These pork belly bao buns are so good. Pillowy soft and stuffed with pork belly, carrots, cucumber, crushed peanuts, cilantro, and hoisin sauce.
These little morsels are a bit of a labor of love, although most of the time spent is not hands-on, so definitely plan ahead if you intend to make these. The pork belly needs to marinate first for 24 hours in a simple mixture of garlic powder, brown sugar, green onion, soy sauce, and water, then cooked slowly for another 3 hours, then rested for another 6. I pretty much started the pork belly on Friday and just got around to actually making these today. As for the steamed buns, you can buy them if you don’t want to make your own, likely at a well-stocked Asian market, but they are pretty easy to make if you would like to try your hand at making your own. Make the pork ahead of time and when you are ready to roll, whip these buns up and you will be chowing down on these little pillowy morsels of goodness in no time.
These pork belly bao buns are worth the effort. This was my first attempt at working with pork belly, as well as my first attempt at making steamed buns. They both turned out really well, although my buns were a bit on the large side, so next time I will make them a little smaller, but they still tasted great! The recipe for the pork marinade was found on the food network site, I thought I had better try one out before I ventured into my own, being that it was the first time working with this cut of meat and the steamed bun recipe was adapted from one on Epicurious https://www.epicurious.com/
When you are making the dough after letting it rest and rise for about an hour. Divide the dough into smaller balls and then roll them out kind of like this.
Once you’ve shaped it, brush the top side lightly with some oil and fold over, using a chopstick to divide and put on a greased baking sheet.
Cover them up with a clean tea towel and let rest another 20 minutes or so to poof a little for a second rise.
Once they are done, using a steamer basket over a pot of a little simmering water, steam until done.
Fill them up with your crisped pork belly and fixings of choice. We used some finely sliced cucumber, julienned carrot, cilantro, crushed peanuts, and some Thai chili if you like extra heat. They are great served up with some hoisin sauce and some sriracha if you are in to spicy.
If you like this recipe you might like to try this Lemongrass Chicken Satay with Spicy Peanut Sauce & Coconut Rice
Pork Belly Bao Buns
Ingredients
Pork Belly
- 2 cups soy sauce
- 2 cups brown sugar
- 3 tbsp garlic powder
- 5 green onions
- 2 pounds pork belly, skin off
- 4 1/2 cups water
Bao Buns
- 3 1/2 cups white unbleached flour
- 1/2 tsp instant dried yeast
- 3 tbsp sugar plus a pinch
- 1 cup lukewarm milk not too hot
- 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1 tbsp vegetable oil plus extra for brushing dough
Instructions
For the Pork Belly
- Combine the soy sauce, brown sugar, garlic powder, green onions and 4 cups water in a pot. Bring to a boil over high heat, stirring occasionally. Let cool to room temperature. Combine the marinade and the pork belly in a pan, cover and marinate for 24 hours in the refrigerator.
- Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F. Set the pan with the pork belly and marinade in the oven. Cook until tender, about 3 hours.
- Remove the pan from the oven. Set a second pan directly on the pork belly and weight it with canned goods to compress the pork belly. Refrigerate for at least 6 hours, or until the pork belly is firm.
- Slice the pork belly into 3-inch-long blocks, and then cut into 1/2-inch-thick rectangles. Sear on both sides in a little oil until golden brown.
For the Bao Buns
- Using your mixer with the dough hook attachment, stir together 1/4 cup of the warmed milk with the yeast and a pinch of sugar. Let the yeast poof for a few minutes or so.
- In a separate bowl mix together the remainder of your dry ingredients.
- Add in the remainder of your milk, oil and your dry ingredients. Let mix until the dough forms a soft smooth dough that is a little sticky still but comes away from the sides. If too dry add a tsp or so of water at a time until the right consistency, or if too wet add a tsp or so of flour.
- In a large greased bowl put in your dough ball and let rest covered with plastic wrap for about an hour or so until poofed.
- Divide the dough until small balls and roll out unto a longish oval type shape. Brush the upper side lightly with oil and using a chopstick fold over and let rest on a greased baking sheet covered for another 20 minutes or so.
- Using a chinese steamer basket placed over simmering water. Cut some parchment paper to lay each individual bun on. Do not crowd the basket, you may have to steam in batches. Steam for about 10 minutes until poofed and done.
- Remove and fill with hoisin sauce, julienned carrots, sliced cucumber, cilantro and crushed peanuts. Add sriracha or chilis if desired
