Gua Bao – You can’t walk through the streets in Taipei without coming across a night market, and you can’t visit a night market without finding more than one vendor selling Gua Bao. There are five components that make up a true Taiwanese Gua Bao: Soft steamed bun, tender braised pork, fresh cilantro, pickled mustard greens, and sweet powdered peanuts. Lovingly called the hamburger of Taiwan, it’s a chorus of salty, pungent, sweet, and fresh tastes all blanketed in a pillow-y soft bun. The prep work is fairly minimal, although braising the pork to tender takes a bit of time. The soft bao buns can be purchased frozen at your local Asian market, ordered online, or made fresh.
Gua Bao – Taiwanese Pork Belly Buns
Equipment
- Large skillet with cover
- Wok or large pot with steamer.
- Stand Mixer with dough hook attachment, if making dough by hand
- Colander
Ingredients
Homemade Bao Bun Dough
- 2 cup All-purpose flour
- ¾ cup Whole milk
- 2 tsp Instant yeast
- 1 pinch Salt
- 1 tbsp Sugar
- 1 tbsp Vegetable oil
Braised Pork Filling
- 2 lb Pork belly slab (can substitute pork shoulder)
- 2 tbsp Vegetable oil
- 4 cloves Garlic, crushed
- 3 inch Ginger root, peeled and slice crossways into coins
- 3 tbsp Brown sugar
- 1 Star anise
- 4 tbsp Dark soy sauce
- ¼ cup Light soy sauce
- ¼ cup Chinese Shaoxing cooking wine
- 2 stalk Scallions, cut into 3-inch pieces
- ¼ tsp White pepper
- 2 whole Dried red pepper
Toppings
- ¼ cup Chinese pickled mustard greens, chopped
- 1 cup Roasted peanuts, chopped
- 1 tbsp Granulated sugar
- 8 sprigs Fresh cilantro
Instructions
- Make Braised Pork – Cut pork into long 2-inch slabs. Bring enough water to cover pork. Boil for 2 minutes and drain in a colander. Pat dry pork and set on a plate. Wipe out bottom of same skillet and and set over medium-high heat. Heat vegetable oil and fry pork slabs on all sides to brown, about 2 minutes per side. Transfer back to plate.Fry garlic and ginger about 45 seconds. Add star anise, 1 chili pepper, white pepper, and brown sugar. Cook, stirring, about 2 minutes to melt sugar. Add in rice wine and bring to a boil, stirring to dissolve sugar, about 2 minutes more. Add light and dark soy sauces, and scallions. Place pork slices back in skillet and cover with water by ½-inch, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low, cover skillet, and cook until pork is very tender, about 1 hour.
- Make Dough – In a stand mixer with dough hook, mix all dry dough ingredients for 30 seconds. Add wet liquids and knead 9-12 minutes on medium low to get a smooth and soft dough. Shape into a large ball in the mixer bowl, cover with a moistened kitchen towel and leave on counter for an hour to proof and increase in size by 50%. Transfer to a lightly floured work surface and knead again to get smooth surface again. Divide into equal sized portions. Knead each portion for a minute each. Flatten each bun by hand and lightly brush top with oil. Fold in half to make a clam shell.
- Steam Buns – Bring a large pot or wok with a steamer insert to a boil. Place buns into the steamer, cover, and heat through for 2-3minutes. Turn heat off for 15 minutes. Bring back to a boil and then steam for another 10 minutes. Keep covered until ready to use.
- Prepare Toppings – Combine nuts and white sugar in a food processor. Pulse to create a coarse powder, about 1 minute. Rinse and finely chop mustard greens. Separate cilantro stems.
- Assemble and Serve – When pork has cooked, remove and slice slabs into ½-inch slices. Take a steamed bun and fill it with chopped mustard greens, pork slices, and sprinkle with peanut powder. Lay a cilantro sprig on top and serve hot with sriracha chili sauce on the side.
Nutrition