Last summer my husband made a vegetarian version of steamed buns and I'm still dreaming about the meal! Recently while eating at a new neighborhood restaurant, I noticed their take on traditional buns was also a little different.
Instead of traditional round shaped buns pinched at the center, they shaped their buns into flat circles, which then could be used to fold up whatever filling the customer desired.
What a great idea for a party, where guests can wrap up their little goodie packets!
Related: Fall Recipe: Vegetarian Steamed Buns
(Image: Leela Cyd Ross)
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Comments (11)
This post is surprising, because I thought they were everywhere! I've had them at Momofuku and also at various ramen restaurants in nyc.
They sell these at Chinese grocery stores - they are cheap and easy to prepare! ;)
I thought it was just another way that steamed buns are made. Like Ambitious said, they sell them like flat little buns in the Chinese grocery stores.
The shape also reminds me a bit of arepas, which are made of corn. I guess those are rounder, but some Venezuelan places in SF make them in a kind of oblong shape and don't split them completely, rather like the photo above (or like a hot dog bun).
These are called bao. This stuff drives me nuts, especially for food writing on a food blog. Use the proper terminology. Do your research. Dim sum is not "Chinese tapas." Jiao zi/Dumplings are not "Chinese ravioli." This might just be my pet peeve...
Chinese tapas? Chinese ravioli? Where does this article or even the link smention these 2 things? Why are you getting so worked up here when neither the comments or the article mentions your pet peeve?
If In NYC, go here: http://www.baohausnyc.com/, order two each of the birdhouse bao (fried chicken) and chairman bao (berkshire pork belly). Love life.
Jenn_y said it better than me, thanks. That's what I meant. Sorry, I was typing on the fly. I meant to say the "taco-shaped steamed buns" are bao. I hope that helps people who are looking for them.
Atn654 - I was just using examples. Chillax. Obviously the article doesn't mention them but I gave them out as somewhat common examples and that's what the title reminded me of.
These are fairly common, typically served with peking duck.
The Taiwanese version of this is a delicious snack ("gua bao"). Steamed bun, tender pork belly, cilantro, pickled vegetables, crushed peanuts and savory sauce. Yum!
"Bao" is a generic term for bread or dumplings...so it can be used of all sorts of steamed wheat breads. The Cantonese round version with BBQ pork is "char siu bao" (often found at dim sum restaurants), round soupy dumplings are "xiao long bao", and plain sandwich bread is "mian bao". It's a pretty versatile term that can refer to lots of different dishes.
Nadia G on Bitchin' Kitchen did these - and they looked very yummy. First time I'd heard of it: http://bitchinlifestyle.tv/Bitchin-Kitchen/Recipes/Bitchin-Supperclub/STEAMED-PORK-BELLY-BUNS.html