These Chinese-inspired steamed buns have it all–fluffy dough, tender eggplant, and a mouth watering hoisin sauce. They’re so delicious! Bao are absolutely scrumptious, but in my experience it’s rare to find vegan friendly ones. Thankfully they’re simple enough to make at home! There are two components to bao, the filling and the dough. The dough is yeasted which makes for a extra soft and puffy bun. The dough can be folded into a pocket, such as in gua bao (Taiwanese pork belly buns), or can be wrapped into a bun/round dumpling shape as I’ve done here. The round ones are commonly stuffed with savory meat fillings or sweet bean paste (which are typically vegan, though it never hurts to ask to make sure). Who needs meat when you can make delicious bao with eggplant! Japanese eggplant is cooked until perfectly tender, then tossed in a savory and flavorful hoisin. It’s delicious enough to eat on it’s own–the sign of any great filling–but is even better when stuffed into bao! Bao make the perfect snack or appetizer, or enjoy a few of them for a light meal! They’re tasty enough on their own, or you can serve them with a dipping or drizzling sauce such as chili oil (my personal fave) or a soy sauce-rice vinegar-toasted sesame oil combo. One last note: My bao dough got a bit over proofed while I was juggling the photos and cooking and so the resulting buns aren’t as defined in their shapes as they could be. They’re still delicious and I’m still obsessed, but visually they’re not as perfect as they could be. I’m sure you can do better, as I usually do as well, but at least you know if you run into any struggles you’ll still get some awesome bao to show for it!
How to make bao dough:
Since bao is made with a yeasted dough, we start on this first. For the most part bao dough looks like any other bread dough–flour, water, yeast, salt, plus a drizzle of oil and bit of sugar to enrich it. The biggest, and really only, difference between bao dough and your traditional western bread doughs is the addition of baking powder. It gives the dough a bit of an oomph when steaming for a super fluffy bread! The method for bao dough is also similar to other bread doughs. Stir together the yeast, warm water, and sugar and let sit for a few minutes to proof the yeast. This isn’t strictly a necessary step if you’re using instant yeast as the recipe requests. However, if you are using active dry yeast–this is totally fine! But you will get best results from letting it prove for about 5-10 minutes before adding it to the dry ingredients. Mix together the dry ingredients, then add the wet to dry and knead for a few minutes! This can be done by hand or by stand mixer. Set your dough aside in a covered oil bowl to let rise.
Prepare the eggplant:
This step is super easy. Trim the top and bottoms of the eggplant off, slice it in half lengthwise, brush the eggplant with a bit of oil, then plop it on a grill or grill pan (a broiler works as well, but you won’t get grill lines) and cook it until tender. Take the eggplant off the heat and let it cool down until you can chop it into cubes.
Make the hoisin sauce:
This part is optional. If you want to use a store bought hoisin sauce–go ahead! You’ll need about 1/2 cup of hoisin. But if you want to make the best possible hoisin eggplant bao of your life (and I’m sure you do!) you’ll want to make your own hoisin sauce. Because man if this wasn’t the best hoisin of my life… it was, ok? ? This homemade hoisin is pantry friendly and super quick to throw together. It starts with garlic which is flash fried in a bit of oil until a pale shade of golden. Next we add the liquids: soy sauce, maple syrup, rice vinegar, tahini, sriracha or chili oil, and toasted sesame oil. A bit of tahini lends a nutty earthy flavor to the sauce. If you have Chinese sesame paste substitute that, otherwise tahini makes for a delicious sauce! You can also substitute peanut butter for tahini if you’d like. Last we add miso and a pinch of black pepper. If you are able to find it, feel free to use doubanjiang instead of miso. Doubanjiang is a Chinese fermented broadbean paste, so it’s pretty similar in concept to miso. There are spicy and non-spicy versions of it, so if you’re seeking out this ingredient either is ok, though obviously adjust it to your own spice preferences. If using miso, any is fine! I chose a red miso for it’s stronger flavor. Stir all of the sauce ingredients together then let simmer for a handful of minutes. Remove from heat and toss with the cubed eggplant.
Shape the buns:
Once the dough has finished rising, it’s time to shape the buns. Lightly punch the dough down, then divide it into 12 more or less equal pieces. Pat each out into a large about 5″ disk. Then holding the dough in your non dominant hand, and add a heaping tablespoon of filling to the center. Use your dominant hand to pinch the opposite sides of the dough to meet in the center, then repeat at 90º to make a little parcel. You’ll have 4 edges gaping, so pinch together those opposing sides into the center. Take the top of the buns between the fingers of your dominant hand and twist to seal everything in. Place the finished buns onto either a square of parchment paper or a parchment lined pan. Repeat with the remaining buns.
Cook the buns:
Bao are steamed, and this gives them their quintessential texture. Prepare a steamer basket and cook in batches, leaving plenty of space between the buns as they expand a lot as they steam. The steaming of the buns is the slowest step of the whole process. If you have a double steamer definitely take advantage of that as it will really cut down on the time! Because it takes awhile, keep the shaped buns in the fridge until ready to steam so that they don’t get over-proofed. If you make these hoisin eggplant bao, leave a comment below and rate the recipe on the recipe card. And please share your photos with me on Instagram, tag @thecuriouschickpea and #thecuriouschickpea. I love seeing your recreations! You can substitute 1/2 cup of prepared hoisin sauce for the homemade. If at any point the dough is rising too quickly, stick it in the fridge to slow down the rising. Bao adapted from my vegan siopao (curry seitan steamed buns).
BirdRock Home 10 Inch Bamboo Steamer - Classic Traditional Design - Healthy Cooking - Great for dumplings, vegetables, chicken, fish - Steam Basket - Natural Saf Instant Yeast, 1 Pound Pouch Marukan Rice Vinegar, 24 Ounce (Pack of 2) Soom Foods Pure Ground Sesame Tahini Paste 11oz (4 Pack) Cuisinart 77-412 Chef's Classic Stainless 4-Piece 12-Quart Pasta/Steamer Set
