled in size, about 1 hour.
8) Meanwhile, take out the log and slice into 16 equal discs. Flatten each disc in between two pieces of cling film with a pastry roller. Roll out to 6cm wide or 5mm thick. I've also seen a cook use a veggie cleaver to flatten it and scoop it up. I used a bench scraper to do the same.
9) Prepare 2 baking trays by lining with parchment. When the dough has sufficiently proved, divide into 16 portions (approx 62 to 65g; measure).
10) Roll each portion into a ball and tuck the ends underneath to form a nice ball.
11) Cover and leave to prove for 30 to 45mins until doubled in size. (If time permits, knock out the air, re-shape the balls, and leave to prove for another 30 to 45 mins)
12) Prepare the egg wash. It is easier to spread when cold so keep it refrigerated.
13) Use the bench scraper to transfer each cookie layer on the proved ball. Leave to prove for 15 minutes if time permits.
14) Brush each of the cookie layers with egg wash, twice so that a sufficiently thick layer coats it to give it that nice golden brown hue.
14) Bake at 176 deg C for 15 to 17 minutes until top is golden and bottom is slightly brown. I swapped the trays and turned them around halfway for a more even colour.

Recipe feedback
I forgot to include the egg yolk in the cookie dough and because it wouldn't come together, I added 2 tsp of milk instead to help it come together. The effect was that it wasn't very crumbly and a lot easier to work with. I haven't tried with the original yolk so have no idea whether it's very much harder to work with.

The next day, it had softened as expected but reheated by airfrying and it came out beautifully!

Poached chicken (chicken rice chicken)

This is a great recipe for small family of 2. I haven't tried with more chicken maryland pieces but I must say that it is a MUST to use chicken maryland and not substitute for drumsticks. My previous failed attempts at cooking chicken rice chicken failed because I used drumsticks. I can't find a chicken small enough to fit my pot so thought I could substitute with drumsticks. As Y pointed out, the skin will shrink and it looks very ugly! So true, that's always where I went wrong!

This is a video recipe by oe cook. I didn't follow her cooking times but just the method and ingredients very broadly. An important point was that she left the pot uncovered. It will probably affect the cooking times and also temperature. My attempt led one maryland to be just cooked but the other was overcooked. I'd probably adjust the timings in a future recipe.

Ingredients
For chicken
2 chicken marylands, brought to room temperature
1 spring onion, chopped
1 slice of ginger, lightly smashed
2 pandan leaves, knotted
Dash of cooking wine

For serving sauce
2 spring onions, chopped
2 tbsp oil
1 thumb sized ginger, grated
1 small shallot, finely sliced
2 tsp light soya sauce

Method
1. Fill the pot with enough water to cover the chicken marylands. Add the aromatics and bring to a boil.
2. Once boiled, add the chicken maryland. You can dip it in and out three times, some bloggers say that this 'seals' the skin so that it's more springy. Bring back to a reboil.
3. Cover and once reboiled (my AMC pot has come to the 2nd indicator) and turn off the fire. Leave covered to steep for 25 minutes. Meanwhile prepare water bath.
4. At the 15 minute mark, reboil to 2nd indicator again. This step was important because while one chicken was slightly overcooked (the skin shrank), the other was JUST cooked and perfect! Strain out and test for doneness with a chopstick skewered to the thickest part. Juices should run clear.
5. Immediately strain and place the chicken into the water bath. Top off with ice cubes. Leave aside to cool down.
6. Prepare the sauce. Place chopped up spring onions and grate the ginger.
7. Warm up the oil. Fry the shallots on medium flame until golden. Strain the shallots and save for another time. (If not using shallots, warm the oil until it is smoking, you can smell the oily smell).
8. Pour the boiling oil over the ginger and spring onion. Careful, it will splatter. Stir in until combined.
9. Add the soya sauce. To make it extra delicious, skim off some of the chicken fat from the stock and pour into the sauce and mix.
10. Serve the thicken with the cooking caramel sauce and topped off with the serving sauce.

Update: Alternate method using rice cooker: Kitchen Tigress

Char siu bao 'smiling'

I have several pork bao recipes but for char siu bao, I've never really found the trick. I have recently found that the trick is wheat starch. This recipe is very detailed and has researched several sites, including the 'seminal' recipe by Lydia Teh. Everybody eats well. I also found another recipe by RasaMalaysia but it seems that someone is copying someone... not sure who. The instructions are very similar (sometimes even word for word) and the ingredient list and weights are exactly the same.

The advice is also similar (rephrased here):

1. The baking powder must be well dissolved in the cold water, otherwise it will leave yellow spots.
2. To get a white bao, first, use lard rather than oil. It just happened that I have some lard sitting around after a roost pork crackling dinner. Second, use HK flour or cake flour rather than normal flour. Cake flour has a lower gluten level than HK flour. Both are bleached. I don't have HK flour on hand (without running out to the Asian grocer) and I've tried cake flour and it was terrible to work with. So I'll probably stick to normal flour (which EEW doesn't recommend).
3. Use some vinegar in the steaming water, also for apparently whiter baos. I've tried this both with and without and no difference.
4. Only steam the baos when the water has come to a rolling boil, otherwise the baos won't rise properly. Do not open the lid during steam and cover the lid with a cloth so that the condensation doesn't drip on the surface of the buns.
5. Spray the buns with a water mist after proofing but before steaming to produce even fluffier baos.

I realised I used this exact char siu bao recipe from Rasa Malaysia when I adapted for Kimchi Pork Buns but this time I'm following the recipe more closely.

Smile or burst?

Ingredients 
For Bao (16x3" bao)
2.5 tsp (8g) instant yeast
280g normal flour, remove 4 tbsp of the flour and add 4 tbsp corn flour
100g wheat starch
160ml warm water (warm to the touch)
½ tsp white vinegar
2 tbsp sugar (original recipe was 90g icing sugar)
Pinch of salt
30g shortening (I used lard)
2 tsp (10g) baking powder
10ml cold water

Char siu: I had leftover from here and even the sauce.
250g char siu
1 chopped small shallot
approx 175ml of sauce (char siu sauce, including 150ml water and 1.5 tbsp corn starch)

Prepare: 3 by 3" parchments. Prepare steaming wok. Wrap the cover in a cloth.

Method
1. Sift together the flours and add the sugar. Mix well. Add the yeast and salt (do not put one on top of the other or the salt deactivates the yeast). Mix well.
2. Create a well in the middle. Pour in the water and vinegar. Bring together with a spatula or chopstick.
3. Add the shortening and knead for 10 to 15 minutes until smooth and no longer sticky.
4. Cover with cling film and proof until doubled in size (about 40 mins to 1 hour).
5. Dissolve the baking powder in the COLD water. Ensure there are no lumps and well dissolved. Sprinkle onto the surface of the buns and knead well. Rest for 10 minutes.
6. Divide dough into 16 portions. Roll out into 4" circle. Using the Asian rolling pin, leaving it slightly thinner at the edges and thicker in the centre.
7. Spoon one heaped tbsp into the centre and pleat. Place on pre-prepared parchments of 3 by 3". Cover and rest for at least 15 minutes.
8. Meanwhile your water should already be heating up. When it has come to a rolling boil, steam the buns on high heat for 10 to 12 minutes. Turn off the fire and rest for 5 minutes.
9. Remove and serve immediately. Best eaten hot. Store in fridge for up to 4 days. EEW doesn't recommend freezing but I find no problem, as long as they are frozen immediately when cool (rather than left lingering in the fridge). They can be reheated from frozen, approx 2 minutes on one side and turn.

Recipe feedback
- Misting the bao was definitely the wrong idea because it made the bao soggy.
- The mix of flour, corn starch and wheat starch made the bao very flat, no different to when cake flour was used.
- However, the use of wheat starch meant that the dough was a lot more manageable and handleable. It was very stretchy and I could make very nice pleats. Problem is that it was so thin that it tore, which is also why I couldn't seal it properly.
- The bao was already leaking before I even put it in the steamer, so it didn't really burst. I was probably too generous with the sauce.
- Was the dough fluffy like dim sum char siu however? It wasn't. It was a great fluffy bao but it wasn't the dim sum bao. For the first time, I actually think there wasn't enough dough on top! Maybe I should do what I've seen in some other receipe and put my pleats facing down instead so that if it leaks, it will leak onto the paper. The top may or may not open up and 'smile' but at least it wouldn't leak.