As part of my Chinese New Year kick, we make Sheng Jian Bao, one of my favourite Chinese things, but my first time trying to make it.

I read a bunch of recipes, but basically followed:

https://www.seriouseats.com/sheng-jian-bao-pan-fried-pork-soup-dumplings-recipe

However, I followed the guidance in this:

https://thewoksoflife.com/shanghai-pan-fried-pork-buns-shengjian-mantou/

regarding making an aspic beforehand and mixing it through the filling. My pork belly (shamefully) didn’t have any skin, so I just used beef gelatine & some collagen powder to create the gelatinous gingery goo, which was wonderful even before we started. As per woks of life, I then mixed it through the mashed up pork belly.

I followed SE for the dough, then made the bao.

It was super yummy. The first quarter I managed to probably make a bit thick and our pan leaked a bit too much steam I think, so our cooking time was longer, with less consistent heat (and so some not-so-cooked bits of dough). However, they didn’t particularly taste doughy and I think it was more inexperience than anything in properly rolling out the dough and then letting them steam afterwards before presenting that made them feel a touch underdone.

All-in-all a great success. I think they would have felt less than succesful if I hadn’t done the aspic, as they were lovely and moist despite our slowness and inexperience.