Giant Chicken Buns
Size Does Matter with These Giant Chicken Buns
Giant chicken buns are a traditional Cantonese snack. They are huge – about three times as large as a typical barbecue pork bun. For some people, a single giant chicken bun can act as an entire meal.
Transformation of Dai Bao
Early on, large bun dishes (Dai Bao) mainly consisted of large amounts of dough with only a bit of filling (about 5.2 ounces of bun to only 1.3 ounces of filling). This made them good at staving off hunger, so they became a popular food among blue collar workers, and were especially common in lower-end teahouses and eateries where laborers congregated. As times changed, the amount of dough used became smaller, and the buns began using larger amounts of and more refined fillings like abalone, ginseng, and tripe. More high-class restaurants began serving them as well.
Ingredients
- 4.5 pounds (2, 016 grams) sweetened dough
Filling Ingredients
- 5 hard-boiled eggs, each egg cut into 4 pieces
- 5 large dried shiitake mushrooms
- 2 ⅔ pounds (1, 200 grams) ginger chicken mini buns filling
- 1/2 pound (225 grams) ham, cut into chunks
- 1 pound (450 grams) chicken drumsticks meat, cut into pieces
Marinade Ingredients
- 1 teaspoon (4 grams) salt
- 1 tablespoon (15 grams) sugar
- 3 teaspoons (11 grams) starch powder
- a small amount of ginger wine
- a dash of ground pepper
- a small amount of sesame oil
Cooking Directions
How to make the marinate
- Remove stems from dried shiitake mushrooms and soak them in water until they become soft.
- Boil them slowly over a low flame. Press out moisture from mushrooms. Cut each mushroom into 4 parts. Add a bit of oyster sauce and mix evenly.
What constitute the Giant Chicken Buns filling
- Add marinade ingredients to chicken drumsticks meat and mix evenly.
- Make Ginger Chicken Mini Buns filling separately
How to make Chicken Bun skins
- Divide sweetened dough into 18 parts (about 4 ounces each). Roll each part into a flat circular shape with approximately 5 inches in diameter and approximately 1/3 inch thick.
How to assemble and steam the buns
- Add ingredients to each dough skin in the following order: Ginger Chicken Mini Buns filling, hard-boiled egg, marinated chicken drumsticks meat, dried shiitake mushrooms, ham. Seal the bun.
- Place parchment paper on bottom of buns. Steam in a steaming basket over high heat for 20 minutes.
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