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Korean Chicken Bao Bun

Super soft, pillowy steamed buns with a spicy Korean chicken filling.
Course: Main Course
Cuisine: Chinese

Ingredients

For the bao buns:

  • 2 cups All purpose flour
  • 1 cup Corn flour
  • 5 tbsp Castor sugar
  • 1 tsp Instant yeast
  • 2 1/2 tsp Baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp Salt
  • 200 ml Warm water
  • 1/4 cup Oil

For the Korean Chicken:

  • 300 g Frozen chicken popcorn (I used Sadia chicken mini chef popcorn)
  • 2 tbsp Huy Fong chilli garlic paste/ any chilli garlic paste/ spicy schezwan sauce
  • 2 tbsp Brown sugar
  • 4 tbsp Soya sauce
  • 2 tbsp Honey
  • 2 cloves Garlic peeled and minced
  • 2 tsp Ginger minced
  • 2 tsp vegetable oil
  • Salt if needed

To assemble:

  • Cabbage sliced
  • Onion sliced
  • Chilli mayonnaise
  • Chilli garlic paste
  • Fresh coriander leaves chopped
  • White sesame seeds (roasted)

Instructions

To make the bao buns:

  • In a bowl of a stand mixer, add flour, corn flour, sugar, yeast, baking powder and salt. Mix well.
  • Combine oil and water. The water should be little hotter than lukewarm, but not boiling hot.
  • Use a stand mixer with a hook attachment to knead the dough. (If it is not available, you can use your hands to knead it)
  • Pour water and oil mixture into the flour mixture gradually kneading on medium high speed. Knead well for about 10 minutes using stand mixer or for 5 minutes using hand. The dough should be smooth and soft to touch. Knead a little more from your counter top.
  • Keep it in a greased bowl, cover it and let it rise for 60-90 minutes in a warm place until doubled in size.
  • Punch down the dough to release the air bubbles and knead for five minutes.
  • Roll out the dough in 1 cm thickness. Spread a little bit of oil on the surface of the dough so that the buns don't stick to each other.
  • Using a 3 inch cookie cutter, cut out the dough into small circles. You can roll it further if it is very thick.
  • Keep these dough circles on a cupcake liner or small pieces of baking sheets. Fold the dough in half and roll it gently.
  • Keep it cover with a tea towel and let it rise again for 1/2 an hour.
  • Fill the steamer with water and keep it on the stove. Once it comes to a oil, reduce heat to medium low and place the buns in it and steam for 10-12 minutes until it turns puffy and soft and cooked all way through. (By this time make the Korean chicken)

To make the Korean chicken:

  • Deep fry or air-fry the chicken popcorn and keep aside.
  • In a pan, add oil and saute garlic and ginger for a minute. Add all the remaining ingredients and let it come to a boil. Put it on simmer for 5 minutes. By then it would have become slightly thick.
  • Pour this mixture into the fried chicken popcorn and toss it well until all of the chicken pieces and coated well with the sauce.

To assemble:

  • In the bun, add chilli mayo, lettuce and chicken (you can cut each chicken into half). Add onions.
  • Finally I added chilli garlic sauce to buns. I didn't add in the pictures.
  • Sprinkle sesame seeds and coriander leaves.
  • Serve immediately.

Notes

  • Kneading is very important while making this bun.
  • If you have left over cooked buns, you can freeze them in a zip lock bag. You can steam them again for 5 minutes and use it.