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Chicken Cha Siu Bao Bun



This flavourful and tender Char Siu chicken, covered in a mouthwatering Char Siu sauce, is perfectly paired with these fluffy and soft bao bun. This is great for easy weekend cooking because you can rest the chicken overnight and even make the buns ahead of time to help with the cooking.

These fluffy treats are now possible to create at home if you're always ordering them from food trucks or restaurants! So delicious, you'll want more and more!

Char Siu, or Chinese BBQ pork is adored the world over. Unfortunately, because Char Siu is always cooked with pork, many people cannot enjoy it. Thus, I'd like to share with you today this oven-roasted chicken that has been marinated in my own Char Siu sauce. Imagine the meat—juicy, sweet, and savory—with that charred skin from the exterior. It's a perfect ten and tastes great! And making it at home is not difficult!

Chicken thighs have the best flavours and texture, so i am using skinned, boneless thighs. You will want to keep the chicken skin attached because it is the tastiest part of this dish.

I use a Thermomix to prepare my dough for bao buns, putting all the ingredients in the mixing bowl and beating until everything is thoroughly combined and the dough is smooth and elastic. You can use a bread maker or an electric stand mixer to knead the dough. You can knead it by hand if you have a strong muscle. Buns can be prepared up to one day ahead of time and re-heated via steaming.

The dough requires two proofing cycles. I used the oven to proof it for the first time. Place the dough on the middle or upper rack, close the oven door with a glass of hot water beside the dough. The steam and heat from the hot water will create a warm ad steamy environment for the dough. For the second proofing, prepare a wok with some water for steaming. Turn off the heat after the water in the steamer is boiled. Keep the shaped bap bun in  bamboo steamer, and place the bamboo steamer  on the kitchen top which is beside the steamer. You will observe that the bao bun puffed up after 30 minutes.


INGREDIENTS 

(Chicken Char Siu)

4 chicken thighs, with skin, boneless

3 pcs fermented red bean curd

2 tbsp red bean curd sauce

1 tbsp soy sauce

1 tbsp dark soy sauce

1 tbsp oyster sauce

1 tbsp hoisin sauce

2 tbsp Shaoxing wine

3 tbsp honey

1 tsp five-spice powder

1 tsp of white pepper

1 garlic clove, minced

 

For the glaze

2 tbsp honey

2 tbsp warm water

 

METHODS

1. Breaking up the bean curd and combine all the marinade sauce with the chicken thighs, mix it well. Cover with plastic wrap and keep in the fridge to marinate overnight, flipping it halfway through.

2. The next day, preheat the oven to 220°C. Lining a tin foil on the baking sheet, grease the foil with some cooking oil to avoid the thighs from sticking. Bake the thighs for 45 minutes or more (depending on your oven heat). Reserve the marinade for making the Cha Siu sauce.

3. Using a fine mesh strainer, remove the marinade's minced garlic. After bringing it to a boil and tasting the gravy, reduce it further to concentrate the flavor if it's too thin. If you want the gravy to be thicker, you can stir in some slurry. You can add a small amount of dark soy sauce to the gravy to make it look darker. Taste and adjust with sugar or salt. 

4. Combine the the honey and warming water for the glazing. 

5. Remove the baking sheet from the oven, brush the glaze over the thighs and flip the thighs over every 10-15 minutes and baste the side of the thighs as well.

6. Bring the baking sheet to a higher rack to bake for the last 5 to 10 minutes to allow caramel appearance. (keep close eyes on the wings to avoid over burning) Once the thighs have gotten a light char on each side, remove them from the oven. 

 

 INGREDIENTS

(For Bao Bun)

240g bao flour

1 tsp baking powder

40g sugar

1 tsp instant yeast

140ml warm water

1 tbsp cooing oil



METHODS

1. In a large bowl of your electric mixer, add in all the ingredients and beat until all combines. If the dough feels too dry, add another tablespoon of water continue beating at medium low speed until  the dough is smooth, shiny, and elastic.

2. Covered the  with plastic wrap, let the dough rest for 30 minutes. 

3. Use a rolling pin to roll the dough out to 1cm thick. Then use an 3" diameter round cutter (or a plastic cup of the same diameter) to cut out rounds. Remove the excess dough. Brus some oil on the cut dough and fold rounds in half and flatten slightly with the rolling pin. Place on a piece of baking paper and place directly into a large bamboo steamer for second proofing for 30 minutes.  Repeat with remaining dough (excess dough can be re-rolled and used).

4. Fill a wok with water and place over high heat. When the water is boiling, place the bamboo steamer over the wok and steam buns for 11 minutes. Then turn off the heat (don’t lift the lid) and allow the buns to rest over the hot water for 5 minutes. 

5. To serve, open up each bao, stuff with cucumber slices and a piece of chicken Char Siu and spoon a little Char Siu sauce into the centre. Serve immediately. 

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