We eat these on a daily basis in Singapore. It is sold literally everywhere. When I was teaching in SMU, I used to arrange my classes back to back, in that I taught continuously for six hours with just a 15 minutes’ break in between. On days I did not pack a lunch, my students would buy me a bao. I don’t like to buy chicken bao from the stalls because I feel that they are low quality. But at home, it is simply great.
I use only the thigh meat, and I cook it like a pork bun. Since we don’t eat pork these days, I have made the chicken bao in the way I like my pork bao. You cannot really tell if this is chicken or pork. I mince the chicken from thigh filet meat in a blender.
Chicken Dumpling
Ingredients
Dumpling skin (everything must be white, except the yeast)
- 400 g Hong Kong Flour
- 40 g Corn Flour
- 1 g Salt
- 60 g sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon of baking powder
- 20 g vegetable shortening or coconut oil white-translucent in color - can omit
- 190 ml warm water at 40C
- 7 g Instant yeast
Filing
- 400 g Chicken thigh meat minced in blender, Thermomix #6 for 20seconds, reverse #2 for 2 minutes
- 2 stalks spring/green onions thin slices
- Ginger juice from one thumb size ginger pound till fine, then squeeze juice
- 1 Tbsp Oyster sauce
- 1 Tbsp sesame oil
- 1/2 teaspoon pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon light soya sauce
- 1 teaspoon corn flour
- 4 hardboiled eggs divide into eighths (optional)
Instructions
Filings
- First mince the chicken in a blender. If there is a reverse in the blender, put the rest of the ingredients for the filing, (except the hardboiled eggs) in and reverse beat it for another 3 minutes. Otherwise, do this manually: place all the ingredients in a big bowl, and use a pair of chopsticks and stir in one direction until the chicken meat is 'springy'. It takes about 5 minutes of stirring.
- Divide them equally to 30 portions. Wrap each portion with a slice of hardboiled eggs.
- Freeze till the dough is ready.
Dumpling Skin
- Place everything in a mixer and mix in medium speed for 5 minutes. (Thermomix knead, 5 minutes)
- Let it rise for 30 minutes, Covered.
- Then, shape them into 50g each.
- Roll the sides till thin, then put in a portion of the meat, and then pinch it up. Put the buns over a piece of paper. I just use cupcake liners.
- Let rise for 20-30 minutes, or until the dumpling doubles its size.
- Steam for at least 15 minutes.
- Let it sit in the steamer for another minute before removing.
- Serve immediately.
