For the longest time, I’ve wanted to make char siu bao.
These barbeque pork filled steamed buns are a Yum Cha (Dim Sum) staple, and one of my favourites as I was growing up. When I came across this recipe by Lydia Teh at Rasa Malaysia, I thought it looked promising. Turns out it’s more than that, it’s an absolute cracker!
Follow Lydia’s directions carefully, and you’ll turn out fluffy white buns that taste just like the ones they serve at Yum Cha. The only change I made was to increase the amount of char siu used – my sixteen bao used 350g of pork rather than 250g…
I found low gluten flour and wheat starch at the Tan Hung Long Supermarket in Flemington…
Each bao was shaped and placed on a small tart liner – squares of parchment paper would work equally as well…
This photo of my first attempt highlights a mistake I made – be sure to dissolve the baking powder well before adding it to the dough, to avoid a blotchy finish…
A few other tips:
- Use a rolling pin rather than flattening out the dough with your fingers – it results in a more even bun.
- Use scales to divide your dough and filling into sixteen portions before you start assembling.
- Adding a little vinegar to the steaming water really does seem to whiten the finished bao.
- Keep the steamed char siu bao covered until ready to serve – if exposed to the air for too long, they’ll harden and dry up.
This recipe is definitely a keeper! It should be quite easy to find the specialist flours needed at Asian grocers. And if you’re looking for a gluten-free version, my friend Becca the InTolerant Chef has one here!
Fig Jam and Lime Cordial 
Heaven. I could overeat these. :)
I do…regularly! :)
Oh I LOVE char sui bao!!!
Me too, Kavey! I love them a bit it too much, I think.. ;-)
Those look delicious. Hopefully I can find some low gluten flour; then I’ll try these. Thanks for sharing!
Manuela, apparently cake flour will work as a substitute!
Oh Celia. All we have for supper tonight is leftover cold chicken with a baked potato and whatever veg I can find lurking in the pantry (sigh) and your char siu bao look super tasty.
Wish I could share them with you, Anne! Photos are the best I can do. They weren’t nearly as hard to make as I thought they would be!
It was a favorite of mine in grad school, as one of my lab mates was Chinese and his Mom would make those and send with him to the lab. I cannot tell you how much everyone loved it!
I always wanted to make these…. you are a great source of inspiration! THANK YOU!
Sally, they don’t take long to make, and I used bought char siu so the filling bit was dead easy! I’m going to try making my own char siu as well. You know hon, I think you might actually be Chinese.. ;-)
My those look delicious! what is in the filling? Yum! Maz
It’s filled with char siu, Maz – Chinese barbeque pork! I’m sure you could find a vegetarian substitute though!
Cheers for the linky to this excellent recipe Celia. I will make some with meaty filling for Steve and some with a mushroom filling for me. I have a recipe for tapioca dumpling wrappers someplace…must go look for it! Again, cheers for the share :)
No worries at all, hope you have fun with it!
I have made them before with plain flour but the pure white pillowy soft texture that you get from using the right kind of flour was missing. I know where to get some and will make these the next time I head into town :)
We love these as well, and even the G.O. upon seeing Jamie Oliver make them was open to the suggestion of DIY… I’m sure this will convince him.
ED, I saw Jamie’s version as well, but from memory it had milk it in, which I was trying to avoid. They looked very good though!
Celia, love, next time we meet, Peter would like one dozen of these please! My goodness, you are such a clever and adventurous cook. yum.
Lizzy, give me a day’s notice! :) xx
Yummy! I really love your blog. I feel like you challenge me to try something new every time you post.
That’s nice to hear, thank you! :)
These are my absolute favourite at yum cha & I always feel diddled if I miss out. Not sure I could be bothered actually making them though – I’m very lazy.
Not very lazy, darling, you’re injured! It’s not the same thing at all.. ;-)
I did some actual squeaking when I saw this post – like you i’ve been itching to make char siu bao for a very long time. Bookmarked the recipe; lovely to have one tried and tested. Thanks Celia :)
AJ, this recipe works, I’ve tried it twice now! Apparently, if you can’t track down the low gluten flour, cake flour should work as a substitute. Have fun!
Celia they look just like the yum cha version. I bet yours were better! Sometimes the restaurant ones use dodgy chewy meat and I’m sure there was none of that here.
Claire, I filled mine with char siu from Flemington which was gorgeous – they make it from pork neck, so it’s very lean and tender. Hope you’re getting some sleep, Mummy! :) xx
Brilliant! My dad used to bring these home as a treat when I was a child in HK – and I’ve always wondered and never dared to try and make them. You may have convinced me! Also, just quietly, I have now made that chocolate cake recipe about 20 times since you posted it and it is the quickest, tastiest, never fail recipe I’ve ever used for cake! I find cooking it at 140 (fan) keeps it super moist and utterly irresistible. So thanks again!
Claire, do try them, it’s so cool to make our childhood taste memories at home! :) And thank you for letting me know about the chocolate cake – nothing makes me happier than when someone takes a recipe and changes it up to suit their own tastes. It’s now truly yours! :)
Excellent! I’ve been waiting for the recipe since I saw the photo on instagram. These are always our favourite yum cha.
Nancy, I bet you can find amazing char siu bao in Shanghai! xx
G’day! Looks delicious Celia, true!
I LOVE these and could go for tasting some right now too!
Cheers! Joanne
Thanks Jo! They were great fun to make!
Hi Celia, when we were children mum use to make the most delicous baos. Fillings would be pork mince or chau siu. I use to love the dough so much she would also make little plain ones with just dough for me. We had a enormous double steamer and she would make huge batches, no sense of portion control :) I don’t eat meat but at yum cha when hubby eats char siu bao I can’t resist stealing pieces of dough from his. These days mum makes bao that has sweet potato mixed in the dough with a sweet yellow bean filling, sounds bit odd but delicious.
Stefanie, how nice that she makes a vegetarian version for you! See, I’m a big fan of the filling rather than the bread, so I put extra in as I don’t like the top to be all dough! :)
Oh yum!! I’ve made momofuku steamed buns and have been wanting to make baos since then. Will try out this recipe.
Saucy, easy to make, and everything you need is at Flemington (or really any other Asian grocer!). :)
How awesome yours turned out Celia! I bet they lasted just two minutes with your boys :)
Thanks for the linky love sweetie, sorry I’ve been bit hit and miss lately but had my wrist done and am pretty out of if. Xox
Hey darling, I hope the wrist is well on the mend now. It’s been so long – bet you’ll be happy to be fully functioning again!
One of my favorite dim sum items. Yours look utterly delicious and I would probably polish quite a few in one sitting. I too like more filling in my bows,
Thanks Norma! The extra filling was delicious, but it did make them tricky to fold! :)
Yes, too much filling can be an issue with closing the bows. but you did an excellent job, none split or leaked.
I don’t think I’ve ever had anything like this before but based on what I’m looking at, I’d sure love to give this a try. They sound wonderful but they look beautiful.
Ooh Di, you’ll need to go out for some Dim Sum (I think that’s what it’s called overseas) and try these out! I think you’d love them! :)
Years ago my husband went to a business meeting in Chinatown in Boston & that’s what he said he had. He told me it was the best meal he’s ever eaten!
I love the wonderful things you experiment with in your kitchen Celia! These look amazing, and top practical tips too.
Thanks Andrea! This recipe was such a great find and so well written – I love it when the instructions are thorough and cover everything you need to know! :)
I love these!
I made them from a rasa Malaysia recipe about two years ago and it is still one of hubbies favourite dishes! Your look so perfect too!
Julie, isn’t it a great recipe? So glad to know you’ve tried it too! :)
Wow….this looks super yummy!
Thank you! :)
On my list of things to try :)
Tandy, they were fun and easy to make! Hope you like them! xx
THese look scrumptious! The vinegar to whiten them is so interesting! Yum!
It was a great recipe – very comprehensive – and I think the vinegar tip really did make a difference! :)
I think these just went on my to-do list.
Hope you enjoy them! You’ve got me thinking now that they might be good with your smoked pork!
Gosh, Celia! I would eat these like popcorn. They sound delicious!
Yum, yum, yum. I love the look of these and I too have been wanting to make them for the longest time – just haven’t quite got around to it! Must fix that xx
this is the first time I see “wheat starch” use in bread recipe. is that really required? there will be no gluten from gluten from wheat starch.
I just followed the original recipe (linked in post above). Perhaps you could click through to her post and ask her directly, as I don’t know, I’m sorry.