How to Make Pan-Fried Pork Buns (Sheng Jian Bao) 👩🍳
Tiffycooks
1. Go to Tiffy Cooks' Pan-Fried Pork Buns recipe 🥢
Sheng Jian Bao (生煎包) translates to raw fried buns, because both the dough and meat are both cooked entirely raw as opposed to cooking the meat first.
This is a signature dish from Shanghai and dates back to the Qing dynasty.
2. Gather cookingware needed ⏲ and turn on your favorite tunes 🎶
• Small rolling pin (specifically for making smaller dough pieces like baos and dumplings)
• 2 mixing bowls
• Small sauce bowls for dipping sauce
• Chopsticks
• Paper towels (for covering dough)
3. Gather ingredients that are needed in the recipe 📝
Note: Most of these can be found in an American grocery store. I've added notes for the ones that may need to be found elsewhere.
Pork Buns
• 1 cup of Warm Water
• 1 tsp of sugar
• 1 tsp of yeast
• 3 cups of all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp of salt
• 2 cups of ground pork
• 6 stocks of scallions (chopped)
• 2 tbsp of soy sauce
• 2 tbsp of sesame oil
• 1 tbsp of oyster sauce (not absolutely necessary if you don't want to take a trip to an Asian grocery store or don't have access to one nearby)
• 1 tsp of white pepper (same as above, can also use black pepper)
• 1 tbsp of dashi powder or chicken powder (can purchase on Amazon or at an Asian grocery store)
• 1 egg
• 1 tbsp of ginger (grated)
Dipping sauce
• soy sauce
• vinegar (either regular or black vinegar, depending on what you have!)
Garnish (optional)
• scallions (chopped)
• sesame seeds
4. Prepare the yeast mixture 🥣
• Mix 1 cup of warm water and 1 tsp of sugar
• Sprinkle on 1 tsp of yeast and mix
• Let it set aside for 5 minutes
5. Making the dough! 🍞
• Mix flour and salt and pour in the yeast mixture.
• Keep mixing it until it forms into a ball.
• Knead for 5 minutes
6. Rest 😴
• Put a bowl on top to cover
• Let it rest for 30 minutes
7. Prepare pork mixture 🥓
• Mix ground pork, soy sauce, sesame oil, oyster sauce, white pepper, dashi powder or chicken stock, egg, scallions, and freshly grated ginger in a bowl
8. Roll dough out into a long tubular shape 🤲
9. Cut the roll of dough into 20 pieces 🔪
Note: If you are making these solo, take a few pieces of paper towels, dampen them, and use them to cover the pieces of dough as you wrap each bun
This helps to make sure the dough doesn't dry out.
10. Pinch out the edges of one piece of the dough and roll out into a circle (or imperfect circle) ⚪️
11. Take 1 tbsp of the meat filling and add it in the middle of the dough. 🥄
12. Wrap wrap wrap! 💪
• Fold in all 4 edges to the center
• Keep folding it in until there are no gaps or holes.
Note: If you are making these solo, take a few pieces of paper towels, dampen them, and use them to cover the pork buns as you wrap them
This helps to make sure the dough doesn't dry out.
13. Twist the top of the dough to close it off. Make sure they're completely sealed! 💌
14. Repeat to finish making all 20 (more or less) pork buns! 🔁
15. Frying/steaming time! 🍳
• In a pan, drizzle in oil and turn the heat up to medium-high
• When oil is hot, add in pork buns and let the bottom brown for about 1 minute (the time will differ depending on each individual's stove, don't let the bottom burn; the bottom should be a light brown)
• When the bottom is a light brown, pour in 1 cup of water or when half of the pork bun is covered in water
• Cover the pan with a lid and let it cook on medium-high heat for 15 minutes
• Take the lid off and let the bottoms crisp up on medium heat for another minute or two. Water should be evaporated.
• Once the bottom is nice and crispy, turn the stove off
16. Finishing touches 🪄
• Sprinkle chopped scallions on pork buns (for presentation)
• Sprinkle sesame seeds on pork buns
• Mix equal portions of vinegar and soy sauce in dipping sauce bowls17. Enjoy! ✨
Dip pork buns in dipping sauce, be careful to not burn your mouth, and enjoy!
18. Like this recipe? Check out some of my other favorite bao recipes:
