Veggie gua bao

Overview

• Steamed buns
• Seasoned veggie pork belly
• Cilantro
• Pickled mustard greens
• Peanuts and sugar mixed together in blender to a course grind [½ cup roasted, unsalted peanuts & 1TB rock, brown, or raw sugar]

Spread pickled mustard greens inside each steamed bun and set a piece of pork belly on top of mustard greens. Top pork belly with a pinch of the chopped cilantro and a sprinkle of the peanut powder. Serve immediately.

Steamed buns

There are a variety of recipes online but they all typically involve several periods of rising that will ultimately add up to 2-3 hours. Plan ahead!

• I've typically had very good luck with this recipe: BBC recipe
• This recipe looks great but is a little confusing because it calls for "cornflour (cornstarch)". Corn flour is the commonwealth term for corn starch.

Seasoned veggie pork belly

Pictured is the version of veggie pork belly with pepper. We now always use the non-peppered version.

We buy veggie pork belly from Verisoy in Taiwan as pictured. In Seattle we buy these at the Viet-Wah supermarket near 12th and Jackson. There are versions with black pepper and without. We prefer the version without black pepper.

• Take veggie pork belly and split into either 4 or 6 pieces. Sear until lightly browned on both sides. Set aside.
• Sauce making:
  • Add garlic and ginger and stir until fragrant;
  • add star anise and chili;
  • add sugar and wait until it is melted and bubbling
  • add rice wine and bring to boil stirring until sugar disolves
  • add five spice, dark and light soy sauce, and water. bring to boil
• Return the pork belly and simmer on low for 1-2h

For 1lb of pork belly, a good set of ratios to start with might be:

• • 2 medium cloves garlic, crushed
  • 2 (1/8th-inch) slices fresh ginger (unpeeled)
  • 1 star anise pod (optional)
  • 1 small fresh red chili, such as Thai chili (optional)
  • 2 tablespoons rock, brown or raw sugar
  • 1/4 cup Asian rice wine
  • 1/2 teaspoon five spice powder (see note)
  • 1/4 cup dark soy sauce
  • 1/4 cup light soy sauce
  • 4 cups water

Notes

Inspiration and adaptation:

• Gua Bao recipe on Serious Eats
• Kitchen Sanctuary recipe for everything
• BBC recipe for steamed bao
• [Eat Little Bird]