“This is the bao that defines who we are. It is the bao that is in our logo and the bao that embodies all our values. It is our pursuit of perfection. The processes and techniques that go into it and the ways in which we have translated the traditional Taiwanese gua bao into our bao makes it who we are. 

“At home in Taiwan, the gua bao is normally two to three times larger. At that size, it is all about filling your stomach – the opposite of kuchisabishii. A lot of people ask why we serve it smaller. Well, firstly it’s because we want diners to sample a range of dishes, not just one. But most importantly, we serve it this way to facilitate that perfect moment of solitude. Our baos are the ideal 3–4 bites for the Lonely Man. 

“The Classic Pork Bao is perfectly formed, with a clean 1 cm (½ inch) gap between the edge of the bun and the edge of the meat. It is filled with twelve-hour braised pork that yields no resistance, melting in your mouth with the cloud-like bao, the flavour notes of the ferments and sweet peanut powder lingering on in your mouth. 

“In this recipe the pork is braised for 3 hours at a higher temperature but it still produces a great braise. The Fermented Mustard Greens are a crucial component of this bao and you will need to prepare them at least 2 weeks in advance (see below). If you don’t have the time or desire to ferment your own, however, you can buy them from any Asian supermarket. They tend to be vacuum-packed in a bag with their own juices and are a pleasing yellowish-green colour. 

“The first time we served this Bao at a night market in Dalston, a customer cried and hugged Wai Ting.”

Makes 10–12 baos

Ingredients

For the soy-braised pork belly:

• 1 kg pork belly (side), cut into 5 cm (2 inch) cubes
• 50 ml light soy sauce
• 40 ml dark soy sauce
• 60 ml Shaoxing rice wine
• 20 g spring onion (scallion)
• 1 clove garlic, crushed
• 20 g fresh ginger, peeled, sliced and crushed
• 1 star anise
• 20 g rock sugar
• pinch of garlic powder
• 4 dried red chillies
• 6 g cinnamon bark

For the fried mustard greens:

• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• ½ teaspoon doubanjiang (fermented chilli bean paste)
• 100 g drained Fermented Mustard Greens (see below), chopped
• a few drops of rice vinegar

To serve:

• 10–12 Gua Baos (see book for details, or use ready-made bao)
• 1 small bunch coriander (cilantro), chopped
• 90 g Peanut Powder (see below)

Method

Soy-braised pork belly:

Bring a large saucepan of water to the boil. Add the pork cubes and blanch for 2–3 minutes to get rid of any impurities. Drain, then place in a flameproof clay pot or large saucepan.

Add the remaining ingredients to the pot or pan and pour over enough water to just cover the ingredients. Bring to the boil, then reduce the heat to low and simmer gently for 3 hours. There should just be small bubbles on the surface of the liquid. Halfway through cooking, flip the pork cubes to ensure they are evenly cooked.

Transfer the pork to a plate and leave to cool. Strain the braising liquid, then bring to the boil and cook until it is a light, sticky consistency, reducing it by about half. When the pork has cooled slightly, chop it into cubes of about 1 cm (½ inch). Put the cubes into the reduced sauce, give it a good stir and remove from the heat.

Warm the pork with the sauce over a medium heat for about 10 minutes before serving.

Fried mustard greens:

Heat the oil in a frying pan over a medium-high heat. Add the doubanjiang (fermented chilli bean paste) and, when the oil starts to turn red, add the fermented mustard greens. Stir-fry for 5 minutes until super fragrant and wilted. Season the greens with a few drops of the vinegar.

To assemble:

While the pork is reheating and the greens are cooking, steam the gua baos following the directions on page 47.

Open a bao and line the bottom with 45 g of the piping-hot, glistening pork, then top with 1 teaspoon of the fried mustard greens. Finish with 1 teaspoon of the chopped coriander (cilantro) and 1 tablespoon of the golden, sweet peanut powder. Repeat with the remaining baos and fillings.

Hold a bao lovingly in your hand. Open your mouth fully, like the bao , and eat from the side.

Fermented Mustard Greens

Makes 350 g

Ingredients

• 500 g Chinese mustard greens, washed and chopped into 2.5 cm (1 inch) pieces
• 2 teaspoons salt (2% of the total weight of the greens)

Method

Put the chopped greens into a bowl and sprinkle over the salt, massaging it into the greens until it is evenly distributed.

Pack the salted mustard greens tightly into a 500 ml sterilized glass jar.

After about 30 minutes, the salt will draw out the liquid from the mustard greens and this liquid should cover the greens. If it does not, place something heavy on top (like a fermenting weight) to keep the greens submerged in the brine (the greens must be submerged otherwise they will grow mould).

Put the lid on the jar and seal. Leave to ferment at room temperature for at least 14 days, but ideally 1 month. Make sure to ‘burp’ the jar every night by opening the lid momentarily – this will release the gasses and ensure that the jar doesn’t explode!

When the greens have fermented to your liking, either transfer the jar to the refrigerator or eat straight away. The fermented greens can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 3 months.

Peanut powder

Makes 200 g

Ingredients

• 200 g shelled peanuts (groundnuts)
• 2 tablespoons caster (superfine) sugar

Method

Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F/Gas Mark 4.

Spread out the shelled peanuts (groundnuts) on a baking sheet and roast in the oven for 20–25 minutes, or until golden. Shake the tray or turn the peanuts every 5 minutes to ensure an even colour. Remove from the oven and leave to cool completely.

Transfer the peanuts, in small batches, to a food processor and pulse until you have a coarse powder (it is best to do this in batches because peanuts have a high fat content and can very easily turn into peanut butter in no time).

Tip the peanut powder into a bowl, add the sugar and mix thoroughly until well combined. The peanut powder can be stored in a jar in the refrigerator for up to 1 month.

“Taiwanese fried chicken! I have so many childhood memories of eating this with friends at night markets, and it was one of the three items we sold when we first started bao as a market stall, along with the Classic Pork Bao and the Daikon bao. These memories of fried chicken have now been replaced with memories and stories involving our pursuit of perfecting Bao’s fried chicken over the years. 

“Right from the beginning we had spreadsheets full of marinade timings and frying stages that we tested to get the juiciness and crispiness we wanted. We discovered that there was a certain amount of time you could keep the flour on the meat and a specific way to coat the chicken with the flour using a flick of your palm. This journey made us very protective of the recipe. So many people would quiz us, trying to find out the flour and the spice mix we used, especially in our market days. There weren’t many Taiwanese restaurants back then, so it wasn’t readily available information. The lengths we went to keep the fried chicken coating a secret … we would have the flour delivered to another location or beat the staff to the delivery so we could hide it and empty the small packets into clear containers when everyone had left. The spice and marinade mix were the hardest to keep doing in secret – it was only a couple of years ago that we had that moment, looking at each other, lab coats on, rubber gloves on, masks on, on a hot summer day in an unventilated office, when we asked ourselves, Why are we still doing this every week? That powder in large volumes really gets up your nose! At that, we decided we had had enough and eventually moved the process to an external producer with a signed NDA. But now, after all that secrecy, it is here for you to see.”

Serves 2–3

Ingredients

• vegetable oil, for deep-frying
• Hot Sauce (see below), to serve

For the marinated chicken:

• 200 ml soy milk, plus extra if needed
• 1 clove garlic, grated
• 2.5 cm (1 inch) piece of fresh ginger, peeled and grated
• 2 teaspoons cornflour (cornstarch)
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon five spice powder
• 1 tablespoon soy sauce
• 1 teaspoon rice vinegar
• 300 g skinless, boneless chicken thighs, cut into 10 equal pieces

For the spiced flour mix:

• 200 g tapioca flour (starch)
• 1 teaspoon red Sichuan peppercorns, ground to a powder
• 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• ¼ teaspoon garlic powder
• ½ teaspoon five spice powder
• 1 tablespoon salt

Tip:
The double-fry technique for the chicken pieces gives the coating extra crispiness while ensuring that the centre remains incredibly juicy. If you are feeling lazy, then just deep-fry the chicken once for 4 minutes at 180°C/350°F, or until a cube of ginger sizles and browns in 10 seconds. It won’t have quite the same super-crispy texture but it will still be juicy.

Method

Marinated chicken:

In a large non-reactive bowl, mix together all the ingredients except the chicken. Add the chicken pieces, stir to coat, cover and leave to marinate in the refrigerator overnight. If you are in a hurry, marinate for 1 hour at room temperature.

When ready to cook, run your fingers through the chicken mixture to moisten any overlapping pieces. If it requires more soy milk, add some now so all the chicken pieces are submerged in the marinade.

Spiced flour mix:

In a bowl, mix together all the ingredients, making sure the spices are evenly distributed.

To assemble:

Toss a piece of chicken straight from the marinade into the flour mix. Roll it around lightly with your fingers to form a nugget shape. Do not flatten it or try to press more of the mix onto it. If you want more spiced flour on the chicken, roll it in the bowl of flour mix a few times and dust extra spiced flour mix on top. Make sure the piece is fully coated, then transfer to a plate or tray. Repeat the process with the remaining chicken pieces.

Heat the oil in a deep, heavy-based saucepan to 160°C/325°F, or until a cube of ginger sizzles and browns in 20 seconds. Very lightly shake off any excess flour mix, then – in 2 batches – carefully hold the chicken and slowly drop it away from you into the hot oil and deep-fry for 3 minutes until cooked through, lightly golden and crisp. Remove with the tongs or slotted spoon, drain on paper towels and leave to cool completely.

When cool, reheat the oil to 190°C/375°F and deep-fry again for 2 minutes.

Place the chicken pieces in a shallow bowl and drizzle with hot sauce to serve.     

Hot sauce

Makes 850 ml

Ingredients

• 20g garlic, chopped
• 165g fresh ginger, chopped into 1 cm (½ inch) cubes
• 210ml rice vinegar
• 265ml light soy sauce
• 30g chilli powder
• 20g hot paprika
• 185ml honey
• 5 teaspoons caster (superfine) sugar

Method

Put the garlic and ginger into a blender, then pour in the vinegar. It should be enough to cover the garlic and ginger; if not, add a little more vinegar. Blend at high speed for at least 3 minutes until completely smooth. Add the remaining ingredients and blend at high speed for 6–8 minutes or until completely smooth.

Pass the sauce through a fine-mesh sieve into a bowl – you want some of the ginger fibres to get through, but to sift out the larger, unpleasant stringy bits (this gives a good consistency to the sauce without having to thicken it with anything else). Squeeze any remaining solids through the sieve into the sauce to ensure you get all the juices and flavours from them.

The sauce can be stored in a sterilized glass jar or an airtight container at room temperature for up to 1 month, or in the refrigerator for up to 3 months.

“When we were travelling around Chengdu, China, we tried so many different bowls of dan dan noodles, and it was there we learned that dan dan is a style of noodle, rather than just referring to spicy minced (ground) meat noodles as we often suppose. There’s such elegance in each noodle house’s perfectly balanced flavours, with the small bowls topped with everything from yu shiang (‘fish fragrant’) ribs to fermented cowpeas (black-eyed beans/peas). The balance of seasoning is crucial, so make sure you measure these to a T when making your own. I particularly like to appreciate the oily residue and bits of fermented vegetables left at the edge of the bowl at the end. Finishing a bowl is the ultimate way to show my respect to the chefs and restaurant owners. The method of cooking the tofu is the same as how you would cook the minced meat, confiting it in rapeseed (canola) oil to fluff up the tofu pieces. I love using tofu in this way as it acts like a sponge and soaks up all the flavour of the spiced oil.”

Serves 4

Ingredients

For the dan dan tofu:

• 250 ml cold-pressed rapeseed (canola) oil
• 1 x 200-g block firm tofu, crumbled into coarse 1 cm (½ inch) pieces
• 2 cm (¾ inch) piece of fresh ginger, peeled and finely diced
• 2 teaspoons chilli powder
• 1½ teaspoons ground white pepper
• 1½ teaspoons caster (superfine) sugar
• 2½ tablespoons whole bean soy sauce
• pinch of salt

For the dan dan tofu dressing:

• 3 teaspoons mirin
• 8 teaspoons whole bean soy sauce
• 2 cloves garlic, grated
• 4 tablespoons Fermented Mustard Greens (see below)
• 2 teaspoons Tung Choi Preserved Vegetable (you can find in most Asian Supermarkets)
• 4 teaspoons Chinkiang vinegar
• 8 teaspoons Sichuan Chilli Oil (see below)

To serve:

• 400 g Plain Wheat Noodles (see book for details, or use ready-made noodles)
• 4 generous handfuls of coriander (cilantro), finely sliced

Method

Dan dan tofu:

Heat the oil in a frying pan (skillet) over a medium heat. Add the tofu and ginger and pan-fry for 2 minutes, then add the remaining ingredients and cook gently for 10 minutes. The tofu should soak up all the flavours, and the texture will be very tender and fluffy. Remove from the heat and set aside.

Dan dan tofu dressing:

While the tofu is cooking, preheat the oven to 150°C/300°F/Gas Mark 2 and place 4 bowls in the oven to warm.

Put ¾ teaspoon mirin, 2 teaspoons soy sauce, grated ½ clove garlic, 1 tablespoon fermented mustard greens, ½ teaspoon preserved vegetable, 1 teaspoon

Chinkiang vinegar and 2 teaspoons chilli oil, including some pulp, into each bowl. It’s important to measure into each warmed bowl rather than make a batch of dressing because the flavour balance is key to this dish.

To assemble:

Cook the noodles in two batches. Bring a large saucepan of salted water to the boil, add half the noodles, then give it a stir with chopsticks to separate the strands. Once the water comes to the boil again, cook for 1 minute and 10 seconds. (If the noodles aren’t freshly prepared, it may require longer cooking time. Have a test bite before straining.) Drain and immediately divide into 2 bowls by picking up half of the noodles with a pair of chopsticks. Gently lay the ends of the strands into the bowl and fold them over so the noodles are all uniformly sitting snug next to each other. Repeat for the second batch of noodles.

Top each bowl of noodles with 4 tablespoons of the dan dan tofu. Be sure to include the oil as it will give it extra flavour. Top each bowl with a generous handful of the coriander (cilantro). Mix the noodles thoroughly before eating.     

Fermented Mustard Greens

Makes 350 g

Ingredients

• 500 g Chinese mustard greens, washed and chopped into 2.5 cm (1 inch) pieces
• 2 teaspoons salt (2% of the total weight of the greens)

Method

Put the chopped greens into a bowl and sprinkle over the salt, massaging it into the greens until it is evenly distributed.

Pack the salted mustard greens tightly into a 500 ml sterilized glass jar.

After about 30 minutes, the salt will draw out the liquid from the mustard greens and this liquid should cover the greens. If it does not, place something heavy on top (like a fermenting weight) to keep the greens submerged in the brine (the greens must be submerged otherwise they will grow mould).

Put the lid on the jar and seal. Leave to ferment at room temperature for at least 14 days, but ideally 1 month. Make sure to ‘burp’ the jar every night by opening the lid momentarily – this will release the gasses and ensure that the jar doesn’t explode!

When the greens have fermented to your liking, either transfer the jar to the refrigerator or eat straight away. The fermented greens can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 3 months.

Sichuan chilli oil

Makes 250 ml

Ingredients

• 18 g coriander seeds
• 250 ml rapeseed (canola) oil
• 4 cloves garlic, lightly crushed
• 20 g fresh ginger, peeled and sliced and lightly crushed
• 1 star anise
• 60 g dried red chillies
• 15 g Sichuan peppercorns
• generous ½ teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 30 g Korean chilli flakes
• 25 g whole bean soy sauce
• ½ teaspoon sesame seeds

Method

In a dry pan, toast the coriander seeds for 3 minutes over low heat, being careful they don’t burn. Combine the seeds with the oil, garlic, ginger and star anise in a small saucepan and simmer gently over a low heat for 10–20 minutes to infuse – you want to smell the aroma of the garlic and ginger, but not burn them.

Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F/ Gas Mark 4. Put the dried chillies onto a baking sheet and toast in the oven for 8 minutes, or until reddish brown – they should not blacken.

Add the Sichuan peppercorns 3 minutes before the end of the cooking time and toast. Remove from the oven and let cool, then transfer to a spice grinder or pestle and mortar, add the salt, sugar, and Korean chilli flakes and grind to a powder. Tip the spice mixture into a heatproof bowl and place a fine-mesh sieve on top, then place the bowl near to where the saucepan of oil is infusing.

Increase the heat under the infused oil until it becomes very hot (180°C/350°F) and the garlic and ginger start to brown fully.

Carefully pour the hot oil into the heatproof bowl through the sieve – the spice powder and oil should bubble vigorously for about 20 seconds. Add the soy sauce and leave the oil to steep, covered, for at least 2 days at room temperature for optimum flavour.

The chilli oil can be stored in a sterilized jar or airtight container in a cool, dark place for up to 1 month.

BAO by Erchen Chang, Shing Tat Chung and Wai Ting Chung (£29.95, Phaidon) is out now