Author Notes
A ‘bao’ is a Taiwanese form of street food. Usually served as a ‘Gua Bao’. This consists of 4 elements; the bun (bao), meat (typically a braised piece of pork belly), pickled mustard greens and fresh coriander.
However, this is my take on this eastern Asian street food classic - the cow bao. An aromatic beef patty served in a bao, with a home made pickle and obviously tonnes of fresh coriander. —Joe Morris
Ingredients
- Bao; 20g butter (melted) - 5g dry yeast - 20g sugar - 50g plain flour - 150g bread flour - 110ml warm water - pinch of salt.
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400 grams
ground beef
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1 teaspoon
garlic (crushed)
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1 teaspoon
ginger (grated)
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1 tablespoon
hoisin sauce
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1 tablespoon
sriacha
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2
spring onions (finely chopped)
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1 pinch
salt and pepper
- Pickle; quarter of a cucumber (de-seeded, very thinly sliced) - 2 spring onions (thinly sliced/julienne) - 4 cornichons (thinly sliced) - 2tbsp mirin - 1.5tbsp sugar.
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1 bunch
rocket
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1 bunch
coriander
Directions
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First up, you will need a steamer. Ideally a bamboo one. You can pick these up really easily from most Asian supermarkets/online.
Mix together the water, butter, sugar and yeast. Then add that to the flours and salt. Mix together really well and knead for at least 5 minutes or until the dough is smooth. Place the dough into a covered/oiled bowl and leave for 2 hours in a warm-ish place. After this time, take the dough and quickly knead it again (knock-back) for about 30 seconds. From here, roll it into balls. I made 2 from this mixture but you could easily make 4 smaller ones. Cover the balls and leave for another hour. After this, you will need to steam the buns over the highest heat on the hob for about 8-10 minutes depending on the size of the bao.
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The rest is massively easy. Take the pickle ingredients and mix those together and leave in the fridge for an hour - same with the beef patties. Fry the beef high, hopefully you will like it a bit pink in the middle like me. Then just mix together the rocket and coriander and you’re away.
Steamed burger buns? Next level, way forward.
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