I first ate a bao while a trainee at the Krishna Oberoi in Hyderabad but it was only when we started transmitting through Singapore I saw and tasted so many variations on these and said to myself , why can’t I make it..so I learned and practised till I got it right.Theae could be stuffed with roast pork to make what’s called Char Siew bao ( pronounced Cha Shao bao).But I like them with meat and vegetables separate

• Flour – 250 gms
• active dry yeast- 2 gms
• baking powder- 2gms
• sugar- 20 gms
• milk powder- 25 gms
• water -150 ml
• sugar-20 gms
• salt-5 gms
• oil 25 ml
• Sesame oil to brush .

• Sieve flour.Add in all other dry ingredients.
• add in flour and lightly mix with a fork and keep aside for 15 minutes covered with plastic wrap.
• knead lightly and add in oil and knead again till smooth.
• scale into 8 pieces and shape them into nice rounds and allow to rest again for about 10 mins.
• Roll out to a 3 inch/ 6-7 cm circle then brush with sesame oil and fold over.
• Allow to proof, thand then steam for 15 -18 minutes.

These are great even rolled out and pan fried or deep fried and go well with Indian styled Chick peas curry or Trinidadian Doubles, which is another post by itself.

• Pastry
• flour- 200 gms
• baking powder- 2gms
• salt- pinch
• butter- 20 gms
• eggs-1/2
• cold water – just enough to form a semi hard dough.

• Filling
• olive or other oil- 10-15 ml
• onion – 1/2 medium white onion roughly 50 gm
• garlic- 1-2 cloves, crushed and chopped
• frozen spinach- 100 gms ( subsitute with another green leafy vegetable of your choice if you dont have this./ or use corn kernels
• seasoning- salt and pepper
• ricotta – roughly 2 T can subsitute with feta/ or paneer /cream cheese/

1. crumble flour , baking pdr, salt and butter.
2. add egg and cold water and combine to make a semi hard dough
3. rest for 15-20 minutes till filling is ready.
4. For filling, heat oil, add crushed garlic and onion and saute till translucent, then add spinach and cook till dry. turn off heat
5. add in ricotta and allow to cool down.
6. roll out dough ad cut with a cookie cutter roughly 10 cms ./ if you dont have a cookie cutter, use something round and cut around with a sharp knife. the thickness should be roughly as much as a 1$ coin-3-4 mm thick roughly.
7. put some filling in the centre and using the remainder of the egg , seal the edges to form a triangular shape.
8. https://youtu.be/gDmwskrsfa0?t=336
9. click on link above to see how they are making the shape.
10. its easy with some practise. then either you can deep fry these pastries when they are done or bake at medium temp for 15-18 mins(350F/175 C). If baking brush with some butter or olive oil.
11. Optional can add pine nuts/ slivered almonds and lemon juice/ sumac to the filling.